The Chatterbox > Gaming

2022 The Backloggening

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vladgd:
1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion



So I've been kinda doing...nothing...the past while. Then I picked up skyrim again with the gf, and after obliterating that game on the 4th platform I own it on, I remembered I never beat oblivion.

This one was hard. I own the physical game on pc, played 80 hours...never finished. Tried again...nope. Started another file in 2016...nope. Downloaded it on steam to see if my old files were there...they were..

I was about half way through the main story so I literally booked it through the questline while ignoring all else.

Y'see, I think oblivion isn't a very good game. I put more than enough hours into the game trying to enjoy it, but I think this game is where people get at saying a TES game isn't worth playing without mods. I don't mod games, but god damn this game needs work. 5+ attributes mod MINIMUM so you don't have to worry about the atrocious leveling system. Sure it's the same in morrowind, but morrowind allows you to break that system, oblivion does not, also level scaling.

Basically oblivion to me was the fallout 3 (a game I actually enjoyed) beta test. I fail to see besides nostalgia, how anyone can enjoy this game. Playing it again...my opinion is unchanged.

NEW THREAD WEEEE

Spectere:
Oblivion didn't strike me so much as a Fallout 3 beta test, but rather as that awkward transition from old TES to new TES. More of a proto-Skyrim, I suppose. A lot of people don't like the term "consolization," but Oblivion (and, to a greater extent, Skyrim) really feel consolized. Mechanics and complexity were stripped out in order to work with a more limited control scheme and a 10-foot UI.

I also don't think I've quite gotten over the lie on the back of the box—that is, the system requirements. When Oblivion came out I had a computer that was better than the recommended specs, yet the game was utterly unplayable. To make matters worse, if you had a graphics card with a certain feature level (like I did) you literally couldn't force the game to fall back to a lighter renderer in order for it to run better (though that had its own laundry list of issues). There was a mod called Oldblivion that would force the game to run at lower detail modes, but support dropped off for it pretty early on if I remember correctly. You had to choose between bugs and horrific frame rates. I chose to play Morrowind instead.

(Also, looking at the comments for the blog post I linked, turns out the system I built in 2008, which could easily handle Crysis, had issues with Oblivion…holy yikes.)

From what I remember from the last time I tried Oblivion (probably 2014-ish?) I had more fun with the guild quests than the main story. I remember the Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood quest lines being particularly great, especially when compared with their Skyrim counterparts.

vladgd:
Well before Crysis came out, people would be in the mindset of "my pc is so good it can play Oblivion!". Which I recall playing on pc fine enough, on lower settings. Most TES games the side chains are better than the main one, but I just wanted to get through the game. The setting/music/story isn't my gripe as much as I just don't like how the game plays at all. I gave it over 100 hours across 3 different attempts, it ain't for me. What is for me doe...

2. Pokémon Legends: Arceus



First off, I need to stop reading Reddit. Every time, entitled crybabies. Then on the game specific subreddit, it's 80% "hey look at my shiny", which is better than straight 50page light novel about how nintendo touched inappropriately. However, it isn't really productive discussion about the game.

That out of the way, a few things to preface. This game doesn't look like trash because breath of the wild looks better. It's probably the best looking pokemon game of all time...but that is admittedly a low bar. Second, this is not the game for you if you want online battles, or a lot of trainer battles for the main game.

This game is all about the pokedex, and the main story is pretty small in comparison to that...like a lot of "open world" style games. Bee line the story, pretty short, take your time doing pokedex, plenty of girth here. To be blunt I think the combat in pokemon is bad, and has always been bad. The good parts of pokemon have always to me been the stuff outside of the combat, the exploration and catching 'mons and whatnot. Nothing much different here, one shot opponent or get one shot is still the deal...to a higher extent since the turn order is different. I've had the opponent go 3 times in a row before, and that's just guaranteed death even if your defense is high and you have a type advantage + 20 levels, you 'gon die.

Pokedex is more intricate than "catch pikachu, pikachu is done!".



Every pokemon in the game has this list, you need to complete 10 objectives to "complete" a pokemon. Entries with red arrows count for 2 points, so the screenshot would be like completing 14. Tasks beyond this still give you points, these points level your trainer rank or whatever, and more rank gets you access to higher pokeballs, new items, new areas, etc.  So only 10 required to complete a pokemon, and if you want to complete ALL the tasks, you get a "perfect" which aside from more points, doesn't get you anything other than something to do, so it's optional.

It's a pretty good system, I kinda hope other jrpgs which lack random battles in the future have "some" kind of system besides money/exp to motivate you to fight various enemies. Like if SMTV had random rewards for iunno, successfully negotiating with a certain monster 5 times, it's more of a reason to get into a battle over just ignoring everything.

This is pretty much the pokemon game I always wanted as a kid, you can sneak around and catch pokemon without needing to get into a battle most of the time. In terms of nailing the fantasy of being a pokemon trainer, this game does that very well. It's fun, pretty hard to put down. I made it to the postgame where you get to the pokemon in the title and...you get a message...which basically means "complete the entire pokedex". Which is cool, but I might pass...But in the 42 hours it took me to get there, had a good time.

Gonna have to give this one a big fat RECOMMENDED. Literally the most fun ive had playing a pokemon game since red/blue/gold/silver when I was a young boy. Breath of fresh air in a franchise that has done nothing but the same thing it's entire existence.

Spectere:

--- Quote from: vladgd on February 02, 2022, 03:23:09 PM ---Well before Crysis came out, people would be in the mindset of "my pc is so good it can play Oblivion!". Which I recall playing on pc fine enough, on lower settings.

--- End quote ---

It was kind of a two-fold problem. The system requirements were lower than they should have been, and it was trying to force graphics cards that support certain shader models to go way beyond their capabilities.

Like, if I had an FX 5600 the game would have actually been very playable. Because I had a 6600GT, it wasn't, and there was no easy way for me to use the graphics level that an FX card would have used.


--- Quote from: vladgd on February 02, 2022, 03:23:09 PM ---Most TES games the side chains are better than the main one, but I just wanted to get through the game. The setting/music/story isn't my gripe as much as I just don't like how the game plays at all. I gave it over 100 hours across 3 different attempts, it ain't for me. What is for me doe...

--- End quote ---

Oh yeah, no doubt. Like I said, it felt like an awkward stepping stone between the old and the new.

Probably safe to say that it wasn't as big of a deal for me as it was for you (though that level scaling can suck a draugr's dick). Fair enough. :)


--- Quote from: vladgd on February 02, 2022, 03:23:09 PM ---2. Pokémon Legends: Arceus

--- End quote ---

Thanks for the writeup! I'm planning to get this after I get a few things sorted out on my Switch (like figuring out how to move my Hyrule Warriors save from EmuNAND to SysNAND without getting console banned…) and it's good to hear another positive take on it.

I'm honestly kind of glad that they didn't ramp up the graphics to an absurd level, because they did that for Hyrule Warriors: AoC and all it did was turn the game into a slideshow in some situations. The graphics look similar to HW:DE to me (basically, Wii U graphics), and that's perfectly fine. The important part is that in every gameplay clip I've seen of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the gameplay looked smooth as silk.

The only real complaint that my friends levied against it is that the tutorial is painfully long. That just seems to be a thing with Pokémon games nowadays.

Edit: I snagged Arceus this past weekend and yeah! I like it. I think the tutorial issue was a bit overstated, as they don't feel nearly as heavy handed as previous mainline installments (Sun/Moon absolutely smothers you, while Arceus still gives you plenty of room to breathe between training exercises).

Graphics are generally fine, but the higher you go the less fine they get. Still, the complaints are a bit overstated, especially considering the game is on the freaking Switch. I'd much rather the game play smoothly (and it does!) than to have Age of Calamity graphics and all of its associated framerate canyons. Either way, they're serviceable. Plus, it has the best animations I've seen in any Pokémon game to date.

I think one complaint that I have from a gameplay perspective is the way the Alpha battles are tuned. It seems kind of obvious that they should be powerful, but the issue that I have is that Pokémon's battle system already has an extremely low time to live (I mean, level 3 mons can quick attack a level 13 mon to unconsciousness in 3 turns). When you crank the attack values up to the point where an Alpha that's a half dozen levels under you can one-shot your mon with single non-crit quick attack, all it does is exacerbate that problem. To me it feels like it's less a question of strategy and more a question of raw numbers and brute force. Still, it's not really all that bad as long as you don't have to face more than one at a time. I dunno. We'll see how I feel as I get further in.

That said, it's weirdly refreshing to see enemies that can actually knock out my mons. You don't see that often in the mainline games.

Speaking of mainline games, I wouldn't be at all opposed to the gameplay style of Arceus expanded upon and becoming the primary gameplay style. Having the player character get directly involved in the world makes you feel as though you're controlling an actual character rather than just a dot on the map.

vladgd:

--- Quote from: Spectere on February 04, 2022, 03:05:39 PM ---Edit: I snagged Arceus this past weekend and yeah! I like it. I think the tutorial issue was a bit overstated, as they don't feel nearly as heavy handed as previous mainline installments (Sun/Moon absolutely smothers you, while Arceus still gives you plenty of room to breathe between training exercises).
--- End quote ---

When I originally read that I thought to myself "what tutorial?" If he meant the beginning of the game...I mean games typically have a starting period and I don't really see much wrong with Arceus.


--- Quote from: Spectere on February 04, 2022, 03:05:39 PM ---Graphics are generally fine, but the higher you go the less fine they get. Still, the complaints are a bit overstated, especially considering the game is on the freaking Switch. I'd much rather the game play smoothly (and it does!) than to have Age of Calamity graphics and all of its associated framerate canyons. Either way, they're serviceable. Plus, it has the best animations I've seen in any Pokémon game to date.
--- End quote ---

Are there plenty of examples of Nintendo games that look better than Arceus? Yes. Do the game look like booty? ELL NAW. The way people are talking make the game sound like it looks horrible, it's still a good looking game...it's just not a GREAT looking game. People need to lay off the damn weed.


--- Quote from: Spectere on February 04, 2022, 03:05:39 PM ---I think one complaint that I have from a gameplay perspective is the way the Alpha battles are tuned. It seems kind of obvious that they should be powerful, but the issue that I have is that Pokémon's battle system already has an extremely low time to live (I mean, level 3 mons can quick attack a level 13 mon to unconsciousness in 3 turns). When you crank the attack values up to the point where an Alpha that's a half dozen levels under you can one-shot your mon with single non-crit quick attack, all it does is exacerbate that problem. To me it feels like it's less a question of strategy and more a question of raw numbers and brute force. Still, it's not really all that bad as long as you don't have to face more than one at a time. I dunno. We'll see how I feel as I get further in.

That said, it's weirdly refreshing to see enemies that can actually knock out my mons. You don't see that often in the mainline games.
--- End quote ---

The battle system is still not that good imo, but it does it's job in an inoffensive enough way to not ruin the good stuff imo. One thing to note, if you don't sneak on an enemy, even if they're 60 levels below you, they usually can act first. This is fine because it just rewards you for sneaking around and getting back attacks and whatnot. It's still silly to see one of those beginning bird enemies move before my level 92 garchomp however.



--- Quote from: Spectere on February 04, 2022, 03:05:39 PM ---Speaking of mainline games, I wouldn't be at all opposed to the gameplay style of Arceus expanded upon and becoming the primary gameplay style. Having the player character get directly involved in the world makes you feel as though you're controlling an actual character rather than just a dot on the map.

--- End quote ---

I'd be more surprised if they DIDN'T adapt the new gameplay systems introduced in Arceus to the mainline games. While the game feels complete, it also very obviously feels like a "this is the first time we've tried this stuff" kind of way that you could see a lot of refining happening in future games. Maybe more trainer interaction mid battle besides run away, use item, etc? It's a good start though. I've been lukewarm/negative on pokemon since the original gen 3, and this is the first game I REALLY enjoyed out of the series since gen 2, so I'm pretty optimistic to what they have in store for the future.

Mass Effect (Legendary Edition)(insanity difficulty)



Remembered I bought this during the time where I started living at my gf's place more, away from the desktop. Have the laptop so decided to polish this off. Not counting this for the count since I had beat the original like 18 times already, but out of the 3 they remastered, this one had the most changes.

Originally upset because they nerfed stuff...like seriously? The immunity power got nerfed into the ground, so the way I used to play the game can't be done anymore. They changed a lot of stuff, nerfed pistols, made weapons work differently, the UI is totally different, they totally "rebalanced" insanity difficulty. TLDR when one strategy becomes invalid, another one appears in it's place. I went infiltrator sniper and cleaned house in the "much easier" insanity difficulty...like...nerf the good shit from the original, then nerf the difficulty of the hardest difficulty? I don't see the point, but whatever, single player game needs balancing I guess. Rockets typically don't one shot you anymore, snipers still do so save often. Besides snipers and just playing smart, it wasn't all that bad to get through. They made the final boss a lot harder, instead of just the boss, who was always really annoying and not fun...it's the final boss + waves of geth ontop of him! So a fight that was already really annoying, even more annoying! YEAH!

If you already beat the originals and aren't a megafan like I am, would not highly recommend. I also had to re do the final fight...because my game crashed on the cutscene that plays half way through it...a more annoying fight made more annoying...then even more annoying...

The new graphics look great however, but also makes my laptop sound like a vacuum. COULD BE MY LAPTOP...but guilty gear strive, a new modern fighting game with AMAZING visuals, don't even tickle my machine in the 40 or so hours I've put into that. So IUNNO. Mass Effect 2 from what little I've played (insanity is very very hard in that game and I may not pursue doing the trilogy on insanity...again...) so I'm guessing it's mostly all the retooling they did on ME1.

It's not a terrible remaster, the best part is controller support (albeit kind of spotty and tricky to get working), which the original pc port didn't have. So worst cast scenario I have mass effect on pc with controller support, which is fine. I wish there was a few toggles, to say keep the new UI/graphics, but use the old balancing. If you want the original experience, or want to see how good pistols used to be, it would be nice to experience that in the remaster. It would be like if they remastered the original halo game, and you want to remember how awesome the magnum was...except they decided to nerf it for some reason. It just isn't in spirit of the original to do that, at least without an option to toggle it off, imo. I AM nitpicking, and I know this, but...it's enough to where I am annoyed enough to talk about it.

*honorable mention

I do remember in the original trilogy ON PC importing saves was kind of awkward, I think I recall some external bioware tool thing being used or something? Either way I remember it not being seamless. Booting up ME2 to import my ME1 save, it was just there, no fuss, it just worked, like the xbox 360 versions. Probably the best way to play through the trilogy for convenience alone...even though I would personally still prefer playing on 360, it's just way less convenient now a days.

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