Community MetaSteam | March 2020 - Rise and Shine, Ms. Vance, Until It Is Done!

[Kyougar]

regarding my new PC:

Didn't know how high-tech the whole transportation and packaging had become in the last 5 years.
The PC was tightly packed in the package, no loose styrofoam balls or air bubble packaging, The PC itself was encased into a (somewhat stylish) nylon-bag that wouldn't be out of place in your hip or upper-class boutiques. (although, the size and no handles would make it seem strange :> )
But the most eye-opening thing was the memory-foam-like bag that was INSIDE the PC. If I read the description right, you just slap it into the case, tap it 10 to 20 times and the foam inside the bag will fill out the case.

 

[sk2k]

Also, something is probably coming this week on Steam? There's only 2 weeklong deals, indicating a sale later in the week (tomorrow?) of some sort. Anyone has an idea what it could be?

Only ONE game for me in the weeklong deals, GTA: Vice City.

 

[Le Pertti]

I also think It's basically going to force the question about licensing with stuff a lot sooner, by licensing I mean do we as players actually own anything when you buy a game (However confusing that is) you're simply granted access to the game and content but you don't own it.

Like how Adobe does it with their licenses and other program companies. John Deere does it with their tractors, you basically own a giant hunk of junk unless they continually give you access/get paid.



I know who gives a shit about tractors

To be fair, the issue with Adobe was that those using older software could be sued by Dolby not Adobe. It was a licensing issues with Dolby and Adobe.

 

[Firewithin]

while i havent watched any of the HL:A previews has it been said how long the game is expected to be?

not that it matters since i dont even have VR

 

[Alextended]

while i havent watched any of the HL:A previews has it been said how long the game is expected to be?

not that it matters since i dont even have VR

About as long as Half-Life 2.

 

[BlueOdin]

Says the man with the tag colour of a CDU voter

 

[Madventure]

To be fair, the issue with Adobe was that those using older software could be sued by Dolby not Adobe. It was a licensing issues with Dolby and Adobe.

Well that aside I was more getting at like the whole just buying a license and not owning anything thing they were championing for a long time, I think I just picked the wrong article lol

 

[Tizoc]

There is a new Choice, first Friday of each month.
March's First friday is this week, the 6th.

So basically, if we want to stop global warming we just need a bi-yearly semi-pandemic.

That's cray. Cray, but...interesting.

 

[Le Pertti]

Well that aside I was more getting at like the whole just buying a license and not owning anything thing they were championing for a long time, I think I just picked the wrong article lol

Ah yes I agree it sucks! Like with Adobe software, when I can't afford to subscribe... I can't edit my photos.XD

 

[Aaron D.]

I know who gives a shit about tractors

I know, right?

 

[Dragon1893]

Maybe it's earth trying to wipe us out!?

We sure as hell deserve it. Each one of us is a cancer cell on this planet.

Anyway, I have a couple of gripes with FF7's battle system but it has potential.

 

[LEANIJA]

Only ONE game for me in the weeklong deals, GTA: Vice City.

Hm weird... anyway, the other one is San Andreas.

 

[Mor]

From Valve:

ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL!!!!

 

[Le Pertti]

This is certainly a new problem I've never had before, can't update a game and thus can never play it again. I'm sad, was quite into Division 2.T_T

 

[Tizoc]

This is certainly a new problem I've never had before, can't update a game and thus can never play it again. I'm sad, was quite into Division 2.T_T

Udon'tPlay @_@

 

[fearthedawn]

Looooooool, I don't enough diskspace to download a patch for Division 2, so can't play it anymore.XD It already takes 105gb.

Does uninstall and then fresh download/install work? Or is the new version on its own too big as well?

 

[Knurek]

So basically, if we want to stop global warming we just need a bi-yearly semi-pandemic.

Hard to say without seeing how other regions of the Earth contribute.

 

[fantomena]

The Xen infestation environment looks creepy and scary as hell in Alyx. Also love the interactivity, looks way better than Boneworks and I already love Boneworks interactivity.

 

[fearthedawn]

Is the ryzen 3600x always at 40 to 50° Celsius with just looking at videos?

From my experience with a 3700x yes, unless you run a very aggressive fan curve or use water cooling (and there isn't really any need to). I even went with a less aggressive fan curve for under 50°C because otherwise it would spin up and down all the time because the temp fluctuates so much with my medium sized cooler. It only goes higher under load though so that's when i have it ramp up fast.

 

[Ascheroth]

Alright, more Romancing SaGa2 stories.

I took a look into the "Armed Merchant" troubles in one of the towns and ended up overhearing some information regarding their hideout.
I ended up trying to strike a deal though and they wanted me to clear out monsters from a mine, so I lent them a hand.
As thanks they shipped me to their hideout and their leader.
He wanted me to pay "protection fees" for their cooperation, pft. You're a hundred years too early if you think you can threaten my empire, son.
So he offered me another deal: an alliance but they are allowed to do whatever they want with ships not from my empire.
I saw no reason to refuse, so pirate alliance here I am~

And so ended another chapter in the history of the growing empire of Avalon.
50 years later
Please warmly welcome my new Empress Shirley. I have high hopes for her.

Time to round up another party and check out what mayhem my deal with the pirates caused, lol.
Oh and there's something about miners getting sick in one of my mines - WE CAN'T HAVE THAT
And a bunch of other stuff worth investigating.
I was offered to build a university but not enough monies in the imperial coffers
:/

Anyway, I have enough to do next!

 

[Wok]

To be frank, the latest videos consolidate my opinion that I do not have any real interest in playing the VR games released so far.

I am really not into games with first-person view, or horror games, and guns/shootings are a turn-off to me.

I could watch a playthrough out of curiosity (and I would skip through the shootings like video #3), but I do not care about actually playing the game myself.

 

[fantomena]

All devs and pubs removing their games from Geforce Now so people with weak PCs are not able to play the games they have already bought:


And you expect me to give a shit about the dev cut? The second customers turn their backs devs and pubs will gladly stab you with a katana.

 

[Le Pertti]

Does uninstall and then fresh download/install work? Or is the new version on its own too big as well?

Hmh not sure, I'm guessing since there is new content available that it downloads it even thought I don't own it, so might be that the game not only downloads new assets for base game but a whole new expansion. Not sure I want to uninstall and redownload 50gb minimum either way haha

 

[Joe Spangle]

Whoa HL:A looks good. I love the bit where she opens the car door for cover. Nice.

 

[Wildebeet]

All devs and pubs removing their games from Geforce Now so people with weak PCs are not able to play the games they have already bought:

And you expect me to give a shit about the dev cut? The second customers turn their backs devs and pubs will gladly stab you with a katana.

Yeah that's such a bad look for an indie developer. You don't expect a small team to want to restrict all the people that like your work on the minuscule chance that somebody might re-purchase The Long Dark on some other platform. The extra money must be trivial compared to selling off good will.

 

[madjoki]

Yeah that's such a bad look for an indie developer. You don't expect a small team to want to restrict all the people that like your work on the minuscule chance that somebody might re-purchase The Long Dark on some other platform. The extra money must be trivial compared to selling off good will.

Blinded by EGS money.

(I think there was some dev complaining Stadia doesn't pay as much as EGS does)

 

[Amzin]

I also think It's basically going to force the question about licensing with stuff a lot sooner, by licensing I mean do we as players actually own anything when you buy a game (However confusing that is) you're simply granted access to the game and content but you don't own it.

Like how Adobe does it with their licenses and other program companies. John Deere does it with their tractors, you basically own a giant hunk of junk unless they continually give you access/get paid.

I know who gives a shit about tractors

The tractor stuff is actually maybe not super well known in the states but it's a huge deal and some states have started to come down on the side of the customer. Even in America, maybe the most corporate-loving western country right now, there appear to be limits to the acceptance of stuff like that. Then again, a pretty big Americanism is about owning stuff so

Ah yes I agree it sucks! Like with Adobe software, when I can't afford to subscribe... I can't edit my photos.XD

I will say I'm not a professional editor by any means, but I've seen super happy with the abilities of Affinity Photo, and I got it permanently for $25 off their site (they have sales all the time). I'd definitely recommend checking them out!

Bit curious about something: What's the consensus here on Bloodstained ?
I'm asking because I have played a few hours of it already, and gotta say I'm not very moved by it. It's just "okay". And I really like Metroidvania games, usually. One of my gripes is that movement in this game feels bad, you can't grap edges or anything and Miriam can't jump very far, The levels also all seem very small and cramped. The other, more important reason, is that the game seems to punish exploration. If you push ahead too much, you quickly run into a boss fight, and those tend to go on forever. So if you aren't stocked well in potions and other equipement, then you're dead. This is made harder by the fact that bosses don't have a health bar, which is usually a great way of understanding if you doing well in the fight or not. Removing it doesn't make the fight harder, just opaque and therefore frustrating. Was I doing good? Did I win by accident? Well, guess it's trial and error to find out.

It's funny, because I really like SOTN, but this game just feels frustrating in a way that SOTN doesn't. I think it's due to the fact that SOTN was, for the most part, a really easy game, and a lot of its flaws were easily overlooked because of it. This game somehow thinks that a challenging 5 minute boss fight is good fit for it, which just serves to shine a light on all those issues.

Bit late to this and I've railed against it before, but I'd say Bloodstained is my least favorite or close to metroidvania on Steam, or maybe in general. I'd agree with the 5/10 sentiment - there's a decent game there but it is burdened by terrible choices. People talk about grinding but the RNG of the game is insane and requiring that much grinding in a metroidvania is nonsense in the first place. I ended up using cheat engine to basically amplify my grind speed and I still wasted hours just getting caught up to where I was apparently "supposed" to be because I'd had such shit luck.

If the game didn't have the insane grind and it was closer to SOTN drop / upgrade time, it would be middle-of-the-pack at least, but that system alone drops it several points for me, and it's frustrating because so many people didn't have shit luck and so never noticed. But other decisions, like the "movement" abilities mostly being used only for moving past specific obstacles (no general help moving around or in combat) and having to each be swapped in and out is cumbersome, the boss fights are very much a mixed bag but tend towards bad, balance is wonky (or it was when I played it) and felt pretty binary, e.g. you either 1-2 shot something or it took a solid minute to chip away at.

I beat it and have absolutely no interest in ever touching it again though, compared to SOTN / Hollow Knight / Timespinner / Ghost 1.0 / Shadow Complex / Ori.... there's just so many better versions of the genre out now and previous to it.

 

[Hektor]

Says the man with the tag colour of a CDU voter

Clean your glasses, my tag ain't brown

 

[BlueOdin]

Clean your glasses, my tag ain't brown

I mean as white as the skincolour of a CDU voter. And as basic as the sex life of a CDU voter

 

[Hektor]

I mean as white as the skincolour of a CDU voter. And as basic as the sex life of a CDU voter

Don't confuse my tag for the cum stains on your shirt digga

 

[lashman]

(they have sales all the time)

if they do - they sure as hell don't advertise them .... i've been occasionally checking their store and it's always full price

the only sales email i got from them was when tere was a sale for some shitty brush packs or something

 

[Mivey]

Don't confuse my tag for the cum stains on your shirt digga

So, as the resident CDU voter, who's your favourite for the new leadship? The dynamic duo, Laschet and Spahn, or back to good (?) old days with Merz?

 

[OSatan]

Wow Black Desert sure is a MMO, I have no idea what I'm doing now years later after trying it.

Weird that they made the start more traditional before it sent you head first to all the auto systems.

 

[Amzin]

if they do - they sure as hell don't advertise them .... i've been occasionally checking their store and it's always full price

the only sales email i got from them was when tere was a sale for some shitty brush packs or something

I imagine it's long gone but they definitely were half off for the whole black Friday / cyber Monday sprint, I got an email about it and considered buying the other software even though I have no cause currently. I would actually check the subreddit, pretty sure that's where I saw a deal posted before I subscribed to their email.

 

[lashman]

I imagine it's long gone but they definitely were half off for the whole black Friday / cyber Monday sprint, I got an email about it and considered buying the other software even though I have no cause currently. I would actually check the subreddit, pretty sure that's where I saw a deal posted before I subscribed to their email.

i have the worst luck, lol

but yeah, i'd TOTALLY grab it at 50% off

too bad they don't want to release it on steam

 

[Parsnip]

Having the back of the head Valve as a man bun in Death Stranding is a nice touch.

 

[ExistentialThought]

I do not need any more coffee mugs but...

Valve Store

Half-Life Alyx definitely looks pretty amazing, though no Index email yet. So maybe I just settle for the coffee cup in the meantime.

 

[xinek]

Yeah that's such a bad look for an indie developer. You don't expect a small team to want to restrict all the people that like your work on the minuscule chance that somebody might re-purchase The Long Dark on some other platform. The extra money must be trivial compared to selling off good will.

This is what kills me about all this stuff. Why bother with tricks, lying, shady marketing, PR campaigns, "influencer" bullshit, and psychological weaponry like gambling mechanics and FOMO? Why not just make a great product?? A product that people use, talk about, and use some more? A product that gets you shitloads of free publicity, just because it's that good? Why not have great customer service so you become known as a trustworthy, high quality company, so people feel good about spending money on you and they keep coming back for years? Why not treat your customers as actual people and not just marks? That's pretty much what Valve did, and they're ROLLING in it. How is this so unclear to other game industry related companies??

 

[lashman]

Half-Life Alyx definitely looks pretty amazing, though no Index email yet. So maybe I just settle for the coffee cup in the meantime.

feel free to blame madjoki for that

 

[Nzyme]

I think this is our same BBC guy that pushed HTC CEO into saying HL3 was on the way lol -

 

[FunnyJay]

I do not need any more coffee mugs but...

Valve Store

I have this coffee mug!

 

[Le Pertti]

I will say I'm not a professional editor by any means, but I've seen super happy with the abilities of Affinity Photo, and I got it permanently for $25 off their site (they have sales all the time). I'd definitely recommend checking them out!

Yeah I've been researching alternatives for awhile now, one of them being Affinity Photo. I've been using Lightroom since it's first beta for the first version! It's not only about knowing how to use it but more about having ones over decade long photo library nicely inlace.

I've been reading about the new version of Darktable, at open source free Lightroom alternative that had a huge update recently and doesn't seem half bad.

 

[Li Kao]

MSI RTX 2060 Super Gaming X + Rift S
This is my thought of the day

edit.
Put Rift S in cart
Because of a stock issue the following product was deleted from your cart : Rift S
...
I honestly was half expecting it, but still, there is a big chain I won’t set foot in ever again. How fucking hard is it to have an up to date product page. I guess it will give me time to pay the GPU.

 

[Mor]

I think this is our same BBC guy that pushed HTC CEO into saying HL3 was on the way lol -

That was surprisingly informative for those who are not into VR and even pointed out that locomotion might make you sick if you are not used to it.
Also, yeah, I think you are right xD

 

[「Echo」]

I've already accepted the fact that the interests of indiedevs and those of the players are not aligning anymore, and thus, they do not give a shit about me, and reversely, i won't give a shit about them anymore.

Oh well.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

「Echo」 Looks like Yoko's mobile game is getting a Manga?

Yay to more stuff not getting localized for me

That mobage localization is dead isn't it?

The moment Nexon was announced as the localization people, y'all shoulda been sweating bullets. Nexon is fuckin' garbage in the Gacha world and anyone who plays phone games on the regular can tell you as much. (Seriously, I'll invite you to the GFL-Era discord and every single one of my lads can tell you a Nexon horror story.)

ftfy

Also never use metalic spoon to get the rice from bowl, use the included plastic spoon or a wood one.

Yepppp. I use wood instruments personally, bamboo is naturally anti-microbial. Don't really trust plastic too much myself, I worry about chemicals since even food-grade plastic makers have been found to be lying about composition. Especially in America and China, fuck plastic.

Also yes, wash rice people! Even multiple times if you have to, until the water is clear! I see a lot of Westerners do not wash rice before cooking and it really makes me smh.

... with broken audio mix

I really hope this is a twitter thing and not actual in-game audio??

 

[lashman]

I really hope this is a twitter thing and not actual in-game audio??

i wasn't even talking about that ... just the fact that the audio mix is still completely broken in Reach

 

[「Echo」]

i wasn't even talking about that ... just the fact that the audio mix is still completely broken in Reach

wtf is papa phil doing?

 

[lashman]

wtf is papa phil doing?

who knows, lol

but yeah - it would be nice if they fixed that first, before rolling out more ports (which will probably also have broken mix)

 

[Mor]

I want to know WHERE ARE THE MICROSOFT GAMES? remember when he said that he would bring most of the catalog?

 

[Mivey]

who knows, lol

but yeah - it would be nice if they fixed that first, before rolling out more ports (which will probably also have broken mix)

I kinda fear they just won't fix it, maybe they don't think porting the sound engine, or whatever framework it uses to mix the sound, to something that actually works on PC is worth it.

 

[lashman]

I want to know WHERE ARE THE MICROSOFT GAMES? remember when he said that he would bring most of the catalog?

pretty sure they meant "most of their NEW catalog" (as in: games that are going to be released from that point on)

I kinda fear they just won't fix it, maybe they don't think porting the sound engine, or whatever framework it uses to mix the sound, to something that actually works on PC is worth it.

yeah ... who knows what the hell happened there

and yeah, looks like they probably won't fix it