Video Games

@Beauner wrote:

@gopherguy13 wrote:

@Beauner wrote:

@gopherguy13 wrote:

So my roommate bought a PS4, he's getting The Show when it comes out.

In the meantime I bought Horizon: Zero Dawn. I'm only a couple hours in but I'm loving it so far. Graphically, it's gorgeous, really impressive. The combat system is really fun, I've only encountered 4 different types of machines, but it's so fun to identify their weaknesses and see how it affects them when those weaknesses are exploited.

The story is intriguing so far, as well.

I preordered The Show on Monday. I may have to check out Horizon too. It looks pretty cool.

It's really cool. I'm already excited to go home and play it some more
But I'm really excited for The Show to come out. I have played a baseball video game since MLB 2K10 on the 360, so I'm thinking I'll be blown away the The Show!

Yeah my last baseball game was MLB 2k13 on Xbox 360, which was basically a turd covered in burnt hair. I played it for like 4 hours and the graphics sucked, the gameplay sucked... And then Xbox stopped making baseball games.

The Show might be my favorite sports game after they decided to kill College Football. Usually about a week to 2 weeks after the release of the game, community members from Operation Sports release a roster that has all of the minor leaguers included. I highly recommend keeping an eye out for this. It really adds depth to the game if you play franchise mode.

Has anyone bought the Nintendo switch? Thoughts?

Mass Effect: Andromeda? Anyone?

@ScoobyDoo wrote:

Mass Effect: Andromeda? Anyone?

I'm only about 6 hours in but I love it. If you want to play a game with an interesting story where your choices have impact, then you will enjoy it. If weird animations and poor framerate at times ruin your enjoyment, then I would pass.

There is plenty of dialogue and the game isn't meant to be rushed. Combat is fun and your squadmates are much more effective than the original trilogy. You use to have to pause combat and instruct each member to perform a certain action. Now you just point them where you want them and they take care of the rest.

The game does lack a certain polish and that's why some reviews haven't been great. People really had high expectations and wanted it to be the best game ever.

One thing that takes a little time getting use to is the auto cover system, but once you get use to it, you barely notice it.

The Show is awesome. Been playing RTTS while I wait for the OS rosters to come out for franchise mode.

My RTTS guy is a third basemen. It's really fun playing 3B from the 3rd person camera view. I got drafted by the Braves, and am playing for their AA affiliate right now. I really like how you have to actually put in work and do really well to get rewarded. I'm hitting .315ish, with 10 HRs and 60+ RBIs, I believe I'm in August of my first season. I thought when I was hitting like .340ish they would call me up, but no such luck. Now I've been on a bit of a cold streak and the average has dropped a bit, so it's probably good I didn't get called up to get rocked by AAA pitching

I really like the manager interactions; they decided they wanted to try playing me at 2B, but I hated it, they eventually moved me back, but it was still cool to have that happen.

I'm having a lot of fun with RTTS, but it is just the appetizer for me, can't wait for the rosters to be out, so I can dive into a Franchise Mode.

I was gonna post about this yesterday but forgot. I made myself a C cuz that was my favorite position to play growing up (and I figured it would be easy to get called up if I hit well). Plus I wanted to get drafted by the Twins and they need a catcher or twelve obviously. But it backfired cuz the Phillies drafted me.

Little did I know that the accuracy of the pitchers sucks and if they miss their spots and you don't have a glove there it gets blamed on you :anger:

I got called up to AAA after hitting 17 home runs before the all Star game in AA and then a September call up for the big leagues, despite only having like a .260 average in AAA (I did have 8 more HRs in the month of AAA).

In AA I was in the mid .280s when I got called up.

I really need to work on plate discipline though. I swing at frickin everything my hitting coaches have already ripped me about it twice.

Yeah plate discipline is tough. I have managed to focus on working more deep counts and it is paying off, I'm drawing more walks. But it's like, if they pipe a fastball on the first pitch I'm not gonna NOT swing at it, just for the sake of getting deeper into the count. What kind of hitting do you do? I use analog + stride. So you have to pull back, and swing forward with the stick. I feel like I can get the timing down better doing it that way.

Although what I've started doing is just sitting dead red on a fastball down the middle on the first pitch. If it looks like it's anything off-speed or that it might nibble a corner, I'll let it go. Since I started doing this, I've been drawing more walks.

I also love how you can turn umpire "personalities" on (or whatever it's called) so they will occasionally make mistakes. I love when it's a 3-2 count and their junk pitch catches a corner, but the ump still calls it a ball :biggrin2:

Of course then I'm cursing the ump when he calls a strike out of the zone. Just like real life!

I've experimented with both hitting (analog and Square/X/Circle). This is my first time ever playing The Show so I wasn't sure what to expect. My timing with the X/O/square is much worse than the analog stick is.

I do enjoy the umpire personality portion too. Makes it pretty realistic.

I'm about 30 hours or so into Andromeda and I'm hooked. I know there was some disappointment from the critics but I'm digging it!

Finally got the NES Classic. Play it 3-4 times a week for maybe up to hour. Pretty much only play Mario 1, Dr. Mario and Zelda now. Have played others, just not as often.

Has anyone else tried Friday the 13th? As a horror movie fan I've been having a ton of fun with it (when I can actually play.....servers have been a mess).

<img class="go2wpf-bbcode" src=" https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/omj-zGrS69KVOY_b4YA-eeJVScE=/0x0:1024x740/920x613/filters:focal(303x164:465x326)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55448223/_1024.0.pn g" alt="">

The mini SNES Classic launches in September for $80

Haven't watched Southpark since the early 2000s, but recently decided to give their new video game 'The Fractured But Whole' a try. It's a lot of fun and the story is well thought out. I forgot how creative Parker and Stone could be. Obviously there is lots of stupid humor, but plenty of witty humor as well. It's not super long, about 18-20 hours to complete the main story with extras.

I know you can do a free trial of the game on PS4 or Xbox ONE.

Super Mario Odyssey is amazing. Still haven't even gotten to the actual ending.

Every once in a while, playing Horizon Zero Dawn, I stop for a second and go "holy shit, what a beautiful game". Probably the most awesome game I've ever played, from a visual/graphic perspective.

Some of the landscape is stunning. I also love the weather engine; you'll just be walking along and a light breeze will pick up, the grass starts waving in the wind. Also the way Aloy reacts to the weather or just the general environment around her. She shivers if it's cold, shields her eyes if she's looking into the sun. Everything about the world just feels so organic.

Screenshot from earlier tonight when I was playing:

<img class="go2wpf-bbcode" src=" https://i.imgur.com/6h3grQ9.jp g" alt="">

If anyone is/was on the fence about this game but hasn't gotten it, do yourself a favor and get it.

PlayStation plus members. Nhl 18 is discounted to 17.99 until 2/6 or you can get a deluxe edition with 2800 points and a custom jersey for 23.99. Essentially 70% off from my math

Made an impulse buy tonight and got Far Cry 5. It's pretty sweet so far. The game looks fantastic, and the story has me compelled early on. Seems like a lot of cool different mechanics (the guns for hire, the influence system, etc). Glad with my decision so far!

This is what Kangas is up to these days.

https://www.nhl.com/news/former-nhl-draft-pick-at-gaming-world-championship/c-298283730?tid=297963536

Anyone else getting Red Dead Redemption 2 on Friday?

It's borderline pathetic how excited I am for this game. I have resisted the urge to take PTO on Friday to play all day, so I'm at least a little proud of myself

I might be getting it. I've never played any of the original RDR. So I'm not sure if I should get it or not.

I already had Friday off for PTO so I may buy it and play it all day ?

Well, RDR2 is a prequel of RDR, so the only thing you'd really be missing is some subtle nods and foreshadowing to the future events we already know occurred in RDR.

The stuff I've been reading and watching about RDR2 indicate that it's almost unbelievable how good the game is. The open world responds to everything you do. Each NPC has 80 pages of dialogue. 80 pages!

There's been some gameplay footage that has been leaking throughout the day today, and it looks just as good, if not better, than I had hoped.

This is Rockstar's first game on this current gen, so I can't wait to see how far they've pushed the boundaries of what this hardware can do.

This is what has made me so interested in it. The problem is Fallout 76 comes out 3ish weeks later.

So Red Dead is out of this world so far. Wow, what a game.

I am having a lot of fun with it.

I completed the main story in RDR2 like a week ago. I've still played (or wanted to play) basically every day since. The side missions, quests, hunting and fishing... So much fun, so many things to do. Unbelievably fun game. All told, I'm at about 86% completion. Haven't even dabbled in the online stuff.

I think I'm at about 70% completion.

I've put A LOT of hours into it and I'm having just as much fun as the day I started. I love the slower pace. I have still yet to fast travel anywhere because of how alive the world feels.

Soooo many little things about the game that I love.

Just riding places at night and seeing various campfires off the paths where people have stopped to make camp for the night is so interesting. Sometimes, if you stop at them, the people are immediately hostile and tell you to leave. Sometimes people are friendly and enjoy the company, and will have a genuine conversation with you. I've never played a game where the NPCs feel so real.

I could go on for hours just on stuff like that, not even touching on the main story, which is also fantastic.

Agreed 100%. I fast-traveled one time. It wasn't worth it. Haven't done it since.

I'm one fish away from completing the legendary fish challenge. I still need 4-5 animals I think.

It is an absolute masterpiece.

My buddy is texting me updates of where he's at in the game and has started inviting me to party chat on Xbox live to talk about what he's doing ?

Every once in a while one of us gets jumped by a cougar or whatever. Damn cougars. ?

I cant wait until I can join you guys in this discussion!

It's a remarkable game.

The random encounters are just so great. The world feels alive in a way that I've never experienced in a video game before, and I've played A LOT of open world games. It feels like stuff is happening regardless of whether or not you're there to see it. It doesn't feel like it's crafted just for you, which is an immense achievement in an open world game, IMO.

An example is one I just came across. I was riding down the road, and heard some shots ringing out through the woods (by the way, gunshots sound AMAZING echoing up in the mountains, or in the woods). There was no dot on my map telling me I should go there, but I wanted to go check it out.

I snuck up behind 3 guys, shooting bottles on a log, target practice. They were making comments like "We'll make you a real killer!" it was 2 guys teaching another how to shoot. I just got a bad vibe from them. I called out to them, and they were immediately hostile, threatening me to go away. I tried to diffuse but they threatened me again. So, I obliged and walked back the way I came. They watched me for a while, and when I was out of sight they bragged about how they scared me off. I was hiding behind a tree watching them, and after a few more shots they got on their horses and one of them said "Alright, let's go raise a little hell!"

Before they left, I walked towards them again and called out to them again. This time, they immediately drew their guns. I went into Dead Eye and smoked them all.

Coming away from that interaction, I was thinking about how I could have either A) decided not to go investigate those gunshots at all in the first place, because the game never told me to go there. Or just left when they threatened me the first time, and they would have been free to go do whatever it was they were planning to do.

It's a pretty remarkable thing, I can't remember ever having an encounter like that before in any video game. It feels like your choices matter, and will have consequences, good or bad.

Another example, I stumbled upon a guy stumbling out of the woods, who had just been bit by a snake. I offered him some medicine to save his life. A few days later, just strolling through Valentine, I hear "Hey! That's the guy!!" He tells his friend that I saved his life, then tells me I can go into the gunsmith and pick out anything I want, and put it on his tab.

I could have just killed that guy and looted him of whatever he had in his pockets, he was going to die anyway. But I chose to save him, thinking I'd never see the guy again, but at the end of the day I walked out of the gunsmith with a shiny new Springfield rifle for free.

I saved that snakebite guy like 4 times ??

I read this sometimes and my brain hurts... I’m just fine with my NES Mini... lol!!!

I have been looking for a good game for my 10 year old for Christmas. He wanted Call of Duty but just heard you could only play online. I probably wouldn’t let him play this game, but now I want it for me and I don’t even play that much.

Yeah this might be a hair too much for a ten year old. Depends on what he's seen or what other games he's done. The violence isn't any worse than your usual shooter games but the story has some pretty intense scenes.

Chapter 7 spoilers

[hide]I just got to the end of Arthur's story. I knew it was coming but I was still so bummed. I thought it was a poetic ending; Arthur's whole life was the gang. He had to go down with the ship.

What a great character, though. John Marston of RDR1 seems so incredibly shallow compared to Arthur.

Oh and I hope in the epilogue I get to meet Micah, and have Marston beat his damn face in to a pulp.

I'm really excited for the western part of the map to open up. So excited to explore the map from RDR1 and see what it's like in this game![/hide]

Also hiding for spoilers:

[hide]My buddy just finished it last night too. He texted me and said "2 things: already a top 3 game of all time based just on the first 6 chapters. Also, is it weird that I got emotional feelings about a video game horse?"

I felt the same way about the horse. Arthur refusing to leave the horse's side until he/she passes away, even with bullets flying and John yelling etc? Great piece of work from the game developers. Legit hit me right in the feels. Although part or those feels were rage because I had literally just caught/tamed the white Arabian horse like middle of chapter 5 and got our bonding all the way up like 2 missions before the end. After trying and failing 2 times to tame the arabian (I'd never tried to tame a wild horse before...huge mistake). But that whole storyline was brilliantly written. The last two chapters had some pretty damn intense scenes.

The gangs you meet in the epilogue make the Murfree Brood and Lemoyne Raiders look tame. ?

[/hide]

I just caught all the legendary fish and am 1 away from all the legendary animals. However to get the legendary panther I still need to get to Hunter level 9 and I'm at like level 5 right now so I'll have my work cut out for me there.

Ok I am about an hour into playing Red Dead II...oh my god I suck at it but it is so damned fun! Just killed like 30 members of the O'Driscoll Gang...of course I died like 4 times first

The Lego Video games are great for kids. At 10, he might be getting a little old for them but there are so many options. Batman, Marvel, Harry Potter, Lord of the ring versions are available.

Handyman wrote:

Ok I am about an hour into playing Red Dead II...oh my god I suck at it but it is so damned fun! Just killed like 30 members of the O'Driscoll Gang...of course I died like 4 times first

Yeah the sneak attacks from some of the various gang members really threw me off for a while.

As soon as I hear somebody say something when I'm riding around now I basically just draw my weapon and pop into deadeye ?

I lost once because Dutch died...made me laugh cause I hate Dutch!

Of course I fell off a cliff so...yeah

?? I've fallen off multiple cliffs. I've also died after getting steam-rolled but a moose. And because I had my TV on mute and didn't hear the train coming behind me ?

Makes me think they could turn Westworld into a fantastic game.

So all these encounters described in the last few posts stee all AI - not online?

Yep, all AI.

Quite easily the deepest and most immersive AI NPCs (non-player characters) I've ever encountered in a video game.

My buddy from college said Westworld season 1 is extremely similar to the original RDR storyline in a lot of ways. I have not played it, so I can't comment but there are definitely some overarching similarities (more than just the Wild West).

Not only did I "take a bath" (after killing two cops and being hunted and killed) but I just got mauled to death by a bear

Handyman wrote:

Not only did I "take a bath" (after killing two cops and being hunted and killed) but I just got mauled to death by a bear

While hunting? That sumbitch got me too.

The animal hunts on that game are a blast. They can be extremely frustrating (especially when trying to maintain perfect pelts to turn in to camp and/or trappers) but they can be pretty fun.

I was playing the other day with a party chat going on Xbox live, going to bring a perfect cougar pelt to the trapper (my first perfect cougar pelt ever) and a G D grizzly bear came sprinting up behind me and tried to attack me in the trapper's camp! He actually got to me because I couldn't pull a weapon in the camp. Fortunately after he mauled me to the ground I was able to get my knife into him and stab him enough times to ward him off and got my gun up to shoot him...

Then the trapper reported me to police for disturbing the peace and I got a $5 bounty for my efforts ? son of a B!

Now I killed my horse so I am running back to camp (very far away) on foot! Figure no better way to see what I can find

edit: Hah found a horse, rode it til some random dude gave me attitude and pimpslapped him and stole his horse with a deer on it

Handyman wrote:

Now I killed my horse so I am running back to camp (very far away) on foot! Figure no better way to see what I can find

edit: Hah found a horse, rode it til some random dude gave me attitude and pimpslapped him and stole his horse with a deer on it

Pro tip: stock up on horse reviver ? I had to walk like 15 minutes one day when the horse I stole to bring to the fence died. Learned the hard way to have at least once horse reviver in the satchel at all times ?

Also the fact that you can name your horse I feel like makes you more attached to them... Lol

I named my first horse Geoffrey, for no good reason, and have taken up the Mr. Snowball from The Simpsons naming convention. Right now I'm on Geoffrey V. I was legit pretty bummed at the untimely demise of Geoffrey I-IV

I just reached Hunter level 9 and got to go after the legendary panther.

Ummmm....when you get to that point...be ready. He's not happy to see you. Fortunately my shotgun to the face put him down before he had me for a mid-afternoon snack.

I'm up to 90.7% completion now. Which seems insane that I'm still that far away with how many hours I've put into this game. The level of detail is truly incredible.

I am like 11% completion. I allow myself to get too easily sidetracked by killing random people who give me attitude

Most likely I will never finish the game and I dont care!