General gaming chatter

[Sssith]

I hadn't seen either trailer and I found the both to be disappointing.  That said I am immensely hopeful for both as they are two of my favorite franchises.

[maxbeedo]

Same.  Bioware needs to prove itself again, especially considering everyone in a leadership role has left, so everyone's expecting the worst.  There were hints that DA4 will end up a co-op MP mess like Anthem, considering the description Varric gives in the trailer makes it seem like the player protagonist will be one of many faceless unimportant people working together, instead of the "Hero/Champion/Inquisitor", but we'll see.  A CG trailer isn't going to cut it, though some of the concepts shown like mage assassins dueling in the streets of Minrathous are incredibly fitting for Tevinter's magocracy theme, and something we've only heard about but not seen for 3 games.

[Pixie]

Man am I glad I'm playing Cyberpunk on a worthy PC. Poor console plebs. :lol:

But srsly, what a fucking disaster this launch has become for CDPR. Burned every bit of goodwill they've accumulated until now. I mean, they were already a shit company but still... Yikes.

[maxbeedo]

Yeah, not a good look to prevent reviewers from seeing or talking about the console version until right before launch.  Sony has removed Cyberpunk from PSN and is offering refunds at CDPR's request, and Microsoft is "expanding" its refund policy too. Most of the goodwill I have for CDPR comes from the NoClip documentaries, as I still tend to believe the main people in charge of the company are good people, but they've grown too big with GOG and going public and having to listen to stockholders now, especially this year with probably lots of people yelling in their ears demanding short-term dividends.  Considering the PC and Stadia versions are doing ok I suspect they'll recover eventually.

[Pixie]

Best Buy is also refunding open copies of the game.

Oh well. It runs like a dream for me (maxed out, with raytracing and all the goodies, at 1440p I get 60+ fps). Hasn't crashed once in the 38 hours I've put into it so far. Only bugs I've encountered are trivial glitches - a T-posed NPC once, a cell phone floating in the air once, two vans that had sunk into the street, stuff like that. No broken quests, no gamestoppers.

Pretty sure it'll get the post-release support Witcher 3 did and be something really special.

It's easily my GOTY at this point. It's just so damn good. The story just pulls you in deep and holds on tight. And of course, there's Keanu.

[Sssith]

I just finished Witcher 3 Blood & Wine.  Overall a good DLC.  I enjoyed the game but I do think I am done with Witcher.  I am in the process of installing control.  Not sure what to expect but I hear my card will be able to take advantage of the game which is nice.

After that I think I will be ready for Cyberpunk.

[Pixie]

Control is pretty but the game just didn't do anything for me. Lots of potential that just didn't seem to go anywhere? It spent a lot of time contemplating its own navel though.

[narsica]

I've also really enjoyed Cyberpunk so far, although I've had a few game-breaking bugs. Several times I've been unable to draw any weapons, and not realized it for a while. Also a bunch of clipping issues and t-poses for enemies. While my PC is probably significantly less beefy than Pixie's, it runs well and looks great. The game is undeniably broken though - see Spiffing Brit's videos to see just how insanely broken it is - but the story and characters are compelling, and it's so goddamn pretty. One of my favourite moments in the game is where you get to be a passenger when an NPC drives, and you can just focus on the watching the scenery.

I feel like Pix might appreciate this hat!

[Sssith]

I have been debating getting this game.  Mixed feelings about it.

[Pixie]

I have been debating getting this game.  Mixed feelings about it.

I am so frigging in love with it, wrinkles and all. I'm almost 60 hours in, have barely scratched the surface of it, and it's all I want to do. When I'm not playing it, I'm thinking about it.

[Kasferatu]

A couple of reviewers I trust have dampened my excitement for it - basically saying it is fun but kinda mediocre - and certainly doesn't capture what is great about the Cyberpunk genre in general.  I'll pick it up when its patched and cheap.

In the mean time I've had a late contender for GOTY.  Monster Train appeared on gamepass and I'm absolutely addicted to it.

[Sssith]

Control is very interesting.  Which is not to say that I am loving it.  I am curious about the whole mystery of the game but I don't really feel invested.  No real clue how to spend my RPG-like points in the game which is a bit annoying.  Fights are tough.  On the whole the game is good.

Graphics wise it is very fun to see my new card being fully used. DLSS is pretty amazing.  I am rendering the game 2k while the actual setting something ridiculously lower.  This in turn allows me to have every setting at max, even Ray Tracing.  The whole thing is pretty amazing.  The game plays so smoothly on top of all that

[Pixie]

A couple of reviewers I trust have dampened my excitement for it - basically saying it is fun but kinda mediocre - and certainly doesn't capture what is great about the Cyberpunk genre in general.  I'll pick it up when its patched and cheap.

In the mean time I've had a late contender for GOTY.  Monster Train appeared on gamepass and I'm absolutely addicted to it.

Tell those reviewers to put the crack pipe down.

In my experience, people who say it doesn't capture the Cyberpunk genre don't realize it's based on Cyberpunk THE GAME, which it is like 100% faithful to, and not Cyberpunk THE GENRE which is a much bigger,  branchier, and more amorphous thing.

It absolutely nails Cyberpunk THE GAME.

[maxbeedo]

Control is very interesting.  Which is not to say that I am loving it.  I am curious about the whole mystery of the game but I don't really feel invested.  No real clue how to spend my RPG-like points in the game which is a bit annoying.  Fights are tough.  On the whole the game is good.

I put Control in the "worth playing" category because of the creative visuals and object of power concepts.  I don't think the game handles everything particularly well, but it showed me "something new", which is getting increasingly rare as I get older. 

Just finished Yakuza 6, took about 54 hours.  Holy crap is the story amazing.  Probably immediately jumping into my top 5 stories from a video game.  So many amazing characters and impactful moments, despite introducing the vast majority of them in this game.  I'm not sure I'd put it above 0 as the best Yakuza game, although it has a newer engine so it's more technically proficient; it's just mainly lacking the cabaret mini-game and a wider variety of interesting side stories.  I'd probably rank them 0 > 6 > Kiwami 2 > Kiwami > 5 > 4 > 3.  I'll get around to Yakuza: Like A Dragon soon-ish.  Got a little bit of a grind left for the platinum with the Clan Creator, but at least the platinum is achievable compared to other games in the series that required 100% completion of absolutely everything.  For having batting cages as a mini-game in every game before this, they finally made a whole team simulator which I did 100% complete and was quite fun.

[Sssith]

If I were to jump in the Yakuza franchise where should I do it?  The only game of it that I have access to is the one that was given away on the PS4 + deal.  I only have the vaguest idea of the overarching story line.