Strider Hiryu

I do that because my home and lock screen are of 2B as well (and I haven't even played the game). Well of a Taiwanese Cosplayer who is dressed up as her, see:

Great minds think alike I see

True but I felt like I owed it to everyone to spoiler it. I had actually not seen the cg version until I watched the movie today so I'm sure there are others (hey just because I practically live on the internet doesn't mean I don't live under a rock still).

Don't mind me, just reviving a dead topic yet again (because I'm so good at it).

So I broke down yesterday and bought this since it was out (and the site I've been getting my movies from is having troubles with viruses in their files lately so yeah) and a co-worker of mine has been giving me so much shit for not seeing this being the big SW fan I am. Honestly I can understand why a lot of people had problems with this movie (CG characters aside, they're not bad but by god was that CG enough to bring me out of the immersion). It's got a lot of problems story wise for me (pacing issues mostly) and honestly I feel this movie should of been made well before now (besides fans like us who remember the old movies this is kind of an odd place to go for those who don't know anything about SW, this movie felt more like it was made for the die hard fans then it was for entertainment purposes (like TFA) and it still feels like the failed to deliver). Don't get me wrong I actually liked the movie (more then I liked TFA) and thought they did a great job making it feel like a SW film but on the other hand it just didn't feel all that Star Warsy to me (it felt more like they were forcing it to be a Star Wars film).

If it wasn't for K2S0 (god I love that droid, Alan Tudyk did an amazing job bringing him to life. I'm starting to notice that the droids are more lovable then the human cast in the recent SW films), Chirrut, Baze, and Saw (I love Forrest Whitaker as an actor and he did an awesome job here) I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the movie as much as I did (the interactions between Chirrut and Baze were hilarious and that scene at the end was amazing (honestly had tears in my eyes)). The other characters were good but those were the four that stood out the most for me.

I have to say that it was fucking amazing to hear Jones take up his proper mantle as Lord Vader's voice (by far the best part of the movie was Vader's introduction into the film, was fucking epic (as was his scene at the end of the movie (not really a spoiler, Vader is hardly in the movie))). Fuck Hayden, Vader will always be Jones god damnit.

16 hours ago, DeathscytheX said:

Far away creatures shutter around, constant microfreezing when running into named areas or going too fast with the Nomad. Frame rate dips and texture popping is one thing, but locking up is just pathetic.

This pisses me off to no end. The Mako in the first game didn't have these issues so I for the love of me can't figure out why these issues exist, it's like the did an extremely poor job of optimizing the game in those instances. Nothing like cruising on Eos and all of a sudden the game freezes up for 20-30 seconds while it tries to load the area, gg BioWare.

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)).

FYI Sledge Destiny 2 is being developed in a brand new engine built specifically for the game (though whether it's better then the current one is anybody's guess).

Honestly I'm not giving Bungie another god damn cent unless they prove to me this game is everything it's supposed to be, until then I won't give Destiny 2 a shot (sorry, that bridge was burned with Destiny and it's not going to be rebuilt anytime soon). Quite honestly everything I've read about what was announced (I haven't watched the trailer, don't see any reason to do so) is it's pretty much the same promises we were given with Destiny and they were never fulfilled until an expansion that cost nearly as much as the original game (and even then it wasn't really that good by what I've seen).

Quite frankly you're going to get the exact same thing you have now with a new skin. I highly doubt anything will change besides giving us an actual story this time around. Gear will still be locked behind raid progression/crucible grinding with a shot of decent gear from IB (which honestly didn't rely on gear as much as everyone says it did, skill was a major factor in how well you actually did (and of course having one of a few select weapons, still took skill to use said weapons but they did help)), there's enough people still playing who love this model that Bungie will never change it.

Well it is kinda hard to beat android perfection (plus it is a SE title and they're known for their modeling chops)

I'll say this about Andromeda, you can really loose track of time while you're playing it. I ended up playing it for 6 hours yesterday and didn't realize it until 11 last night when I finally looked at the time. I have to say it's been a long time since I last had a game do that for me (ME3 to be exact). Bad animations aside the game is really fun though I do have some issues with the combat system (it doesn't feel as polished as ME3 and I'm definitely not liking the cover system. Gunplay is also not as smooth as I'd like it). Even though I didn't think I'd like it I'm loving the total freedom to customize Ryder as I see fit. I'm an Operative with the Sentinel Profile active and loving every minute of it, Tech Armor is so much better in this game then it was in ME3 (plus a Sentinel with Tactical Cloak is broken beyond hell). Story wise it's not too bad, a little boring but I'm still in the beginning stages of the game (I've only completed Eos because I've been sidetracked by side quests, god damn OCD is real in this game). Don't know how I feel about this whole Remnant tech we've been finding, feels like they couldn't come up with a better idea so they recycled the Promethean bits from the first trilogy and just changed the name.

I'm with you on missing renegade. I've found myself more then once wanting to punch some of these idiots in the face and take control of the situation to show them how shit really gets done. God I'm really missing my Fem Shep now, the Nexus would be finished and we'd have the whole system colonized by now if she were in charge. I do like Ryder, she/he is a very interesting character who just kinda landed into this position by a series of bad events but this whole rookie aspect has to go. I will say this I love Drack, he's like a much older and grittier version of Wrex with more of a "I don't give a fuck" attitude.

5 hours ago, Dubird said:

It's puzzling to me how Bioware could go from ME3 animations that aren't perfect, but with subtleties that humans have, to demon-eyed mannequins. I don't know if it can be fixed in a patch (though I really hope so)

A: It's a different team from the one that originally made the ME trilogy hence why we went from stuff that was well ironed out to having issues like this. There's going to be a lot of growing pains for this team if Andromeda ends up being a series of games (which I'm suspecting it will) but they'll eventually get it right (the first ME wasn't without its own animation issues and look what that team went on to build).

B: It can easily be fixed but I highly doubt it will be. This requires a lot of reanimating (and in some cases remodeling) that I'm sure the team isn't looking forward to doing (not to mention the patch size when it is done). They'll probably fix the more glaring issues with a hot fix somewhere down the line but I highly doubt they'll fix everything.

http://www.vg247.com/2017/03/24/former-bioware-animator-explains-why-animations-in-mass-effect-andromeda-are-the-way-they-are/

The link above is a pretty interesting read. What I gathered from it (and this was a former Bioware employee) is that they were to lazy to go the extra mile and just prioritized what they thought players would see over what they wouldn't. Goes to show you even the best developers don't want to go the full 10 yards.

As for my actual thoughts on the game, I don't have many at the moment. I haven't put enough time into it to actually have any (I'm pretty much still in the prologue section, debating if I should hold off playing this until I beat Horizon or not). My only real opinion is that the preset character models for female Ryder suck if you want to customize your character. I couldn't for the life of me make a character that I thought looked good and had to go with the default look and god forbid if we try to customize that look(I always play through as a female first then male, I'm weird that way). Really starting to wonder if the good 3D modelers were on vacation during the development of this game (the enemy alien models look amazing though, props on that) because ME3 had better looking characters then this game.

I honestly don't think the MP18 headshot requirement for the Ribeyrolles is that bad. Out of all the SMG's it's the most stable but sadly you have to use the Factory version to do it (which will make it a thousand times worse). Sadly I'll never get either version of the the assault weapons as I don't play assault enough (and the shotgun one requires you to use Slug variant of the Model-10), then again I probably won't get any of them as I probably won't play much. I hope the Russian DLC is good because this one is just lackluster as all hell.

I will say this the addition of ribbons has made it a lot easier to level up your classes now. I got one and a half levels on my Support class done in just those two games.

Apparently either my browser hiccuped or my internet screwed up hence the double post. Feel free to delete this post if you want.

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.

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.

I still don't like that fire rate on the Chauchat, it's too fucking slow compared to the other LMG's and it's clip size leaves a lot to be desired (though watching the video in your above post does make it seem extremely powerful). I like how the RSC looks and fires so I might just have to jump back on to try it out when the DLC hits but sadly I still don't think it's going to be enough to keep me playing longer then a few days (I mean the timing of this DLC sucks no matter how you look at it, they should of released it sooner).

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.

Oh I'm definitely going the Sentinel route with a shotgun (which will probably be the only points I spend down that route), Biotics and Tech abilities are amazing when used in conjunction. If Tech Armor was in this it would be even better but I'll have to substitute Barrier for it and sadly there is no Reave but I can learn to live without it (that ability was broken in ME2, high damage and it healed you for a portion of said damage). I also wish Incinerate was still in but I guess the Flamethrower will have to make up for it. I'm going to be like a kid in a candy store when I get my hands on these ability trees.

Ok my worries about the skill system have been addressed with this video and I can't wait for this game to come out now (I already have it pre-ordered but was still wary on the skill system). Looks like I can have my Infiltrator and Sentinel builds so I'm happy (though there are a few missing skills that would make it even better). Also love the fact that weapons aren't restricted anymore, a Sentinel build with a Shotgun is going to be freaking amazing.

Meh, I'm still not feeling this movie. I don't know if its the trailers not doing a good job at selling it for me or if it's just the concept but I just don't feel it (I still don't think Scarlett is a good choice for the Major, she doesn't doesn't fit the persona for me). Again the effects and visuals look amazing but story wise this is just meh. I'll probably still see it but I don't think its going to be overly good.

I'm not one bit surprised this happened. This is Activision we're talking about, like EA all they care about is money. The only thing I'm surprised about is how long it took them to implement this, I expected it day 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).

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)).

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).

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.

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.

Yea, I watched that the other day and was disgusted with what Level talked about. I almost wish we'd institute the same law as China so we could figure out what the probability of getting a certain skin is. I just feel bad for all those people who dropped real money on this trying to get that skin, fucking ridiculous.

Meh, I read about this months ago and it barely piqued my interest then. Give me my Necromancer patch and I'll come back to play some more D3. Retro Diablo was easy mode and this looks to be pretty much the same (and with the new heroes running through the original dungeon will be child's play).