What are you playing?

Holy hell, Spider-Man PS4 is something else.

Now, if you removed 90% of the video game filler and boiled it down to Doctor Octopus and Mr. Negative's arcs and with that ending it may be one of the best bits of Spider-Man media ever produced. That ending. Chef's kiss.
 
Holy hell, Spider-Man PS4 is something else.

Now, if you removed 90% of the video game filler and boiled it down to Doctor Octopus and Mr. Negative's arcs and with that ending it may be one of the best bits of Spider-Man media ever produced. That ending. Chef's kiss.
The DLC is good too. But yes, that story was basically the best spider-man movie I've ever seen.
 
Yeah, I watched it again today. That fucking ending guys.

That it ends with Peter Parker letting Aunt May die because of how responsible he is is easily the fucking best God damn Spider-Man beat I've ever seen. Absolutely perfect way for Aunt May to go. It was well acted as fuck and had me God damn sobbing. A lot of the game seemed to be a huge fuck you to Brand New Day, from Stan Lee (by the way, wiped a tear at this cameo because it's probably the single best Stan Lee cameo fucking ever) telling Mary Jane how much he prefers her and Peter being together to Spider-Man doing the RIGHT FUCKING THING and letting his beloved aunt die because saving her would require he doom countless others. Just, God damn.

The Doctor Octopus arc was fucking perfect too. Best earned tragic villain this side of Batman TAS Mr. Freeze. It took the best part of Spider-Man 2 and made it better.

We're really living in the golden age of Spider-Man media (I don't know about the comics since Marvel comics are impossible to get into). This game, Spider-Man Homecoming, Into the Spider-Verse. Just God damn.

I even liked the stealth bits where you play as Mary Jane and Miles Morales. Their big climactic segments were both terrific, from MJ and Pete's banter in Grand Central to how fucking tense, while also funny Miles' is.
 
Yeah, I watched it again today. That fucking ending guys.

That it ends with Peter Parker letting Aunt May die because of how responsible he is is easily the fucking best God damn Spider-Man beat I've ever seen. Absolutely perfect way for Aunt May to go. It was well acted as fuck and had me God damn sobbing. A lot of the game seemed to be a huge fuck you to Brand New Day, from Stan Lee (by the way, wiped a tear at this cameo because it's probably the single best Stan Lee cameo fucking ever) telling Mary Jane how much he prefers her and Peter being together to Spider-Man doing the RIGHT FUCKING THING and letting his beloved aunt die because saving her would require he doom countless others. Just, God damn.

The Doctor Octopus arc was fucking perfect too. Best earned tragic villain this side of Batman TAS Mr. Freeze. It took the best part of Spider-Man 2 and made it better.

We're really living in the golden age of Spider-Man media (I don't know about the comics since Marvel comics are impossible to get into). This game, Spider-Man Homecoming, Into the Spider-Verse. Just God damn.

I even liked the stealth bits where you play as Mary Jane and Miles Morales. Their big climactic segments were both terrific, from MJ and Pete's banter in Grand Central to how fucking tense, while also funny Miles' is.
Spider-Man PS4 is what sold me on Miles Morales as a character. I had no opinion of him before, because he came into existence after I had already given up on comics, but he was so damn likeable in this game. From the introduction of his dad, to showcasing what a good fucking person Peter is by reaching out to someone going through a pain he knows too well, to
Is it really a spoiler at this point that he gets spider-powers?"

I need a sequel to this game, fucking now.

Also, turning Mary Jane into a reporter instead of a fashion model is the best single idea for her character ever. I loved MJ in this.
 
I've gotten to the point in beat saber where (default level) hard is too slow, but expert still has spots where I can't clear the level because I can't make my hands operate independently of each other in two different patterns. I decided to try Superhot in VR, and it's pretty fun except for all the times I randomly punch a desk chair because I stepped out of my sensor area. :p
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Vermintide 2 -

I've gotten everybody but Sienna to 30. Sienna is my weakest character due to her glass-cannon fragility (my playstyle favors more front-line-tankage oriented builds), but now that I've unlocked her crowbill and discovered how awesome the regular-attack of the fireball staff is, I think I'm doing ok with her.
 
I didn't realize all your characters level separately. Or even that you could train all of them simultanously (i.e., enough "slots" to hold them all).

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I didn't realize all your characters level separately. Or even that you could train all of them simultanously (i.e., enough "slots" to hold them all).

--Patrick
You don't have "slots," you can just play any given character in any game, and each character maintains its own level. However, that level does apply across all three of its potential careers. So, if you level up "ranger" Bardin Goreksson to 30, "ironbreaker" and "slayer" Bardin are also 30.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Factorio -

It finally happened. Playing while getting sleepy, I managed to get hit by my own automatic steam locomotive. Instant splat and game over (well, I reloaded my most recent autosave but still).
 

GasBandit

Staff member
DAMN YOU OSHA!
What's really goofy is, I may have never gotten hit by my own train before, but I HAVE accidentallly caused two trains to collide. I was both relieved and slightly disappointed that there was no derailment or really even any damage to speak of, any moreso than the car takes when ramming a tree (which is to say, less than 1% of max HP per collision).
 

Dave

Staff member
PUBG to me is like basketball. I love it. I love to play it. But I suck at it so very bad and just don't feel like I'm getting any better. I mean, I know I am a little, but I just don't see any improvement like I think I should with the amount of hours I have into it. I'm playing with two guys who play and they have markedly less hours in game than me and they are better. UGH! WHY DO I SUCK SO BAD AT THIS?!?
 

GasBandit

Staff member
PUBG to me is like basketball. I love it. I love to play it. But I suck at it so very bad and just don't feel like I'm getting any better. I mean, I know I am a little, but I just don't see any improvement like I think I should with the amount of hours I have into it. I'm playing with two guys who play and they have markedly less hours in game than me and they are better. UGH! WHY DO I SUCK SO BAD AT THIS?!?
Are the guys you are playing with under 30?
Around the time I hit 30, I started noticing I just couldn't keep up with the twitch-reflex requirements of playing against teens and twentysomethings anymore. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
 
Are the guys you are playing with under 30?
Around the time I hit 30, I started noticing I just couldn't keep up with the twitch-reflex requirements of playing against teens and twentysomethings anymore. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
Yup. I know that's the main reason why. I just need to find a 40+ server and I might be decent.
Did you not read the article?

That science-y stuff aside, I will also say that there’s more to the game than just being able to aim and spray bullets (which is the stat many people assume is the reason younger folks win). Some of the other “git gud” things you are going to need to work on are things like actually playing enough to learn the geography. Aim/talent/skill only gets you so far before you bump into teams that know exactly how to choke a bridge, where the good spots for hiding are, and all that. People who play together enough that they already know who pushes, who covers, and who scouts without having to argue about it in chat while under fire.

—Patrick
 

Dave

Staff member
I read the article and I agree with a lot of it. Part of the problem with games is - like movies - it's incredibly hard to do something new. And when you've played the same game with a different format over and over for years, it's hard to be excited for the next big thing.
 
Are the guys you are playing with under 30?
Around the time I hit 30, I started noticing I just couldn't keep up with the twitch-reflex requirements of playing against teens and twentysomethings anymore. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
It's been theorized this effect happens again around 300, 3000, 30,000 and so on. The sample seems to prove this, but sample size is too small to be sure.


...sorry, couldn't help myself. I'll go stand in the corner.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Killing Floor 2 has announced that Jan 11 thru Jan 18 will be double XP and increased item drop rate (I'm guessing to close out the Twisted Christmas event).
 
Has anyone played the Breath of the Wild DLC?

Would you recommend that I buy it while I play through it the first time?

I’m not very far in, I don’t think. I have one of the four animals on my team now.
 
Yeah, I watched it again today. That fucking ending guys.
I happily played through it twice almost back-to-back (for the New Game+ mode). I lent it to a friend but I'm already itching to play it again. Once I get it back, I might get the DLC just for more content.

Honestly, the ending was perfect.

You're so right about May. I WEPT.

Also, I thought Otto's "Peter? Peter, where are you going? PETERRRRRR!" as Pete walked away was heartbreaking. For that brief second, there was a glimpse of the old pre-Ock Otto that I'd grown to like over the course of the game. Obviously, everyone knew exactly what would happen to him, but the slow burn made me almost not want to see it happen.

In the meantime, three disappointments for me:

Night in the Woods

A friend of mine gifted this to me for Christmas. And I liked it for the most part. It's an incredibly rich, alive town with every person in the town looking unique, even the ones that just walk or drive by. I liked the characters. The main character was relatable in some ways, but still engaging even when she wasn't relatable.

But then, as day after day went, I just sort of got...bored. Maybe that was the point, but I don't know.

I eventually finished the game, but the big finale was so tonally out of place that it lost me as a whole. I don't regret playing the game, but I'll probably not replay it.

A Story About My Uncle

Fuck platforming in a first person perspective game. Just fuck all that. Fuck it with a 12" spiked dildo. I do not have the patience for that bullshit.

Rapture Rejects

I love Cyanide & Happiness. I love their comic. I love their cartoons. I love their card game, Joking Hazard.

This Early Access Battle Royale game? Not so much.

It's really limited in terms of customization (plus, it now has microtransactions to buy those limited cosmetics).
The gameplay is...fine, but not great.
The player base is basically nonexistent. I played two rounds. One match had 3 other players. The second had one other player. I don't even know how many players can play altogether, but this was particularly disappointing. Until the circle starting shrinking, I didn't encounter a single player.
 
Night in the Woods

A friend of mine gifted this to me for Christmas. And I liked it for the most part. It's an incredibly rich, alive town with every person in the town looking unique, even the ones that just walk or drive by. I liked the characters. The main character was relatable in some ways, but still engaging even when she wasn't relatable.

But then, as day after day went, I just sort of got...bored. Maybe that was the point, but I don't know.

I eventually finished the game, but the big finale was so tonally out of place that it lost me as a whole. I don't regret playing the game, but I'll probably not replay it.
As much as I enjoyed Night in the Woods, there are significant... tonal issues with the setting, the story, and what the the creator had to do to make the story work... the least of which is having none of the small minded, small town people be racist (because everyone's an animal) or exclusionary (half the main cast is gay or bi, but no rocks were thrown) or bigoted (apparently everyone is a member of the same church, despite never attending). That's not how Smalltown, America works... people avoid those places explicitly because you aren't safe if you deviate from the norm by more than a few degrees. I know; I have family in one and have had... "experiences" in it. As such, the entire story literally trips over itself the second it starts by virtue of being too fantastic: May and her friends would never be welcome in Possum Springs and none of funny animal people would want anything to do with them.

The actual message of the game... that small towns and their people meant something once, that their irrelevance hurts, and that their passing will likely be unmourned? That's fine. But the game itself doesn't really earn that payoff and the motivations of the game's antagonists are LIES LIES LIES that could have only been said because the story and world bend over backwards to make it impossible for them to be the fucking monsters they'd have actually been in the real world.
 
Why did Capcom put in that one-shot rule for the Resident Evil 2 demo? You can spend 2 minutes making a throwaway account on your PS4 and just play it again and again to your heart's content. It's such an easily bypassable restriction and just adds a little bit of annoyance. Why annoy your audience?
 
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