Time Travel discussion
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Quantum Break
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Long wait but then again, gives them more time to iron out crinks and polish up more.
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Anyway, lots of trailers had come out since...this really looks to be a massive production with familiar Hollywood actors involved. Only thing is, will it have a great story? Will it have the heart and narrative engagement that much smaller Indie production games like Life is Strange have delivered? We shall see! However, the developers are the same team that made the excellent Stephen King style horror movie game, Alan Wake, so they do have a talent for story telling.
In the mean time here is the latest trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyNYb...
Here is a actual gameplay demo (with quite a talky voice over). This is a game that might be geared towards the slightly more experienced game player, though. Unlike Life is Strange, a game that absolutely anyone (even a non gamer) can enjoy playing, this game calls for a little learning curve in fast moving reaction gameplay (though all games do have easy, normal, hard, very hard settings to cater for all standards). The following video gameplay, should give you an idea of what to expect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOgK...
I think the time travel concept is actually similar to that of Life is Strange and that Nic Cage film, Next. Where its manipulating short time span surrounding the moment you are in, as opposed to jumping to different eras etc.
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The video gaming factor comes in between these half hour TV episodes.
That sounds very radical. Of course one could call those TV episodes, ultra long "cut-scenes" but still...no game has done that before, so its a radical new idea.
Will it work? We'll see. My feeling is that they really have to make that TV show very engaging to avoid gamers skipping it altogether or watching it out of step and just go on to the gaming part (they give the option to skip but the developers really hope you wont!)
I dont think it will be a good idea personally as I think a tv show/movie should always be a completely separate entity and video games continue to integrate their narrative with continuous gameplay which they do brilliantly in recent times. But I am all for experimentation and eager to see how Quantum Break will work.
I think this looks really good, but... I don't have an X-Box :( I hadn't heard the part about the TV episodes as well though... How exactly does that work?
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Here's a first trailer for the live action part of the game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4or8...
Oh I dont have an XBox One either! BUT although the game is an X-Box "exclusive", it will also be available on PC (only windows 10 PCs). Basically, when you buy the XBox One game, you get the windows 10 version free. What hasnt been announced yet is if there will be a Windows 10 version available on its own. But if its free with the Xbox version, probably not but PC games do generally cost at least £10 less than console versions. I'll keep you all updated on this as I am following this closely :)
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I have that same concern too but there are many games recently that have set a high benchmark in the perfect mix of great narrative and gameplay. Do play Life is Strange for instance, if you ever do get the time ...they are quite short episodes (5 epsiodes with each one say 2-3 hours of gameplay) and its a point and click rather than shooting game.
I'll make it my duty to play and report about the game as soon as its released :)
Well done with your XBox One purchase...are those Kinect exercise games effective and enjoyable?
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I love the idea of having "episodes" inside my games...and aspects of the show being directly influenced by my choices.
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The Kinect games are great. I stopped going to the gym in the morning and do games like Fantasia and Dance Central instead. Far more interesting and compelling with better results than I was getting at the gym with the same time commitment.
Oh okay. That makes sense. But we only have macs :/ This game does not want to be played by me :(
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It just requires a QUANTUM BREAK on your part.
Also Amy, you should definitely look into Heavy Rain and the Walking Dead games (telltale). They are extremely story driven with the format Tej described for Life is Strange and really amazing stories. Also probably Alan Wake from the little I saw my husband play, though I can't remember it very well, just recall it was a fascinating story.
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Bioshock infinite is also one hell of a story with incredible visuals and voice casting with sumptuous production values. But its also a shoot em up game so not a game for the absolute beginners.
Becca recommendations are good, but was thinking time travel games. Alan Wake is the most difficult game with shooting sequences. Which makes me wonder if Quantum Break is going to be difficult too as its actually by the same developers. They also did Max Payne, another relatively hard game to play but they all have great stories so at least that bodes well for the storytelling in Quantum Break.
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I've finished the first 2 episodes of the Back to the Future Game. I love how it plays out like a movie. My daughter's been watching along as if it is a movie. Life is Strange looks like something similar?
Gosh, where were video games like this when I had infinite free time and was bored after work every day? I think I just spent too much time watching guys play story-less skill-driven games that I didn't realize that there were other types out there since I suck at the type that requires quick reflexes and button-pressing coordination.
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Life is Strange is similar in gameplay but actually much easier in terms of puzzle solving...where Life is Strange differs to BTTF is that it is a choice driven game where your moral choices drives the fates of individuals and it plays even more like a movie than BTTF. And believe me the moral choices are often tough calls in LiS!
These types of adventure games, generalised by the term "point and Click" were a popular genre in the old days of PC and Macs but had become an endangered species due to the domination of the action shootem up games. Thanks to TellTales company, they resurrected the genre with games like Back to the Future, Walking Dead, Sam N Max etc and done so, in a clever way by serialising them, a format I actually hate tbh but its the business model that works for this niche genre's survival and so I totally support its episodic nature despite my hating it. And because of their success, other companies have followed suit (hence the green-lit Life is Strange} and a plethora of old classic adventure point and click games have been remastered and sequels being suddenly made to long forgotten classics. The sad thing for me though, is that all these newer point and click adventure games have really dumbed down in the puzzle solving, they're too easy to solve unlike the older games of the 90s. But its understandable as, we are living in a faster paced world and developers want to make sure gamers are not frustratingly bugged down with a difficult puzzle and to enjoy a quicker flow in the game's narrative. That's actually a good thing when I think about it more.
Also, the target age group is not our children but us older 80s/90s adults! No fast reflexes required :) Its still a niche genre but that's fine for the game developers because not a lot of money is needed to make the games compared to the multi-million dollar game productions that you see you children playing locked in their frantic button pressing, headset wearing world of shooting anything that moves.
Talking of remastered, another old favourite time travel classic of mine has just been released....The Day of the Tentacles! I'll put that on another thread. That used to be my favourite time travel game of all time until BTTF and LiS came along.
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I never did solve Myst back in the 90s. I have to agree. The puzzles are way too easy. In some ways, I appreciate that, but it means that the game becomes more of a consumable item. I know that when I finish all the episodes of Back to the Future, I'm not likely to want to re-play it. But I played Myst until my computer bit the dust.
I like the choose-your-own-adventure element that seems to exist in Life is Strange. That would make it more re-playable. I have a really nifty board game that works somewhat like that: Tales of the Arabian Nights (highly recommended if you like board games)
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Not for Android. Boo.
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Not for Android. Boo."
If you want to play some classic adventure games on the Android phone, I recommend Broken Sword 1 and II. A couple of my favourite PC adventure games. There are further sequels but only available on PC. Each game is self contained, no story arc but play still play Broken Sword first.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
There is also this excellent one that I talked about on its own thread called Lost Echo. It was originally on Iphone but just released on Android.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
I would have also recommended the excellent Syberia series too but the Android ports appear to be glitchy for many users. Real shame...edit: though most people seem ok with it, and I realise a lot of negative reviews are down to the fact, that they didnt know they were playing a demo and then there are some who are stuck on puzzles so give it a low rating, lol. But there are some glitches. I would simply recommend playing it on PC to be on safe side but here is the android link (Syberia 1 and 2...need to be played as a whole for a complete journey):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
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....and omg it costs £50 on the PC....that's about $70 in US!
XBOX ONE is only slightly cheaper but I dont have that console.
Oh man, that is the most expenisve PC game ever. New games normally cost around £30 max on PC. Reveiws are mixed but because its such a new experience, some reviewers are not sure what to think yet. Some think its really superb, some think its an admirable failure.
I guess its going to be a very individual judgement...if you can afford it.
I really wanted to play this on release but grrr...£50 for a digital game that cant be resold is a really steep. I'm gonna have to wait for the price to drop on this one :(
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Started playing it and its quite entertaining so far with some pretty hardcore sci fi and quantum physics time travel going on. Lots of well know tv actors in here, all putting their best efforts into this unique hybrid.
There is a serious and quite justified backlash on microsoft, though as they didnt release the windows 10 version with proper care to utilise the PC graphical power strengths. I can see that for myself but i am not fussy about seeing the greatest details and frame rate. It plays smooth enough for me to enjoy the story and game. Lots of cut scenes and i havent even reached the first proper live action episode yet.
Ill play the game throughout the week and give my thoughts. It will be a while because as usual, I do love to explore the environment and search every cranny. The game makes this worthwhile as the it sprinkles narrative objects rather than just collectible treasures.
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I look forward to hearing your take on it.
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I've played a whole chunky first act and still havent reached the first live action tv show yet but the game so far feels like a movie in its own right anyway, which I dont want it to stop...so I am actually fearing the tv show will kill the flow! We'll see. Storyline is good fun, very intriguing, and feels like it will get pretty complex.
Oh and Lance Reddick is seriously typecasted, same persona as in Fringe, The Wire, Lost, lol.
I'll continue playing second act tomorrow (game seems to be divided in acts, each act consistng of several parts).
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Storyline is intriguing sprinkled with bouts of humour. Acting is top notch and a new unexpected kick ass star is emerging from this and I am not talking about the obvious top billed stars. Characters are cool, with some witty banters sprinkled about.
The time travel mechanism is fantastic, and put to good use in solving mission progressive challenges while also integrating smoothly with the narrative. The action setpieces get quite challenging so I'm afraid this is not for the inexperienced action gamer but at the same time its not difficult either for a normal action gamer. Its absolutely just right in my opinion. There are three difficulty modes though, Easy, Normal and Hard. I always play in Normal mode. So perhaps an inexperienced action gamer might find it fun and playable in Easy mode.
The time travel story is the heart of the game. Although in gameplay our protagonist can manipulate time in short bursts to get out of tricky situations, there are bigger time travel shenanigans going on in the story!
It is still a shame the PC version is not matching the XBox One quality (which should technically be the other way around) but the game and live action show more than compensates for me.
Xbox One owners, this is defintiely worth playing. PC owners, I would find a £20 deal at the most on ebay which Xbox Owners are selling as they got it free when they pre-ordered the XBox One version. That was what I had bought.
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Thanks for your input. Since I have zero skill at shooting, I may have to skip it, but it sounds interesting otherwise. (I'm stuck in Fallout 4 because I can't get past a shooting-heavy scene).
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Enjoying the narrative? How much do you feel like your choices affect the episodes?
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In the game we play from the perspective of the main protagonist played by Shawn. Then we have the junction point from the perspective of the "villain"! It is at this point that we make ONE narrative decision which will affect the live action movie segment that follows straight after. The live action movie gives an allround perspective from other different characters including one supercool character that took me by surprise.
When the game begins again , it would rewind back a bit and give a different perspective to the same event depicted in the movie (Tarantino style)...which is also supercool.
Of course, a great narrative can only be truly judged by how it concludes and by its moral inclinations. So far so cool, though.
To answer your question about choices, well going by the pattern so far, it seems that there is one decision to make at the end of each act (junction). As I believe there are four acts, I think there will just be four decisions.
Major decisions though! It felt like certain characters live depended on me!
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So I have only just returned to playing this 3 days ago, and decided to start fresh from the beginning again, and now have just completed it.
This game rocked. The story rocked. And the 4 mini live action episodes rocked.
Thrilling, suspenseful, at times funny and kept me guessing all the way to the end.
The time travel story was a narrative blast and for us time travel fans, its mechanics was brilliantly orchestrated, scientifically explained and most of all, as far as I can tell, absolutely coherent, with no plot holes. Edit: actually, thinking about the story more, there are no plot holes but there are deliberate paradoxes which makes me uncomfortable accepting...but it's the nature of most time travel stories.
The performances were superb too. The live action episodes (of which there were four) do not string up together as a whole by themselves as most of the story is within the game itself. So there is absolutely no point in watching them on their own without playing the game...apart from watching a certain badass performance, whom became my favourite character. The actor who played him should be a flipping movie star. There are of course well know actors who do give the show a lot weight.
My only unsatisfying elements were a couple of ambiguities at the end but the main story is completely wrapped up.
There were several choices to make in the story which affect the fates of certain characters and nuances but I would imagine the main storyline remains intact.
I played this game on Normal level and it was a bit challenging in places. If you are not an action gamer, this will be a bit hard if you play on Normal. And oh, You have to play with a controller, its nearly impossible to play with keyboard in latter parts of the game.
This is primarily an XBOX One game but initially poorly adapted to PC. I played it on a fairly decent specced PC but still had to lower the game graphics to make it playable. Since its release, they have improved its efficiency but still not efficient enough.
But it was worth it. This was a heck of an experience and immaculately plotted.
This game shoots up to number two of my all time list of time travel games. Life is Strange being my number one, followed by Back to the Future The Game at number three, Blackwell series at number 4, and Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller at number five.
This game is now on STEAM and unlike on Windows 10 at time of its very buggy release, it gains a healthy overall 9/10 rating from the whole Steam community. So no need to go through the horrible Windows 10 store.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/474...
Storytelling through cinematic gaming has been quite something in the last few years but there is a select few that really has mastered the balance as a masterpiece. This is one of those select few, although it doesnt have the emotional and character depth as Life is Strange or Last of Us but as pure blockbuster action entertainment with intelligent complex scripting and mindscrewing time travel without plot holes, I give this a:
8/10
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Oh, awesome. We should be getting an Xbox soon, so I might actually be able to play it :)
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Is there any particular reason you are choosing XBOX One over PS4? For me PS4 has the greater number of quality exclusive games, around 100 than Xbox's 33 exclusives. PS4 games have richer story driven games such as Infamous, Last of Us, Uncharted series, Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls and very strong indie developer releases. Whereas XBox exclusives are more heavy on shoot-em ups and driving games etc such as Halo. Microsoft did also have Tomb Raider Rises, Titanfall and Quantum break but they eventually got released on PC while Tomb Raider also on PS4, so they're not quite exclusives, although you can consider Titanfall and Quantum Break as XBox exclusives if you dont ever want to play them on PC (and QB will play better on XBOX)
Hardware-wise, both consoles are great. X Box One have a nicer interface and I think can play previous generation console games on it (PS4 is not backward compatible).
Just thought, I gave reasons for my preference in case its useful for you to decide :) Both are great consoles of course, its the great exclusive games on PS4 that edges it for me.
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If I break down my rating, I'll give the Story 9/10, acting 9/10, gameplay 8/10, CGI Animation 10/10 (most impressive), soundtrack 8/10, and PC Port technicalities 5/10 which lead to my 8/10 overall rating. I really wished I could play this with maximum graphics on as the CGI animation is amazing. If I played it on XBox One, it might have been a 9/10 experience.
Tej wrote: "Becca wrote: "Oh, awesome. We should be getting an Xbox soon, so I might actually be able to play it :)"Is there any particular reason you are choosing XBOX One over PS4? For me PS4 has the great..."
So I totally missed this post... We already had a PS4, but it was having issues because the hard drive blew a while back and it just never worked the same after the repair, so we were planning to switch to the Xbox at some point... which happened at the start of this month when the PS4 finally gave out :/ This way we got the good games on the PS4 already, and now we get Quantum Break (which I just got for Christmas) and my husband gets to play Skyrim with mods.
And since I got Quantum Break for Christmas, we made a time travel day of it. I played that for a while (really liking it so far! And yes, the animation is awesome!) then watched Timecrimes and Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. Timecrimes was really good! Probably among the top time travel movies I've seen, imo. Everything tied together really well. FAQATT wasn't as good, but it had some fun aspects.
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Is there any particular reason you are choosing XBOX One over PS4? For me PS4 h..."
Hi Becca
I am sorry to have missed reading your last post!
I expect you would have finished Quantum Break by now. I hope you enjoyed it!
Oh and I agree, Time Crimes and FAQATT were indeed highly entertaining time travel movies.
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Half Price at £14.99 (sorry not sure of US pricing).
This is a huge blockbuster with awesome time travel mechanics and a storyline/drama that is highly entertaining including 4X 20min entertaining live action episodes that complements the game superbly.
When it was first released, this game had immense technical problems but that has all been patched up and fixed since then hence the recently much higher ratings.
Warning, though. Unlike the other games discussed in this gaming section, which are all mostly leisurely point and click games that do not require reflex gaming skills, this is an action game requiring basic reflexes with a joypad.
Having said that, the game has different levels of difficulty, one of which is a very easy level but still, it is an action game.
Its called Quantum Break and I will be pointing my radar at the developers from here on. They made Max Payne and Alan Wake, both of which I have played, were great and had terrific story driven narratives.
Synopsis:
"Master time to survive the present... and save the future. From the creators of Alan Wake and Max Payne comes Quantum Break, a revolutionary entertainment experience that blurs the line between gameplay and television. With Quantum Break, the world will see a new generation of immersive entertainment, only possible on Xbox One."
Here is the teaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_64IZN...
Article:
http://gengame.net/2013/05/quantum-br...