Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

[Daehawk]

From the art they did I got the impression it was medieval. I guess the music and longboats have been put in since I looked earlier.

[Daehawk]

Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.

[Skinypupy]

I tried Vikings: Wolves of Midgard last night on PS Now. It seems like a decent enough ARPG, but the whole "environment effect" thing ruined the entire thing.

Basically, there's a meter that measures the effects of your exposure to whatever biome you're in. Heat, cold, etc. If you max out the meter, it has detrimental effects such as slowing you down, decreasing your attack power, etc I got a tooltip early on saying that the effects of cold can be mitigated by standing next to a campfire, heat by standing in shade, etc. Campfires and shade areas are dotted around each level and are even marked on the mini-map.

The problem is that it takes just as long to reduce the effects as it does to accrue them. So if I hack and slash through 5 minutes of mobs in the cold and fill the exposure meter, I literally have to stand next to a campfire doing absolutely nothing for 5 minutes in order for the meter to go down. Otherwise, I incur the exposure penalty of slower movement.

The mechanic is a semi-interesting one, but having the growth and decrease of the meter take the same time is a pain in the arse. I quit the game after only an hour or so because while the gameplay was fun, the whole exposure meter thing was simply annoying.

Shame, really, as I think the game had some potential.

[jztemple2]

So how do we feel about something along the line of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla?

Meh, I liked Origins, playing it all the way out which is unusual for me, but I just couldn't get too deeply into Odessey. A even more primitive culture setting isn't going to appeal to me that much. I really was hoping for New York City circa 1910, but I guess that ship, err, longboat has sailed

[Skinypupy]

I liked Origins, playing it all the way out which is unusual for me, but I just couldn't get too deeply into Odessa.

Same. I've tried a bunch of them, but Origins is the only one I've ever actually stuck with until the end.

In terms of historical setting, viking-era will easily be the most interesting of the entire series for me. I'm very interested to see what they announce tomorrow.

[gbasden]

Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.

Hmm. I finished both of them and didn't see anything crazy in the controls.

[Daehawk]

I like Origins. Ive tried it twice though and I just cant get it to run good enough to enjoy. The setting and such is great to me as a lover of ancient history. But i cant play it. Its strange as Odyssey ran great and I loved it. I was playing it though when my life turned upsidedown and haven't gone back. Thats another reason Id like to play origins...just wont run right and its older than Odyssey.

Also my hardware is old.. a 2gig GTX 950 and a i7 2600k. Its that 2 gig of video memory thats really hampering my gaming.

[Daehawk]

Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.

Hmm. I finished both of them and didn't see anything crazy in the controls.

Im an arrows user and it wont allow me to use them for movement...that throws all the rest of the controls into hell too. Also as I recall you cant rebind the mouse at all. i use the middle click for use/interact. Cant here. Tons of people have control mapping issues. Wonder where the control file is so I could manually edit it.

[jztemple2]

Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.

Hmm. I finished both of them and didn't see anything crazy in the controls.

I used a controller on both and never had any real issues either.

[gbasden]

Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.

Hmm. I finished both of them and didn't see anything crazy in the controls.

I used a controller on both and never had any real issues either.

I used keyboard and mouse as I'm allergic to controllers, but I didn't do any crazy key rebinds so I don't know about that functionality. The base control layout was fine for me though.

[Daehawk]

[hitbyambulance]

Doesn't look like you've spent much time with Unexplored. Stick with it, and it definitely ought to scratch where you itch.

i was very much not a fan of the graphics and play style (it feels too much like a Flash game) but i'll give it another go.

put an hour or so into this. i'm still not liking how it 'feels' - it's too floaty and clunky and i don't think i am into the aesthetics of it at all, so it's not yet clicking. but i'll keep trying.

FWIW, the linked review sums up where the game shines:

I found one other aspect of the game off-putting at first, and that’s the character design. For reasons I couldn’t fathom, all player characters are one-eyed folks and I didn’t particularly like the look of them. Like everything else that made me frown, I soon understood the reason behind this decision though, and it’s simple and quite elegant. A one-eyed character, viewed from above with the eye front and centre of the head, is extremely easy to read, in terms of their position and the direction they’re facing. That, combined with the pointiness of equipped weaponry, makes controlling with a combination of keyboard for movement and mouse for targeting simple and efficient. No matter how cluttered the screen might be, the essentials are easy to read.

All of those initial reservations weren’t just batted aside; I love the parts of Unexplored I was unsure about when I first started playing. And the rest, the actual RPG design that’s at the heart of it all, is tremendous.

I’m so accustomed to dungeons that look like they could have been mapped out on graph paper, corridors and big blocky rooms strung together with no sense of being places that were constructed by anyone for any purpose, that Unexplored is a revelation. Every level I’ve seen has its own identity, with outdoor areas, void-straddling bridges and floating islands, underground lakes and lava spills, and temples, storehouses and barracks. The developers have made a very short video talking about the science of their approach.



Read more about how it works right here, and look at the maps in the top left of my screenshots. No grids and no obvious copy-and-paste rooms.

What all of that means, in practice, is that each level is structurally interesting, without too much backtracking, and can happily accommodate smart little puzzles. I’ve encountered levels with one big boss and rooms full of minions, and others were there’s barely a fight to be had, but lots of libraries to loot. Others are packed with traps, or weird little signs that may or may not be cryptic clues. And those cryptic clues might lead to crypts, full of undead warriors waiting to wake.

Often you’ll need to find a clue to figure out how to open secret doors or chests, and clues and keys might be a level above or below the target location, so backtracking is sometimes involved. Levels are small though, so it’s never too much of a drag heading back up a couple of floors, especially if your findings have tipped you off about a big reward in the form of some neat magical weapon.

And you’ll want that magical weapon because equipment is the only real way to improve your character. There’s no levelling and every hero begins as a classless ball of potential. The one important stat is strength (these dungeons are no place for a Charisma 18 arts graduate like me), determining which weapons and armour you can use without detriment. But strength doesn’t increase as you kill monsters, you have to find potions or equipment that buff your buffness.

It works beautifully, forcing you to explore and to try and solve puzzles and sneak by or kill enemies so you can find every last item on every level. Because there are no experience points, there’s no incentive to kill everything; instead, you can use the stealth system to sneak by, or just outsmart them and trap them in their own dungeon by hitting levers to trigger traps or locking doors. By removing the linear path toward Mighty Hero Status, Unexplored’s character-building is similar to its procedural dungeon generation: there are many routes and unexpected detours, and success comes from a combination of improvising with whatever is at hand, and choosing from the paths available.

Long-term, there are options to unlock for new starts, allowing you to experiment with a form of classes, and to buy more equipment at the beginning of a run. It’s in the brief, individual adventures that Unexplored excels though. The novel approach to dungeon layouts and character-building makes all of the spider-smashing and key-hunting feel fresh. I play so many games of this type that the line between one and the next is often blurred. That makes it almost impossible for new games to find a spot on my regular roguelike playlist, but Unexplored has claimed one.

i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?

[dbt1949]

I find whenever I'm playing a civ type game I always use the imperious "we" when talking to myself about the civ.

[Paingod]

Switch internal debate...

I have an old Nintendo DS Lite. Thing runs like a champ still, and I have a fair number of games for it that I've enjoyed for a decade. It's all physical cartridges - which I can lend out and/or know that I will have even if my DS breaks. My kids have borrowed games from me and enjoyed them.

I recently purchased a Switch. I've got a 256GB SDCard and a physical copy of Animal Crossing. I'm looking at Fire Emblem and other games... but I'm leaning digital. I've read that once installed and activated, you don't need an internet connection for them. I don't like that I can't lend the game to one of my kids if they want to play it, but do like that I won't need a sleeve full of games to tote around. I have some concern that in 10-12 years Nintendo will close out the platform shop and I wouldn't be able to re-download the game if the Switch died.

Not sure which way to go for my purchases on the Switch. What have others done and why?

[Hrothgar]

Not sure which way to go for my purchases on the Switch. What have others done and why?

Almost all of ours are carts. It's not so much a moral stand. Most of our games have been gifts for the kids. Everyone wants to give something physical not a Nintendo store card. We have two switch carrying cases full of carts.

I admit that the ridiculously slow downloading on the DSi and 3DS might have something to do with my attitude, but mostly it was fact that almost all the games we have were given as gifts.

[Skinypupy]

I've got a combination of both carts and downloads, but have been leaning more towards downloads lately. Partly because I refuse to shop at Gamestop ever again (which is where I had been buying most of my carts), partly because we only have one Switch (so swapping to another system isn't a concern) and partly because 6-year-olds and very tiny carts are a bad combination. They've already lost a couple games, thankfully they were both cheap shovelware-ish stuff I picked up somewhere.

It is kinda annoying to only be able to have a limited number of games on the system at a time, but I haven't found it to be a significant barrier so far.

[Anonymous Bosch]

i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?

Given your fondness for roguelikes and 'tough difficulty' games with a learning curve, how about Sword of the Stars: The Pit?

Sword of the Stars: The Pit is a science fiction roguelike, originally released on Steam in 2013, where you are tasked with getting to the bottom of the titular "Pit," a dangerous and labyrinthine alien facility deep underground. It takes a traditional approach to its subgenre, with procedurally generated dungeon floors, plenty of stats to upgrade, and an expansive set of items, but executes most of those elements quite well and stands out from much of its competition as a result.

The story in The Pit, as with many roguelikes, is basic and mainly presented as introductory text before the title screen. A "Xombie" [sic] plague has overtaken a planet, and alien tech from a subterranean installation could hold the secret to finding a cure. There are other small bits of story information peppered throughout the game, usually in the messages you find and decipher while playing, but these are mostly atmospheric in nature rather than contributions to a grand overall plot. Despite the lack of traditional storytelling, The Pit does manage to present a bit of world-building through gameplay. As you wander deeper into the dungeon, encounters with a variety of alien species, robots, and items give a sense of a broader universe outside the confines of the titular Pit itself. Also, as a disclaimer, I have not played the Sword of the Stars 4X strategy games that reside in the same universe as The Pit (somewhat surprising as I've played so many space 4X games I should really be writing for Space4XFan.com), so there may be stronger story connections with the races and technology of those games.

The intricacies of gameplay, not to mention the level of challenge, are the main factors that bring me back to The Pit every few years since its release. As you plunge deeper into the dungeon, difficulty mounts in multiple dimensions. Of course, as expected with any dungeon, the monsters get bigger, scarier, and more numerous, and the floor layouts expand in size and complexity. In addition, you must keep your hero fed as time progresses (the game is turn based but time passes with each action). You start with some meager rations which will run out relatively quickly, leaving you scrounging for food in random containers. Beyond just the food scarcity, players also need to conserve ammo, watch equipment durability, and be wary of various status effects that can quickly get out of hand if not treated. These challenges, however, are one of the main draws of the game, as you always feel you can get a bit farther in the next attempt if you tweak your strategy and get a bit lucky.

Speaking of food, there is also an extensive cooking and crafting system in The Pit. Not only does this give players a better way to stay fed, but it also allows for the creation of some useful items, like weapons and lock picks, from junk picked up during the run. The crafting recipe mechanic is also where The Pit has a bit of a "metagame" component. On any given attempt, you may find messages which can be partially or fully deciphered (based on your Decipher stat). Many of these messages hold background story fluff, but others contain recipes which are saved for use in future runs. The less scrupulous player can always just research all of these recipes online, but I found it more enjoyable to discover them on my own and feel a sense of progression despite dying time and time again.

At the core of all of The Pit's gameplay mechanics is how you develop your character. There are a lot of stats you can specialize in, including various weapon and foraging skills. Even though each character has starting tendencies and equipment that encourages a certain play style, I enjoyed customizing my character over the course of a given run for a semi-unique experience each time. For example, if I found a good rifle early on, I might specialize in the Rifle skill to make the best use of it. I also might want to raise my lock picking skills to access locked ammo crates, which become progressively more difficult to open as you go deeper.

[Paingod]

Almost all of ours are carts. It's not so much a moral stand. Most of our games have been gifts for the kids.

It is kinda annoying to only be able to have a limited number of games on the system at a time, but I haven't found it to be a significant barrier so far.

I appreciate the feedback. This makes me think I'll go to a hybrid approach. Each of the kids has their own Switch Lite, so I'll probably go digital with titles I don't think they'll like and cartridge for titles they may want to borrow.

Having multiple Switches was an incredible convenience when we lost power for almost three days a few weeks back. We were able to keep them charged off the generator and keep everyone sane.

[hitbyambulance]

i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?

Given your fondness for roguelikes and 'tough difficulty' games with a learning curve, how about Sword of the Stars: The Pit?

all right, i'll give this one another go. i think i put all of about half an hour into this one in the past.

[Paingod]

i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?

Given your fondness for roguelikes and 'tough difficulty' games with a learning curve, how about Sword of the Stars: The Pit?

all right, i'll give this one another go. i think i put all of about half an hour into this one in the past.

I dumped a fair number of hours into this one and left feeling like the difficulty ramp was...

1.1.2.2.2.3.3.5.5.8.8.12.14.16.24.36 ... Like you're trucking along, feeling good, clearing levels - and then you smack face-first into a wall. I never cleared a dungeon.

[Daehawk]

Prince of Persia Redemption...cancelled PoP game? Some old footage.

[Anonymous Bosch]

i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?

Given your fondness for roguelikes and 'tough difficulty' games with a learning curve, how about Sword of the Stars: The Pit?

all right, i'll give this one another go. i think i put all of about half an hour into this one in the past.

I dumped a fair number of hours into this one and left feeling like the difficulty ramp was...

1.1.2.2.2.3.3.5.5.8.8.12.14.16.24.36 ... Like you're trucking along, feeling good, clearing levels - and then you smack face-first into a wall. I never cleared a dungeon.

Yeah, it very much embraces the Roguelike or Procedural Death Labyrinth concept of failure being a learning experience, with attrition as a constant pressure. You have to constantly juggle food, melee weapon durability, ammo, armor durability, psi points, health, and plenty of other minor resources in order to advance. And difficulty does ramp up significantly the deeper you delve.

I strongly recommend playing with either The Quality of Life Mod or The Pit Fan Mod, available here, which help fix some of the more tedious gameplay mechanics and provide many useful improvements that make for a more enjoyable experience overall.

[Skinypupy]

Picked up Neoverse on a whim yesterday, and have really been enjoying it.

It's basically an anime-skinned version of Slay the Spire, with nearly identical gameplay and mechanics, but with a sci-fi setting. I find that I'm enjoying Neoverse's cyberpunk aesthetic far more than StS, which was always very 'meh' to me. The gameplay is similarly satisfying, having you progress through an increasingly difficult series of battles while building a stronger deck. The three classes all play very differently, and while the basic game is very simple to learn, there becomes a ton of cool strategic choices as you progress. There are some minor tweaks to the StS formula, with the combo system (allows you to get critical hits for laying down a specific sequence of card types) being the standout. It leads to some really tough decisions in combat, like having to choose between laying down the blue "defense" card that would double the next attack, or taking the less powerful attack now but breaking the combo streak.

If anyone burned out on Slay the Spire or want something similar but with prettier graphics and a different theme, definitely give Neoverse a look.

[coopasonic]

Picked up Neoverse on a whim yesterday, and have really been enjoying it.

I got it from May's Humble Choice and installed it this morning because I finished Gears Tactics and need to clean out my backlog a bit. Just jumping in blind I didn't have any idea what was happening half of the time. I mean I finished the first three fights without taking any damage and overheating a couple times, but I couldn't see where overheat was tracked, I couldn't see what combos were doing for me, the progression is just... not immediately apparent and the hints were not very helpful.

[Skinypupy]

Picked up Neoverse on a whim yesterday, and have really been enjoying it.

I got it from May's Humble Choice and installed it this morning because I finished Gears Tactics and need to clean out my backlog a bit. Just jumping in blind I didn't have any idea what was happening half of the time. I mean I finished the first three fights without taking any damage and overheating a couple times, but I couldn't see where overheat was tracked, I couldn't see what combos were doing for me, the progression is just... not immediately apparent and the hints were not very helpful.

Any buffs/debuffs on your character (overheat, faith, punishment, etc.) are all shown right above your toon. There's a small icon, which expands to a full description if you hover over it.

The small colored boxes (bottom left) show the combo progression. If it's red-blue-red, you need to play cards in that order to get the combo. Anything outside of that order breaks the combo and you start over. You can tell which ones you've played because the box will have a flame around it. Completing a combo makes your next attack do 2X damage, which can be hugely powerful (I did 80 damage to all enemies last night). Remember that both combos and the 2X damage multiplier can carry over between hands. There's a super-helpful relic you can equip that limits all combos to just three cards. It was the first one I grabbed, and has been a lifesaver so far.

It took me a couple hours to piece together how it all works. The mission structure is particularly poorly explained. There's basically 5 steps per chapter: 4 fights then a boss. You keep going until you're dead, basically.

Note that you can choose a "mission" for each step, which gives you a specific objective to complete. If you complete it (shown by a blue circle around the mission objective on the right side), then you can accept that reward. Cool thing is that you don't have to accept the reward right away, you can save it until later. I got two "30% heal" rewards very early in last night's run, and ended up saving them until the third chapter boss, when I needed some healing. You can also choose to either fight a normal enemy (for a normal reward) or an tougher "elite" enemy for a bigger reward. I usually stick with the normal mobs, but might change that once I get a few more equippable relics in place.

[Isgrimnur]

Perhaps Dirt Rally was a bad choice as the first game to attempt to learn a new wheel/pedal setup.

[Kasey Chang]

Perhaps Dirt Rally was a bad choice as the first game to attempt to learn a new wheel/pedal setup.

Maybe Dirt 4.

[Daehawk]

Leeeeroooooooy Jeeenkinnnnns turns 15 years old

Thats old. I must have been around 36 at the time.

[Skinypupy]

Tony Hawk 1 & 2 remasters coming in September.

My thumbs hurt already.

[Z-Corn]

Tony Hawk 1 & 2 remasters coming in September.

My thumbs hurt already.

Oh yeah! This was all over the IG feeds today of the pro skaters I follow and I am stoked.

When THPS1 came out I used to spend my lunches at Best Buy playing the 90 second demo over and over and over.

Today is Tony Hawk's 52 birthday.

[Skinypupy]

I don't think it was supposed to happen, but their system just let me sign up for a second "trial" month of Xbox Gamepass (the PC version) for $1.

Downloading Mechwarrior 5, Ori & the Will 'O the Wisp, Streets of Rage 4, The Surge 2, Sea of Thieves, and Age of Wonders: Planetfall as we speak. That should keep me busy for a while.

[Madmarcus]

Thank you for mentioning Neoverse. Mostly because it made me realize that I have Slay the Spire in my library! I have no idea why I never played it but now I have something to do tonight.

Which is good because I'm looking for a new game. I just finished Tale of Wuxia. I loved it even if I realize that overall it's a not a great game. The problem is that I now want either more turn based wuxia or a game with similar time management / training interspersed with bits of turn based play.

[Daehawk]

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/210960/mafi ... -next-week

Some kind of Mafia Trilogy is coming. I dont know if its a simple reboxing of them together or a remaster of them. I finished the first two. If I could have comfortable controls Id play and finish the third one.

EDIT: Looks like there are Definitive Editions of 1 & 2.

https://www.ign.com/articles/mafia-1-ma ... creenshots

[Daehawk]

Still finding this site handy. Just input your Steam name and it lists all your games. You can then filter your games by tons of filters. Handy.

https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/u/

[Blackhawk]

I've been using that for years. Ive even recommended it a few times. It's a great tool for figuring out what suits your mood.

Also:

https://howlongtobeat.com/steam.php

http://www.steamcompletionist.net/76561197967697633/

[Skinypupy]

Still finding this site handy. Just input your Steam name and it lists all your games. You can then filter your games by tons of filters. Handy.

https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/u/

Any third party site that pulls Steam info never works for me. I'm pretty sure I have something screwy going on with my Steam profile.

My Steam profile name (Skinypupy) is slightly different from my account name, and neither one shows up as valid in that site. I tried to input the URL to my profile from Steam's site, but that doesn't load anything either.

I've also noticed that the URL for my profile is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[string of completely random numbers]" when everyone else's is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[their user name]". Not sure why that is, but I'm sure it probably has something to do with why third party sites can never find me.

[Blackhawk]

Still finding this site handy. Just input your Steam name and it lists all your games. You can then filter your games by tons of filters. Handy.

https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/u/

Any third party site that pulls Steam info never works for me. I'm pretty sure I have something screwy going on with my Steam profile.

My Steam profile name (Skinypupy) is slightly different from my account name, and neither one shows up as valid in that site. I tried to input the URL to my profile from Steam's site, but that doesn't load anything either.

I've also noticed that the URL for my profile is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[string of completely random numbers]" when everyone else's is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[their user name]". Not sure why that is, but I'm sure it probably has something to do with why third party sites can never find me.

Your profile is set to private. That blocks any third parties from accessing it along with everyone else. See the red note at the top of Daehawk's link.

[Blackhawk]

Also, if you go onto your profile page, there is a spot to set your custom URL. Everyone has the long string of numbers, too. We've just set up our custom URL to make it easier.

[Skinypupy]

Still finding this site handy. Just input your Steam name and it lists all your games. You can then filter your games by tons of filters. Handy.

https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/u/

Any third party site that pulls Steam info never works for me. I'm pretty sure I have something screwy going on with my Steam profile.

My Steam profile name (Skinypupy) is slightly different from my account name, and neither one shows up as valid in that site. I tried to input the URL to my profile from Steam's site, but that doesn't load anything either.

I've also noticed that the URL for my profile is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[string of completely random numbers]" when everyone else's is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[their user name]". Not sure why that is, but I'm sure it probably has something to do with why third party sites can never find me.

Your profile is set to private. That blocks any third parties from accessing it along with everyone else. See the red note at the top of Daehawk's link.

Thought I had everything set to public, but I apparently missed one.

Also, if you go onto your profile page, there is a spot to set your custom URL. Everyone has the long string of numbers, too. We've just set up our custom URL to make it easier.

Thanks, changed that...someone give this a click and let me know if it works.

[coopasonic]

Thanks, changed that...someone give this a click and let me know if it works.

It works.