Too bad you didn't play the games in sequence like I did as the buildup of insanity from each game was a thing to behold. 1 was a lot of fun and had charm but was still just a goofier version of GTA without the budget; then GTA IV came out and disappointed me and I was forced to settle for SR2 when it came out, but I was absolutely not expecting the improvement in writing, overall absurdity, and the best SR map to date (srsly Steelport from 3 and 4 is not nearly as memorable as Stillwater and you should play at least 2 just for that); and you know the rest about 3 and 4 with the bat **** crazy storylines. Just blowing my mind over and over again.

You need to play 2 though. It has the best writing and pacing of any of the games, more Johnny Gat, Shaundi is a charmingly skanky stoner, and again the map is fantastic.

^I do wanna play the others. Saints Row 4 is just crazy for all the right reasons. But yeah I'll get a copy of 1 and 2 because I've genuinely wanted to play it and I know you understand as well how good these games are.

I got the first two coming in the mail (helluva coincidence) so I'm gonna replay them for the first time in years.

**** ya dude.

Well it's certainly a coincidence that I decided to do a theme month about open world games and I decided to also do a new game of Divinity Original Sin 2 but do it a bit differently.

When I played DOS 2 for the first time, I did it the traditional way. You get a party of 4. Different traits and specialties and you pretty much take on the rest of the game while beefing up your team. Don't get me wrong, the game is worthy of praise in so many ways. And the 4 party system is fantastic and used extremely well here. Especially with the style of combat you get into.

Now, when I beat the game for the first time, I definitely felt like this game was special. And it is. It's definitely one of my all time favorite games of all time. Evident by the fact that I can't seem to stop talking about it. But I don't care. Anyway, I wanted to play the game again but with a twist. No longer using the party system.

I decided that I was going to play the game entirely as one character. So, this does bring a couple of difficulties as there are several encounters that require you to fight multiple people. Well, luckily, the teleport spell exists. And you can get it quite quickly. So that does sort of make that easier. However, the early grind is pretty tough. I've put a few hours into this character already and I've not gotten quite enough experience to level up so I can learn more abilities. But, I'm trying. I'm still in the first parts of the game. So it's definitely a challenge. But it's also a ton of fun because it's taking on the game in a whole different way. Seriously, I do love the game enough to play through it again, because this time it's so much different and so much more difficult. I've died several times early on.

The reason I'm doing this is simply because I just want to see if I can do it. I do consider myself to have a pretty good understanding of how this game works and the little tricks you can do to make the game easier. So that will definitely help. I'm hoping I can continue to progress further and honestly just see how far I can get in the game before I get stuck.

Most certainly when it comes to video games, and open world games specifically, I do try to stop and just appreciate the amount of detail that goes into some of these spectacular works of art that sit in these games. I'm talking structures that just blow your mind to see in a video game. Doesn't really have to be realistic, but it's got to have an impact. This will be a multi parter so let's get right into it.

First off, let's start off with the obvious give the image in the header:

https://i.imgur.com/LZVN6Tv.jpg

Now don't let me fool you, I do find the Ocarina of Time's version of Ganon's Castle to be pretty spectacular in its own right. But obviously with Breath of the Wild, they had to think big. And boy did they think big. This is by far the most impressive version of Ganon's Castle in any Zelda game, at least in my opinion. The sheer amount of stuff that you can do here is unbelievable and to climb all the way to the top to perhaps the best music ever made for a game, this particular version of the castle really sets a new bar. And yes, the Ganon fight is good too.

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Fab...45_5468419.jpg

It's been quite some time since I've even played Fable Anniversary, or even the original, but I remember the Temple of Avo just being one of my favorite buildings to go to. I think it was the first place where I finally got enough good points to get a halo. That's when the game really became something truly special. To finally see the physical impact of your character. Plus, having a halo over your head is pretty badass once you get all your stats up and you're just unstoppable.

I still think the Fable 3 version of the Temple of Light track is superior to any of them though:

Got a gaming question for you, Key.

My daughter absolutely adores Ocarina of Time. I mean, she draws pictures of Link, and we got her a Hyrule shield coffee mug for Christmas. But alas, her emulator is having problems, so her mother, seeing how sad our daughter was about it, hunted around on Reddit for some recommendations for people who love Link, and she found Oceanhorn, which she's just purchased on Steam.

So have you heard of this game or played it? If so, what's your opinion?

Get her an N64 for fux sake.

I have heard of it but have not played it. I'd say give it a shot if you think she'll like it. You don't really have much to lose and who knows, she may love it. That's how I usually do it. I just try the games that look interesting and maybe I end up liking it. If you want something a lot like A Link To The Past, I recommend ittle Dew and Ittle Dew 2 on Steam.

Well, the initial reaction is positive. She told us what she looks for in a game is the art. She wants it to look a certain way, and Link games and this Oceanhorn game are just what she's looking for visually.

Sometimes, the cool thing about gaming is that you will suddenly get the urge to play a certain game, and before you know it, the weekend is gone. That happened to me over the past few days.

It's been a few weeks since I had played Assassins Creed Odyssey and when I woke up on Saturday morning, I had a sudden urge to play it. So I did. I probably spent most of the past 2 days just sitting on couch and playing and damn it's been a good experience.

The thing that happens to me with open world games is I get really excited about the world that will unfold, but then other interests take over. Luckily, with the amount of content they put into this game, taking breaks throughout is certainly a good idea. Because when you come back, it all feels fresh and you're pretty much amped up and ready to go.

Doing quests, killing bad guys and sometimes being evil and taking on my own people, collecting armor and new weapons. It's all great. Speaking of weapons tho, I made the decision to try to play the game with a different combat style than I've done in the past with these kinds of games. I always go sword and board or a duel set of swords. I instead decided to give the spear a try and man, it's actually OP. BUT that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.

What I learned with Middle Earth Shadow of War is that it really doesn't matter how powerful you feel because somebody 10 levels above you will take you out in one hit. Makes you want to continue to level up and take them on. Killing someone who's a few levels above you isn't a rare occurance in these kinds of games but its ****ing awesome when you feel good enough to take those enemies on. I have also said before that the combat system that is influenced by the Arkham games is easily the best style of combat you can put into a game like this. Its engaging, it's fun, and extra abilities just make it better. Especially when you spartan kick a mercenary off a cliff. Then shoot them with an arrow. It's good stuff.

I dont think this will be the first time I take a break from this game but as of right now, I dont want to play anything else other than this. I hope somewhere down the line I'll have finished this game but obviously I'm going to enjoy every second until it gets to that point. I love fully completing games like this.

Getting right into it, I want to talk about the picture I used as the header. Good ol' Megaton. While this may not necessarily fall directly into the category of a "building" but I find the entire structure to be fascinating enough to consider it one. This is one of the first places you see when you play Fallout 3 for the first time and it right off the bat gives you an impression of what you're going to be getting yourself into. Plus, I mean, it is nice that you can blow the place up too. That's pretty dope.

https://i.imgur.com/qxSc5Lp.jpg

Yeah, maybe not by the exact form of words, but Super Mario 64 is certainly close to being considered an open world game. I mean, regardless of how linear it feels when you go from floor to floor, you still have a lot of freedom to do what you want and where you want to go. You don't even have to go into the castle at all if you don't want to. But I mention this because given the fact that Super Mario 64 is up there in being one of the best games of all time, the scenery in the game is certainly up there as well. The style of the castle in this game is unbelievable and really sets the scale for what you're going to get into. It's huge, it's 3D, it's awesome. Definitely one of my favorite things to see as a kid growing up.


This will contain spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man.


Marve's Spider-Man on its own is a very very good game and one I had a blast playing. Definitely the city design and everything within it turned out amazing as well. But I was actually blown away when I walked up to this and saw that it was actually in the game. And yeah, I made sure to climb all the way to the top because, well, I can. This is by far one of the coolest things to see in a video game, and to see it done so well is really nice too.

I'm excited for Anthem

Yep, and apparently people are already assuming it's going to be trash or a Destiny clone, but I dont like to just read reviews for a release and base my opinion just from that. Personal experience goes a long way and it especially helps with a game that's meant to be pretty big.

I did the same thing for both Monster Hunter World and Fallout 76. While one became a humongous disappointment in many ways, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Monster Hunter World. Fallout is just another story altogether but we've heard that before.

With Anthem, I wanted to give it the same treatment. And this is honestly the first time in a long time when I decided to pre order the game and play the demo. Even though they were keeping a lot of stuff secret, my time with the demo was certainly positive. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the game has to offer.

I'm not even a stranger to the genre at all since I have plenty of time in Warframe and very minimal experience with Destiny, but I like the genre enough to see if another game can push the envelope. Plus, I'll support Obsidian time and time again for what they've brought to the gaming world. Some people anticipate this'll be the game that breaks Obsidian but I think they've got plenty under their sleeves to make a game that's both great and fun. And, I like spending countless hours finding loot and killing enemies. Before you know it you've spent the whole day just killing off bad guys and leveling up. Its a thrill and one I've always appreciated.

Realistically speaking tho, I wouldnt be surprised if Anthem didnt break any boundaries when it comes to the genre, but I'm also not expecting them to just blow it like Bethesda did. I'm expecting a good game that I'm probably going to enjoy for a while. Like I said,I've played many hours of Warframe and I still have fun playing that. So itll be cool to sort of have the PS4 equivalent of that.

The game comes out this week and since I already have the pre order and all that, I'll be ready to go once it launches. So, perhaps I'll be attached to my couch all weekend. And that's a-ok in my book.

Hey, ki! Just wondering if you've heard of or have played Murdered: Soul Suspect.


I decided to go ahead and join the rest of the world by getting a Steam account, and now I'm playing this game. I just love it to bits! Basically you get murdered right at the beginning of the game, and you play your ghost trying to solve your own murder, and of course the investigation uncovers more than just your murder. I'm not too far along in the game yet, but what I've done so far is just amazing.

There are so many fun things that've happened, but my two highlights are: (1) possessing a cat and running around, jumping onto things, and climbing walls while inside her, and (2) possessing a medium only to have her push me out and realize I'm there.

How did this work out for ya?

Yeaaaaaaah.

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post2051516

bump

the **** ki

Haven't really been playing a lot of games as of recently. But I did have a recent run of Dead Cells that i'd like to talk about.

If you aren't already aware (which you should be, I talk about it enough), Dead Cells is one of my favorite games of all time and quite possibly my favorite roguelike to come out in recent years. I've been playing the game since it came out in Early Access so I do have quite a bit of experience with the game on both PC and PS4. Lately, I've been playing on PS4 because it's simply more comfortable. Sitting at a computer chair for too long gets a bit uncomfortable but it's okay.

On a typical Dead Cells run, I'll either always make it to the 2nd boss fight and die, or I'll skip the 2nd boss fight and go right to the Clock Tower floor which is one of the harder floors in the game. It's also one of the later floors for that exact reason.

https://i.fokzine.net/upload/18/08/1...8b2ce38d_o.gif

It is fun to get to this point in the game because then you really start being put to the test, and you see how your build has held up throughout. Which of course you can change at any time depending on what drops you get.

I went in this time though with a familiar yet not frequent enough build. A bow in my primary weapon slot, and the freeze spell in my secondary weapon slot. I also got very lucky to get two of the same color weapons because it makes getting upgrades for them a lot easier as I only have to choose one upgrade, instead of two. The upgrades are based on color so whichever one you choose, you can an additional bonus to your weapons as well as your HP. It's awesome. Long story short, I basically steam rolled one of the harder levels of the game. Got to the boss of this floor which I have only gotten to one time before this. And I beat him. First time I've ever beat the Clock Tower boss. And it was a huge thanks to this build that kept improving more and more over time. RNG was on my side, I have to say.

So moving on from the Clock Tower, as evident from what I said before, the game kicks up the difficulty.

https://file.namu.moe/file/b0f613b2d...b2539512c887c4

You eventually find the entrance to the next floor which is High Peak Castle. Now, last time I came to this floor, I literally died within the first few minutes. Once again, this build this time is proving to be extraordinarily useful because again, I'm basically steam rolling this floor now. I'm again starting to see how powerful this build is, and it really gives me a prime example of why I think the bow is a solid main hand weapon. A lot of people use it as a secondary with a melee weapon in the first slot. I think that has to do with the restricted ammo on the bow, but it's still fantastic if you get a strong enough one.

So yeah, I'm basically going through High Peak Castle, though not entirely unscathed. Yeah my build is pretty good at this point but the enemies are pretty tough because they all have potential ranged attacks and you can be hit through the walls on this one so it can be tough. I kept going through every hallway because if this was going to be the opportunity for me to actually experience this floor in its entirety, I'm going to do it. And boy it was a great floor. A really nice test to see how well I can do. And yeah, I made it to the end of this floor, having used all my health potions, or I was at the very least down to my last one. Then came the next floor and I was completely unfamiliar with any of this at this point because I've never even seen the entrance to this place. And it's simply titled "The Throne Room".

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OIP.pag2F...d=Api&rs=1&p=0

Now this was genuinely a nice treat because I had never even seen this place before, and I was pretty excited to see that it was another boss fight in the game. I know they had been updating this game for a while, and I remember when they first implemented the Clock Tower and that boss, but to eventually get it to this point, it's pretty amazing. And yes, I unfortunately did end up dying at this point because this boss is really tough. A lot of really strong attacks and he has a Scorpion style claw that he pulls you into him and he just starts destroying you. You have a chance to dodge it but you really gotta time it right. I had gotten him down to about half HP, but when you get the boss down to that level, he goes into his second phase which is usually a lot more difficult than the first. You really have to get your timing down perfect because he not only speeds up, but his attacks are plenty. Things coming from left and right, summoning other enemies. It gets crazy. But it was genuinely a fun boss fight, although I did die. Seems like one I can eventually beat, but I have to have the exact right build for it.

So yeah, the run took about an hour and a half, and I could have not assumed from the first floor that the run would turn out this way because I got a pretty ****ty start. But I pressed on and eventually got strong enough to get to the potentially final boss of the game. But, more runs to go of course and eventually I'll beat him. This is why I love Dead Cells.

And to answer your question, no I haven't. But I'll check it out. Everything I've seen about it seems interesting enough and I love these sorts of games so it could be cool.

I think I'm gonna break down and finally get Dead Cells during the Steam sale in a few weeks. Been waiting for a good sale for way too long.

You will love it. I had another great run today. Its awesome.

E3 2019

Although I wasn't at E3 this year, I still caught the livestreams and saw a lot of the trailers that were announced, and it's got me very excited about the future of games and everything else that comes with it. There were the usual conferences from Bethesda, Xbox, Nintendo, etc. Unfortunately, Sony did not show up this year, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I mean, it may make them look bad sure, but I don't really care too much as long as the games they have coming are good.

But I want to focus on my own personal favorites from E3 and I'm going to talk about the game that I am looking forward to the most. Again, there are a lot of honorable mentions especially with the surplus of indie games coming out.

So first off, I want to talk about one that I may be the most excited for, and that is the sequel to Breath of the Wild:


While not surprising, we saw a bit more about Jedi Fallen Order, and I may be one of the very few people that is legitimately excited about this game:


We got some more information regarding the sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, titled Ori and the Will of the Wisps. If you have not checked out Ori and the Blind Forest, I urge you to check it out. It's one of the most beautiful and well played out platformers I've ever played, and the sequel has me even more excited:


I don't really have a lot to say for the Bethesda conference or the others as the games they showed didn't really catch my eye that much. They talked about Fallout 76 which is getting its own battle royale mode. Which is fine, but it's to be expected in this battle royale driven era of gaming. Talked about the new DLC for Elder Scrolls, which is also fine, if you play ELO. No new releases or anything regarding a Fallout 3 remaster or a New Vegas remaster. Was really hoping for something like that. But who knows, things may change.

Now of course, the big thing that happened at E3 this year is that Xbox managed to get Keanu Reeves not only to show up in Cyberpunk 2077, but also came on stage and greeted the crowd. I thought that was cool not only because he's in the game, but to have a movie star show up at a gaming conference to get people excited about games is really cool in its own right. To have Keanu Reeves do it just made it 10000x times cooler. Really looking forward to seeing how Cyberpunk 2077 turns out as they've been teasing this game for lord knows how long. I can wait though. But I think it'll be good.

E3 is always hit or miss with me because some developers don't even know what they're trying to do on stage, or sometimes they try to over hype a game so much that the delivery of said game falls super flat *cough* Fallout 76 *cough*. But I always try to remind myself that even if it wasn't shown at E3, it's still in the realm of possibility that more gaming news will surface as time goes on. 2020 is already shaping up to be a great year for gaming, and we've already got a lot to look forward to for the end of this year with Borderlands 3, Jedi Fallen Order, and the like.

All in all, I'm excited.

A few things we know about BOTW2:

It uses the same map. At least that was their starting point. I hope it is reworked enough to remain fresh.

The trailer seems to hint at there being dungeons to explore, so I would expect to see long dungeons similar to previous games.

Zelda might be a playable character, she has short hair which would make it much easier for gear to fit on her etc.

Because I was late to the party when it comes to PS4 exclusives, I'm still making my way through a lot of the games that I wasn't able to play before. The Last of Us is one of those games. Back when this game first came out, everybody was praising it for what it accomplished, and having put a couple hours into the game already, I can see why.

It basically starts you off in this story that you know is just going to be so good. Everything from the characters you control all the way to the way they talk to each other. You already feel like you need to be a part of this story, and the game has barely just started. Continuing on, you start to learn the story behind all this mess and darkness that controls this world that you're in. And you also come to appreciate just the design of the game itself, and how it allows you to have the best experience you can have.

So far I've already experienced stealth missions and great combat. Everywhere you go, you can choose how you want the scenario to go. You can pick up bottles or bricks and throw them so it makes the enemy walk away. Or you can just go totally crazy and shoot up the entire room. This is not always the best option to go because you're limited on ammo, and you startle everyone else, and most of the time, they have guns as well. So be careful with how you choose to take certain scenarios.

Graphically and performance wise, The Last of Us is phenomenal. I picked up the Remastered version off the PS4 store for pretty cheap, so I'm basing it on that. But, I remember watching people play the original release and it still looks good. It's what got me the most excited to play it back then.

I'm anxious and excited to get into the rest of this game and experience it for what more it has to offer. Again, it's been a game I've wanted to play for so long but never had the console to do it. If you have the opportunity, I strongly suggest playing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14

Astral Chain review when?

I'm just like when Bloodstained?

So you've played Bloodstained, Ori?

Games I've Been Playing

Although I definitely have a love for PC gaming, I've been doing a lot more couch sitting console gaming. It's been fantastic and far more comfortable. Given that the PS4 has some pretty sweet titles, I've been playing solely on PS4. Anyway, here's some games I've been putting some sweet time into:


That's about all that's been taking up my time lately. Dragon Age: Inquisition will most likely be my regular play while the others are sort of whenever.

I played through Dragon Age: Origins and loved it a lot. There were a couple things that were frustrating about the game, but it did enough things correctly that the faults didn't matter too much. Now, it had been a while since I touched a Dragon Age games even when the new releases came out. Just didn't have much interest. Not that I was against the series in any way. I just had other games to play at the time. I decided to check the PS4 shop yesterday morning and got Dragon Age: Inquisition for about 10$. From what I've seen so far of the game, I'd have paid full price for it. Easily.

The game basically takes most if not all of what I didn't love about Dragon Age: Origins, and fixes it. The combat feels more free, the world is humongous, and most importantly, it has a much more free feeling than the previous game. While Dragon Age: Origins had a huge world, it felt very linear in a lot of ways. Dragon Age: Inquisition strips away the linear mindset and lets you decide what you want to do and when you want to do it. I've been making the comparison to games like Marvel's Spider Man and Middle Earth: Shadow of War where the quests are there, you can choose when and how to approach them as you see fit. And right off the bat, the game just throws you into it allowing you to take on anything that you can take on at your level. And as you progress, more things open up. To put it in shorter terms, I just started the game yesterday and I've already got 20+ active quests going on. But I love that aspect of these kinds of games. It will most likely share the list of games that I 100% for that exact reason.

The combat in this game is so much fun as well. The abilities are mapped to the buttons on my controller so it's a lot easier to use them while hack n slash fighting against the countless enemies. And god damn, there are tons of different enemy types. Undead, warriors, bandits. If you want variety in a game, this one certainly has it. I know I've only played the game for a few days, but man I'm already impressed with how much content there is right off the bat. It's pretty overwhelming sometimes but it works in its favor.

It's also got me comparing it to the KOTOR series for the way the party system works. The game has dialogue choices much like a lot of games of this style. But closely compared to the KOTOR games and Mass Effect respectively. The dialogue choices are pretty great too and you get access to more as you level up and progress through the game. I've only had the people I started the game with but I already like them a lot. They're pretty powerful and varied in their skillset and abilities. Makes it nice to take on large groups of enemies.

I'll certainly be looking forward to progressing through this game and seeing just how massive it really is. I know I've just scratched the surface but it's pretty amazing to think about just how massive this game really is.

Yeah.

How the **** can you have never seen a Star Wars movie?

Don't worry, you're not missing out.

As the image would suggest, I have been playing Diablo III on PS4 for the past week or so, and it's been such a joy that I felt it was necessary to talk about it here. As a whole, I have a pretty good understanding of the dungeon crawling genre as a whole. Path of Exile is certainly up there with being one of the best, I've put my fair share of time into it. Diablo III still has that special charm that brings me back time and time again though.

The character I have now is a class I've never played. Demon Hunter. Really fun messing with the range style abilities and seeing what damage can be dealt. And I gotta say, my character is an absolute powerhouse. I've playing on the Hard difficulty for now until I unlock the harder difficulties.

I decided to get Diablo III on PS4 for two reasons. One, I really wanted to play Diablo III again, but I didn't really feel like sitting at my computer. So, I just bought it on PS4 and couch sat for hours. The second reason is...well, it's Diablo III. Why not? Been having a great time so far.

What I love the most about the PS4 version right now is the fact that the abilities are mapped to the buttons on the controller. Feels far more seemless than trying to map the keys properly on a keyboard. Much easier on the hands as well. Much less strain trying to press certain buttons or working your hands on odd ways.

That's basically it really. Been playing Diablo III on PS4 and it's been a joy. Gonna keep playing too. The character I'm playing right now is probably my favorite character I've ever made in Diablo III.

Every time someone posts about Diablo 3 DWV loses a year off his life.

Demon Hunter is my **** btw. Mine is named Buffy.

At this point, it's all about the experience for me and Diablo III deliver every time I play. That, and I've played plenty of Path of Exile so. And yeah, I'm having a ton of fun with Demon Hunter. Definitely one of my favorite classes now. All the abilities are a ton of fun to mess with and combine. I'm almost through Act II.