Octopus Overlords

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:00 am - Steam
- Amazon Games
- Epic
- GOG Galaxy
- Xbox
- PS Now

coopasonic wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:03 am

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:00 am - Steam
- Amazon Games
- Epic
- GOG Galaxy
- Xbox
- PS Now

Uplay
Origin
Bethesda
Battle.net

• Steam
• Uplay
• Origin
• GOG
• Epic
• Rockstar
• Bethesda

Max Peck wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:48 am I've claimed every free game given away through Twitch Prime, but I've never bothered installing the client in order to access them.

Max Peck wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:48 am I've claimed every free game given away through Twitch Prime, but I've never bothered installing the client in order to access them.

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 12:05 pm

Max Peck wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:48 am I've claimed every free game given away through Twitch Prime, but I've never bothered installing the client in order to access them.

The client is a fairly new requirement, I believe. I had grabbed a bunch of the free Twitch games previously, and never had to download a client.

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 12:05 pm

Max Peck wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:48 am I've claimed every free game given away through Twitch Prime, but I've never bothered installing the client in order to access them.

The client is a fairly new requirement, I believe. I had grabbed a bunch of the free Twitch games previously, and never had to download a client.

I don't know if I'll keep the Amazon games client installed, since Twitch generally doesn't give away anything I'm really dying to play. They're usually more of the "I'm only getting this because it's free, and I may or may not ever get around to trying it at some point" type of games. Still, I was a bit surprised to see that I had over 30 games in that library that I've picked up as Twitch freebies.

hitbyambulance wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:18 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 12:05 pm

Max Peck wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:48 am I've claimed every free game given away through Twitch Prime, but I've never bothered installing the client in order to access them.

The client is a fairly new requirement, I believe. I had grabbed a bunch of the free Twitch games previously, and never had to download a client.

I don't know if I'll keep the Amazon games client installed, since Twitch generally doesn't give away anything I'm really dying to play. They're usually more of the "I'm only getting this because it's free, and I may or may not ever get around to trying it at some point" type of games. Still, I was a bit surprised to see that I had over 30 games in that library that I've picked up as Twitch freebies.

so does the Amazon Games client replace the Twitch app, or is it in addition to it?

hitbyambulance wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:18 pm so does the Amazon Games client replace the Twitch app, or is it in addition to it?

Pyperkub wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 11:24 am This trailer captures the biggest issue I have with Diablo 2 & 3. The sense of bleak dread an horror of the first Diablo which completely disappeared in 2/3. I would love it if they remade Diablo like this.

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:00 am - Steam
- Amazon Games
- Epic
- GOG Galaxy
- Xbox
- PS Now
- Uplay
- Origin
- Bethesda
- Battle.net

Paingod wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:16 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:00 am - Steam
- Amazon Games
- Epic
- GOG Galaxy
- Xbox
- PS Now
- Uplay
- Origin
- Bethesda
- Battle.net

If I ever install Assassin's Creed: Black Flag again, I know I'll have to stomach Origin.

Paingod wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:16 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:00 am - Steam
- Amazon Games
- Epic
- GOG Galaxy
- Xbox
- PS Now
- Uplay
- Origin
- Bethesda
- Battle.net

If I ever install Assassin's Creed: Black Flag again, I know I'll have to stomach Origin.

coopasonic wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 3:43 pm

Paingod wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:16 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:00 am - Steam
- Amazon Games
- Epic
- GOG Galaxy
- Xbox
- PS Now
- Uplay
- Origin
- Bethesda
- Battle.net

If I ever install Assassin's Creed: Black Flag again, I know I'll have to stomach Origin.

That would be a very odd requirement for an AC game...

hitbyambulance wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 2:35 am i went back to this (formerly Flash, now HTML5) puzzle game called Bloxorz. i would always get stuck at some level in the teens and stop playing over the past... what is it, decade and a half plus... last night i decided to go back to it and played through 29 of the 33 levels in one sitting. i think i'm a better puzzle solver now...

the 30-something levels require a bit of extra effort. this evening i completed levels 30-32 but i'm stuck on the final one. tried plotting a solution, but it doesn't seem possible to get to it! i've not looked up any hints or solutions so far, and i'm trying to keep it that way. quitting for the night and will try again tomorrow.

https://www.miniclip.com/games/bloxorz/en/

hitbyambulance wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 6:33 pm i obviously like 'roguelikes' and procedurally generated games. really into arcade and 'tough difficulty' games that can be learned. good gameplay mechanics are key.

...

here's my Steam filter list. https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/u/battlefinch

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:06 pm
Doesn't look like you've spent much time with Unexplored. Stick with it, and it definitely ought to scratch where you itch.

hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Apr 17, 2020 7:54 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 2:35 am i went back to this (formerly Flash, now HTML5) puzzle game called Bloxorz. i would always get stuck at some level in the teens and stop playing over the past... what is it, decade and a half plus... last night i decided to go back to it and played through 29 of the 33 levels in one sitting. i think i'm a better puzzle solver now...

the 30-something levels require a bit of extra effort. this evening i completed levels 30-32 but i'm stuck on the final one. tried plotting a solution, but it doesn't seem possible to get to it! i've not looked up any hints or solutions so far, and i'm trying to keep it that way. quitting for the night and will try again tomorrow.

https://www.miniclip.com/games/bloxorz/en/

last level was a pain, but i completed it with no hints or solutions. got #8 on the 'all-time high score' list for this website, hahaha. there's another set of 20 extra levels i've never seen below (called "Winter", as opposed to the "Original" set I just completed) - i'll do those some other time.

EDIT: Winter levels have tiles that crack after 1, 2 or 3 uses, plus slidey tiles. this looks no longer fun

coopasonic wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:37 pm
I started and finished it today. Suspiciously also 8th place, though it was a monthly leaderboard not all-time - nothing showed up on the all-time list.

It was a fun distraction and that last puzzle was a serious pain.

hitbyambulance wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:19 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:06 pm
Doesn't look like you've spent much time with Unexplored. Stick with it, and it definitely ought to scratch where you itch.

i was very much not a fan of the graphics and play style (it feels too much like a Flash game) but i'll give it another go.

hitbyambulance wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 10:12 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:19 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:06 pm
Doesn't look like you've spent much time with Unexplored. Stick with it, and it definitely ought to scratch where you itch.

i was very much not a fan of the graphics and play style (it feels too much like a Flash game) but i'll give it another go.

put an hour or so into this. i'm still not liking how it 'feels' - it's too floaty and clunky and i don't think i am into the aesthetics of it at all, so it's not yet clicking. but i'll keep trying.

RockPaperShotgun.com wrote:I found one other aspect of the game off-putting at first, and that’s the character design. For reasons I couldn’t fathom, all player characters are one-eyed folks and I didn’t particularly like the look of them. Like everything else that made me frown, I soon understood the reason behind this decision though, and it’s simple and quite elegant. A one-eyed character, viewed from above with the eye front and centre of the head, is extremely easy to read, in terms of their position and the direction they’re facing. That, combined with the pointiness of equipped weaponry, makes controlling with a combination of keyboard for movement and mouse for targeting simple and efficient. No matter how cluttered the screen might be, the essentials are easy to read.

All of those initial reservations weren’t just batted aside; I love the parts of Unexplored I was unsure about when I first started playing. And the rest, the actual RPG design that’s at the heart of it all, is tremendous.

I’m so accustomed to dungeons that look like they could have been mapped out on graph paper, corridors and big blocky rooms strung together with no sense of being places that were constructed by anyone for any purpose, that Unexplored is a revelation. Every level I’ve seen has its own identity, with outdoor areas, void-straddling bridges and floating islands, underground lakes and lava spills, and temples, storehouses and barracks. The developers have made a very short video talking about the science of their approach.



Read more about how it works right here, and look at the maps in the top left of my screenshots. No grids and no obvious copy-and-paste rooms.

What all of that means, in practice, is that each level is structurally interesting, without too much backtracking, and can happily accommodate smart little puzzles. I’ve encountered levels with one big boss and rooms full of minions, and others were there’s barely a fight to be had, but lots of libraries to loot. Others are packed with traps, or weird little signs that may or may not be cryptic clues. And those cryptic clues might lead to crypts, full of undead warriors waiting to wake.

Often you’ll need to find a clue to figure out how to open secret doors or chests, and clues and keys might be a level above or below the target location, so backtracking is sometimes involved. Levels are small though, so it’s never too much of a drag heading back up a couple of floors, especially if your findings have tipped you off about a big reward in the form of some neat magical weapon.

And you’ll want that magical weapon because equipment is the only real way to improve your character. There’s no levelling and every hero begins as a classless ball of potential. The one important stat is strength (these dungeons are no place for a Charisma 18 arts graduate like me), determining which weapons and armour you can use without detriment. But strength doesn’t increase as you kill monsters, you have to find potions or equipment that buff your buffness.

It works beautifully, forcing you to explore and to try and solve puzzles and sneak by or kill enemies so you can find every last item on every level. Because there are no experience points, there’s no incentive to kill everything; instead, you can use the stealth system to sneak by, or just outsmart them and trap them in their own dungeon by hitting levers to trigger traps or locking doors. By removing the linear path toward Mighty Hero Status, Unexplored’s character-building is similar to its procedural dungeon generation: there are many routes and unexpected detours, and success comes from a combination of improvising with whatever is at hand, and choosing from the paths available.

Long-term, there are options to unlock for new starts, allowing you to experiment with a form of classes, and to buy more equipment at the beginning of a run. It’s in the brief, individual adventures that Unexplored excels though. The novel approach to dungeon layouts and character-building makes all of the spider-smashing and key-hunting feel fresh. I play so many games of this type that the line between one and the next is often blurred. That makes it almost impossible for new games to find a spot on my regular roguelike playlist, but Unexplored has claimed one.

Daehawk wrote: Sat Apr 25, 2020 1:09 am Still wishing Steam kept a more in depth record of your plays of games. Like one game Im looking at says March 2016 is when I played last. But if I install it it will change the date to today..even if I dont play it. I wish it would make a list...like keep that date and just add the new date and so on. That way I could have a better look back at when I played something. I hate losing the last played date damnit.

Rumpy wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:13 am Holy shit, did anyone know there's an entirely separate world in AC Syndicate set in WW1? It's pretty amazing. It's got a whole set of its own missions and collectibles. It's kind of blowing my mind.

Hrothgar wrote: Sat Apr 25, 2020 1:42 am

Rumpy wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:13 am Holy shit, did anyone know there's an entirely separate world in AC Syndicate set in WW1? It's pretty amazing. It's got a whole set of its own missions and collectibles. It's kind of blowing my mind.

Yes, it's kind of hard to miss. Were we supposed to spoil that for you? It was a neat twist.

Max Peck wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:15 pm So how do we feel about something along the line of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla?