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I genuinely don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

 

Thank you for asking. I was so confused.

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I have to agree that ME3 is a great third person shooter. Kinda a lack lustre Bioware RPG though. 

 

 

The dog's bollocks is good, bollocks is bad. Sort of like it's the shit is good and it's shit is bad. Don't ask why the bollocks of a dog are better, I don't think there's an answer to that.

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I genuinely don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

 

There are several such expressions, and here's how you tell:

 

* If the expression is of the form "it's the <object>", it's probably good!

* If the expression is of the form "it's <object>", it's probably bad!

 

For example: "it's the shit" means it's good, "it's shit" means it's bad.

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ME3 was solid as an action game but deeply disappointing as an RPG. My main gripe wasn't the ending itself (though it was quite terrible), but the fact that very few of my choices throughout the trilogy actually had any real significant impact on the development of the story.

 

Most of the recruitment in ME3 just resulted in a small stat boost for your war readiness. Hardly exciting. I so wanted to see a massive army of loyal rachni, so much for saving them from extinction on Noveria...

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I finished Hyrule Warriors! It's good! I say finished, the adventure mode is a mode that I have and will sink many hours into, but I finished the main story. Basically, the adventure mode the entire map of the first zelda game, where each screen is a separate challenge, and depending on your rating, you can advance to the adjacent screens. What makes it even more addictive, is that in each screen, there is the possibility of unlocking secret items, by 'searching' the screen, and then using the correct icon on the correct tile, so a lamp to burn the bush, bomb to blow up the wall, etc etc. These items you get by completing the challenges. And it's really really compelling. 

 

It also helps that the actual gameplay is good fun too. I found that Dynasty Warriors can get a bit dull and tiresome, but the enemy types are varied enough in their attack patterns and their focus bar (it's a bar that pops up after an attack, and depleting it causes your character to do a special attack & knock off a sizeable chunk of his HP) is a really fun mechanic. Also the addition of bosses is great, although I do wish there was more than 3, and it does get a bit tiresome making the boss trigger their one attack so you can use the correct weapon to expose their weak spot. Especially Gohma. damn Gohma.

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The core story of ME3 is pretty shit (not "the shit") however many of the smaller tales they tell are still really awesome. The different ways that the Geth/Quarian story can end are awesome. Also, you get to go out on a real date with Garrus.

Edit: All this remind me that I got stuck about half way through my last play through of ME2 to play the rest of the DLC and 100% the achievements. After that, play through the ME3 DLC and see the new ending.

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Am I the only who wished ME3 was a visual novel? Does anybody actually play it for the gameplay?

 

Anyway, I beat a game I didn't expect to enjoy as much... Depth Hunter 2. It's kinda like a budget Aquanaut's Holiday, with barely any challenge, but I found it ridiculously relaxing, you take photos of fish, you search for treasure... and you shoot them with a spear gun. I didn't really enjoy the hunting, I just liked to explore and visit the sunken ships and take photos.

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Am I the only who wished ME3 was a visual novel? Does anybody actually play it for the gameplay?

 

Anyway, I beat a game I didn't expect to enjoy as much... Depth Hunter 2. It's kinda like a budget Aquanaut's Holiday, with barely any challenge, but I found it ridiculously relaxing, you take photos of fish, you search for treasure... and you shoot them with a spear gun. I didn't really enjoy the hunting, I just liked to explore and visit the sunken ships and take photos.

I loved the multiplayer. The singleplayer gameplay was inoffensive, so I guess that's agood.

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It's been a very long time since I've picked up a Humble Bundle, either on account of disinterest or already owning the majority of its titles, but I grabbed this week's solely because I'd never before heard of The Cat Lady and its premise just seemed to hit me squarely on target. I ended up finishing it in three nights and really rather loved it, tearing up by the end. I'm actually amazed that the game went so long under my radar, as I'd consider myself one of those fairly educated consumers aware of the general zeitgeist of indie game titles at all times (only waiting for saturation of acclaim to actually purchase). That's a shame, because The Cat Lady goes a long way, in my opinion, to widening the landscape of games which not only tackle but whose raison d'être is to address depression, suicide, abusive relationships, and so on. More so, I believe (and, of course, this is merely my perspective as a man) that the main character is an excellently written woman whose gender is clearly identifiable* but not a fictional liability. At this point I should mention that most of the puzzles in this point and click adventure game center around life or death altercations with very thin psychopathic antagonists, creating the crux of the games moment-to-moment confrontational drama, so it isn't all thematically divine, but if you enjoy the game's crude, grim art style, even this is enjoyable.

 

The game's writing feels extremely authentic when it comes to mental illness. I suppose I got the normal ending as opposed to the perfect ending, but honestly, looking it up afterward, the former felt more honest anyway. I am extremely sensitive when it comes to games evaluating and rewarding story choices I make subjectively and possibly at a role-playing level, and The Cat Lady does commit that sin once or twice but ultimately not in a way that ruined my overall experience. Suffice it all to say (and this post has been a real struggle, keeping my head together at three in the morning; sorry if I've rambled), I loved it.

 

*I make a point of this because I'm still on about arguing over Quiet in the new Metal Gear game being a sexist character and being shouted down as I was told that Hideo Kojima was excused of such accusations for being the creator of The Boss - "the greatest female game character in history;" The Boss, of course, just being a yet another ostentatious Metal Gear Solid soldier character who for once happened to be a woman.

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I watched a Let's Play of The Cat Lady and it really intrigued me, just from watching I'd highly recommend it to Thumbs. Will definitely be picking it up in the Humble Bundle.

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If you guys like The Cat Lady, you should look into the creator's previous game Downfall. The only problem is that there is Downfall cameo in the game that's a pretty big spoiler?

 

You also have to murder a cat in the game. :^(

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I'd missed that bundle, I forget they do weekly ones too. I'll have to check it out.

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I just beat Silent Hill Downpour and it was pretty damn poor, the rain didn't even play an element in the game and the moment you end up in the Otherworld you get chased by spoopiest thing ever.... A BALL OF RED LIGHT! After being legitimately scared by ZombiU I expected to be a little scared of this, but my eyes were rolling so hard they could have caused a hurricane. 

 

I know things in SH are mysterious, but here it's just plot holes and things that don't make sense or are ridiculously forced. 

 

Your wife hates you and blames you for your son's death which wasn't my fault at all, but because I failed to protect him, I'm as bad as the murdering rapist... Yeah, that's dumb and forced.

 

The screamer look goofier than the Deadly Premonition Shadows and since they represent the hatred your wife feels for you, which is dumb and forced.

 

The rest of the enemies... don't make sense at all, who are other monsters? Souls of prisoners? He never killed any of them and was a model prisoner, what gives? And the sex dolls that spawn invisible clones? What do they even represent?

 

The whole Bogeryman thing is dumb, apparently I was the Bogerman all along, except I killed him, and he was my son and... nothing made sense.

 

I think this is the most disappointing SH game in the series, I haven't played Shattered Memories, but there is no way that it's worse than this. :tdown:  

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Shattered Memories is great apart from the boring creature design. It doesn't play like a Silent Hill game at all (it's more of an adventure game with occasional "run away from monsters" segments), but I don't think that's a bad thing. It probably would have been better received if it just didn't have the Silent Hill branding on it.

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I think this is the most disappointing SH game in the series, I haven't played Shattered Memories, but there is no way that it's worse than this. :tdown:  

As a big SH1-3 fan I wondered for a long time if I should try some of the post Team Silent games but after watching TwinPerfect's (SH supernerds who have a great video series called

) reviews, the answer was a pretty clear no. Here's a 2 hour(!) review of Downpour.

 

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This weekend I beat Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall - Director's Cut. I backed the Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter and was pretty happy with the original game, but man Dragonfall is a step up. They've got some actual team members with personality, choices that are actually pretty difficult and make a difference for the ending, and improved combat mechanics in a lot of small ways that combine together to make fighting feel a lot smoother. It's well worth purchasing if you're at all interested, and it's standalone now so you don't even have to buy the whole package.

 

I'd missed that bundle, I forget they do weekly ones too. I'll have to check it out.

 

You haven't missed it yet. https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

 

 

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I've been going through a lot of old shooters this month, finished Quake, Quake II, Unreal, Sin and all their expansions. I was surprised to find that out of all those I enjoyed the original Quake the most, by far. The strange mix of sci-fi, medieval fantasy and cthulhu horror was of course the product of a troubled development and not some creative genius, but the result is something that has a very unique feel. It's a dark and claustrophobic game. For the most part I love the level design too, compared to a lot of games of that time it's surprisingly straight forward and doesn't devolve into maze like keyhunting madness (both Doom II and Quake II are way worse in this regard). Episode 4 isn't as good as the rest though. In terms of the combat it's similar to Doom in that there aren't a lot of enemies with hitscan attacks, so it's a game where you can effectively avoid damage just using good movement. Still plays extremely well, nothing quite like picking up a Quad and going on a run (the Quad sound has to be one of the most memorable sound effects ever).

 

Having just played all those games it seemed like a good time to revisit Half-Life as well. I suppose people have already praised it enough over the years, but to me it's absolutely ridiculous how much better it is than games that came out even just six months prior. Not only was it very ambitious in a lot of its design, but it executes on most of its ideas almost flawlessly. Sin is an interesting comparison actually, because it released right before Half-Life and had similar ambitions. They went for a high fidelity believable world, with lots of interactivity (like computer terminals with some basic commands that actually render in the 3D world too), hostages you can rescue, locational damage on enemies etc. It's a neat game actually, but the level of execution is so far behind Valve's.

 

Just take something like the encounter design, in Half-Life you almost never walk into a room with a bunch of enemies just standing around waiting for you. There's always a scene playing out, whether it's zombies chewing on some scientists or a security guard shooting headcrabs. If enemies spawn in it's always through some in world means, like the HECU grunts rappelling down, blowing a hole through the wall or maybe an Alien Slave teleporting in. Every single room in the entire game (Xen excluded perhaps) feels hand crafted. Of course we take that for granted now (well, few games do it as well in my opinion), but that they did it first and did it so well just blows my mind. I could go on forever, the enemy design is fantastic and watching the AI fight itself never gets old. I know some people like to pick on the combat, but it might actually be my favourite part of the game. You have a very diverse arsenal where every weapon is useful, it encourages so much creative play. Maybe most people never bother with the more exotic weapons though, even the grenades take a bit of practice to use properly.

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It's been a very long time since I've picked up a Humble Bundle, either on account of disinterest or already owning the majority of its titles, but I grabbed this week's solely because I'd never before heard of The Cat Lady and its premise just seemed to hit me squarely on target.

 

I own this on GoG, and you've just convinced me that I need to play it.

 

Also, the Humble Bundle for it is still active for 3 days for people who are interested in it.

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I finished Fuse recently and I actually really loved it despite only forcing myself to play it because it's from the Ratchet and Clank team. The level design is often weak and too linear and sometimes the bad guys are repetitive but I enjoyed the solid gameplay. Once you really harness the power of each of the four individual players and see how well balanced they are and the role they play on the team, the genius really gels together. I also like being able to instantly switch to any available character (if there are not four players taking them all up) so that you can approach separate sections of levels completely differently. It's especially useful if maybe you are trying one part with a certain characters and find yourself dying a lot when a different character might allow for a better approach more suited for your play style. That said I only ever really got the hang of two of the four characters but it was also because in certain online modes, I was the most reliable on random matchmaking when I could play one of the two and not let the rest of the team down. It was very interesting to see some people completely use the characters I don't use in a more effective way than I would have fathomed.

 

This is especially true with the hardest character I found to play which is the token buff white dude who actually is a shield style character and not much for running and gunning or heavy weapons like you might imagine.  He often plays as more of the sidelines but has an invincibility aspect when his shield has enough energy. I just found it very cool when I was on a four player team and we all just gelled, each understanding the function of the character, because if one of them is not playing the archetype very well, everyone sort of suffers and the incentive is to always keep everyone alive as a team. Everything within the game is based on co-op play, no versus modes, and it's all completely tailored to fit. I love it.

 

What I don't love is the big change in tone and art style from the original trailer. This was most likely the demise of the game, which is very unfortunate but sort of exciting because it shows fans were not interested in the shift to mocking the ugliness of the Mass Effect series. I guess it's a toss up on whether EA requested this change because of cold feet being the first to publish an Insomniac game outside of the umbrella of Sony or if it was truly an internal decision to maintain the gore and push the T rating. I think you could have kept the gore and had a more stylistic and colorful game as original trailer and just went with the M rating, but I suppose games have to fit in the general mold certain age categories to ensure sales. Lo and behold though, every review lamented the style change when the game was released and most likely docked points out of such disappointment. I'm less disappointed after finishing it, but it still leaves that empty feeling from wondering what it could have been. It was more humorous than I thought it would be and I found myself interested in the story, but they picked a really shitty moment to throw in a cliffhanger. I guess they thought it would sell well and justify a sequel, but no dice. Yet another disappointment.

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You haven't missed it yet. https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

I remembered to buy it with 20 minutes to spare.

For some reason I have this bad habit of putting off buying games that are on sale and I always end up missing deals because of it. Just today I was going to buy a gift copy of Portal 2 as well but I missed it by about 90 minutes even though the sale was on for at least half a week (it's at least the second time that's happened just for Portal 2). If there's more than half a day left on something my brain just goes "I don't have to buy it yet!".

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