Coelacanth

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I mean I am all for criticising creatively bankrupt mush like Ubisoft et al pushes out and Call of Duty 420: Black Ops 69 or FIFA or whatever but we can’t pretend there are literally no good games being released nowadays either. Just now we had a month with both Blue Prince and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 being released within weeks of each other. BG3 and Alan Wake 2 releasing in the same year was just two years ago.

There are plenty of not just good but great recent games.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I just spot interesting projects and creations others create and then just write my own thoughts on them

Soo… journalism?

In any case, do whatever makes you happy, whether remaining solely on here or creating your own thing from this like a website or blog. Your content is among the best on the platform and I hope you know how much we all appreciate you.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Story wise though, i’m a bit mixed on. I’m really liking the story, just not as a Max Payne story. The Brazil setting isn’t really doing it for me and it feels a bit more GTA Coded than Noir, at least until i detach it from the first two games.

This is pretty much the general consensus of the game overall I think. Good game, just not a good Max Payne game.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

There are some high performance VA panels that are good for gaming. Samsung Odyssey Neo G7/G8 for example.

Are there really no mini-LED monitors in your country? I’m a really big advocate of them. As close to OLED HDR performance as you can get without burn-in and with better peak brightness. I’m currently using a Cooler Master GP27Q that I got for cheap as an opened box, which has been a really solid monitor for the cheap cheap price I got it for (couple hundred euros).

I think a 27 inch 1440p monitor with 2000+ dimming zones will be the sweet spot between performance and affordability, though none like that are on the market yet.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Look Ubisoft: this is what your devs could be making if you’d let them make what they want to be making. Instead of churning out another cookie cutter “Ubisoft game”.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Mumble is where it’s at.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Ubisoft made a fun game, but it’s way to big for it’s own good.

Well, everyone expected this game to copy Ghost of Tsushima, so maybe it’s not surprising that it ends up copying its biggest flaw as well.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Yeah GoT quickly turned from a fun game I enjoyed to a game I almost loathed and resented as I had to force myself to finish it.

It really doesn’t have enough variety to support being that long, in my opinion. The mission design is way too bland and samey and the tone of the writing just starts wearing you down. Literally everything is the same serious tone delivered in a dour monotone. A handful of moments with Kenji is not enough to break the tedium. It would be fine if the game was 20 hours long, not 60.

I still think it’s a fine sort of 7.5-8/10 at the end of the day but I consider it one of the most overrated games of all time. It’s just a polished Ubisoft collect-a-thon open world with solid combat at the end of the day. It’s not game of the decade or whatever.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I suppose I will use the same “supporting indie devs is a good deed” justification as when I purchased Blue Prince on launch day for this game.

La Belle Epoque inspired game that is reviewing at 92/100 on OpenCritic with several mentions of it being a GOTY contender? And the themes are about wrestling with hope and optimism in the face of nihilism and hopelessness? (Disco Elysium my beloved)

I never stood a chance.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I think even in back 2012 an argument could be made quite easily, but it’s a shame Roger Ebert didn’t live long enough to see some of the games released over the past decade that quite convincingly demonstrate how video games can indeed be art.

I agreed with him very often but that was one instance of him having an inexplicably bad take.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I’m a slut for La Belle Epoque so even though I’m not necessarily in the market for a JRPG at the moment I might just cave anyway with scores like this.

I’m almost done with Blue Prince too, so it’s fortuitous timing.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I haven’t had time to play as much the past couple of days, but when I do I am similarly entralled by Blue Prince. It’s going to be very hard for another game to pip it for game of the year for me I think.

It’s so full of mysteries, so full of intricacies, so full of interactions and puzzles within puzzles. The narrative and lore is great too. I really do love every single element of it. Even the basic gameplay of the roguelite portion is so well done that you are always just fiending for one more run, the dopamine rewards of drafting a satisfying house really just tickles your brain just right.

Seriously, if you haven’t already then go play it.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

It is the best written video game ever and it’s not particularly close either. It’s one of the best written pieces of media I’ve ever had the pleasure of consuming.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

God damn it my backlog is already long enough why’d they have to go ahead and do this.

Sigh

Now where’s my credit card?

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I think this criticism is fair to be honest and is one of the things that’s sort of swept under the rug a bit in discourse about Witcher 3. I definitely think the pacing is off just as you mentioned. I’ve heard other people regret their choice of Triss because they had basically locked in her romance already by the time you start doing stuff in Skellige with Yen and start seeing what she’s like.

Personally I think the Yen/Geralt dynamic is a lot better than with Triss, although it’s got its own troubles (nobody is perfect). I like the banter between them and they feel more like a proper couple.

The game as a whole also flows better with Yen as your romance choice in my opinion and to me it feels more like the Triss romance is an afterthought yes. A bone thrown at those who desperately can’t stand Yen.

Geralt (in the books) is deeply in love with Yen and is also bound to her by literal Djinn magic, so it makes sense that he’s always hot for her in the game and I think the attention paid to the Yen side of things is a desire by CDPR to anchor their game in the preexisting lore.

If you’re not dead set on Triss or wildly opposed to Yen I’d say go with it and do the Yen romance. It’s very suitable for a first time playthrough imo.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I’m sure the remake will release with the same level of QA and polish that the original Oblivion shipped with. That renowned Bethesda standard of quality.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I played Arcanum for the first time this year. There are a lot of cool things in it, but it really doesn’t hold up all that well.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Thanks to the design documents being leaked back in 2007 (I think) and the original designers being open to contact from some dedicated people, there are actually a couple of fan made attempts at creating what would have been Van Buren. I know of both Project Van Buren and Fallout: Yesterday.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I played the Multiverse Edition which had a bunch of patches and fixes integrated. Including HD I believe.

I think the world building is pretty good, at least parts of it. There is some disappointingly boilerplate Tolkienesque fantasy in there, but the conflict between magic and technology is well realised and interesting and feels grounded in the world. The steampunk aesthetic is cool and I like the Victorian racism angle they’re doing with half orcs and ogres. I liked the newspapers and there are some interesting quests, like the half ogre conspiracy. I thought the peace negotiation was going to end up being absolutely amazing but in the end it is just an anticlimactic stat check.

The combat is absolutely atrocious in every possible way, from balance to animations and whether you play turn based or real time doesn’t really matter, both are horrible. It’s quite possibly the worst AI I’ve ever seen and every fight is just every creature mashing into eachother until one dies. I don’t think anyone or anything has special abilities or different AI behaviour. You can’t use Mage followers because they don’t use their magic, opting instead to charge into melee with their fists or staves.

The tech skills are the most interesting and unique aspect of the game, but involves a horrendous amount of parts collecting, crafting, inventory management and over-encumberance for very little rewards.

The companions feel extremely bare bones by modern standards and it’s extremely disappointing that none of them even get ending slides. I liked Virgil but not even he got any sort of closure at the end.

The main story was okay, it had some twists and funny moments like with Nasrudin. The whole “life was a mistake” angle by the BBEG felt a little tired to me, but maybe if playing Arcanum was the first time I came across that concept it would have blown me away.

The actual writing itself is not bad in terms of the prose and dialogue etc and the game has some funny moments.

The vast freedom you get with character building is probably the best part. I like how varied you can make your characters, although I don’t know that all builds are viable. Props for following the example of Fallout 1 and 2 and including specific “dumb dialogue”, even though I didn’t go for that personally. Having to balance tech and magic with your character build is a fun concept.

Overall I understand why it has its cult following and I’m glad to have played it, but it’s hard to recommend it to people unless they have an extremely high retro game/clunk tolerance.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

That would have been quite something. I’ve seen P.T. being played and that was fucking scary.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

To be fair to Arcanum in terms of companions Baldur’s Gate 2 was really the watershed moment in terms of how companions were treated in RPGs. Arcanum released less than a year after it and so while development timelines were shorter back then I doubt they had much time to adjust and get influenced by BG2. Fallout 1&2 doesn’t have it much better in terms of fleshed out companions.

(Fallout 1/2 combat had many issues by modern standards, but it was definitely much more refined than in Arcanum).

I would definitely recommend FO 1&2 easier than Arcanum and with fewer caveats. Maybe that’s just because I think they are fundamentally better and more important games than Arcanum though and so they are more worth suffering through some jank for. They still have a fiendishly retro interface that is quite clunky and the combat is not great, especially without mods. There is some really questionable encounter design in there and they both suffer from tremendous RNG heavy potential misery and loads and loads of reloads. Not least with random encounters.

Also the first few hours of Fallout 2 are absolutely miserable. It’s still one of my favourite games of all time though.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

The whole aimed shots thing makes combat magnitudes more fun in the classic Fallouts. Maybe this is telling of when I first played the games (hint: I was a teen), but there is something about taking cheap shots at people’s groin that doesn’t get old. Becoming a Prizefighter by exclusively and indiscriminately punching your opposition in the dick is always going to be funny.

The critical hits and misses are also very entertaining, though definitely add to the notorious RNG. The animations and effects, like disintegrations and splatter, also make combat a lot more satisfying.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I will throw in another vouch for this series. It is exactly what you’re looking for. I haven’t played any of the more recent entries but I’ve heard they’ve been received very well. Total War: Rome 2 is a classic, but for something more modern I’ve heard only good things about Three Kingdoms, though I haven’t played that one personally.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Wholly agreed. In general the concept that “you can’t patent an idea” or “you can’t patent a general concept” is supposed to be at the heart of patent law. I think some of these game mechanics parents, like this and the Nemesis System, go against that too much.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

And there are those who have it even harder than YOU. Everyone’s station in life is different. They are allowed to experience that.

I’ve never understand the logic of the people who espouse that line of thinking. Is only the one single person alive who has it the literal worst out of all the billions of living human beings allowed to feel bad, and everyone else is obliged to look at them and say “well it could technically be worse so I guess I’m not allowed to feel bad”?

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Great game. Basically a linear, cinematic corridor shooter with some cool lore and some great levels. The library level was an absolute highlight.

Definitely recommend it, especially as a free game.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I played 2033 and Last Light on Ranger Hardcore and didn’t really feel the bullet sponge issue, at least in 2033 (haven’t played Exodus yet). There are some tanky enemies but I think they’re mostly meant to be avoided rather than fought.

Also I’m pretty sure on higher difficulties both you and the enemies deal more damage so while you die easier there are also fewer bullet sponges. If anything I think the bullet sponge phenomenon occurs on Easy, bizarrely enough. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Spongy isn’t related to hitboxes, just means taking many bullets to kill. I think there are only two in 2033

spoilersDemons and Librarians

and they are meant to be avoided anyway I think.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

You should still play Blue Prince. I sincerely doubt you can be spoiled enough by the demo to not make the game worthwhile. There is so much in this game to find and figure out.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu (edited 9 miesięcy temu)

Blue Prince is monopolising a majority of my mental bandwidth currently as I’m growing increasingly obsessed with it. I’ve spent about 11 hours on it so far and have taken probably a dozen pages of notes in my little notebook next the to the PC.

I think this game could go down as a modern classic, and if it sticks the landing it will likely be my GOTY. It’s cheap too, and even 10% off right now as a release week sale.

I can’t really say anything more because, much like Outer Wilds, the less you know about it going in the better. If you even remotely enjoy mysteries and puzzles do yourself a favour and go play it like… right now.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I’m loving it, but definitely also constantly second guessing whether I’m smart enough for this game haha. Especially when you come across a problem and can’t work out whether you’re supposed to wait for the clue/solution to turn up later or whether it’s something you’re supposed to be able to solve but are being too stupid to notice/connect.

How far in are you in terms of Days/time played. I’m at about 12 hours and 12 days played.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I could probably have made the antechamber last night if I had picked up a pair of dice I missed and found on the way back. But I’m kind of glad I didn’t as there is so much unexplored and unexplained still.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I presumed as much based on clues and indicators I’ve been finding.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

My final tip is to actually not see it as a roguelite. You don’t need to just have luck / better insight for a winning run, every run is a new moment to investigate new stuff and attempt new things, not to get better at doing the same stuff like other roguelikes. I hope I’ve explained this well.

Exactly this. You start out thinking “oh okay, its a roguelite and I need to get to rooom 46”. But that’s not actually the point and once you realize there is more depth to it you start seeing value in every run, even those that never get close to rank 9.

At least that’s been my experience so far, and I’ve yet to even enter the antechamber myself.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

You kind of have to just bumble around for a bit and take notes on everything and hope it starts making sense later. I’ve been playing it like “take notes and screenshots first, ask questions later”. The roguelite part and the puzzle/mystery part sort of play out in parallel.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I just got

spoilerdown to the basement

and I’m shocked at how much there is. I thought I was going to get somewhere this run.

spoilerI look like I’m stuck, I assume the gear puzzle can’t be solved first time? I can’t figure out how to move the mine cart. And maybe drain the reservoir? Is this supposed to happen? It looks like there is another entrance from the Tomb (though I’ve never even seen a tomb when drafting!). Am I on to something? Am I not supposed to be able to get further this run?

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

spoilerThe Fountain right? I assume it’s on the east side lawn, but I haven’t found any way to open a door to the outside on the east side. I’ve been through the Garage on the west side. I have found the pump room and drained as much of the reservoir as I could, but there is still a touch of water at the bottom preventing me from going down there and both tanks are full, as are all rooms. No idea how to empty the last bit. I thought it was opening the tap in the kitchen to drain the water, but that doesn’t seem to affect the water level…

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

spoilerDrained the fountain, now I need the basement key again. Still don’t know how to get the chests at the bottom of the reservoir as I don’t know how to drain the final bit. Maybe pump room needs to be next to boiler room to get the last tank in play? I’m starting to see I’m going to need to get through insane amounts of RNG to finish. I already basically concluded I probably need the boiler room adjacent to the lab to get the lever machine working.

I also am tearing my hair out about the

spoilerdrawing room safe code. The other safes had the clue in the same room but for the life of me I can’t figure out the paintings with the steps.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

spoilerWait didn’t you roll credits? That’s very interesting that you did that without opening any safe…

Anyway thank you so much for your responses, they’ve been perfect hints without being too spoily, which is a hard thing to pull off! I might bug you again at some point, we’ll see what I accomplish today.

Actually, maybe we need a Blue Prince community…

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Just rolled credits. Really strange actually haha. There are so many unsolved mysteries! I feel like I’m close to piecing together the narrative but I’m still missing crucial pieces.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu (edited 9 miesięcy temu)

Good lord there is so much still to do haha! Every time I think I’ve seen most of the puzzles a new secret bottom opens up to an entirely new layer. I’m loving putting together the narrative but my god some of the puzzles didn’t work for me (I had to look up a couple of hints - would never have organically gotten them). How have you been progressing with the safes?

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

One of the safe solutions really pissed me off. Which ones do you have? I have six, no clue where the last one is supposed to be.

Are you looking to fully drain the reservoir? That’s the only thing you need boiler power connected for I think, provided you have the Tomb open.

The sanctum thing is so frustrating too, still haven’t solved my first sigil though I know what to look for now I guess. Still haven’t made it back to room 46 a second time either, RNG has been hitting badly. Maybe that will help.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

I’ve only gotten 3 classrooms I think, taking notes on the subjects though! I also think the first classroom helps with the sigil puzzle. Have you lit all the braziers?

Btw I just had to call it a day with 2 sanctum keys in my inventory. Had to take Weight Room twice.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

It was even 2 RNG heavy ones but I was forced to take Weight Room twice (thanks Hall of Mirrors!) so I couldn’t make it downstairs. Worst feeling I’ve had in a game in a long time actually. I honestly think sanctum keys could be permanent without the game being too easy.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

As an avid fan of BG2 this does tickle my fancy.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Last time a ballooning mod team released a mod was Fallout: London and that also did alright…

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

Average Nintendo moment.

Coelacanth, 9 miesięcy temu

It was all derived from the original r/TipOfMyTongue wasn’t it? There are a bunch of Tipofmy-somethings.