Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:12 pm

I am about done with Sakura Dungeon. Only played 50 some hours, and I'd say more than half of that is grind. Instead of giving you just enough enemies to advance as you progress normally through the level, the game makes you redo sections of the level over and over until you can handle the boss. But then, the game was basically built with cheap construction kit with minimal assets and people who buy it know exactly what they're getting... boobies.

You have a party of 6, but only the front 3 actually do any fighting. And if you come up against a single enemy you can probably beat it even if that single is 2-4 levels above your party. If your party's like L50, you can probably beat L54 enemy by itself, and sometimes even L55 or L56 if you are careful in observing what damages get through the defense. But if enemies come at you in groups of 2 or 3, then your need enemies closer to your level. So when the game starts throwing L55 enemies at you all the time, you have to grind your entire party up to L53 or L54... by replaying the same levels over and over until the random encounters against lower level enemies, i.e. "the grind". BORING...

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:25 pm

Anyone remember Star Trek Legacy? What is your feelings on it? I remember trying it briefly...like until it switched time eras ....and that was that. But its been on my mind lately and it looks good from the pics and vids Ive seen. Is it a waste of time to bother with it?

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:54 pm

I bought that game but forgot where I put it. :-/

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 10, 2022 2:07 pm

I think I did too as I dont see it on any of my digi places. So if its a box which I think it is Ill never play it as I cant find anything these days.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Thu Feb 10, 2022 2:53 pm

I think that game was one of the last published Trek games, as such I don't really remember much publicity about it. It was console only as far as I know and I never got to it.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Feb 10, 2022 3:37 pm

There have been a number of Trek games since then.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 10, 2022 3:51 pm

No it was on PC. Ans yup been a few since .

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:45 pm

New tennis game coming......

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Fri Feb 11, 2022 8:49 pm

I have seen that dude on the cover in the pink and black shirt. He is a madman.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:28 am

Are there 4x/Civilization-like games that really emphasize the style of play found in the early game? Unit micromanagement, tile development and linking, and combat tactics? I'm not necessary looking for something "simple", but like many, 80% of the fun I have in 4x games is during the exploration and colonization phase. I don't think there isn't room in my heart for games that progress further in an engaging way, but dealing with moving 35 units and managing build queues for 12 cities each turn just isn't my idea of fun for long.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 1:14 pm

I dont play these type games any longer but I remember Europa Universalis IV being detailed.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 1:18 pm

I'm sorry, I should have specified turn-based. I think even pausable grand strategy on that level would cause my brain to meltdown.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 1:34 pm

Hmmmm....looking online I came up with

Endless Legend

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:04 pm

Sudy wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:28 am Are there 4x/Civilization-like games that really emphasize the style of play found in the early game? Unit micromanagement, tile development and linking, and combat tactics? I'm not necessary looking for something "simple", but like many, 80% of the fun I have in 4x games is during the exploration and colonization phase. I don't think there isn't room in my heart for games that progress further in an engaging way, but dealing with moving 35 units and managing build queues for 12 cities each turn just isn't my idea of fun for long.

Beyond Sol might scratch you where you itch:

It's basically a top-down space sim combined with a Civilization-style city builder, with economic, militaristic, and diplomatic victory conditions. So it plays akin to a micro 4X, in which you have one main city that serves as the headquarters of your faction, and you need to constantly expand and improve upon it to survive.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:22 pm

Mohawk Games' Old World, maybe?

JetFred · Post by **JetFred** » Sun Feb 13, 2022 3:34 am

Sudy wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:28 am Are there 4x/Civilization-like games that really emphasize the style of play found in the early game? Unit micromanagement, tile development and linking, and combat tactics? I'm not necessary looking for something "simple", but like many, 80% of the fun I have in 4x games is during the exploration and colonization phase. I don't think there isn't room in my heart for games that progress further in an engaging way, but dealing with moving 35 units and managing build queues for 12 cities each turn just isn't my idea of fun for long.

Before We Leave is more city builder than 4X, but only because it does away with combat altogether, which makes turns unnecessary. Not sure it's what you're looking for, but look and see.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:27 am

I was finally fed up with Team Fortress 2 and the bots ruining it and deleted it tonight. Love the game but Valve flat out refuses to take care of the game these days or give players options to block bots or play on bot free servers. Wish they'd shove bots up their asses. Teams can kick bots only on their team and only with enough votes. But you cant always call a vote even as it makes you wait minutes to to have the chance.

The entire time bots are running around spinning looking straight up in the air killing you instantly with one shot if in a sight line and spamming God awful noise, cussing, music, political bullshit and are simply made to be as fucking annoying as possible. And you cant really find a game without at least 1 - 5 bots. If you are LUCKY and find a nice server then sooner of later bots will join and instantly start their shit.

I joined game after game after game tonight trying to find one to play without them and they all had them in them. Ive seen servers with 6 - 8 bots per side. Its useless. I deleted. Fuck Valve.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 10:09 am

Not many companies pour a ton of effort into 15-year-old multiplayer games. Know what most MP games of that age are like? Shut down.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:37 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 10:09 am Not many companies pour a ton of effort into 15-year-old multiplayer games. Know what most MP games of that age are like? Shut down.

+1

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 3:46 pm

Dunno if there's enough interest in the game for its own thread, but I've been playing a lot of Nobody Saves the World lately (available on XBox and Windows) from Drinkbox Studios. It's a fun take on an action RPG dungeon crawler where your main character can shapeshift into a bunch of different forms with various different attacks and buffs that you can then switch out amongst the other characters as the game progresses. Features Drinkbox's usual humor, color, polished gameplay, and a great soundtrack.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 5:30 pm

Is anyone playing Blade & Soul? I cant get it to patch and run. It downloads the Unreal Engine 4 version then goes to patch but always dies around 36% Ive tried multiple times.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Feb 19, 2022 9:42 pm

I reinstalled DC Universe Online. Logged in and have two really cool characters I started way back when. Never did anything and Im lost. Lots of people playing this it seems. The areas have players running all over and looking for groups. This may be something I can stick with and learn perhaps. Doesn't look bad. Love the old characters I made.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sun Feb 20, 2022 5:20 am

There was the Kelvin Trek game where the crew went up against a different version of Gorn that's far more like the Borg,

There was Star Trek D A C, which was an arcade multiplayer game.

There is Star Trek Timelines that's a collectible card game, but it's mainly for mobile. Sort of new version of Con-Q-uest.

There was Star Trek Fleet Command, but that's actually another mobile game.

What else was there? Hmmm...

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Feb 20, 2022 12:18 pm

Ive tried that Kelvin Trek game multiple times. Its SO buggy that Ive given up each time. I want to play it though.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Feb 21, 2022 5:27 pm

Downloaded the "Arms Trader Tycoon" Demo, which can be described as "Tank Designer". There are a couple different campaigns, and in the demo, you get to play just as the Brits with the first tank. Research a hull, and later add improvements, like pistol ports, better MGs, better engines, wider tracks, better suspensions, and you may be able to corner the market, but you have to balance between something that can be easily produced but not that good, vs. something so good, but also so expensive nobody can afford...

The demo gives a taste, but there are so many components to research, unlock, and make combination thereof, it's hard to say which design would be better or worse so far. Intriguing subject, probably won't be out until next year.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Feb 22, 2022 7:49 pm

Got email from Bethesda. Seems they are dumping their Bethesda.net launcher.

We’re saying goodbye to the Bethesda.net Launcher this year. We would like to thank you for your support and assure you that all of your games are safe. If you’re not playing PC games through the Bethesda.net launcher then your work is done here. Thanks for reading! If you do have games through the Bethesda.net launcher, don’t worry. Starting in early April you’ll be able to migrate your games and Wallet to your Steam account. For more details on what this process will look like, read on.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:30 pm

Was trying out a couple different games

Wingspan: way too many interactions, you're basically planning like X turns ahead so on the final turn you suddenly get so many points you beat the opponent. It's almost like playing Yu-Gi-Oh or something. Except all of your cards are birds. The tutorial had too much on mechanics and nothing on strategy or tactics. Didn't really feel like learning it.

Tank Mechanic Simulator: repaired all the new tanks they included in the DLC drop, so I've repaired EVERYTHING at least once except the infamous Maus, the superheavy tank.

Gunship!: the old MicroProse game, from 15-18 years ago. Somehow the game started WITHOUT detecting a joystick, and did not accept my mouse inputs. ARGH. I don't really want to haul out my joystick just for this. May have to satisfy myself with Commanche 4 instead.

Kingsway: an adventure game presenting itself as a fictional OS, with each aspect of the game as a window. Cute, but... not much else? (free from Amazon) I made it to L5. While not easy, it's also not too difficult.

Mainlining: you're an agent for the fictional MI-7, working for an oppressive state where unlicensed software development carries a 25 yr sentence. And it seems some hacktivists have declared war on MI-7. Hack your way through a dozen cases tracking down leads, obtaining evidence (legally or not), find the responsible parties... from as simple as ID theft to as serious as drug smuggling and unlicensed webdev. // So far, the lampooning aspect is coming through loud and clear, and the game spoonfed you info so the investigation goes really only one way. It's fun and funny. Just finished case 3.

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Midnight Protocol: pretty compelling and fresh take on a "hacker" game. You play "Data", a hacker arrested by UN cyber-sec, but eventually released because they can't prove anything. But it's a year later. Now Data's out, and wanted to know WHY did Kraken dox'ed him and got him arrested. The game feels like a mix of XCOM (two moves per turn turn-based strategy) and the hacking from Deus Ex (the latest). The idea is pretty much the same: you start from the access node, and you move to other nodes, but if you hit an ICE in the middle you'll increase your trace level. You can make two moves on your turn, then an ICE can make two moves on their turn (if they're there). Your job is to get out (disconnect) before you are traced. What's different is there the way ICE adds to the nodes, and how you have to hack them and deal with the consequences. You can run a leech on a financial node to drain its credits. You can run a sniffer to sniff out the ICE before triggering them. You can install a trojan to catch the bad guys in the act. You can run a dagger to punch through the binary wall. And so on. According to the Devs, there are like 40+ programs you will eventually encounter as the network gets more and more complex. Sounds interesting.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Feb 22, 2022 11:13 pm

Im back to playing Destiny 2 and DC Universe in equal spurts. Not got room on my drive for another game unless I delete one. Theres other things I want to try.

EDIT: Reinstalled C&C Generals. Wasn't really into it when it came out. Me and my friends played it but only some skirmish back in the day. We just didn't go for it for some reason. I think with me it was both the graphics style they chose to use and the world. It wasn't the normal C&C world and factions. Plus it lacked FMV. I know the addon Zero Hour added a few crappy ones for intros and its part of this install package.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Feb 23, 2022 12:42 pm

Destiny 2 is more fun than I recall it being. It let me play a chapter from the new addon without paying and it was really fun. I had to kill a damn hard boss 8 times in a row though because I didn't realize I needed to use a finishing move on something of his to end him for good. DOH.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:30 pm

Squeenix’s decision to make the Final Famtasy 1-6 remasters available on mobile and PC only is utterly baffling. I’d really like to give FF VI another go, and Switch would be the perfect platform.

Alas.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Feb 25, 2022 3:43 am

Trying a bunch of demos as a part of Valve / Steam's Next Fest.

Occupy Mars Demo -- a Mars colony simulator that's supposed to launch soon after the Rover Mechanic Simulator, but it ran into severe delays, and now the Occupy name is way out of date. The demo just have me run around doing simple wiring up lights and solar panels and do crude allocations (you have 5 panels each providing 5 watts of power. You have 4 lights, needing respectively 9, 6, 5, and 3 Watt of power each to power up. You have two transformer panels each capable of handling up to 20W, with 4 in and 4 out. Find a way to wire the thing so all four lights glow.)

Doesn't sound very exciting to me. There's some story about you need to perform tasks before dust storms hit or something like that. Meh.

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Trying Food Truck Simulator -- apparently I can't even cook a burger in simulation. There's no warning about overcooking the buns, so I had to get another one. I cut the bun in half and try to drop it on the grill... It won't drop. Then half of the bun disappeared on me. I tried cutting the tomato and I got a stack. I tried to put the stack in the fridge but it only let me pick up once slice at a time?!? I tried to grill half of a bun and it won't drop onto the grill either. At this point I say enough is enough.

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Interdimensional is a Chinese import that needs a lot more localization. The idea is good: a 3D space combat game where you can design the ship with various modules. Unfortunately, there's almost no explanation on what the modules do other than how to connect them, or even how to drive one in combat.

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Zero-Point Demo is a variation on FTL where things happen continually and no action is considered an action. You are a scout attempting to survive a hostile sector blocked by enemy, pirates, and hostile aliens, and your job is to survive encounter with enemy flagship where you try to plant a computer virus onboard. You basically to to a sector without what's there, and encounter an enemy, and defeat it through proper allocation of your equipment and crew without killing them. Like FTL, or its terrestrial cousins like Forts, putting a crew at a station enhances the performance, but you have more systems than crew, and losing any of the systems can have disastrous effects. The difference this time is moving crew between systems is this time in 3D, as you basically get a behind the shoulder cartoon cam where you observe the crew heading into the sector to turn wrenches or fight fires or whatever they need to do. I personally prefer a more serious view where you observe the crew through their helmet cam / HUD and see what they see would be, IMHO, more immersive, but this one is not bad. Demo basically gives you about 10-15 turns where you travel across maybe half of the map.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Feb 25, 2022 9:18 pm

Tried playing Space Rogue, and it's actually pretty good. It's basically FTL, except instead of being herded across the map, it's more of a random sector crawl where you try to mine, kill a few baddies, have some random encounters, while trying to grow your ship and crew for further adventures.

The ship has been slightly upgraded to isometric 3D (no rotation) and I'm finding the ship upgrades to be very difficult, as the titanium, metal you need to upgrade the ship with, EXTREMELY scarce, and I spent some on the wrong upgrade. Basically, your basic ship does not have drones, and I found a set of combat drones on a base, so I bought it. Then I found drone station cost 25 TI to install, because there was no drone station onboard at this time. So eventually, after fighting through multiple sectors, finally got enough. Installed it... Only to find my combat drone is a drone Level 2 station, which requires an ADDITIONAL drone station upgrade to use. ARGH!!!!!!! (or was it an additional ENGINE POWER to use? I don't care. )

TI is both easy AND hard to come by. There are various opportunities to "mine", but it's basically dice-throwing. You have 4 chances to drill on the map, and the map varies from null (can't mine here), green, yellow, orange, to red, in terms of risk. If you hit 3 "volatile deposits", your probe goes kaput. Of the four, you can also hit "treasure" (which yields credits, not TI) or "worthless rock". Since it costs from 20 to 50 credit for "mining rights" it's a crapshoot whether you get any, when you can buy a unit at a local repair base for 40 creds.

It costs 5 TI for first level upgrade (1 to 2), 10 for next level (2-3), and I haven't checked what's the next level. And there are like 8+ systems to upgrade. That 25 units I spend to put in the drone station could have upgraded 5 other components. ARGH!!!!!!!!

I've upgraded most of my crew to level 3 after long fighting, repairing, healing them from damage, and lots of fighting other ships, pirates or else. But most of ship's upgrades are stuck at level 1 due to that mishap, so when I moved into sector 4, I was unable to deal with an enemy ship that I was forced to flee, and I don't see a way around this guy. Most of the mining and other events are one-time events. So the map is cleared of stuff and unless you turned pirate and wanted to raid neutral ships there's little else to do to build yourself back up. Damages to ship hull have to be repaired at a starbase, which also cost credits.

Interesting and frustrating at the same time. Worth playing, but there's clearly some strategy involved.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sat Feb 26, 2022 2:15 pm

Heh, for a second (until you described the gameplay) I thought you were talking about the OG Space Rogue that was released by Origin back in 1989.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Feb 26, 2022 3:02 pm

Was a really good game supposedly.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Feb 26, 2022 3:06 pm

Max Peck wrote: ↑Sat Feb 26, 2022 2:15 pm Heh, for a second (until you described the gameplay) I thought you were talking about the OG Space Rogue that was released by Origin back in 1989.

No, not that one. I remember that game, one of the few Origin games I didn't play.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Feb 26, 2022 11:56 pm

Wow I am having a hell of a lot of fun playing Halo Infinity multiplayer! It feels really weird like Im playing in plastic or something but Im doing good. Im gain exp. I just let it toss me into maps and it seems to be team death matches. You spawn with random weapons Having a lot of fun that way. Ive customized my guy a little. Will do more tomorrow.

Gotta stop being so tense during matches too as my neck is stiff after a match. Also its sorta Tron like with how enemies and maps all glow. At least it makes it easy to tell who is who quickly.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Mar 01, 2022 3:11 am

Decided to go all retro... and dug out Rambo the game.

It's a cover gallery shooter. And it's darn hard, even on the easy level. The mouse doesn't help at all, as the crosshair moves so slowly. So I basically turned on a trainer. THEN the game told me "try not to kill the cops and the National Guardsmen" Sheesh, you want me to shoot the guns out of their hands or something?

I remember this goes through the first three movies, as I remember getting stuck on the tank vs. gunship level.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Mar 02, 2022 12:54 am

Few games that may hold promise

And the sequel to FAR Lone Sails

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:08 am

The first is free.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Wed Mar 02, 2022 8:54 am

Yeah, I just read a positive review on Aperture Desk Job a couple minutes ago. It acknowledged it's not a full game but still entertaining with or without a steam deck.

I took a look at Hero's Hour a few days back and was on the fence about it. But reading that it has real-time combat means I'll pass for now. That still isn't something I enjoy, plus the pixel graphics were small for my aging eyes and not particularly appealing. I'll revisit if reviews are glowing.

I haven't encountered that last one before. Interesting.