What games are you currently playing?

[Rayfist]

Christ, no discussion about Wind Waker HD coming out today as a physical copy?
Zelda WW HD came out today, and I'm playing it right now, absolutely love the game so far!

Make a video about it
It should get popular since game is new.

Me and Adsolution may do an LP for it together, considering what huge fans of the Zelda franchise we are, especially Wind Waker.

[Adsolution]

Me and Adsolution may do an LP for it together, considering what huge fans of the Zelda franchise we are, especially Wind Waker.

Aye. We'd planned on starting today since I thought I had the game preordered. Apparently it was never preordered, so it looks like I'll have to wait a little bit until I can get at it. Hopefully tomorrow will be the day.

----

So, I'm not bothering with another essay, because apparently GTA is a holy grail that can't be criticised, and any valid criticism is invalid because of that.

If you'd read my post, you'd clearly have noticed that I agreed with some of your criticisms, and if you'd read anything after it, you'd have seen that myself and other members were also discussing its flaws, albeit in a much more objective light.

But again, jagged outlines on models are not an insignificant issue, and the reason why it's a bigger issue in GTA V is because it's a triple AAA game that probably had a lot of time put into it, in the year 2013, yet it messes that simple thing up. The issue has NO excuse to be there. My sister was playing the game earlier, and I sat around the same distance I would sit when I play games, and I noticed it again. It's a consistent issue in the game that again, hurts ones eyes if their eyesight is sharp enough

I have a hard time taking this 'major' criticism so seriously when you are the only person I've heard who has even mentioned (let alone complained to no end about) this, and when I can't even see what you're referring to.

EDIT:
Wait, are you referring to the aliasing? Seriously? I didn't even notice that because it was a total give-in. I thought you were actually referring to some artifacting, not aliasing.

I'm not sure if you were aware, but anti-aliasing is extremely resource intensive. For the most part, the only console games that are usually able to afford this luxary are linear, simple-graphics shooters like a Call of Duty which almost never dip below 60 FPS to begin with. At least half the games on the market cannot afford anti-aliasing.

The fact that this is what you were referring to makes your criticism go from 10% valid to about 0.1%. This isn't the fault of the engine programmers, it's the unavoidable fault of building a massive game in 2013 on hardware from 2005. The idea that they've managed to create such a large world with graphics this decent on hardware that ancient is something to be marvelled at if anything. Really, perhaps that game design course you're taking will do you good in your quest for technological knowledge when you can't even identify something as trivial as aliasing, and then procede to make such a fuss over it.

(and don't even attempt to criticise me for having sharp eyesight).

What do you take me for, man?

Didn't help that the voice acting sucked (honestly, the voice actors for the main characters sounded like they got random people off of the street to do it.

The voice acting was one of this game's highlighted points of praise; even people I know who weren't fond of the game still thought that the voice acting was terrific and that Niko had one of the most memorable voices out there. Are you trying to dig to find the most unpopular, disagreeable opinions in the Universe? I think you've surpassed that goal.

Literally anyone can impersonate Niko's performance.

And? Does that imply that it's armaeturistic? Literally anyone can impersonate Mario and Luigi, but what does that have to do with anything?

And don't get me started on Patrick, the Irish guy. Seriously, what's the point of putting an Irish character in there, giving him an American accent, and not touching much on Irish culture? It's redundant, and I'm sick of American made media portraying Irish people terribly). And honestly, it was just boring, plain and simple.

Are you damn kidding me? This is one of the most absurd, backward and self-racist 'criticisms' I've ever heard from anyone on any fictional character ever created. Patrick was born in America, so he wouldn't have an Irish accent, he's just proud of his Irish roots. That is all. How the bloody fuck is it a "terrible portrayal of Irish people" just because they don't indulge in his Irish lifestyle and give him an accent that he couldn't have possibly even had in the first place?

The last person on this forum who pined for more stereotypical portrayals of his own culture in the media was iambored, and he's one of RPC's most notorious past-time twats.

But honestly, you claiming GTA IV is perfection is the first I've heard of it being so, after the initial reviews came in (and don't ever try to tell me I should listen to reviewers, as Shokio pointed out, too often do they neglect to talk about certain aspects of the game. I play and research a game myself and form an opinion. Very few reviewers nowadays even do that).

I'm talking about established and professional reviewing sites, I don't watch crummy arbitrary YouTube reviews unless they're by well-known and well-respected users. By the way, Shokio was referring to those crummy arbitrary YouTube reviews.

This should purge you of your apparent obliviousness to GTA IV's critical acclaim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gta_iv#Reception

GTA IV (...) like Sonic '06, but to a much lesser degree.

I love to analyse the flaws of my favourite games. Criticisms can be great, but yours are terrible.

[Master]

I see I've made sig quote for Ad, blimey, what an odd night it was.

[Snagglebee]

I'm playing a bit with LSD.

[Bzzit]

And GTA IV had the least exciting sandbox of any GTA game.

So wait, you think the Liberty City portrayed in GTA 3 was superior to the one in IV...really?

[sonicbrawler182]

Wait, are you referring to the aliasing? Seriously? I didn't even notice that because it was a total give-in. I thought you were actually referring to some artifacting, not aliasing.

I'm not sure if you were aware, but anti-aliasing is extremely resource intensive. For the most part, the only console games that are usually able to afford this luxary are linear, simple-graphics shooters like a Call of Duty which almost never dip below 60 FPS to begin with. At least half the games on the market cannot afford anti-aliasing.

The fact that this is what you were referring to makes your criticism go from 10% valid to about 0.1%. This isn't the fault of the engine programmers, it's the unavoidable fault of building a massive game in 2013 on hardware from 2005. The idea that they've managed to create such a large world with graphics this decent on hardware that ancient is something to be marvelled at if anything. Really, perhaps that game design course you're taking will do you good in your quest for technological knowledge when you can't even identify something as trivial as aliasing, and then procede to make such a fuss over it.

Are you kidding me? I know exactly what anti-aliasing is, and I know how resource intensive it is. Many console games don't even have it.

Again, what I'm referring to is GTA V's lack of a smoothing filter (at least in the Xbox 360 version). It's much less resource intensive. My laptop can run smoothing filters on emulators no problem, and my laptop is pretty bog standard.

Anti-aliasing literally cleans up the edges of models/sprites in an image. With anti-aliasing, the models retain sharpness, without becoming jagged.

Smoothing (something I'm saying GTA V should have) is simply putting a filter over the image that makes everything blend together better. It's like an illusion, rather than literally making the images sharper. It sacrifices extra sharpness for smoother lines, even if the overall picture will look a bit blurrier. Many games utilise this to prevent the jagged lines that I'm seeing in GTA V (you may not be able to see it, because of differences in eyesight, and maybe I am the only person to speak up about it so far, but it's still a valid complaint, because smoothing is in fact, missing, and if it can effect me, then it can effect others).

And don't try to take a jab at me regarding my course in video games design. I've actually rendered images of simple models already in Blender, some using smoothing, others with anti-aliasing. I know exactly what I'm talking about.

Also, while GTA V's jagged images and models is a valid complaint, I never said it was the worst thing ever or anything. It was you who got upset and started throwing condescending comments at me over this. I would of dropped this subject after my first post if it wasn't for your unjustified, cocky attitude towards me. You may be a mod of this site, but the worst thing a mod can do is be a condescending asshole, over a video game of all things. On the other forum I'm on, we only had one mod for a while. He became a bit of an asshole, and people left the site because of his attitude. You represent this community. I'd hate to think visitors of this forum are seeing your lashes at me, and thinking "wow, this community must be full of condescending, presumptuous assholes", because my experience on this forum has been amazing so far and everyone has been well mannered for the most part, even in long debates. You're the only person I've had a problem with so far. Taking personal lashes at me over this is not making you look credible, especially when they relate to things like my college course, or calling me "self-racist" (which I know is meant to be another personal jab at me, but Irish people in general actually ARE really self-racist, and we constantly make fun of ourselves for it, meaning I really don't care if I am or not! So I'm not even going to counter your argument regarding Patrick, especially since you completely missed my point of criticism regarding him. A habit you've been practicing across this entire debate).

I am not going to continue this discussion any longer. You can form an opinion over me if you wish, think of me as "the next universal twat" of the site, whatever. I won't form an opinion over you, because I'm of the belief that you should never make rash judgments about people over your interactions with them on a forum. But over the course of this debate, you've been having a terrible attitude. I don't know if this kind of attitude is how you are every time you debate, or just in general, but I sincerely hope it isn't.

I will repeat - GTA V is not a bad game. It's very good (I used to think it was more mediocre but it's grown on me a little since yesterday. It won't grow on me much more though, I think, though it might), just lackluster considering the budget, development time, and hype it had. The game hasn't hooked me at all either. As Shokio put it in his video, if someone asked me to play another game with them, I'd do it instantly, where as with games that have hooked me, I'd have a humourous "JUST A FEW MORE MINUTES!" kind of reaction.

I've presented the EXACT same points to my classmates in college when discussing the game. They all bought the game themselves, day one. They were hyped. And most of them loved the game to death. Heck, two of them skipped college to play the thing, and stayed up late to play it. Yet even they can understand where I'm coming from, despite being in disagreement. Why would that be the case if my points are "terrible" and "invalid"? Also, I can assure you that none of them gave me the highly disrespectful attitude you've given me.

And another classmate of mine who picked up the game and was really hyped for it, actually found it a big disappointment, much like me. Heck, he was even going to record tons of footage of the game, as he is part of a group-run Youtube channel (which I might be joining myself). But he's had no motivation to do so. And he can't think of anything he'd enjoy recording or watching (luckily, another member of his channel loves the game, and is going to handle it). And he agrees with most of what I say about the game. Again, are these criticisms still "stupid" and "laughably invalid"?

This is the last post from me on this subject, because I can't motivate myself to debate with someone who's going to get overly personal (and therefore, off the topic of the debate) with me. It's fine if you think the game is a masterpiece, I never had a problem with that. I don't want to change your opinion on the game. I was just expressing mine, plain and simple. But getting personal, and trying to damage control (which I never did, I always provided a direct counter-perspective), and trying to say my points are invalid without even explaining why, is crossing the line of credibility. Hopefully we won't have a situation like this again. Because quite frankly, on the other forum I'm on, I developed personal relations with some people, both positive and negative. For now, I'd rather be a neutral member of this site. I don't want to be everyone's therapist again, I don't want people to try and "rival" me again, and I don't want to be part of discussions involving personal jabs over video games, like what you started here. I don't question your overall position as a mod over this one thing, just in case you get that impression. I merely hope that this isn't your general way of discussing with others, because that WILL leave a negative impression on guests and newcomers (me being the latter).

But yeah, I'll forget about all of those personal accusations about me this time, so I won't even ask for an apology. They never happened, as far as I'm concerned. And I won't bother continuing this discussion, or addressing the rest of your points in your previous post.

Hope we can have more pleasant interactions in the future.

EDIT: And I forgot to mention that I don't hold a grudge or anything over this. And interactions with you have been better outside of this topic.

[Adsolution]

Again, what I'm referring to is GTA V's lack of a smoothing filter (at least in the Xbox 360 version). It's much less resource intensive. My laptop can run smoothing filters on emulators no problem, and my laptop is pretty bog standard.

Anti-aliasing literally cleans up the edges of models/sprites in an image. With anti-aliasing, the models retain sharpness, without becoming jagged.

Smoothing (something I'm saying GTA V should have) is simply putting a filter over the image that makes everything blend together better. It's like an illusion, rather than literally making the images sharper. It sacrifices extra sharpness for smoother lines, even if the overall picture will look a bit blurrier. Many games utilise this to prevent the jagged lines that I'm seeing in GTA V (you may not be able to see it, because of differences in eyesight, and maybe I am the only person to speak up about it so far, but it's still a valid complaint, because smoothing is in fact, missing, and if it can effect me, then it can effect others).

And don't try to take a jab at me regarding my course in video games design. I've actually rendered images of simple models already in Blender, some using smoothing, others with anti-aliasing. I know exactly what I'm talking about.

I've found simple blur filters covering everything to look terrible for the most part. It can mask the sharpness of the aliasing, but it doesn't mask the fact that it still exists, and to me, that's not much better. Maybe marginally, but I wouldn't blame anyone for not including it.

Also, while GTA V's jagged images and models is a valid complaint, I never said it was the worst thing ever or anything.

No, but the fact that 99% of people don't even notice or aren't bothered by this to the extent of calling it an "extremely major criticism" shows that you're a special case. If almost no one has an issue with the game's aliasing, then this can't be accepted as globally applicable criticism, or even something larger than a personal nitpick. I'm bothered by the fact that so many concerts use strobe lighting because I'm epileptic, but the vast, vast majority of the population are not like this, so it's not like they should go out of their way to accommodate me because I'm bothered by it.

The analogy isn't perfectly 1:1, but it's close enough to get the point across. Surely the devs must have tried a blur filter or something, and decided against it for whatever reason. It's an extremely common sense thing to try, so I'm not going to place my money on the notion that they "didn't think of it".

It was you who got upset and started throwing condescending comments at me over this. I would of dropped this subject after my first post if it wasn't for your unjustified, cocky attitude towards me.

I think it's quite justified. Maybe not if your comment solely comprised the aliasing issue, but the content of the rest of your posts (the latest ones especially) are enough to make anyone topple over in sheer disbelief. As you can see, Bzzit also seems to also find your post boon-worthy.

You may be a mod of this site, but the worst thing a mod can do is be a condescending asshole, over a video game of all things. On the other forum I'm on, we only had one mod for a while. He became a bit of an asshole, and people left the site because of his attitude.

I've been a part of this community for over four years now, and I think I have a pretty good idea as to how it works here. I can't recall a single instance of me having caused any member to leave this community or feel discouraged from coming back, aside from a couple of members who were eventually either punished or banned by the admins anyway.

You represent this community. I'd hate to think visitors of this forum are seeing your lashes at me, and thinking "wow, this community must be full of condescending, presumptuous assholes", because my experience on this forum has been amazing so far and everyone has been well mannered for the most part, even in long debates. You're the only person I've had a problem with so far. Taking personal lashes at me over this is not making you look credible, especially when they relate to things like my college course,

I admit the comment on your course was a little bit rude, but I prioritise sense over politeness. The reason I'm the "first person you've had a problem with" is because this is the first time you've made such absurd, ignorant and nonsensical posts on the forum. Examples include:

- An inexplicable concern over a thing hardly anyone except you is bothered by

- Disagreeing with the fact that GTA IV has been met with universal acclaim, despite it being stated right there on the fucking Wikipedia article

- Your intent on bashing universally well-received voice acting, using such irrelevant, meaningless, faulty not-arguments as "Literally anyone can impersonate Niko Bellic"

- Claiming that if someone hails from a certain biological ethnicity, they should exhibit all traits sterotypically associated with that ethnicity, even when the only thing connecting someone to it is their genetics

or calling me "self-racist" (which I know is meant to be another personal jab at me, but Irish people in general actually ARE really self-racist, and we constantly make fun of ourselves for it, meaning I really don't care if I am or not!

And that's a cultural trait I suppose, but dose that encapsulate all Irish people? No, it does not. The high school I went to had a lot of Irish people in it, and their humour wasn't starkly different from the next person's at all.

Also, by "self-racist", I meant that you were stereotyping your own culture in a completely serious manner. There's a pretty damn obvious difference between humour and seriousness.

So I'm not even going to counter your argument regarding Patrick, especially since you completely missed my point of criticism regarding him.

Your criticism regarding him was quite literally a complaint about how he doesn't act more 'Irish', even when he was born in, raised in, and living in America.

I am not going to continue this discussion any longer. You can form an opinion over me if you wish, think of me as "the next universal twat" of the site, whatever. I won't form an opinion over you, because I'm of the belief that you should never make rash judgments about people over your interactions with them on a forum. But over the course of this debate, you've been having a terrible attitude. I don't know if this kind of attitude is how you are every time you debate, or just in general, but I sincerely hope it isn't.

My attitude is dependent on the situation. If I'm in a debate in which the other person offers insightful and logical viewpoints to counteract mine, then I'm perfectly chill and intrigued. If I'm debating with someone who digs up the strangest, most contrived and borderline ignorant complaints about a particular topic, then I don't see the need to be so polite, because I'm far more offended by faulty arguments than I am by someone's tone.

I was just expressing mine, plain and simple.

Opinions are not opinions or get-out-of-jail-free cards if they're not grounded. Many of your opinions I have factually disproved, because they weren't grounded in any way.


I don't know if you're aware of it, but while I made one single personal remark regarding your game design course, you've been constantly criticising my ability as a moderator, something that is entirely not your business. I'd say that my personal remark was justified in light of that, but those kinds of things never are. That includes yours as well.

[sonicbrawler182]

Not even going to bother with that essay of hypocrisy at all.

[Adsolution]

?

[Rayfist]

Quit arguing ya'll.

Anyways WW HD is going smoothly for me! Game is as great as I remembered!

[Master]

I hear that it had some interesting additions and modifications, want to comment on those?

[OCG]

*Reads some posts here*
Hopefully arguments will stop. BTW I always liked voice acting in GTA games, and Niko has really funny accent
Burandon-san and Adsoryūshon-sama doing WW HD Let's Play?
Yatta! I would like to see Let's Play by you guys. I can bet commentary will be awesome.

[sonicbrawler182]

I'm pretty much only playing Rayman Legends Challenges these days, as well as Rayman Origins on my laptop during my 3 hour college breaks. I still need to get back to Jak & Daxter.

And I'll probably be hooked on Sonic Lost World when it arrives. Maybe I'll make a playthrough of it, along with Generations and Rayman Legends.

[OCG]

I also only play RL challenges mostly. I need to get back soon to Rayman 1 Let's Play.
I also play sometimes Gormiti on Wii.

[Master]

Jak and Daxter, hm? Would this be the first one or the series in general?

[Bradandez]

*Reads some posts here*
Hopefully arguments will stop. BTW I always liked voice acting in GTA games, and Niko has really funny accent
Burandon-san and Adsoryūshon-sama doing WW HD Let's Play?
Yatta! I would like to see Let's Play by you guys. I can bet commentary will be awesome.

I forget that you're from Japan culture, OCG.
And I agree with you, Niko has a weird accent and the GTA series has some nice VA.

[Adsolution]

Burandon-san and Adsoryūshon-sama doing WW HD Let's Play?
Yatta! I would like to see Let's Play by you guys. I can bet commentary will be awesome.

Oh, I'm honoured! Yup, it'll hopefully be soon. Today was a long-shot, but I aim for next weekend.

[Rayfist]

I hear that it had some interesting additions and modifications, want to comment on those?

Would be happy to comment on that once I've completed the game.

[Bradandez]

Currently playing Super Mario 64.

[Zikken]

Just playing spore, making satan in it and becoming friend with all the creatures because peace and love is satan. What am I doing with my life.