Coelacanth

Coelacanth, 18 godzin temu

What’s your favourite build?

Coelacanth, 17 godzin temu

Finishing up Pentiment probably later today, and it will be nice to have it over and done with. I will appreciate having played it, but I can’t say actually playing it was all that fun. It’s beautiful, it’s well-researched and it has some interesting plots and characters in it but… god damn is it ever slow. Between the laboriously slow and often banal and uninteresting conversations and the lack of fast travel leading to half your playing time being watching your character slowly waddling across Tassing the game feels like an absolute slog to play.

I’ve been breaking up the tedium with https://store.steampowered.com/app/1721060/Mandragora_Whispers_of_the_Witch_Tree/. I’ve had my eye on it as it’s written by Bloodlines-writer Brian Mitsoda, and at 25% off on the summer sale I thought why not.

It’s a Metroidvania Soulslike with a skill tree inspired by Path of Exile, and I’m really liking what I’m seeing so far. The combat has been solid, the build diversity seems great and the bosses have been good. The game is beautiful with a lovely art style and the level design is really good too.

From what I’ve seen so far I recommend checking it out if you like these types of games!

Coelacanth, 8 godzin temu

Nice! I gravitate to DEX builds too as it’s just so nice to have bow access. My favourite stylish build is probably dual wielding the Tracers, but that’s basically NG+ only.

Coelacanth, 3 dni temu

At least Molyneux has put out some good games. Yeah, they don’t have all the earth shattering features he’s promised, but there’s some good titles in his portfolio. I’m not convinced Star Citizen is a good game.

Coelacanth, 3 dni temu

That’s fair. As far as I know the same was true for Chris Roberts. Well, it wasn’t so much that he had a publisher that would edit him as it was that he was fired and Microsoft came in and cobbled together what was there into an actual game (Freelancer).

Coelacanth, 3 dni temu

I have a lifelong friend with Addison’s and it always seemed horrible to have to constantly manage and worry about. And he was fortunate enough to not also have Diabetes!

I adore your posts and will miss them dearly, but please take care of yourself and focus on your health. Don’t push yourself, if I understand right extra stress is particularly bad.

Much love ♥️

Coelacanth, 3 dni temu

I’m about halfway through Pentiment and I’m not sure what to think of it. There are lots of things I love about it: the art, the characters, the writing (mostly) and the historical research that’s gone into making it. All the running around and back tracking hasn’t been great. The first murder was also very unsatisfying, and it’s only now that I realise that that was the point. And I’m not sure what to think of that. It’s a strange game, with its central message seemingly being how powerless we are in the face of history and how restricted we are in our lives. Or at least people were back then. I’ll probably have to wait until I finish for my full judgement of it though.

I also snagged Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree on the Steam summer sale at 25% off. As a passionate VTM: Bloodlines fan I’ve been waiting for a reason to buy it. I’ve felt obliged to check it out as it was also written by Brian Mitsoda. Plus the game itself looked interesting. I’ve only just started playing it, but I’m enjoying it so far. The writing seems okay (not Bloodlines level) but the presentation is beautiful. I really like the splash art for characters and the cutscenes. It’s a Metroidvania Soulslike with a skill tree inspired by Path of Exile, and I can already tell I’ll have a lot of fun crafting builds here. Probably huge replayability too. The combat has felt solid so far, but I’m only at the beginning.

Coelacanth, 5 dni temu

Classic corridor shooters fill this niche pretty well for me, if that kind of on-rails experience is what you’re looking for. I recently played F.E.A.R. and it’s first expansion Extraction Point (don’t play any later expansions or games in the franchise though) and they’re some of the best, tightest and most satisfying FPSes out there. Metro 2033 is also good for this.

If you want a no-nonsense RPG I want to put in a good word for Skald: Against the Black Priory which is very tight and linear with minimal fluff, focused on telling its story and doing a few things well rather than spreading too thin.

Coelacanth, 5 dni temu

Nightdive have said something along the lines of “just because we made a remaster doesn’t mean we won’t also make a remake”. I’m still holding out hope they will.

Coelacanth, 5 dni temu

I mean, I love Deus Ex but that game could also use a remake if we’re being honest.

That combined with the endless funding faucet shutting off

Oh? I hadn’t heard about this.

Coelacanth, 5 dni temu

I feel like I’m way more critical of Deus Ex than some, but I’m not sure I agree that it doesn’t need mechanical refinements. From gunplay to AI to stealth there is a ton of jank there and I’d hesitate to call any of it modern feeling. Even Warren Spector was aware of this at the time, with that quote about how it’s basically a 7.5/10 FPS, a 7.5/10 stealth game and a 7.5/10 RPG, but its unique selling point is that it’s all those things at once. Personally I think the story, world, atmosphere and concept still hold up incredibly well. The rest could do with modernizing. Not least the voice acting. But I guess with the Mankind Divided sequel being canned I should have limited hopes about a Deus Ex remake getting funding.

The funding bit makes sense, I thought you were referring to something Nightdive-specific, but the post-COVID slump is something we’ve been reading about for some time now. I had hoped SS1 Remake sold enough to merit funding for a full SS2 remake as well, but maybe I need to temper my expectations.

Coelacanth, 7 dni temu

“Hasn’t improved” is a very polite way of putting it, but wouldn’t “gone to shit” be more accurate?

Coelacanth, 7 dni temu

I’m glad you are enjoying it, but I wonder: how much of the enjoyment is inherent to the game and how much is just having a good time with your mates (and would be equally fun in any other co-op game)?

Coelacanth, 6 dni temu

It’s a question I ask often in multiplayer titles, because my experience with most of them is that as long as you play with your friends the actual game doesn’t really matter and you could pretty much have a good time goofing off in anything.

There are some exceptions though like Split Fiction.

Coelacanth, 7 dni temu

Really? I’ve only played Kingmaker but while uneven I thought they had some good ones. I really liked both Jubilost and Nok-Nok, I thought Harrim was a pretty interesting character and Jae’thal was enjoyable too.

Coelacanth, 8 dni temu

Our first data point is Monitors Unboxed. They found the Switch 2 returned an average pixel response time of 33 ms at 60 Hz.

Jesus Christ Nintendo. That’s absolutely horrendous. But on the plus side I’m glad the screen undervolting let you improve the battery life to an impressive *checks notes* two hours!?

Coelacanth, 8 dni temu

Signed it ages ago when it first came about, and it’s really sad to see it still hasn’t gotten enough signatures.

Coelacanth, 10 dni temu (edited 10 dni temu)

Only just started Pentiment. And by that I mean I got through the background selection, and I’m now trying to decide if I’m happy with my choices or want to go with something else. The game looks really good so far, I’ve heard good things and I’m excited to see how it plays out.

Coelacanth, 10 dni temu

So it’s this versus Expedition 33 for GOTY then? I feel for Sandfall, that’s some unfortunate timing if they end up upstaged by Kojima.

Coelacanth, 10 dni temu

I have a very hard time seeing any of those competing with either Clair Obscur or Death Stranding 2, apart from maybe Silksong (if it actually ever does come out). But even then I’m not sold.

Mina the Hollower will probably duke it out with Blue Prince for the indie game of the year.

Coelacanth, 10 dni temu

FromSoft reported sales of Elden Ring increased by over 200% following its GOTY win, if I remember right. It definitely has an impact. I can’t imagine it’s irrelevant in terms of attracting or keeping talent either, and it probably would help maintaining creative integrity and sticking to your vision in talks with investors.

Coelacanth, 13 dni temu

You tried, Remedy. Now can we please get back to you guys making the type of games we actually want you to make again?

Coelacanth, 13 dni temu

They are indeed. Very curious how they’ll end up solving the Max Payne remake with James McCaffrey passing.

Though the game I really long for is Alan Wake 3, but I’ll probably have to wait 5-7 years for that if not more.

Coelacanth, 13 dni temu

!gameart

Coelacanth, 14 dni temu (edited 14 dni temu)

There are probably better owners than Pearl Abyss, so in a sense that could be a reason for hope. Though I don’t know how much of a hand they have had with all the crap CCP have failed with over the years. Peak EVE was so amazing, but I honestly have no real idea how or if it’s possible to get back to that.

Coelacanth, 14 dni temu

Yeah it’s convenient to blame Pearl Abyss for everything wrong with EVE, but truthfully CCP were making moves of dubious quality way before they got bought up by them.

Coelacanth, 14 dni temu

There’s definitely weird people making games on itch and sometimes in the depths of Steam.

Oh yes. Ever heard of Beautycopter?

Coelacanth, 13 dni temu

It’s not quite as weird, but Alan Wake 2 as well qualifies I think.

Coelacanth, 14 dni temu

Sam Lake is still out there fighting the good fight. Kojima too - whether you think he’s a genius or think he produces incomprehensible nonsense you can’t deny he is at least flying the flag for the weird.

Coelacanth, 15 dni temu

I tried using Heroic to install Alan Wake 2, but it didn’t recognise me owning the DLCs. Only worked through the actual Epic Launcher. YMMV

Coelacanth, 15 dni temu

Pretty much every single game has a massive drop off in concurrent players after the initial spike. That’s just how humans work, not everyone who tries something will like it.

Coelacanth, 15 dni temu

PC Gamer has given it 60/100 (which some take to mean a terrible, terrible, scathing review but to me, idk, 60/100 seems like a fun time?)

This has been a thing for ages, and I suspect it’s got some psychological explanation in how our brains are wired. But 5/10 is not an “average game”, it’s a quite bad one. In fact, anything below 5 is usually literally unplayable, despite 4/10 really being just below average. 7/10 is typically the score for “a fun time if it aligns with your interests, but by no means a great game”. Everything below 7 tends to be actively bad.

Coelacanth, 16 dni temu

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 35 average - 0% recommended - 18 reviews

Dear lord you don’t see that often. I mean, it’s no surprise and it’s definitely deserved as the game is a hot pile of garbage but even then. They didn’t buy off a single reviewer?

Coelacanth, 17 dni temu

Aren’t Hasbro the villain moreso than WotC?

Coelacanth, 17 dni temu

I’m back on my first playthrough of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided after a two-month break for Blue Prince, Clair Obscur and F.E.A.R… It’s a great game, but I think I did it a disservice by taking the long break, I can feel I’m so much less invested now than I was when I began playing it.

It’s very unfortunate that the series ended on a cliffhanger, what they have here is really good and in many ways an upgrade on Human Revolution. A third game from the studio would have been a true masterpiece, I think.

Coelacanth, 17 dni temu

God damnit we just can’t have nice things.

Coelacanth, 17 dni temu

He does deserve that, but I wish the single biggest modding hub on the internet and a load bearing pillar of an entire gaming culture wasn’t sold off to an unnamed party with no transparency and only vague reassurances that “nothing will change”.

What with the late stage capitalist society we’re living in, I’ve been conditioned to think that good things being sold off rarely amounts to good things.

Let’s hope this is one of the few exceptions.

Coelacanth, 16 dni temu

Yeah that’s about what I expected. Fucking hell.

Coelacanth, 17 dni temu

I said any Call of Duty from the past decade as answer to the original comment, and I still think that is a solid candidate. However, another game I played recently that qualifies I think is Sleeping Dogs. Perfectly cromulent 7/10 GTA clone but ultimately not pulling up any trees.

Coelacanth, 17 dni temu

Even though Greedfall is hardly a great game I think it has too much charm to really fit here. I found it too memorable to really be a “mediocre slop” contender.

Coelacanth, 18 dni temu

Bruh, FFTA is a great game and I will hear no slander of it.

Coelacanth, 17 dni temu

I’ve probably talked more about XV than any other supposedly bad game, so maybe I’ve developed some sort of Stockholm Syndrome. But for an objectively pretty bad game I enjoyed parts of it and it did elicit emotions out of me at times.

The game has many problems, but maybe the biggest is the huge overambitious “multi-media experience” they attempted. The game itself suffers because its content is spread so thin as it’s stretched out over a movie and a comic and the DLCs and I don’t remember what else. An anime? Even the Royal Edition still suffers for not integrating the DLCs, and it’s kind of awkward to have to stop playing at the appropriate times to go so the DLCs for the maximum impact. And even then the planned Lunafreya DLC would have added so much to the story, but they never got around to that as the game flopped (in large parts because crucial story elements were scheduled for fucking DLCs instead of included in the game!)

I do agree that the combat is fun, and they did have a really good vibe going with the bros and the road trip. There are some really nice heartfelt moments where the game shines. And the fishing minigame is absolute top drawer, one of the best in gaming. But ultimately I look at it as a huge pile of wasted potential.

Absolutely gorgeous music though, some really powerful leitmotif work like Sunset Waltz/Valse di Fantastica and Ardyns themes.

Coelacanth, 19 dni temu

These posts are some of the best content on Lemmy and bring me back to the early 00s days of reading the physical PC Gamer magazines in all their glory.

Coelacanth, 20 dni temu

Great article. The entangling web of endless progression systems is one piece, but one thing they failed to mention is time gating and daily quests. It’s very important for these games to force you to play a little bit every day, instead of in large chunks all at once. This helps move the game subconsciously in your brain from “a game” to “a habit/a hobby”, and that makes your purchasing decisions very different.

Coelacanth, 20 dni temu

I knew what that video was before even clicking the link. Great insight into the horrible people ruining the games industry.

Coelacanth, 22 dni temu

Thank you! I guess the question is, is sitting through 100 hours of mediocre main campaign worth it to get to Mask? My guess is probably yes, but that knowledge will likely end up de-prioritizing the game on my backlog.

Thanks a lot for the rundown! Are the other two expansions any good?

Coelacanth, 22 dni temu

Good to know again, thank you! I played through Kingmaker last winter and your description is pretty spot on. There were parts of it that were great, parts of which that were not, and parts of it that were downright awful. And particularly the latter parts really soured me on it, and made me super reluctant to play Wrath of the Righteous. If that is Owlcat’s idea of high level play I don’t really want an epic adventure from them.

I’ve played Divinity 1&2 and BG3, but I’m less high on Larian than everyone else these days. They’re fine games and fun to play but Larian’s style of writing isn’t my jam and I also think BG3 has a lot of problems that get kind of glossed over.

I missed Pillars 1, so I guess that is on some sort of to-do list. I played about half of Pillars 2 but got bored and never picked it back up.

PSA: If you play ANY of the Pathfinder CRPGs? Get blind fight ASAP. And make sure every arcane caster has a few charges of Glitterdust at any moment.

I had Blind Fight on every single party member and that final bit of the game was still a hellish slog that made actively detest Owlcat.

Coelacanth, 22 dni temu

Hearing the bit about rights hell and patches makes me feel a lot better. House at the End of Time followed by that final broken capital area was just some of the least fun gameplay I’ve experienced in a CRPG. And I was there back in the day getting one-shot by Gibberlings in BG1! I’m not as big a fan of the epicly mythic type of narratives and settings as I am of more grounded stories, but if it makes the combat more fun and better balanced I might stomach it.

And if the game is genuinely that amazing I might bump it a bit on my priority list. I already bought it on sale last year, but the Kingmaker slog (what is it, 200 hours or so?) kind of wore me out on western CRPGs for a bit.