Useless gaming news & chatter

[schild]

The controls in every rockstar game are trash. They're a low key eurojank company.

[Sky]

The controls in every rockstar game are trash. They're a low key eurojank company.

It's more that they way overdid the button re-use because RDR2 has so many contextual controls. I know the basic button layout (same as GTA) but then they change the mapping contextually, which is at best unintentionally funny but usually just obnoxious.

I don't mind the controls in GTA.

Also I thought this was the 'what are you playing' thread oops.

[Typhon]

Does anyone know if PoE 2 is making any progress?  (really liked what they showed a year ago)

Anyone know if they plan to change the skill system?  Always felt to me like there were a bunch of false-choices in the tree (i.e. if you don't go heavy into defense you are fucked).  Either split the trees into three (offensive, defense, utility) or put all the defensive stuff early in the tree to make the choice between defenses, rather than defense/offence.

There hasn't been much PoE 2 news since the reveal. It's probably a year or more away still.

I'd be a little bit surprised if anything drastic happens to the main skill tree aside from the usual rebalancing that happens with every major patch. However! The Atlas tree that was introduced last league got some sweet updates with 3.18, including a pair of nodes that globally modify monster stats in maps - one that gives -25% life, +25% damage, and one with +50% life, -25% damage. I haven't played around with these yet but they should help you get away with very tanky or glassy builds that wouldn't have been viable previously.

Another addition is the ability to completely disable certain league mechanics for a payoff. I've felt for a long time that the game simply has too much stuff in it grabbing your attention in maps so I'm glad to see these, if disappointed that you still can't turn off Betrayal.

Thank you! Wasn't sure if I'd just missed it (news), or they were still just dark.

[Khaldun]

Starfield gameplay looks good. Too soon for its own topic?

[schild]

Starfield gameplay looks good. Too soon for its own topic?

probably

i don't even think we have a diablo iv thread yet or maybe we do not only do we but i made it nvm sure make a no mans elder scrolls thread

[Falconeer]

Starfield gameplay looks bland as fuck. But if it's a more rich and interesting No Man's Sky+Skyrim maybe it will be fun to play.

[Sky]

Starfield gameplay looks bland as fuck. But if it's a more rich and interesting No Man's Sky+Skyrim maybe it will be fun to play.

Bethesda is bland af. Have been for a looong time.

edit: saw the trailer. Gunplay looks terrible. Lots of recycled ideas without much hiding the sources. 1000 explorable planets sounds like even more of the Bethsoft habit of designing giant spaces and having them very sparsely hand-crafted. That's where they started to lose me as a fan (though I still enjoy wandering for dozens of hours, it's just not as satifsying), way back in Morrowind. Gothic came out just before and the smaller but more explorer reward-driven map was way more my jam. That's where I get tired of NMS, so much randomly generated generic yawn.

Their big ship design reveal was cool but also things like Space Engineers and Empyrion exist, so seeing a stripped down version isn't impressive at all. Just hoping that throwing so many things into the blender makes at least an enjoyable homogenization that is more than the individual parts.

[Rendakor]

I didn't watch the trailer but I'm a day 1 purchase and noted Skyrim fanboi.

The news I'm more excited for is finally getting Persona 3 and 5 on PC. I'm debating if I want to start with Royal or replay from 3 forward; I never actually finished 5 because playing on consoles is a nightmare.

[Sky]

Not really news so much as just posting this to poke fun at a clear piece of shit: https://www.eurogamer.net/saber-interactive-files-defamation-claim-amid-spintires-legal-dispute

TLDR Guy who made Spintires (which led to Mudrunner/Snowrunner) made an early deal with a sketchy publisher (Oovee), who now feels they're entitled to 25% royalties on the 2 subsequent games, despite having done nothing at all in regards to them. The telling passage imo:

Of the four main employees at Oovee in 2016, who I spoke to for Eurogamer's previous report, only founder Zane Saxton remains. When approached for an interview last week, I spoke with the company's new CEO Devin Milsom, a close friend of Saxton. There was no mention made of the details surrounding his former associates' departures.

"We've lost millions on top of spending millions from Spintires being down," Milsom told me. "Zane's had to sell his house, his cars, I've had to invest assets to keep Oovee alive."

Milson's previous enterprises include the Crypto Investors Club and the Emerging Markets Investment Club, which are now listed as dissolved. Online, Milsom has other business interests, such as a YouTube channel where he advises on where to buy and sell gold and silver bullion. He's also the author of 21 Crypto Secrets: That Turned 4 Figures Into 6 Figures In Less Than 12 Months, which is available on Amazon.

The article notes that while Saber has gone on to do a bunch of titles, Oovee has done nothing since Spintires and a couple DLC. Also the original point of contention was that they didn't pay out properly to the original game's author while claiming he wasn't hitting development goals (despite, you know, releasing the game, DLC, and two subsequent games that have rafts of DLC). Leeches like these need to be removed from the pool.

[Trippy]

The Steam Summer Sale 2022 update wiped my Wishlist

They also removed the Wishlist link from the top right of the main Store page UI for some inexplicable reason.

[Velorath]

Odd, still there in the corner on mine and my wishlist is intact. You sure you're signed in?

[Trippy]

Yeah I'm signed in. However both are back now (my list and the UI element) so they fixed whatever the issue was on their servers.

[Velorath]

The servers in general have been having issues since the sale started.

[Trippy]

Yup, same as it ever was.

[Sky]

I miss good deals during Steam sales.

[Trippy]

There's still plenty of good deals on older stuff but you presumably already have those ones.

[Soulflame]

That's been my experience these past few years with the Steam sales.  The usual suspects that I either already own, or don't really want to buy.

[schild]

My wishlist finally reappeared. Pretty good sale tbh

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, I see a bunch of stuff I might finally pull the trigger on. 

[Trippy]

Sale looks different when you are shopping for controller games that play well on a small screen while sitting on the toilet.

[Sky]

Sale looks different when you are shopping for controller games that play well on a small screen while sitting on the toilet.

True, I have been slowly adding a few I don't have to the wishlist but won't pull the trigger until I have my deck in hand.

[schild]

Sale looks different when you are shopping for controller games that play well on a small screen while sitting on the toilet.

I spent more on this sale than the last 10 combined.

[Mosesandstick]

I picked up a couple of games (~2 years old) but the prices were pretty similar to previous sale prices.

[Rasix]

I still have too much to play.

[Mandella]

Yeah, they pretty well included my whole wish list in this sale, which admittedly is weighted with older games I've finally decided to give a try to.

[Sky]

I made the mistake of trying out No Oxygen Included and lost a long weekend. Dammit!

https://www.cracked.com/article_34432_cyberpunk-2077-leak-reveals-game-allegedly-failed-due-to-troll-bug-testers.html

JFC

Disgruntled workers of Quantic Labs, the company that did Cyberpunk's QA, allegedly leaked a document stating that the company misled CD Projekt Red at every step of the way just so they could extend their contract.

[Trippy]

I made the mistake of trying out No Oxygen Included and lost a long weekend. Dammit!

Excellent game. I couldn't get into it the first couple of times I tried to play it but after I figured it out it's actually a fluid dynamics simulator disguised as a survival / digging game I got much further.

[Trippy]

https://www.cracked.com/article_34432_cyberpunk-2077-leak-reveals-game-allegedly-failed-due-to-troll-bug-testers.html

JFC

Disgruntled workers of Quantic Labs, the company that did Cyberpunk's QA, allegedly leaked a document stating that the company misled CD Projekt Red at every step of the way just so they could extend their contract.

Headline is total clickbait. If it were actually true that CDPR didn't know about the bugs, which I doubt, that just means they (the actual devs) didn't play their own game. Which sets the game up for failure no matter how good or bad QA was.

[schild]

that sounds like utter nonsense

[Sky]

Wanna work on GTA 6? https://hitmarker.net/jobs?company=rockstar-games

227 positions open

[Samwise]

Lawyer Sanctioned for Failing to Play Call of Duty

lol

On July 12, 2022, the court granted Activision’s motions, dismissed the Complaint with prejudice, and ordered the plaintiff’s counsel to reimburse Activision for the reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs that it incurred in the litigation. The court concluded that the “Plaintiff's counsel failed to conduct a reasonable pre-filing inquiry into the relevant facts” alleged in the Complaint because, among other things, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare “is a first-person shooter game, not first-and third-person as alleged, and Sean Brooks does not conduct a scripted battle scene in a high fashion couture shopping mall. Plaintiff's counsel could have easily verified these facts prior to filing the factually baseless Complaint, just as the Court easily verified them within the first hour and a half of playing the game.”

[Kail]

Lawyer Sanctioned for Failing to Play Call of Duty

lol

On July 12, 2022, the court granted Activision’s motions, dismissed the Complaint with prejudice, and ordered the plaintiff’s counsel to reimburse Activision for the reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs that it incurred in the litigation. The court concluded that the “Plaintiff's counsel failed to conduct a reasonable pre-filing inquiry into the relevant facts” alleged in the Complaint because, among other things, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare “is a first-person shooter game, not first-and third-person as alleged, and Sean Brooks does not conduct a scripted battle scene in a high fashion couture shopping mall. Plaintiff's counsel could have easily verified these facts prior to filing the factually baseless Complaint, just as the Court easily verified them within the first hour and a half of playing the game.”

I mean, the case sounds ridiculous, just overall.

The idea of throwing the case out because it's a first person shooter and not a first and third person shooter has me chuckling, though.  I just keep imagining court scenes where the lawyer is like "Your honor, the defense claims that their client could not have committed the murder because they were at home playing the hit RPG, Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past.  But what the ladies and gentlemen of the jury need to understand is... ZELDA IS NOT AN RPG AT ALL!"  *horrified gasps from the jury*

[Trippy]

For the handful of that have played State of Decay 2: the "Forever Communities" update is now live:

https://support.stateofdecay.com/hc/en-us/articles/8464902912525-Update-30-Forever-Communities-

Forever Communities

When completing a Legacy you now have the option to continue playing with the same community!

* You can either disband your community, or continue playing after completing a Legacy.

* Before continuing on with your community, you can choose to send individual characters to the Legacy Pool. Those survivors will remain in the pool and will not be included in your continued community.

*And yes, you keep your supply locker contents when continuing a community!


Legacy Recruitment

Your Legacy Pool is now more accessible than ever!

* Legacy recruitment is here! We’ve added the ability to recruit survivors from your Legacy Pool into current communities. Check your radio menu!
Survivors can now be sent to the Legacy Pool at any time. Mark them from the Community Screen, then talk to the marked survivor to send them on their way.

* Survivors sent to the Legacy Pool take their current inventory with them.


A Refreshed Legacy Pool

We’ve redesigned the Legacy Pool menu to ease navigation and display more information about your survivors!

* Mark your favorite survivors to find them more easily!

* The Legacy Pool now includes filtering by name, leader type, community skills, Legacy count, and favorites.

* Survivor inventories are now visible in the Legacy Pool. Select a survivor from the Legacy Pool to view their details. Now you can find where your favorite weapons are hiding!

[Rasix]

PoE community is in full meltdown mode at the moment.  Grinding Gear Games fucked up pretty hard with this league and is facing a massive Reddit revolt.

Here's the gist:

• GGG massively altered the loot allocation. They removed large bonuses from old league content and pushed it to the reworked rare mobs (which people do not like). 
• They did not indicate the above in the patch notes or the design manefesto. Whoops. They also undertuned the new bonuses. Loot is pretty sparse, especially currency.
• The league content released this league is pretty meh and at launch (and still kind of is) unrewarding and a bit clunky.
• They changed the meta mod currency to a currency that is less easily obtained and is used to roll value on gear. This is a messy change and nobody wanted it. It may be due to people cracking the code on particular powerful randomized jewel, which can now be predicted with a tool. Economy in shambles.
• They are not backing off the loot changes and are incrementally buffing rather than reverting the change. Cue angry streamers and review bombs.

Do I like new changes? Not in particular. Did they fuck up? Yep. Pretty badly. They commited probably the biggest sin imaginable: they fucked with the loot and made it worse. Is it getting incrementally better? Yeah.

I'm not going to stop playing, as I've made enough currency to have fun with my current build, and I want to explore the league mechanic a bit more. This may end up being a fairly short lived league for me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Rendakor]

Yea from reading the changes, it's pretty wild. I don't really play high end juiced content so I'm kinda meh either way, but it's certainly stupid of them to unleash massive nerfs without warning the community ahead of time. The Div <-> Ex switch just feels stupid, and if it really is because of the jewel there had to have been another way to make that change.

Regarding the league mechanic, I like leagues like this that give you zones to run more than things like breach, ritual, etc. that involve standing in one small area with a huge pack on you. Still haven't made it through the acts (because of work, not because of a dislike for the changes) so I'm really not in a position to judge much. I will say I played on launch day and had no lag or crashes, so that was refreshing.

Overall these nerfs seem to be pushing towards their "vision" of POE2, which is more challenging and slower paced. I don't disagree with that in principle; the high end, nonstop zoom playstyle doesn't appeal to me much. In practice, they're likely to alienate the current community who DOES like that sort of thing, and the constant negative press between now and POE2's launch (if that's ever even a thing) is going to fuck them.