Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

User avatar
beatbandito
Posts: 4300
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:04 am

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby beatbandito » Thu Mar 17, 2022 10:24 am

I'm actually getting mad about the Elden Ring patch.

There's been a known OP build since like day 1 with sorceries. You can set up to immediately start casting one ability and take out pretty much any boss before you run out of mana.
There were a few other similarly OP tactics that have cropped up, too. A type of summon that only works in offline play was very powerful, and there were two skills that were pretty universally strong weapon attacks without much build investment.

In the patch they seriously nerf the weapon skills and summon. They also seriously nerfed a shield skill that basically made blocking as viable as dodging in this release. They did nothing to nerf the OP sorcery, and instead buffed a lot of other sorceries so that they are closer to as viable as the specific OP build.

This is like? Total shit? I'm definitely a little salty over the shield skill, which was a big part of my PvE builds. But overall they seem to be saying that they want you to be doing sorcery. They do nothing to nerf the meta builds (there's also a very powerful sorcery-based weapon skill that is constantly used in PvP) in sorcery, while nerfing the ones that people found specifically to not feel like they're being driven into sorcery to get through the game. I'm fine with them making big changes around balance (they did it in DkS1, too) but choosing not to the longest known and most used functions around one specific build type feels like shitty design choices.

edit: My main gripes are the feeling they're taking build options and want you to play a specific way, which is why I never got as in to Bloodborne. But also very frustrating is that the patch also added in missing NPC dialogue and quest scripts. I haven't looked into the specifics, because I'm still trying to figure that stuff out for myself. But realizing that it wasn't totally cut, or a future dlc, but the game was just released without this content is pretty frustrating, as well.
Image

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Mongrel » Thu Mar 17, 2022 10:47 am

Wow, it really IS like Skyrim!
Image

User avatar
nosimpleway
Posts: 4514
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby nosimpleway » Mon Mar 21, 2022 7:04 pm

I know I'm way behind and lttp on a game that most people played ten years ago, but

In Bioshock Infinite you get food refills for "salt" before the game ever explains that salt is MP.

So you spend twenty minutes in the early game running around checking containers and getting "Popcorn: +Health" "Potato Chips: +Health" "Coffee: +Salt" and being puzzled

why is this game keeping track of my sodium intake

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Thad » Mon Mar 21, 2022 7:21 pm

nosimpleway wrote:I know I'm way behind and lttp on a game that most people played ten years ago, but

In Bioshock Infinite

Man I'm still on the first BioShock.

By which I mean I played like half an hour of it once and keep meaning to get back to it.

User avatar
nosimpleway
Posts: 4514
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby nosimpleway » Mon Mar 21, 2022 7:31 pm

The twist to the first Bioshock was groundbreaking for its time but it's one of those "Why did people think Seinfeld is funny", "What's so great about Evangelion" sorts of things where the metacommentary on the nature of a video game has been done so many times since that it loses a lot of its punch.

Like maybe because I only experienced Bioshock 2 just now the twist didn't seem all that novel by comparison.

Waiting for the big payoff in Infinite, realizing it's seven years old already.

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Mongrel » Mon Mar 21, 2022 8:02 pm

I thought the payoff in infinite was supposed to also be very video game-y in the sense that it turns out to be a giant nonsensical, confusing mess?
Image

User avatar
hngkong
Posts: 604
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:29 am

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby hngkong » Sun Mar 27, 2022 2:13 am

I'm liking the new Kirby game, it's nothing too exciting, but when I first unlocked Kirby with a gun, I had an inspiration. I don't know if it's been done, but I don't care, I wanted that zero effort feel.
My masterpiece: Image

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Thad » Mon May 23, 2022 12:22 pm

I played through the first battle on Triangle Strategy and it seems promising.

But god damn if my eyes don't glaze over every time I see the phrase "salt monopoly". It feels like George Lucas thinking we give a shit about tariffs and trade negotiations.

And of course I'm aware that wars have been fought over less, and that I live in a country that was founded on an uprising against a tea monopoly, on a continent that white colonists tripped over while looking for spices. A salt monopoly is entirely plausible as a flashpoint in an intracontinental war.

I'm just not sure "entirely plausible" is the best place to kick off a fantasy epic.

User avatar
nosimpleway
Posts: 4514
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby nosimpleway » Mon May 23, 2022 1:12 pm

Haven't played Triangle, and Medieval-era salt production was a big deal, but like... how does anyone get a salt monopoly?

You got an ocean? Some seafront property? bam, salt production

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Mongrel » Mon May 23, 2022 1:25 pm

Until VERY recently China had a total government monopoly on the salt trade - a monopoly which existed through the rise and fall of so many dynasties that it stood in place for two millennia.
Image

User avatar
nosimpleway
Posts: 4514
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby nosimpleway » Mon May 23, 2022 3:14 pm

Sure, plenty of nations have tried to control salt inside their own populations. Ghandi's first act of disobedience against the British was to walk to the sea and scrape some salt off the ground, since Indian citizens collecting their own salt was illegal.

But this is an international conflict, right? Does one nation control all the underground salt deposits and all the coastlines? Even if your nation is landlocked and that other guy won't sell you any salt, are you the only two states in the world? Who else can sell you some?

Do they bother justifying this or is salt just an excuse to fight?

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Mongrel » Mon May 23, 2022 3:28 pm

I dunno, if you want boring trade-based excuses which don't stand up to close scrutiny, there's far worse ones than delicious salty salt.
Image

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Thad » Mon May 23, 2022 4:04 pm

nosimpleway wrote:Sure, plenty of nations have tried to control salt inside their own populations. Ghandi's first act of disobedience against the British was to walk to the sea and scrape some salt off the ground, since Indian citizens collecting their own salt was illegal.

But this is an international conflict, right? Does one nation control all the underground salt deposits and all the coastlines? Even if your nation is landlocked and that other guy won't sell you any salt, are you the only two states in the world? Who else can sell you some?

Do they bother justifying this or is salt just an excuse to fight?

I dunno, man, I just started the game.

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Thad » Mon May 23, 2022 11:50 pm

It looks like one of the kingdoms is just the only place in the region where salt is available.

The three kingdoms are landlocked; it's not immediately clear how far they are from the ocean but presumably not close.

There's been no discussion as yet of relationships with other nations in the region, and "salt" seems to just mean salt, not a euphemism for anything (though I can't rule that out yet either; people seem really excited about salt).

So far my main perception of the game is that it has learned entirely the wrong lessons from Game of Thrones. Such as "it should start with multiple factions meeting for a tense dinner at the home of a guy in a furry cape" and "it's okay for a fight scene to be followed by a full hour of talking" and "sir has an e in it."

I'm glad to see SE taking another bite at the Final Fantasy Tactics Ogre formula, but yeesh.

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Thad » Tue May 24, 2022 12:58 am

The most striking voice performance up to this point is the guy whose dialogue is littered with old-timey affectations like "ye" and "milord" but whose actor just pronounces them "you" and "my lord" like a normal person.

I have this mental image of a voice director looking at the script, just rolling their eyes, and being like "Yeah we're not doing that."

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Thad » Thu May 26, 2022 12:36 am

I think the slow burn is starting to work on me.

I mean, emphasis on starting; I'm like 3 and a half hours in and I still can't be arsed to remember what any of these fucking countries is called or which one is which.

But anyway the first decision you make that influences the plot (or at least the game says it does, games really like to lie about stuff like that) is that you decide whether to travel to Salt Monopoly or Other Place. (I can't remember if other place is Iron Monopoly or if Iron Monopoly is the country where you're from, because again, I'm starting to get involved but not enough to keep this shit straight.) They lean on you pretty hard to go to Salt Monopoly; while your party is nominally evenly split between the two choices, they make it pretty clear that Salt Monopoly is the more compelling choice, to the point that they actually convinced me to choose to learn more about the fucking Salt Monopoly.

Anyway, I'm intrigued by Salt Monopoly Kingdom now. They don't just have a salt monopoly, they're also religious fascists who keep talking about how they're a nation where everyone is free and there are no kings and everyone is equal but also they're racist AF, there's a single religious leader who gets to decide the law of the land (or his mouthpiece does; you never actually see the hierophant and it's not clear yet whether he actually exists), and they enforce the peace by swiftly and brutally rounding up undesirables.

You know, narrator, you could have led with that instead of all the salt stuff.

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Mongrel » Sat Jun 11, 2022 6:28 pm

Didn't want to put this in the Diablo thread, since it's not really related.

So Starr got us both new computers as I mentioned. I'm still not using the new one because I have comedically trapped myself like an idiot.

I was/am working on a big Skyrim armour mod here and there (full replacement set for all main amours, using medieval stuff, in the same spirit of a very outdated and incomplete mod whose look I really love), and over the last half of '21 I just started manually installing everything in the game folders (a hideous mess and a big no-no for modding), because I knew I wasn't going to PLAY Skyrim seriously again without a full wipe and clean reinstall and a modern mod manager. I figured I would just do what was easiest in terms of allowing me to work (lazy dumping kept all my work files where they can be readily previewed), and worry about the cleanup afterwards.

Problem now is I can't replicate this nightmare of bad installation on the new comp - nor would I want to - so I'm still beavering away on the old beast until I can finish. Ha.

Not a complaint, just kind of making fun of my own lack of foresight.

I should go buy a second screen (only have the one) so I can use both comps at the same time and at least be transferring things over. I just feel too cheap to do this for what would only be a week or two of work. Then again, with a shitty spare screen, I could use this old box as a dedicated server after the swap...

Ah, so lazy!

Once I switch at least I can try some cool new stuff, maybe see if I can get RDR/RDR2 on sale.
Image

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Thad » Fri Jun 17, 2022 4:21 pm

Thad wrote:Speaking of TMNT, the Ars Technica review of Shredder's Revenge says it "might be the best 2D beat-'em-up video game ever made."

I'm waiting for the physical release like a physical-media hipster, but I noticed this line in the review
As it turns out, the main developers of this new game tried such a concept 15 years ago. The simply named TMNT for the Game Boy Advance looked and felt a lot like games from the series' arcade heyday, boosted by a satisfying combo-counter system and some experience-point chasing. Sadly, that solid 2007 game was lost in a portable-gaming world that had moved on to the Nintendo DS.

and decided to try that one out.

After accidentally playing the beginning of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) and realizing that couldn't possibly be the game the article was describing, I tried TMNT and it seems pretty solid. Single-player bralwers always kinda feel like they're missing something, but combat seems appreciably deep and I felt like the first level was doing a great job of introducing you to the gameplay and slowly building complexity (here's a big guy with a bat, figure out how to fight him, then here's another one, now fight him while you've got other enemies onscreen, now fight two of him at once, that kind of thing) up until I hit the motorcycle guys who take a shitload of your health if you try to jump-kick them, fumbled around figuring out how to fight them (you have to use an uppercut attack right before they hit you), and then ran out of lives. Oh well. Still, seems pretty good, and I'll probably fuck around with it some more while I wait on Limited Run to get the new game shipped.

I also keep meaning to check out TMNT 3: Radical Rescue for the original Game Boy. I've never played it but it's a metroidvania and I keep hearing it's an underrated gem.

User avatar
Yoji
Posts: 1440
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:12 pm
Location: Screamtown

Re: Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

Postby Yoji » Tue Jun 21, 2022 5:22 pm

So, I didn't do much for Father's Day, but my son and I did manage to play Animal Crossing together of all things. Didn't grab many picture, but it was surprisingly nice. I forgot he likes swimming in the ocean and catching weird critters.
Image
(yeah, we hauled ourselves out of the ocean, trudged across the sand and leaves, and plopped our damp butts into Brewster's cafe)
Image: Mention something from KPCC or Rachel Maddow
Image: Go on about Homeworld for X posts

User avatar
Newbie
Posts: 883
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:30 pm
Location: January 20th, 2014, 5:30 pm
Contact:

Re: Game musings and news

Postby Newbie » Tue Jun 28, 2022 2:52 pm

Newbie wrote:Neon White annihilates.


Triple-posting because this deserves additional detail.

Neon White is a platformer/FPS for Switch and Steam. Stages are small and enemy counts are low. Weapons are placed throughout the environment: these are abstracted as "cards" to justify their dissimilar functions. The pistol gives you a few medium-power shots, but you can discard it instead for a double-jump. The assault rifle shoots fast and strong, but you can discard it for a sticky bomb—which also allows you to bomb-jump, taking no damage. The semiautomatic rifle is stronger still, and you can discard it for a horizontal air dash, breaking through obstacles and enemies. You can collect up to two categories of weapons at one time; you also have a melee attack that cannot be discarded, but which I believe you can deplete through overuse.

These elements combine to create a game that is all about optimizing your path through the environment. At the most basic level, all you need to do is kill all the enemies and reach the level goal. The faster you do this, the more "insights" you unlock for that stage: first you unlock the ability to locate a gift somewhere in the level, then things like global leaderboards, a ghost-replay of your own best time, and in-game routing hints that point out possible shortcuts you may have overlooked. Get a ranking of "gold" or "ace" to increase your "demon rank", which starts at 100. The closer you get to rank 1, the more missions and story you unlock.

The gifts can be turned over all Persona-like to NPCs for additional conversation and to unlock "side quest" missions, and this is the part that made remember my old Bronto friends. These side quests have the timer, but the emphasis is much more on getting through longer stages in one piece rather than on replaying for time; one guy has an enemy gauntlet with discard abilities turned off, while the femme fatale is more about navigating a challenging series of aerial maneuvers between distant platforms. The adorable maniac/Harley Quinn knockoff has you navigating a spike-filled deathtrap while out-of-reach enemies harass you with bullets; it brought back fond EK memories, and it was very satisfying to finally complete. Can't wait to see what else they have in store.

I had a negative first reaction to the writing, but I'm warming up to it. It's an amnesia plot, but it casts you as a damned soul sub-contacted out to heaven to deal with their demon infestation, referred to as a "neon". This is such a routine situation that they've turned it into a recurring competition, complete with prizes and privileges, and you have (forgotten) history with the other competitors. The aesthetics remind me a lot of a less gory, less over-the-top Paradise Killer: lots of marble and sunlight, classical architecture, demons and the demonstrably opposed, gratuitous collection of the most mundane of resources in something ostensibly supposed to be paradise... This soundtrack is by Machine Girl, and I'm not familiar with their work, but it works great here. Highly recommended.

But don't just take my word for it: within minutes of posting this, I got a notification from Jacob Geller's Twitter account that he'd posted [a review of the game for Polygon](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2318513 ... -pc-switch). I didn't need to read much to confirm he's seen a lot more of the game than I have, and he seems just as happy with it as I am.
tiny text

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests