Octopus Overlords

At the time I get them on sale ive wanted them years. Then as more time passes I find I dont want to play them.

2 games that Ive tried before and gave up on multiple times for various reasons are tickling my mind to play them again. To give them another go. Both LA Noire and The Godfather.





Ive given LA Noire 2 semi good tries. Both times I got sidetracked by other games. I dont recall having any problems with it or getting stuck. Its just sorta a boring game in parts I think.

The Godfather I have given 1 go at it. I seem to do ok. I recall having some control issue. I think my controls were backwards or something. Some smartaleck claimed it was a pirated version but I own it on DVD or CD so its not the reason. I think thats the reason I quit...not being able to find a fix. But I finished both Mafia games and really think I should finish this one someday. Then again I have Mafia III to play yet.

Over time I have marked games on Steam as "Following". It just occurred to me that I have never seen anything from those games again. How do I access the games I've followed? I just spent ten minutes going over the Steam website and I can't find it. I know it must be a giant, flashing, pink neon sign I'm missing, but I am seriously blind on this one.

Speaking of The Godfather games. I was trying to add them to my Origin account. Its SO much easier to just have a digital game work instead of the cd installs and patching and such. But where TGF2 took my code and added itself to Origin TGF1 did not.

Now we bash EA a lot for deserved reasons I think. But Ive had to deal with Origins support multiple times and every time they have been beyond awesome. In every way. Once I was having some issue with getting a Red Alert or C&C game on there and they simply gave me the entire C&C / RA catalog of games. All of them!

This time they couldn't help me add TGF1 because it was simply too old and was never released digitally. I figured that was that. But the rep offered me another EA game of my choice from a list. This is it...

Bejeweled 3
Theme Hospital
Syndicate (1993)
Mass Effect 2
Dead Space 2
Dragon Age: Origins or Inquistion (Base Game Only)
Battlefield 4 (Standard Edition)
1 DLC (Sims 3, Battlefront & Battlefield 4)
SimCity
Medal of Honor Warfighter
The Sims 3
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Unravel

I own about everything on there then I saw Unravel. OMG I remember wanting that game and had forgotten it. So ya sure Ill take Unrevel no problem. Looks like its going to be fun. Not only that but the rep was fast, intelligent, and actually nice. Typed proper English and all. Its actually a pleasure dealing with them. I dont get how a company like EA can be so bad yet their Origin support staff is beyond top notch.

Fitzy wrote: ↑Sat Jul 21, 2018 9:06 am Over time I have marked games on Steam as "Following". It just occurred to me that I have never seen anything from those games again. How do I access the games I've followed? I just spent ten minutes going over the Steam website and I can't find it. I know it must be a giant, flashing, pink neon sign I'm missing, but I am seriously blind on this one.

If you go to Profile/Games, there is a "Followed" tab.

Thanks!

I've played Godfather for a while, it felt a lot like Saints Row 2 with a lot of set missions based on the movies.

Speaking of Saints Row, I played the first one all the way through on the X360. I'm disappointed that it never made it to the PC.

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 21, 2018 5:19 pm Speaking of Saints Row, I played the first one all the way through on the X360. I'm disappointed that it never made it to the PC.

it's starting to get playable in Xenia (an Xbox 360 emulator in development)

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Sat Jul 21, 2018 11:05 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 21, 2018 5:19 pm Speaking of Saints Row, I played the first one all the way through on the X360. I'm disappointed that it never made it to the PC.

it's starting to get playable in Xenia (an Xbox 360 emulator in development)

Yup, that's that's the way I remember the game starting. I never did get too into the later games.

What's the best game on the market right now for space combat where you pilot one ship in First Person and can upgrade/alter/customize it?

I've got...

• X3: Albion Prelude - A possibility, but the "Empire" aspect is huge, and is kind of essential to earning a lot of money without cheating (mods or Stock Market). Plus, I've logged hundreds of hours in my current save and it has a very "Been there, done that" feeling.
• Freelancer - This is very close. One ship at a time for you to manage, but the customization is limited.
• Empyrion: Galactic Survival - Too much building and harvesting for the mood I'm in. I want a pre-built ship, not one I make poly by poly.
• Zigfrak - IIRC, it's a little too ADD for my tastes. I only logged 10 hours playing it.
• Rebel Galaxy - Not First Person, but fun.
• Everspace - A possibility. I've beaten it once, which opens up new options, and haven't explored those yet. I'm looking for a longer journey, and less one that starts over again every hours or two.
• Star Citizen - *snort*

I'm considering Elite: Dangerous, but the PvP concepts turn me off. I've heard that can be minimized. I'm also looking at X-Rebirth, since you're in a single ship the entire time, but I don't know if the game would put me off by being "Sort of" X-Series, but not "enough" X-Series.

X3 - not played it. Loved the other two. Wasn't any customization to them . you just got better ships. No idea on 3.

Freelancer - Same. Just new ships.

Empyrion: Galactic Survival - Dont know this one..hell may own it and dont know it.

Zigfrak - Never heard of it

Rebel Galaxy - As you say not first person but a damn fine game. Got to dragging on with same old same old further in. May replay again soon.

Everspace - No idea

Star Citizen - *snicker*

Might look into Dakstar One. Fun and can customize the ship. Not sure on view.

Having a ship to upgrade and change looks too in space is what Id consider one of my favorite things ever but off hand I just cant think of one. Im really sleepy and going to bed so maybe its just not dawning on me. But some great space sims off hand I can name are both Freespace 1 & 2.........Starlancer......Tachyon The Fringe...........Privateer 1 & 2.............VoidExpanse.............Starsector.........and one of the best ever SPAZ( Space Pirates and Zombies) sounds silly but its amazingly fun and addictive.

Im a HUGE old space gamer so I have tons more info if you want to ask.

EDIT: Ohhhhh dang I almost got the perfect one sorta,....Star Wolves series. NOT first persom. Its a sim type. You have a mothership which you can upgrade with engines and turrets and stuff plus you run a merc fighter squd from it. Hire pilots and buy and upgrade them fighters. Run missions. Really fun with some bugs.

Yeah. I loves me some space games, too. I do have SPAZ, SPAZ 2, Star Wolves 1-3, Void Expanse, StarSector - but these are all 3rd person. The Homeworld series and a lot of others are just too tactic and large in scope. I want something "up close & personal"

Starsector comes really close, despite being 2d. I've just played it to death on the current build (like 0.81a, I think) and am eagerly waiting for the next one (0.9).

There is always Space Rangers, Astrox, Darkstar One, and Icarus. Space Rangers is 3rd person. There's old Tachyon

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 8:54 am There is always Space Rangers, Astrox, Darkstar One, and Icarus. Space Rangers is 3rd person. There's old Tachyon

That's a second vote for Darkstar One. I went hunting for it, and it's a 3.5 Star game on GOG with a few people claiming it's simply inferior to Freelancer. With two recommendations here, is it actually a mediocre game, or are people just tearing it apart because it's not Freelancer?

I do have Space Rangers HD (I think I've bought this game three times over the years), but was really looking for a real-time, flying, first-person.

I do have Astrox: Hostile Space Excavation. I think I put 20 minutes into it before I got bored. Is this something I should put more time into?

Paingod wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:41 am I'm considering Elite: Dangerous, but the PvP concepts turn me off. I've heard that can be minimized.

All the locations are instanced, and when you launch the game you select the matchmaking mode for that session. The choices are open play (can be matched with anyone), private group (if you are a member of a group) and solo play (will not be matched with anyone).

I've actually never played Freelancer, just keep missing it until it's no longer available. I did finish DS1, so I can say it's NOT a bad spin on the Elite/Privateer formula.

But if you want something along that vein, I'd say check out Tachyon: The Fringe.

There's Starpoint Gemini franchise, but that's more 3rd person than first.

Spawn camping, Eve-style

“If your enemy logs off, make sure they can’t log on.” – Sun Tzu, ancient Chinese general and fan of Eve Online.

Yes, the space warfare MMO is once again full of exploding spaceships thanks to a new war between two large blocs of corporate murder fans. It’s as convoluted as any other conflict in this game of moneymaking and military skulduggery, but basically: a huge battle broke out last week between two massive superfleets, and now hundreds of pilots from one of those fleets are trapped, besieged by a worrying number of Goonswarm hyenas thirsting for shipwrecks.

At the end of the 10-hour battle, EVE downtime kicked in. At least 14 Titans had been destroyed and almost 3 trillion ISK (Eve’s virtuacash) was lost in total, according to the battle report. The Northeastern Bloc technically came out on top in terms of ISK lost, but there’s a complication. Over 300 of their best pilots are now stuck in the system.

You see, after Eve came out of downtime, the pilots of 145 Titans and another bunch of flyfolks in 170 supercarriers simply stayed logged off. Sensing an opportunity, Imperium and Legacy set up a “hellcamp”, essentially circling the waterhole. They’ve built another Keepstar and a Fortizar (another angry space station) close to the logoff point. Now, if any of the Northeastern pilots log on, they know they’ll be immediately razed without support. For these important ships, the southwestern forces have basically blockaded the game. A rescue attempt has been made, according to a recent post on the New Eden Report, with a fleet of Northeastern cruisers sent to dismantle ship-slowing “bubbles” and clear the way for their allies to log in and quickly escape, but it didn’t work.

EVE Online - Constantly redefining what it means to be an asshole since 2003.

I gave my character to a friend who used him to fly a stealth ship designed to locate and kill ejected pilots. He would hang out in systems likely to be attacked for days so he's be in system for the pod kills afterwards.

EVE's a crazy game filled with dicks.

Every so often, I get the urge to check out EVE Online and see what all the fuss is about.

Then I read stuff like this and think "nope, I'm good".

Yup. I played EVE for 14 days during a free trial. On the last day of my trial, I tip-toed out into 0.0 space and was immediately killed as soon as I zoned in. I logged off, and uninstalled the game without a second thought.

Eve seems much more fun to read about then to actually play.

Paingod wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:01 am That's a second vote for Darkstar One. I went hunting for it, and it's a 3.5 Star game on GOG with a few people claiming it's simply inferior to Freelancer. With two recommendations here, is it actually a mediocre game, or are people just tearing it apart because it's not Freelancer?

I actually have no experience with Freelancer, but I played DarkStar One a few years ago. It was definitely fun. Thing to keep in mind is that it's a german game with some translating issues, so where some things should have been straightforward, it can be a headscratcher when it comes to refer to certain things. Once you overcome that though and get the hang of it, it's quite fun. You have one ship that you upgrade over time using upgrade modules found in each sector. I never found it terribly difficult. It can actually be rather linear in that the story leads you from sector to sector and once you're done with a sector and finished any sidequests there, you have no real point to return to them. It's a space-sim with a focus on story. Definitely worth a look.

Funny but I am not a Freelancer fan. I mean its simply ok to me. It has many features I just dont care for. So many other much better space games out there.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 1:36 pm Every so often, I get the urge to check out EVE Online and see what all the fuss is about.

Then I read stuff like this and think "nope, I'm good".

I never forget that a lot of people in EVE treat it like a second job. When they talk about billions of ISK lost in a fight, that's like thousands of man-hours down the toilet from start to finish as everything begins with player-harvested ores and player-driven economy with player-made ships. These people often take their game very seriously.

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 8:54 am There is always Space Rangers, Astrox, Darkstar One, and Icarus. Space Rangers is 3rd person. There's old Tachyon

I gave Astrox another shot last night, for a couple hours. I found it remarkably underwhelming. Click an asteroid to mine it. Wait. Click a base to return. Click to sell the ore. Click to leave. Rinse, repeat. Fighting pirates? Click a button to see a list. Click a pirate in the list. Wait. Click the next pirate in the list when the first is dead. Wait. Rinse, repeat. It does have some ship customization, which helps - but after a couple hours it was pretty clear the game wasn't going to hold my attention for long. Upgrading ships doesn't make them more interesting overall, but ultimately it just lets you stuff more weapons and mods into them to make them last longer in the field before you click to return to a base while reducing the time duration between clicks.

I tried Star Wolves 3 a couple nights ago, and that might have done it - but there's a really wonky issue with the mouse lagging and stuttering and after a little research I just didn't have the willpower to patch the game by hand to correct it and walk off. I could probably spend 5 minutes fixing this and then try it again. It held up a little better than Astrox did in terms of engaging the player.

Now I'm wishing I had picked up Elite: Dangerous during the last sale. I'm probably not going to drop $30-$50 to satisfy an itch and will instead go back to either Freelancer or X3. I really liked Freelancer, and if the reviews I'm reading about Darkstar One are right, if you liked Freelancer, you probably will get annoyed by Darkstar.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 8:12 amZigfrak - Never heard of it

Kasey once likened it to a cross-breed between Diablo and Elite. I suppose it's close enough to call it that. I kind of lost interest after a couple nights. Maybe I should give it another stab?

I'm also glancing sideways at No Man's Sky now that it's had more time in the oven, but hells no for $60.

Thing is, I've got a vacation coming up with the wife out of town on a hiking adventure with her brother. For 4 days I'm going to have kids and gaming time will be limited. However, for 3 days the kids will be with Grandma and I'm going to have uninterrupted bliss to sink into an abyssal stupor of gaming - the likes of which I haven't had in years.

I'm probably not going to drop $30-$50 to satisfy an itch

Its $20 on their homepage for the digital standard download.

I may reinstall Starsector. Lots of detailed sim in that space game.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:38 amI may reinstall Starsector. Lots of detailed sim in that space game.

It's a pretty well done game for an Indie Early Release. Lots of content, pretty good polish. It just takes him forever to release updates. He's constantly blogging fixes and additions, but doesn't release them more than once or twice a year. The next release should include Player planets, starbases, and a slew of other things. I want to say it's overdue and should be out soon, but the guy's unpredictable.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:38 am

I'm probably not going to drop $30-$50 to satisfy an itch

Its $20 on their homepage for the digital standard download.

The "Commander Deluxe" version on their site is £39.99 - which is $52.51 US. I suppose it's cheaper than Steam's $59.99

I suppose the question then is - do I feel like paying full price for a game that I've avoided on sale multiple times, just because I have a huge block of gaming time coming up. Hard question.

Paingod wrote: ↑Tue Jul 24, 2018 6:49 am I really liked Freelancer, and if the reviews I'm reading about Darkstar One are right, if you liked Freelancer, you probably will get annoyed by Darkstar.

Honestly, I think it's a situation where a game got an unfair bad rap by many reviewers due to many comparisons with another high-profile game. If someone comes in expecting the same level of quality and polish, yes they'll likely be disappointed, but it's a fun game in its own right.

The thing with Darkstar is its a single ship. Theres not 40 others to fly. But you can add to it front middle and back. It changes its function and look. Go for a faster nimble ship or add big guns and armor and such and have more a slow lumbering cruiser. And its more newtonian. When you are towing cargo...yes you tow it with a tractor beam...it will slow you down until you drop it. I found it pretty fun. Just never played until the end.

Yeah, you configure the ship as you collect modules. I think it's really cool to see it transform as you progress through the game. In some ways, I felt it reminded me a lot of Rebel Galaxy.

I finally got around to hooking up my SteamLink yesterday. That's a pretty nifty little device, and being able to play AC:O on the big screen without having to re-buy it for PS4 is really cool. Looking forward to giving this a shot with a few more games.

Now I just need to figure out how to get one of my wireless controllers (PS4 or Switch) connected to it. Running the cord from my old wired Xbox controller from the PC on the desk behind me is a little annoying.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:13 am Spawn camping, Eve-style

“If your enemy logs off, make sure they can’t log on.” – Sun Tzu, ancient Chinese general and fan of Eve Online.

Yes, the space warfare MMO is once again full of exploding spaceships thanks to a new war between two large blocs of corporate murder fans. It’s as convoluted as any other conflict in this game of moneymaking and military skulduggery, but basically: a huge battle broke out last week between two massive superfleets, and now hundreds of pilots from one of those fleets are trapped, besieged by a worrying number of Goonswarm hyenas thirsting for shipwrecks.

At the end of the 10-hour battle, EVE downtime kicked in. At least 14 Titans had been destroyed and almost 3 trillion ISK (Eve’s virtuacash) was lost in total, according to the battle report. The Northeastern Bloc technically came out on top in terms of ISK lost, but there’s a complication. Over 300 of their best pilots are now stuck in the system.

You see, after Eve came out of downtime, the pilots of 145 Titans and another bunch of flyfolks in 170 supercarriers simply stayed logged off. Sensing an opportunity, Imperium and Legacy set up a “hellcamp”, essentially circling the waterhole. They’ve built another Keepstar and a Fortizar (another angry space station) close to the logoff point. Now, if any of the Northeastern pilots log on, they know they’ll be immediately razed without support. For these important ships, the southwestern forces have basically blockaded the game. A rescue attempt has been made, according to a recent post on the New Eden Report, with a fleet of Northeastern cruisers sent to dismantle ship-slowing “bubbles” and clear the way for their allies to log in and quickly escape, but it didn’t work.

Here is an article that brings the story up to date. Seems they were able to organize a jailbreak and get out of the hellcamp. For anyone interested that 3 trillion ISK's = $377,000 in US$. War is hell... on the pocketbook.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:04 am I finally got around to hooking up my SteamLink yesterday. That's a pretty nifty little device, and being able to play AC:O on the big screen without having to re-buy it for PS4 is really cool. Looking forward to giving this a shot with a few more games.

Now I just need to figure out how to get one of my wireless controllers (PS4 or Switch) connected to it. Running the cord from my old wired Xbox controller from the PC on the desk behind me is a little annoying.

The steam controller is actually pretty amazing, and wireless. You may not want to throw <x> dollars at it, or whatever they want for it, but I feel it's an essential addition to the link.

Skinypupy wrote:I finally got around to hooking up my SteamLink yesterday. That's a pretty nifty little device, and being able to play AC:O on the big screen without having to re-buy it for PS4 is really cool. Looking forward to giving this a shot with a few more games.

Now I just need to figure out how to get one of my wireless controllers (PS4 or Switch) connected to it. Running the cord from my old wired Xbox controller from the PC on the desk behind me is a little annoying.

Rocket League on a big screen TV is also amazing. I guess they have it for console as well, but we probably play that more than anything using the Link. I use the Steam controller and my son uses a PS4 controller.

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 12:15 pm

Skinypupy wrote:I finally got around to hooking up my SteamLink yesterday. That's a pretty nifty little device, and being able to play AC:O on the big screen without having to re-buy it for PS4 is really cool. Looking forward to giving this a shot with a few more games.

Now I just need to figure out how to get one of my wireless controllers (PS4 or Switch) connected to it. Running the cord from my old wired Xbox controller from the PC on the desk behind me is a little annoying.

Rocket League on a big screen TV is also amazing. I guess they have it for console as well, but we probably play that more than anything using the Link. I use the Steam controller and my son uses a PS4 controller.

Yeah, we have it on Switch. Haven’t played it in ages, need to break it out with Little B 9.5.

Decided to pass for now on This is the Police 2. I played the first one for awhile and found it had some interesting aspects. However, early reviews of the new game have been mixed. I watched a pretty decent video review (sorry, can't find the link) and it pointed out a number of issues with the difficulty and the management of your cops, noting enough issues that I feel like the game would piss me off too much. The developers have already released a patch that addresses some game balance issues, so I'll be following their RSS feed and maybe see if it gets better.

I bought a logitech G29 racing wheel for $200 during the Amazon Prime sale and have been using it with Project Cars2 over the past two weeks. I initially got very frustrated with spinning out and not being able to get a "feel" for the car before losing control. So I started watching videos on how to take corners, how to use the 'Race Engineer' to tune up my car, and I dialed down the AI abilities from 80 to 40.

Last night I finished my first race of my "racing career"; the starting tier in the Ginetta Juniors Challenge, racing at Oulton Park in the UK. Even managed to get in first place!

I finally got around to giving Torment: Tides of Numenera a legit shot this weekend. It’s a really fascinating game, but the fact that I’ve played the first 6 hours without getting into a single battle is messing with my head. I’ve had three potential combat situations, but talked my way out of all three.

I’m hoping it doesn’t suddenly throw me into a bunch of fights later in the game, as I really don’t have a clue how the system works.

Started playing else Heart.Break() over the weekend.

It's a fascinating hacking adventure that basically allows you to hack any usable object in the game. My initial impression was that it just seemed like a rather slow and ponderous point n' click adventure with very little direction. But stick with it long enough to acquire the necessary hacking equipment (a 'modifier'), and the game suddenly opens up into a vastly more interesting experience. Because you can then go around exploring the code of everything you get your hands on, and start messing around with everyday objects in ways that help you to hack your own solutions to the various problems the game presents you with (e.g. your character normally gets tired every day and you must go to bed to recharge your energy or else you collapse where you're standing; but with a modifier, I was able to peruse the code for a cup of coffee, and used that to hack a glass of water so it reduced my sleepiness by a factor of 1000).

Anyway, for anyone that enjoys a good hacking game, it's definitely worth checking out. But be warned; it can feel slow to start. The game definitely doesn't hold your hand, and opens with a flimsy "soda-selling" premise that's not particularly engaging. But if you stay curious and persevere, it turns into an intriguing experience that gives you the feeling of Neo in The Matrix, as you learn how to alter the flow of the world around you to fit your needs.