If talking just general favorites, i’d have to say Reach is tied with 3 for me. 3 just feels like a general all around good experience. Reach is so fucking good though. Like you said, we come to care for the characters. It kind of does this tightrope act of Hope and Hopelessness, and at the very end it gives a little hope while making a sacrifice.

I love that Noble 6 is your multiplayer character too, it really serves to make it feel a lot more personal which helps to aid the themes. You’re not Master Chief with a history and Epic feats, you’re just… you (or a stand in of some sort). It’s not Noble 6 getting close to everyone, it’s you getting close. It’s not noble 6 making the sacrifice for the pillar of autumn to escape, it’s you. At least in a philosophical sense, or at least that’s how i always viewed it. Even my spartan is a reflection of myself in a way (For example the tiger themed paint job is because i think Tigers are the coolest big cat).

by the end of it, we’re more worried about fucking the other person over than whatever we originally wanted to do

Also, yeah. I agree with that. Halo does a good job making you and your buddy’s fuck eachother over and become the enemy. It’s admirable that it can juggle both that and the good story telling.

When we played CE i’d see how much of the wall i could paint with the enemies blood like some sadistic game of Splatoon. I was playing on MCC so i never ran into the Frame drop, but i recently got an OG copy of CE, so if i can find an OG xbox i might test this

It’s a Ubisoft game so if you don’t have a copy anymore you can at least rest assured it will be dirt cheap during the next sale (or of course there’s always other options).

It always struck me as odd that they did that with their games. They’d go from a 60$ release to “here’s a 5$ price tag for a month” almost instantly.

I guess I’m not complaining as it lets me enjoy my guilty pleasure games affordably. But still. Doesn’t strike me as a smart business decision

Some of them I wonder if they got burned trying to be good people once and then just let that sour all their opinions. I suppose that’s a bit of an edgy “all it takes is one bad day” take, but it is something I’ve wondered.

I do agree a lot with your take though. Shitty and horrible people have realized they can get away with being shitty and horrible. So they don’t hide it. Maybe it’s just the cost of me growing up but it’s disheartening to see it happening with so many people.

As you said, it at least makes it easier to root them out, even if we’re forced to interact with them

True to that. Having worked in stadiums before at games, they usually don’t stay that neatly sorted. I was just impressed from a hardware perspective was all

AC4 always kind of struck me less as morality motivated and more just a story of Edward’s growth as a person. There is of course, some there, but not like with the other games.

Unity was where I feel it started to decline. I did enjoy the story but that ending definitely wasn’t very good. (speaking at least from a purely AC stand point. I’ve only played FC4, FC3, and part of 5)

I completely forgot about those. I know they were a thing in Black Flag, and I remember them in Unity and I think syndicate. I’m not sure about Valhalla, but knowing Ubisoft…

I know I’m not really required to buy it, but idk. Something about it being there cheapened the experience for me when it was in a game.

As far as I know. There’s the modern day bit in Black Flag/Rogue, but as much as I liked those I can’t really say they’re Gameplay Segments. More so walking Sims with a few collectibles.

I briefly remember getting to climb around in the modern day in AC Origins but it was really brief

It’s disappointing. I’ve been going through some of their older catalog recently and it just has a lot more passion behind it i feel.

AC Shadows felt like when i write an essay, where i get really motivated at the start, completely drop off and try to stuff the middle with as much as possible to reach the page count, then get motivated again at the end just to finish the conclusion. They always had their bugs, but lately it’s felt soulless.

As big of a fan of the franchise as i am, i’m a bit embarrassed to admit the only game of the first 4 i had played is Revelations and the first half of 1, so i suppose i don’t have much to base it on

That’s how I am with my grounded run of The Last of Us 2 and finishing Silent Hill f. I started a game of Stellaris and haven’t picked them back up in my free time.

The evolution was disappointing. I didn’t really care for origins but was happy others were enjoying it, and then the ball just got dropped

The Skyscraper and Brazil ones are the most memorable ones too me. I briefly remember the final one too but only really a section where you’re climbing around in rafters.

When Valhalla released I got a copy because I hadn’t played an AC game since Syndicate and thought a Viking one would be fun. I decided to go in blind. I got maybe 30 hours in and checked how far along I was after stopping and going “no way the story is that long”, and nope. It is that long.

I was going to return it but never got around to it. Both my younger brothers ended up playing it through to completion though, so I suppose it found a home at least

I would love the Machine as a case for PCs. I’m not sure how feasible it is (knowing PCs probably not) but i’ve already got a gaming PC that’s far more powerful in terms of GPU and RAM. I’d love to be able to shove it in there and have the best of both. That light on the front has me especially interested despite just being a light

These last few years i think i’ve started to develop a love of Linear Shooters, or games in general. There’s something charming about them compared to Open World games. Not to say Open World games are bad. but i’ve definitely been burnt out on them with how many we have now

I did actually do that for some posts, but people like to guess the game so i stopped doing that. The middle ground i reached was just putting the game in the first sentence (and if i remember bolding it too)

I do agree with you. There’s just too many games that don’t respect the players time. Though, i guess i don’t really have much room to speak while playing a Ubisoft game (they’re the worst about that, especially now).

Speaking of Ghost of Tsushima i’ve been wanting to get the PC version. I borrowed the PS4 version from my local library and played through the whole thing in like 2022 which was fun. Maybe with the next sale. Playing back to back with friends makes games more fun too. Occasionally i’ll go back and visit older Pokemon games with friends and we’ll get this whole little ecosystem setup for trading and stuff.

I only really start to regret it towards the end lol. The fun house i enjoy though. I think my favorite would have to be the final level though. That boss fight was fun for me to figure out my first playthrough.

Yeah, I definitely get that with the stamina. They’re long sometimes. The amount of collectibles they put in don’t help at all either.

I think also my library size makes it hard for me to stick with it. When i was younger i only had like 3 games for the PS3, so my options were kind of limited. I think more options has made it hard to stick to game over the years (plus, life now definitely steals a lot of time)

It’s weird thinking these all started out so bland (for a lack of a better words). It feels natural now for all the little paragraphs i include to be there, but looking back i really didn’t start doing that until around day 50. I guess i kind of acclimated too it

It’s interesting seeing was once mind blowing back then from a modern lens. Even if things don’t age well it’s interesting going back.

I enjoy posting about these for others to see, it makes me happy for people to enjoy reading these

I was trying to get all of them first go around and already messed up one where I had to explode 3 powder kegs, and I only missed the first one because I had to reload my pistol and was already past the first barrel by the time I finished

Fair enough, especially the traversal. I can see how it’d be bad for the traversal with how spaced apart everything is. Some of them are way too far apart

Yeah, I’ve sunk maybe 4 hours in already and I only just got out of Haytham’s part. Granted I went off and started doing all the Sync points, but still. The game’s pacing really is it’s biggest issue

The final chase gave me so much trouble too. It took me so many tries to finish it

Sometimes the slow but easy ones are simultaneously the best and worst. They always end up having me a little on edge because i’m just waiting for a hunt to pop and take one of our team mates down. Usually they go well though

It’s just about 5 new monsters I think and a few levels got some new designs. So nothing Crazy. They do mix things up a bit though. I’d say it’s worth it if you have the time

I might be a bit biased too with the art style. My first playthrough was only last year and it’s really stuck with me. But yeah, the jacket and gun are definitely factors

Fractured Blooms i remember seeing the announcement for. I remember Serenity Forge got into a bit of hot water for calling it something along the lines of “DDLC meets Silent Hill”. Otherwise though it seemed like an interesting concept

It lives rent free in my head and will just pop in occasionally

Both the games have really iconic art styles (and i’m sure the silhouette of Max gives it way too)

I was able to get it running on Linux pretty easily. There’s some issues with widescreen (stretching) there’s an easy fix with that using the WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3d8=n,b" command and a patch though (or you can put up with it like i did for my first playthrough)

I’d love for just any game with a scale that large. I think it’d be awesome

The subway in the first game is iconic too me. I still remember the layout in my head and think about it from time to time

It’s rare for me to replay games too. Ever since i’ve started doing these screenshots though i’ve started going back and replaying a few things. It’s really changed the way i play games

I saw! i heard Remedy is being involved in it (and based on some photos i’ve seen i think they’re heading it) so my hopes are high

There’s some parts where i forget that it’s PS2 era. It really feels like something from the next gen. It’s surreal

Their work is awesome. I want to see them live. I was actually just listening to them on the way to class today.

Remedy sticking with them is something I love. Something about their work feels like authentic. I don’t mean it as a jab to songs made for video games, but a lot of the time songs made for video games have this “feel” where you can tell “yep. That’s tied to a specific game”. Something about PoTF’s work though feels like it’s an actual album

It’s Max Payne 2! It’s a bit old so you may have seen it before online (or maybe even played it yourself)

They’re up there as some of my favorites. Ever since I played them last year I’ve been wanting to play them yearly