Nokt

Teaching is what I wanted to do when I got out of high school. I always admired teachers who went above and beyond in school because they were the only reasons I got through school and it meant a lot to me. I wanted to be able to do that for someone else. Unfortunately Jr High/High School teachers don't really make that much money or at the time when I was researching it.

I ended up scrapping the idea and thought about becoming a police officer, same reasoning behind it. I went on a few ride alongs with local police and got to see everyday life for them. I got to hear the conversations that they had with people they pulled over and even got to watch an undercover team take down a thief who stole someone iPhone (set up to buy, make sure its the right phone, arrest individual). I felt cops were misunderstood a lot of the time and just wanted to do their job, I wanted to be someone who could communicate with the community and help grow it. Problem around is that the only place that will hire you is also the crummiest place to work. Not that its equivalent to like Compton or Detroit, but pays low, more dangerous work than other places around, just wasn't worth it to me

In the end, I am going to school for a career that I don't really find fulfilling or purposeful, but I'm somewhat proficient at it and it'll pay the bills and enable me to live how I would like to live.

Something that doesn’t suck

45 minutes ago, Scape Zero said:

To be fair, the forge we got is by far the most powerful customization tool outside of modding tools.

 

 

It's probably for the best. Chances are it would end up being the primary thing being developed, and it wouldn't be as good as the sea of BR games we already have. I'm not against the idea, but not if it's going to be the primary focus.

I have some assumptions that it was related to the PC release, but that still doesn't excuse all of the other things left out at launch.

35 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

Are you positive? I think it had a similar mode but not BTB...

It was originally called Big Team Infinity Slayer, but later changed due to the backlash at ordinance drops, but yeah it was there.

23 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

Didn’t they get rid of BTB in 4?

 

That was my favorite halo mode. 

No it was in 4. I specifically remember the map Exile and some snow map

It didn't launch with 5 though, it came a year or so later.

1 hour ago, TwinIon said:

There's no way that they get rid of their existing multiplayer modes, so I wouldn't worry about them putting in a Battle Royale mode at the expense of something else. I think there actually might be some potential there.

Outside of core game modes Halo has actually scrapped quite a few game modes that don't return in future titles (Firefight, Invasion, Regicide, Extraction, Dominion/Territories, Stockpile, VIP, Headhunter, Spartan Ops). I have serious doubts that Warzone will continue after Halo 5, but I don't really enjoy it all that much so, nothing lost for me really. Also like I said earlier, Halo 5 shipped without a lot of what people would consider "core" game modes, but were brought back within a year or so.

I’m actually okay with them making the game mode. The thing I’m not okay with is it eating resources that could be spent elsewhere.

Halo 5 has a horrible theater system (as in it doesn’t replay things accurately) that was broken since launch, Forge wasn’t at launch, oddball wasn’t at launch, king of the hill, the list goes on.

As long as you can meet the requirement for what is expected at launch, add whatever you want. If they want to put their hands in the BR pot, go for it. I do think that people vastly underestimate how different BR would work in a Halo game or how it’s going to work in CoD. 

36 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I thought season 2 on the whole was a big improvement over season 1, and I hope they ignore the complaints and keep pushing the story forward.

I had a lot of friends that really didn't enjoy season 2 so I was really hesitant to watch it. Ended up watching it in May and really enjoyed it.

My only complaint is that Eleven's side story just felt so out of touch, out of place, it just didn't click with me at all.

22 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

There's always GTFO

This is what I'm looking forward to.

I've had my eye on Earthfall for a little while, but once those reviews came out it wasn't even an option anymore.

4 hours ago, atom631 said:

TONS of 4K UHD-BRs for sale on Amazon for prime day. https://slickdeals.net/f/11817671-prime-members-4k-uhd-blu-ray-movies-the-matrix-wonder-woman-inception-15-each-more-free-s-h?src=SiteSearch . I think something like 180+ titles. 

 

I only grabbed Wonder Woman bc Gal Gadot. 

I picked up Harry Potter collection since it was $79.99

There are others I want, but I've spent so much money recently.

Nier Automata Piano Collections

I'm a sucker for piano music, I'm an even bigger sucker for piano recreations of music I already enjoy.

Most, if not all, of the Piano Collections for the Final Fantasy games are worth a listen, but as the series continues on I became less and less interested in recreations. FF13 for example just didn't touch base with me at all. Even on some of the earlier albums it can get pretty spotty sometimes where it just doesn't feel like its a good representation of its source or just doesn't emote the same feeling. However in this album seems to be the best piano collection yet. Every single song is a great representation of the source material, they all hit the right notes, and give off the same emotion of the original. The Tower feels very repetitious and is probably the only song on the album that I don't really enjoy. 

Highlights (as I can't pick a favorite)

Weight of the World

Bipolar Nightmare

Amusement Park (though I'm not a huge fan of the actual song its a wonderful representation)

9.5/10

The only experience I have with Blackmagic is I had their Intensity Capture Card. It might have been the only uncompressed card on the market at the time, but man did that software suck. Had to contact support multiple times to get it to work and it was always software related. If they haven't stepped up their game I'd avoid the crap out of this too.

But then again I don't own a mac and probably never will again.

On 7/13/2018 at 7:28 PM, SFLUFAN said:

@Nokt - Dead Space suffered from a fundamental problem in this industry that I call the "escalation trap".  This when a franchise's sequels are essentially forced to "escalate" the stakes involved to such a ridiculous degree that the game defies even a generous sense of suspension of disbelief.  This is exactly what happened to Dead Space where Isaac's more meaningful personal story was swamped by whatever the hell the narrative become by Dead Space 3.

 

Dead Space isn't the only EA franchise to suffer from this, however.  By far the most notable example of this is the Mass Effect series.  Mass Effect essentially started off immediately with an existential threat to the galaxy which meant that there wasn't even an opportunity to gradually ease into the "escalation trap".  The resolution of that series was effective doomed from the start to be an unsatisfying "deus ex machina".

Its sad to see such great franchises fall to such stupidity. Its got to be frustrating as a developer to want to create your vision and your parent company saying no it wont sell.

I think if anything looking at the success of Hellblade it shows the potential for what the true Dead Space 3 would have been.

Hopefully both series have a chance to redeem themselves in the future, but unless EA changes their game plans I don't foresee their successor games faring any better.

Not much better than a savings account, but you could do CD's.

I would have really liked to have seen something with the origins of the Necromorphs. The story got ridiculous in 3 though. It definitely needed to be toned down a bit.

To be fair though, EA had a lot to do with why DS3 failed as a title. A story about Issac's psychosis sounds a lot more interesting than giant zombie moons.

I'm glad they acknowledge the issues with the crafting system in 3 because that was a huge problem. Once you have an OP weapon you don't really use anything else. Would have been better if you could just tweak existing weapons with mods that would change secondary fire or make enemy variety larger with more weaknesses so that one weapon doesn't demolish everything. 

It's sad to think that even if we do get a Dead Space 4 at some point in the future it will most likely follow suit with 3 rather than its predecessors. I can't see EA supporting a smaller horror genre, instead making it into an action game that will not satisfy fans and cement Dead Spaces death (if it hasn't already come).

Some details you may or may not be interested in.

If it’s a steam key I’ll take the Dark Souls III DLC 

32 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

I loved Timesplitters 2 and spent a lot of time creating maps; I just don't remember the single-player "story" being more than what seemed like disconnected stories.

 

It's funny; I actually get your point somewhat because games like Halo and Half-Life 2 were so hugely influential in the 2000s. Those genres, in terms of popularity, really flourished to the point where even Sony was trying to get in on it with their own FPS franchises, Killzone and Resistance. But I don't know if I've noticed a decline necessarily? Among the other games mentioned, plus the Deus Ex games Human Revolution and Mankind Divided (which are definitely more hybrid since they're more RPGs with FPS elements), there's been quite a bit. I think some of the bigger, more popular genres have shifted, though, so while Overwatch is very popular, battle royale games like Fortnite are taking over the public conscience at the moment.

Yeah I guess its kind of going from a Golden Age to just regular releases maybe or as you say a shift.

Its just that we haven't gotten anything really fresh, innovative, or something just to stir the scene up. Its all been done before or really close to it. Not that games like Doom, Prey, Deus Ex aren't really good games, they just don't feel like something thats really that new. Titanfall 2's time warp mission is really really cool, but also really short lived.

Just now, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

I played through the entirety of X. It was thoroughly mediocre and killed the series for me. Terrible voice acting, forgettable music, and going in a straight line for the entire game in all these lackluster environments...just blech. 

 

I actually haven't played XII, but I've watched my husband play chunks of it and I'm not sure how much the battle system interests me. 

 

I did play 40 hours of XIII and I don't know how I kept going that long.  I haven't bothered with the series since. 

Now I know never to take your opinions seriously. :P 

I've found that X is usually where people draw the line of where the last good Final Fantasy. You either hate it or love it.

I also would probably place To Zanarkand in my top 5 Final Fantasy songs, but yeah the rest of the soundtrack isn't really great. The piano collection is really really good though (so are most of the other piano collections).

1 minute ago, SaysWho? said:

Some of those are first-person games, but I'd question if they're FPS games (Prime and Fallout 3 in particular). I guess it's fair to say they have some elements of that even if they're not in the classic vein like the original Doom or Quake. Timesplitters 2 I don't remember having a memorable campaign; its strength was making a map yourself (and again, the lack of jump felt a bit strange just a couple years after its release). 

 

Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, and Bioshock: Infinite were all released in the 2010s. And since I think FPS is being stretched just a bit on this, Portal 2 and Fallout: New Vegas were released this decade, along with Titanfall 1/2 and DOOM. Personally, I prefer third person anyway, so I'm happy to see some shift in that direction (I prefer something like Horizon Zero Dawn over the Killzone series, to the shift is all the better for me).

Yeah definitely didn't double check all of those like I should have whoops.

Fallout 3 and Prime probably fit in a hybrid genre (FPS/RPG/Metroidvania). I have fond memories of TS2, but its been awhile, definitely something I should revisit, though I own it on PS2 and my PS2 is broken. I'd probably throw Portal in the same category as a hybrid.

But still my point being that besides a couple of games here and there we haven't had consistently good FPS games since 2000's, it starts breaking up in the early 2010's. I guess it could just be a short stint. Who knows.

25 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

You said success in regards to Overwatch, so I brought up the sales. Also, 8th for the year and only being out for two months is pretty fantastic.

 

I don't really look at Metacritic as a good comparison since reviewers used to hand out 100s like hot cakes. Many of the high-scoring FPSs of yesterday, like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, and slideshow games now with their horrid frame rate, and have weird decisions nowadays like auto-aim and a lack of jumping. So you can cite their Metacritic scores, but I wouldn't put too much stock into them if you did.  

Because Overwatch sold well, is a good balanced well thought out game, and holds together nicely. Doom might have an amazing campaign, but its multiplayer is a rush job that had no player retention and was generally disliked.

Sure and a lot of it follows how people review it. Some can completely miss the mark no doubt.

You don't have to look back to the 90's though. Look at the 2000's

Halo CE/2/3, Half Life 2, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, CoD Modern Warfare 1&2, Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena, Team Fortress, Borderlands 2, Metroid Prime, Killzone 2, Fallout 3, Far Cry 3, FEAR, Timesplitters 2.

EDIT: Messed that one up

23 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

Call of Duty was the best-selling game last year and Battlefront was number 2.

Battlefront was number 2 in December. 8th overall for the year.

It isn't abnormal for bad Call of Duty games to top the chart. Even its worst titles top the charts (Advance Warframe 2014)

Money alone isn't what makes a game good though.

When was the last memorable CoD campaign? When was the last multiplayer that was loved by fans? What was the last CoD that scored above a 90 on metacritic? Heck when was the last time a FPS scored above a 90 on metacritic.

15 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

PuBG? Rainbow Six Seige?

FPS wasn't available at launch, but I guess we could count it.

Rainbow Six Seige did make a pretty good comeback, however I don't think its a widespread success, it just found its niche and makes it work.

1 hour ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Someone hasn't played Doom or Titanfall 2's campaigns

While I think Titanfall 2's campaign is overhyped, its still a really solid campaign. Thats another discussion though.

Two games that are two years old isn't really any evidence that the genre isn't in a decline. When was the last really good campaign before then? What about multiplayer? Lawbreakers failed, Quake isn't doing amazingly hot, Halo isn't doing great, CoD isn't going great, Battlefront is a bust, Battlefield is okay? Overwatch is the only thing that really comes to mind that has been a success so far multiplayer wise.

3 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

Eh, shards that "do extra damage" are the most boring kinds of upgrades. The perfect Metroidvania for me wouldn't have you wasting any time with boring shit like +5 missiles or +2 damage. Every single item you found would change the gameplay in a meaningful way, give you new options in both combat and exploration. The rest sounds interesting, but boring upgrades have become more and more tedious as I've played more and more games.

I mean doesn't that already kind of come with Metroidvanias? I mean not every single item, but typically every upgrade found from a boss or after a boss affects the game in a large way, exploration wise and gameplay wise.

I feel like this shard thing is just a little something on top to let you add a little extra damage if you like that or a little faster dash to attune to your play style a little better.

2 hours ago, SaysWho? said:

This really doesn't matter. For most of the same games back then, if released now, would not be considered best in class because games are continuing to do better than what came before. The fact that FFXIII was a step down from previous iterations doesn't really change the larger point. Games can try to go a different direction; FFXV's open-world was different than the world map in older FFs or the linear ones like X. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (which always happens if you try something completely new or new within a series).

 

But the overall trend keeps improving, which is why people's favorite "old" consoles are never Atari; you're not getting the same quality game as you would the Genesis or SNES. Games like Witcher 3 or Horizon or God of War or Last of Us are written in ways that weren't possible 20 or 30 years ago. Metal Gear Solid was one of the few games that had pretty impressive voice-acting and wit that games in that generation like Resident Evil did not. Now many games have better writing overall compared to their contemporaries generations back.

That trend hasn't caught up with Halo yet. FPS games in general are on a decline.

15 minutes ago, mikechorney said:

So $10M in sales?

I think it’s $15 on PS4 and unsure if it’s always been $10 on PC. But sure we can say 10M