General Game Chat

[Moonface]

iii Initiative Showcase Today @ 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT
I saw this announced a week or so ago but didn't know what to expect from it to post anything about it. Been hearing talk today of it running for almost an hour with over 30 games to be shown, so sounds like it'll be a big thing. The whole showcase is purely for indie developers that are larger than what would be typically thought of under the term "indie", hence the name being iii which is meant to be an indie version of the term AAA.

https://iii-initiative.com/

[Moonface]

A streamer I watch on Twitch started up a playthrough of Brutal Legend yesterday, and while I've heard of the game I haven't ever seen anything of it to know more than it's a game with Jack Black in it. Seeing that it has a lot of actual musicians starring in it as themselves was not something I was expecting, and from what I did see of the game it actually looks fun enough to consider playing it some time. If nothing else, I can appreciate it as a game that would never get made today with the amount of money it would cost just to pay for the people and music the game features. On that note, I'm genuinely surprised that game hasn't been delisted from Steam considering the amount of licensed music in it; I'm used to games with licensed music being killed off within 10 years at best to avoid paying further royalties.

Anyone here ever played the game at all?

[Maniakkid25]

I have not, but I am familiar enough with it to know what you're talking about. It was billed as this big action game, when in reality its more of a zoomed-in strategy game. Also, by the crazy bastards behind Psychonauts, so that's always a plus.

Also, it stars Jack Black. Who doesn't love Jack Black?

[Moonface]

I wonder if another game like that would ever get made nowadays. Apparently the game sold well but I also imagine the cost would be way higher today just for the people and licenses because of how much bigger gaming is now compared to back then. I guess Metal Hellsinger could be considered a modern take on the concept of a metal game using stuff from real artists in a way that's exclusive for the game.


I also saw how the first Fallout game actually looks/plays today because a streamer I watch decided to play it for their first time today. I knew it wasn't anything like the series is now but it was actually a lot more impressive than I was expecting it to be for how old it is. I kinda wish Bethesda would do a remake of that game instead of riding on Skyrim like it's the only good game they ever made.

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah original Fallout is kind of sick, and I can see why 3 got such a huge backlash when that launched, in the same way that Wind Waker and Metal Gear Solid 2 did at their launches. The subversion of expectations in gamers is such a fickle thing to mess with.

[Maniakkid25]

But the difference with Wind Waker and MGS 2 is that the general consensus turned around for them, and are now regarded as legitimately good despite the backlash. Fallout 3 went on a huge sine wave, with people arguing back and forth about the game, to where it's generally considered not as good as its predecessors simply due to the writing. Fallout 1 and 2 are legitimately some of the best written games of the 90's, full of wit, charm, and genuine pauses for reflection, and that's purely because Black Isle Studios (now Obsidian Entertainment) knew what the f*** they were making. Now that they are both owned by Microsoft, I legitimately hope any new Fallout games are under Obsidian's purview. There's a reason why New Vegas is hailed nowadays as the best of the new games.

[Dragon Lord]

I also saw how the first Fallout game actually looks/plays today because a streamer I watch decided to play it for their first time today. I knew it wasn't anything like the series is now but it was actually a lot more impressive than I was expecting it to be for how old it is. I kinda wish Bethesda would do a remake of that game instead of riding on Skyrim like it's the only good game they ever made.

It's kind of hard to blame them at this point for doing it. You look at their "game of the generation/all-time" in Starflop struggling to hit 5K active players on Steam, yet see 13-year old Skyrim easily maintaining 15-20K+ on a normal basis (and that's probably on the slow end), it's no wonder they continue to default back to Skyrim when their new games continue to sink.

Though the Fallout TV show has given a huge resurgence to Fallout 4 (almost 100K active right now) and Fallout 76 (50K active). But on a normal basis, it has been Skyrim that has kept Bethesda any sort of relevant the last 13 years.

I won't be surprised to see them announce dedicated PS5/XSX ports of the game if things continue to look disappointing for them. They'll need to milk the cash cow again. Although if those rumors of an Oblivion remake are true, then that could be a huge lifeline for them as well.