Where are my Satellite Guy's gamers at?

[king3pj]

Mass Effect is definitely my favorite franchise, too, as I'm sure I've mentioned in this thread more than once already.

I've platinumed all three ME games on the PS3 and am currently three-quarters of the way through my fourth ME2 playthrough with my first Shepard imported from ME1, an engineer, as I had never played that class before. I've put that campaign on hold, however, as I patiently await an ME3 DLC sale or GOTY/special edition release, so I can do a full ME3 run with this same Shepard and with all the DLC installed. Playing the ME3 DLCs with Shepards I already finished the game with just doesn't hold the same interest for me. As a PS3 person, I was spoiled with getting most of the playable DLC included with the vanilla version of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (I only had to pay for Arrival, which was easily worth $7, and Pinnacle Station couldn't be ported). But the prospect of paying $50 for what I understand to be less than 15 hours worth of ME3 DLC content gives me pause, as much as I love the franchise. It's worth noting in that regard, however, that there's a special offer until 10/29, where you'll receive a $10 PSN credit for every $50 spent between now and that date.

Wow! Getting platinum trophies for all 3 games in that series is pretty hardcore. You put some serious time in there.

I hear you on the DLC. I bought all 3 games on PS3 separately. I had already played ME1 on 360 and bought ME2 and ME3 on PS3 because I got a great Black Friday deal on them but they didn't have the 360 versions available. When I heard that the trilogy box set was coming out for both systems and that ME1 would be available as a stand alone PSN download I decided not to play ME2 or ME3 until after I replayed ME1 on PS3 so my Sheppard and decisions could carry forward through all 3 games.

Anyways, I would have gladly bought the trilogy disk version at $60 even though I already had ME2 and ME3 instead of just paying $15 for a ME1 download if it would have been a complete package. I think the idea of them releasing the trilogy as a box set was a really cool idea especially for PS3 owners who never had access to ME1 before that point. It just seems like they should have included all the DLC and made it the complete story.

 

[Scherrman]

Well I finally did it, I joined Gamefly. I've been thinking of doing it for a couple years and finally joined today. First three games put in my queue are The Last of Us, GTA5, and Diablo 3.

 

[king3pj]

Good luck. I'd say I have definitely got my money's worth out of my 2 game plan between PS3, 360, and Vita games. It does require a little patience if you want the newest games though. Their inventory is much much better than blockbuster at home but they don't touch Netflix's turnaround either. They received my last game last Wednesday and I cleared out everything but GTA V to make sure they don't send anything else and I'm still waiting. I fully expected this because people hold on to games much longer than Netflix movies and GTA is pretty much the biggest thing out there.

It saves me a lot of money and it's great when I have several games I want to play and don't have to play them in a specific order. They will typically send me something the day they receive my games even if it isn't the #1 item in my queue. It can be a little tricky trying to get a specific, popular new release game though. It is really going to come in handy for me when I get my PS4. I'll be willing to try almost all the launch window PS4 games but very few are games I have to own. I will just load up almost of them into my queue and play them in whatever order then send them.

 

[Zookster]

Anyways, I would have gladly bought the trilogy disk version at $60 even though I already had ME2 and ME3 instead of just paying $15 for a ME1 download if it would have been a complete package. I think the idea of them releasing the trilogy as a box set was a really cool idea especially for PS3 owners who never had access to ME1 before that point. It just seems like they should have included all the DLC and made it the complete story.

Definitely a questionable move on EA's part, and makes me worry that they won't ever release a true complete package, either of the entire trilogy or at least of just ME3. I would actually re-buy ME3 if I could get a GOTY version for $30-$40. From other forums I frequent, Leviathan seems to be the only DLC remotely close to being worth its full price, and folks seemed to be especially disappointed with Omega. Big ME fans generally seem to like Citadel, however, even though they find it pricey at $15. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get as much value in replayability at this stage from the DLC, as I'll likely only play it once with that ME1 import Shepard, which factors into my reluctance to just bite the bullet.

BTW, the platinum in ME games is pretty easy as you pretty much just have to play the game twice (ME1 three times), including once on Insanity difficulty. All the other trophies come naturally if you use different classes and do all the side missions.

 

[Scherrman]

Just got my first gamefly game in the mail today, The Last of Us. Hopefully I can get some good game time in tonight.

 

[king3pj]

Just got my first gamefly game in the mail today, The Last of Us. Hopefully I can get some good game time in tonight.

One of the best PS3 games period in my opinion. Yourbeliefs wasn't quite as high on it as I was though. Hope you like dark tension filled moments... It's not a cheery game. Enjoy!

 

[Teehar]

I'm addicted to GT5,best racing game I have ever played.Looking forward to GT6 now.

 

[Scherrman]

Played for bit on Friday night and was impressed. Played even longer this afternoon and was I was hooked. The characters are so great. The voice acting is the best I've seen, it's like playing a movie.

I like the fact that I can do a full on physical attack, sneak attack or just avoid enemies all together. Every area keeps you on edge and makes you think of a strategy. I had to make myself stop playing after 3 hours because I was so involved in it.

 

[yourbeliefs]

One of the best PS3 games period in my opinion. Yourbeliefs wasn't quite as high on it as I was though. Hope you like dark tension filled moments... It's not a cheery game. Enjoy!

Well, while others were giving it 9s and 10s out of 10, I gave it a solid 7. It's an undeniably engrossing story with high production values, but after a while the logic leaps the game made in order to connect various set pieces as well as the incredibly detestable actions of the 2 protagonists topped off by the (understandably) frustrating combat mechanics soured the experience considerably for me.

 

[Scherrman]

So far I've made it to the part where they get the truck at the school and then get ambushed going into the city. So far with what I've experienced in the game I'd give it a solid 9, maybe even 9.5

 

[yourbeliefs]

Well, I ATTEMPTED to play GTA Online today, but like everyone else I couldn't get it to work. Unless you signed on as soon as it opened at 7am you were hit with connection problems. I was unable to get past the "race" that you do in the beginning. I don't know why R* thought it would be a good idea to force you to play against other live people right in the beginning of the experience. Seems like using bots would have been more efficient and less error prone but whatever. Aside from that there wasn't much that I liked. For one, the character creation is pathetic. For some crazy reason you can't build your character like a traditional game like Mass Effect or Saints Row and customize each feature. Instead, you customize your parents and GRAND parents and then your looks are derived from their DNA. Sorry, but WTF sense does THAT make? That'd be like if you went to a movie theater or restaurant and wanted a coke and you had to manually set the levels of seltzer water and syrup ingredients to your liking. I ended up just hitting "Random" constantly until I got what I could tolerate (not what I actually liked, mind you.) Also, the character models are awful. I've seen Dreamcast graphics more impressive than what's in this game. Finally, and I hope this is just a result of the servers getting hammered, the pop in and texture loading is god awful. I've seen whole areas not load up in time, and other textures take uncomfortably too long. I haven't seen loading this bad since I played DC Universe Online on the PS3.

I realize that most of these issues will be resolved in due time, but given that R* had 2 extra weeks to get this sorted out is rather discouraging, and I don't give them a pass because they said there would be issues early on. They should have been able to sort something out, or perhaps do a phased roll out, so that there weren't 2+ million people trying to log on at the same time. I guess I'll be going back to single player in the meantime.

 

[Scherrman]

Just finished playing the last if us for about 4 hours. Man that game is hard to stop playing. I'd still be playing if I didn't realize what time it was. It's so engrossing and intense. Absolutely love it so far.

 

[king3pj]

Well, I ATTEMPTED to play GTA Online today, but like everyone else I couldn't get it to work. Unless you signed on as soon as it opened at 7am you were hit with connection problems. I was unable to get past the "race" that you do in the beginning. I don't know why R* thought it would be a good idea to force you to play against other live people right in the beginning of the experience. Seems like using bots would have been more efficient and less error prone but whatever. Aside from that there wasn't much that I liked. For one, the character creation is pathetic. For some crazy reason you can't build your character like a traditional game like Mass Effect or Saints Row and customize each feature. Instead, you customize your parents and GRAND parents and then your looks are derived from their DNA. Sorry, but WTF sense does THAT make? That'd be like if you went to a movie theater or restaurant and wanted a coke and you had to manually set the levels of seltzer water and syrup ingredients to your liking. I ended up just hitting "Random" constantly until I got what I could tolerate (not what I actually liked, mind you.) Also, the character models are awful. I've seen Dreamcast graphics more impressive than what's in this game. Finally, and I hope this is just a result of the servers getting hammered, the pop in and texture loading is god awful. I've seen whole areas not load up in time, and other textures take uncomfortably too long. I haven't seen loading this bad since I played DC Universe Online on the PS3.

I realize that most of these issues will be resolved in due time, but given that R* had 2 extra weeks to get this sorted out is rather discouraging, and I don't give them a pass because they said there would be issues early on. They should have been able to sort something out, or perhaps do a phased roll out, so that there weren't 2+ million people trying to log on at the same time. I guess I'll be going back to single player in the meantime.

Yeah I knew this would happen. When you sell a billion dollars worth in three days and have never done online to this extent the servers are going to get hammered. They had multiplayer modes in the past but this is more like a MMO from what I have read. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun once you can actually use it. I would just keep playing single player for 2 or 3 more days. Once the initial spike from everyone trying it at the same time wears off they will probably have it under control.

 

[king3pj]

Just finished playing the last if us for about 4 hours. Man that game is hard to stop playing. I'd still be playing if I didn't realize what time it was. It's so engrossing and intense. Absolutely love it so far.

It hooked me too. I would sit and play it for 3 or 4 hours at a time without even realizing it. The day I finished the game I think I played for about 6 hours straight and beat it at about 4:00am. I knew I was close to the end and it was a weekend so I wasn't stopping until I finished.

 

[king3pj]

I copied yourbeliefs post from the video game deals thread. I wanted to continue the discussion about sports games without derailing that thread.

NFL2K5 cost only $19.99 back in the day, and (regardless of what EA will say on the record) basically drove EA to be a bunch of d*cks and buy the NFL Exclusive rights, rather than say, compete and make a better product, which is the basis of capitalism. Ever since then the Madden series has been a stinkaroonie of stagnation and roster updates with no significant upgrades to gameplay. I'll never forgive EA for killing off what was undoubtedly the superior franchise. /end rant

Anyways you can get the game even cheaper on Green Man Gaming. $22.50 when you use offer code GMG25-W38UG-WZTBY

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/us/en/pc/games/sports/nba-2k14-na/

Yeah I was an NFL 2K guy back then too. I remember when the released for $19.99 to try to steal some of Madden's market share and it worked. Like you said, this scared EA enough to buy out the exclusive rights.

My sports series of choice
NFL: NFL 2K although I actually play EA NCAA football more than any NFL game now that 2K is out of this market. I just prefer the college atmosphere.
NBA: NBA 2K (NBA Live was crap before the killed it... It's coming back this year so we'll see how it stacks up.)
MLB: MLB The Show (This is the one sport where I feel that 2K is inferior to their competition.)

Anyways, I haven't bought any sports games in a few years except for MLB The Show. The cross save feature between my Vita and PS3 was great for road to the show this year. I actually like sports games. I love playing against friends. I like franchise or season modes too. When I was younger and could only afford a few games a year I would run through multiple seasons of the franchise mode for all of my sports games. Now the problem is that I can't even commit to finishing one season. There are just too many games I want to play and it takes a long time to do it the way I like to.

When I buy a sports game now I typically play a few games online with friends and start a season. About two weeks after I buy the game I am ready to move on to something else and never put the disc in again unless a friend wants to play. Knowing that this is the case I tend to just avoid sports games even though I really want to play them when they first come out. MLB The Show is my one exception because baseball is my favorite sport and they get it so right that I can't help but be in to it.

This is my first year as a Gamefly member. I will likely rent the PS4 versions of Madden and NBA 2K this year to get my fix. Knowing that I will only play these games for a couple weeks makes them a perfect rental.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Yeah I knew this would happen. When you sell a billion dollars worth in three days and have never done online to this extent the servers are going to get hammered. They had multiplayer modes in the past but this is more like a MMO from what I have read. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun once you can actually use it. I would just keep playing single player for 2 or 3 more days. Once the initial spike from everyone trying it at the same time wears off they will probably have it under control.

One guy put it best on Reddit, titled "Brief History of 'Launch Day' In MMO History":

 

[yourbeliefs]

It hooked me too. I would sit and play it for 3 or 4 hours at a time without even realizing it. The day I finished the game I think I played for about 6 hours straight and beat it at about 4:00am. I knew I was close to the end and it was a weekend so I wasn't stopping until I finished.

I grinded through it near the end just because I wanted to finally see what happened. I think the last day I put in about 3 hours. Those last 1-3 hours though were like being forced to drink regular flavored Listerine.

Anyone interested in why I have a less favorable view of the TLoU should read the article I wrote on it here (DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED OR HAVE NO INTENTION OF PLAYING.)

As far as sports games go I haven't really played them in years. Last game I played was NBA 2k12 because I'm a big Bulls fan and they had all the Jordan stuff and ability to play as all the great teams. Hell the last Madden I played was the first one that came out on the Wii because I thought it'd be cooler with the motion controls (overall it really wasn't.) Never was into college games because I don't have a team. My school wasn't Division I and I wasn't going to just be a random team I had no alliance with. I was a big fan of the Midway games like NBA Jam and NFL Blitz (although I really didn't like the rubberbanding it did to keep the game close.)

 

[king3pj]

One guy put it best on Reddit, titled "Brief History of 'Launch Day' In MMO History":
View attachment 91589

These companies have to know this is coming. I think the bottom line is money. They don't want to throw down enough money for infrastructure that can handle the day one spike when they know that the demand will never be that high again. If they bought enough servers to handle the day one load more and more of them would go unused every day after release.

 

[yourbeliefs]

These companies have to know this is coming. I think the bottom line is money. They don't want to throw down enough money for infrastructure that can handle the day one spike when they know that the demand will never be that high again. If they bought enough servers to handle the day one load more and more of them would go unused every day after release.

From what I've read it's not as simple as just throwing more servers at the problem and I suppose it's unrealistic to create a proper scenario to "Stress Test" the system beforehand, but it still is annoying. At least GTA didn't suffer like Diablo 3 and Simcity with their DRM which made even SINGLE PLAYER impossible during the launch time.

Speaking of, I'm starting to tire a bit of GTA V to be honest. I don't know what it is, but playing the game feels like a chore at times. There doesn't seem to be a lot of variety in the missions in the middle for one thing. I have 2 heists pending and I don't really feel excited about either one. Maybe I'm still suffering from crazy Saints Row withdrawal, but I think if someone offered to trade SR4 for GTA5 I'd likely oblige. Not giving up hope yet though, and I don't plan on leaving this unfinished like I did with GTA IV.

Zero Punctuation just submitted his review of the game, and I bring it up only because his assessment seems to be the most on par with my current views. NSFW due to language.

 

[Scherrman]

It hooked me too. I would sit and play it for 3 or 4 hours at a time without even realizing it. The day I finished the game I think I played for about 6 hours straight and beat it at about 4:00am. I knew I was close to the end and it was a weekend so I wasn't stopping until I finished.

I know there are spots in the game where it's convenient to stop but it's hard because I just want to keep going to see what happens next. I still can't get over the characters and how they interact with each other. It seriously feels like I'm in a movie.