Luseth

A few from the latest Final Fantasy VII game -

So this was voted on with the BAFTA's recently and I feel like it was voted on by film lovers rather than video game lovers. The final result was Lara Croft, why?? Surely the likes of Mario, Crash, Link, Zelda, Pac Man, Sonic, Master Chief and even Pikachu are more iconic than Lara Croft? Oh wait she did have a couple of films once.... So who is FG's most iconic character?

What eejit would do something like that?

With Dragons dogma and it's reception I thought it may be worth a separate thread? Micro transactions have been around a while with games like Fifa and FUT, in fact from memory Two Worlds 2 had them? They are here to stay but are they being implemented in the right way? I have always been fine with them bringing in cosmetic changes to a game, visuals, the way a character looks. Pay to win is always a no for me. Studios do mention fairly frequently now the financial burden of making big triple A titles and looking at way's to recoup their costs, some have opted for higher game prices but then gamers complain about the high prices (we still yearn for yesteryear when a game cost £40), they bring in cheap simple DLC or in the latest attempt bringing micro transactions into games that maybe do not fully warrant it. So, do they have a place and if so how would you implement them? Or would you prefer that video game prices just go up instead and we keep away from them? To me they are the equivalent of netflix and such bringing in adverts and / or strategic placement of items in films or games that advertise a product to generate additional revenue and generally people have not really been too bothered by these sorts of things.

A friend of mine is playing this on the PS5 at the moment and not having the performance issues PC players are complaining of. He seem's somewhat unbothered by the micro transactions too in that most of the things they are for are for things you could obtain in game if you spend the time playing rather than moaning about the game. So all the microtransactions are doing he say's is just allowing some people to play through the game quicker. - There is an item that can be used to change appearance that you can buy, but he said it took him about 4 hours in game time to be at a point in the game where he could buy it. - Rift crystals - These allow you to buy in pawns that are stronger than you, essentially making battles throughout the game easier because you have an overleveled pawn (so again about time). - Portcrystals for fast travel (they create fast travel points) are purchaseable, however the original game never had any fast travel and the game is intended to play without so again an item just to help speed up the game for those willing to pay. Note that to use the fast travel points you need a whole other stone which is only obtainable in game. I know they were a surprise but I think if you play the game as intended and as the original one was played the microtransactions sound like they won't bother you. I know it's a bit scummy to put them in but it shouldn't detract from the gameplay etc. It sounds like transactions aside the game is going down well with players of the original so I am fairly confident I will enjoy this, I do want to pick it up but it will be likely after FFVII as I can't justify having 2 big single player games on the go at the moment. The microtransactions thing probably need's it's own discussion as more and more games are bringing them in which is not something that is going to go away I don't think. Gamers expect a lot from triple A titles, but they typically still expect a lowish price, can you imagine the dismay when we reach our first £100 game? When you consider the value of some of these games though and compare the number of hours you put in say compared to watching a film at the cinema, gaming is probably the most affordable media option when it comes to purchasing things. (Streaming is another debate when you consider the price of netflix etc).

Oh Lee is going to love you, he's eager to get Destiny nights up and running again. With the dlc coming to ps plus I was going to redownload it so might see you on there soon 🙂

I came across this the weekend, I am definately intrigued! I can see it being something I might try and get the missus into as well with it being a bit of a survival mmo

Honestly, there is probably too much? Maybe condense it a little and make some of the things more of a feature i.e. if you were to keep quizes, do them more regularly? Or alternatively see if we can get some FG members to take ownership of certain areas? I.e. Someone running prediction league or someone who might be keen enough to regularly add quizes? I haven't put anything next to everything but have put a little reply next to a lot of them 🙂 Forums - Fine as they are, generally I just read the new topics and see if there is anything new for me to respond to. Articles - Honestly, I'm not sure of the purpose of this area? Is it just an FG article or can it be an article on anything? I.e. review of a game etc? Blog - I did not know there was one? Might be good to do this whether it's the summary of upcoming events like your whatsapp posts you were doing or sessions that have been done the week before. Videos - I don't think anything need's to change here Quizzes - Just need's more of them, see note above maybe about ownership. Events - Trying my best to keep on top of adding them but need people to engage more sometimes 🙂 Once one or two reply to an event others then follow Predictions - Fine, I just found it difficult to find time to sit down and put them in sometimes. Merch - I don't suppose you could get a hoody sorted with a zip down the middle could you? I do like the white one's but I find general hoodies a little restrictive (I know it's a personal preference thing) Achievements / Medals - Good as they are. Memberships - I keep meaning to resub, will sort it out later this month. Game Hubs - Not sure what these were? Guides and Tips - This is one of those areas that unless people ask for a guide nothing will probably get posted. It's also maybe too restrictive in that it's got the 6 games and it's not obvious where to post guides related to other games? History - Apparently FG has no history since 2013 😛 Raffles - We need more of these, unnanounced so it encourages people to check the site more regularly.

I don't know if this will get any interest as most people are here for multiplayer gaming but thought I'd give it a try. I was thinking it might be a nice idea to try doing a game club similar to how a book club runs, we all vote on a relatively inexpensive single player story driven game to buy and play through over the course of a couple of months and then jump on chat one night a week or even discuss it in here and how we are getting on with it, what we are enjoying and not enjoying etc etc, talk about the writing, the story etc. Would that peak anyone's interest? With games such as Baldurs gate down the road where you can approach things so differently it could be good fun I thought. Anyway, yeah will see if there's any interest first 🙂

It was quite good fun again! Bit cruel of @LordBaguette to start you off on extreme with us 🤣 I was still chuckling this morning about the number of chargers chasing me only for @GazzaGarratt to bring Tom back in right on top of them 😂 And watching Lee run around with all of the automatons chasing him while we all hid behind the building 😄

Not my sort of games so don't think I will get much out of this month, note that Witch Queen is not a new offering either and was on PS Plus previously, this is obviously just to try and draw players in before the new expansion I suppose.

@Riff Machine I have been listening to these on and off via spotify depending on what topic I am fancying. I have only just realised that there are none on there from about May last year, is this intentional? I.e. if I want to listen to any later ones it needs to be via youtube?

I imagine we will be on this weekend, no one has really put their name down for FG Friday this week so may even be on tonight

Echoing this Lee, it's an absurd idea to expect servers to be capable of millions of players, even if you look at Counter Strike on PC which has a sizeable following it doesn't hit 1 million players. Considering the first helldivers was nowhere near as popular it's hard to predict this would have gone down as well as it has. Sony could easily spend a fortune now ramping up servers similar to Palworld but is that practical? The numbers will drop fairly quickly with quite a few online games coming out over the next month or so.

So this was a surprise announcement in the Nintendo Direct, the original 2 games with a bit of a remaster but more importantly will be up to 64 players on PS5 / Switch etc which will be great. I played online on the PC for a spell and it was great fun! Any interest on here for this one?

I had a brief go with this when it was first released on xbox. Now it's coming to other consoles I am giving this a nudge to see if anyone else would be interested? My first impressions were pretty positive so looking forward to playing this now that it's further down the developmental road.