luciole

luciole, 2 days ago

Do you guys not have phones?

luciole, 7 days ago

What does “live service AIDS” mean?

luciole, 7 days ago

Oh that AIDS. bruh

luciole, 8 days ago

That just sounds like any normal day on Twitter. I feel bad for the community managers that still have to put up with that dumpster fire of a platform. This little flame war does nothing to my impression of Godot engine. To be honest I’ve been more worried about reports of rampant bullying.

luciole, 11 days ago

Have you played the Trails series?

luciole, 10 days ago

I’ve only played the two first entries so far (Trails in the Sky FC & SC) and I’ve found them be fun JRPGs. I’d recommend starting by the beginning.

luciole, 10 days ago

Pathfinder Kingmaker & WotR are such strong titles in most aspects, but in both instances the mini-game they tacked on top of a perfectly fine RPG got on my nerves. Kingmaker’s management sim and WotR’s Heroes-of-Might&Magic-like army battles felt to me pretty rough around the edges (and ultimately tedious), especially compared to how engaging the rest of the games are. Ugh, I love-hate them sooo much.

luciole, 1 month ago

I started Planet Crafter and I’m hooked. It’s a low budget yet brilliant Subnautica like game with a higher emphasis on crafting.

I’ve been playing Tyranny as well. It’s a nice CRPG with factions in a bleak setting. A little obtuse with the consequences of dialog options. Still refreshing. I really could use the tank character in my party composition, but he’s such an insufferable square I’d rather not use him.

luciole, 1 month ago

Don’t even try completing an FTL run at normal though. Easy is where the fun’s at.

luciole, 1 month ago

I sided with the rebels and Barik became this massive frustrated Northerner supremacist, despising Tiersmen every chance he had and urging me to let the Disfavored civilize them. Fuck that.

luciole, 1 month ago

Have some empathy for megacorporations. They’re moral (lol) entities just like you and me. /s

luciole, 1 month ago

Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn made me realize I vibe so well playing as a woman. If I had had the choice I probably would have picked the masculine option since that’s my gender. I’m glad that game forced my hand, now when I have a choice I give it a real thought.

luciole, 1 month ago

Don’t OpenCritic only offer critic scores, and no user scores?

luciole, 2 months ago

The NES was epic for its time, but nowadays those controllers make my hands cramp after minutes. Thank God for the modern big curvy controllers.

Some classics of that time might be of interest to the contemporary gamer, although I think you need to have some kind of historical curiosity for it to be worthwhile. The tools of the times were rudimentary to an extent that hurt what the devs could do even more than the capacity of the consoles imho. I mean, they were flipping bits in assemblers.

The audio though. 8-bit music is fucking stellar. The energy contained, the catchiness, it’s amazing.

As for recommendations: The Guardian Legend is my pick. Cool scifi action-adventure/ shmup hybrid.

luciole, 2 months ago

The only flaw of SMB3 to me would be that this game needed save games reeaal bad.

luciole, 2 months ago

Oh, new game from Cross-Code devs, neat!

The low poly 3D for environments looks good, and the 2D isometric was getting me confused sometimes in Cross-Code, so yay!

luciole, 2 months ago

I’ve been progressing through Divided Reigns. Very indie, retro JRPG. The story reminds me of FFIV & FFVI in good ways. Battles are much more involved then the aforementioned classics though: while remaining turn based there are plenty of types, effects and skills involved. A rage meter brings in some form of planning ahead between turns, somewhat like Octopath Travellers or Bravely Default. All around solid game. Only downside is the dialogs being sometimes pretty silly.

Been playing Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla as well. So here’s my theory: inside Ubisoft there are two wolves. The first wolf is made up of thousands of creative, talented, diverse artisans working hard to make the open world formula fun and beautiful. The second wolf is a handful of suits looking for ways to milk the first wolf’s output for money in all sorts of shit ways. I’ve found out that if you put the Ubisoft launcher in offline mode, you’ve blocked the second wolf. As for the game itself, it remains faithful to the series. There are some welcome improvements, such as the end of garbage equipment loot. In terms of storyline, I can’t say I’m feeling especially involved so far. There is a certain cruelty to the protagonist which I struggle with. On the other hand I must also say that at times the game feels unapologetically woke which I thoroughly enjoy. The side quests are also super goofy.

luciole, 2 months ago

I can’t say I have a favorite, but I do strongly favor anything strictly turned based. I’ve been playing Divided Reigns and its combat system is stellar imho, so there. Lots of weapon types, lots of attacks for each types, lots of skills, lots of magics. Makes non magic users at least as satisfying to use as spell casters.

luciole, 2 months ago

I hope you feel better soon knokelmaat!

I only played Animal Crossing on the switch right into the pandemic. I was sick in the first wave and that strain was wild. The whole world was in a state of panic and AC was a cute little haven while we bunkered down. I played every single day until two llamas got married and I was hunting for little hearts… then I had a moment and I never touched it again.

It’s funny that that franchise shares the same acronym as Assassin’s Creed.

luciole, 2 months ago

Well, if the parents are both working 40+ hours and spending 10+ hours in transit every week, there will be no free time. It’s kind of unfair to solely blame parenthood for that though imho. Another important point to remember is that kids grow fast.

luciole, 3 months ago

Articuno is an ice type you gotta ❄️ not 💦 and hit that flying type for super effective damage. Bro this is basic math please.

luciole, 3 months ago

Super Mario is today what Mickey Mouse wishes it still was: a joyful, universally recognizable character deeply entrenched in the childhood of millions.

There is a special place in my heart for the infamously strange Super Mario Bros 2. Many connoisseurs will justly mention that it is merely a reskin of the lesser known Doki Doki Panic. What is often left out is that Doki Doki Panic was created as well by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and that it originally contained references to its previous work on Mario, such as the POW blocks. In the long run, I feel that Nintendo of America’s decision to adapt DDP as SMB2 for the occidental plebs boosted the series with several charming monsters, a more interactive world, as well as multiple playable characters. We owe Bobombs, Shyguys and Ninjis to this very title.

luciole, 3 months ago

Feel the same. My switch is collecting dust and I just don’t feel like touching the backlog there. The fleeting nature of a console is depressing.

luciole, 3 months ago

I’ve been playing Etrian Odyssey 3 HD and I’m enjoying it. It’s a lovely blobber with an interesting take on mapping. You can choose between full, minimal or no automapping. I’m playing with minimal automapping and I’m rediscovering the joys of mapping a dungeon crawl, a thing which I thought I was officially done with. At “normal” the difficulty is just right for me. I’m particularly enjoying the total absence of brutally obtuse puzzles, a staple of western RPGs for some reason. Only downside is the fan service some of the art suffers from, a staple of JRPGs for some reason.

luciole, 4 months ago

I have played some of the Avernum games. In my opinion it’s peak Jeff Vogel. If you’re fine with the graphics, you’re in for excellent writing, nicely done non linear exploration and original world building.

luciole, 4 months ago

Siralim Ultimate is a very special monster collector. The sheer amount of everything is delightfully overwhelming, the depth is nonsensical and the grind is real. I love it.

luciole, 4 months ago

Right?! I freaked on the same paragraph. Most depressing thing ever said about game dev. These suits would rather fire everyone and play stonks all day if it earned a dime more. I’m so mad for the massive creative force being crushed by this broken system.

luciole, 5 months ago

Just be careful not to idealize the past as some golden age of gaming. During the SNES era, worthwhile titles were few and far between on top of spotty regional availability on account of profitability (supposedly). The bar to entry for gamedevs was huge: the dev tools were obtuse and the distribution methods were shit and centralized (toy stores, computer stores, magazines). The offer was also ridiculously sanitized, at least on consoles.

It’s great that we can still enjoy the good games of the past, but I absolutely love what indies come up with nowadays. There are so many and they’re so creative! ❤️ Some talented big studio devs even manage to release something nice once in a while despite the organizational structure they work in. I never want to go back to gaming in the 90’s. Furthermore, I’m of the opinion that there are many past titles being hailed as classics solely based on some unconscious nostalgia for youth (I’m looking at you GOG).

luciole, 5 months ago

To be fair when it came out seven years ago it really shook up the portable gaming scene. Every portable console coming out since is an iteration on that design. The joycons can go to hell though. And those weird ass online plans.

luciole, 5 months ago

I really liked the original 2DS personally. The announcement left everyone incredulous as the device sounded and looked like a dumb downgrade. I mean, it was hard to tell if it was joke or not. In the end though it’s light, cheap, tough and surprisingly comfortable.

luciole, 5 months ago

Cheaper than many phones as well.

luciole, 5 months ago

He chooses to beat Elden Ring in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of his energies and skills, because that challenge is one that he is willing to accept, one he is unwilling to postpone, and one he intends to win, and the others, too.

luciole, 6 months ago

Non traditional input devices are fascinating, so thanks for posting your research. In your precise situation though, my advice would be to put down the baby.

luciole, 6 months ago

Still playing Final Fantasy XV. I still think it’s weird, but I’m having so much fun! I have found the catboi outfit.

I started playing Star of Providence. What cool shmup roguelite! My hand eye coordination is mediocre, so I predictably suck. There’s so much charm in it that I want to endure though.

luciole, 6 months ago

Yup! John Carmack is 53.

luciole, 6 months ago

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is an obvious one.

luciole, 7 months ago

Final Fantasy XV (Windows edition): What a strange experience so far. I don’t see myself as a fan of the franchise, but I’ve played many of its titles over the years, starting with the first one as a child.

The opening title mentions the game has been made for “fans and first timers”, so I expected some degree of nostalgia, despite it looking so different from its predecessors. I was served some… but in such weird ways. Let’s start with the composition of the Four Warriors of Light:

• The brat: Noctis, emo prince of teen attitude, as well as protagonist.
• The urban dad: Ignis, cooks elaborate meals and drives (always responsibly) the brat around.
• The country dad: Gladio, went to the school of life, must protecc the brat.
• The brat’s best friend that eats and sleeps at home so often he kind of becomes family: Prompto.

As Ignis was driving the warriors around in a fantasy rural North America, a desolate car centric landscape in which each road’s main destination is the next gas station, Prompto was making comments about playing video games. The car’s radio was playing FFIV’s Main Theme over and over again. Then it hit me: the nostalgia trip was not limiting itself to referencing lore from previous games, it was aiming to remind older gamers of how it was being a kid infatuated with classic RPGs. (A side note on the embarrassing haircuts the warriors are rockin’: back in the 90’s there were posters of these all over hair salons despite nobody ever getting one, but I guess this is really about modern jpop/kpop boy bands or something.)

It’s like FFXV is aiming for the worst possible kind of nostalgia: the kind that makes you glorify past experiences out of regret for the time when you were a pampered selfish kid.

Anyways I’m probably way off, but that’s my thoughts on FFXV. Oh also there’s chocobos so it’s not all bad. Thanks for reading.

luciole, 7 months ago

I have a 3DS but it’s broken in various ways. Besides I always found the 3DS too top heavy. On the other hand my trusty 2DS is still fine. Nevertheless I’m getting old and my eyes aren’t what they used to be. These screens are so tiny… What are these, TVs for ants?!

luciole, 7 months ago

Bahamut Lagoon is a cool JRPG for the SNES that sadly never was released for the west. You can get your hands on the ROM and some fan translation though. I’ve played it many years ago, so my memory’s a bit iffy, but I do remember having a good time.

Front Mission is another good JRPG entry from the 90’s. I loved the SNES version, but apparently the DS version boasts extra features and content, making it the superior choice.

luciole, 7 months ago

I commend you for your thorough and informative response! Just a nitpick: imho it’s not really correct to present Mindustry as a Factorio clone. Mindustry is its own thing, with a smaller scale approach, an heavier emphasis on tower defence and a cool campaign feature. Factorio-like would be more fair.

luciole, 7 months ago

Endless Sky is a cool space trading game if that’s your cup of tea.

luciole, 8 months ago

Dragon Age: Origin maybe? I was mixing those two for a while.

luciole, 8 months ago

Middle Earth: Shadow of War: Good old open world action fun. Kill countless mobs, gather countless collectables. A bit annoyed that subtitles are only implemented on some voice acting. Slightly indisposed that the protagonist (Talion) looks too much like an unkempt Ron Desantis.

luciole, 8 months ago

Currently into Triangle Strategy’s New Game+. I’m enjoying that game way more than I thought I would. It’s a fun, charming successor to the strategy JRPG. It has few tropes and the mechanics have been streamlined while maintaining challenge. Surprisingly low magic as well. I mean there are plenty of magic users, but no monster, no supernatural armageddon and the end game is not “kill god”. It does have that peculiar JPRG theatricality, so you need to be fine with that.

luciole, 8 months ago

Have you played Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling yet?

luciole, 8 months ago

I’ve gotten a few emulated titles on Wii and WiiU in the past. I preferred the Virtual Console collection from those consoles. You’d pay a few dollars for the title you wanted and you had it forever. I’m not a fan of the strange bundling of online services + retro gaming with Nintendo Switch Online… not to mention the expansion pack. I just don’t do enough retro gaming to justify it.

As much as I prefer going legit for gaming, if I get a retro craving I’ll probably just set sail on a trusty PC.

luciole, 8 months ago

I’m with you. It’s hip to hate on Ubisoft, but I’m of the impression that subscription based gaming has already gained traction with Game Pass. The article is spot on though when the author remarks that Ubisoft offering their library at 18$ a month is a hard bargain. Especially considering Game Pass is currently at 10$ a month… and includes Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Origins & Odyssey.

luciole, 9 months ago

I played both Octopath Travellers games. The second is definitely a step in the right direction in terms of cohesion. There’s also now a piss easy final boss, as well as an impossible-if-you don’t-follow-a-cheese-strategy-online secret final final boss. Merely being level 99 doesn’t cut it. Ugh. Octopath Travellers games are so charming but the devs still haven’t figured out how to end them in my humble opinion.