Hmmmm, haven't been paying too much attention to what's coming this year, but for me it's FarCry 5 for sure, my personal guilty pleasure series. Really looking forward to going on a redneck rampage.
I've also heard good things about the upcoming Monster Hunter game, but whether or not I get it really depends on my brother getting it for PC (my platform of choice) or PS4. Okay, PC release is later this year, so pass for me.
And yeah, here's hoping for something along the lines of Prey again as well!
There's not much on my radar but 'Three Kingdoms: The Last Warlord | 三国志:汉末霸业' looks great to me, I loved Dynasty Tactics 2 and this has additional detail on the setting and management side of things although perhaps lacks some of the polish.
It is in early access atm but I'm not the type to buy into it half cocked, so I'll wait until it comes out sometime in 2018!
Hoping we get Sucker Punches "Ghost of Tsushima". But I'd be happy with even seeing some gameplay.
Also looking forward to Anthem, since it basically looks like an Iron Man simulator, though I'm hoping the BF2 lootcrate backlash has kept it from infesting the game too much.
Also, Warhammer 2 DLC. And God of War.
Overall I keep myself out of the video game industry these days, so it leads to some nice surprise releases.
keeping an eye on: 40K: Inquisitor, Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Vampyr.
Sort of watching for Pillars of Eternity 2, despite disliking the railroading and story telling of 1, but the rebuild of the class system and leveling UI is interesting.
Also the Pathfinder cRPG of the Kingmaker adventure, but its a kickstarter by a Russian studio of poor pedigree with a bunch of other unsourced funding (leading to questions about the kickstarter) and made a lot of eye popping promises for unrealistic mechanical systems that seem... unlikely to be finished or done well.
Hoping regardless that someone pulls another truly great RPG from somewhere.
RDR2 could go either way to be honest, I really hope it doesn't just end up as Grand Theft Horso Online and can hold up the narrative quality of the first game (while maybe filling the world with a few more interesting side activities).
I'm interested to see how Anthem does, but only to the extent that I need Bioware to have enough money to make Dragon Age 4 and not get the treatment EA just gave several other studios..
Ubisoft's Skull And Bones might be fun, it looks to be just the ship combat from Black Flag made into a multiplayer game, which has some potential.
Hopefully Arkane can put something else out, even if it's another standalone Dishonored expansion or something like that for Prey.
I'm interested to see how Anthem does, but only to the extent that I need Bioware to have enough money to make Dragon Age 4 and not get the treatment EA just gave several other studios..
What studios, specifically?
Loki wrote:
Also looking forward to Anthem, since it basically looks like an Iron Man simulator, though I'm hoping the BF2 lootcrate backlash has kept it from infesting the game too much.
I really wish people would get off chomping at that bit whilst ignoring Actiblizzard's nonsense.
With that said, the little information we have regarding Anthem points towards it being more similar to Destiny than BF2. We know there are loot drops in the world at the very least but beyond that...we know the game is called Anthem, the suits are called Javelins, and I can have a sweet sweet mortar.
I'm interested to see how Anthem does, but only to the extent that I need Bioware to have enough money to make Dragon Age 4 and not get the treatment EA just gave several other studios..
What studios, specifically?.
Visceral being pulled off their SW project and shut down, specifically, and to a certain extent the closing down of Bioware Montreal (and Mass Effect as a whole) after Andromeda under-performed (largely due to EA rushing them to publish, a few more months in development and I think the reception would have been far kinder). If Anthem doesn't emerge as a proper Destiny-killer and pull a significant share of that target audience, I can see EA severely restricting Bioware's main studio or just ditching them entirely...to be honest I'm amazed DICE is still intact after the BF2 mess (arguments aside, the sheer level of bad press from that can't be ignored).
I'm interested to see how Anthem does, but only to the extent that I need Bioware to have enough money to make Dragon Age 4 and not get the treatment EA just gave several other studios..
What studios, specifically?
Loki wrote:
Also looking forward to Anthem, since it basically looks like an Iron Man simulator, though I'm hoping the BF2 lootcrate backlash has kept it from infesting the game too much.
I really wish people would get off chomping at that bit whilst ignoring Actiblizzard's nonsense.
With that said, the little information we have regarding Anthem points towards it being more similar to Destiny than BF2. We know there are loot drops in the world at the very least but beyond that...we know the game is called Anthem, the suits are called Javelins, and I can have a sweet sweet mortar.
You mean call of duty or Overwatch?
Call of Duty is pretty bad, but Overwatch is just cosmetics, so meh. Considering that the DLCs have all been free, I dont think cosmetic boxes are too egregious.
I'm interested to see how Anthem does, but only to the extent that I need Bioware to have enough money to make Dragon Age 4 and not get the treatment EA just gave several other studios..
What studios, specifically?.
Visceral being pulled off their SW project and shut down, specifically, and to a certain extent the closing down of Bioware Montreal (and Mass Effect as a whole) after Andromeda under-performed (largely due to EA rushing them to publish, a few more months in development and I think the reception would have been far kinder). If Anthem doesn't emerge as a proper Destiny-killer and pull a significant share of that target audience, I can see EA severely restricting Bioware's main studio or just ditching them entirely...to be honest I'm amazed DICE is still intact after the BF2 mess (arguments aside, the sheer level of bad press from that can't be ignored).
Visceral and BioWare Montreal wasn't a "just gave" thing.
Most of BW Montreal and Visceral's staff had been moved over to Motive some time ago.
Call of Duty is pretty bad, but Overwatch is just cosmetics, so meh. Considering that the DLCs have all been free, I dont think cosmetic boxes are too egregious.
While Overwatch has "all free DLCs" and cosmetic boxes, they also have the absolute most abusive system imaginable with a loot pool that is so obscenely bloated that it's a wonder anyone gets anything relating to their 'holiday events'. Not to mention that the only way to get credits to buy specific skins is to (shock! horror!) get lootboxes!
COD on the other hand, when I stopped playing with Infinite Warfare, was literally what people were crying about Battlefront being; pay to win. Buy lootboxes and get weapons with special perks that let you add normal attachments to them as well.
On the flipside of things, BF2 actually had things set up so that you could get enough credits realistically from campaign and arcade play to obtain at least one or two of the higher end characters and get enough crafting materials/cards to get yourself to a reasonable spot.
TLoU 2 miiiiiiight get an Xmas release this year, and that would be just swell.
Far Cry 5 is almost guaranteed an auto-get. I recently re-played FC4 and remembered just how much fun it was. If FC5's big bad is even half as delicious as Pagan Min it will be great.
Otherwise, I'm cautiously stoked for RDR2 and Days Gone.
I'm not interested in Anthem, but I really hope it does gangbusters so BioWare can make another excellent Dragon Age game like Origins or Inquisitor. The DA game should be amazing as they have now had a few years to polish the Frostbite engine that was brand new and was still being developed concurrently with Inquisition.
Paradigm wrote: If Anthem doesn't emerge as a proper Destiny-killer and pull a significant share of that target audience
It doesn't need to be a Destiny killer. That has pretty much fizzled out under its own lack of content and bizarre business decisions.
It does need to be amazing to justify pulling further away from their core audience and doing generic shooter schlock.
It's been a long downhill slide from Baldur's Gate, and even the best of DA and ME (the 2s in both cases in my opinion) were rough and unfinished for being so rushed. Andromeda had potential, but it was squandered by turning it quickly from an exploration RPG to a shooter with a bland Big Bad, and then abandoned by the corporate idiots.
Honestly, I was referring to BF2 because it's another EA game. I'm not forgiving any other publishers, but EA have already stated they want to push Anthem as a 'live service' game with 'uncapped monetisation', which reeks of 'paid loot crates'.
Anthem, Battletech, Mechwarrior 5 (silently praying for no microtransactions), Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and Vampyr.
I've already seen Battletech in action and am SUPER impressed with what Harebrained Schemes has done with the IP - the wonders you can do when you take the time to research your game's history! Mechwarrior 5 looks gorgeous but it's PGI we're talking about here, so I'm waiting to see if they nickle and dime the entire title with various 'content' releases.
And surprisingly, Vampyr. I generally shy away from vampire related stuff because I find that medium to be annoying to read/play, but this game looks pretty good overall. We'll have to wait and see.
Frankenberry wrote: Anthem, Battletech, Mechwarrior 5 (silently praying for no microtransactions), Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and Vampyr.
I've already seen Battletech in action and am SUPER impressed with what Harebrained Schemes has done with the IP - the wonders you can do when you take the time to research your game's history!
Well, it helps to have Jordan Weisman as the head of the company: one of the founding creators of FASA, the tabletop game, and the head of FASA Interactive (and thus responsible for the first several battletech/mechwarrior games).
My only gripe with the new BT game is they got someone else to do the writing, and the company dropship is a non-canon piece of nonsense. For one thing, its a lostech dropship that can't land (and thus... isn't a dropship by definition), but still requires a separate jumpship and dropships.
Mechwarrior 5 looks gorgeous but it's PGI we're talking about here, so I'm waiting to see if they nickle and dime the entire title with various 'content' releases.
Eh. I was pretty underwhelmed by the gameplay video they put out for MW5. The animations were janky to non-existent (except the Shadow Hawk's cannon, right by the cockpit), and the graphics were... fairly indifferent (the building textures and transition to the 'damaged' skin was outright awful).
I played pretty much all the MW games when I was younger, but this.. eh. Just not terribly impressed or enthused by it.
And surprisingly, Vampyr. I generally shy away from vampire related stuff because I find that medium to be annoying to read/play, but this game looks pretty good overall. We'll have to wait and see.
Same. I usually find vampires tiresome, but this looks intriguing. That they were willing to delay it for 6 months struck me as a good sign, rather than rush out a buggy mess.
Eh I guess it could be taken that way but it just seemed to be referring to how EA has treated studios they have acquired. In this instance recently means several years and not just a few months.
The statement, and yours as well, didn't say that only companies shutdown by EA counted nor was that claim made so the fact that Criterion Games growth seems to have been negatively impacted does actually matter even if it wasn't shutdown. I'm trying to imagine being ok with Bioware being relegated to just handling parts of other peoples games and seeing that as positive growth for them.
Visceral and Bioware Montreal both closed in the last year. That's not a long time in game development, and as illustrated by Ahtman, represents the continuation of EA's treatment of even slightly underperforming studios. Yes, the staff were moved, but that still means the studios aren't actually working on their own projects anymore.
BW Montreal were shut based on the 'failure' of Andromeda, their first full title weighed down with ridiculous expectation, instead of being given the chance to learn and improve with a sequel. That's a fairly cutthroat attitude.
Paradigm wrote: Visceral and Bioware Montreal both closed in the last year. That's not a long time in game development, and as illustrated by Ahtman, represents the continuation of EA's treatment of even slightly underperforming studios. Yes, the staff were moved, but that still means the studios aren't actually working on their own projects anymore.
Saying a studio was shut down means that the staff are gone and no longer working with the company.
Many of Visceral's staff left during the development of Ragtag, the game had a great many snags with Frostbite, etc etc.
Also they made Battlefield: Hardline so pretty sure we dodged a bullet with Visceral being shuttered.
BW Montreal were shut based on the 'failure' of Andromeda, their first full title weighed down with ridiculous expectation, instead of being given the chance to learn and improve with a sequel. That's a fairly cutthroat attitude.
That's not actually true.
BioWare Montreal was merged with EA Motive.
BioWare Montreal was also literally formed to assist BioWare Edmonton when necessary. Prior to Andromeda, they strictly did DLC for Mass Effect.
The idea that they weren't "given the chance to learn and improve with a sequel" while most of the staff are still working at EA Motive or were brought into Edmonton is asinine garbage.
I disagree. Bioware Montreal were given Andromeda as their first full game, forced to release it before it was finished (had the fully patched version been the initial release the reaction world be far less hostile) then denied them any opportunity to continue as a studio . The staff are at Motive or wherever, but Bioware Montreal as a studio no longer exists, had any of its prospects to develop a future project removed based on a single under performing title and is a casualty of EA's treatment of development studios.
If those staff at Motive were working on Andromeda 2 you'd have a point, but as it stands, Montreal as a development team was killed by EA. Sticking them onto a different project in a different studio is means that studio as a creative entity is gone. They weren't even given the chance to complete the work on Andromeda's DLC and had to finish it as a book. That pretty much demonstrates that the move to other studios was a reaction by EA to a single perceived failure, not a move that was planned long in advance. EA have proven they react harshly to studios who aren't massively successful, which is why I worry for Bioware if Anthem doesn't explode in popularity.
Paradigm wrote: I disagree. Bioware Montreal were given Andromeda as their first full game, forced to release it before it was finished (had the fully patched version been the initial release the reaction world be far less hostile)
Cite an actual source. No Jimquisition garbage.
then denied them any opportunity to continue as a studio . The staff are at Motive or wherever, but Bioware Montreal as a studio no longer exists, had any of its prospects to develop a future project removed based on a single under performing title and is a casualty of EA's treatment of development studios.
Yes, because one title is the benchmark for EA shuttering a studio.
That's why Westwood pumped out how many C&C Generals games before they finally got taken out Old Yeller style?
If those staff at Motive were working on Andromeda 2 you'd have a point, but as it stands, Montreal as a development team was killed by EA. Sticking them onto a different project in a different studio is means that studio as a creative entity is gone. They weren't even given the chance to complete the work on Andromeda's DLC and had to finish it as a book. That pretty much demonstrates that the move to other studios was a reaction by EA to a single perceived failure, not a move that was planned long in advance. EA have proven they react harshly to studios who aren't massively successful, which is why I worry for Bioware if Anthem doesn't explode in popularity.
Mass Effect, period, has been put on the shelf as a brand.
You can pretend that this was some kind of slight aimed strictly at Montreal, but given that you don't know their contracts or anything like that? You're working purely off supposition and your own colored perception of EA.
Paradigm wrote: I disagree. Bioware Montreal were given Andromeda as their first full game, forced to release it before it was finished (had the fully patched version been the initial release the reaction world be far less hostile)
Cite an actual source. No Jimquisition garbage.
The source is the game. When it released it had some extremely visible bugs and glitches that pretty much turned the internet against it overnight. Those bugs are pretty much all gone by around August last year (I think. Whenever the last patch came out). Given that the reception of the game was coloured so significantly by those bugs, it stands to reason that if it had released without them (ie. the studio had had the few months to fix it they clearly needed) the reception would be more positive.
Mass Effect, period, has been put on the shelf as a brand.
You can pretend that this was some kind of slight aimed strictly at Montreal, but given that you don't know their contracts or anything like that? You're working purely off supposition and your own colored perception of EA.
That proves what I'm trying to say. Between Mass Effect (one of the most beloved and popular franchises in gaming) being put on ice on the basis of a single bad game (despite more clearly being planned during development, either a sequel or at least a story DLC or two), and Visceral's SW game (one of the most popular franchises in anything ever) getting 'pivoted; or whatever the term they used was, it's clear EA basically has a no-tolerance policy towards anything that doesn't go 100% successfully and would sooner just cut their losses than take a risk or try to improve. In both cases, studios were closed as creative entities, and future games were either cancelled or postponed to an undisclosed point in the future.
Which is why I worry that if Anthem isn't a massive hit, Bioware and Dragon Age will suffer the same fate. DA has nothing to do with Anthem, but if Anthem does poorly, there's evidence to suggest Bioware's main studios will suffer the same fate as Montreal and Visceral. I have the same worry about Respawn now Titanfall is owned by EA. If TF3 does badly, Respawn will be done and before long, EA will be left with only The Sports: The Year That It Is and Battlefield.
I like a lot of the games EA produce, I think a lot of their studios have done/are doing some fantastic work, but EA as a publisher consistently come across as particularly greedy, reactionary and demanding and do not take kindly to even slight 'failure'... And yes, you could say that about Activision or Warner or many others, but ultimately, I focus here on EA as their games are the ones I have a vested interest in playing. The fate of a CoDdev team under Activision is not something I really care about as I haven't played a CoD in about a decade. EA, meanwhile, are behind several of my favorite ongoing franchises (DA, ME, Battlefield, Star Wars) so on a purely personal and selfish level, their treatment of studios concerns me as it threatens the future of the games I want to play.
Back to the topic, is there any chance of Cyberpunk 2077 coming out in 2018? I know CDPR haven't said anything more than 'we'll release it when it's ready', but it's been in development for quite a while now. At the very least, hopefully we'll get some more info on exactly what kind of game they're building there.
No release date is known for for Cyberpunk yet, aside from their version of "When it's done, it's done", but unlike 3D Realms, this shouldn't be a worrying promise.
Aside from that one teaser nothing is known, not even the official site is giving anything away as of right now. I am not a fan of the Witcher franchise, but I do have high hopes for C2077 and I'm sure they'll do the property right by giving it the same level of polish as their previous titles.
Back to the topic, is there any chance of Cyberpunk 2077 coming out in 2018? I know CDPR haven't said anything more than 'we'll release it when it's ready', but it's been in development for quite a while now. At the very least, hopefully we'll get some more info on exactly what kind of game they're building there.
All we've got right now are the teaser trailer, and a more recent assurance (within the last year, iirc) that it's still being worked on. CDPR is working on that, and another unnamed title, and has been quite close mouthed about the progress on both.
I would guess that we'll finally start to see info on it again when it's about six months out from release.
I could live with that. To be honest I'd rather be 'hooked' by a game's marketing then be able to buy it a few months later than have a load of info come out but not be able to actually buy and play anything for ages, so if they want to sit on all the actual details until it's almost done then that's fine by me. And if I'm being honest, whenever they get around to announcing anything I probably still won't have finished Witcher 3 anyway so there's no rush!
That said, it's been almost 5 years since the teaser now... Surely it can't be that far out...
That said, it's been almost 5 years since the teaser now... Surely it can't be that far out...
Late this year, or early next, I would imagine. If nothing else, CD Projekt Red has to pay the bills. The company can't go *too* long between game releases if they don't want to go bankrupt.
Actually, CD Project Red got a massive grant from the Polish government for developing some interesting stuff, so they can quite happily take as long as they need to getting things just right.
If there’s one PC game I’m genuinely excited about playing in 2018 it’s Necromunda, especially if they do the campaign justice, and include the Outlander gangs, even if as DLC later on. If it’s done right I’m hoping it will scratch the XCom itch, 40K style.
I haven’t played the Mordheim PC game (same developers) but from what I hear the feedback seems to be mostly positive. Hopefully they can build on what they learnt there.
El Torro wrote: If there’s one PC game I’m genuinely excited about playing in 2018 it’s Necromunda, especially if they do the campaign justice, and include the Outlander gangs, even if as DLC later on. If it’s done right I’m hoping it will scratch the XCom itch, 40K style.
I haven’t played the Mordheim PC game (same developers) but from what I hear the feedback seems to be mostly positive. Hopefully they can build on what they learnt there.
Hopefully they spent a lot of time learning. Mordheim was... pretty bad. Mechanical changes that largely made the game worse, terrible UI, mediocre graphics, half-hearted animations.
El Torro wrote: If there’s one PC game I’m genuinely excited about playing in 2018 it’s Necromunda, especially if they do the campaign justice, and include the Outlander gangs, even if as DLC later on. If it’s done right I’m hoping it will scratch the XCom itch, 40K style.
I haven’t played the Mordheim PC game (same developers) but from what I hear the feedback seems to be mostly positive. Hopefully they can build on what they learnt there.
Hopefully they spent a lot of time learning. Mordheim was... pretty bad. Mechanical changes that largely made the game worse, terrible UI, mediocre graphics, half-hearted animations.
I think people are letting the license blind them to the fact that most Warhammer games are, practically speaking, indie titles. These guys aren't Creative Assembly or Relic, and while I had issues with Mordheim I don't think you can hold it to the same standard as the "big budget" stuff - compared to other PC games of a similar scale made by devs of a similar size, Mordheim was a pretty typical experience.
Indeed, it absolutely was typical, most warhammer licensed games are awful. That isn't a blinder, that's more of a reason to be worried about Necromunda.
But that doesn't excuse how absolutely awful the animations and UI were. Any idiot these days can pick up a Unity kit and start with better defaults than their finished end product.
Voss wrote: Indeed, it absolutely was typical, most warhammer licensed games are awful. That isn't a blinder, that's more of a reason to be worried about Necromunda.
But that doesn't excuse how absolutely awful the animations and UI were. Any idiot these days can pick up a Unity kit and start with better defaults than their finished end product.
Obviously I disagree, you're vastly overstating how bad it is. Is it Dawn of War, TWWH, or even Space Marine? No, but it's hardly on the same level as the various garbage shovelware and mobile games that have come out using GW licenses - it's a flawed game but there's fun to be had. Then again I happily go back and play KotOR and Mass Effect and the original two Fallouts despite them all apparently having the worst UI's ever to affront the human eye according to some.
Eh. I was pretty underwhelmed by the gameplay video they put out for MW5. The animations were janky to non-existent (except the Shadow Hawk's cannon, right by the cockpit), and the graphics were... fairly indifferent (the building textures and transition to the 'damaged' skin was outright awful).
I played pretty much all the MW games when I was younger, but this.. eh. Just not terribly impressed or enthused by it.
PGI has got to be at the top of my list for developers so bad at game development I just want them not making games anymore. MWO has been a long roller coaster of horrible business decisions, pissing all over your player base, incompetent technical work, and promises that were never kept. I think out of a list of a dozen odd items originally promised for MWO way back in 2010 or 2011 less than half of it has found it's way into MWO as of 2018, and what did get in is not remotely like what was originally described. I looked at the feature list for MW5 and my sense of deja vu was quite strong.
As a guy very familiar with who is making MW5, I can assure you of five things.
1) Russ will promise you the best sounding game you've ever heard of
2) Russ will never deliver that game
3) Russ will say it's your fault
4) You'll ask how is it my fault?
5) Russ will hold out his hand, demand more money, and tell you you just aren't as big a Battletech fan as he is
I don't know, if it's at E3 this year I'd expect a Q1 2019 release at the latest. Their exact words:
"We're impressed with Fallout 4's rollout. [Bethesda] came on stage and said, 'It's here, it's real, and it's coming out on this date.' We're going to wait [to reveal Cyberpunk 2077] until we can show off a very meaningful piece of it."
So if it's on show and there's anything playable, it'll be out no more than 6-9 months afterwards, I reckon. Their plans seems to be to wait until the vast majority of the work is done, then show it all off in one go rather than stringing people along with tidbits and hints for months on end.
Eh. I was pretty underwhelmed by the gameplay video they put out for MW5. The animations were janky to non-existent (except the Shadow Hawk's cannon, right by the cockpit), and the graphics were... fairly indifferent (the building textures and transition to the 'damaged' skin was outright awful).
I played pretty much all the MW games when I was younger, but this.. eh. Just not terribly impressed or enthused by it.
PGI has got to be at the top of my list for developers so bad at game development I just want them not making games anymore. MWO has been a long roller coaster of horrible business decisions, pissing all over your player base, incompetent technical work, and promises that were never kept. I think out of a list of a dozen odd items originally promised for MWO way back in 2010 or 2011 less than half of it has found it's way into MWO as of 2018, and what did get in is not remotely like what was originally described. I looked at the feature list for MW5 and my sense of deja vu was quite strong.
As a guy very familiar with who is making MW5, I can assure you of five things.
1) Russ will promise you the best sounding game you've ever heard of
2) Russ will never deliver that game
3) Russ will say it's your fault
4) You'll ask how is it my fault?
5) Russ will hold out his hand, demand more money, and tell you you just aren't as big a Battletech fan as he is
What in don't get about MW5 is it should be easy. Yeah, they'll need to craft a bunch of sole player scenarios, and do the work on changing the briefings and campaign stuff, but the gameplay, animations and assets should just be moved directly from MWO. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding how terrible MWO is art-wise, it instead looks like for MW5 they started over with an early 2000s era code base from MW4.
The art is one of the few things in MWO I feel can't be faulted. Other than some... bizarre decisions made with some angles for a few arms/legs (how the feth did they make the Uziel ugly?) the mech design in MWO is pretty great. Their art team does a much better job than the rendering team but it's not bad. I have no idea why seemingly threw out some of those assets in what they've shown for MW5, but that's the kind of bizarre pants on head decision making that kind of defines PGI.
Yeah, that's what I thought. I rather like the redesigns Harebrained are using for the new Battletech game, and they came through a deal with PGI, basically using the models and animations from MWO.
They nicely consistent and far better than the mix of terrible line art and er, 'borrowed' anime mecha that the PnP game started with.
I'm looking forward to Anthem. Other than that, I'm not sure. I haven't really been clued in to any big releases this year, but that's also because I've been avoiding the various hype and anti-hype machines on the internet.
I can't bring myself to feel any excitement for Anthem at all. Even setting aside the potential issues brought up by Battlefront 2 around the business model, it's just not the kind of game I want to see coming out of Bioware. Not that the name really means anything anymore, they're just another EA sub-studio these days, but I do miss the time when the Bioware logo at the start of a game meant you were about to begin a top-notch character driven story RPG.
Voss wrote: Sounds like you're hooked into the hype machine for one of the big deal releases this year.
Not really. I just hope it's good. I need more good sci-fi games, and to be honest, the AAA game industry is just not interested in that. They want minimal effort for maximum profit, rather than desiring to make good games for its own sake and earn money as a result.
I suppose. I just suspect that Anthem is either going to be the #1 hyped product for the year or...they're basically admitting in advance that they expect a disappointment.
Its just such a departure from what bioware represents to their customer base, but at the same time just another fairly boring shooter with the 'oh but you can fly' gimmick shown off by titanfall and whichever Call of Battlefield did the Space thing. After letting EA tank mass effect, Anthem has to be hyper-amazing and advertised as such to justify its existence.
Yeah, just saw that. Good riddance. There is also some talk about dragon age 4 being more character focused, but no idea what they mean by that. But it seems a long way out regardless.
On the other hand, the official release date for pillars of eternity 2 is apparently April 3rd, which seems ridiculously early from what I've seen/heard about the backer beta. The class system rework looks like it needs quite a few more iterations.
Voss wrote: Yeah, just saw that. Good riddance. There is also some talk about dragon age 4 being more character focused, but no idea what they mean by that. But it seems a long way out regardless.
Bet you a grand it means they're going to go back to the DA2 template and crank it up to eleven - Dragon Age IV: Totally Not Just Linear Witcher 3 Honest Guv.
I mean, technically that's kind of listening to the fans saying they wish they'd go back to the older style rather than the pseudo-MMO setup of DA3, but as with their "fix" for the ME3 ending they seem to have sailed right past the actual point
I'd be happy with a da2 approach- aside from random encounter/abomination spam in act 3 and the terrible boss fights (which they insist on in every game), it was the best by far for a coherent story.
I've been watching too many game videos.. my youtube is loaded with like 17 different vloggers repeating the same doom n gloom about insert_ea_game_here.
I hope Anthem will be good, but I would rather wait and hope the extra time means it'll be great. What I think I'm looking forward to more right now is Cyberpunk, but I think that's gonna be a long wait too.
Yeah, something in the vein of DA2 would be fine, I just finished playing it again and once you look past the repeated dungeons and reused assets, the narrative structure is really quite unique and excellent.. Keep the more open and varied environments to explore from Inqusition but dial back on the fetch quests which are nothing more than a text box and an pile of loot, but rather than each area having its own 'main quest', tie them all together with a few overlapping plot threads that span multiple locales and styles.
Act 2 of DAI where you have the Mage/Templar tensions, Isabela's story, the Qunari presence and the murder investigation all running concurrently but all coming together very nicely is probably a better way of doing in than DAI's approach, where completing the main quest for, say, The Hissing Wastes, really has no impact on actually moving the story forward. Don't get me wrong, I having massive open areas to explore is a massive draw, but keep them relevant to the main plot. The fact that there's entire world maps on Inquisition you can entirely ignore while still finishing the main story (providing you can farm Power elsewhere to keep the main questline going) is probably something that could be remedied.
Andromeda did it better, I think. Not as many worlds, but all of them were relevant to the larger storyline and/or character quests, so there was little chance you'd miss them and you were always rewarded for 'completing' a world with significant progress.
I also wouldn't mind seeing the Act structure from DA2 make a return. It fits so perfectly with the Bioware formula, jumping forward a few years at multiple points in the game really provides a great way to let the player see the full impact of their choices in the previous act, and makes Kirkwall a living, breathing setting far more vivid than the reused locations and NPCs would suggest.
My issue with DA2 was more the style of the gameplay than the story structure(that and the awful asset reuse thanks to the compressed development timescale EA forced them on to).
Taken entirely on its own, the DA:Origins plot wasn't really anything that special. It had a few interesting elements, but it was no Planescape: Torment or anything(the Awakening DLC was more interesting in that regard). That's true of all the Dragon Age games though, even DA2 with its more experimental story structure. What elevated DA:O for me above the others were the worldbuilding, the mechanics, and how those mechanics were used to enhance the basic storyline.
Getting rid of the whole origins mechanic in favour of a single, fixed, voiced protagonist was the first issue I had with DA2. Then there were the changes to how combat worked, how character development worked, and how equipment worked, all pushing the game away from the "like the isometric RPGs you loved as a kid, but with modern graphics and camera controls" basic pitch that made DA:O so appealing. There are tons of fantasy-ish action games out there, that's not what I wanted when I picked up a Bioware game.
As I say though, that doesn't really mean anything anymore, "Bioware" is just a brand name harvested by EA to lend some sense of history to projects that don't really share anything with that history.
Ahtman wrote: Apparently Anthem has been pushed back to early 2019 so no need to even worry much about it atm.
Even when they revealed it last year, they said "Fall 2018" was being VERY optimistic.
True, that's not a very big timescale. I'd really rather them take more time to finish it and do it right.
I mean we all remember Andromeda... I actually kinda liked it in spite of its flaws, but I really wish they had been given more time to polish and bugfix it.
I felt the YouTubr/critic campaign against andromeda was a bit off. Other than the eye desync, I ran into no problems with the game.
My biggest complaint was how quickly it switched from exploration/discovery to fedex quests and 'kill the Orc Horde,' with yet another unavoidable and mindnumbingly boring bioware boss battle
It just went into full release this week, so I'm looking forward to playing the finished version of Subnautica now. Gotta finish Xenoblade Chronicles 2, first, though.
Voss wrote: I felt the YouTubr/critic campaign against andromeda was a bit off. Other than the eye desync, I ran into no problems with the game.
My biggest complaint was who quickly it switched from exploration/discovery to fedex quests and 'kill the Orc Horde,' with yet another unavoidable and mindnumbingly boring bioware boss battle
I enjoyed it the most of the Mass Effect games since the original and also thought the backlash because of a graphical "problem" that frankly I didn't even notice until it was pointed out(the protagonist has a slight smirk?!?! THE HORRORZ ) was ludicrously overblown, and most of the rest of the complaints were about reasons I liked the game - they seemed to be expecting another braindead Big Hero Punchy Men narrative in the ME2&3 mold, and when they got a badly executed proper sci-fi story more along the lines of the original they were more angry about the type of story than its execution.
I'm not blind to its flaws, of course, I've never bothered to finish it because the villain race was pretty dull compared to the Reapers even after the "big reveal", but I got plenty of mileage out of the exploration, "dungeons", sidequests, & companion quests, and just doing those and main plot missions when they made sense I got a solid 40 or so hours from the game.
It was certainly better than Illusive Man Fanclub 1 & 2, for my money.
New one I've been looking at, and sad I missed the beta for, is Sea of Thieves. But I mostly play solo, seems like a game that requires friends or at least a team that communicates. Still looks fun though.
Necros wrote: New one I've been looking at, and sad I missed the beta for, is Sea of Thieves. But I mostly play solo, seems like a game that requires friends or at least a team that communicates. Still looks fun though.
Sadly, it is apparently not available for play on Windows XP. Only Windows 10.
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SickSix wrote: Honestly, right now the only thing I know is coming that I am excited for is Subnautica DLC!
Oh right, Subnautica got released. What's going to be in the DLC?
Necros wrote: New one I've been looking at, and sad I missed the beta for, is Sea of Thieves. But I mostly play solo, seems like a game that requires friends or at least a team that communicates. Still looks fun though.
Sadly, it is apparently not available for play on Windows XP. Only Windows 10.
I figure there's a slim chance it'll happen, but Lost Ark coming to the west would be nice - but as the game is still in pre-launch (closed beta, if memory serves), the likelihood of seeing it is pretty slim.
Just a few more days until the release of Far Cry 5, I've been avoiding a lot of the surrounding hype and trailers in the last few weeks, to keep things as spoiler free as possible.
So far though, 2018 has brought us Vermintide 2, most excellent and something I have high hopes for as the devs continue to release more content for it.
There's also Deep Rock Galactic, while not as great as I had hoped, it does play nicely when in coop.
BrookM wrote: Just a few more days until the release of Far Cry 5, I've been avoiding a lot of the surrounding hype and trailers in the last few weeks, to keep things as spoiler free as possible.
Been doing the same for about a year now.
Weirdly not hyped for it as much as I thought I would be. Kind of worried it will be more of the same in some regards, which is fine of course, I've loved the franchise but the repetition of certain mechanics gets old. If there's a series of psychedelic/dream world missions with their own weird mechanics, I'll probably turn it off. Its fine in moderation (like real drugs!!!) but they just take it to a bothersome level where it feels like a chore.
Yeah, it is repetition, but the series is a personal guilty pleasure of mine.
The game did receive some flak for having you kill Americans instead of brown people or Canadians (two actual suggestions proposed as alternative acceptable baddies by people upset by the premises), but we'll see, the Far Cry games are only as good as their bad guys in my opinion. What made Far Cry 3 was Vaas (and why the game took a nose dive halfway through..) and what made Far Cry 4 was Mihn, not blandy shooty dude protagonist or the freedom fighters who try to teach you morality 101.
I will cry foul if they include a drug scene. Maybe they'll replace the drugs with extra strong moonshine or something?
But at least we're not a whiny douchebag this time around, it'll be interesting to see what kind if character creation options are available.
BrookM wrote: So far though, 2018 has brought us Vermintide 2, most excellent and something I have high hopes for as the devs continue to release more content for it.
How is that compared to the first one? I have the first, but haven't g otten the second one yet-- none of my usual friends play it.
BrookM wrote: So far though, 2018 has brought us Vermintide 2, most excellent and something I have high hopes for as the devs continue to release more content for it.
How is that compared to the first one? I have the first, but haven't g otten the second one yet-- none of my usual friends play it.
It has an improved loot system. No more pissy dice rolling and getting items or weapons for other classes. If you complete a map you get a loot box, which can be upgraded through loot dice and tomes found throughout the map, as with the first game. Only now the amount of dice and tomes found flat out upgrades your loot box from peasant level to well, anything better than that. You can also hoard loot boxes and open them with another character, giving you stuff for that class instead, which is nice if you've grinded the Elf, but want to play the Mage next, but boost her with some loot first before jumping in.
Each character now also has three classes, the starting class being what they were the previous game, with two more unlocked at certain levels, taking the characters in completely different directions.
It's also significantly cheaper than the first one, though they are going to pull a Payday 2 on this one and keep the game supported through DLC maps and expansions, which IMHO is not a bad thing as €27,99 is a steal for this game.
Other than that, the same satisfying crunchy melee combat, chaos thrown in for more diversity in opponents, nice and big maps with loads of diversity in there, it's a good game.
Warriors Orochi 4 has been announced, and is expected to be out sometime late this year. It's a guilty pleasure that takes *all* of the characters from the two flagship musou games (Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors), gives them an excuse plot (the Chinese fox spirit, Dah-Ji, has merged the Three Kingdoms and Sengoku Jidai eras of China and Japan respectively, and unleashed the ancient Japanese demon Orochi on the inhabitants) and then tosses in some other odds and ends characters for good measure (DOA characters, for instance, since Koei-Tecmo owns that series, plus other surprises such as Joan of Arc from Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War). Unfortunately, nothing is known about the game at this point aside from the fact that it's supposed to be released before the end of the year.
I also learned that there is apparently a Gundam game that's somewhat similar in idea to the Gundam Build Fighters series. You beat enemies, and they drop parts that you can use to customize your mobile suit. And the fourth game - due out this June - will be the first to get an international release. Might be worth checking out.
BattleTech looks to be great, plus one of it's main guys is Mitch Gleitman the main guy from Mechcommander 1 and 2, and I trust him.
Also, now that WB have removed all microtransactions/lootboxes from Shadow of War, I look forward to the inevitable GOTY edition that packs every bit of exploitative DLC into a single package. Then I can buy it on sale.
Just found out that Shadow of the Tomb Raider is coming out late this year, wahey! Totally slipped under my radar, so there's something to look forward to again.
Paradigm wrote: I disagree. Bioware Montreal were given Andromeda as their first full game, forced to release it before it was finished (had the fully patched version been the initial release the reaction world be far less hostile) then denied them any opportunity to continue as a studio . The staff are at Motive or wherever, but Bioware Montreal as a studio no longer exists, had any of its prospects to develop a future project removed based on a single under performing title and is a casualty of EA's treatment of development studios.
The reason Andromeda was released before it was finished was due to gross mismanagement by the developer.
They failed to focus the vision early enough and so wasted an incredible amount of time on stuff that didn't work.
Ohh! State of Decay 2 comes out this month(22nd) as well.
I enjoyed the first one much more than I thought I would. I lovehated how it let you build characters to be badasses yet still easily killable if you got careless with them. A fun, tense and appropriate level of hardcore(for myself) game. Probably one of my favorite zombie games.
Although, from what I’m reading, “Microsoft store only” is a huge turnoff!
So, kind of waiting on Vampyr and Inquisition Martyr, which both hit next week.
But especially after PoE2 (and its story and game mechanics problems), I'm really reluctant to jump in on launch day. Anyone have any direct experience with these games or developers and any confidence about their likely launch state?
Both seem like they could be fun if done right, but utter wastes of $50 if mishandled.
(Especially Vampyr, after watching some of the recent footage- a spectacle fighter bolted on an investigation game built on every vampire cliche imaginable has me suspicious)
Having played a bit of Vampyr today, I think it certainly lives up to its promise. I admit to having been sceptical at first (a semi-open world detective-ish action-RPG with Vampires in post-Victorian London sounded too good to be true) but in the flesh, it certainly delivers.
Maybe the graphics aren't up to God of War levels, the frame rate occasionally drops in busy scenes and the load times can be lengthy, what it lacked in a technical sense it makes up for in sheer style. The world design is superbly atmospheric and bolstered by a similarly evocative score, the voice acting is of a very high quality, the writing seems up to scratch and the combat is responsive, quick and varied.
It also handles it narrative elements well; the opportunity to straight-up kill NPCs for a power boost at the cost of losing out on any information/services they might later offer and damaging the health of the district doesn't seem to be a cut-and-dried choice (unless you commit at the outset to go fully pacifist or kill everything) and the branching and interlock conversation structure works, especially where it hides dialogue options you don't have access to but does let you know they are there; it encourages you to 'unlock' them by exploring elsewhere rather than assuming NPCs have said everything they're going to.
It's not going to be for everyone, but if you're a fan of vampire lore, post-gothic horror, detective work and intrigue, branching narratives and some decent, Witcher 3-eqsue combat, I'd certainly recommend it. It ticks a lot of boxes for me and I think it's going to be something of a quietly brilliant game in the same way as the likes of Dishonored or the last Hitman; no massive fanfare around it, but it knows it audience and what they want and it delivers it with plenty of style.
Been having some hopes for Total War: Three Kingdoms. I love ancient Chinese history, especially during the periods of division and unification. I wonder if they will take historical inspiration, or just base it off of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Been curious about Battletech too. I’ve always wanted to get into the franchise, but could never find the right gateway. Would this be alright for newcomers?
SkavenLord wrote: Been having some hopes for Total War: Three Kingdoms. I love ancient Chinese history, especially during the periods of division and unification. I wonder if they will take historical inspiration, or just base it off of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Both. They've said there will be 2 campaigns, a historically accurate campaign and a romanticized campaign with appropriate wushu fighting.
SkavenLord wrote: Been curious about Battletech too. I’ve always wanted to get into the franchise, but could never find the right gateway. Would this be alright for newcomers?
I was in the same boat. I've played the Mechwarrior PC games but never felt the draw to the tabletop. Battletech PC is a fantastic turn based strategy game, even for complete newcomers.
SkavenLord wrote: Been having some hopes for Total War: Three Kingdoms. I love ancient Chinese history, especially during the periods of division and unification. I wonder if they will take historical inspiration, or just base it off of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Both. They've said there will be 2 campaigns, a historically accurate campaign and a romanticized campaign with appropriate wushu fighting.
SkavenLord wrote: Been curious about Battletech too. I’ve always wanted to get into the franchise, but could never find the right gateway. Would this be alright for newcomers?
I was in the same boat. I've played the Mechwarrior PC games but never felt the draw to the tabletop. Battletech PC is a fantastic turn based strategy game, even for complete newcomers.
Really? Looks like I’ll be looking into those ones with more interest now. Thanks Loki!
Voss wrote: It looks shiny. But I really hope it's create-your-own character rather than that random guy in the trailer.
Go look at the Polygon link that I posted. Buried in there is a comment stating that you'll be able to create your own character.
Good to know. Raises my interest a fair bit.
Heh. Watching the Beth conference... apparently Prey is getting a hide and seek mode like the terrible 5 on 1 horror games of the last couple years.
Eh...
So far
Rage 2
various ES games- card game reboot,
more ESO... next will be werewoofs
Prey expansions
Doom Eternal... giant tentacle monsters making out with skyscrapers or something
Wolfenstein Youngbloods with BJ's twin daughters (which... eh. Don't read the replay of the live chat on this one. Unpleasant)
Finally fallout... well. Blather from Todd Howard about E3.
Wait. No. A wild Skyrim trailer appears!
This is a little bit hilarious.
Fallout in fallout thread.
And... a brand new ES game.... on iPhones. ES: Blades.
Walk paths and hack monsters (and a cow-clicker town builder for some reason). The graphics are... pretty good, but its on a bloody phone.
Oh, but also apparently console and PCs as well. But the big selling point is playing it during meetings on your phone.
Free. So... I assume literally a cow clicker with micro-transactions to play more.
But preorder now. For the free game. <.<
No announcement of a real ES game... but wait.
New game franchise. "Starfield"
Trailer is a planet, a fairly retro-looking satellite and an explosion.
Ah... but wait.
Elder Scrolls VI: Sweeping Coastline with Dramatic Music, the Game
Take 20 seconds of an aerial camera swoop.
By the end of the first game, you were ripping apart half a dozen barons, a dozen hell knights, plus mancubi, revenants, dozens of imps and corrupted humans in the end game arenas.
Does the slayer need to be more powerful?
'Twice as many demons'
Oh, right. Yeah, okay.
Add Rage 2 and Wolfenstein Youngblood and it's a great time to be a fan of id's old properties.
Devolver Digital E3. Apperantly this is a thing.
Ho boy, hope it goes well. I remember seeing this on Two Best Friends Play years ago, and adoring how over-the-top “feth yeah ‘Murica” is was. Really wasn’t expecting Metal Wolf Chaos to get a Western release, nevermind a remaster.
Aside from Tomb Raider only other title I'm really looking forward to right now is GTFO for me, a coop shooter in the same vein as Payday 2, but with a horror setting. Previews so far have been most promising and I just found out Simon Viklund is doing the music, so yes!
They just unveiled a bunch of Doom Eternal footage, so now this is the only shooter I care about. 2018 has been a lousy lousy year for games IMO. Only game I bought was JWE and that is maybe a 7/10 game at best, got boring quick.
Maybe Pathfinder: Kingmaker, but the new beta build (a month out from release) has even more bugs, and basic ones- bows deal no damage, stuff like that.
Hopefully fixable, but I really want to see feedback post release before I buy this one.
) was ludicrously overblown, and most of the rest of the complaints were about reasons I liked the game - they seemed to be expecting another braindead Big Hero Punchy Men narrative in the ME2&3 mold, and when they got a badly executed proper sci-fi story more along the lines of the original they were more angry about the type of story than its execution.
