Game Ranter Banter: Price Drops, Max Payne 3 Difficulty & Diablo 3 Bugs

A new Star Wars game is on the way. What could it be? The Force Unleashed 3? Battlefront 3? Republic Commando 2? We're shaking with anticipation just trying to imagine what it could be. But until the reveal next week, why not read the Game Ranter Banter in the meantime? This week, five Game Ranters share their personal opinions on Diablo 3's launch issues, Max Payne 3's difficulty, Capcom's mistakes with Street Fighter x Tekken, the long-awaited XCOM shooter and console price drops. Let's begin! Max Payne 3 Ranter Banter

Max Payne 3 has reached a pretty solid level of success, proving Rockstar Games a worthy developer to carry on the franchise. And while being in control of Max has always been a white knuckle, hard-as-nails thrill ride, it seems only now has it been criticised for its difficulty. What gives? The Max Payne series has always been difficult, and that's just the way it is. I have memories of countless reloads and attempting to strategize my use of bullet time in order to waste a room full of baddies -- that's how the game works. And now, Max Payne 3 is a lot more fluid in that regard, given its clever lack of loading screens. For anyone having trouble with the latest instalment, all I can say is good luck and keep trying. But for anyone giving the game a bad rap because they can't past the tried and true "practice makes perfect" method: thank goodness you clearly weren't around for Castlevania and Mega Man X. Capcom Game-Breaker

In an attempt to fix a few glitches on Street Fighter X Tekken, Capcom somehow put an even bigger glitch into the game, to the point where you can't even play it. If you throw Rolento's knife at a projectile, then the entire game freezes up, and there's no way to fix it besides shutting the game off. First of all, how can someone make a mistake this big? Patching console games is nothing new - it's been a frequent thing since the start of this console generation. How can Capcom not make absolutely sure that their new patch wouldn't hurt the game in some way? Secondly, how could they let themselves make a mistake like this after all of the complaints sent their way from fans? Between cancelling Megaman Legends 3, sketchy on-disc DLC for a number of their games, letting important developers like Keiji Inafune go, and now this, you have to wonder if Capcom isn't purposely trying to fail. It's mind-boggling how a big-name company like Capcom can suddenly appear to be run by fools, and yet act like nothing is wrong at all. It's actually very worrying, because it raises questions about just where the company is going to go from here. Bottom line, Capcom needs to wake up and listen to people, or they could wind up in serious financial trouble. ranter-banter-xcom

Any gamers who have been following the production of 2K Marin's 'XCOM' game will have been sent on a rollercoaster of expectations as an October release date was announced and, shortly after that, revoked, with a new date stretching as far back as 2014 on the table. While many will be put-off by such a delay, you have to realize this isn't just a regular game - this is the potential revitalization of a beloved franchise, and 2K Marin evidently want to do it right. The XCOM franchise has never been able to properly follow-up the original UFO: Enemy Unknown, a turn-based strategy game for DOS published in 1994. As an avid fan of the franchise, it's never a question of if I'll return to the original game for a speed playthrough, but when. Whilst the new game may completely ruin the canonical accuracy of the timeline for XCOM veterans, they should at least be given the time to polish the title and try for success. At the bottom line, the more people who play (and, importantly, enjoy) the new game, the more attention might shine on the classics - and if both turn out to be excellent titles, what's not to lose? Take all the time you want, 2K Marin. Diablo 3 Fail Banter

It's official: I have finally had enough with triple-A developers and publishers making fans wait for a game that launches broken. Before my comments are misconstrued as fanboy rage, let me be clear: I was never a Diablo fan, nor was I a loyal Elder Scroll-ian. But after seeing Skyrim and Diablo 3 release to much fanfare - so much so that reviewers and customers seemed to overlook serious issues - only to reveal their unfinished nature shortly after, I can't help but realize how rarely I see this phenomenon from smaller studios, and brand new IP. There are obvious exceptions, but the fact that Blizzard took ten years to craft the experience of Diablo 3 and delivered a game that was more glitchy and flawed - not to mention incomplete - as indie projects made in half the time is, in my opinion, not okay. But hey, the name on the box paid off! Diablo 3 sales embarrassed those of its competition, just as Skyrim did, and Gran Turismo 5 before it. More and more it seems that the name on the box is what the developers need to worry about, not the game on the disc itself. But at the end of the day, I'm comforted by one thing: a brief look online results in hundreds of independently-developed games, built in the spare time of dedicated individuals. As for the behemoth Blizzard? It took them over a decade just to come up with Diablo 3. Console Price Drop

What's the point of buying a video game system right away? If history proves anything, it's that game companies are so afraid of consumers that they're willing to drop the price of their systems if sales do poorly. So when the Wii U comes out this holiday season, what would happen if no one bought it? Sure systems drop in price if they've been out for awhile and the demand has weakened – the Wii and PS3 might do it, and Xbox 360 recently has again – but we've seen what happens when hardware doesn't sell initially after launch. The best evidence points fingers at Nintendo's own 3DS. Sales were horrible after its release, but as soon as the handheld device price dropped sales soared over 260 percent. If Nintendo is this fickle when it comes to poor sales, what's stopping gamers from not buying the Wii U when it first comes out and wait until the company price drops the system? It's allegedly going to cost over $300, which isn't too horrible for a new system, but it's been rumored to be only as technically strong as current generation consoles are now. So if current generation consoles are dipping as low as $99-$199, why bother buying a Wii U that will be over $300? Some may even believe that the Wii U might Dreamcast itself into oblivion. Will you be purchasing a Wii U when it first comes out?

That's all for this week's Game Ranter Banter. As always, let us know what you think of this week's news in the comments, or on Twitter @GameRant and Facebook.com/GameRant and if you have specific topics you'd like any of the team to cover, don't hesitate to ask!

10 Comments

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NightSeverX 11 months ago

How exactly was the game flawed? The release day which allowed so few to actually enjoy the game? The minor glitches here and there in the game? You give no insight as to glitched/flawed gameplay experience you had or assume people had with Diablo III. I personally loved the game, there were a few things here and there that I thought Diablo II did better, but for what Diablo III is, and hopefully will continue to be, is a great way for fans of the first two games to embark on another quest to kill Diablo. The game itself, as a game, is solid and has a similar nature of gameplay to part II, while simplifying a few things. For some yes the game would feel incomplete, if they, like you, had no understanding of the previous games. This game is building off of that. It is understandable that, since you said you were never a fan of the series, did not see that. It is hard to compare a game like Diablo to Skyrim because Skyrim has its own story, and although some parts of it do build off of lore from the other games, it is not a continuing story. Diablo I, II, and III, are a story, you may not follow the same character that you control, but it is broken into a well written story that has successfully spanned to three games. Just because it had Diablo on the title means very little. If the content of the game itself had said anything else aside from what people wanted after years of waiting, fans of the series would not even play the game. 9/10 for this gamer. Would have been a ten if they allowed for an offline single player mode when there is maintenance.

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- NightSeverX 11 months ago
  
  Also the reason the servers were down to begin with were due to the fact that SO MANY PEOPLE decided to buy the game their servers could not handle it. It is hard for the developers to assume just how many people and from where are going to sign on to play their game on the same day at the same time. It is unrealistic to make such an assumption, and now, they fixed it and are patching little things here and there like the auction house. Really was not their fault for not building a server that can handle millions of people getting on the game all at once.
  
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- Rob Keyes 11 months ago
  
  I’ll share three things I think are flawed (keep in mind, I like Diablo 3):
  
  1) Game is too short, and shorter than Diablo 2. It feels like this entire game should be one out of three acts of the full version.
  
  2) What made Diablo 2 immensely replayable is going through to find those super rare, awesome items. In this game, you can just get them with in-game gold for relatively cheap with the auction house – that system hurts the game a lot and it makes crafting your own items and breaking down magic items instead of selling an inefficient option. Why the hell would I craft an item, to get random properties, when for the same gold I can get exactly what I want with 3-4x the attribute bonus?
  
  3) Combat gameplay. No matter what weapons your character holds – no matter the class – it does not change the combat. If your monk holds a shield and a dagger, two clubs or a 2-handed staff, the animations and combat totally ignore it – it’s all there for numbers, not gameplay, meaning it’s not finished.
  
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Andrew 11 months ago

I am stumped if I should either buy Dragon’s Dogma or Max Payne. I have always enjoyed Max Payne. New York Minute practically ripped me a new one. However, I stopped at that and didn’t even bother to look at the sequel. Max Payne 3 looks pretty legit and now that Rockstar’s writing team is the best out there. Dragon’s Dogma is quite beautiful and the customization looks exponential. I just can’t decide.

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- Matt 11 months ago
  
  Without having played either, I’d say get Max Payne 3. You enjoyed he first one, and the third one is supposed to be way better. Plus, it has multiplayer. It’s Metacritic score is 88. Dragon’s Dogma on the other hand, has a Metacritic score of 78. It’s been said that the story is dull, the friendly AI is aggravating, and the autosaving is infreguent. I want both as well, but I definitely want Max Payne 3 more.
  
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Androol 11 months ago

I don’t think the canonical timeline is of much concern to X-Com fans. Not exactly a story-centric franchise, you know? And I know it was essentially just an expansion pack, but I really enjoyed Terror From The Deep more than UFO Defense.

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- John Jacques 11 months ago
  
  I’m one of those stickler fans, though. Reading all the backstory and research elements into the game as a kid over and over cemented them into my brain. If X-Com was founded in the ’90s, seeing a game take place so many years before that with FBI-esque X-Com operatives seems so wrong.
  
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  - Androol 11 months ago
    
    I did too, but ultimately there wasn’t much to it, was there? And the franchise was already pretty tarnished by all those sequels, so I don’t mind them rebooting it and redoing the story. I don’t like the FPS-ification, but that’s a separate issue.
    
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jwalka 11 months ago

CJ have you developed your own game before, if not they how can you bash a studio for a bug they where not aware of, this kind of stuff happens all the time in games and not everyone has an answer to the problem, you just have to play around until the problem is resolved.

my brother started mp3 on normal and he got slaughtered heaps, he had to change it to easy and even then he got into some hasty situations. i think the only reason people hate on the difficulty is b/c they aren’t used to the old school difficulty of games, that and the only ones crying are little kids who again haven’t played old school games (not just shooters). i for one am 50/50 on difficulty, games like darkness 2 and prototype 2 are really easy even on insane which makes them fun to play b/c you feel like a bad a**, but at the same time i like challenging games (though not stupid like ninja gaiden or dark/demon souls) b/c it tests me both in terms of patience and intellect.

i am on the same boat about diablo 3, for a game that has apparently been in works for over 5 years i was disgusted to find out that there where server problems (they know how popular their trashy games are so why not prepare for the worst ?!), hacking issues and a delay in the dodgy auction house. not only that but the game is super streamlined which means it should have been released earlier b/c there is no massive skill tree like there is in path of exile or final fantasy 10. also, they apparently delayed the game by like 6 months to ‘revamp the skill system’ which again doesn’t make sense b/c everything is streamlined and aimed at retards that have never played an ARPG or RPG (again kids).

i like it when a developer comes out and says their game is delayed b/c then i know they’re working on fixing issues instead of shoving it out for cash (CoD, blizzards trash, skyrim etc). it’s just a shame that the gaming industry has become like everything else – all about cash and hardly about the love for what they’re doing.

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HelghastUser 11 months ago

“Call a Waambulance: ‘Max Payne 3′ is too hard! (By Kyle Matthews)”

- MP to hard? I guess I haven’t been reading/seeing many gamers reviews in comment sections and You tube vids but MP has always been hard.

“The Max Payne series has always been difficult, and that’s just the way it is. I have memories of countless reloads and attempting to strategize my use of bullet time in order to waste a room full of baddies”

My thoughts exactly. Good(Frustrating) memories from MP1 on PC came up…

“Can We Beat the System? (By Tyler Schirado)”

-*shrugs*

I usually wait 2 years after a new systems launch before I consider purchasing. By then most defects and glitches would have been weeded out…

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