Xbox Game Pass - GUIDE TO BEST DEAL IN FIRST POST

[TehStu]

We're all chomping at the bit here to get stuck into Hades, but I fired up Art of Rally last night. Oh my word, pretty game. This is what I want to see more of. And clearly, to me anyway, put together by folks who really like WRC, etc. Or at least convincingly created to project that  

 

But hells bells, I'm all over the place. It's not like I'm terrible at driving games, but it's contrived drifting that needs really light, precise inputs. I guess I just need to dial down the sensitivity a bit and get used to it. It doesn't help that I'm always terrible at 3rd person car driving, for some reason I just get mental lag between driving inputs and what the car does. This was fine for something like Absolute Drift, but when up against the clock it's costing me time.

 

Going to keep at it though, found my favourite car hiding in Class A. Looks immense in old school 3D.

[robdood]

18 minutes ago, Pockets said:

I mean, there’s little point in me typing this, it’s like farting in a mini full of 12 people, but I found Hades to be pretentious wanky shit. Just to add some balance. Fucking average game made to seem awful by the whole internet proclaiming its brilliance. 

My condolonces. 

[Unofficial Who]

Tried Boyfriend Dungeon tonight. Typical dating game that went sideways into a budget Hades clone. And you can date your swords.

 

One of the weirdest games I've seen. I'm in.

[Stanley]

49 minutes ago, Pockets said:

I mean, there’s little point in me typing this, it’s like farting in a mini full of 12 people, but I found Hades to be pretentious wanky shit. Just to add some balance. Fucking average game made to seem awful by the whole internet proclaiming its brilliance. 

I was sceptical going in, but once it got it hooks in that was it, absolutely masterful piece of design in every aspect from the art to the writing, voice acting, music and most of all ,the gameplay, which is just sublime. 
 

Anyone who ain’t played it yet, you lucky, lucky people. Prepare to die. 

[Gabe]

37 minutes ago, TehStu said:

We're all chomping at the bit here to get stuck into Hades

I'm definitely not interested in Hades - I haven't liked any of Supergiant's games - and I'm hoping this thread doesn't become pages of Hades talk when there's an existing thread for it. 

[TehStu]

2 minutes ago, Gabe said:

I'm definitely not interested in Hades - I haven't liked any of Supergiant's games - and I'm hoping this thread doesn't become pages of Hades talk when there's an existing thread for it. 

Generally, I'm happy to keep game discussion to their respective threads. Game discussion gets buried in megathreads like this too often. I wasn't sure if there was an Art of Rally thread so lazily came here to talk about that.

 

For reference, "we" above is my family. We played the Switch version, which my daughter brought around on her Switch, and were going to get it until it was announced on Game Pass. I hope I didn't imply anyone is wrong about disliking it because my family are so looking forward to it. Perhaps we're all grown up enough to accept these things are subjective.

 

I'll make an effort to stick to game threads for discussion, starting new ones as appropriate, and perhaps this thread can be for... coupon chat and announcements.

[Darren]

And arguing about whether Game Pass is better than PS+ it is obviously.

[Stanley]

24 minutes ago, Gabe said:

I'm definitely not interested in Hades - I haven't liked any of Supergiant's games - and I'm hoping this thread doesn't become pages of Hades talk when there's an existing thread for it. 

I wasn’t that enamoured by their other games either, although there were aspects of them I liked and saw promise in. Hades delivers fully on that promise. Personally don’t see the problem with some chat here about it. 

[deerokus]

No cloud save transfer with Switch means I probably won't even bother with the Xbox version.

 

If you're new to it, enjoy, wonderful game.

[Gabe]

I don't think there's any issue with a bit of pre-release chat, nor games that aren't very popular (the Last Stop is a good example, a thread was started for it after some chat in this thread but it died after 7 posts - and I made 2 of them ?) but Hades is going to have a lot of people wanting to talk about it and there's a perfectly fine thread where that would make more sense.

 

@TehStuApologies, I thought you meant the thread in general following a number of excited posts.

 

@StanleyI hate rogue-likes/lites and not a fan of isometric combat so this holds no appeal outside of the setting - so will definitely be skipping it. 

[TehStu]

12 minutes ago, Gabe said:

@StanleyI hate rogue-likes/lites and not a fan of isometric combat so this holds no appeal outside of the setting - so will definitely be skipping it. 

Truthfully, I only tried it because of how much MHG raved about Dead Cells. Now I'm quite up for this genre.

[RubberJohnny]

Not really sure how a roguelike can be considered pretentious and wanky, is that just code for "nice artstyle" nowadays?

[Stanley]

I did the NZ trick, couldn’t resist, and now, oh Hades how I’ve missed thee. It looks absolutely gorgeous in 4K, like for me it was already up there as one of the most beautiful games ever made, on the bloody Switch, but now, oh my goodness. 
 

This game is like a fine wine, miss it at your peril! 

[Wiper]

13 hours ago, RubberJohnny said:

Not really sure how a roguelike can be considered pretentious and wanky, is that just code for "nice artstyle" nowadays?

 

My guess is that, as usual, "pretentious" is just being used to mean "game I didn't like that also isn't AAA" (the great irony there being that the most pretentious games I know all have the biggest budgets. Funny how the label always gets thrown at the smaller titles, isn't it?). I do get the feeling that most people who use the word don't actually know what it means. Which actually makes it a somewhat pretentious use of the word; adding as it does a veneer of significance that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

 

Still, I guess theoretically you could try to argue that by using Greek myth as its backdrop Hades is trying to add a degree of weight that the game doesn't really possess. But then, nothing in its presentation in any way attempts that - it's a fluffy, melodramatic story packed with fluffy, melodramatic characters. Wrapped around a roguelite action game. It's very open about what it is.

 

Plus, as someone with a real life master's degree in ancient history and classical civilisation, I can with reasonable authority state that it's a well-read take on the myths, heavily adapted for modern use but pleasingly knowing. More, it's more or less anti-pretentious, as it recognises that the myths are vibrant and wild tales, and that people who treat ancient Greece as some sort of Pure and Noble World of Enlightenment worthy only of Serious Contemplation are completely missing the point.

 

So, no, I certainly wouldn't call it pretentious, even on that front. My one real criticism of its presentation would be that it over-sanitises the gods, but I appreciate the desire to make the characters likeable. That, and Zagreus' accent and dialogue clash. Again though, neither of those are issues of pretentiousness.

[Dudley]

6 hours ago, TehStu said:

We're all chomping at the bit here to get stuck into Hades

 

On the plus side you can use the remaining time to look up that phrase and then visit the misconceptions thread in off topic.

 

[Harrisown]

7 hours ago, Timmo said:

You van play Hades now if you want:

 

On console = Settings - System - Language and Location - Location (change to New Zealand) - Restart now.

 

Doesn't affect anything and you can change it back tomorrow.

I can’t believe this works but gamers love this kinda thing, hacking the system.

I was a big fan of Transistor when it came out but never bothered with Pyre or bastion really.

Hades seems a more refined version of a supergiant game. Love the art and you know Greg writes some good stuff.

what I’ve I walked into though? I know nothing about it. Is it a rogue like?

 

just read the above comments lol

 

[MikeBeaver]

12 minutes ago, Harrisown said:

I can’t believe this works but gamers love this kinda thing, hacking the system.

I was a big fan of Transistor when it came out but never bothered with Pyre or bastion really.

Hades seems a more refined version of a supergiant game. Love the art and you know Greg writes some good stuff.

what I’ve I walked into though? I know nothing about it. Is it a rogue like?

Bastion was great, think it might have been the first game I bought digitally, that or Pacman DX.

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, Pockets said:

The fucking ludicrous voiceovers. 

Well yeah they kind of are, deliberately, which in turn also means they can’t be pretentious, it’s not trying to be serious, is it?

[earlymodernsteve]

14 hours ago, Garwoofoo said:

Am I right in thinking Stardew Valley has split-screen co-op these days? Does it work well?

The PS4 one certainly does - my kids have been obsessed with it for months. Also opens up some cheeky item duplication glitches that can bypass some of the more laborious opening hours if you want

[BitterToad]

2 minutes ago, Pockets said:

 

I dunno, is it deliberate? Maybe. I suppose it depends on your attitude, whether the whole grandiose Greek gods stuff applied to an isometric hack and slash seems pretentious or not but their other games have a similar tone of trying to make out they're more than what they are so maybe I just went into it with that mindset. I just found it all very repetitive, despite the different weapons and systems.

Does this make God of War was pretentious? As in the original, not the pretentious (and fantastic) PS4 one. 

[TehStu]

3 hours ago, Dudley said:

 

On the plus side you can use the remaining time to look up that phrase and then visit the misconceptions thread in off topic.

 

Merriam Webster reckons I'm ok, so as you were Unless I'm being dinged for champing VS chomping.

[Popo]

16 hours ago, Harrisown said:

It’s just a Shame about the fisher price rumble in these Xbox controllers.

What gives with this? Some games have great rumble, like Halo 5, but most are terrible. Xbox Series controllers are obviously capable of rumble, and it’s not like developers are ignoring it or forgetting to implement it - they do, it’s just really wet and inert. I have no idea why. 

[Stanley]

6 hours ago, Pockets said:

 

I dunno, is it deliberate? Maybe. I suppose it depends on your attitude, whether the whole grandiose Greek gods stuff applied to an isometric hack and slash seems pretentious or not but their other games have a similar tone of trying to make out they're more than what they are so maybe I just went into it with that mindset. I just found it all very repetitive, despite the different weapons and systems.

None of what you are saying is explaining why it might be pretentious. In the politest possible way, I don’t think you understand what it means. 

[SeanR]

27 minutes ago, Popo said:

What gives with this? Some games have great rumble, like Halo 5, but most are terrible. Xbox Series controllers are obviously capable of rumble, and it’s not like developers are ignoring it or forgetting to implement it - they do, it’s just really wet and inert. I have no idea why. 

preserving battery?

 

 

[Harrisown]

2 hours ago, SeanR said:

preserving battery?

 

 

I just find the old fashioned rumble is distracting and sometimes it feels disconnected from what your actually doing because it’s not entirely responsive.

 

[Dudley]

7 hours ago, TehStu said:

Merriam Webster reckons I'm ok, so as you were Unless I'm being dinged for champing VS chomping.

 

You are. An American dictionary giving up and "allowing" the wrong word doesn't make it the right word.

[SneakyNinja]

6 minutes ago, Dudley said:

 

You are. An American dictionary giving up and "allowing" the wrong word doesn't make it the right word.

 

Literally. 

[Gabzy]

Started and completed Boyfriend Dungeon yesterday. It’s really good fun!

[Ry]

Surgeon Simulator 2 coming to GP on Sept 2nd. 

[Wiper]

35 minutes ago, Dudley said:

 

You are. An American dictionary giving up and "allowing" the wrong word doesn't make it the right word.

 

Given that champing and chomping are near-synonyms, this is an impressively pedantic take, and I say that as someone who is deeply pedantic. It's hardly like those cases where the adaptation renders an idiom frustratingly illogical ("I could care less"), or undermines a word's purpose ("literally" used to mean figuratively).