|
Which 2023 game do you think will win Something Awful’s Game of the Year award? This poll is closed. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dead Space |
|
5 | 5.10% |
| Metroid Prime |
|
15 | 15.31% |
| Resident Evil 4 |
|
17 | 17.35% |
| Super Mario RPG |
|
37 | 37.76% |
| System Shock |
|
24 | 24.49% |
| Total: | 98 votes | ||
|
Starfield is just boring, there's not much else to say about it. It feels like a game that got rebooted in the last two years and never got all that far off the ground. There's a framework of the usual Bethesda game there but it's like they didn't have time to fill in the world with content so they made up some last-minute story about unlocking all the powers from Skyrim by visiting 20 identical POIs. Real last-minute school project energy.GreatGreen posted:Or maybe I just like that there's finally a marked shift in public opinion about Bethesda and their bullshit that matches my own opinions about the company that I've had about them for the last 15 years, and it's nice. Sue me. Volte fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Dec 28, 2023 |
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 09:21 |
|
|
Volte posted:Starfield is just boring, there's not much else to say about it. It feels like a game that got rebooted in the last two years and never got all that far off the ground. There's a framework of the usual Bethesda game there but it's like they didn't have time to fill in the world with content so they made up some last-minute story about unlocking all the powers from Skyrim by visiting 20 identical POIs. Real last-minute school project energy. I think there's a lot to be learned about why it's so bad, and that there's value in talking about exactly why it was so boring. There's so much about it that is just flat out poor execution, sure, but there's also so much about it that is clearly indicative of awful studio management, and/or the end result of a ton of mechanical experimentation that ended in a terrible place. Space travel is the best example I can think of in Starfield. It was obviously supposed to be an element of some larger survival resource management system, but they cut out the resource management because they thought it would frustrate players but left in the broader travel waypoint mechanics system without considering or even being able to clearly see what that would turn the game into. Stuff like that is very much worth discussion.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:27
|
|
|
GlyphGryph posted:I had a group of people so goddamn psyched to play grounded after having tons of fun with it early in EA, and that lasted all of four play sessions before we all agreed to never touch the game again. There's such a good game under there, and I genuinely do not understand why they made it so un-enjoyable to play. Maybe we were just playing it completely "wrong", or weren't "good enough", but goddamn was the actual moment to moment gameplay frequently frustrating in unfun ways. Grounded’s popularity was absolutely bewildering to me compared to my experience with it. it was enjoyable to start with and felt like it was going to hit a lot of the same notes as subnautica with the exploration in a highly handcrafted world, but good god it wants you to do 10x as much tedious garbage combat as it should. basic enemies need multiple entire stamina bars of combos with upgraded weapons to kill and there’s absolutely nothing interesting about it besides a timed block you have to get perfect or you die. Everything else requires tedious resource farming and is still too weak for the cost. some areas have truly appalling numbers of these enemies and they respawn so quickly that you basically can’t make areas safer for more than a day. The game felt like what subnautica would be if every tiny fish you swam past was actually hostile and had to be dueled with a knife for 2 minutes. an agonizing slog.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:29
|
|
|
GreatGreen posted:Oh right, I forgot that it's not cool to like things Like you're entitled to your opinions but considering that everyone here already seems to agree that Starfield is bad, I don't think you need to get quite so worked up about a discussion about the specific reasons it's bad, and there's something pretty amusing about sarcastically saying "I forgot that it's not cool to like things" when you're not even positively liking something, you're liking hating something. mystes fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Dec 28, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:30
|
|
|
Owl Inspector posted:Grounded’s popularity was absolutely bewildering to me compared to my experience with it. it was enjoyable to start with and felt like it was going to hit a lot of the same notes as subnautica with the exploration in a highly handcrafted world, but good god it wants you to do 10x as much tedious garbage combat as it should. basic enemies need multiple entire stamina bars of combos with upgraded weapons to kill and there’s absolutely nothing interesting about it besides a timed block you have to get perfect or you die. Everything else requires tedious resource farming and is still too weak for the cost. some areas have truly appalling numbers of these enemies and they respawn so quickly that you basically can’t make areas safer for more than a day. The game felt like what subnautica would be if every tiny fish you swam past was actually hostile and had to be dueled with a knife for 2 minutes. an agonizing slog.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:32
|
|
|
mystes posted:Just to be clear, the thing you are referring to liking here is specific reasons for starfield being bad? No, the thing I like is that the broader community opinion about Bethesda is changing to being more in line with my own opinions about the company, but more broadly what I like is that so many people seem to be able to clearly articulate specifically why a bad game doesn't work for them. I'm just not used to that level of sophistication in the gaming community. It's nice to see. The fact that Todd Howard is getting dunked on so hard is just added entertainment. vvvv edit: thank you. GreatGreen fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Dec 28, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:35
|
|
|
I can't imagine caring that much about starfield but I have watched excessively long youtube videos about why things I hate are bad so I guess I get it
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:39
|
|
|
I haven't played Starfield, I aint watching those videos, but I'm also not telling someone in the video games chat thread to get therapy.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:40
|
|
|
"The game is boring because there's nothing fun to do" doesn't take a lot of sophistication to articulate. It's also one of the most common reasons that games are boring. I also think that people are way more willing to look past flaws if the game can justify it by being fun or interesting in some way (i.e. Oblivion, Skyrim) and since Starfield doesn't justify it, a lot of the criticisms are just the floodgates opening of things that everyone already knew about Bethesda games but didn't really care about to comment on before because it was irrelevant to why the games were liked.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:42
|
|
|
I am, but not because of video games, just because therapy can be incredibly helpful if it is available to you and should not be stigmatized!
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:42
|
|
|
I'm waiting for Hbomb to make the definitive Starfield is good/bad video before I form an opinion.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:43
|
|
|
GreatGreen posted:Oh right, I forgot that it's not cool to like things or to have a good time watching interesting stuff happen in business or public opinion in areas I care about. Sorry about that I'll try to resume my duties being a despondent anhedonic goon about everything. The thing you like and enjoy and want to share and are getting defensive about is "people finally hate a man I've never met the way I have for the past 15 years!" What an exciting day in "business or public opinion" it is lol
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:43
|
|
|
Shinjobi posted:I haven't played Starfield, I aint watching those videos, but I'm also not telling someone in the video games chat thread to get therapy. Ok fine, they don't have to get therapy.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:45
|
|
|
stev posted:I'm waiting for Hbomb to make the definitive Starfield is good/bad video before I form an opinion.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:51
|
|
|
Sounds like this Todd Howard is the one who needs therapy.. "play" therapy!
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:53
|
|
|
Todd Whyard amirite
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 18:59
|
|
|
Volte posted:Starfield is just boring, there's not much else to say about it. It feels like a game that got rebooted in the last two years and never got all that far off the ground. There's a framework of the usual Bethesda game there but it's like they didn't have time to fill in the world with content so they made up some last-minute story about unlocking all the powers from Skyrim by visiting 20 identical POIs. Real last-minute school project energy. This, I've been trying to give it a fair shot over the last couple weeks since I got the family an xbox for christmas, and usually I love wandering around and just exploring stuff in games like this, including other Bethesda games, and this should be something that's right up my alley, but something about this one just makes me not want to bother because it just feels so dull and unmotivating.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:01
|
|
|
mutata posted:The thing you like and enjoy and want to share and are getting defensive about is "people finally hate a man I've never met the way I have for the past 15 years!" What an exciting day in "business or public opinion" it is lol I don't "hate a man." What I don't like is the way a company builds its products. Feel free to keep trying to make it weird though. Why are you being so defensive about people poo poo talking Starfield, anyway? GreatGreen fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Dec 28, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:01
|
|
|
GreatGreen posted:I don't "hate a man." What I don't like is the way a company builds its products. Feel free to keep trying to make it weird though. You’re being unusually weird and off putting about it
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:04
|
|
|
I skipped around that long video because it was way too much like a long play of the game itself. The interesting parts were dev interview segments he pulled up where the lead designers discussed how they were actively designing away the things that made their previous games enjoyable, because they saw those things as overly complex and interactive systems that were too hard to manage and see themselves as past designing that way, preferring to give players fewer choices to keep them in line and for ease of development. Made me miss Oblivion era Todd where they were over ambitious claiming they'd made living NPCs who will murder each other to get a broom to sweep emergent as part of their self guided daily routines.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:06
|
|
|
Khanstant posted:I skipped around that long video because it was way too much like a long play of the game itself. The interesting parts were dev interview segments he pulled up where the lead designers discussed how they were actively designing away the things that made their previous games enjoyable, because they saw those things as overly complex and interactive systems that were too hard to manage and see themselves as past designing that way, preferring to give players fewer choices to keep them in line and for ease of development. there's a lot of revealing interview bits patrician pulled together for that vid that knocked my socks off, like when they said that they straight up don't use design documents and instead rely on ad hoc planning and visits to todd's office to make their games
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:13
|
|
|
Owl Inspector posted:The game felt like what subnautica would be if every tiny fish you swam past was actually hostile and had to be dueled with a knife for 2 minutes. an agonizing slog. This is exactly what I came away from it feeling as well. Which sucks! Because the premise and the concept and the ideas are all so goddamn good, and the game is honestly pretty and fun to just walk around in as well. Such a great concept built around such a terrible core gameplay loop that seems like it would have been so easy to fix, argh! Volte posted:I don't really disagree with this but I ended up switching to a Custom difficulty with no inventory loss on death and non-hostile enemies and still ended up having a ton of fun playing it on co-op for like 40 hours. The survival aspects wore thin, but the exploration and building and having goals and meeting them was a very chill time. I actually want to go back and do it again now that they've added two-way ziplines. You modified the game to remove two of the worst parts of it (or rather the things that make the bad parts more frustrsating), so it makes sense that you had a lot more fun than the people who tried to engage with the game as it was "intended" to be played, hah. I wish we had done this from the getgo as well, we would have had a lot more fun I'm sure.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:17
|
|
|
My buddy and I loved it, but after our first play session I found a trainer to make it so all building only required one of each material instead of X. I can't imagine why they balanced it the way they did, our most basic base would've been weeks of play sessions of work if we had to sit there and painstakingly grind every resource, especially since most of it was busywork cutting grass n poo poo. I make sure to recommend it only with the caveat of cheating to shore up unfun design. We had a Zipline network and towers to go easily over the whole map, several dope bases and castles, and we had fun launching from our bases to make progress in the main quest pushes. We.comoared the game to Valheim more than anything. Another game I couldn't reccomend except for as a co-op game where you cheat on resources in once you've proven you know how to get them the slow way once. Clicking resource nodes is not good everlasting gameplay.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:27
|
|
|
Clicking resource nodes can be fun and engaging gameplay (I still love mining in Deep Rock and hunting for diamonds in Minecraft), but yeah, it definitely didn't manage that.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:30
|
|
|
Vermain posted:there's a lot of revealing interview bits patrician pulled together for that vid that knocked my socks off, like when they said that they straight up don't use design documents and instead rely on ad hoc planning and visits to todd's office to make their games I watched his work streams he held when he was researching the video. Was always a good time when he found a video clip he knew was going to prove one of his theories about how the game was made.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:33
|
|
|
GlyphGryph posted:This is exactly what I came away from it feeling as well. Which sucks! Because the premise and the concept and the ideas are all so goddamn good, and the game is honestly pretty and fun to just walk around in as well. Such a great concept built around such a terrible core gameplay loop that seems like it would have been so easy to fix, argh! Yeah we just picked normal difficulty because I try to approach games in whatever the dev thinks is the intended way to experience them, and we probably would have been able to enjoy it a lot more if we had changed some settings, but we didn’t know what we should have chosen differently until we were already a ways into the game and having a bad time. I’d been getting increasingly frustrated with it over time and I remember a termite tunnel being the thing that finally broke me. we spent like half an ingame day slogging through termite after termite for inches of progress, using up all our remaining resources on hand and feeling utterly exhausted by the experience, just to round a corner and see a big room full of an unknown quantity more termites to kill. this would have been fine if the termites were popcorn enemies you killed in 2 hits, but these termites were gym fanatics who lived on a diet of protein shakes and it took an entire wrestling match to defeat a single one of them.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:34
|
|
|
Skyrim is pretty neat, I think
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 19:59
|
|
|
personally i don't think you should be allowed to call an 8 hour video a "Quick" retrospective
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 20:06
|
|
|
Volte posted:"The game is boring because there's nothing fun to do" doesn't take a lot of sophistication to articulate. It's also one of the most common reasons that games are boring. I also think that people are way more willing to look past flaws if the game can justify it by being fun or interesting in some way (i.e. Oblivion, Skyrim) and since Starfield doesn't justify it, a lot of the criticisms are just the floodgates opening of things that everyone already knew about Bethesda games but didn't really care about to comment on before because it was irrelevant to why the games were liked. I think you'll find it takes eight hours to get that across actually so you better keep going
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 20:06
|
|
|
I really liked Symphony of War but I think I ruined it. There was one mission I couldn't beat according to the s rank mission terms, and I also didn't realize I could be fielding twice as many armies as I had, plus a lot of my armies were a mess 3xceotnfoe a couple that were invincible. So I restarted and got back to the same point but this time managing my armies better and I beat it easily but now everything is too easy and I'm too far to wanna reredo it on a harder difficulty.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 20:17
|
|
|
Has anyone done a full counter of how many live service games died this year?
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 20:32
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:Has anyone done a full counter of how many live service games died this year? they should do that at the game awards like the "in memoriam" segment at the oscars
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 20:58
|
|
|
Waffleman_ posted:Has anyone done a full counter of how many live service games died this year? I believe the answer is "Not nearly enough of them". But it is a good start.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 21:21
|
|
|
GreatGreen posted:Oh right, I forgot that it's not cool to like things or to have a good time watching interesting stuff happen in business or public opinion in areas I care about. Sorry about that I'll try to resume my duties being a despondent anhedonic goon about everything. laughing at bad games is fun or even looking at postmortems where people go over the internal studio politics that lead something to fail but sitting through an 8 hour video only for trhe purpose of having your pre-existing opinions validated as "cool and good and mainstream" seems kinda weird tbh
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 21:53
|
|
|
Let's talk about better games Like Cool Spot
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 22:41
|
|
|
RPATDO_LAMD posted:laughing at bad games is fun or even looking at postmortems where people go over the internal studio politics that lead something to fail I didn't watch that video. It's 8 hours long, that's insane. I clicked around in it for a few minutes to make sure it actually seemed to be what it advertised itself as being before posting it here, as an example of how much time some people are spending on critiquing this game. I did get through that first video I linked while I did other stuff though. GreatGreen fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Dec 28, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 22:43
|
|
|
I have opinions about video games They're good
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 22:54
|
|
|
Infinitum posted:I have opinions about video games
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 22:55
|
|
|
Chill out thread, it's getting weird in here. What's everyone's favourite soundtracks from games this year? Pizza Tower, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Venba, Humanity, A Highland Song and Chants of Sennaar have all jumped out to me from stuff I've played this year for excellent soundtracks.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 22:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 09:21 |
|
|
Shinjobi posted:Let's talk about better games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n0K8zYoIko Mode 7 posted:Chill out thread, it's getting weird in here. Hi-Fi Rush Turbo Overkill Hwurmp fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Dec 28, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2023 23:00
|
|