Bethesda just finished their presser which I watched live this time, which you will see, was probably a mistake.
The Good Stuff
Two fairly major announcement that I think will get overlooked from this presser. First announcement was Prey. Now I had to do some background research because I recall hearing about this game before, but it clearly was a brand new title and maybe even a new IP. The game seems to be the sequel to...ah...Prey, a PC/Xbox 360 title released in 2006 made by Human Head Studios under 3D Realms and published by 2K Games. A sequel, Prey 2, was in the works and was shown off at E3 2011. That game was reportedly canceled in 2012. It would seem soon after that Arkane Studios, the developer behind Dishonored, pick up the pieces in 2013 and began working on it. This was reported by Kotaku in 2013, then totally denied later that year to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, only to be revealed in leaked emails to Kotaku two weeks later. I now understand why I forgot about this IP after researching this. Back on point. This game is the result of the work at Arkane Studios. I know the studio acquired quite a bit of fame for their work on Dishonored which is the first thing that catches my eye. The main thing I want to bring up is how much this game reminds me of Dead Space. Literally hits all the marks. To copy my notes I was taking during the presser, "Surviving on a space station invaded by aliens using creativity and weapons. Ya. Dead Space. Cept maybe first person." Since the insanity and debacle that was Dead Space 3, that entire genre of horror games has been absent for the past three years. Glad to see Bethesda pick up the pieces in multiple ways with this project. Then give it to a developer who has built up some hype in Arkane Studios.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q38yi0NmAm0[/embed]
My next point may surprise some people. But this is clearly the other big thing that might have slipped under the radar in this press conference, virtual reality gaming. One of the biggest issues I've seen with VR gaming is waiting for big developers to toss actual products behind it. Bethesda looks to be the first to dip their toes in, and it looks like they think the water is fine. Bethesda announced that next year Fallout 4 would be released for HTC Vive. That's a AAA title getting brought to VR. A big one. I want to take a step back here and say, if I was to pick a developer to start working on VR gaming, Bethesda might be my #1 choice. Many of their games, RPGs in particular, are played in first person. It would seem to me that they would be optimal choices to release games on VR technology. High five Bethesda, and I wish you good luck on this endeavor.
Crowd was pretty ham for the Skyrim Remaster. I'll leave it here, but there really isn't much else to say. It certainly deserves a remaster, but I think it would have been a better choice for the VR gaming project than Fallout 4. No complaints, just what I think could be an improvement.
[embed]https://youtu.be/pF2Qw9BI6Rg?t=195[/embed]
The Meh Stuff
Being late to a party is never a good thing. That's how I feel about Elder Scrolls Legends. With all the other portable TCGs on phones and tablets, I'm not too impressed with Bethesda jumping in so late. That said, they do seem to bring so very interesting ideas with their 2-lane system. I might actually try out. I've very interested in this single player campaign they plan on having. I could see the story being similar to what Culdcept was for those who played that. We'll see. I guess I'll go ahead and sign up. Might even stream it once and awhile if it's good (And I don't suck).
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2e6zkrX1Yo[/embed]
About Quake Champions. Hard to put my weight behind a game announcement that has no gameplay trailers behind it. Not even in game cutscenes or anything. Literally all I have to go on is competitive multiplayer arena shooter.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa-6fQyNkZohttp://[/embed]
I haven't played Elder Scrolls Online before. I think Tok asked to try it out and I verbally abused him. But I am interest in their level-scaling system that they are implementing. I give them credit for trying it out, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never see something like this again as people just get bored without a linear-ish progression of story and gameplay.
The Bad Stuff
Don't be fucking 20 minutes late to your own fucking press conference. The fact that you kept your preshow going for the next 20 minutes had me pissed because I thought I missed all of the conference. I am legit pissed here. If I was working tomorrow I would have said piss off and went to sleep.
Even though it had about 4-5 different trailers during the conference, I wasn't impressed with what I saw with Dishonored 2 gameplay videos. They needed to have better focus on the combat and not just the stealth gameplay. Made the entire showcase painfully slow and plodding. And the AI looked abysmal. At least twice the character ran into an AI and nothing happened. Nothing. Player just ran by, grabbed an explosive turned around and chucked it. Also, the AI never responded when other AIs went down. Just stood over the body waiting to get shanked. All in all, it looked bad to me. I hope they improve upon it. I know many people, including Tok, were very interested in this. I personally, was way more impressed with the previous gameplay trailers they have released, even if they were more cinematic. Gameplay and combat were much more fluid. Here it was just dumb. Why would I use an elaborate set of skills to take out targets this dumb?
[embed]https://youtu.be/tdI5E_50aBE[/embed]
[embed]https://youtu.be/lNFtACeifcU[/embed]
Other Notes
In Conclusion
Much better overall presser from Bethesda (Compared to EA). Added in a few new titles while hyping out the ones we already knew. On top of that, they reaffirmed their interest into VR market. I'll give them a B+. Would have been an A- if they had just fucking showed up on time. Assholes.
The Good Stuff
Two fairly major announcement that I think will get overlooked from this presser. First announcement was Prey. Now I had to do some background research because I recall hearing about this game before, but it clearly was a brand new title and maybe even a new IP. The game seems to be the sequel to...ah...Prey, a PC/Xbox 360 title released in 2006 made by Human Head Studios under 3D Realms and published by 2K Games. A sequel, Prey 2, was in the works and was shown off at E3 2011. That game was reportedly canceled in 2012. It would seem soon after that Arkane Studios, the developer behind Dishonored, pick up the pieces in 2013 and began working on it. This was reported by Kotaku in 2013, then totally denied later that year to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, only to be revealed in leaked emails to Kotaku two weeks later. I now understand why I forgot about this IP after researching this. Back on point. This game is the result of the work at Arkane Studios. I know the studio acquired quite a bit of fame for their work on Dishonored which is the first thing that catches my eye. The main thing I want to bring up is how much this game reminds me of Dead Space. Literally hits all the marks. To copy my notes I was taking during the presser, "Surviving on a space station invaded by aliens using creativity and weapons. Ya. Dead Space. Cept maybe first person." Since the insanity and debacle that was Dead Space 3, that entire genre of horror games has been absent for the past three years. Glad to see Bethesda pick up the pieces in multiple ways with this project. Then give it to a developer who has built up some hype in Arkane Studios.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q38yi0NmAm0[/embed]
My next point may surprise some people. But this is clearly the other big thing that might have slipped under the radar in this press conference, virtual reality gaming. One of the biggest issues I've seen with VR gaming is waiting for big developers to toss actual products behind it. Bethesda looks to be the first to dip their toes in, and it looks like they think the water is fine. Bethesda announced that next year Fallout 4 would be released for HTC Vive. That's a AAA title getting brought to VR. A big one. I want to take a step back here and say, if I was to pick a developer to start working on VR gaming, Bethesda might be my #1 choice. Many of their games, RPGs in particular, are played in first person. It would seem to me that they would be optimal choices to release games on VR technology. High five Bethesda, and I wish you good luck on this endeavor.
Crowd was pretty ham for the Skyrim Remaster. I'll leave it here, but there really isn't much else to say. It certainly deserves a remaster, but I think it would have been a better choice for the VR gaming project than Fallout 4. No complaints, just what I think could be an improvement.
[embed]https://youtu.be/pF2Qw9BI6Rg?t=195[/embed]
The Meh Stuff
Being late to a party is never a good thing. That's how I feel about Elder Scrolls Legends. With all the other portable TCGs on phones and tablets, I'm not too impressed with Bethesda jumping in so late. That said, they do seem to bring so very interesting ideas with their 2-lane system. I might actually try out. I've very interested in this single player campaign they plan on having. I could see the story being similar to what Culdcept was for those who played that. We'll see. I guess I'll go ahead and sign up. Might even stream it once and awhile if it's good (And I don't suck).
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2e6zkrX1Yo[/embed]
About Quake Champions. Hard to put my weight behind a game announcement that has no gameplay trailers behind it. Not even in game cutscenes or anything. Literally all I have to go on is competitive multiplayer arena shooter.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa-6fQyNkZohttp://[/embed]
I haven't played Elder Scrolls Online before. I think Tok asked to try it out and I verbally abused him. But I am interest in their level-scaling system that they are implementing. I give them credit for trying it out, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never see something like this again as people just get bored without a linear-ish progression of story and gameplay.
The Bad Stuff
Don't be fucking 20 minutes late to your own fucking press conference. The fact that you kept your preshow going for the next 20 minutes had me pissed because I thought I missed all of the conference. I am legit pissed here. If I was working tomorrow I would have said piss off and went to sleep.
Even though it had about 4-5 different trailers during the conference, I wasn't impressed with what I saw with Dishonored 2 gameplay videos. They needed to have better focus on the combat and not just the stealth gameplay. Made the entire showcase painfully slow and plodding. And the AI looked abysmal. At least twice the character ran into an AI and nothing happened. Nothing. Player just ran by, grabbed an explosive turned around and chucked it. Also, the AI never responded when other AIs went down. Just stood over the body waiting to get shanked. All in all, it looked bad to me. I hope they improve upon it. I know many people, including Tok, were very interested in this. I personally, was way more impressed with the previous gameplay trailers they have released, even if they were more cinematic. Gameplay and combat were much more fluid. Here it was just dumb. Why would I use an elaborate set of skills to take out targets this dumb?
[embed]https://youtu.be/tdI5E_50aBE[/embed]
[embed]https://youtu.be/lNFtACeifcU[/embed]
Other Notes
- I was partially AFK in the middle of the presser. Copa America was losing it's mind as Brazil was busy losing to Peru for god knows why (Ok, the answer is Dunga, but I like hyperbole). But I was amused for more by that game than I was to small monthly DLC packs for Fallout 4.
- Then that DLC pack was followed by Doom multiplayer DLC pack. I have to ask, how many people play Doom competitively? Is that a thing? Don't they all just play Quake?
- Blink 182 was supposedly at the after party. Best. Afterparty. Ever.
- I would be remiss if I didn't add in this image picked up by Kotaku. New Wolfenstein game? New IP? Hmmmmmm?
In Conclusion
Much better overall presser from Bethesda (Compared to EA). Added in a few new titles while hyping out the ones we already knew. On top of that, they reaffirmed their interest into VR market. I'll give them a B+. Would have been an A- if they had just fucking showed up on time. Assholes.
Prey - I think it would be called a reboot
ReplyDeleteFallout 4 VR - Huh. Okay. Interesting. There are some studios saying it is too costly to make their games compatible with VR. So. Yeah. Interesting.
Skyrim Remaster - Probably a good idea to sell that game again on new consoles. Also, there's probably a mod that makes it VR compatible.
... Ok. No mod, but there is this ridiculous (..ly awesome) thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7n5kRRHDpw
Elder Scrolls Legends - On the competitive side what else is there besides Hearthstone on PC though? Please don't say MTGO; I know you may be tempted to, but don't. Sure there are some mobile TCGs, but none of them had a real competitive scene. The fact that it will have a single player campaign on launch is interesting. The only other games that did that were the MTG PC games and Hearthstone, which added single player content a few weeks after release. I wanna see stand alone Gwent more than this though.
Quake Champions - Quake Overwatch.
Dishonored - That dishonored gameplay felt like a skills showcase.
This article,
http://kotaku.com/5962581/the-slickest-sickest-dishonored-killing-spree-ive-ever-seen
has video of the original Dishonored and shows skills used overtly against more than just two dudes. AI may have been dumbed down for the demo, but the speed of attacks (like the captain lining up his shot while Emily lassos and flings the whale oil barrel) looks about right. I liked the section that had to do with time manipulation.
Doom dlc - New Doom is pretty popular.