What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

I finished The Last of Us a couple of weeks ago and I've been returning to it, somewhat to max out the weapons & abilities, but mostly to re-examine what made this game so damned good from a narrative & characterization standpoint. The gameplay, after another loop through "Normal plus," is... ok, but I think the narrative beats surrounding it are what make it work, and those moments are themselves scripted in a way that is confident enough to leave an uncharacteristic volume of significance and emotional connections completely unspoken. To use the corny creative writing motto, the writers were quite good at "show, don't tell."

I'm craving another game like this now, but I'm wary of looking into any of the Uncharted games. Are the characters anywhere near as good in that series? My rough impression based on some videos is hell no, but I'm curious what others think here.

I can't really compare Uncharted to TLOU because I didn't get far into the latter. I disliked what I saw of the main character and the gameplay and quit, supposedly when it gets good (when you get your little pal).

Uncharted has some great characters and some fun action. It can overstay itself -- it falls into the trap of thinking that making you kill twice as many bad guys makes things twice as fun -- but overall it's some good stuff. I've enjoyed all four games. Although many of the story beats are predictable (it's still a video game) the characters do have arcs they follow and personalities. There's a side game coming out soon featuring two of my least favorite characters, but I'll probably end up getting it anyway because the series has earned my trust.

Played War of the Monsters for a bit on PS4 that I bought on flash sale a couple months ago. It's an old PS2 game. Really fun and I enjoy some of dynamics surrounding a few of the monsters and especially the single player campaign mode. I still like Godzilla destroy all monsters better for a kaiju game, but only because the brawl in Godzilla is a bit more no none sense. Still, war of the monsters is really fun and has a nice pulpy vibe to it.

Little Nightmares on PS4 is rather cool. A little girl trapped on a boat full of cannibals, who is trying to escape along with freeing some other captives along the way. It's eerie enough to grant tension while you play hide and seek. I do however believe that if you can hold out for a sale, that you'd be happier with the purchase. It seems kinda pricey at $20, but at $10, I'd not have any complaints at all.

i watched a clip of Little Nightmares yesterday where the girl was walking through an attic and then something that looked like No-Face from Spirited Away came out from behind her and the music changed and she tried to get away. It was pretty scary.

anyway it looks really great. The kitchen scene looks hilariously creepy

Made it to number 5 out of 93 players in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds tonight! I was responsible for sending 3 of those 93 to their graves. My strategy this time was to parachute out almost immediately, so I started on the edge of the island where I knew I'd generally be left alone to gear up. After finding some decent SMGs, I took off on foot towards the starting circle (a large circle appears on the map after a few minutes, beginning the ever-shrinking force that merges players to the final battle).

After crossing a field I found a functional jeep and took off, eventually finding a barn on the outskirts of a village. As I got out of the jeep, someone took a few shots at me, hitting me once or twice. I ran around the front of a barn and hid amongst the copious amounts of cover inside it. I heard my would-be murderer's footsteps on the metal floor of the barn, and when he emerged, I gave him lead poisoning. He was quite well equipped, which meant that I was now quite well equipped.

I was still well inside the safe zone so I hid near some loot that I didn't need. Eventually another wanderer came along, thinking he was about to get some bounty. Instead he got some hot death! With that, it was time to head inland. I got back in my jeep and drove a good distance, taking some random fire along the way. Parking on a large hill, I was going to make my way to a house but I seriously misjudged where the circle was going to end up, and soon found myself dying outside the safe zone. This electric blue force field envelops the area and you take damage over time unless you can get out of it. I somehow managed to make it back to my trusty jeep and sped back into a nearby town which would serve as the final set for the game.

I took refuge inside a house (that was not sitting right next to my jeep) and waited. I could hear random gunfire outside as the population ticked down...9 players. 8 players. The circle got smaller again, and I had to move to the other side of the house, which rested right on the border of the safe zone. Eventually I had to run INTO the danger zone just to reach the door to escape death. As I ran around the side of the building someone started shooting at me, but I just kept going, ducking down alleys. Someone darted in front of me and I fired. He circled back and we traded rounds until I luckily killed him. Directly after that, someone, somewhere, killed me.

This game is awesome.

I picked up the game this evening and got to #4 on my first time out. Although I didn't run into anyone until the very end. I was hiding in a shed just outside the now very tiny circle, which unfortunately only contained open field. I got picked off as soon as I left the shack.

My most recent game, I found a weird tall building that had a great vantage point, and was centered in the circle, so I waited. Sure enough, someone pulled up in a car and headed up the stairs. I didn't have a shotgun, but I did have a SCAR rifle. My first mistake was to fire the second the door opened. I was excited and jumped the gun. He, of course, wasn't standing in the center of the door, he was off to the side. My second mistake was forgetting my rifle was on single fire mode, so despite putting quite a few rounds into him, I lost that fight. Lessons learned.

Shotguns can't be beat for close engagements. The SCAR is pretty awesome. And if you can get a scope, you're set.

I had a dream of an entire match where I ended up at #1. Does that count?

In the waking world, I was looting a house and heard a jeep drive up. This time I had a shotgun and the dude just ran in looking for stuff on the ground and I wasted him. Cars are a dead giveaway that you have arrived. I did take his jeep and head toward the center of the circle, except I got out a ways away from the cluster of houses so as not to be too obvious. I was crawling though the grass when someone started shooting me from long range. I got up and ran toward the house when I heard a car coming. I never bothered to turn around, I just kept running. I got to the door, opened it, turned around to close it when the car smashed into the doorway. A rather loud "HOLY SHIT!" escaped my lips as I narrowly escaped being run over. So I closed the door and waited. Then someone shot me in the back of the head with a shotgun. Either someone already in the house, or the guy trying to run me over circled around and went through a different door. Smart. #18 on that one.

Just had another match where shortly after landing, and ran into another guy who, despite having a gun, I managed to punch to death. I think he was trying to reload or switch weapons or something. Then I grabbed a dune buggy and ran down another guy trying to shoot at me. I saw someone else in the courtyard of some buildings and got greedy and tried to run him over. I crashed to a stop and got out and he took me down.

hotseatgames wrote: This game is awesome.

Yes it is.

i don't get it, what's the goal of the game? If it's just to be last man standing, doesn't it simply encourage campers pampers too much?

The point is to be the last man standing of 100 players or so. But no, camping is not a problem, because every 5 minutes or so, the viable play area is tightened, and funnels everyone closer and closer together. If you don't get within that area before the timer expires, a blue forcefield starts closing in and will kill you.

See the white circle on the map? It randomizes where it starts, and where it constricts to, and get smaller as time goes on.