The Hot Topic Returns

[DANGERMAN]

might get more Silent Hill I suppose, now its been revealed

[radiofloyd]

Guitar Hero reboot would be nice. Fuser is being shut down completely apparently.

 

Silksong announcement would be nice, especially this close to Christmas, but I doubt it.

 

A reveal of the next game from Supergiant would be cool. Or whatever the Outer Wilds guys are working on next.

[spatular]

Oh yeah good point theyre making fuser unavailable, need to remember to check for a sale or something to try and get it before its gone for good.

[DisturbedSwan]

Smaller titles don't really do much for me so I don't really care about anything in that sphere.

 

I think FFXVI and SW Jedi Survivor are certainties to be there as the former is a 'special guest' or some shite and the latter is either heavily rumoured or been teased by EA themselves, I'm not sure which.

 

Another rumour is we're going to get some Horizon Forbidden West DLC announcement, which, whilst I very much enjoyed the game doesn't do a lot for me as I typically don't play DLC once I've moved on from a game. 

 

I'm not sure what else will be there, I'm sure Microsoft will have a few 'now on Game Pass' style announcements and PS likewise with PS+ Extra maybe.

 

Dream announcements would be Half-Life Alyx for PSVR2. I don't think we'll see Spidey 2 or Wolverine but it would be super cool to see both of those in motion too. Would love to see more of Tears of the Kingdom too.

 

Won't be staying up for it though, I'll attempt to watch it back on Friday. One of the good things about not being on Twitter now is stuff doesn't get spoilt for you as easily.

[Nag]

 

Quote

Readers name the greatest and most disappointing entries in their favourite video game series, from Tomb Raider to Super Mario.

 

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Cranston and only counts mainline entries, not spin-offs. Otherwise, you could talk about any franchise from any format or period in time.

 

Since you had to name the best as well as the worst everyone seemed happy to tear into sacred cows, although it was only Resident Evil that came up more than once.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Taking the image as inspiration, my favorite FF is probably VII or XIV. XIV less so these days, I've gone off it, but it kept the magic going for a while when the SP FFs were in a fallow period post FFXII (which is one of the best ones) and pre FFVII Remake. Has some of the coolest arcs and villains the series has had in a long while. But it's an MMO and full of those tedious trappings, as well as the frustration of trying to 'level up' to the higher skill content in the game and find 7 other people to play with on a regular basis without turning yourself into a toxic gremlin who hates everyone. As for VII, well that story and world was just super cool and they pace the introduction of the villain in it perfectly, unfortunately the remake didn't do as well with that but it's an alright extension of that world at least

 

Most disappointing one, FFXV. I actually liked the story and characters, and again the villain is cool and interesting. One of the better ones in the series. But it plays like absolute shit. Every attack animation is automated and contextual, you hold down dodge and parry, you have no real control over your party members. It's a RPG without strategy, if they just transplanted any other combat system into it it would easily be one of the stronger SP entries in modern FF, but that combat system is abysmal

 

Which makes Forspoken pretty surprising, I can't stop playing its demo. It's such an improvement over FFXV's combat and fixes most of my problems with it. So that team is redeemed now, good job dudes

[DANGERMAN]

Streets of Rage 3 is the first game that came to mind. I was so excited for it, I remember reading previews in Mean Machines. As you've all probably picked up on, Streets of Rage 2 is my favourite game, so SOR3 had a lot to live up to.

 

They changed the look of the game, changed the music, nerfed characters, changed the cast, changed the feel of the combat, and ramped up the difficulty.

 

I'm not sure I'd consider it a particularly good game if it had a different name but I think I'd appreciate the new things, like the bombs and the the digger, it does at least mix up the formula. As it goes though, all these years later I still don't especially like it 

[mfnick]

Super Meat Boy - best game ever. Meat Boy Forever - pure smelly shit.

 

Burnout - Best has to be 3 Takedown. It’s one of my all time favourite games. Most disappointing is easily Paradise. The open world format just completely ruined it for me entirely. 
 

God of War - Best is a toss up between 2 and 3. I have a different answer each time it comes up. Most disappointing is 2018 - it’s not a bad game but I miss angry Kratos with the OTT violence and the lack of boss fights really disappointed. Ascension isn’t very good don’t get me wrong but disappointment wise its 2018.

Resident Evil - Best is REmake. I absolutely adore that game, a perfect update. VII is up there too. Disappointing is RE2 Remake. I wanted a remake in the same style as the original, not a over shoulder reimagining. I detested Mr X too. I just found him irritating as fuck and not at all scary. Side note, only played a hour of 6 so can’t comment on that and 5 I expected not to like and thought it was just bad not disappointing. 

 

[OCH]

Silent Hill Homecoming. That would be the most disappointed I've been with a sequel. Ever, really. For so many reasons I don't think I need to go into. Suffice to say, trying to ape RE 4 is not how you make a Silent Hill. 

[DANGERMAN]

Nick just picking 3 modern classics 

[mfnick]

Yep 😞 My tastes certainly don’t align with the majority. 

[bellow]

I'm going for God of War too. Best are 1, 2 and the first reboot. (We have the new one but my eldest is making slow work of it so I probably won't get a go until next year). 

 

My disappointment was always 3. I remember hating the combat because they seemed to use the power of the new generation of console to just fill the screen with enemies. Consequently I was constantly getting knocked out of combos, and the thing I liked most about the series, the ridiculously balletic bloodletting, was reduced somewhat, and getting thru combat situations became a mashy affair.

 

That's how I remember it, anyway, and I never got past the first chapters on numerous attempts. 

 

I also got to heave a bit of a sigh of relief when the portable games game out, and the power restrictions of the psp gave the game back it's combo heavy charm.

 

I will offer the caveat that my gaming skills are low now, and we're probably lower still back then, so I could easily have been overlooking combat nuances in the game to nullify the problems I was having.  But since the question here is about disappointment I'd have to go with it.

[OCH]

I remember GoW3 being a really impressive visual spectacle. I don't remember much more about it, even the plot?🤔

[mfnick]

God of War 3 is brilliant you bunch of pricks. 

[one-armed dwarf]

2018 is the only good one.

 

Meanwhile, REmake 2 is close to a pitch perfect version of that whole formula. Except for Mr. X, that whole stalker gimmick thing is boring.

[OCH]

2 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

REmake 1 is a pitch perfect version of that whole formula.

EDIT😉

[mfnick]

@OCH Knows! Remake 1 over 2 every time. 

[DisturbedSwan]

I think all GoWs are at least good or decent, even though personally I never finished 1 & 2 due to my own poor skill level at those kind of games at the time they came out. I did go back and finish GoW3 on PS4 after bouncing off it on PS3 and I ended up absolutely loving it. 

 

I've never played it but the black sheep of the GoW family has to be Ascension I would've thought? Just seemed like a needless cash grab to me at the time.

 

GoW 2018 and Ragnarok are masterpieces.

[radiofloyd]

If I had to make some quick choices:

 

Final Fantasy - XIII 

Dragon Quest - XI (although what I played of VII on the 3DS was worse, I suspect the horrible remake butchered that game)

Zelda - Spirit Tracks

Guitar Hero - GH3

Age of Empires - AoE3

WWF Smackdown - Shut Your Mouth

GTA - GTA IV

The Sims - The Sims 3

 

Some of those are still good games though.

 

 

[DANGERMAN]

Yeah, DQXI was a bit of a disappointment, especially with how good a job they did with the presentation