I’d like to know too. Just me realize I don’t have a go to reviewer or site anymore, but been mainly relying on just user submitted trailers to know about new games and word of mouth when it comes to if I want to buy it.
My suggestion for YouTube video reviews currently is ACG. He states that he buys every game he reviews and if the studio sends him a copy for free he gives a copy away to the community out of his own pocket to try and reduce the bias.
He also seems to do a good job of testing on a variety of difficulty levels and platforms.
Yeah it’s great! I’ve started it a few times but recently got an analogue pocket and am trying to finish a lot of those older games I’ve never finished. I think I’m about half way through world 4 now. Still deciding if I want to try and 100% every level to get the bonus levels haha
I know it’s not quite what you’re asking for, but it’s where I get my gaming news from at least. I have subbed to SkillUp on YT for a very long time, and he covers loads of games and does weekly news videos where he covers the latest. The vids are very genuine and authentic, imo.
He, and a few of his friends also started a very chill and good podcast called Friends Per Second going more in depth on different gaming topics.
Yeah unfortunately I agree. I think Yong seems like a cool guy but his videos always start with a lengthy recap which anyone who watches his channel already knows from his previous video on whatever is recapped, and then he takes the longest possible route to explain the topic too.
I reckon if he made 5 min videos without all the fluff he’d be great.
YongYea just reads reddit threads without providing any actual commentary or context of his own. He repeats himself until he crosses the video length threshold for monetization.
He also had a nasty case where rushed his Cyberpunk 2077 review to be one of the first to monetize, and then monetized his apology video where he stated he didn’t really play the game enough to review it. And he admits he “went way too easy on this game in a way that I wouldn’t have with other games or companies and the review shouldn’t be up”.
I also remember when I used to watch him before Final Fantasy 7 Remake came out and he acted like he was a longtime huge fan of the original game, but when he watched the ff7r trailer he seemed like he barely knew the basics.
I jumped back into Diablo 3 for its season 29, and holy shit, it seems so ridiculously easy in comparison to Diablo 4, at least in regards to leveling up. It's taken me less than a fourth of the time in D3 to get to level 100 plus 15 paragon levels, compared to me getting to only level 85 in D4 (which I'm also still working on). I don't know if it's because I've played so much of D3 that I'm just that efficient and I haven't quite got the hang of D4 yet, or if it's something else, but man, going back and forth between the two is kind of a trip. It also makes me really miss having a pet to run around and pick up gold for me lol.
I also finally finished The Sinking City again last night. I was kinda procrastinating by leaving a lot of the side quests for end, especially since I knew which ending I was going with. Got some pretty great screenshots out of it! It's one of those games that I wish came with a capture mode.
I think at this point I still prefer D3 to D4 (maybe also nostalgia?). I do think that D4 will improve given enough time, I’m hoping. But it’s sad that I paid full price for a game that, not only is expensive and has battle passes but will have yearly expansions on top of it.
I have no doubt it will improve, it just needs some tweaking, but I do think it will evolve into it's own thing too. I still have the original Diablo 3 on Xbox 360, before they added Reaper of Souls and started doing seasons, and even playing that is vastly different than playing D3 in it's current state. Having that perspective, it will be interesting to see where D4 is in a couple years.
Almost done with Act 2 in Divinity: Original Sin 2.
I went (semi on purpose) in the wrong direction in the beginning, so I was level 10-11, fighting against level 14+ enemies, while still mostly wearing my Act 1 gear (level 8 max). Some fights were a huge pain and I abused those quicksave and load buttons. Now that I’m almost done, I’m completely destroying those weak enemies, while I’m like five levels above them.
While some quests don’t really account for the “sequence breaks,” it was mostly fine, except I should have at least done a little bit more of the main quest. Because of that, I didn’t have some basic spells you’d get and lacked a way to recharge my Source (a resource, to power your strongest spells and abilites). If I just spent five mintues, going into a house and talking with an NPC, I probably would have had a much easier time with some fights.
I have no idea how long Act 3 is going to be, and I read there’s an Act 4, so finishing the game in the coming week is probably not realistic, but I still enjoy it, so I’m in no rush.
Still deep in Baldur's Gate 3. I did relatively little content in Acts 1 and 2, and they still took me about 20 and 30 hours respectively. I wasn't sure if the game would run out of steam for me if I tried to do every quest that sounded interesting. Now that I'm in Act 3, I know I can end the game whenever I want, but I don't want to yet. I've spent 40 hours in Act 3 already and haven't even gone to the two major quests that I need to do yet to start wrapping things up. After I finish the quest line I'm on (hints for those who know, that will hopefully dodge spoilers: I'm about to go underwater to rescue some folks, and then I have to sabotage a thing after that), I may start wrapping things up, but we'll see.
Simply watch no-voiceover playthroughs on youtube to see how a game is actually like. Don’t watch the whole video if you don’t want spoilers. Goes without saying this is only possible after the game release. Wait at least 3-6 months after release before buying any game. Or pirate it.
I have played a bunch on the train into work for the last 10 years… I am at level 10035… I also have a excel table of level date and number of gold bars I have at that point when I hit big checkpoints
Two player retro JRPG (a la Chrono Trigger, etc) where each player can play independently in the same world, but the story lines intersect and must work together in many parts of the story. Would work great if the story filled in gaps when you replayed as the other player.
Would both people always have to be playing at the same time? Or would it be possible for one person to play and progress while the other person isn’t playing?
I think the idea of an open world RPG with more than one player, not necessarily competitive or coop, but each with their own quests and motives, is interesting. I’m often hanging out in discord with friends, and we’re all just chatting while playing different games. We might as well be playing in the same world, and occasionally influence each other.
You’d have to somehow make it clear to the players that the goal is not to party up and just walk around doing everyone’s quests together, though. Ooo what if it was the world of the last airbender, and each person started as a different bender in a different part of the world? And maybe one person is secretly the avatar, but they don’t know until they’ve progressed. Ok, I’ll stop intruding on your idea lol.
Would both people always have to be playing at the same time? Or would it be possible for one person to play and progress while the other person isn’t playing?
I think you could go either way. If you want to be able to play without the other person also playing, you’d need a server or someone/something hosting the “game” where you connect in. If you were really clever as a programmer, you may be able to sync actions after both people are online without having a server, but that would be a challenge.
The other option is something like couch multiplayer, where you’re both playing on the same device. If one person isn’t there to move around, then no biggie.
I think the idea of an open world RPG with more than one player, not necessarily competitive or coop, but each with their own quests and motives, is interesting. I’m often hanging out in discord with friends, and we’re all just chatting while playing different games. We might as well be playing in the same world, and occasionally influence each other.
Me too! One thing I’m looking at trying out soon is the multiplayer mod to Elden Ring. It’s enables a mechanic that’s very similar to this goal, but not entirely.
In an open world where just a few people are playing their own game, together, you could have very fun friend interactions like trading and helping with quests or missions.
You’d have to somehow make it clear to the players that the goal is not to party up and just walk around doing everyone’s quests together, though. Ooo what if it was the world of the last airbender, and each person started as a different bender in a different part of the world? And maybe one person is secretly the avatar, but they don’t know until they’ve progressed. Ok, I’ll stop intruding on your idea lol.
Right – I imagine when you both start the game you both get a very different intro, and are clearly starting in different parts of the world. I don’t know much Airbender lore, but that sounds like a great theme for a game like this.
One feature I’d like to see is the two players’ stories intertwine in such a way that you absolutely do have to help/meet to beat the game. Like, one player is arrested in jail and the other has to help them break out, because the one in jail is the one that can get the one not in jail access to the dungeon/castle/area that he wants to go to. Ultimately, I think it’d be important to kill the final boss/end the game together.
I mostly just follow the nextlander crew and Jeff Gerstmann. They aren’t much more than podcasts, there’s little to no written work produced, and they don’t really consider themselves gaming journalists, but that’s pretty much what we’re left with.
“Influencers” and corporate cash have largely killed games journalism.
I love playing Diablo solo self-found, and ignoring metas as much as possible. But every new game that’s released makes it more and more difficult, because they are generally designed with the most powerful builds in mind. I.e. if you don’t follow one of a few cookie cutter builds, you’re in for a hard time and unlikely to finish the game. Having completely random items (as opposed to RNG’d items) means the focus would shift to experimenting. Which I enjoy more.
I don’t see why they would need to be “coded in”. If we can train AIs on language (including programming languages) and media, I don’t see why we would not reach a point where actual game content and mechanics are AI generated.
This is nothing for AI now:
_In a post apocalyptic roleplaying setting, I am in an abandoned electronics store. Invent a completely new, ludicrous weapon made of items I can find in the shop. Describe briefly how it is built and its effects.
You craft a “Jolt-O-Matic,” a makeshift weapon from the items found in the abandoned electronics store. To build it, you combine a car battery, several copper wires, a broken microwave’s magnetron, and an old CRT TV screen. Here’s how it works:
Construction: First, you attach the copper wires to the car battery, creating a makeshift power source. Then, you connect the other ends of the wires to the magnetron, which you’ve salvaged from the microwave. This forms the core of your weapon.
Amplification: You carefully remove the CRT TV screen and use it as a reflector to focus the microwave energy emitted by the magnetron.
Effects: When activated, the Jolt-O-Matic releases a powerful burst of concentrated microwave radiation. It can incapacitate or severely damage electronic devices and even cause minor explosions in nearby metallic objects. However, it has a limited range and may drain the car battery quickly, making it a high-risk, high-reward weapon in your post-apocalyptic adventure_.
IMHO, it’s realistic to think that we’ll soon be able to generate all the resources and code necessary to implement an AOE weapon that makes metal explode.
Or:
_In a darkmedieval fantasy roleplaying setting, I am in a cemetery. Invent a completely new, ludicrous weapon made of items I can find nearby. Describe briefly how it is built and it’s effects.
In the eerie cemetery, you stumble upon a makeshift weapon known as the “Soulshiver Spire.” It’s constructed from a weathered tombstone, a twisted iron gate, and an ethereal, glowing wisp captured within a lantern.
The tombstone serves as the hilt, providing a solid grip, while the iron gate forms the blade, jagged and menacing. The lantern, containing the captured wisp, is attached to the pommel.
When swung, the Soulshiver Spire emits an unsettling, bone-chilling wail that can paralyze foes with fear. Its blade can phase through solid objects momentarily, allowing you to strike from unexpected angles. But its most sinister power lies in the lantern: when shattered, the wisp bursts forth, sapping the life force from anyone nearby and channeling it into the wielder, granting temporary invulnerability. However, using such dark magic comes at a price, as it corrupts the wielder’s soul over time._
It’s bonkers. Afaik, you can’t procedurally-generate every item in a way that is so random and unexpected.
You clearly misunderstand both how language models work, and how procedural generation works. Procedural generation is as “random and unexpected” as you want to make it.
I never really read PC Gamer. I used to subscribe to PSM and Nintendo Power. By the time I got a PC capable of running games, magazines were already on their way out lol
I do appreciate that they generally (BG3 review notwithstanding) aren’t afraid to call out bugs and aren’t one of the publications rushing to press with reviews. Even if their scoring system is ridiculous.
I don’t know if they are truly any more independent than any of the other big names, especially considering they have a (formerly E3) trade show now. They are also part of the same publishing group as Tom’s Hardware, which hasn’t been my first choice for hardware reviews for a while.
A bard/artist game that really makes use of the creative potential of music/painting. A great example of a “tech demo” of what I’d like is the magic system in Tchia. You got a ukulele that you can play super freely (possibly the most realistic thing if you don’t play it irl), but depending on what notes you play, you unleash different spells (kinda like in the old Zelda games with the ocarina).
I would absolutely love if the creative spell freedom of Magicka (or Fictorum) was combined with the freeform instrument play of Tchia.
bin.pol.social
Aktywne