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Wolfenstein: Youngblood - two player co-op with BJ's daughters

Ivan

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lwqbuee.jpg


:abyssgazer:

Summoning JarlFrank to assess the feet
 

Talby

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Codex USB, 2014
So Wokenstein: Period Blood is a flop like the last one? Any redeeming qualities at all?

Edit: The jews at ZOGthesda even put virtual currency and force you to install the malware Bethesda launcher, lol.
 

Wunderbar

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Any redeeming qualities at all?
Arkane level design, presumably. But it seems that the game is full of recycled content where you had to grind side missions and trek through the same Paris streets (kinda like in Wolfenstein 2009).
 
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2) Arkane's level design is a big improvement and obvious from the start. Much more unique visuals, interesting concepts and more open feeling levels. They're not massive maps or anything, but they have more side areas and open feeling sections than the previous games. Just having interesting shit to look at in the level is massive incline for this series.

If you're the type of person to whine about the politics of the previous game I'm sure you'll still be annoyed, but that stuff does (so far) seem less focused on. Also it says right at the start that BJ killed Hitler, so I guess this takes place after the presumed trilogy ender they're probably working on.
Not to stalk follow you on over here from the Dishonored 2 thread, but I'm definitely interested in Arkane's level design... and still really concerned about the story stuff. It's really bizarre for them to place this game in a story position where the next game will likely take place before it, and have at least some elements of it spoiled. Is it crazy spoiler territory that BJ might kill (most likely Mecha) Hitler? Nah. But it does immediately inform everyone that BJ and Anya survive the finale and so on and so forth, and it could really kneecap any tension in Wolfenstein: The New World or Revolution or whatever it ends up being called. It's the prequel issue where the story has to be really interesting from a character and "in-universe history" perspective because you know where the story is going.

I'm still really curious as to where this series is going, but I really enjoyed the first game (and its spinoff) thanks to liking the writing, characters, and core gameplay. I wasn't a fan of any of that in The New Colossus, and I'm definitely concerned about Youngblood and the franchise moving forward.
 

DalekFlay

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Not to stalk follow you on over here from the Dishonored 2 thread, but I'm definitely interested in Arkane's level design...

I'll report back on the next couple levels tomorrow, but so far I wouldn't buy it for that. It's much improved over the last game, but it's nowhere near Dishonored quality so far. It's just nice that it's not shitty like before. Maybe later levels open up even more though, we shall see.

and still really concerned about the story stuff. It's really bizarre for them to place this game in a story position where the next game will likely take place before it, and have at least some elements of it spoiled. Is it crazy spoiler territory that BJ might kill (most likely Mecha) Hitler? Nah. But it does immediately inform everyone that BJ and Anya survive the finale and so on and so forth, and it could really kneecap any tension in Wolfenstein: The New World or Revolution or whatever it ends up being called. It's the prequel issue where the story has to be really interesting from a character and "in-universe history" perspective because you know where the story is going.

I guess it could take place after this with it ending up Hitler isn't dead, hence Mecha Hitler. I kind of like the idea of an actual 80's set game (this one takes place in 1980 rather than like 85 or whatever). We'll have to see how this one ends I guess to know more, but it definitely starts right off the bat with them saying BJ is "the man who killed Hitler."
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/07/26/wolfenstein-youngblood-review/

Wot I Think - Wolfenstein: Youngblood

90


Every time you find a new gun in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, B.J. Blazkowicz’s twin daughters gush about how their daddy killed a bunch of Nazis with it. “Cor”, Jess will say, “remember when Dad told us about all those Nazis he vaporised?”. “Yeah”, Soph will respond, “that was tubular.”

When I think about how best to sum up Wolfenstein 2‘s co-op semi-sequel, tubular is not the first word that comes to mind.

We’re 19 years on from The New Colossus. America is free once more, but the Nazis are still very much in vogue. They’re in control of Europe, and one day B.J decides to bugger off and do something about it. The F.B.I reckon there’s no point trying to track him down, but his daughters disagree. With no combat experience beyond shooting a goat and punching a bag, Jess, Soph and their friend whose name I can’t remember pinch a helicopter and swan off to Nazi-controlled Paris. They immediately make contact with the resistance, who send the twins off to dual-handedly slaughter a zeppelin full of supersoldiers.



If that sounds like an inept rehash of Wolfy bombast, then you’re hearing me loud and clear. But maybe your ears are tuned differently, and this all sounds wonderful. Maybe you won’t be put off by an early cutscene where the girls grill their first racist: Soph’s gun hand shakes, but then the soldier’s head explodes and the duo alternate between spewing and whooping. It’s the game’s way of communicating how little it cares about emotional heft. That’s fine, but, like, I do.

I need a veneer of plausibility, and Younglood isn’t interested in giving me one. If I’m going to spend ten hours with two characters jabbering in my ears, then I need to feel some affinity for them, but B.Js juniors grate harder than butterkäse. I’m sure it’s possible to write a great campy story about two young women butchering their way through fascist town in search of their irresponsible father, but it still needs to be told competently. If I wasn’t doing forgettable side missions for people I hadn’t been given much reason to care about, I was running through a bunker while an unseen villain muttered over the radio. Youngblood tries to shock, to move and to tickle, but I was mostly left stony-faced.

It’s a B movie. The bad kind. A would-be romp through the same handful of city streets, blando-bunkers and gloomy tunnels. This gets especially frustrating when you remember Arkane Studios have helped design them. Arkane! Makers of Dishonoured, masters of the nook and cranny, the sprawling mansion, the well-placed vent. Look at this street, and tell me you don’t see a Nazi-occupied Dunwall.



But even Arkane level design can’t combat the fatigue of repetition. You’ll spend most of the game trudging along streets like this one, fighting the same bands of respawning enemies. You’ll shoot (or sneak, if you get proper lucky) your way through a building, reach a forgettable quest marker, then turn around to see yet another wave of overly-chunky goons in your way. Robot Nazi stormtroopers should be menacing, exploding laser hounds should be exciting, not exhausting. But before you get your hands on some big guns to fight the bigguns’, many enemies absorb more bullets than they’re worth. It wasn’t long before me and RPS vidbud Astrid took to simply sprinting past them whenever possible.

Prolonged firefights can also be avoided if you’re sneaky, but stealth is criminally undersupported. I want enemy markers, vision cones, distractions I can throw, a stealth takedown I can do from above. Most enemies insist on wearing bulletproof helmets, which is sensible but trying. I’ve shot at far too many enemies who’ve then staggered to safety behind a pillar.

You can pick an invisibility cloak ability at the start, but with the absence of those features (and the presence of helmets), it’s not enough to hang a stealth game around. The best thing going for that cloak is that it often lets you ignore the fighting. Maybe I’d have had more fun with the shoulder barge, but I doubt it. I naturally skew stealthy, and Youngblood doesn’t care. We just don’t have much in common.

Those are the big problems, but if I stack together all the smaller ones they wind up nearly as high. Missions all appear on the main screen, with no way to tell which can be snaffled up in your current area. It doesn’t tell you that ‘brother’ missions are the main ones, and should be prioritised because they unlock powerful and more interesting weapons (although all but one of them are guns from the last two games).The shooting itself is solid, I suppose, but guns don’t pop like in Destiny or Doom. Vital information, like how to lean or fast travel back to base, are reserved for loading screen tips you probably won’t see until you’re several hours in. You can’t pause, even if you’re playing the much worse solo version of the game with a shonky AI companion who DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO HIDE.



Even if you don’t care about disjointed storytelling, repetitive levels or cringe-worthy jokes, I can’t recommend Youngblood. If you’re desperate to shoot bads with a bud, go play Borderlands, Destiny 2, or Far Cry flipping Five instead. MachineGames clearly felt the need to tread some water before Wolfenstein 3, but they damn near wind up drowning.
 

ZagorTeNej

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Never got the hype about nu-Wolfenstein games. Tried The New Order and it was playing like a clunky console shooter that got interrupted with cutscenes/turret sections every 5 minutes.

I have my gripes (plenty of them) with the Doom 2016 but atleast it had passable action. Aside from all the gore, nu-Wolf games are just boring to play.
 

DalekFlay

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After two levels I am also leaning toward this game being shit, but ranting about "plausibility" and "emotional heft" in a game like this is fucking retarded.
 

TheHeroOfTime

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Since it has denuvo and I can’t try a “demo” version, I’ll wait for Durandal’s review. I expect him to destroy my hopes same way he did with his Wolfenstein 2: Electric boogaloo review.
 

baud

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RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
After two levels I am also leaning toward this game being shit, but ranting about "plausibility" and "emotional heft" in a game like this is fucking retarded.

There was some hints of emotional heft in TNO and perhaps sometime some plausibility on how the characters reacted to the world around them, so expecting the same things in a sequel is not that surprising.
 

DalekFlay

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This game is depressingly bad in singleplayer. It has cool level design and setting, and the basic combat from the previous game is good I believe (fuck off haters). However it's completely co-op focused and suffers from every piece of shit game design trend of the modern "AAA" age.

The "quests" or whatever you want to call them are all MMO garbage with no design, no story, nothing interesting. You load into a big open area (good!) and kill endlessly respawning canon fodder enemies who are all bullet sponges with level numbers and bars over their heads, find the thing to click "e" on, then move on to the next. The whole time you're also hitting "e" in every nook and cranny for coins and collectibles, but none of it means shit. I had the weapons I care about upgraded to max in no time, and the notes and whatnot are nowhere near as good as the singleplayer games. I did one mission which was "go to hospital and free woman." I go there, fight through endless enemies, click on the free woman button, get experience. Then I leave the hospital, fighting the same enemies again because they respawned, and go to the next mission. It sends me to some random hallway, press "e" on thing, then it says I have to go to a second location... which is in the hospital I just did before. And all the enemies are back. Like... fuck off.

If you're into Destiny and shit like that maybe you'll love this, I dunno. I'm so far removed from you in what we enjoy it's impossible to comment. For a singleplayer guy though, even one who liked the previous games fine, this game suuuuuuucks. If you're like me, avoid it, and hope the next one is back to "normal."
 

DalekFlay

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Ok i got a copy of this trash wish me luck

Note that the first two levels are story-focused and largely linear, and not terrible. The co-op annoyances still apply but the game is tolerable at that point and has cool levels. Then you get to the grindy MMO bullshit meat of the game after that and it goes from tolerable to huge piece of shit quite fast.
 

Agame

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This game looks like nightmare fuel mash up of the worst things about modern gaming.

Forced multiplayer, grinding for currency, micro transactions, bloated HP enemies to entice that spending, SJW stronk wahmen agendas.

What a stinking hot pile of garbage, GOOD JOB WELL DONE Bethesda!

:killit:
 

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