Videogames: All Valves on Deck

[IlyaP]

15 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Relaxing until you hit any combat  

Yeah, the combat is...frequently not very interesting, in part because it doesn't provide me with the kind of dopamine hit that I find rewarding - which actually *isn't* loot ("ph4t lewt yo!"), but lore or character info. Which makes it a very different kind of combat experience to that of, say, Tyranny or Deadfire, by comparison. 

(I also just really don't like the way the game indicates how far characters can move, with the little white dots. It's not always easy to see against certain backgrounds/surfaces, and I can see how someone with color-blindness issues could get frustrated, and it makes me wish that there was, at least, an option to enable tiles - a feature common to many turn-based cRPGs. Including ones you won't play 'cause they're, like, old man. )

It's also clear that Larian are fans of CDPR, as evidenced by this screenshot.

[IlyaP]

Atom Team, who in late 2018 released Atom RPG, a Wasteland/Fallout-inspired cRPG, have a new cRPG in development, that's inspired by Bioware's Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale titles. Titlted Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy, it has graphics that are slightly reminiscent of Sword Coast Legends, and like Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire, provides the option to switch between real-time with pause and turn-based combat. 

It looks to have also been at least partially funded via Kickstarter, and they've got a Discord server up and running, and players can apply for beta testing. More details can be found at this Reddit post.

[Toth]

On 3/14/2024 at 12:53 AM, Werthead said:

Some of the storytelling remains weird but entertaining.

I find it funny how the game in the early main campaign stated in a throwaway line that many of the people in the colonies outside the Helios Alpha system didn't take the Cylon threat all that seriously. Either they thought that it's a Caprica only problem or dismissed it entirely as something blown out of proportion to justify Caprican political takeover through the unification of the colonies. In a pre-pandemic game, that level of willful denial of the facts in the face of the Cylons blatantly harming Millions through chemical attacks feels kind of prophetic. But I also can see how that leads to kinda jarring twists like the one you mention, reinforced by the propensity of the people in the show to be irrational backstabbing pricks betraying each other at the slightest provocation.

[IlyaP]

Only came across this absolute beast of a read this morning, but for anyone interested in the history of the development of Morrowind, Polygon have a gigantic oral history that they published back in 2019: 

https://www.polygon.com/2019/3/27/18281082/elder-scrolls-morrowind-oral-history-bethesda

[lacuna]

On 3/15/2024 at 12:48 AM, IlyaP said:

It's also clear that Larian are fans of CDPR, as evidenced by this screenshot.

"Wake up babe, new centaur just dropped."

[Toth]

My gaming OCD really won't ever allow me to finish a game, huh?

I was in the last 4 missions of the BSG Deadlock campaign, but during the week too tired to do much thinking. But I still had that lingering itch for a survival game that got triggered by the overwhelming Palword hype. Initially quite a few weeks ago I played Lego Fortnite to satiate this. Yes, really. It was free and since I had collected a few brick built Star Trek ships, I dig the Lego optic and it's free and I watched some people play it on Youtube. However I still found it... very bare bones and restrictive. The idea that you can't harm any enemies in the next zone until you craft the next powerful weapon felt rather stiff, perpetuated by the nightly swarms of skeletons being really annoying and a waste of resources to fight off. And you can't even build all that much because the pieces are awkwardly shaped and pretty much designed for the needlessly complex prefab houses that don't do anything (aside keeping the skeletons out, I guess).

But now... well, in a sale I bought Conan Exiles for a few bucks and played it this week occasionally. I'm still not very far, just dicking around at the starting river experimenting with various mechanics, but the game still feels like it's urging me to just go wander the world and find a really nice place to set up camp. My first trip was further west along the river, but I got mauled to death by hyenas and lost my stuff, thought in hindsight it was nothing noteworthy. Then I explored the desert in the north and found a place with tons of iron, which I considered as a place to settle, but the lack of trees or coal put a dampener on that. Right now I feel like it's still less of a hassle to carry the iron south back to my hut at the river instead of carrying tons of wood north into the desert. My next trip will probably lead me to the east into the jungle. Hopefully I will have more luck there then.

Though right now I was starting to try out the thrall system, which I considered the main feature of the game. I really want to build a castle and populate it with people, but damn, right now the fighter thralls are frustratingly weak. I "recruited" my first, gave him a set of light armor and a bow, made him follow me to a nearby camp with two exiles... and of course he ran head-first into it despite me setting his weapon preference on ranged and got instantly killed. I "hired" a second one, so far used her only to follow me around while I was killing crocodiles to level her up, but otherwise leave her parked in the camp because I am too afraid to take her anywhere given how these thralls seem to be made of porcelain. How the hell are they supposed to help defend your base?!?

So yes... my current goal is to make myself a heavier set of armor and go explore the jungle.

Edited March 16 by Toth

[polishgenius]

Having played and enjoyed Haiku the Robot (although not quite finished, I hit a possibly-final-possibly-not boss that was annoying me, so took a break) I intended to go and actually play those RPGs I said I was gonna.

But yet another metroidvania I've been waiting for dropped- this time Rebel Transmute, a very Metroid metroidvania. It is, mechanically, very much an old-school metroid with smoother movement and a few additional details. One notable feature is the augments system, which is obviously built off Hollow Knight's pins but takes customisation to an absurd degree- to the point you can remove your own health display if you want. 

 

Enjoying it a lot. Early doors but it's easily rivalling Axiom Verge for me. 

[IlyaP]

Welp, I finally finished Baldur's Gate IIII, and that was a thoroughly underwhelming set of fights, but the post-boss battle stuff was Very Extremely Charming and Heartwarming. Apparently previous versions of the game prior to the latest patch just had slide cards a la Dragon Age: Origins and Pillars of Eternity/Deadfire? 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

1 hour ago, IlyaP said:

Welp, I finally finished Baldur's Gate IIII, and that was a thoroughly underwhelming set of fights, but the post-boss battle stuff was Very Extremely Charming and Heartwarming. Apparently previous versions of the game prior to the latest patch just had slide cards a la Dragon Age: Origins and Pillars of Eternity/Deadfire? 

Most importantly did you save Karlach ? Fuck the city. It’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy anyway.

Yeah the epilogue party was added in. Don’t think we’ll get full upper city content though.

Edited March 19 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[IlyaP]

8 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Most importantly did you save Karlach ? Fuck the city. It’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy anyway.

Yeah the epilogue party was added in. Don’t think we’ll get full upper city content though.

My pal Karlach? I could never let her down! Had to take care of my favorite gal and make sure someone was looking after her, so I ended up going to Avernus with her.

Edited March 19 by IlyaP

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

12 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

My pal Karlach? I could never let her down! Had to take care of my favorite gal and make sure someone was looking after her, so I ended up going to Avernus with her.

Must’ve been awkward for whoever you romanced lol (unless it was her !)

[IlyaP]

1 hour ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Must’ve been awkward for whoever you romanced lol (unless it was her !)

Didn't romance anyone. Don't really derive much player satisfaction from in-game romances, never have, going as far back as BG2. 

[Werthead]

Here we go. Looks amazing, although it has the video rendering problem afflicting a lot of Gsync monitors, like Starfield (fortunately I twigged the problem immediately on the menu screen and fixed it, rather than spending 20 hours suffering through the game with it).

Looks outstanding but also plays incredibly well, likely because Guerrilla Games were clever in how they made it so it could work on PS4. But the PC version blows the PS5 version out of the water at 4K.

 

[Werthead]

 

Excellent. The BSG video uploader now seems fully functional. Just a shame it can't handle 4K.

 

[Toth]

On 3/25/2024 at 11:33 PM, Werthead said:

Excellent. The BSG video uploader now seems fully functional. Just a shame it can't handle 4K.

Congrats! Though it still suffers from that damn echo I had been dealing with from the beginning. They must have screwed something up.

Mmh... I am conflicted. I had stopped playing Deadlock for a while and didn't really feel like playing videogames during the last week. But now I am seeing on Fanatical that a "choose your own Bundle" Bundle where you can grab the complete edition and another game for 6.99€: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-special-editions-bundle

It's... a damn good price. At the time I'm not really sure what other game to pick because they all don't really fit a category I'm eager about. Despite the setting, maybe my Paradox storycrafting bone can get comfortable with Cultist Simulator. Mmh...

[Corvinus85]

The new Shogun TV series has made me try my hand again at Total War: Shogun 2. This is one of the TW games that I had a tougher time getting into despite being interested in the setting. Some of the game mechanics didn't quite appeal to me right away coming from Medieval 2, and in recent years other changes to the overall TW gameplay made this one less playable for me. But now I am persevering. It does take some getting used to, like for example needing to plan to have ships to transport your army and not forgetting that if you don't use a port, both the ships and the army end their movement when you embark or disembark. While everything CA has done starting with Rome 2 on this front has felt lazier, the old games aren't necessarily much greater; after all, it's sufficient to just have one measly Bow Kobaya to transport an entire army.  

My least favorite aspects of Shogun 2's gameplay is the limited viewing of the map, which requires a constant need to send out Metsuke or Ninja, only for them to keep getting caught, and the sieges which are basically just hills that the enemy can climb with some difficulty. But I enjoy the open field battles, the units, and I'm getting the hang of the naval battles, too. I had to fight a naval battle because the auto-resolve was predicting a win with too many losses, and ended up not losing a ship. Of course, it helped that nearly half the enemy fleet decided to give up, turn 180, and head for the map edges, only for them not actually able to retreat. 

Besides this game, I've also started playing Horizon Forbidden West, which is as gorgeous as its predecessor. I haven't gotten that far. I did the Daunt quests, and then crossed the border into No Man's Land, and did a few smaller quests. I'm looking forward into unravelling the story mysteries, which was the best part about HZD.

[Toth]

Okay, damn. I did end up buying the bundle. Didn't expect to get codes for every single DLC separately instead of the whole thing. I guess I've gotten too cynical due to the way Humble has gotten to treat bundles.

... which means I have now a spare copy of BSG Deadlock. Anyone here wants to frak up some toasters?

[polishgenius]

I've spent the last week and a bit playing another indie Metroidvania, Rebel Transmute: but this one's really really good. Think it might be the best I've played since Hollow Knight itself. 

I feel like it's gone under the radar a bit because visually it's so obviously a Metroid tribute that people are gonna be sceptical about what else it brings to the table. To an extent that's fair- although in terms of actual mechanics and structure it's as much Hollow Knight, not just because of the augment system (basically pins, but with more customisation of the base game setup), but because the blaster is so short range it's a melee weapon, and pogoing is a big part of the platforming gameplay. It's also quite methodical- very much a take-your-time, be-careful game, not Dread-style focus on speed. So in a lot of ways it's where you might imagine Metroid would be if they'd taken that older gameplay style and continued to polish it in a world where Hollow Knight does exist. 

Most importantly, for me, the exploration is handled like HK or old-school Metroid, Super-style- very little guidance, basically- and it's really really good at it. I've been playing for ages now, and though I keep running into things I can't reach or simply areas I can't handle yet coz it's too tough or whatever, I've not once felt properly frustrated. Partly because it never feels cheap or overwhelming, and partly because till now there has always been something else to go do if my current objective proves unatainable. Go off, build up strength or get new gear down another path, eventually come back. Just perfectly balanced. 

It might be a bit niche- it does rather feel like a Metroidvania for Metroidvania fans, not something that's necessarily gonna immediately grab someone who only picks them up occasionally. But for those who are( @Mr. X) , or just have a hankering for old-school work with a modern polish, I heartily recommend giving it a look.

 

(I have it on Switch, I'm just posting the Steam trailer coz it's a better trailer). 
 

 

[Mr. X]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

It might be a bit niche- it does rather feel like a Metroidvania for Metroidvania fans, not something that's necessarily gonna immediately grab someone who only picks them up occasionally. But for those who are( @Mr. X) , or just have a hankering for old-school work with a modern polish, I heartily recommend giving it a look.

I mean, I did just finish another replay of Hollow Knight (this time on the Steam Deck instead of the Switch), so I'm am all ready to pick up a new Metroidvania. Thanks! 

[Toth]

Mmh... despite not really feeling in the mood for it, I went back to Deadlock and yesterday just played a mission of Anabasis. Curious. It seems to be a really bare-bones game mode. For shits and giggles I also did it with the canon BSG experience: Only taking a Jupiter II and a Mercury. I was able to name the Mercury Pegasus, but the game wouldn't let me name the Jupiter Galactica or a variation of that. Boooh!

Also probably a mistake to actually wanting to fight the first battle. After spooling up the FTL, it took me a whole bunch of turns to recall all Vipers and Raptors (shouldn't the Raptors be fine though, they have jump drives!), so I guess the idea is to have them close by all the time so that they can land quickly. Also it's a bit jarring when you watch the show at the same time and notice that Vipers are always landing on Galactica while the flak is still up, with the pilots naturally being capable to just... go around Galactica's engagement zone. Here I was just lucky that more Cylons spawned to my side and I needed to turn my ships anyway while the Vipers arrived. Otherwise I would have been forced to eat even more torpedoes than I already did just to accommodate the stupidity of my pilots...