The first Thief one is one of the all time greats and nothing has come close. I think Dishonored comes closest but I kind of prefer the world building and lower stakes of the Thief games. It's a shame we lost Looking Glass, I don't think any Western games company has managed to have the same amount of talent, especially when it comes to world building and writing. Such a weird mix of people as well, who knew that hiring members of Boston alt rock band Tribe would lead to such creativity. Those members were actively involved in gameplay innovations in sound, turned in iconic voice performances (SHODAN) and also created some of the all time great videogame levels.
I do recall the wobbly Blackjack usage all right, and I only ever played on the base version, unmodded.
Would be nice if any of the three games got the remaster treatment; shame the genre as a whole doesn't really have that many spiritual successors. Gloodwood seems to be the best, most recent example though.
I started Thief Deadly Shadows and not feeling it like I did with Thief 1 and 2. It suffers from consolisation like Deus Ex Invisible War but it's no where near as bad here. I have the game modded so that there's no loading screens in missions which alleviates the tiny level issue from the original release. The performance is a little janky on a modern system. It runs really well but the mouse movement is not smooth and quite jarring. There's two big annoyances. Black jacking enemies doesn't feel as consistent as it should. I had no problems in the originals but in this game sometimes they will notice you when you get close enough. I'm not sure if this is due to the mod or was an issue with the original. Also the loot requirements for expert are a bit too high, requiring 90% of all loot in the level. In the original game 2 games you would collect this as long as you were thorough in your exploration but I find each mission now ends in a pixel hunt before you exit the stage.
So Gamestop online cleared this up. If you trade a game in your local shop, ask for the credit to be put on a gamestop giftcard. You can then use that online for purchases except digital purchases.
It's €60 in Smyths. I'll be getting it off them.
Aaaaand they threw a spanner in works :D
Said the trade voucher can't be used as it was only valid with my level 3, not my migrated account to Pro. Then resi 4 will be 70 euro until release day and when i go in to collect it, it will be 60. As Phelps would say "DOUBT".
So, I sorted out all my possessions in Skyrim last night. All the weapons in one drawer, food in another, etc...What a relief. Spring cleaning. I feel like a new man. Now, if only I was as organised in real life. 🤣🤣🤣
I read that GS Pro bonuses can be gotten online and in store so I'll see in the morning. Between the 34 credit for Gotham Knights, 10% bonus credit on top of that, a voucher i have for 10 euro extra credit when my account migrated over and a tenner of Resi 4 means I'll be getting it for 12 euro, not too shabby but i fully expect GS to throw a spanner in the works in some way.
Not aware that's an option with GS, be good to know if it is tho
Does anyone know if you can use Gamestop store credit against Gamestop.ie online order? Store credit gets stored on their system and can be used in any of their stores but can't remember how or if you can use it online.
MS seem to be going down the everyman route and pushing subscriptions, family subscriptions and offering the better value as an entry level gamer
I haven't bought a game in a very long time so long I forget which game it was. I have so many games to play on Gamepass. Plus a few games I got free with games with gold back when they gave good games on there. Mentioned GWG as I got Rayman Origins off them that I have had for years but only got around to finishing it recently. Then I also have Rayman Legends off GWG ready to play also.
Good points. VR is very expensive. I guess they (and Nintendo) will wait until the manufacturing costs drop significantly and it becomes mass market. That is really not far off. Maybe 5 years time and these headsets with be budget smartphone prices.
I'm not sure on them ever joining it, its so niche they don't seem to care ( well at least that's what Phil Spencer has been saying) they did kind of wow with a tech demo of hololens years ago but its dead in the water.
Your right in saying Sony and Ninty are selling to those of us to whom gaming is slightly more than a hobby ( and a worrying pricey one to my wife) but MS seem to be going down the everyman route and pushing subscriptions, family subscriptions and offering the better value as an entry level gamer especially if its all about playing with mates on multi plat games.
A Forza vr experience would be exceptional and the power is there in the series x but the blocker will always be the entry price and I would be amazed if anyone is rushing out to pick up a PS5 for VR only at the entry price of €1200 unless your either already invested in the platform and stuck to it, which is becoming more prevalent now with digital purchases.
Ah checked again, the site had be logged in and then logged out. Checked again and i see is 60 again, will check in store tomorrow if they offer the same or just online. Thanks Jim.
Apparently, i am pro as my level 3 migrated over to pro but the email states is GS+, such a convoluted system.
Why did I mistake Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty with Black Myth: Wukong - Oh man, i wasnt prepared for another Nioh like so soon.
GT7 on PSVR2+PS5 looks pretty special. Another Sony exclusive win.
Racing games are always a tech yardstick and Forza is an XBox showcase. So, I can't imagine MS staying out of this race for long.
MS don't seem to be competing at all. Nintendo and Sony both producing the goods and creating things to get people excited. Maybe Phil Spencer is clueless. I hope Starfield is excellent and comes out a few months before my GamePass sub expires.
I locked it at 119 in radeon settings.
That 59, 119 FPS ... thing is a rounding error on LG TVs I think.
Last night I decided to boot up my favourite online game back in the day, Battlefield 4. It runs at 4k 119 FPS locked as that is what I limited it to as my Tv is 4k 120Hz. Not one hiccup at all and the game looks like a current gen game the graphics are so good. I was running around maps by myself as there was no players at the time I was on. I was just testing the game out is why I was running around the maps by myself. I used to run out of ammo as I would run along and see something and shoot at it pretending it was another player.
I think the 10 eur discount on RE4 preorder is for GS Pro Club members. Not sure if it only applies for online orders or also in store tho?
Gotham Knights is such a weird game. I'm enjoying the bits I'm playing but it's so soulless, WB made an absolute balls of it. I'm gonna trade it as Gamestop is actually giving good value (38 euro, paid 40 for it) so gonna get Resi 4. I just saw this morning that the preorder is discounted from 70 to 60. Checked again before heading in and it's back up to 70. Didn't know GS did discounts on preorders so it's worth keeping an eye on any games ye might be interested in. It's a pity Smyths doesn't offer trade ins.
I was just trying to say in a convoluted way that you shouldn't let it put you off trying turn based games. It's not a genre and there's so many different types of turn based games. Give them a try if you see them pop up on ps plus or game pass.
I had a long reply, I accidentally reloaded and can't remember half what I wrote. But it went something along the lines of:
The Stick of Truth is probably the only turn based game I've ever finished. And that was probably due to how good the rest of the game was and the quick, short battles. Played one of the early Front Mission games until I got stuck in a save death loop. I play games to be the best as that's the most fun to me. God of War, Soul Reaver, the recent Hogwarts Legacy, the earlier Tomb Raiders/Syphon Filters type games, story driven games with (to me) fun combat that isn't frustrating. It's why I'm usually one and done. I get some people prefer challenge, some people prefer the tactics of turn based/RTS, some people like getting kicked in the ba Battle Royales. Each to their own. Turn based is not for me, even if some of them look otherwise amazing.
A bad turn based system will have you constantly hitting attack but a good turn based system will put a lot of weight behind each decision you make. The persona and shin Megami games have battles that last one or two turns but make the wrong decisions and you have enemies that can easily wipe a party if you aren't paying attention. XCOM as well is constantly about making decisions with each turn that have massive consequences to success or failure. Even simpler games like etrian odyssey will have you make major decisions based on the attrition from constant enemy encounters.
A good turn based system will have you constantly making decisions and will have a lot more strategy than any real time battle system. I would have been of the opinion that no real time battle systems ever came close to the best turn based systems but ff7R and the Xenoblade games have come very close with their hybrid systems.
Alas there’s not much advice around the set piece parry / dodge bits as it’s just down to hitting those beats - easier said than done for sure! But if you’re struggling to get through the phases to even get to that point…
Equip the chip that increases the drops of battery charges if you have it.
Try to finish combos with heavy attacks as that will increase the amount of reverb / battery energy the enemies drop. You want that so you can…
Use jam combos (when you summon in a companion on a beat hit) instead of special attacks if you’re struggling to build up enough energy for powerful specials. Macaron and Korsica do much longer jam combos than Peppermint so use them if you can. These are invaluable IMO for doing lots of damage very quickly with small energy requirements - essential as there are only narrow windows to deal damage in that fight. Didn’t really use them on my normal difficulty playthrough but were gamechanging and essential for harder modes.
If you can get the one-beat timing down for parry and dodge counters they can be handy to do some cheap extra stagger damage. TBH I still struggle with this at times after playing through the game twice so don’t worry about it too much.
Specifically for the first and third phases of the fight as they’re the trickiest (second phase is just about using the right companion to break the shields so it shouldn’t be too much hassle):
Better to take your time and do small amounts of damage safely than trying to rush to do as much as quickly as possible.
There’s no point really using powerful jam combos or specials until the boss is stunned / exhausted as he shields most or all damage until then. Focus on breaking the shield by repeatedly using Korsica, Peppermint and Macaron’s standard attacks (in that order) and get in attacks when you can. Then do jam combos when he’s stunned to do max damage in a short space of time.
When he summons a big circle around him he’s going to do the lightning fire attack. The lightning strikes always hit on the same beats so I actually found it *much* easier to just step away from the main circle and parry the lightning strikes rather than trying to outrun them. Get the timing down and it’s a super handy way to buy some time to do some good, solid stagger damage.
When he goes into the corner and summons little circles around him (last phase only IIRC), he’s going to do a massive three hit sweeping attack. I found it easier to just double jump into the air and mid-air dodge *just* before the first hit and that cleanly avoids the attacks with time to do some damage.
I don't mind turn based. It worked well in the South Park games at least. General card games like Gwent (Thronebreaker) and Marvel Midnight Suns were all great too. Hell it's pretty much the entire basis of Pokemon. It's not meant to be realistic or exciting, it's tactical.
My only issue with it tends to be any time I've played a game with that type of system, I quickly fall into patterns of using the same attacks/tactics all the time, and being screwed when that doesn't work for whatever spurious reasons the game throws at me.
Just finished it on the hardest difficulty the other day
I have no idea how you managed it on hard. I was playing the last while on the last boss and all I can say is f*ck rhythm games. I managed to by the skin of my teeth get through one of the rounds and then a parry with dodge twice set piece and I cannot for the life of me get it and then I die as I had such low health and then have to start from the beginning of that round get through it by the skin of my teeth again and then die on the set piece. And it just keeps happening. I have no idea how I am going to beat this guy.
I'm with wotzgoingon here, turn based is a stupid system imo, for the same reason; stand there and wait for your turn... And I would have loved to keep playing P5, but I just couldn't warm to the battle system. Strikers is still on my mind to try.
Persona 5 is an absolutely wonderful game but it's very very slow to start so might be a tough sell for anyone who already finds JRPG pacing too slow, it must be up there as one of the slowest.
Chained Echoes on gamepass is another one worth checking out, it's developed by an indie dev and very much looks and feels like the best of the best JRPGs from the 90s, while incorporating modern sensibilities and keeping a nice brisk pace going throughout too.
