Re: Video Games Randomness
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:53 pm
From the art they did I got the impression it was medieval. I guess the music and longboats have been put in since I looked earlier.
That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons bring us some web forums whereupon we can gather
http://garbi.online/forum/
Meh, I liked Origins, playing it all the way out which is unusual for me, but I just couldn't get too deeply into Odessey. A even more primitive culture setting isn't going to appeal to me that much. I really was hoping for New York City circa 1910, but I guess that ship, err, longboat has sailedMax Peck wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:15 pm So how do we feel about something along the line of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla?
Same. I've tried a bunch of them, but Origins is the only one I've ever actually stuck with until the end.jztemple2 wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 5:31 pm I liked Origins, playing it all the way out which is unusual for me, but I just couldn't get too deeply into Odessa.
Hmm. I finished both of them and didn't see anything crazy in the controls.Daehawk wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:55 pm Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.
Im an arrows user and it wont allow me to use them for movement...that throws all the rest of the controls into hell too. Also as I recall you cant rebind the mouse at all. i use the middle click for use/interact. Cant here. Tons of people have control mapping issues. Wonder where the control file is so I could manually edit it.gbasden wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:49 pmHmm. I finished both of them and didn't see anything crazy in the controls.Daehawk wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:55 pm Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.
I used a controller on both and never had any real issues either.gbasden wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:49 pmHmm. I finished both of them and didn't see anything crazy in the controls.Daehawk wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:55 pm Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.
I used keyboard and mouse as I'm allergic to controllers, but I didn't do any crazy key rebinds so I don't know about that functionality. The base control layout was fine for me though.jztemple2 wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:21 pmI used a controller on both and never had any real issues either.gbasden wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:49 pmHmm. I finished both of them and didn't see anything crazy in the controls.Daehawk wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:55 pm Tried Mafia 3 again and Watch Dogs again. Found both unplayable again as the controls SUCK. Too many of them and I have to bind them all over the place. Gamepad is worse because it lacks so many binds.
i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?Anonymous Bosch wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 11:15 pmFWIW, the linked review sums up where the game shines:hitbyambulance wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 10:12 pmput 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.hitbyambulance wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:19 pmi 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.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.
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.
Almost all of ours are carts. It's not so much a moral stand. Most of our games have been gifts for the kids. Everyone wants to give something physical not a Nintendo store card. We have two switch carrying cases full of carts.Paingod wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 7:38 am Not sure which way to go for my purchases on the Switch. What have others done and why?
Given your fondness for roguelikes and 'tough difficulty' games with a learning curve, how about Sword of the Stars: The Pit?hitbyambulance wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 1:00 am i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?
rpgfan.com wrote:Sword of the Stars: The Pit is a science fiction roguelike, originally released on Steam in 2013, where you are tasked with getting to the bottom of the titular "Pit," a dangerous and labyrinthine alien facility deep underground. It takes a traditional approach to its subgenre, with procedurally generated dungeon floors, plenty of stats to upgrade, and an expansive set of items, but executes most of those elements quite well and stands out from much of its competition as a result.
The story in The Pit, as with many roguelikes, is basic and mainly presented as introductory text before the title screen. A "Xombie" [sic] plague has overtaken a planet, and alien tech from a subterranean installation could hold the secret to finding a cure. There are other small bits of story information peppered throughout the game, usually in the messages you find and decipher while playing, but these are mostly atmospheric in nature rather than contributions to a grand overall plot. Despite the lack of traditional storytelling, The Pit does manage to present a bit of world-building through gameplay. As you wander deeper into the dungeon, encounters with a variety of alien species, robots, and items give a sense of a broader universe outside the confines of the titular Pit itself. Also, as a disclaimer, I have not played the Sword of the Stars 4X strategy games that reside in the same universe as The Pit (somewhat surprising as I've played so many space 4X games I should really be writing for Space4XFan.com), so there may be stronger story connections with the races and technology of those games.
The intricacies of gameplay, not to mention the level of challenge, are the main factors that bring me back to The Pit every few years since its release. As you plunge deeper into the dungeon, difficulty mounts in multiple dimensions. Of course, as expected with any dungeon, the monsters get bigger, scarier, and more numerous, and the floor layouts expand in size and complexity. In addition, you must keep your hero fed as time progresses (the game is turn based but time passes with each action). You start with some meager rations which will run out relatively quickly, leaving you scrounging for food in random containers. Beyond just the food scarcity, players also need to conserve ammo, watch equipment durability, and be wary of various status effects that can quickly get out of hand if not treated. These challenges, however, are one of the main draws of the game, as you always feel you can get a bit farther in the next attempt if you tweak your strategy and get a bit lucky.
Speaking of food, there is also an extensive cooking and crafting system in The Pit. Not only does this give players a better way to stay fed, but it also allows for the creation of some useful items, like weapons and lock picks, from junk picked up during the run. The crafting recipe mechanic is also where The Pit has a bit of a "metagame" component. On any given attempt, you may find messages which can be partially or fully deciphered (based on your Decipher stat). Many of these messages hold background story fluff, but others contain recipes which are saved for use in future runs. The less scrupulous player can always just research all of these recipes online, but I found it more enjoyable to discover them on my own and feel a sense of progression despite dying time and time again.
At the core of all of The Pit's gameplay mechanics is how you develop your character. There are a lot of stats you can specialize in, including various weapon and foraging skills. Even though each character has starting tendencies and equipment that encourages a certain play style, I enjoyed customizing my character over the course of a given run for a semi-unique experience each time. For example, if I found a good rifle early on, I might specialize in the Rifle skill to make the best use of it. I also might want to raise my lock picking skills to access locked ammo crates, which become progressively more difficult to open as you go deeper.
Hrothgar wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 5:10 pmAlmost all of ours are carts. It's not so much a moral stand. Most of our games have been gifts for the kids.
I appreciate the feedback. This makes me think I'll go to a hybrid approach. Each of the kids has their own Switch Lite, so I'll probably go digital with titles I don't think they'll like and cartridge for titles they may want to borrow.Skinypupy wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 5:25 pmIt is kinda annoying to only be able to have a limited number of games on the system at a time, but I haven't found it to be a significant barrier so far.
all right, i'll give this one another go. i think i put all of about half an hour into this one in the past.Anonymous Bosch wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 10:22 pmGiven your fondness for roguelikes and 'tough difficulty' games with a learning curve, how about Sword of the Stars: The Pit?hitbyambulance wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 1:00 am i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?
I dumped a fair number of hours into this one and left feeling like the difficulty ramp was...hitbyambulance wrote: Wed May 06, 2020 2:58 pmall right, i'll give this one another go. i think i put all of about half an hour into this one in the past.Anonymous Bosch wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 10:22 pmGiven your fondness for roguelikes and 'tough difficulty' games with a learning curve, how about Sword of the Stars: The Pit?hitbyambulance wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 1:00 am i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?
Yeah, it very much embraces the Roguelike or Procedural Death Labyrinth concept of failure being a learning experience, with attrition as a constant pressure. You have to constantly juggle food, melee weapon durability, ammo, armor durability, psi points, health, and plenty of other minor resources in order to advance. And difficulty does ramp up significantly the deeper you delve.Paingod wrote: Wed May 06, 2020 3:03 pmI dumped a fair number of hours into this one and left feeling like the difficulty ramp was...hitbyambulance wrote: Wed May 06, 2020 2:58 pmall right, i'll give this one another go. i think i put all of about half an hour into this one in the past.Anonymous Bosch wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 10:22 pmGiven your fondness for roguelikes and 'tough difficulty' games with a learning curve, how about Sword of the Stars: The Pit?hitbyambulance wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 1:00 am i've put more time in, and there are a few things i've warmed up to, but i'm still not super into it. anyone have another suggestion?
1.1.2.2.2.3.3.5.5.8.8.12.14.16.24.36 ... Like you're trucking along, feeling good, clearing levels - and then you smack face-first into a wall. I never cleared a dungeon.
I got it from May's Humble Choice and installed it this morning because I finished Gears Tactics and need to clean out my backlog a bit. Just jumping in blind I didn't have any idea what was happening half of the time. I mean I finished the first three fights without taking any damage and overheating a couple times, but I couldn't see where overheat was tracked, I couldn't see what combos were doing for me, the progression is just... not immediately apparent and the hints were not very helpful.
Any buffs/debuffs on your character (overheat, faith, punishment, etc.) are all shown right above your toon. There's a small icon, which expands to a full description if you hover over it.coopasonic wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 11:40 amI got it from May's Humble Choice and installed it this morning because I finished Gears Tactics and need to clean out my backlog a bit. Just jumping in blind I didn't have any idea what was happening half of the time. I mean I finished the first three fights without taking any damage and overheating a couple times, but I couldn't see where overheat was tracked, I couldn't see what combos were doing for me, the progression is just... not immediately apparent and the hints were not very helpful.
Maybe Dirt 4.Isgrimnur wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 10:31 pm Perhaps Dirt Rally was a bad choice as the first game to attempt to learn a new wheel/pedal setup.
Oh yeah! This was all over the IG feeds today of the pro skaters I follow and I am stoked.Skinypupy wrote: Tue May 12, 2020 3:31 pm Tony Hawk 1 & 2 remasters coming in September.
My thumbs hurt already.
Any third party site that pulls Steam info never works for me. I'm pretty sure I have something screwy going on with my Steam profile.Daehawk wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 2:26 pm Still finding this site handy. Just input your Steam name and it lists all your games. You can then filter your games by tons of filters. Handy.
https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/u/
Your profile is set to private. That blocks any third parties from accessing it along with everyone else. See the red note at the top of Daehawk's link.Skinypupy wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 3:11 pmAny third party site that pulls Steam info never works for me. I'm pretty sure I have something screwy going on with my Steam profile.Daehawk wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 2:26 pm Still finding this site handy. Just input your Steam name and it lists all your games. You can then filter your games by tons of filters. Handy.
https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/u/
My Steam profile name (Skinypupy) is slightly different from my account name, and neither one shows up as valid in that site. I tried to input the URL to my profile from Steam's site, but that doesn't load anything either.
I've also noticed that the URL for my profile is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[string of completely random numbers]" when everyone else's is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[their user name]". Not sure why that is, but I'm sure it probably has something to do with why third party sites can never find me.
Thought I had everything set to public, but I apparently missed one.Blackhawk wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 3:24 pmYour profile is set to private. That blocks any third parties from accessing it along with everyone else. See the red note at the top of Daehawk's link.Skinypupy wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 3:11 pmAny third party site that pulls Steam info never works for me. I'm pretty sure I have something screwy going on with my Steam profile.Daehawk wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 2:26 pm Still finding this site handy. Just input your Steam name and it lists all your games. You can then filter your games by tons of filters. Handy.
https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/u/
My Steam profile name (Skinypupy) is slightly different from my account name, and neither one shows up as valid in that site. I tried to input the URL to my profile from Steam's site, but that doesn't load anything either.
I've also noticed that the URL for my profile is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[string of completely random numbers]" when everyone else's is "steamcommunity.com/profiles/[their user name]". Not sure why that is, but I'm sure it probably has something to do with why third party sites can never find me.
Thanks, changed that...someone give this a click and let me know if it works.Blackhawk wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 3:26 pm Also, if you go onto your profile page, there is a spot to set your custom URL. Everyone has the long string of numbers, too. We've just set up our custom URL to make it easier.
It works.Skinypupy wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 3:41 pm Thanks, changed that...someone give this a click and let me know if it works.