I’ve been learning Monster Hunter and am a little ways in - I started out with SnS but am trying out some other tools too. I kinda interspersed it with trying out Dark Souls too (which definitely feels like the more punishing of the two!) and it’s been pretty interesting to try out a more Japanese perspective on combat that’s often described like “watching animations and taking turns”. I’ve also been doing a bit of the Gower MMO Brighter Shores from time to time. It’s been lovely to see Andrew’s particular sense of understated humour in the quest dialogue, and I’ve slowly got a few hundred levels here and there idling away for XP.
No. The system is flawed, of course, but in the end game sells -> publishers see the genre/idea sells -> they are going to fund creating another one like that -> creators with ideas earn money
How strong we feel that publishers leech off creators is a valid point. But in the end that’s how it works right now
Maybe, if publishers and creators were getting some petty tax from each swap, that would enable recycling without killing the positive feedback for a good game. Or open another can of worms. Think what practices would result in more gains with such system in place. I’m afraid it might be churning out low value, highly hyped, hastily created games with paid reviews
Or maybe it’s a good business idea and it will revolutionize industry once someone puts up such a service
But, I think, implemented by the current big ones it would end up badly. It’s a flip of the whole business plan and they would cling to old ideas
Additionally, this idea would probably in practice look more like streaming does. A subscription to access with some “coins” for swapping. And we already see that streaming has negative effects on accessibility to older, niche movies and series
you know you’ve wasted however much money
I know that what I’m going to write doesn’t work for fighting games. But for the rest of them, wait until they are priced what you are comfortable spending based on howlongtobeat. Last night I binged on Citizen Sleeper that is on sale rn. 6hrs of good story for price of 1-2 beers. I usually don’t get back to games I’ve finished, so probably won’t be playing it ever again. But I still feel it was money well spent. And if it wasn’t that great, this price is not the amount I’d regret spending on a meh game
Maybe, if publishers and creators were getting some petty tax from each swap
You didn't read the part where part of my conceptual ideas consist of paying a fee to gift the game away, that would have to be decided up to Valve and the Developers/Publishers. I only came up with just a start. It's not a perfect idea, but it's there as a return for them because they're going to want some return from this, of course.
I did and my response to that is that it’s very probable it would turn into something dysfunctional
Think what practices would result in more gains with such system in place. I’m afraid it might be churning out low value, highly hyped, hastily created games with paid reviews
But without it, there is no positive feedback for good games
Little free digital libraries if you like. It’d be possible to do once the DRM is gone, if only there was a platform that made selling without the locks a major part of the pitch…
Functionally though it is possible, ebook lending exists already, but from what I gather proper libraries pay some sizable fee for the right to do so. There’s no reason other digital media couldn’t do the same.
Wreckfest has been big for the last week or so. The only reason why I picked it up again in the first place (after having only played about an hour of it before, mostly on the Steam Deck) was that I got a new controller (from 8bitdo), more or less replacing my worn out Xbone controller, and the idea was that I wanted to test it properly with a proper racing game - and proper racing it is! Hard and punishing, but not really unfair. I’ve been a fan of Finish developer Bugbear ever since the first Flatout (which this is a clear spiritual successor to), so it’s not exactly surprising that it finally clicked with me.
Driving physics in particular are sublime. Even with just a controller, you can feel the mass of the vehicle shifting around, you notice tires losing grip as springs are decompressed on top of a hill. Add to that the second best crash physics after BeamNG and delightfully aggressive AI drivers and the end result is pure carnage. There is some frustration (most races are decided in the first three corners and a single mistake can eliminate any chance of victory at the second highest and highest difficulty), later races are getting too long (since it’s not particularly interesting to lead for five laps after having basically won the race in the first lap) and the gameplay surrounding the races themselves is bare-bones to say the least, with a very basic campaign, upgrade and leveling system and some live service (ultra)lite challenges sprinkled on top, but it does the job.
There are destruction derbies (fun, but laughably easy, all of them) and wacky events like racing a tiny three wheeler against a field of school buses, but the majority of those are really more fun in theory than actually playing them, since most of these unusual vehicles are just slow, fragile and control purely. Worst example so far: RV racing. Nothing fun or interesting about that and the Top Gear segment they copied this from wasn’t exactly a high point in the series either. Normal racing is downright exhilarating though at the best of times, when you just edge out a victory on a slippery, brilliantly designed dirt track, worn out tires barely holding on, opponents trying to spin you out in every corner. I hope there’s more of that in the upcoming sequel. I have not tried the multiplayer yet, but I might in the future. Graphics are excellent - save for the complete lack of driver animations - and there’s a banging soundtrack that would be perfect if it had less screamo, but that’s just my taste. The soundtrack doesn’t quite reach the same heights as Flatout 1 and 2’s, but it’s close.
This really applies to the whole game. It’s not just nostalgia, since I replayed both relatively recently. Wreckfest has better driving physics than its predecessors (or really most other racing games), but that’s about it. The wackiness is more grounded, with plausible or almost plausible and no strictly unrealistic events that involve the driver being hurled into targets anymore, but this also means that, since there is really no “innovation” outside of ultra-basic leveling and daily events compared to the predecessors that it feels like they didn’t really have any ideas and were just doing it by the numbers. Bugbear are masters at the craft of designing tracks, vehicles and the physics that tie it all together, but outside of the immediate racing action, there really is nothing of note there. A campaign system that was below average 21 years ago is now hopelessly outdated. I’m not saying that they should try and make a dirty, ratty version of Forza Horizon with more of those lovely banged up real cars that handle so brilliantly, but… - okay, they totally should, that would be amazing! Anyway, 10/10 racing, 6/10 other events, 3/10 surrounding stuff for a weighed average of 7.99999/10. Don’t check if my math is correct.
Okay, and I also played a few more hours of Balatro (more hours than Wreckfest, I mean), because, well, I was forced to. Yup. I didn’t do it willingly, I swear! Is there a “Balatro players anonymous”? Asking for a friend.
The controller I mentioned (8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wired) is great, by the way. It’s a simple wired-only thing (there’s also a Bluetooth variant) that closely mimics the Xbone controller, except for two additional small shoulder buttons that I haven’t found any use for yet, as well as a turbo and remap feature that allegedly works without any software (don’t care about either, so I haven’t tried them). PC and Android only, just FYI. It has the best sticks and triggers I’ve ever used (both Hall effect, so I hope they’ll last) and the buttons and d-pad are also outstanding, despite this thing costing less than half as much as a first party controller. It feels exactly as solid as an original controller, even down to the plastic making the same noises at precisely the same level of grip strength when some hick from outta town spins ya out in the last corner of tha race for some goddarn reason, which is one hell of an achievement for the price. I’ve already had a Super Famicon style Bluetooth controller from the same company for a few years, so I knew their stuff was high quality. The only aspect about it that might put some people off is that for some reason, it’s only available in bright, almost garish pastel colors, but I quickly got over that. There is a branded Black Myth Wukong version with more muted colors, but it didn’t mention having vibration on any of the spec sheets on any site, so I avoided that one.
Against the Storm is a Rogue-lite City Builder, which sounds like 2 things that shouldn’t go together but works surprisingly well. It has a generous demo on Steam that lets you freely play up to level 6 or something in the standard biome, so give it a try
Shape-Hero Factory is a Rogue-lite Factory Builder. Another weird combination that is surprisingly effective. It’s in Early Access so there’s a lot of features that are still planned, but you can do full runs and go up to I think Ascension 6. It had a demo during nextfest, not sure if the demo is still there.
I’ve been recently playing Kingsway which is a pretty unique roguelite RPG where the entire game takes place in a fake operating system inspired by the Windows 95 interface. Only on Steam though iirc.
Pretty fun, though I wish there were mods to increase the amount of content in the game.
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