I’ll echo what @Cynical said, and add that, as stunning a technical achievement as it is, I found it the opposite of “an amazing gameworld.” For better or worse, it’s essentially Los Angeles, and pretty much all the bad aspects of living in L.A. I really prefer a bit more escapism in my dystopia. I got too bummed out to get very far in the game (I never met Trevor), but the overall impression I got was that all I had to do was say “Fuck it,” and walk out the front door, and I could literally live out most of the game’s events in real life until the cops caught up with me and I went down in a hail of gunfire.
And as far as I was ever able to determine in the game, you can’t make any good or helpful choices. When it comes to all the unnamed NPCs, you can either completely leave them alone, fuck around with them, or murder them. You can’t help them, or even wish them a good afternoon. There’s no joy whatsoever to be found playing the game except for whatever joy is to be found in nihilism. Sure, outrunning the cops in a million-dollar car is a hoot, but plowing through pedestrians does begin to pall surprisingly soon.
And as jawdropping as the art direction in the game can be, it never looks any better than the real-life L.A. on any given Thursday. I’d so much rather play Red Dead Redemption, which is much prettier and less nihilistic.
Destiny 2’s first DLC came out today, “Curse of Osiris.” As of yesterday afternoon, I had finally managed to almost max out my character (304 out of 305 max power) without doing any PvP in the Crucible at all. No Trials of the Nine, no Iron Banner, nuthin’. And no raids either. I don’t own a working headset, so I can’t engage in the back-and-forth communication you’d need to complete the raid. I did no Nightfall strikes, and only did regular strikes maybe 4 or 5 times. I was surprised that, unline Destiny 1, it wasn’t very hard to max out a character doing only story stuff, PvE public events, and some patrols. I mean, it did take me a while, even though I started a week after the game came out, since I don’t play all that often, and I have no alt characters, just my solitary Warlock. Destiny 1 required a whole lot more grinding, and I don’t think I ever got closer than within 30 of the maximum Light available, after playing a whole lot more time than I have so far invested in the sequel. I’m glad the game isn’t as grindy now, but I do feel they may have overcorrected. If you join a clan, then you reap rewards for accomplishments the clan has achieved, whether or not you were actually in on those achievements. I’ve gotten some of my best (read: highest-powered) gear as a result of raid and Crucible work that my clanmates have done. I’ve contributed my share of XP to the clan via all my PvE work, but still, I’ve gotten rewards out of proportion to what I’ve actually earned.
Anyway, this morning I’ve been playing the DLC. So far, it’s mostly visually interesting, and there are a couple new gameplay mechanics that are a bit different. But I feel like I’m breezing through it way too easily. I know I’m going into it with a mostly maxed-out character, but I imagine so is the vast majority of the Destiny 2 playerbase now (remember, I’m not all that great at the game, and most players put a lot more time into it). I don’t like it if they make the game harder by tossing in more enemies or making them more bullet-spongey, but that’s all they seem to do in this game. The AI seems, if anything, slightly dumber than it used to be.
Anyway, it remains to be seen if the story will end up being any good. So far it’s okay. I just kinda hope I get something close to my money’s worth out of it. I suspect I won’t, since I won’t use the new Crucible maps, and so far the campaign is not what I’d call challenging.
Actually, you can. If you drive around aimlessly for awhile, just relaxing and listening to the radio, you’ll suddenly see red and blue blips and hear something like “Help! He stole my bike!” or purse or whatever. You can chase down the bad guy, recover the stolen property, and return it to its rightful owner, thus playing vigilante anarchic hero. There are also injured people on the side of the road that need a ride and things like that. And technically, the bounty hunter missions are bringing in fugitives, so that’s kind of a lawful thing to do. [ETA: you may come across robbers having a shootout with cops, and if you help the cops, they’ll thank you for the unconventional assist.]
There are also other side missions that involve helping people, although some of those are people that you wouldn’t necessarily agree with helping in real life. IIRC, that’s how you get some of the available options for people you can take on heists.
Personally I’ve rather enjoyed the story and the characters, although I haven’t completed it yet. And there are some hilarious moments. The torture scene, while a bit annoying that it’s forced on the player, is also being forced on the character (spoiler: the government makes him do it). It kind of fits/emphasizes his character’s bleak and pragmatic nature that he just accepts it as how the world works (implying that it’s how the world has treated him).
One thing that I was disappointed in is that, although there is a good story and there are those side quests and random encounters, there’s still a bit of emptiness. The city and countryside look so alive. But most of the buildings (that aren’t marked) are closed, you can’t break in, and even if you can climb up on the roof, there’s nothing there. It is annoying that most people just get offended (or scared) if you try to speak to them. Sometimes they’ll freak out and run away calling the police, who then chase you down, just because you said hello. That seems a bit bleak even for how real-life city people react to strangers.
But anyway, you can kind of play the game how you’re feeling. If you’re feeling like relaxing, you can just go hunting, play darts, ride a jet-ski around, cruise around listening to the radio and looking for people to help. If you’re in a bad mood and want to blow off steam, rob stores and go on a rampage. If you’re up to the challenge, do the main story or some side quests. Or if you just want to drive fast, do one of the street races. Some people “just drive around running over hookers and pedestrians”, but that’s by choice, nothing in the game limits you to that.
I don’t recommend online play. Although I had fun a couple of times, and I think the map is different so that you can find cool ‘secret’ shortcuts, mostly when I went on there was some griefer glitching the server and ruining things for everyone.
Glad to hear that it’s not all nihilism. I played for maybe 4 or 5 hours, but never found that kind of stuff. I did kinda enjoy the alien invasion hallucination, though.
I play two games. Fallout (3, 4, New Vegas) or The Long Dark.
They’re both post apocalyptic survival games, tho in The Long Dark, you’re alone and only have to deal with animals, or starving, or freezing to death and killing things with your rifle is really freaking hard!
But I’m eager for this months update as they are introducing something that is missing! And for a game set in the Canadian North, its quite the glaring error!
My spouse has been watching Paul Soares play through The Long Dark on his YouTube channel, and I get drawn into watching sometimes even though I’m not interested in actually playing survival games.
Its sooooo good! But honestly, I cannot imagine watching someone play this… its just… walking in snow, for hours. Granted their foley should win an award for the snow crunch alone, but I don’t get watching game play on youtube! I only go there when I’m stuck!
Best hint system in the world.
Its layered so you can see as little or as much as you need, per quest, per section.
And its all text.
I HATE trying to find a hint for a thing and all I can find are youtube videos! JUST TELL ME WHERE THE THING IS OMG NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH YOUR VIDEO STEVE SHUT UP!
Only draw back they seemed to stop updating when YouTube got popular… so I think we’re in the minority here… but if you like “older” games, its still good!
Normally I hate watching videos to learn something that could be described in two sentences. This is more like just enjoying the player’s reactions and smartass commentary, and yelling at the screen that there’s a wolf behind him he didn’t notice.
I wouldn’t have thought it would be any fun either, but like I said, she’s been watching these and I occasionally get drawn in too
She’s also enjoyed watching me play Portal, Half-Life, Bioshock, etc. and more recently, Battle Chef Brigade. Anything with a story that isn’t a long drawn-out RPG (and sometimes even then).
Several years ago I had a roommate and a friend who both refused to play Fatal Frame because it was too scary, but wanted me to play it so they could watch. I didn’t actually like playing it because I prefer WASD/mouse over a console controller for most things.
I am a Fallout / Elder Scrolls girl mostly (with some diversions like Dragon Age or Portal), but The Long Dark is on PC only, it looks, so I am out of luck. (Car needs brakes before I need a new computer. Priorities of being a grownup ). That game sounds awesome.
I’m seeking a game to play on cell phones with my husband. He likes shooter games and Farmville type things. I’m not into games all that much but have done the occasional Farmville thing as well as Candy Crush things. Something for just two players is preferred.
I was liking it well enough, and then I met a Native American character, and she started talking in this very stilted and stereotypical language, like something straight out of an old western. I’m thinking wow, not only is this the most tone-deaf dialog I’ve heard in a while, but the voice-acting is kind of awful too – way worse than anything else in the game so far. But then it turned out she was only putting on an act, playing the “noble savage” to fool my characters, and I was actually kind of delighted by the turnabout.
It’s still early, but the verdict so far is it’s a fun game if you like the genre. Very reminiscent of the first two Fallout games.
And now there’s a chicken following my party, and I’ve no idea why.
I’ve started playing Nomad. Think Rust, but free (and somehow, a memlry hog). Spent an hour foraging, only to get capped by a naked russian kid with a peashooter. 10/10.
). That game sounds awesome.
