Comments 153

Re: Talking Point: It's Now Been Over 10 Years Since Rockstar Launched A New Grand Theft Auto

clvr

Zero hype for the next installment of the most overrated gaming franchise ever.
The 6th gen games were revolutionary, sure, but I've never seen a franchise coasting on past success as much as GTA does.
Having recently replayed V and the Trilogy, well, these games never had good gameplay, and even the writing is seriously overrated.
The satire was always overplayed by fans, and the stories and character leave a lot to be desired.
I get why the old games had the success they had, but after refusing to evolve for so long, I don't understand why GTA is still relevant.
GTA VI will certainly not be an exception: I predict it will be a very pretty game with a lot of graphical detail and that's it; the gameplay will still suck like it always has, and the open world will be just as non-interactive as usual.

Re: GTA Owner Expecting 'New Record Levels' For 2025 Financial Year

clvr

@Widey85 wow, I usually get dogpiled when I criticize GTA, thanks lol
Yeah R* was never good at gameplay, and I get excusing that fact for a couple of PS2 games, but even by the time San Andreas was released it was high time they made some improvements, which they kept not making with IV and V.

Re: GTA Owner Expecting 'New Record Levels' For 2025 Financial Year

clvr

I'm hoping that for once people will not give R* a pass and actually criticize GTAVI, instead of shilling it to no end like everyone did with V, which was outdated the day it came out.
I mean, they could surprise me and overhaul the gameplay and mission design, but who's expecting that?
If they don't seriously fix the formula, it'll be an incredibly outdated game, but we all know it'll sell and review very well based on name alone.

Re: Soapbox: Go Buy The Best Console Version Of Far Cry 3 While It's Cheap On Xbox

clvr

@Tharsman as @themightyant rightly suggests, Zelda is way more sophisticated in its approach, even if some of those thousands pieces of content are not all unique.
For one, the ways in which you can interact with the environment make every challenge sort of new, as there isn't just one solution intended by the Devs.
Secondly, Zelda takes a "world first" approach, while Ubi games are "map first", in the sense that yes, both feature towers to climb, but only the latter tells you where anything and everything of interest is.
In Zelda you must find stuff on your own and are guided by your curiosity (which is always rewarded), making even reaching a mountaintop (or a Shrine, or a tower, etc.) a challenge in and of itself: do I have enough stamina? Should I climb or go the other way around? Are there enemies?
And with TOTK, things have become exponentially more complex and sophisticated, giving player the chance to MacGyver up any solutions you might think.

So yeah, I think these 2 Zelda games are absolutely in a league of their own, and no Ubi open world game can even think of coming close.
The former are a gourmet meal, the latter is comfort food. Tasty and likeable all you want, but not really high quality or nutritious.

Re: Soapbox: Go Buy The Best Console Version Of Far Cry 3 While It's Cheap On Xbox

clvr

@Tharsman "I’m curious why no one ever complains (that I heard of) about Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom being too long…"

Certainly you can see the difference between a systemic open world with emergent gameplay and handcrafted challenges on the one hand, and a smattering of copy-pasted outpost on a non-interactive stretch of land.

That's what kept me playing for 150+ hours in BOTW and has me bored after 15 hours with any Ubisoft game.

Re: BioShock Infinite's 'Columbia' Is One Of The Best Game Worlds Ever To Grace Xbox

clvr

Yeah, the setting is great, but also a big pile of wasted potential.
This game is the prime example of a mess born of too many ideas, all at once, with the final result being a thoroughly unfocused and lesser experience, compared to the Rapture duology.
The plot is all over the place, the gameplay is watered down to an incredible extent, and the themes...well, better not even touch those with a ten foot pole.
Oh and the retcons in the DLC are absolutely dreadful.

Re: Pick One: Which Is Your Favourite Halo Game?

clvr

@Baler @nomither6 Again with the silly "you played it wrong" angle!
If a game offers multiple difficulties, why the hell would you shift the blame on me for playing the recommended normal difficulty.
If Bungie/343i didn't want that, they could've just gone the Fromsoft route and made one singular difficulty setting for everyone.
I'm sorry but that's a terrible argument to defend a game.
Even if it weren't, a higher difficulty wouldn't increase the number of different enemies, nor fix the abysmal level design and signposting, so no, playing on Legendary or whatever won't fix what are glaring flaws in this series.

Also Baler mentioned stuff like the atmosphere, which just doesn't change with difficulty.

Re: Pick One: Which Is Your Favourite Halo Game?

clvr

@Baler lol @ "playing it wrong", what does that even mean? Just because I didn't like something you did doesn't mean I must've gotten something wrong.
The games are incredibly boring due to a combination of slow moving speed, huge barren maps, terrible indoors level design with samey corridors, empty rooms and poor signposting, and (at least the first few games) a laughable selection of weapons and enemies. I remember playing Halo CE with my brother and thinking to myself "this is the definition of mindless shooter".
What people refer to as the Halo sandbox is an absolute mystery to me, as it's got some of the shallowest mechanics in all FPS games.
If having the option to slowly walk versus mounting a vehicle is enough to call it a sandbox, then I'm afraid the bar is pretty low.
And it's a shame, because the fundamentals of running and gunning are quite good if floaty, and I don't think that's a negative because it certainly gives Halo games a unique feel.

Re: Pick One: Which Is Your Favourite Halo Game?

clvr

Definitely Infinite, since it's the only one I managed to enjoy and complete, despite being average at best.
It does my head in the way Goldeneye is touted as ancient and a product of its time, while the old Halo games are still held in high regard.
I tried the MCC both by myself and with my brother in co-op, and they bored me to tears like very few other FPS games do, while I had a whale of a time with Goldeneye.
So yeah, I guess my hot take is that Halo was never that good to begin with lol

Re: Like A Dragon 8 Is Coming To Xbox Consoles In 2024

clvr

Hype! YLAD was incredible!

Although I'm not sure where I stand on Kiryu being back, as I like Ichiban way more and I hoped the new saga would distance itself a bit from the old one. Also, I don't really like having multiple characters or parties, but hey...let's wait and see!

Re: Poll: Are You Enjoying Immortality On Xbox Game Pass So Far?

clvr

"don’t kid yourself saying Immortality is more fun than Saints Row, which is actually a proper game with proper gameplay where your in complete control to do pretty much anything like driving, shooting etc."

1) fun is subjective, quality is not.
SR may be more fun to you, but that says more about you than these two games. SR is a poorly executed attempt at a stale and dated concept, while Immortality is a completely unique experience that pushes the medium further.
Sign me up for the latter all day, every day.

2) again, the fact that to you a game that has shooting is better than a game that doesn't says mire about you than the games, and to be honest, if you really think that, you're absolutely clueless about how games, and art in general, work.

Re: Poll: Are You Enjoying Immortality On Xbox Game Pass So Far?

clvr

@MaccaMUFC dude you can't compare Saints Row with Immortality though.
One is a dated, by the numbers open world action game, while the other is an arthouse experimental narrative experience.
You might've had more fun with the former, but there's no way it can even touch Immortality, if Barlow's previous works are anything to go by. They're just on different levels.

Re: Talking Point: Which Is The Best BioShock Game On Xbox?

clvr

1 all day, every day.
It's just better as a piece of art taken holistically compared to 2, even if 2 has the upper hand mechanically (and an absolutely fantastic expansion in Minerva's Den).
The less said about the catastrophic mess that is Infinite (and its DLC), the better.

Re: Xbox's Hellblade 2 Is Busy Figuring Out Where Bird Poo Should Land

clvr

Yeah I'm in the "this is time and energy completely wasted" camp, just as I was with RDR2.
Making a game more realistic doesn't make it better, it often only makes it more tedious (again, RDR2).
And what is the game even gaining from this? Sounds like they're patting themselves on the back more than anything.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 30-31)

clvr

Unfortunately I'm at work until tonight, but after my belated dinner my friend should come over to continue our Divinity: Original Sin II campaign on PC.
Other than that, I'll be playing D&D tomorrow and if I have some spare time I'll be continuing The Outer Worlds.
I just started it the other day on my Series X and I'm ready to wrap up the first area. I'm enjoying it so far 😃

Re: Xbox Exec Claims Crunch At Bethesda Is A Thing Of The Past

clvr

@Kaloudz if expressed this way, in a balanced and well thought out matter, that's a sentiment I can get behind.
It's with people like this @dsar9012 that I just can't, they really do my head in for how ignorant and conspiratorial they can be, and how little sense they can make. No arguments, just gut feelings spewed out as facts.
And that's not even touching on their insistence on crunch. That's a whole other can of worms.

Re: Xbox Exec Claims Crunch At Bethesda Is A Thing Of The Past

clvr

@dsar9012 Aside from the fact that you'd rather have people overworked to the point of sleeping under a desk than wait a few months more for a game, and that's appalling as is, how ignorant can you be? Seriously, what does "wokeness" have to do with any of this? Learn the definition of words before spewing them out randomly to gain brownie points from other online edgelords.