What Are You Playing Right Now? (Gaming Thread)

[remydat]

I finished Mass Effect: Andromeda this weekend, and it wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be. Granted, I bought it at a discount and experienced a completely patched version, but doom unto early adopters and those pre-order--you're just asking to get screwed. Ultimately, it was sort of an inverse of Mass Effect 1, but instead of un-compelling combat and a great story we got great combat and an un-compelling story.

My biggest criticism is that there's no real compelling jumping off point for a sequel. In ME 1 the Reapers were still a Lovecraftian mystery at the end of the game, so there was fertile ground for more story there. Nothing about the Kett or the Jardaan leaves me wanting more; one is a violently expansionist empire and the other are just aliens with really good terraforming tech. I guess the Scourge is still mostly unexplained, even though we know it's essentially a weapon gone wrong.

Best part of the story to me was the "benefactor" sub plot and discovering that the Initiative was ultimately co-opted by the Illusive Man (they never reveal this specifically, but it's obvious) in case the cycle succeeds in the Milky Way. Listening to the initial recordings of the Reaper invasion in Alec Ryder's encrypted logs was eerie. At that moment you realize that no matter how you ended ME:3, the Initiative might, after 600 years, be all that's left of the Milky Way races. The writers made a mistake by not incorporating that into the main story. That really should've been the "big reveal" and become the main plot line IMO, and not the Kett/Jardaan/Angara stuff.

I think you have hit on the jumping off point for a sequel. That and the fact you still have the Quarian ship that is missing although that will be told in a comic book from what I recall.

However, having everyone find out the reason for them leaving and unaware of the fate of the Milky Way could make for great story potential. As well as perhaps making the conflict between the rebuilt Milky Way and the Andromeda explorers as if you think about it the folks with Andromeda have been static for 600 years due to stasis while what is left of the Milky Way would have experienced 600 years of growth and advancing technology depending on what was left behind. Having the now more technologically advanced Milky Way species trying to assert influence on Andromeda could be an interesting American revolution playing out on a Galaxy wide scale. Or maybe without the Reapers, the Geth or their successors did in fact subjugate organics and are now branching out to Andromeda.

Of course, it seems Bioware and EA don't have the imaginations to progress the story further but there is a lot there just waiting to be developed IMO.

 

[Ares]

I think you have hit on the jumping off point for a sequel. That and the fact you still have the Quarian ship that is missing although that will be told in a comic book from what I recall.

However, having everyone find out the reason for them leaving and unaware of the fate of the Milky Way could make for great story potential. As well as perhaps making the conflict between the rebuilt Milky Way and the Andromeda explorers as if you think about it the folks with Andromeda have been static for 600 years due to stasis while what is left of the Milky Way would have experienced 600 years of growth and advancing technology depending on what was left behind. Having the now more technologically advanced Milky Way species trying to assert influence on Andromeda could be an interesting American revolution playing out on a Galaxy wide scale. Or maybe without the Reapers, the Geth or their successors did in fact subjugate organics and are now branching out to Andromeda.

Of course, it seems Bioware and EA don't have the imaginations to progress the story further but there is a lot there just waiting to be developed IMO.

I thought I read somewhere that any additions to Mass Effect have been shelved for the time being.

Which seems odd.... because the game is a cash cow, no?

 

[remydat]

Yeah it has been shelved as Bioware was focusing on Star Wars and Anthem from what I recall.

 

[Ares]

Yeah it has been shelved as Bioware was focusing on Star Wars and Anthem from what I recall.

Bioware should either sell the rights to Mass Effect or contract another studio to work on the next Mass Effect game.

At the very least I would have writers working on the next Mass Effect game, and perhaps that is what they're doing.

You need alot of writing time to put together a deep/immersive game.... ME:A seemed very shallow most of the time story-wise.

 

[fatbeard]

Bioware is essentially a one-game studio right now. Dragon Age 4 is still in pre-production and probably won't move to production until after Anthem releases next year. So another Mass Effect game isn't even on the horizon. It sounds like the success of Anthem will decide whether Bioware stays in business or not.

 

[Ares]

Bioware is essentially a one-game studio right now. Dragon Age 4 is still in pre-production and probably won't move to production until after Anthem releases next year. So another Mass Effect game isn't even on the horizon. It sounds like the success of Anthem will decide whether Bioware stays in business or not.

Not gonna lie, Anthem sounds very generic in this age of gaming.

Anthem is an action role-playing game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective in which players take the role of a Freelancer donning fully customizable exosuits called Javelins.[2] These suits can be customized to have various unique weapons and superhuman abilities.[3] Two classes of Javelins were shown during Anthem's presentation at Microsoft's E3 2017 Conference. One was the Ranger, which is an all-around and balanced Javelin, and the Colossus, which is a larger and more heavily armored Javelin made to fill in more of a tanking role.[4]

The game features both single-player and co-operative multiplayer elements in a "shared-world" that can have up to four squad members per team. Teams can fight savage beasts and ruthless marauders while exploring lost ruins and experiencing massive, world-altering terrain occurrences, such as "Shaper Storms".[2]

 

[remydat]

I got the impression Anthem is suppose to be what Destiny was meant to be. More coop play together and more exploration as you can dive, swim and interact with the environment in a way you can't with Destiny.

 

[Ares]

I got the impression Anthem is suppose to be what Destiny was meant to be. More coop play together and more exploration as you can dive, swim and interact with the environment in a way you can't with Destiny.

It just doesn't sound overly interesting.

You are a person in a combat suit with powers.

You explore and fight monsters.

Not to say it won't be a fun game, but if this is their focus... the one game they are working on to save the future of their company... it sounds a bit bland right now.

 

[fatbeard]

It just doesn't sound overly interesting.

You are a person in a combat suit with powers.

You explore and fight monsters.

Not to say it won't be a fun game, but if this is their focus... the one game they are working on to save the future of their company... it sounds a bit bland right now.

All loot shooters are a bit bland IMO (any story just gets in the way of what you're supposed to be doing), so Bioware will live or die depending on how well they can execute. Can they make it fun? They at least have an opening--nobody's made "the" great loot shooter yet.

 

[Monsieur Tirets]

bioware died a while ago.

its bioware in name only. literally none of the people that made the studio what it once was is involved now. its just a shitty ea subsidiary.

 

[Ares]

bioware died a while ago.

its bioware in name only. literally none of the people that made the studio what it once was is involved now. its just a shitty ea subsidiary.

Their struggles right now might be a great thing for Mass Effect then.... if it is sold and worked on by another studio maybe we get something more immersive.

 

[Monsieur Tirets]

unfortunately its ea so theyll likely do what they usually do and milk the bioware name(and its IPs) until its no longer worthwhile and then theyll just close up shop.

its now the type of company thatll pump out shitty games relying on the name while their employees are too busy going on racist rants (without so much as a slap on the wrist, i guess since its directed towards white people) to worry about developing quality games.

the founders of the company didnt seem to care anymore, i think they wanted to retire and sold it to EA for a shitload. and those that were part of the original bioware magic that were still around soon jumped ship as well.

 

[Ares]

unfortunately its ea so theyll likely do what they usually do and milk the bioware name(and its IPs) until its no longer worthwhile and then theyll just close up shop.

its now the type of company thatll pump out shitty games relying on the name while their employees are too busy going on racist rants (without so much as a slap on the wrist, i guess since its directed towards white people) to worry about developing quality games.

the founders of the company didnt seem to care anymore, i think they wanted to retire and sold it to EA for a shitload. and those that were part of the original bioware magic that were still around soon jumped ship as well.

Any idea where the OG Bioware devs went?

 

[Crystallas]

Speaking of OG Devs. Bought the first Torchlight and hope I have some time to play it this week. All I did was test it on wine, and of course, no problem. But it doesn't seem like a perfect Diablo 2 sequel from a mechanical perspective the was Diablo 2 was a perfect mechanical sequel to Diablo. But it's better than Diablo 2 to Diablo 3.

Anyone get into Torchlight?

 

[Ares]

Speaking of OG Devs. Bought the first Torchlight and hope I have some time to play it this week. All I did was test it on wine, and of course, no problem. But it doesn't seem like a perfect Diablo 2 sequel from a mechanical perspective the was Diablo 2 was a perfect mechanical sequel to Diablo. But it's better than Diablo 2 to Diablo 3.

Anyone get into Torchlight?

Never have... but ill look it up.

I am wondering if I should start keeping tabs on game devs and where the **** they work.

 

[Crystallas]

Never have... but ill look it up.

I am wondering if I should start keeping tabs on game devs and where the **** they work.

Only for the really great ones.

In some cases, studios like to contract work to former devs/artists. Then basically do whatever the **** they want anyways, because they have the name to sell to a hardcore base of fans.

And then you have the whole Mighty No.9 situation that pretty much hired a number of great OG Megaman devs and then made a lackluster game(mostly hated because of production promises and kickstarter issues IMO, the game is actually good, just didn't live up to the hype).

 

[remydat]

Casey Hudson is back at Bioware as General Manager. He was the project director for the Mass Effect trilogy and also worked on one of my favorite games of all time in Jade Empire. Always wished they had done a sequel to that.

Hopefully he can return Bioware back to basics and stop this annoying desire by EA to make everything Multiplayer to the detriment of the core gameplay.

Although it would be ridiculously cool if they could develop a Mass Effect or Dragon Age game that allowed humans players to control the other party members but not sure they have the power to do that yet without sacrificing gameplay and story.

 

[Ares]

Casey Hudson is back at Bioware as General Manager. He was the project director for the Mass Effect trilogy and also worked on one of my favorite games of all time in Jade Empire. Always wished they had done a sequel to that.

Hopefully he can return Bioware back to basics and stop this annoying desire by EA to make everything Multiplayer to the detriment of the core gameplay.

Although it would be ridiculously cool if they could develop a Mass Effect or Dragon Age game that allowed humans players to control the other party members but not sure they have the power to do that yet without sacrificing gameplay and story.

Yeah that would be tough... cause a big part of the story/immersion is when you interact with NPCs and participate in the conversation.

It could be possible to have multiple people participating, but would be hard to do with Mass Effect or Dragon Age where a single player is intended to be the main protagonist.

Of course if you built a new series with the idea being that multiple characters in the main party will all participate (equally?) in the story/conversations.... I think it could be done.

 

[Monsieur Tirets]

Any idea where the OG Bioware devs went?

the main founders left after selling to EA and are off doing their own thing, one apparently running investment and tech companies and the other doing craftbeer. and after that writers/devs just sort off jumped ship since the company was going down the shitter.


I didnt know hudson was back, back honestly i dont see it making much of a difference at this point. plus mass effect declined with number 3 when the founders were already on their way out. bioware is dead and i dont expect much from them going forward.

they had a good run. the founders lost interest so that was that really.

 

[remydat]

Yeah that would be tough... cause a big part of the story/immersion is when you interact with NPCs and participate in the conversation.

It could be possible to have multiple people participating, but would be hard to do with Mass Effect or Dragon Age where a single player is intended to be the main protagonist.

Of course if you built a new series with the idea being that multiple characters in the main party will all participate (equally?) in the story/conversations.... I think it could be done.

I was thinking along the lines of what Destiny does where cut scenes are viewed from the perspective of your character regardless of who initiates it.

So the combat is shared but when you interact with NPCs it focuses on each individual human player.