General gaming discussion

petes · 28-12-2020 09:52PM

How could I forget HL2!!

RocketRaccoon · 28-12-2020 09:52PM

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Brain not working enough at the moment to recall but any examples of a game that was super hyped pre release and then lived up to it?

Ocarina of Time, the build up to that was insane and it delivered.

petes · 28-12-2020 09:54PM

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

I remember that but the earliest one I can remember was Killer Instinct which was going to be the ultimate, best ever beat Em up, it wasn't, it was sh1te.

Wash your mouth out, once I got Orchid's 47 hit combo on the Snes it was the best game ever!!

johnny_ultimate · 28-12-2020 09:55PM

I still can't get over Valve releasing an incredible, full-blooded Half-Life game this year after a decade of fevered anticipation, and barely anyone (relatively speaking) getting to play it

Says so much about the state and uptake of VR in 2020.

The Phantom Pain · 28-12-2020 09:59PM

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I don't use 'one of the best games ever made' lightly in these circumstances. I wholeheartedly believe it - it's the kind of game I play games for (along with your Outer Wilds, Breath of the Wilds, Ico, Half-Lifes etc...). Apologies if it sets the bar too high, but there's no hyperbole from me in this case (all IMO of course)

Well I think there's a difference between hyping up a game before release, and hyping up one after release. The reality of Black & White hit as soon as people actually played the game. Just recently we've seen Cyberpunk's years-long, hysterical hype-building come crashing down as the reality of it being just another video game hit home.

But I think there's a difference between that and people holding a game in high regard after release. In Obra Dinn's case we're talking about a game that's been out over two years, widely praised by audiences and critics alike. It's the 'reality' of the game that was released that has earned that response, rather than unrealistic promises and smart marketing pre-release.

Yeah, I'm still being cautious.

I've nothing to lose, if it turns out to be great then it will be a pleasant surprise and I'll come back and say thanks but games are just too overhyped these days.

On the subject of hype post release, I got the ps4 over the xbox one partly so I could play The Last of Us "part I" (:rolleyes: ) having fallen out of love with playstation by the time the xbox came out. No regrets about choosing PS again but TLOU, whilst good, is probably one of my least favourite exclusives. It's nowhere near the level of greatness people said it was, for me anyway. *runs*

The Raging Bile Duct · 28-12-2020 10:00PM

The Phantom Pain wrote: »

Um, maybe because I do care for his recommendations???
Speaking of snipey, perhaps don't shoot first and ask questions later - it wasn't Johnny's recommendation specifically. It's just that historically when someone says, "best game ever" it usually doesn't live up to the hype so I've learned to lower my expectations. I'm still going to play it based on the recommendations here, including Johnny's but I am cautiously optimistic. That's all.

Fair enough, sorry I took it the wrong way. I see Johnny get a lot of flak on different forums about his film and music recommendations. There's times I don't agree with him but I can't ever fault his enthusiasm for the film and games.

28-12-2020 10:00PM

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I still can't get over Valve releasing an incredible, full-blooded Half-Life game this year after a decade of fevered anticipation, and barely anyone (relatively speaking) getting to play it Says so much about the state and uptake of VR in 2020.

There's a lot of aspects that work against me investing in it atm. I don't want to invest heavily in a technology that hasn't really been hugely adopted. Also don't have the space which factors in for a fair few people I suspect.

martyos121 · 28-12-2020 10:12PM

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Brain not working enough at the moment to recall but any examples of a game that was super hyped pre release and then lived up to it?

A few of the earlier GTAs like Vice City and San Andreas delivered on their enormous hype, and even 4 and 5 did to an extent. San Andreas in particular was everything I hoped it’d be and more, but I was still fairly young when it came out and the novelty of playing it might’ve made me biased. I went back to it in 2015 for another playthrough on the PS4 and then realised it actually was amazing and it still held up.

Super Mario Galaxy is another one, maybe didn’t quite have the same marketing budget as the Rockstar titles but I remember it being a pretty big deal as the first Mario title on the Wii. And it was magical in fairness.

Odyssey too, as mentioned above, definitely fits the bill.

Jordan 199 · 28-12-2020 10:24PM

GTA Vice City is one game I wanted to finish, but the controls for it drove me mad.

johnny_ultimate · 28-12-2020 10:29PM

Deleted User wrote: »

There's a lot of aspects that work against me investing in it atm. I don't want to invest heavily in a technology that hasn't really been hugely adopted. Also don't have the space which factors in for a fair few people I suspect.

Yep, it's totally understandable. I have a Rift and even that's now old-hat - it's not just a matter of having the hardware, but it's constantly being iterated and improved on to a frustrating degree from the perspective of those who bought in even a few years ago. There's not enough out there to justify the constant investment needed. And I've absolutely run into space issues too.

Alyx is that good IMO, and ultimately well worth the various issues and expense that comes with the territory. But I'll be surprised if Valve push further, as even looking at the years sales charts (as per Steam's own charts at the moment) it can't have been a profitable enterprise for them. Obviously they're a company big enough to eat the cost as a sheer passion project, but I'd say a HL3 - which seems inevitable given where Alyx ends up - will be more traditional, or at least with VR as an option rather than the base experience.

Retr0gamer · 28-12-2020 10:40PM

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Brain not working enough at the moment to recall but any examples of a game that was super hyped pre release and then lived up to it?

The one that sticks out for me was resident evil 4. Was very excited about that game but was not expecting one of the very best action games of all time that influenced action games for years yet nothing still has really come close to matching it.

ERG89 · 28-12-2020 10:46PM

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Brain not working enough at the moment to recall but any examples of a game that was super hyped pre release and then lived up to it?

Most hyped games tend to deliver to some degree as the way games are covered its very rare a game kinda drops from nowhere to be a big release.

Its probably easier to remember hyped ones that didn't deliver what people were expecting like Fallout 4, BioShock Infinite, Resident Evil 6, No Man's Sky or Cyberpunk. They all kinda promised something that just didn't exist on day one. Stuff like Anthem, Fallout 76 & Avengers; maybe I am naive but I think people were very guarded on them even before the pre release beta's killed them in most peoples eyes.

28-12-2020 10:48PM

Jordan 199 wrote: »

GTA Vice City is one game I wanted to finish, but the controls for it drove me mad.

God that's one that I had serious hype for pre-release having loved GTA 3 which was a revelation to me at the time and VC didn't fail to deliver. Got it early too as I'd a pal working in Xtra-Vision.

I replayed both on PS4 in the last year or so and my love for Vice City is no more, it has some serious frustrations I don't recall having back in the day. GTA 3 though I had a blast playing again.

Azza · 28-12-2020 10:58PM

Its so unfortunate that more people are not in a position to experience HL:Alyx. The price of admission is simply too high, but as a gaming experience I think its unsurpassed. People spending €1500 on a RTX 3090 or €1000 euro on 6900XT should seriously consider an Index instead, I guarantee 120FPS or ray tracing doesn't match the experience of VR done well.

Robert ninja · 28-12-2020 11:27PM

Azza wrote: »

Its so unfortunate that more people are not in a position to experience HL:Alyx. The price of admission is simply too high,

Aye I can never seem to fit it into any PC budget or upgrade. My next PC is going to set me back €1300-€1500 probably because it's going to be specced for 32GB RAM, all solid-state storage for a mix of work and play. I really wanted to get into VR but it never seems to be financially viable. It's like consoles... I can't justify 100s on a device that is solely for entertainment consumption.

Benzino · 28-12-2020 11:27PM

Jealous of people who get to play Alyx, looks so good but can't justify the cost (I would need a new pc). Personally, I wish Steam never happened, feel like we have missed out on some great Valve games as a result. At least Turtle Rock Studios are back on the case!

Jordan 199 · 28-12-2020 11:30PM

Deleted User wrote: »

God that's one that I had serious hype for pre-release having loved GTA 3 which was a revelation to me at the time and VC didn't fail to deliver. Got it early too as I'd a pal working in Xtra-Vision.

I replayed both on PS4 in the last year or so and my love for Vice City is no more, it has some serious frustrations I don't recall having back in the day. GTA 3 though I had a blast playing again.

GTA III, San Andreas and Vice City were part of a 'GTA Trilogy' for the PS4 from what I remember.

I just couldn't get into III or Vice City due to the controls. Played San Andreas on the XB360 and loved it. Couldn't get the same feeling when I tried it on the PS4.

Zero-Cool · 29-12-2020 12:29AM

Speaking of vice city, what an incredible soundtrack. I was actually listening to it in my car just yesterday. It's mad, those 80's songs are iconic in their own right but listening to them now just makes me think of driving neon streets in my Comet. I'd love if GTA 6 revisited Vice City but not sure if they could recapture the magic.

RocketRaccoon · 29-12-2020 12:39AM

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Speaking of vice city, what an incredible soundtrack. I was actually listening to it in my car just yesterday. It's mad, those 80's songs are iconic in their own right but listening to them now just makes me think of driving neon streets in my Comet. I'd love if GTA 6 revisited Vice City but not sure if they could recapture the magic.

I always remember hating 80s music being played by my parents at home until I played VC, now i am the same as you, anytime I hear a song from the soundtrack I am transported back nearly 20 years to playing VC. Flash FM in particular.

I bought the CD box set soundtrack many moons ago in golden discs.

Jordan 199 · 29-12-2020 12:48AM

The radio stations in Vice City are easily my favourite by far. I like the tunes in GTA IV but not really GTA V.

29-12-2020 01:12AM

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

I always remember hating 80s music being played by my parents at home until I played VC, now i am the same as you, anytime I hear a song from the soundtrack I am transported back nearly 20 years to playing VC. Flash FM in particular.

I bought the CD box set soundtrack many moons ago in golden discs.

I think Andreas had the country music. Running over swathes of people in tune with "Crazy" or "All my exes live in Texas".. :P

J. Marston · 29-12-2020 01:22AM

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Speaking of vice city, what an incredible soundtrack. I was actually listening to it in my car just yesterday. It's mad, those 80's songs are iconic in their own right but listening to them now just makes me think of driving neon streets in my Comet. I'd love if GTA 6 revisited Vice City but not sure if they could recapture the magic.

As far as licensed soundtracks go it'll never be touched in a game ever again, in my opinion. To this day I haven't sang along to a game as much...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-8EORB783c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sE138cu_LU

Dyr · 29-12-2020 10:10AM

I prefered GTA IIIs and SA soundtracks to VC tbh, then GTAIVs soundtrack went to **** and I havent played the next one

Penn · 29-12-2020 11:02AM

I don't know if they could ever beat V-Rock in Vice City. I mean they had two songs from a fictional band made just for the game, and they were still great tunes that slotted in perfectly.

RobertFoster · 29-12-2020 11:20AM

I think I'd rank Vice City's soundtrack ahead of San Andreas as it fit the setting so well. The talk radio and ads on GTAIII's radio were great (phrases still pop into my head "As a mother and a fireman...", "biorhythmic subconsistence gymnastics", "cinco-cinco-cinco, nueve-dos-nueve-dos"). I'd have to look up the songs though as none are coming to mind.

The same with GTAIV, when I think about that game it's the city and the gameplay that comes to mind not the soundtrack. As for GTAV, I actively disliked that game's radio and spent more time skipping through stations than actually listening to it.

All that said, nothing beats The Ballad of Chapped-Lips Calhoun by Sideways Hank O'Malley and the Alabama Bottle Boys tbh :pac:

29-12-2020 11:20AM

They removed some the songs in later versions didn't they, I think the 2 Michael Jackson songs were among them.

AlmightyCushion · 29-12-2020 01:58PM

RobertFoster wrote: »

I think I'd rank Vice City's soundtrack ahead of San Andreas as it fit the setting so well. The talk radio and ads on GTAIII's radio were great (phrases still pop into my head "As a mother and a fireman...", "biorhythmic subconsistence gymnastics", "cinco-cinco-cinco, nueve-dos-nueve-dos"). I'd have to look up the songs though as none are coming to mind.

The same with GTAIV, when I think about that game it's the city and the gameplay that comes to mind not the soundtrack. As for GTAV, I actively disliked that game's radio and spent more time skipping through stations than actually listening to it.

All that said, nothing beats The Ballad of Chapped-Lips Calhoun by Sideways Hank O'Malley and the Alabama Bottle Boys tbh :pac:

There was only a few songs in GTA V I liked. I thought most were rubbish. Loved the Vice City sound track, it was so good. The ads were brilliant too. Any one remember the Maibatsu Thunder ad. Now that ad would make me buy a car.

pixelburp · 29-12-2020 02:09PM

Vice City feels ripe for remaster you'd imagine, but then GRA Online makes so much money it's probably not worth the effort. Plus I'd not trust Rockstar to avoid over engineering a remaster anyway. I'd love to replay VC but something tells me nostalgia is papering over the cracks of that older 3d engine Rockstar used for III and VC; memory suggests it was very ... brittle

29-12-2020 02:30PM

San Andreas had some classics in there too. Remember driving along to this in the mountains on a dirt bike.

https://youtu.be/PeMvMNpvB5M

Dyr · 29-12-2020 07:02PM

Penn wrote: »

I don't know if they could ever beat V-Rock in Vice City. I mean they had two songs from a fictional band made just for the game, and they were still great tunes that slotted in perfectly.

I grew up listening to metal in the 80s so most of it was well trod territory for me, plus a load of ****e FM rock from America.

GTA III had the good sense to made the dub channel a DJ playing the Scientists "rids to world of the curse of the evil vampires" album

And this cracker of a track:

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