General gaming discussion

Potential-Monke

Ah isekai, done right, is really good. I've thoroughly enjoyed a good few of them, but they're also the current in thing so there's far too many that have good ideas but are just hollow underneath.

On a side note, the Jujutsu Kaisen game is looking far better than season 2 of the anime...

EoinMcLovin

https://www.gamesradar.com/ea-flop-immortals-of-aveum-reportedly-cost-around-dollar125-million-former-dev-says-a-aaa-single-player-shooter-in-todays-market-was-a-truly-awful-idea/

Former Immortals Of Aveum Dev Says It Was An ‘Awful Idea’ To Spend $125 Million On A ‘Triple-A Single-Player Shooter In Today’s Market’

Full report

https://www.ign.com/articles/ive-never-seen-it-this-bad-game-developers-explain-the-huge-layoffs-hitting-riot-epic-and-more

Zero-Cool

I'm loving the gameplay footage from tomb raider remastered, goddamn kick right in my nostalgia. Not picking it up on launch but will soon.

Also, big oof here, Bloober blaming the marketing department on why the game looked bad at state of play.

https://twitter.com/Okami13_/status/1757468691820593639?t=HHvWeKKO6fFWaXkFZBFSnA&s=19

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121764732#Comment_121764732

They rounded out the triangle breasts. Bad move imo.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121764753#Comment_121764753

Ah, they already did that in TR2. TR1 was the only one with triangle breasts.

Maybe there'll be DLC for the old models!

Glad these games are getting a rerelease. They were getting very hard to play on modern hardware. I wrote a guide on steam which used about 5 or 6 mods to get them playable. Had to hide the guide as the mods disappeared and I was getting angry messages about it.

I still feel TR1 is an absolute classic worth anyone's time playing. TR2 has all the nostalgia but its not as good as TR with some very boring environments, confusing levels and a focus on awful combat. I wish I played more of TR3 but I was burned out at that stage. It did seem a bit rushed and unfocused although I did enjoy it back on the ps1.

Looks like they did a great job. TR1 is pretty transformative. The original had no sky boxes and just a black void that made everywhere look like a cave. The new skyboxes at least make the outdoor areas feel more open.

CastorTroy

No DLC needed since I believe you can change between old and new graphics. So can get your good old triangle breasts.

Do the GOG versions require anything extra to run? I have the trilogy through them but never played them.

The trilogy comes with a message

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765155#Comment_121765155

They were a pain in the ass to get running when I tried. The PC version of 3 is also missing some graphical effects from the ps1 game. I heard that a 'croft engine' mode makes playing them easier but honestly this remaster looks like the definitive way now.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765155#Comment_121765155

Translation of that message: we are aware that we're selling you content that we consider to be offensive, racist and stereotypical but we're doing it anyway because our bottom line matters more than what we claim to be our values. So fk off and give us your money.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765652#Comment_121765652

Honestly it's by far the best way to deal with these issues. It recognises that there's issues with the game's that are offensive and points it out but also doesn't alter the content of the original game.

It would be way worse with more outrage nonsense if they censored it.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765652#Comment_121765652

Not really: this is a challenge anybody releasing 'outdated' media has to contend with. It's routine with the likes of silent film or old Hollywood cartoons, which often have all kinds of racist sh*t in them. But ensuring they're available to the public in their original form as historical documents is vital.

Ultimately, a content note is the best compromise: puts it all in context, without actually changing the media in question (and keeping classic media unaltered is important for preservation purposes). Much better than, for example, Disney recently going in and awkwardly cutting out bits of films like The French Connection.

McFly85

The recent MGS3 rerelease had a similar note which made me feel incredibly old!

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765667#Comment_121765667

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765680#Comment_121765680

While I fully agree that changing old content to match modern sensibilities is the absolute worst option I still believe that the best way to deal with racist content is to stop selling it. That being said I don't see what it is actually racist in these games but that might be my sensibilities not being so sensible to be offended by depictions of fictional people.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766472#Comment_121766472

Memory-holing major pieces of pop culture or art over questionable content is an even worse option again TBH. Tomb Raider are essential games in the history and culture of a medium - I'd much rather they be widely available with a brief content warning over their dodgy depictions of indigenous people, rather than unceremoniously left to rot. The value of a major restoration of these games is far higher than neglecting that effort over some questionable levels. Yes, it's being sold as a commercial product, but there's real value for the audience in having these games available on modern platforms too.

Buster Keaton is one of my favourite filmmakers of all time, but some of his films feature horrendous scenes of blackface. But I'm still glad all his films are being lovingly restored and re-released in HD and 4K, because there's so much cultural and artistic value in the good stuff that it'd be an outrage for them to be neglected over the bad. Audiences should be trusted to engage with these films, while being made aware of the very different context in which they were made. It's no different here.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766472#Comment_121766472

TR 2 has some pretty **** representation of Chinese people and TR3 has depictions of south islanders as stick throwing cannibals.

I think this is the best way to deal with this kind of material. Highlight that it's wrong and problematic but don't censor it so we can learn from it. Censoring it or making it unavailable is the exact same, although on a completely different level of scale, as holocaust denial or American civil war revisionism.

pixelburp

It's funny how film, TV and video games get these little contextual badges yet AFAIK literature doesn't; about half the great works from about the 1950s back are as racist and sexist as they come yet I've never seen, nor believe it happens now that a warning is printed in the foreword. I wonder why this medium gets to slink past when so much of the celebrated works within it are as egregious as your Gone with the Winds or Tomb Raiders.

CastorTroy

Haven't some books been removed from school curriculums? Or campaigns to have them removed?

Anyway, wasn't Resi 5 criticised as well?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766627#Comment_121766627

Curriculums no doubt and those are always changing anyway, but you'll still find the books on shelves and without caveats AFAIK.

Yeah I remember even on release there was a lot of negative reaction to the game's fairly yikes-inducing depictions.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766571#Comment_121766571

Joe Rogan fans don't read books

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766659#Comment_121766659

Capcom patched the game to have more of a mix of black and white zombies but the game never felt... quite right even after patching.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766659#Comment_121766659

A lot harder to track down and get bookshop/library staff to fix warning labels to books already printed and on shelves, compared to when games are remastered or films/tv uploaded to a streaming service. Same as with the books, the companies aren't sending out labels to game stores to be added onto cases of games already on the shelves.

Maybe in new editions of some books a content warning might sometimes be added inside.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766704#Comment_121766704

I've seen books with forewords what would discuss problematic content.

johnny_ultimate

Bring this back IMO. Not as a content warning, just because it's cool.

Retr0gamer

Mister Mosquito on the PS2 made fun of that:

Zero-Cool

This is gas. You know in gta 3, shooting the moon with a sniper rifle made it change size easter egg? Turns out it was to show the artists different moon sizes so they could pick one to leave in the game but forgot about the mechanic to change the size so was left in.

https://twitter.com/ObbeVermeij/status/1757572432863384046?t=j-yGzoiTS1paVg4nD_0Bvw&s=19

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765155#Comment_121765155

Now I feel bad for mentioning breasts

OptimusTractor

Imagine if the old Tomb Raider cheats still worked. I always liked shooting scorpions with unlimited exploding arrows.

CastorTroy

They'll have to keep in the nude raider code. 😃

And how long until the first video of locking the butler in the fridge appears?

RobertFoster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121769052#Comment_121769052

Two weeks pre-launch it seems:

https://youtu.be/CTuG-GB3D-M?si=MzPPaZtO9GgjdlB7

You get an achievement/trophy for doing it.

J. Marston

It's weird that Sony won't go near a Bloodborne remake/remaster/60fps upgrade despite the internet salivating for it while loads of other stuff gets a modern touch up.

CatInABox

A somewhat fun thing about the TR remasters, people had been wondering what had been going on with the OpenLara open source engine, turns out that they hired him to do the remasters. Love when stuff like this happens, where someone with a clear and obvious passion for the material gets the job.

https://twitter.com/XProger_san/status/1757892574092636206

Sonic Mania is another example of this, I think.

CptMonkey

I would kill for this.