The Video Game Thread

[Momma There Goes That Man]

3 hours ago, Simmsy said:

I know everyone is going ape over the new Horizon game, never played it, but I don't get the hype. It looks like the typical open world, "climb tower, reveal map, go to icon". I'm assuming I'm wrong in thinking that its an Assassin's Creed/Shadow of Mordor/Mad Max kind of game?

I mean it’s a fairly standard open world game in terms of the map and unlocking it and it’s basic structure. You could say that about Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, Assassins Creed, Far Cry, Halo Infinite, Ghost of Tsushima, GTA, RDR, or pretty much any open world game. But dismissing it as that is a disservice to the game. They all have a similar structure with other things to set them apart. To me what makes Horizon so great is 1) the world, 2) the combat 3) the story 

 

1) The world is beautiful. Even HZD from 2017 looked amazing and was a graphical powerhouse. The world is varied and intriguing and meant for exploring. Part of this is the sense of discovery. Yes it’s a lot of wilderness but there is always a settlement or machine convoy or herd, or strangers that need help right around the corner. Like I said in my review above, I play with no HUD so it’s really immersive just wandering through the forest and finding something. Sneaking through the trees lit only by the moonlight stalking a herd of machines as their orange and blue lights pierce through the trees is an experience I’ll never forget. Additionally, it’s quite stunning seeing the contrast of new, brilliant, and stunning machine animals set against the backdrop of a prehistoric world with ancient ruins scattered throughout. 
 

2) the combat is probably my favorite of any game. It’s unique. It’s not hack n slash, it’s not a shooter, it’s not even something more refined and brilliant like the new god of war. It’s sort of a combination of all 3. Every machine has a unique strategy to figure out. And there are probably at least 3 ways to pick any enemy apart due to their varying strengths and weaknesses. It was such a powerful feeling being so capable and then running up against a group of them and expertly navigating them. I loved stalking them and finding out how they behaved and how to defeat each one. And the gameplay sandbox allows for tons of various styles. You can sneak up on them, plant traps, and attack from the shadows, sneak past, go in bows blazing and using everything at your disposal, sliding to go into slow motion and firing off arrows trying to trigger a shock coil on their back or explode a blaze container etc, doding out of the jaws snapmaw (giant crocodile) at the last second, etc. sometimes I’ll line the battlefield with traps so it can’t get away or prevent a herd of different machines that stumbles by from interfering which happens often. Combat is intense and relentless and endlessly fun. You can even poison the machines to make them go spaz out and attack which, honestly I truly hate as a gameplay mechanic in stealth games with humans but works within the lore of the machines way better than “oh you shot that guard with a poison berry now he’s going to attack his friends.” It makes sense here. Sometimes it’s just better watching two goliaths battle it out and then picking off whatever is left. But the versatility of the combat creates some incredibly fun and wild scenarios and encounters. Like in HFW, I spent 20 minutes investigating this area and climbed up a mountain and was stalking this enemy and thought I had it dead to rights when like a raptor another one swooped down that I didn’t see and landed right beside me. Clever girl. My entire plan was ****ed from jump street and I did my best but ended up with one of them diving at me and smacked the **** out of me with its tail sending me flying off the side of the mountain to my death. I wasn’t even upset I lost a bunch of progress from my last save because it was so fun and exciting. Moments like that occur constantly in the gameplay loop, or in reverse where you get the upper hand and draw them into a trap and dive at the last minute as the pounce right into your blast wire, or quick shot a weak point on their foot at the last second as they jump at you. It’s always fun and intense whether it’s a 10 minute battle with a massive monster Hunter type machine or a skirmish with 3-5 smaller ones. 

 

3) finally the story. Here’s the thing about me. I am a filthy slut for science fiction and fantasy stories. And I’d say horizon is a good combination of both. The mystery of the world immediately sucked me in. How do these technologically advanced machines exist in a prehistoric world? Why do they exist? What are these ruins and squid- like things scattered around the world? Why did the machines suddenly turn hostile? Why was Aloy outcast from the tribe at birth? What could she have done as a baby to deserve that? These things all intrigued me from the start and I just had to unravel the mysteries of the world. And it’s worth uncovering. The story is full of surprises, twists, tragedy, and it is just fantastic. Led by Aloy who is an outstanding character. A strong female heroine that is not based on sex appeal. She’s flawed, she makes mistakes, and gets overwhelmed as she discovers this world and her place within it. She breaks convention and stereotypes and is impossible not to like. I love how intellectually curious she is while being genuine, a downright beast, and really funny. She roasts characters right to their face and is always making a smartass comment that’s cracking me up. She’s brilliant. I love the rest of the cast as well tho the facial animations could be called wooden and n some regards. They improved that with the frozen wilds dlc and took it to the moon in HFW. Aloy was just on the Italian cover of vanity fair too where it kinda discusses what I meant 

 

 But the world, story and combat are all just so unique  to me and fit together beautifully to create an experience unlike anything I’ve seen or experienced before. This trailer is fan made set to Hans Zimmer’s Planet Earth theme but it just shows the world that sucked me in. Is it even possible to watch this and not think “omg I have to know what this is about” 

 

 

Honestly, it’s right up my alley. All I knew was it had robot dinosaurs so I wanted it from that alone. But when you first boot the game up you get this. And at that moment when the title screen first shows, the story had its hooks in me. It’s a fantastic 5 minutes of world building and characterization setting up the mysteries to come 
 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by Momma There Goes That Man

[purbeast]

Hmmm, I can't tell if @Momma There Goes That Manlikes Horizon or not...

[Simmsy]

10 hours ago, PokerPacker said:

You just described exactly the type of game to get over-hyped every year for the past several years.  Shouldn't be too surprising when another one comes along and generates hype.

I can't tell you how many times I've gotten excited about a game only to find out it follows this formula. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey looks interesting, but I'm kinda over those games.

 

9 hours ago, Momma There Goes That Man said:

I mean it’s a fairly standard open world game in terms of the map and unlocking it and it’s basic structure. You could say that about Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, Assassins Creed, Far Cry, Halo Infinite, Ghost of Tsushima, GTA, RDR, or pretty much any open world game. But dismissing it as that is a disservice to the game. They all have a similar structure with other things to set them apart. To me what makes Horizon so great is 1) the world, 2) the combat 3) the story 

 

Unfortunately, I don't have a PS to be able to try out this game. However, I wish I had a game to play right now that would get me as excited as you are to play this game.

 

8 minutes ago, purbeast said:

Hmmm, I can't tell if @Momma There Goes That Manlikes Horizon or not...

 

I think he's down for you on buying it.

[Renegade7]

 

[Momma There Goes That Man]

2 hours ago, purbeast said:

Hmmm, I can't tell if @Momma There Goes That Manlikes Horizon or not...

[“Misdirection”]

Put 15-20 hours into HFW over the last few days. I’ll just echo the manifesto that @Momma There Goes That Man has so graciously put together 😂

 

Been waiting for this game for so long, bought a new TV just to optimize for it. 
 

HFW simply builds on everything great about the first game without trying to re-invent the wheel. 
 

Of all the things that pop about it, I’d say the character models and animation are the most captivating I’ve ever seen. Aloy’s face and body language and posture are so expressive 

 

there’s a scene early on where some uptight, ivory tower diplomat is complaining about having to do anything, and Aloy delivers what is probably the greatest animated eye roll on god’s green earth. The acting, voicework, Mo-cap, and atmosphere are on a different plane. 

[purbeast]

When you say the voice acting is on a different plane, do you mean compared to the first one or as a whole?  Because that is how I felt about The Last of Us 2.  I also thought the voice acting in HZD as well as the mouths/expressions were very bad.  That was one of my main gripes about it because it just took me out of it because of how bad it was.

 

It is also interesting hearing you both talk about the animations.  I've been reading about people saying how the transition animations are bad and late sometimes.  Like if she's climbing up stairs or something the animations just won't flow properly and sometimes come out late.  Hearing it reminded me of what I feel the newer Mortal Kombat animations look like.  

[“Misdirection”]

31 minutes ago, purbeast said:

When you say the voice acting is on a different plane, do you mean compared to the first one or as a whole?  Because that is how I felt about The Last of Us 2.  I also thought the voice acting in HZD as well as the mouths/expressions were very bad.  That was one of my main gripes about it because it just took me out of it because of how bad it was.

 

It is also interesting hearing you both talk about the animations.  I've been reading about people saying how the transition animations are bad and late sometimes.  Like if she's climbing up stairs or something the animations just won't flow properly and sometimes come out late.  Hearing it reminded me of what I feel the newer Mortal Kombat animations look like.  

The VA is better than the first game, and better than other games I’ve played. You likely have different experiences than me, I only watched a few hours of TLOU2 gameplay, so I can’t compare to anything other than my own history. Fwiw, my buddy who waxes poetic about TLOU franchise, has the same thoughts on HFW I do. 
 

It’s a massive open world game there are always bugs and clipping. For release weekend, without a big patch that I’ve noticed, I’d say it’s pretty minimal compared to other games I’ve played.

 

I think if you look to critically at anything in animation you’ll find faults…. But I’ve never felt more emotion from a game’s characters and performance. There’s subtlety and nuance in their posture, expressions, and reactions to what others are saying. It’s so immersive imo

 

I know you had trouble getting sucked into the first one, you may have the same trouble here. And without being charmed or excited by the atmosphere, lore, and experience itself, it’s not surprising to me that you strip that away and look at the pieces individually rather than pieces of a whole. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by “Misdirection”

[purbeast]

11 minutes ago, “Misdirection” said:

It’s a massive open world game there are always bugs and clipping. For release weekend, without a big patch that I’ve noticed, I’d say it’s pretty minimal compared to other games I’ve played.

 

I think if you look to critically at anything in animation you’ll find faults…. But I’ve never felt more emotion from a game’s characters and performance. There’s subtlety and nuance in their posture, expressions, and reactions to what others are saying. It’s so immersive imo

 

I know you had trouble getting sucked into the first one, you may have the same trouble here. And without being charmed or excited by the atmosphere, lore, and experience itself, it’s not surprising to me that you strip that away and look at the pieces individually rather than pieces of a whole. 

I get where you are coming from, but you also completely dodged the questions I asked when it came to voice acting comparisons lol.  TLOU2 is by far the best voice acted game I've ever played.  The Uncharted games are also up there which isn't surprising since it's Naughty Dog on both of those games.  The voice acting in both of those franchises is much better than HZD was IMO.  Is it because HZD had a lot more dialog since they were open world games which just have much more of that by nature, whereas the other franchises are linear games with very specific dialogs?  Possibly but it still doesn't change the fact it was not good in HZD.

 

I'm also getting from your response that yeah the animations aren't that great and there are these issues, but you are just okay with it, which is fine.  As I said, I was on the fence about HFW simply because it looks incredible and I know it will be a good game.  But I'll probably wait to get it cheaper so that the risk of it not pulling me in will be minimal, especially with another game right around the corner that I'm interested in.

 

I can very easily look at a game objectively even if it's a game I would give a 10/10 and still have criticisms of it and point out issues that it has.  There's no logical reason to just pretend things are perfect when they are not.   

 

Actually generally speaking, when I read reviews, I am looking for objective things versus someone's opinion on the game, since those things can basically be "measured" whereas what someone enjoys can't really be measured.

 

This happened to me when the new Ratchet and Clank came out.  I thought the game was fantastic and 10/10 but it wasn't without it's flaws.  Ghosts of Tsushima also had it's issues and that is one of the very few open world games I enjoyed and pretty much 100% it.  One of them was also bad voice acting, but that could also have to do with translation and the mouth not moving to the english voices.  Whatever the reason, it was very noticeable.Same thing with the latest Mortal Kombat movie.  I loved it but it clearly had some flaws and I get why other people have issue with it.  That doesn't mean I can't enjoy it though.

Edited February 22, 2022 by purbeast

[Momma There Goes That Man]

@purbeast

 

i thought the voice acting in HZD was good but many of the facial expressions were wooden and left a lot to be desired. It wasn’t as bad as you are making it out to be imo. The last of us 2 far exceeded it though in terms of voice acting. The facial animations are not comparable between the games since TLOU2 used pre-rendered cutscenes for most of its dialogue scenes. The facial expression that occurred throughout the world during gameplay were nothing that special. HFW has more typical RPG dialogue trees that occur in-engine and those are unmatched imo and feel cutscene level quality. the voice acting is if not on par with TLOU2 slightly below it. Again these are not comparable to me though considering TLOu2 has around 500 less characters to animate and voice act for. It’s linear and even so, I saw the same bad guy a thousand times using the same voice. I have yet to see the same NPC in HFW or the same voice used even for characters that you can’t have conversations with. I haven’t encountered any of the bugs or glitches you mentioned either aside from what I said about the physics spazzing put sometimes on deaf characters or her clipping thru a ladder when she jumps to them, so maybe I’m just lucky. The animations are outstanding in all regards to me and the gameplay is very responsive. Any clipping is minor and hardly noticeable aside from the ladder jumping. Nothing is as egregious or annoying as GOT where the sword clips through every caped outfit, for example. 

 

edit: god of war is a better example since all those “cutscenes” occur in-engine and the facial expressions and animations are great. HFW is far beyond that though which is more impressive given that GOW has 10-15 (if that) characters to animate within a linear structure and not hundreds of randoms walking around talking or hundreds that you can engage in conversations with 

Edited February 22, 2022 by Momma There Goes That Man

[“Misdirection”]

51 minutes ago, purbeast said:

I get where you are coming from, but you also completely dodged the questions I asked when it came to voice acting comparisons lol.  TLOU2 is by far the best voice acted game I've ever played.  The Uncharted games are also up there which isn't surprising since it's Naughty Dog on both of those games.  The voice acting in both of those franchises is much better than HZD was IMO.  Is it because HZD had a lot more dialog since they were open world games which just have much more of that by nature, whereas the other franchises are linear games with very specific dialogs?  Possibly but it still doesn't change the fact it was not good in HZD.

 

I'm also getting from your response that yeah the animations aren't that great and there are these issues, but you are just okay with it, which is fine.  As I said, I was on the fence about HFW simply because it looks incredible and I know it will be a good game.  But I'll probably wait to get it cheaper so that the risk of it not pulling me in will be minimal, especially with another game right around the corner that I'm interested in.

 

I can very easily look at a game objectively even if it's a game I would give a 10/10 and still have criticisms of it and point out issues that it has.  There's no logical reason to just pretend things are perfect when they are not.   

 

Actually generally speaking, when I read reviews, I am looking for objective things versus someone's opinion on the game, since those things can basically be "measured" whereas what someone enjoys can't really be measured.

 

This happened to me when the new Ratchet and Clank came out.  I thought the game was fantastic and 10/10 but it wasn't without it's flaws.  Ghosts of Tsushima also had it's issues and that is one of the very few open world games I enjoyed and pretty much 100% it.  One of them was also bad voice acting, but that could also have to do with translation and the mouth not moving to the english voices.  Whatever the reason, it was very noticeable.Same thing with the latest Mortal Kombat movie.  I loved it but it clearly had some flaws and I get why other people have issue with it.  That doesn't mean I can't enjoy it though.

I answered your question in my edit at the top of the post you were too quick to quote reply lol.

 

The game and animations are stunning but I haven’t played TLOU2 myself or uncharted to compare. 
 

Agree with Momma though on principal of pre-rendered vs what we’re getting here. it’s at the point where my wife or mother in law can’t tell if I’m gaming or watching something on Netflix. 

[purbeast]

@Momma There Goes That Man I am pretty sure you are wrong about TLOU2 having any pre-rendered cutscenes.  I am at work now with limited access so I can't click through some of the google results I am seeing saying that it is not pre-rendered.  Pretty sure they are all rendered in real time on the game engine.

 

And yeah, as I mentioned, it would make technological/financial sense that a game with much more dialog and characters won't have the polish of one that has much less.  It just makes it that much more immersive though and the dialog in the first HZD just broke some of that immersion for me.  I know it's not even close to being the same thing, but it made me think about the wooden eyes of the players on Madden on the PS2 at launch lol.  Again, not actually comparing it to that, but something about the mannerisms and what not reminded me of that.

 

It's probably not as bad to you as I make it out to be because you are possibly just a bit biased.  I can't pinpoint what it is but I have a feeling you really like the Horizon world 😛

 

I remember seeing her as a kid and like the first time you saw her, her 2 eyes were pointing different directions.  I was like WTF how you gonna introduce me to her like that?

Edited February 22, 2022 by purbeast

[purbeast]

Yeah I'm pretty sure they are not pre-rendered in TLOU2.  This review mentions it as well.

 

https://www.psu.com/reviews/the-last-of-us-part-2-review/

 

EDIT:

 

Also this dude who worked on TLOU2 animations.

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by purbeast

[purbeast]

First look at PSVR2 headset.  Still no price or launch date though.

 

https://blog.playstation.com/2022/02/22/first-look-the-headset-design-for-playstation-vr2/

[Momma There Goes That Man]

Meh yeah I love the series but I’m always objective. I don’t know, TLOu2 says it’s in-engine but it also fades to black/cuts after every cutscene so it’s clearly not the same graphical capability as the gameplay or those scenes are carefully crafted. You don’t get the same level of expression during gameplay as you do in those cutscenes like you do in HFW and I say that as someone that has TLOu2 being what I consider the greatest video game of all time and a crowning artistic achievement that pushed the entire medium forward 
 

I don’t see the cross eyed Aloy here either as a kid. 

 

 

 

[purbeast]

I'm not really sure what cutting to black has anything to do with pre-rendered stuff.  It's either rendered real time using the in game engine or it's not lol.  And it is rendering them in real time.  There may be some extra filters put on em who knows, but you also don't see those closeups and/or angles and stuff of the people while actually playing so it would be harder to notice that stuff while playing. 

 

It's also a PS4 game and HFW is (arguably) a PS5 game running on new hardware so it SHOULD be better.

 

I also didn't say she was cross eyed, just said that her eyes look like they are pointing different directions lol.  That very opening scene it looks that way too.  Something is just "off" about the eyes in the game at certain points.  Watching parts of that clip again they definitely tried too hard with the hair too.  It moves way too much and is just unnatural.  Like it's too light and gravity isn't working as it should be.

 

It's nit picking at this point though because even though the hair is way overdone it still looks kind of cool.  But it just sticks out to me and I remember thinking that when playing the game before too.  

 

I will say though looking at metacritic just now I was surprised to see it sitting near top 50.  I know it's not the be all end all, but it's a pretty good aggregate site.  I thought it would have been higher than that because of all the praise it got.

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Played thru COD: World at War campaign and Medal of Honor (2010?) for the first time recently.  World at War was incredible.  Loved using the bolt action rifles.  Made my assault rifles semi-auto throughout Medal of Honor.  That game is pretty damn hard.  Both great games.

[bearrock]

42 minutes ago, purbeast said:

I will say though looking at metacritic just now I was surprised to see it sitting near top 50.  I know it's not the be all end all, but it's a pretty good aggregate site.  I thought it would have been higher than that because of all the praise it got

 

People have too much time on their hands 

https://gamerant.com/horizon-forbidden-west-review-bomb/

[Momma There Goes That Man]

10 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

People have too much time on their hands 

https://gamerant.com/horizon-forbidden-west-review-bomb/

Yeah this graphical comparison pic blew up the other day with dudes complaining she has a beard and that she wasn’t hot etc. also, because she’s a strong female protagonist that’s not sexualized, it’s woke trash 

 

[TheGreatBuzz]

Geez, I figured PS5 demand would have settled by now and they would be available.  Apparently I was wrong.  What gives and how the hell do I get one?

[purbeast]

40 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

People have too much time on their hands 

https://gamerant.com/horizon-forbidden-west-review-bomb/

Sorry I didn't make it clear.  I was referring to HZD not HFW.  HZD is sitting at 48 based on meta score which doesn't include user score.

[Cooked Crack]

1 hour ago, The Almighty Buzz said:

Geez, I figured PS5 demand would have settled by now and they would be available.  Apparently I was wrong.  What gives and how the hell do I get one?

The way I got one was by joining a Discord server that pinged me whenever PS5s were being stocked. Even then it took me like a month to successfully purchase one. I did luck out that I was looking for one right around the holiday season when more was coming in stock. There are also Twitter accounts that post when it's available.

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/mattswider

https://mobile.twitter.com/PS5StockAlerts

 

[purbeast]

What console you all getting Elden Ring on?  I just preordered it at Best Buy for PS5 and didn't even realize it came with a steel book or that I had a $10 reward lol.  I expected the game to also be $70 and was pleasantly surprised to see it was only $60 (before my reward was applied - $50 after).

[JCB]

Preordered on PS5, purbeast. We’re hyped!

[The Evil Genius]

Elden Ring should be $49.98 in store at Wally World, if you can stomach thst store...