CunningPig

Not that big a deal. It's still well worth the price if you play a lot of games. If you don't then it's not for you and that's fine too.

They've made huge changes to their business model and made huge purchases to increase the platform. They still seem to be figuring out where it all will settle, hopefully with these changes it stabilizes for a while. Same thing happened with rewards and people lost their minds, but it seems to have stabilized and is in a pretty good spot now.

The best expansion to any game ever, Lord of Destruction, is included in D2R. That counts in my book

It seems a retro mod pack would be the previous level, but that's maybe a bit pedantic

Yeah this should be 10 games. Very hard to choose. Citizen Sleeper was not easy to omit. I guess it's a good problem to have, it's a list of several games each month worth playing.

I love Fallout and I've tried it several times but just can't get into it. That's fine, I'm glad it's in a better state now and that so many people are getting enjoyment out of another Fallout setting. I just hope we can get something for single player Fallout fans being developed concurrently with ES6. Before earth actually becomes an apocalyptic wasteland would be nice.

@Tharsman I don't know, I guess it's possible, and probably what MS would want if ESO was launching in 2022. I don't know if the statement is incorrect anyway though. They are played together, by communities on different platforms. There is a community on xbox, and on playstation, and in each of those communities people play together.

I think it might come off as vaguely misleading because it is beating around the bush, not getting to the fact that it's financial motivation, not concern for the gaming community, that motivates MS to maintain the games as multiplat. It sounds good, for their arguments about bringing gaming to everyone, to say that they're multiplat because they're designed to be played together by big communities, but the real reason is because it's a much larger steady source of revenue. For future development of the live service, but also to subsidize development of the single player projects that can draw people into the xbox ecosystem as exclusives.

@Tharsman I think even if ESO isn't cross play it still relies on the larger community to support future development. If it was just xbox players, it wouldn't get nearly the same amount of content as we've seen it get. Especially in recent years it seems like there's always a massive new expansion in the works.

There's also a new fitness thing that just started recently. You get up to 40 pts a day for watching 2 videos, one is 10-15 mins, one is 30-35 mins, that have ads. They have to be run to completion in the foreground, not minimized. I usually start one, then go make breakfast lol. Super health mode activate

On the same page they have fitness plans that are like month long or week long "challenges" for 160-600 pts which I haven't tried, so not really sure what those are, or if they can be completed in conjunction with the other 2 daily videos.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health?ocid=entnewsntp&type=fitness

Edit: It's cool you're giving some traffic to Rewards Hunter. I've been watching his videos for a while and he does a great job of finding and explaining the easiest way to do things. He only has like 35k subs, so it's good to give him a boost.

As I said on here before, Tinkyin was the most enjoyable this year, Tunic was the most well crafted. I would have given it points in the poll had it been included, but putting it in "other" felt wrong. I loved it from start to finish and had to force myself to only play one zone per day because I didn't want it to end so soon. I collected everything and talked to every npc, and Tinykin is the rare exception that I might do that again at some point in the future.

@BRT15 I think they did a great job giving each gun a personality, and I don't mean their voiced character. They all have some different utility in basic combat, they have mods that change them pretty dramatically in some cases, and they have the trick hole that is not only used in combat but also in traversal. I think from a gameplay standpoint, that system deserves credit.

Gus and Creature are just fun to use too. Rage 2 shotgun is king, that gun just felt so perfect, but after using Gus I want all my shotguns to have a vacuum now lol

@munstahunta if you like puzzle games, pedestrian is pretty clever, it got repetitive for me though. I liked Gorogoa more, just more interesting and better art.

Been teaching my mom how to play video games again with Unpacking. She used to play games like Kid Icarus and Zelda on nes when I was a kid, but the most she plays nowadays is candy crush or wordle on her phone. It's been really fun seeing her reactions and watching her deliberate on where to place items. It's also kind of the perfect game for her to get the hang of the controller because all the button icons are on the screen and the controls are so simple.

I'm hoping this gets her up to speed enough to play As Dusk Falls with me and my brother, while we're all here together for Christmas.

I got bored long before completing the unlocks, but the game is so easy that I finished them anyway for the achievements. I don't see any reason to go back, even if it's only 2 bucks.

If there was any semblance of gameplay and not just addictive progression, it would appeal to me more.

Streaming has come a long way. No more screen wipes, artifacts, or major input lag. It's still lower res but definitely playable.

I have a 2021 Samsung in the living room, but play mostly on SX / LG C1 in the bedroom. I just tried FH5 on the Samsung and it's good enough that, for the first time, I felt like this was something I could recommend to other people. Maybe not for "gamers" but for most people the quality is probably good enough that they wouldn't notice or care.

@Clankylad three if you include potion craft, it's a similar aesthetic, although not in the form of an actual book like Pentiment and Inkulinati.

I tried the demo, it looks like it will have pretty good depth.

Kind of disappointing that it's a "game preview" though. I understand game pass is an ideal platform to get feedback, but I just have learned I need to avoid that format, or I won't be excited for the game when it reaches 1.0, like Grounded.

@Enigk @Sveakungen @Widey85 Potion Craft is really done a disservice to be billed as a simulator. I guess it's called a simulator because you move the mortar and pestle and stir the cauldron, but really that's just a mechanic for the navigation/exploration of the map. It's really just a crafting/shop game.

Nothing is timed, it's not Diner Dash or Overcooked, which is a plus for me. It's just a chill game I can play windowed on PC while working.

3 stars knocked off for the humor then, because you gave Gungrave a 7 which is full of boring linear levels, boring generic story, stupid AI, general jank everywhere, bad mechanics. Less a critique of the game, than a critique of the humor.

Just curious, how did you like GTA5? Because it's making the same sneering commentary on gamers and gaming culture. Trevor is every gamer.

I sat and watched Tammy and the TRex for about 40 mins. Holy Sh*t what a gem that is. Incredible the whole film is in the game, but even more incredible that it was ever made. It's weird stuff like that I can see why people will either love or hate it.

I just finished Somerville. It was okay. It probably should have been a short film. I think it even wanted to be a short film, it starts with an extended credits sequence and is letterbox and everything. Great imagery, the use of color, but really obtuse endings, a lot of abstraction that wasn't very satisfying, and there really wasn't much in the way of interactive gameplay. It's a lot of avoiding enemies searching for you and very basic puzzling, until the last puzzle that requires a phd in exolinguistics to fully appreciate.

Now I'm going back to the last act of Pentiment. I love the game but some of the railroading frustrated me enough to put it down for a couple weeks so I could appreciate the ending without a sour taste in my mouth.

Haha rare achievement indeed! Really interested in seeing how they translate AOE to Xbox. Hopefully I can get my brother to stop playing Crusader Kings 3 long enough to get in a few matches. We used to duke it out over LAN many years ago

I'm most excited about Diablo 4 but I have been following the development so it wasn't much of a reveal, especially after the date was leaked prior anyway. So I'll have to go with Judas. Although I do wonder why these guys make basically the same game again with new studios, like Callisto Protocol and Somerville recently.

@StylesT I feel like Zapp would never make such a logical assessment. Are you sure you're not secretly Kif?

@Kaloudz preorder for open beta access do you do it? I am having to explain to myself, rationally, that we told ourself we would never preorder again. Mass Effect Andromeda was my teachable moment. Also open beta might taint the "new" feeling at launch. And then my inner child kicks my shins and throws a tantrum because he wants it NOW.

@Rafie @BBB I thought so too until I saw they're doing a new Armored Core and then I remembered that, oh yeah, From makes Armored Core lol. Armored Core 2 on PS2 is a game I remember fondly. Haven't played one since though.

I am still tempted by the idea of Elden Ring I just really really really disliked the janky ugly no story Dark Souls 1 & 2 games I tried several times each to understand why other people liked them. If it was $10 I would probably bite, to remind myself why I don't like FromSoftware games.

@Sakisa they've shown so far that their philosophy is "hands off, let them make what they want to make", how we got Grounded and Pentiment. It will take a while to find out if that holds true for ABK though as they've already got COD in the pipeline for several projects for the next several years.

I would guess, based on Phil saying, and I can't remember exactly so paraphrasing, "we'll take into consideration the release schedule for COD" and his comments on wanting to see dormant IP resuscitated, we'll at least see that to some extent. That is all likely 5-10 years down the line though so there won't be any immediate answer unless they explicitly make it known after this closes.

Which regulatory body said Nintendo isn't a competitor to Sony? Either UK or EU, can't remember. Regardless it's really interesting to think that this is also a play to counter that notion that Nintendo doesn't compete directly. If MS is putting ActiBlizz on Nintendo, then they suddenly become much more comparable to PS and Xbox.

By offering it to Nintendo and Steam, MS has blurred the lines quite a bit.

@Kaloudz msn bypasses the paywall for most those sites. Search it on bing news.

@Rmg0731 uh no... closed beta just ended, haven't even started the open beta yet. They will need time after that to sort the bugs out. The development has been an open book, no need for conspiracies.

It would be pretty sweet if this winds up day 1 on gamepass. Everything they've shown and said about this has looked pretty much just right so far.

@NEStalgia So, don't compare them to cartridges, but compare console games to pc games? A single video game for a console is, or soon will be, $10 more than a single video game for a console was in 1991. That's what moms, who are now grandmas, see at the store. They don't know or care what's inside the box other than it's a video game for the kid. The cumulative rate of inflation is ~115% since then, the price of a console game will have gone up 17%. Zelda A link to the Past cost $59.99 at launch. Zelda Breath of the Wild cost $59.99 at launch.

@NeoRatt I felt a little burnt by Mass Effect Andromeda pre order, never again. It was at least playable though, just definitely not polished.

@grumpypotato As far as Elden Ring, I'll be tempted on discount in a couple years too. I really didn't like Dark Souls 1 or 2, but it does look pretty good and gets so much praise I'll admit I'm caving to public sentiment on that one getting me curious.

@Endarch GOAY edition lmao, I like that

@somnambulance I did the free trial they had a while back. I was not convinced by that, but I do love the setting. It looks great, but the combat really seemed bad to me. I didn't play it long enough to get out into the city much, or really get a feel for the quests. I wasn't completely turned off though. I will probably still get it eventually.

@grumpypotato @somnambulance I said weeks before launch that I would wait for GOTY edition. But yes it should probably be called the "Complete Edition" lol

I was mocked, mostly people said I was poor. I waited for Witcher 3 GOTY, and it was pretty good, even though it took me several tries to get into it. Resist the FOMO.

@NEStalgia But they haven't increased with inflation, for most of 30 years games have been about the same actual dollar amount. NES system cost $200 at launch. Series S cost $299. I disagree that it's pricing itself out of the discretionary budget of regular people, even if wealth disparity creates more people with less discretionary income.

@Doublecell I never believed prices wouldn't increase, because I took basic economics class as a child.

@NEStalgia Gaming has always been expensive. Games were regularly $50 for snes, $60 for n64. It's cheaper now, comparatively, by a lot.

According to an online inflation calculator:

1st numbers are game cost in USD at system launch year, 2nd numbers are adjusted for inflation

NES (1986) $30-50 = $81-136

SNES (1991) $50-60 = $109-131

N64 (1996) $50-60 = $95-114

PS2 (2000) $50-60 = $86-104

Xbox 360 (2005) $60 = $92

@Doublecell I can't help but laugh at you. This is just a horrendously bad take that completely misses the mark. If you think raising the price of games $10 is a bad look, how would Xbox look if they pulled the rug out from under gamepass and didn't put any of these games on the service. That would kill Xbox brand 100%, dead in the water, done, there's no coming back from that. Gamepass is Xbox's future business model, not a stop gap measure.

He said "one of the first". And then you say well at least Sony makes good games. Just leave please, you're obviously not here to do anything but troll. GFY

@trev666 this is the way

@EliJapan I played on SX and thought it was pretty good. I think it was the 2nd game I played on SX, after Gears Tactics, both in Nov 2020. I don't remember graphical bugs. I don't like that actor much either, though I still enjoyed the game mostly.

I got 100% on Vampire Survivors in about a week, and by the end it was an uninteresting chore, made more frustrating by buggy unlocks that caused me to repeat stuff. All it has going for it is an addictive progression loop. Once you figure out how to win, you will never lose, and after about 8 minutes into each run you're just on auto pilot for 22 minutes. It is fun for the first couple play sessions though, when you can still die and are figuring things out.

Pentiment is the best game on this list, art, storytelling, craft, are all superior.

Soccer Story is pretty good too, but the worst part is the actual soccer matches lol. Exploring the map is enough fun, and it's charming enough to make up for it though.

I just started Somerville last night and I actually really liked the first hour or so. They definitely got the atmosphere right. Still too early to tell.

I wanted to like Ghost Song but it just felt janky. Hollow Knight and Ori have set a bar for Metroidvania that Ghost Song didn't meet. The art is amazing and it nailed the Metroid vibe, sort of haunted in a way. I stopped after the first boss/MacGuffin, probably wont go back.

Definitely been wanting to try inkulinati ever since they had it in one of their shows, forget which.

There was a demo a couple years ago that still sticks with me, The Vale, designed for the visually impaired. It was an amazing unique experience, played it with a blindfold on and it really forces you to remember your surroundings and the steps you took to navigate through the world, but also to use your hearing and the vibration to react to the game world. Sometimes there are gems in these demos.

I haven't finished yet. Without spoilers I was pretty disappointed by a decision made for me at the end of Act 2 that had drastic consequences. First and foremost my character, as a logical hedonist, would never have done that, but secondly, I felt it changed the game from something that felt organic and crafted by my own agency, into a story on rails that my previous input had no effect on. It detached me from the story in a way that really turned me off, especially because I was so invested before that point.

I will finish it, probably this month, but I went from "couldn't put it down" to "don't want to pick it up" real fast from that one event.

I love old school jrpgs, mostly from nes, snes, ps1. I don't like most of the big modern jrpgs, like Persona 5 recently bored me to tears, tried it for about 7 hours and felt like I was still in the tutorial. Ni No Kuni was interesting but the combat sucked, Kingdom Hearts is just a mess, Final Fantasy hasn't been good since 9, 10 was okay and was the last one I finished. 12, 13 and 15 were god awful, have zero interest in FF7R, despite FF7 is maybe my GOAT.

DQ11 is the rare exception. Hadn't played DQ since 5 on my nephew's DS, and 11 lived up to and exceeded my expectations. It's really great to see at least one classic jrpg series stick to its roots and still be able to deliver a great adventure like DQ11. Probably not enough time to finish it in 2 weeks, but definitely try it out to see if you want to grab it on discount before it leaves. It's a great game.

Honorable mention to Yakuza Like a Dragon, which is the only Yakuza I've played, and inspired by DQ, was a great traditional jrpg.

It's a good one, full of kickin balls and slidin!

Finally went back to Plague Tale Requiem, not sure why but I just felt like playing other stuff when it came out.

Also been playing Evoland Legendary Edition on pc, free game from Epic recently, and it's pretty fun. It's mostly just a nostalgia trip, but it's actually a pretty good little rpg in its own right. I had never heard of it, or maybe just completely ignored it before, so that was a nice surprise.

I'm not sold on Callisto Protocol yet. A lot of times when the creator of a classic goes on to a new studio and tries to recreate the same game it doesn't work out. Just look at Somerville. I feel like if they had good ideas they'd make a different game, not the same one reskinned under a different banner. It might be great though, Mass Effect spawned from KOTOR, so we'll see.

Soccer Story has had a lot of good things said about it, and looks really creative and fresh, so that's probably the one on this list I'm most interested in right now. No reason not to try it on game pass anyway.

I haven't found it yet

Portal 2 needs it badly. The last GwG from 360, one of the best games of that gen, looks so terrible on a modern tv set. Made me sick after only a few minutes. I was really excited to replay it, what a let down.

@PressR2 that's intersting. I hadn't heard that, probably not enough to draw me back, but that's good for new players.

@Banjo- I think BotW was a pretty good game, it just wasn't a very good Zelda game. Overrated probably true though because it gets a lot of GOAT hype. It's hard, when they set the bar so high on snes and n64, for anything to match Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time, for me at least. Fully acknowledge my nostalgia influences that opinion though.

I got the goty edition for free with xbone S. I don't see any reason to go back to it for the upgrade. The open world was just so boring most of the time. SO many ?'s all over the place and 90% of them were just filler repeating the same content. The story missions and witcher contracts were mostly great though.

I'd welcome a Witcher 4 that had a much more focused narrative. They're really great at telling stories, or at least bringing someone else's stories to life.

@PJOReilly ah, I never noticed that before!

It's worth a trial on game pass then, to see for myself.

@PJOReilly Fair enough. Just because it's a choice doesn't mean I think it's a good one And now the screen shots have changed?

Starfield and Diablo IV are basically tied for me, and Redfall isn't too far behind, but Stalker 2, Motorsport, Atomic Heart, and Wo Long all have me excited as well.

Based on it's getting 0% of the vote, I think the sleeper that could surprise everyone is Minecraft Legends. Based on some things I've read elsewhere, that one could be a lot of fun if they give it enough depth. More depth than Dungeons please.