crispy4000

I think there's many more games trying to say something about the nature of war, bioethics, even religion, than be intentionally political. When politics is touched on directly, it tends to adhere to whatever fantastical ('realistic') scenario and motivations the developers dream up - typically to build up a narrative, character arc and setting. These games aren't apolitical, but I might describe them as 'pop' political. They're more about a finding a creative vision to sell a product, and to galvanize a team around that. There are exceptions, but they're just that. With game reviewers and politics, I think they: - avoid talking about it (much) to prevent sharing what shouldn't be spoiled - decide to spoil things to illustrate flaws in the game's writing - provide commentary on the game's perceived political statements (or lack thereof) I'm okay with any of those, when appropriate to the game. But if the 3rd takes up too much of the review, I start to feel bad for the developer. It can feel like the game wasn't being properly evaluated for what it is. (I seem to remember a Far Cry 5 review that rubbed off on me that way) At some point, it can be like reviewing a superhero movie based on how nuanced its politics were. It's a piece of the puzzle, sure, but may not have much bearing on whether it is an enjoyable watch.

When's Marvel?

People take all sorts of games seriously, so it really shouldn't matter. I'd rather make fun of Nintendo for the ways they've failed to understand their audience for this series. Its resulted in some piss poor decisions that make no one happy, or always thinking about what could have been. For example, we all knew the game would have some fatal flaw online before they even said a word about it. And now they want to charge us extra for that. Nope.

Wouldn’t this go the opposite way too? And if the online is anything like Wii U, more items and players adds significantly more lag to online matches. Its not a good system to begin with, but Nintendo should know better than to force players into anything when the netcode can’t keep up.

Beat Yooka-Laylee. It's a pretty good time generally. As far as collect-a-thon platformers go, I'd put it below Psyconauts and Banjo, but way ahead of DK64. Overall, it delivered on its promise. The criticism is overblown, it's worth playing. Solid 8/10 game, but I'd expect to see a sequel fleshed out a lot more. I'd swap out the bigger levels for more smaller ones.

Lots going on personally this year, but managed to eek these out: Completed Xenoblade 2 Super Mario Odyssey Dragon Quest XI Yooka-Laylee Epistory: Typing Chronicles Abzu Played a bunch, didn't finish (yet) Celeste DK Returns Journey The Witness Titanfall 2

They're doing giveaways every two weeks for the next year technically. ... I got for Shadow Complex on Steam for $1 in a Humble Bundle.

Saying that different games are made for different people is kind of a cop out though. I'll absolutely play games in genres I don't traditionally gravitate towards when they review extremely well. In most genres, there's games that rise above preconceived notions of what you'd typically enjoy. I'm pretty sure Journey didn't catch this much shit, for example. There's some games that stand so far above criticism (like: Mario Galaxy 2) that it really isn't a different strokes sort of thing. Some people just haven't tried them, more or less. Tetris Effect is another interesting case. Everyone started flipping their shit over Tetris again because of visual flair. And spending $40 on a score attack puzzle game in 2018.

For a rogue-like it shouldn't be shocking. Or a bad thing. What's weird is them doing something so stereotypical after Transistor and Pyre.

Bump for Subnautica.

They actually have cloud saves. So they automatically beat Epic. (I think Epic is planning to roll that out in 2019?)

Got to play this for the first time last night. The input lag is definitely noticeable. I really want them to patch it to least be at Wii U's level. It feels like a mismatched design decision to speed the game up but make it less responsive.

That's not even the hottest take.

I'm fine with a 'boring' pretty game from time to time. There's room in this medium for it. There's definitely times when I'd rather be there for the scenery than focus on micromanaging shit. Or worse, put up with a stylish game that is designed work against fun. (Banner Saga epitomizes that for me. Viewtiful Joe is another offender.) No idea if I'd like Gris, but it doesn't seem offensive to me in the way that games with genuinely bad mechanics are.

At least Panic Button didn't waste their time on this.

Looks like even Metro cleared way for Anthem.

3DS version or Zelda Master’s Quest edition for GameCube. Which you could also play on Wii (... or Dolphin.) I loved Master’s Quest. Hardest dungeons in the series. It’s a great way to revisit the game with a novel twist.

I still need to get around to Pyre. Actually, that game might have more appeal to me on the surface. Both it and Transistor look a lot more unique to me.

When's shovel knight.

No cloud saves stings the most. Hopefully that's first on the docket for future features.

I'm not feeling it. The original game was much more vibrant and colorful than most of this, especially the on-foot sections. Combat looks more like Force Unleashed than BG&E. Dogfighting does look fun though. I had the complete opposite reaction with Psyconauts 2, which seems to do a lot more to respect its source material.

SC6 did have a crazy good Black Friday deal though, for $35. It's one of those few games where retail did significantly undercut the PC market. ... It'll be down to $30 early next year, lol.

When you say console games are cheaper, I didn’t know you weren’t referring to historical lows. Except for Black Friday, when you’ve implied the historical lows should count. My point is that PC game sales are generally better than for console games. Digital games tend to go for cheaper. Newer games tend to be cheaper. Older games tend to be cheaper. Big box games tend to be cheaper. Indie games tend to be cheaper. The bundles are better and more frequent. The times when console games are cheaper than PC historical lows are either exceptions to the norm, Black Friday deals (for only a handful of titles really), or when PC discounts don’t outpace the used game market.

Last day to get CoH2. Conan Exiles just went up for free on the Epic store.

You might dismiss the examples I give as cherry picking, but I'll go ahead and do it. I'll check console digital prices on psprices.com for the PS4. Used games, I'll use the 'complete' value on gamevaluenow.com. Retail is almost never cheaper than the ebay average, but I'll check for Black Friday listings while I'm at it. Big Box Retail (Default editions) Titanfall 2 - $5 Origin, $6 PS4 digital, $6.45 Ebay Shadow of War - $12.50 Fanatical, $30, $20 PS4 digital, $11.63 ebay, ($10 Black Friday) Doom - $6.59 on WinStore, $15 PS4 digital, $12 ebay, ($15 Black Friday) Battlefront 2 - $8 on Amazon (PC), $10 PS4 digital, $12 ebay Assassin's Creed Odyssey - $30 Uplay, $40 PS4 digital, $36.59 ebay, ($27 Black Friday) Assassin's Creed Origins - $24 Steam, $24 PS4 digital, $22.29 ebay ($25 Black Friday) Wolfenstein II - $14 on WinStore, $20 PS4 digital, $13.82 ebay ($15 Black Friday) Ni No Kuni II - $25 GameBilet, $36 PS4 digital, $25 ebay ($20 in other sales) Mad Max - $3.39 Fanatical, $8 PS4 digital, $8.41 ebay Fifa 19 - $27.00 on Gamestop (PC), $30 PS4 digital, $41.51 ebay, ($27 Black Friday) Shadow of the Tomb Raider - $30 on Steam, $30 PS4 digital, $37 ebay Rise of the Tomb Raider - $12 Winstore, $17 PS4 digital (PS4), $13 ebay Dark Souls 3 - $6 Indiegala, $15 PS4 digital, $13 ebay If you really want to save the most on console games, you'll need to resort to buying used online in most cases. Or wait for Black Friday and possibly shop in-stores for some deals. The PC has the downside of different launchers if you really want to save every penny you can. But for being all digital, PC is cheap as heck. Prices are close to if not better than console used. And for games 2+ years old, the difference can be dramatic. Plus you'll sometimes see big box games in $5-12 bundles. Occasionally putting up with different launchers (ie: manually adding their games to the Steam client) is a small price to pay for a cheap digital library. Yes, you might miss out on the handful of Black Friday console deals that cut deeper than PC historical lows. But there's always the winter PC storefront sales around the corner in December that often match or better them. Indie ... I shouldn't even have to make a list here. PS+ and XBLG are the only good argument on consoles for indie game pricing. And IMO, you can stretch that $30-50 further with PC indie bundles of your choosing.