Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

[Paingod]

I have no intention of sharing PC's with my kids. Mine is the best in the house by design and theirs are what I could cobble together from parts. They work. It's not pretty, but I like to think it's building character. Heck, the eldest even learned on his own that if he has trouble booting, he just needs to unplug the video cable and plug it back in before it gets to POST.

Right now the two of them share a PC. I have parts to build a second one for the youngest if he ever shows interest. Right now he's very into LEGO and art. That's fine.

[GreenGoo]

It's like building the most amazing model rail set in your basement, then giving the kids some Thomas the tank engine plastic toys.

I just can't do it.

[coopasonic]

It's like building the most amazing model rail set in your basement, then giving the kids some Thomas the tank engine plastic toys.

I just can't do it.

My kids have access to:
PS4 Pro
PS3
Xbox One
Xbox 360
2 Kindle Fires
Nintendo Switch
Wii U
Wii
2DS XL
2DS

I am not feeling too bad about them having to use a lesser gaming PC.

[GreenGoo]

And yet that model train you've built in the basement costs thousands of dollars more and puts them all to shame. If it wasn't so awesome they woudn't want to play with it much in the first place.

We don't have any xboxes or PS's, but I doubt buying them would change how I feel about it.

Just so we're clear, I'm not trying to tell anyone "they're doing it wrong" and I'm definitely not getting the feeling anyone is telling me "I'm doing it wrong". I just don't want anyone mistaking this back and forth for disagreement.

[Blackhawk]

There was a time when the kids and I shared a PC. We had two at the time, one of which was my gaming rig, while the other was cobbled together out of spare parts. They played Roblox a lot in those days, and letting the eldest on my system was the only way they could play together. But at the same time, their gaming was treated like a reward they had to earn (by good behavior) and was limited to two hours per day, so I was happy to let them game. It gave them an incentive to behave. There was also a media/TV computer that barely ran and was unusable for any type of gaming.

A few years ago I was able to get some hand-me-down parts together together to fix the TV computer when it finally croaked, and the parts made it capable of running most games that weren't cutting edge. I had enough parts left over to upgrade the kids' computer as well. After that if they wanted to game, my eldest would be on the TV computer. He'd drag in a card table and his desk chair. There was no question of them kicking me off of mine. On the bright side, it led to years of us playing LAN games together as a family, which was awesome.

[Skinypupy]

I've come to realize that 25 hours has become my max tolerance for most games. The moment a game goes past that length, the chances of me actually finishing it become exponentially smaller with each additional hour. My backlog this year has become littered with games that I simply wandered away from at the 20-25 hour mark because a new shiny grabbed my attention.

I hit 25 hours in Divinity OS 2 last night, and almost immediately felt that pull to ditch it for something new (Spider Man or Dragon Quest 11). Didn't help that I hit a major city, which caused my quest log to literally triple with sidequests that felt mostly pointless.

Oddly, MMO's seem to be mostly immune the 25-hour curse. I can usually play those for hundreds of hours before getting bored.

[GreenGoo]

Only rpgs. Almost anything else will be based on how much I'm enjoying a game. Normally I consider 25 hours or less a failure. If I played a 4x for less than 25 hours it's probably a not very good 4x.

RPGs are another breed, and I struggle to stay focused and my enjoyment drops quickly.

I don't know why.

[Isgrimnur]

I have played literally hundreds if not a thousand plus hours of baseball and hockey games.

[coopasonic]

Since 25 hours is more or less a decent weekend of gaming for me, my limits are a little higher. It probably helps that there really aren't that many games that draw my interest anymore. I have had zero pull to buy Spider-Man despite it being on my top games I am looking forward to list for quite a while. I think I have learned that the new shiny is rarely particularly shiny... On the other hand I will be playing the hell out of Shadow of the Tomb Raider next weekend unless they totally blew the formula. I guess that means I need to really crank on DOS2 this weekend.

[coopasonic]

I have played literally hundreds if not a thousand plus hours of baseball and hockey games.

I feel like sports games are different from more traditional games in that each session can be a complete experience. The end of a season is a more completer experience and the management and dynastic aspects of modern sports games can make it a lot more like an RPG but there are still very clear break points. (Yeah, I used "completer" and "dynastic" in the same sentence. What are you going to do about it?)

[Isgrimnur]

I'm'a tell Daehawk.

[GreenGoo]

*adds coop to the list*

[Skinypupy]

Since 25 hours is more or less a decent weekend of gaming for me, my limits are a little higher.

I think that's my biggest issue. 25 hours is typically 3-4 weeks worth of gaming time for me, since between travel and family obligations, I rarely average more than an hour a day to play.

While I don't buy nearly as many games as I used to, there's usually at least one new shiny a month that I get interested in, which pulls my interest away from whatever I'm currently playing. I'm already trying to convince myself not to buy the new Tomb Raider until I finish one of these others.

Only rpgs. Almost anything else will be based on how much I'm enjoying a game.

That fits, since the vast majority of what I play are RPG's.

[jztemple2]

I've come to realize that 25 hours has become my max tolerance for most games. The moment a game goes past that length, the chances of me actually finishing it become exponentially smaller with each additional hour. My backlog this year has become littered with games that I simply wandered away from at the 20-25 hour mark because a new shiny grabbed my attention.

I'm also cutting out of games before completion. I just reached 27 hours on Two Point Hospital and I just don't have the interest to continue. For me it's not that I have something shiny and new to go to, rather that I get bored with the gameplay. This is especially true with management or strategy games. Now games like Fallout 4, XCOM 2 or the last couple of Assassin's Creed games I've played to completion because I'm finding new stuff as I play that interests me, new locations or gameplay elements. I was going to say the Far Cry series, but I never did finish the last three games because I stopped getting anything from them. This was especially true of Far Cry 5.

The only exceptions that come to mind are a couple of games that might seem repetitious but somehow drew me in. Doorkickers was one, I think because it was easy to pick up and play for just a few minutes at a time. Another one is Fields of Glory II. I think I've stayed with that one because I've made up a tracking list so I'll never play as or against the same army twice, so I'm always seeing something new.

Oh, and I'll also add the two Watch_Dogs games. The gameplay was interesting and like Assassin's Creed Origins and Fallout 4, I enjoyed the story lines and wanted to keep going to see what happened.

[Isgrimnur]

[coopasonic]

I know what I'm doing this weekend!!!!


Playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider. You?

[Paingod]

I like that the tweet has "Site Error" instead of a screen link. Looking at a RPS article, Steam is going to have a whole section designated for pornography. I'm not sure how excited I am for that with my little kids floating around on Steam with their own games. I assume it's accessed by simply passing an age verification click, not any kind of real security. Just like the rest of the internet, I suppose.

[Isgrimnur]

To view the store page, you have to be logged in. And, for that title at least, the screenshots are on the tamer side.

[wonderpug]

And, for that title at least, the screenshots are on the tamer side.

So like a dominatrix with a whip?

[MonkeyFinger]

And, for that title at least, the screenshots are on the tamer side.

So like a dominatrix with a whip?

... that took me a second.

[Kasey Chang]

With a little bit of spare income, I went on a game buying "spree"... sorta.

Tried Robots and Dungeons. It's basically a scifi-theme Diablo. You start with a simple robot with 2 chain guns and a drone, you go down to planet to kill baddies, and perform missions for loot chests and minerals. Loot chests get you upgrade parts for the robots, weapons, and special abilities / skills. There's a little bit of crafting, and the action is your typical twin-stick shooter. I wonder why there isn't any gamepad support.

Tried Mercs and Mechs: Black Talon Company. It's basically a squad-based tactical RTS sci-fi theme thing there you try to not to get your squad killed while solving tactical puzzles. It's okay so far.

[Alefroth]

With regards to child pornography laws, does the game have to somehow establish that the depicted characters are not not minors?

[Daehawk]

Watching John Wick video clips makes me want to play a Hitman game.

[Max Peck]

9 games to play if you want to feel like John Wick

• Max Payne 3
• Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
• GTA 5 (in first person)
• Hitman: Absolution
• Hotline Miami
• Stranglehold
• Superhot
• Payday 2
• Nintendogs

[dbt1949]

Well, I finally hit rock bottom. Instead of buying a new game I'm actually going and playing some of my backlog games.

[Daehawk]

Max Payne 3 - finished it
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - finished it
GTA 5 (in first person) - loved it
Hitman: Absolution - if thats the last one I need to go back and play it
Hotline Miami - played it
Stranglehold - finished it
Superhot - not for me
Payday 2 - not for me
Nintendogs - is that a pet game??

[Daehawk]

Sometimes returning to a game is impossible. Take Mars War Logs. I left because I got stuck on a unbeatable fight. That was a year ago. Now that Im trying to return not only do I have to deal with that same area but now Ive forgotten the controls, what my inv is for, and a bunch of other stuff I wasn't dealing with when I left. So now Im really super boned. This is why I give up on games perma like.

[Kasey Chang]

Playing Landinar, Convoy Games' take on the Elite / X / Privateer formula. It's 3rd person, and so far, it's interesting, as it's got the small system, lots of procedural content, little quests onboard the stations AND off, bounty offices, but it's also got a full ship builder, where you can buy templates and activate them to build new ships and transfer all your stuff over, in 3D, and you can even control where certain things go, like cargo port, cockpit, engines, and so on. Right now I'm still doing small-time bounties (level 1 and maybe level 2 enemies).

EDIT: I've got myself into super-corvettes now (9000 hull instead of 3000) but not frigate. I've updated weapons to Mk 2 but looks like I need better engines and Mk 3 weapons. Also, the game talks about "broadside weapons", which I take to mean weapons mounted 'sideways' and those are completely different from the regular weapons. The front weapons tend to be miniguns or autocannons, while broadside weapons tend to be "rockets". Using WASD to steer the ship is okay, but somewhat unintuitive, and the game doesn't go gamepads that I can see. I can kill level 1 and 2 enemies, no problem, but my maneuverability sucks, which means I need side thrusters and better engines as I said before. Choices are chemical, ion, and plasma (taking fuel, power, or both). Power means I need to install additional powerplant in the ship, while plasma kinda needs both fuel and power, but not that much, except those engines are kinda hard to come by.

The quests are a bit PITA, as it's your typical "FEDEX" quest where you go looking for a certain cargo, except you don't really want to go from system to system. Privateer had it right when you don't even have a jump engine to get out of the local system to start with. This one lets you go run into very bad trouble right in the beginning, if you don't follow orders or be careless in picking bounty orders.

[Daehawk]

Kinda in the mood for a space game but cant afford Star Control Origins and was looking through my old games. I came across Starlancer but dont feel like digging the disc out and fooling with along with a joystick. But I was thinking I sure would like a Starlancer CGI animated show to watch.

[dbt1949]

I was viewing my Steam que just now and one of the games they showed was a porn game. I knew they at least one but I was surprised they thought I'd be interested.
It looked pretty crappy.

[Daehawk]

Kinda in the mood for a space game but cant afford Star Control Origins and was looking through my old games. I came across Starlancer but dont feel like digging the disc out and fooling with along with a joystick. But I was thinking I sure would like a Starlancer CGI animated show to watch.

I posted this in my SC2 thread but thought Id repost here.

Since this has starting impinging on my one nerve Ive started looking for games like SC2. Maybe a bit newer. Doesn't have to be. So far this is what Ive found. Also I left out Escape Velocity Nova. Just didn't look good.

3030 Deathwar Redux - I own this one
Endless Sky
Drox Operative - own this too
Starsector - own it
VoidExpanse - own it very fun

See now the trouble with these are ...the ones I own and played....are fun and all but they are not very SC2 like. Theres no planet landings and exploration. They are basically ship exploring and fighting. Any mining is done on asteroids and space hulks. But I may need to go back to a couple that I didn't give a hige go at like 3030 or Drox. Ive played Starsector and VoidExpanse to death.

[Max Peck]

If I wanted to play something along the line of Star Control 2, I'd just install The Ur-Quan Masters.

[Daehawk]

I have the HD version in. Want something like it but newer...made better with more newer parts to it.

[Max Peck]

Such meta, so wow!

We can now all play Exapunks players' in-game games for free

Not everyone can hang with the console cowboys in cyberspace; some of us can merely gaze in wonder and astonishment at what keyboard wizards accomplish in Zachtronics games. But if you’re not a kewl enough d00d to hack and program in Exapunks, the latest Zachlike, you can now at least play people’s created in-game games for free. Zachtronics last night released the TEC Redshift Player, a free standalone simulation of Exapunk’s fictional in-game handheld console. And the way to play Redshift games is cute: you download pictures of cartridges (which magically contain the data) then drag ’em in into the deck.

[Kasey Chang]

I have the HD version in. Want something like it but newer...made better with more newer parts to it.

Maybe Landinar. It sorta feels that way.

[Pyperkub]

I lost on Jeopardy, baby... ooh, ooh ooh, ooh

[GreenGoo]

I lost on Jeopardy, baby... ooh, ooh ooh, ooh

I watched it without volume, but I'm pretty sure I got all but the $1000 question, as I didn't recognize the video. It's possible hearing the audio would have helped. Since it was just video, I'm also not sure what the question was, so I assumed it was "identify this game".

[Daehawk]

I have the HD version in. Want something like it but newer...made better with more newer parts to it.

Maybe Landinar. It sorta feels that way.

I saw you post about it before and its been on my wishlist since.

[Daehawk]

I lost on Jeopardy, baby... ooh, ooh ooh, ooh

I watched that last night on dvr. I kept fussing they weren't picking the category and then I saw why. Wow they sucked. I got them all. Silly teachers

[Skinypupy]

I'm all for making a game more accessible, but what they've done to SWTOR is just kinda sad. I was in the mood for a SW game, so I jumped back in for a month to try out the Imperial Agent storyline, as I'd heard it was the best.

While the story is interesting, the game has literally no challenge at all. It's literally impossible for most mobs to kill you once you have a healer companion. My doorbell rang while I was mid battle with a pack of 5 mobs. I went upstairs, had a 15 minutes conversation with my neighbor, then came back down to see both my toon and companion still at 100% strength, and 3 of the 5 mobs dead from my companion's weak auto-attack. You occasionally go up against a "boss" who might knock down 5-10% of your health before dying, but even that is pretty rare. Even though I have a whole action bar full of skills, I've only used 3 of them throughout my 26 levels so far: one burst DPS, one AOE, and one standard attack. Those three skills kill literally everything. This is all while doing story missions only. I haven't touched a single sidequest or group dungeon.

Maybe it gets harder later on (and I'm sure the group and end-game content is more challenging), but the basic game isn't even really a game. You run from spot to spot, click on a doo-dad or take 20 seconds kill some dude, then progress to the next cutscene. It's all just sort of pathetic, really. I've stuck with it so far because I've been in the mood for a SW story, but it's wearing thin already.

No wondering it's dying a slow death.