cobysev

cobysev, 9 miesięcy temu

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to challenge yourself in a game or play with/against others. There are many reasons we all play. Personally, I’m a huge film buff and love that modern games have started bridging that gap between gameplay and cinematic storytelling. It’s like I can enjoy a 30+ hour film AND interact with it as well!

I used to prefer to just play games solo. There are so many strangers in online games that can be toxic and it’s not fun trying to accomplish a goal when no one’s listening and everyone’s doing their own thing. But I have a childhood friend who won’t play games unless he’s playing co-op with friends, and through him (and a few other close friends), I’ve learned to enjoy co-op games as well.

Plus, one of my other friends is one of those “do-their-own-thing” kind of gamers and we’re constantly trying to get him back on mission. So I’ve learned patience for difficult gamers too. 😉

cobysev, 9 miesięcy temu

It’s semi-related. I served in the US Air Force for 20 years. I got to retire and collect a pension at 38 years old, which is some decent passive income, but not enough to live comfortably on. I would have needed a new job to supplement my living expenses with just that income.

(Un)Fortunately, I also got a bit beat up in my 2 decades of military service. The worst (physically) was a motorcycle accident a decade ago, which I never properly healed from. Both my legs are a bit messed up. I’ve had a few surgeries to fix them and I’m finally back on my feet and mobile, but I can’t really run anymore, nor be on my feet for too long. Which is a shame because I used to be extremely active in my youth. If American Ninja Warrior had been a thing in my childhood, I would’ve dominated that show! I was super fit and bursting with energy back then. I never met anyone who could beat me at obstacle courses as a kid/teen.

Mentally, I saw some shit in Iraq and nearly died a handful of times. My base was mortared at least once a week for the 4 months I was there. I once stepped out to my truck to grab something and a mortar shredded the shack I had been in, killing the 3 Army guys in there. I got a mild concussion from that hit, too. That’s probably the closest I came to dying. So I’ve got a bit of lingering PTSD. Nothing too extreme, just a bit of anxiety and insomnia that comes and goes.

Those, plus 2 decades worth of minor injuries and health concerns, convinced the VA to give me the coveted 100% Permanent & Total disability rating, which includes a monthly pay that’s 2x as much as my pithy pension.

My wife also got the rare 100% disability rating from her military service, due to her own physical and mental issues, which also comes with a similar pay as mine. So with our combined passive incomes, we’re not wealthy by any means, but we make enough to live comfortably without working.

I’m 40 now and inherited my childhood home when my dad passed away this year, so my wife and I have the freedom to relax and focus on our own lives without worrying about needing to be somewhere or making money to get by. It’s very therapeutic, and I wish everyone could experience this earlier in their lives. Retirement age keeps getting bumped further back as people live longer, and it’s no fun being retired when you’re too old to do most things anymore.

I have a ton of hobbies that I bounce back and forth between, but gaming has been a relaxing pleasure of mine since I was a kid. My Steam library is over 3,500 games now and I’m always looking to try out new games. Plus, a few friends of mine play weekly in various co-op games together. So I’ve been a pretty active gamer since I retired. And I hope to share a bunch of screenshots of my games and maybe spark some discussion.

cobysev, 9 miesięcy temu

Hey, if you feel it’s distracting from other content in c/Games, then I’m all for a new community. For now, though, this is the most appropriate place to share this kind of stuff.

I dunno about other people who post screenshots, but my intent is to start discussion about the games I’ve been playing. And I feel a community centered on discussion about games is the best place to do that.

cobysev, 11 miesięcy temu

I may be in the minority, but I kinda enjoy hearing Aloy muttering to herself throughout the game. Partly because I catch myself doing it all the time, so I don’t feel alone in the practice.

But also because I know the voice actress for Aloy (Ashly Burch) as Ash in the YouTube series, Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’? and to this day, it’s still amazing to me to hear her speaking so deadpan seriously. I’m used to her Ash character basically being an animated, loudmouthed wildcard, not this dramatic, serious character. And I kind of enjoy knowing that Ashly has a bit of range to her acting; she’s not some kid who repeats the same YouTube personality she became famous for; she can actually act.

cobysev, rok temu

Remember when games used to be a finished product on a cartridge/CD? You just bought it at the store for a base price of a video game and that was it. Any bugs found in the game became widely accepted, and maybe even exploited by competitive gamers. But there was no patching, no updates, no DLC. You paid for a game up front and that was it.

I miss those days.

cobysev, rok temu

Honestly, I always felt the $60 price tag for games (now $70+ for AAA titles!) was way too much, so I usually wait about a year or more, then buy it on sale.

So I get to sit back and watch the shitshow when people pre-order games and then get screwed when the game is garbage.

Dragon’s Dogma II was super hyped up recently, and even I got the free character customization demo to pre-build a character. Then it announced day-one microtransactions the day before release and pissed off the gaming community.

cobysev, rok temu

So does this mean the game is finally ready for me to buy? Just waiting on a Steam sale and I’ll finally get to play this. Bugs or not, I’m not paying $70 for a base video game.

cobysev, rok temu

They should’ve stuck with Steam instead of going exclusive through Epic Games. Epic’s predatory practice of PC exclusives makes it hard to survive something like this. If they existed on a broader spectrum of services, this would be no big deal.

cobysev, rok temu

Thanks for this. I clicked the link, then immediately noped out when I saw it was a video. I was hoping for an article with a numbered list.

cobysev, rok temu

Undertale is an indie game that promotes and encourages kindness toward others. You can play the game however you want, and there are a multitude of endings depending on how nice/mean you are in your playthrough.

But if you’re not 100% kind to everyone you meet; if you take even one unkind action toward someone, you’re locked out of the perfect good ending. And it remembers your playthrough, so you can’t ever earn it by replaying the game. I dunno if that’s been patched; I haven’t played it since about 2015, but that was the rule when I started it.

And there was no indication starting out that you had this choice. Most people default to fighting bad guys in games. There wasn’t even a hint that you could play the game as a passive, kind person and never harm anyone, despite their aggressive and harmful actions toward you.

So most gamers got locked out of that perfect good ending. Which I guess is kind of the message of the game. Every small act, whether good or bad, can affect people around you permanently. But it’s still annoying as a completionist, knowing that I could never perfectly complete a game because of a rule I wasn’t informed of when I started.