Katana314

Katana314, rok temu

Honestly, 90% of programming work now is “I got X library to work inside of Y new system in Z engine”. It makes sense too - it’s exceedingly rare that it makes sense to reinvent someone else’s wheel - and at times, not insignificant to implement the right hooks.

Katana314, rok temu

It feels like the issue is that it was offering the convenience of payment to mods, but not really thinking about the necessary friction of assuring licenses/legality/etc. All of that CAN, of course, be an issue for cheap Unity games too. I remember back when Steam Greenlight started, they required each game to donate $100 to charity to even be considered, basically placing a bet of assurance that it wasn’t a stolen asset flip (I don’t know if they still do that).

Katana314, rok temu

Yeah, I was going to give the example of a GPU - something you might buy to play this game. But pretty much everything that goes into the setup and desk that lets you play the video game kinda counts.

Katana314, rok temu

The only way they can actually disrupt gaming is by putting out something people want. Once upon a time, Microsoft and Sony seemed like “Bizarrely unfamiliar foreign invaders of gaming” but slowly settled into understanding what their customers wanted.

As the article points out, tone-deaf or imperfect offerings have really bounced off. Heck, this is an age where many of Sony and Microsoft’s signature ventures have failed.

Katana314, rok temu

Open source software has specifically devoted much of its efforts to ensuring it never breaches those copyrights.

They might look at Oracle SQL DB and say “Damn, that looks so useful and well-written. Well, I guess we could copy its codebase and pretend we wrote it ourselves…but it’s probably safer to re-implement it from scratch.” Then you get alternatives like MySQL.

That’s a fast example that probably ignores extended history of database wars, but you get the idea.

Katana314, rok temu

Seems like the most signature things seeming that way are the jump animations (doing a constant tuck roll in the air) from the characters, and having them shoot projectiles from their fingertips.

I like the Cuphead animation approach enough that I’m willing to forgive it. Heck, if it was just advertised as “small studio makes low-budget Cuphead DLC” I enjoy Cuphead enough that it would still be interesting.

Katana314, rok temu

Glad I finished Metal: Hellsinger. That was a short one but good one.

Katana314, rok temu

It won’t lift up everyone, but the people that it will help are in any normal classification considered workers.

Katana314, rok temu

Sounds disappointing. I’m definitely unnaturally excited with the idea of “Large vehicles” - being able to walk inside with your character, take casual actions like crafting/talking while it transports, then stepping out. It’s why I enjoyed Sea of Thieves and Subnautica, and it’s what I mainly want out of trains in games.

Reducing them to interaction prompts and cutscenes sort of undersells them to me.

Katana314, rok temu

Would anyone else be interested in a game that aborts a dedicated “conversation mode” to just have players respond in their normal first person view? Games like Titanfall 2 did that - even though your banter with BT is inconsequential.

It could even lead to some fun “actions not words” moments. Like, a gangster explaining to you “I have the council in my pocket and every gun in the city knows your face. What’re you gonna do about it?” shoots him in the head instead of responding

Katana314, rok temu

I respect the sentiment, so no disrespect to it; but in software, there’s often a lot of caution against throwing out too much code.

You often find certain modules and sections of code that really should be thrown out or overhauled. If you can convince the corporation to dedicate time to doing that, it can often, but not always, show its benefits.

Probably a lot of the popular games we still play use some old bases, but replace parts that don’t work well. I think Apex Legends is still technically using Source (HL2), they’ve just done a lot to it so it no longer looks anything like Half Life 2.

Katana314, rok temu

As long as it’s just flagging voice clips for review by a moderator of some kind, that sounds fine to me. I’ve been wanting more games to find new ways of enforcing moderation - maybe clean up the communities a bit so that whole demographics aren’t afraid to engage.

Katana314, rok temu

I have a dozen reasons to hate Activision, but I hadn’t heard anything in their history about indiscriminate banning. Care to share?

Honestly, given their corporate culture, I thought they would’ve leaned towards being permissive of toxic gamer culture.

Katana314, rok temu

Whenever a law is invented to apply protections, someone always points out that a criminal mastermind can circumvent that protection.

That often doesn’t matter, because intelligent people have no motivation to breach the protection, and less intelligent people fall into the trap. Even with some circumvention, it can catch a large number of bad actors.

It’s like saying “Fishing won’t work because fish will just learn to swim around nets”.

Katana314, rok temu

I got bored of it. I don’t remember laughing at any jokes a single time, and I never felt like the stat build I started out with (one of the game’s presets) ever let me do anything fun.

Katana314, rok temu

I’d still really like a better story evaluation than a nostalgic “It’S jUsT likE cHrOnO tRIggEr. REmemBer ChRonO trIGGer? MaN tHaT wAs a gREat gAme.”

Look, I played that game. Combat was sometimes fun. Music was great. Story did not live up to modern standards. I have other JRPG memories that are more about having a unique and impactful story, and seeing their characters grow, than about being a JRPG.

Honestly, anytime we review new games, I’d almost rather the analysis start with what the game did well on its own invention. Even allow for the possibility it’s going to be better than a classic.

Katana314, rok temu

I wouldn’t blame BG3. The FPS and CRPG markets generally aren’t that closely related. I’m finding all the BG3 clips people post online interesting, but I’m certainly more interested in a good singleplayer FPS. “Good” being key.

Katana314, rok temu

I don’t necessarily think title is the issue. Some of the biggest name games out there use pretty basic words: “God of War”, “The Last of Us”. They definitely lose some attention by being a brand new IP without much of a “signature feel” to them, like giant mechs, zombies, or princess magic.

Katana314, rok temu

It was put out by EA, and this flop very likely solidifies their logic that “Singleplayer games don’t sell” - although I’m sure most people around here would confidently say it failed for other reasons.

Katana314, rok temu

Witcher 3 didn’t get a pass from me, I gave it up because it was getting repetitive.

Katana314, rok temu

Yes, I think you could use this to play Koei Tecmo’s Dead or Alive series.

Katana314, rok temu

They needed to limit it somewhat because light is your most powerful weapon. Later in the game you’re even being given multiple ways of generating light.

I feel like if the takeaway was “always waiting for it to recharge”, you’re missing the point of the combat structure.

Katana314, rok temu

I’m wondering if the woman interviewing him is from the Department of Control; often feels like a missed opportunity to mix universes and not take advantage of it.

Katana314, rok temu

I think I’ve realized some of my favorite games recently have involved a lot of walking up to objects and holding the E key to fill a meter.

That sounds like a terribly bad-modern style of game, but of course the context of decisionmaking and effects to those actions can be very important. Going to a terminal that takes 10 seconds to hack may mean 10 seconds you’re very vulnerable to attacks, and that a success means you successfully distracted, or trapped out, any adversaries that may not want you to hold E.

And then of course, it’s also fun sometimes for singleplayer games when you don’t want the tension of outsmarting opponents, just rewards for good positional decisionmaking.

Katana314, rok temu

I absolutely agree; I’m preloading it because I just have it as a Game Pass benefit anyway. Could be I end up waiting 8 months for stability patches like everyone else.

Katana314, rok temu

Specifically, they’re cutting off purchases of new games - but people can still download games they own.

The PS3, I believe, did this a while back. Up to a point, patching the device’s internet security so that the credit card info isn’t stolen in transit takes more effort than it’s worth. But, letting people still download their games has no real internet security risk.

One question that lingers in my mind though, is whether you can still buy new games using a desktop browser. I think that was something PS3 allowed for for some time.

Katana314, rok temu

I’ve been trying to get Heroic working with my Epic account to no success.

Generally, that has been my experience with most open source solutions to closed source app gardens.

Katana314, rok temu

It was on Game pass before, and I kinda did skip it because I felt like I had played multiple “processing grief” video games, and didn’t like the idea of doing it in a formless world of colors rather than around some kind of deliberate, recognizable world theme. There’s such a thing as being too artsy and abstract.

Katana314, rok temu

You do realize that’s the case for every form of IP, right?

“Man, I want to read the new Brandon Sanderson book, and eat food this month. But the publisher is asking $4,000 for a copy!! What theft!! I’m going to have to subsist on chewing dirt for the next few months!”

Or, sane response:

“Well, that price is ludicrous. I guess I’ll read other books” (and in this case, play other football games)

Katana314, rok temu

You’re missing the point. This is not about the Madden. This is about the Not-Madden.

Voting with your wallet is not “Refusing to buy a media for several months until its publisher relents and cuts its price in half, meanwhile depositing your $60 in a jar for when the day the price falls”. Instead, it is “When you have money for entertainment, you use it for properties OTHER than the one you used to go for”.

So, to further my example; “Me/my kid really wants the new Brandon Sanderson book, but instead of chewing dirt to pay for it, we decided to vote with our wallets! …But, because Sanderson is a crazy eccentric billioinaire with a patience greater than 5 years, he just INCREASED the price in retaliation to $8 million! What are we to do? …Read OTHER books? HERESY!”

Blaming the subject on corporate psychology is a complete cop-out. They do not grab your wrist and force you to click the Buy button. I’ll make some allowances for instances of gambling addiction (and I would not try to apply this pricing logic to the housing market due to collusion and other factors) but otherwise, price acknowledgment is a very human thing people need to get used to considering, even when it comes to beloved IPs.

Katana314, rok temu

I don’t know what audibles are, but I’ve become increasingly interested in action-strategy type games that find ways to directly punish players that have high Actions Per Minute, encouraging people to take fewer, more deliberate movements. Kinda like combo rhythm in Arkham, rather than mashing X to attack.

Katana314, rok temu

I guess it makes for a better “dividing” of the experiences. For instance, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 took it all the very wrong way. It might have a very compelling storyline and great character moments, but I’ll never know because 90% of my time spent playing would involve a subservient girl dressed in micro-shorts whose breasts are each the size of her head. Plus, it has a ton of pervy scenes that are pretty much mandated for the story.

At least in BG3, the nudity/sex/lingerie seems to be somewhat optional to focus on, and doesn’t generally distract from the experience.

Katana314, rok temu

Feels like it may turn out a bit like Epic Store vs Steam situation. One has a lot of money to offer to people to get them to come there - but not any actual infrastructural investment to get them to stay.

In the end, money is no substitute for ingenuity and honest community. I’m sure people will go, I mean it’s a huge prize pool, but in a potential future where SA no longer has oil money…I don’t think they’re going back.

Katana314, rok temu

I guess it enables quick game demos? If a mildly interesting game is 80 GB, or the devs want to let people try it before they buy it but don’t want to code a demo, there’s a few options there.

Still, you’re right, not a big use case. Xbox has an advantage due to controller simplicity. I’m pretty sure you can play Game Pass games using a DualShock, even on a web browser.

Katana314, rok temu

I guess it can be different for different people. Maybe I just never reached that “endgame point” but my progress was always marked by custom dialog and new quests in Odyssey, even if that sometimes meant a side quest rather than main quest.

The term ‘grind’ can be either a positive or negative depending on how much someone likes the core game loop. For something like Monster Hunter, it’s used in an appreciative way.

Katana314, rok temu

I like that it’s another genre fitting for the “Silent badass treated as a lethal legend by other characters”, similar to Doom’s Doomguy. It almost makes sense - there was such a gap in skill between the common and the best pilots in wars, it’s somewhat practical to have “stories of caution about a plane with a certain decal”.

Katana314, rok temu

I feel like it’s a lot like the weapon breaking in Breath of the Wild - one of those systems that imposes heavy limits on players to enforce their creativity and flexibility in their approach.

I know a lot of people approach every game in a completionist, meticulous way where they do every quest, never use any consumable items, etc; and it often ruins the fun. It’s also why Ubisoft had the somewhat crazy idea in Far Cry 5 of actually forcing you to do story missions after game progress, trying to use designer mechanics to push some variety into people’s game sessions.

In Pikmin’s case, and I think Dead Rising / Persona too, the time limit is meant to get you to prioritize path planning so you get as much as you can done in a certain span. The core gameplay of Pikmin just isn’t all that interactive when you have all the time in the world for it - it’s built around the benefits of delegation and synchronization.