RMWeb Gamer's Lounge.

[Classsix T]

Long term Lounge regulars may recall towards the start of this journey I proclaimed that "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture would be better if you could shoot things" was possibly one of the stupidest things I'd ever read online. It'd seem one can be paid for making such inane statements and having them published:

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2020/07/02/i-loved-the-last-of-us-2-except-for-all-the-parts-i-deeply-hated

 

It's difficult to even accept this as an objective opinion piece given the author's opening gambit. Call me foolish if you like, I played a Jak & Daxter title once and decided I didn't like it. Guess what, I've never played another one (unless you count the J&D mini game in the arcade within TLoU: Left Behind).

 

Adding insult (though saying you don't like something isn't of course, but bear with) to injury, Ash Parrish then takes it upon themselves to "help" Naughty Dog by giving a suggestion of how to turn it into a game that they would like! The f***ing gall!

So look forward to a Reservoir Dogs remake Directed by Alan Bennett, 1984 pop-up book and Radiohead covering Happy Talk. Cos Ash would like it.

 

Typically, the comments section of online media is a place to avoid at all costs, fair play to Kotaku's readership however, they have actually rallied to eloquent defence of TLoU2's narrative structure with aplomb. My personal favourite being:

"Jamie Ditch 2 days ago

The story is absolutely solid. It's a great story. A story of overcoming rage and other powerful emotions. It's about growing from childhood to adulthood, learning to accept loss. It's very powerful. The reflection of Abby and Ellie, one and the same, yet different. I think it's amazing that we discover, along the way, Ellie is so a villain.

That the story takes time and employes mechanics rarely ever seen in gaming to teach the player slowly that you are the villain, is very telling. It's supposed to be distasteful. Because we're doing awful things, we're no longer surviving. In the last of us 2, we're choosing to go out of our way.

That a game story can be so powerful that players are reporting refusing to take part in the final events of the game, is a genuine achievement. Players are saying they died repeatedly at the end, not because they were bad or the fight mechanically tough, but because emotionally they wanted to do the bare minimum. Players feared the ending that much, that's incredible. Truly incredible."

 

But then I liked the game as well, don't add sugar to Marmite because you don't like it.

 

C6T. 

Edited July 4, 2020 by Classsix T

[Classsix T]

Forgot to mention, as if it matters, what did I take away from TLoU2?

 

An eye for an eye makes us all blind.

 

C6T. 

[SouthernRegionSteam]

So... my friend (the same one from my earlier posts) obviously knows I love railways. He showed me this today in a fit of laughter:

 

Genuine question: how does ANY of that even happen? I don't have time to disect it all, but as entertaining as it may be, there are just so many things wrong with it. I suppose I'll just mention the fact that a tiny jeep managed to get underneath a locomotive, lifting it, and turning it, and the rest of the (armoured) train, into a fiery summersaulting mass of projectiles flying into anything and everything. Still, at least the character manages to shoot the bad guy from a jeep moving on bumpy ground, and then a few seconds later chuck the grenade that he had thrown before all this happened out of the vehicle...

...and people wonder why I scoff at the portrayal of railways in games!
Maybe I just oughta enjoy it like the rest of them and stop being a negative nancy!

 

[SHMD]

..well, that was an eye opener!

 

 

Kev.

[Classsix T]

Blimey! A few well placed Kubelwagens could have saved RAF Bomber Command a lot of effort!

 

And US Army helmets obviously screw onto the wearer's head, no need for chin straps lest he be flung from a high speed vehicle.

 

C6T. 

Edited July 7, 2020 by Classsix T

[SouthernRegionSteam]

I wanna know what that jeep is made of; not only did it flip a locomotive and it's train singlehandedly, but it also completely shrugged off the entire train when it was pushed a few hundred metres sideways (Oh, and it somehow perfectly protected the occupants).
Something tells me that whatever they were made from, they obviously didn't realise just how advanced a material it was!

As my friend says (jokingly, of course - before anyone gets upset!): "WW2 ended when America used two high speed trains, derailed them near the West Coast, and they shuffled across the Pacific Ocean right into Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There were no nukes; just two trains!"

I know I moan about CoD on here whenever I get a chance, but I think I'm pretty justified!

Edited July 7, 2020 by SouthernRegionSteam

[Classsix T]

Lengthy Kotaku interview here with the University lecturer that the House of Lords are basing their desire to reign in loot boxes & microtransactions upon.

 

C6T.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Classsix T

[Steadfast]

Anyone who's after a bargain, there's a sale on Xbox at the moment, up to 75% off certain titles. Still no Train Sim content though. 

I bought Grid earlier, deluxe edition for £13 and a few pennies. Should've been in the fifties at RRP. Not played it yet, too busy rediscovering my love hate with Forza horizon 4 before work. The lack of circuits looks quite limiting on Grid (I know there's several different layouts and, ughhhh, reverse circuits!) but I'd have preferred more like Bathurst, Interlagos, Castle Combe etc instead of the fictional city street circuits. I may be wrong and the city tracks are lovely, I'm open to persuasion! I'll report back in due course.

 

Jo

[fezza]

4 hours ago, Steadfast said:

 

I bought Grid earlier, deluxe edition for £13 and a few pennies. Should've been in the fifties at RRP. Not played it yet, too busy rediscovering my love hate with Forza horizon 4 before work. The lack of circuits looks quite limiting on Grid (I know there's several different layouts and, ughhhh, reverse circuits!) but I'd have preferred more like Bathurst, Interlagos, Castle Combe etc instead of the fictional city street circuits. I may be wrong and the city tracks are lovely, I'm open to persuasion! I'll report back in due course.

 

Jo

 

Try Assetto Corsa Competizione - the greatest racing sim and only around £25.

 

The original AC is also in the bargain bin  around £20 and great if you like historic F1 cars and sports cars. 

[Steadfast]

Cheers for the heads up on that,  Competizione was on the radar at launch, definitely one I'll look into in due course I think. Good mix of tracks, not sure about the single category of cars but that's no different to many other games.  Rumours keep circling of a BTCC game in development somewhere. I just hope they're true, and it's done well!

 

Jo

[beast66606]

A warning for Call of Duty fans :

 

Last Friday I was playing Warzone, as I'm in my sixties I tend to lose out on face to face fights but I can sneak around and kill people, normally I finish in the top 20, nothing exciting but I'm happy with that. On Friday I was second, my highest position to date.

Saturday I tried to play,  the game loaded and then "Banned" appears where there would normally be a menu, the only option is to quit. WTF I thought and went to check out why - I can't ; to find out how to get the ban lifted - you can't ; to even discuss the ban - you can't. Basically Activision have a zero co-operation policy for banned players - you are guilty, full stop, end of.  Even if you get in touch with support, as soon as you say I was ban.... you're gone (I didn't try, I googled as I assumed it was a fault and would get removed - not a cat in hells chance, there are lots of players with the same issue and same lack of interest from Activsion).

I have never cheated in my life, I used to run several Medal of Honour Clans and we took a hard line on any cheats, even our own members - no warning, you're gone. Activision claim to review all reports which if I was banned because someone spiteful reported me after I had killed him/her then a quick look at my stats would show I'd have to be a very useless hacker. The ban is hardware based so even creating new profiles doesn't get around it - I could spoof hardware signatures but a lot of the spoofs are also deteced and it's not worth the effort for a free game.

 

however ...

 

If I'd bought the game for say £50 and added some extra weapons or camos say totalling £75 quid, the same rules apply - if you get banned they refuse to enter any dialog, you cannot find out why you were banned and cannot get the ban lifted and until you replace your hardware it's permanent so you've wasted your money.

 

I never thought I'd get banned as I'm a clean player but no-one is safe from the great Activision - I guess they've decided that banning  thousands wrongly is preferred to allowing cheats through - but most real cheats will bypass the ban anyway so they aren't stopping the cheats and most cheaters are thick, using auto-aimers or see through wall hacks so are very easy to spot. I've played against loads.

 

For this reason I would advise everyone to steer clear of Call of Duty (any platform) - you may end up spending a lot of money and then not being able to play - with no explanation given and no appeal process.

 

Rant over.

[MJI]

20 hours ago, beast66606 said:

A warning for Call of Duty fans :

 

Last Friday I was playing Warzone, as I'm in my sixties I tend to lose out on face to face fights but I can sneak around and kill people, normally I finish in the top 20, nothing exciting but I'm happy with that. On Friday I was second, my highest position to date.

Saturday I tried to play,  the game loaded and then "Banned" appears where there would normally be a menu, the only option is to quit. WTF I thought and went to check out why - I can't ; to find out how to get the ban lifted - you can't ; to even discuss the ban - you can't. Basically Activision have a zero co-operation policy for banned players - you are guilty, full stop, end of.  Even if you get in touch with support, as soon as you say I was ban.... you're gone (I didn't try, I googled as I assumed it was a fault and would get removed - not a cat in hells chance, there are lots of players with the same issue and same lack of interest from Activsion).

I have never cheated in my life, I used to run several Medal of Honour Clans and we took a hard line on any cheats, even our own members - no warning, you're gone. Activision claim to review all reports which if I was banned because someone spiteful reported me after I had killed him/her then a quick look at my stats would show I'd have to be a very useless hacker. The ban is hardware based so even creating new profiles doesn't get around it - I could spoof hardware signatures but a lot of the spoofs are also deteced and it's not worth the effort for a free game.

 

however ...

 

If I'd bought the game for say £50 and added some extra weapons or camos say totalling £75 quid, the same rules apply - if you get banned they refuse to enter any dialog, you cannot find out why you were banned and cannot get the ban lifted and until you replace your hardware it's permanent so you've wasted your money.

 

I never thought I'd get banned as I'm a clean player but no-one is safe from the great Activision - I guess they've decided that banning  thousands wrongly is preferred to allowing cheats through - but most real cheats will bypass the ban anyway so they aren't stopping the cheats and most cheaters are thick, using auto-aimers or see through wall hacks so are very easy to spot. I've played against loads.

 

For this reason I would advise everyone to steer clear of Call of Duty (any platform) - you may end up spending a lot of money and then not being able to play - with no explanation given and no appeal process.

 

Rant over.

 

 

This is when charge backs can be used if soon enough. But depends on what store.

[Classsix T]

I wonder where the customer is legally on Martin's bold of Dave's post. Whilst Warzone is the free-to-play part of CoD you have to have downloaded the latter to access the former, now I don't know if it breaches any statutory rights if friend player finds themselves (for whatever reason) permabanned from the ostensibly free part of a game that can still be played offline?

 

If anyone fancies choring through Activision's T&C please feel free, but I'd be surprised if returning a physical copy to a store will be refunded, little or no chance for digital versions.

What really rankles of course is the fact that Activision is implementing a zero tolerance policy with scant regard to the possibility of actually being wrong.

 

C6T. 

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

 

My first outing in the Gamer's Lounge...

 

I have just finished playing The Last of Us Part II and I will not be playing it again. It started out pretty much as any other post apocalyptic zombie shooter and then degenerated into a moral abyss. For me the negative aspects were

1. How Ellie, a once likeable character, was turned into a psychopathic killer, obsessed with revenge and not caring who got killed or hurt along the way. I finished the game wishing that Ellie had been killed at some point.
2. When playing Ellie, there was never an opportunity to do the morally correct thing - everyone she enountered had to die, no matter what. No opportunity to just knock out the opponent, tie them up and move on.
3. What I found particularly repugnant was being forced to kill dogs. I can see the need to protect oneself, but - again - why weren't there any options to sneak away or disable without killing? As a dog owner, this sort of thing - even if fictional - is abhorent.
4. Perhaps in such a post apocalyptic world, people become inured to all the suffering, but it would have been nice, every so often, for someone to say something like "poor bu99er" after killing one of the infected or opponent.

The only one to come out of the game with any shred of decency was Abby, she did what she felt she had to do (avenge her father) and then moved on. During the game she exhibited many moments of compassion, conspicuously absent from Ellie's character.

 

As for the LGBT "controversy" flaring up on the internet, all I have to say is that Ellie is a terrible lesbian role model. Where's the compassion? the understanding? the tolerance?

 

I think I'll replay one of the "Uncharted" games and clean out my mind.

 

Cheers

 

iD

Edited August 10, 2020 by iL Dottore
typo

[SHMD]

Thanks for the head-up iD, I wont be playing that game.

I had similar feelings when I played Grand-Theft-Auto, just the once, and then promptly uninstalled it.

 

 

Kev.

 

[Classsix T]

Polished Ghost of Tsushima off today, it really is a superb game and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to end. Much like RDR2, a great deal of enjoyment is often found simply ambling along on horsey...between violent bloodletting/stylish blade swishing, those depend on your point of view.

 

There's even something for the (cough) rail enthusiast, as long as they aren't medieval history pedants...

 

So having played that in swift succession after TLoU2, I too am in need of a game where, for once, doing people in isn't the first order of business. I still have Journey to play but another title that caught my eye in the PSStore is Eastshade.

 

C6T.

[big jim]

I’ve been playing animal crossing new horizons on the switch, borrowed gethins copy he got for his birthday and set up my own account on my switch, takes a while to get going and I’m only on day 2 so stuck on my own island so far but it’s a bit addictive once you understand what to do and start fishing and catching bugs etc to earn money to upgrade things

 

 

[30801]

9 hours ago, big jim said:

I’ve been playing animal crossing new horizons on the switch, borrowed gethins copy he got for his birthday and set up my own account on my switch, takes a while to get going and I’m only on day 2 so stuck on my own island so far but it’s a bit addictive once you understand what to do and start fishing and catching bugs etc to earn money to upgrade things

 

Eventually you'll realise it's endless busywork and repaying ever increasing debts to Tom Nook to get a bigger house.

Basically real life.

Edited August 11, 2020 by 30801

[30801]

On 10/08/2020 at 07:08, iL Dottore said:

1. What I found particularly repugnant was being forced to kill dogs. I can see the need to protect oneself, but - again - why weren't there any options to sneak away or disable without killing? As a dog owner, this sort of thing - even if fictional - is abhorent.

 

I guess killing people is fine though  The dogs I believe are there to break up the usual sneak mechanic of being magically invisible in clumps of tall grass.

TBH I never got past the first hour or so. I just never got that motivated by it.

 

I've killed loads of dogs and bears in Ghost Of Tsushima because their skins can be crafted into bags to hold more ammunition so I can kill people more effectively.

[Classsix T]

On 22/06/2020 at 22:16, Ian J. said:

Apparently Microsoft is getting into bed with Farcebook by giving up their gaming app Mixer:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53142676

 

As I won't touch Farcebook with a bargepole, I'll be uninstalling the Mixer app sooner rather than wait. But I do worry that all XBox Live accounts will end up being 'given' to Farcebook as a way of getting that gaming app onto XBox Live...

 

Whilst I suppose setting up a permanently dormant Fb account might be harmless, Zuckerberg is now requesting your data to be able to access full Oculus functionality:

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2020/08/18/oculus-vr-devices-will-soon-require-facebook-accounts

 

But for a guy regularly hauled before Senate hearings, handing your data over to his company to use another service has understandably attracted ire from many.

 

C6T.

[Classsix T]

If EA's legal team don't brush this off in short order, they're unfit for purpose (I doubt the plaintiff has suffered devastating harm spending £450 over ten years) however, if all the good lawyers are occupied with the mouthwatering Epic vs Apple/Google courtroom barney, it's an interesting test case.

 

C6T. 

[Reorte]

2 hours ago, Classsix T said:

Whilst I suppose setting up a permanently dormant Fb account might be harmless, Zuckerberg is now requesting your data to be able to access full Oculus functionality:

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2020/08/18/oculus-vr-devices-will-soon-require-facebook-accounts

 

But for a guy regularly hauled before Senate hearings, handing your data over to his company to use another service has understandably attracted ire from many.

 

The Facebook link was rather offputting when I first bought the Rift. Since it's now out of action anyway thanks to a damaged cable that can't be replaced (which is pretty poor itself) I think I'll be replacing it with something from someone else. Oculus (no doubt due to Facebook) don't appear interested in developing high-end VR anyway.

[30801]

2 hours ago, Classsix T said:

If EA's legal team don't brush this off in short order, they're unfit for purpose

 

Meh. I'm not interested in Fifa but if I were paying fifty quid for a game that's the same as last year's but with some different footballers in it I'd expect it to have all the footballers in it.

[Classsix T]

8 hours ago, 30801 said:

 

Meh. I'm not interested in Fifa but if I were paying fifty quid for a game that's the same as last year's but with some different footballers in it I'd expect it to have all the footballers in it.

For sure you and I probably tut and move on, but if there is the possibility that the case can prove predatory business practice by EA to part cash from minors and susceptible adults, job done.

 

The vast majority of games that offer a different 'skin' on sprites (for that essentially is what David Beckham-1998 haircut is) are up-front about it, selling it as DLC, with absolute clarity on what the punter is going to get. By deliberately introducing "surprise mechanics" (EA's term) Electronic Arts have blatantly made friend gamer's quest to have 1978 John Wark playing for 2020 Ipswich Town a game of cost & chance. On the face of it, EA are bang to rights.

However, the linked case deals specifically with California law and for all I know both parties will be perfectly happy to settle out of court (the cynic in me suspects the plaintiff is counting on such an outcome). None of which changes the fact that in the UK the Gambling Commission has decided it is currently a non-issue. 

 

C6T. 

[iL Dottore]

On 11/08/2020 at 13:11, 30801 said:

 

I guess killing people is fine though  The dogs I believe are there to break up the usual sneak mechanic of being magically invisible in clumps of tall grass.

TBH I never got past the first hour or so. I just never got that motivated by it.

 

I've killed loads of dogs and bears in Ghost Of Tsushima because their skins can be crafted into bags to hold more ammunition so I can kill people more effectively.

Of course killing people is fine but preferably the undead and out-and out-villains/thugs. After a day being "nice" to people you may not want to be nice to, firing up the PS4 and killing things is therapeutic.

 

I can see the point of hunting animals in Ghosts of Tsushima and something similar was played out in Far Cry 4. But somehow in LOU 2 it feels wrong, somehow; especially after you take over the Abby character and she, the WLF and the dogs become more than anonymous ciphers. If Naughty Dog continues the LOU franchise, I wonder if they will concentrate on Abby (I think that Ellie is very much a spent, and morally bankrupt, character). Theres a lot of potential in that character now, more so than in Ellie.

 

Just caught sight of a teaser about Far Cry 6 - that should be fun...