The Hot Topic Returns

[Nag]

Which bit are you classing as the epilogue? Santa Barbara?

[bellow]

Yes.

[HandsomeDead]

The "respect for your time" thing is a weird one and I do mostly think it's an out of touch gaming critic thing to say.  A regular person will just do something else for a bit and maybe come back later, or maybe not.  

 

But that's not to say games don't stretch themselves too thinly to meet an arbitrary hour count.  There is truth to that and I wish more games were designed in a way so they're shorter but replayable.  That's just a preference though.

 

I'm struggling to think of overarching pet peeves.  Something might peeve me in one game but in another doing a similar thing it might not.  

[OCH]

A minor one I used to have was untelegraphed points of no return. That does seem to have largely disappeared in modern gaming though.

[mfnick]

I think most games are too long, usually because they’ve got loads of shit filler stuff to pad them out rather than being interesting. I much prefer a tighter, shorter experience for the most part. There’s obviously exceptions - TLOU2 being a recent one.

 

So that is one of mine. 
But what upsets me most about gaming these days is the extra monetisation - in particular micro transactions & season passes. I am getting better at just ignoring these games now though, now I’m back at work I’m realising I’ve got hardly any time for games as is so I’m going to be a bit more picky about what I play and just going to ignore that shit 
 

Im also sick of crafting being in just about every game too. Another time wasting feature for the most part - again there is the odd exception though.

 

 

[DANGERMAN]

'respecting your time' for me includes likes of handholding and restating things you know. Nintendo have a real problem with this for some of their games. It's actually one of the better things about the new Paper Mario that it doesn't do this. I can deal with a game being long but it has to make that time valuable. If I'm spending that time looking at my phone while I'm waiting for some bullshit to finish, or if the story has fallen on its arse, then it's not using its time, or my time, well.  There's a conversation to be had about game stories, films, like plays, can have 3 act stories, games are too long for that, it's why a lot of games are just setting up pins for you to knockdown as part of the story, it stretches out that middle act

 

Maybe not the spirit of the question but Souls and Rogue-likes can fuck off. There's probably interesting to do in the genres, but it feels like too many games don't have anything interesting to say in the genre, Metroidvanias are probably heading that way

[spatular]

9 hours ago, HandsomeDead said:

A regular person will just do something else for a bit and maybe come back later, or maybe not.

 

haha yeah i'm not a regular person so yeah i don't like games that are sometimes too long, even some that i really like like persona 4/5. but usually i guess it's me not liking the game enough to stick at it but i want to finish the game and get fed up. possibly getting stressed about gaming backlog too.

 

i was going to moan about checkpoints in r-type but then noticed the question says modern games...

 

i don't like the mess of exp points you get and leveling up for everything these days, like at the end of a game of cod, but i just sort of ignore it.

 

a mass of collectibles that you need some of to craft something which in turn crafts something else etc.

 

roguelikes etc. i usually just ignore these so it's fine i guess, into the breach is amazing mind, but i still avoid them.

 

most of this stuff i guess people must like or it wouldn't be in these games in the first place. i sort of feel like an old man moaning about all this new gaming stuff that i assume the kids these days like.

[Maf]

The thing I dislike the most about modern games is farming materials and the terrible drop rates. Nearly every type of game is effected by this too wether it’s Destiny, Assassin’s Creed or even Bloodstained: RoT. 
 

It’s usually you need 400 of A 50 of B and 3 of C and I don’t know what I dislike more. The boredom of farming enemies/chests/whatever for the reliable A material which has a very high drop rate but you need tonnes and tonnes of it, or trying to kill specific enemies over and again for material C which you need very few of but has a 0.5 percent drop rate. 
 

At the same time games need elements of randomness to keep it interesting. Take Breath of the Wild for example. To craft the best gear you need materials you can shoot off of the dragons. It’s 100% reliable and is actually very boring. But when you see a falling star randomly then the chase starts to run after it before it disappears and that’s really fun and satisfying. 
 

Randomness can really help games obviously. Drop rates and RNG has been in games for decades and helps make games interesting but there’s a monotony, unfairness and essentialness to it found in modern games that really bring games down instead of raise them up a lot of the time. It’s to the point where I am not tossing or selling shit in games and if I do I check online to see if it will be important later because I want to reduce this aspect as much as possible. 
 

I also don’t think it should go away. There’s a satisfaction to the almost labour aspect of grinding for material A and the thrill of the gamble when looking for material C. But a lot of games it just isn’t built or done in an interesting way and needs to be overhauled. 

[Maryokutai]

After reading a review for West of Dead I realised that roguelikes are probably the biggest time-wasters out there. You're basically just doing the same thing over and over again because the games are consciously designed to be unbeatable on the first (or 30th) try. I know they are super popular for some reason but I never got into them and I think this is one of the main reasons why.

[HandsomeDead]

Rogue-likes to me are the evolution of arcade games which were also designed to be difficult to beat on your first attempt.

But unlike those they are different everytime you play due to procedural aspects whether it's the levels, enemy arrangements or character skills.  There is also usually a measurable sense of progression that helps you with your next run.

 

They appeal to the act of playing them rather than something you just aim to finish.

[Jimboxy]

TIL what rogue likes are.

[Maryokutai]

I think it's the mix that doesn't work for me. You do have to restart every time like in an arcade game but you also keep some upgrades or level-ups. A classic shoot'em up is always the same, you will always start with the same tools so the only way to progress is actually mastering the game itself. The only barrier between the first stage and the credits is myself. If a Roguelike feels difficult the first reaction is "my character isn't developed enough" instead of "I'm not good enough". And depending on how the game is designed it's impossible to know whether A or B is true, which in turn makes it feel like a repetitive grind.

I'm not entirely sure how to bring my point across or if there even is a point, but at the end of the day I love old-school arcade games and I strongly dislike anything remotely roguelike-y. I also hate procedural generated content. It always lacks the polish or the variety of hand-crafted levels.

[Craymen Edge]

I'm definitely sick of the Indie Roguelike/lite.

Mostly the sheer number of games out or announced as having 'roguelike elements'. It's the indie equivalent of the Zombie fps overload.

[Nag]

 

Quote

GameCentral readers evaluate Microsoft’s next gen Xbox plans and reveal what they’d do if they were in charge of the company.

 

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was inspired by the recent Xbox Games Showcase and asked the obvious question: how do you think Microsoft are doing with their next gen plans so far?

 

There were, as you might expect, a lot of criticisms of Microsoft’s approach, especially in terms of apparently contradictory statements and the impression that they seem unprepared for their own console. But many were still optimistic about the Xbox Series X and many of its games, including Halo Infinite.

 

Think I may have to avoid this thread till next week...??

[DANGERMAN]

They've got the most powerful console and will probably have the cheapest too, so they're not in a terrible position. Game Pass is easy money for them at this point, even if people only dip in and out of it it's still getting talked about and it's money they wouldn't have got from people who don't own an Xbox. 

 

Where I'm concerned for them at launch is that, based on their videos so far, they don't have a lot. I guess we don't know for sure what Sony have, but it looks like Spiderman and Ratchet & Clank, at the very least there's gameplay for the latter so it must be fairly close. 

 

Halo looks like it could do with a bit more time, which is fine and would probably be the right thing to do, but what else do they have for launch? I get neither company wants to specifically say what the launch games are yet just in case but Microsoft look short. I suppose they could make sure ports of Flight Simulator and Gears Tactics. 

 

Ultimately the generation probably isn't being won in the first 6 months, and a lack of console sales isn't necessarily a problem for Microsoft. I mean we could end the generation arguing about who has the best subscription service rather than frame rates and resolution 

[Nag]

1 hour ago, DANGERMAN said:

I mean we could end the generation arguing about who has the best subscription service rather than frame rates and resolution 

 

I do think that's where it's heading to be honest. It's pretty clear now that Microsoft aren't really bothered if you buy their new console, it's never really been the actual console sales that generate profits... but if you buy the games, whether you play on Series X, Xbox One or mobile phone that's cash in their pocket.

 

Up until the last couple of months I thought they'd done a pretty decent job with their drip feed of news, now all of a sudden they seemed to have lost their way a little. I'm still looking forward to more news though and being a gamer who likes to revisit older games I'm looking forward to what this console can do with them.

[one-armed dwarf]

Right now they don't really seem ready for next gen on the first party side. I guess multiplats will be much better on Xbox than other systems, possibly even better than 90% of PCs for a while. So that's one argument in favour, but the difference between it and PS5 won't be tremendous and Sony's system will have more interesting games.

[spatular]

if i'm in charge of xbox - new pgr game, and new rally game based on the rally dlc for forza horizon 1. for halo they can do whatever they want with the single player and whatever other multiplayer (like battle royale?) that they might have - but for the arena mode i guess they can do whatever they want but also have a mode just for me - the radar needs to cover a larger area, get rid of the running punch thing, always have BR starts - bring back some of the old game modes like stockpile, and the one sided teratories, and fire warlock into the sun. also buy m2 and cave (and arika why not) and give them all the money they need to port all the cave/raizing shmups to all the consoles, and make some new ones.

 

i think the new console looks good so leave them to that i guess. maybe they won't have enough games for launch, or launch games will be rushed but that always happens with console launches so  *shrug*

 

oh and try and get sega to make new outrun/jet set radio/crazy taxi games.

[DisturbedSwan]

On 02/08/2020 at 10:41, DANGERMAN said:

 and will probably have the cheapest too

 

I very much doubt that. Lockhart will be cheaper but I'd still put my money on XSX being the same price or more than PS5 Disc Version.

[DANGERMAN]

2 hours ago, DisturbedSwan said:

 

I very much doubt that. Lockhart will be cheaper but I'd still put my money in XSX being the same price or more than PS5 Disc Version.

So they'll have the cheapest too then? (the series S at the low end and the series X as the most powerful/expensive)