OP
Community MetaSteam | December 2024 - Top Men Belong in a Museum
- Thread starter lashman
- Start date
OP
I stayed home today with a sore throat and headache. I thought I would play some games in bed... nah! I just woke up and the day is almost done before the wife and kid return. Hopefully I'll be back grinding this weekend.
I'm trying to do everything in my power to not buy kilos of games every sale. I'm literally only buying a few games here and then that I know I'll play before spending again. Having a million games in my backlog really overwhelms me.
I'm trying to do everything in my power to not buy kilos of games every sale. I'm literally only buying a few games here and then that I know I'll play before spending again. Having a million games in my backlog really overwhelms me.
I picked up the Thing. Some real PS2 feels coming from it. Its janky in a good way. Having fun with it. Funny playing older games.
I'm an odd due and like when the jank is good.
I had an epiphany and realized there are actually too many good games. And I mean too many, to the point that you can't even blame work or life in general for not having time to play. I tried to imagine "what if I could just play all day for all week" and come to the conclusion I still wouldn't have time to play Fantasian, Metaphor, PoE2, Indy and Soul Reaver, not to mention the rest of my backlog.
This is why I don't really get nostalgic people and " back then games were better"
This is why I don't really get nostalgic people and " back then games were better"
It's wonderful, one can essentially just stick to game genres that one genuinely likes and ignore everything that aren't for you. Sure one might miss lots of good games, but there are enough good games to keep one engaged.
Well, i drank from the well of fla-vor-ade and joined the thronging masses and bought a POE2 EA key, the "cheap"one.
Created a new account, got it on the GGG site, claimed my key in Steam and it's all good.
Looking to start a Witch probably when it's downloaded and done.
I needed a nice light game inbetween sessions in 40k Rogue Trader... lol
Created a new account, got it on the GGG site, claimed my key in Steam and it's all good.
Looking to start a Witch probably when it's downloaded and done.
I needed a nice light game inbetween sessions in 40k Rogue Trader... lol
For now the criticisms point to the game being too slow and too hard.
I got this feedback by submitting myself to hours of insane drivel on Twitch for the loot drops and the pet you can get by offering two subs on a channel.
How much this is accurate remains to be seen.
OP
The VTubers i watched yesterday seemed to be progressing at a decent pace before i went to sleep. I'll have to scrub through the 12hr VOD or check comments to see what level they ended up at.
I'd read that the Twitch streams were a bit yawn-inducing. When i bothered to go for the Last Epoch drops it wasn't too bad as i just idled the streams in another tab and the streamers usually raided into others on the drop loop too.
I have zero Twitch drops for POE2 as i only decided to give it a go after watching some VTubers playing yesterday. I have only taken part in maybe two Twitch drop chases in forever now i think about it. I'm totally out of the Twitch habit these days and have been for years.
The FOMO is strong though and having exclusive stuff is cool but usually only worth it if it's a game with transmog so you can show your exclusive drop drip while having decent kit underneath.
Woohoo. I'll be there day one for every Team Ladybug game.
I had the choice between an apparently famous ginger streamer who was overracting the difficulty and generally being annoying, and a French sorta pro gamer world first something on D3 who spends dozens of minutes in skill trees while min maxing and generally be the opposite of an entertainer.
Black or white, basically. No half between.
I chose the silent boring type, but my error was reading the chat. I won't get those neurons back.
OP
I'm one of them, to some extent. There are plenty of good games that have come out in the last 20 years, and I love some of them to absolute bits, but I'm still nostalgic for some of the old games I loved, or rather for the sheer promise they held, which remains unrealised as the industry moved in other directions.
I'll try to illustrate briefly with two examples, with the specific angle of "immersion".
Back when Thief 2 came out (2000), I thought it was the best thing ever, and was looking forward to what could be done in that series and genre with more powerful machines.
24 years later, when I look for something to scratch that itch (there was a discussion here on that subject a few months back), the best recommandations remain mods. There isn't a single commercial game that has meaningfully improved on any aspect of Thief without sacrificing something essential in the process.
Same thing for, say, Morrowind (2002). Back then, quest markers weren't a thing. NPCs gave you directions, and you had to actually engage with the open world as a matter of course. While there were (paid-for and limited) options for fast travel, lots of quests were very local, and you could and would walk there, actually paying attention to your environment, not a magical minimap or compass. That contributed to a real sense of place. The UI was decent and powerful, you could arrange windows as you wanted, place marks and notes on the map, create custom spells and enchantments, etc. There was plenty of jank, and you spent far too much time crashing to desktop, but you could imagine the potential of a fully immersive open world game on better tech.
Fast forward to Oblivion (2006), and not only are you greeted with an insultingly, stomach-churningly dumbed-down, borderline unusable UI (because consoles) but quests are designed around markers and instant free fast travel from and to anywhere. Disabling them is not a solution, because now most of the quests from every peasant send you across the whole world, so there is little point trying to walk there, and you're given no indication where to go anyway, because you are expected to follow the markers. Except for the very beginning, before you have activated fast travel points everywhere, there is little sense of place and distance.
Nehrim, a total conversion mod for Oblivion, with no (free) fast-travel and no level scaling, is much closer in its world design approach to what I consider immersive, and its sequel Enderal follows suit. There again, those are mods (TCs), not commercial projects.
It's 2024. I'm still waiting for a modern open world game that actually realises in full what Morrowind promised, but I don't think there will ever be one.
So, I'm nostalgic for the times when I could at least look forward to the idea of such a game. That there are plenty of excellent modern games with radically different philosophies does not change that; games and genres and fundamental world-design principles are not interchangeable. Does that make sense to you?
Level scaling is the dumbest fucking choice you can make when designing an ARPG or CRPG.
You take too much away for the sake of accessibility. You take away the joy of fleeing a dangerous area, you take away the joy of demolishing the same menaces at higher level, and when everything is tailored for your accessibility, when everything is the same, you simply take away immersion.
Latest example, Diablo 4. I hear they changed things since release, but I can't overstate how fucking ruined the game was when everything was YOUR LEVEL(TM).
Btw EdwardTivrusky I have been toying with the idea of buying Rogue Trader DLC and finally play it. You aren't helping.
You take too much away for the sake of accessibility. You take away the joy of fleeing a dangerous area, you take away the joy of demolishing the same menaces at higher level, and when everything is tailored for your accessibility, when everything is the same, you simply take away immersion.
Latest example, Diablo 4. I hear they changed things since release, but I can't overstate how fucking ruined the game was when everything was YOUR LEVEL(TM).
Btw EdwardTivrusky I have been toying with the idea of buying Rogue Trader DLC and finally play it. You aren't helping.
I got the "RT40k VoidFarer" bundle a few days ago in a sale on one of the sites on IsThereAnyDeal but i haven't got to the DLC parts yet so i have no idea how good it is but i've heard it's decent. There's also the new DLC & Big Patch Update due to drop sometime in December so it might be on a deal in the Christmas sale.
I haven't bought many games at all this year so i didn't feel too bad about picking up 40k RT and POE 2 recently.
edit:
Li Kao
The Void Farer pack is £1.70 on Indie Gala at the moment.
The Season Pass with the two DLCs is £11 for the next 10 days on IndieGala.
I got the Void Farer Bundle on Fanatical for £35-ish in their 55% sale the other day.
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Yeah, that's why I also don't use the word "backlog", but "library" instead.
I'm not even halfway through Metaphor but I'm sure it will be my goty.
Also having a blast replaying HL2 after all these years. What a game.
Also having a blast replaying HL2 after all these years. What a game.
I still regret not getting Metaphor when it was 40 euro for xbox at a local supermarket.
I couldn't have the bought the Deck at a better time. P3R, SMTVV, Infinite Wealth and Metaphor, what a year this was for me. It's perfect for these games.
I got it for 42€ a couple of weeks ago on CDkeys.
I am getting into the late game now. The reveals are good and the story keeps getting better. You are in for a treat.
I have to reduce my gaming purchases, mainly buying games on sale, got too much stuff to play through now. Might buy some stuff on the winter sale, but can't be a lot.
The biggest backlog at deathbed wins! Every +1 counts
For me it depends on the type of level scaling.
Scaling everything to the level of the player is just not fun, but, in the case of an online RPG, I think it's good to scale down the stats and level of a higher level player to the level of a lower level dungeon or to scale down to the level of the lowest level party member (while having an option to not have the level scaling).
OP
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His videos are the highlight of my week
OP
I hate games that lock me to a save and constantly use it. I have my quirks and one of them is sometimes wanting to start fresh.
Just tried Backpack Battles demo, not bad, interested, but I want to start the game from scratch. So I have to, check notes...
1/ Nuke the save in userprofile
2/ deactivate steam cloud
3/ play the full game for some time
4/ reactivate steam cloud and resolve the conflict
A 'reset progress' button with a confirmation box, however ridiculous and used by two people on earth, would have been so much easier.
Just tried Backpack Battles demo, not bad, interested, but I want to start the game from scratch. So I have to, check notes...
1/ Nuke the save in userprofile
2/ deactivate steam cloud
3/ play the full game for some time
4/ reactivate steam cloud and resolve the conflict
A 'reset progress' button with a confirmation box, however ridiculous and used by two people on earth, would have been so much easier.
I've been playing indie games on the ROG Alley Z1E, but I fired up God of War today. After some tweaks, it runs and looks good. It's just that I suck at the game.
Dang, just went through a "dungeon" setpiece in Infinity Nikki and that was an outright magical experience.
Art direction and music are inredible.
Art direction and music are inredible.
Damn, this is frustrating. It seems I totally missed the part in Veilguard where you could customise your own Inquisitor from the pas game. It's part of the new game scene, and somehow completely slipped past me. Kinda miffed about this and there is seemingly no option, other than starting again, which makes no sense as I already put 40 hours in.
Some nice announcements from today's Indie Live Expo, and a Steam page featuring everything too
And now some personal highlights, just like last time
"It's true that I killed my Mentor... and yet, I am not his murderer." - the game
Timeloop + third-person shooting + Persona =
Shitposting of the Dead
The Lobotomy Corporation is hiring a psychiatrist (trailer only, steam page already posted above)
Yuri on the Road
Anime girl wants to confirm you (the player) are a real overdimensional being
And last a few trailers for already announced games
And now some personal highlights, just like last time
"It's true that I killed my Mentor... and yet, I am not his murderer." - the game
Timeloop + third-person shooting + Persona =
Shitposting of the Dead
The Lobotomy Corporation is hiring a psychiatrist (trailer only, steam page already posted above)
Yuri on the Road
Anime girl wants to confirm you (the player) are a real overdimensional being
And last a few trailers for already announced games
I had a quick look and apparently there's an object you can use to change your appearance in-game.
I'm unecessarily putting it in spoiler tags just in case but i couldn't see anything spoilery but eh better safe than sorry.
The Mirror of Transformation
How to change character appearance in Dragon Age Veilguard
Here is everything you need to know to change your character's appearance in Dragon Age Veilguard after the introduction mission mid-game.
www.rockpapershotgun.com
That is different, only affect your Rook character, not the one I was talking about.I had a quick look and apparently there's an object you can use to change your appearance in-game.
I'm unecessarily putting it in spoiler tags just in case but i couldn't see anything spoilery but eh better safe than sorry.
The Mirror of Transformation
How to change character appearance in Dragon Age Veilguard
Here is everything you need to know to change your character's appearance in Dragon Age Veilguard after the introduction mission mid-game.
Ah well, it's not so bad, just a bit annoying, that's all.
It's an open world game focusing on platforming (there is no climbing), puzzles, exploration, crafting (for outfit pieces), dress-up and story with a tiny amount of combat.
The main character gets isekaied into a fantasy world via a magic dress and she get magical clothes via the story that give you new abilities (floating, combat, fishing, shrinking,..).
You basically explore the world, do quests to get new outfits or outfit blueprints, play mini-games, find chests and other collectibles, gather crafting materials from plants, grooming animals, fishing and catching insects... and fighting fashion battles against NPCs where you need to create outfits with a high score based on given themes, lol (outfits have fashion stats and you can level them up I think, but I haven't even looked into that so dunno how it works).
And housing is coming in the future.
ahhh, sorry matey. Like i said, i don't have the game but had a look around.
I wonder if there's a mod or editor on Nexus that will allow you to edit appearance in your save game?
OP
level scaling destroyed any lingering Fun that Diablo 4 had.
The point of a loot-based ARPG is to get more awesome gear that makes previous mobs and bosses easier to kill
I'm slowly going through Path of Exile 2 and so far I'm liking it.
I'm going to keep playing it because I bought it for $20, but I don't know if God of War is really my type of game.
People that are pointing to Steam Machines and how they failed and how Steam Machines 2.0 will also fail, have not been paying much attention to Steam Deck.
Has the Steam Deck sold over 10+ million units? No. But isn't it very strange how despite that major video game publishers are using it to promote their games, despite how it's been out for a few years now? Had it been a complete flop they all would have moved on. But they haven't.
Does the Steam Deck have issues? Yes, did Vake expect games to be as poorly optimized as they currently are? I'm guessing not. But maybe Steam Deck 2.0 will try to solve some of that.
Valve much has learned and done something right this time.
Has the Steam Deck sold over 10+ million units? No. But isn't it very strange how despite that major video game publishers are using it to promote their games, despite how it's been out for a few years now? Had it been a complete flop they all would have moved on. But they haven't.
Does the Steam Deck have issues? Yes, did Vake expect games to be as poorly optimized as they currently are? I'm guessing not. But maybe Steam Deck 2.0 will try to solve some of that.
Valve much has learned and done something right this time.