Luseth

That is good to hear! It is on my to play list but I have a couple of big single player game son the go at the moment so suspect this may be my game over Christmas. My ROG broke recently (missus broke it grrr) so it will be on the Xbox for me. Be interesting to see how it plays on my Series S!

I wasn't part of the original clan (more recent addition) but hi! We do jump on COD fairly regularly though most are on Playstation so when you say gamertag I imagine you mean Xbox? If so you might want to put your EA name on here as well and join the discord.

I am very mixed on the maps, I seem to dislike one's people kind of enjoy (Red card is horrible for me) but enjoy others such as lowtown and protocol where the general consensus is not so positive. As far as all round good maps I think Derelict and Skyline maybe and though not my favourite map I seem to do best on Subsonic ^_^

I have the GPR (I think that's what it's called?) and XM4 at gold and doing the AMES next. I am not usually too bothered by camo's but this seem's an easy way of getting them as most of the things needed to be achieved are things you do while playing anyway.

So, I have spent some time with this game now. I am definately on the side of it being a half decent game. I am not going into the is it or is it not a failure conversation again, just givnig you guys a brief run through of my thoughts - Visually it is quite a stunning game in places, I have put some early in game screenshots into the screenshots thread. The art style of the characters isn't quite my cup of tea and the Qunari characters you meet are a bit odd. There are also some on the other 'team' that look more how you would expect them to if you are a fan of the series. - The story & writing, it starts off medicore however the past couple of hours I have been playing and where I hit what I imagine is the halfway point it is getting much better. The characters are really quite good and engaging and I really like most of the companions. - Combat is not what I have enjoyed with past Dragon age games however it is quite fun and engaging. Quite fast paced but some of the bosses can be quite the challenge compared to the normal mobs. Creatures that were considered tough in previous games are somewhat weak here but that is because the big bads are at a level above. It is a combat system very much geared towards a wider audience. - The world building is quite good and there are moments where characters speak lines and such reminscent of old school dragon age. And some of the places you visit are brilliant, I think Treviso is fantastic running through the rooftops. General thought, the start of the game is not the strongest, it improves as it goes on but that is never a good thing with any game as it can often result in you losing players before the game really gets going. Only one decision so far seem's to have impacted things, generally your conversation decisions don't make much difference other than altering the opions your companions have of you, it is reminisicent of the Mass Effect games so I wonder if their opinion of you dictates if they live or die at the end of the game or something. Last night I was actually nodding off on the sofa as I was knackered yesterday but putting on the game and furthering the story at this one point I am at suddenly woke me right up. I won't go too much into it in case anyone here does play it but there is a section of the story where you are involved in a siege of a castle (won't say which side you are on) but it genuinely felt like one. It reminded me a bit of when I first player the lord of the rings two towers was it where you are fighting on top of the castle walls. It was brilliant and then fighting your way through to the boss of this area was great, with everything going on at the same time it led to a feeling of urgency, to get to where you are going before the place was overwhelmed (I am not sure that's even programmed into it but it felt like it). For me it's probably a 7.5 / 10, so not a bad game but not quite reaching the heights I had hoped it would but that's more because of what I have historically enjoyed from the series and really the series is moving away from that in the same way Final Fantasy has done from it's origins in recent years.

It certainly does not go back to it's roots in terms of gameplay and such though the game does keep to the lore quite well.

It may well turn out to be a failure but only EA & Bioware have the right to really determine that. You are stating it as a fact with no metrics, not real justification other than it's the biggest game of the year it should be comparable to everything else, . Considering the number of issues that affected this game's development they may have already reduced the internal expectations and to them a success of this game may not be 'achieving the biggest games of yesteryear' it may be, can we generate a new audience, does it show promise for developing future games in the same vein. The 250million figure can be found by doing a google search and is a guess that someone made based on 25 million a year between now and the last game (literally the first thing you find on google), regurgitating things you found on google doesn't make it fact. It ignores the fact that there was a whole different game initially called Dragon Age 'Dreadwolf', it ignores the fact this modern game is a whole different project and has only really been in real development for the past 5 years (maybe reusing elements of the original but it would have had it's own budget and resource allocated to it. This is kind of my point and I have probably said it in a very very very long winded way! It's ok to view stuff online, it's ok to form opinions based on it but be mindful that so much of it is very much created and curated to generate views and you are only viewing snippets. Snippets that have been curated and selected to help encourage people to certain opinions. We have seen it oh so much with politics in recent years, this is obviously for a different audience and on a much smaller less important scale.

What determines the 750,000 figure? Is that something you have decided upon as I can't see anything online that states this? As a comparison, Call of Duty, released in a similar timeframe on the same console / pc formats and probably a much larger budget. A game with multiple modes and generally multiplayer games achieve higher audiences in the first place had a peak of 300 thousand since release.... Is that also considered a failure for not achieving 750 thousand concurrent players at any one point? Is this a figure EA themselves have stated must be achieved? Just for something to compare it too, Skyrim has never achieved 750 thousand and is considered one of the most successful RPG's ever, Baldurs Gate 3 did exceed it but also didn't have quite the social media bashing that this game has received up to now. There are so many factors that can influence whether a game is considered a success or a 'catastrophic failure in the same realms as Concord', a big statement to make and I am trying to understand the metrics to it. We also have no idea what sales and numbers are like on console No need to go on the attack, I am not saying you can't have an opinion and have never done so. But what I am saying is whether you have first hand experience or whether you have watched video's / social media posts etc that someone where someone has pre-selected footage and such based on their opinion influences what you are saying. An opinion can be influenced, based on past experiences (for example have you played the last games at all? Were you hoping for something more akin to the original 2 games? Did you enjoy Inquisition and wanted more of that? Are you comparing it with Baldurs Gate, probably our most successful recent single player title), based on your personal outlook (and we all know what a happy bloke you are) or can be based on what you want from something. What I want from Dragon Age as a game would be very different from what you would want from it and depending on whose experience the game more closely achieves will influence our opinions of the game. You are entitled to have an opinion but what someone takes from that will be again different for each person depending on the background behind it and it is perfectly valid of me to ask if your opinion is based on social media or from first hand experience 🙂 I have played a number of games that were not received well initially (particularly by social media) and gone on to really enjoy them and in some instances have become popular games such as Days Gone, Hogwarts Legacy & Cyberpunk as recent examples, in fact I think Fallout New Vegas took a bit of a beating for all it's glitches and such early days and most of these weren't ever rectified and can still be found in the game today! 😄 As you have not not played it there are a number of positive things that I probably can't discuss with you because you may even not know they are part of the game and may not have been shown in the videos or posts you have seen - - Loading times seem minimal as you transition between places through the mirror transports which is really quite cool. The only thing I have seen that even closely resembles that was Ratchet & Clank. - Combat is really quite good. I generally prefer my turn based combat games, be it JRPG or Western RPG's, I like to take my time and pick my strategies. However the combat is quick, slick and looks fantastic. - The world building is up there with some of the best, they all look phenomenal, the way the blight has been crafted in certain areas and one of my favorite aspects is the use of mist in some areas. More often than not weather features tend to affect performance but it doesn't here. - The creation of your character actually impacts the game, most games where you create your protaginist it is typically a visual thing. This is much more like the original Dragon age game if you ever played it in that your decisions at the start impact upon how factions respond to you when you meet them. I have played 2 classes and factions through to Chapter 6 now and they have been somewhat different experiences. - It's also quite accessible, we live in a gaming world where your souls like games are something a lot of games try to recreate or capture. Tough games that require a fair amount of skill. My first run through of this I set the difficulty to one of the easy one's and it was exactly that. I find with single player games sometimes you just want to take in the world and story of it rather than taking on the challenges it offers. It is not a 10/10 experience by any means but it's also not the 'failure' you are both alluding to. It is probably more a 7/10 game, good ideas, good traits in there but it does have issues. I think James mentions one above which is probably my biggest bugbear, the lip syncing has not been done well at all. However that is something that could be patched. My other somewhat big gripe is the fact that the series started off much in the same vain as the Baldurs Gate games, I loved the original 2 games and for me that's where they should have taken the series and kept budgets smaller to suit, by appealing to a wider audience the game has had to change and evolve and it's just simply not the direction I would have preferred. A note on the writing, it does start off weak admittedly but once you get to the second half of the game it certainly improves, judging by both your comments above it would suggest the snippet of the game you have seen was likely in the first portion of the game which goes back to my point in that generally you would likely form a different opinion playing the game than watching something on social media. You have to also consider most of what is on social media is incomplete, a lot of the content release in the first few days of a games launch is all about getting your content out first which likely means the person has only experienced the first number of hours of the game.

It has its issues but most games do these days but its really not a ‘catastrophic failure’ and certainly not comparable to Concord, you only have to see the average user reviews on steam for that as well as the number of players the game has on steam. Have either of you 2 played it?

Now I have had a bit more time with it. The game's not too bad but I think as with a few of the multiplayer games I am playing at the moment they have just been done to death. No matter what way you look at this it is just another COD, much in the same way as fifa is just another fifa each year and as I get older, my gameplay time is reducing at the moment and I want to spend it on better experiences rather than rehashes of yesteryear. I will play this on and off but I am going to limit my gameplay, rather than playing all evening it will be an hour or 2 and then done so I don't burn myself out with it. I have had some great games mind and do frequently come top 3 which is always good with these games, being competitive in what is an environment geared towards a younger, quicker audience! I do like the gameplay, the omni movement I am getting used to and kind of like it, guns are a bit meh. The maps are generally crap though for me, I think there are 2 or 3 I kind of like but on the whole they are crap. Mostly too small or too big which results in often being killed from spawn or running for minutes and finding no one only to get shot by someone sitting in a corner and having to do it again... The football stadium map could have been good but I think that's a prime example of how not to do a COD map for me. Babylon as mentioned above, I don't mind it but it is a clusterf*ck so you have to be in the mood for that.

I have heard positive things about the campaign tbf, have yet to play it myself but things seem to suggest it is one of the better ones for years.

Would certainly build some resiliance 🤣

Oh no @WelchyTV are you an Arsenal fan? 😛

I know there aren't many of us that do it but I do like collecting my physical games and yesterday in game the missus agreed to buy me a game I found in the clearance section. So said game was Zelda tears of the kingdom and it had been placed in this area as it was the collector's edition and the box was a little damaged. Bizarrely we bought it for only £41, the price for this second hand in cex is still £40 so straight away we are fine, but then I am getting a few collector's items too ironically enough I think I could take this to cex now and sell it to them for more than we bought it for. So yeah, a game I wanted anyway but had held off and knowing what happens with Nintendo games and how their prices depreciate it's likely that it will never be worth as little as we paid for it. So yeah just seeing what gaming bargains people here have had in the past?

So just a thread really about a few of the controllers I have and to provide some general conversation around the various PS5 accessories, do you have any and do they get frequent use? So I have had a couple of different PS5 controllers now, a second hand Dualsense Edge controller and yesterday an impulse purchase of the Nacon Revolution Pro 5 which has prompted this post. The Edge is a definite improvement over the original controller, it feel's nicer to hold, the rubber grip and just feels better made, a more premium feel if you like. I don't however use the back buttons much really but it is just a nicer controller to use. However we popped into game yesterday and picked up 2 items from their clearance area, the first being a christmas present from the wife that she has now put away (another thread to come) and the Nacon Revolution pro 5. I have been after a new controller as the rubber grip is coming away from the controller which is irritating me and I don't know why but stuff like that grinds my gears unnecassarily (so tips to repair it would be appreciated!) I saw this controller and it was half price so £100 as opposed to £200 and I thought it was worth a shot at that price. Turns out this controller is brilliant! I opened the box and the first, strange thing to happen was upon opening it, there have obviously been lengths taken to make the box opening a little different. It was perfumed in some way and opening it, it actually smelt nice which was a bit odd. The controller itself is great, it feels really great in the hands and there are a number of weights that you can swap in if you want a heavier or lighter feel to the default. The controller comes in a pretty strong case with a USB-C cable, USB dongle, several weights, 2 additional thumbsticks (one higher and one a different style), and an alternative D pad button. The controller itself has quite a number of back buttons (more so than the edge), it has the xbox layout with the thumbsticks which I have always found a little more comfortable and the default thumb sticks are reminiscent of the PS2 controllers which is quite nice. Oh and it also has what is known as hall effect thumbsticks which are meant to somewhat eliminate stick drift which is common today with modern controllers. The other thing is how responsive this is, it really feels instant when gaming, like moreso than the 1st party controllers which is strange. It may just be in my head but it really does feel more responsive. So yeah if you are looking for a new controller and can afford it I would recommend this one from my limited experience so far 🙂

First thoughts are actually decent and I have been in a few good lobbies however it is already seemingly apparent there are some 'dodgy' players on pc and doing a quick google online this morning apparently cheats have come online very quick and is probably the only downside of playing on a computer over Playstation. That said the gameplay is decent and I don't mind the movement. I suspect I will play this a little but with the number of games I have on the go it may be reservered for a bit of Zombies with some friends and private matches with you lot. The guns are somewhat lacking, there are very few and It feels like I don't really need to move from the first gun (XM4) but we will see, I have just pulled the trigger and bought the playstation version now so will jump on in the week with you guys I am sure.

And people will continue to pay for it... Therein lies the problem. Yes scummy companies but for some reason the fan base will pay instead of choosing to boycott etc. I can see this going down as one of the worst COD's ever, the only aspect I am really interested in atm is Zombies as it would be good to get on that with an old group of mates I used to game with.

Of course, feel free! Yup, it's an age and responsibilities thing. Games of this size were great for us in our late teens and early 20's where you could go to college / uni or your part time job while living with your parents then come home and game to your hearts content. Then you get your own home which might need work or chores doing, then if you have kids you have their needs to meet and all of a sudden these tasks are eating into your own time. This means that generally you want more efficient and tighter experiences where you can enjoy the storytelling, the world and gameplay and then move onto the next thing rather than it feeling like another chore in your daily grind. I don't think some developers yet appreciate this, the average age of someone who plays video games today is something like 35... Which means many of us are in the same boat and it does not feel like Triple A titles really cater for that and is probably why some of the indie games we see today with shorter experiences are doing so well 🙂

I did play it @WelchyTV but honestly I did end up drifting away with other games being released but that's not a great sign as it did not keep me engaged quite enough. It looks visually great and I quite liked the protagonist as well as the little critter and what you could do with him such as distracting cameras or guards. I think one thing this game suffers with which is an issue of modern day games is the size. There is a lot of filler and really it's not needed, I got distracted doing all that but then that's why I fell away from the game. I was enjoying it and I love the Star Wars universe, I thought some of the worlds were well done though one thing that gripes me with space games and Starfield is the same, why does a planet have to have a theme i.e. why does it have to be a woodland planet or a desert planet. Why can't there be a blend of all like planet Earth. The stealth was probably my biggest gripe, sometimes I just wanted to go in all guns blazing and the game wouldn't allow me to which seemed utterly bizarre, like you would begin stealth and maybe get found but then it would fail you and you would have to do it again. Even if in the films often a stealth moment would become some hero dazzling display, last gasp gun fights as they escape. The best thing about the game though are some of the towns / cities, they really felt alive with loads of things going on and they really were brilliant!

D&D Story so far Session 1 - So the story began with Arn the bear berserker, Dravaram the Dragonborn warlock & Brock the Cleric coming together in a local inn. There they ate and drank before retiring to their rooms with little incident other than a local man giving the barmaid some hassle. Before all too long a commotion wakes them up, at first no one chooses to do anything but as it grew louder Brock decides to venture down to the main room of the inn to find out what the commotion is. There he finds the man from earlier (known as Sven) hassling the barmaid again with 2 of his cronies. At this Brock can’t stand idly by and intervenes only to end up in a tavern brawl, only this brawl was short lived and ended up with 3 dead men with Dravaram and Arn coming to join the fight as it reached it’s midpoint. On saving the barmaid Brock finds the young girl in a state of awe and for some reason wanting him to make an advance on her but he chose against it. The local innkeep deals with the mess and alerts the local guard. Upon hearing this the next day the local guard approaches the small group at breakfast and fires a few questions at them before requesting they go and deal with a local cultist group nearby. The three went to the local store, bought some flammable items and then went off to find the cultists. It was dark by this point and all 3 were initially hesitant before Brock for some bizarre reason decided to just waltz into camp. He was quickly shepherded by guards to their leader. It turns out the cultists worship some snake like god and snakes and as it looked like Brock was going to meet his fate he used some thurmaturgy spell to make his eyes snake like and he shouted at the leader. This led to a challenge, a fight to the death between the 2. Expecting this to bloody battle Brock went on the offensive with an inflict wounds spell, this went surprisingly well and he killed the cultist leader in 1 hit. At this stage he was then being worshipped by the cult and again he found himself with some attractive ladies that he could have his way with, again he turned it down to the dungeon master’s dismay. Session 2 – This began where we left off previous, Brock in a tent with 2 attractive ladies and Arn & Dravaram deciding what to do beyond the treeline, not really know what had occurred in side. Arn in his concern charged into the camp and caused chaos closely followed by Dravaram who set half the camp on fire. Then it turned into a bloody battle with Brock choosing to side with the 2 he had met at the inn rather than his new found cult. During the battle a bollock naked dragon born berserker called Breadbin joined the fray not really knowing how he had gotten there and what was going on he was hesitant at first before siding with our little group. The trip back to town found all 4 being rewarded. Session 3 – This found our group coming across Barm and Lavender, the latter quickly became Arn’s love of his life and he attempted to woo her with flowers and such. The pair hired our little group to join them on a quest to find some dragon treasure, with Arn’s infatuation the 3 agreed and began to prepare for the journey ahead. On returning to Lavender with the flowers he had found, Lavender in her training turned and chopped the heads off the flowers to Arn’s despair. While this was all going on it was assumed Breadbin had slept in that day and just not bothered to emerge from his room. Session 4 - The next day the journey began, Arn took the lead straight out of the gate and unfortunately made a fool out of himself as he tripped down some large potholes and found Barm’s cart roll over him. Another moment for Arn to look foolish in front of Lavender. The rest of the day seemed rather quiet until Brock then took the group on a long detour and they found a cave to go and rest in. The hired group went to search the cave with Arn charging in without fear only to fall into a rather large hole, a trap. Set by our very own Calamere the 2nd, he seemed intent on setting fire to this huge bear that had just found it’s way into his little camp only to hold back as Brock and Dravaram entered the cave. A little conversation and in the end Barm decided to hire Calamere as an additional mercenary to this group to go and find the treasure. All the while Arn had been left in the cave and Lavender’s frustrations continued to grow with him. Night passed with conversations occurring, the dragonborns deciding to stick together, Brock trying to give Arn some advice about not running head first into tasks or caves etc and Calamere for some reason being trusted to hold the 3rd watch on his own. The 3rd watch however led to a group of unsavoury types attacking the camp. It took Calamere some time but he did eventually decide to call out to the group to help him rather than take them on, on his own. This group was swiftly dispatched and the rest of the night allowed for some proper rest. Session 6 – This led the group towards the swamp where the dragon’s treasure was meant to be. It wasn’t long before an arrow struck Brock, fired from a ranger hidden in the tree’s (sorry Matt I can’t recall his name). The ranger had been tracking some unsavoury types, the very one’s the group had killed the night before. Again Barm hired this extra help after some short conversation around the dead people he had been hunting. With the group larger now they trekked on, for some confidence was high at having a larger group to deal with what was to come but for others questions started to amount around Barm and Lavender. What were they really after? It wasn’t long before they reached the cave and were soon to find out. The cave was defended by some small dragon guard creature. A battle occurred with Lavender getting knocked out of play, the guard however did not provide too much of a threat with a 5 v 1 fight being too much for it. On exploring the cave some of the questions from the newer members began to bubble to the surface. Questions around Barm and what he was really after and why. On reaching the large cavern at the end the remains of the dragon was found, a wealth of treasure and his scaled body largely in tact. Barm cast his ritual to take the heart from the body while the group looked at the treasure and before too long became interested in what Barm was doing. Barm finally got the dragon heart but at this point cast a spell to freeze our group, he had always intended to take the heart but the group still had no idea what for. At this he told them they could still take what they wanted and motioned for Lavender to leave with him. This is where it took a turn, as she went to leave she took a dagger, retrieved from Calamere earlier that day and plunged it into the frozen Arn, deep into his heart. The look of glee on her face suggested she really enjoyed it, it was personal. Arn being frozen could not scream out and could not fight back. Then Barm and Lavender were gone. This is where we begin our next session….

Will agree, I think Southgate did well even if some fans won't admit it. I do feel that this could be a bit like Moyes at Man U in that whoever was picked to follow Southgate, if they don't win a tournament immediately then they won't last in the job (rightly or wrongly). To me I would be happy if he continues on what Southgate has achieved so a semi final or final first would be fine with me 🙂 But yeah would be nice to see us win something in the next 5-10 years considering the base we now have to work from.