Mmm yess. Recently did a play through, and luckily I played most of it with a fellow pilgrim. IMO Journey will always be gorgeous. The graphics are perfectly balanced between realism, performance and art. To me, it’s a timeless classic.
Hate: disproportionately excessive penalties for falls (usually found in platformers).
If you get shot in the face by an enemy, you lose your shield, lose a life, whatever. In a bad platformer, if you don’t time a difficult jump exactly right, you lose a life, lose everything in your inventory, get sent back to the very beginning of the level, get audited, and have to mow the developers lawn for an entire summer.
Platformers are “guilty until proven innocent” - I won’t play one until I know it won’t destroy my will to live.
I honestly can’t even remember the one that first set me off. It’s been a while. I just remember realizing that gravity was more punishing than any of the enemies, and thinking “oh, to hell with this.”
For platformers, maybe. But for certain genres – like battle royale – the risk of losing it all after one mistake is part of the thrill. It all depends on the game.
It’s nice to see the LCD Deck get discounted, if only to relive the old days when consoles got cheaper instead of more expensive as time went on. I almost wanted to buy another one out of principle, even though I don’t have use for more than one.
I lowkey considered getting a second SD, just to keep it plugged into my TV 24/7. I cart mine back and forth from work and home, and the minor inconvenience of packing it into my bag each morning had me considering a second purchase.
What’s crazy is lots of good games don’t take that long. You don’t need an epic sound track, textures, physics, etc to make a good game. There are so many amazing low budget games that are not that technically challenging or that demanding of musicians/graphic artists.
That’s the one thing where I would raise an objection. An epic soundtrack is that one thing that adds to the experience more than fancy graphics or overly complicated game mechanics. Epic doesn’t necessarily mean expensive. Monkey Island had phantastic soundtracks, as well as other older games like The Settlers 2, early Anno games etc. They just set a mood. They supported their narratives. That was good stuff - and I guess you might now be able to extrapolate how old I am.
I’m not saying I don’t like an epic sound track. I have a lot that I’ve even purchased. But think of some games that do not and still sell well.
What I mean is, you can have a good sounding soundtrack that isn’t expensive. Some games record orchestras, for example, and others just make a good tune in FL studio. One is much more expensive than the other.
Bioware used to be able to make good AAA games quickly :
Mass Effect : 2007
Dragon Age : 2009
ME2 : 2010
DA2 : 2011
ME3 : 2012
With epic soundtrack, voice acting, cinematography, …
Even an independant (back then) studio like CD Projekt “only” needed 4 years between each Witcher game (2007, 2011, 2015), while making their own engine for the 2nd and 3rd
I don’t know where the years get lost in game development nowadays, except pre-production (lack of direction/managment) and… “open world”
“Quickly” - the “Bioware magic” used to be years of lack of direction followed by one year of “HOLY SHIT WE NEED TO DELIVER!” crunch
But the former executive producer of Dragon Age, Mark Darrah (…) posted a YouTube video about how the so-called “BioWare magic” really worked. According to Darrah, it referred to a hockey stick graph where most of the progress is nearly unnoticeable. It’s nearly flat, and “if you draw that line out, then your game is shipping in like 30 years.” At a certain point, the developers hit a “pivotal point” when the game would finally shape up and a lot of progress would be made in a short amount of time. According to the developer, that tipping point is what is known as“BioWare magic.”
Half a decade for a subpar product that’s barely out of beta.
Back in the day we’ve got subpar products barely out of beta that we had to patch from magazine cds far faster. Oh - and they were more fun because developers had to make something out of nothing. I feel today, where everything is possible as the engine used delivers a toolset for anything, games easily are so overly stuffed with “mechanics” that they just feel like work. I don’t like that.
I feel like given the amount of work required to make the kind of games that triple a represents, and the amount of money in and out, every game becomes a mess of different ideas and motivations with no unifying force. Every game must be everything to justify the price tag, but there’s no unifying passion or vision behind it. Of course the more you stuff in there, the more you can market it as well.
Does anyone else find it suspicious there wasn’t any criticism on here about Stop Killing Games until after it hit 1.4M signatures?
Nobody here disagrees with any point of the petition. I signed it. Even if gaming companies were rushing to send shills to raid discussions they would have done it months ago and last places they would go astroturff for is this Kazakhstani anti-whaling forum. Especially when their target now is the Eu bureaucracy and MEPs. Where I might say they have not a bad chance of succeeding.
I’m pretty sure it’s in the US. I’m in Utah (pretty far western US) and ping times are like 10-15ms, which is consistent w/ a west coast server. I have a VPS in Germany, and pings are more like 100-150ms.
I’m not exactly sure how pings work w/ cloudflare, so maybe it’s hosted somewhere else, but I would imagine they’d get a cloudflare host near their VPS to minimize latency.
Just be thankful they haven’t followed inflation of both the value of money, and their budgets. A $40 NES game would be $120 in todays money and it was probably made in a month by three people in a shed, meanwhile something like CoD Black Ops Cold War credits over 9000 people and had a budget of $700 million. GTA 6 has already blown past a billion.
Most games today are cross platform and sell substantially more copies that old console games. Mega Man 3 for example sold just over 1 million copies and was a great success. GTA V, crossplatform AAA, sold almost a quarter of a billion copies.
It’s not just that. It’s also that the second hand market is really not there anymore. There are a lot of games that I know I’m only playing once, in this case it makes sense to buy it, then resell it. But it’s not really feasible on PC.
In this situation, a rental market does make sense. And it also allows more easily to test games you probably wouldn’t have bought. I played Persona 3 this way for example.
No, you’re right. And combined with the easy refund you get from Steam for example, which would make it basically a trial period, there are a lot of possibilities.
I was thinking more about very long games that you’re not sure you really will be convinced after only 2 hours. On a Persona for example, 2 hours is nothing, you’re not even going to pass the tutorial.
Of course a demo is not forced to be at the start of the game, but some games are hard to showcase 😅
On the other hand, I’m just realizing that we are talking about an actual rental model, which we don’t really have at the moment. Gamepass is a subscription model, which is quite different (and not in a good way)
So yeah an actual renting model could be cool, depending on its pricing of course.
The comments of this thread give off major Reddit energy. Sure the post is a little fedora-lordish but why not add meaningful input by discussing the value of games and their stories like the post suggests, rather than bashing a stranger for no reason other than hypercriticalism?
It’s not a crime to enjoy something. Just because someone has a differing view does not make it a wrong view. And honestly if I get downvoted, it kinda proves that lemmings just critisize others and hate when someone is critical of them. Hypocrisy at its finest.
I too have chosen to spend a good chunk of my money on games, and came to, you know the “games” lemmy instance, to talk about them. That’s not hyper-consumerism, its me finding happiness in a world where there’s not much to be happy about. Like op said, it’s a way to escape, explore, and lose yourself.
And it’s highly unlikely that OP is playing 100% new-releases, especially w/ that 200+ installed games, so they’re probably getting a bunch of those well below store price (i.e. through bundles and whatnot). I have several hundred games, many of which I haven’t played, and most of those came in a bundle that included a couple games I did play (and the total price was significantly less than the retail price of the games I did play).
I’m guessing that’s OP’s case, and given how many they claim to have played, I’m guessing they have a lot of time to play games.
Sure the post is a little fedora-lordish but why not add meaningful input by discussing the value of games and their stories like the post suggests, rather than bashing a stranger for no reason other than hypercriticalism?
Because the post doesn't suggest anything. It's a random stranger gloating about spending thousands of dollars on games they barely play. No interest in starting any meaningful conversation whatsoever. OP did not say anything meaningful or specific about their favorite "stories" or "moments" in games, and did not show any interest in learning about yours or ours.
It's not a crime to enjoy something. Just because someone has a differing view does not make it a wrong view. And honestly if I get downvoted, it kinda proves that lemmings just critisize others and hate when someone is critical of them. Hypocrisy at its finest.
You or OP can do whatever you want, but if you gloat about your senseless consumption habits online while showing zero interest in starting any meaningful discussion, don't throw out the pikachu face when you get clowned.
I too have chosen to spend a good chunk of my money on games, and came to, you know the "games" lemmy instance, to talk about them. That's not hyper-consumerism, its me finding happiness in a world where there's not much to be happy about. Like op said, it's a way to escape, explore, and lose yourself.
Talk about them then. No one's stopping you or OP—although I imagine it's hard to talk about thousands of games they haven't played 😂
Let me demonstrate: one of my favorite moments in gaming was S ranking Furi's first boss on Furier.
IDK why, but for some reason I didn't know I was actually capable of improving at things. I had this silly idea that people are either born good at something or they aren't, until I picked up Furi in 2017.
I heared the game is most fun on Furier, I find a code that unlocks it, and I start my first playthrough. As if that wasn't enough, for some reason, I decided my first playthrough will be a challenge run: beating bosses is not enough, I will not move on to the next boss until I S Rank the one before them.
Now, Furi has nothing but boss fights and walking segments between each fight. Nothing to fallback on if you suck except your response time and pattern recognition skills—no weapons or skills to unlock, no shop to buy consumables, nothing. I shit you not: it took me 35 hours to S rank the first boss, and the moment I did it, I genuinely felt like a different person.
It was mind blowing. Like, what else can I do? What else can I get better at? I know it's a video game, but my experience is indisputable proof I can improve at least at one thing and maybe even pick up new skills I don't already have.
This lead me to re-examine and rebuild my idea of who I am and what I can do, snapped me out of my chronic depression, and eventually lead to a career change.
I still carry that feeling with me. Every time I pick up a new action game, I get excited about the learning process, and what I can accomplish after 35 hours.
What about you? Is there any moment you always carry with you?
Now, that wasn't hard, was it? Wouldn't it have been nice if OP did this instead of generically gloating about amassing a huge library of games they barely play?
I mean, I wrote a whole lot of text explaining why I collect so many games.
It’s a random stranger gloating about spending thousands of dollars on games they barely play.
I haven’t even told you how much money I’ve spent. And of the money I’ve spent, it’s not exactly a lot. I know people who’ve spent more money on hardware than I’ve spent on games.
No interest in starting any meaningful conversation whatsoever.
And yet, there’s lots of conversation here. You’ve already written paragraphs. Go figure.
OP did not say anything meaningful or specific about their favorite “stories” or “moments” in games
If you want to see posts where I talk about specific games, just go through my history.
and did not show any interest in learning about yours or ours.
If you want to share your story, do so. Actually, you already did.
You or OP can do whatever you want, but if you gloat about your senseless consumption habits online while showing zero interest in starting any meaningful discussion
Oh, there’s sense. Maybe not sense in your prescribed manner, but there’s sense.
don’t throw out the pikachu face when you get clowned.
I really don’t mind the many different reactions.
Talk about them then. No one’s stopping you or OP—although I imagine it’s hard to talk about thousands of games they haven’t played 😂
Yep, no one’s stopping me – which is why I talk about specific games.
Wouldn’t it have been nice if OP did this instead of generically gloating about amassing a huge library of games they barely play?
Just because you’re seeing this post here now doesn’t mean I don’t talk about specific games elsewhere. In fact, if you go through my posting history, you can see all the many times I talk about my experiences with games. Feel free to comment on them.
The reason why you’re commenting here now, and not on my post about Curse: Eye of Isis is because this specific post created an emotional reaction in you.
Or hell, you can look on my Akkoma account. I posted this about Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death last night:
I mean, I wrote a whole lot of text explaining why I collect so many games.
And suggested nothing.
I haven't even told you how much money I've spent.
You said a few thousand dollars, which's exactly what I said. Why you acting like I made up a number?
You've already written paragraphs. Go figure.
No thanks to you.
If you want to see posts where I talk about specific games, just go through my history.
Yeah, I may actually. Wish this was one of them.
Oh, there's sense. Maybe not sense in your prescribed manner, but there's sense.
Go ahead and walk me through it, please.
The reason why you're commenting here now, and not on my post about Curse: Eye of Isis is because this specific post created an emotional reaction in you.
Not really. The reason I'm commenting here now is the original comment I replied to criticized my response to your post. I commented on your post and moved on—feed here is just too short I ended up seeing it again shortly after.
And the reason I'm not commenting on your Curse: Eye of Isis post is I never saw it in my feed. Simple as that.
Found the type of lemming I was referencing. Here I was simply posting an ambiguous critical commment and they go defensive mode for no reason. Hypercritical, overpolitical, and wrote paragraphs about a game to prove a point rather than to express passion for said games.
Come on, none of us will ever play all their games. I’d bet around 2000 of my games on steam are some free keys or other incredibly cheap shit I wouldn’t touch with a 10m-pole. If I’d ever find them again in the library, that is.
Playing for an hour to see how shitty it is? Or actually bought to enjoy for manymany hours, as intended? Thought so 😁 For us peeps with way more than a few k games, 20% actually been played would be already the big numbers I’d guess.
Hey, most games are not meant to be played for thousands of hours. And actually, most games I own can be completed in less than 100 hours. Especially if they’re not RPGs. Then there’s arcade games which are often not meant to be completed at all.
But then again, I’ve already said I’m not a completionist. I only complete games if they’re compelling enough to complete.
My completion rate is obviously much lower, but I've played at least two hours of 628/788 games in my 19 year old Steam account. I guess I'm a bit pickier with accepting freebies or buying on sales.
That is the result of a deliberate effort. Two year long project to play at least 2 hours of every game in my backlog minimum before I can uninstall it. Until there's nothing let but the dregs. A YouTuber inspired me, except he had a time limit deadline for the video.
Backlog was 258 games, now 160. Really there's about 30 left worth at least looking at. A lot of old crap from the very first Steam sale in there.
Most recent from the backlog was Alpha Protocol with some pcgamingwiki fixes. Yep that's been sitting in there a long long time. Loved it so much I finished it!
Definately one of the more wiser purchase-guys :-) I went a lil nuts when inventory-gifts were a thing. You know, doing what the corporations all do: Exploit globalism to my advantage. But for many years I rarey buy anything anymore, only if i REALLY intend to play it. I’m old, not wise :-)
It sounds like you’ve found some games you like but are turned off of by some difficulty bottlenecks. If that’s the case, considerWeMod. It’s a trainer for a ton of games that allow you to “cheat” in singleplayer games(god mode, speed hacks, etc.)
I still love playing games but as I get older, my tremors get worse, making it impossible for me to get through one on my own. WeMod allows me to explore all of the game world without being stopped by something as simple as clicking on something quickly.
I strongly disagree on their roguelite “bug” being something they need to drop.
Bastion didn’t land for me, so I didn’t play it, but Transistor would have shined as a roguelite. Its combat system is far too complex, and has potential for so much more, than what can be explored in one or two playthroughs.
The same goes for Cloudbank as a narrative setting.
Transistor, but with Hades’ gameplay loop and storytelling style would be insane. It already felt like a roguelite, but without a gameplay or narrative reason to go in for multiple runs.
Supergiant hasn’t cought a roguelite bug… They’ve found the perfect narrative and game format to match the gameplay systems and worlds they like to create.
It was really groundbreaking to have the narrator react to what you were doing, in a “Half-Life feels like a real world that you inhabit” way. The way the music was woven into the game was also amazing, and the art! There’s a reason it put them on the map.
I didn’t like the gameplay all that much though and the world building didn’t make too much sense to me. These parts have aged the most poorly. But it was way better than just marketing.
It counts as a masterpiece because of how well it blends game design, gameplay and story. I have played very few games as thoughtful, or that weaved the gameplay together into the story it was telling in such a meaningful way. I never thought once in my life that I would think philosophically about bullet hell but somehow Nier Automata has something profound to say and even manages to say it using bullet hell as a gameplay mechanic.
On top of all this, it also has a lot to say about classical philosophers, their works, and honestly deeply subverts things they had to say. It asks tough questions about their thoughts and ideas, once again, through gameplay. Numerous characters are named for classical philosophers: Pascal, Jean-Paul, Simone, Engels, Immanuel… (Yoko Taro obviously has feelings about how Jean-Paul Sartre treated Simone de Beauvoir.)
Further, Yoko Taro is doing something that a lot of game developers fail to manage to do: He is embracing gaming as a storytelling medium and eschewing the traditional three-act arc from film. Because gaming is not film. As Marshall McLuhan posited, “the medium is the message” and unlike other developers Taro’s writing is aimed at the medium he is working in instead of leaning on the ropes and tropes of other mediums. (Referring back to above, tying the gameplay into the story, focusing on the medium)
It’s basically impossible to not break down into tears at the ending.
Don’t write it off because of the scantily clad anime women. Stay for the depth of the human condition. It is truly a masterwork in multiple respects.
For a moment I thought you were talking about the Newsmax host and I was very offended and confused, but it looks like there is another, lesser known Chris Plante in gaming journalism.
spoilerThe wild part is that he’s so good at subverting anime tropes, too. The “killing god” trope is mentioned in the first lines of the game… and then going on to battling the end credits themselves?? Literally killing the gods who created the world this all exists in? Taking it to the absurd yet logical extreme, so brilliant.
Man, I wish I understood a single bit of this evaluation of the game after finishing every chapter (sorry - “Ending”). The whole thing felt mostly like a waste of time.
That said, I’m a fan of Spec Ops: The Line, a game that has much the same level of division among its players. Interesting how philosophical games get that reaction.
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