Video Game Thread 2.0

[Distind]

This is just a good week for me, Civ 5 next expansion announced(Gasp, international relations, in a civ game? never!) and Saints Row 4 teaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaBMty_YbSI

They've offically lost their shit and I can't wait to see just what they threw together.

[kefkaownsall]

Which ending are they gonna use as a jump off point

[Distind]

Which ending are they gonna use as a jump off point

Looks like you've got reasonably good press, so I'm guessing the hero one.

[kefkaownsall]

Hopefully now that they got practice with the Engine Steelport can feel alive unlike Johnny Gat

[chitoryu12]

Remember the good ol' days when Saint's Row sold based on it being GTA without the change to brooding darkness and realism of GTA IV?

I'm not quite sure what you can call it now.

[Distind]

Remember the good ol' days when Saint's Row sold based on it being GTA without the change to brooding darkness and realism of GTA IV?

I'm not quite sure what you can call it now.

The awesome opposite of GTA. Which it pretty much was with 3. Never played the earlier ones, but 3 hit a lot of the "Fuck it let's have fun" cords I haven't felt in ages. Which is why I have no reservations about 4 looking at it.

[kefkaownsall]

I never played 2 since the PC port was rubbish.  I like in 3 how a DLC car lets you run people over and shoot them out as a cannon

[Witchyjoshy]

...I've never been interested in the Saint's Row series before.

It had my curiosity.  Now it has my attention.

[chitoryu12]

See, I began playing Saints Row back when it was brand new. The first game was a plain GTA clone that got attention because of its colorful graphics (especially since this was when the dull browns and grays of faux-realism began to hit it big) and actually being a good game by its own right. Biggest problem was probably the very bare bones story, with the protagonist speaking exactly once in every gang finale mission. There were still typical colorful characters and the "dirty parody" humor style, like a Wendy's restaurant being named "Freckle Bitch's." But despite the polished and fun gameplay, it was basically the skeleton of a larger game.

Saints Row 2 added to that and came out when GTA IV had taken the gaming world by storm with a much more realistic and serious take on the series, greatly subduing itself from the insanity of San Andreas. Saints Row 2 added a talkative and more customizable protagonist and tried to add on to the storyline (as well as connecting it even more to the Red Faction universe by showing the rise of Ultor, turning a throwaway joke into something much more serious), but it mainly got by as an alternative to the brooding philosophizing and subdued humor of GTA IV. It was bright and colorful, let you use a minigun to clean up the streets for a COPS-esque TV show, included a long side mission involving spraying feces from a truck at various houses and vehicles, and had almost cartoonish physics.

Saints Row 3 took everything that the developers figured people wanted and turned it all up to 11. The cartoonish element and plain denial of the laws of physics and sometimes reality itself were brought to greater extremes, almost like it was a parody of itself. Saints Row 2 had Yakuza, punk-style maniacs, and a Caribbean/Voodoo drug syndicate. Saints Row 3 had luchadores and cyberpunk hackers. This was the point where I got really disinterested, because it seemed to care more about "not giving a fuck" than anything really cohesive.

Saints Row 4? Well, we're seeing superpowers from the first seconds of the trailer. I'm not even sure how close this game is going to be to its original incarnation, and I'm not sure if the developers have really had any kind of plan for the series starting with the third game beyond "Turn up the dial."

[kefkaownsall]

I bought primal carnage and Jet set radio

[Dakota Bob]

Fuck yeah Jet Set Radio, love those games.

[Art Vandelay]

Since I managed to post this in the wrong thread like a fucking moron, I'mma just copy/paste it over here now.

More on Arcanum, has anyone else read the contents of the Tarant library? I never did that in earlier play throughs, but I'm really glad I did this time. It would seem that not only was Arcanum doing dark fantasy before it was cool, but it also did it with a lot of subtlety. The end result is that while you see hints of racial tensions here and there, you have to do a bit of digging before you see the full extent of things. It makes things a lot less one-dimensional than, for example, Dragon Age: Origins, where they seem to shove racism in your face so much that it pretty much loses all impact within a few hours of play.

To think that this game was such a commercial failure that it led to Troika going under, whereas series like Mario can actually not just stagnate but also regress and still make millions. People really suck, sometimes.

[Distind]

If it was better known it'd might have wound up in consideration for entry into the same museum Fallout went into. But honestly, it's a total bitch to play. Walk the wrong direction in Tyrant and you're gonna be hosed, assuming you live long enough to find the place. Once you grasp the mechanics it's a bit more reasonable, but woe on those who walk the wrong direction or anger the random encounters god. And the realtime battle system was hokey.

[Art Vandelay]

If it was better known it'd might have wound up in consideration for entry into the same museum Fallout went into. But honestly, it's a total bitch to play. Walk the wrong direction in Tyrant and you're gonna be hosed, assuming you live long enough to find the place. Once you grasp the mechanics it's a bit more reasonable, but woe on those who walk the wrong direction or anger the random encounters god. And the realtime battle system was hokey.

I never had that problem, personally. Maybe the 2nd half of the game turns into a "where the fuck do I go next?" fest, but so far it's always been pretty clear where I have to go next. While random encounters can be unfairly difficult, funnily enough, Fallout is just as bad on that front.

I believe what killed it for most was the plethora of bugs and the underpowered guns. Admittedly, I probably would've ragequit for good on my first play through if it weren't for the unofficial patch and Otto Krupp's Firearm Mod.

[RavynousHunter]

I don't know if GW2 has made everything easier, or if I've gotten better, but my female Sylvari warrior has been cleaning up in areas that are usually meant for players 5-7 levels higher than she is...even with the cap at level 80, that's a fairly large difference in power.  Yet, just going in standard sword-and-board, I've destroyed armies without dropping below half health.

I also have, in my mind, the plans for some kind of insane Rube Goldberg machine for the FTB Minecraft modpack involving tree-farming carts, conveyor belts, and a plethora of machinery from numerous mods with the end goal being fueling basic IC2 generators for an endless power setup.  The only thing that generates LESS power than those are the regular solar panels, but they have the advantage of not needing fuel.  Sooooooo...yeah.  I think, later today, it'll be high time to go into creative mode and go nuts.