Life goes on...

Oooooh I've been meaning to get Syndicate...tell me how it is

Also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju6_tab5lBk

I just realized that there's a DLC pack for Deus Ex: HR available, about 5 extra hours of gameplay...

I shall obtain it! Then it's Syndicate time.

...I KNOW YOU'RE DOING THIS JUST TO SPITE ME. I KNOW IT. >.>

5 hours is just about the amount of time required to downl... I mean, go out and buy Syndicate, so it won't delay the inevitable.

lol...Yeah, I'll be "buying" it too if it's good...and if it's really good then I'll buy it buy it...heh.

Eh, I heard average things about Syndicate. Apparently it's fun with people but otherwise it's just a really boring shooterfest.

Syndicate is kinda fun, but it's just the usual hollow generic shooter+gimmick.

[quote name='rehevkor' timestamp='1335008060'] Syndicate is kinda fun, but it's just the usual hollow generic shooter+gimmick. [/quote]To be honest, sometimes it's a good thing that something's generic. Let me elaborate...

A spot-on generic experience is far better than an innovative but failed one. When you buy a game, you have a certain horizon of expectations for it - if it's an RPG then you expect an engaging story with lots of character development, when it's a racing game then you expect fast-paced racing with some physics to spice it up, when it's a shooter... you expect a generally pleasing shoot-someone-in-the-face experience. When those factors in those genres are spot-on, everything else is just icing on the cake... Except storytelling, which is governed by entirely different rules... And oh boy, does Syndicate have a story to tell.

What's special about Syndicate to me is the environment - dystopian, dark future ruled by corporations which took over when governments went bankrupt. It's a wonderful life on the outside due to electronic chips actively generating what the society wants to see (Syndicate Wars intro) but a dark and horrible, rotten one on the inside.

In stories like these, the aim is to make the viewer question reality - not in the Matrix sense though. It provokes thinking about the society and its fairness when some people are granted priviledges and some are treated like cattle. It makes you think about the essence of what makes humans human - is it the body or is it something different, in within, that cannot be altered by implants or other modifications. It asks the question whether or not a society can be controlled - in game it's via the electronic chips, but it's easy to draw an allegory between those and for example advertisements. The story is like a warning againts this world of corporations, it points out that they should be there for us, not we for them, otherwise this dark vision may become a reality at some point.

As a big Syndicate fan, I expect this game to convey this story properly, but since it's a shooter, I also expect it to be top-notch from the action side. I can swollow, albeit with great difficulty, that it's not a tactical shooter anymore. I can understand that such a genre simply wouldn't sell to the mass public... but if they're going to do something else, I want it done right, I want it to give the series justice.

[quote name='Foxi4' timestamp='1335015692']To be honest, sometimes it's a good thing that something's generic. Let me elaborate... A spot-on generic experience is far better than an innovative but failed one.[/quote]

That's a really good quote right there and I couldn't agree more.

Sometimes I don't want something new. Look at dungeon crawlers. People don't want most things new, they like them the way they are. Maybe they're a bit shlocky but sometimes people just want to play a good corridor simulator lootfest. There's a reason why even a lot of modern dungeon crawlers (like Torchlight) are still similar to the ones from almost a decade ago. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

And I will hate on a game even more if it tries something new that doesn't work rather than continue with a formula that does work. Eventually that formula may be considered nonfunctional as changes come to the genre, but until those come, I'm fine with the standard formula.

Foxi and Guild both hit the nail straight on the head with a giant ass hammer. I'd much rather play a good generic-y game than a shitty new one. CoD is a perfect example of this; it's the same shit every time yet it works out beautifully in the end (save CoD 3...lol).

EDIT: In fact, I'm gonna go play Bulletstorm right now

Don't get me wrong, I play almost every FPS that comes out, generic or otherwise. I enjoy most of them. But the one thing a lot of them lack is memorability. The majority of games like Bulletstorm, Timeshift, Wolfenstein (2009), Singularity.. while fun, looking back the memories of them is just a blur. Whereas games with something more to offer (like Human Revolution and the first Deus Ex) tend to be a little more vivid.

[quote name='rehevkor' timestamp='1335050625'] Don't get me wrong, I play almost every FPS that comes out, generic or otherwise. I enjoy most of them. But the one thing a lot of them lack is memorability. The majority of games like Bulletstorm, Timeshift, Wolfenstein (2009), Singularity.. while fun, looking back the memories of them is just a blur. Whereas games with something more to offer (like Human Revolution and the first Deus Ex) tend to be a little more vivid. [/quote]That's the story part. The story makes them memorable, but, excuse me for saying so, Deus Ex 1 was broken when it comes to game mechanics. It was not a pleasant experience - you played to know what's up next, not because the game was great.

Deus Ex 3 mixes the two - it has a great setting, a really good story to tell and relatively good game mechanics, hence I'm looking forward for a sequel.