I'd recommend you to play the other ones first. If you dive right into the third one, and later at some point want to try out the other ones, you might get a little spoiled by the better graphics and more polished mechanics of III (not that these games have changed a whole lot, but still).

I had a feeling someone would say this. I had consulted a few people before about this matter and they all said that the XL version was worth it, but I decided to hear some more opinions before deciding to spend almost 200 euro(well 209 euro or so if I buy one that comes bundled with a game) on an XL.

Does anyone own a 2DS though? It's be fine if you could fold that model. I'm willing to look past the 3D, but not being able to fold it? I guess they made it for all those kids who drop it on the floor every other day, since a 3DS that folds would stop functioning immediately after its first fall.

You should, one of the best games I have ever played.

XL for sure.



Though, I mean, if you're getting a new one at full price... might as well wait for the announcement of the details about the NX. It's rumored to be coming out later this year, might as well wait and see if it would be better to get the new thing at this point.



I know, such a shit decision. A cheaper 3DS without the 3D gimmick is exactly what I wanted... but a bulky thing that you can't fold to carry around easily? Uh, no thanks.



Son, please. These things are made of Nintendium, they don't break easy.

I don't know if this helps, but you may be able to import from this site, I have not checked. The price seems a bit cheaper than what you are quoting.

http://www.unieuro.it/online/Console/Nintendo-3DS/Nintendo-3DS?q=:relevance:price:%E2%82%AC50%20-%20%E2%82%AC199.99

It is a worthwhile system to get. You've got two great back catalogues to sift through, and some digital titles as well (not to mention VC).

@Hellblazer

You're right that Nintendo stuff usually lasts for a long time. And it's not even about being the "Japanese hardware being superior to American hardware" thing, since many people I know have had to get their PS2's and PS3's fixed or get new ones. So I guess Nintendo has their way to make their systems last forever. My SNES still works fine as do my N64 and My GameCube. Not to mention my Wii and my GBA. My NES no longer works... but it still did back in 2008 when it was nearly 20 years old already.

Everyone seems to recommend the XL. I think I'll ask one of my friends if I can hold their DS models for a couple of minutes and see which model fits my hands the best.


@Dandelo

I appreciate your help. But I'm not gonna buy a 3DS in the next few days yet. I got other things on my mind and still need to think this over before pullign the trigger.

Is the Nintendo really gonna discontinue the Wii U for NX? Or was that just a rumor? Unless Nintendo step their game up with the NX, I'm not buying it. The Wii U has like 5-6 games on its library that I'm interested in. That's not a valid reason for me to buy a domestic system. And not that I ever buy a domestic system on the year it comes out. I usually wait a year or two for the price to drop and to know if its library is looking good before such an investment. I'd rather save up for a new PC rig now.

I mostly play on Steam and older emulators nowadays. The 3DS though, interests me a lot, since as you've mentioned, means access to two amazing libraries. Plus, I missed on the DS since it was out at a time where I was going through a phase of losing interest in video games.

I can't imagine Nintendo not discontinuing the Wii U for the NX, or even the 3DS. Part of the reason the U has a small library is because they have to split its development with the 3DS's, and the NX would be DOA if they had to make games for three different systems.

Well yeah, Wii U just isn't selling. They tried hard, but it failed, they need to move on at some point.

NX will share technology and development tools between the portable and home console versions, in theory making it easy to port games between both platforms. That should help a lot with strengthening libraries, and lowering dev costs.

I definitely plan to play 2 before 3. I only have an xbox one and the first one isn't backwards compatible yet, otherwise I'd definitely go in order.



I have to with all the endorsements it gets around here haha.

Just be warned that Dark Souls a.) is unpolished as hell and has a shitty menu system, b.) has an infuriatingly shitty, unfun, immersion-wrecking, arbitrary Stamina system, and c.) the tips players leave on the floor are 99% of the time wrong. Other than that, yeah, good challenging game.

The stamina system is half of what makes the combat so interesting. Maybe you just suck.

There's a lot of reasons I could rag on Dark Souls, but basic combat isn't one of them. I only did one run with a Strength build, and it was a lot of fun (despite the parts of the game that I thought were absolute shite). I don't think I have ever been part of an online community that isn't toxic to some degree as well.

I actually just busted out my Xbox 360 last night so I could play Dark Souls again to get me in the mood for DS3. I'm pretty tired of DS2 right now. It's a lot of fun because I never bothered doing a second go if it after I beat the game before and now I'm just breezing through the beginning where I remember hating my life and almost rage quitting shit loads of times. Feels nice .

Actually... it just leaked today that Dark Souls 1 BC is coming soon, and you'll get the game for free if you pre-order Dark Souls 3: http://www.videogamer.com/xboxone/dark_ ... rders.html

Probably anyway. This was posted on the Xbox Australia site, and was since removed. I would guess they just posted it too early by mistake though, and it should be back.

@ Cianan: just be warned that Zelkiro almost never posts anything that is factually accurate, and the above post is no exception.

Haha wut? the stamina system is literally what the whole combat system is based around and makes it so careful, fun and addictive. Like literally, if I was to list the best things about the game, the stamina system would be pretty close to the top.

Speaking of Dark Souls, twitch user The_Happy_Hobbit has completed his zero hit run in a record 8 hours he did take some fall damage though.

So I've been playing the Witcher 3 and I actually like it despide being a longtime Witcher hater. However as good as it is I really dont think it GOTY/GOAT that everyone seems to be making it, still top 5 game this year though. Biggest flaw IMO is the music, it good but it doesn't do anything. Its solid but there doesn't seem to be any, wow this song is amazing, songs that gets an emotional response from me.

Really? I haven't played the game but I did listen to the soundtrack and it's so good it makes me want to try it...

The soundtrack is awesome! The game... not so much. If good combat, good quest design, a good narrative based on player agency and choice and good open-world mechanics are paramount to you, don't play The Witcher 3. If music, graphics, animation, sound design, voice acting... in fact, really all around stellar production values, size of the "explorable" world and sheer hours of gameplay are what you look for most in your games, The Witcher 3 might be one of the best games you've ever played. Oh, and cutscenes. Hours and hours and hours of cutscenes.

It didn't do much for me because narrative and quest design are my two favorite parts of wRPGs, and TW3 failed spectacularly at both. It's a glorious walking simulator and interactive movie (although strangely not even as interactive as, say, The Walking Dead i-movies) but as an RPG, even an aRPG, it's just not good.

Also, in case anyone's interested you can get the ACTUAL complete Witcher 3 soundtrack (which includes about 150 MORE tracks than the so-called 'complete' soundtrack) here at ffshrine. IMO, the best tracks from the game were left out of the official soundtrack for some reason. Thankfully, they're all here.

Crazy, everyone seems to say quest design is the strong point.

It really depends, some quests are really good ex: Bloody Baron, and some other ones (haven't played the game in a while). A good amount of other quests are basically this.

1. Go to location
2. Turn on Witcher sense
3. Go to certain spot
4. Follow the red trail that the Witcher sense allows you to see
5. Profit

Anyone else holding off on current generation consoles?

I'm waiting for the Xbox One to get more games. Also, I have plenty of games on the Xbox 360 to tide me over for awhile

People conflate quest design with writing all the time, although I don't think there's any official definition so I don't think anyone's wrong.

Here's how 99% of TW3's quests play out: cutscene, "use your witcher senses" (Batman detecto-vision where you click on red things, hear Geralt narrate about them and then they turn yellow), combat, cutscene. Sometimes you'll have to do something extremely complicated like "pull a lever" or "push a button" or "brew beer" (I'm not kidding about that one) but worry not! That information is always clearly explained in aggravatingly specific detail in a text box under your mini-map.

The quests often have nice little stories but they're all essentially exactly the same.

I really didn't like the "message" of the Bloody Baron quest which essentially tried to rationalize domestic abuse, but the quest had generally good writing.

It did not, however, have good quest design. Well, except for the 'dialog puzzle' at the Inn, which was pretty cool. Sadly, there was only one more like that in the entire game :-/.

Yeahhhh that sounds fucking terrible. Unless it's just darkeningday being wrong as usual but if it's accurate, how everyone is praising this game's quest design is truly baffling, then.

I mean compared to this... (minor New Vegas spoilers)



And lol, Googling the above image made me find this, ouch... doesn't make me hyped for Fallout 4:


Though I'll say this... I don't think that all RPGs should necessarily be like NV to have "good quest design". NV is particularly open and non-linear, of course. But if a quest is summarized to "go to X, explore dungeon, loot, kill monsters", that can be perfectly fine with me... assuming the combat/looting is fun. So that's why, say, Dragon's Dogma quests like Griffin's Bane, The Watergod's Altar, A Fortress Besieged, or even 100% skippable stuff like Lost and Found and The Conspirators, are still fun despite following that formula, because the combat is good.
And that's the thing, based on what I hear about TW3's combat, it's, well, not good. So uh...

But think how many people absolutely love Mass Effect and GTA, though.

Witcher 3 is basically Mass Effect 2 + GTA + ridiculous OTT crafting system all AAA aRPGs must have by law

Package that together with stellar production values across the board, dozens of hours of cutscenes and an absolutely absurd number of gameplay hours and it's hard not to see why this game is a big hit with gamers, and CDP-R's underdog status is probably what makes it a big hit with critics.

SOLD!!

Zelk, I am 110% sure The Witcher 3 will be your favorite game of all time, without exception.

Impossible. Nothing will topple the holy trinity of Persona 4, Final Fantasy IX, and Chrono Trigger.

Nothing.

THAT'LL ALL COME TUMBLING DOWN ONCE YOU CROSS THE FINISHLINE IN TW3, don't you worry!

Nope. There is no such thing as a game greater than the Holy Trinity.

I like linearity myself, and I liked Mass Effect 2 quite a bit, Vice City is up there in contention as my favourite game ever, crafting not so much... I should try this game. Not one to get turned on by vidya game boning and it kinda looked like 80% of the game was trying to be sexy though.

I played through it twice and only saw two sex scenes, both of which were rather humorous and probably worth watching even if you don't play the game. I think there's a usable brothel in the game (because, the 14 year old boy will always have a share in this market), but it never forced me to even step inside.

If you like Mass Effect 2/3 style dialog and cutscenes, and then GTA "follow the mini-map and do what it says," this game is pretty much the pinnacle of that kind of design, with generally far better writing and production values than any of those games.

I probably prefer cheesy space buddy romp over over dramafied fantasy, but yeah, the whole mix doesn't sound bad to me at all. Anyone played the PS3 version? It looks like something that may have trouble there/I may have heard complaints, but there's no way in hell my PC could handle it.

They had some framerate issues on the PS4 after the game's first major patch (released 2 months after the game), but those have been fixed now; it's apparently a pretty stable 30fps (occasionally dipping a bit lower in Bligh--oops I mean Swamptown), and the game is in full 1080p instead of 900p like on the XBONE. The game was clearly designed for a controller first and foremost.

Oh well, something on the list for when I move up into the modern age at anyrate.

The prodigal Spector returns, after wasting time on Mickey Mouse games?



I am elated.

How do people here feel about the three Bioshock games? (or one of or two of, depending on what you've played)

Bioshock 1 and Infinite have dull gameplay but fantastic settings and writing, especially in the first.

Bioshock 2 is just dull all-around.

What makes their gameplay dull? It looks really interesting to me. Then again, I've played The Witcher 3 for more hours than I'm going to admit publicly and that game's gameplay isn't so much 'dull' as it is 'practically non-existent'.