Katana314

@Katana314@lemmy.world

Profil ze zdalnego serwera może być niekompletny. Zobacz więcej na oryginalnej instancji.

Katana314,

Yeah, I never once felt that any scenes in Near A Tomato actually connected to one another. In a good mystery game, you make a discovery rife with questions, and then slowly answer more questions that lead to other questions. Nier is just about constant random shit involving attacks from the machine life forms - which are all promptly forgotten.

I don’t know how we’re supposed to care and worry so much about 2B and 9S dying when it literally happens once in the prologue, and the very first lines of the game are about how annoying it is to keep dying and being reborn.

Katana314,

One benefit of a medium like games, as opposed to movies, is that the method of delivery can be accomplished more independently. Anyone watching a movie, be it a new Disney release or a Sundance film, will probably want it on their TV, where they have limited walled-garden devices. Give them an MP4 file to download, and they might not even know how to quickly use it.

But some famous games like Factorio and Minecraft were first sold with independent download systems, because the game will at some point involve its own executable file; it doesn’t have to fit in some larger play framework. Launchers like Heroic let people set up their own system for downloading games from places less popular than Steam.

So, to conclude the tangent: Suppose in the future, Xbox has tripled its Game Pass offerings and other publishers have followed suit. Other indie developers spotting out the subscription frustration can still release their own games breaking from the formula. This isn’t a remedy for the major AAA games we’d like to preserve, but it does mean the worst case scenario isn’t as bad for games as it is for movies.

Katana314, (edited )

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (Part 1 + 2) are really the first ones that come to mind for me. They reignited some of the feeling of excitement I have for JRPGs, where you become deeply invested in the struggles of the characters and enjoy every last “Big damn heroes” moment and sudden twist they pull out. The villains in those games are pathetically irredeemable, a far cry from some of the better written ones, but their amazing quality is in forcing out the most dramatic possible circumstances from the characters. Combat keeps its pace and was generally enjoyable for me, plus it had an XP catchup/slowdown system that stopped the game from ever feeling too grindy.

Funny thing is, I personally bear no recommendations for any games in that series beyond those two. They are, to my mind, a testament to good singular stories that leave the opportunity for future ones - even if those follow-ons didn’t click with me.

For Metroidvania style, Aquaria is one I don’t see mentioned much. I got it in one of the classic Humble Bundles, and it had a LOT more content than I was expecting for an indie game. Many different abilities to gather, a soundtrack and appearance that all blended together so well, and even optional bosses hidden in the waters.

And then, it comes up every so often to divisive opinions, but there’s plenty of shooter players that still need to try Spec Ops: The Line. It’s not terribly well-done in terms of gameplay, but tells a very compelling story about heroism and violence - even if it is NOT the one you hope to see. Much of the controversy over the game’s ranking has to do with how much it offers freedom of choice - but I’ve always felt that freedom of choice starts in the type of adventures you choose to play. You see the assault rifles on the cover. You’re planning for this.

Katana314,

Never did like the expectation of constant updates to a game. I always saw the new stuff that came from live service updates as a bonus to a game, not a requirement.

Katana314,

— A man that put his VR game exclusively on his own digital distribution platform.

Katana314,

I can’t say I agree with the approach. Someone like Sony can perhaps get away with this knowing that even with routine mechanics, they can reliably sell a good story.

But Square is sort of discovering their niche for modern Japanese RPGs; if their singular high budget games are going to be like Final Fantasy 16, there’s definitely some risk of overinvestment in stories people are “meh” about. Meanwhile, if people were asked to name their favorite JRPG stories, I imagine a lot of them were not ridiculously high budget.

Veteran Videogame Analyst: Subscription growth has flattened [in video games] (files.catbox.moe) angielski

Adding a bit more to the discussion on whether game subscription can be “the future”, it looks like despite the heavy push made in the past decade, subscriptions only make up 10% of total video game spending in the US....

Katana314,

I can pay a subscription for Netflix-style block access, or I can buy individual games I want. I don’t really understand this comment.

Katana314,

PS+ set forward a theme of letting people have game trials - you can download and play for a few hours before needing to buy. I think they want that tied to some kind of invested subscription setup just so that people wouldn’t abuse the system.

It’s easier to avoid abuse if every game has demos coded to end after level 1, but as many old analyses have shown, that takes a huge amount of developer resources.

The issue of downloading 100 GB is something that some publishers have tried to solve with cloud gaming. If you’re only mildly interested in a Game Pass game, you can play it on cloud, and then if you enjoyed your first session, download it locally for the next one.

Katana314,

I just looked up one of Netflix’s star movies, Nimona, and yes, I can still buy blu-rays of it.

All mediums have had exceptions where the license holder is a fickle, or ineffective, ass at selling; rare books, games with soundtrack licensing complications, unloved movies. They’re generally exceptions by individual work, not from having signed on to the Great Netflix Prison.

Generally, where there’s demand, they still let you become its permanent owner. (In the topic of anime, they even overcharge for it because it’s such an uncommon choice made by super-fans as a prestige item)

Katana314,

Yeah, it kind of just keeps the agreement honest.

“We need ideas to find a way to monetize our active playerbase!”
“We already are. They pay us money each month. In turn, we continue to make sure the game is fun and has stuff that keeps them interested.”
“Aha! Carry on.”

Katana314,

I can see how Game Pass popularity could be bad for a number of studios, as he says in the article. But, I’ve never understood how Game Pass’s existence was anti-consumer.

We always get these baffling quotes like “Microsoft insists on renting you your games, and you will like it.” or “I’m not going to be forced to pay $17 a month just to play my games”. GP never gained popularity off Microsoft forcing people into it, people voluntarily signed up, even when MS continues to make their games available for direct purchase.

The previous quote from Ubisoft even seemed more like an investor excuse than a threat to gamers.

Katana314,

Feels kind of weird to have a remaster coming long after a total remake. Granted, I don’t think they remade 2-3, just the first one - and it was for the sake of their small trilogy referencing events from the first game. (I think it went, Legend, then Anniversary (Remake), then Underworld, right?)

Katana314,

I’m not sure how you drew this conclusion, since most people I know consider paying full price to obtain a digital copy to be extremely close to ownership.

I liked Telltale’s Law and Order series. They can’t sell it anymore, but I can still download my digital copy because I bought it full price.

The whole argument in the article is about monthly subscription rentals.

Katana314,

There’s a similar bit in Trails in the Sky I ended up unexpectedly enjoying.

Joshua: “Good luck, Estelle.”
Estelle: “…What do you mean, good luck? You’re coming too, right?”
Joshua: “…Pardon? The plan is using a maid’s disguise. There’s no butlers in that part of the castle.”
Estelle: “So what? You fit GREAT in a dress!”
Joshua: “…Just drop it, Estelle. They only have the one outfit.”
Head Maid: “Well…so actually…”
Joshua: “…no. No, we are NOT doing this!”

Katana314,

Holy crap, people replying sanely.

I feel like I’m constantly wading through raw brain damage from how often I see lines like “selling an unfinished game” repeated.

Singleplayer games with stories get “finished”. Sometimes, they get ideas for other small little, less important stories to tell in addition. Fighting games and pretty much all competitive online games are not that.

Katana314,

Y’all say that, but anytime someone makes even a decent approximation of an Ace Attorney game, I’m out here chasing the high of pointing out contradictions that pin a killer.

Katana314,

I have a story plan I’m tossing around, and trying to decide something around this. It’s nothing so complex - basically, there’s a nation that has historically been extremely homophobic, and as a result, a mid-sized cabal of defectors that the book follows are gay. One of those situations where an observer (in or out of universe) could tiredly claim it doesn’t matter to them, except that it apparently does matter to this fictional nation.

Katana314,

It might be a good time to revisit some other long-running series that have managed a very good “reset” after running dry. Some examples that come to mind are Resident Evil 7, God of War, The Legend of Zelda, maybe some others.

At least for RE7 and God of War, it does feel like their overall goal was to reduce the action-packed scope, and focus more closely on something character-focused. RE7 doesn’t have crashing helicopters, and God of War doesn’t have you killing gods in the first 30 minutes. It definitely felt like an overall goal for FF16 was epic, bombastic scope and throwing around their budget, which obviously drove sales…but not as much lingering popularity as they hoped.

(Oh yeah, and plan a Steam release already. The world is not as console-obsessed as Japan)

Katana314,

Any return to turn-based would probably have to be careful about it. Persona 5 managed it well, but it easily reaches criticism of being too much of “Use fire on ice”. Ideally, every decision a player is making in their infinite-time turns should have some form and consequence to it. I have always hated the “solution” wherein you can turn on an Auto-Battling system. It fixes the problem, but doesn’t acknowledge that the problem is battle decisions always being completely unnecessary and routine, which itself is something that can be fixed using more intelligent game design.

Katana314,

Ooooooooh. Ouch. “It is a series standard” is exactly the sort of weak point that leads to some big franchises like Final Fantasy staggering.

There’s a reason games like Persona gained such popularity. It is NOT because players learned to use a thunder attack on the floating pair of chairs.

Many players have become "patient gamers". What are games people might miss out on by waiting for sales? angielski

Sales follow the tradition of supply and demand. Products come out at their highest price because of expectations and hype. Then, as interest wanes, the publisher continues to make some sales by reducing price to tempt the less interested parties....

Katana314,

The specific game that gave me the idea for this post was Freedom Planet 2. I remember getting the original as part of one of the early Humble Bundles, and enjoyed it, but never felt compelled to try the sequel.

Something I’ve been missing is having more game stories with fully “melodramatic” character acting - where character A is gasping in tears over the injuries to character B, and won’t ever forgive ruthless villain Y. That was something I remembered FP1 for, for better or worse, and apparently from reviews they improved their craft a bit for the sequel.

Katana314,

I get that to some degree, but also look at it this way.

Developer A spends 10 years and lots of people’s time developing a heartfelt, memorable game, and prices it at $25 - keeping it at that price no matter what changes. Meanwhile, Developer B develops dozens of cheap games chasing crummy junk trends, and charges $60 initially for them, and discounting them down to $10 after two months. Theoretically, Developer A should deserve more of their money. But, many people will often see “83% off” and go for Developer B, even though the game refusing discounts is worth far more of people’s time.

I do think some people only really focus their wallet-voting in one direction. It should be not just avoiding expenditure on bad games, but also volunteering it on good games.

Katana314,

I don’t know if you could call this a positive, but I’ve definitely seen signs that the results of these projects will routinely turn out soulless and flop hard. In the past few years we’ve seen some VERY well-funded projects turn out as total flops. If that’s happening even with human creative input and corrective steering, what should we expect from AI following a straight algorithm?

AYANEO NEXT LITE handheld announced with SteamOS Linux | UPDATE: Not SteamOS Apparently (www.gamingonlinux.com) angielski

UPDATE: Despite saying they were using SteamOS on the homepage, they’ve since clarified that it’s actually “an optimized version based on HoloISO”. HoloISO seems to be a community compiled version of SteamOS. It’s very similar but it’s not officially SteamOS....

Katana314,

I remember when I had to use my Steam Deck connected with USBC as a “desktop” for a while. It couldn’t remember to put my taskbar on my preferred monitor no matter what I tried doing.

Video game actors speak out after union announces AI voice deal (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski

According to SAG AFTRA, the deal will “enable Replica to engage SAG-AFTRA members under a fair, ethical agreement to safely create and license a digital replica of their voice. Licensed voices can be used in video game development and other interactive media projects from pre-production to final release.”...

Katana314,

I’m torn, because on the one hand, the logistics of constantly recording new lines for minor stuff is really annoying. Imagine you’re playing a live-service game that really needs a certain balance patch, but that balance patch is reliant on a very slight change to a voice line (for instance, reducing the time it takes for a character to perform a special attack. To take an Overwatch example, maybe a certain archer is voicing his ultimate ability too quietly). Having to call someone in just for that is costly and unproductive.

But, we’re talking about delivering the source of someone’s work and livelihood (as well as all their creative influence, exaggerative tones, and delivery) into an algorithm. The line where it would go beyond convenience into worker-reduction efforts is going to be hard to draw.

I would rather that the voice actor retains the rights to their voice, even if it’s put into an AI algorithm. Thus, if the developers want to make a small change to a voice line, they still need to get approval for some AI-generated correction - and the actor would have the right to say “No, that one sounds terrible. I’m only going to agree to re-delivering this one myself.” Similarly, actors could approve limited sets of explicitly-defined live AI usage, for instance pronouncing the player’s name. Granted, some companies would become annoyed at actors being too inflexible, just like they have disagreements with actors today.

I’m definitely worried about too much signing-over of voice identity. I think it’s very easy to cut humans out of the equation that way, which not only damages the health of the industry, but also reduces creative output.

jezebelley, do games angielski
@jezebelley@kzoo.to avatar

@games The Suicide Squad may already be dead, with Kill the Justice League game previews not looking so good

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/the-suicide-squad-may-already-be-dead-with-kill-the-justice-league-game-previews-not-looking-so-good

Katana314,

My best guess is that when they first started giving the earliest look at the game, they were (somehow) very surprised at the backlash to their trend-chasing formula; and then, from there, may have completely stumbled in trying to totally re-focus the game into something people would like without remaking it from scratch.

What makes it most tragic is that this is the last instance of Kevin Conroy’s Batman VA. It’s not a good close to such a legacy.

Katana314,

Same, it’s hard to build expectations, but I also felt a little bit of that with Endwalker’s impending release. “Oh, so we go to the moon now?” when the moon was barely before the halfway point.

One thing that can help is if they can invent methods of moving beyond power scaling. The Endsinger’s potential was mostly dictated by “despair for the future”, which is such a vague concept they could likely invent new such challenges without explicitly saying “This thing is stronger than the last thing you fought”. It’s already hard to claim that the cattle at the far edge of Thavnair are stronger than Hades.

Katana314,

I know a lot of people point to resale as a big advantage of physical media, but I really prefer just having a digital environment that encourages frequent sales and price reductions.

If you think about memorable singleplayer games for instance (AAA or indie), they’re really victimized by that mentality of “Well, I guess I’m done with this now”. Even shitty online games, or big open-world games with 80 hours of boring content, usually won’t be re-sold in that way; and each used sale will be a lost New sale for the developer. Never forget that You are the product of GameStop’s used games business.

Game genres where "It's just more X content" is more than enough angielski

We get a lot of sequels in the gaming world, and a common criticism is when a series isn’t really innovating enough. We’re given an open world game that takes 40 hours, with DLC stretching it out 20 more, and see a sequel releasing that cut out it’s late 30 hours because players were already getting bored....

Katana314,

The funny thing is, I don’t think even this is a right way of looking at it. I think variety in the characters you view makes them more interesting; adult characters can definitely come across as heroic even to kids. It’s not necessarily excluding them as an audience.

Katana314,

Alisa is a great horror game that uses pre-rendered backgrounds and plays very much like an old Resident Evil game. It even opens up with a pretty nice FMV intro.

One big difficulty of it is that there’s one finite currency used for buying upgrades, weapons, health, and ammo; and you’ll likely be strained if you avoid buying the latter.

Katana314,

Besides the difficulties for players, there’s also the fact that key reselling is an excellent method for credit card pickpockets to launder money quickly.

Someone’s credit card is swiped in the streets, and in the time before it’s reported stolen, the thief buys many copies of expensive games, to be resold on a place like this. The key resellers themselves claim they’re purchased directly, but…I personally have almost no faith in them or their claims.

Katana314,

It’s not a trend they abandoned - Counter Strike is still a huge source of deceptive digital item trade. It also spread to Team Fortress 2 in the meantime.

Katana314,

Day 3 of pen testing:

“I was able to get into your admin’s crypto wallet and steal $400,000”
“Holy crap! Good find. Can you document how you did that, and put the money back?”
“Lol, you think you can order Lapsus around? Money’s mine, life lesson: Secure it better. I’m going to leak your home address now.”

Some people do not cooperate.

Katana314, (edited )

The judicial decision seemed to be based more around the fact that he was a danger to others, regardless of his own mental limitations. He re-hacked the company using a cell phone and a Fire TV stick when cut off from other devices. What else can they feasibly do? I sympathize with people who have special needs, but that doesn’t mean people should just live in fear of the ones that are a danger.

When the “victim” is lost money and leaked footage, I’m sure there’s limited sympathy, but I feel like these hackers are not so long from deciding to SWAT someone and very possibly getting people killed.

Katana314,

I guess with such a terrible track record around games based on larger media properties, it might not be surprising if that new (reportedly decent, if by the numbers) Avatar game isn’t selling gangbusters.

God of War Creator Is Unhappy With New Games and Kratos' Story (comicbook.com) angielski

Despite being nominated for numerous awards and even winning Game of the Year in 2018, the creator of God of War, David Jaffe, is not a huge fan of the new direction the series has gone in. Jaffe himself hasn't worked on these new God of War games, but thinks that they're not staying true to the spirit of the character and the...

Katana314,

Funny thing is, I realize now there’s multiple franchises I’ve stopped for gameplay reasons, not story.

In God of War, not only was I contending with an offset thumbstick that I didn’t feel like replacing, but I was stuck on a fight that I didn’t seem to be geared for, and was getting pummeled.

Last of Us, I got stuck on some stealth section against enemies that didn’t seem to behave as the tutorial suggested.

Demon’s Souks would just be leagues beyond me anyway, so no chance there.

Katana314,

This one did seem to come out of nowhere, and definitely seems a lot better than the common standard for games based off movies. The reviews are kind of in the middle, but given that’s been the case for prior Far Cry games and I’ve still enjoyed them, I wouldn’t mind picking it up.

Granted, not now…like everyone, I have a huge backlog and can’t justify buying a new game at full price.

Katana314,

No matter how popular it is, I’m pretty sure I don’t have to play it to know I wouldn’t like it.

You walk into rooms, and if there’s no monster, you collect the scrap. If there is, you either die instantly and present a clip for your teammates, or there’s a very simple counter for them that just requires not instantly panicking.

Lots of waiting for your teammates to finish a mission because you just got unlucky.

Katana314,

It didn’t have a way to function in the event of system failure.

Steam sometimes goes down. When that happens, people can often still play their singleplayer games. If Steam had totally failed business-wise, it either would have been sold to another publisher who would maintain access, or the games would’ve been unlocked for permanent offline play.

Take a look at Stadia’s failure resolution strategy; they had to fully refund every person who bought a game there, because all purchases became completely unusable. Imagine if they’d gone a decade selling games to people and building off of their revenue, before encountering failure.

Katana314,

I’ve heard secondhand the people working on a coop mod, after making one for Skyrim, gave up on it after deciding the game is just bad and uninteresting.

Katana314,

It is, and arguably a very good thing. SSDs vastly improve loading times, so there’s fewer occasions where your character awaits a slow elevator, or shimmies slowly through a crawl space. Or, just have you stare at a loading screen.

Not to mention the issues in multiplayer, where 7 players on SSDs need to wait for a hard drive player to load the level before they can start.

Katana314,

The article seems to highlight that the money behind such a big event mainly goes to the hype for games yet unreleased, rather than focusing on praise and even advertising for really high-quality games that are already out.

Sometime I’d like it if video game marketing changed this way - it’s much easier to market a game that already has tons of great reviews, and they’ve kind of generated many gamers that are unsure about any marketing they hear. The streamer I watched the awards with ended up finding out about a previously-released game by a developer he’d really enjoyed, thanks to the show.

Recommend a game for me to play with my partner angielski

My partner and I occasionally play games together, but they pretty much only play word puzzle games on their own. I’m not very good at word games though, and they don’t have very good spatial skills, so we frequently find ourselves mismatched. We have a switch and a single decent gaming pc, and a pretty old laptop....

Katana314,

In terms of coop games with cats in them: Aqua Kitty is an option. More of an underwater action game, could be too fast paced.

If you ever return to Overcooked, some versions of the game have a Practice Mode you can go into. You can’t progress levels with this, but you can serve out dishes at your own pace, which feels nicer.

An old top-down shooter I enjoy is Assault Android Cactus. Players can revive themselves if they die, the only cost being that dying makes it hard to keep up a certain rate of kills needed to clear the level without the Battery draining out.

At a long stretch, there are visual novels like Pizza Game that are much more fun with your own voice acting applied, largely due to the horrendous stupidity of the whole cast.

Katana314,

You’re not totally wrong; they could operate that way, wherein victims of theft would report what people have re-uploaded as their own. But the problem is, this puts the onus of policework entirely on mod operators, who have their own lives and livelihoods. Imagine you wrote a mod as a hobby for four years, spent some time abroad, came home, never heard about the mod workshop stuff, and then discovered that your mod blew up in popularity under someone else’s name. Plus, Valve would need to moderate and figure out who is telling the truth (lest a bad actor make a fake claim on a legitimate mod seller). That kind of situation is often unrecoverable.

You can even read stories about the wars that photographers have over this kind of thing - photos are the kind of thing people pass around like candy, even though some amazing ones take tons of expertise and effort for the photographer to take; they often struggle to get websites and magazines to pay the ad revenue they’re due for each time they’re shown. It’s much like the mod workshop would have been - a very “low friction” environment for reuploads.

Katana314,

I just finished Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane yesterday. Definitely the kind of game that sits on your mind a long time after you’ve finished. It’s almost criminal to refer to it as an “Ace Attorney fan-game”, seeing how many things they get so right so uniquely. They absolutely nail the kind of cathartic, heart-twisting drama of all of these characters that gets you cheering for the ending.

There’s a lot in the soundtrack that I adore, especially the way they build multiple character leitmotifs and a particular track right at the finale of the game, but obviously, their equivalent of the “Pursuit” theme is always going to be a standout.

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