I've only played AC, AC2 and revelations so it's been a while since I've played a game in the series but from what I remember they can pretty much be played as standalones. As for the game itself, it depends: if you ignore the godawful escort and delivery missions and bugs it's probably a solid game - but the reviews I've seen haven't been fantastic though a part of that is likely biased against the franchise.

 

From a position of not having played any before?

- Don't worry about the meta story, it's nonsense
- The stories in each game are self contained, tailored to the period and character. There's that meta thread that is separate, but as i said it's nonsense.
- they used to be open world, a million icons on the huge map, gorgeous adventure games. They've thrown in rpg and loot elements in Origins.
- the combat isn't the game's strong point. It used to be serviceable and easy once you got certain skills, but they've introduced a more typical strafe/parry system in like Souls.

I've not played Origins yet but I've platinumed them all since 4. It looks largely unchanged but still fun.

I like them a lot, but I've friends who can't get over the insane map bloat and busy work quests. I'm ocd like that and i enjoy clearing the maps like a check list. Ymmv.

 

There are no escort and delivery missions. Or rather, the one escort mission I had the NPC was either invulnerable or perfectly happy getting shot by a good 15-20 arrows as I catastrophically fucked everything up and then tried desperately to fix my mess. It's a ton of fun.

Origins is absolutely fantastic and much closer to the Witcher 3 than any of the previous assassin's creed.

 

The meta/present day plot was mostly what I was worried about, so good to know that's not really a problem. Cheers for the response, everyone.

 

There is a "present day" plot, kinda, but it's like 5 minutes here and there and utterly ignorable.

I'm not super far into it but I've played it for like 12 hours and I actually love it. The story is fine if unspectacular, but the combat is actually good for the first time basically ever in AC game. And the graphics and little things are just stunning. Whether it's mirages in the desert or fully physics enabled cloth banners that actually brush against you while you're climbing, this is basically "Your favourite little things" the game.

 

Just don't get the final fantasy dlc in AC lol. That Chocohorse is a thing from nightmares...

 

Just completed a really interesting game called Senua's Sacrifice where you play a Celtic warrior going into Nordic Hel which has a really interesting twist to the game- the main character is suffering from psychosis which plays out in various ways. It's a reasonable length- 7-8 hours or so, and while the combat is a bit basic and frustrating at times it's really interesting how the framing and context of the game makes the effects of mental health seem normal and expected (especially in the context of games) and has some really inventive gameplay parts.

Spoiler

So for example one element of psychosis is delusions- someone creates a chain of logic in their head or a worldview that becomes fixed which doesn't correspond to objective reality. Senua has a number of delusions in the game which are played out and only contradicted as part of her character arc. What is interesting is how normal this appears, and how this 'video game logic' works throughout the game and is familiar to me as a player.

Senua hears a number of voices commenting on her situation or talking to her, which both frustrates the player and also gives hints in combat and for a couple of puzzles. It's irritating, useful, distracting and also very much like other games at times e.g. the NPC always available to talk to over the headset that gives hints, or the supporting character like Navi that follows you around and comments.

Another part of psychosis is seeing shapes, patterns, faces etc where there aren't any, and a large part of the puzzles are how the scenery coincidentally creates shapes and taking meaning from it, e.g. two broken posts when looked at from a certain angle makes the needed shape. The delusion that Senua needs to find these shapes to continue both lets you see how people with psychosis have to deal with these delusions and fixations, but is also interesting to compare to other games like the Witness where you also look for these random coincidences but it is played straight.

Another element is flashbacks and being overwhelmed by memories. Which again is a normal computer game thing to have the protagonist have flashbacks in cutscenes.

It's really interesting to me how the elements of psychosis are shown here as psychosis and as something that very negatively affects Senua where you have to continue despite the psychosis, whereas in other video games they are normal reality and part of the game. Not to say that other game protagonists are suffering from psychosis, but it can make you think about how mentally stable your favourite RPG characters are.

I think it was a very interesting game that is also educational about mental health issues. The biggest two problems are one gate relatively near the beginning after you go into the fire section has a bullshit detection for opening the gate so I had to move back and forth tapping A to go through, and there is only a small selection of enemies- eight different enemies total.

 

I'm addicted to Zelda A Link to the Past randomizer. There's been a ton of randomizers for different games over the years, but this one has held my interest the most. Like, in Super Mario World, you can randomize enemies and levels and even sublevels, and swap out sky for water and things like that. It's a lot of fun, but Zelda randomizer is like a puzzle. Nearly every item in the game is randomized, so like the chest that normally contains a hookshot might just have a heartpiece now, or that one chest that contains just a single arrow might now have the tempered sword. Dungeon chests are randomized too, so keys can be wherever, perhaps even on the boss. The dungeon could even be an optional dungeon, if the boss is a pendent rather than a crystal, since that's randomized as well (though the map shows you which is which). The neat thing about that is that you can keep track of how many real items are in every dungeon, since they all have a set amount of keys, leaving the remaining chests to have dungeon map, compass, and then actual items. There's also a crazy mode called "keysanity" where the keys are randomized across the entire game, so you could get a key to Ganon's tower from the single chest in Link's house

So it really does become like a puzzle. Lots of chest locations and dungeons have item requirements, so as you get certain key items you slowly unlock more and more of the game, but since it's randomized, what becomes available to you is going to be different every game. Sometimes it's like following a trail of breadcrumbs, while others it's simply playing the odds and going to a location where you have 5 chests rather than the place that only has one, only for that single chest across the map to have the one item you've been looking for the whole time. There's also two choke points that you always try to avoid. The first is the master sword pedastal. In the normal game, that's where you get the master sword, and you need each of the three pendants to unlock it to get it. In randomizer, the master sword could be anywhere, meaning you don't to do those pendant dungeons. However, you might still need to run some of them for items, or worse, you need to do all the optional dungeons because a critical item was randomized onto the pedestal to begin with. That can be a real speedrun killer. The second chokepoint is on lightworld Agahnim. Randomizer makes it possible (even likely, perhaps) that you'll get all the items you need to access darkworld pretty early on. However, sometimes the run can be real dry, barely giving you any items until your only choice is to defeat Agahnim, which can be quite tough for the unprepared, as once you defeat him you are sent to the darkworld.

I've watched a ton of runs of it, but I had never actually tried one myself until a few days ago. It's a bit intimidating, since I've never actually played that Zelda before. But, with a guide and an item tracker, it turned out quite well, though it still took me something like 10 hours to actually beat the game. It seems super easy to get addicted too, and I'm kind of hoping that I can get myself to the point of actually having dungeons memorized and being able to do speedruns of it, since it's a pretty active community.

 

^
Randomiser sounds cool. Never heard of before. Could be cool with Pokemon. Or The Witcher (which is basically the game I was hoping Fables would be back in 2004).

Fortnite Battle Royale is getting mad hype over on Reddit. I don't even know if my old computer can handle it, but I'm gonna give that a go. Been downloading it for a while now. Anyone here playing it?

 

Today I played What Remains of Edith Finch. Today, I am an emotional wreck. It's a superb piece of writing, first and foremost, but also a wonderful blend of different game play styles - the main section is you, as Edith Finch, exploring her old family home, walking and interacting with objects as appropriate, but then there's a series of episodes where you find out the history of various members of the family which involve very different things altogether. I don't want to go into too much detail, because part of the experience is finding out each bit for yourself, but the episodes flit from platforming sections to survival horror to photo sims.

As good as the game play is though, it's all about the story, and the characters. Even though most of the cast only appear in posthumous, dubiously accurate, minute or so long flashbacks, they're all excellently realised and individual, making you invested in each one. The story builds up a real sense of tragedy over the couple of hours it lasts, but also a certain touch of hope. I can honestly say I've never played anything like it, and I can't recommend it enough.

 

There's a lot more than you'd expect. There are actually pokemon ones. I don't see a Witcher one, but interestingly enough, I do see a few for Dark Souls.

 

Nintendo Direct Mini:

Most important announcement: TWEWY remake/port + new scenario. Really nice, wasn't expecting that.

Also Dark Souls Remastered. Meh.

 

Dark Souls Remastered is going to be the first one in the series to have dedicated servers. No more lagstabs, or not as bad at least.

 

Honestly? Only thing I'm really interested in that set of games is the Hyrule Warriors port. Really intrigued by that.

 

Shhhhhiiiiit. Why did I not know that there was an Ys 8?

 

Because it was PS4 only until recently? Plus not like you missed much, NISA fucked the translation so hard, I hope XSEED gets it back for next game.

 

I have a PS4. Wasn't even on my radar though, and I loved those games. Le sigh. The responsibilities of real life and adulting just shits everything up. Disposable income... where have you gone off to? I am in need of you.

 

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is approaching. As more information is released, I'm kind of torn on it. It seems to be very niche for history lovers (which I adore), but I question how "fun" it will be. Still probably going to get it because..well..history major.

 

How's the new DBZ game? Saw some video clips of it and it looked really slick (and nostalgia inducing).

 

From what I've heard so far, the arcade/verses mode is fantastic. I just can't find much content on the story mode, which is what I'd be interested in.