*S*T*A*R*F*I*E*L*D* / Starfield

Each to their own but found the writing in the Witcher (unsurprisingly) to be light years ahead and the "edgy" stuff is probably linked to it being based on actual novels.
Maybe not directly comparable games as you're playing a real character in the Witcher.

Can't make any comparisons to NMS, but watched it with a profound sense of 'Yep, Fallout in space, got it'. For some that's exactly what they want, but for me its just not worth the hype, much as I love space exploration and all. The though of there being over 1000 planets to explore is another of those Cyberpunk esque promises that the game can be just too big for its own good. Time will tell if its even as interesting as Outer Worlds was.

(Seemingly) overambitious promises like that are what makes me feel that this one will either be a legit masterpiece that overshadows any flaws with how great it is... or an overhyped flop (post-release patches notwithstanding, of course). Like, there's no middle ground where it ends up decent-to-good but not groundbreaking, it's a 50/50 shot between "amazing" and "mess"

But then tbf we've seen a snippet of the game and as it's a Bethesda game you generally do what you like so I mean let's give it a benefit of the doubt. I think it's incredibly difficult to communicate the experiences you can have in these massive games, sure you can give an outline and talk about the main thread as it were but I think it's fair to wait for some actual hands on previews before we dissect the game based on 10 minutes of video.

It's not Fallout in space. Fallout in space was (for better or worse) The Outer Worlds.

Anyway, aside from the extremely wrong opinions some people have about the quality of Witcher 3 writing, I get the appeal of "being able to imagine your own world and story".

Or rather, I get that appeal in theory. In practice, the story I create for myself in Bethesda games is, for a large part, trite, uninteresting shit. I can do anything and everything better than everyone else in the world, I'm worshipped by dead-eyed robot people who I've barely even met, and every single problem is just waiting for me to come fix it.

The "everything is your problem" thing makes sense in the Witcher games (you're a monster hunter, it's your job!), but it does not in most Bethesda RPGs, which are largely populated by characterless simpletons who cannot do anything for themselves. They just stand there, waiting for the hero to walk by.

That might be ok if the writing was good, but it isn't. There's no nuance and no meaningful choices. Aside from that, the combat is basic at best, and there's no reward for exploration aside from random, scaled loot that doesn't feel special at all. Sure you can create your own character (except in FO4, weirdly), but mostly it makes no difference at all.

Despite all that, I did enjoy Skyrim. But I don't understand the undying love that people still have for the product of these developers, not when there's so much else out there now. They're not the only game in town anymore!

I think the glory of Skyrim is that its one of the best big places in gaming. It feels like a huge kingdom and that gives a great sense of freedom and exploration.

That it often ends up with uncovering lots of formulaic dungeons and “go here and kill x” quests is secondary for me because its the place that draws me in. I’ve said in other threads before but I never fast travel in Skyrim because the overworld is the place to be.

Yeah, that was the best thing about it. They do very good scenery! I liked running around shooting deer and things with my bow, good times.

I just wish they could design convincing humans to the same level.

Yeah my money's on most of the planets having a landing zone that feels like a Fallout-style settlement, maybe one other curated area, and a whole planet that's been procedurally generated and then locked down.

The Happening was fun in a "what the fuck was he even thinking" kind of way. It's not a good movie by any stretch, but I could see how someone might enjoy it.

lol nerds

I did love Oblivion, its only two flaws for me were the level scaling and the shortage of voice actors for npcs

And horse armour dlc obviously. Although that would probably seem like chunky substantial extra content these days.

I like Doom. What else matters!

I liked that it was mysterious. Sure the overall effect was Stephen King tv movie but I enjoyed it being such an intangible threat and the way it passes without explanation. Its probably my second favourite film of his.