Coelacanth

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I had no idea it was today so I’m not looking forward to anything in particular. Having just finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 it would be amazing news if they had an announcement that they’re intending to release a DLC.

Would also love to see something from Remedy about Control 2 as I love those guys and the Remedy Connected Universe. Well, what I’m really desperate about is Alan Wake 3, but that’s surely not even in pre-production yet (sadly).

Would not mind seeing something from Bloodlines 2 either out of morbid curiosity, but I have no hopes it will actually be good.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Is it really a replacement? Isn’t this just a show (like the Game Awards) as opposed to a huge ass convention like E3?

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Ooh good shout, this has to be the ultimate convergence of power fantasy and boobs surely?

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Isn’t Prey (2017) well liked?

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

That’s what I thought. I bought it recently on a GOG sale but haven’t played it yet. But all I hear about Prey (2017) is people raving about how great it is.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu (edited miesiąc temu)

No PC eh?

EDIT: I’m blind

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Okay I need to stop commenting before coffee.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I loved Blue Prince. It’s still putting up a good fight for my personal GOTY despite having just finished and loved Clair Obscur.

Play it, take notes, enjoy it. Games like it don’t come along often.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I haven’t played BNW yet (though I really should), but I’d be hesitant to suggest something that makes so many fundamental changes for someone’s first playthrough. The one I tend to recommend is Woolsey Uncensored

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Don’t know how far into Clair Obscur you are, but I recommend sticking with it. I can’t really say anything else without spoilers but I found the story very good.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Ciri enters the portal in all endings.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu (edited miesiąc temu)

Yes, she always goes through the portal. It’s what happens after that varies. She either becomes a Witcher (looks like that will be the canon ending considering Witcher 4), becomes an empress or she doesn’t come back. In the latter ending it’s implied (but left up for debate) that she dies. It’s also very heavily implied that Geralt dies in that one.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

The most busted late game strat I found on Lune was using Braselim to farm a level 3 Gradient attack every turn (Storm Caller is key for this).

Elemental Genesis actually fell out of favour for me once I discovered Hell does better AoE damage and Lightning Dance does better single target.

Typhoon is also great if you’re playing full strength teams and not low HP/Inverted. You can load it up with both Energising Heal and all the buffs, as well as Energising Rush/Shell/Powerful as needed and it will have your team triple buffed and at max AP every turn.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

RDR2 is probably the best-feeling in terms of NPC behaviour in the open world.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a good game and a worthwhile experience but you can absolutely make quite a lot of very valid critiques about it.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

We’ll see how much is recency bias and how well it will stand the test of time, but I really think Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be on this list going forward. It’s definitely one of the best games I’ve ever played, and I’ve played a lot of games. It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough in all the parts that actually matter.

Otherwise there’s your usual suspects:

• Disco Elysium
• Portal
• Half-Life 2
• Bioshock 1
• Final Fantasy VI
• Chrono Trigger
• Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• The Last of Us
• Baldur’s Gate 2

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I know this is a hot take, but: BG3 is a good game. Clair Obscur is a work of art.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

BG3 has some very fun gameplay at times, such as the much-lauded variety with which you can deal with the Goblin Camp in Act 1. That’s where it shines.

The writing is not really comparable. BG3 is in the “fine for a video game” territory. Disco Elysium’s writing is art, both the narratives, the characters, the themes and even the prose itself.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Good list. I desperately wanted to put Dark Souls on my list, as the first blind playthrough of it was a magical experience. But I don’t think it’s correct, no matter how much I love it. Flawed masterpiece is about right.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I love STALKER with all my heart, and if we’re talking atmosphere and vibes and even world building it is up there. But it does not really belong in the objective masterpiece category. Flawed masterpiece, maybe.

Also I think Call of Pripyat is the better STALKER game, but it might be controversial.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Disco Elysium is definitely closer to the visual novel spectrum of video games than it is to something like Tetris. But make no mistakes, its narrative and impact would be much lessened were it delivered in any other medium. It is absolutely a perfect example of how you use video games to make art.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Hard to argue with most of those. I’d put Ocarina of Time over BotW, but that’s splitting hairs. Diablo 2 needs LoD included in my opinion.

God of War is an embarrassing blind spot in my gaming history. Is it actually that good?

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Oooooh I like that question. I feel like it would have to be some kind of Call of Duty, right? Some absolutely mediocre slop that still has enough mechanical satisfaction and mind-numbing explosion-and-cliché-filled story to keep you somewhat entertained, yet still remaining completely forgettable.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

The game is not for everyone. That’s okay. Rothko paintings are worth tens of millions of dollars and I completely do not get them at all.

I will give you that there are two soft locks early on that are a little too easy to stumble into and it is for sure the game’s biggest flaw.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Last time a game was in the zeitgeist to this extent was BG3, and we all know how that went. Only thing going against E33 at this point is that the Game Awards are a long time off and recency bias/forgetting about it tends to have an impact.

I sincerely hope it does sweep the awards, not only is the game phenomenal but it would also send a very positive message to the industry.

Who knows though, people love Kojima and if Death Stranding 2 is slightly more approachable than the first it might put up a good fight.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

The final version of the script was in french. I can try to find the interview if you want. Basically, the lead writer of the narrative has English as her first language, but the co-writer of the script is french (as is the studio at large). The script went back and forth between English and French multiple times during development, but the final script ended up being in French.

Performance capture was done by the french actors, but speaking English (for motion/facial capture), so technically both languages are dubs, and neither has perfect lip synch.

Both casts are absolutely great. I prefer some voices in English and some in French. However, there are absolutely some parts of the script where it’s obvious it was written in French, with wordplay or double meanings that don’t translate to English.

Did that help?

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I’m drunk on recency bias myself but I’m tempted to put him in Uematsu tier myself. I know that sounds outrageous but it’s actually that good. Even the lyrics are absolutely amazing. It will probably end up being my favourite OST of all time.

And there’s 8 fucking hours of it and not a single weak track!?

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

It somehow just keeps getting better too. Super strong leitmotif work as well, throughout the game. And like I mentioned, even if you don’t speak french try looking up translations for the lyrics (but after you finished the game). Some really beautiful passages, but steeped in foreshadowing and spoilers.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I wish I hadn’t fumbled my french fluency over the past decade and a half as I still had to go back multiple times and re-listen and read the lyrics to understand them. And also the male singer on the OST sounds like he’s not a native french speaker so that makes it even harder to pick out.

But yeah, maybe it was for the best that I didn’t understand right away in the end!

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a couple of days ago. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing people rave about it at this point. All I can say is: the hype is justified.

It’s a beautiful piece of art, with a wonderful story, gorgeous visuals and absolutely unbelievable music. One of my favourite OSTs of all time, and there’s more than 8 fucking hours of it.

It’s definitely within my top 10 games of all time. Thoroughly recommended, and a game I will still think about for a long time, even after putting it down.

In fact, it’s one of those rare games where I’m seriously considering going immediately back in to a NG+ playthrough right after finishing it. Yes, it’s that good.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

It is definitely in my Top 10 games of all time. I haven’t settled on a final placement yet. It’s a beautiful piece of videogames-as-art, the story and the characters are well written and acted and the plot itself is very compelling. The world building is interesting and engrossing and the music boasts one of the best Video Game OSTs of all time, without a doubt.

There are some minor niggles, sure. It’s not literally perfect. It’s unfortunate that you can easily make yourself so overpowered you miss cutscenes in the final fight if you don’t consciously gimp yourself.

But other than that, none of the minor niggles really detract from the impact of the core experience, which is super super strong.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Isn’t it always?

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I was thinking more in regards to questions of “why is [bad thing] allowed to be [bad in this manner]?”

But you’re right.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Spoiler alert: for an authentic representation of the game the movie will just be two hours straight of:

“I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella and I have never known defeat”

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu (edited miesiąc temu)

Accessibility options are good. Not everyone is a god gamer with the reflexes of a 14-year old hopped up on Adderall and Red Bull. Some people just want to enjoy the story and the atmosphere of a game and it should be normal for us to let them.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

It’s true I haven’t played the Elden Ring expansion, and I guess that’s the most difficult one now so it’s required to have played it to be able to parade around your gamer credentials? Whatever that’s supposed to mean? To me gaming is about enjoying a medium of culture, not a dick measuring contest. I’ve played Dark Souls, I’ve played Elden Ring. I’ve beaten Sister Friede, I’ve beaten Malenia.

I still think accessibility options are good.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I have to be honest here and say I don’t understand where you’re coming from at all.

Why should every single game be changed to suit your specific play style?

Literally nobody is asking for this. Accessibility options, not “permanently and irrevocably reduce the difficulty of all games”. The good thing about options is that they’re option-al. If you want the game to remain challenging, the presence of accessibility options does not affect you in the slightest. You can just ignore them and go on with your day, enjoying the game just as it was.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I mean, I prayed to the nether gods that we’d get a Letho game. He’s the perfect protagonist if they wanted to move away from the books and more firmly into their own OC. Always had huge main character energy, and would be perfectly suited for exploring the morally grey areas of the Witcher world.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

the biggest problem plaguing the STALKER remasters is a strange bug that seems to cause the games to render at a resolution lower than what you set it as and then upscale it improperly, resulting in blurry, muddy visuals that persist even if you turn settings like AMD FSR Super Resolution and depth of field off.

Okay that’s… that’s not great, but should be fixable in a patch surely?

Another highly contentious change that’s drawn the ire of fans is the complete removal of everything Russian or related to the Soviet Union, including all Russian voice acting and localization, the use of Soviet rubles as in-game currency, and even every Soviet sign, statue, and landmark present in the real-world Chernobyl Exclusion Zone that were included in the original titles.

The versimilitude and basis in real world locations was a massive part of what made the originals so great, you can’t just scrub that off. I empathize with them, and I am personally firmly on the side of Ukraine but this sits really poorly with me.

The Zone’s supernatural mysteries are layered over recognizable pieces of Soviet iconography and rusting Soviet technology is a huge part of what gives STALKER its atmospheric vibe, and the absence of beloved voice lines like “Cheeki breeki iv damke!” just feels…wrong

Yeah I’m not touching these abominations. They even removed Cheeki Breeki? The single most recognisable thing in their games, the most prevalent and beloved meme?

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

It’s not finished yet but OpenXray Gunslinger is probably going to be a better STALKER: Call of Pripyat remaster than the official one that just got announced.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

I’m just at the beginning of Act 3 of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I’ve dragged my feet doing a lot of side content and playing slowly because I sort of don’t want this game to end. For once I wish this was a standard 100-hour JRPG fare and not as relatively short as it is at probably half that.

The game is very good. What else can be said at this point. There are minor niggles and nitpicks and occasionally some AA-ness rears its head but it’s overall one of the best games I’ve ever played so far. The story is amazing, the presentation is beautiful and the turn-based combat with QTEs and parries is super fun. The boss fights are cinematic and challenging in an almost Souls-like fashion. All the characters have distinct play styles and fun synergies.

It’s also an unabashedly French game and I’m really enjoying immersing myself in that to the max by using the French VAs.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Blue Prince is such a masterpiece.

Coelacanth, miesiąc temu

Both are absolutely excellent, I ended up preferring some voices in French and some in English. For me French feels more immersive, but I grew up in a country that always used subtitles over dubs so I’m used to reading.

I’ve also just always loved french and speak and read a bit of it still so I was always going to go for that in a french game.

Coelacanth, 2 miesiące temu

Well needed to be honest. I love the original trilogy but they could do with a fresh coat of paint. I wish they’d touched up the animations too, the gunplay of the originals can feel quite… early 00’s.

Coelacanth, 2 miesiące temu

Man, reading that old 2005 PC Gamer article really brings me back to older, better and happier times of gaming journalism too. It even mentions the bundled DVD with demos, mods and goodies you’d get each month. Those really were the days.

Coelacanth, 2 miesiące temu

Not sure this is the ideal long term solution but anything that combats Discord’s status of being an absolute information black hole is good.