Category: RPG

Watch 50 Minutes of The Division Gameplay Because You Know You Want To

Youtuber JackFrags (along with a bunch of other YouTube channels and outlets except for us and Kotaku) visited Ubisoft recently to get a peek at the long-in-development Tom Clancy third-person shooter RPG hybrid The Division. A lot of the videos that made their way to the Internet last week were short and had voice-overs, but JackFrags put up 50 minutes of commentary-free footage featuring some co-op mission action and Dark Zone shenanigans. The footage was recorded on Xbox One, for reference. Watch the embedded video below if you want to know more:

My hype level for the Division has been steadily climbing since the previews started hitting. I’ve seen some complaints about the “bullet sponge” nature of the enemies, but it makes sense if you think about it as an RPG first rather than a twitch-based shooter. I’m in the beta that will be hitting the PC at the end of January so I’ll most likely be streaming the game for anyone interested.

Who else is riding that Division hype train? Anyone on the fence?

Source – JackFrags’ YouTube channel

Heading Back Into The Wasteland in Fallout 4

To use an analogy that is perhaps a bit staid by this point, playing Fallout 4 is like eating your favorite dish for the hundredth time. It’s still filling and satisfying in its own way, but has lost some of the magic it once had.

Don’t get me wrong, Fallout 4 is not a bad game; I’ve put around 40 hours into my adventures in the Commonwealth and I’ll more than likely be close to double that by the time I’m done. Even though Fallout 4 hews closely to the established Bethesda formula, there’s a reason it works so damn well. Continue reading Heading Back Into The Wasteland in Fallout 4

The Witcher 3 and Other Games That Didn’t Grab You

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is, by many people’s reckoning, the greatest game that was put out in 2015. It has won hundreds of Game of the Year awards and is hailed as a technical achievement and the exemplary model of how to handle post-release content and patching. But even with all of its clout it just couldn’t grab me.

This is the first Witcher game I’ve played in earnest, having not played the original game and putting just a token effort into two. I’d clock my Witcher 3 playtime at around 15 hours but that’s just an estimate.

I hunted monsters, flirted with Geralt’s past lovers and met the Bloody Baron and the Crones, both of whom were engrossing for different reasons. I love the world that CD Projekt Redhas realized with the Witcher but I could tell even early on that the story was going to do some major wheel spinning and the combat wasn’t varied enough to grab me. Continue reading The Witcher 3 and Other Games That Didn’t Grab You

Destiny Roll Call!

destiny roll call

Today is the day, Sushians! This is the day we step into Bungie’s brave new world and plumb the depths of Destiny for sweet loot.

Since Destiny is coming out on a fair number of consoles, I thought it would be a good idea to do a classic GamerSushi Roll Call! What system are you playing Destiny on? What class are you going to go with?

Personally I was leaning Titan for a while, but I made an eleventh-hour decision to roll a Warlock based on that classes’ level 15 healing and buffing ability which sounds like it will come in handy. Also, space magic and trench coats.

But what about you? How are you planning on playing Destiny?

Time Management with Persona 4 Golden

persona 4 golden

I’ve got this new sort of addiction in my life. I’m not sure if there’s medical terminology for a full-obsession with a 6 year old game from two gens ago, but hey, I’ve got it apparently. After years of hearing about the excellence of Persona 4, I decided to finally give it a try on my PS Vita in the form of Persona 4 Golden, an updated version that is an almost perfect handheld experience.

So what makes this game so great? There are a number of things, not the least of which happens to be just how damn Japanese the whole thing is. For those that aren’t aware, P4G is an RPG that centers around a high school murder mystery. So, yeah. It’s different. Continue reading Time Management with Persona 4 Golden

Bungie’s Jason Jones Explains Just What the Heck Destiny Is

Are you confused by the lack of information about what the available game modes of Destiny? So am I, which is why I’m grateful that Bungie put out a video where Jason Jones explains what you’ll be doing when the Destiny Beta drops on July 17, or when the full game hits on September 9. Check it out:

So it seems like we have the Tower (third-person social space), story-missions, a free-roam/do side-quests type of thing, Strikes, and a multiplayer arena. Destiny seems to have a lot of stuff to do but I still can’t shake the feeling that it might be kind of bland. That might just be me though. How is Destiny shaping up for you?

Get Wild With This New Trailer For The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Just because nobody seems to even care about waiting for E3 anymore, CD Projekt RED drop a metric ton of info about the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt earlier today, including this awesome trailer. It’s actual in-game footage (albeit with fancy cuts) as opposed to the CG-only trailer from last year. It has everything you’d expect from a Witcher game and it also looks super rad. I know CD Projekt RED said they’re drawing some inspiration from Skyrim this time around and I can definitely see that. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will come out on February 25, 2015 and will be available on the PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One.

Bungie’s Destiny Will Cost Activision $500 Million

bungie destiny

According to a story published by Reuters, Bungie’s upcoming sci-fi shooter RPG thing Destiny could wind up costing Activision Blizzard $500 million in development and promotional costs when all is said and done.

The next game out Bungie in their post-Halo days is no doubt a big deal, but I don’t think anyone’s leaning on its potential success quite as hard as Activision. With Call of Duty: Ghosts’ weak showing last year, Activision is no doubt hungry for their next hit shooter. $500 million could wind up making Destiny the most expensive video game in history, which is a significant gamble for a company that often seems like it likes to play it safe.

$500 million is quite an insane number to be spending on development and marketing, but a lot of that is going towards the development of Destiny’s next-gen engine (which is in-house, a tradition for Bungie) and a lot of back end infrastructure costs. I don’t know about you guys, but with $500 million behind it, Destiny’s servers better not crap out on launch day.

What do you guys think? Is Destiny worth this price tag? Are you going to pick up the game on September 9, and for what platform?

Source – Reuters

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 88: Come on Baby, Light My Fire

gamersushi show ep 88

An unusual three-man assortment of Anthony, Jeff and Nick head up the GamerSushi Show this week as Eddy and I were off discussing shirtless Henry Cavill, because really, why wouldn’t you?

Despite wavering for a moment in to Extra Bytes territory, the gang rights the Sushi ship and talks about Amazon’s recently unveiled Fire TV, some Dark Souls 2 and Nick’s experience with his new PlayStation 4.

Show these guys some love by listening, rating and coming back next time. Auf Wiedersehen!

0:00 – 1:06 Intro
1:07 – 22:05 Amazon’s Fire TV
22:06 – 26:22 Dark Souls 2
26:23 – 47:12 Nick buys a PlayStation 4
47:13 – 49:33 Outro

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone with Fire Emblem: Awakening

fire emblem awakening

As a gamer I’d like to think that my tastes are fairly diverse. Sure I enjoy a good dude-bro shooter every now and then, but I also appreciate stretching my wings, so to speak, and trying something different when given the opportunity.

One genre I’ve never managed to get into is the Strategy RPG (although I suppose the most recent XCOM game might qualify). I’m remedying this right now with Fire Emblem: Awakening, the latest entry in Nintendo’s long-running portable series. Anthony put up a review of the game last year, and I’m finding myself hard-pressed to disagree with him.

While I enjoy the battles in the game, my favorite aspect is purposefully trying to pair up units to get bonuses to my stats; it’s satisfying to have two people back each other up while enemy after enemy kill themselves trying to take my heroes down. I’m really liking the cast of characters as well, as the writing is fairly humorous at times and the anime cutscenes are rather thrilling. Fire Emblem: Awakening is quickly becoming one of my top 3DS games, which is saying something considering the additions to the library of that system in 2013.

What this game is making me want to do is dig deeper into this genre. I hear Valkyria Chronicles is pretty good but I doubt I could find a copy anywhere around where I love. Does anyone have some SRPG suggestions for titles I should check out?

Late to the Game: Final Fantasy XIII and the Siren Call of RPGs

lightning

I have an admission to make: I pre-ordered Final Fantasy XIII all the way back in 2010 (paid almost full price, too!), played it for about an hour and twenty minutes that March and then proceeded to leave the game untouched for more than three years. Even still, when Final Fantasy XIII-2 came out, I went ahead and bought a shared copy with my brother. He beat it immediately, and I let the game sit on my shelf unplayed until just recently. Why did I put off playing these games for so long? A combination of things, really: I tend to avoid long games until I’m in the right mood for them, and a lot of people were super-critical of FFXIII when it first came out. It sounded like a disappointment and a time-sink, and I wasn’t in the mood for either.

However, after I recently knocked out Demon’s Souls, I found myself craving more good RPG experiences. The FFXIII games were the most logical place to look, if only so that I might finally clear out my backlog of 360 and PS3 games in preparation for trading in one or both systems. I started out with XIII-2 because conventional wisdom is that it corrects all the missteps of XIII, but even though the game was a lot of fun, the story was convoluted and confusing. I felt like I was missing something, so I decided to give XIII a shot after all. Much to my surprise, I’m really enjoying it – the battles are a lot of fun once you can paradigm shift – and I’m already a good twenty hours in after just a few days.

So why was everyone so hard on the game? Was it just a case of preconceived notions, or is there something genuinely missing?

Continue reading Late to the Game: Final Fantasy XIII and the Siren Call of RPGs

Rumor: Fallout 4 is in Development, Set in Boston

fallout 4 casting documents

While the article about this over on Kotaku reports this leak as legitimate, given what happened with Survivor 2299 and the fact that Bethesda has declined to comment, I’m going to firmly declare this as a rumor until we hear something official.

A series of casting documents obtained by Kotaku apparently confirm the existence of a game codenamed Institute (which if you remember from a Fallout 3 sidequest is the in-universe name for what was once MIT), which you might know better by its proper name, Fallout 4. The word Fallout doesn’t appear in any of the scripts, but it points to Fallout 4 being set in Boston, which makes sense given its codename. The casting script also details the opening monologue (in which the classic “war never changes” line is read by the player character instead of series regular Ron Pearlman) and a few side characters such as Sturges who is apparently a cross between Buddy Holly and Vin Diesel.

While I wish Fallout 4 is real as much as the next person, the rash of hoaxes surrounding the next game in the series over the past few months has made me very skeptical. Although I wouldn’t mind a Fallout game set in Boston and centered around the Institute, the information in this casting document, even if it is real, is subject to change so a lot of what is in there might not even be in the final game.

What do you guys think? Is this the real deal, or yet another hoax?

Source – Kotaku

Review: Pokemon X/Y

pokemon x and y review

When Nintendo released the 3DS in 2011, everyone knew a Pokemon game for that system wouldn’t be too far behind. Game Freak ended up releasing two more Pokemon games for the DS (Black 2 and White 2) in 2012, but those were just holdovers.

The first Pokemon games on the Nintendo 3DS have been released, bringing Pokemon into a whole new dimension. With updated art, new features and a new region, how does Pokemon X and Y fare? Continue reading Review: Pokemon X/Y

The GamerSushi Top 20 Games of the Generation

Top20

Between gimmicky Wii shovelware, Red Rings of Death and large price points tainted by giant crab battles, this generation started with something akin to a whimper—and that’s being generous. But as the years went on, we were not only treated to one of the longest generations of console gaming, but also the most fruitful. We saw games take great strides in scope and imagination. With dozens of new IPs that hold great promise, some of the most fantastic sequels ever made and new approaches to storytelling, it’s safe to say that gamers are in a better situation now than they were back in 2005, when the Xbox 360 first debuted.

On the even of a new generation, we thought we’d take a look back at this last generation—and perhaps one of the greatest we’ve ever had. Over the course of several weeks, the GamerSushi staff voted on the best experiences of this generation, getting in heated debates, pitting games against each other in vicious battles and nearly ending several friendships. Below are the results.

Thees are our top 20 games of this generation. Enjoy, dudes. Continue reading The GamerSushi Top 20 Games of the Generation

The Evolution of Pokemon X and Y

pokemon x and y

Pokemon X and Y, the first of the series to be released on Nintendo’s 3DS handheld, dropped a couple weeks ago and since then I’ve been playing the junk out of it. I’m currently at the sixth gym, so I feel like I’ve got a good handle on all the changes Game Freak has made.

For the first time in a long time this feels like an honest upgrade for the series, instead of just incremental tweaks. The new art is gorgeous, especially with the enhanced polygonal Pokemon models. Sure, performance suffers some times (the frame rate drop is most noticeable during battles), but leaving the sprite-based graphics of the previous games behind was a good move. The camera perspective changes can also be a little jarring at times.

Pokemon X and Y removed some of the grind from the series by giving you the EXP Share very early on and having it apply to your entire team instead of just two Pokemon. This is a great boon, because you no longer have to spend a lot of time making sure your team is around the same level; with an equipped EXP Share, it just happens automatically. I am finding that my team is somewhat over-levelled, but the Pokemon series was never too difficult to begin with. Besides, I’m always free to turn it off. Continue reading The Evolution of Pokemon X and Y

GamerSushi Power Rankings: October 2013

Gta 5 banner

A new challenger arrives!

Several new challengers, actually. Now that the fall is rolling out like AutoBots, it’s safe to say that our Power Rankings chart is going to undergo quite a few transformations of its own, month-to-month. See what I did there? References!

This month sees several new contenders making a debut on the rankings, from mobile games to indie titles and to arguably the biggest blockbuster of the entire year in Grand Theft Auto V. Yes, this venture into Los Santos and San Andreas has stolen our hearts, making us forget all of the abuse that Rockstar dished out in Grand Theft Auto IV. We’re fickle beasts.

So, without further ado, here are the top 10 games we’ve been playing over the last month. What do you guys think of this list? What are you playing? Go! Continue reading GamerSushi Power Rankings: October 2013

I Totally Asked for This: Deus Ex: Universe Announced

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

A couple of years ago, Deus Ex: Human Revolution proved to be both a worthy follow-up to a storied franchise, as well as a great introduction for new players. It combined stealth, awesome powers and a moody, sci-fi atmosphere ripped right Blade Runner in the best way possible.

Fortunately for all of us that loved Human Revolution, Eidos Montreal loves money enough to promise not just one, but multiple follow-ups to the Deus Ex series with the announcement of Deus Ex: Universe yesterday. Deus Ex: Universe is not simply a sequel, however — it’s a collection of titles that spans multiple forms of media, including PC and next-gen console games, tablets, books, graphic novels and more.

While I could leave some of the other stuff behind, I do have to say the promise of more Deus Ex games is something worth getting excited about. Human Revolution was a breath of fresh air, one that I look forward to filling my lungs with again in the near future. Who else is excited about this? Go!

Source – PC Gamer

A Retrospective on Square’s Final Fantasy Roots

And we’re back. Over the next week or so, you’ll see us returning to our old form and regular posting schedule. So let’s get to chatting about cool video game stuff.

Many of you know of my love for the Final Fantasy series. Although it’s not quite as intense as a certain other GamerSushi contributor, I do consider the series formational as a part of my youth, and really helped me explore my love of story, characters and all things fantastic.

That’s why I was excited to see a new documentary focusing entirely on the beginning of the Final Fantasy series, and Square’s roots as a company. It’s a really interesting look at gaming as it was a few decades back, and how RPGs first entered the scene. Even if you don’t love FF, I’d definitely recommend a look at some of its founders.