The Hot Topic Returns

[Nag]

 

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GameCentral readers name the features and genres that instantly put them off a new game, from level grinding to overlong cut scenes.

 

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Korbie, and covered everything from specific genres to things like mute main characters or always-online play.

 

We had plenty of different answers but the most popular by far was rougelikes that force you to restart a game from scratch if you lose. A lot of people also had problems with different aspects of Japanese role-players and overworld map icons.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Definitely sidequests which feel like they're mass generated with minor permutations like the kind you get in an AC game. Basically anything which feels like an MMO-lite

 

Ironic as I play ffxiv but that game gives me my fill of that stuff and is at least a little more rewarding in the long run.

 

I'd like to play AC Odyssey but hearing the stuff where you unlock the main story by doing sidequests puts me right off.

[mfnick]

7 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

Definitely sidequests which feel like they're mass generated with minor permutations like the kind you get in an AC game. Basically anything which feels like an MMO-lite

 

 

This! 

 

Also for me genre wise it’s open world games in general now. I’m really bored of them and usually have the above mentioned shite in them. This genre is particularly off putting to me if it’s a racing game which isn’t called Forza Horizon. 

 

Roguelikes - I just really don’t like this genre. Apart from a couple of standouts like Dead Cells and Binding of Isaac. Anytime I find out a game is a roguelike I usually lose all interest. 

 

Battle Royales - Nope, don’t get these at all and I’ve tried! 

 

Live service games - Yuck! 

 

As for more specific features and gameplay elements.

 

Loot based games - Gone into these a few times. IMO usually just a excuse to make incredibly repetitive, boring gameplay which people overlook just to get that “rush” of new loot. Also usually balanced poorly to make you want to spend money or artificially extend the lifespan. See also “live service” games. 

 

Crafting - I’m soooooo bored of this element in games. 

 

Most modern gaming really lol. 

[OCH]

Handholding (I think I've mentioned this before, but..?‍♂️)

To elaborate, specifically locking me in for the first hour or two with unskippable tutorials, that rarely go further than teaching you the basics. Unless there are unique and/or complex mechanics in your game the player needs to be aware of, "learn by doing" is a way more intuitive way to ingrain standard mechanics.

Zelda and PokéMon are major culprits of this issue.

 

Other than that, all the points @mfnick and @one-armed dwarf just raised. Barring Rogue-likes. Which is a sub genre I have taken to, in recent times.

[one-armed dwarf]

There's a thing Austin Walker says in his Gears 5 review which sums it up for me (not Gears but open world), that games need more depth and less breadth. Anyway I just thought that was a good way of putting it.

[OCH]

So what would you say is the best example of Open World done right?

[one-armed dwarf]

Answering that could be its own thread I think

 

Something with a sense of "friction", where you cant just breeze your way through the world. Where getting around takes time but is always rewarding and there's a tangible sense of danger.

 

Botw, Morrowind. RDR2 should be a game I like because it does all these things, but the missions were bad

 

Dragons Dogma if it had good quests and better RPG systems

[Nag]

 

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GameCentral readers celebrate 20 years of Sega’s final console and classic games like Phantasy Star Online and Shenmue.

 

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox is based on the fact that this week is the 20th anniversary of the Dreamcast launch in America, so we wanted to know your thoughts on Sega’s last home console and how you remember it today.

 

As we expected, there were a lot of very impassioned (and long) stories about not just the games but the console itself, which many loved just as much for its online features and other innovations.

 

Calling @DANGERMAN

[DANGERMAN]

yeah, I got a Dreamcast at the Japanese launch. It came with Sonic Adventure, Virtua Fighter 3 tb, and Sega Rally iirc, but I was picking up games every few weeks. I've a very strong memory of getting home from work and my brother had opened my post and was playing Power Stone, which was fine, I didn't mind him doing it. I didn't really take to it straight away but he told me to stick at it as it got better, and sure enough I ended up loving it. I played a lot of Soul Calibur, I think I beat the adventure mode even though it was mostly guess work as to what I was supposed to do. I ended up rebuying everything when I got my UK one, even Blue Stinger, and the pal version of Sega Rally 2 ran worse for some reason, I think it was the larger resolution of PAL screens or something

 

I played my Dreamcast regularly for years and years after it was discontinued. It was still my most played console at uni, although I was picking up new games for Gamecube, PS2, and PC at that point. The Dreamcast could play VCD and avi files with the right boot discs, so I used it a lot as a video player but was picking up a lot of 2d fighters and shooters, Ikaruga and Capcom vs SNK 2 were pretty much getting played daily. I was still using it regularly until the PS3 and 360 era, I remember being in the flat where I played Metal Gear Solid 4 and Street Fighter 4 (to date it), there was a power surge and my Dreamcast shorted out, a popping sound, something smoking, never to turn on again. The replacement I got just didn't feel the same, it wasn't modded for imports, it had yellowed, it just wasn't mine.

 

I've since bought another one with an import chip, I've used it a decent amount. I might buy an HDMI converter for it so it gets used more. This week also made me wish I streamed still, I was watching Giant Bomb play some Dreamcast games, it wasn't a great experience really, they're wrong about a lot of stuff and have a habit of sneering and stating their opinion as fact (well, one coast). I could have happily streamed Dreamcast games all day last week if my capture gear still worked

 

Anyway, for my money it was the most impressive and forward thinking  console of all time, it's over 20 years old and there's still stuff coming for it, and there's still stuff I'd like to pick up for it

[OCH]

Chu Chu Rocket was probably the best freebie, ever!

 

Absolutely loved the Dreamcast. Although to hear it now, it does sound like some kind of craft taking off? and the D-Pad was basically an unusable torture device to your thumb. The VMU was pretty nifty too. It probably had most of SEGA's best ideas in it and was way ahead of it's time. I do still get a twinge of nostalgia seeing Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur, RE: Code Veronica and (an added sadness with) the Power Stone series, via YouTube. It also had the visual distinction thing that N64 had too. You could tell it is a Dreamcast game, graphically. An aesthetic flair that subsequently PS360 and later consoles don't have.

[Nag]

Me and a group of friends decided to go and see in the millennium in Andorra and I'd taken way too much spending money with me, Andorra at the time was (maybe still is) a tax haven so everything was cheap as chips and I'd been eyeing up a Dreamcast while I was over there... in the end I chickened out because of the difference in powering the thing and thinking I'd get hit with a massive import tax on the way home.

 

As it turned out after I'd changed back the currency I had left there was more than enough to go to my nearest Currys for a Dreamcast and two games... I honestly can't remember the games I bought though.

 

Soul Calibur, Code Veronica and Jet Set Radio were revelations at the time... I'll always have fond memories of that console.

[spatular]

I always wanted one but as a student with limited funds I only got one late when they announced they were stopping production, I thought it was brilliant, so many great games, really varied types of games too - msr, jsr, soul calibur, crazy taxi, f355, shenmue, samba, Rez, Le Mans, 18 wheeler, chu chu, Mars matrix, Bangai-o, triggerheart.

[OCH]

Weirdly enough one of the things I really like about the Dreamcast was its ports. It came in at the right time to get some really good ones. Soul Reaver, Shadowman etc Games that up until that point solely existed on their respective consoles (N64 & PSOne) with their own limitations.

 

I think we only had two games with it when we first got it one Christmas: Sonic Adventure and Soul Calibur. The latter alone, kept us entertained for months after.

[mfnick]

I grew up a Sega boy and the Saturn is one of my favourite consoles of all time. However during the period between the Saturn and Dreamcast I moved to the N64 and then onto the PS2. I always wanted a Dreamcast but obviously could only have one console at that time and already moved on because I couldn’t wait and I’d played Goldeneye which converted me. 

 

At the time I remember Sonic Adventure looking like the best thing I’d ever seen. But had to admire from afar. When i did eventually buy a Dreamcast many years later, to be honest I was disappointed. Everything just seemed so shallow and the pad was terrible. All the best reviewed games seemed like 5 minute wonders. I feel this is a problem of coming to the console late though and not actually a fault with the games. I feel I wasn’t giving the games time and attention they need to appreciate fully as the same criticism could easily be levied at most Mega Drive and Saturn games and I loved them. But that’s a problem when you come to games after the fact I find. Overall I like the Dreamcast and what it did in the gaming timeline but for me it just didn’t do much. 

 

[DANGERMAN]

that's fine

[Nag]

He says through gritted teeth.

[Nag]

 

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GameCentral readers name the unlikely sequels they’d most like to see happen, including Bloodborne 2 and Ōkami 2.

 

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Grando and could be a sequel for any game franchise, whether it’s had a sequel recently or not at all. We just wanted to know what you’d like it to look like and how likely you think it is to actually happen.

 

We had plenty of suggestions, from all eras of gaming, although most were forlorn hopes with most people admitting their dream game was unlikely… but not quite impossible.

 

[Maf]

They did an Okami 2 ?

[OCH]

20 minutes ago, Maf said:

They did an Okami 2 ?

Ōkamiden wasn't a sequel. It was a Dark Souls to Demon's Souls type thing, a "Spiritual successor".

 

Personally, I have five sequels that I've always wanted that are VERY unlikely.

 

1) Psi-Ops 2 - This was a very underrated action game and possibly the best non-MK game Midway ever did. Which is why it is unlikely to ever be made, as it fell into rights limbo with the end of Midway.

 

2) Freedom Fighters 2 - IO's second best game after Hitman: Blood Money. Highly unlikely as no one has even mentioned it's existence since IO fell under Square.

 

3) Vagrant Story 2 - This game was probably the greatest single game Square have ever made, especially during the PSOne era. Which speaks to its pedigree. Again though, they don't seem all that interested in exploring their own back catalogue anymore. Even though this has tons of untapped potential to explore in the sequel.

 

4) Power Stone 3 - When PS launched on Dreamcast, I thought "this is it! Capcom are finally moving into 3D". Even when the sequel made huge leaps over the first game, the series itself just got shelved. Other than a port onto a Handheld... The absolute worst place a Fighter can go. The fact that Capcom haven't even referenced any of the fighters of this world in their crossover titles, speaks to how blind an eye they have turned on it.

 

5) Bloody Roar 5 - It is currently owned by Konami...

 

[spatular]

Pgr, jet set radio, halo by bungie, any new cave shmup not on a phone. samba de amigo in vr. Ouendan.