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I went today for the first time through the NWC2015 highlights. Man, those Super Mario Maker levels were insane.

It looks to be one of those games that I think would be fun to own and create all kinds of insane levels, but then when I would get it I notice I have no imagination and that my levels would end up looking like turds that nobody would want to play.

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My impressions of the show in summary:

 

Bethesda earned that presser, i think. Fallout 4 is probably the most impressive thing at E3, and Doom looks... Alright? I guess? Didn't they say it was going to be a throwback to the original Doom though? That game is totally just Doom 3 if it traded the flashlight for executions. Hey, and i'm one of the few who loves Doom 3, so i'm kinda cool with that.

 

So Sony did that thing again where they announce a bunch of games and make everybody think they're exclusives when they're totally not exclusives. Frankly, i didn't see a whole lot of reason to be excited about the PS4 as a platform. Also, Morpheus was glossed over in a super weird way.

 

Backwards compatibility on XBO is kind of a huge deal, i think. Halo 5 looks good, but the Gears 4 demo did nothing for me. (Speaking as a pretty huge fan of Epic's 3 Gears games.) Super happy to see Rare making a "real" game again.

 

That Ubi show was so fucking awkward, holy shit. For Honor needed some explanatory voice over during its demo, but it looks neat. Rainbow Six: Siege looks incredible, i feel like i've been waiting years for a game like that. Ghost Recon being resurrected as another goddamned game in the Ubisoft open-world mold is heartbreaking. That demo was indistinguishable from Far Cry.

 

EA = Meh. (Also, i'm not sure how i feel about Mirror's Edge being an open-world thing instead of tightly designed linear stages.)

 

Square - I feel like there was a lot that happened during that presser that seemed interesting at the time i was watching it, but i remember nothing other than the Deus Ex trailer as of now. Oh, oh. Hitman as an episodic thing is weird.

 

Nintendo's World Championship thing was something i was expecting to be a disaster and ended up thinking was a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Unfortunately, their actual E3 direct, hilarious puppet interludes aside, was rather deflating.

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Fallout 4 is probably the most impressive thing at E3

I don't want to start a huge debate or anything, but... what? Why? It just looks like the logical next iteration of the Bethesda Open World Game.

 

Also I don't think Recon is open-world. I think it's large-sandbox-levels. I have no interest in the game, though, so I didn't bother to look into whether or not that impression is correct.

 

Also if I hadn't already bought a PS4 for Bloodborne, Sony's conference would've made me go out and buy one day of. That was such a good conf.

 

Xbone continues to be that thing with three exclusives while everything that Really Matters is also coming to PC.

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Also I don't think Recon is open-world. I think it's large-sandbox-levels. I have no interest in the game, though, so I didn't bother to look into whether or not that impression is correct.

Trailer said open world.

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I got a bit of an Arma vibe from it. If it's a more arcadey style tactical experience, I'm so on board with that! We'll have to see though, as Ghost Recon: Future Soldier was pretty terrible.

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I got a bit of an Arma vibe from it. If it's a more arcadey style tactical experience, I'm so on board with that! We'll have to see though, as Ghost Recon: Future Soldier was pretty terrible.

coop and open world definitely drew my attention.

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Trailer said open world.

Well then.

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I don't want to start a huge debate or anything, but... what? Why? It just looks like the logical next iteration of the Bethesda Open World Game.

 

Also I don't think Recon is open-world. I think it's large-sandbox-levels. I have no interest in the game, though, so I didn't bother to look into whether or not that impression is correct.

 

Also if I hadn't already bought a PS4 for Bloodborne, Sony's conference would've made me go out and buy one day of. That was such a good conf.

 

Xbone continues to be that thing with three exclusives while everything that Really Matters is also coming to PC.

To be fair though, while it is the next iteration, I mean all that base building / trading stuff that they have going on in it at the same time is a hell of a thing to throw in. It ups the ante on future iterations of the Bethesda open-world style game, and if it's a critical success it's a feature that will just be accepted as being normal. They probably busted their asses so hard to get it where it is now.

 

I'm comfortable agreeing about Fallout 4 being the most impressive news out of E3, but it isn't the biggest news. The Final Fantasy 7 Remake announcement, short as it was, was probably the biggest megaton dropped during the week. I mean, from the angle of video games as a whole. I'm not an FF7 devout in the slightest (actually a detractor) but it will give us all a lot of insight on how Square regards one of the most landmark games ever (that it happened to make) while also seeing how they've changed as video game makers since almost 20 years ago.

 

If keeping Aeris alive is added in as a bonus feature I will be so mad though. Shark jumping, that is.

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I'm sort of hoping that Aerith (as she will inevitably be renamed) is retooled so she scales better than everyone else if you spend resources on her you can't get back. Not so much that it's noticeable to new players that there must be a reason why Aerith seems like she's going to be super unbalanced in the end game.

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As a fan of all of the Hitman games except the newest one I was very excited to hear that they plan to go back to large open multi-path levels. I am also glad they are going back to the really slick trailers that the idiotic plot from Absolution made impossible.




Also Free DLC? They must really be trying to atone from absolution ;)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/conferences/e3-2015/14172-Free-DLC-For-Hitman


An example of the kind of trailer they used to make:

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I don't want to start a huge debate or anything, but... what? Why? It just looks like the logical next iteration of the Bethesda Open World Game.

 

I feel as though Bethesda has kind of been in a slight holding pattern with their open-world formula since Oblivion, arguably since Morrowind. The same underlying design approach can be seen in every modern Bethesda game, and even in Skyrim the primary innovations were fairly incremental, small and subtle, or largely behind the scenes.

 

Things like vehicles and dynamic settlements are, though predictable, big dramatic changes that people have definitely wanted out of Bethesda for a long time. There's also a lot of things implied in the trailer that are potentially quite impressive, such as the promise of NPC cities much larger than we've ever before seen out of Bethesda and the massively diverse terrain seen the preview materials. (I also can't even begin to imagine how much VO they'll have to record to give the protagonist a voice, multiple voices even. Doing that in a game with the scope of a Bethesda RPG seems absolutely wild.)

The way it's building out from FO3 for its setting and story is also kind of fun, questions that were teased may now be provided some answers.

 

I'm way more of a Elder Scrolls fan than a Fallout fan, but that press conference got me pretty excited. It's definitely looking less like a revolution and more like an evolutionary shift, but it feels like a big step for Bethesda. Also, even just apart from any other considerations, that game just looks incredible.

 

Also if I hadn't already bought a PS4 for Bloodborne, Sony's conference would've made me go out and buy one day of. That was such a good conf.

 

Xbone continues to be that thing with three exclusives while everything that Really Matters is also coming to PC.

 

What were the actual big exclusives for Sony though? Last Guardian, Uncharted 4, and Horizon. (I was prepared to buy a PS3 for Last Guardian at one time, but i don't think i can be excited for it anymore. Horizon looks incredible though.)

 

It seems to me like the games people were actually really excited about are all coming to PC or other platforms. (Shenmue 3 is coming to PC, Street Fighter 5 is coming to PC, etc. FF7's remake isn't even exclusive.)

 

I have no bone in this fight, i don't own either of those next-gen systems, but it seems super weird to me that people keep letting Sony get away with the "We're going to announce all these games and make you think they're ours" thing while simultaneously bemoaning the XBO's purported lack of exclusives.

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I'm not letting Sony "get away" with anything, and I don't think anyone else is, either. It's just that they actually seem to care about Video Games, while Microsoft just comes off as Give Us Money Please, year after year. A lot of it is purely marketing schlock, but Sony's been ahead of the game for a while now when it comes to allowing and marketing crazy weird shit on their platform. Like what the fuck even is Dreams? Who knows but it looks fuckin' cool. (Also it's exclusive.) Horizon does look fucking great. Like a Monster Hunter that controls well. I'm interested in this Video Game.

 

I'm still not seeing what makes FO4 so impressive, but then I have historically been put off by their games entirely (though I did install FO3 to give it a shot, finally, after that press conference - the intro is really, really boring).

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Also Free DLC? They must really be trying to atone from absolution ;)

 

There are conflicting reports on this. Its seems its not quite like getting a full game then free DLC:

 

video gamer.com: One thing worth mentioning: Hitman won't be content-complete at launch, but it will be full-price. Instead, IO plans to roll out additional content throughout 2016, introducing new locations and story content as the year goes on. All of those additional levels will be free.

 

So the game is download only, with seemingly not very many missions (but feature complete) at launch but then more free content throughout next year. It seems similar to the way Splatoon is set-up.

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PS4 has been pretty shit for exclusive games but the promise of something new (and hopefully weird) from Guerrilla, Media Molecule, and their Japan studios next year is infinitely more exiting than more Gears (the start of a new trilogy apparently), more Halo (part two in a new trilogy), and more Forza (which has now been annualized). Yeah, there's another Uncharted, and another Ratchet but Playstation first party seem to finally be focusing on new stuff.

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Everything's been "shit" for exclusive games, but I'm not really sure why people only judge the merit of a console by its exclusives.

 

Also if you ever be dismissive of Ratchet in my presence again, words will be had.

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Yeah, but it's just a remake of the first gam-- oh I can't keep it up I really want to play this new Ratchet

 

I think the key for Sony is that they managed to grab a bunch of people for their games division who have genuine taste, and strategically, Sony has an interest in appearing as if they have good taste and can deliver a wide and exciting range of projects. 

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Everything's been "shit" for exclusive games, but I'm not really sure why people only judge the merit of a console by its exclusives.

 

Also if you ever be dismissive of Ratchet in my presence again, words will be had.

 

Not dismissive at all! I'm excited for more Ratchet (and Uncharted for that matter) and I really like my PS4, I'm just saying that sequels and remakes from previous generations will always be less exciting to me than something new.

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Everything's been "shit" for exclusive games, but I'm not really sure why people only judge the merit of a console by its exclusives.

 

Also if you ever be dismissive of Ratchet in my presence again, words will be had.

Because buying multiplatform games on consoles is a shit deal. Given the choice I'd much rather buy them on PC where I know I'll be able to play them years from now, and they'll look and run better too. Not to mention the games tend to be cheaper on average. That's my perspective anyway.

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I agree with eot that multiplatform games on consoles is pointless... but how many real exclusives exist at this point outside of Nintendo's domain? If that's the entire point to a console for you, then surely any Sony/Microsoft console feels pointless.

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Not dismissive at all! I'm excited for more Ratchet (and Uncharted for that matter) and I really like my PS4, I'm just saying that sequels and remakes from previous generations will always be less exciting to me than something new.

I know, I'm just kidding. I love Ratchet and Clank. Woo!

 

Because buying multiplatform games on consoles is a shit deal. Given the choice I'd much rather buy them on PC where I know I'll be able to play them years from now, and they'll look and run better too. Not to mention the games tend to be cheaper on average. That's my perspective anyway.

This is... cool for you? But to be dismissive of an entire platform because you'd rather buy on PC seems really reductive. There are a ton of people who don't have a powerful PC or just prefer to play on consoles. I mean, I'd rather buy on PC, too, but that doesn't stop me from seeing why consoles are attractive, and it certainly doesn't stop me from owning a console.

 

If the only purpose of consoles was exclusives, consoles would've died out long ago. You people put way too much stock in exclusives. I'd much rather zero exclusives exist. It's so weird to see people clamoring for more, like they're not a bad thing...

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I played on PC-only for a couple of years before getting my PS4 at the end of last year. PCs are great, I like Steam but I don't love playing all my games sitting upright at a desk (even with a controller), which is what I was doing. I needed somewhere separate from where I work to play games. Steam streaming is an interesting solution to that problem but no sufficient solution existed for me at the end of last year, so I bought a PS4.

 

I still play a bunch on PC, but its reserved to "work-type" games that require a mouse and keyboard (Cities: Skylines recently), or games that aren't on PS4 (Dirt Rally, The Talos Principle recently).

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There seemed to be a lot more games that were 'console-exclusive' but also on PC this year that previous years. Unfortunately, it seemed like the PC Gaming conference was a bit of a shambles and severely bored a majority of the people watching (even the crowd looked exhausted near the end of the conference, one person I follow on Twitter who was in the crowd started live-tweeting the countdown clock they had timing each guest's slot). If it were a bit shorter in length, structured more like the other conferences and less like a low-budget late-night chat show then it might have been a good part of E3. At least there was the presence of Tacoma, No Man's Sky and Beyond Eyes to grasp my attention. 

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Don't forget that last year Microsoft threw "exclusive" around like an Ebola outbreak but it turned out most of those claims were timed / limited exclusivities.

 

Edit - Last year, I mean. So expect the same from pretty much everyone this year and every year going forward.

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the only actual confirmed exclusives I know of from this year were Halo, Gears, the entire Nintendo presentation, Uncharted, Horizon, Media Molecule's dream thing, and -strangely never mentioned- Nier 2.

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Jeez, stop giving Sony a break Twig. They didn't have any Day of the Tentacle Special Edition news, so obviously they dropped the ball BIG TIME. I'm disappointed in you, Twig. Extremely disappointed. :tmeh:

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