The Bill's Now Playing Video Game Thread (Now with Bames)

[Wang Mandu]

Now I want to get Mad Max. Is Mad Max too similar to Bats? I just spent like two months on Bats and I don't want to start playing a game like that so soon.

Pretty similar except driving is actually fun. The car combat is great, best storms in any game, the world is very wide and open. It has the same old open world setup: collecting stuff, taking down camps, races, etc. But, everything feels worthwhile. You're unlocking upgrades for your car, you're collecting scrap and you actually need it to upgrade. You level up by doing stuff in the wasteland and get Griffa (interesting character) tokens to upgrade some of Max's abilities. It feels right in that world. The shotgun is magnificent. Don't believe the reviewers, believe the people. On Steam: Positive (2,259) Negative (79) I had a marathon session yesterday and didn't even touch MGSV. The day/night cycle is superb as it's not suddenly night. It's very gradual and can take a long time.

It's gorgeous, too. I made these in the game editor. Spoilered for size.

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

[The Bill]

Do you have the PC or PS4 version?

[Wang Mandu]

PC. I believe the in-game editor is in all versions.

[The Bill]

Unlike Metal Gear, I don't see anything that shows me the PC version is anything truly superior to the consoles, so if I do get it, I'll get the PS4 version. But I'll only get it tomorrow if I have time to go to the store and not miss my train. So, if I have time to pick it up I'll play Mad Max tomorrow night. If I don't I'll finish off ME2. I want to get to Metal Gear. The back of my mind is telling me to start Metal Gear. But my gut and instincts tell me that at the present time and present weather conditions I should wait. It's gotten hot again in New York, and seems like it will stay so for a few weeks longer. Mad Max seems like a really good hot weather game, if that makes any sense.

[The Bill]

Well. WELL. WELL!

Random mathematics and unrest in the mechanical-astral planes have led me into a shifting paradox that isn't a paradox at all, and I went and bought Mad Max for the PS4 right this second... a few hours ago. The copy I purchased says I get the RIPPER.

[spacehamster]

MGSV is out on Steam, and Amazon tells me I'm not getting my preordered PS4 disc for like another week.

I'm giving it a maximum of three hours before I cave. The only thing that could possibly stop this from happening is if I decide to get this Mad Max game y'all whipper-snappers're yappin' about to tide me over until MGSV arrives.

Sigh.

[The Bill]

Can you cancel the Amazon order? That would be my deciding factor.

[spacehamster]

Can you cancel the Amazon order? That would be my deciding factor.

No, it's already shipped, but from Amazon UK, that's why it's going to take longer. I don't really care about the money, though, and I wanted to have a hardcopy of the PS4 version no matter what.

Does the PC version also have the magical non-disappearing mouse cursor that Ground Zeroes had? That might help.

[FVBTVS]

https://youtu.be/UIhVynq5eK4?t=2m13s

[FVBTVS]

[spacehamster]

Welp, sure glad I had the willpower to wait another day - got the PS4 version of MGSV from Amazon today, despite delivery projections to the contrary. Excellent timing indeed.

[FVBTVS]

I finally got through the prologue yesterday!! Why does snake have black horns?? Who is fire guy and long straight jacket girl? What the hell is going on

is this a comedy

[spacehamster]

The Phantom Pain. The opening sequence is supposed to be nuts and I've read you'll want to set aside a few hours when you start the game.

Classic Kojima. Always willing to ruin an otherwise great game in the service of some fucking inane story idea. Although, to be fair, I really expected an hour-long cutscene, at least he made it somewhat interactive.

Anyway, I just slogged through all that prologue/tutorial shit and finally got to the first regular mission. Looks like Ground Zeroes mechanics in an open world with somehow even better graphics, so... pretty much awesome. And the rest is just par for the course, I guess. Ocelot's stilted delivery of hilariously overblown exposition that's practically crying for an editor,

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

a flaming unicorn, a fire demon that can be neutralized by sprinklers, but not rain, a gigantic piece of shrapnel sticking out of Snake's head, and Tyler Durden soils himself about halfway into the prologue, because someone has to, so it might as well be Snake's hallucination that does it. Also, other than voicing Tyler Durden, I think...

...Jack Bauer has had exactly one line of dialogue so far, and it consisted of, um, quizzically repeating the last word Ocelot said.

But that's Metal Gear, and at this point, it would be weird without this shit. I really think I hate Sutherland's voice in this game, though. It's just wrong. Everything else is so comfortably familiar, right down to the same old sound effects, and then Snake's voice isn't there.

[doomeddisciple]

The supernatural elements are my least favourite part of the game.

The platform extensions on motherbase have to be the most impractical design for oil rig platforms ever but I love the rebuilding from the Ground Zero's vibe of it even though you only see the platforms fleetingly.

I got an S rating on mission which is a big deal for me, have upgraded my fulton to pinch bigger things and managed to use a missile launching light tank for three missions which was fun while it lasted though I wish I could have parked it somewhere til I had the Fulton power to extract and repair it - But I muffed it.

Loving experimenting with different ways to do shit.

[RY4N]

hes a quadruple agent with the philosophers legacy

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fuck you its metal gear nothing makes sense

[Wang Mandu]

The emblem menu is driving me nuts in MGSV. Why is it so slow... Funny how there are diamonds just strewn around Mother Base.

[Wang Mandu]

The missions are what you want. Ghost it, go quiet, go loud, etc. Whenever it's a eliminate a general or commander, you'll want to extract them to add to Mother Base. A lot of them have multiple B skills or at least and A skill. I usually sneak and then things pop off and bodies are everywhere. Reminds me of Blood Money with how many options you have. Although, it does seem strange a commander will wander right next to me. Easy fulton. I'm really enjoying the game now especially since I've expanded MB quite a bit.

What's your helicopter music? Currently mine is Bolzer "Steppes."

[The Bill]

I want to like Mad Max, but I'm not having fun with it. There's lots of cool stuff & it looks good and polished. It's just I'm finding it all a bunch of busy work. It sure means well but I find that it took stuff from other games but what it created is kind of the boring version of everything borrowed. Worse of all, in order to progress & upgrade I'm stuck with a ton of scavenger hunting (which makes sense in Mad Max) but it's execution is tedious & not my ideal idea on how to spend my super valuable gaming time. I'm not giving up, it could end up like Mordor, where the beginning was also seemingly tedious but evolved into one of the best things.

[Wang Mandu]

Quiet is such a stupid and ridiculous character. Cool encounter and how I stumbled into it.

[spacehamster]

I'm not very far into MGSV, but how is this supposed to be an open world game? So far it seems like it's structured basically like the PSP games. Which is bad, because I never understood why people liked those so much.

[copstache]

Quiet is such a stupid and ridiculous character. Cool encounter and how I stumbled into it.

I've leveled her up enough that she has a silenced rifle and I can tell her to fire at will

and holy shit she'll just obliterate an entire base full of people like it's nothing

[doomeddisciple]

Quiet is everything that's creepy about Japanese nerds dealing with hot womens.

I did like how you stumble into that encounter.

The rationale for her state of undress and the accompanying actions on the medical platform was only missing a stripper pole in the cell.

That said - God damn this game is awesome.

[doomeddisciple]

Having never watched one episode of 24 and not having seen Keefer since Lost Boys and that movie with Julia Roberts where they die for a while and come back from the dead.

[The Bill]

Max just isn't doing it for me presently. I think I'll sell it back and just get it on Steam sometime down the line when it's on sale. The real deciding factor was I decided to give Metal Gear Ground Zero a spin and it is awesome. Damn, but she's pretty on the PC. Loving it. Next time I'll just listen to the voices in my head.

I also started the suicide mission in ME2, but stopped because I was exchusted. I should just finish it, but I know the end wasn't anything special and then there's the giant robot from Super Contra 3 I have to deal with.

[FVBTVS]

yeah hearing keifers low douchey vocie for the first time as snake really made me question my commitment