Upcoming Video Games

[Elissa Cousland]

I'm bored... so in an attempt to start things both IC and OOC I'm posting, yaaay. Anyhow, I've been reading my little bro's Game Informer Magazine lately since he subscribed, and I've just been thinking about upcoming games that I might be interested in and such. Right now I have about three that I'm really anticipating.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Don't ask me why, but I read the preview article for it in GIM and it interested me a lot. The teaser trailer I linked there isn't anything super spectacular (graphics-wise mainly), but I'm not really a huge graphics person to begin with. I'll most likely be renting it first to test it, but I can see it being a good game if they do it right.

Elder Scrolls V Skyrim - I've actually never fully played through an Elder Scrolls game (and I really only barely started Oblivion), but this just looks orgasmic. May not buy it, but I'll definitely rent it a lot. Possibly buy, but I think it might be a rent until I beat it and then never think about it again game. We'll see.

Batman: Arkham City - Did I ever mention that I really, REALLY love Batman? Well, if not, I really... really... REALLY love Batman. So yes I will most likely buy this game out of principle. But seriously, Arkham Asylum was super fun, and I don't think this sequel will let me down. Not to mention the music in this trailer is pretty rad.

Well, anyway, that's all I'm interested in so far that'll be coming out in the next year or so. What about you guys, any games you're super excited for?

[Anceladar Firareth]

I respect Skyrim greatly, but for me it's just Oblivion with dragons. Almost like Pokemon but not as monotonous, same recipe, different ingredients. I'll probably give it a rent, mainly for character customization and whatnot, but I've always disliked games where dragons are just another enemy to kill. The world needs more dragon games, not RPGs with dragons in them, the last true dragon game was, sadly, Spyro, then Lair (Which I never played b/c of no PS3) and Drakengard even though the second Drakengard failed horribly (In my opinion) and even then those were human stories with a dragon partner, but at least the dragon(s) were central characters.

Never played Arkham Asylum, but I'm looking forward to at least renting Arkham City. Batman is the only superhero game other than Ultimate Alliance that piques my interest.

I'm personally super psyched for L.A. Noir, not only the play on words is nice (Noir meaning black, so L.A. Black or la noir, The Black, especially since it's set in L.A.'s darkest time it's fitting) it seems like something fresh. They're using real actors for each character and this is a game where you actually have to think to solve crimes, unlike Heavy Rain (As epic as that was) which was linear. Honestly this is the only game I've ever pre-ordered. Not even Ace Combat 7 has me going.

Speaking of Ace Combat 7, I must say the Ace Combat series has been my favorite of all time. I was leaning towards buying a PS3 until number six was exclusive to the XBOX360 which swayed my decision. I know I will not be disappointed with this game, even though some things have me doubting some stuff. This seems to be a reboot so to speak, taking place in the real world instead of a fictional one can be awesome or horrible, flying through recognizable cities will be awesome, but then poof goes some of the fantasy elements that having a fictional world allows like epic bosses (Stonehenge from AC4, the SOLG from AC5, Excalibur from AC Zero and those giant flying fortresses in Ace Combat 6 (I assume, you never know with Ace Combat). Also, speaking of cities, you can actually fly through the cities, unlike earlier where things get pixelated at low altitudes and some of the buildings are the size of your plane, the detail going into the locations is extreme indeed, you can watch the scenery get shot up as you fire missiles and gunfire, as well as enemy plane carnage and not just seeing them go boom and fall.

Also interested in Mass Effect 3, but I'm not sure if that even comes out this year as well as Uncharted 3 (again, even though I don't have a PS3 I'll find a way to get my hands on it)

[maeve]

I'm curious to your reasoning for Skyrim being labeled as "Oblivion with Dragons".. All of the Elder Scrolls games, to date, have been groundbreaking in new material, mechanics and visual aesthetics. I don't really see how Bethesda would skimp out on the final game of the series, but I also haven't been following the new released information on it as actively as I probably should.

Enlighten? :3

[Anceladar Firareth]

My knowledge of Skyrim is also limited, but due to lack of caring really. I know they've created a whole new engine for it to run on for said better graphics and whatnot, yada yada. The reason I say it's Oblivion with Dragons is because without dragons it'd be Oblivion (Yay for circular and pointless logic. ) Seriously though, having played Oblivion and watch the trailers I don't see much difference. Still a hack n slash first person game, same pacing, same general storyline (Just it's dragons instead of demons it seems). All that made the Elder Scrolls unique and stand-outish is now just standard, so they add dragons to spice it up a bit.

Story of Oblivion- King is murdered, giant demon rises to destroy world
Story of Skyrim- Land is in turmoil after king's assassination, giant dragon god rises to destroy world.

They have new gameplay features, where shields are actually used like Dragon Age instead of aesthetics and armor points, and killing moves also like Dragon Age, then small time cooking, farming, mining (Like Monster Hunter). Overall it seems just like Oblivion just...shinier, with dragons.

Even with all my misgivings, I'll still probably rent it when it comes out, but that'll likely be it. Honestly I don't like killing dragons.

[maeve]

Ahmg cultists in Cthulhu Mythos = cultists in Morrowind too! Everything is just a rehash of everything at this point!

/sarcasm



I don't really feel 'adding dragons' was as thrown together of an ideas as you think, as the Elder Scrolls has been an ongoing project for years. Chances are, this was the intended direction of the storyline and the final chapter of the saga long before we even knew it was a twinkle in the Developer's eye. All games of an individual saga or set follow their predecessors in some way or another, the story just progresses. Technology increases and improves with the times, and in the case of Bethesda, blows competitors with the same abilities out of the water. (Although I think Battlefield 3 is going to make anyone producing another game on the 360 weep. That game is INCREDIBLE so far.)

It's kinda like you're asking for Mass Effect 3 to be a totally different game than Mass Effect 1 or 2, which is silly and unrealistic. It's also very much what they did to Dragon Age 2, only to fail miserably in the eyes of a majority of fans.

Change is good. So is continuity. -sagenod-

Not liking it simply cos you don't is okay too. But the debate needs work.

[Anceladar Firareth]

Meh, I simply dislike it for the reasons stated.

The gameplay changes made to Dragon Age 2 were phenomenal, and the Mass Effect dialogue wheel, it was everything else that fell flat. If the Dragon Age 2 story was in fact the first, it would've been bloody brilliant, leaving an Origins story to fill in the gaps, but then there would've been other complications...anyway.

The Mass Effect series has also been in planning the series the entire time, and Mass Effect has undergone some major changes from one to two, gameplay and otherwise and I don't expect the third installment to be any different. They experimented with change, reveled in it, they found what worked and what didn't and are incorporating it into the final game.

I wasn't complaining about Skyrim changing, I was complaining about it not changing, as in the differences between it and Oblivion seem frail and microscopic. Granted I feel some of these should've been there from the start, barring technological issues.

And as for the Elder Scrolls actual plot, yes, looking from a chronological standpoint from each game, sure there's some interesting vibes going on there. But for standalone games they seem...lackluster, but then again my opinion of lackluster can vary wildly from everyone else given circumstances. Overall, for me, none of the Elder Scrolls had the 'wow' factor or the 'epic' factor for me, and I don't expect Skyrim's dragons to really add anything.