Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

[GreenGoo]

For me personally, I left reload where it was just so that muscle memory would punish me occasionally if I was too reload happy from playing other characters. I would often switch between characters, sometimes multiple times an evening. So yeah, I would reload on my stack build pretty regularly (until I finally learned to stop touching the hot stove), but I felt it was fair and added an element of risk (well, downside anyway) to the build. Remapping the key somewhere where I am unlikely to ever hit it by accident is like editing out the negative side effects of the skill.

I am absolutely not judging anyone or suggesting they play the way I play, I'm just discussing how I view this particular skill. The designers put in effort to make a fun skill with a fun "chaotic" aspect. Removing the bad and leaving the good is a little too much gaming the game, for me, even if it's a clever work around.

[TheMix]

I fired up Borderlands 2 for the first time in ages, and was initially confused as to why I had "Reload" mapped to "=" instead of "R". Then I remembered that Gaige is my favorite character, and how sad I feel when I accidentally hit reload and wipe a full stack of anarchy.

Amen. However, don't forget that you can reload again to stop the drain. And the drain isn't instant. You just have to train yourself a bit to watch for the effect that happens when you reload early. Then just fire a shot and reload again. I rarely lose more than a few stacks.

I did end up respec'ing though. While running with anarchy was awesome in TVHM, I found that it was just too hard to maintain in UVHM. I think I got up to ~150 stacks a couple times, but most of the time I was lucky if I made it much past 50 stacks; which just didn't make it worthwhile. Perhaps in a group, but running UVHM solo makes it too likely that you'll get killed. And there go the stacks.

I did discover that the Lady Fist has been woefully under-appreciated by me. I just got Gaige to level 72. The last 5 levels or so I ran with two Lady Fists. Holy cow those guns are amazing. I kept trying other guns, but ended up going back to them each time. I just wish I could farm for them to pick up a few more.

[Daehawk]

I noticed this blurb in the new Mortal Kombat review......

Mortal Kombat 11 is the best game in the 27-year-old series thanks to deep, methodical new mechanics and fun story.

Holy smokes 27 years. I remember playing the first one in what were left of arcades at the time. Didn't seem that long ago until I saw the number 27 written down.

[Blackhawk]

Mini-rant: I used to love third person single player action games. Rune, for example. The Witcher scratched that itch for a while. But I hate that that entire genre has transofrmed into Souls games. Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Nioh, Sekiro. They all look so very, very cool, but I hate games where the mechanics are built around difficulty and frustration. I don't find that fun at all, but the chance to play a samurai fighting demons? It isn't available anywhere else. Souls proved so popular that everyone making a game that looks like Souls makes it play like Souls.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, 3rd person difficult games that are difficult for the sake of being difficult (it's a design choice) has absolutely soured me as well. It's almost like the 3rd person action/combat games are the "torture porn" movies of the 1990s and mid 2000s - after SAW became popular. I can't even remember the name now - it was some type of Nordic/Viking theme 3rd person combat game I picked up last year; I couldn't finish the intro tutorial. I'm pretty sure I just gave up an uninstalled it after an hour. I've tried Dark Souls and a few others; it's just not something I'm into. I don't derive satisfaction from overcoming something difficult. Instead I'm playing for a story or experience. I'm thankful for games like the newer Assassin's Creed that (sort of) fill that need. I enjoyed Dragon's Dogma. The Witcher 3 is still the gold standard, hands down.

[coopasonic]

Dark Souls - 2011
Dark Souls II - 2014
Lords of the Fallen - 2014
Bloodborne 2015
Dark Souls III - 2016
Nioh - 2017
The Surge - 2017
Sekiro - 2019
The Surge 2 - (expected) 2019

In that same time period, we have a bunch of other third person action games, like Shadow of Mordor/War, Mad Max, the Batman games, Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, Grand Theft Auto, Witcher 3, Spider-man, Horizon Zero Dawn, Far Cry, Tomb Raider and others I am missing.

I feel like Souls-like games are still very much a niche. Until Sekiro the From games have been thematically empty. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are saying. I do that a lot.

[Blackhawk]

Fair point. There were also Mass Effect x4 and The Divison x2 during that time. Also MMOs that were action-y. I should have made my post clearer. It is the non-shooters that I miss, the straightforward action games. There are plenty of third person action games with guns.

And, to be fair, Shadow of Mordor/War, Assassin's Creed, Spider-Man and the Arkham games are more their own subgenre. They're... third person combo fighter games, perhaps? The action sequences play out almost like a timing puzzle, sort of a high-speed QTE with decision points (and I've played at least some games in every one of those series, and enjoy them.) You aren't so much dancing around swinging a sword as you're watching for button prompts and reacting to them with complex combos.

Also, Far Cry is first person only.

[coopasonic]

That's how much I care about 1st vs 3rd person. I don't even remember that I couldn't see my character and I finished New Dawn just weeks ago.

And, to be fair, Shadow of Mordor/War, Assassin's Creed, Spider-Man and the Arkham games are more their own subgenre. They're... third person combo fighter games, perhaps? The action sequences play out almost like a timing puzzle, sort of a high-speed QTE with decision points (and I've played at least some games in every one of those series, and enjoy them.) You aren't so much dancing around swinging a sword as you're watching for button prompts and reacting to them with complex combos.

Looking at it that way, I could say that Souls-likes are basically the same thing but the prompts are subtler and the timing is tighter. The Surge even has some explicit button prompts.

Just to be clear, I am discussing, not arguing. In this community, I am probably one of the biggest fans of the games you are lamenting, but I am specifically trying to avoid replying defensively. I love all games, except any retro, pixel-graphics, platformer, team shooter, MOBA, 4x... umm, wait do I love any games?

[Blackhawk]

I don't hate the games. I just don't find frustration enjoyable, and I don't enjoy 'replay until you learn it' as a mechanic. I want to be in that world. Constantly replaying the same section turns you from a sword wielding hero fighting a demon to a gamer learning mechanics. It absolutely kills immersion and the whole willing suspension of disbelief that is at the core of why I play games. I want to be that hero for an hour or two, not a game analyst.

[coopasonic]

I don't think immersion works for my brain. I am always the gamer, never inside the game, pushing buttons not swinging swords. Oddly I think I am more immersed in movies where I am completely passive than games where I am driving the actions of the protagonist.

[Blackhawk]

Ah, then that would probably be where we disconnect. I live for immersion. For example, I love WWII games. Hidden and Dangerous 2 was all about tactics. I loved it and got lost in it. When I played, it was me moving through the forest, hunting down Nazis. Brothers in Arms came out about the same time. It had comparable graphics, the same point of view, the same setting. At the same time, it had a lot gamey mechanics. Battles played out like puzzles - cover was placed there and there for your suppression teams, there is a wall over there set up for flankers. I had fun with it, but it always felt like a game to me. Pixels and AI subroutines and developer intent. No getting lost in it.

[Isgrimnur]

I Googled the way to beat the first boss in The Surge.

[dbemont]

Ah, then that would probably be where we disconnect. I live for immersion. For example, I love WWII games. Hidden and Dangerous 2 was all about tactics. I loved it and got lost in it. When I played, it was me moving through the forest, hunting down Nazis. Brothers in Arms came out about the same time. It had comparable graphics, the same point of view, the same setting. At the same time, it had a lot gamey mechanics. Battles played out like puzzles - cover was placed there and there for your suppression teams, there is a wall over there set up for flankers. I had fun with it, but it always felt like a game to me. Pixels and AI subroutines and developer intent. No getting lost in it.

This.

More and more, I want my games to feel like I am in the role, as opposed to solving puzzles and gaming numerical rules.

I think that that is why I am so optimistic about Spire of Sorcery. It seems like that is what they are going for.

[GreenGoo]

I specifically like 3rd person to enjoy the animations involved, particularly if the game controls are intuitive and fluid and the animations are amazing.

Making me feel like I'm controlling a superhero ninja gymnast with ease and speed is just about the best experience ever in a video game. That doesn't happen in 1st person.

Heretic II is the first game that comes to mind that really nailed it for me. I don't remember what the game was like, but controlling the character was pure joy.

Jedi Outcast was so amazing I spent hours flipping off walls, force grabbing, sabre throwing and force pushing. It was so much fun that just controlling the character was as compelling or moreso than the game itself.

First person has some advantages but none of the joys.

[Blackhawk]

Jedi Outcat was absolutely amazing. Force Jump + Force Pull was hillarious.

Third person gives you a better sense of character. First person gives better immersion. Or at least that's my experience.

[Isgrimnur]

Jedi Outcat was absolutely amazing. Force Jump + Force Pull was hillarious.

Force Pushing things off tables, Force Opening doors, then not going through them...

[Daehawk]

Jedi Outcat was absolutely amazing. Force Jump + Force Pull was hillarious.

Force Pushing things off tables, Force Opening doors, then not going through them...

Force choking enemy players in mp then hanging them off a ledge or bridge and dropping them. Force pushing enemy players in mp off ledges.

[GreenGoo]

Jedi Outcat was absolutely amazing. Force Jump + Force Pull was hillarious.

Force Pushing things off tables, Force Opening doors, then not going through them...

Force scratching closed doors, then force wandering away when they are opened.

[GreenGoo]

Holy shit. Raven developed Heretic II and Jedi Outcast apparently. Huh.

[Blackhawk]

Not to mention Soldier of Fortune and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Raven, Looking Glass, and Monolith alone were responsible for some of my favorite action games ever made.

[Isgrimnur]

Jedi Outcat was absolutely amazing. Force Jump + Force Pull was hillarious.

Force Pushing things off tables, Force Opening doors, then not going through them...

Force scratching closed doors, then force wandering away when they are opened.

[Rumpy]

Raven kind of faded after they were acquired by Activision, weren't they? Or are they still around? I see they're more or less involved in the Call of Duty franchise and developed a free-to-play Call of Duty title.

[GreenGoo]

Yes, they make CoD DLC now. Like mining coal, but for software developers.

[Daehawk]

https://www.pcgamesn.com/skyrim/skyrim- ... lease-date

Fan-funded Skyrim multiplayer mod may never release as devs “don’t owe the community anything”

Maxgriot’s comments were made in response to a post on the mod’s subreddit. The content of the post – titled “Is something going to happen?” – has now been deleted, but the development team seems to have been upset by its overall message. Maxgriot responded telling the original poster that “we don’t owe the community anything,” and that updates are posted only “if we feel like spending time doing it.”

As pointed out in the response to that comment, the community around the mod is still contributing more than $18,000 per month to the development process via Patreon – at the height of the project’s popularity, that figure rose to nearly double the current amount.

[Paingod]

I quickly went from "Entitled little shits expecting modders to grind themselves to death for free" to "Oh, they're paying for that. Yeah. Not cool."

[TheMix]

I quickly went from "Entitled little shits expecting modders to grind themselves to death for free" to "Oh, they're paying for that. Yeah. Not cool."

+1

Seems like receiving money is the very definition of "we owe the community something".

[Max Peck]

For the first time in about a year and half, Volition was streaming on Twitch today. The tl;dw is that they seem to have survived Agents of Mayhem, and they have something in development but can't talk about it yet. There's also a lot of reminiscing about the old days, for those who have fond memories of little games like Descent, Descent II, Freespace, Freespace 2...

Here is the vod, if anyone is interested.

[dbt1949]

Nothing like playing on a new computer with no glitches. My olde one had glitches for over three years not to mention being dated. And a clean monitor.

[Kasey Chang]

Playing ADR1FT, man, this is one hard game. I think I should go play something else. Running out of air is not a good way to go.

[dbt1949]

I have so many games I want to like but I'm so damn bad at them I don't play them.

[Blackhawk]

I decided it was finally time to play Ghost Recon Wildlands, so I installed it a couple of days ago. I was going to start it today as I had a couple of hours free for a change.

Launch.
Black screen (not a Windows black screen, the GR:W screen was black.)
Restart.
Launch.
Black screen.
Verify files.
Files corrupt.
19gb download.
Launch
35gb download
WTF? Close Uplay and relaunch it.
Launch
Game not installed.
Point Uplay at install location.
"Need to verify files."
Verify files.
Files corrupt.
18gb download.

Remember that two hours of gaming I had? Not anymore.


Oh. Ubisoft. Every game they put out (at least those with multiplayer) has major issues for me. Siege won't play nice with mainstream (Corsair) mouse software, and constantly breaks Discord. If I alt-tab out to fix it, the game stutters until I restart it, forcing everyone else to wait on me. I can't not alt-tab out, as otherwise I can't fix Discord. The Divison had horrible lag issues despite a great connection, and frequently saw sudden, extreme performance drops (I'd be playing at 120+FPS, then suddenly I'm at 17FPS.) Brian would get disconnected every hour or so. Draw in was so bad that sometimes I'd sit there running through a black void.

I'm guessing that it's either their copy protection or their anti-cheat that's actively interfering with every driver, service, and application on my system, even though I minimize the number that I run while gaming.

This is the kind of thing that makes me reconsider this hobby - and seriously hesitate before buying Ubi games.

[Kasey Chang]

Decided to go back to play Battletech, without RogueTech and other stuff. This time, I actually did pretty good, even though I had a pilot knocked out for 2 whole months (!) Somehow, injuries are VERY easy in the scout. Even LRM salvo can cause a head hit. ARGH. Did the half skull and 1 skull missions, so far works pretty well, but collecting pieces of mechs so far isn't that profitable. At least I'm not going negative.

Did a "protect the base for 10 turns" mission. Killed everything coming one way, even though a Jenner got past me. Then a second group of enemies came at the base from the OTHER side, and I was like F***!!!!!!!! Fortunately, the AI spread fire among multiple buildings, and I was able to sprint my mechs into firing range. A couple buildings were down to skeletons, but they were still standing when I took out the attacks. Phew.

EDIT: Just played the Argo recovery mission. ARGH. Should probably reload the mission and do it over. Suffered MAJOR damages, two mechs destroyed, 2 mechwarriors killed to take down the pirate lance guarding the Argo. The rest of the mechs are so damaged it'll take MONTHS to put them back together.

EDIT: Replayed the Argo mission, this time suffering NO casualties. Taking care of the first 5 defenders were not a problem. This time, the Quickdraw showed up first, and the Shadowhawk trailed behind. I was able to engage the Quickdraw away from the Shadowhawk, while keeping the Shadowhawk distracted with the Spider (lucky). Managed to blow both arms off the Quickdraw, then melee'ed it to submission. Then it's a matter of concentrating fire on the Shadowhawk until it croaks.

Only 2 out of four mechs suffered more than armor damage, and repairs are done within a few days. Captured the Quickdraw too via salvage, plus the free centurion. Selling off the Locust and probably the Spider after I'm finished fixing it. That thing is so fragile a kick will probably destroy it. Have enough mechs, and 1.7 M in the bank. Life is okay.

[GreenGoo]

Need to contact steam for a non-help database issue. How?

The issue is that a game was redeemed to the wrong account in my household, I'd like to get it moved to the correct account.

edit: I submitted a ticket under an inappropriate database topic because they didn't give me any other option. We'll see how this goes. I am pessimistic.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Need to contact steam for a non-help database issue. How?

The issue is that a game was redeemed to the wrong account in my household, I'd like to get it moved to the correct account.

edit: I submitted a ticket under an inappropriate database topic because they didn't give me any other option. We'll see how this goes. I am pessimistic.

Try using the contact info from GetHuman.com.

[GreenGoo]

I actually did. The automated voice system said they didn't provide support for steam and promptly hung up on me.

Thanks for the idea though.

[Kasey Chang]

Played a little more Battletech, got to the "destroy this dropship for the noble" mission right after Smithson. ARGH. (2.5 skulls)

I sent in a half ballistics, half laser lance, all are at least rated 5 or higher on the heat efficiency. Took down the drop ship, but the turrets basically shredded me. When our nemesis showed up, I'm down to two active mechs. Reload!

I probably should have taken my time, destroy the turret generator, and only destroy the dropship on the final turn allowed. And the lance I sent in is not exactly optimized. Back to the drawing board...

UPDATE: Revisited the scenario. Actually destroyed the initial defenders with zero casualties, took out both generators. Then the nemesis showed up with a heavy lance... A Catapult with PPCs? WTF? She charged us, so I sent in 3 guys to melee her while the fourth take pop shots at the other mechs. One lost an arm and was knocked down. And has no weapons left. Another lost its arm too and most of its weapons. But they took down the Catapult. The remaining two whole mechs were able to close in and wipe out the remaining mechs, but both of the hurt mechs went down when I sent them as distractions. The result: main character out for 3 months, one dead mechwarrior. But at least the mission's done.

[GreenGoo]

edit: I submitted a ticket under an inappropriate database topic because they didn't give me any other option. We'll see how this goes. I am pessimistic.

I have received a response in just about 24 hours, which is pretty good and surprised me. They've said I need a ticket open from the account with the game on it (which makes sense, and I did that immediately this morning) so now I'll wait 24 hours from the time that ticket was opened (so tomorrow morning, hopefully, depending on their support work schedule).

On the plus side they didn't just say "nope, ticket closed" so my optimism is growing. A little.

[GreenGoo]

Boom! Problem solved. They removed the key from my son's account and I was immediately able to activate it on my own. Well done, Steam! I feared the worst, but my fears turned out to be unfounded. I'm even surprised at the 1 day turn around, considering the steam user base and service ticket queue size (I assume is huge).

Happy is me.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Boom! Problem solved. They removed the key from my son's account and I was immediately able to activate it on my own. Well done, Steam! I feared the worst, but my fears turned out to be unfounded. I'm even surprised at the 1 day turn around, considering the steam user base and service ticket queue size (I assume is huge).

Happy is me.

Glad to hear it worked out for the best in the end.

In fairness to GetHuman.com, I noticed their recommended "best method" for contacting Steam was via the Steam Software Help Desk, so it's good to know that did, indeed, prove more to be fruitful than the telephone number they had listed.

[GreenGoo]

If you read the Gethuman details, I think it even says that Valve does not provide phone support for Steam, but it's buried in there and I didn't even see it until after the phone call. Even now I'm not exactly sure about the details, as I had already moved on, trying to find some other way. I don't blame gethuman for anything and I certainly appreciate your trying to help.

My main issue was that there was no "open a new ticket" option. You literally have to pick a help database topic and follow it then open a ticket under that heading (which I didn't even realize you could do until I followed an unrelated help topic).