Games you're playing right now, and my freetime's demise

I went back to fallout 3 when I read about hilarious low intelligence dialog in other fallout games. I didn't find out until starting it again that there ween't any in Fallout 3.

Yeah, there's only a couple in 3. Not really worth it, like it is with New Vegas.

It's a shame about 4 too, because I feel like the gun play is incredibly satisfying. If it were titled "AAA Open World Action Adventure Game" I'd gobble it up. But when you slap the Fallout name on to a title, there are certain expectations that come with the brand.

In a Cracked article, Fallout 4 was described as being like someone made a movie about Fallout 3. Probably not a bad way of putting it. However, I'm going to give it another chance. Some changes I liked, others not so much.

I felt that Bethesda spent more time on the settlement building system of the game rather than the story. Of all the DLC content, Far Harbor is the best for me.

And also, I haven't really finished New Vegas. I might give that a go instead.

Shadows of Mordor - Played it for two hours; fucking hated it. The story did not seem that interesting, but then again I am not a die hard LoTR guy. I see a lot of comparisons drawn to the Arkham games but I was a lot more drawn in to the story and Batman as a character seems a lot easier for me to identify with than some generic Aragorn-lite. The game has polish and the animations are fantastic; I just find very little reason to get invested.

I remember how much I hated the game when I spent hours killing all the orc captains (making sure they're beheaded so that they are Dead dead) and find out that there's a second map with a complete orc organization then when I came back to the first map, the orcs are replaced anew.

I felt that Bethesda spent more time on the settlement building system of the game rather than the story.

That's a good point, too. The settlement building reminds me a little of the turf wars of GTA: San Andreas, or the empire building of GTA: Vice City Stories (and the original Vice City, for that matter). It isn't quite as intrusive, but it's still a bit more crucial to the game (and at times, the plot) than I'd like.

I really liked Fallout 4, but yeah, non-voiced protagonist would have been a better choice. It leaves much to the imagination. Now it kinda feels like Mass Effect 3. But man, killing anything in Fallout 4 is so much better. I tried re-playing New Vegas, but I got so spoiled with the graphical and animation improvements in 4.

In fairness to Bethesda, I think they were in a tough spot there. If they Sole Survivor hadn't been voiced, there'd be people saying it's an outdated approach that doesn't allow the game to expand from a cinematic standpoint. Giving them a voice obviously doesn't please everyone either, especially with the dialogue system.

Fair point. It did not really deter the enjoyment for me. Overall, a pretty good job, even with the DLC's.

I played 4 without bothering much with the settlement aspect and I feel kinda guilty for it. Maybe sometime I can re-play it and explore on this.

I feel more guilty about turning settlements hostile thanks to my..."persuasion" to get them to provide crops to the Brotherhood of Steel.

Yeah, the sad part is I did not realize it was an endless quest similar to those from Preston. Damn those quests.

For sure. I preferred 3 and New Vegas' approach in that regard, where the repeatable quests for rewards/XP were unmarked in the Pip-Boy, perhaps after an initial marked quest that introduced you to the concept.

As much as I enjoyed the settlement building aspect of 4, it made the game feel really repetitive. Kind of in the same vein as Skyrim and the Dark Brotherhood bounties. That's where I don't mind the finality of New Vegas. I like how New Vegas explicitly tells you that you are going into a point of no return. I can't remember if 3 has that, but it's a good way to avoid ending your game and kind of why I had no issue with not being able to return sans ending.

I'll probably end up going back to 3 at some point as well, but I don't like how insignificant your player feels in that game. The morality system in that game seems a little more black and white as well. In saying all that, I still enjoyed the game. I just thought New Vegas was a major improvement as far as how open its gameplay was.

3 didn't have that warning, so that was a nice touch in New Vegas. Broken Steel remedied that issue of course, but on my first playthrough, it caught me a little offguard.

All this Fallout 4 talk is making want to go back now... I bought the rest of the DLC during a steam sale a while ago but I haven't touched the game in over a year!

I liked the analogy of comparing FO4 to a movie made about Fallout. It definitely has a lot more of a bombastic, summer blockbuster feel to it.

I actually didn't mind the voiced main character, but it definitely took out the multiple dialogue options from previous games. I also hated the very minimized dialogue options in the dialogue wheel.

I liked the side quests in Fallout 4.

Yeah, the sad part is I did not realize it was an endless quest similar to those from Preston. Damn those quests.

Here, I'll mark it on your map.

Here, I'll mark it on your map.

Fuck. My temptation to play all of a sudden took a nosedive.

Play the Far Harbor DLC! Nuka-World was a bit in the middle for me.

Far Harbor is better, yeah. Nuka World, I feel works better if you play the bad guy. The good guy approach cuts it short, iirc.

I played the shit out of Fallout 4 when it came out, but haven't touched it since. It was really more of an action game with RPG elements than anything else. I did enjoy the settlement building aspect of it, clunky as it was. Probably my favorite part of the game. Might revisit it to check out some of the mods. I'd give it a WHERE'S SEAN / 10.

Anyway, I've been playing way too much video games lately. Here are some brief reviews.

Forza Motorsport 6 - Disappointing. I play these kind of games for the GT-style grind of starting with a shitty car and grinding my way to a garage full of cool cars, as well as for a background activity while I listen to music. Thanks to the weak career mode and lack of a custom soundtrack feature, I can't really do either.

Forza Horizon 3 - While I burnt out on this one, it took a pretty long time! While you pretty much have access to most of the cars right away, this game has a million other things going on to keep your interest. I love games like Midnight Club and Need For Speed, and to play a game in the same vein, with the driving engine and car licenses of Forza... well I guess living in the 10's isn't all bad...

Dead Rising 3 - Picked the complete edition up for free and beat it in about a week. Not as good as the first two. I regret not playing in Nightmare Mode, because the default mode, while fun, misses the challenge that makes the series so much fun (and aggravating...) But as bad as the storyline is, killing zombies and leveling up is pretty addicting. Not bad for a launch title!

Sunset Overdrive - Always wanted to play this. It gets a bad rap for trying to hard to be cool and funny. But while it does fail to be either of those things, it is a pretty addicting sandbox game. I love the vibrant graphics, and Jet Set Radio-style gameplay. Didn't really like it at first, but once the main campaign gained steam and I figured out some of the less intuitive mechanics, I couldn't put it down.

The Witness - If I wanted to constantly be frustrated and feel like an idiot, I'd take more Calculus classes.

NBA 2K17 - It's complicated.

Recently purchased gran turismo and gran turismo 2 for some nostalgia. Really wanted to do the rally racing which they've gotten away from as well as the old tracks like Seattle circuit

Isn't Rally racing in GT Sport?

Isn't Rally racing in GT Sport?

hmm, not sure, but since it moved to PS3, the series has had like 1 dirt course and 1 snow course and those races were a bit of an afterhtought. I forget if it was GT5 or GT6 had a pretty cool rally mode that was pretty short

I'm remembering rally courses from those games, and iirc the course creators in both allowed for custom courses to be made on dirt & snow. Also also, just saw it in the trailer out today for Sport
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAjr9CPBEWc




I'm still stuck in my normal 2K & Rocket League life. Playing Crash on PS4 with my wife and enjoying that, nice remake.

But holy hell, Fire Pro Wrestling World. If you are even kind of a wrestling fan its a must buy. There are over 2,700 wrestlers in the workshop and the damn game hasn't even been out for a week.

Oh shit that looks pretty. I might wind up getting it when it goes on sale, probably not day 1 ish. A little disappointing that there are so few cars since they dumped the PS2 cars since I can't drive my 04 STI so I'll have to settle for a new one. I mean, I wouldn't be driving in a 90s supra or an FD all the time but I kinda like collecting cars in the game
It will be cool to race with the new cars and the cars that have never been in the game.

I'll have to give fire pro a look. How's the gameplay? In wrestling games, I've always been a fan of doing special matches and hardcore matches

Fire Pro caught my attention as well, so I'd also be interested in some impressions.

It's definitely worth a look right now, as it's $20 in early access on PC, but in a few months they're planning to release the "full version" for $40 on PC and PS4. At least you can refund with Steam if it's not your thing.

The gameplay is quirky, but once I got used to it I've been having a lot of fun. It's timing based. So it's really easy to whiff on striking moves if the sprites aren't lined up right. Grapples are done automatically by walking into each other, and once you lock up you input a command ASAP, because neither guy "controls" the grapple. Later in the match there is a "breathe" button you need to use to keep your guy from getting winded.

There are weapons, and deathmatches (below), you can see the blood spreading on the mat. No tables or ladders though (yet, hopefully).

https://gfycat.com/warmheartedlikelyaoudad



There are also MMA fights in the ring or a UFC type cage.

https://youtu.be/G36TFMaOhv8?t=5301



The edit mode is absolute insanity, and there is full logic people edit so wrestler AI does sequences of moves, and only use special moves rarely.

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/brow ... ribers&p=1

If you get it, definitely start in the "Mission" mode. It starts with tutorials then has 50 matches for you to do with objectives. Can't use custom rosters in it, but it's what has taught me how to play the game properly...otherwise I'd still be simming/watching matches.

Currently I'm playing (All for PC)

- Fallout 4 - Beautiful game when maxed out...
- Castlevania Lord of Shadows (I beat the 2nd one already). This Is such an underrated game.
- Devil May Cry 4 - Still havn't beat it, another really solid game.
- Dragons Dogma - DEEP game
- Alien Rage - Supremely underrated, and extremely hard on the hardest difficulty
- NBA 2K series - All the way back to 2k10 (Of course)