General Game Chat

[Moonface]

Exactly. I don't think that award would've even been conceived if it wasn't being voted on by the public. I feel like it was just used to drive up traffic by presenting an impossible task that just turns into a popularity contest which relies solely on getting in as many votes as possible, regardless of the thought behind them.

[Maniakkid25]

So Endwalker released yesterday for FFXIV! I can't wait to log in and play around with it!



...Oh. ...Well crap.

[Moonface]

Have you managed to get in at all yet @Maniakkid25? I know @Karo got in at least once yesterday morning but by the time she got in she had to go to class so all the effort was for nothing.

[Maniakkid25]

I actually did, but mostly its just been queue and error screen sending me back to the end of the queue. The problem is that a few WoW streamers decided to leave WoW for FFXIV RIGHT when the Pandemic started, so suddenly we got FLOODED with WoW Refugees looking for a new game, with no way for SqueEnix to upgrade the servers to accomodate the new influx of players thanks to that global semiconductor shortage. So add in the start of a new expansion, and it's just like "...f***!"

[ShiraNoMai]

So Endwalker released yesterday for FFXIV! I can't wait to log in and play around with it!



...Oh. ...Well crap.

What, 9000?! That's impossible-

Ahem, yeah I've been hearing similar stories about being locked out but I've also heard of plenty of others getting in without too much hassle. Has @Karo managed to get in yet?

[Maniakkid25]

Yeah, Karo has been able to get in. I was able to get in a couple times, but after about 10 AM yesterday I've just been getting errors when I try to get into the WAITING ROOM to queue up. No no, not the queue. THE WAITING ROOM FOR THE QUEUE!

Edit: Getting to be near the end of 2021! Gotta figure out which game was the most overhyped of the year! What are our contenders this time? ...Oh ...Oh, no. This is gonna be another coin flip year, isn't it?

[Moonface]

At least SE are giving everyone seven free days added to their subscriptions to make up for the issues of getting onto the servers. Are new character registrations still closed for the game or did they reopen at some point?

As for most overhyped game this year, I actually can't think of any game off the top of my head that was getting hyped out the arse and then didn't deliver. Looking at a list of games released this year, Godfall was being hyped a lot but that was mostly on Sony's end; I never really saw players being overly engaged with it during marketing. Maybe Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl? Everyone was going nuts over that game all the way up until release, and then the hype just died off in a flash when the game was lacking in things like voice acting and such that made the whole thing feel lifeless. Any other big games that come to mind that didn't release in a good state seem to be ones that most people saw coming a mile away as not delivering on promises or standards.

[Maniakkid25]

You are missing two very obvious choices in your recommendations: Balan Wonderworld and D&D Dark Alliance. That may as well be a coin flip: Dark Alliance was more hyped in marketing, but Balan Wonderworld caused WAY more damage long term. Jesus, I have a hard decision.

[Moonface]

Wow, I don't know how I missed Balan in the list I was viewing. That one was probably worst because it basically ended the career of the guy behind it. I don't recall it being a very hyped game though as the release got nearer, especially once that demo came out that really highlighted how bad it was going to be.

[Maniakkid25]

Here's the thing: the hype behind Balan wasn't traditional. SqueEnix advertised the game on social media, sure, but really, the hype for the game basically came about because Yuji Naka is a huge name, so a LOT of eyeballs were on whatever he was working on once he made the move to SqueEnix. I mean, when the father programmer and father art designer of Sonic the Hedgehog both join forces on one project, people will perk up! So in that respect, Dark Alliance was FAR more hyped, but Balan Wonderworld had so many eyes on it that it was notpossible for it to be anything other than either a huge success or a huge failure. So I'm sitting here, looking at these two choices, and I'm like "FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!"

[Moonface]

For me I never expected Balan to turn out good, because despite the two big names attached, at the time I somehow thought both of them hadn't done anything since Nights in 1996 (looking them up now shows this to be wildly untrue so I have no clue what led me to that belief back then), so I looked at it that two people who hadn't done anything notable in 20 years would have no chance to produce a game that worked for modern times, and when the game turned out exactly that way it didn't shock me. I'd have possibly had very different expectations if my view of them wasn't incorrect at the time the game was announced and in development. I can't complain though; at least my mistake kept me from ever getting hyped about the game which was clearly a good thing. XD

[Dragon Lord]

I'd give most overhyped game this year to Nickelodeon All-Stars. People were going batshit crazy about that game on social media and game forums like Gamefaqs, and then the game releases and it dies faster than a snowball melts in hell. Like, a lot of people were (insanely) saying it had a legit chance to be a "Smash Bros killer", and then the game can't even last a single day. Now you don't see anyone talking about the game because it's so god awful they are probably embarrassed to let anyone know they actually bought it.

I had a feeling that it would turn out this way as well. They were 110% counting on nostalgia to hard carry the game, and it didn't. The graphics alone were enough for me to see that it was going to end up being a super cheap nostalgia trap.

[Dragon Lord]

So I must not have been paying much attention to gaming this year as a whole. I didn't realize that this year was so god awfully shit that It Takes Two was able to take home Game of the Year.

Omega yikes on that one.

[Moonface]

I'm actually happy It Takes Two got the award just because it wasn't yet another big AAA game being given it and instead it meant budget and status wasn't the driving factor like it usually is. I've not played the game but I've heard it is actually very good.

Looking at the winners on the website, I swear some of them weren't remotely announced at all during the show. I do not recall hearing Best Fighting game coming up at any point the entire evening. Also, Doug Bowser needs to work on his public speaking. He might have been the worst person on the stage doing an acceptance speech last night, and it wasn't even a speech; he just decided to explain what an Action-Adventure game is and then advertise Metroid Dread while reading it all off a piece of paper. I know other people were reading from things too but at least they have the excuse of being developers and so not being the face of a company. Reggie being on stage and not having to rely on such things just made Doug look inexperienced to take on a public speaking role as the face of Nintendo.

[ShiraNoMai]

The year was kind of dry in terms of big releases, but the ones that were up for the awards were all good games at the very least. It Takes Two was a solid game and it winning was a big fuck you to Take Two Interactive's recent lawsuit about their name infringing copyright.