I was going to say replaying but I feel like that limits the question to games like Prey or Fallout New Vegas that have endings and games like The Sims 2 or Cities Skylines where you can play indefinitely end up excluded....
Not OP, but I like both for different reasons. V doesn’t have the districts, which changes gameplay pretty significantly. I also prefer the art style of V. That being said, I like the districts and usually play VI, but go back to V almost as often
The reveal of “you’re the real monster here” has a good amount of impact but it’s hard to totally land that message when the game offers no alternative.
Yeah, the game lost me at that spot. I tried literally everything I could to avoid it, and a literal invisible wall stopped me. The thing is, the narrative has been done before. Classic Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now, but with a slight twist. It hasn’t been done in games AFAIK, but it takes a deft hand, and Spec Ops failed for me
I see people saying “oh but the violence! the slavery!” as if it wasn’t a collective act of childhood goodwill that prevented such associations being made to Pokémon.
I think the issue with the slavery (at least for me) is that there is human slavery that has exactly zero consequence. It doesn’t have much to do with the Pals themselves
From what I have read about, the only thing that happens when you capture a human is that it tells you it is inhumane and frowned upon. I have not seen anything mentioning actual consequences beyond that, but it may be that people have not encountered them. If that is the case, the consequences might as well not be there.
In games like CoD, I would bet iron sights are supposed to less good. That way they can push players to leveling up guns to get better attachments. If they happen to sell a gun in the Mtx store that has a really good sight/scope even better.
Hello all! I have played Ghost of Tsushima last year, and while I thought the visuals were stunning and the gameplay and atmosphere were tremendous, the game felt a bit too long and repetitive for me. The story was nice, but due to the slow pace it didn’t have the emotional impact it might have gotten if the game was a bit...
My partner and I recently did a playthrough with me at the controls and her making all the decisions, even play style. The third act of the base game fell pretty flat for both of us, and some of the forced decisions were very annoying.
spoilerKilling our horse (named Nobu) was just fucking brutal. It led us to really dislike the poor, temporary horse we got. “FUCK YOU, NOT NOBU” was a common epithet ___
We immediately played the DLC and thought it was great, and the collectables/shrines were different enough it felt fresh. The story wasn’t much to write home about, but the visuals were great. It was nice to have a new biome without it being one that doesn’t exist in Tsuahima (looking at you, snow).
Picked up Lies of P yesterday. I am enjoying it a lot, and a lot more than I thought I would. I saw some pre-release playthroughs that left me hesitant, but it is on GamePass, so I figured why not.
It is a great mix of FromSoft concepts, pulling a lot from Bloodbourne and a little from all of them. Highly recommend if anyone wants a soulslike but don’t want to play Elden Ring again.
I’d even say the genre never died, just became a little more niche. I think the ARPG kind of dominated there for a bit, but CRPGs still existed. The time between Baldur’s Gate 2 and Dragon Age: Origins was only 9 years. There were several games between those games that I quite enjoyed (Arcanum, Fallout Tactics, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, and more). I realize that wasn’t your argument at all, just wanted to add a little more weight to what you were getting across
The genre didn’t die off though. It may have become a niche, but died isn’t the right description. Not saying that means you should like it, just that it has been in the background for a very long time.
Stranded Deep is on Game Pass, so figured I’d give it a shot. Good so far. Kind of a mix of Raft and The Forest. It is a little rough to start since you pretty quickly need to travel to other islands to get materials and the starter raft is not fun to use. Once I built my own it really picked up though
I would suggest Vampyr or Wolfenstein: New Order as games set in the UK that would probably run great on an Ally with the bonus that they don’t support a TERF
Am I weird for not having a backlog? I have games I haven’t played much of, usually because it didn’t click with me, but can’t thing any that I have never played.
BG3 uses D&D fifth edition rules, and the game is set in the Forgotten Realms, which is the official setting for D&D right now. That being said, that can be a lot to get into, and the BG3 tutorial is trash. For character creation you might just want to pick one of the origin characters. Creating a custom character can take a good long while, even if you know the rules already. The origin characters have most of the basic classes covered and will give you a feel for the game. If you want to change it up, there is a way to change your class and stats partway through act 1. That will at least get you in the game and playing, where there are tooltips that pop up.
I got ya. That makes sense. It is not a story sequel. I haven’t finished it yet, but it felt very much like the direction Valve is pushing and a story sequel to HL2 probably won’t happen.
FO76 had a rocky start for sure, but they have made a ton of updates. It is easily better then Starfield now. If you compared them release to release then FO76 would be worse, but I think they are comparing current state.
I think the houses fit in the world, but the world is definitely small. I still enjoyed my time in it a lot more than my time in Starfield, which is mostly open fields with the occasional settlement/work site/lab dropped in. I don’t think Starfield is a bad game, just not an exciting one.
Really though, I’ve started playing the Demon Souls remake and the controls feel dated. As long as the controls are good and the level design is solid I think I would enjoy it.
I’d add Wandavision to the list of shows with their own style. Mando kind of turned generic after the first season too. Obi Wan was very generic, but had some cool scenes. It could have been so much more, but honestly I didn’t really see the need for the show at all. Same with Book of Boba Fett.
As far as games go, Fallen Order was great. Need to play Jedi Survivor, but I’ve heard they improved a lot of stuff in it. With how they’ve removed creative focus on most of their properties, I don’t think a Disney run studio would have put out Fallen Order or Survivor though.
While Elon’s then-partner Grimes was recording her part in the game as cyborg popstar Lizzy Wizzy, the erratic tech billionaire turned up with an antique firearm to “insist” on being included in the game. “The studio guys were like sweating,” Grimes is quoted as saying. Musk adds “I told them that I was armed but not...
I wasn’t talking about cunt. I don’t think that is considered hateful, even in the US. The person I was replying to was making a very generalized statement
I dunno, I think we gain a better understanding of culture and history when we take a look at these words, their history and why they are hurtful, and decide to stop using them. Once you see things from the point of view of the people that have been called these things, it opens you up to be more empathetic.
Taking aspects of language from someone who does not truly understand why,
That is why you tell them why. “Hey, did you know that word is from the eugenics movement?” or “Hey here is why what you just said is racist.” Saying that is akin to getting a part of your brain cut out is super extreme.
Telling someone that their actions which are fundamental to their being are hurtful to you, and they need to change, is in fact hurtful to them.
If using harmful words is fundamental to your being, you have a lot of other things to work on. Saying that you can’t tell someone that they hurt you because it hurts them is some real victim blaming BS.
It’s not their fault how they were raised, and how their experiences have shaped them, no matter how horrible someone might be.
I never said it was, but they need to know what they do is harmful before they can start to unpack that.
But if we embrace the diversity they add to society,
Only the individual can decide to change themself for the better.
Very true, but the first step is knowing you need to change.
And even then, it’s a life long journey,
Yup, and long journeys start with a single step.
and often only minimal changes are possible.
I would say sometimes, but what I find more true with the people I know, is that once the dam is broken, they start to look at the other things in their life that they can be better in and a cascade effect happens.
So, we should be celebrating the efforts they put forth, not condemning them for the things they don’t have the capacity to change.
I think this is where the meat of the rub lies. Telling someone what they are doing is hurtful is not a condemnation. People tend to take it that way and get defensive, but even the best of us has some gaps in their knowledge. Especially in colonized parts of the world. Being made aware of them is not an insult. It means someone cares enough to bring it to your attention and thinks that you don’t actually want to say harmful things, and they believe you want to be better.
Sorry for the wall of text, but there was a lot to unravel there.
For everyone reading this, if you have thoughts or opinions on the subject, please direct them to the original post to centralize the discussion. Thank you....
“It’s about ethics in game journalism” is not the argument you think it is. No amount of hate should be tolerated if you want an inclusive community.
Suggesting people discuss it elsewhere is also a terrible ask. You posted this in Beehaw. Asking people to go to an external forum means you don’t want follow the rules of this forum. Your “Why can’t we all just get along rhetoric” is tired.
I’ve played through all 3 acts. Obviously in no way have done everything, but I never ran into a situation where your character would get killed for a bad dialogue choice. The “Volo’s eye” event referenced is for sure an example of the telegraphed outcome being the opposite of what actually goes down, but I really can’t think of another time that happens. Even that choice did not end in death. Some options end in tough fights, and maybe fights above your level, but I was never surprised by them.
Bringing up save scumming is an odd criticism for a CRPG. That has been a long running discussion, but you can choose not to do it if you don’t like it. It doesn’t mean it is bad game design to include saving whenever you want.
Assholes that still believe that they should be loyal to a single megacorp are trying to get someone that works for said megacorp fired from their job for streaming a game that is on a competing megacorp’s console
IATSE’s 2023 Gameworkers.org Rates and Conditions survey showed that most respondents said they worked an average of 40 hours a week, but a quarter of people who answered said they worked for 41 hours or more....
I think if the union negotiated no more overtime exempt positions and strict limits on the amount of allowed OT, that would go a long way. Places like DigiPen also need to stop teaching crunch culture
For me it’s probably Jazzpunk, but I liked Disco Elysium too. I’ve been looking for something to scratch that “Jazzpunk surrealist comedy itch” for a while and not many games have come even close.
I get that context, and I think that was for sure the intent, but they did not stick the landing. We already knew GLaDOS is evil. Casual fatphobia was not necessary. Plus the fact that some people won’t get that context or choose to ignore it and just think it is funny, as evidenced further down this thread.
Edit: The person saying they would replay it for the fat jokes was removed, so my last sentence makes less sense, but that was the reason I said that
Like I said, I understand the context. I don’t need more of it.
Jokes like this and the other examples require either a very deft hand or an extreme level of satire. The jokes did not achieve either of those for me. The harm it causes by folks misinterpreting or ignoring context is not worth the people who get it. I have friends that would 100% understand the context and would still be made uncomfortable by the delivery. That to me is the best indicator to how well it aged.
Also, posting a wall of text full of ableism is also not a great way to convince me otherwise
What are some games you find yourself frequently coming back to? angielski
I was going to say replaying but I feel like that limits the question to games like Prey or Fallout New Vegas that have endings and games like The Sims 2 or Cities Skylines where you can play indefinitely end up excluded....
I hate the term "Boomer Shooter"
Not to say I hate the genre, I actually love me some Dusk or Turbo Overkill, but why, oh why are they called Boomer Shooters?...
Why Spec Ops: The Line Mattered (yt.artemislena.eu) angielski
Palworld Has Huge Weekend, Sells 5 Million and Overtakes Cyberpunk 2077 in Steam’s Most-Played Games List - IGN (www.ign.com) angielski
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of January 14th
What are you all playing? I’ve been playing a ton of Mario world ROM hacks. I beat super nothing world. Now I’m playing some hacks by the jump team
Why iron sights in video games suck (medium.com) angielski
Ghost of Tsushima's DLC Iki Island is the best part of the game
Hello all! I have played Ghost of Tsushima last year, and while I thought the visuals were stunning and the gameplay and atmosphere were tremendous, the game felt a bit too long and repetitive for me. The story was nice, but due to the slow pace it didn’t have the emotional impact it might have gotten if the game was a bit...
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of December 24th
Merry Christmas!! 🎄 What have you all been playing!!
Was 2023 the Greatest Gaming Year of All Time? (www.theringer.com) angielski
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of December 3rd
What have you all been playing! I’ve been playing… Not much! I’m moving states and haven’t had a lot of time to game 😢
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 26th
What have you all been playing? I’ve been playing more dicey dungeons and cross code! Want to really commit to finishing cross code this time
Stardew Valley Expanded exceeded its creator’s wildest dreams (www.polygon.com) angielski
Steam Sale Games
What are people excited about for with the steam sale? Any hidden gems you’d like to share with the class?
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....
Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update - Half Life Uplink, New Multiplayer Maps, Updated Graphical Settings, SteamDeck Verified and More (www.half-life.com) angielski
Every Bethesda RPG, ranked from worst to best (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Lords of the fallen. Are you finding it very difficult or not? Let's try understand why
Hi folks,...
Disney's CEO Is Reportedly Being Urged to Consider Turning Company Into a 'Gaming Giant' [and buying EA] (me.ign.com) angielski
Elon Musk demanded a cameo in Cyberpunk 2077 while wielding a 200 year old gun: "I was armed but not dangerous" (www.pcgamer.com)
While Elon’s then-partner Grimes was recording her part in the game as cyborg popstar Lizzy Wizzy, the erratic tech billionaire turned up with an antique firearm to “insist” on being included in the game. “The studio guys were like sweating,” Grimes is quoted as saying. Musk adds “I told them that I was armed but not...
Join the debate about whether the pronoun removal mod should be kept or not (lemm.ee)
For everyone reading this, if you have thoughts or opinions on the subject, please direct them to the original post to centralize the discussion. Thank you....
'The Game Just Fundamentally Undermines Itself': Game Designer Breaks Down 'Baldur's Gate 3's Most Fatal Flaws (www.themarysue.com) angielski
‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ can be a fantastic experience and a bad game at the same time.
It’s 2023 and Some Gamers Are Trying To Get a PlayStation Employee Fired for Playing an Xbox Game (www.themarysue.com) angielski
Trolls still enlisted int he console wars tried to get streamer, PlayStation employee Alanah Pearce fired for playing an Xbox game.
Survey finds more than half of game developers experience crunch (www.gamesindustry.biz)
IATSE’s 2023 Gameworkers.org Rates and Conditions survey showed that most respondents said they worked an average of 40 hours a week, but a quarter of people who answered said they worked for 41 hours or more....
What's the funniest game you've played? angielski
For me it’s probably Jazzpunk, but I liked Disco Elysium too. I’ve been looking for something to scratch that “Jazzpunk surrealist comedy itch” for a while and not many games have come even close.