throughbeingcruel

16 hours ago, Derek™ said:

01. My point has very little to do with Ellie.  You're right in the sense that, yeah, you're buckled in to the choices she wants to make.  You "own" her fate on a very minuscule level – your input, as a player, controls whether or not she dies and how she advances through enemy forces.  But story wise, we are at whim of the writers, and the writers really dropped the ball this time around.  The story is drenched in revenge to the point where anyone with two eyes and a brain can comprehend – early on – that the end doesn't justify the means.  But you take a backseat and have a full view of Ellie making the decisions she does, only to be told by the game's conclusion that "hey revenge just isn't worth it, m'kay?"  We knew that.  We should know that.  It'd be like playing a game where the entire premise was to speed through rural neighborhoods without a seatbelt, and having it conclude with you hitting a toddler before driving straight into a telephone pole and killing yourself.  Leaving you, the player, to sit back in awe and process... huh, I guess, really, we shouldn't be going 35 through suburb streets.  Wow.  This changes things for me.. It's too on-the-nose.  It doesn't give you, the player, enough credit to differentiate right from wrong or identify a slippery slope.  A lot of people are rightfully annoyed by how disconnected they feel as a result.  TLOU1 put you in the shoes of Joel who loses his only daughter in the opening moments, and eventually thaws out to care for and protect Ellie.  That was relatable.  His decisions made sense, even if you didn't full agree with them, and you could see the direction they were going.  You were rooting for them and every step they took.  Getting to the settlement.  Chasing answers.  The adventure was positive and kept you glued.  This time around, it's not difficult to see things go sideways really early on, but helplessly sigh knowing that you're committed either way.

 

 

 

02. Eh, debatable.  I think that's the beauty of TLOU1, and its ending for that matter.  It didn't need a sequel.  Of course I'd love to see more of the world, the lore, and the environment it established... but Joel and Ellie's story was left in such a fresh, up-in-the-air spot.  There are arguments to be made on both sides of the line and I think that's great.  You have a daughter, do you not?  Are you telling me you'd willingly give up her life to save what was left of humanity?  I think that's an obvious decision on paper, but good luck to anyone being in those shoes.  We can chastise Joel all we want, but to reiterate on a point above, the man went 20 years being closed off from the world, after he lost his daughter.  Ellie became his one beacon of light.  He may've shot humanity in the foot but I challenge anyone to assess things differently in his shoes.

 

 

 

Additionally, Abby is a pretty shit, unlikeable character.  Ignoring her actions and just going off her personality and dynamics, it's pretty easy to see why the general consensus is that she's not a fun or interesting character to assume control over.  The game just takes some very questionable directions, and we need to remind ourselves that we waited 7 years for this.

Basically not gonna read any further than “the story is full of revenge” because i’d like to play it myself. I don’t give a shit what you think. Don’t give a shit what ACG or Dreamcast Guy think. Only care what I think. 

And you haven't even played the game, so shut the fuck up and let everyone enjoy it, dickhead. You’ve been arguing with me over ignorant shit for like five years and I’m over it. 

9 hours ago, Rip said:

Nope.  UPS screwed me on it.  Got an email Friday while I was at work saying “couldn’t complete delivery” so I needed to go pick it up from somewhere.  Whatever, wasn’t gonna be able to play it Friday anyways.  So I go to pick it up Saturday morning and the lady says “oh did they try to drop it off yesterday?  If so, that means you can’t get it until Monday.”  So yeah, kinda fucked my plans for playing it this weekend but it’s whatever.  Gave me a little more extra time with Celeste.

So glad I ended up getting one from work instead of amazon because the amazon one I cancelled wasn’t even supposed to arrive until tomorrow. I had to work all weekend so I’m really just getting into it today. 

On 6/17/2020 at 9:28 AM, Rip said:

I got charged from Amazon yesterday for mine!  So excited for it.

Did you get yours in yet? If so, what a fucking beast!! It’s fucking huge.  If the Ghost of Tsushima CE is as nice as this one, I’ll be so happy. 

On 6/17/2020 at 6:46 PM, Derek™ said:

...Should we tell him?

Everyone who’s pissed about the direction of the story must have forgotten two things. 

1. They don’t own Ellie or her fate

2. They played as the villain in the first game, and royally fucked humanity over at the end. 

These are the same people who bitched about the end of Mass Effect 3, without realizing the entire game was the end. They focused on that last cutscene. 

Can’t wait to pick up my TLOU2 collector’s edition on Friday. Hoping the story is as good as the first one. 

Crossed the 300 hour mark on animal

crossing. Started taking longer breaks from it to play AC Odyssey since Valhalla looks even better, but I keep going back and restructuring my island. Been stuck at home for like 40 days and all I’ve done is play animal crossing. 

I’ve spent close to 200 hours on animal crossing since release day, and I’m sick of it but it’s also helping me keep a daily routine since I’m on severely reduced hours at work (retail). I wake up, check the mail, money hole, all that, and end up spending half the day playing. My backlog is disgusting and I could’ve gotten through a ton of it by now but for some reason i’d rather chop down trees and chase bugs all day. 

On 4/7/2020 at 9:19 AM, museummouth said:

Beat RE3 in two sittings. Could’ve done it in one if I wanted too. Much too short and more bare bones than RE2. Already sold it on eBay and got 95% of my money back. Total playtime for me was 4.5 hours on normal. It was fun but not worth full price. Should’ve just been a $20 dlc for RE2. 
 

On the other hand I’m a few hours into Persona 5 and it’s still tutorial lol. 

5 hours 59 minutes for me but same, sold on eBay within an hour of completing it and went back to P5R lol

On 3/26/2020 at 10:11 AM, museummouth said:

Animal Crossing is so perfect. Playing it nonstop. Not time traveling either. 
 

Doom Eternal is great too and definitely a challenge. Hoping to finish it over this weekend and get ready for Persona 5 and RE3. 

Just picked up my P5R Phantom Thieves Edition. Hoping to get started on it today since I know I’ll be pushing it aside for RE3 on friday. 

28 minutes ago, museummouth said:

Has anyone played Persona 5? Thinking of getting the royal version but never checked the series out. 

Super stylized turn-based RPG with a Japanese teenager life sim tacked on? Totally recommend it to anyone who likes turn based RPGs or anime as the graphics are like cell-shaded and super polished. 

Getting ready to go pick up my Animal Crossing switch. Never even played an AC game but it’s easily the coolest special edition Switch thus far. I grew up drooling over the Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge Fenders, so those joycons have been calling my name. 

1 hour ago, Rip said:

I’d like to get it eventually.  But man, that “one island per switch” is a major turn off for me.  Especially cause both me and my wife would wanna play it.

I believe each play would still have their own dwelling in the island but I can’t say they couldn’t fuck up your loans from Nook. I just don’t understand why Nintendo won’t let us own our save files. 

I recently got into Neca horror action figures. Most of them go up in value instead of dropping drastically like funko shit, and I really enjoy most of the franchises they work with.  

Spotify said my most listened to song was the interlude on Underoath’s They’re Only Chasing Safety. Obviously not. 

On 11/29/2019 at 6:37 AM, SBarry said:

I’ve been on a quest to 100% Death Stranding. Currently have 79% of the trophies so it’s pretty much been a massive grind now.

I can’t decide if I wanna go for the platinum or just call it after I finish the story. I really enjoy the game but there’s so much coming out in the spring and I know I won’t be done by then. 

6 hours ago, Rip said:

I love what I’ve played (which isn’t too much yet).  It looks incredible and the music is just perfect.  I’m definitely excited to dig deeper into it.

The first time Low Roar comes on as you’re on your first mission and still trying to soak it all in. Fuck, that’s something everyone should feel. 

3 hours ago, Derek™ said:

Have to agree with this, especially the last bit.  The game is truly immersive in the sense it’s boring as shit to watch someone play it - in my opinion - but quite engaging when the controller is in your hands.  There is something oddly satisfying, to me, about packing or gearing up for a mission that won’t be holding your hand, and finding out you were perfectly (or poorly) equipped for the trek.  The changing terrain has kept things really fresh for me as well.

 

I’ve heard the game really takes off about 10 hours in.  All reviews are insisting you muscle through the first 10 even if you find them a bit of a sludge.  Fortunately I’m enjoying it and soaking it all in at a pretty leisure pace.  Eager to see where it goes.

I’m like 7 hours in and I cannot handle BTs lol. I’m also that asshole who’s trying to grab all the cargo like it won’t make the rest of the trip miserable. 

I’m super excited to see the other side of chapter 3, which should be about 10 hours. Supposedly the story actually makes sense at the end too lol. 

On 11/8/2019 at 1:45 PM, Rip said:

Happy Death Stranding day boys.  Probably won’t get a chance to play until Sunday but I’m real excited.

It’s... weird to say the least. I’m enjoying it so far tho. Truly something that you just have to try for yourself. 

3 minutes ago, Thomas³ said:

Thank you! I'm glad someone else shares my sentiments with the game. I enjoyed it, but like all naughty dogs games, the controls were so clunky. A few times the clickers grabbed me from across the map and other weird glitches. I heard they fixed some issues on the PS4 remake, but I never played it. I'll play the second if I have a PS4 again by then, but not going out of my way for it.

TLOU was a straight clunk-fest with the best story ever lol. I was miserable for most of the game until the last couple hours when everything started getting super fucking intense.

On 9/9/2019 at 1:33 PM, jhulud said:

I still don’t have Netflix but my local library  has a ton of the shows/series on DVD to check out. 

 

Already watched season one of 13 Reasons Why. In the middle of season two now. It’s got me all kinds of fucked up so far. 

Season 3 will really fuck you up. Holy shit. 

I’m about halfway through Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and woooow it’s so good. I really hope they do a retail release because I want it on my shelf. 

On 9/6/2019 at 5:10 PM, Thomas³ said:

I didn't realize they redid it. I played it when it first came out and the story is great. Game play was a bit repetitive, obviously it being a puzzle game, but was still a ton of fun. I thought a sequel was supposed to be out, or maybe I'm just confused the remake for one.

It’s a remaster/rerelease with extra story content. They added a character and 5 new ending possibilities as well I definitely “autoplayed” a couple levels just to keep the story moving but overall it was fantastic.

MOTHER OF GOD THAT SNES CONTROLLER

oh and I picked up Catherine: Full Body Premium Edition on recommendation. Everyone should play that game. The story is fantastic. 

Picked up Astral Chain and I’m not really feeling it. I’m pretty sure the only Platinum game I actually enjoy is Nier: Automata.

i also picked up Control on release day and that shit is fucking fantastic. Highly recommended. 

2 hours ago, Reshiram said:

Yeah I quickly regretted CTR. The game is ridiculously hard with no tutorial, I'm stuck on the sewer level in classics as it seems like if I'm not power sliding and taking the shortcuts with 10 fruit the whole race there's no way in winning. The items in this game aren't worth a damn as missiles don't work as red shells like they should, so if first gets a big lead you might as well just give up. I'm not even sure if I wanna try online.

 

Just a heads up, the promotion is only for online or in-store pick-up which is stupid. I was at the store trying to get it and they told me they couldn't give me the discount, I had to order it from the store then wait for their people to grab it.

Yep it’s stupid difficult even on normal. I was told easy was too easy but if that’s the only way I’ll be able to progress then I’ll do it. 

Amazon has had some good B1G1 50% deals, especially if you do preorders. Two upcoming releases for $90 is stellar. 

4 hours ago, dapeebs said:

My friends and I were hype on Crash at first but $40 was steep for what the game offered. Definitely seems like more of a $20 game. If they bundled it with the Crash main series remastered for like $50 that'd be perfect. I haven't played Spyro in forever, how are the rematers?

4 hours ago, museummouth said:

Spyro remasters are really good. Better than the Crash ones imo

Yep. Spyro trilogy is also an easy 3 platinums/3,000G

21 hours ago, Reshiram said:

Target is doing there BOGO 50% off sale right now, I think I'm gonna finally pick up Spyro and Crash Team Racing.

Bought Crash at launch and regret it. It looked like they had it set up for micro transactions, then like last week or so they added them in. Highly recommend Spyro tho. 

Just picked up Nioh on the cheap. Probably never gonna finish it unless I overpower and cheese but I do enjoy the gameplay. 

Undecided on buying Control or Astral Chain at the end of the month. Both look good but I’m hit or miss with Platinum. 

On 7/17/2019 at 11:48 AM, birdwell said:

P.S. remember that short while when new LPs came with CDs?  that was VERY ideal for me 

Same. I loved all the $15-$20 Rise and Epitaph LPs that had CDs.