Sterile_Technique

Sterile_Technique, 8 days ago

If the build quality of their peripherals is any indication, I can only assume this product will also be shit.

Sterile_Technique, 1 month ago

My parents didn’t let me buy any shooter games other than jet force gemini

At least you landed on solid gold! Jet Force Gemini was the single best shooter for the N64. Far superior to Golden Eye. Yes, I’ll die on this hill.

Sterile_Technique, 1 month ago

Especially in the era before just looking shit up on the internet when you hit a snag. I remember scouring levels in that looking for a path that I’d missed when I couldn’t figure out where I was supposed to go next.

Definitely a highlight of the N64 for me. It’s up there with the Zeldas in my book.

Sterile_Technique, 1 month ago

…in an it was the worst thing ever kind of way - cuz that meant it was over Q_Q

Sterile_Technique, 1 month ago

…wait, actually this has the potential to be amazing! I remember the early days of online gaming, and gamers for the most part were some of the most welcoming and friendly people I’ve ever been around.

Something changed, and ‘gamer’ became a toxic word, and all but niche gaming communities kinda went to shit.

If Elon makes some cringe-ass MMO or something, it will act as a sponge to soak up all the toxic assholes from other gaming communities.

Do it.

Sterile_Technique, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago)

When I was a teen I played WoW from vanilla through Cata… Had over a full year of in game /played time on just my main.

…and I made a lot of alts.

100% full-blown addicted.

Blizzard is actually the one example of enshittification that I can actually be thankful for - I didn’t really ever quit; they just stopped supplying my drug of choice. They definitely had the power to keep me enthralled, but instead shifted to a younger and younger target audience as I was ofc aging the opposite direction.

The Kung-Fu-Panda xpac trailer was finally my cue to accept that my dealer wasn’t going to provide that fix anymore.

Then I started making healthy life decisions discovered Ark >_<

Edit - …Ark owned my life for a bit, too:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/b163eef3-35fc-4184-b8ff-3fcd0fcbdbae.png

Sterile_Technique, 2 months ago

Portal if you want to pass the controller, Portal 2 if you want multiplayer. Both great options for what you’re describing.

Sterile_Technique, 2 months ago

Ark’s Ragnarok map is almost a copy-paste of this image… I think it’s older than 5 years tho.

Sterile_Technique, 2 months ago

www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/images/237805

Sterile_Technique, 3 months ago

Don’t conflate legality with morality.

Sterile_Technique, 3 months ago

Ya got those flipped.

Sterile_Technique, 3 months ago

What did I get flipped?

Legality vs morality

Why wouldn’t torrenting the source code of proprietary software would be a legal issue?

It would be a legal issue. But it’s not a moral issue, which is why so few people are showing sympathy for Nintendo. They lose nothing if someone gets a copy of the code - there’s no victim. They do however have a LONG reputation for weaponizing the legal system by attacking fans with frivolous lawsuits - those DO have a victim, and are therefore a moral issue with Nintendo as the aggressor.

But regardless of context, again don’t conflate legality with morality. Ever. History is absolutely stuffed with atrocities that adhere to established law, that doesn’t make those atrocities okay. Videogame code is pretty minescule compared to legal attrocities like slavery or the holocost etc, but point remains that the law in-and-of-itself doesn’t mean shit.

Also fuck Nintendo.

Sterile_Technique, 3 months ago

Isn’t an event horizon just a question of being dense enough to bend light past the point of no escape?

A hollow planet supporting a detached core with enough density to have an event horizon seems kinda ridiculous… If even light can’t escape it, I don’t see some rocky ‘shell’ withstanding that much gravity. Any hollow section would have collapsed well before reaching the point of the planet’s densest point forming an event horizon.

Sterile_Technique, 4 months ago

Halo CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3 are great. Then the franchise was purchased by 343 and everything since has been a soulless COD clone with a Halo skin… and a random RTS.

Sterile_Technique, 4 months ago

Image search pulls up Masters of Albion

Higher res shot:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/70d66116-564e-482a-9e29-5fbf8a870a38.png

Sterile_Technique, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago)

Iirc (edit - apparently incorrect) Halo was the first to use left joystick as forward/backward and left/right strafe; and right joystick as look up/down and pivot left/right.

I even recall articles counting it as a point against the game due to its ‘awkward controls’ …but apparently after a tiny learning curve, the entire community/industry got on board.

Sterile_Technique, 5 months ago

Nice mix of metal and violin.

Juuuuust in case you’re not already familiar with symphonic metal… It’s pretty fuckin great.

Sterile_Technique, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago)

Blind Guardian is pretty hit-and-miss: their shit lands somewhere on a spectrum of metal to renaissance-faire lol. Sacred Worlds is another one of my favorites.

All of Metallica’s S&M album is solid fucking gold, but the best (imo) song from it almost never gets the spotlight, so it’s tragically easy to miss: No Leaf Clover

Avenged Sevenfold isn’t symphonic metal, but they’ve got two songs that at least dip their toes in that water: The Stage, and Little Piece of Heaven.

Epica

If you know Epica you’re probably already familiar with Nightwish, but in case your not… well, Nightwish. Most of their music is more similar to Omega than the one I’m about to link, but this specific song is just so fucking weird, I love it: Scaretale. Definitely check out their other songs too!

Essence of Datum / Naxayras

You’d probably like Pelican - kind of ambient rock. Or Russian Circles, which is similar but more mellow.

Mohamed Shawky

Not familiar, and the only Mohamed Shawky’s I’m seeing on YouTube are a physicist and an athlete. Judging entirely by the name, I’m guessing it’s got some Arabic vibes, and the best I’ve got there is the first one I linked, Wheel of Time, mostly because of the intro… Antti Martikainen has some Arabic sounding songs - that dude’s music is ALL over the place… I recall one being a kind of Arabic metal that I could have SWORN was called “Ancient Worlds” but searching that isn’t coming up with anything. He does have Arabic hybrid sci-fi music lol. Skim that dude’s channel, and brace for a musical roller coaster.

Rivers of Nihil

Hmm, maybe try Lorna Shore, especially Pain Remains. Lorna Shore is WAY too throaty-howler-monkey-shit for me personally, but fortunately they’ve got instrumental versions too.

Sterile_Technique, 5 months ago

Halo 1, 2, and 3 all looked fine. Halo 4 and up all look like shit, cuz 343 made them shit.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

try using the console to set the speed to like 0.5 or even slower. When things speed up, the game physics goes nuts; slowing them down stabilizes them again.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago)

The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt $39.99 $3.99 (90% off)

If you’ve somehow managed to avoid Witcher until now, it’s a dark medieval fantasy, 3rd person, open world RPG based on Norse Slavic mythology. Lots of political intrigue, choices that actually impact outcomes in game. Fantastic voice acting, story, soundtrack, and combat/gameplay mechanics. This is one of the best games on the market - if you don’t already have it, now’s the time! There are also two DLCs that are each the size and scope of an entire standalone game - don’t miss those!

Also available DRM free on GOG for the same price.

(shoutout to @Klystron for GOG intel)

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Grounded $39.99 $19.99 (50% off)

This is basically “Honey I Shrunk The Kids” as a survival builder. Set in the 80s, you and up to three others are teens that miniaturized by… well you gotta figure out the how and why, and how to return to normal size by navigating the back yard of a scientist with some knowledge on the tech. TBH, I didn’t really expect much from this game, but found myself having a ridiculous amount of fun with it. It is REALLY well made - the attention to detail is insane, from the yard design to build pieces. I wish I had this game when I was a kid, but still enjoyed the hell out of it in my 30s.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Satisfactory $29.99 $14.99 (50% off)

Sci-fi, you’re dropped down to a lush alien planet to do what humans do best: strip all of its natural resources! Combat is limited, but boils down to fighting off wild animals - the main gist of the game is building and optimizing things like miners/conveyor belts/smeltors/assemblers/etc to automate the pillaging of the environment with increasing efficiency… which admittedly sounds more like work than play, but this title caught me a bit off guard with how fun and - true to its name - satisfying it is play.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Subnautica $29.99 $9.89 (67% off)

Sci-fi survival builder: you’re on a massive spacecraft that ends up crash landing on an ocean planet; your goal is to figure out wtf happened and find a way off the planet. This game is 80% feel-good tropical diving simulator; and 20% thalasaphobic deepsea horror. This has become one of my go-to “idk what to play” games that I keep returning to for a nice digital tropical vacation… with a dash of fleeing in terror from, uh… spoilers. No really though, if you don’t already know this game’s story, DO NOT start looking up videos and posts etc about it - just buy it and dive in.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Valheim $19.99 $9.99 (50% off)

You’re a viking that died and you find yourself in a purgatory called “Valheim” to prove you’re worthy of Valhalla. Another survival builder - with a somehow charming combination of really bad graphics paired with really good lighting. The combat is kinda clunky, but the other elements of this game make up for it. Well worth $10!! Don’t forget to turn your music on before summoning a boss.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Orcs Must Die! $9.99 $2.99 (70% off)

Hybrid tower defense and 3rd person shooter/slasher. This game is… fucking stupid! Like by design - your character is a moron, and says some of the dumbest shit you’ll hear come out of a protagonist’s mouth. So with this game, you get a high dose of face-palmy humor paired with orc arms/heads/bones/etc flying across your screen after they get blended up by all your traps. Gameplay is surprisingly solid; you’ll get some time to think and plan where to place traps and obstacles; then you’ll get hit with a wave of orcs and other fantasy critters and try to manually pick off any that make it through the traps. There are a couple more games in this series - imo #1 is the best, but if you like this one, keep the others on your radar too.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Once you get a hold on dodging/parrying/etc, you’ll feel like a damn ninja, especially on harder difficulties; but leading up to that, yeah combat is… OK. Also don’t miss out of experimenting with different builds - one of my favorites optimized using bombs, which later into it makes you a walking B-52 - fun build if you enjoy clearing trash via a wave of pure chaos, then mopping up the stronger guys by way of the sword.

And yeah, the whole package is what counts here: Witcher 3 is a fantastic all around game. It isn’t without it’s imperfections, but they are barely noticeable amidst the tsunami of ridiculously high quality you’ll be hit with from all the other features.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Witcher 2’s controls are a bit janky, but it’s a solid game in and of itself for the story alone; if you can stomach some pretty bad mechanics to enjoy an otherwise decent product, I’d say start at #2.

Witcher 1 is… so bad it’s kinda comical. I’d just pull up a story summary of Witcher 1 on youtube and call it a day. If you’re a masochist, go ahead and give the actual game a whirl; but I’d recommend modding the snot out of it to at least make your character OP as fuck, allowing you to mostly skip the god-awful combat. But even then, the only selling point is the story, which again you can just pull up on YouTube.

That said, you can dive into 3 with zero knowledge of the previous two and be just fine. There are things that will go over your head, but nothing significant.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Abiotic Factor

Hadn’t heard of that one… it’s like a survival builder set in Half Life 1 lol. Wishlisted!

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

Oh, good catch. Fixed.

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago)

Initial scroll through looks pretty meh. There a list of good’ns going yet?

Edit-

From another thread, looks like Witcher 3 is 90% off. If you haven’t played it yet, now’s the time!

Sterile_Technique, 6 months ago

One of the best games on the market. Worth every cent and then some, even at full price.

Sterile_Technique, 8 months ago

Getting abusive parent vibes from the language of Sony’s post.

Sterile_Technique, 8 months ago

Naw it’s more like “we did something we knew would make you incredibly uncomfortable; but now that you’re screaming we’re worried about the neighbors hearing it and we don’t want the cops called on us, so we’ll back off until a more opportune time.”

Sterile_Technique, 9 months ago

Addictive and entertaining are synonyms now?

Sterile_Technique, 10 months ago

Xcom 2 has been on my list for years… hit 97% in this sale, figured it’s finally time.

Sterile_Technique, 10 months ago

That’s the one!

$3.88, only about $0.50 more than just the standalone game. If the reviews are any indication, this is a damn steal!

Sterile_Technique, 11 months ago

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/29fdbd44-a827-4337-9059-9096b9530f01.png

Sterile_Technique, 1 year ago

Grounded is the game I wish I had when I was 10. Basically “Honey I shrunk the kids” as a multiplayer survival-builder.

Sterile_Technique, 1 year ago

We’ve been hooking kids on gambling since (at least) baseball cards, which -surprise!- were heavily lobbied to convince law makers to let it fly.

Consumers were doomed the instant we failed to torch and pitchfork that shit.

Sterile_Technique, 1 year ago

One that never really took off for the N64 almost surely because the controls were so fucked - Jetforce Gemini.

Those who took the time to tolerate and master the janky controls were rewarded with a shooter that was otherwise second to none. AND YES THAT INCLUDES 007!

Hearing the music cranks the nostalgia up to 10 immediately.

Sterile_Technique, 1 year ago

N64 and earlier consoles emulate really well on smartphones. In terms of storage, those games are tiny, so you could probably fit Nintendo’s entire library from the first Gameboy through the N64 on your phone if you wanted to.

Way higher quality than pretty much every mobile game, free, no micro transactions, no ads (assuming your emulator isn’t shit).

If you want to game on your phone, this is the way.

Sterile_Technique, 1 year ago

They absolutely play better with a controller, but you’d be surprised how not-terrible the touch screen interface is after just a bit of getting used to it.

I break out Mario 64 or the two Zelda 64’s occasionally and outside of just a few wonky parts (aiming the bow… ugh…) the play quality is alright on touch screen alone (+ binding one of the volume keys to Z).

Sterile_Technique, 1 year ago

Was really looking forward to this one.

Sterile_Technique, 1 year ago

You’ve got The Secret World on there already, but worth mentioning they did a remake: Secret World Legends. Whole ton of QoL changes, combat was revamped, but otherwise the same game.

Suuuuuper niche game, but if it happens to be your niche it’ll become one of your all time favorites.

Sterile_Technique, 1 year ago

How was the book?