Video Games: Gears of Borderlands

[The Anti-Targ]

1 hour ago, Simon Steele said:

I'll be honest, my mind is cynical. I felt like the big increase is royalty percentage shows how much these store fronts were gouging from devs. "Turns out we could give half the revenue back to devs and we'll be millionaires instead of multimillionaires" or something.

There's also the fact that Epic is independently wealthy and doesn't really need that revenue. They have popular and profitable games, and possibly more importantly they have the best game engine for third party developers, that developers can use for free, until they start selling their game. Epic can afford to take a small direct cut from sales, because it is already very profitable and likely making additional revenue from Unreal Engine being used in most of those games. Epic was no doubt sick of Valve taking an unreasonably large cut of their games for what they probably regarded as no real value to them. 

[Proudfeet]

8 hours ago, Simon Steele said:

I'll be honest, my mind is cynical. I felt like the big increase is royalty percentage shows how much these store fronts were gouging from devs. "Turns out we could give half the revenue back to devs and we'll be millionaires instead of multimillionaires" or something.

Also, considering that Steam is basically a near monopoly, you have to resort to aggressive strategies like this to gain a foothold. We'll see just how nice Epic is if/after they gain a sizeable amount of market share.

[Caligula_K3]

I haven't downloaded Epic yet, but it's probably only a matter of time. There are a few exclusives there I really want to play, like The Outer Wilds and The Outer Worlds (though if the latter gets a good Switch port, I'll probably just buy it there). I can't say I'm a big fan of the way they've been aggressively pursuing exclusives, but I also can't say I'm outraged about it, and the idea of giving more of a cut to developers is a good one.

Coming close to the end of my replay of Mass Effect 2, with just a couple more loyalty missions to go. It's such a phenomenal game and definitely has one of the best Bioware casts... minus Jacob. Ugh, Jacob. I like Mass Effect 3 a lot more than many other people, ending aside, but the series definitely lost something by having you work for the Alliance again, turning Shepherd into a more military hero, and making Cerberus into generic baddies. 

[Centrist Simon Steele]

14 hours ago, Proudfeet said:

Also, considering that Steam is basically a near monopoly, you have to resort to aggressive strategies like this to gain a foothold. We'll see just how nice Epic is if/after they gain a sizeable amount of market share.

Agreed--I think the competition is a good thing.

2 hours ago, Caligula_K3 said:

I haven't downloaded Epic yet, but it's probably only a matter of time. There are a few exclusives there I really want to play, like The Outer Wilds and The Outer Worlds (though if the latter gets a good Switch port, I'll probably just buy it there). I can't say I'm a big fan of the way they've been aggressively pursuing exclusives, but I also can't say I'm outraged about it, and the idea of giving more of a cut to developers is a good one.

Coming close to the end of my replay of Mass Effect 2, with just a couple more loyalty missions to go. It's such a phenomenal game and definitely has one of the best Bioware casts... minus Jacob. Ugh, Jacob. I like Mass Effect 3 a lot more than many other people, ending aside, but the series definitely lost something by having you work for the Alliance again, turning Shepherd into a more military hero, and making Cerberus into generic baddies. 

I downloaded Epic for their summer sale, and I found its interface to be very lacking at the time. They have some great deals, but you can't search (at least then) according to genre, for example. You just kind of had to scroll through everything. 

They offer free games as well, which I think is always a bonus.

[Fez]

2 hours ago, Simon Steele said:

Agreed--I think the competition is a good thing.

I downloaded Epic for their summer sale, and I found its interface to be very lacking at the time. They have some great deals, but you can't search (at least then) according to genre, for example. You just kind of had to scroll through everything. 

They offer free games as well, which I think is always a bonus.

Yeah, the Epic store is incredibly frustrating to navigate still and lacks a lot of basic features (like Wishlists). That said, it works perfectly fine if you know exactly what game you're looking for. And the different free game they offer every week (two weeks? I can't remember) is right at the top of the store page; it isn't buried away.

[Kalbear]

Untitled Goose Game is amazingly fun, and is great in all the little ways that you hope it will be. It's much closer to adventure style games like Kings Quest or Monkey Island than anything else, and it's entirely brilliant. 

[Mexal]

Still blasting my way through Borderlands 3. Still very much enjoying it.

Kal - when am I going to come across your son? I'm on Eden-6 now.

[Kalbear]

2 hours ago, Mexal said:

Still blasting my way through Borderlands 3. Still very much enjoying it.

Kal - when am I going to come across your son? I'm on Eden-6 now.

Apparently his bigger part was cut. He was going to be a scientist that turns people into giant rats and then gets turned into a giant rat. 

His other part comes in the beginning, and he's the voice of a guy who gets stuffed in a locker. Don't know much more than that. 

[RumHam]

2 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Apparently his bigger part was cut. He was going to be a scientist that turns people into giant rats and then gets turned into a giant rat. 

That's awesome, and will hopefully be part of some DLC down the line. 

[RumHam]

Crusader Kings II is now free on steam, and a third game in the series is coming out next year. 

[matt b]

21 hours ago, RumHam said:

Crusader Kings II is now free on steam, and a third game in the series is coming out next year.  

Looks like most of the dlc is on sale, too.

[Werthead]

First teaser for Command & Conquer Remastered.

[Corvinus85]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

First teaser for Command & Conquer Remastered.

They're planning on remastering Generals, as well? Wasn't there supposed to be a sequel that got scrapped? They should just do a sequel for Generals, rather than a remaster.

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, Corvinus said:

They're planning on remastering Generals, as well? Wasn't there supposed to be a sequel that got scrapped? They should just do a sequel for Generals, rather than a remaster.

If the early remasters are a success, yes, they can remaster the whole series. I don't think Generals is available at all at the moment, which is annoying because in gameplay terms it's pretty good (especially with Zero Hour).

[Corvinus85]

14 minutes ago, Werthead said:

If the early remasters are a success, yes, they can remaster the whole series. I don't think Generals is available at all at the moment, which is annoying because in gameplay terms it's pretty good (especially with Zero Hour).

Still got the old CDs for it, but haven't played it in years.

[Jace, Extat]

Regarding Crusader Kings II.

Empress Antonia Peteinkes ascended to the Roman throne in 1081. Just in time to depose Alexios Kommenos and marry his brother, Nikephoros. 

In this game start scenario, The Alexiad, the Romans controlled all of Greece, Epiros, Thessalonika, Bulgaria to the Danube, and about a third of the Balkans. Trebizond survives in Eastern Anatolia, defensible and easily resupplied by sea, while just a toehold is maintained in southwestern Anatolia. In a post-Manzikert world it was my aim to stop the bleeding and establish a dynasty that could survive crusade by the Western barbarians in some 100 years time.

War. Three times the Strategos' rose up to topple my fragile government. Three times they were defeated. I am a generous Basilissa, and ransomed all of my prisoners back promptly. Only after the Doux or Ragusa was involved in all three attempts on my power did I have him blinded. The rebellions stopped then. For a time at least.

The Pope launched a crusade against Egypt in 1084, by which time I had a daughter and a second child due. My Prince Consort, Nikephoros died tragically when his royal wagon careened off a cliff only a month after his brother Alexios' young wife was murdered by brigands. Love waits for no man, however, as Alexios and Antonia were married soon after. 

With two girls from of Nikephoros born in the purple, Alexios led a campaign to liberate Izmit (the two provinces directly opposite Constantinople in Anatolia) in 1090. Incursions and minor revolts inthe Western holdings became impossible to ignore in the following years after Alexios struck down the Sultan of Rum in battle near Abydos. Returning from his triumphs in Anatolia Alexios put down the 4 separate raiding armies in Bulgaria and Greece before imparting upon the Empress a son. Maximos! Son of the West and heir to the East! 

While Alexios campaigned in Anatolia for the next decade, Maximos and his younger brother Ioustinos were tutored by the best minds in Rome. Fighting off endless raids, and mounting excursions against the Rum Turks Alexios secured the Empire's position militarily while the Empress Antonia incorporated a number of Slavic states into the borders of the Empire diplomatically. A daughter was married with matrilineal supremacy to a Polish Prince named Adalbert. Securing an alliance and producing a son and a daughter. A second such union was formed with the Croation Kingdom along the Adriatic coast. 

The Empress used her husband's successful campaigning to strengthen the county of Constantinople immensely, always concerned as she was that the intermittented Western crusades could turn against their Eastern Orthodox cousins. Although they campaigned twice for Egypt, once successfully, and attempted to carve out a state in Anatolia, the serene and just Empress attempted wisely to keep the Pope at bay through diplomacy. 

Sadly her prized son Maximos died in a massive rebellion that rose in 1118. Alexios, over 50, had died a few years earlier. Allowing for Maximos to become leader of the army. A son of the great Kommenos, future Emperor, he lead an army of 10,000 under the name of his mother into the field against a Doukas led rebellion in the Balkans, one that set the seeds for the eventual usurpation of the throne.

Maximos experienced great success in the field. Leading the Varangians and Imperial forces he stamped out an army of 8,800 Doukas forces and subjugated completely the Moesian Duchie. The rebellion was near finished when a second revolt was started by Narses of Hellas. He had the backing of nearly all the Greek Strategos' and Epirus as well. He put 12,000 men into the field in a day. Recognizing the supreme danger Empress Antonia scrambled to organize a mercenary army of 6,000 men. But the Lithuanian Band spawned in fucking Rus for some reason and by the time the forces assembled it was too late. 

Maximos' 10,000 man Imperial army had been in the field for three months. They'd fought half a dozen battles. Crushed two armies of more than 6,000 men. When the Narses led 2nd breakaway army fell upon him he had some 7,500 left. Trapped in Thessaloniki where he'd tried to break back along the coast towards Constantinople, Maximos died on the field. For some unknown reason the remnants of his army fled North into Moesia where they were slaughtered to a man. Only the Varangian guard survived, stumbling back to Constantinople with tales of horror. And worse. The long awaited day. The Crusade against Orthodoxy. A massive Catholic force was being raised against the Pope's authority to attack the Romans. 

The Empress had been prepared for this. It was early, and inopportune to say the least in timing, but she calmly rallied the remainder of her forces and called upon the few allies willing to stand against Catholic tyranny. Poland and Hungary, Croatia and Rus. All answered the call. By the time the Westerners started pouring into the Empire, an army 17,000 strong was marching through Moesia subduing the initial rebellion. The army was almost entirely mercenaries and foreigners, costing almost 130 talents a month to keep in the field at times. 

But through skillful maneuvering in the field Ioustinos, the Empress' only living son, was able to attack the crusading forces piecemeal. 1 to 5 thousand at a time, his band of untrustworthy allies were able to pull off battles with the benefit of massive numerical superiority time and again, frustrating Western efforts to unify their forces. At least 6 times a potentially climactic battle was joined in and around Epirus on the Adriatic coast. The Westerners won 2 of these, but both indecisively as they lacked the numbers to prevent my forces from regrouping. 

Finally, a great collection of Western Knights. Normans, Franks, and Germans, fell upon the capitol while the Imperial army wiped out a 4,000 man army in the Peloponese. The Westerners had nearly 15,000 men and at least a month to begin to assault the city. But the old Empress still had some tricks up her sleeve. A fleet of boats arrived from all corners of the Empire to ferry her son to Thessalonika, where his hardened 12,000 man army met another 8,000 mercenaries scared up by the Empress. With clear numerical superiority a pitched battle took place beneath the walls of Constantinople in 1126. 7,000 Western invaders died there, more men than the Romans had left to fight from their own levies. But the Empress founded armies with gold, and then drowned her enemies in it.

The 2nd revolt was crushed while the crusade foundered in the Western portions of the Empire. All was well. Until the Empress died at the age of 61, able to sleep after saving her city. Unfortunately while being a heroic badass bossbitch she forgot to officially nominate her son Ioustinos as successor and he kinda got edged out for the job... oops. Well the usurper inherited the crippled national army and the more crippling national debts (We were paying over 100 talents a month in mercenary contracts for that big ads army) as well as a crusade. He cat and moused around for a while until they gave up while I plotted my comeback and sneaked an army to Italy and sacked the shit out of Rome itself.

That Motherfucker wrapped up MY DEFENSE against the crusade and THREW MY TRIUMPH! IT'S MINE I DEFEATED THE FUCKING CRUSADE AND I DID IT LIKE A FUCKING BOSS GODDAMIT!!!

 

[Gorn]

16 hours ago, Werthead said:

First teaser for Command & Conquer Remastered.

Let's hope they improve the pathfinding AI, as well as AI in general. Any time I consider replaying one of the 90's RTS classics, I remember how it felt like to try to transport 10 tanks through a gap in the terrain. For me, Age of Empires II is the only one which is still playable today.

[Fez]

I've started playing The Outer Worlds, despite having a ton of other games on my plate, since I got a free copy with my new AMD CPU. It's a good game, very much in the vein of Fallout: New Vegas (or the Mass Effect trilogy actually); and surprisingly bug-free so far. The lack of budget, compared to the Bethesda games, The Witcher 3, etc., is pretty apparent; but Obsidian did a good job stretching what resources they had. And the writing so far is at the level I'd expect from Obsidian, which is key.

[Werthead]

Yup, The Outer Worlds is very good. Interesting that the lack of being open-world doesn't hurt it (although some of the areas are pretty big), and makes you realise how much Bethesda RPGs are often just packing repetitive filler into big, meaningless spaces.

The one big criticism of the game I agree with is that it is very easy. Playing it on Hard, the second-highest difficulty level, and it's presented relatively little challenge apart from the very beginning.

[KingintheNorth4]

Decided to start playing Grand Theft Auto V again. While I still like playing it, I'm also reminded of how disappointed I was that they never released DLC for story mode due to the huge success of Online.