Videogames Thread: Steaming Ahead

[Tongue Stuck to Wall]

16 hours ago, Ran said:

More from CitizenCon, a very long, rather cool tech demo of their engine that shows a lot of long, seamless movements. And if you recognize the homage at the very start, you are an oldhead like me!

 

Ah, the dulcet tones of the Origins Systems symphony...sounded so great with the Sound Blaster 1 CT1320B back in the day.

[Werthead]

A fun trip through Remedy's stacked (and interesting-if-flawed) back catalogue.

I started playing Alan Wake Remastered in preparation for Alan Wake II, and it's a bizarrely punishing game on my hardware given how old it is and how it looks maybe 30-50% better than the original, 14-year-old version. Especially since it's really a remaster, not a remake, and the stodgy mid-Xbox 360 era movement and sometimes questionable aiming remain intact.

 

[Heartofice]

On 10/24/2023 at 12:11 AM, Corvinus85 said:

I've never cared for Volund because he's had a raging hardon for hating Total War for a long, long time and he's an asshat as evident even in this video. That being said, I won't dismiss this video entirely. Most points are valid.

However, the comment about the brand team being the ones who make decisions is true for virtually any industry. Might as well destroy modern capitalism while we're at it. But the comment about the devs not getting good bonuses is valid and is a sign of a toxic company.

To be honest I've never watched any of his videos before, that kind of thing generally doesn't appeal to me. However it does call out the real issues with the games that I think would have been pretty obvious to anyone playing them over the years. 

The problem is I don't see how any of it gets better. It doesn't seem all that likely they will invest in a brand new engine and start from scratch for a while when they can just milk as much as they can from what they have. Maybe if they do decide to do a 40K game that might mean bigger changes. 

Hearing how scared CA were of Paradox was interesting though. Right now I can't see a Medieval Total War game competing with what CK3 can do on the campaign side, it just doesn't have the capability, which is a shame because I think it would need more depth when it comes to family trees and interactions than current Total war games. 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

10 hours ago, Werthead said:

A fun trip through Remedy's stacked (and interesting-if-flawed) back catalogue.

I started playing Alan Wake Remastered in preparation for Alan Wake II, and it's a bizarrely punishing game on my hardware given how old it is and how it looks maybe 30-50% better than the original, 14-year-old version. Especially since it's really a remaster, not a remake, and the stodgy mid-Xbox 360 era movement and sometimes questionable aiming remain intact.

 

Too bad Epic continues in their delusional attempt to beat steam by not releasing the game there, won’t be getting this until it’s out on steam with a heavy discount. The first game had a nice atmosphere but a nonsensical story.

Edited October 25, 2023 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[Werthead]

This city-builder has an interesting combat mode that looks exactly like Total War. It makes me wonder if they could extrapolate this out to a CA-beater.

Also, amazingly, the entire game is the work of one (1) developer.

 

[Ran]

Like how colorful and varied troops are. Not a city-builder fan myself (not since the GOAT, Sim City 2000, anyways!) but the combat side looked good. 

[polishgenius]

58 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Also, amazingly, the entire game is the work of one (1) developer.

 

Some of the stuff solo developers are coming out with these days is wild. This is a couple years old now but look at this shit:

 

 

[Corvinus85]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

This city-builder has an interesting combat mode that looks exactly like Total War. It makes me wonder if they could extrapolate this out to a CA-beater.

Also, amazingly, the entire game is the work of one (1) developer.

I've had this on my wishlist for some time. It feels like Stronghold combined with a bit of Total War. I am interested to see how well the battles work, but slightly concerned at the lack of cavalry.

45 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 

Some of the stuff solo developers are coming out with these days is wild. This is a couple years old now but look at this shit:

 

 

Here is another example of an upcoming game.

 

[Ran]

Think I've seen some stuff about that game before. It is clearly Expanse-influenced.

[IlyaP]

Who names their ship Caligula?!

[Kalbear]

10 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

Who names their ship Caligula?!

To be fair that ship totally friendly fired their buddy, so perhaps it's apt. 

The game looks pretty and I'm also really reminded of this observation:

 

[Rhom]

I can’t find a clip… but there was a great Conan O’Brien sketch with Bob Dole (where they did it with the static picture with the moving lips) where Dole said that his college roommate was Caligula.

 

[IlyaP]

19 minutes ago, Rhom said:

I can’t find a clip… but there was a great Conan O’Brien sketch with Bob Dole (where they did it with the static picture with the moving lips) where Dole said that his college roommate was Caligula.

 

If you'll allow me to pursue this tangent ever so briefly: YEARS ago, talking back to around 02 or 03, the Onion did a video where they put together clips of Dubya talking and declaring "the American project...is over. We've had a good run, but...we're going to shut down". 

I've been trying to find this video for flipping ever. Any chance you've seen or heard of this? 

Meanwhile, back on videogames: Holy Shit is AC: Syndicate gorgeous but utterly, utterly tedious. Zones are blocked off by one's level, and that means an insane amount of time is spent...running around killing red coats. This just seems borderline absurd. From those who've played this game (which, btw, has a gorgeous Austin Wintory score), what are their thoughts on it?

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

1 hour ago, IlyaP said:

 

Meanwhile, back on videogames: Holy Shit is AC: Syndicate gorgeous but utterly, utterly tedious.

Welcome to most AC/Ubisoft games 

[Caligula_K3]

Alan Wake 2 is getting fantastic reviews. I've never played the first, but it's definitely piquing my interest... along with the 70 other games released this year that all sound amazing. This really is a bonkers year for gaming, and I wish I had more free time (and money) to play all these games.

[GallowKnight]

14 hours ago, IlyaP said:

If you'll allow me to pursue this tangent ever so briefly: YEARS ago, talking back to around 02 or 03, the Onion did a video where they put together clips of Dubya talking and declaring "the American project...is over. We've had a good run, but...we're going to shut down". 

I've been trying to find this video for flipping ever. Any chance you've seen or heard of this? 

Meanwhile, back on videogames: Holy Shit is AC: Syndicate gorgeous but utterly, utterly tedious. Zones are blocked off by one's level, and that means an insane amount of time is spent...running around killing red coats. This just seems borderline absurd. From those who've played this game (which, btw, has a gorgeous Austin Wintory score), what are their thoughts on it?

I enjoyed Syndicate. It was a bit tedious but I quite enjoyed the gameplay loop so no problems there. The big assassination-missions were also a lot of fun and the highlight of the game for me. The Jack the Ripper dlc was also a lot of fun.

[Werthead]

5 hours ago, Caligula_K3 said:

Alan Wake 2 is getting fantastic reviews. I've never played the first, but it's definitely piquing my interest... along with the 70 other games released this year that all sound amazing. This really is a bonkers year for gaming, and I wish I had more free time (and money) to play all these games.

I'm not sure if playing the first game is 100% necessary (given it is somewhat janky, and was on release), but it might illuminate what's going on in the sequel more. The remastered version of the first game is currently £8 on the Epic Game Store, which is decent, and it's a shortish game at only 15 hours (including the two DLC episodes, which form a fairly significant epilogue to the main story).

[IlyaP]

4 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

I enjoyed Syndicate. It was a bit tedious but I quite enjoyed the gameplay loop so no problems there. The big assassination-missions were also a lot of fun and the highlight of the game for me. The Jack the Ripper dlc was also a lot of fun.

It's such a fun concept, but I'm frustrated at how the game pads out the length by forcing me to run around, level myself up, level my gangs up, and do random hunts for templars, yet the game hasn't even explained (at least not yet) very well who the siblings are, who their father was, etc. We get a bit of exposition ("Father would've wanted...") but I have no idea who their father is nor why I should care. It doesn't set up emotional stakes that matter. 

[GallowKnight]

16 hours ago, IlyaP said:

It's such a fun concept, but I'm frustrated at how the game pads out the length by forcing me to run around, level myself up, level my gangs up, and do random hunts for templars, yet the game hasn't even explained (at least not yet) very well who the siblings are, who their father was, etc. We get a bit of exposition ("Father would've wanted...") but I have no idea who their father is nor why I should care. It doesn't set up emotional stakes that matter. 

I agree on that, the story isn't great and just devolves into the usual Assassin's Creed-nonsense.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

i just hope Ubisofts star wars outlaws turns out good, it looks fantastic but i dont want the usual collecthon quests.