2017 The Year Of The Game

[Jason Tandro]

With the promise of a new year comes the promise of new games. I've mentioned this in a couple of threads and you have probably seen my new signature image, but I want to make a thread about it so that you all can join me in the insanity.

My Proposal
1. Use 2017 as a year to play games that you have been meaning to but kept pushing off.
2. You are under no obligation to finish them but you must at least try them out and should give them a fair chance.

Strategy

* I would recommend one game per month

Spoiler: (though

I personally am tackling four a month because I am a raving lunatic and I tend to clear games pretty damned quick.)

* Try to stagger the game types you play to avoid burnout.
* Try to specifically go outside your comfort zone with at least a few of the entries to really give something new a try.


Below you can see my personal lineup and this batch is pretty set in stone though depending upon any number of factors it might change. My general rules were nothing that is recent (no Watch Dogs 2, Halo 5, Dishonored 2, etc), and I could include games that I have played before in order to finish them (though of this list this only applies to KOTOR, Bioshock and Super Mario Galaxy).

Will anybody else step up to the challenge and boldly go where your friends have been bugging you to go before?

Spoiler: My Lineup

 

[Ite]

You are in for a treat! Vagrant Story, the Arkham games, KOTOR. Dang.

January has already filled up for me, and I'm in the planning stages for a Skyrim SE let's play/machinima series for my summer project, so I guess I'll rep TES this year. I've never played Daggerfall or Morrowind...

 

[Jason Tandro]

Morrowind...

I've been playing it passively. It's an absolute gem of vintage PC Fantasy. The world and story of Morrowind is great and there is, surprisingly, a lot more to do than in Oblivion, albeit there is a lot less hand holding and the graphics haven't aged terribly well if that matters to you (I don't mind it, I love the style).

 

[Flintlock]

I like the idea of trying one new game a month. I think I naturally do that anyway but if this thread stays active then it'll be a nice reminder for me.

I don't want to decide what I'm going to play each month in advance but I can post a list of the games I have to choose from. I categorise games on Steam into Completed, In Progress (games I've played but not completed), Played (games I've played that can't be completed) and Unplayed. This is the Unplayed category:

• ABZÛ
• Bastion*
• Broken Sword 5
• Castle Crashers**
• Divinity: Original Sin
• Dragon Age: Origins
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim***
• Guacamelee!
• Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
• Life is Strange
• Limbo
• Mark of the Ninja
• Monkey Island 2
• The Secret of Monkey Island
• SpeedRunners
• Tropico 4

* I've played the demo.
** I've played the console version.
*** I've played the non-special edition.
Italics: I'd prefer to play these games in co-op mode.

I'll also throw in Ori and the Blind Forest, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Trine and Valkyria Chronicles from my In Progress category because I've recorded less than two hours of playtime in each of them. That makes 20 games in total, or 15 excluding the five co-op games – if I play 12 of them this year, I'll be happy.

By the way, for the past couple of years we've had a TLS Community Playthrough following the awards; would you be interested in organising one this year? I'd also be happy to do it if you want to take a break from organising stuff.

 

[Jason Tandro]

I can organize her. After the TLS Awards it should be a cakewalk.

 

[Lulcielid]

Interesting Idea, so far this is my plan for 2017:

January: Fate Stay Night visual novel (I have it installed on my notebook have yet to play/read it)

February: Final Fantasy Tactics [PSX] (Have it but yet to play it)

March: Vagrant Story (Again, already own it but didn´t play it yet)

That´s all at the moment.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Welp, done with Gears of War. I didn't finish it. but I gave it a chance. Here's my review:

Year of the Game: Gears of War

 

[Jason Tandro]

And done with Saints Row 2 but I actually beat this one. I couldn't put it down. It's... it's damn near perfect.

Year of the Game: Saints Row 2

 

[Strangelove]

I started Crimson Shroud which I have had on my 3ds for ages but not started, so I guess that will be my first game

 

[Lord Noctis]

I've decided to give this a go for the fun of it. I'll likely stick to one or two games a month. I don't have a full plan laid out yet, but I've got a few.

Darksiders
Darksiders2
Vemintide
Mordheim City of The Damned
Ember

Starting with Darksiders, probably followed by Vermintide. I also hear the new Call of Cthulhu video game is out this year. I'll play that in October if its out by then.

 

[Jason Tandro]

And here's my review of Alien: Isolation. I also didn't finish this one, I got about a 1/3rd of the way. It's not a mark against the game that I am a bit impatient with it.

Year of the Game: Alien: Isolation

 

[Lord Noctis]

I'm working on Darksiders at the moment. I'm having fun with the gameplay, but man is War a boring character.

 

[Flintlock]

• ABZÛ

Just played this all the way through in about an hour and a half. Steam review copypasta again:

You win, Abzu. You win.

After playing this game for about half an hour, I thought "this is a bit dull; I could have just watched a playthrough on Youtube instead of buying it". After the second half an hour, my opinion was wavering, and after the third - nearing the end of the game - it had won me over completely. So it's a little slow to warm up, but it's worth persisting with, and as it's such a short game, you won't even have to persist for very long. Or perhaps you'll feel differently to me and enjoy the opening as much as the ending.

This isn't Journey; there are no real puzzles and it's not a game that's going to make you think. The gameplay is very simplistic; you'll find yourself alternating between swimming around aimlessly in wide open areas and following a linear path in others. It is, however, a game that will make you feel. That was my experience, at least. It looks great, obviously, but the music is what really did it for me. It's incredible. I couldn't tell you what the story is about but that didn't stop me from enjoying it, and I think it's supposed to be open to interpretation.

The frame rate dropped frequently to 40-45 FPS regardless of which graphical settings I chose, which was disappointing. I have a GTX 960, admittedly not the most powerful card around, but I think it might be CPU-limited rather than GPU-limited. There are often hundreds of objects (fish, mostly) on the screen at once, plus all sorts of particle and lighting effects. For a swimming/diving game, the controls aren't as intuitive as they could be, and some menu options can only be chosen with a keyboard, despite the "strong recommendation" to use a controller. I'd like to say those are minor faults, but the truth is that they're not; I just ended up not caring because I was so drawn in by the music and the visuals. And by getting to ride manatees.

Recommended.

Store page

One down, 11 to go!

 

[Lord Noctis]

So, I gave up on Darksiders. It was reasonably fun to play, but I just did not give even the most remote shit about the main character.

Now I've got my hands on Wathdogs 2, courtesy of gamefly, and I'm enjoying it so far. The protagonist of this game is immediately more likable and interesting to me than the shit stick from the last game.

Also thinking I might pick up Mordheim City Of The Damned this month, but I'm gonna wait and see how much time I end up spending with Watchdogs first.

 

[Flintlock]

This wasn't on my list, but I picked up Project Cars in a bundle and gave it a good go. Here's my thumbs-down Steam review:

This game needs some serious attention before I can recommend it.

The most important part of the game - the driving - is fine. Cars seem to understeer a lot but I might just need some time to adjust. Everything else, however, feels unpolished, almost unfinished.

The menu is unintuitive and very difficult to navigate with a controller. It doesn't seem possible to enter text with a controller, either, meaning the game isn't really couch-viable.

The settings are poorly explained, and far worse, can't be changed during a race. Not even the camera settings. Not even the volume! Changing graphical settings requires a full game restart and there's no borderless fullscreen mode.

In career mode, you'll get emails suggesting you reply to them, but you can't; you'll get invitations which you can't accept - you just have to wait until the events in question come up on the calendar; and you'll get the same "new mail" popup three times in a row if three messages arrive at the same time.

The introduction to the very first level of the career mode, karting, talks about qualifying, but there aren't any qualifying sessions. There are no warm-up sessions, either, so there's no way to acclimatise to the track from within career mode; you're just thrown in and expected to know your way around.

Race reports talk about constructors' championship points even though there isn't a constructors' championship in that category. The reports are also extremely generic, not even remarking on championship victories.

In the "accolades" menu, the counter doesn't seem to match up with the number of visible accolades.

The AI is... bad. I've seen worse in driving games, but I've also seen better.

Rolling starts are abysmal. This is not a minor complaint; they are truly, absolutely awful, to the point where they shouldn't be in the game. Think you're starting first? Nope, probably second or third by the time the game actually hands you control of your car. That's if there hasn't been a massive crash already (plenty of evidence of these on Youtube if you're interested).

Speaking of starts, I've also experienced a glitch where I start 30th on the grid in a four-car multiplayer race, with the other three drivers the full length of the pit straight ahead of me. I asked on Reddit but nobody was able to explain why this happens.

The racing line / braking point suggestions are laughably bad. New players would be best off ignoring them.

The HUD sometimes goes missing for no reason. I have never switched it off.

The race engineer will often be completely silent for 90% of a race, only to radio you on the last lap to say that your teammate is in sixth. Thanks. For. That.

I had high hopes for this game but so far I'm feeling pretty disappointed. Not recommended.

 

[Jason Tandro]

I haven't been posting these in here, only on my FB. Between JAN and FEB I knocked out a few more:

Dragon Age: Origins

Assassin's Creed

Risen

 

[Lord Noctis]

I'm finished with Watchdogs 2 now. I didn't finish it, but I had fun. Its the sort of game where its great for about 6-7 hours, and then you reach a point where you realize that you've seen the games whole bag of tricks, and it simply isn't able to hold interest. Its a great game if you want something fun to play over a weekend, but it lacks staying power.

 

[Flare]

I dunno if I have a game per month, but here's a list of games I currently own that I want to play this year


- Dragon Age Inquisition: I'm currently in the middle of this still, huge fucking game. Pretty fun!
- Deus Ex Mankind Divided: Played the prologue, then got FFXV last December and haven't got back to this yet. Plan to do so in the next couple months.
- Uncharted 4
- FF Tactics, War of the Lions: Going to start this tomorrow or thursday, so I can join the community playthrough.



And here's games I don't own yet but will likely get this year (or soon after).

- Mass Effect Andromeda: Likely get it digitally since I have some PSN money built up. Ain't gonna wait for it to price drop, hell no.
- Horizon, Zero Dawn: Looks very awesome, hearing great things about it.


I think that's it for now.

 

[Jason Tandro]

I finished Shadows of the Damned and... well it's Suda51, I got what I expected and then some.

Year of the Game: Shadows of the Damned

 

[Lord Noctis]

I was gonna play Mordheim, but GameFly got God Eater 2 to me faster than I thought they would, so I'm playing that instead. I'm about 4-5 hours in, and its alright, I guess. The combat is reasonably fun, and there is a solid sense of progression in the missions, but otherwise the game is rather sub-par. The music, while enjoyable, is very forgettable, the graphics are outdated, and the story and characters are pretty standard anime stuff without anything to really set it apart.

Still, the game description claims 100 hours of content, so I'm gonna keep playing it for a while and see if it has anything else to offer.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Running a bit late on this one and I didn't even finish (though I will), but here's my review of Grand Theft Auto Vice City.

Year of the Game: Grand Theft Auto Vice City

Also, the theme for this game is 10/10 80s camp. I love it.

 

[Octo]

Is it wrong to recommend a game I haven't actually played?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/558420/

Stories Untold is like... I don't know how to describe it exactly without spoilering the fuck out of it. But it's a text based adventure, 4 interlinked stories, set in the 80's, creepypasta-ish with an awesome synth soundtrack. Reminiscent of Stranger Things visually

Anyway I watched Harshlycritical play it on yon youtube and it seemed pretty good, especially for the price.

 

[Lulcielid]

Running a bit late on this one and I didn't even finish (though I will), but here's my review of Grand Theft Auto Vice City.

Year of the Game: Grand Theft Auto Vice City

For me the worst thing about Vice City was death by water diving due to not using cheats .

 

[Jason Tandro]

Running a bit late on this one and I didn't even finish (though I will), but here's my review of Grand Theft Auto Vice City.

Year of the Game: Grand Theft Auto Vice City

For me the worst thing about Vice City was death by water diving due to not using cheats .

And the boats? Well you drown always so I never wanted to risk using them unless mandatory.

Oh yeah, I got you covered there.

 

[Hisako]

Welp, done with Gears of War. I didn't finish it. but I gave it a chance. Here's my review:

Year of the Game: Gears of War

Not to piss on your parade (because it's an awesome thing you're doing), but in the context of 2006 Gears of War was almost literally the first Unreal Engine 3 game that was released, so it graphically blew people's minds at the time

Yeah it's aged terribly but alongside Resident Evil 4 it set a precedent for the way third person shooters controlled, with a slower and methodical pace. Those two games introduced the over-the-shoulder/offset camera with a narrower field of view and legitimized it in such a way that center camera view has been mostly dropped in its favour. You can see it in the DNA of other franchises like Dead Space, Mass Effect and Metal Gear (and in the latter it vastly improved the way the whole thing handled).