System Wars Lounge V.67: The Bias Against Xbox One Is Real Edition

I hope Pokken turns out good, I want that game.

It's gonna be pretty meh, man. Impressions from the arcade release in Japan weren't pretty.

Persona 5. No release date yet. Getting worried.

The walking dead ep9 was incredible. So well done.

Too bad for some of the characters though and that one character actually seemed to change.

Yeah a pleasant surprise, that guy. Didn't expect it. Oh, and go Daryl!

@Bigboi500: if it comes out for ps4 this year I will fucking buy a ps4. Thankfully for my wallet, there is no way it's out this year

Daryl cemented his status as the biggest badass on the show. And that entire chain scene, holy shit.

The Wolf arc seemed a little silly though. I didn't buy how it went down.

I'm an hour and about three chapters into Birthright, and... No. Not feeling it.

It feels rushed. The writing is terrible. It just seems to lack all the detail and nuance that went into Awakening. Awakening grasped me right away, but this just feels like it's... Going through the motions.

I don't know, I'm a bit disappointed. I know it's early days, and hopefully this gets better, or maybe Conquest is better, but right now this is already a decided step down from Awakening.

@darkspineslayer: you could do better than Awakening. I mean I sat through it twice myself but with a year's gap between runs and honestly the second was a forced run. Really do think the game is poorly balanced. But I've heard Fates doesn't have the same problem so we shall see, right?

@Technoweirdo:I'll take that as a "we're cool". Though on my end I'm still a bit hurt since you left me without a hunting partner in MH4U, forcing me to play endlessly with randoms and introduce a newcomer to the role. Very tiring. Not to mention you were my only link to Bruno and last year I started playing GW2 and would have liked to ask him for help in that game. Suppose that's all in the past now. Here's to better times ahead.

@charizard1605: oh please, hush until you finish the game. Your opinions shift radically from the hype phase to the initial plays all the way to end of the game. And then like a year later you might change your opinion AGAIN. Have some consistency, man.

@Bigboi500: E3. If not, I give up. I'll still get it when it comes out, but I'll stop giving a f*ck at that point.

@mmmwksil: My opinion on any game has shifted a grand total of once while playing it, that was with skyward sword, five years ago. For some reason, you've been completely unable to let that go, though.

More importantly, it's not a crime to change your opinion. It's called being intellectually honest, when one is willing to assess and reassess one's position on something, instead of obstinately sticking to initial impressions.

So Birthright is a bit of a disappointment so far. I mean, I'm enjoying it and everything, but it feels like a rushed, less entertaining and (as char said) less nuanced version of Awakening.

@charizard1605: was it only the Skyward Sword? I forget, but my mind isn't what it used to be so it's entirely possible. And I'm not against changing your opinions, but I just get ever so irked by how you take these roller coaster rides as you play the game and I only ever see one or two high/low points. Guess what I'm asking for is a complete, X-number of pages long "thoughts" or "review" on what you thought of the game at the end of it all. Link me to that when you finish so I can better understand that crazy mass of grey matter that rests in your head.

@mmmwksil: It was definitely only Skyward Sword where my opinion completely changed over the course of my playing the game, yes. With other games, my take on them remains more or less constant- my degree of said opinion may change (I.e. How much I like or dislike something may definitely change over time once I have finished the game) but generally speaking, once I settle on liking or disliking something, it stays that way.

I'll definitely do that! Though I might want to at least go through all three games before I make one final judgment on Fates. Right now I am just sharing initial impressions, which admittedly are not impressive.

Don't want Fates at all, Awakening was total trash that as good as ruined Fire Emblem imo and Fates is doing nothing to fix that.

I'll pass.

@khoofia_pika: @Bigboi500:

Daryl used that thing twice lolz. That biker dude thought he was tough lol.

The W dude situation proved that Morgan was somewhat right. No idea what changed him.

The chain scene and zombies and rick reaction to the whole thing was holy fucking shit an emotional scene.

Gabriel Finally gathering the courage to do something and ricks role in inspiring him and the others . A true leader proving he deserves his place.

It was probably one of the best episodes this show has had in a long, long time. Definitely the best episode of this season so far. And I don't know, the Wolf's transformation just seemed too sudden and too convenient. I didn't buy into it. It was probably the only weak spot in an otherwise great episode.

Can't wait to see Rick vs Negan :D

@naughtyottsel: Conquest is apparently more along the lines of classic FE, so that's the one you want.

@khoofia_pika: yeah it did not make sense for him to just have a change of character all of a sudden. He could have used her as bait but he also needed her, then again he's not so badly hurt so he could have given up on her before They reached the ladder, but he still made a sacrifice for some reason, even later before... Lol carol. I really do think he decided in that moment to change. Something about the doctor made him change, you could see it on his face. it was never explained throughly but was hinted when they were hiding and talking about changing.

And lol at Glenn. He's got a strong plot armor at the moment but I think when you know who finally shows up ( people have been waiting years for this ) and we'll see that scene.

Great episode overall and with this series premiers are always fantastic then huge dip in quality follows.

People are playing the new FE and I still haven't finished Awakening and I can't even find the special edition anywhere. I want to get into this series. Awakening I played very little of, like 3 hours but enjoyed it immensely.

I should try to at least finish up my Nintendo games backlog before starting this series again.

@a-new-guardian: I think they might replace Glenn with Daryl in that incident, as they did Tyreese with Herschel.

It would just make no sense from a writing perspective to make a big deal out of him not being actually dead only to kill him off just a few episodes later. I REALLY hope Daryl isn't the one to take his place, but hell, it'll raise the stakes like never before, so in a weird way, I want to see it happen.

And yeah, with you know who showing up in the last episode of the season (it was confirmed, I think), I don't know what they're going to do with the six episodes in between. Seems like a bit too much of build up. And it'll just be typical of the show really, as you said, to have such a great episode and then follow it up with a couple of mediocre ones.

Conquest will be right up your alley.

Reached Chapter 6. It really picks up in the fifth chapter and beyond. Also, Azura is awesome, her and Corrin and Xander are my favorite characters in the gane so far.

Yeah, we're cool.

To better times!

As I'll tell a lot of people, if Awakening was a disappointment, it's only because it's the first time many saw actual potential for Fire Emblem to go somewhere. The only ones who saw potential from an earlier point would be those who played Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776, but they more or less have a grudge against the series as a whole post-Kaga, for the post-Kaga games were pretty regressive up until Awakening in terms of design and how they treat the player.

Between turning the relatively passive support mechanic into an active mechanic via positioning in a game all about positioning, the introduction of match-up-changing skills (albeit more than half-way through and somewhat seldomly and randomly unless you're playing on Lunatic, in which case Counter on everything), and a much-needed dose of aggression from enemies who are allowed to actually be aggressive this time because Awakening had no idea what a chokepoint was, there was a lot Awakening did right; things that could be taken into future games.

What Awakening did wrong? It was just unbalanced as f***, being the only one to have its balance break less than one-third of the way through and in a very noticeable way while most of the other games would break in one-third on-the-dot. It didn't go far enough on the ideas it had, being more a framework for future games. Oh, and the maps were generally open fields opposed to tight hallways that take 20+ turns just to get through with or without enemies; one step too many in trying to avoid being Sacred Stones.

As for Fire Emblem going full anime (because the conversation always turns to that), I'll say that between Hector being more of a barbarian than actual barbarians like Lyn to the point he became a national joke, Florina's almost comical fear of men, Erk being the unfortunate victim of Serra's tsundere-isms, and Jaffar discovering he doesn't have it in him to kill the token Fire Emblem loli, I'd say a lot of 'fans' don't realize things were pretty anime from the first game in the series they played and that playing it up is to the game's strength because memorable characters synergize much better than blank slates in a game where everyone could die the next second. *Cough* Dawn Brigade sucks *Cough*

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On Fates, to keep my 300 hours (and counting) of praise short, I'll say that it progressed in the exact direction I expected it to plus a few things I didn't expect but appreciated.

Not really, the dialogue is still putrid.

I'll take the GBA and GC/Wii games instead.

Or classic FE will be, I'll stick to the GBA and GC/Wii games.

The last gameplay I saw made me think it might be meh after a while, but I don't even care. It's still cool.

No Hitmonlee is wack though...

Conquest IS like classic FE, but suit yourself

I get what chaz was saying before. About a bad first impression? Fates is AWFUL on a first impression.

The first five chapters are just terrible in terms of introducing one to the game, especially in regards to which units will stick around and which units won't? By this point in other FE games you had your core army already mostly established and you were ready to take on the world. Not only that there's just no gradual difficulty curve in this game. Chapters 1 and 2 were insultingly easy but Chapter 3 suddenly kicked it up a nasty notch? That's not mention Chapters 4 and 5 I mean jeebus what the heck was that noise?

Thank the stars the game has an option to start from the crossroads. They really should have cut those first five chapters out completely they serve no real purpose if most of what happens in them doesn't even stick. I'd go on about the whole (for lack of a better term) ****fest they did with weapons and this new scrappy debuff mechanic, but I want to mess with it some more first.

Also, Hoshido people are complete ***holes and they deserve nothing but death and destruction.

Except with god awful dialogue.

@mmmwksil: Hard or Lunatic?

@Technoweirdo: hard, but it doesn't change the fact that the first 5 chapters were crap. Chapter 7 was an improvement, close to GBA days but we shall see how the future chapters hold up. I'm suffering Hoshido first, since they are all awful people I cannot wait to slaughter in Nohr.

$18 for the first Fates map pack, damn. ._.

Arrow is pretty much garbage once they were done with Deathstroke. None of the shows lesser qualities can be masked anymore, and nothing they do makes up for how blatantly poor man's Batman they made Green Arrow. At least with The Flash they try to keep him as The Flash, and do a decent job with it all things CW considered.

Only one of those I disliked was Chapter 3. Relatively easy-looking chapter until the last bit where you get hit by reinforcements that spawn in a way that you can't deal with them nor the enemies you're already facing unless you knew ahead of time.

Wrote off Chapters 0 and 1 as tutorials. Chapter 2 on Lunatic's a short but fun lesson about how Dual Attacks work this time and how they can be used against you just like you can use it against them. Actually gave me a little trouble. Chapter 4's fine. A fun run to Sakura and Hinoka while you, Kaze, and Rinkah are forced to share a single vulnerary. Chapter 5's fine too. Assuming Hard doesn't change things too much, you get to see squad-oriented AI in action as you bait one guy only to realize you baited his entire squad, all ready to kill you through the power of teamwork.

...But considering these are the shared chapters, I'd say that, far as I can tell, they assumed people interested in Conquest would be playing on Hard or Lunatic and would enjoy having the game try to kill you once tutorial mode ended. It's a pretty severe spike and does -not- ease you in at all.

It's nice, not being able to access eShop~
But yes, that price. >.> Should at least be better than Awakening's DLC...

You pocky eating scumbags can call those games by their western names now, sincerely your lord and savior.

@jg4xchamp: yup, aarow has been booty since season 2 ended. They blew their load too soon. Flash, while corny, stupid and filled with typical CW awful levels of acting has still kept me interested. TV shows in general right now suck a lot of ass

That's because you watch a lot of bad tv, your tv taste might actually be as bad as your gaming taste broseph.

Watch Fargo. It's fantastic.

@jg4xchamp: my taste in games is fantastic. I openly admit my taste in TV is awful. The only thing I know about Fargo is that it's a place in one of the Dakotas and nothing good ever comes from anything related to flyover states

Eh, your gaming taste is like that dude who thinks Peyton Manning is the greatest quarterback of all time. It's not incredibly absurd, given the man belongs top 5/top 10 easy, but it's wrong. Like in so many ways. You're like a better, but less funnier Lulu.

Anyway have you seen the movie? The movie is terrific too you scumbag.

@jg4xchamp: nah, haven't seen or know anything about it. The name Fargo just sounds boring and slow.

You're that guy who says Joe Budden sucks because of pump it up, but won't listen to Mood Muzik 2, you're that guy right now. Quit being that guy.

@jg4xchamp: Bitch. I bought the Joe Burden CD because of Pump it Up.

I don't know why, but I laughed so hard at this.

Yo i haven't listened to a new rap album, outside of that Kendrick Lamar pimp a butterfly CD, I've become full old man when it comes to my music. Normally I'd go to aljosa for a hip hop fix, but these days even he isn't listening to that stuff. Got good recommendations? Don't say the Kanye album, we both know I will easily skip that.

@jg4xchamp: I know nothing when it comes to music from the last 5 years. I'm so out of touch. All the old OTB dudes I still talk to only listen to bullshit lol

Never been very good at FE games haha. I'm on Ch 11 Birthright and the last part of it is torture. So many freaking fliers...

Playing Classic Hard and honestly I don't think I have the time for going through a whole mission just to have a guy die at the very end of the thing... could grind but I know I can beat it. Just don't have it in me today I guess.

Oh and the picked up unit is nice in that mission, but I kind of wonder if the unit is the supposed "trap" unit of the game or not. Not that it matters since you can grind anyways but I don't use the unit in this mission because it seems like it takes EXP. Probably need to get my better troops out since some of the guys I'm using aren't that strong and are the issue when the guys start to swarm.

@charizard1605: I remember when Pokemon X/Y came out, you posted "best game ever" in the old and deceased PUSH forum. :)

Listen to the Run the Jewels albums if you havent already, particularly the 2nd album and not the joke remix album with kitty cats (yes, this is a real thing). I think you can still grab both for free through their site.

Vince Staples' "Summertime 06" is probably the most notable hip-hop album next to Kendrick's TPAB last year. Vince isnt the most versatile rapper around and his mid-western delivery might be abit too relaxed for some. But the album just bangs so hard in that it's hard not to recommend it. It has CHARLSON's theme song.

Freddie Gibbs' 'Shadow of a Doubt' is excellent, too. But personally, it's just not as good as the 'Pinata' album that he released in 2014, which just has much stronger verses and has this cool hazy vintage aesthetic to it that I absolutely loved.

There's Joey Bada$$' hilariously titled 'B4.DA.$$'. It's a boy from your yard. It's a solid album with alot of passion and enthusiasm present. He has an excellent flow, executes well on Internal rhymes and he delivers some clever and memorable punch-lines. It just plays it a little safe for my liking. It's heavily influenced and relies on early 90's Boom-bap which isnt a bad thing - I just prefer something a little more progressive. But it's the context that Joey covers throughout the album that plays it safe: it doesnt really tread in any bold territory. Despite that, I do like that it feels personal towards the back end of the album, where he presents himself as being quite humble and sincere.

I think you'll like the PRhyme album. It's just Royce 5'9" under a collaboration with DJ Premier. It was originally released 2 years ago, but it was just a short 9 track EP. it was extended last year adding 5 or so songs. It's mostly a strong selection of songs they collaborated on. Royce shows he's still one of the most technically proficient rappers around and plays with some interesting rhyme schemes that I havent heard him use before. The features are just excellent and probably have performances/verses that are stronger than what they do individually.

Everything should be on Spotify. But old man probably still relying on CDs e__e.

That place was probably a better NBA/NFL union that it was ever a hip-hop one lol.

Still one of the better and most active unions around. Even if most of the threads were just 50% Colt45fool spam.

@93BlackHawk93: Hughly unlikely, the site had already changed into the new form by then, meaning there was no PUSH board :-3