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kirby007 on 01 December 2021

343 just show big balls and remove BP entirely



 "I think people should define the word crap" - Kirby007

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Angelus on 01 December 2021
coolbeans said:

General question for anyone to answer: what has been some of your favorite lead & supporting performances in a 2021 game? Even if its narrative isn't incredible, perhaps the acting talent polished it up a bit.

Basically the entire cast of GotG was excellent, and pretty much made that game.



Angelus on 01 December 2021
shikamaru317 said:
konnichiwa said:

My nephew beated his COD battlepass with 150 games (a lot of nuketown), after 60 games in HI I am still at 16.  It is way slower. , just rework the sytem so you get XP for playing the game, turn those rewards for challenges into XP boosts and make the weekly challenge a community challenge so it may unlock for everyone who participated.  Would be way better, if this system still exist with the release I hope the game MP reviews will bomb.

I haven't really touched CoD in awhile, so I can't really comment on the Battlepass speed comparison there, but I do play Dead By Daylight, and I feel like the current Battlepass progression speed in Infinite after yesterday's update is comparable to Dead by Daylight's Battlepasses, and DbD is of course the 16th most played game on Xbox currently even though it is 5 years old and not a shooter. With the 4 free XP boosts per month from Gamepass Ultimate, plus the XP boosts you unlock within the battlepass itself, I think that the average player would not only be able to get through this 6 month season 1 Battlepass before the end of the season, but also the later 3 month battlepasses. Though I don't think we will see that happen, having the current progression by the time season 2 rolls around; 343 themselves said that yesterday's update is a band-aid for the progression system, they are listening to the feedback and are planning larger progression changes. I think we will see a system that gives you XP for playing well, either through medals or match score to XP conversion, long before Season 2 starts in May, probably even within a few weeks of release on Dec 8th we will see that, maybe even on release, depending on how hard it is to code such a system.

I personally don't see the current progression speed hurting reviews on Dec 6th, what is far more likely to hurt reviews is the current monetization. People are pissed about how the game is monetized currently, the $18 armor sets, the cheaper but still extremely expensive bundles that aren't a full armor set but things like color combos and gun attachments, the fact that we have Reach items in the store instead of in the Reach battlepass and likewise Yoroi items in the store instead of in the Fractures Tenrai event battlepass, the fact that the fan favorite Anubis set which is extremely popular costs $18 in Infinite, the fact that free players have barely any customization options, the fact that we can't earn store credits in game, the fact that 343 promised the most in-depth customization system ever for the series but all of that depth is locked behind a paywall (while the 3 body types don't actually resize the armor, a very lazy approach). You can see videos all over Youtube about how poor the monetization and customization is currently, threads all over Waypoint and Reddit, articles from gaming sites about how poor the the monetization and customization is. 

I fear that if 343 doesn't rectify the monetization issues before Dec 6th it will hurt MP reviews quite alot. The various issues surrounding the game have already caused a good bit of player drop-off, it was the #1 most played game on Xbox week one but has now fallen behind Fortnite and CoD Warzone on week 2 to land at #3 on Xbox most played, and it has also lost nearly 2/3rds of players since release on Steam. 343 really needs to make some significant progress asap. 

Tbh, the crazy high prices they have for items on the store is something they could totally get away with...if they just had enough cool shit in the BP (both the free and paid portions of it). The issue is simply that 343 currently provide players with a rather anemic amount of customization unless you're willing to pay through the nose. Free stuff only? Forget about it, you get next to nothing. Paid BP? You get stuff, but the variety isn't great, so you're probably still not going to meaningfully differentiate yourself from most others.

You can go back to what I said before...ok...I'm level 54 now...I just unlocked Kat's blue. Which is slighter lighter than cadet blue...which is just about as blue as the noble commander's blue you unlock 40 levels or so earlier. Is this unlock going to excite anyone? Of course not. I still look the same.



G2ThaUNiT on 01 December 2021
Angelus said:
shikamaru317 said:

I haven't really touched CoD in awhile, so I can't really comment on the Battlepass speed comparison there, but I do play Dead By Daylight, and I feel like the current Battlepass progression speed in Infinite after yesterday's update is comparable to Dead by Daylight's Battlepasses, and DbD is of course the 16th most played game on Xbox currently even though it is 5 years old and not a shooter. With the 4 free XP boosts per month from Gamepass Ultimate, plus the XP boosts you unlock within the battlepass itself, I think that the average player would not only be able to get through this 6 month season 1 Battlepass before the end of the season, but also the later 3 month battlepasses. Though I don't think we will see that happen, having the current progression by the time season 2 rolls around; 343 themselves said that yesterday's update is a band-aid for the progression system, they are listening to the feedback and are planning larger progression changes. I think we will see a system that gives you XP for playing well, either through medals or match score to XP conversion, long before Season 2 starts in May, probably even within a few weeks of release on Dec 8th we will see that, maybe even on release, depending on how hard it is to code such a system.

I personally don't see the current progression speed hurting reviews on Dec 6th, what is far more likely to hurt reviews is the current monetization. People are pissed about how the game is monetized currently, the $18 armor sets, the cheaper but still extremely expensive bundles that aren't a full armor set but things like color combos and gun attachments, the fact that we have Reach items in the store instead of in the Reach battlepass and likewise Yoroi items in the store instead of in the Fractures Tenrai event battlepass, the fact that the fan favorite Anubis set which is extremely popular costs $18 in Infinite, the fact that free players have barely any customization options, the fact that we can't earn store credits in game, the fact that 343 promised the most in-depth customization system ever for the series but all of that depth is locked behind a paywall (while the 3 body types don't actually resize the armor, a very lazy approach). You can see videos all over Youtube about how poor the monetization and customization is currently, threads all over Waypoint and Reddit, articles from gaming sites about how poor the the monetization and customization is. 

I fear that if 343 doesn't rectify the monetization issues before Dec 6th it will hurt MP reviews quite alot. The various issues surrounding the game have already caused a good bit of player drop-off, it was the #1 most played game on Xbox week one but has now fallen behind Fortnite and CoD Warzone on week 2 to land at #3 on Xbox most played, and it has also lost nearly 2/3rds of players since release on Steam. 343 really needs to make some significant progress asap. 

Tbh, the crazy high prices they have for items on the store is something they could totally get away with...if they just had enough cool shit in the BP (both the free and paid portions of it). The issue is simply that 343 currently provide players with a rather anemic amount of customization unless you're willing to pay through the nose. Free stuff only? Forget about it, you get next to nothing. Paid BP? You get stuff, but the variety isn't great, so you're probably still not going to meaningfully differentiate yourself from most others.

You can go back to what I said before...ok...I'm level 54 now...I just unlocked Kat's blue. Which is slighter lighter than cadet blue...which is just about as blue as the noble commander's blue you unlock 40 levels or so earlier. Is this unlock going to excite anyone? Of course not. I still look the same.

Yeah, I'm honestly of the same opinion. If there was a crap ton of customization options and just cool skins, the backlash on the prices would be nowhere near as bad as they are. 

Not that it should be justification for the same prices as full on DLC's or season passes, but games like Valorant are much worse! They released a new bundle of 5 skins called Spectrum, and you're going to have to cough up $100 for all 5 skins, which is equivalent to $20 each, but that's only if you get them in the bundle. If you wanna purchase them individually, it'll cost more.



Angelus on 01 December 2021
Ryuu96 said:

How'd you rank the villains of Halo thus far?

  • Halo CE - 343 Guilty Spark
  • Halo 2 - Tartarus, Regret
  • Halo 3 - Gravemind, Truth
  • Halo 4 - Didact
  • Halo 5 - Cortana
  • Halo Wars 1 - Ripa 'Moramee
  • Halo Wars 2 - Atriox

Trying to attach an antagonist for each one, Reach and ODST didn't really have a primary antagonist, a couple of games had more than one, of course Gravemind and Truth are also antagonist of Halo 2 but I feel the focus is more on Tartarus and Regret. Mercy isn't there because well, he was fucking useless, Lol, dude did next to nothing, got killed by a flood spore.

Part of me wants to defend Guilty Spark being called a villain but by pure definition of the word he is and he killed Johnson, I wouldn't call him evil though.

Truth is, no Halo game to date has had a particularly compelling singular antagonist figure. I'd argue that the Bungie games didn't even really try. Sure, they had some key players for you to eliminate at various points, but none of them were presented in a "big bad" kinda way. They were just faces of a greater whole that needed to be overcome. They weren't true rivals to the player. Halo 2 got the closest, with Tartarus, as he definitely was a rival to the Arbiter, but Arbiter's arc is only half the story, and he's not even the series lead.

343 did try to create traditional antagonists that define the player's journey through their games, but they've basically botched it both times. The Didact gets unceremoniously disposed of, without so much as a boss fight, effectively wasting his entire build up throughout Halo 4. And then of course there's Cortana in Halo 5...a nice idea, in theory. In practice, it was too soon to pull this move, and undercut by pretty much everything else about Halo 5, not the least of which being that you spend entirely too much time away from Chief, and blue team. The personal dynamics that 343 wanted to play on aren't given the necessary time and depth to deliver the appropriate punch.

Halo Wars...I honestly don't remember a true Antagonist from the first game, but it's admittedly been a while since I've played it. Maybe I'm wrong here. As for the sequel...Atriox was damn cool...but he was also barely in the game. That really awesome cutscene of him that we've all seen 100 times by now...that's pretty much the extent of his direct involvement in the game. Total waste.



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EspadaGrim on 02 December 2021

Pretty sure I just played a ranked match with a cheater, guy was getting pure headshots with the Sniper Rifle at a ridiculous rate.



Imaginedvl on 02 December 2021

This is gold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emtFARsBj-U
She is nailing it as a casual gamer....

So refreshing to see someone like her talk about why she got a Series S without any fanboy stuff or even non-casual gamers looking for most powerful stuff, exclusives stuff, 'because the internet says so stuff' :)



Machiavellian on 02 December 2021
Angelus said:
coolbeans said:

General question for anyone to answer: what has been some of your favorite lead & supporting performances in a 2021 game? Even if its narrative isn't incredible, perhaps the acting talent polished it up a bit.

Basically the entire cast of GotG was excellent, and pretty much made that game.

I can agree to this, just finished the game and it was a joy to play.  By the time you finish the game, the cast become the Guardians probably more so than the movie.



Angelus on 02 December 2021
Machiavellian said:
Angelus said:

Basically the entire cast of GotG was excellent, and pretty much made that game.

I can agree to this, just finished the game and it was a joy to play.  By the time you finish the game, the cast become the Guardians probably more so than the movie.

Yea I was just playing through it over the past week after picking it up on sale. Pretty cookie-cutter gameplay, but the game really had a lot of heart, and the cast was exceptional. It would be easy to get fed up with a set of characters that literally never shut up for like 15 hours or however long the game takes, but they had me smiling pretty much non-stop. As you said, it was a joy to play.



G2ThaUNiT on 02 December 2021

Bungie's 30th anniversary event in Destiny 2 is upcoming, and screenshots have been added to D2's Steam page of either the dungeon or it seems to be a 6 player activity of some sort, and you can see a Halo Carbine and BR on the back of a couple of these guardians!

https://twitter.com/destinynewscom/status/1466334797769367555?s=21

Last edited by G2ThaUNiT - on 02 December 2021