f13.net forums - So, what're you playing?

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May 17, 2024, 02:44:10 PM

we're back, baby

I got Pokemon Moon, and got the boy Sun and a 2DS. This feels like the most alien Pokemon game I've ever played: the Hawaiian setting, trials instead of Gyms, a bunch of Pokemon with different types than they used to have. On top of that, the Professor uses a lot of strange slang which makes reading it a challenge for a nine year old.

I finally got GTA V and started that (in between Minecraft ofc). Loving it. Very good fun so far, often makes me laugh out loud which is a good thing. That wired XBox controller I got a few years ago was a damned good purchase!

Astroneer. Obsessed with this right now. Kind of like minecraft in space. Seems right up Sky and Apocrypha's alley, too.

So maybe I'll get Astroneer instead of ARK when it's a bit cheaper. I don't like most of the stuff I've been reading about ARK. We'll see. If they make it too cheap, I may not be able to say no.

I've been playing Final Fantasy 9 and have a really fun time. No MMOs at the moment. I'm in an offline frame of mind.

I know, at 12 bucks ARK seems like a nice deal. I'm still considering that one, too. As you said, Dinosaurs. I don't know that I want to play with ... people. I used to like playing games with people. Now I seem to only like playing with people I know unless I'm in a griefproof environment.

Astroneer is still in pre-Alpha. I don't think I've ever bought a game in pre-Alpha before, unless you count Minecraft, but maybe pre-Alpha is what used to be called early Beta, I don't know. I haven't yet played multiplayer, but that could be awfully fun, provided it isn't with random meanies.

Astroneer looks like it will be a blast when it's closer to complete. Reading Steam reviews indicates that there isn't much content yet.

I haven't bought a LOT of these early access or pre-alpha games but some of them were very polished and you hardly knew they weren't finished and others were completely unplayable. Now I tend to read a lot of reviews and comments before I go that route. One game, I forget which, was actually canceled in early access and I wondered if people got a refund or anything. It feels like sometimes early access and pre-alpha are ways for developers who can't be arsed to have a release or kickstarter to get money. I don't know if it's clever or scandalous but I do know that a lot of them look like ripoffs.

Quote from: Signe on December 30, 2016, 10:31:54 AM

I really think early access has been bad for the industry as a whole. I don't think Steam has a real policy on how to deal with abandoned games. Some of them are just pulled from the store and that's it, some of them stay up for months. Sometimes the dev just tosses out a "fuck it" patch and says "OK, um, this version is now 1.0, enjoy the finished game, some promised features had to be cut but you know, THAT'S GAME DEV. In other news, we'll be selling our next early access game starting next week, so thanks for your support!" Sometimes they've offered refunds (like Smed's latest game) sometimes they give copies of their other, finished games, or coupons or something. There's no way to know how things are going to roll.

And early access reviews always make me want to punch someone. "Oh, the game is terrible now, but it's got so much POTENTIAL, I'm giving it a thumbs up because the dev is a nice guy and I think the game might be great someday eventually maybe!" So give it a thumbs down now and change it later, asshole. I don't care if the dev buys you sandwiches, or what the game in your head looks like, I want to know what I'll get TODAY for the money the dev is charging TODAY. And of course, the other side of that coin, the "I'm banned on the official forums so I'm going to spend 80% of my three page review whining about every tweet and blog post the dev has made and 20% talking about this... what is it, some kind of game or something?" review.

Yeah Astroneer is most definitely on my watch list, but I'm also burned out with early access. I want to know there's going to be a game before I shell out anything.

I did my first post.trade with macros and such. Pretty cool.

Quote from: apocrypha on December 30, 2016, 12:52:24 PM

Yeah Astroneer is most definitely on my watch list, but I'm also burned out with early access. I want to know there's going to be a game before I shell out anything.

This.

That said, back into some 7 Days to Die. Just something I really dig (hah) about it.

Just bought Motor Sport manager. Played the tutorial and think I'm going to enjoy this game.

Haemish, check it out if you have any interest in motor sports. It's very much like football manager.

Quote from: Sky on December 30, 2016, 05:18:28 PM

That said, back into some 7 Days to Die. Just something I really dig (hah) about it.

I haven't tried to play that since they made it a great deal more difficult, and I did more dying than playing. Maybe I'll give that another shot.

On my list of maybes to buy from Steam sale: Subnautica, Stellaris, ARK, Goat Simulator.

(Thanks to Mr. Bloodworth for Subnautica demo - I had no idea that Steam now allows you to watch people play games!).

I've wondered what Astroneer devs could do to make me not enjoy playing. If they made it a great deal more difficult with no peaceful option, I suppose. I have almost already gotten my money's worth, because it's relaxing and pretty and I'm enjoying the music. But there isn't much of a game there yet.

The thing with 7 Days to Die is that it is, at least at this point, super tweak-able, especially if you don't mind digging into the .cfgs.

Don't like zombies being fast at night? Turn it off. Think zombie dogs are OP? Kill their spawns.

The game I'm playing right now is not at all the game the devs probably want. I got tired of the whole "7 Days to Die" thing and turned down the spawn progression to make the weekly zombie wave easily (relatively) survivable. So I guess I'm really playing a somewhat more "real-world" Minecraft, but it works for me.

Or it did. To be honest I stopped playing a few months ago after, having survived for weeks with no deaths, I got stupid and got torn apart (zombie dogs -- OP). I'll be back though next update to see the new stuff.

Subnatica is also a beautiful game that I also stopped playing, but for different reasons. The game world is not procedural, so rebuilding everything you've done after your old saves were nuked by the latest update was just too repetitive. But I'm looking forward to diving (ha ha) back in after release to play the complete game.

Finished Firewatch. It was good. Dialogue and voice acting were excellent; seriously some of the best ever laid down in a game. End was so-so. It's probably worth the price being asked.

Also finished Dragon's Dogma. People were right that it grows on you. The poutine analogy is excellent except you're getting some really gross crap in this poutine. Most of the individual systems are complete garbage, but it manages to come together, especially when you've got some points into some of the more interesting vocations. I might even do a serious New Game + for Bitterback Isle. The boss/mini boss fights are pretty well done and actually fun to tackle.

Might pick up Oxenfree or Hitman on my way out of the sale and then start tackling Humble Bundle items I've got laying about.

Quote from: Mandella on December 31, 2016, 09:21:57 AM

The game I'm playing right now is not at all the game the devs probably want. I got tired of the whole "7 Days to Die" thing and turned down the spawn progression to make the weekly zombie wave easily (relatively) survivable. So I guess I'm really playing a somewhat more "real-world" Minecraft, but it works for me.

This. I'm going to have to dig in a bit more, but my first go with Alpha 12 I heavily tweaked the cfg to make it a more casual experience. Even without that, just toning it down a bit with the ingame options (zed spawn to 50% and longer days is a big one, but they took out the ability to have long days but short nights). My initial three spawns were in the winter biome, and the lumberjack zombies are ridiculous to deal with as a newbie, luckily I was adjacent to a temperate biome the third time.

My gameplay yesterday was firming up an initial survival base, learning the changes from last time I played (ug, the forge is weird now), and spending a little time out bow hunting. Toned down, it's a nice relaxing game with just enough tension and action to keep it from getting stale.

Quote from: Xanthippe on December 31, 2016, 08:14:30 AM

(Thanks to Mr. Bloodworth for Subnautica demo - I had no idea that Steam now allows you to watch people play games!).

Wait, what?

Quote from: Sky on December 31, 2016, 10:06:47 AM

Quote from: Xanthippe on December 31, 2016, 08:14:30 AM

(Thanks to Mr. Bloodworth for Subnautica demo - I had no idea that Steam now allows you to watch people play games!).

Wait, what?

Steam client options - Broadcasting - Privacy setting. Default is 'Friends can request to watch my games' at 720p.

A whole new level of BiiF!

Does it include sound? Rocksmith concerts!

Started Hitman. Yah, this is good. Ejector seat death sealed it for me.

LEGO Dimensions which is generally chaotic and a tad buggy but something that my wife and I can do together. We completed the Fantasimal Beasts level and decided we do not need to watch the movie.

Final Fantasy 15

I'm working on completing the first Dishonored[PS4] with low chaos. I'll then be able to play the 2nd one which is still wrapped. Yes, I would like to play Thief 1/2 again. I think.

I have suspended Borderlands 2[PS4], Skyrim[PS4], and NMS for now due to Dishonored. I did reload and update Destiny last night, haven't jumped into a game yet.

Also played Job Simulator, which is fun but should have been named Really Try To Reach Shit. The wands are a little wonkadoo. Hopefully it is just the software and not that I have a bum camera or something. Need to spend more time with the PSVR to determine.

Quote from: Yegolev on January 03, 2017, 07:22:00 AM

Also played Job Simulator, which is fun but should have been named Really Try To Reach Shit. The wands are a little wonkadoo. Hopefully it is just the software and not that I have a bum camera or something. Need to spend more time with the PSVR to determine.

This seems to be a common thing with PSVR based on random internet chatter, unfortunately - I don't think it's your camera.

My 7 year old son is now playing Left 4 Dead 2. He has to be carried through every map, but the saddest thing is that I haven't seen him play one game yet where he was the worst player. Fuck.

Quote from: TheWalrus on January 03, 2017, 04:09:39 PM

My 7 year old son is now playing Left 4 Dead 2. He has to be carried through every map, but the saddest thing is that I haven't seen him play one game yet where he was the worst player. Fuck.

There's something to be said for dexterity. My son last hits better than I do in DotA.

Giving Grim Dawn another go, first time I leveled with a pet build which was a mistake because I got bored quickly. Trying a melee build this time around.

poe - which is great atm, breaches are super fun the 2nd tier of classes feel nice even if they are sorta anti-poe's design.

warframe - not as much as i should because i'm also playing...

atlas reactor - with people its pretty fun, only needs a group of 4. its something like xcom scaled combat, movement+cover design but simultaneous occuring turns and moba trappings (1 free ability, 3 cooldown abilities, 1 ult ability that has cd and high "energy" cost and 3 other minor non-character specific abilities).

TT sim - mainly for Kingdom Death Monster atm, which someone has taken the time to script to a level I've yet to see on TT Sim and makes it really a joy. You can even solo in KDM if you want to get a feel.

meanwhile on mobile when afk:
shadowverse aka weebstone, the far superior hearthstone. I'm not even joking. just more interesting decks, class designs also with more anime tits.
&
soccer spirits

pm if you play any of these things, i could use more people to game with.

Bought Binding of Isaac's new expansion Afterbirth + and boy is that thing a heaping trash fire.

I fired up Destiny again last night. Apparently I missed the entire Year 2. My Confluence still sucks. Game still fun.

I'm 10 hours into RimWorld and it's already making me want to play Dwarf Fortress, then I realize I have forgotten all the basics and go back to RimWorld's humane UI.

Binding of Isaac has never been a great game or even a well made game but it was fun enough to make me ignore its shortcomings. I'd consider it to be the worst game I regularly play (I have several hundred hours in Binding of Isaac).

Edmund McMillen (of Super Meatboy fame) and Niantic (his company) have never been stellar programmers. For example they once put out a release missing 130 items because they fucked up their production build and didn't even notice it for two weeks making a part of the game literally unfinishable and meant you couldn't unlock a character. They also aren't great game Designers. BoI has a lot of bugs that got never fixed and game balancing and game design issues that are obvious, flagrant and got never adressed. McMillen also has a huge chip on his shoulder. He hates it when people play his games wrong and he's petty when it comes to criticism of his game or people doing stuff with his games or to his games that he doesn't like. (for example he's still pretty mad about most of the secret stuff in BoI: Afterbirth being leaked in the first week after release by datamining assets and code).

Niantic is usually too lazy to fix actual bugs or bad game design decisions - like the shit performance of a 5 year old 2D pixel art game even on modern PCs, boss attacks having no tells (and therefore instakilling certain characters) or a suite of other glaring game design issues (like the broken random number generator and broken item pool system) - but dare to do something that he doesn't like and the whole fan base gets trolled or the game "fixed" post haste. Which is problematic because the game is a popular streamer's game and they are known to be experts at the game and experts at breaking it/trivializing it. Breaking the game and going on a powerful steamrolling run is actually a pretty fun way of playing the game - one the designer doesn't like at all unfortunately. It's still pretty difficult for normal players that don't stream though and don't have insane hours in the game (I still haven't 100%-ted it) but at least you have the opportunity to get a powerful run eventually that makes things easier.

This brings me to the new expansion of BoI called Afterbirth +. It should have been a mini expansion that adds new content (new floors, new bosses, new enemy types and a new character) and should also integrate a modding API and modding tools into the game to give fans the opportunity to make mods and add new content to the game. It was considered to be the last and final update to the game with the modding stuff giving the community the tools to "take over" the game and keep it running even when the company no longer supports it.

It's also a massive, massive train wreck that has so far managed to piss off almost everyone, even the hard core fans and streamers who kept interest in the game going for the last five years.

- none (and I mean none) of the bugs and game design issues that had been in the game - sometimes since BoI: Rebirth (the remake of the original flash game that came out 5 years ago) - have been fixed
- the new content makes a hard game even harder but doesn't balance it out.
- most of the new content is just a reskin of existing content and we're talking about a game here that already has lots of reskinned assets and duplicate stuff
- the new content is introducing a lot of new and glaring game balancing issues.
- the new content is flat out not completable by two player characters (The Lost and the Keeper) even if you manage to get an ultra powerful broken run. (e.g. The Lost dies when it gets hits twice in a room and there are bosses that you can't "no-hit finish")
- the game itself is broken, crashes a lot, enemies sometimes don't animate properly, certain item combos crash the game, certain game elements crash the game (e.g. pressing buttons in a certain order in rooms)
- a significant fraction of the new content is only there to fuck with players and streamers and to troll people that have the audacity to play the game "wrong" (e.g. restarting the game too many times to get to a decent starting item room will eventually lead to you restarting with one health regardless of character)
- there's a new game+ mode (called victory lap) that has no purpose at all, you can't even unlock content playing it.

- the modding tools have no documentation at all (only function signatures probably directly out of Doxygen)
- the modding tools are incomplete and you can't access half of what you'd need to make a decent mod (you can't for example modify player stats and therefore can't create new items that may need to modify player stats)
- there are only a few asset editors for basic stuff, most is command line
- the modding tools crash a lot and certain functionality simply doesn't work even though the features are in the modding tools.

They also charged $10 for that mess.

In fact a few of the people in the BoI modding community have come out to say that their existing mods can't be integrated into Afterbirth + because the modding API lacks the features they'd need - basic features at that.

It didn't help either that two weeks prior to the new expansion's release a fan made mod called "Binding of Isaac: Antibirth" came out that is above and beyond anything that Niantic has ever put out. It introduces a shitload of new content (an "alternate path" set of floors with a consistent theme, new bosses, new enemies, new items, new characters, new music, new rooms and new game mechanic ideas) that is for the most part excellent, well balanced and bug free. They've also managed to fix a lot of the existing bugs and glaring game design issues that were still in the base game (Item pools now work correctly, the RNG works correctly, Boss bugs have been corrected, you can no longer "breakfast" yourself with dice rolls, etc.)

It's basically an embarrassment to the original devs because it has a level of craftsmanship, quality, attention to detail and care put into it that is pretty much absent in the base game at this point. It took the community by storm and now almost everyone is playing the fan made mod over the actual game because its infinitely better. It also highlights just how much of a dumpster fire the new addon truly is.

The new release has managed to basically kill any interest in the game that has been a staple amongst twitch streamers and still had a pretty sizable fan base and most people I know (including myself) have already used the steam refunds to get rid of it.

Quote from: Rendakor on December 26, 2016, 06:53:37 AM

If you ever need some hackmon of early generations Pokemon Bank comes out soon I can hook you guys uuuuuuppppppp

Jeff, Niantic did not make BoI. They're the guys that did Ingress and Pokemon Go.

Nicalis not Niantic. No idea how I mixed them up.

TIL people read his walls of text.

I read Jeff's wall of text, with interest. I found it informative, and hey, if I do go back to the game, hopefully I remember there's a mod that fixes all the things.

Got a whole slew of games to play - and I keep going back to Fallout 4. Every time a few new interesting mods appear, I end up restarting.

Amazes me that I'm still finding low level side things I missed on the five previous plays.

Currently level 20 on a settlement building playthrough. Installed a green grass mod, place anywhere mod, and a much bigger build are mod. You can literally cover the entirety of Sanctuary's island in buildings if your rig will handle it. Installed a personal bodyguard mod that lets you create a bodyguard to go with you in addition to the regular follower, and have been gearing them up more than myself. Only combat perk I have is explosives.

Some of the little quality of life mods out now are amazing. One for hotkeys for example, that lets you open your companion's inventory from a distance with a hotkey.