Twenty games is rather pathetic. Sure, that would be an acceptable number on, say, an original Xbox Classic, where there probably aren't more than a dozen games people would really be passionate about, but the Playstation had a pretty decent lifespan and a robust library of games - with at least 30 titles being true classics and/or beloved fan favorites. Or if they were doing various editions, and this was a Playstation Classic Squaresoft Edition, loaded exclusively with Square games from the era, then 20 games would be about perfect. Same with a Capcom Edition. But when you're spanning the entire library of games available on the Playstation? They should've doubled that number.
Pity they weren't influenced by those Middle-Earth games, specifically the 'nemesis' system. The idea of running into other posses and having them evolve in different ways over the game would've been incredibly cool. Same with lawmen or bounty hunters. Giving those otherwise faceless antagonists some personality and character growth would've been a huge step forward for Rockstar's open world games.
Much as I loved my 30-ish hours or so with Red Dead Redemption, it got extremely tiresome running across the same generic outlaws or nameless a-holes crying for help only to pull me off my horse and ride off with it. How much better would it be to have those random encounters actually have some deeper impact? How cool would it be if you bumped into that person you saved from hanging and they remembered you, thanked you again and maybe gave you something. Or, if you failed to save them, the family member who asked for your help held a grudge against you and, each time you ran into them, hostilities escalated until you either got ambushed or got challenged to a duel or something?
What if Rockstar was also influenced by BioWare's games? What if, not only did those scores of random NPCs have unique personalities, but you sometimes got dialogue options when interacting with them? What if the lawmen who came after you when you were wanted could be convinced to give up the pursuit? What if some just took you to jail, forcing you to either escape or just serve your time (with in-game consequences for time lost), while others were only interested in seeing you dead - with some character context for why they have that no tolerance attitude? What if they were corrupt and could be bought off?
And what if they used that L.A. Noire facial expression/body language tech and forced you to have to determine for yourself what approach/dialogue choices might have your desired outcome when dealing with all those NPCs, possibly with disastrous consequences if you were wrong?
Instead of bringing back an asinine mechanic like that San Andreas health mechanic, Rockstar should be working toward making their games feel more alive, more organic, populated by real people - and not just the ones who are designated as important, like main characters and their Strangers/Freaks - with their own personalities, their own wants and needs, and very real consequences based on how your treat them. Because, after a certain point, I just stopped interacting with the world. Which is a shame, because Red Dead Redemption, more than any Rockstar game, had a world I really wanted to spend more time in.
@superklyph: Okay, that was an unfair appraisal on my part, as I'm sure they're fine actors/actresses. My criticism is entirely personal preference. They aren't who I would've gone with, so I'm less excited by the cast than I wanted to be.
@decadentdescent: Oh, I imagine they will be rolling it out well before E3 if they're announcing the trial beta now. I just meant that for maximum impact, this news probably would've gotten a bigger response - and almost certainly a more positive one than it's seeing in these comments - if they held it back and announced it on stage at E3, especially as a precursor to revealing the next Playstation. Just seems like the sort of thing they would love to roll into their press conference to get people even more excited about the Playstation brand.
Then again, maybe they're trying to downplay the fact that it's taken them this long to finally give consumers this option.
@superklyph: Well, the premise of Suicide Squad has a ton of potential and, had they delivered on it, the first movie would've deserved a blitzkrieg of media attention, since the average moviegoer likely wouldn't know anything about the property. But, yeah, once the first images starting coming out - particularly Leto's Joker - it did strongly suggest the movie was going to be a steaming pile of ponyloaf and WB was doing everything possible to, hopefully, at least break even.
Smart play by WB. Either Gunn will be able to accomplish the impossible by turning that trainwreck around or, at the very least, hiring Gunn will get a Suicide Squad sequel more headlines and buzz than it deserves, thereby potentially boosting ticket sales by bringing in the curious. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Just a shame it's a sequel and not a total reboot.
It's disappointing that they decided to muck about with the script and voice work, or that they didn't at least offer the option to toggle between original and updated, but... I was going to say it's hardly worth making a fuss over but, to the people who fanatically love the original, this is an offense on par with the 'special editions' of the Star Wars original trilogy. So, yeah, I get it.
But, really, is anyone surprised? I mean, Konami couldn't rerelease the SIlent Hill games without screwing them up with 'updated' versions. They're clueless about why the fans of their games actually love their games. Just wait till they put out their 'updated' version of Metal Gear Solid with a whole new script and voice cast, and then MGS 2 where they give fans what they truly wanted and they edit out Raiden and rework the whole game so you can play as Snake. The nerd rage over that is going to be glorious to witness.
thedarklinglord's comments