Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

[Daehawk]

This is pretty spot on for me.

[Skinypupy]

It's been several years since I've played video game football, and Madden 24 was 50% off this weekend so I grabbed it. I wanted to be able to a) play local games against the kids and b) play through a full season.

The first 20 minutes of the game were spent walking me through all the different "Season Pass" features, loot boxes, creating and managing "ultimate teams" (legacy player cards you get for doing different activities and one-off challenges), ways to gain account XP for various social features, cash shop items...literally everything except actually playing video game football. It was both hilarious and maddening (no pun intended).

I did finally get through all the fluff and figured out where I needed to go to start a season. Before I could do that, however, I needed to define my team strategies and goals for the season, complete a series of mini-games for individual player development, complete simulated media interviews, examine my salary cap, review the injury report, and what felt like about a hundred other things. I spent quite a bit of time looking for ways I could either opt out of or automate all of that, but came up empty. I just gave up because I didn't really want to bother with any of that nonsense.

I did finally figure out how to play a custom game and gave the Wonder Twins 10.5 their first taste of Madden, which was pretty fun. I don't have a clue WTF I'm doing, but it's a hoot going against other players who also have a very basic knowledge of football but don't have a clue WTF they're doing in the game.

Maybe I'm just not really the target audience anymore, but the entire game seemed both absurdly in-depth and fiddly, and filled with flashy "look over here!" and "buy this!" that it really put me off.

[jztemple2]

I'm looking for suggestions for a game like Satisfactory, a factory game but played in a full 3D world in first person rather than from some God's eye camera view. I was going to fire up Satisfactory again but thought I'd see if there are some fun alternatives. Thanks!

Have you tried FortressCraft Evolved?

Thanks, I'll give it a look.

[Daehawk]

Spoiler:

It's been several years since I've played video game football, and Madden 24 was 50% off this weekend so I grabbed it. I wanted to be able to a) play local games against the kids and b) play through a full season.

The first 20 minutes of the game were spent walking me through all the different "Season Pass" features, loot boxes, creating and managing "ultimate teams" (legacy player cards you get for doing different activities and one-off challenges), ways to gain account XP for various social features, cash shop items...literally everything except actually playing video game football. It was both hilarious and maddening (no pun intended).

I did finally get through all the fluff and figured out where I needed to go to start a season. Before I could do that, however, I needed to define my team strategies and goals for the season, complete a series of mini-games for individual player development, complete simulated media interviews, examine my salary cap, review the injury report, and what felt like about a hundred other things. I spent quite a bit of time looking for ways I could either opt out of or automate all of that, but came up empty. I just gave up because I didn't really want to bother with any of that nonsense.

I did finally figure out how to play a custom game and gave the Wonder Twins 10.5 their first taste of Madden, which was pretty fun. I don't have a clue WTF I'm doing, but it's a hoot going against other players who also have a very basic knowledge of football but don't have a clue WTF they're doing in the game.

Maybe I'm just not really the target audience anymore, but the entire game seemed both absurdly in-depth and fiddly, and filled with flashy "look over here!" and "buy this!" that it really put me off.

IKR...just give me a football game that lets me play a football game.

[Skinypupy]

I did finally find the option to turn off all the management sim stuff and just play through a season. There's a toggle buried in the options that takes it from "Full Control" to "Simple", which automates everything. Seems like it would make sense to offer that as a front-and-center option when you start a league, but maybe that's just me.

[jztemple2]

[Skinypupy]

I spent about 4 hours yesterday with the new Star Ocean: The Second Story R remake. I'm not big on the Star Ocean franchise in general, but was absolutely entranced by the art style and most reviews said it was quite fun. Was in the mood for an old-school JRPG so I gave it a shot.

This is the most boring game I've played in a very long time. It's not just the incredibly dull characters (who all have the personality of cardboard cutouts) or the weak story (space dude gets magically zapped into a fantasy land and has to find his way back home), but it has most inane dialog I've every seen. Every single conversation is padded to the point of absurdity. If the game wants to have this exchange:

- Claude: "We need to go back to your town"
- Rena: "Okay, let's go"

It would end up something like this:

C: "Let's go back to your town"
R: "It's a lovely town, I think you'll really like it"
C: "Yes I think I will"
R: "Do you think we should go now"
C: "Only if you want to"
R: "I would really love to go there"
C: "Great! Let's get ready to go!"
R: "I'll get ready to go. Do you have everything?"
C: "Yes, I have packed everything I need and am ready to do"
R: "Are you sure you have everything?"
C: "Yes, I'm sure. Let's be on our way!"
R: "Let me double-check and make sure I have everything"
C: "I'll check the map while you do that"
R: "That would be great. Thank you!"
C: "You're welcome, I'm happy to help!"

They would then continue for another 2 minutes of spouting completely useless dialog at each other until you could finally, mercifully set out onto the world map.

If five words would suffice, this game uses fifty-five. I literally fell asleep twice in the middle of these endless dialog exchanges yesterday and constantly felt like yelling "GET ON WITH IT" at the screen.

First impressions were that the game looks and sounds wonderful, but is a remarkably dull experience otherwise.

[Daehawk]

hahahaa

[Skinypupy]

Just heard that Yahtzee apparently quit Zero Punctuation a couple weeks ago. Followed his boss out the door when he got sacked.

I rarely agreed with him, but always found ZP amusing. Bummer.

[Daehawk]

Never heard of either.

[JetFred]

Just heard that Yahtzee apparently quit Zero Punctuation a couple weeks ago. Followed his boss out the door when he got sacked.

I rarely agreed with him, but always found ZP amusing. Bummer.

I honestly thought this was an OpenAI Sam Altman joke.

[Smoove_B]

Really? He's been around *forever*, probably one of the first quasi-famous game reviewers of the Youtube age that I can remember. I was honestly more surprised to learn he was still making videos.

[Blackhawk]

I always loved his stuff. The 'review' should always be taken with a grain of salt (he did his thing by roasting the games, not praising them - although he was always up front about that), but they were always fun to watch.

[Rumpy]

I thought he'd passed away a long time ago.

[Daehawk]

Ohhhh now I know him. I didn't know his name and I had forgotten about that channel. Not seen anything in a year or more.

[Blackhawk]

I thought he'd passed away a long time ago.

Could you be thinking of John Bain (TotalBiscuit?)

[Daehawk]

John died way too young and if I recall right very fast after he was diagnosed. I think I remember him talking about being diagnosed then pretty soon after that he was making a video talking about quitting his reviews. Then he was gone and his wife was announcing it and talking about trying to keep his work going. She was able to for a while. But no one was like John and he could never be replaced.

I had found him years earlier from his videos where he was a broadcaster for Starcraft matches and moved over to his reviews from there. At times I didn't agree with him but he was lot a right and always entertaining. With his deep voice and way of talking I mistook him for being way older than he was. I always pictured him as an older guy in a top hat lol. He was only 33 when he passed.

[Rumpy]

I thought he'd passed away a long time ago.

Could you be thinking of John Bain (TotalBiscuit?)

I think that's a possibility. For some reason, both of them seem rather similar in their style. Interesting thing about Yahtzee is that he got his start developing point and click adventure games.

[Blackhawk]

TotalBiscuit was actually one of my go-to reviewers. He had the kind of in-depth analysis that nobody else did, including starting by going through the settings menu (he was a firm believer that PC gamers should have configurable options.)

[jztemple2]

I'm cross-posting this just in case you don't follow the AC Syndicate thread:

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, the one about murderous siblings in London during the Industrial Revolution, is free to keep from Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, the game about a brother-sister duo who commit murders for fun and profit on the streets of London amidst the bustle and furor of the Industrial Revolution, is free to keep from the Ubisoft Store, as long as you grab it before December 6.

Syndicate didn't entirely knock our socks off when it launched in 2015: "The new toys and tools freshen up the formula," we said in our 66% review, "but after a while, for better and worse, it's still Assassin's Creed." Ubisoft may have felt the same way, as the next mainline Assassin's Creed game, Origins—the first to miss the annualized schedule that had been running since 2009—came out of the gate much stronger and essentially revitalized the entire series.

Nonetheless, "it's still Assassin's Creed" isn't the worst criticism ever, especially if what you want is, y'know, more Assassin's Creed, and let us not forget that it's free. That's the kind of price tag that seals pretty much any deal for me.

To get it, just pop around to Ubisoft.com and click the appropriate button—you'll have to scroll down a bit to find it, but it's pretty hard to miss. Just to be on the safe side, though, you're looking for this:

[Daehawk]

Its a good game. Wish I could get past the beginning lol. I always find some problem.

[hitbyambulance]

I'm cross-posting this just in case you don't follow the AC Syndicate thread:

there's a thread for that (kinda):

https://octopusoverlords.com/forum/view ... 3#p3010383

[Skinypupy]

Just finished my season of Madden 24. Good lord, what a mess that game is. The brain-dead AI, the hilarious glitches, the baffling weirdness (went through an entire season on default Pro settings without either me or an opponent fumbling a single time, only to have FOUR fumbles in the Super Bowl), the constant pushing of microtransactions…it’s all just a laughable disaster.

The chefs kiss was when I was up by three in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl against the Eagles. They drove down to my 10 yard line and instead of kicking a FG to tie the game on 4th and goal with 3 seconds left…they instead went for an inside run play. Genius.

Just so, so bad all around.

[Fardaza]

Just finished my season of Madden 24. Good lord, what a mess that game is. The brain-dead AI, the hilarious glitches, the baffling weirdness (went through an entire season on default Pro settings without either me or an opponent fumbling a single time, only to have FOUR fumbles in the Super Bowl), the constant pushing of microtransactions…it’s all just a laughable disaster.

The chefs kiss was when I was up by three in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl against the Eagles. They drove down to my 10 yard line and instead of kicking a FG to tie the game on 4th and goal with 3 seconds left…they instead went for an inside run play. Genius.

Just so, so bad all around.

You must have found something you liked. You did play through until the end after all.

[Skinypupy]

Just finished my season of Madden 24. Good lord, what a mess that game is. The brain-dead AI, the hilarious glitches, the baffling weirdness (went through an entire season on default Pro settings without either me or an opponent fumbling a single time, only to have FOUR fumbles in the Super Bowl), the constant pushing of microtransactions…it’s all just a laughable disaster.

The chefs kiss was when I was up by three in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl against the Eagles. They drove down to my 10 yard line and instead of kicking a FG to tie the game on 4th and goal with 3 seconds left…they instead went for an inside run play. Genius.

Just so, so bad all around.

You must have found something you liked. You did play through until the end after all.

Only because a) there's nothing else I'm particularly interested in playing at the moment and b) I was in a mood for football and it's the literally the only option.

I'd give it a C grade (mostly because the in-game presentation is pretty good), and that's probably being overly generous.

One other odd thing I noticed. Even after playing through a full season, winning the Super Bowl, and playing a bunch of local games with the kids, I had only unlocked a single achievement. And even that one was for something completely random (something about using a "tendency counter" during a game...I don't even know what that is). Not that I care about achievements, I just thought that was odd.

In looking through the achievement list, almost all of them had been completed by less than 5% of players. Most were tied to either very specific in-game things (i.e. "create tackles for loss on three consecutive plays while controlling a defensive lineman and using different pass rush moves each play") or tied to the "Create a Player" or the Franchise Management aspects. That seems to indicate that the devs thought people were going to be really interested in that aspect of the game, and they're not. They just want to play video game football without all the other crap.

Who knew?

[Daehawk]

[jztemple2]

Anyone have experience with Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic? I recently picked up Captain of Industry but that doesn't quite scratch the city/factory builder and infrastructure management game I'm looking for. I've been following the news feed for WRSR for quite a while and tinkered with the demo and watched videos, but I was wondering if someone in the community had some extended hands-on experience with the game. It still is in early access which is a negative, but it is also 35% off right now and according to the store page:

“Workers & Resources has grown greatly through the Early Access process in the first several years through all the wonderful feedback and guidance of the community. We are now nearing the end of the Early Access process, but there is still more planned.”

So maybe it might be worth getting to play even though it still hasn't hit full release. So, opinions?

[Jolor]

It really reminds me of Prince of Qin just based on what I see so far. For what it's worth, I really liked PoQ despite running into a late, game-ending bug in the main quest line that completely borked any further progress.

Looks like two versions of PoQ are available currently? I vaguely remember its ownership/rights being under dispute but do not remember any of the details.

[hitbyambulance]

got a warning from Valve that Steam will cease to function on Mac OS 13 in 73 days. i am going to have to upgrade this 2011 MacBook Pro with a hacked version of Catalina... we'll see how that goes.

[LordMortis]

As I finally am starting to get enough energy in a day to clean again... again... after my accident, I am putting away years and years of old tax paperwork. Some of the last physical paper work I still actually keep. To make room for it I am throwing away the manuals for old video games. I should probably just purge them all. That would give for filing cabinet drawers. Warlords Battle Cry just gave me a good three inches of space...

[Skinypupy]

It's funny how sometimes a game just simply refuses to click until I'm in exactly the right mood to play it.

I bought Scarlet Nexus ages ago and spent an hour or two with it twice. Bounced off it both times because it felt like the combat would be way to difficult for my old, uncoordinated self to manage. Didn't have anything else that I was interested in, so I randomly fired it up on a whim yesterday...and spent almost 6 hours with it. Once I got past the initial learning curve, I realized that it has one of the most fun combat systems I've played quite a while. The anime sci-fi story is really well done as well, and I am completely hooked. Third time's the charm, I guess.

Conversely, I reinstalled Red Dead Redemption 2 on Saturday thinking that I should give it another shot. While the story was cool, I hated it's slow pace and clumsy controls the first time I played it. Figured that since there wasn't anything else that was calling me, maybe I could focus on it a little better and it might click. Nope...still hate it.

[jztemple2]

Conversely, I reinstalled Red Dead Redemption 2 on Saturday thinking that I should give it another shot. While the story was cool, I hated it's slow pace and clumsy controls the first time I played it.

That's what eventually killed RDR2 for me, it just felt so slow.

[Rumpy]

Funny, that's exactly what made me fall in love with it. Its slow pacing allowed to take in the atmosphere and details in the world in a way that few games have done.

[Smoove_B]

Well, looks like I know what hepcat is purchasing in 2024



Read about it here

[Unagi]

Well, looks like I know what hepcat is purchasing in 2024

I think Kickstarters get their copy for free.

[Kasey Chang]

Playing some freebies I downloaded earlier.

* Murder by Numbers -- the style says tweens game, the humor says kid's game, the LGBTQ+ theme says... adult game, and it's a murder mystery... Basically, you play a cross of Sudoku and Minesweeper: each row and column have the number of filled-in squares, like if there's a row of 3 and 5, it's say 3 5, with at least one empty space between. It's fine even when the puzzle board got really big... Until they entered 5x5 speed round, where you have to solve like 3-4 of them in 60 seconds without mistakes. Yikes. Manage to finished case 1 (out 4).

* Model Builder -- similar vein as (insert industry) mechanic simulator, except you're painting, assembling, decal-ing, and detailing scale plastic models. A lot of the stuff's licensed, while others are based on the publisher's other properties. There's a story, not that you really need one. Build some starter models, then take commissions, and enter competitions for $$$, which will buy you more tools and more paint.

Will probably play both a bit more mixed in with a bit of F-117

[Max Peck]

[hitbyambulance]

that's one i will probably get (due to the obvious Serious Sam influences) on sale

[jztemple2]

This is out of early access and in full release today, anyone have experience with the game? Reviews seem good but I'm liking for some sweet OO impressions

[Blackhawk]

That looks really interesting - but couldn't they make some damned textures? It's not 1995.