2016+ Games news

[chakkman]

They released a playable demo in May 2020 (I think). Really, it's not anywhere near finished, if that's the state of the art.

[Guest]

Shit, hate EA, but will probably cave in for this one, so many memories...

[chakkman]

I'm a bit disappointed that they don't offer a discount on Origin if you own the original games. I own all of the Mass Effect games, but, I still have to pay full price. Not cool. 

[revelator]

they are probably scroungin cash for mass effect 4

[chakkman]

Fair enough. A bit of a discount wouldn't hurt anyway though. I don't expect much, after all, you could get the trilogy and Andromeda for about 10 € a lot of times now. 10 or 20 € off would be great. Paying full price for games which I already own, just because they are remastered is a bit harsh. I'd have to consider not buying the remaster at all then. After all, I still can play the old versions.

I don't hate EA, I don't hate the games industry. I think everyone should get his fair share, and the industry also won't live long without publishers, investors and producers. It's more about EA making their games attractive to me. 

[revelator]

I just hope this time over they fix the bugs the older versions had, like the god awfull map collision errors so you get stuck standing on something and cannot get free unless you load a previous save.

I cannot fathom why bugs like those where newer fixed as they are pretty game breaking, but even mass effect 3 had them (anyone remember trying to talk to joker in the cockpit ugh...).

[chakkman]

TBH, the only game of the Trilogy I really played was Mass Effect 1. Which I stopped at some point, because it really became too monotone and generic. I played Andromeda a bit then, which I really liked. It's a massive feature monster though, there's so much you can do, and so many materials and stuff to craft that it became a bit too tedious TBH. 

Happy to give the Legendary Edition a shot though. Maybe they've done some good things to ME 1 especially.

[Anderson]

I hope this means free achievements for those who own Mass Effect 1. But EA will probably make a standalone version of Mass Effect 1, whereby legacy owners of Mass Effect 1 inbefore this remake don't get anything.

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, revelator said:

I just hope this time over they fix the bugs the older versions had, like the god awfull map collision errors so you get stuck standing on something and cannot get free unless you load a previous save.

I cannot fathom why bugs like those where newer fixed as they are pretty game breaking, but even mass effect 3 had them (anyone remember trying to talk to joker in the cockpit ugh...).

I had a pretty smooth ride with ME series, but I played them all on X360 back then. I'm really curious what changes and improvements they made to ME1 (elevators! ), as this one was quite different from the successors.

[revelator]

it seems they streamlined ME1 so it follows the gameplay from ME2/ME3 weapon specialization was reworked so even if your class was not one that could normally use say a sniper rifle you could still fire it, you just cannot allocate any points in the skill tree.

[revelator]

well the weapon specialization rework is a bit strange as you could still use weapons which you normally did not have any specialization in even in old ME1 the only downside besides not being able to allocate points for those where that you could not focus the reticule so basically you shot from the hip if you had no specialization in that weapon. So if i got this right it means they reworked it so now you can focus the reticule but you cant allocate any points in said weapon.

@chakkman

ME2 was very different from ME1 bit like a mirror counterpart. Some even call it the best mass effect game though i like all of them equally it kinda gives a new perspective.

[Guest]

I remember ME1 as a more standard PC RPG kind of game, and definitely more focus on inventory management. ME2 and later got so much popularity because they trimmed all the fat, focusing mostly on story, choices, and combat.

[revelator]

indeed

[revelator]

The fun thing with mass effect was that you could do things both ways, most would probably select a heroic type but a few went dark side and discovered that even though they played a dark shepard they could still get the same outcome, It is a game with no truely good or evil. I allways played as someone a bit flawed in most peoples opinion since i was neither, but in the long run i managed to get just as far as a true paragon or renegade shepard. Ofc both sides can make a true mess of things as well especially in ME2 where some choices would leave you with no other survivors than yourself and if you truely bungled it not even you would survive.  The mixed up character i created was more like a real person than some hyped up hero type, and i loved how it played out.

[Guest]

Seems like more trouble for Bloodlines 2: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-delayed-again-and-hardsuit-games-are-no-longer-developing-it

Edited February 23, 2021 by Guest

[chakkman]

Just finished the new System Shock Remake demo. Not bad... even though I almost got lost a couple of times in the level, because everything looks same-ish, and, Looking Glass style, there's a lot of going up, down elevation, which makes it hard to navigate. 

I'm not sure I like the visual style. I know the original looked like that, and, after the developers first made the game look more like SS 2, they decided to make it a strict remake, style wise, but, I'm someone who liked the visual style of SS 2 better, so, it's not that much for me.

Gameplay wise, it's fine though. I really like that it has a more oldschool approach, without explaining everything, and holding the players hand. They did a good job there in that regard. 

I didn't like the monsters too much. They're not that scary. I found SS 2 much more scary and creepy.

Anyway, good entertainment. Not sure if will pre-order though. Might wait until it's released for a while, and get it 10 or 20 € then. I most probably will buy the SS 2 Enhanced Edition when that comes out, though.

[revelator]

you can allready do a lot to make SS2 more modern looking the mod manager from the patch allows for updated textures models etc. I havent found a complete texture overhaul unfortunatly which makes some areas stand out a bit, still it does beef it up quite a lot. The weird thing in SS2 is mostly weapon related as the most powerfull of them are allmost newer a good idea to put points in cause they are to expensive to use and do to little damage for the points allocated in them. The best weapon i found was the crystaline sword (forgot the name) but it can litterally oneshot even a rumbler (if you can get in close without getting splattered)

[chakkman]

A couple of days after my post, I actually DID pre-order the System Shock remake, so, I get the SS 2 Enhanced Ed. with that.  

I should really give SS 2 a shot again when it comes out, I really loved the game on my second run through, but, never finished it. I think Ken Levine also has a very strong foot print in his games, I recognized loads of SS in Bioshock as well. And, if I think about, also in the first Thief.

[revelator]

bioshock was intended as a spiritual successor to system shock so that might actually be the case :).

SS2 was actually built with the original thief source code.

[chakkman]

Yeah, I definitely take Bioshock as a spiritual successor. AFAIK, it even started out with ideas of having a setting in space, on a starship, or space station (don't remember right now).

[demagogue]

I've been playing Control recently, and it definitely has System Shock 2 in its DNA. It has the most immsim vibes I've had playing a game since I guess Prey. And it looks great. It's kind of light on the sim part, but it has very diverse environments, and the action varies by that, so that keeps the action pretty fresh. The story is also weird & interesting. Fun game.

[jaxa]

Phil Spencer Teases idTech Engine Usage by Xbox Game Studios

Quote

The other thing that we haven't really talked about is the future of idTech and what could that mean inside of Xbox. Obviously, you know, we've got a ton of studios doing a bunch of different work. I love the way Marty Stratton talked about how they've collaborated with our Bethesda studios on idTech and I just think about that to the next level. Like, what can we do inside of our organization with idTech, which is one of the world's best game engines out there, and just make it a tool that so many developers can use to realize their vision.

 

[JackFarmer]

On 3/6/2021 at 3:26 PM, revelator said:

bioshock was intended as a spiritual successor to system shock

 

Complete agreement. But in addition, Bioshock shows very impressively what the weird "philosophy" of Mrs. Rand can lead to ... or rather, has already led to it. The fascism of the 20th century in Europe was nothing else. Do not know her writings in detail, just excerpts, but anyone (at least with European background) who does not recognize the Übermensch drivel in her writing can no longer be helped.

[Guest]

Just tried the Outriders demo, as the game is made by Polish developer People Can Fly. Unfortunately, it plays like a fairly clunky Gears of War clone + generic loot shooter lore and mechanics, most likely a hard pass to me.

[chakkman]

On 3/6/2021 at 11:24 AM, chakkman said:

I should really give SS 2 a shot again 

I just finished it, took me a bit over 20 hours. Boy, what a game. Makes me wonder what most game devs are smoking these days to put out all those off the rack everything-is-the-same boring games. SS 2 is a master piece in terms of game design, right up there with Deus Ex. Only makes me wonder now what took me so long to finally play it through.