Kaldo

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

For people who played BG3 in couch co-op already, what was the experience like exactly? Was it annoying to be linked to the same camera / environment compared to usual online coop where every player has their own controls I imagine? Is there a lot of downtime while someone is managing their character/inventory? Also, would you recommend it for the first playthrough?

I'm waiting for the dust to settle (and to have some more free time) but I am curious about trying it down the line, possibly over steam remote play.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu (edited 9 miesięcy temu)

I dabbled with it today a bit and tbh not sure which part requires a tutorial, it seemed simple enough - plop down resource collectors, connect them to a power grid and connect the output to storage or the industrial thing that creates adaptive frames (the only one i had access to and which is used pretty often for building). It is basically iron+aluminium=adaptive frames, with solar panels or generators creating power passively FO4 style.

Or you can just craft them yourself in an industrial bench, this just automates it since i guess you'll need a lot later.

What was the issue exactly when you tried it?

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

It's a really cool roguelike basebuilder game and the Ancient Seals is the most recent of many updates for it that we've gotten, adding more goals in the game and an overarching narrative / progression in each cycle so settlements feel more connected than before.

It's relatively cheap, the developers are great at supporting the game and listening to feedback, and I definitely recommend it for anyone curious about it. The game has felt finished and very polished for over a year now so don't let the early access tag dissuade you from trying it out

tl;dr It's a good game and it's consistently getting better

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

He isn’t, but he’s not out there buying multiple sports cars and a yatch either. I really do believe there isn’t anything sinister going on, just a whole bunch of good intended people wasting a collosal amount of money on a dream project where devs get to do exactly what they want and don’t need to adhere to deadlines, no crunch, no job security threats and just no pressure.

Source, your uncle works at CIG?

It's been years since I followed it closely but I remember seeing a youtube video documenting in detail the nepotism and mismanagement going on at CIG like 5 years ago with evidence from their actual videos or public info on websites. Wasn't there also a huge forbes article a while ago talking about the same thing? And if anything, the fact that all these years later we still don't have any new info about SQ42 that was supposed to be almost done in 2018, less alone a finished game, just goes to confirm that they were right about at least some things.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

They have outright lied about state of development and progress being done. I remember when CR himself said on citizencon stage that SQ42 demo had to be delayed for a few weeks due to some last minute animation issues that would ruin the first impression, but that other than that it was practically done. Then few weeks later they released a crying video about how much work it is and why it takes so long and asking for understanding.

That was like in 2018 or 2019, and now 4 years later we still don't have anything to show for it, even regarding sq42 alone. At one point it stops being incompetence, they are just full of shit most of the time.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

I played SE at least a year ago, always wanted to give krastorio a try and then eventually combine them together. If only I had hundreds of hours of free time dammit 😁). Even by 'cheating' by using mods like transport drones it still takes forever...

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

That sounds like the smart option tbh, I am still not convinced 2.0 will address my biggest issues with the game like gear progression and inventory. Not really sold on the skill rework either, looks kinda as boring as before. Maybe I get the dlc eventually but there's no rush - it's not like they are making more dlcs for the game and need the money, and the sequel is already confirmed anyway.

I really wanted it to be great but for every high the game hit for me, it had double the amount of lows. I can't really be bothered to get hyped anymore for it.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

There's like a 5% chance of this actually turning out good but god damn, I'm so ready to roll the dice and see what happens.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

I am also kinda upset that people can't post reviews on steam, it feels like cheating the system. The game is out, over 200 000 people are playing it, why can't we see its score? How is it different from any other big launch? Should all early access games not be reviewable until they are out, meaning some can't get a score for years and years?

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

interactive rail system

The what now? What is that and how would it improve the game?

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

I did read that landing on planets is just a cutscene rather than a seamless transition, but I thought for sure you can actually fly it in space - isn't there even combat with other spaceships or random locations to check for resources?

Is there anything else to do on the spaceship, does it feel like a home base where you keep your gear, crafting benches, companions to talk to, etc? I really want that cozy starbound/kotor ebon hawk vibes if possible 🥺

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

Yeah, they can just append a number to it like unreal does and call it a new engine but that's not what you actually want. It's not a matter of a "new engine", it's them not investing enough into the existing one to make it feel more modern. I know some things like physics and animations are part of the "bethesda charm" but it stopped being charming after skyrim :P

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu (edited 9 miesięcy temu)

Yeah I meant fly as in between locations without a loading screen, kinda like in X3/X4/NMS or even Freelancer/Rebel Galaxy and older spaceship games. I get it might be harder between solar systems the way E:D does it but kinda sad it's not real travel within one. Maybe they patch it in one day in the future? Who knows

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

Well I never said "enter" stations, I said travel between them. In X3 you used SETA to travel between stations and in X:R and X:4 you had (super)highways. Freelancer also had those rings that speed you up and you could leave them at any point - in fact, the way piracy worked was you destroy one of the rings which would interrupt the travel and drop any ships out of the hightway lane so you could attack them.

Basically, all of these games didn't just have a loading screen when going from one station to another, there was an actual feeling of distance and travel. From what I've heard starfield doesn't have it at all.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

I think everyone was kinda expecting it but it's still sad to see 😥

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu (edited 9 miesięcy temu)

He talked a lot about his experience and feelings (and that's great!) but I wish he went a bit more into actual mechanics. How "RPG-like" is the game, do choices and builds matter or do you just stack stats and better gear? How is the enemy scaling? What are the build archetypes, if any? Other outlets said the exploration is a bit lacking, so is the settlement building complex enough to carry the game on its own or are we going to have to wait a few years until we get "sim settlements" or something?

It definitely looks like a purchase for me down the line but I still can't tell what kind of demographic is the game actually aimed at, if that makes sense. Is the focus exploration? Basebuilding? Story? Or is it really everything a bit but nothing in specific?

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

We're going to have a lot of these, we should probably setup a review megathread or something? Does this magazine even have mods btw? :D

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

(kbin link: https://kbin.social/m/gaming@beehaw.org/t/412115/Starfield-Review-Thread#comments)

yeah seems like we have a bunch now, lemmy.world one seems the biggest tho

https://kbin.social/m/games@lemmy.world/t/411980/Starfield-Review-Thread-87-100-OpenCritic#comments

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

I was really hoping proc-gen would be just for the terrain and surrounding areas and the interesting setpieces would be as handcrafted (or as close as possible) to a regular TES/Fallout experience. I guess they had to trade in a lot of these to make the big universe happen though...

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

I want to agree but... what other RPGs on the market fill this niche of a sandboxy open world that you can practically live in? Skyrim and Fallout feel like proper open world immersive sims at moments. Cyberpunk might be the closest one in recent memory but it fails in so many other aspects. Other than that I honestly can't think of anything.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

Same, especially when they even charge us for the privilege. Maybe I give it a try once it's actually f2p, and hopefully some of the kinks get ironed out by then as well.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

Seems like gaming piracy is really dying this time for sure. Most sites are compromised and untrustworthy, big teams are retiring, the one remaining denuvo cracker that i heard of is apparently psychotic... It doesn't seem like it bodes well

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

Looking at the world rn, I dont think things have a tendency to get better on their own. In a decade or two people won't even believe we lived in the wild west era of internet where you could just get stuff for free without a subscription, online connection or drm.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

That's why I said gaming piracy before, I don't think denuvo can protect media files (yet) and those are less likely to be malware or cryptominers anyway. So I think that aspect is safe for now at least, but rip gaming.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

That's way too big of a generalization. The fact is that technology advances and makes other technology obsolete, and the pirates are dwindling while DRM companies are getting more and more money to fix the issue. It is not going to just magically reverse at one point. If anything the people are just going to get more accustomed to it like they have already with copyright laws, subscription services and simply not owning anything digital anymore.

The second thing you're not addressing is how long the "ebb and flow" takes anyway, if gaming piracy has a resurgence in 50 years then I don't think I'm gonna care much about it by then lol. Blizzard games aren't getting cracked anymore and by the time they do, if ever, I'm not going to care about them.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

Precisely the reason they'd be worth cracking I'd say. Anyway that was just an example, same goes for many EA / Ubi games for which it's just a matter of time before are perma-online or under denuvo.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

I really hope it turns out well. Fallout/Skyrim with spaceships is basically my dream game and if this can live up to it even half way through, it's still going to be better than any other attempt at it in the last decade (looking at you SC, NMS, ED, X4).

I'm still gonna give it at least 6 months before getting it though, maybe by then we get some substantial patches or (UI) mods as well. I still have some other big games in the backlog so I'm in no rush, after all I've been waiting a while for sth like this ^^

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

None of this should be a surprise to anyone remotely familiar with their timelines

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

Well this article is kinda saying that they are barely keeping their head above water as it is, and CIG is vastly mismanaging money and driving development heavily on how many ships they can sell in that year.

So if anything I'd say that this strategy doesn't seem to be working out for them anymore

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

The only part I believed they might actually deliver on since it isn't boggled down by network issues, but I guess even that was too much to hope for. I still remember the 2018 lie of "it's weeks away from being shown" only for them to not show anything or the next 5 years. If it weren't that troublesome to get it (and it's a small sum anyway) I'd probably fight for a refund out of principle alone.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

I guess, but the fact they are now laying people off is for sure a sign that things aren't going well enough. CR might live the rest of his life in a mansion but his legacy is in a crapper and he's not gonna get another chance at this (at least I hope people wouldn't fall for it twice).

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

At least his games got (more or less) finished and are playable.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

It is very charming and enjoyable but there's little to do in the endgame, and it kinda starts to get tedious even in midgame tbh. Everything else is pretty much perfect though, good performance, UI, modding support, lots of freedom and creativity when it comes to designing settlements... Just don't expect it to be too complex or demanding at any point.

Kaldo, 9 miesięcy temu

As I often do, I recommend giving Riftbreaker a try if you want a more action/combat oriented base builder. Good devs, regular updates and streams, mod support, fair pricing and there's an upcoming co-op mode (within a year hopefully?). I've played a long time and I always go back to it for a while when it gets some new updates.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

This truly seems like a cursed genre - I was really hoping to get some alternative warframe-adjacent game to play during content droughts but it seems it's not meant to be. Looks like another mmo-lite looter shooter that seems to have missed its mark, both in terms of gameplay, grind and monetization.

It is still in early access (that you have to pay to access) but it's supposed to be released and f2p within a year so we'll see what happens then.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

Definitely a day 1 purchase for me as well, no other game has the same amount of love and polish as Factorio does, both when it comes to the vanilla game and mods, and I know they will deliver a good experience with the DLC as well.

However, I am worried if it's gonna be enough to stand out among other games in the genre. It has been many years since Factorio last got a substantial content update (maybe too many) and in the meantime we've got a lot of similarly-genred games like DSP or Satisfactory that have raised the bar in areas that Factorio lacked. I hope F:SA has enough meat on its bones to substantially change the core game rather than just more of what we've already played.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

I guess you're lucky since the DLC is not coming out or at least another year then? :P

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

It's nice to see Northgard is still going strong, I'm pleasantly surprised it's still being supported so much. At this rate Dune is never going to catch up in terms of content and polish!

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

I wanted to care (if it were good). Gta desperately needs competition. For such a popular genre of games we have really few developers makes games in it.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

The only way they could be seen as an important part of the game is if you play games to play dressup.

You really shouldn't be but I feel you'd be surprised how many people, especially MMORPG players, care about this. I personally play GW2 a lot and since there's no gear treadmill unlocking cosmetics is one of the main goals you can actually do there, to show off your accomplishments or hard work. Ofc it's not the only thing keeping players engaged but it is a major part of it.

Besides, if it didn't matter to players then it wouldn't be monetized as much in the first place. So whenever I see this argument "well its just cosmetics so it doesnt matter:", I get kinda frustrated because obviously it matters, obviously it works which is why it's still a thing to monetize so much.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

BioWare is dead

We've all known this was the case since Inquisition / Andromeda / Anthem, depending on how high your tolerance to bullshit is. Anyone getting hyped for Dreadwolf based on their track record of last 10 years is just setting themselves for disappointment.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

Besides the technical issues, everything bad called out for Andromeda was something I had issues with in inquisition. Bland soulless story, repetitive open world, lack of proper villain, lack of complex rpg elements... Having replayed DA1 and even 2 numerous times, I couldn't bring myself to finish DA:I even once.

It is very subjective but for me inquisition was the tipping point. Even da2 had more soul and redeeming qualities IMHO.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

Technical issues can be patched afterwards, and in case of andromeda most were. I played it a year or two after it released when they practically gave it away for $5 on a sale or sth like that. The game still remained a shallow husk of an RPG though with few redeeming qualities besides a somewhat fun combat at times, and this is with me going into it with very low expectations. I'm glad you had more fun with it but I wouldn't call it a good game even if it didn't have to compete with its predecessors.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

Dunno why everyone hates vortex that much, it worked better for me than steam workshop, for instance, in most cases tbh. I can pick a specific mod version, either automatically download or manually import them, switch profiles and games with few buttons...

I've also tried thunderstore with r2modman and despite being open source it's years behind even vortex in terms of usability and UX.

Kaldo, 10 miesięcy temu

Ohh, it's a game, not season 2 of invincible