Videogames 2023 pt. II: Can We patreon This Man an Alienware Already?

[RumHam]

I finally got around to playing the PC port of Orcarina of Time. It mostly just makes the game how I falsely remember it. I never would have guessed it didn't have free camera movement originally. The quality of life improvments are great too. Just making it so the stupid owls says "Did you understand that? Yes/No" instead of "should I repeat that? yes/no" has saved me all the time I spent listening to him repeat himself as a kid cause I was pressing A to get past his dialogue. 

[Jace, Extat]

Paused my Hogwarts campaign to try for the umpteenth time to finish Cyberpunk. 

Maybe they fixed it.

Maybe I'm on the right meds.

But I'm loving it this time

[Caligula_K3]

On 4/13/2023 at 11:06 AM, polishgenius said:

Fucking ace. A lot going on in that trailer. Can't wait. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Fairly sure the time travel speculation will prove true. Zelda holding is an unbroken master sword when Link's is broken, the shining castle... my guess would be when she falls into the pit she falls back in time. But I'm guessing.  

 

Either way, hyped.

I haven't felt this excited about a game since I was a kid. It's looking like it's building on all the things I loved about Breath of the Wild, especially the sense of adventure, freedom, and rewarding creativity. The Fuse mechanic looks so genius, and I know I'm going to have hours and hours of fun just making the stupidest weapons possible.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Finished Planescape Torment on ps5 over 20 years after I got it on PC.

Also got the family ending and the Atlantis ending of Assassins Creed Odyssey - still to finish off the Cult, but tempted to just do the Darius missions and call it a day, skipping thr Atlantis Dlc. Might finish off the cult, depending on how many are left, but keen now to move on to AC: Origins.

edit: also just started Divinity Original Sin 1 on the playstation.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Derfel Cadarn

[The Anti-Targ]

I'm curious about reports that the box office performance of the Super Mario Bros movies in the USA is partly a political thing. Is that really the case, Mario has now become a battleground in the culture wars?

[Rhom]

10 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I'm curious about reports that the box office performance of the Super Mario Bros movies in the USA is partly a political thing. Is that really the case, Mario has now become a battleground in the culture wars?

I have heard nothing of this.  

My FB feed is full of parents in their late thirties taking their kids to see the movie.  It’s the perfect storm of nostalgia and kid friendly is my understanding.

[Caligula_K3]

11 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I'm curious about reports that the box office performance of the Super Mario Bros movies in the USA is partly a political thing. Is that really the case, Mario has now become a battleground in the culture wars?

What culture war battle is this? Haven't heard anything about this, but I also refuse to check Fox News' website for anything.

I saw it. It was a fun nostalgia blast with a few funny lines and great Jack Black being Jack Black, but not much else.

I'm trying to decide if I should replay Skyward Sword now before Tears of the Kingdom comes out, or if I should just avoid Zelda for the next month to make TOTK fresher. The Final Fantasy pixel remasters are coming out on Switch soon, so that is a possibility...

[polishgenius]

There was a few nutters trying to make a thing out of the fact that Peach isn't the one being rescued and that she's kind of a badass. But I don't think it gained much traction even on the negative side of the line and it obviously isn't the reason why anyone's gone to see it. 

[IlyaP]

23 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

There was a few nutters trying to make a thing out of the fact that Peach isn't the one being rescued and that she's kind of a badass.

*sigh*

Can these people not find a better way to use their time?

[Darryk]

13 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I'm curious about reports that the box office performance of the Super Mario Bros movies in the USA is partly a political thing. Is that really the case, Mario has now become a battleground in the culture wars?

Yes unfortunately there is a bit of a culture war aspect in that people are putting its success down to lack of wokeness.

 I think people are fine with the role Peach played and are happy Mario is the true hero of the film. Apparently the original draft had Mario as a bumbling idiot with Peach saving the day, but Nintendo came in and said you're not gonna screw over our character like that.

Personally I'm just happy to see Nintendo stick it in the eye of Disney, and I'm hoping they follow this up with a great Legend of Zelda film.

[Corvinus85]

@Werthead Can't quote you in the thread that got locked

Quote

The Medieval II one is the only proper one, because the later TW games disallowed full, total conversion mods. The mods for the later games are very limited because they can't create new campaign maps for them, so are limited to units for individual battles.

The Medieval II mod is excellent, despite the game being a bit on the dated side now. They are (almost certainly) working on a Medieval II remaster, so I'm hoping the mod gets updated for that when it comes out.

This is no longer strictly true. Earlier this year a modder released a proof of concept video showing that he cracked the modding restrictions for the campaign map. Basically he can create new settlements and place them wherever. And the shape of the campaign map can be changed, too. This tool was recently used to create a small mod for Warhammer III focused only on the island of Albion. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2949819793

The modding team for Dawnless Days (formerly Rise of Mordor) for Attila TW have been hard at work attempting to get to a full conversion. Right now the campaign map is still years away, but the above development has shown it's possible. But they have constructed custom battle maps, like Isengard and Helm's Deep. 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by Corvinus85

[Rhom]

34 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

@Werthead Can't quote you in the thread that got locked

 

Its not a game I've ever played, but why did that thread get locked?  I saw where one mod locked it... then Ran unlocked it... and now its locked again.  Its confusing.

[Werthead]

44 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

@Werthead Can't quote you in the thread that got locked

This is no longer strictly true. Earlier this year a modder released a proof on concept video showing that he cracked the modding restrictions for the campaign map. Basically he can create new settlements and place them wherever. And the shape of the campaign map can be changed, too. This tool was recently used to create a small mod for Warhammer III focused only on the island of Albion. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2949819793

The modding team for Dawnless Days (formerly Rise of Mordor) for Attila TW have been hard at work attempting to get to a full conversion. Right now the campaign map is still years away, but the above development has shown it's possible. But they have constructed custom battle maps, like Isengard and Helm's Deep. 

I had heard a little about that, but I believe it is extremely difficult to do. They can't use the same system CW uses, so they have to hack it and it's okay for adjusting existing maps but still a nightmare for changing the coastlines, though at least now possible.

However, the Rome/Medieval II engine is far more powerful and flexible, allowing you to create a new map quickly in freaking MSPaint if you want, and then load in a heightmap, assign vegetation etc. Because of the way the older engine creates battle maps automatically from the campaign map, it also gives you literally thousands of new battle maps automatically. The Warscape system works differently, and in a more limited manner (apparently a trade-off for the increased visual quality of the Warscape system).

Edited April 18, 2023 by Werthead

[Corvinus85]

6 hours ago, Rhom said:

Its not a game I've ever played, but why did that thread get locked?  I saw where one mod locked it... then Ran unlocked it... and now its locked again.  Its confusing.

Not sure. Maybe it has to do with the thread promoting unlicensed Asoiaf content and/or fanfic.

[Werthead]

17 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Not sure. Maybe it has to do with the thread promoting unlicensed Asoiaf content and/or fanfic.

We had an entire subforum on the old Westeros: Total War mod, so I don't think that's a problem. And we still have entire subforums dedicated to ASoIaF RPGs, and we've had lots of discussion of the Mount & Blade and Crusader Kings II mods.

[Jace, Extat]

I'm definitely enjoying Cyberpunk this time. 

But I feel... tethered... at unexpected moments. 

Knotted, even. 

Frustrating

[Werthead]

Far Cry 6 was definitely a very solid game in the series. Far better than Far Cry 5, but it felt like the series spinning its wheels a bit, and suffering a lot from the comparisons with the much better Just Cause 3.

The post-release DLC is a bit cheesy, but it does at least up the villain game:

Spoiler

Confirming that Michael Mando's Vaas survived the events of Far Cry 3 and might even be back as a major villain again is interesting, although odd given the series' very relaxed attitude to continuity, such as kinda completely ignoring that WWIII broke out at the end of Far Cry 5.

Not sure what to play next. Feel like I need a change of pace, maybe something more strategic or RPG-y.

[IlyaP]

Currently doing a replay of Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order, in anticipation of the sequel releasing in...eight days! 

It has some rough spots, some optimisation issues, and some odd design choices, but it's still a very strong, solid, single-player Star Wars game. 

[Derfel Cadarn]

I stuck with AC Odyssey. Finished off the Cult, and started the Darius missions.

[RumHam]

Fuck the water temple. I should have used a guide, or been less stoned. 

I saw Stellaris added cloaking, weird that it took them so long to think of that! So I started a new game. I really admire how it's kept evolving and is so different than when it launched.

I really lucked out with my spawn. I'm down in the bottom right corner with only like four hyperlanes in. Two are connected to my peacful friendly neighboor, and the others go to a mean fallen empire that I'm going to have to deal with before they awaken. But they should keep anyone else away for the early game. So basically I don't have to worry about defense or fleets for a while.