Video Game Thread 2.0

[Shane for Wax]

I'm starting what is perhaps my millionth playthru of ME2.

I wonder if I can try to legitimately--- nope. Can't romance anyone else but Liara. My Shep just cannot compute turians, drell, or Jacob. And she finds Kelly to be touched in the head.

[Distind]

So I got the new XCOM with Bioshock: Infinite, right?

Turns out I'm actually being sucked into XCOM. I just finished my second run on normal (Ironman mode this time) and am trying to start up a Classic Ironman run.

Classic difficulty is not like normal difficulty.

Normal is fair. Normal is fun. Normal is good.

Classic... lives up to its name. The classic, X-COM: UFO Defense, would not hesitate to kick you in the junk. Classic XCOM: Enemy Unknown does not, either.

X-Com is awesome. There's no real way around that. Shame about the DLC though...

[chitoryu12]

So are you afraid of prosecution?

No, as I just said, I don't mind piracy in this particular case, just as long as anyone who downloaded it does pay for it if and when it becomes available to purchase. I'm just pointing out that it is still very much illegal, and claiming otherwise (and especially saying that abandonware is an actual software license) is objectively wrong. That's all, really.

Personally, I'd rather just wait until I can buy it legit. It really shouldn't take that long, considering EA is already partnered with GOG and System Shock 2 has just been released.

It may take longer than expected, since System Shock was designed for MS-DOS and thus HAS to be emulated unless you've got a vintage 90s operating system and a physical copy. Unless they want to simply take the systemshock.org style and package an emulator with it, they'll need to make a lot of modifications to the game or even build it from the ground up to make it work on modern computers.

[Art Vandelay]

It may take longer than expected, since System Shock was designed for MS-DOS and thus HAS to be emulated unless you've got a vintage 90s operating system and a physical copy. Unless they want to simply take the systemshock.org style and package an emulator with it, they'll need to make a lot of modifications to the game or even build it from the ground up to make it work on modern computers.

I present to you, DOSBox, GOG's main workhorse when it comes to DOS emulation. It's simply a matter of finding the right settings and replacing the original .exe with a DOSBox custom boot-up (or whatever they're called). Relatively speaking, it takes no time at all to get an old DOS title running on a modern OS.

[Dakota Bob]

Navigating the clusterfuck of licensing issues will probably delay any strictly legal System Shock release. I don't think EA actually owns the System Shock property anymore, GOG had to make a deal with some insurance company that bought the IP way back when to re-release it.

But luckily, the System Shock 2 plot is mostly independent from the first one so you can still enjoy it, and there are a few hi-res mods out there to bump up the graphics somewhat.

[Art Vandelay]

Strangest thing. While trying to figure out who owns System Shock, I read that the first Dead Space was supposed to be System Shock 3. Of course, that's probably bullshit (or more likely it was supposed to be a spiritual sequel, kind of like a crappier Bioshock), but quite amusing nevertheless.

[Dakota Bob]

I remember the Dead Space announcement being made around the same time as EA renewing their trademark on the System Shock name. Probably best they didn't develop a sequel.

[kefkaownsall]

So I got the new XCOM with Bioshock: Infinite, right?

Turns out I'm actually being sucked into XCOM. I just finished my second run on normal (Ironman mode this time) and am trying to start up a Classic Ironman run.

Classic difficulty is not like normal difficulty.

Normal is fair. Normal is fun. Normal is good.

Classic... lives up to its name. The classic, X-COM: UFO Defense, would not hesitate to kick you in the junk. Classic XCOM: Enemy Unknown does not, either.

X-Com is awesome. There's no real way around that. Shame about the DLC though...

What DLC slingshot is good
I dont play on ironman and I have this issue with the lack of a 5th difficulty Normal and Classic have a too big gap

[chitoryu12]

Navigating the clusterfuck of licensing issues will probably delay any strictly legal System Shock release. I don't think EA actually owns the System Shock property anymore, GOG had to make a deal with some insurance company that bought the IP way back when to re-release it.

But luckily, the System Shock 2 plot is mostly independent from the first one so you can still enjoy it, and there are a few hi-res mods out there to bump up the graphics somewhat.

The licensing clusterfuck is the entire reason why System Shock 2 not only took so long to be re-released, but why the creators are doubtful that we'll see more content for the IP in the foreseeable future. A bunch of different people and companies held copyright to all sorts of different parts of the game and franchise, and simply releasing the game for digital distribution took a massive effort to work out everything between all of the different parties involved. If they want to make a sequel or prequel or anything like that, they'd need to do the same dance all over again unless one single company buys the IP.

[Art Vandelay]

I remember the Dead Space announcement being made around the same time as EA renewing their trademark on the System Shock name. Probably best they didn't develop a sequel.

Amen to that. I've never played Dead Space myself, but from what I know, the story is nowhere near System Shock standards.

[Witchyjoshy]

Okay, Thief fans have proven that they're pretty much just as stupid as the Morrowind fans.

"Why's he wearing a mask the original Garrett didn't wear a mask!"
"Why'd he take off the mask, they aren't supposed to show his face!"
"Why's he got the mechanical eye already, isn't this supposed to be a reboot?" (Okay this one is a valid point but stated in a whining manner -- it's also extremely easy to get around if one stops to think for 5 seconds)
"IT ISN'T GARRETT IF IT ISN'T STEPHEN RUSSELL OH MY GOD IT'S RUINED FOREVER" (I thought you were Thief fans.  Apparently you're just Stephen Russell fans.)
"Oh my god it's going to be just another game where you have the option of combat and aren't solely forced to rely on stealth!" (I thought options were good?  Besides, how can you tell that from a minute long trailer in which the only offensive thing Garrett does is drop a bomb that may or may not be a flashbang?  Which does not constitute as "combat" by the way.)
"WHY NO STEPHEN RUSSELL OH MY GOD EIDOS YOU SUCK" (Seriously shut up about Russell already)
"I can already tell this is just going to be another game catering to a casual audience." (Anyone who says this unironically is stupid.)

(click to show/hide)

I've seen the words casual and hardcore games and gamers thrown around so much that it's completely and utterly meaningless, and doesn't resemble the original meanings of the words anymore!

Do you want to know what constitutes a casual gamer?  Here's a hint, it's nothing to do with the games the gamer plays and everything to do with the TIME said gamer spends playing.  A guy spends 2 hours a week playing Dark Souls.  He's a casual gamer.  A girl spends most of her free time playing Angry Birds, to the exclusion of other hobbies and such.  She's a hardcore gamer.

Furthermore, what makes a casual game is mostly how it plays.  For instance, games that tend to be simple but entertaining, such as Angry Birds, are casual games.  Puzzle games often fit into this trope.

Hardcore games are generally the ones that require a lot of skill to play.  Dark Souls, IWBTG, and so forth are hardcore games.

Everything else... is just games.  And believe it or not, a lot of the games these nostalgia-goggle-wearing fucktards fawn over aren't hardcore games, they're just games.  Baldur's Gate, Assassin's Creed, even Call of Duty... these are all just normal games.  Not casual, not hardcore, just normal.  Because believe it or not, gamers haven't changed since the 70s/80s/90s.  There's just more of them now.  But the gamers of old somehow believe they belong to an elite level of gamers who are better than all the ones that come after, because THEY'RE LEIK HARDCORE AND NUT CAZUAL GUYZ.

[Saturn500]

[Reads rant]

CONGRATULATIONS, ZACH, YOU HAVE REACHED ENLIGHTENMENT!

[chitoryu12]

I think a lot of the "Old games used to be hardcore!" stuff comes from the difficulties with playing them. Games have been constantly evolving, and the 90s had a lot of games that did things similar to what modern games do, but much less streamlined. Look at the original System Shock, like I mentioned earlier in this thread. You've got alternate ammo, plenty of varied weapons, a fully 3D game world with the ability to look up and down and shoot in any direction, leaning around corners, limited resources, etc. Think about how many games do that now. Now consider that it came out in 1994, before the age of mouselook. You need to use keys or click on parts of the screen to move the camera, with the cursor being where you aim and what you pick up. Even with a new mouselook mod that gives a facsimile of modern game design, it's clunky has hell. Without that, you basically need to remap your brain when it comes to FPS gameplay.

Now, the FPS genre has left that experimental age. All of the things System Shock pioneered are now typical and expected, but we've greatly advanced in control schemes and playability. There's more shooters out there now, since it's no longer the brand new genre it was decades ago (you'll notice in old media that first-person shooters were often derisively called "Doom clones" before it became the norm), and we've reached certain expected standards for how they control. The games of the past aren't any more difficult than modern games, just more primitive; imagine playing Black Ops 2 with the same controls as the original Doom or Wolfenstein 3D and think about how much raw skill and practice is needed just to overcome the difficulties in doing anything.

[Sleepy]

I gotta say, I'm not sure how I feel about Garrett's new VA.  I miss Stephen Russell, but I wanna give this guy a chance, too.  Who knows?  Maybe he can pull off Deadpan Snark just as well as Russell could.

I'm honestly impressed with the new VA, and this is coming from someone who freaking LOVES Stephen Russell and expected Garrett's new voice to be horrendous. Thank fudge they picked a good guy.

[RavynousHunter]

Zacky, you now see why I avoid gaming forums and other...conglomerations altogether.  They start out nice, lots of decent people talking about things they enjoy like regular bloody humans.  Then, you get a few loud assholes, who attract other loud assholes, eventually leading to the board either going into a state of constant war, or becoming a vocal echo chamber of sheer idiocy, fury, and many times, disgusting pompousness.

Honestly, I think this reboot of Thief looks fairly promising.  Yeah, it looks modernized, but that happens.  Modern doesn't mean bad, and with as long as this has been in development...well, lemme put it like this: Guild Wars 2 took an inordinate amount of time to develop.  Some launch bugs and such aside, on release, the game was (and still is) absolutely phenomenal, and very well worth both the money and the wait.  I shall remain cautiously optimistic about this, because this has the potential to be absolutely amazing.