2014 Video Games Thread

[DaddyTorgo]

I played the demo. Thought it had potential.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Berger

Has anybody here played Project Zomboid? I've had it for quite a while, but haven't played it a ton as I'm waiting for the npc's and metagame to be finished up for singleplayer. I'm also waiting for MP, which they've just announced should be up pretty soon.

I guess the servers are up and running and you can see some gameplay here. You can check out the blog update here.

I'm super excited about this one as I'm a sucker for survival games, with or without zombies, for that matter. This game is very well designed and with multiplayer coming soon, I think it could go to the next level. Highly recommended.

I own it. Got about 6 hours invested in the game. It's well designed, but very difficult to find what you need to survive. Overly so, especially for stuff that should be common. For example, I've survived over a week in my current game. I'm in a remote house, no zoms around and I've already started boarding up the windows. I have a good supply of food and water.

The problem? I can't find a trowel anywhere. So I can't start to plant. If I can't start to plant, I'll die eventually of starvation. Every single house in suburbia has a trowel. But not here and therefore I'm screwed long term and forced to take greater and greater risks to find a stinkin' trowel.

It's a decent game overall though. I'm waiting until it's done. I have no interest in multiplayer at this stage.

---

SirFozzie got Railroads. Hope he enjoys it!

[Matthean]

If you don't want success, don't post publish anything.

Flappy Bird Developer Says He’s Taking The Hit Game Down Tomorrow | TechCrunch

[Vince, Pt. II]

My roommate picked up Bravely Default for the 3DS, and he's loving it. His thoughts:

"I'm really not sure why they didn't call it 'Final Fantasy.' There are four crystals (Earth, Air, Fire and Water), there are four heroes out to save the world, and it uses a job system extremely similar to FF2, FF5 and FF: Tactics. It's awesome though. Beautiful game, the Brave/Default battle system is a nice twist, and the ability to tune the frequency of the random encounters is fantastic." (Edit: apparently there's a slider that changes the frequency of random battles that you can change at any time)

Looking forward to giving it a shot when my queue clears a bit.

[Berger]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

I own it. Got about 6 hours invested in the game. It's well designed, but very difficult to find what you need to survive. Overly so, especially for stuff that should be common. For example, I've survived over a week in my current game. I'm in a remote house, no zoms around and I've already started boarding up the windows. I have a good supply of food and water.

The problem? I can't find a trowel anywhere. So I can't start to plant. If I can't start to plant, I'll die eventually of starvation. Every single house in suburbia has a trowel. But not here and therefore I'm screwed long term and forced to take greater and greater risks to find a stinkin' trowel.

It's a decent game overall though. I'm waiting until it's done. I have no interest in multiplayer at this stage.

---

SirFozzie got Railroads. Hope he enjoys it!

Yeah it is a very difficult game, but I don't think it's too hard. I'm not jumping with joy about multiplayer, but I'm definitely going to try it out, if not now, in a couple months. But they're also getting close with the npc's, which is what I'm really waiting for.

Oh, and I'm not really sure why MP is being put into the game before the SP is done, like they said they weren't going to do, but oh well.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

My roommate picked up Bravely Default for the 3DS, and he's loving it. His thoughts:

"I'm really not sure why they didn't call it 'Final Fantasy.' There are four crystals (Earth, Air, Fire and Water), there are four heroes out to save the world, and it uses a job system extremely similar to FF2, FF5 and FF: Tactics. It's awesome though. Beautiful game, the Brave/Default battle system is a nice twist, and the ability to tune the frequency of the random encounters is fantastic." (Edit: apparently there's a slider that changes the frequency of random battles that you can change at any time)

Looking forward to giving it a shot when my queue clears a bit.

I keep seeing a quote throw around about "spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Four Heroes of Light". However, I think they wanted to do a new IP since there is no real value to adding the Final Fantasy name to it.

I picked up the CE after playing the demo. The demo was fun by grindy. We'll see if this is better

SI

[terpkristin]

The part about BD that scares me is the end. I read the Kotaku review which basically said that the end is miserable, that you have to fight 4 dungeons 5 times.

Ugh. I'm going to wait for a sale on this one.

/tk

[Groundhog]

I'm late to the party, but Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is freakin' awesome. I haven't played any of the other AC games, is the sci-fi/virtual reality aspect of it a theme in all the games, or just this one? I didn't expect it at all, and it's kinda neat.

I have to keep forcing myself to play the main plot because it's just a ton of fun capturing boats and being all piratey.

[stevew]

So is it like Grand Theft Auto on the Seas? I might check it out. I really liked that Pirates! game that came out awhile back

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by stevew

So is it like Grand Theft Auto on the Seas? I might check it out. I really liked that Pirates! game that came out awhile back

It's awesome!

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by stevew

So is it like Grand Theft Auto on the Seas? I might check it out. I really liked that Pirates! game that came out awhile back

It's really 5 different games.

1) Adventure game - think like Tomb Raider/Uncharted, but with much more of an emphasis on stealth. The sword fighting is not overly complex, with an attack/parry/break defense system, but keeps it easy/fun. Most of the missions you are "train tracked" through an island/location, and there are (so far) some minor puzzles.

2) Pirate game - sail the seas, loot ships, destroy forts, find treasure, upgrade your ship, etc. This part of the game alone is worth the price of admission. The emphasis is on fun over reality, but it "feels" authentic. You could easily forget the main quest and get lost in this aspect of the game.

3) Trading game - I've only scratched the surface of this. An overhead map view of the region where you can send the ships you capture on trading/combat missions. Surprisingly fun.

4) Exploration/"GTA" with swords game - explore islands/shipwrecks/etc. Outside of the missions, the world is completely open. Most of it is collecting treasure chests/other trinkets to get a full set, but it's a picturesque world with a great deal of care taken to make it look pretty.

5) The "real world". Too early to say exactly, but it ties into the pirate world in someway.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I'm late to the party, but Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is freakin' awesome. I haven't played any of the other AC games, is the sci-fi/virtual reality aspect of it a theme in all the games, or just this one? I didn't expect it at all, and it's kinda neat.

I have to keep forcing myself to play the main plot because it's just a ton of fun capturing boats and being all piratey.

Yes, they are all in the Animus. AC1, AC2, Brotherhood, Revelations and AC3 all use the same main "real world" protagonist.

[Berger]

Please tell me the naval warfare is improved in this one. I'm holding off until I get my new gaming pc, but I've played every AC prior to this one. The part that really scared me off in this one was all the naval stuff. I've always hated that part of the game, but loved the franchise in general.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

It's really 5 different games.

1) Adventure game - think like Tomb Raider/Uncharted, but with much more of an emphasis on stealth. The sword fighting is not overly complex, with an attack/parry/break defense system, but keeps it easy/fun. Most of the missions you are "train tracked" through an island/location, and there are (so far) some minor puzzles.

2) Pirate game - sail the seas, loot ships, destroy forts, find treasure, upgrade your ship, etc. This part of the game alone is worth the price of admission. The emphasis is on fun over reality, but it "feels" authentic. You could easily forget the main quest and get lost in this aspect of the game.

3) Trading game - I've only scratched the surface of this. An overhead map view of the region where you can send the ships you capture on trading/combat missions. Surprisingly fun.

4) Exploration/"GTA" with swords game - explore islands/shipwrecks/etc. Outside of the missions, the world is completely open. Most of it is collecting treasure chests/other trinkets to get a full set, but it's a picturesque world with a great deal of care taken to make it look pretty.

5) The "real world". Too early to say exactly, but it ties into the pirate world in someway.

Ok, I'm down when/if I get a XB1. That sounds like a shitload of fun. I trust the taste here for the most part on games and while I only played one other AC game and didn't like it, I'll give it a chance. The endorsement of a Buccaneer is good enough for me.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by Berger

Please tell me the naval warfare is improved in this one. I'm holding off until I get my new gaming pc, but I've played every AC prior to this one. The part that really scared me off in this one was all the naval stuff. I've always hated that part of the game, but loved the franchise in general.

It is easily the best part of the game. Hands down.

I am even purposely delaying the game just to live out my Pirates of the Carribean fantasies.

[Neon_Chaos]

Dola, a battle I had the other day while attacking a Treasure Fleet... Basically 2 spanish galleons and several frigates in the middle of a storm with rogue waves!

[Groundhog]

BTW... On that note, can you play on after you finish the main storyline? Or else I'm going to hold off too.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

BTW... On that note, can you play on after you finish the main storyline? Or else I'm going to hold off too.

Yes you can.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

I am even purposely delaying the game just to live out my Pirates of the Carribean fantasies.

This is like the only reason why I'm not upset about the thought of upgrading and having to start over.

I could do without the follow-missions and all that stuff (to this point I think I've only done 1 or 2 assassination missions) - I just want to sail around and pirate.

[Buccaneer]

I'm glad to hear that more of you are getting into the awesome AC4.

I did watch the whole walkthrough on AC3 and I was struck at how vastly superior the naval game is in AC4 compared to AC3. So yes, much improved.

Like others that had not played AC before, I was jolted by the modern day missions. Completely a waste of time and distracting, imo, adding nothing to the game. However, they did shorten them so you end up doing about 5 minutes of that every two hours of gameplay on average. Can't avoid it but you can get through them rather quickly.

I played the game for nearly 100 hours and half of the time was spent on the seas and in ports getting every chest, treasures and keys as well as sync points. Both a lot of fun.

For example, you shouldn't leave the first island with less than 5300 gold. And when you get to Hsvana, there are 20-24 chests - some easy, some challenging. Take your time and really get to know every place you go to.

The one thing I am not sure about is replay value since I did nearly everything the first time through. I will, however, get the two dlcs that open up new places and quests.

[Neon_Chaos]

This romp on the PS4 is actually my second playthrough.

I have it on the PS3 as well.

It's that good, I had to buy the next gen version.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

This romp on the PS4 is actually my second playthrough.

I have it on the PS3 as well.

It's that good, I had to buy the next gen version.

Do you agree with MBBF that it's worth it on the PS4, even for someone who's ya know...halfway done with it on PS3, considering all the stuff I'll have to repeat?

[Buccaneer]

That's one thing I've been thinking about - how to replay without having all of the same gameplay experience. This is not like Skyrim where you can replay for another 100 hours and mostly differently experiences. You are pretty much locked into the main storyline if you want to unlock areas. But as DT said, the Assassin's missions are typically skipped, so that can be a focus. I am not sure about upgrading the Jackdaw differently (i.e., not hulls and mortars). I suppose one could come up with house rules - like you have to only hunt for your gold or no buying hunting supplies.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Do you agree with MBBF that it's worth it on the PS4, even for someone who's ya know...halfway done with it on PS3, considering all the stuff I'll have to repeat?

I think it's worth it on nextgen, just for the enhanced particle physics and graphics.

Maybe you should check out the graphics comparison videos on youtube.

Of course when you get down to it, it's really the same game, only prettier. So it depends on your budget, really, if you can afford to buy it on nextgen, why not?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

I think it's worth it on nextgen, just for the enhanced particle physics and graphics.

Maybe you should check out the graphics comparison videos on youtube.

Of course when you get down to it, it's really the same game, only prettier. So it depends on your budget, really, if you can afford to buy it on nextgen, why not?

With the $10 trade-in, why not indeed?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

With the $10 trade-in, why not indeed?

For $10, you can't go wrong.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So I cleared Radiant Historia yesterday. Very, very good game. Not quite excellent, but I really enjoyed it.

Pros:
-Great implementation of time travel, and the ability to explore both sides of the decision making process throughout the game is awesome.
-Battle system is interesting, and linking both special moves and magic to MP consumption leads to some interesting decisions and lends a bunch more weight to the usage of buffs and debuffs in this game. The auto-battle feature is brilliant for when you're cruising through zones you completely out-level.
-The story is good, isn't bogged down by sappy romances and has some very good dialogue. It also stays strong throughout. I was particularly fond of the endgame, but I can't discuss without major spoilers so I'll leave it at that.
-The graphics are pretty incredible for a DS game, and the music is very well done.

Cons
-Difficulty swings wildly from one zone to the next. The first 40% of the game is cakewalk easy, so the difficult sections can be really off-putting. Once you get used to the fact that some areas are actually difficult, none of them are unfairly difficult, and several pose a nice challenge.
-for a game that features time travel and has lots of dialogue, it's almost inexcusable that you aren't able to skip cutscenes you've already seen before. There IS a fast forward feature, but there are still certain sections of the game (that you will see 5+ times) where you're holding the fast forward button for a minute or two just waiting for the scene to end.
-Akin to the difficulty compliant, the game holds your hand pretty tightly for most of the time, explaining in fairly clear detail where you need to go next. On the rare occasion where it doesn't do this, it's easy to get frustrated...especially when you're sitting through minutes of dialogue on fast forward only to find out this ISN'T the node you were supposed to go to.
-No inner-zone mini-maps is a slight frustration on some of the larger levels, though I enjoyed the challenge of having to actually learn the locations and figure things out.

Overall, the game was awesome and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic RPGs. A few tweaks here and there and this could have been an all-time great game.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

For $10, you can't go wrong.

Well except for having to replay 50% of the main storyline to get back to where I (nominally) am.

[sterlingice]

I think I'll move Radiant Historia up a spot or two on the backlog based on that. I'm plowing my way through Fire Emblem for the 3DS right now, tho, and I suspect that will keep me busy for another month.

SI

[Vince, Pt. II]

Let me know what you think of Fire Emblem. My roommate has it, but he stalled after a while and now he's moved on to Bravely Default.

I'm going to clean up a few loose ends in RH and beat it again, then I'll move on to TWEWY.

[sterlingice]

I'm enjoying FE, however, I'm playing Casual-Hard. I think I lose something by not playing Classic where if someone dies they're gone for good. However, I've had more than enough OHKOs in my game to know I'd be rage resetting like mad if I were playing Classic and that defeats the purpose, too. Instead, I end up with Hard where I have to do a bit of grinding to keep a lot of my team up to speed. However, I think it could easily be mitigated if I just choose a good team and stuck with those characters rather than spreading it around.

So far, I'm quite enjoying it and have poured about 10 hours into it (tho I think another 5 have been wiped out by early battles where a main character died and you can't complete a mission if one of the 2 main characters die). I think I'm between about 1/3 and 1/2 of the game. I'm not planning on slowing down but I may make the change I mention above where I narrow the focus rather than trying to level everyone.

SI

[Coffee Warlord]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/02/11/co...w-a-real-game/

What we've all been waiting for.

Goat Simulator.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Some funny stuff here out of the EA COO........

EA Defends BF 4, SimCity Launch Efforts, Discusses Future | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

RPS: SimCity and BF4 both had terrible launches. SimCity didn’t work for more than a month, and BF4 still has issues. Surely you’re overhauling how you approach launches internally from now on?

Hilleman: I’m not sure I accept your premise. Battlefield 4 has been an exceedingly successful product on both consoles and PC. From a sales perspective, from a gameplay perspective.

RPS: Sure, BF4 is fundamentally a good game, but you can’t just write off months of glitches and server issues. Some people straight up could not play for the first couple weeks.

Hilleman: I think there was a lot of noise about the game, but some of that is a function of your surface area. The more customers you have, the more noise becomes available. We did things wrong. We know that. We’re gonna fix those things. We’re gonna try to be smart about what customers want in the future.

But I’m not willing to accept – and I don’t think most of my customers are willing to say – “it’s a bad product, I wish I didn’t buy it.” That’s not the conversation we’re having now. I think what we’re hearing is, “You made a game we really liked. We would’ve liked it a little better if it didn’t have these problems.” Many of those problems we can fix, and we have and will.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Some funny stuff here out of the EA COO........

EA Defends BF 4, SimCity Launch Efforts, Discusses Future | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

In other words: "it sold well so fuck you and fuck the customers"

[SirFozzie]

Ok, this game is a must buy.

From the makers of Left 4 Dead, a 4 v 1 hunting game: The hunters try to kill the beast, the beast tries to get strong enough (by chowing on wildlife and or rogue hunters they ambush) to kill the hunters.

What would be more fun, the 4 hunters working together, with many varied abilities and classes to bring down a rampaging 15 foot tall beast that can breath fire?

Or being the beast, and doing to the Hunters what the Hunters want to do to the Beast, except with more sharp pointy teeth and breathing fire.

(or in other words, imagine L4D against a Super-Tank that can get even more powerful if the Hunters don't find it and kill it)

Evolve -- Happy Hunting -- Official Trailer - YouTube

[DaddyTorgo]

How has Pirates held up? Embarrassed I've never played it.

[sterlingice]

I enjoyed the crap out of the PSP version a couple of years ago. It did have a glitch, tho, where I could never beat part of the main story because I spent way too much time just sailing around, trading, dancing, fighting, whatever and one of the other pirates killed him first (or maybe he died of old age waiting for me to come find him).

SI

[cartman]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

How has Pirates held up? Embarrassed I've never played it.

Considering it has been over 9 years since it was released, it has held up pretty well. For those that played the original version way back in the late 80s, it probably didn't live up to the expectations. But if you have not played either version, and you can pick it up for cheap, you should get a decent amount of enjoyment from it.

[DaddyTorgo]

I'll do that then!

[Eaglesfan27]

I really enjoyed the Banner Saga. It ended abruptly and left me wanting more. The choices throughout were very difficult and the story kept me wanting to play just one more battle. The battle system became a bit repetitive which is my only complaint about the game. I'm looking forward to whenever the next chapter/sequel comes out.

[Buccaneer]

Sid Meier's Pirates (not to be confused with the Microprose versions) was good for one playthrough, imo. Unlike the Pirates!Gold version (which was what I played for years), it offered almost no replay value.

Incidentally, I did buy the iOS version but then discovered that it was unplayable on newer iPads like Air. The reason is that the newer processors accelerates the ships to where you can't control them even with sails down. You can visualize the map? Imagine sailing from one end to the other in 6 seconds. It was released in 2011 and 2k has not released any updates since then, from what I can tell. It is unfortunate since it would be a decent iPad game, one that would take longer than 5 minutes to play.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Sid Meier's Pirates (not to be confused with the Microprose versions) was good for one playthrough, imo. Unlike the Pirates!Gold version (which was what I played for years), it offered almost no replay value.

Incidentally, I did buy the iOS version but then discovered that it was unplayable on newer iPads like Air. The reason is that the newer processors accelerates the ships to where you can't control them even with sails down. You can visualize the map? Imagine sailing from one end to the other in 6 seconds. It was released in 2011 and 2k has not released any updates since then, from what I can tell. It is unfortunate since it would be a decent iPad game, one that would take longer than 5 minutes to play.

Thanks!

[cartman]

The problem I have with playing Pirates!Gold now is that it is a 640x480 DosBox game. I just don't get the same feel playing it as I did back in the day.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by cartman

The problem I have with playing Pirates!Gold now is that it is a 640x480 DosBox game. I just don't get the same feel playing it as I did back in the day.

I feel that way about all of my favorite games from back then. These not only include Pirates!Gold but Civ2, Imperialism II, CNW, Pharaoh/Zeus, RR Tycoon 2, etc. All of those games can still be played but it's not the same thing anymore and that's ok. It's not that there are better games that replaced them (except for Civ5, of course), it's just nostalgia can only take so far.

[stevew]

Just get Sid Pirates for the iPad. It's still a good game.

[stevew]

I have a gen 1 iPad though.

[CleBrownsfan]

Hell yeah - Goat Simulator!

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[stevew]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

With the $10 trade-in, why not indeed?

where is this program you speak of?

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by stevew

where is this program you speak of?

I believe this is what he's talking about.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/...-ps4-versions/

[DaddyTorgo]

South Park has gone gold apparently!