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Strider Hiryu

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  1. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Mass Effect: Andromeda   
    I hear that. While I enjoyed Haval (still not done, still have to activate the third monolith) I feel there really wasn't much more to the planet then being a way station to gain the acceptance of the Angorans (don't get me wrong, I like them (mostly because they have the best sniper rilfe and best pistol in that game (yea I have the guide so I know all the stats for every weapon in the game)) but they're about the only redeeming thing this game has besides Drack (and honestly I love this grumpy old krogan to death)). I've also never felt like the Kett were a major threat like everyone in game seems to think they are and haven't since I first ran into them. They feel like the team couldn't come up with a better enemy so they cobbled together this species and The Scourge to act as the main antagonists (fuck The Collectors were better thought out then the Kett and more of a threat). I won't get started on the Remnant (they're a fun enemy to fight but I honestly feel they were just cobbled together and thrown in the game just so we could research some lost, technologically advanced civilization like we did the Prometheans in the first 3 games).
    Honestly I'm pacing myself with this game. Like I said it's fun, I enjoy the freedom the new skill system gives us, and while I think the crafting could of been left out it's a nice addition to the game but honestly the game is kind of a dud. All show and very little substance is how I'm taking it. It's sad because we were given three amazing games (ok 2, I'm still not the biggest fan of ME2. The story was great but I'll forever hate it as the game that introduced this god damn thermal pack system we're stuck with now for our MW weapons) in this series and this one is all but a lackluster title. I know, new team give them a chance but I'm sick of giving tried and true studios chances when they release lackluster titles like this (yea, my seething hatred for how Bungie handled Destiny is kind seeping in here. Also look and Guerilla, they released a brand new IP and it's beyond amazing (yea I'm a Horizon fanboy, the game can't do no wrong in my eyes)).
  2. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Mass Effect: Andromeda   
    I think the biggest problem this game has is pacing. I feel like this game had a different direction at one point and they changed it up late in the game to where there is a lot of unused areas.
    After I finished this epic Angoran arc, its back to droning away at mindless side quests. This game lacks memorable NPCs like Aria, The Shadow Broker, The Reporter, The Illusive Man, Joker, etc. None of these people I do quests for make me care about them in one way or the other. I just spent a few hours working for an NPC that looks like your every day generic KOTOR NPC that would just say "hey" if you tried to interact with them on a random city street. Your choices seem to hold no weight, the renegade/paragon system being gone is a part of that, along with the influence trait that came a long with both sides. The other part is that there just isn't content written for it. I mean, go to this one planet and hear of this rival faction that's gaining traction against the ruling party... you briefly suggest maybe you could side with the underdogs, but in the end there is no choice that drastically changes the outcome of the game's story. In fact you never meet this rival party vying for power. Everything is too safe, there is nothing you can seem to do that will alter the course of a story and make it vastly different from another player's experience. One of the great things about ME1-3 was the conversations with friends and listening to how different their story went from mine. Even the most minor actions in a random side quest in the first game could change a lot in the last game.  I don't feel like this game has that.
    More disappointing was that the main quest was so lack luster on the last planet I was on, I forgot that I even completed it at one point. For an open world game there is zero reason to explore outside your mission markers. Once you get the right cryo pods that mark all good caches on your map, you notice there is a lot of unused space that's not worth exploring... you might find some shitty weapon mod or something, but overall there is little reason to not be linear. Crafting gives you the best gear in the game because of augmentations. Even the highest level of gear purchased from a vendor doesn't have the extra stats you can develop yourself on the same tier item. You won't find some amazing weapon or armor piece out of a crate. I may have found one good sniper rifle I liked until I replaced it shortly after with a crafted one.
    The Kett and the Archon are kinda just there. There was no development for them, and I feel no sense of urgency to stop them... and apparently neither does my crew with their lame ass loyalty quests they want to do. This game lacks grandiose feel of your character and other characters, and what is on the line overall. The combat, crafting, skill tree, and overall mechanics are superior to any other ME game, but the story it self has some issues right now. This game is an emotional roller coaster of "this is amazing" to "why am I even doing this?". Its not a bad game, but to me its no where near as good as the first 3 games.
  3. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in NieR Automata   
    After debating between HZD and this, I went with this because I felt it was shorter and would be easier to knock out before Mass Effect.
     
    The Good
    Combat is fluid and rewarding. Dodging is extremely forgiving requiring zero timing to get right, when you see an enemy do their big attack animation, you can start spamming it in the middle of your combo chain. You combo chain will continue and the dodge will happen before you take damage. It may sound lowskill, but screw it, I like it, but sadly I think they did this for another reason I'll go into later. My only gripe about the combo system is that successful dodges sometimes result in a knock up air combo... obviously smaller bosses aren't going to be knocked up, but you continue with the animation attacking air and missing out on DPSing the boss. Other than that, combo chains are easily strung together with light and heavy attacks. Any weapon can be slotted in the heavy and light attack arrangements. This will effect their maximum combo ability in which both are noted in the weapon stats without having to slot and find out.
    Weapons are upgradable through materials and currency, both which are dropped from defeated enemies. These upgrades increase power, max combo ability, and may add buffs like faster attack, discount from vendors when equipped, etc. Weapons are purchased through vendors and found in hidden locations. Each that I've acquired have different styles of attack. You have two weapon set ups you can swap on the fly via the UP button on the D-pad.
    Since you're an android you can upgrade your abilities with chips. These chips give a variety of things like auto-consuming health when down to a % of HP, reduced damage taken from melee/ranged attacks, HP increase, to even drop rate % of loot from enemies. These chips all cannot be equipped as you get them however. you have a limited amount of space to install software, and each take up a certain amount of space depending on the quality and what they do. Chips can be fused with like chips to increase their abilities... which in turn may make the final product take up more space. You can purchase more slots to equip more/better chips and you also have 3 set ups you can configure and swap too if you so desire.
    The big boss fights are wild and engaging. I've fought 3 so far and they were all very different fights, as a whole, the combat never gets stale. As you get better, newer types of enemies show up with different attacks, and different means to take them down. The game's ability to transition from 3D hack and slash, to side scroller, to top down scroller, to twin stick shooter is incredible. It never feels out of place, because the transitions are so smooth and just work with the situation.
    The more unique thing about this game is the online connectivity for a single player title. After the intro mission you are given the option to go online. Its completely worth it for you and others that play the game. What this does is allows you to see where other players have died in the game. While you'll never see an active player screwing up your game like Watchdogs, you can use their corpse to loot for random chips and money depending on what they had equipped, or you can repair their remains and it becomes a temporary AI  ally that will fight along side you for as long as it can. What is interesting about this is that it will use what ever weapon the player was using when they died. When you die, you lose a small amount of items and money. I believe this is what gets passed on to another player. You can still retrieve your items back if you go back to your remains. You have a generous amount of time to get back to it, but stray for too long and it will disappear... and if you die before getting back to it, it will disappear. I almost left it once because I wandered into a place that I shouldn't have... but when I realized I dropped my best chip (health regen per kill) I had to go back to get it and run out. What is humorous is that you'll see bodies scattered everywhere around boss fights. You can only revive one dead player at a time however, so you can't have an army of android corpses to take down the boss for you. These AI fight really well, but they are severely limited outside of that. You can leave them behind real fast if you do too many complex things... they can't jump up buildings with you, and if you have to glide down on your pod, they'll just clumsily fall to their demise and explode.   This system also doesn't seem to be region locked. I've come across players with Kanji names. So hopefully people that get this game late will still have lootable corpses the other players left behind no matter what part of the world you're playing it in.
    The voice acting is really good, and the character models are nice... I don't know why they all cover their eyes with cloth though. Maybe its too avoid a Mass Effect situation. Oh, and there is full button map customization. This should be standard on every game this generation... not just NieR and Overwatch. Presets are lazy and need to go away. I was very satisfied as I only wanted to change 2 buttons... other games would make me have to deal with 3 other buttons being in places I didn't want them just to arrange shoot and dodge where I wanted them.
    The Bad
    I have a feeling this game is more side quests than anything.... damn there are a lot of side quests and they are the only decent way to level up. Combat gives XP, but not much. These side quests have a lot of variety and I don't mind them, but this game is lacking in the fast travel department. The world isn't that big, but running to the zones I need to go to gets a bit meh. I guess they want you to enjoy the white thong booty jiggle as you run naurto style in a short skirt that they spent so much time realistically animating. Getting places isn't that bad, because when you access a new area, you're generally given a short cut on the way back to come and go as you please... but I still would have liked a wp system since there are so many side quests that make you go to another part of the map. (I'd say the map is the size of Destiny's Old Russia with a bit more verticality) Another issue which makes this worse is that even though you can run really fast, rocks and bushes will make you trip up and slow you down to regular run speed making you have to start your speed running back up. I can forgive this on things like bushes and trees... but rocks on the ground in a narrow path is pretty stupid. And this was intentionally done, because there is a really nice animation for it... programmed pebble clipping.
    The saving system is ancient. WTF? Why did they do this? There is no auto save. If you die you don't have to start where the last time you saved was, but if you turn the game off, I assume you do. You can save at terminals... which should have been waypoints... and I think you can save anywhere withing a generous proximity of them by hitting option. The main purpose of the terminal is to download map info and check your emails for lore/mission updates/etc. There are also rest stations where you can save and choose to quit the game, I think this option just refills your HP bar if its not 100%. You can just save and quit normally without having to lay down in a bed. Either way, its an old system, and they let you know at the start of the game that there is no autosave which is more of a head scratcher... because clearly the infrastructure for autosave is there since it caches progress to a point if you die.
    Invisible walls are everywhere in this game... places that look explorable like a doorway or something you can jump up onto are often blocked by that old 90's invisible barrier. This is the first Japanese game I've bought in years that wasn't Zelda or MGS. Its the first SquareEnix game I've bought in who knows when... Maybe like 3 console generations? If this wasn't a hack and slash I wouldn't be able to look past it... because the game is a sandbox world style adventure.... with weapons hidden in secret locations you can only find by exploring. It gives it a pretty dated feel. It doesn't ruin it... but better design choices could have been made. Invisible walls would work if they didn't have so many open doorways.
    The main map doesn't have a dedicated button, you have to hit option and then select the map tab even though its first, and then go to map... this is off putting since the mini map can only do so much for you in any game. Plus there are to ways to access the main hub where your map is by default... they could have made this a mapping option. As much as you can access on the fly from weapon swap to consumables, the map should have been a no-brainer
    The Ugly
    Frame rate drops are pretty common on this game. I'm starting to worry that this will become a habit for some developers that make these games for the PS4Pro and don't optimize them well enough for the old PS4. It only happens in the core area where there is water and tall grass, much like Zelda BOTW. The game isn't very colorful by a design choice, so they could have spent some more time optimizing the shaders to fix this. The frame rate issue is why I think they made the dodge so forgiving. This game its somewhat about timing for maxium DPS, as getting hit can fling you far from the enemy and even ragdoll you at times.
    Dated programing.... ugh Some of this stuff just makes you go WTF? Pressing option or the touch pad will send you to your main hub where you can view your quests, loadouts, and pod configurations. The quick access options aren't perfect for panic situations, and accessing the main hub is still desirable at times. If you jump and try to press these buttons, it just sends you to a regular pause menu... you have no access to customize anything for no reason whatsoever. So if you're in a tense boss fight and you jumped to avoid an attack... you have to wait until you land to swap something out. This is really irritating, something similar happens when your main AI companion is talking to you, you can't interact with any vendors or turn in quests until he STFU. It will even have a red X on the interact button... I get that they don't want you to miss vital info maybe, but then when you kill something and try to loot a drop, some dialog may start and you skip half of it mashing O trying to pick up the damn loot and then YOU DO miss out on info. I mean really? C'mon, who still designs like this? I've also had a main quest pop at random and until I went and did it, I couldn't turn in any side quests... I literally just arrived at the NPC when it popped and I walked all that way for nothing.... again fast travel. It wasn't a long walk (60 seconds tops), but it was still stupid.
    In conclusion for now
    It may sound like I'm trashing the game, but honestly I love it so far despite these flaws. I just thought I'd put it here because I know a lot of things like that matter to other people so much it would be a deal breaker. Despite no auto save there is plenty of opportunities to save manually and its very quick. If you want a hack and slash that requires strategy but has forgiving controls, this is worth it so far. I have my next main quest, but I'm too busy running around trying to upgrade my weapons and do side quests... While I may complain about the running around, I found myself saying "I'll just turn in these last few before calling it a night" for about 2 hours. The story is intriguing and I already see a few plot twists developing, I just don't know how they are going to play out. I'll post again when I beat it.
  4. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Battlefield 1   
    So I decided (since I'm sicker than a dog and don't have the required frame of mind for Horizon) to try out the DLC tonight. I did the two new operations hoping to get to see all the maps (no surprise that I didn't). My thoughts:
    -As far as I can tell both Operations are Defender friendly as I was attacking both times. Verdun more so then Soisson (SP?) as the defenders have a huge terrain advantage once you get past the first set of objectives (not kidding you, they have the high ground making it damn near impossible to push as an attacker). Soisson is actually pretty attacker friendly until the last objective and even though it's a tank heavy map its damn near impossible for the attacking side to cap it (completely open with trenches giving assault players on the defending side plenty of cover). Really wish I could of seen the other two maps but as usual DICE seems to heavily favor the defending side.
    -The new Behemoth is kind of a joke as it's pretty much an extremely slow moving heavy tank with bigger guns. Both times we got in on the attacking side on Soisson it went down in a little under 3 minutes having no effect on the tide of the battle. If I had to rank it against the other Behemoths is tied in dead last with the train as useless. Of course this could of been the driver both times but to me it just seems to be an extremely useless heavy tank with on less seat.
    -I'm sure most know this already if you watch any of the major BF youtubers but the new weapons are locked behind something similar to assignments but not as in depth as they were in BF3. You basically have to accomplish two tasks for each variant of the new guns. I absolutely hate this as it forces you to use guns and gadgets I hate just to unlock something (though I will admit I'm becoming a fan of the Lewis Gun now that I need to use it for the Low Weight version of the new LMG). Each gun has two variants except for the assault weapons as there are two of them (the shotgun and the ribeyrolles).
    -You will be happy to know that you can only carry one gas grenade now (as well as one smoke). In the two matches I played I rarely saw gas being used, it's mostly frags/sticks/impacts now. There is still grenade spam but it's not as bad as it was prior to the DLC. They've also added an exchange to the Battlepack system allowing you to buy past skins for scrap. You're limited to four and it's one of each quality type as well as a vehicle skin (which I did happen to get the new Legendary skin for the Artillery truck tonight in the battlepack I was given for March) that DICE has chosen, it resets every week (I warn you the scrap costs are pretty ridiculous).
    All in all I find it rather meh. I still think DICE should of released this in December/January for what feels like an extreme lack of content. I did have fun playing tonight but honestly its not enough to keep me playing beyond once in a blue moon when I get bored. Quite frankly if you're not already a Premium member I wouldn't pick the DLC up, it's not worth the money you would pay and it's definitely not worth buying Premium for.
  5. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Battlefield 1   
    So I decided (since I'm sicker than a dog and don't have the required frame of mind for Horizon) to try out the DLC tonight. I did the two new operations hoping to get to see all the maps (no surprise that I didn't). My thoughts:
    -As far as I can tell both Operations are Defender friendly as I was attacking both times. Verdun more so then Soisson (SP?) as the defenders have a huge terrain advantage once you get past the first set of objectives (not kidding you, they have the high ground making it damn near impossible to push as an attacker). Soisson is actually pretty attacker friendly until the last objective and even though it's a tank heavy map its damn near impossible for the attacking side to cap it (completely open with trenches giving assault players on the defending side plenty of cover). Really wish I could of seen the other two maps but as usual DICE seems to heavily favor the defending side.
    -The new Behemoth is kind of a joke as it's pretty much an extremely slow moving heavy tank with bigger guns. Both times we got in on the attacking side on Soisson it went down in a little under 3 minutes having no effect on the tide of the battle. If I had to rank it against the other Behemoths is tied in dead last with the train as useless. Of course this could of been the driver both times but to me it just seems to be an extremely useless heavy tank with on less seat.
    -I'm sure most know this already if you watch any of the major BF youtubers but the new weapons are locked behind something similar to assignments but not as in depth as they were in BF3. You basically have to accomplish two tasks for each variant of the new guns. I absolutely hate this as it forces you to use guns and gadgets I hate just to unlock something (though I will admit I'm becoming a fan of the Lewis Gun now that I need to use it for the Low Weight version of the new LMG). Each gun has two variants except for the assault weapons as there are two of them (the shotgun and the ribeyrolles).
    -You will be happy to know that you can only carry one gas grenade now (as well as one smoke). In the two matches I played I rarely saw gas being used, it's mostly frags/sticks/impacts now. There is still grenade spam but it's not as bad as it was prior to the DLC. They've also added an exchange to the Battlepack system allowing you to buy past skins for scrap. You're limited to four and it's one of each quality type as well as a vehicle skin (which I did happen to get the new Legendary skin for the Artillery truck tonight in the battlepack I was given for March) that DICE has chosen, it resets every week (I warn you the scrap costs are pretty ridiculous).
    All in all I find it rather meh. I still think DICE should of released this in December/January for what feels like an extreme lack of content. I did have fun playing tonight but honestly its not enough to keep me playing beyond once in a blue moon when I get bored. Quite frankly if you're not already a Premium member I wouldn't pick the DLC up, it's not worth the money you would pay and it's definitely not worth buying Premium for.
  6. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to Sledgstone in YT thread   
  7. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Horizon Zero Dawn   
    I'm just posting base impressions on this based on what little game time I actually have in it (I've put about 8 hours into the game as of writing this) and after having it stare me in the face for 3 days before I could play it (god damn was that the longest wait I've ever had before playing a game (didn't have any time during the week and I've completely stayed away from any articles/videos that may give away spoilers for this game)).
    I'm highly impressed with this game, Guerilla went out of their way to give a a highly polished game out of the get go (it had the smallest day 1 patch out of any game released in recent years that's how polished this was). The visuals are amazing, even on my old school PS4. Don't get me wrong there are some wonky animations here and there (I ran into an NPC who's eyes liked to wander up into her head (kinda creepy when you talk to her)) but overall this is an impressive looking game (I climbed up my first Long Neck today and the view from on top of it's head was breath taking). I'm also extremely happy the the map is rather big, not huge like a lot of games like it (no where near as big as Zelda's map (good god that map is huge from what I've seen on live streams) but big enough that I can see why this game will take up to 50 hours to beat (I hear if you just do the story the game is rather short but I'm OCD so I'm doing all the side quests and getting all the collectibles while I travel between story missions).
    I can't speak much on the story but what I have done of the story missions I have to say it's rather interesting and engaging. There's a lot of mystery in this game and I wonder just how much of it we unravel as we play through it (like why is the world the way it is, who was Aloy's mother (a major plot point I'm gathering from little I know), what's with the machine animals, etc (I'd put more examples but I'd be walking a thin line for spoilers based on where I think the story is going)) because I'm expecting this game to be a series. While most of the characters I've run into are rather bland (not much to say about them, I've run into a few that have been interesting but they seem few and far between) Aloy is a wonderful protagonist who, much like me, is questioning what the hell is wrong with the world. She's sarcastic as hell when dealing with assholes and a compassionate person when she wants to be (lets just say not many people like her from the get go so she's rather callous until the need arises for her not to be). Overall she's probably one of my favorite protagonists to date.
    Combat is a joy and I say this after having my ass handed to me a few times (I have yet to be killed but I've been pretty close to dieing a few times). A lot of it is stealth based and going loud and proud isn't a viable tactic in this game (especially when fighting corrupted machines, a few reviews have pointed this out). Almost everything travels in herds (or at least the ones I've run into, I haven't run into the huge T-Rex looking machine yet nor have I run into any of the machine birds) and alerting one pretty much alerts all of them. Picking targets and luring them away one by one is pretty much the key to most encounters (human and machine alike) when you can pick and choose them (some encounters do not give you a choice and a lot of those have been story based at the moment) otherwise it's all about relying on your skills and weapons. There isn't much choice in weaponry I've noticed. Pretty much all you get is you're spear (I don't know if you get another one throughout the game but the one I started with has been upgraded once due to a side quest), a variety of bows with varying uses (some are for sharpshooting, some for close range combat, some built with stopping power in mind, etc), a variety of slings (for launching elemental type bombs that cause status effects), tripcasters (used to create traps on the battle field that trip machines), traps in general, and some others I haven't tried yet. There is of course a variety of different ammunition types for you're bow and I can't list all of them as I haven't exactly run into any other then normal, precise, fire, and tear arrows (tear arrows rip armor and components off of machines).
    All in all I'm very happy with this game and the hype I had for it was definitely rewarded. This is probably my game of the year and it's barely started, that's how much I'm enjoying it.
  8. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Horizon Zero Dawn   
    I'm just posting base impressions on this based on what little game time I actually have in it (I've put about 8 hours into the game as of writing this) and after having it stare me in the face for 3 days before I could play it (god damn was that the longest wait I've ever had before playing a game (didn't have any time during the week and I've completely stayed away from any articles/videos that may give away spoilers for this game)).
    I'm highly impressed with this game, Guerilla went out of their way to give a a highly polished game out of the get go (it had the smallest day 1 patch out of any game released in recent years that's how polished this was). The visuals are amazing, even on my old school PS4. Don't get me wrong there are some wonky animations here and there (I ran into an NPC who's eyes liked to wander up into her head (kinda creepy when you talk to her)) but overall this is an impressive looking game (I climbed up my first Long Neck today and the view from on top of it's head was breath taking). I'm also extremely happy the the map is rather big, not huge like a lot of games like it (no where near as big as Zelda's map (good god that map is huge from what I've seen on live streams) but big enough that I can see why this game will take up to 50 hours to beat (I hear if you just do the story the game is rather short but I'm OCD so I'm doing all the side quests and getting all the collectibles while I travel between story missions).
    I can't speak much on the story but what I have done of the story missions I have to say it's rather interesting and engaging. There's a lot of mystery in this game and I wonder just how much of it we unravel as we play through it (like why is the world the way it is, who was Aloy's mother (a major plot point I'm gathering from little I know), what's with the machine animals, etc (I'd put more examples but I'd be walking a thin line for spoilers based on where I think the story is going)) because I'm expecting this game to be a series. While most of the characters I've run into are rather bland (not much to say about them, I've run into a few that have been interesting but they seem few and far between) Aloy is a wonderful protagonist who, much like me, is questioning what the hell is wrong with the world. She's sarcastic as hell when dealing with assholes and a compassionate person when she wants to be (lets just say not many people like her from the get go so she's rather callous until the need arises for her not to be). Overall she's probably one of my favorite protagonists to date.
    Combat is a joy and I say this after having my ass handed to me a few times (I have yet to be killed but I've been pretty close to dieing a few times). A lot of it is stealth based and going loud and proud isn't a viable tactic in this game (especially when fighting corrupted machines, a few reviews have pointed this out). Almost everything travels in herds (or at least the ones I've run into, I haven't run into the huge T-Rex looking machine yet nor have I run into any of the machine birds) and alerting one pretty much alerts all of them. Picking targets and luring them away one by one is pretty much the key to most encounters (human and machine alike) when you can pick and choose them (some encounters do not give you a choice and a lot of those have been story based at the moment) otherwise it's all about relying on your skills and weapons. There isn't much choice in weaponry I've noticed. Pretty much all you get is you're spear (I don't know if you get another one throughout the game but the one I started with has been upgraded once due to a side quest), a variety of bows with varying uses (some are for sharpshooting, some for close range combat, some built with stopping power in mind, etc), a variety of slings (for launching elemental type bombs that cause status effects), tripcasters (used to create traps on the battle field that trip machines), traps in general, and some others I haven't tried yet. There is of course a variety of different ammunition types for you're bow and I can't list all of them as I haven't exactly run into any other then normal, precise, fire, and tear arrows (tear arrows rip armor and components off of machines).
    All in all I'm very happy with this game and the hype I had for it was definitely rewarded. This is probably my game of the year and it's barely started, that's how much I'm enjoying it.
  9. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Horizon Zero Dawn   
    The fact that this has been getting stellar reviews makes me beyond happy I pre-ordered this on a whim a couple nights back (CE none-the-less as Amazon still had copies of it). Seriously can't wait until Tuesday to get my hands on this and start playing it.
  10. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Horizon Zero Dawn   
    The fact that this has been getting stellar reviews makes me beyond happy I pre-ordered this on a whim a couple nights back (CE none-the-less as Amazon still had copies of it). Seriously can't wait until Tuesday to get my hands on this and start playing it.
  11. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Battlefield 1   
    I'm probably going to be in the minority on this but I'm not overly impressed with what we're getting in this DLC. While the maps sound fun and look to be fun as hell the weapons are extremely disappointing imo (I know nothing of their real life counterparts but the LMG sounds shitty based on the info Level gave in his video, the Assaults new weapon sounds okay, the Scouts could be good but honestly won't know until we get stats, and the Medics weapon doesn't sound overly bad but who knows. The new pistol seems like it's going to be a new tanker/pilot weapon and the new melee weapons are meh except for the sword dagger thing), I'm not liking the sounds of the new Elite class (yay, more grenade spam. Just what BF1 needed was more grenade spam), the new Behemoth is about the only real thing I'm interested in (I hope its completely controllable and not set on rails, we really need a behemoth that can actually doing something more then be a bullet sponge), and while I'm happy we're getting two new operations I sense I'm going to get sick of them within a week of playing them.
    My only real hope is that this ribbon system goes into effect and adds some progression to this game (not much sadly but more then we got now). Sadly I have a feeling BF1 is going to be sitting on my HDD taking up space until the second DLC comes along. I hate to say it but I'm just not feeling the BF1 anymore, really thinking about going back to BF4 and deleting BF1 to make room for more games (like Horizon and ME).
  12. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Battlefield 1   
    I'm probably going to be in the minority on this but I'm not overly impressed with what we're getting in this DLC. While the maps sound fun and look to be fun as hell the weapons are extremely disappointing imo (I know nothing of their real life counterparts but the LMG sounds shitty based on the info Level gave in his video, the Assaults new weapon sounds okay, the Scouts could be good but honestly won't know until we get stats, and the Medics weapon doesn't sound overly bad but who knows. The new pistol seems like it's going to be a new tanker/pilot weapon and the new melee weapons are meh except for the sword dagger thing), I'm not liking the sounds of the new Elite class (yay, more grenade spam. Just what BF1 needed was more grenade spam), the new Behemoth is about the only real thing I'm interested in (I hope its completely controllable and not set on rails, we really need a behemoth that can actually doing something more then be a bullet sponge), and while I'm happy we're getting two new operations I sense I'm going to get sick of them within a week of playing them.
    My only real hope is that this ribbon system goes into effect and adds some progression to this game (not much sadly but more then we got now). Sadly I have a feeling BF1 is going to be sitting on my HDD taking up space until the second DLC comes along. I hate to say it but I'm just not feeling the BF1 anymore, really thinking about going back to BF4 and deleting BF1 to make room for more games (like Horizon and ME).
  13. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Nintendo Switch (Nintendo NX = Portable Console)   
    Meh, I read about it on VG247 the day after the whole event (didn't really care, Mario Kart brings out the worst in me so I tend to avoid it).
    Honestly I'm so used to spending extra money on shit that doesn't come with consoles anymore it's not funny (like my charging dock for my PS4 controller since the fucking cable that comes with it is so god damn short). I kinda figured the grip that came with the console didn't charge the controllers and I'm honestly okay with that, just means I have to hook the controllers up to the Switch when I'm done using it (exactly what I did with my PS4 controller until I bought the dock). Fuck if I care less about pro-controllers, I've always thought they were overpriced pieces of crap that people only buy because they think they make you better (I'm all about the original controllers baby, they only exception I ever made was for the S controllers for the original Xbox. Those damn dinner plates it originally came with were atrocious). The on-board memory still pisses me off and why companies feel they can get away with giving us less hd space every year baffles me (I'm still trying to figure out what fucking egghead at Sony though 500 gigs was enough space for gamers on the PS4. Fuck sake guys you fill up that space with 3-4 AAA titles now-a-days and with the requirement to installing the disc to the hd that just fucks us from being able to play anything beyond whatever 3-4 games we currently have installed).
    On the battery thing I'm going to go with roughly the same amount of time it takes to kill a laptop battery so roughly a year to a year and a half (a year for those hardcore casual gamers who take the Switch everywhere with them. The year and a half for those of use who will only use the gimmick for things like you mentioned (watching Netflix in bed (though I already do that with my PS4) and what not).
    I'll get the Switch when something other then Zelda interests me (most likely Smash Brothers when they make one for it, I've been a big fan of the series since the original released). Until then I'll hold off (especially considering just how many games I have to buy this year (Horizon, ME: Andromeda, FFXIV: Stormblood (and I'll get the CE for it as well so that's going to probably be $150), For Honor, and Halo Wars 2 (since it's actually coming to PC this time around and I loved the original)).
  14. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Nintendo Switch (Nintendo NX = Portable Console)   
    While I have no real opinion on the differences of the two versions of the new Zelda game I thought I'd throw my two cents into the PS4 comparison. Nintendo has never been about making a powerful console, we all know this (the only reason they did so well was the games on the original NES and SNES). Compare the Gamecube (Nintendo's last good console imo) to the PS2 and the XBox, it was way under-powered compared to the other two systems and yet it was probably the best console out of the three (yea, I say this having been one of the biggest PS2 fanboys on the planet but the Gamecube had some of the most fun games I've ever laid my hands on and by far one of the most tense games ever as well (Eternal Darkness, this game was amazing for its time people. I still remember the time it made my friend think it was deleting his save file)). Nintendo has been about solid games that are fun to play for both adults and kids, sadly they lost sight of that with the Wii-U which is why it sold so badly (well besides it being a re-skin of the much more successful Wii with slightly different hardware). The Switch is a nice change because it's going back to what Nintendo does right while still trying to innovate (something we've not yet seen from Sony of Microsoft, try as you might upgrading the hardware every 4-8 years isn't innovation (or should I say 2-3 now with this stupid shift to 4k consoles now). All Sony and Microsoft do is copy what works for other companies (motion control which, lets face it, was a lot better and better optimized with the Wii. VR is another, something PC does so much better but god forbid its not on console) and tries to re-skin it as their idea). Yea it's gimmicky as hell (I'm sorry that 3 hour battery life is somewhat of a downer. I was hoping more for 5-6, Nintendo has got to have the ability for this since they've been pioneering handheld tech for decades now), graphics are really no better then Wii/360 graphics, and yet again it's another console screwing the consumer on hd space but I honestly think this will work out for Nintendo. The only major problems they're going to have is the lack of launch titles. Zelda is only going to get them so far (if it doesn't get delayed).
    At best Skyrim will probably look like it would on a PC running it on low settings (maybe medium) based on the specs of the system. I'm happy to see the Switch is getting some big name games but Skyrim is probably not the best title to be running on this system. Plus a fall release is pretty retarded, the game has been out for years now and while the Special Edition did garner it some more life I really don't see many people running out their doors to pick up a Switch to play Skyrim (where you know the thing will have a 1 hour battery life if you try to play it un-docked with this game).
  15. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in Nintendo Switch (Nintendo NX = Portable Console)   
    While I have no real opinion on the differences of the two versions of the new Zelda game I thought I'd throw my two cents into the PS4 comparison. Nintendo has never been about making a powerful console, we all know this (the only reason they did so well was the games on the original NES and SNES). Compare the Gamecube (Nintendo's last good console imo) to the PS2 and the XBox, it was way under-powered compared to the other two systems and yet it was probably the best console out of the three (yea, I say this having been one of the biggest PS2 fanboys on the planet but the Gamecube had some of the most fun games I've ever laid my hands on and by far one of the most tense games ever as well (Eternal Darkness, this game was amazing for its time people. I still remember the time it made my friend think it was deleting his save file)). Nintendo has been about solid games that are fun to play for both adults and kids, sadly they lost sight of that with the Wii-U which is why it sold so badly (well besides it being a re-skin of the much more successful Wii with slightly different hardware). The Switch is a nice change because it's going back to what Nintendo does right while still trying to innovate (something we've not yet seen from Sony of Microsoft, try as you might upgrading the hardware every 4-8 years isn't innovation (or should I say 2-3 now with this stupid shift to 4k consoles now). All Sony and Microsoft do is copy what works for other companies (motion control which, lets face it, was a lot better and better optimized with the Wii. VR is another, something PC does so much better but god forbid its not on console) and tries to re-skin it as their idea). Yea it's gimmicky as hell (I'm sorry that 3 hour battery life is somewhat of a downer. I was hoping more for 5-6, Nintendo has got to have the ability for this since they've been pioneering handheld tech for decades now), graphics are really no better then Wii/360 graphics, and yet again it's another console screwing the consumer on hd space but I honestly think this will work out for Nintendo. The only major problems they're going to have is the lack of launch titles. Zelda is only going to get them so far (if it doesn't get delayed).
    At best Skyrim will probably look like it would on a PC running it on low settings (maybe medium) based on the specs of the system. I'm happy to see the Switch is getting some big name games but Skyrim is probably not the best title to be running on this system. Plus a fall release is pretty retarded, the game has been out for years now and while the Special Edition did garner it some more life I really don't see many people running out their doors to pick up a Switch to play Skyrim (where you know the thing will have a 1 hour battery life if you try to play it un-docked with this game).
  16. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in GeForce NOW game streaming service   
    This absolutely won't work if it ends up like movie/TV services are now. Gamers are even less likely to sub to several different services because they have the one game they want to play that's not on the service they have. Plus games can't make money like this while Movies and TV shows make revenue via theaters and sponsors. Like strider said, paying fees on top of fees is a no go for gamers. That's why MMOs don't work on console. 
    Fiber optic Internet service will have to become the standard for this to be viable, which is probably a decade away from happening. 
    Its one of those things thats good in concept, but in reality everyone wants a piece of the pie and you'll have too many different services walling off games to under their brand. A whole new era of 3rd party wars would start that would collapse the industry because, while it worked when you paid $600 for both consoles, now you'll pay that in a few months and more on top of it if you want to keep playing all the games you want. Origin and Steam would have their own service, then Amazon, Nvidia, Uplay, Netflix would probably get into it, WB would try to make one probably.... just a bad idea all around. Sure a lot of games would be on all the services, but they would all have exclusives trying to rake in subs.
  17. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to DeathscytheX in Battlefield 1   
    That they did it, isn't the issue. Its how they did it. They deceived players that have had 8 weeks of battlepacks to get a general "feel" for them, and lumped the skin into the legendary bracket like it would have the same drop rate. Level is right, they should have made it a different color category or made it like the puzzle pieces. I know they did the same thing with the Zulu skin, because after that week I may have seen 1 person with it, pre nerf when everyone was using the hell out of the MH. Then having Strider open a good number of packs while I played with him the week Warhorse was available and the same thing... I guess I'm lucky I got that one. They're looking at their data, and adjusting the drop rates on the popular weapons, especially when they have skins that took a lot of work to make. Funny how I opened a good 6 superior battlepacks post MH nerf, and got the MH skin easily but couldn't get the frommer skin which should have been a 1 in 3 chance. You can get revolver skins all day because all of them blow unless they are the two that have fast reload animations.
    They are dishonest by purposely ranking skins in a traditional way players are use to, but not abiding by the same laws. Now it make since why 90% of all the legendary skins are the same camo pattern.
  18. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in GeForce NOW game streaming service   
    Until it becomes affordable for everyone and I mean everyone we will never see a full switch to a streaming game service. Not only that but very few people are going to be on board for paying a fee and a rental fee to play a game (people already bitch about paying for things like DLC and this is roughly the same thing and at the end of the day you don't even own the game, just a right to access a server to play a game). I still think the Playstation Now service is a crock of shit since you pay a monthly access fee plus an hourly fee to play a game (with prices being based on game popularity or series name) and won't be caught dead using it (and there are some games I'd really like to play on it).
    Secondly hardware will always be a thing no matter what any service says. Consoles might become a thing of the past but PC's won't because, at least with this system, you'll always need some sort of hardware to run it (in this case you need a system running an nVidia card). Honestly it's just another gimmick to try and weasel even more money out of consumers hands (kind of like paying full price for a digital copy of a game (which is absurd)) and this one does it monthly/hourly.
  19. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from DeathscytheX in GeForce NOW game streaming service   
    Until it becomes affordable for everyone and I mean everyone we will never see a full switch to a streaming game service. Not only that but very few people are going to be on board for paying a fee and a rental fee to play a game (people already bitch about paying for things like DLC and this is roughly the same thing and at the end of the day you don't even own the game, just a right to access a server to play a game). I still think the Playstation Now service is a crock of shit since you pay a monthly access fee plus an hourly fee to play a game (with prices being based on game popularity or series name) and won't be caught dead using it (and there are some games I'd really like to play on it).
    Secondly hardware will always be a thing no matter what any service says. Consoles might become a thing of the past but PC's won't because, at least with this system, you'll always need some sort of hardware to run it (in this case you need a system running an nVidia card). Honestly it's just another gimmick to try and weasel even more money out of consumers hands (kind of like paying full price for a digital copy of a game (which is absurd)) and this one does it monthly/hourly.
  20. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Humble Assassin's Creed Bundle   
    I'd suggest, if you really want to play them, saving up money and buying them on console. That's a great price for all of them but honestly I've never really heard great things about the PC versions of these games (that's up to you though).
    Honestly speaking you should buy the Ezio Collection on PSN. It contains ACII, ACII: Brotherhood, and ACII: Revelations (all HD remakes). These are the 3 best games in the series by far (with an exception for AC4: Black Flag, though I have yet to beat it it's freaking amazing) and cover the best Assassin in the series (Ezio is awesome, one of my favorite game characters to date). Of the 3 ACII is the best one but Brotherhood does give it a run for it's money in some aspects. Revelations was somewhat of a let down but was still a damn good game compared to the original and 3 (I can't comment on Unity or the Chronicles series as I have not played them). Just my opinion though but I wouldn't consider getting these games if you don't like repetitive gaming because they're pretty much the same thing with different skins (go here, do a few missions to uncover big bad Templar, assassinate said Templar, rinse and repeat (we're talking worse then MMO repetitiveness)). Story wise though they're great games and you honestly don't need to play the first one to know whats going on (they cover enough of the first games story for you to pick it up and a cursory glance on Wikipedia about the game will give you everything you need to know). Plus running around Florence, Tuscany, and Venice is freaking fun and the graphics (the old ones, I have yet to play the remakes) were beyond beautiful.
  21. Like
    Strider Hiryu reacted to Sledgstone in Battlefield 1   
    I got to try out the new Giant's Shadow map tonight in a game of conquest. Its too open for me. Great for sniping but it could use some more buildings. The fog is complete overkill tho, its last way too long and is far too dense that it takes the fun right out of the map. I couldn't even see the damn enemy train in front of me even tho its within grenade distance and there were no buildings obscuring my view. I did luck out tonight and got a double kill with a k bullet by sniping a plane. Apparently the tail section is a better target than the engine block.
    I'm going to have to upload longer clips, I swear youtube craps out the first 5 seconds of every clip I upload and thats exactly where the kill shot takes place in this vid. I'll probably re-edit it and upload it another day if I remember. I love how realistic these planes look when they crash.. lmao!
  22. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Battlefield 1   
    I wouldn't doubt it but honestly as much as I want MWR I still probably wouldn't buy it if it went seperate (mostly due to all the problems I hear it has). Honestly even if COD went that route I highly doubt DICE will mostly because of EA. Then again BF1 isn't exactly doing as great as they hoped it would with player counts dropping steadily since release (which I'm pretty sure they're back to peak numbers again with all the fresh Christmas n00bs (which is the main reason I haven't played it since early yesterday)) this might finally convince EA that Premium isn't worth it (I mean Premium tanked pretty hard with Hardline and how bad that game sucked so I thought they'd learn their lesson).
    Honestly had they changed MWR in any way that affected how the game originally played IW and Activision would be in flames as we speak because that's one game even they're not stupid enough to alter. Not only was it the best COD game to come out it was one of the best shooters to ever hit the market. Yea it had problems but it did everything right. Leveling up was easy, unlocking new guns and attachments was simple and easy to understand, perks were straightforward (if not a little OP in some cases, I'm looking at you Juggernaut), and the maps were things of beauty (well not all of them but the vast majority were well thought out and well made). Not only that while some guns were OP it didn't negatively effect game play in any way as there was always a counter to every gun (even if people couldn't see it) so it pretty much balanced itself out. MW2, while a great game in its own right, tried to fuck with everything MW did right and every game since then has gone further away form the formula which is why COD is failing (I will point out that WaW is probably the second best COD game to come out, imo at least. Treyarch did well with it). They're trying to hard to stay relevant by pushing the game farther and farther away from what made MW such a great game and they're ignoring fan input (something that DICE does not do or at least didn't do until BF1).
    Meh, thats the reason I don't care if I get battlepacks. Almost all of the skins are crap (even the 1903 legendary is pretty lack luster imo) and honestly we don't even get to admire the skins like CS players do theres. The only good looking skins are the Silver/Ivory ones (aka Blue quality skins) or the ones with Gold on them (or the Deluxe edition guns like LoA's SMLE, RB's P08, and what not). I still need to put on the Blue Skin I got for the LT to see if it looks good but since I rarely get to spawn in tanks I'll probably never get to see it unless someone else uses it (and if I do spawn in a tank is rarely the LT, I always go for Landship or HT).
  23. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Battlefield 1   
    Meh, could be but it felt especially good for some reason over the last few days (though it still didn't give me the Blue Devil skin for my Sweeper and I probably won't get it).
    Honestly I don't know the real reason for the drop in use but I should be more specific. I've seen a drop in the Hunter versions use, I see a lot of Factory models still but even those are less then the others. I think with the full rebalance of shotguns and quite a few of them now being used do to this is the real reason for the drop in use. As I said the 12g is amazing if you know how to use it properly and the Trench Gun has always been good but was rarely used before patch. It's honestly nice to see other shotguns being used now, I don't get as pissed now when I'm killed by a shotgun anymore (unless it's a 10, I still hate that gun).
    I doubt we'll see a shift in the business model. As good as Overwatch is at the end of the day it's a Hero shooter and their model doesn't exactly transfer well to actual Shooters (yes I don't consider Overwatch a FPS, while it is at the end of the day it's a Hero Arena game and always will be. What works for it won't always work for another game). While I do agree its a great model to follow EA will never go this route and I'm honestly surprised to see we got two free Superior Battlepacks as Premium members (though lets be fair we did drop $50 to be premium members so it's the least they can do besides 1 free one every month and early access to DLC) since there is honestly no profit in it for them. Honestly I doubt we'll see any real effort in the free maps we get because those are, at the end of the day, free and DICE/EA doesn't see any real reason to give us awesome maps anymore like they did with BF4 free DLC. Plus those free maps are designed mostly for Conquest and Rush with afterthoughts being placed toward the other modes (though for some reason they ignore the biggest reason this game sold so well, Operations. Giant's Shadow would be an amazing Operation map but sadly they probably won't bring it in). We'll probably get awesome maps in our paid DLC (I'm really looking forward to the Verdun map but if it's not done right I'll be pissed) but outside of that I don't see any real push to give out more free stuff. Quite frankly DICE should of stuck with the same model they did with BF4, it worked and while not everything was always great at the end of the day it made everyone happy (EA got their money, DICE got praise from the gamers, and the gamers were getting what they wanted).
    If the maps are good and if the new Operation is good (if we get one) I'm sure I'll put more time into the game when the DLC hits. I don't play for battlepacks because I'm not getting anything out of it honestly (I never played for battlepacks in BF4, I played for fun). I could care less if I get anything at the end of the match because I don't play games to receive shit, if I did I wouldn't have a life as I'd be completely devoted to getting anything and everything I could (I know how bad my OCD can be which is why I don't play games with the intention of getting rewarded). This is why I don't raid in FFXIV (outside of the fact that raiding just to get a piece of code and a graphic is completely retarded) and why I never did in WoW. If, at the end of the day, I had fun and just happened to get something great but as long as I had fun I'm content. Sadly this game isn't fun to play alone and that's the real reason I don't play it much anymore. This isn't like CoD4 where playing as a team was never really an option and where playing by yourself was always a blast. This is a team based shooter and without a good team of friends it's just no fun.
  24. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Battlefield 1   
    Meh, I've been putting more time into this over the last few days then I thought I would (yeah I know I said I wouldn't touch it until DLC time but I get distracted easily). After finally giving the patch enough time I have to say while I don't agree with every change I will say Domination is finally becoming fun again and you're seeing more variation in weapons with the Model 10 nerf (it might not be that significant but I've seen a massive decrease in its use over the last 3 days of playing) and the LMG buff (I'm seeing a lot more 1909 and MG15's in Domination now, it's kind of nice to see Support getting used). I pulled out the 12g tonight while I was playing because I watched Matimi0 go on a rampage with it in one of his recent videos and I have to say the gun is amazing and I think I finally found my go to Assault weapons. It's got shit range and while it can kill someone at ranges the Model 10 could hit it's very rare. It makes up for this with the ability to fire as fast as you pull the trigger and amazing power at close range (I was actually pulling off headshots left and right with it, kinda wish I would of gotten the shotgun medal this week, this of course is the Backbored version as I don't have access to the other two yet). The only other real downside with it is the need to reload constantly (5 rounds isn't exactly desirable but I've started treating it like I treated the M1014 in CoD4 and I'm getting back into my shotgun groove again). Kinda happy it's actually good as I can put that amazing Legendary skin to use. The LMG buff made the 1909 even better than it already was (the range on it is amazing now with the accuracy changes, I actually prefer running it over the BAR now) that's for sure.
    I'm thinking they upped the drop rates of the more rare skins now. Since yesterday (when I got the 2 free Superior crates for being premium and 1 free normal one) I've pulled 3 Legendaries (the 1903, the Gasser, and the C96 skins (the 1903 was from a normal pack)), three puzzle pieces (two clubs (one more and I finally get the club) and a sawtooth), 4 squad xp boosts (which led to some enhanced crates), and 3 blue skins (I got the blue LT skins, the blue 1909 skin, and one other that I don't remember currently). There were numerous whites as well but that's to be expected. Either this is for the holidays or they finally heard our cries for drop rate changes. Whatever it is it's been nice getting battlepacks for once (which I've been pulling in left and right, I've had maybe 4 out of 20 matches where I didn't get a battlepack).
  25. Like
    Strider Hiryu got a reaction from Sledgstone in Happy Holidays!   
    Late to the party as usual but Happy Holidays everyone. Hope Christmas was good to all of you and I hope New Years is even better.
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