A strictly anti-capitalist fever dream adventure RPG getting completely consumed and milked by greedy capitalists who added nothing of value to its creation is peak this timeline.
Hey everyone, I’m a big player of Space Games of all forms, and this mini-genre (or ‘theme’, if you prefer) really has a TON of range and depth, and is a very fertile ground for indie and unique projects. I was recently playing a game called Avorion, after owning it for years without ever really engaging with it, and...
As a “space games guy” is there anything out there that is as satisfying to simply fly around in as Elite Dangerous is without the absolute shit fuck of ass-backwards, tedious and boring mechanics?
I fucking love flying ships in that game with my HOTAS and VR headset, but I will be damned if I am going to roll around on a moon praying I trip over some precious metals just so I can play logistics hot potatoes trying to figure out how I am going to get my module to the relevant station, upgraded, and then placed into the ship I designed it for. Elite is such an incredible space cockpit sim, and they’ve gone to great lengths to prevent me from wanting to actually play it. I just want a good cockpit sim with HOTAS support that doesn’t make me want to scoop out my own eyeballs whenever I think about loading it up again.
I just fucking want Elite to be good. I could shoot pirates and 'goids all day if getting a ship ready to do so wasn’t as enjoyable as running dental floss into my mouth and out my asshole.
I can’t get over just how much better Remake is compared to the original, so you do you, I guess. I was incredibly pleasantly surprised to see the ways they’re engaging with telling a different story and taking the name “remake” very literally. I was seriously concerned they were just going to sell the original story again in three seperate parts as full-price titles.
That’s so fascinating, tbh. I mean, different strokes, so I can’t judge, but it’s the impressively deep strategy they’ve baked into Remake’s combat that I am particularly impressed by. That said, it makes sense though that if you dislike Tales combat, you’d dislike Remake’s combat. They’re not the same persay, but they’re cut from the same cloth imo.
The endgame Sephiroth fight was definitely forced. It reeked of “well, he’s been the secret antagonist all game, so we can’t just disclude him from the finale” kind of thinking.
I liked the more persistent villain lurking in Cloud’s broken mind, but they shouldn’t have felt the need to try and put a pseudo capstone on that story thread.
It’s not AAA by any stretch. It was sold at a fraction of the usual price point, it’s advertising was non-existant, and it makes no effort to do the usual AAA things: live-service, online multiplayer, “you can play it forever”, etc. are are not present.
But putting it side-by-side with Manor Lords and Balatro, the latter of which was a single-person dev, also doesn’t suit it. It has a real studio, a dev team with experience, and at least enough of a budget to license real music from popular (or at least, once popular) artists. I’d perhaps agree with your statement that it’s closer to AAA than to a “small dev” game, but it is true that it’s a “smaller game that [gives Microsoft] prestiege and awards”.
This is a great article highlighting the pig-headed double speak going on at Microsoft’s gaming divisions. On the one hand, they’re cutting studios and supposidly refocusing on their core offerings, while simultaneously describing the experiences they want to offer as exactly the studios they just cut. The absolute worst part is I can’t help but suspect that they’re going to take the IP, push it on a different dev team that they control and give it the Fable treatment: “this IP was so well received; make a sequel that checks all these boxes that our market research data tells us popular, profitable games have” while conviniently ignoring the passion and vision that the original devs poured into the original title.
Cassette Beasts kicks the ever loving shit out of Pokemon across the board, modern or retro.
Retro games weren’t better than modern games as a “full-stop” statement. They tended to be bug-ridden messes, but there was still a heart and soul behind them that tends to be missing in the AAA industry. Continuing on the Pokemon example Red/Blue were an absolute mess. I mean, moves and items that were supposed to massively increase critical hit rate massively decreased them instead. Stat calculations were all over the place. Hell, the ghost-psychic interaction just straight didn’t function as intended. It was a mess, and yet for some reason, it’s touted as “better” than the modern Pokemon games.
Plus, not all big studio games are soulless cash grabs of releases, either. Hi-Fi Rush is my favorite game of 2023 by a huge margin, and was a Bethesda published game. Sure, the dev studio was “smaller” compared to Ubisoft or Activison, but I wouldn’t call the game indie - it was AAA in polish and scale. I’m currently really enjoying Unicorn Overlord, getting major Ogre Battle 64 vibes from it, and playing a lot of Monster Hunter Rise thanks to a Steam sale. These games slap, and have all the depth and passion of games of old without alI of the horrible jank we dealt with in the pre-internet “no such thing as a post-release patch” world.
It’s easy to see the yearly Call of Duty, Pokemon, generic EA sports, and obligatory Ubisoft open world games release and think “man, AAA gaming sucks”, but they’re honestly a very tiny portion of the conversation.
EDIT: I take everything back, Bethesda just closed the studio that made Hi-Fi Rush. AAA gaming is a cancer that needs to be surgically extracted.
I suspect someone in accounting ran the numbers and decided they stand to lose more to reduced microtransaction sales than they would have gained via selling scraped data.
Though I agreed with you. It’s still a win, but we have to be careful not to conflate this with Sony “caring”.
Sure, and I’m not suggesting said bean counter was responsible for the decision. What I am suggesting is that the only thing that influenced the decision was bottom line finances. Someone ran the numbers, and when the suits discovered that they stand to lose more money than they’d gain, they reversed the decision. Never mistake this as Sony “listening” to anything more than their investors and their bottom line.
Insane take imo. How does purchase authentication or cross play suddenly become “easier” with this change? Either it works or it doesn’t; having PC players connected to a PSN account doesn’t alleviate server load.
It absolutely has to deal with a Steam account every single time I log in to confirm ownership of the title. And then again every time I make a purchase from my Steam wallet. And again every time I connect to a friend through my Steam friends list.
It’s literally adding another potential point of failure and removes none of the necessities of dealing with the other service. I only suggested the server load bit because I can’t for the life of me understand how you can think it’s “easier” to insist that these two systems interact in a new way when they’re already up and functioning, and the original reason account linking was disabled was to make the game more stable.
So, at first install, I actually linked my account to a PSN account that I knew was banned due to a charge back on an unwanted purchase. At the time, I figured if I discovered that I can’t play because my account is banned from PSN, I’d just refund on Steam. I feel I’ll be very justifiably pissed if my account is now banned from playing retroactively, long after the refund window.
Weird take, imo. Mobile games are probably the best they’ve ever been. They were traditionally a place for rampant p2w garbage gacha machines, and while those are still there, the platform has actual decent games nowadays. Real PC games are being ported to mobile and the platform is being taken seriously. Even in the world of micro transactions and gacha games, there are far more that are actually decent as games then there ever has been.
I’ve been playing Monster Hunter Now and I’ve been really impressed with it. The entirety of the Riot games are good games with reasonable microtransactions. Vampire Survivors, my go-to “I am offline” game, is the exact same game on mobile as PC, save the fact that it’s free and you have a choice to watch ads for marginal farming speedups (which can be disabled if you buy literally any of their ~$1.50 DLC expansions, which are hilariously large considering their price). Fucking Warframe is coming to/already on (?) mobile.
I genuinely can’t say mobile games have ever been in a better place than today, despite the existence of the shovelware P2W games that continue to roll out.
I watched the gameplay trailer and was so confused as to why Ubisoft thought it could get away with so blatantly ripping off Dead Cells.
Still confused why it’s in the “triple-i” showcase, though. I know the definition of “indie” has become more and more loose as of late, but I’d think the core concept of being self-published would have to be a pre-requisite.
I tried the game two or three times sitting down with the “I want to play a space sim” mindset and could never get past the tutorial. Then the next time, it had clicked that it’s a survival crafter that just happens to have a space theme. When I sat down with that mindset and perspective on what I was in for, I suddenly throughly enjoyed the game.
The game just does a really bad job of showing you what it is trailers and other media. Sure, all the things it shows off are there, but they’re not the core of the game.
The android version is free with optional benefits for watching ads. If you buy any of the paid DLC (~$2 per DLC?) you are given a menu option to disable the “watch an ad for free shit?” prompts, but they’re hardly in the way if you don’t want to pay a cent. Playable offline, controller supported and is tbh a massive game.
The rebinding options are amazing, though. Being able to choose between tap, double tap, press, long press and hold for every input is fantastic. Two seconds after discovering this, press ctrl was crouch while double tap was prone and hold shift was dash while double tap was dive, and it feels so good.
Idk about controller, but keyboard support is amazing.
But seriously, I wasn’t aware that there was a TWEWY anime…
I absolutely love the games, and the anime is just… Bad. I couldn’t stomache watching more than the first two episodes. I suppose there’s the off chance it “gets good”, but somehow they took a game that has one of the most bangin’ soundtracks of its era and made an anime that is mostly talking with basically no music and little to no ambiance. The flair and style is just completely absent in a franchise that literally built game mechanics around style.
Show her the P4 anime. It’s really, really good. It makes me wonder how the P5 anime shit the bed so hard. I imagine the answer is different studios, but I haven’t really looked into it.
Though, somehow the golden episodes they made later were oddly weak? But the core anime is actually the best anime adaptation of a story-heavy game I can think of.
MAYBE the Tales of Symphonia anime, if you can find that anywhere.
Path of Exile has “evolved”, and not in a way I like, in the most recent years.
It’s a very fast, clear-speed focused game, now, more so than ever. Even inside it’s genre, it’s exceptionally build focused and not very interactive during play, which is impressive, considering these are things the genre is known for.
Steam Next Fest is a week-long celebration featuring hundreds of FREE playable demos as well as developer livestreams and chats. Players try out upcoming games on Steam pre-release, developers gather feedback and build an audience ahead of their Steam launch, everyone wins!
I play a lot of genres of games and as a result like weird genre mashups, so Helskate really stuck out to me. Hades meets Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater isn’t a game I would have thought up myself, but it seems hella cool.
I just messed around with the demo a bit. There are some rough edges and no meta progression yet, but the core concept feels good. Landing a trick on an enemies head to proc stone effects and then following with a couple attacks to put them down is a super fun concept when you hit everything just right. A little bit of tactile feedback when you get hit and land things would really push the gameplay into the amazing territory.
Here is the story: I decided to buy a good and expensive controller for my PC for the first time, after 3 decades of using stock dualshocks and cheap knock-off brands. Googled “best controller for PC”, found a lot about elite series 2 controllers. Got excited about it (primarily the back-grip buttons and adjustable stick...
Okay let me start with two heavy hitters right from the get go and don’t forget these are only personal oppinions and I absolute understand if you like those games. Good for you!...
They honestly could not have picked a worse release window.
In a lot of ways, Enshrouded appeals to me. Valheim with more action RPG/MMO elements is an obvious hit to my interests, but I can’t justify dropping $40 CAD so closely to paying roughly the same price for PalWorld, which admittedly had a much more different and interesting concept.
I’m sure I’ll hop on board at some point, but this just wasn’t the time.
I tried to pick up Rayman Legends when it was I’d cheap over Christmas. I ran the game from Steam was greeted with the UPlay launcher asking me to make an account to access my game, and immediately closed and refunded the title.
I’ll be honest, I really didn’t come across any. The “challenging moral decisions” werenot hard choices, no matter how many of my party members took them out of context and got pissy.
Unpopular opinion, but for a game with such immaculate writing for two Acts, Act 3 is such a fucking shit show of mediocre writing and forgotten story threads.
Including Jeopardy in a list of games like this is the kind of awkward “technically correct” dissonance I’ve come to expect from AI. What a weird inclusion.
I am searching for a controller to play emulated switch games on my pc. My requirements are motion controls, good build quality and responsiveness, and preferably hall effect sticks to make the controller last longer avoiding drift....
I just bought a series of 8bitdo controllers, and they are fantastic. The off green/purple USB Xbox controllers are literally $20 USD a pop and imo feel better than the Series S controller. And that’s their cheapest option; if you are willing to spend money for more features, they keep getting better.
OP said he wants motion control though? I feel like his options for motion control controllers are EXTREMELY limited. Like Nintendo proprietary limited.
Apparently the 8Bitdo Ultimate DOES have motion control. I’d dare say it’s just hands down the correct option, unless you want to just flat buy a Switch Pro controller. That said, if off-colours don’t bother you, the Switch targeted Ultimate C Bluetooth is cheap af, has motion controls and actually has ABXY in the correct format.
So, I currently have a HyperX Cloud Orbit S headset that I’ve been using for both my PC and my PS4. It’s served me pretty well for a few years, but over the past few months the band has snapped and been superglued/reglued 5-6 times. It still works fine, but I’m getting tired of repairing it over and over, and feel it’s...
Unpopular opinion: I fucking hate noise-canceling headsets. It creates something of a booming, echo-y sound, and I just cannot stand it. Open ear acoustic headsets are an absolute godsend.
I use the Sennheiser Game Zero, because if you want a combined headphones/microphone headset, and you want an open ear acoustics, your options are extremely limited. That said, it is awesome. The “flip up to mute” feature broke extremely fast, but beyond that the quality of both incoming and outgoing audio is fantastic. And I drag the thing around with me quite a bit, so, despite one feature breaking, it has survived quite a bit of abuse.
I fundamentally have no issue with the Epic Games launcher. Steam needs competition to keep it in check. Without alternatives, Steam can and will strangle Dev profits, which is a problem. But Epic is a mediocre service, another app to be running, and actively going out of their way to prevent games from being on the platform of the consumers choice, which I am not a fan of.
Related note: does Epic have any DRM free games? Even Steam has a fair portion of games that are DRM free and work perfectly well from a flash drive on a computer that doesn’t have Steam installed. As far as I am aware, Epic does not.
There’s just a series of minor ways in which epic is worse, and I don’t like having front-end clients for my games as is, so a second, competing alternative going out of its way to push me into using it rubs me the wrong way.
I want to note that Steam isn’t inherently a DRM platform, as there are many games on Steam which are DRM free. Even ones that require the Steam backend can be bundled with Steamworks, serving all the same backend requirements without Steam needing to be installed on the machine.
So the situation is this: I am a junior high ELA teacher and I want to bring some videogames into the classroom. What I have to work with are the students Chromebooks. At first glance, I figured I’d throw some short, playable without install games on some flash drives and we could play through whatever game it is, and then...
These could be games that left a lasting impression on you, games that had stellar gameplay mechanics, characters that captivated you, games that you played tons of hours on, etc.
BG3 is a unique example in that its built in a system many players already know and understand, AND the whole thing is so watered down that you can absolutely just wing it with a rudimentary understanding of how things function and be fine. You don’t need to min/max to enjoy the game, and if it’s too hard there are multiple difficulty levels. It’s fine to hit explorer difficulty pick a class for RP and just enjoy the game. The “GaMeR” police aren’t going to kick down your door.
The answer to the wider question is: No, I don’t. I like learning systems and I’ve practiced learning systems very rapidly. I’ve been quickly learning new systems for some 20+ years, so by now, I am just good at it. I do not spend any real length of time researching how to play these games; I load in, read and absorb what’s in front of me, and try thngs. Things that don’t work, I throw out, and I try new things. After a few iterations of this, if I am still heavily struggling I may Google some build repository so I can glance over some ideas of what other suggest work and then incorporate those ideas into my own setup, but even then, that practice is preserved for more competitive games. Games like BG3, Deep Rock, Warframe, Darktide, Inkbound, and Cassette Beasts, just to name some I’ve played in the last couple months, I’ll never look up how others build and play. This is in part because I don’t need to, and in part because crafting my own builds and finding my own solutions is a large part of the fun for me.
I read about this game months ago, when it was released I was very glad to see that it was on PS Plus from Day 1. Since I am already subscribed to PS Plus, I have downloaded it and playing it right now. I really like the game up until now....
Opinion: I think all of the characters have very interesting, often emotionally moving arcs, but I can certainly understand why most players are focused on one character in particular.
That said, it’s a game that demands 100% to get a really satisfying conclusion though. That wouldn’t be a problem, but 100%includes collecting all 60 of the arbitrarily hidden shiny things across the game, which is quite obnoxious.
Yeah, the headline is just awful. The Inkbound Dev notes that they’re removing all in-game microtransactions. The goal is to move away from pressuring you to spend money on microtransactions as you play, and keep them where they belong: on the store page.
The devs are doing exactly what they said. The headline is either click-bait, or a result of awful reading comprehension.
Whenever a fast paced action game like Devil May Cry, Prodeus, HiFi Rush or Doom have a grading system then I would feel like not continuing them as if some one is judging my performance, instead of a bar to get better....
Some people play games to get away from the challenges and struggles of their day-to-day. Others play to find new way to challenge themselves.
I like games with clear indicators of “good”, “better”, “best”, even inside wins. Having a grade, or at least some metric by which to measure just how good my success was, is fun to me. I still load Hi-Fi Rush because, even though I’ve beaten it twice over, there’s opportunities to get a higher rank in each stage or in the post-game challenge modes. I raid in FFXIV because I like trying to parse better and better every week. “Haha number go up” is a fun goal in any game where I find the gameplay engaging.
Does this mean I play games “right” or “wrong” while you do the opposite? Not at all. I’d assume we’re just there for different reasons, and that’s totally fine. The good news is there’s games for both types, and we don’t have to play them all.
The Steam Summer Sale is live now! (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Tango Gameworks employee shares pictures from the Xbox studio’s final day (www.videogameschronicle.com)
Thoughts on Space Games, Part 1: Top-5 AAA Games angielski
Hey everyone, I’m a big player of Space Games of all forms, and this mini-genre (or ‘theme’, if you prefer) really has a TON of range and depth, and is a very fertile ground for indie and unique projects. I was recently playing a game called Avorion, after owning it for years without ever really engaging with it, and...
Hi-Fi Rush Gets Final Patch To Fix Minor Issues, Reconfirms Limited Physical Edition (www.gameinformer.com) angielski
Final Fantasy Maker Square Enix Will Aggressively Pursue a Multiplatform Strategy After Profits Tumble (www.ign.com) angielski
Great, can we get FF7 Rebirth on PC now?
Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio (www.theverge.com) angielski
Am I the only person that feels that retro games are better?
Less DRM, smaller filesizes, no stupid anticheat, and no always online bs. Anyone agree with me?
Sony cancelled the PSN account linking requirement for Helldivers 2 (lemmy.world) angielski
Helldivers 2 Players Express Frustration On Steam As It Will Soon Require A PSN Account (www.gameinformer.com) angielski
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/14764738...
Why do mobile games suck nowadays?
In the last 5-7 years I’ve noticed that mobile games have devolved info always online p2w shit...
All announcements from the triple-i showcase angielski
Some trailers have been shared here, but not all. This is a list of all 35 announcements from the Triple-i initiative showcase....
No Man's Sky Orbital Update brings full ship customisation and a complete space station overhaul (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
Need android game recommendations
I’d like to get into android gaming if there is anything good out there. I am open for any genre but I have a few requirements...
Helldivers 2 has "performed well ahead of expectations" and topped more than 8m sales (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
“It‘s kind of depressing”: WB Discovery pulls indie game for “business changes” (arstechnica.com) angielski
Archive link: archive.ph/168Vn...
Stop Making Great Anime Into Terrible Video Games (www.inverse.com) angielski
Okay but really, why are they all boring 3D fighters that have barely changed since the PS2 era?
Are there any games like Diablo but not Diablo because Diablo? angielski
Steam Next Fest February 2024 is live (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Steam Next Fest is a week-long celebration featuring hundreds of FREE playable demos as well as developer livestreams and chats. Players try out upcoming games on Steam pre-release, developers gather feedback and build an audience ahead of their Steam launch, everyone wins!
Dissapointed in Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller
Here is the story: I decided to buy a good and expensive controller for my PC for the first time, after 3 decades of using stock dualshocks and cheap knock-off brands. Googled “best controller for PC”, found a lot about elite series 2 controllers. Got excited about it (primarily the back-grip buttons and adjustable stick...
Spec Ops: The Line permanently removed from Steam and other digital stores (www.theverge.com) angielski
Something something digital ownership
Which games do you dislike, but the rest of the world loves them? angielski
Okay let me start with two heavy hitters right from the get go and don’t forget these are only personal oppinions and I absolute understand if you like those games. Good for you!...
Enshrouded - Official Early Access Launch Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
Looks interesting. Anybody pick this up?
Ubisoft's customer values (www.ign.com) angielski
Ubisoft Exec Says Gamers Need to Get ‘Comfortable’ Not Owning Their Games for Subscriptions to Take Off...
Games that force you to make hard choices angielski
Hey all!...
Need help finding a controller for less than 50€
I am searching for a controller to play emulated switch games on my pc. My requirements are motion controls, good build quality and responsiveness, and preferably hall effect sticks to make the controller last longer avoiding drift....
What's the best headset to use for both PC and console right now? angielski
So, I currently have a HyperX Cloud Orbit S headset that I’ve been using for both my PC and my PS4. It’s served me pretty well for a few years, but over the past few months the band has snapped and been superglued/reglued 5-6 times. It still works fine, but I’m getting tired of repairing it over and over, and feel it’s...
What's up with Epic Games? angielski
I can’t seem to find that one comment explaining the issue with them…...
Looking for insight - Games on a school managed Chromebook angielski
So the situation is this: I am a junior high ELA teacher and I want to bring some videogames into the classroom. What I have to work with are the students Chromebooks. At first glance, I figured I’d throw some short, playable without install games on some flash drives and we could play through whatever game it is, and then...
What were your top favorite video games as a kid? angielski
These could be games that left a lasting impression on you, games that had stellar gameplay mechanics, characters that captivated you, games that you played tons of hours on, etc.
How are you all playing these insanely complex games?
Just some off the top of my head: Destiny, Deep Rock Galactic, Overwatch, and most recently Baldur’s Gate....
Have you tried Sea of Stars? (seaofstarsgame.co) angielski
I read about this game months ago, when it was released I was very glad to see that it was on PS Plus from Day 1. Since I am already subscribed to PS Plus, I have downloaded it and playing it right now. I really like the game up until now....
Official: New Grand Theft Auto Trailer Arriving in December (twitter.com)
This indie dev (Indie RPG Inkbound) is removing all microtransactions after noting that "player sentiment is trending against" them (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
how do you have fun even a game have a grading system? angielski
Whenever a fast paced action game like Devil May Cry, Prodeus, HiFi Rush or Doom have a grading system then I would feel like not continuing them as if some one is judging my performance, instead of a bar to get better....
VR still makes 40-70% of players want to throw up, and that's a huge problem for the companies behind it (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Why virtual reality makes a lot of us sick, and what we can do about it.