Octopus Overlords

The quotes from developers specifically say 'Marvel Games', but then:

For those of you who don’t know your Spider-Man from your Spiderman, I’ll point out that Ong’s string of adjectives drops heavy hints that Second Dinner’s Marvel game will include Aquaman, Swamp Thing, Krypto, and Midnighter.

All of those are DC characters. And I could get someone not knowing who Krypto or Midnighter are, but Aquaman? And Midnighter is a strange inclusion, because while he's published by DC, he isn't in the DC universe. He's Wildstorm.

JetFred wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:24 pm At this point I think even my mother-in-law knows DC from Marvel.

I think I'm vaguely insulted, as I don't follow the whole superhero genre and while I am aware that DC is different than Marvel, I figure Disney owns everything anyway (except for Harry Potter) so it is of little consequence. And I know whether Lord Palmerston was a Tory or a Whig, so that puts me one up on your mother-in-law

DC is Warner Brothers.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:14 pm DC is Warner Brothers.

Oh course it is . Which reminds me of my favorite Al Jolson quote: "What does Jack Warner need with an Oscar? It can't say yes".

Well, we finally rolled Little B 9.10's first ever MMO toon last night. After watching me play for a couple weeks, we took the plunge and she jumped into Final Fantasy XIV with me. I play on the PC and she plays on the PS4. It's really pretty awesome to watch this kid - with no prior MMO or RPG experience (she has only really played Minecraft on console) - work to figure out how to play a very complex game. And being able to run around with her and show her the ropes is a blast for me too. I usually just jump on my healer and follow her around while she battles low-level mobs.

She's actually picking it up remarkably well. She had been playing for about an hour when I went upstairs to put the Wonder Twins to bed. When I came back down 20 minutes later, she had accepted four of the starter quests, found the objective on the map, finished it, and turned them in. Seems basic for those of us who have been gaming for decades, but I thought that was pretty impressive for someone who is literally just starting out.

Now if I can just keep her away from the stupid emotes...she wants to either wave to or dance for every other PC she sees.

Ha, love it and times with my experiences as well.

My daughter (9.8)is "teaching" me how to play Maple Story 2. She got her first laptop this Christmas and is finally branching off the IPad, Animal Jam and Minecraft. We played about 3 hours of it this weekend. It was charming and made me LOL a couple of times.

We have good timing, as she gets to learn the harsh realities of "patch day" today.

FFXIV is doing their last big content patch before this summer's expansion, and the game is down for the next 24 hours. She's going to be bitterly disappointed that she won't get to play tonight...Mrs. Skinypupy sent me a text saying that the game was the only thing B talked about before school.

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 4:39 pm

JetFred wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:24 pm At this point I think even my mother-in-law knows DC from Marvel.

I think I'm vaguely insulted, as I don't follow the whole superhero genre and while I am aware that DC is different than Marvel, I figure Disney owns everything anyway (except for Harry Potter) so it is of little consequence. And I know whether Lord Palmerston was a Tory or a Whig, so that puts me one up on your mother-in-law

It's only an issue if you're writing an article on the subject. I don't care that people know/don't know the difference. I don't even expect general article writers to be subject matter experts on every topic they cover. This is a pretty fundamental mistake however. It would be like talking about a chevy recall and putting a giant Ford graphic over the article.

I got an email from Green Man Gaming, letting me know that several January releases have extra VIP discounts. One of those is Tropico 6. In previous years I'd be all over that, but I was disappointed with Tropico 5 and think this might be the time to wait for reviews and impressions.

I finally got 7000 hours in Civ 5.
What's sadder than that is there are thousands of people out there with more.

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:44 pm I finally got 7000 hours in Civ 5.

If I get a hundred hours on one game I think it's unusual. Wow...

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:56 pm

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:44 pm I finally got 7000 hours in Civ 5.

If I get a hundred hours on one game I think it's unusual. Wow...

I get the feeling you spend your gaming time on a much larger variety of games when compared to dbt. I fall somewhere in the middle, but I still have to work a day job too.

I have 313 games on Steam alone. I have quite a few over 100 hours but nothing like this one. Plus I'm a gamer junkie who is retired.

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:44 pm I finally got 7000 hours in Civ 5.

Holy shit.

The most time I’ve ever spent with a single game is Final Fantasy XIV, and that’s barely at 1,300 hours.

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:44 pm I finally got 7000 hours in Civ 5.
What's sadder than that is there are thousands of people out there with more.

Impressive!
I didn't know other people played games that much. I thought my 1,670 hours in XCom: EU were a lot!
I think my hours in Skyrim might even exceed that number, but most were played before I connected it to Steam and weren't counted.

Don't tell my wife. She's afraid that if I retire, I'll do nothing but play games.

I too have a number of games that I played the hell out of before Steam and a couple that might even exceed my CIV 5 total. Then there's the non Steam ones.
I have Fairway Golfthat I probably have twice as many hours but doesn't keep track.

Fardaza wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 10:42 am

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:44 pm I finally got 7000 hours in Civ 5.
What's sadder than that is there are thousands of people out there with more.

Impressive!
I didn't know other people played games that much. I thought my 1,670 hours in XCom: EU were a lot!
I think my hours in Skyrim might even exceed that number, but most were played before I connected it to Steam and weren't counted.

Don't tell my wife. She's afraid that if I retire, I'll do nothing but play games.

I have to add my top 7 most played games on steam to match the 1670 number. I am not sure that *all* of my steam tracked time would add up to dbt's 7k.

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:07 am I too have a number of games that I played the hell out of before Steam and a couple that might even exceed my CIV 5 total. Then there's the non Steam ones.
I have Fairway Golfthat I probably have twice as many hours but doesn't keep track.

i'm not sure how one puts 14,000 hours into Fairway Solitaire...

I remember really enjoying Fairway Golf Solitaire and probably put in 40 hours. Is there a Fairway Golf 2 that's just as good?

It might just be called Fairway, I'm not certain. It is the second one where you can earn or buy your clubs.
And yes, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if I have way over 10,000 hours in it.

Big Fish Games is your developer on Fairway Games. I played the heck out of the first one on my phone. The second one got deleted within a month of install, as it was more free-to-play exploitative.

For anyone that likes F1 series games, F1 2017 is on sale for $11 for the next 19 hours on Chrono.gg. It's a charity link once provided by the late TotalBiscuit. Generally their "Sale" games are like 2% better than Steam's prices, but today this one is a massive discount. Normally on Steam for $59.99.

Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 6:29 pm For anyone that likes F1 series games, F1 2017 is on sale for $11 for the next 19 hours on Chrono.gg. It's a charity link once provided by the late TotalBiscuit. Generally their "Sale" games are like 2% better than Steam's prices, but today this one is a massive discount. Normally on Steam for $59.99.

I'm surprised that F1 2017 is still at full price. Especially since IMHO F1 2018 is a better game at the same price.

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 5:44 pm I finally got 7000 hours in Civ 5.
What's sadder than that is there are thousands of people out there with more.

You made me look. I had 3444 hours on Civ5. I burned out on Civ6 after just 706 hours, although I know I'll return to it eventually.

I'm up to 218 hours in Fallout 4 and not done yet (although getting close). For comparison, I barely cracked 100 hours apiece in FO3 and FONV. I'm enjoying just wandering around FO4 because I've been to most of the locations in the game. The southern edge of the map is less than 5 miles from my house.

It looks pretty radioactive down there.

So as I half-asleep this morning check my mail, I find an email from Epic games, with "We detected a series of unsuccessful login attempts for your Epic Games account.". And I was temporarily locked out of the account. After taking a long shower I come back and try again and now they want me to change my password. I only got the account to get a free copy of Subnautica, which I already own on Steam but it was free after all. And they want me to set up two factor authentication. Great, something else to keep track of.

I really miss the pre-Big Internet days. Back when you used modems and signed onto electronic bulletin boards for the few computer games you had. You didn't need to worry about spam, hacking, phishing and "fake news".

And in a somewhat "off topic but hey I feel like reminiscing" aside, what I really miss are those Saturdays when my wife and I would get up and head off to Orlando, timing it so we could listen to Car Talk on the way over (no podcasts in those days, so if you didn't listen live, you missed it). We'd hit Enterprise 1701 just around eleven and I'd kill a good half hour just seeing what new games and books were in, then off to Fashion Square so she could shop, then lunch at Bennigan's and maybe hit a bookstore or two. Now board gaming is pretty much dead, the only bookstore worth visiting is Barnes & Noble and the Bennigan's is long gone. Car Talk is over. And Fashion Square long ago lost the Electronics Boutique

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:02 pm Now board gaming is pretty much dead

Ha. Not even close! I mean the rest of it yeah, but board gaming may be bigger than ever.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:07 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:02 pm Now board gaming is pretty much dead

Ha. Not even close! I mean the rest of it yeah, but board gaming may be bigger than ever.

Sorry, I should have been more specific, "the golden ago of wargaming is dead." Back in the days of Avalon Hill, SPI, Yaquino, and the others of that ilk that were popping out new games regularly that were reasonably priced. But of course you are right, there still is a lot of board gaming out there.

Also I should mention all the wargaming magazines, like The General, Strategy and Tactics, Moves, Aries, Fire and Movement and I'm sure a few others I'm missing. Most are gone . I got so many magazines a month (besides those, also Analog, Air & Space, Smithsonian, AW&ST, etc) that my wife actually questioned whether I was getting too many. Imagine!

Yeah wargaming is a whole sub-genre that I never really got into. I know there are die-hards (grognards?) that are still going at it but I don't know if they are still playing the same game they started 50 years ago or if they are playing anything new.

I’ve been playing Seekrieg, Downtown, and Elusive Victory with my local grognards.

I used to be a grognard that subscribed to all the magazines and owned some 100 wargames (boardgames).
When I first got into computer gaming about all I played was wargames. The last ten years have seen me slowing changing away from that. I seldom play the Nato symbols type wargame anymore.

I had a whole collection of Star Fleet Battles stuff, from SSD books to rule books, both pre-Doomsday and Doomsday stuff. But I think I've only ever played... two games of SFB with someone.

PC-based 'grognard' wargames were really big in the 80s, but faded out during the 90s and never saw a comeback (unlike CRPGs or adventure titles)

tho i actually did acquire a copy of Korsun Pocket in the mid 2000s

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:09 pm I had a whole collection of Star Fleet Battles stuff, from SSD books to rule books, both pre-Doomsday and Doomsday stuff. But I think I've only ever played... two games of SFB with someone.

Me too, although I never did play against anyone else . I did love to cut and paste the updates into the rule book. It was fun

This evening for a break I spent an hour and played a bunch of random missions in Door Kickers. I have... 138 hours on it now, which makes it my third highest played game, although at least a couple dozen of those hours are time spend in the editor. Back when you had to create your own textures using a photoshop type tool I spent many an hour building new missions, which you can see on my Door Kickers workshop page. It's easier now, but I've lost that motivation to spend a lot of time on it, especially when you get little or no feedback nowadays when you post a mission. I wish the devs would consider making a Door Kickers 2. It would be awesome.

I never did get through all the campaigns, but now it's fun just to take a break from reading or other games and go do a few random missions. I have a bunch of mods installed that give me new weapons and other things to try out as well.

Speaking of Door Kickers, I just uploaded a forty second video of a mission I played with a Red Panda mod that adds grenade launchers. It's called Derailed with a boom - A Door Kickers post action replay

38 and rainy all weekend. Winter has finally come to Atlanta. Time to dust of Skyrim and take it for a spin. I have this weird need to play Skyrim when the weather finally turns. It's become a yearly winter ritual. I was itching over the Holidays but had a bunch of new games and it was 60 out dammit. Funny enough I know the time is right to play it when my knee starts hurting. Cold and damp. I use to play Skyrim in the Summer but then I took an arrow to the knee.

morlac wrote: ↑Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:51 am 38 and rainy all weekend. Winter has finally come to Atlanta.

It's 75 and sunshine here in Central Florida . I probably get more game playing done in the summer when it's too damn hot to go outside

53 in San Francisco right now, expected to rain most of next week. Good thing my job just passed out new rain jackets. Hahaha. But I already have my own Columbia jacket that's supposed to be waterproof (but apparently, makes me sweat inside).

I plan to play Silent Storm Sentinels a bit more. Apparently, I never finished it (or don't recall doing so).

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:18 am Well, we finally rolled Little B 9.10's first ever MMO toon last night. After watching me play for a couple weeks, we took the plunge and she jumped into Final Fantasy XIV with me. I play on the PC and she plays on the PS4. It's really pretty awesome to watch this kid - with no prior MMO or RPG experience (she has only really played Minecraft on console) - work to figure out how to play a very complex game. And being able to run around with her and show her the ropes is a blast for me too. I usually just jump on my healer and follow her around while she battles low-level mobs.

She's actually picking it up remarkably well. She had been playing for about an hour when I went upstairs to put the Wonder Twins to bed. When I came back down 20 minutes later, she had accepted four of the starter quests, found the objective on the map, finished it, and turned them in. Seems basic for those of us who have been gaming for decades, but I thought that was pretty impressive for someone who is literally just starting out.

Now if I can just keep her away from the stupid emotes...she wants to either wave to or dance for every other PC she sees.

It's very fascinating to watch someone with zero prior experience with the genre work out how to plan an MMO. She loves the social aspect, with her crowning achievement so far being the fact she started an impromptu dance party in a main city hub. She's got all the navigation figured out, jumping between teleport locations with ease, navigating her journal and character sheet, maximizing her gear, etc.

I'm trying to guide her in the learning curve without telling her how to play "correctly", and it seems to be mostly working so far. As she played last night, we we talked about skill rotations, about class vs. job, and how to evaluate gear. She'll likely hit level 15 today and open up her first dungeon, which will be an interesting experience. We've already talked about roles (tank/healer/DPS) so she understands those basics, but she's really nervous about actually running content with other people.

This has been such a cool bonding experience.

Multiplayer minecraft and Roblox has been the gateway games for my daughter. She loves building random things, and she loves building homes and decorating them. Dealing with random strangers has been hit or miss as you can imagine, but it's mostly been hit. I remember the first time she (and her friend) got griefed and someone vaporized everything they had built in Minecraft, and that was a sad day and there were tears, but I had been keeping an eye on things and so the fall was cushioned somewhat. She was playing Minecraft on the Wii (or Wii U? I don't remember) and that is far more restrictive than PC minecraft. They basically let in a friend of a friend of a friend without knowing who he was, and it turns out he was a bad person. It was a good lesson about trust and strangers in a way that had real, but mostly harmless consequences. I could see her internalize the idea that "strangers = caution or danger" in a way that was only theoretical before.

So she plays whatever she wants now, multiplayer, but I don't think she has tried any true MMO's yet. Nothing that requires money anyway. She's 11 and pretty much an old hand at console multiplayer open world games. She's also far more trustworthy than her brothers, who will hang out with and be corrupted by "bad people" if I don't keep an eye on them. My daughter is like "bad words = bye bye" even though she hears those words at home more often than I'm comfortable with.

Everyone in this house started out playing Club Penguin, which was a pretty amazing game for kids and social interaction. It exists only on private servers now I think. I was very pleased with it overall.