General gaming discussion

brady12

With all yet talk of Ace combat I am very tempted at this price even though i've no time play it right now

https://store.steampowered.com/app/502500/ACE_COMBAT_7_SKIES_UNKNOWN/

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636241#Comment_123636241

Do it

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636241#Comment_123636241

Another 16% off and it still wouldn't be worth it.

Zero-Cool

I just hope they hired an expert to set up their retro consoles and he did this for the laugh.

https://twitter.com/16bitnostalgia/status/1944822785194287280?t=t2kshCnpSe6DDlvGIqYloQ&s=19

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636606#Comment_123636606

Lots of highly political nonsense going on at and around the BBC at the moment, but this is a resigning matter for Tim Davies.

johnny_ultimate

Getting to the end of System Shock now (reached the Security floor), and while I’ve very much enjoyed my time exploring the twisty labyrinths of the ship, I do think its increasingly heavy combat focus makes it feel more like a slog as it nears its ending. While it’s a game of its time and proudly so, it’s also definitely a very long game relative to the variety and depth of combat - nearly totally lacking in the options available in later immersive sims to bypass enemies or trick them, for example. The game just hurls armoured robots at you in a few encounters, and the respawning can be punishing until you’ve cleared a floor. Quite a long game too - easily 15 hours, maybe closer to 20 depending on how thorough you’re being. Interesting to see the achievement stats that more than 80% of players haven’t reached the latter stages of the game.

Still a very fine game worth playing in this modern incarnation - though definitely a game that feels like an important and influential first draft of ideas that would later be expanded on.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636653#Comment_123636653

I appreciate the modernisation of System Shock but I think I prefer the original game despite that having serious flaws. It has a notoriously bad UI (a fantastic looking glass podcast series had the podcaster say they looked at the UI help screen and it put him off playing it for 5 years) and some kind of ugly visuals.

I miss Greg Lopiccolo's dynamic score, even if he was a bit too inspired by nine inch nail's first album and by inspired I mean there's a case for copyright infringement.

The only stage is say is really improved in the remake are the more organic stages. I was really looking forward to the security stage in the remake as the original was a gruelling climb in a game engine that was showing off its room over room technology all the while the best music track in the game kept building up the higher you got.

And don't get me started on the visual downgrade the final level got.

They went back and patched the end sequence as well as the original end sequence was awful but it's still not as good as the original game. The original game had you battle SHODAN in hyperspace as you controls slowly got worse and your vision corrupted slowly. It was frustrating, messy and janky but a great visual representation of SHODAN trying to hack your brain before you destroyed her.

Still thoroughly enjoyed the remake. We don't get enough immersive sims and if it wasn't following up such a ground breaking game it would rank higher.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636783#Comment_123636783

Cannot recommend Skin Deep enough if you want a new immersive sim. System Shock actually probably suffers a bit by playing it directly after SD, given the variety and depth of the latter’s toolkit. But also don’t see SD existing without SS’s influence :)

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636844#Comment_123636844

Thanks, on sale as well. Heard good things and did like their video recently on how they got around modelling food in their game.

Jordan 199

Woohoo! Farming Simulator 25 is coming to Game Pass on the 1st of August.

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123618158#Comment_123618158

If you go out with me on a wagon in Red Dead Online, I will buy you a subscription here.

brady12

Ya I wishlisted it couple weeks ago . Looks great . On sale too.

Retr0gamer

Happy Donkey Kong day.

johnny_ultimate

Nintendo were really cooking with Bananza. I was very skeptical of this game from all the marketing materials, but I just lost three or four hours to it without even noticing the time passing. What a joyous thing.

Retr0gamer

Yeah I lost three or more hours clearing out the 100s sublayer. Got to the 200s and had to stop as it was getting late. Fantastic game and one of the few games that uses technology not just to look pretty but to bring new ideas and ways to play games.

We should be focusing on destructible terrain and not ray tracing!

recyclops

Yeah thats the mad thing, this is exactly what a game should be, fun, innovative and colourful. In the digital foundary review he was mentioning that terrain stays static if you remove all around it and the frames drop. WHO CARES ITS A GAME.

It was fairly chaotic at the start, my wife had me lower it down and was getting sick of OOHHH Banana but seemed intriqued enough to let it go on, thats how I know I am onto a winner of a game. I am very much trying to collect all in each layer but may stop doing that and "bash" on with the story

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123647260#Comment_123647260

You would think "oh Banana" would have piqued her interest. 😁

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123647188#Comment_123647188

Yep, actually destroying stuff so that there is nothing for rays to bounce off of is like anti ray tracing. 😁

This game sounds good. Damn you PlayStation backlog. 😭 Also, Smyths have a load of Switch 2s in stock as I knew they would. Nintendo made of load of them.

Jordan 199

I started playing State of Decay 2 a few days ago. Very addictive.

Retr0gamer

My instincts kicking in when someone posts that From Software games suck:

Retr0gamer

When you learn that DK Bananza was in development for 8 years because they started straight after Mario Odyssey which makes Odyssey 8 years old

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123652170#Comment_123652170

Mario Odyssey is a joy, only topped by Bloodborne for me from the Switch/PS4 era. Saying that I don't think there's a game I've enjoyed more than either since then actually.

Penn

I bought a Switch to finally play Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. Really enjoyed both, but not enough to justify the purchase. Switch ended up sitting there for a few months before I decided to trade it in against the PS5 Pro.

I'll probably end up doing the same thing with the Switch 2 in a few years because I'm a f*cking d*ckhead; buy it to play 2-3 Nintendo games and then realise it wasn't really worth it and was a bit of a waste of money. Something to look forward to I guess.

johnny_ultimate

TBH with the Switch 2 out around six weeks, we’ve had an instant all-timer in Bananza (seriously: it’s astonishingly good), a terrific Mario Kart and the looming promise Metroid Prime 4. I’m already feeling like I’ve got pretty good value for money before we’ve even gotten a hint of a full-fat Mario or Zelda or whatever else Nintendo has cooking over the next year or two :)

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123654788#Comment_123654788

There's a hell of a lot more on switch 2 than just two games. Astral Chain, Bayonetta 3 and secret best platinum game Bayonetta Origins. 2 new Xenoblade games and two remakes,.one of which has an expansion included that's worth the price of admission alone. Luigi's mansion 3, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, pikmin 4, Splatoon, snipperclips.

That's not even going into the WiiU rereleases that might as well be new games as only sickos like me had a WiiU.

Nintendo has a pretty good launch year, which they also had for switch 1. Feels like it's a console getting off the ground early whereas the PS5 still feels like its waiting for that moment while talk of a successor is in the air.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655346#Comment_123655346

I definitely don't doubt there were other great games on the Switch, but for me it usually comes down to "Are there also great games that I want to play on the systems I already have?", and that's where I end up not being able to justify it. I was the same with the DS, bought it for Pokemon Diamond and I think New Super Mario Bros, enjoyed them both, saw a slight resurgence with Pokemon SoulSilver, and other than that… just never played it, because I had a PS3/4 and a 360.

I have a tendancy to replay games, particularly if a sequel is due out or just generally as comfort food/shut your brain off rather than learning or delving into a new game, even if I know those games likely aren't of the same quality as the likes of the Nintendo games. But I bought the Switch because of how insanely well-regarded Mario Odyssey and BOTW were (and I'd never played a Zelda game before so wanted to tick that off the bucket list), and they didn't disappoint. I just found myself gravitating back to the PS5 and ignoring the Switch.

RedXIV

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655375#Comment_123655375

Oh man, whatever about the switch, the DS was a cracking little console for hidden gems, the amount of weird games you'd pick up for a fiver in gamestop (ah nostalgia!) and maybe buy 3 of them, one would be rubbish, one would be entertaining and then one would blow your mind at how addictive it was. DS and PS2 was the most fun era ever for exploring the "not sure about this game but I'll give it a lash" mentality. I'd say PC gaming would come close but I find myself caught in the netflix effect of too much choice there.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655494#Comment_123655494

I honestly believe the DS has the best library of any console ever. So much good stuff and so much to discover on it. PS2 isn't far behind.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655494#Comment_123655494

Definitely true about the DS, but it's the same thing; my time and money just stayed with the PS. I know I've missed out on a huge chunk of the greatest games of all time because other than the DS and Switch (both of which I barely played), I've never owned any other Nintendos. Played the Super Mario SNES games at a friends house a few times and on emulators later, but we were just a Sega to Playstation family (cousins included). No Gameboy, no SNES, no N64, no Wii.

I've nothing against Nintendo, I just have plenty to play on PS (and now Steam since getting a Steam Deck and a decent graphics card for my PC) that I also have no real desire to go back to play those games I'd have missed out on.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655657#Comment_123655657

I can accept this if your next game is ace combat 7.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655759#Comment_123655759

I'm saving that for a special occasion; after I finish Metal Gear Solid 6: Revenge of the Kojiman.