2016 Video Games Thread

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I got a little cash bonus from my employer for 15 years service, and decided to do something I never thought I would do: I bought a Wii U. The last Nintendo console I owned was an N64 (excluding the DS).

I just see no real reason to own a PS4/XBox One if you have a good gaming PC. I hadn't turned it on for probably 6 months and gave it to my brother-in-law so he could play the new Street Fighter. The only upcoming game I'm excited about is No Man Sky, and - shock/horror - it's on PC anyway - same as NBA 2K, which was the whole reason I got back into console gaming years back.

I played Zelda: Wind Walker for about 4 hours yesterday, god I missed this. Beautiful graphics that make me feel like I’m watching a Miyazaki film, wonderful characters and gameplay mechanics... You know when you think back to the games you loved as a kid, then you fire them up again and are disappointed? Yeah, it was like that, minus the disappointment.

Cel shaded graphics hold up really, really well over time.

[Groundhog]

Yep, I never played the original version, so I don't know how big an upgrade the Wii U HD version is, but it is just beautiful.

I just entered what looks like this game's version of the Ocarina of Time's water temple... yikes. Saved and went to bed, I'm not ready for this yet.

[Easy Mac]

Just won an Xbox One. Looks to be a limited edition "custom" Gears of War Ultimate.

Set it up last night. After about 2 hours, I was still not able to play as it had not downloaded enough of the game. Man, things have changed in the 7 years since I last played any video games (Wii).

Picking up Disney Infinity 2.0 for my kid from Target tomorrow. I think it's something she would like, and it was $10 for the base, game, and a couple of figures.

Any other games you guys would recommend for a 6.5 year old girl?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Just won an Xbox One. Looks to be a limited edition "custom" Gears of War Ultimate.

Set it up last night. After about 2 hours, I was still not able to play as it had not downloaded enough of the game. Man, things have changed in the 7 years since I last played any video games (Wii).

Picking up Disney Infinity 2.0 for my kid from Target tomorrow. I think it's something she would like, and it was $10 for the base, game, and a couple of figures.

Any other games you guys would recommend for a 6.5 year old girl?

I hear you. My brother has an Xbox One and whenever we try to play something, it always seems way overly complicated to get started. We get it working, but it always feels like a struggle.

The experience has made me want to hold on to my Xbox 360 for as long as possible.

As for games for a 6.5 year old girl, my niece is 7 and I think that Disney Infinity game is pretty much all she plays on it. I'll inquire further.

[Easy Mac]

It took me 1/2 hour to just get the system going in the first place. For whatever reason, there were no actual instructions on what to do when first turned on. I tried to follow the onscreen prompt of hitting the Xbox button, but it just kept flashing. Tried everything I could, googled for about 20 minutes until I finally found an answer that there was a sync button on the side of the xbox. Why can't they just include an actual manual for it.

Nevermind that it ran an update for the next 1/2 hour after that.

I think it took less time for me to wipe my computer, install Windows 10, and start up FM15 than it did to get the xbox set up.

[NobodyHere]

The demo for Bravely Second: End Layer comes out today. Downloading now.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I got a little cash bonus from my employer for 15 years service, and decided to do something I never thought I would do: I bought a Wii U. The last Nintendo console I owned was an N64 (excluding the DS).

I just see no real reason to own a PS4/XBox One if you have a good gaming PC. I hadn't turned it on for probably 6 months and gave it to my brother-in-law so he could play the new Street Fighter. The only upcoming game I'm excited about is No Man Sky, and - shock/horror - it's on PC anyway - same as NBA 2K, which was the whole reason I got back into console gaming years back.

I played Zelda: Wind Walker for about 4 hours yesterday, god I missed this. Beautiful graphics that make me feel like I’m watching a Miyazaki film, wonderful characters and gameplay mechanics... You know when you think back to the games you loved as a kid, then you fire them up again and are disappointed? Yeah, it was like that, minus the disappointment.

I loved Wind Waker, it's my second favorite Zelda game I've finished after A Link Between Worlds. It looks great and I think I had the main title theme in my head for about a month after I finished it.



Just got the Twilight Princess HD release and need to get to playing that soon.

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

The demo for Bravely Second: End Layer comes out today. Downloading now.

That's something else I need to play soon. Really looking forward to playing the full game and BRAVELY DEFAULT SPOILER

Spoiler

finding out what the subtitle becomes this time.

[Balldog]

Anyone playing The Division? I'm completely hooked...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wait, so there's controversy because No Man's Sky has a $60 price tag?

Seriously? At no point in the discussion / hype about it did I ever think it would be anything but a full price game.

Now whether the game will actually deliver on the hype, that's a fair question.
But I'm legit shocked that anyone thought this was going to be an indie priced title.

The game may very well suck, flop, fail, fizzle. But if they deliver on the hype then it's every bit a full price title (especially considering what constitute a AAA game these days).

[stevew]

My kids really liked the lego games although that Lego Dimensions thing looks like a nightmare expense.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Wait, so there's controversy because No Man's Sky has a $60 price tag?

Seriously? At no point in the discussion / hype about it did I ever think it would be anything but a full price game.

Now whether the game will actually deliver on the hype, that's a fair question.
But I'm legit shocked that anyone thought this was going to be an indie priced title.

The game may very well suck, flop, fail, fizzle. But if they deliver on the hype then it's every bit a full price title (especially considering what constitute a AAA game these days).

This.

Though I seriously fear this is gonna be another Spore.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Tigers on the Hunt.

Check out the link and the sample picture of the game. It looks dated but should look familiar to anyone that played board war games in the early 80's.

Will have to check it out if the reviews are good.

Tutorial videos for upcoming Tigers on the Hunt now available - The Wargamer | PC, PS3, Xbox 360 & Blu-ray walkthroughs & reviews

Bought the game after checking out the reviews. The biggest ding is the clunky interface (hey, its Matrix Games) but old grognards didn't seem to mind. Fair exchange for finally bringing SL/ASL to the PC.

ASL mods are out already - substitute counters, scenarios. This game will be heavily supported by the community.

Just did my first training scenario and I do agree the UI is clunky but it was fun reliving the past for about an hour. Yet to be seen if this will keep my attention but am pretty sure I'll eventually get my $50 worth (if from nostalgia alone).

[Vince, Pt. II]

So on a whim I picked up Stardew Valley this week, because I was bored and needed a break from work. I've heard it compared to Harvest Moon and/or Animal Crossing, but I've never played either of those games, so I can't speak to that. All I know it that I've put in 40 hours since Tuesday.

I don't know exactly what it is about the game, but it's a blast. The graphics and sound are very reminiscent of Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and other Square titles from the 90's (this nostalgia is probably a huge part of the allure for me, to be honest). The gameplay is not really especially deep in any one area, but it has enough depth to keep your attention and the real strength is in the breadth of the game - when one thing gets tedious, stop and try something different. Clear your fields for a while with your axe or pickaxe, then go ahead and till the soil and plant some seeds. Each crop will grow only in a specific season, takes a certain amount of time to yield fruit/vegetables/flowers, and they all have different rates of return on sale. To make life easier, use the crafting system to make some Scarecrows to keep your crops safe, or build some sprinklers to avoid having to water your crops every morning. You can wander around town, performing odd jobs as they pop up, or even give gifts to the different villagers to improve their opinion of you. You can fish (and the implementation of fishing is easily the best version of a fishing mini-game I've ever seen), or delve into the mines - but bring a weapon, because there are some bad guys down there. Once you've acquired some resources, talk to the town carpenter, and she can build you a chicken coop or a barn, and you can start raising animals. Another great thing is as you continue to perform these tasks, you gain experience and get better at them. At level 5 (of 10) in each different path, you get the choice to specialize in one aspect of that job - for example, at level 5 farming, you can choose to be a Rancher (bonus to working with farm animals) or a Tiller (bonus to working with crops).

Exploring the social aspect of the game (this is a single player game), once you've built up your reputation among some of the villagers, they'll share their family recipes with you so you can cook or process your farmed goods. They might even ask you to utilize part of your farm for some reason or other - the resident researcher asked me for the use of a small cave on my property. He gave me the choice of fruit bat or fungal research; the research will occasionally benefit me with extra resources. I picked fruit bats, so I occasionally get random fruit in the cave. The choice was only possible because I cultivated a relationship with him by chatting with him, completing tasks for him, and occasionally gifting him something from my farm. The gifting system is pretty great too - you can hand any villager just about anything you acquire. Each villager has a different set of tastes, and will respond differently based on what you give them. You can figure out their tastes through trial and error, or sometimes different villagers will drop clues in conversation, or straight up tell you about other people's tastes.

Then there's the town center, which is in shambles...but there are some mysterious checklists that ask you to provide goods using all of the above methods of gathering/farming/fishing/etc. As you do so, you will unlock new checklists and benefits around town. This really helps encourage you to diversify, as the different checklists will force you to take part in every activity you can to fill them out.

Like I said, there isn't really one thing about the game that I love, but the whole package is pretty awesome. I spent twenty minutes with some graph paper and colored pencils yesterday plotting out my ideal farm to get the most out of my equipment. I haven't done that since...SimCity 2000?

[Easy Mac]

Xbox One owners, get a year of Live for $18 at Target.

Look for a green Xbox Live card near the games with a UPC on the back in the upper right with the number 7 99366 07811 1.

On your phone, go to this link in chrome. From there, go into the options and select "Request Desktop Site". Once loaded, click on " See Low Price in Cart ". It will show $17.98.

Take it to customer service, say you need to price match Target.com. they'll scan the at the register and pull it up on their in store iPad. To process it, they'll need a manager override.

I had no problems at my store buying 2 cards, but you may get shot down depending on who is working. My store literally had 30-40 of these cards I was tempted to buy and sell. I figured 2 years of Live for $37 after taxes was good enough.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Anyone playing The Division? I'm completely hooked...

Is it fun playing solo? I have read is a game to play cooperative with friends or it will become repetitive and boring so fast like Destiny (that I must admit got boring playing solo and not doing raids).

[jaygr]

Add me to the list of another loving Stardew Valley. I've got a toddler and a baby at home and over the last year or two it has been a struggle getting back into games (I've bought many but barely touched them). This game has me hooked and I've finally been able to relax and game a bit now. Just a fun, relaxing game that you can play at your own pace.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Not sure if I'll jump into VR, but a pretty cool concept.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Anyone playing The Division? I'm completely hooked...

I'm up to lvl 9 but I feel it's a lot easier with a group. I've grouped up with random players but would love to group up with some FOFC'ers.

Anyone playing on the Xbone?

[Balldog]

I am playing The Division on PS4 and have went exclusively solo so far. In the Betas I went in group and had fun. Both ways are a lot of fun IMO and I'm not really all that into RPG.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by jaygr

Add me to the list of another loving Stardew Valley. I've got a toddler and a baby at home and over the last year or two it has been a struggle getting back into games (I've bought many but barely touched them). This game has me hooked and I've finally been able to relax and game a bit now. Just a fun, relaxing game that you can play at your own pace.

Vince's post got me to pick it up.

And now I'm utterly hooked as well. I've been spending this morning at work contemplating my future farm layout.

[jaygr]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Vince's post got me to pick it up.

And now I'm utterly hooked as well. I've been spending this morning at work contemplating my future farm layout.

That's how I knew it really got me. Throughout the day today I was thinking about playing the game and couldn't wait for this evening to play. I can't remember the last I've had that.

[EagleFan]

I confused the backpack and the coop. Had over 2000 G and happily went to buy the coop and then saw I was only halfway there. Damn.

[Thomkal]

Look for some big news on Stellaris this week. PC Gamer played a near finished build, and posted about it with some video, but was asked to take it down (make it private on YouTube). I'm guessing they are going to announce a release date tomorrow. I will try to keep up on it and post a link here when the video is public again.

This thread has some pictures and information:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-found.913575/

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by jaygr

That's how I knew it really got me. Throughout the day today I was thinking about playing the game and couldn't wait for this evening to play. I can't remember the last I've had that.

Stardew interactive farm planner

Yep. It's exactly what it sounds like.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Look for some big news on Stellaris this week. PC Gamer played a near finished build, and posted about it with some video, but was asked to take it down (make it private on YouTube). I'm guessing they are going to announce a release date tomorrow. I will try to keep up on it and post a link here when the video is public again.

This thread has some pictures and information:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-found.913575/

Paradox is at the Game Developers Conference in San Fran today and will be streaming their presentation there tonight at 5pm PDT.

[cartman]

Microsoft is introducing cross-platform play between Xbox One, PCs and PS4s with Rocket League.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Paradox is at the Game Developers Conference in San Fran today and will be streaming their presentation there tonight at 5pm PDT.

They're also revealing a project they're working with Obsidian on during the stream.

[Thomkal]

Stellaris releases May 9th

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by mckerney

They're also revealing a project they're working with Obsidian on during the stream.

It's called Tyranny-a RPG where evil has already won.

[Thomkal]

Stellaris trailer:

Space-age strategy game Stellaris lands on Earth this May | Polygon

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Had to laugh at the announcement earlier today that MS is going to start allowing cross-console play. More than one developer of multiplayer games (Naoki Yoshida, who produced Final Fantasy XIV being the most recent one) has stated that the reason there's no cross-console play is because MS refused to do it. Sony has always been open to it. Now MS comes out and says 'we're going to allow cross-console play!' and the rest of the gaming world scratches it's head in confusion and says 'well it's about time!'.

[Groundhog]

Great, more online games for me on PC, which was the only remaining area I felt like I was missing anything by opting for PC over either console.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

It's called Tyranny-a RPG where evil has already won.

Cautiously excited about the game as I work my way through Pillars of Eternity now that the White March is out.

The only qualm I have is that I worry the player's moral choices will be railroaded the same way seemingly every "play as the bad guy" game has gone:

Light side: You come to a crisis of conscience and decide to rebel against the evil ruling elite. You end up fighting your way into the Overlord's chambers to topple him.
Dark side: You come to a crisis of turpitude and decide to take the reins of power for yourself. You end up fighting your way into the Overlord's chambers to topple him.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Shkspr

Cautiously excited about the game as I work my way through Pillars of Eternity now that the White March is out.

The only qualm I have is that I worry the player's moral choices will be railroaded the same way seemingly every "play as the bad guy" game has gone:

Light side: You come to a crisis of conscience and decide to rebel against the evil ruling elite. You end up fighting your way into the Overlord's chambers to topple him.
Dark side: You come to a crisis of turpitude and decide to take the reins of power for yourself. You end up fighting your way into the Overlord's chambers to topple him.

yeah I worry that this is just PR speaking-that you will find your choices to be limited, and even the "evil" ones aren't that evil in the end. But Obsidian is probably who I want to make such a RPG, so we'll see I guess.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Stellaris releases May 9th

The first Stellaris livestream will be on Twitch tomorrow night-be there or be square!

[cartman]

pleasebetruepleasebetrue

Rumor: Red Dead Redemption 2 Details Leaked, E3 Reveal Planned

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by cartman

pleasebetruepleasebetrue

Rumor: Red Dead Redemption 2 Details Leaked, E3 Reveal Planned

Ditto... my favorite non-sports game that I played on Xbox 360... please be true!

[Kodos]

Loved that game. And the zombie spinoff.

[Atocep]

A Red Dead game on PC? Yes please.

[Easy Mac]

Is EA Access worth it for someone who doesn't care about the latest and greatest? I'd say I'll get at most 5 hours a week to play games, and I've been out of it so long that I have no interest in playing online any time soon, since I'd be so horrendous at it. Only $30 a year, which doesn't seem like that bad a deal to play year old games.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by Balldog

I am playing The Division on PS4 and have went exclusively solo so far. In the Betas I went in group and had fun. Both ways are a lot of fun IMO and I'm not really all that into RPG.

Just hit level 30 in this last night and still really enjoying this one. Haven't had to solo much as I'm playing in a group of 3-5 and we tend to get at least 3 on each night to play for a few hours. Love that the game rewards you for playing in a smart and complimentary way. If you try to blitz through, well, lots of time spent running back to the spot you just died at to pick the mission back up.

Should be fun to work on setting up builds until the next content drop hits too.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Is EA Access worth it for someone who doesn't care about the latest and greatest? I'd say I'll get at most 5 hours a week to play games, and I've been out of it so long that I have no interest in playing online any time soon, since I'd be so horrendous at it. Only $30 a year, which doesn't seem like that bad a deal to play year old games.

It's an INCREDIBLE deal if you like the EA sports lineup and other game under the EA brand such as DA: Inquisition, Titanfall, BF, etc..

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by cartman

pleasebetruepleasebetrue

Rumor: Red Dead Redemption 2 Details Leaked, E3 Reveal Planned

Deja vu? Looks like a reddit user claimed it was going to be announced at E3 last year.

http://wccftech.com/red-dead-redempt...etails-leaked/

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

3.50 update on PS4. Includes remote play on PC/Mac.

https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2016...-out-tomorrow/

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Long gameplay video of No Man's Sky......

No Man's Sky: 21 Minutes of New Gameplay - IGN First - IGN Video

[JonInMiddleGA]

So, that new $5 Fallout 4 DLC ...

Lots of bitching but it strikes me mostly as a very mild cost/benefit transaction.

For me, the whole arena/death battle aspect is just beyond silly. Zero interest in using or honestly even experimenting with it. YMMV.

The new items for settlement construction are a fairly mixed bag. Some are purely decorative (shopping carts for example) while others are functional or even highly functional.

They fixed a few very specific situations with the items -- the addition of working lamp posts/street lights was probably among the more obvious things to do, vanilla allowed you to hang lights on the posts but not (effectively) change the stupid bulbs in them. The 100 electricity fusion generator makes life easier for serious builders (and actually makes reasonable sense in the nuclear oriented fallout universe), the addition of a buildable gardening plot makes a couple of settlements with very limited/no dirt sustainable, the addition of a dirt-based powered water pump equalizes the situation for land-locked settlements.

A few other additions that have struck me as being "nice" are the additional lighting options, the introduction of some concrete based structures (walls, etc), a more attractive/natural looking door option, those are things that I've either used already or have plans to use. Still missing is something I saw in a mod: ramps (instead of stairs), which really would make sense to have available, if you can build a load-bearing wall from scratch then you oughta be able to build a passable ramp just as easily.

There's zero story here, the items just become available in your build menus, uncharacteristically there's no other indication that there's new stuff available (I actually expected there to be at least NPC commentary about them, though the traditional "new radio signal" would have been a bit much).

It's kinda there if you want it, easily skipped if you don't. I mean it's not as though there's some sort of multiplayer disadvantage to not picking up this DLC, and you're not missing anything if you aren't into deathmatches with cats vs deathclaws or settlement construction.

[Icy]

So hooked to the Division in PS4 right now, for first time in a while, I'm really looking forward to play, and thinking about my character build when i'm not playing.

So far i have played mainly solo playing side missions and only joining some randoms to run two of the main story missions in hard difficulty, but most of my friends don't play it and also my playing schedule is very limited and random to commit with others.

[dawgfan]

I'll just put this in here: http://ramiismail.com/2016/04/an-inline-response-to-wage-slaves/

[MizzouRah]

I just ordered Dark Souls 3 - can't wait to sit down and devote time to it. Anyone playing it?

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I just ordered Dark Souls 3 - can't wait to sit down and devote time to it. Anyone playing it?

I've been playing it. I'm not too far into it, I was too sick to play it most of the middle of last week when it came out, and I've been taking it slow and gone through a couple of areas multiple times. I think I've played around 13 hours so far. That said, it's as amazing as you'd expect a souls game to be. Combat is as good as ever, the world and enemy design is still top notch, the boss fights have been excellent. Plenty to explore too, I just found a couple new things in the Undead Village going through it for the third time.