luciole

luciole, 3 dni temu

I started Planet Crafter and I’m hooked. It’s a low budget yet brilliant Subnautica like game with a higher emphasis on crafting.

I’ve been playing Tyranny as well. It’s a nice CRPG with factions in a bleak setting. A little obtuse with the consequences of dialog options. Still refreshing. I really could use the tank character in my party composition, but he’s such an insufferable square I’d rather not use him.

luciole, 3 dni temu

Don’t even try completing an FTL run at normal though. Easy is where the fun’s at.

luciole, wczoraj

I sided with the rebels and Barik became this massive frustrated Northerner supremacist, despising Tiersmen every chance he had and urging me to let the Disfavored civilize them. Fuck that.

luciole, 15 dni temu

Have some empathy for megacorporations. They’re moral (lol) entities just like you and me. /s

luciole, 20 dni temu

Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn made me realize I vibe so well playing as a woman. If I had had the choice I probably would have picked the masculine option since that’s my gender. I’m glad that game forced my hand, now when I have a choice I give it a real thought.

luciole, 29 dni temu

Don’t OpenCritic only offer critic scores, and no user scores?

luciole, miesiąc temu

The NES was epic for its time, but nowadays those controllers make my hands cramp after minutes. Thank God for the modern big curvy controllers.

Some classics of that time might be of interest to the contemporary gamer, although I think you need to have some kind of historical curiosity for it to be worthwhile. The tools of the times were rudimentary to an extent that hurt what the devs could do even more than the capacity of the consoles imho. I mean, they were flipping bits in assemblers.

The audio though. 8-bit music is fucking stellar. The energy contained, the catchiness, it’s amazing.

As for recommendations: The Guardian Legend is my pick. Cool scifi action-adventure/ shmup hybrid.

luciole, miesiąc temu

The only flaw of SMB3 to me would be that this game needed save games reeaal bad.

luciole, miesiąc temu

Oh, new game from Cross-Code devs, neat!

The low poly 3D for environments looks good, and the 2D isometric was getting me confused sometimes in Cross-Code, so yay!

luciole, miesiąc temu

I’ve been progressing through Divided Reigns. Very indie, retro JRPG. The story reminds me of FFIV & FFVI in good ways. Battles are much more involved then the aforementioned classics though: while remaining turn based there are plenty of types, effects and skills involved. A rage meter brings in some form of planning ahead between turns, somewhat like Octopath Travellers or Bravely Default. All around solid game. Only downside is the dialogs being sometimes pretty silly.

Been playing Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla as well. So here’s my theory: inside Ubisoft there are two wolves. The first wolf is made up of thousands of creative, talented, diverse artisans working hard to make the open world formula fun and beautiful. The second wolf is a handful of suits looking for ways to milk the first wolf’s output for money in all sorts of shit ways. I’ve found out that if you put the Ubisoft launcher in offline mode, you’ve blocked the second wolf. As for the game itself, it remains faithful to the series. There are some welcome improvements, such as the end of garbage equipment loot. In terms of storyline, I can’t say I’m feeling especially involved so far. There is a certain cruelty to the protagonist which I struggle with. On the other hand I must also say that at times the game feels unapologetically woke which I thoroughly enjoy. The side quests are also super goofy.

luciole, miesiąc temu

I can’t say I have a favorite, but I do strongly favor anything strictly turned based. I’ve been playing Divided Reigns and its combat system is stellar imho, so there. Lots of weapon types, lots of attacks for each types, lots of skills, lots of magics. Makes non magic users at least as satisfying to use as spell casters.

luciole, miesiąc temu

I hope you feel better soon knokelmaat!

I only played Animal Crossing on the switch right into the pandemic. I was sick in the first wave and that strain was wild. The whole world was in a state of panic and AC was a cute little haven while we bunkered down. I played every single day until two llamas got married and I was hunting for little hearts… then I had a moment and I never touched it again.

It’s funny that that franchise shares the same acronym as Assassin’s Creed.

luciole, miesiąc temu

Well, if the parents are both working 40+ hours and spending 10+ hours in transit every week, there will be no free time. It’s kind of unfair to solely blame parenthood for that though imho. Another important point to remember is that kids grow fast.

luciole, 2 miesiące temu

Articuno is an ice type you gotta ❄️ not 💦 and hit that flying type for super effective damage. Bro this is basic math please.

luciole, 2 miesiące temu

Super Mario is today what Mickey Mouse wishes it still was: a joyful, universally recognizable character deeply entrenched in the childhood of millions.

There is a special place in my heart for the infamously strange Super Mario Bros 2. Many connoisseurs will justly mention that it is merely a reskin of the lesser known Doki Doki Panic. What is often left out is that Doki Doki Panic was created as well by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and that it originally contained references to its previous work on Mario, such as the POW blocks. In the long run, I feel that Nintendo of America’s decision to adapt DDP as SMB2 for the occidental plebs boosted the series with several charming monsters, a more interactive world, as well as multiple playable characters. We owe Bobombs, Shyguys and Ninjis to this very title.

luciole, 2 miesiące temu

Feel the same. My switch is collecting dust and I just don’t feel like touching the backlog there. The fleeting nature of a console is depressing.

luciole, 2 miesiące temu

I’ve been playing Etrian Odyssey 3 HD and I’m enjoying it. It’s a lovely blobber with an interesting take on mapping. You can choose between full, minimal or no automapping. I’m playing with minimal automapping and I’m rediscovering the joys of mapping a dungeon crawl, a thing which I thought I was officially done with. At “normal” the difficulty is just right for me. I’m particularly enjoying the total absence of brutally obtuse puzzles, a staple of western RPGs for some reason. Only downside is the fan service some of the art suffers from, a staple of JRPGs for some reason.

luciole, 3 miesiące temu

I have played some of the Avernum games. In my opinion it’s peak Jeff Vogel. If you’re fine with the graphics, you’re in for excellent writing, nicely done non linear exploration and original world building.

luciole, 3 miesiące temu

Siralim Ultimate is a very special monster collector. The sheer amount of everything is delightfully overwhelming, the depth is nonsensical and the grind is real. I love it.

luciole, 3 miesiące temu

Right?! I freaked on the same paragraph. Most depressing thing ever said about game dev. These suits would rather fire everyone and play stonks all day if it earned a dime more. I’m so mad for the massive creative force being crushed by this broken system.

luciole, 4 miesiące temu

Just be careful not to idealize the past as some golden age of gaming. During the SNES era, worthwhile titles were few and far between on top of spotty regional availability on account of profitability (supposedly). The bar to entry for gamedevs was huge: the dev tools were obtuse and the distribution methods were shit and centralized (toy stores, computer stores, magazines). The offer was also ridiculously sanitized, at least on consoles.

It’s great that we can still enjoy the good games of the past, but I absolutely love what indies come up with nowadays. There are so many and they’re so creative! ❤️ Some talented big studio devs even manage to release something nice once in a while despite the organizational structure they work in. I never want to go back to gaming in the 90’s. Furthermore, I’m of the opinion that there are many past titles being hailed as classics solely based on some unconscious nostalgia for youth (I’m looking at you GOG).

luciole, 4 miesiące temu

To be fair when it came out seven years ago it really shook up the portable gaming scene. Every portable console coming out since is an iteration on that design. The joycons can go to hell though. And those weird ass online plans.

luciole, 4 miesiące temu

I really liked the original 2DS personally. The announcement left everyone incredulous as the device sounded and looked like a dumb downgrade. I mean, it was hard to tell if it was joke or not. In the end though it’s light, cheap, tough and surprisingly comfortable.

luciole, 4 miesiące temu

Cheaper than many phones as well.

luciole, 4 miesiące temu

He chooses to beat Elden Ring in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of his energies and skills, because that challenge is one that he is willing to accept, one he is unwilling to postpone, and one he intends to win, and the others, too.

luciole, 5 miesięcy temu

Non traditional input devices are fascinating, so thanks for posting your research. In your precise situation though, my advice would be to put down the baby.

luciole, 5 miesięcy temu

Still playing Final Fantasy XV. I still think it’s weird, but I’m having so much fun! I have found the catboi outfit.

I started playing Star of Providence. What cool shmup roguelite! My hand eye coordination is mediocre, so I predictably suck. There’s so much charm in it that I want to endure though.

luciole, 5 miesięcy temu

Yup! John Carmack is 53.

luciole, 5 miesięcy temu

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is an obvious one.

luciole, 6 miesięcy temu

Final Fantasy XV (Windows edition): What a strange experience so far. I don’t see myself as a fan of the franchise, but I’ve played many of its titles over the years, starting with the first one as a child.

The opening title mentions the game has been made for “fans and first timers”, so I expected some degree of nostalgia, despite it looking so different from its predecessors. I was served some… but in such weird ways. Let’s start with the composition of the Four Warriors of Light:

• The brat: Noctis, emo prince of teen attitude, as well as protagonist.
• The urban dad: Ignis, cooks elaborate meals and drives (always responsibly) the brat around.
• The country dad: Gladio, went to the school of life, must protecc the brat.
• The brat’s best friend that eats and sleeps at home so often he kind of becomes family: Prompto.

As Ignis was driving the warriors around in a fantasy rural North America, a desolate car centric landscape in which each road’s main destination is the next gas station, Prompto was making comments about playing video games. The car’s radio was playing FFIV’s Main Theme over and over again. Then it hit me: the nostalgia trip was not limiting itself to referencing lore from previous games, it was aiming to remind older gamers of how it was being a kid infatuated with classic RPGs. (A side note on the embarrassing haircuts the warriors are rockin’: back in the 90’s there were posters of these all over hair salons despite nobody ever getting one, but I guess this is really about modern jpop/kpop boy bands or something.)

It’s like FFXV is aiming for the worst possible kind of nostalgia: the kind that makes you glorify past experiences out of regret for the time when you were a pampered selfish kid.

Anyways I’m probably way off, but that’s my thoughts on FFXV. Oh also there’s chocobos so it’s not all bad. Thanks for reading.

luciole, 6 miesięcy temu

I have a 3DS but it’s broken in various ways. Besides I always found the 3DS too top heavy. On the other hand my trusty 2DS is still fine. Nevertheless I’m getting old and my eyes aren’t what they used to be. These screens are so tiny… What are these, TVs for ants?!

luciole, 6 miesięcy temu

Bahamut Lagoon is a cool JRPG for the SNES that sadly never was released for the west. You can get your hands on the ROM and some fan translation though. I’ve played it many years ago, so my memory’s a bit iffy, but I do remember having a good time.

Front Mission is another good JRPG entry from the 90’s. I loved the SNES version, but apparently the DS version boasts extra features and content, making it the superior choice.

luciole, 6 miesięcy temu

I commend you for your thorough and informative response! Just a nitpick: imho it’s not really correct to present Mindustry as a Factorio clone. Mindustry is its own thing, with a smaller scale approach, an heavier emphasis on tower defence and a cool campaign feature. Factorio-like would be more fair.

luciole, 6 miesięcy temu

Endless Sky is a cool space trading game if that’s your cup of tea.

luciole, 7 miesięcy temu

Dragon Age: Origin maybe? I was mixing those two for a while.

luciole, 7 miesięcy temu

Middle Earth: Shadow of War: Good old open world action fun. Kill countless mobs, gather countless collectables. A bit annoyed that subtitles are only implemented on some voice acting. Slightly indisposed that the protagonist (Talion) looks too much like an unkempt Ron Desantis.

luciole, 7 miesięcy temu

Currently into Triangle Strategy’s New Game+. I’m enjoying that game way more than I thought I would. It’s a fun, charming successor to the strategy JRPG. It has few tropes and the mechanics have been streamlined while maintaining challenge. Surprisingly low magic as well. I mean there are plenty of magic users, but no monster, no supernatural armageddon and the end game is not “kill god”. It does have that peculiar JPRG theatricality, so you need to be fine with that.

luciole, 7 miesięcy temu

Have you played Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling yet?

luciole, 7 miesięcy temu

I’ve gotten a few emulated titles on Wii and WiiU in the past. I preferred the Virtual Console collection from those consoles. You’d pay a few dollars for the title you wanted and you had it forever. I’m not a fan of the strange bundling of online services + retro gaming with Nintendo Switch Online… not to mention the expansion pack. I just don’t do enough retro gaming to justify it.

As much as I prefer going legit for gaming, if I get a retro craving I’ll probably just set sail on a trusty PC.

luciole, 7 miesięcy temu

I’m with you. It’s hip to hate on Ubisoft, but I’m of the impression that subscription based gaming has already gained traction with Game Pass. The article is spot on though when the author remarks that Ubisoft offering their library at 18$ a month is a hard bargain. Especially considering Game Pass is currently at 10$ a month… and includes Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Origins & Odyssey.

luciole, 8 miesięcy temu

I played both Octopath Travellers games. The second is definitely a step in the right direction in terms of cohesion. There’s also now a piss easy final boss, as well as an impossible-if-you don’t-follow-a-cheese-strategy-online secret final final boss. Merely being level 99 doesn’t cut it. Ugh. Octopath Travellers games are so charming but the devs still haven’t figured out how to end them in my humble opinion.

luciole, 8 miesięcy temu

Instead of chiptune inspired music, how about music that inspired chiptune ? Yellow Magic Orchestra had an important impact (namely) on '80s/'90s era video game music. Here’s Rydeen (1979).

luciole, 10 miesięcy temu

What a horrible decision all around.

• Generates e-waste as controllers are bricked for no reason.
• Kills costly custom built accessibility controllers. No consideration for marginalized users whatsoever.
• Retroactively screws all customers over.
• Goes as far as breaking peripheral compatibility with a discontinued console.

Is it to kill cheating devices used on competitive titles? Is it a money grab? It probably won’t achieve either. From a customer protection standpoint I’m wondering if this position can be attacked legally.

Nevertheless it reminds me that other time when Spencer was daydreaming about buying Nintendo and it feels like Microsoft is being a little unhinged as of late.

luciole, 11 miesięcy temu

When my kid was younger he had a “garbage games on tablet” phase as well. As others have said, paid games are the way to go (Play Pass sounds cool). Looking for indie games for Android, or PC games ported to Android gives some good results. Stardew Valley’s an obvious one. I haven’t played Ordia, but it looks gorgeous.

What worked really well for us was to teach him about some dark patterns in simple terms and spot them with him in the freemiums he was playing. “Fear of Missing Out” events/notifications and “Progression Paywalls” are typical ones. It made him realize the game wasn’t built to give him a good time as much as to frustrate him into endlessly spending real money in exchange for some phony currency. In the end he was happy to switch to saner games. It’s a good opportunity to work on their critical judgment basically.

luciole, 11 miesięcy temu

Wrong question, in my humble opinion. A bubble is speculative at its core. It’s about traders, the stock market, investors, speculators and shit placing much more value on a thing than what it’s worth. The distance with reality grows massive, until everybody wakes up and “pop!” all that sweet sweet wealth (or savings, for the peasants) vanished into thin air. Think housing market or beanie babies.

The question here is if indie game dev can remain sustainable. It’s like restaurants: the more there are, the harder it gets. The risk is not nearly as sudden and explosive as a bubble though. If there are too many, some shops close, others shrink.

Furthermore, the tools and knowledge required for gamedev keep getting more readily available. It’s an art too, so there will always be someone somewhere with the overwhelming drive to do it, profitability be damned.

luciole, 11 miesięcy temu

Oof. This is corporate lingo for “we’ll pull a number out of our ass and charge the dev accordingly”. “Proprietary data model” makes it clear they intend to remain conveniently (for them) opaque about it.

luciole, rok temu

OK hear me out: Minecraft in survival. For real. Nothing jump scares like a creeper going “psshht” in your back, telegraphing that you’re about to die in a destructive explosion. As you walk a narrow path over a chasm of lava in the Nether, the wail of the Ghast might make you fall out of sheer panic before it even shoots at you. The Warden is a special kind of scary too, as it’s nearly unkillable and will detect you by the noise you make. It sounds kind of silly but there’s plenty of players making the remark that Minecraft survival is basically horror.

And it’s all in a child friendly, non gory, voxel style.

luciole, rok temu

Nah mate. I took a minute to search “objective opinion” and I’d suggest you do the same. It may look sort of oxymoronic but it’s definitely a time-honored expression. Opinions may be based on facts and analysis. An expert’s judgement is one valid definition for “opinion”.