Messages

1301

General Chat / Re: The NBA Thread: Now with only Warriors because they won the title baby!!!2

« on: July 02, 2018, 06:31:26 PM »

It must be nice to be the Lakers, able to just give the salary cap a middle finger whenever you want & throw cash at buying any big name talent at will. -_-

1302

General Chat / Re: The NBA Thread: Now with only Warriors because they won the title baby!!!2

« on: July 01, 2018, 08:47:28 PM »

Lakers officially signed LeBron James to a four year, $154 million deal.

Next up, DeMarcus Cousins. Come on...

It takes talent to screw over the same team twice. I think he'll find carrying a team to the Finals all by himself considerably more difficult in the West than in the Leastern Conference.

1303

General Chat / Re: The NBA Thread: Now with only Warriors because they won the title baby!!!2

« on: July 01, 2018, 09:35:29 AM »

So Free Agency has officially started, and it looks like we have our first big development of it: OKC's Paul George choosing to stay with OKC, despite heavy courting from the Jazz.

OKC just dumped a ton of money into keeping a squad of veteran players who got taken out in the 1st round last year and definitely wouldn't have taken out Houston or Golden State. I can't say I understand that.

1304

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 28, 2018, 11:09:08 PM »

I just finished Captain Spirit as well, and I found it rather tedious and pointless. The checklist design of the game just emphasizes how the game is all about aimless wandering. I actually got stuck for a long time because I couldn't find one of the key items to complete Chris' costume. I had to look up online where it was because I got tired of walking through the same 3 areas in circles for an hour.

When the actual plot arrives after 2 hours of aimless, boring wandering, I just rolled my eyes because it's the obvious storyline for a single father who recently lost his wife & succumbed to alcoholism. It's so by-the-numbers & blatant it makes David Cage look subtle by comparison.

The ending teases something actually interesting happening in Life is Strange 2, which tells me nothing because that's kind of the minimum one would expect from a sequel to Life is Strange.

Meh. I like adventure games, but I like them to have a point & tempo and this really...didn't have that.

1305

Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last TV show you've seen

« on: June 28, 2018, 07:52:03 PM »

So...Double Dare's back. With Marc Summers...sort of. And it's...pretty OK.

I watched the 3 episodes that seem available at the moment, and so far the show seems to be off to a good start. The show has a good rhythm to it, Liza's an excellent host when it comes to the energy, and Marc Summers is classy as ever as the co-host/announcer.

Too bad the pilot was so terrible. Weak physical challenges based largely around water, almost no messiness, and an incredibly lame obstacle course did not start the show off well. However, there must have been some studio notes to the tune of "THIS IS DOUBLE DARE, DAMNIT!", because the slime & the muck appear in huge amounts & often in the 2nd & 3rd episodes. The obstacle course also received some alternative stops that just fit Double Dare better.

The show still has some issues. I feel like the questions are almost insultingly easy for a show that's supposed to be pushing the physical challenges, but the show has regressed a bit to 2 teams of very young children, so it makes sense. What I think is a larger issue is that it just doesn't feel like the Obstacle course was balanced well. Of the 3 teams that ran the course, 2 got stuck on one obstacle, as typical for Double Dare, and lost.
However, the 3rd was finding those flags almost as soon as they reached the obstacle, and they still didn't make it.

It feels like the obstacles might need to tweaked a bit to make them take less time to complete.

So far, so good. They even kept the running gag where all the prizes are incredibly lame until you reach the grand prize, including karaoke machines just like in the good ol' days.

1306

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Splatoon 2

« on: June 27, 2018, 10:10:00 PM »

Finally got around to finishing the Splatoon 2 Single Player.

Well...that was underwhelming compared to the 1st game's SP and ESPECIALLY compared to the Octo Expansion stages. There's just no spark of creativity in any of the stages, and the stages felt more like weapon tutorials than well-crafted, imaginative platform gauntlets. Even the Final Boss can't manage to drum up any amount of energy for what's going on.


Meh.

1307

General Chat / Re: The NBA Thread: Now with only Warriors because they won the title baby!!!2

« on: June 25, 2018, 10:24:49 PM »

Jebus, man. Those are some sour grapes.

1. Ben Simmons had a better overall year. Yeah, it was closer than anyone was expecting; Simmons still had a better year.
2. It doesn’t matter that Simmons plays in the East.
3. It also doesn’t matter that Simmons redshirted the year he was drafted. He didn’t play a single second that year. Full stop.
4. Rookie of the Year is a trash tier award. It ultimately says nothing about what a player will become or how long he’ll be in the league. Michael Carter-Williams, 2014 Rookie of the Year, was in the same draft class as Giannis Antetokounmpo and even another Jazz player, Rudy Gobert. I guess no expected them to be as good as they became, but that’s exactly my point.
5. Donovan Mitchell is a player the Jazz had no business getting for what they traded to get him. That’s worth more than some award that only matters when a player doesn’t live up to it (see: MCW again).

Sorry, but playing in the Eastern Conference taints everything for me. It's been a joke of a conference pretty much as far back as I can remember, with only 2-3 teams even remotely competitive. It enables players to pad their stats far more than you see in the Western Conference.

So yeah, there's definitely sour grapes, but I doubt he'd been anywhere near as successful if he wasn't playing against scrubs most of the year.

1308

TalkBack / Re: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Receives Support For Labo In Software Update

« on: June 25, 2018, 10:02:36 PM »

And here I thought it couldn't get any more stupid than the Wii Wheel. Silly me.

1309

General Chat / Re: The NBA Thread: Now with only Warriors because they won the title baby!!!2

« on: June 25, 2018, 09:49:51 PM »

Donovan Mitchell got robbed, and by a middling player in the Leastern Conference who's not even a Rookie, no less. 

Edit: I wish the news about these rewards was more accurately reported, as I continually saw people other than Golbert listed as winning Defensive Player of the Year, but nope! It went to Rudy Golbert. Well deserved.
Pity to lose Coach of the Year to the guy who was so terrible he's not even coach of the Raptors anymore.

1310

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 25, 2018, 06:34:46 PM »

I beat the 1st 2 bosses in Hollow Knight, and I don't much care for the game. The absolutely idiotic way the game handles its map system just makes every new area feel like you're aimlessly wandering until you find the map seller & a bench. It's Dark Souls-level of punishment without Dark Souls' more forgiving check pointing & navigation.

1311

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Splatoon 2

« on: June 24, 2018, 10:41:16 AM »

I'd gotten out of Splatoon 2 due to the upcoming $20 gate on the multiplayer & the SP just not clicking with me. However, with the Octo Expansion being completely SP content, I got back in over the last few days.

The Octo expansion stages are generally very well-done, with some exceptions. I hate the "pop all the balloons/crates before time runs out" or "defend the orb" stages because they require a degree of precision neither the Switch joycons nor Splatoon 2's controls are really designed to accommodate. I find the timer stages in general extremely stingy on the time. I cleared 2 of them with a 1/3 of a second remaining on the clock.

I managed to get all the Mem cakes, and overall I thought these shorter, bite-sized challenges fit Splatoon better than the sprawling 15-20 minute stages of the maim game.

And then the Octo Expansion suddenly thinks it's Portal 2, and it keeps going. Suddenly, Nintendo feels the need to scratch that "terrible mandatory stealth" itch they frequently get in their games. Then there's a rough boss fight that needed more checkpoints.

And then the Expansion STILL keeps on going with a final "pop the balloons" stage I would have enjoyed a lot more if this wasn't the 2nd fakeout ending the game did in the last several hours. But I beat it.

Likewise, I also completed my first Splatfest in ages, and if No Pulp doesn't win the pulpularity contest I'll be shocked. I played the game for 5 hours straight grinding through matches, and I saw MAYBE 8 Pulp Teams.

The Splatfest reminded me how exceptionally grindy Splatoon 1 & 2 are. I played  Turf War for 5 hours straight with Boosters, and I only got from Levels 4 - 9. I'm also kind of shocked how bad people still are at this game. I hadn't played Splatoon 2 in months and I was always by far the lowest leveled player on my team with the worst equipment. I didn't know these new stages.

I still averaged around 1,000 points a match and was almost always the top player on my team. And no matter how good you are, the maximum # of Splat points you can get a match is 2 if the rest of your team sucks.
 Good grief.

1312

General Chat / Re: The NBA Thread: Now with only Warriors because they won the title baby!!!2

« on: June 21, 2018, 10:27:11 PM »

The Jazz picked Grayson Allen out of Duke for their 1st round pick. I said before that the Jazz really needed another Guard, and that's exactly what they drafted. He's apparently good, but more of a defensive player than a shooter. I'm not familiar with college players, but this sounds like the right call.

1313

General Gaming / Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2010-2018

« on: June 20, 2018, 05:58:25 PM »

I saw on Twitter that GameStop had Shadow of War on sale for $20, and it's supposedly decent now that they patched out all the pay-to-win B.S. so I decided to go buy a copy. This is pretty much a transcript of what happened next. Just FYI, I had allowed my PuR card to expire since I don't really buy anything at GS anymore, opting instead for Amazon:
*She rings up the game*

"Do you want to preorder anything coming up?"

"No, there's nothing I really want the rest of the year."

"There's Red Dead Redemption 2 coming out, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, etc."


"I'm good, thanks."

"I see your membership expired back in May. Do you want to renew it?"

"No".

"It's only $15 & comes w/ a coupon."

"I'm good."

"You saved $700 last year with it."

"I'm good!"

"You would have saved $60 last month!"

"I'm fine, thanks"

*She finally rings up the sale, looking pissed*

This routine is why I don't shop at GameStop anymore, and likely why their stock is in the toilet and they're on the verge of Bankruptcy. Look at how many times I got hassled in that conversation when I came in to buy one thing and made that very much clear.
Meanwhile, I see a thing I want on Amazon, I click a few buttons, and I'm done. And probably for cheaper, too.

1314

Movies & TV / Re: Disney bought Fox: X-Men & Fantastic 4 coming home for Summer 2019!!

« on: June 20, 2018, 05:52:56 PM »

And the monopoly got larger. *sigh*

1315

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Anyone else buying the new Smash controller for actual GameCube games?

« on: June 19, 2018, 10:51:29 AM »

I have an original Wavebird and the adaptor I purchased for Smash 4, so I don't think I'll need to.

1316

Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

« on: June 16, 2018, 05:59:18 PM »

Just got out of Incredibles 2 and...that's a very OK movie...that's a follow-up to a legendary one. -_-

14 years for that? Really?

1317

General Chat / Re: The NBA Thread: Now with only Warriors because they won the title baby!!!2

« on: June 16, 2018, 12:09:04 PM »

Been some talk going around about the Jazz possibly trading for Kevin love, giving the Cavs some minor bench players (and Alec Burks) and some first round picks for him. It'd be a good trade for the Jazz since they'd give up nothing of value & Favors could be the bench backup at that position.

I dunno, though. It feels like the Jazz really need a PG (Donovan usually plays SG) and a backup center on par with Gilbert, not a PF.

1318

TalkBack / Re: E3 2018: The Year of

« on: June 14, 2018, 10:25:06 PM »

So we'll be waiting about two months.

Don't be silly.

It'll be more like 5 months.  :

1319

TalkBack / Re: E3 2018: The Year of

« on: June 14, 2018, 07:57:37 PM »

Somebody sounds grumpy! It wasn't all it could be, but there were some enjoyable points

Just wait till the E3 NFR we recorded last night goes up...

1320

TalkBack / Re: Fortnite Has Already Been Downloaded 2 Million Times on Nintendo Switch

« on: June 13, 2018, 05:49:53 PM »

Being free will do that.

1321

General Gaming / Re: How's your E3 so far?

« on: June 13, 2018, 04:56:43 PM »

I would have ranked EA second if it announced a new NBA Jam releasing by the end of the year. Even if the game used the same engine with a roster update, I wouldn’t have cared as long EA celebrated NBA Jam’s 25th anniversary. Otherwise, I didn’t give a **** about anything EA showed or announced.

Unravel 2 is very good, though, and SoS looks promising.

1322

General Gaming / Re: How's your E3 so far?

« on: June 12, 2018, 05:07:31 PM »

Smash Bros alone won E3, nothing else can even compete.

Yeah, I just can't agree with that. It's a greatest hits Smash Bros., which is cool & I'm definitely going to get it, but I didn't see anything particularly interesting or exciting about it. It's just more Smash Bros. with characters we already know + Ridley.

I found Nintendo's Direct to be pretty lackluster. It was pretty much the opposite of Sony's conference: a very strong start followed by a poor, slow as **** ending.

The new Fire Emblem looks great. Assuming they're not going to gouge us with 3 releases again, I'll check that out. Aside from that, the only other game that interested me was Smash, and they spent WAAAAAAAAY too much time going into every minute, boring detail of it. By the end, I just didn't care anymore.

Overall, I though Sony had the best content, but among the worst execution. It also had some of the worst variety of any of the conferences. Nintendo had among the best execution, but some of the weakest content (though not as bad as Square Enix). I have to split the difference and give the nod to Microsoft's 3rd party showcase + Gears for the best pacing on average with a good array of games.

1323

General Gaming / Re: How's your E3 so far?

« on: June 11, 2018, 11:21:24 PM »

So...today's conferences...

Square-Enix was a complete & total waste of time, just a collection of trailers we've already seen for games we already know along with 2 teasers for new franchises with no elaboration whatsoever.

Ubisoft was dull as hell, outside of the Donkey Kong DLC & Assassin's Creed. Why, though? Why hasn't Ubisoft learned its lesson about annualizing AC yet? -_-

Sony had a rough start with that 15 minute intermission between The Last of Us 2 & Ghost of Tsushima. However, once they got going they were just fine. The Last of Us 2, Ghosts of Tsushima, & Spider-Man look amazing. I was a big fan of Nioh last year, so I'm delighted that it's getting a sequel already.

I can't for the life of me fathom why Pirates 3 was chosen for a Kingdom Hearts world. People HATE that movie.

On a side note, what's with all the Samurai games this year? From Software's game, Tsushima, & Nioh 2 all shown off this year, 2 of them being Souls-like games.

And as a huge fan of Resident Evil 2, that remake looks fantastic...though I don't like that they clearly re-cast Claire & Leon. I could have also used an "and it's out right now!" announcement like a demo.

1324

General Gaming / Re: How's your E3 so far?

« on: June 11, 2018, 04:05:01 AM »

Outside of Tales of Vesperia DE, I haven't gotten an announcement I really wanted so far.

EA had its usual abysmal showing, though Unravel 2 being an immediate release was a nice surprise & the game is delightful.

Microsoft had a good showing...if you're willing to overlook that 95% of the games shown will be on the PS4 as well. And them buying Ninja Theory is a tragedy, IMO.

Bethesda's showing...well...I really wanted an Evil Within 2 DLC or expansion, and I didn't get it. Prey got this weird score attack mode that wasn't at all what I wanted when Arkane teased a DLC in their achievement list update. I don't care about Rage 2, Fallout 76, Starfield, or the Elder Scrolls, so most of my time with this conference was checking my watch. I wish I liked Bethesda's games more than I do, because I like their more laid-back tone.

I haven't seen Devolver's yet.

Edit: WELL...Devolver Digital's was...quite an experience once again. I don't know how I'm going to pick just one clip from that for the podcast, let alone how I'm going to edit that clip down into just 30 seconds.

1325

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 09, 2018, 01:29:39 PM »

Started playing some Vampyr last night (the latest game from the Remember Me & Life is Strange Devs), and so far I have really mixed feelings about this one. The game is kind of the embodiment of "Euro Jank": a very thoughtful & deep construction of an interesting world w/ interlocking mechanics, but it also runs like garbage."

I really dig how the different NPCs play off each other in realistic ways with interlocking relationships. If you're playing Evil, you're exploiting those relationships to add more XP to the pot those NPCs award when you decide to drain them. If you're playing what Vampire: the Masquerade deemed "the Path of Humanity", you're doing sidequests; curing citizens of their ailments; & gaining that info for miniscule XP that keeps you in the game since you're not embracing anyone. It leads to a very living world.

Unfortunately, then you get into combat, easily the worst aspect of the game. It plays like a half-assed Dark Souls, but is so easily exploitable that I'm taking out guys 14 levels higher than me simply by isolating & stun-locking. This hurts the moral choice aspect of the game because I'm not feeling tempted to drain the NPCs. I'm getting along just fine without them.

The game world is also incredibly annoying to navigate: sometimes you can bampf over to a far off platform or high ledge, and sometimes you can't for purely arbitrary reasons. The environment is also FLOODED with locked gates and doors, leading to both a great deal of frustration getting lost in the city AND hilarity because it brought back memories of running into " JAMMED!" and "WON'T BUDGE!" every 5 seconds in Clive Barker's Undying. I literally spent 1.5 hours circling through the city trying to get back to the starting location because I missed one door off to the side that was the original way I got in. And all during this, the game is easily running at sub-30 FPS with LONG load times.

Oh, and you can only spend your XP when you rest for a night in a safehouse, which doesn't sound bad until you realize that this game's world functions on a hidden timer, with NPCs dying of illness or assault unless you find & aid or cure them first. So you can do what I did last night, running around the city doing quests & racking up 4,000 XP, rest for a night so I can raise my level from 6 to 12, and then suddenly the game tells me that a citizen I never saw died of an illness during the following day, and now their story content is just gone. It's a goddamn trap.

So yeah...that's Vampyr. Now I'm looking at starting over because  trying to keep all the citizens alive my 1st play through.