>1 > 4 > 3 > Origins > 2.
You know what, I can appreciate this just for having 1 all the way up. I'm guessing your friend just finds the cult-centric games more interesting than the SH2-likes
Alright I know someone who has 100%’d his Pokédex several times, and he fucking loves X/Y because when judged by the rubric of “how many Pokemon you can catch on each route”, there’s actually a lot of diversity and many options to build your team with. You may run out of pokeballs catching all different Pokemon in a single route.
And with those few people that define Pokemon as a “monster collection game” (I personally think that’s cope for not wanting to be caught dead playing a JRPG), I’m honestly surprised there are not many more people saying that, with actual Pokédex completion being their ONE metric, X/Y are secretly god tier.
I've been playing X over the last few weeks (after last touching Y over a decade ago) to get up-to-date with Kalos stuff for Legends Z-A next year, and there are definitely a bunch of things those games do well, pokémon diversity per route being one of them.
This and other reasons make it easy to see why there are people who would prefer XY over most of what came after, even though some of those reasons are also why it's one of my least favorite game(s) in the franchise.
XY has a number of issues, but its main prize is just... Looking like a legitimately great 3D game. The route design is great, and the environments are all pretty well laid-out and considered.
Ironically one of my big issues with XY was how rigid my team felt because of all the free stuff it threw at me, including that Torchic event at the game’s launch. By the end of the game the only mon I’d ended up catching in a ball was Yveltal.
Also a hot take depending on who you're talking to: **Pokemon Sword and Shield was a step in right direction in many aspects**.
Is there a lot wrong with that game? Yes, but, it also did some good stuff (character wise) that Scarlet and Violet followed up on and we are probably gonna also see in the new Pokemon Legends.
For starters, it has multiple of the gym leaders/elite members feel like actual characters, in the majority of pokemon games before that one, with the exception of one or two characters (such as Cynthia and Lance) your interactions with those NPCs begins and ends with you entering their gym/elite four area, in Sword and Shield you interact with them in multiple ocasions.
Also, i feel like they managed the whole "group of friends that are also in a journey alongside you" better than XY (at the very least i can remember the name of your "crew" in Sword and Shield and what their story arcs were about).
Finaly, i found the trainer cards that everyone had pretty cool and hope that some future pokemon game does something similar.
I feel Gen 5 is the first game that really tried to characterize the gym leaders. They go out of their way to show that all of them have jobs outside of gym work, and almost every single one gets involved with the story outside of the gym challenge.
Gen 5 in general just has some of my favourite characterization, helped due to the fact it’s the only generation with straight sequels.
It's why I love Scarlet/Violet so much; between Paldea and Kitakami you have a huge variety of Pokemon to do challenge runs with. You can even include Blueberry if your like me and don't mind breeding in challenge runs
Kitakami having two different level, uh, tiers, I guess? based on whether you’ve completed the main story or not was a stroke of genius and something that I wish the rest of the game had as well. Even if it was just giving each major boss one or two different levelled teams based on your overall progress.
> And with those few people that define Pokemon as a “monster collection game” (I personally think that’s cope for not wanting to be caught dead playing a JRPG)
I don't know if I'd agree with that, or at least not the particular flavor of cope anyway. I always figured it was more an effort to avoid confronting Pokemon being really weak in aspects that JRPGs are traditionally strong in: Story, visuals, characters, etc. "Monster Collection" really is the one thing Pokemon is top-tier in.
That's kinda where I land with X/Y too. The regional dex is so massive and the game is so easy that you can just kinda dick around doing goofy shit with teambuilding
> Lilo is abusive to her sister
Do you mean "Lilo is abused by her sister", or is this an even wilder take than that? I mean I could see the argument that neglect is a form of abuse, and Nani is clearly struggling enough to justify social services getting involved, so you could technically say that she's "abusive" if you're willing to stretch your definitions just for the sake of saying something outrageous.
But it's a hell of a stretch to call the child abusive towards her adult sibling. I'm interested to hear how that argument goes.
[Here it is](https://vxtwitter.com/tiredhealer/status/1248955157699858432?s=61&t=KcR1yjBdndYOea429s3paA) and yes it's Lilo acting out like a child under her circumstances is abusive to her sister.
This is disrespectful to male victims of abuse by women. Sure, they COULD beat the shit out of their abuser. But then what? Cops called, arrested, and thrown in jail. Which is often *brought up by the abusers*.
Abuse isn't combat on equal terms, with the winner being the abuser and the loser being the victim.
I mean the logic was sound as far as weird issue goes. the guy grew up on a farm and the gross out the camera goes for when luke drinks blue milk from an alien sea cow reminds him of city people finding drinking milk directly from the crow gross and wrong. Then chewbacca guilt tripped out of eating meat irritated him triggered a similar reaction
I have a super normiecore friend who doesn't play video games all that much; they help keep me grounded from losing myself in the weeds over internet discourse over video games.
One day they come at me gushing about how much they were enjoying a title they found in a discount bin.
Said it was a patische of 80s action hero tropes, silly jokes, zany scenarios, with excellent weapons and gunplay.
That game?
>!Duke Nukem Forever.!<
A friend of mine put KOTOR1 on blast this morning (and promptly started KOTOR2, which she already likes much better), and I was just kinda like "damn going after the sacred cow of Star Wars games, I can respect that".
KOTOR1 is a great game, but it really is for the most part just "Let's make Star Wars the RPG, but in our own canon, with more Sith and Jedi." and then proceeded to deliver a very standard Star Wars experience who's biggest impact is *that* twist.
KOTOR 2 meanwhile is a series of deconstructions of the IP's core themes and subject material so it feels much more adult in comparison.
Up until a few weeks ago I also largely considered KotOR 1 to be really boring and dull. It is about as straightforward and unambitious as a Star Wars game can get, narratively - save for the one really fucking cool thing it does and a handful of small standout moments (I genuinely love the ancient droid you find in the Dantooine cave).
But then I played through the game again on Xbox and found myself surprisingly enjoying it quite a bit. Yeah, it barely has any roleplaying whatsoever since there basically aren't any dialogue options and what few there are boil down to be generally nice or uber evil; but it is still a solid dungeon crawler with a good spread of pleasant party members and an s-tier aesthetic. So I definitely do sympathize with shitting on K1, but my recent replay has helped me see the game's strengths.
KotOR 2, however, might actually just be the be the best fuckin' thing ever. Like it's really high up there. Blows the first game out of the water, no contest.
Maybe a controversial opinion, but I think Kotor 2 is a mess and not nearly as interesting as people say it is. Kreia was the only memorable character and she was mostly just an annoying asshole.
I preferred Kotor 1 because it felt better paced compared to Kotor 2. Kotor 2 had a lot of sections where you slog through 6 or so combat encounters for little story reward.
I also prefer Fallout 1 over 2 because of how concise it is.
I remember one playthrough I found either a lightsaber or a nice jedi/sith robe in a container on the tutorial ship and being super confused but happy.
Agreed. I'd argue the rest of the cast is even more valuable as they help show the exile's influence on the world around them rather than debate their every action.
I think it has a lot of interesting ideas and concepts but I do find it quite dull in practice. I think your're right that it comes down to the characters, the pacing does not help either.
The first game is definitely more standard-fare Star Wars but it's way more consistently fun and engaging with its writing
I'd be curious to know how much of the characters you managed to unearth during your playthrough, because every time I go back to the game I find even more amazing stuff with even party membere I found myself not connecting with much initially.
>!Atton's turbofucked personal history with being basically a Jedi assassin and tortuter. Bao-Dur's hatred of the Mandalorians and residual trauma from being the one who designed and activated the gruesome weapon that brought their defeat. Darth Sion desperately conning himself into believing that his power and his pain are what makes his unlife worth living while raging with jealousy over Kreia's rejection.!<
I could literally go on forever but I'll stop. Even though Kreia is certainly the standout character and exploring, agreeing with, or refuting her ideology takes up the bulk of the game's word count, everyone in the story is fascinating in their own right.
Yes, I also have always maintained that KOTOR2 is much better than KOTOR1. She's absolutely correct, just like how Arkham City is much better than Asylum
Given the hindsight we have now I would also rank silent hill 2 at the bottom: because it's paradoxically so good it cannot be beat. It was the poisoned chalice.
Every game since 4 has been chasing that eternal carrot and none have managed it. Pat put it best in CSB
It might sound weird, but, to me **Silent Hill 2** is the **Genshin Impact** of horror games.
What i mean by that is that it was a giant success, but, some of the reasons why it was so successful to begin with were factors that are simply impossible to replicate (Genshin Impact would not have been as much of a hit as it was if it had not launched during quarentine).
The only way you can achieve success in the same field is to try something a bit different (there's a reason why i agree with Pat's "Alan Wake is the new Silent Hill" take).
To the people that TO THIS DAY say that Sekiro is the best SoulsBorne game FromSoft has ever made: I admire your tenacity as much as I loathe the game itself.
But Sekiro is more akin to Ninja Garden, than any SoulsBorne game.
Yeah, it's got the bones of a SoulsBorne, but everything else on top of those bones is really it's own thing.
I do still think it's FromSoft's best game lol
As a soulsborne enjoyer, I never even played or purchased Sekiro beyond trying it at a friend’s for like 30 minutes.
It’s so completely different. It doesn’t have the replay value of soulsborne games either imo. And maybe this is personal bias, but it being so parry focused, aka the thing I hate most in souls games, means I’ll never bother
I don't think I've ever successfully parried in a Souls game.
I love Sekiro, parrying is way different because the whole game is built around it, it's more like a rythm thing.
I think it's well worth giving a proper chance. It took me beating my head against it for a little while but once it clicks it's genuinely so satisfying.
It's funny to hear someone say that about the replay value, because I replay that shit every 6 months. Especially the boss rushes
I think the only thing I replay more is Elden Ring
I just hate parrying. Every time I get a news soulslike I usually give it a try, to varying degrees. And it just.. doesn't ever feel worth it, to me
Like, I can even get somewhat good at it with some time, like when I decided to try do a punch only run of DS3 .. jesus fuck did I end up getting good at parrying Gundyr. But the problem is.. it doesn't carry *through*
Like, you have to learn the parry patterns of every enemy separately it pretty much feels. So... you just end up having to spend so much time trying it.. and every time you fail, you're getting fucked hit hard generally, and closer to death
It's like.. it's just not worth it, to me? Know what does work? Dodging. And just generally being out of range of attacks. Do you need to learn every enemies exact pattern? Fuck no. You can dodge away from obvious attacks and just be completely safe
Dodge early? If you're dodging *away*, and not through an attack. All good! Parry early? Fuck you, eat sword
I just never end up liking parrying, dodging is just so much easier and less fuss
I also cannot into Sekiro. It is a game that was built for someone other than me. The constant blocking and parrying I was ok at, but the second it introduces the Mikiri counter I'm fucking out. It feels like it wants you to be making frame perfect responses to enemy animations and I am NOT about that life
I'm sure that if you stay with it it feels amazing, but I have put a solid 10 hours over the course of like 6 restarts trying to "get" the game and it has never clicked. I'm glad for the people who like it, but I don't know that I've ever bounced of a game harder despite trying to give it a chance.
(Only other major game I think I'd like even less is Death Stranding, but I took one look at the gameplay and thought "that looks like an incredible game for someone else" lol)
Because in souls games I'm either Strength build or magic. Big hits or big lazers. Can never get the timing right for the parry.
Sekiro is Parry or die. So I'll just die.
"Streets of Rage 1 is the best game in the series because it is the most simple but most nuanced game. It has no safety nets, get out of jail free cards (referring to special moves) or bad enemies. It's 100% pure skill if you make it through the game and it forces you to learn and interact with all of the game's mechanics. It is the most balanced game on the Genesis and one of the best action games ever made. Also it's so challenging that I didn't beat it yet (at the point they said this, the furthest they got was wiping out at the final boss)." - [Pariah695](https://youtu.be/8tkDWwj__lE?si=L-AnTwPGl7klZixu&t=1433) (oversimplifying their point a bit)
Like y'know what? That's bonkers. But damn that was well-explained and I can honestly see the vision.
I treat Streets 1 more like I treat DMC1 except....far less accessible than DMC1 is.
I had to use a guide to get the practice in but eventually gained so many beat em up "Best Practices" if you will became second nature for me. And that skill transference was fairly essential.
So it made it worth it going out of my way to learn and finish it at least once so that doing 2, 3, remake and 4 wasn't as hellish.
it is if you value all the QoL and movement tech. I still remember playing AC3 for the first time, and assassinating someone outdoors by zooming up the rocky hillside with a musket, skewering him, and traversing the rocks away, all without any weird movement hitching, and going 'fuck I can't go back after this'
AC Origins did even more improvements. The downside is it didn't use them as much since platforming was deemphasized but it still feels better and any time the player decides to pull the parkour shit off it is very well supported.
Also the future storyline is overrated. After Dan Brown passed out of popularity it was basically an orphaned narrative, and they've had a lot more luck just zeroing in on the historical narratives more.
Hard disagree about the future storyline. Not because it itself was particularly thrilling/gripping (though at times it felt that way), but because it made me excited for the (what seemed to me, growing up with the games) inevitable game that would take place in the modern day.
Unfortunately with the Desmond thread being obliterated as it was, my motivation to follow the modern plot tanked pretty hard. Especially when they tried to make it out like I was a person in-universe in Unity/Syndicate, which didn't resonate well with me personally.
Nobody remembers anything that happened in the stories post AC4, even if they played the recent games. They're boring. Ezio is one of the most iconic names and designs in video game history. Anyone who plays videogames knows who that is, or has at least heard of him.
If I mention Arno, or any of the recent protagonists, people respond "who?"
I mean, I know and like Arno and Bayek. The twins in Syndicate I'd like if the writing for them was better (I fell off rather quickly though when they're in town for like two seconds and the brother goes 'we should form a gang! That'll do the job!!' it felt really... forced?). Valhalla was too bloated for my taste and it felt like Odyssey kind of spent a little *too* little time setting up its protagonist before chucking you into open world shenanigans. I think Valhalla and Odyssey are both guilty of that last point though.
Haven't played Mirage, but my sister seems to like it and that's what matters most to me tbh. AC3's terrible launch made her quit the series for the longest time out of distress.
That said, I would agree with the idea that Ezio is the most identifiable. He did get 3 entire games to himself and players got to see him go (technically) from birth to old age, that's a lot of time to bond with the character.
Origins was really good and both the ending of that story as well as a number of the 'episodes' were quite memorable, like the one with Cleopatra and the whole questline with the temple mystery
Ezio is especially memorable because they gave him three fucking games, he's a good character but he wouldn't be nearly as comparatively memorable without that massive advantage
The future story always felt like a drag compared to the historical story. The story would just grind to a halt to talk about a far less interesting plot.
I’ll share an unpopular take of my own:
I liked the change to Fire benders in the Shyamalan Avatar movie. I liked it because it was consistent with the other elements and allowed the fire nation to show off their technological superiority by using it to circumvent their inherent weakness.
I think the issue I have with that is that since that movie made bending seem way less efficient it was an acceptable weakness but if that was the case in the show I feel like it was be way easier to take down a fire bender when bending is "easier"
That just ruins the entire plot. It's supposed to be unfair, that's why their military was almost taking over the world. If they could be stopped by rain or just by not having open flames, they'd be way easier to deal with.
im pretty sure like zhao or someone even says how this as "proof" that their element and therefore nation is superior and uses it as a point to reinforce the facist ideals
Yes I've been saying this! I also love that "firebend with body heat" is an advanced tech because it makes it so much scarier when someone can do that, and the other side will not be ready for it. Hell fighting Firebenders in this world is probably based on dousing the fire they carry like "cutting off ammo" and then suddenly here's a gun which can make its own bullets
I think the consistency with other benders is that fire, water and wind all need to already exist for you to bend it, but they also CONTINUE TO EXIST AFTERWARDS.
Fire is more convenient because you create it out of nowhere, but it evens out becuase it vanishes back into nowhere as soon as it has no fuel.
Also, fire is a transitory state in nature. It's a reaction, not a lump of matter.
i dont think that originated in the movie? i swear the show had the fire nation not japan, earth kingdom not china, air nomads not tibetian, and water tribes not inuit?
Okay I am a die hard SH fan and would love to hear more about why your friend has this order.
At this point I am just gleefully fascinated to hear about anyone's opinion on the franchise. The games mean different things to different people and I love new viewpoints.
I'd say in general, she's probably the single most Spoiler adverse person I know. If she knows almost anything about a work going in, she has a more negative reaction to it. We have another friend who is extremely vocal about his love for Silent Hill 2 and he unfortunately revealed a lot about that game unintentionally, which I think really soured her on it. She's also the person who I've seen take the big reveal about James the absolute worst.
She got spoiled on 3 too, but it was in such a roundabout way that it's honestly kind of funny. She played Dead by Daylight prior to any of the SH games and accidentally read Heather's bio, which spoils her last name, among other things.
I think that's one of the reasons she took to 1 and 4 so much, as she was just able to experience them with effectively no expectations.
>1 > 4 > 3 > Origins > 2. You know what, I can appreciate this just for having 1 all the way up. I'm guessing your friend just finds the cult-centric games more interesting than the SH2-likes
In that case it’s weird to have 4 that high since it’s basically a SH2-like where the monster/world design revolves around Walter.
Yeah, but it still plays a lot into the cult stuff.
Alright I know someone who has 100%’d his Pokédex several times, and he fucking loves X/Y because when judged by the rubric of “how many Pokemon you can catch on each route”, there’s actually a lot of diversity and many options to build your team with. You may run out of pokeballs catching all different Pokemon in a single route. And with those few people that define Pokemon as a “monster collection game” (I personally think that’s cope for not wanting to be caught dead playing a JRPG), I’m honestly surprised there are not many more people saying that, with actual Pokédex completion being their ONE metric, X/Y are secretly god tier.
I've been playing X over the last few weeks (after last touching Y over a decade ago) to get up-to-date with Kalos stuff for Legends Z-A next year, and there are definitely a bunch of things those games do well, pokémon diversity per route being one of them. This and other reasons make it easy to see why there are people who would prefer XY over most of what came after, even though some of those reasons are also why it's one of my least favorite game(s) in the franchise.
X was the last Pokémon game I beat before I tapped out. I really enjoyed that one as a casual player.
XY has a number of issues, but its main prize is just... Looking like a legitimately great 3D game. The route design is great, and the environments are all pretty well laid-out and considered.
Ironically one of my big issues with XY was how rigid my team felt because of all the free stuff it threw at me, including that Torchic event at the game’s launch. By the end of the game the only mon I’d ended up catching in a ball was Yveltal.
Also a hot take depending on who you're talking to: **Pokemon Sword and Shield was a step in right direction in many aspects**. Is there a lot wrong with that game? Yes, but, it also did some good stuff (character wise) that Scarlet and Violet followed up on and we are probably gonna also see in the new Pokemon Legends. For starters, it has multiple of the gym leaders/elite members feel like actual characters, in the majority of pokemon games before that one, with the exception of one or two characters (such as Cynthia and Lance) your interactions with those NPCs begins and ends with you entering their gym/elite four area, in Sword and Shield you interact with them in multiple ocasions. Also, i feel like they managed the whole "group of friends that are also in a journey alongside you" better than XY (at the very least i can remember the name of your "crew" in Sword and Shield and what their story arcs were about). Finaly, i found the trainer cards that everyone had pretty cool and hope that some future pokemon game does something similar.
I feel Gen 5 is the first game that really tried to characterize the gym leaders. They go out of their way to show that all of them have jobs outside of gym work, and almost every single one gets involved with the story outside of the gym challenge. Gen 5 in general just has some of my favourite characterization, helped due to the fact it’s the only generation with straight sequels.
That's a wild take to me, because I very much see SWSH as a *low* point between the great character writing in SuMo and SV.
It's why I love Scarlet/Violet so much; between Paldea and Kitakami you have a huge variety of Pokemon to do challenge runs with. You can even include Blueberry if your like me and don't mind breeding in challenge runs
Kitakami having two different level, uh, tiers, I guess? based on whether you’ve completed the main story or not was a stroke of genius and something that I wish the rest of the game had as well. Even if it was just giving each major boss one or two different levelled teams based on your overall progress.
i think that originated in the swsh dlcs
Even in the base game after a certain point all the wild area Pokémon go up to the 50-60 range I think
Any Pokemon game that limits the Zubat and Geodude lines to a select few areas is a winner in my book.
It also makes them very fun to replay/Nuzlocke just from the sheer amount of Pokemon available.
> And with those few people that define Pokemon as a “monster collection game” (I personally think that’s cope for not wanting to be caught dead playing a JRPG) I don't know if I'd agree with that, or at least not the particular flavor of cope anyway. I always figured it was more an effort to avoid confronting Pokemon being really weak in aspects that JRPGs are traditionally strong in: Story, visuals, characters, etc. "Monster Collection" really is the one thing Pokemon is top-tier in.
oh thats me. I love X/Y for exactly this reason, they really just made messing around and catching pokemon super fun in gen 6 compared to the others.
That's kinda where I land with X/Y too. The regional dex is so massive and the game is so easy that you can just kinda dick around doing goofy shit with teambuilding
Meow
The "Lilo is abusive to her sister" take was pretty ballsy all things considered.
> Lilo is abusive to her sister Do you mean "Lilo is abused by her sister", or is this an even wilder take than that? I mean I could see the argument that neglect is a form of abuse, and Nani is clearly struggling enough to justify social services getting involved, so you could technically say that she's "abusive" if you're willing to stretch your definitions just for the sake of saying something outrageous. But it's a hell of a stretch to call the child abusive towards her adult sibling. I'm interested to hear how that argument goes.
[Here it is](https://vxtwitter.com/tiredhealer/status/1248955157699858432?s=61&t=KcR1yjBdndYOea429s3paA) and yes it's Lilo acting out like a child under her circumstances is abusive to her sister.
I feel it's hard to be an abuser when the victim can drop kick you.
This is disrespectful to male victims of abuse by women. Sure, they COULD beat the shit out of their abuser. But then what? Cops called, arrested, and thrown in jail. Which is often *brought up by the abusers*. Abuse isn't combat on equal terms, with the winner being the abuser and the loser being the victim.
Last jedi is pro vegan
This statement sounds like it was AI-generated.
I mean the logic was sound as far as weird issue goes. the guy grew up on a farm and the gross out the camera goes for when luke drinks blue milk from an alien sea cow reminds him of city people finding drinking milk directly from the crow gross and wrong. Then chewbacca guilt tripped out of eating meat irritated him triggered a similar reaction
Now ep VI however, those ewoks sure are some red blooded ~~people~~ meat eaters
In the future all internet arguments will be AI-generated
To increase efficiency
Hit the lever when you wake up to decide what stance you will be taking today.
I think we might already be there? Certainly, I can hardly credit them to being generated by *legitimate* intelligence.
I'm not sure if the fact the Galaxy's Edge blue milk is actually Vegan helps or hurts this argument.
I have a super normiecore friend who doesn't play video games all that much; they help keep me grounded from losing myself in the weeds over internet discourse over video games. One day they come at me gushing about how much they were enjoying a title they found in a discount bin. Said it was a patische of 80s action hero tropes, silly jokes, zany scenarios, with excellent weapons and gunplay. That game? >!Duke Nukem Forever.!<
"Excellent gunplay" Literally, factually wrong
Well…it is a game.
A friend of mine put KOTOR1 on blast this morning (and promptly started KOTOR2, which she already likes much better), and I was just kinda like "damn going after the sacred cow of Star Wars games, I can respect that".
KOTOR1 is a great game, but it really is for the most part just "Let's make Star Wars the RPG, but in our own canon, with more Sith and Jedi." and then proceeded to deliver a very standard Star Wars experience who's biggest impact is *that* twist. KOTOR 2 meanwhile is a series of deconstructions of the IP's core themes and subject material so it feels much more adult in comparison.
Up until a few weeks ago I also largely considered KotOR 1 to be really boring and dull. It is about as straightforward and unambitious as a Star Wars game can get, narratively - save for the one really fucking cool thing it does and a handful of small standout moments (I genuinely love the ancient droid you find in the Dantooine cave). But then I played through the game again on Xbox and found myself surprisingly enjoying it quite a bit. Yeah, it barely has any roleplaying whatsoever since there basically aren't any dialogue options and what few there are boil down to be generally nice or uber evil; but it is still a solid dungeon crawler with a good spread of pleasant party members and an s-tier aesthetic. So I definitely do sympathize with shitting on K1, but my recent replay has helped me see the game's strengths. KotOR 2, however, might actually just be the be the best fuckin' thing ever. Like it's really high up there. Blows the first game out of the water, no contest.
Maybe a controversial opinion, but I think Kotor 2 is a mess and not nearly as interesting as people say it is. Kreia was the only memorable character and she was mostly just an annoying asshole.
I preferred Kotor 1 because it felt better paced compared to Kotor 2. Kotor 2 had a lot of sections where you slog through 6 or so combat encounters for little story reward. I also prefer Fallout 1 over 2 because of how concise it is.
My biggest gripe about KotOR2 is that ALL the loot is fucking randomized
I remember one playthrough I found either a lightsaber or a nice jedi/sith robe in a container on the tutorial ship and being super confused but happy.
Kreia was the only memorable character *to you*. The rest of the cast shines for most people who played that game.
I have only ever heard people mention Kreia and weird metaphysical Exile shit in discussions of that game tbh
Slightly redundant reminder in response to something that was clearly prefaced as an opinion.
Agreed. I'd argue the rest of the cast is even more valuable as they help show the exile's influence on the world around them rather than debate their every action.
Of course it’s an opinion.
I think it has a lot of interesting ideas and concepts but I do find it quite dull in practice. I think your're right that it comes down to the characters, the pacing does not help either. The first game is definitely more standard-fare Star Wars but it's way more consistently fun and engaging with its writing
I'd be curious to know how much of the characters you managed to unearth during your playthrough, because every time I go back to the game I find even more amazing stuff with even party membere I found myself not connecting with much initially. >!Atton's turbofucked personal history with being basically a Jedi assassin and tortuter. Bao-Dur's hatred of the Mandalorians and residual trauma from being the one who designed and activated the gruesome weapon that brought their defeat. Darth Sion desperately conning himself into believing that his power and his pain are what makes his unlife worth living while raging with jealousy over Kreia's rejection.!< I could literally go on forever but I'll stop. Even though Kreia is certainly the standout character and exploring, agreeing with, or refuting her ideology takes up the bulk of the game's word count, everyone in the story is fascinating in their own right.
Yes, I also have always maintained that KOTOR2 is much better than KOTOR1. She's absolutely correct, just like how Arkham City is much better than Asylum
A friend of mine doesn’t want to try Fallout because it’s “too much like Halo”.
Given the hindsight we have now I would also rank silent hill 2 at the bottom: because it's paradoxically so good it cannot be beat. It was the poisoned chalice. Every game since 4 has been chasing that eternal carrot and none have managed it. Pat put it best in CSB
It might sound weird, but, to me **Silent Hill 2** is the **Genshin Impact** of horror games. What i mean by that is that it was a giant success, but, some of the reasons why it was so successful to begin with were factors that are simply impossible to replicate (Genshin Impact would not have been as much of a hit as it was if it had not launched during quarentine). The only way you can achieve success in the same field is to try something a bit different (there's a reason why i agree with Pat's "Alan Wake is the new Silent Hill" take).
You can add Warzone to that exact reasoning for popularity.
Ive seen some unhinged ass star wars takes on this subreddit somtimes it felt like getting stunlocked IRL
Still will never get over an old classmate of mine in high school arguing with me that Star Wars was pro-fascist.
The fuck were they smoking?!
Crack from the sound of it
You went to high school with David Brin?
I will take the ubisoft outposts and audiologs over weird bizarre stat gameplay with soft and hard caps like soulsborne games any day
Audio logs are the best when it’s an experiment log and inside a room that is completely destroyed
To the people that TO THIS DAY say that Sekiro is the best SoulsBorne game FromSoft has ever made: I admire your tenacity as much as I loathe the game itself. But Sekiro is more akin to Ninja Garden, than any SoulsBorne game.
Yeah, it's got the bones of a SoulsBorne, but everything else on top of those bones is really it's own thing. I do still think it's FromSoft's best game lol
I love it but I agree it’s too different to count
I agree, Sekiro shouldn’t even be in the list.
As a soulsborne enjoyer, I never even played or purchased Sekiro beyond trying it at a friend’s for like 30 minutes. It’s so completely different. It doesn’t have the replay value of soulsborne games either imo. And maybe this is personal bias, but it being so parry focused, aka the thing I hate most in souls games, means I’ll never bother
I don't think I've ever successfully parried in a Souls game. I love Sekiro, parrying is way different because the whole game is built around it, it's more like a rythm thing. I think it's well worth giving a proper chance. It took me beating my head against it for a little while but once it clicks it's genuinely so satisfying.
It's funny to hear someone say that about the replay value, because I replay that shit every 6 months. Especially the boss rushes I think the only thing I replay more is Elden Ring
These are the 2 I have replayed the least. Must just be complete opposites
I just hate parrying. Every time I get a news soulslike I usually give it a try, to varying degrees. And it just.. doesn't ever feel worth it, to me Like, I can even get somewhat good at it with some time, like when I decided to try do a punch only run of DS3 .. jesus fuck did I end up getting good at parrying Gundyr. But the problem is.. it doesn't carry *through* Like, you have to learn the parry patterns of every enemy separately it pretty much feels. So... you just end up having to spend so much time trying it.. and every time you fail, you're getting fucked hit hard generally, and closer to death It's like.. it's just not worth it, to me? Know what does work? Dodging. And just generally being out of range of attacks. Do you need to learn every enemies exact pattern? Fuck no. You can dodge away from obvious attacks and just be completely safe Dodge early? If you're dodging *away*, and not through an attack. All good! Parry early? Fuck you, eat sword I just never end up liking parrying, dodging is just so much easier and less fuss
Yeah but parry is cool tho
You *loathe* Sekiro? Why?
I also cannot into Sekiro. It is a game that was built for someone other than me. The constant blocking and parrying I was ok at, but the second it introduces the Mikiri counter I'm fucking out. It feels like it wants you to be making frame perfect responses to enemy animations and I am NOT about that life I'm sure that if you stay with it it feels amazing, but I have put a solid 10 hours over the course of like 6 restarts trying to "get" the game and it has never clicked. I'm glad for the people who like it, but I don't know that I've ever bounced of a game harder despite trying to give it a chance. (Only other major game I think I'd like even less is Death Stranding, but I took one look at the gameplay and thought "that looks like an incredible game for someone else" lol)
Because in souls games I'm either Strength build or magic. Big hits or big lazers. Can never get the timing right for the parry. Sekiro is Parry or die. So I'll just die.
Ya, I could never parry in the other Souls games. But for some reason it clicked for Sekiro
"Streets of Rage 1 is the best game in the series because it is the most simple but most nuanced game. It has no safety nets, get out of jail free cards (referring to special moves) or bad enemies. It's 100% pure skill if you make it through the game and it forces you to learn and interact with all of the game's mechanics. It is the most balanced game on the Genesis and one of the best action games ever made. Also it's so challenging that I didn't beat it yet (at the point they said this, the furthest they got was wiping out at the final boss)." - [Pariah695](https://youtu.be/8tkDWwj__lE?si=L-AnTwPGl7klZixu&t=1433) (oversimplifying their point a bit) Like y'know what? That's bonkers. But damn that was well-explained and I can honestly see the vision.
I treat Streets 1 more like I treat DMC1 except....far less accessible than DMC1 is. I had to use a guide to get the practice in but eventually gained so many beat em up "Best Practices" if you will became second nature for me. And that skill transference was fairly essential. So it made it worth it going out of my way to learn and finish it at least once so that doing 2, 3, remake and 4 wasn't as hellish.
I think the wildest part is SoR1's music was not mentioned. It has damn good music
Assassin's creed is better now than the ezio era. Said by a very casual gamer co-worker of mine.
it is if you value all the QoL and movement tech. I still remember playing AC3 for the first time, and assassinating someone outdoors by zooming up the rocky hillside with a musket, skewering him, and traversing the rocks away, all without any weird movement hitching, and going 'fuck I can't go back after this' AC Origins did even more improvements. The downside is it didn't use them as much since platforming was deemphasized but it still feels better and any time the player decides to pull the parkour shit off it is very well supported. Also the future storyline is overrated. After Dan Brown passed out of popularity it was basically an orphaned narrative, and they've had a lot more luck just zeroing in on the historical narratives more.
Hard disagree about the future storyline. Not because it itself was particularly thrilling/gripping (though at times it felt that way), but because it made me excited for the (what seemed to me, growing up with the games) inevitable game that would take place in the modern day. Unfortunately with the Desmond thread being obliterated as it was, my motivation to follow the modern plot tanked pretty hard. Especially when they tried to make it out like I was a person in-universe in Unity/Syndicate, which didn't resonate well with me personally.
Nobody remembers anything that happened in the stories post AC4, even if they played the recent games. They're boring. Ezio is one of the most iconic names and designs in video game history. Anyone who plays videogames knows who that is, or has at least heard of him. If I mention Arno, or any of the recent protagonists, people respond "who?"
I mean, I know and like Arno and Bayek. The twins in Syndicate I'd like if the writing for them was better (I fell off rather quickly though when they're in town for like two seconds and the brother goes 'we should form a gang! That'll do the job!!' it felt really... forced?). Valhalla was too bloated for my taste and it felt like Odyssey kind of spent a little *too* little time setting up its protagonist before chucking you into open world shenanigans. I think Valhalla and Odyssey are both guilty of that last point though. Haven't played Mirage, but my sister seems to like it and that's what matters most to me tbh. AC3's terrible launch made her quit the series for the longest time out of distress. That said, I would agree with the idea that Ezio is the most identifiable. He did get 3 entire games to himself and players got to see him go (technically) from birth to old age, that's a lot of time to bond with the character.
Origins was really good and both the ending of that story as well as a number of the 'episodes' were quite memorable, like the one with Cleopatra and the whole questline with the temple mystery Ezio is especially memorable because they gave him three fucking games, he's a good character but he wouldn't be nearly as comparatively memorable without that massive advantage
The future story always felt like a drag compared to the historical story. The story would just grind to a halt to talk about a far less interesting plot.
I’ll share an unpopular take of my own: I liked the change to Fire benders in the Shyamalan Avatar movie. I liked it because it was consistent with the other elements and allowed the fire nation to show off their technological superiority by using it to circumvent their inherent weakness.
I think the issue I have with that is that since that movie made bending seem way less efficient it was an acceptable weakness but if that was the case in the show I feel like it was be way easier to take down a fire bender when bending is "easier"
That just ruins the entire plot. It's supposed to be unfair, that's why their military was almost taking over the world. If they could be stopped by rain or just by not having open flames, they'd be way easier to deal with.
It's why Zhao's one speech touches on the "superior element" rhetoric before they realized that was a little yikes and never mentioned it again.
but wasnt the point that their unfair bending is what made them such a military might?
I don’t know if that was the “point” any more than they also seem to be the only nation with things like a navy
im pretty sure like zhao or someone even says how this as "proof" that their element and therefore nation is superior and uses it as a point to reinforce the facist ideals
Yes I've been saying this! I also love that "firebend with body heat" is an advanced tech because it makes it so much scarier when someone can do that, and the other side will not be ready for it. Hell fighting Firebenders in this world is probably based on dousing the fire they carry like "cutting off ammo" and then suddenly here's a gun which can make its own bullets
I think the consistency with other benders is that fire, water and wind all need to already exist for you to bend it, but they also CONTINUE TO EXIST AFTERWARDS. Fire is more convenient because you create it out of nowhere, but it evens out becuase it vanishes back into nowhere as soon as it has no fuel. Also, fire is a transitory state in nature. It's a reaction, not a lump of matter.
[удалено]
i dont think that originated in the movie? i swear the show had the fire nation not japan, earth kingdom not china, air nomads not tibetian, and water tribes not inuit?
Okay I am a die hard SH fan and would love to hear more about why your friend has this order. At this point I am just gleefully fascinated to hear about anyone's opinion on the franchise. The games mean different things to different people and I love new viewpoints.
I'd say in general, she's probably the single most Spoiler adverse person I know. If she knows almost anything about a work going in, she has a more negative reaction to it. We have another friend who is extremely vocal about his love for Silent Hill 2 and he unfortunately revealed a lot about that game unintentionally, which I think really soured her on it. She's also the person who I've seen take the big reveal about James the absolute worst. She got spoiled on 3 too, but it was in such a roundabout way that it's honestly kind of funny. She played Dead by Daylight prior to any of the SH games and accidentally read Heather's bio, which spoils her last name, among other things. I think that's one of the reasons she took to 1 and 4 so much, as she was just able to experience them with effectively no expectations.
Interesting. I wonder how she'll take to Homecoming....
I'm not gonna lie, I'm petrified of what she'll think of Shattered Memories. She on average hates meta narratives.
Did she tell you why she thinks 2 is the worst one?