setsneedtofeed

setsneedtofeed, 6 miesięcy temu

I’ve found that mods like iHUD, removing the cash register sound for XP, directional pipboy light, flashlights, darker nights, and storms (these can be set to be just visual rather that radiation inducing) all help make the game more immersive without dramatically changing the difficulty.

I do enjoy the health rebalancer which removes scaling health and instead makes some enemies baseline tougher and some weaker. IIRC it also makes headshots on humans instant death. No more blasting away at some scaled raider as they just keep attacking.

Recostuming the Minute Men in something closer to surplus military clothes makes them instantly less lame.

Also replacing all the pipe guns with weapon packs of real world handguns and machinepistols is for me nessesary, as I do not at all enjoy the FO4 pipegun designs.

Finally, the backyard bunkers mod allows a bomb shelter with a hatch you can place inside a settlement. Going inside moves you to a private space. NPCs won’t barge in and it’s a safe place to store extra gear.

setsneedtofeed, 6 miesięcy temu

For me it was Black Ops 2 zombies mode on LAN XBox 360s hooked together. Shouting to other players across the hallway.

setsneedtofeed, 6 miesięcy temu

Doesn’t stop me from having fond memories. I’m not going to retroactively change how I felt with my friends.

setsneedtofeed, 6 miesięcy temu (edited 6 miesięcy temu)

It’s very good, but the tone can be totally broken if you master combat. Killing soldiers doesn’t lower morale, so they are free targets.

Depending on what locations spawn, it is possible to completely ruin the intended vibe. I’ve wiped out the military outpost and ended up with so many supplies I didn’t know what to do with them all.

setsneedtofeed, 6 miesięcy temu

Wasteland 3 without looking up any guides poses some difficult choices, usually in the form of being forced to side with a certain faction at the expense of another, with no option to skip the choice once it’s presented.

setsneedtofeed, 6 miesięcy temu (edited 6 miesięcy temu)

The late 90s and early 2000s were a time of rapid increases in game graphics.

We went from DOOM in 1993 with sprite enemies, abstract textures, and technical limits like not even being able to have second story rooms on top of each other to Half Life in 1998 with full 3D characters and objects, physics, and much higher resolution textures.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/b3f7fffc-227b-4f86-8157-2834c1ab45e2.jpeg

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/7b2911f5-0671-4068-a5b5-ccaf9a33340c.jpeg

Jumps in graphics back then could be huge. As graphics get better though, improvements on them become diminishing returns. It stops being going from 2D to 3D or going from block head models with textures pasted on to modeled faces, and starts becoming things like subcutaneous light scattering. Things will keep looking better and better but we’ve long ago hit a baseline with graphics.

Mass Effect was made on Unreal 3. While we are currently on Unreal 5, there have been lots of games released in the intervening years that either used Unreal 3 or a modified version of it.

setsneedtofeed, 6 miesięcy temu

We’ve also reached a point where the novelty of ultra realism has worn off. People expect certain AAA games to look realistic, but nobody is wowed by it anymore.

(Anecdote time: Personally the last time I was wowed by realistic graphics was Battlefield 3. The Frostbite 2 engine was a noticeable and impressive step up, but ever since then I haven’t felt a sense of visceral awe even if I know graphics keep getting better).

In my mind the graphics themselves barely matter as much as aspect ratio, controls (for some genres), and stability on modern hardware when it comes to judging if a game is “hopeless outdated”.

Since this comment chain started with Half-Life, I admit there’s no way around it looking dated, but it doesn’t hurt my eyes or confuse me as some really old games do (Goldeneye 64 sadly falls into this category). I understand what the game is showing me, and the gameplay, art direction, and tone hold it up for me.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu (edited 7 miesięcy temu)

Edited: There was a recent patch this year. Which supposedly has fixed the technical problems that made Spacer’s Choice unplayably bad. I still can not recommend it because it was broken when I tried to play it pre-patch, but it has supposedly been fixed. Edited to slightly soften the tone against it.

A lot of comments in this thread are confused about what “Spacer’s Choice” means. This is the “remastered” version of the game that was not done by Obsidian. It is a Game Of The Year style pack that includes all the DLC. The upgrade flowchart picture on the storefront page is needlessly confusing, ignore it. As of May this year, this version was very buggy and unoptimized. Texture pop-ins and laggy framerates are widely reported. For me personally I couldn’t even get it to run at all.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu (edited 7 miesięcy temu)

“Spacer’s Choice” is the remaster that includes all the previous DLC.

This version was done by a third party and was buggy on launch and for a while. It is supposedly fixed as of June.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I guess I’m out of the loop. I tried playing it in May of this year, and it finally got patched in June.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I wanted to play Star Wars Rebellion, but my copy is doing a thing where all the icons in-game are upside down. Apparently it’s a known issue running the game on newer OS (How? WHY?!) but until it’s fixed I can’t really play.

I’ve been playing Call Of Duty 2 as part of taking notes about the roots of the series. Not sure if there’s enough meat for a proper essay but I will see.

I really can’t wait for Christmas break to immerse myself in something. Maybe Deus Ex.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

Not playing TekWar at 18 frames per second

Cowards. It’s like you don’t even care about Capstone Software, the pinnacle of entertainment.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

Thanks. I’ve played the second game, I might do a review. I actually did like it much more. Different studio, different engine, and a reboot of the “franchise” (I don’t know if one previous entry justifies calling it a franchise). The sequel’s setup was felt much less like Red Dawn and much more Cyberpunk overlord dystopia with a minor Korea flair. Game is basically Far Cry in a city.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu (edited 7 miesięcy temu)

I liked it enough to pick up the second one shortly after release; it’s still in my pile of untouched steam games, but I really should play it sometime.

It is very different. Much closer to a Far Cry game than the original’s linear design. The story is also rebooted. You may or may not end up liking it.

MW2 which was /fine/ for a once-and-done playthrough. I haven’t revisited the franchise since. “oh no, bad people in sand place are doing bad things and you should not think about it and just indescrimimately murder until we say so”

The final villain of MW2 was an American general. Out of all the sand levels in MW2, you’re shooting at American CIA goons in all of them except for one (two, if you count the obstacle course where you’re shooting at paper targets).

I think the games copying Call Of Duty tended to rely on desert settings a lot more than COD itself. Between COD4 and the reboot of the Modern Warfare series, while the gameplay of Call Of Duty did stagnate, it was all over the place in terms of settings. After COD4’s middle east levels, there were very few returns to the middle east or Afghanistan until the Modern Warfare reboot.

I also really liked Spec Ops: The Line, another game where seemingly nobody else has heard about it.

Spec Ops: The Line actually won multiple story awards the year it was released. For being story heavy, sort of surprise twist on the military genre that came out of nowhere, it received plenty of attention. While underperformed in sales (despite initially releasing with high launch sales in the UK), it has become something of a cult classic, with reviews from some of the larger gaming channels covering it.

It’s okay, Spec Ops: The Line and Call Of Duty games can co-exist. Sometimes heavy subversive narratives are just what’s needed to shake things up, but not every game needs to be heavy.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

That comparison wasn’t meant as a disparagement, simply the most direct.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I completely understand how overcluttered and distracting some HUDs can become. I have found however that fully HUDless experiences tend to be more of a novelty than an increase in immersion.

If I’m playing a shooter and don’t have information on, say how many magazines I have, I find that more distracting than immersive. In real life I could quickly pat my vest to know. A HUD can be a replacement for information that seems intuitive to have because in a real situation we’d have kinesthetic feedback.

Basic information like health while injured is simply too useful. Realistically my health isn’t defined by a single variable bar nor is it restored instantly from a grievous wound by a using a syringe, so I find that seeing the bar is useful for succeeding in the game even if it is equally as unrealistic.

Something like the iHUD mod for modern Fallout games is my ideal HUD. It is modular and I can define what information I see, what information I don’t, and for how long the information I do get stays on the screen. Health can be set to only show at certain thresholds, the compass directions or map markers can be disabled unless I ask to see them briefly. Other elements similarly made optional.

I’ve played fully HUDless in both Metro games and in modded STALKER games, and each time I do I find myself going back to having at least a minimal informative HUD.

I don’t hate HUDs and I think most people who try HUDless don’t actually hate them either. What is hated are obnoxious tool tips, flashy HUD animations, and floating intrusive quest markers. If UX designers do their jobs right, people don’t know they did anything at all.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

There are diegetic elements like that, but also how the non-diegetic HUD delivers information.

When is it giving information? Is it giving me information I don’t actually need at the moment. For example a first person game that always has a compass or minimap. Maybe I want those sometimes, but do I want them always?

What are the visuals of the HUD like? Are they easy to read? Are they distracting? HUDs that have stretched and difficult at a glance fonts are a bad idea to me. Simple fonts that can be read against a variety of background colors are seemingly underdesigned to many UX designers, but it’s all I want sometimes.

Do HUDs have needlessly animated elements? Sometimes just putting a plain and simple number or bar on a screen is enough, but many games add so many artistic flourishes that it gets in the way of the game visuals.

HALO CE had its shield bar with the little health dots underneath. Technically diegetic, but obviously a gameplay element. It wasn’t distracting, it was clean and easy to read, it gave information that was constantly relevant.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

Are you on Mastodon?

Technically. I tried it before lemmy but I couldn’t quite make sense of it. I was never into twitter in the first place, so it all kind of baffled me. I could always reactivate my account.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

You’re right. Players shouldn’t be buying equipment they can’t afford to supply. Changed the typo.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

Impressions Games is the name of the studio that made the Civil War Generals games. If you like old Sid Meier games, I’d put Impressions studios games in a similar ballpark.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I mean they didn’t really do 4X aside from Lords Of The Realm and Lords Of Magic games, but the city builders and strategy games do have, how do I put it, a similar wavelength was Sid Meier games.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I don’t want to come off as to PCMR, but truly Bethesda developed games need to be played on PC to get the most out of them. The mods tremendously elevate the experience. Everything from bug fixes and optimizations (that Bethesda should have done) to full on overhauls and DLC sized expansions, and everything in between.

I think I average about 200 mods simultaneously on Fallout 4 playthroughs.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I just played through the original Homefront.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4b997862-a26a-40a7-8c0d-f6f970efee52.jpeg

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I’ve been playing the original Call Of Duty games, starting at the first one. I beat it and United Offensive. I’m working on the second game.

It’s all in service of a write up about the core identity and the design philosophy of the games. How the original games were fresh for their time, and how COD4 used a lot of the sensibilities of the WW2 games that preceded it. There’s a lot to mine and digest in the old games, COD4, and Modern Warfare 2 as a contrast and turning point. I just don’t know if people care enough to follow it.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

Dusted off the old Nintendo 64 to play some StarFox 64. It still holds up great.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

The controls hold up better than something like Star Wars Rogue Squadron, which I surprised myself to discover. I have great memories of Rogue Squadron but the controls are stiff in all the wrong ways while StarFox is comparatively easier to fly even in the non-linear arena areas.

Visually StarFox is obviously dated, but because it opted for big low detail style to begin with it isn’t difficult on the eyes the way “realistic” N64 games look today.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I’m so happy that I’m on the sidelines of all this. I think watching is significantly more enjoyable than being part of it.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu (edited 7 miesięcy temu)

I’ve been part of some amateur game dev projects and SC has the vibe of an amateur project where the devs are constantly focusing on whatever catches their fancy at the moment, going back and tinkering with things they’ve already made, and sort of aimlessly scope creeping. There’s nobody to strongarm them into writing, much less following a game design document.

All of that is intuitive to me to understand.

Then there is “the dream” that is being sold to people who want this type of game. That level of very specific fandom is also easy to understand, at least from a distance. People get super into all kinds of games and spend outsized amounts of money and time.

Star Citizen is like the perfect storm of these elements.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

No, there’s really no excusing this game’s development. If anything, Robert’s should have learned from Freelancer to have a tight core product that’s actually shippable.

At this point Internet nerds are locked into throwing money at Star Citizen’s development, making it the closest thing humanity has achieved to a perpetual motion machine.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

Get ‘em, boys.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

And this is why producers or project leads are not always the villains when they force designers to cut content in games.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

Yeah, Underrail is pretty good.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I suppose I should have elaborated.

Chris Roberts begin developing Freelancer with a similar aspiration of total simulation that Star Citizen now promises.

Freelancer repeatedly overshot development timelines and Roberts was running out of money. He had to go to Microsoft for cash. Microsoft gave money to develop Freelancer in exchange for Roberts being essentially demoted to a consultant, and Microsoft taking charge. Microsoft immediately began cutting features and mechanics to turn Freelancer from an amorphous project into a shippable game.

If you know that, then seeing Roberts in charge of a new game, with no oversight and essentially infinite development time, the resulting quantum superposition state of Star Citizen’s release should not be surprising.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

If you landed in an in-game fake moon it would be a wonderfully interesting plot thread.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I can’t believe how ignorant you are of the worldwide canvas shortage of 2018. Canvas became a global strategic resource. Lack of canvas destabilized numerous nation states.

The idea of frivolously wasting that precious canvas on a video game trinket is frankly offensive.

-Bethesda, probably.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

Too bad. They’re getting copies of Burger King’s Sneak King and they’re going to like it.

setsneedtofeed, 8 miesięcy temu

The caption calls him “For Win 95 & DOS CD”. It’s a very archaic set of titles.

setsneedtofeed, 8 miesięcy temu

I always go full vegetarian. Sell all the cows and use the money to buy a bunch of grain, preferably in winter. Plant everything, and you’re good. Once grain starts making surpluses you have enough to feed everyone and sell the excess back to the carts for the rest of the game.

In spring, summer, and winter grain needs fewer workers. Only in fall will it need reallocation.

setsneedtofeed, 8 miesięcy temu

I never played 3. Back in the day my computer couldn’t run it, and I never got around to trying it out. I own it as part of the Steam pack I bought 2 with, but my next review will be a mystery game that I had to order a physical copy of.

setsneedtofeed, 8 miesięcy temu

Thanks. I’m trying to put that content everybody keeps asking for on lemmy. I’m mentally toying with the idea of videos if I become confident enough to script and edit.

setsneedtofeed, 8 miesięcy temu

For $1.29 you can buy a pack with Lords of The Realm 1,2,3 and Lords Of Magic on Steam right now. (This is not an ad, just saying, the game is still very accessible).

And I miss big thick paper manuals, especially ones with background info and art.

setsneedtofeed, 8 miesięcy temu

Lords Of The Realm 2 is substantially different from the Civ games. In Lords Of The Realm 2 there is no tech tree and no eras to unlock, there are no alternative options for victory aside from military success, the player and AI do not create their villages but the village locations are preset on the map, there is no building of logistical infrastructure such as roads or mining quarries- instead each county has predetermined resources and the player only decides how many workers to assign to them, battles happen inside their own distinct level of play rather than happening on the world map.

The Civ games are 4x games where long term research and policy decisions are needed to build a faction. Lords Of The Realm 2 is set strictly in the medieval setting and is only concerned with the immediate local squabble.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I’ve tried playing Lords Of Magic and have bounced off of it. The real time combat feels more like a real time tactics game than a strategy game, and I’m pretty bad at real time tactics games. It also makes use of heroic characters and faction specific abilities and magic. It’s something I haven’t fully wrapped around.

setsneedtofeed, 7 miesięcy temu

I played Stardew Valley Expanded until 1am.