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Topic: PS4 recommendation thread

Posts 661 to 680 of 2,111

RogerRoger

@mookysam RiME is one long emotional crescendo. Since it's totally lacking dialogue, it builds an awareness of the story through experience and action and so, if you can steer clear of spoilers, you'll have played for a good chunk of it before you reach the "Ah, NOW I get it!" penny-dropping moment.

Or, if you're like me, you'll be walking the character across a small bridge in a relatively quiet bit of gameplay, drop your controller and whisper "Oh God, no."

And then not stop crying until the credits.

Although as @Kidfried mentions, I can imagine that such a reaction depends a lot on the player, sure. In fact I genuinely hope that it doesn't hit you as hard as it hit me.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

RogerRoger

@Tjuz Glad you did see the scene after all. It's a beautiful moment, one I think about a lot.

As @mookysam mentioned, there really aren't that many well-written gay characters in media; things are improving but it's slow progress, and years ago when I first played ME1 (which was the first game I ever played with gay romance options; heck, it was nearly the first game I ever played with romance options, period, since I don't usually play RPGs... I'd played Alpha Protocol but never triggered any of the romances) I wasn't surprised when I discovered that a male Shepard could only romance women, but FemShep could romance both males and a female (Liara). Since gaming is seen mostly as a teenage male pursuit, that's been the standard for a long time. I was additionally disappointed when I discovered that the original intent for ME1 was to make Kaidan bisexual, but that BioWare chickened out at the last minute. Then in ME2, there were all sorts of romances planned but the controversial backlash against ME1's romances in American media made them cut all except the straight ones.

I was disappointed because this was an RPG, where players are supposed to be able to shape the story with their own personality and morality, but I was also perfectly prepared not to romance anybody throughout the entire trilogy (and I'd have still loved the experience; I adore every member of the Normandy crew, they're all awesome on a "cool best buddy" level) or try a straight romance and step back from integrating myself too much, treat it more like watching a movie. Then my best friend, who'd recommended I play the trilogy because of my love for Star Trek and Star Wars, told me that Kaidan turns out to be bisexual in ME3 and so I decided to wait and see how it panned out, and whether BioWare managed to make it retroactively make sense across the entire trilogy (which they did, really well actually... so well that when it came to playing as Jason in my "personal" playthrough, I couldn't bring myself to do anything different).

Jacob is okay. I get why people aren't a big fan of him, he's pretty jock-headed at times, but I grew up in a military family and have a career history in emergency response, so understood some of where he was coming from, even if he didn't articulate it in the best of ways (similar to Liam Costa in Andromeda). His romance wasn't anything to write home about; he's a stereotypical bloke in many ways, but I thought it worked out alright in the end. He suited Kathryn, my FemShep, because she's quite sassy and renegade anyway. She often flirted at him before he had a chance to speak!

I'm impressed that you were able to weigh the socio-political ramifications of saving or sacrificing the Council so quickly! In the heat of battle, I just went "it's a numbers game; I'm here to save innocent lives" and made a command decision. But you're right, on reflection, I can see both sides. That's actually the beauty of a lot of the 50/50 decisions in Mass Effect; you can make a good case for almost all of them, there's never really a clear and obvious "this is heroic, this is evil" moment. I got myself caught quite a bit because some of the decision-making was so excellent and made me feel personally integrated in the world and story, with real power and agency, and others I'd just sit there at the screen saying "I'd do neither, and can totally see a third option which is better." Andromeda is a bigger culprit for that, though. Some of the major decision-based plot points in that were utter nonsense (still love the game, though).

The PSone was the mini version of the original PlayStation released towards the end of its generation in the dawning light of the PS2. Since the original PlayStation never had a number on it, and only really became known as the PS1 because of the PS2 (kinda like World War One was known as the Great War until World War Two) my OCD won't really allow me to type "PS1" because there's no such thing, and the abbreviation "PS" has other meaning. But I'm probably over-thinking it and being really pedantic. I do that a lot.

If a mission in Hitman goes to pieces (as you say, happens a lot) I restart and try again. I hate the idea of having civilian casualties listed in my end-of-level score breakdown, makes me feel genuinely awful (again, another example of me over-thinking things, it's a game for goodness sake). It makes them quite odd games to play, because I tend not to usually enjoy things that require constant restarts to get perfect, yet I love modern Sonic and Hitman games, so I guess they're my exceptions to the rule. But no, I'll totally raise an alarm to make a hit if I think I can get 47 to safety regardless, and have no trouble non-lethally inconveniencing a few NPCs along the way to my targets. Silent Assassin is a nice rating to get, but I'll often settle for one or two lower!

Hope you enjoy Arkham Origins when you do eventually get to playing; would obviously be very interested to hear your thoughts, opinions, etc. if you're happy to type them up. Apologies for not answering every point, but when I ranted on for so long about ME romances I thought I'd better cut things back a bit; besides, I agree with so much of what you've said anyway, so I could just point folks to your post and nod.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

mookysam

@RogerRoger Certain things can make me emotional, so I'll see how it goes. At the moment I feel like even a small thing might make me sob. I've played games where after completing them I've felt sad but almost hollow, because they've had such a stunning emotional impact.

Black Lives Matter
Trans rights are human rights

mookysam

@RogerRoger Just saw your post above (it must have popped up when I was typing my other reply). I was perplexed that there weren't male same-sex romance options in the first two Mass Effect games. Bioware's explanation irked me. I'm not one who is typically hyper-sensitive, but it didn't make sense that in an RPG where you can be your own Shepard and where there are also female same-sex romances that they then basically said, no Shepard isn't and can't be gay. They had to be concerned with backlash from certain sectors. :-/ I really liked that in Fable 2 (the first one in the series I played) that there were same-sex romances and it wasn't a big deal.

Black Lives Matter
Trans rights are human rights

RogerRoger

@mookysam I know exactly what you mean; great way to describe those post-game emotions. RiME was quite unique, but I often find such an impact tied to games that I never want to end, which was certainly the case for ME3. I was sad for the story, I was sad for the characters, but I was equally sad that it was over and the world I'd been playing in was all gone. I sat for about half an hour afterwards, in silence, just thinking and feeling. Incredible impact, even if it isn't exactly what I'd call "uplifting fun".

And yeah, in terms of backlash and social awareness, Mass Effect as a franchise just started a couple years too early. Change is often gradual with the occasional leap and I guess ME1 and ME2 just fell on the wrong side of one such leap; coupled with the American media deciding that they hadn't been angry about something in far too long and randomly picking it out of a hat, I certainly understand BioWare's position and, if I had been one of their executives at the time, am not sure I'd have done anything differently. You've gotta pick your battles, and waiting for ME3 obviously worked for them.

If there is a remastered trilogy, I wouldn't be against them re-activating the dormant code and recorded dialogue to make Kaidan and Ashley same-sex romance options in ME1. There'd be a degree of outrage about "SJW historical revisionism" but those who know the development story would appreciate it, I think.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Octane

@KratosMD Whoops, my bad; I didn't see the first line. That explains a lot, thanks!

Though maybe it's useful to say that I've bought RIGS anyway; I looked up some gameplay, and it was only a tenner anyway. I don't have a PSVR yet, lol!

Octane

Octane

@beemo Good to know! I'm hoping for a good sale during Black Friday, because I want to get one for Dreams anyway. I've also got Astro Bot already; €10 was too good to pass up on! Any other titles I should look out for? I'm thinking of Farpoint, that looks pretty good as well.

Octane

RogerRoger

@Tjuz I'm gonna find and / or create other places for us to continue the points we're discussing separately because, as @KratosMD rightly pointed out, our discussion which began as a series of recommendations has now evolved (as all good discussions do) into something that's wildly off-topic.

So much so that, I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't skip over @Octane asking about RIGS because I didn't have anything to contribute; I skipped over it because I genuinely didn't even notice it.

My sincere apologies to anybody who's felt sidelined by walls of text.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

RogerRoger

@KratosMD Already done. I'm also gonna create the topic for the upcoming release of Hitman 2 that I was going to anyway, just a week early.

Thank you for calling attention to it in the way that you did; I was already having similar thoughts, and nearly created a Mass Effect topic a couple days ago, but I ignored my instincts because I was enjoying the ongoing discussion so much, which was a mistake.

Particularly since this is a topic that's supposed to help people, and somebody's request for assistance got buried. So yeah, thank you and apologies again.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Th3solution

@RogerRoger So to carry over the question about Infamous. Yes, I would recommend the series as a whole for you. It’s clear you have an appreciation for the superhero genre. The first two games on last gen are probably more widely acclaimed as better games, but Second Son is superior of course in the technical department. Despite being an early PS4 game, it still holds up graphically.
It’s basically a world where some people (conduits) have developed super powers which typically revolve around power over some elemental or natural phenomenon. And yes, the protagonist goes through some of the ‘reluctant superhero’ themes and the whole ‘learning how to harness and develop your powers while fighting against all odds’ plot devices as well. Thematically, it is nothing ground breaking, but is well done. The superpowers involved are spectacular at times. And Second Son’s open world of an accurately rendered Seattle is a pretty good playground to try them out in. The production value is high, and I think you’d like it. All the games have a morality component of being able to play as good or evil. (Good Karma or Evil Karma it’s known by, I think). Be a savior to humankind, or use your power for destructive purposes. The choices you make affect what powers you have access to. So if you play evil, you’ll get to develop powers that you can’t use when playing as ‘good karma’. I think you’d like they aspect also, to be able to choose the more noble and heroic paths, based on our previous discussions. As I recall, you don’t like playing the villain or the morally corrupt role.
But yeah, highly recommend giving Infamous a try. All the games could be bought for a pittance at this point. Personally I think you could just jump into Second Son without having played the first 2 and be fine. There is not much of any carry over from Coles story that you can’t be quickly brought up to speed with, as I recall.
The expansion First Light is wonderful as well.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Kidfried

@RogerRoger I think you might like Infamous (Second Son). Don't focus too much on story, but instead on how it feels to have superpowers.

I actually hated the games at first, but I've grown fond of it.

Kidfried

Jaz007

@RogerRoger I can’t find the initial question, but inFamous is a great series. I’d reccomend for story along with gameplay. The story goes through some normal beats at first, but honestly becomes mind blowing, especially if you play it evil. Second Son doesn’t have a mind-blowing story, but it’s very well done and on a more personal level. It also skips superhero reluctance completely. They are have some of the most fun worlds to run around in. I’m not talking about side-quests either, I mean just running around with parkour and powers. It’s just tons of fun and I’ve spent too much time doing that.
And as said, you can play Second Son only and be okay, but you’d be missing out on some great story if you do.

Jaz007

Tasuki

Whoops my bad guys, I have been really busy at work the last week or so so I haven't been keeping an eye on the threads and such as well as I should be. I agree though with @KratosMD.

With that said from now on give a small impression on a game that somebody asks about and leave it at that. If you want to go into greater detail create a thread for that game. I will.be keeping a better eye on this thread from here out so if you derail the thread again don't be surprised to find your posts removed.

Thanks for understanding

RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.

My Backlog

PSN: Tasuki3711

Th3solution

@Jaz007 It was a question born on the Weekend Quiz thread. I was just surprised that RR didn’t know an Infamous question, so it brought us here so I could expound on why I would recommend it. I think I echo your thoughts on the game.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

RogerRoger

@Th3solution @Kidfried @Jaz007 Huge thanks for your recommendations of the Infamous series, folks. There was a lot I didn't know about the games until today; the choice element, for example, has me curious because whilst I do always personally prefer being an upstanding hero, I do like replaying games and will often experiment with alternate choices at a later date, so I'd imagine there's good replay value to be found there.

So yeah, I'm really grateful for the thoughts and will definitely keep all three games in mind for when I've got a gap in the calendar (they might make for a quicker and easier thing to get into and experience, like Dishonoured, instead of some of my other more intimidating choices, like Yakuza and Final Fantasy).

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

RogerRoger

@beemo Oh, don't worry, from what I've seen you write elsewhere on Push Square you're definitely a good barometer, so thanks for adding your recommendation (especially since I often have issues with highly-regarded games as well; from those you listed, I'll never play God of War or The Last of Us, and would only really be tempted by Spider-Man if it were a tenner).

I may pick up the Infamous games alongside Dishonoured and leave them on my shelf, safe in the knowledge that I'll definitely get to them soon.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Kidfried

@Th3solution Yea, I was surprised too @RogerRoger hadn't played Infamous Second Son either. I'd expect it to be up his alley, but what do I know.

Anyway RR, you're not interested in Spidey?

Kidfried

RogerRoger

@Kidfried I think it was one of those things where I missed the first couple and then felt like I couldn't really play any sequels as a result. Maybe some part of me expected it to be remastered and re-released as a trilogy on PS4 at some point, too. You probably know more than you think; I'll likely love it and be gushing with further thanks when I post fifty screencaps and change my avatar (again) at some point next year.

For now, though, there are lots of other, different things up my alley (make your own jokes).

And no, not hugely, I'm afraid. Don't really like Marvel, hate spiders... but, as I say, if it's cheap or one day on PS Plus, I'll give it a shot and probably enjoy it whilst it lasts (same as all the Marvel movies I've seen over the years, including all the Spider-Man ones).

I'll mostly be listening to the music. The clips I've heard from the soundtrack are phenomenal.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

RogerRoger

@beemo Ta muchly. I'll likely try and play them in chronological order, so that I'm suitably impressed with the switch to PS4 for Second Son. Always like to do that where possible.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

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