Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 1:03 am

Game publicity: "Cash sales will only apply to things that don't directly affect gameplay, and those can all be earned in-game, too!"
Game reality: Earning the items is so absurdly complex, difficult, or time consuming that if you don't pay cash, you won't get them. And while they don't have stats or mechanics attached to them, they often come with advantages nonetheless (like being less visible to your opponents.)

Game publicity: "We have premium currency packs as low as $1.99!"
Game reality: The currency sells in sets of 250, 500, or 1000. The cosmetics cost 350, 600, and 1200.

Making money is fine. Offering extras for sale is fine. Quietly manipulating your customers, playing psychological tricks on them, or reducing the value of the initial purchase in a manner that isn't clear before purchase is shitty.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 7:08 pm

Thanks to my online friend I found out today that the guy who was responsible for an old Half Life mod I loved to play.....Natural Selection.....also formed the company that made Subnautica...a game I love.

Unknown Worlds was formed in May 2001 by Charlie Cleveland and began life as a group of developers responsible for the development of the high-profile free mod for Half-Life, Natural Selection. The success of Natural Selection convinced Cleveland to start work on a commercial sequel to the game: Natural Selection 2. Soon after, Cleveland founded Unknown Worlds Entertainment as a commercial computer games studio.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 7:44 pm

I am apparently the only gamer who does not enjoy playing a sneaky character in Skyrim.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 8:16 pm

Every time. Every. Time.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 11:15 pm

</nods knowingly>

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 3:42 am

Seems in every Fallout game I end up as a sniper of some sort, even Fallout Tactics.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 3:46 am

Max Peck wrote: Sun Dec 25, 2022 2:37 pm Part of the reason that Epic is paying a half a billion dollar fine is that they deliberately designed the UI so that it was easy to misclick and accidentally purchase something with no confirmation step...

The industry parlance is "dark UX patterns"

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 11:18 am

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Dec 27, 2022 8:16 pm Every time. Every. Time.

That’s what I tried this time since, despite the running joke, I’d never actually done it before. I found it to be incredibly boring and far more difficult than every other class live played. I’m apparently doing something entirely wrong...I'll post in the actual Skyrim thread and see if I can figure out what that is.

Oh well, back to the Skyrim board game instead.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 2:05 pm

I thought about sitting down and playing something on the PS4 (something I haven't done in months) while I still have a few months left on my PS+ Extra (or whatever it's called) sub.

I'm having the hardest time finding things that aren't either open world or open ended. I don't want to invest 80 hours in a game right now!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 2:47 pm

I haven't touched my PS4 in years. I love it but I just got old so when Im in bed instead of playing a console I go to sleep now. Who woulda ever thought Id do that lol. A bed for sleeping..bah. Sure sign Im old.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 4:02 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 2:05 pm I thought about sitting down and playing something on the PS4 (something I haven't done in months) while I still have a few months left on my PS+ Extra (or whatever it's called) sub.

I'm having the hardest time finding things that aren't either open world or open ended. I don't want to invest 80 hours in a game right now!

Hades or Dead Cells (if the trappings of a Metroidvania within a Rogue-lite progression system would be more your cuppa) both play superbly in small doses.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 2:32 pm

After a YT video of a guy that owns a laundry mat show his machines and how much he makes vs what he pays I want to play a laundrymat sim game. Buy an old building in an area, fix it up, put in washing machines and dryers. Set prices. Maybe add things to draw more customers and money like some arcade machines or a tv and places to sit. Snack and soda machines.Bathrooms. Might be fun.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 3:34 pm

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 3:36 pm

Daehawk wrote: Thu Dec 29, 2022 2:32 pm After a YT video of a guy that owns a laundry mat show his machines and how much he makes vs what he pays I want to play a laundrymat sim game. Buy an old building in an area, fix it up, put in washing machines and dryers. Set prices. Maybe add things to draw more customers and money like some arcade machines or a tv and places to sit. Snack and soda machines.Bathrooms. Might be fun.

Arcade Paradise:

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 3:50 pm

So close lol. Needs better graphics and more sim to it.

Arcade Paradise seems interesting. Ill put it on my waitlist.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Dec 30, 2022 6:56 pm

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:40 am

awwww that video is worrisome. Why change the story now. The zone was caused by Chernobyl. Leave it at that..dont embellish it. Also so many American English accents and maybe some British. What happened to the Russians and the Eastern European folk? This worries me it will be released as a typical same old shooter. Leave it alone...just new maps & graphics..you dont have to reinvent it all.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:27 am

It's the inevitable catch-22 that developers face.

If they reinvent it, people will be angry that they're not being completely true to the original. But if they don't reinvent it, people will complain that it doesn't bring anything new to the table and is out of date. Getting the balance right is tricky, and they usually err in favor of the latter group (those that want something new.) They represent the current audience, while the other group represents the previous audience. And staying in business long enough to talk about STALKER 3 requires that they appeal to the current audience.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:49 am

I didn't interpret that opening bit about the "noosphere" as meaning that the researchers had caused the Zone, but that they had been studying it and had made a fundamental discovery that has perhaps reshaped it. Given that this is being framed as a sequel to the original games, building on the existing canon instead of retconning it would make more sense, but I would guess we'll see what's up as they build up to the release next year (assuming it isn't further delayed, which is not something I'd take for granted).

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:43 pm

Then again they got to Stalker..what is it actually...4?....by not changing the stuff.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:36 pm

Anyone played Wreckfest? I looked up good looking racing games and it came up amid all the real serious stuff. It looks fun for me. Not too serious, lots of damage modeling, and looks goof.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 6:56 pm

Daehawk wrote: Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:36 pm Anyone played Wreckfest? I looked up good looking racing games and it came up amid all the real serious stuff. It looks fun for me. Not too serious, lots of damage modeling, and looks goof.

it's good and i absolutely recommend it. bought it during early access development, that's how much i trust the developer (Bugbear, who did the first two and a half FlatOut games.)

original thread here: http://octopusoverlords.com/forum/viewt ... t#p2941608

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 7:58 pm

Thanks!

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Jan 02, 2023 2:35 am

::nudges Blackhawk for the 2023 finished games thread::

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Mon Jan 02, 2023 2:57 am

i can say the exclusive title in The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection (Fortune's Foundation) is the most brutal solitaire game i've ever played

https://zachtronics.itch.io/the-zachtro ... collection

https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_zachtro ... collection

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Mon Jan 02, 2023 9:02 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 2:57 am i can say the exclusive title in The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection (Fortune's Foundation) is the most brutal solitaire game i've ever played

https://zachtronics.itch.io/the-zachtro ... collection

https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_zachtro ... collection

UPDATE: took a couple dozen attempts, but i won my first game in Fortune's Foundation. you need to look ahead several cards up the stack and make good use of your swap space (and definitely do not squander free columns at the beginning and mid-game)

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Jan 03, 2023 4:58 pm

Anyone (beside me) own/play World of Guns: Gun Disassembly?

I got the full access pass a while ago and it is a fun diversion from other games or when I need a break from other things, to disassemble and reassemble their various firearms. Anyway, the full access pass is on sale for the next 45 hours or so for 60% off.

UPDATE: Don't let that item on the main site, "Depots Update: 21 Apr, 2020 (988 days ago)", bother you. The devs are constantly adding new weapons to the sim, in fact they use an in-game voting system to ask for preferences.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Jan 04, 2023 12:52 pm

I think I tried that Gun Disassembly game for one or two guns, then moved onto something else.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Jan 04, 2023 1:04 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Tue Jan 03, 2023 4:58 pm Anyone (beside me) own/play World of Guns: Gun Disassembly?

Is there something to it besides disassembly/reassembly? Is there some sort of management/business sim behind it?

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Wed Jan 04, 2023 1:11 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 1:04 pm
jztemple2 wrote: Tue Jan 03, 2023 4:58 pm Anyone (beside me) own/play World of Guns: Gun Disassembly?
Is there something to it besides disassembly/reassembly? Is there some sort of management/business sim behind it?

Nope, although the details of the mechanisms can be seen through cutaway and x-ray modes, plus slow motion, etc. You can download the basic game for free and give it a look.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jan 04, 2023 7:21 pm

I made it through 57 straight races of coming in first in Candy Crush. Now that my streak is broken and I don't have a constant source of free boosts, I can't win nuthin. Time to just hoard their gifts I guess until I can make another play at winning streaks. Though it seems like the difficulty went off the deep end somewhere around level 800.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 2:02 am

LordMortis wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 7:21 pm I made it through 57 straight races of coming in first in Candy Crush.

substitute 'solitaire' for Candy Crush and you've just described a typical day for my retired mother

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 9:37 am

hitbyambulance wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 2:02 am
LordMortis wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 7:21 pm I made it through 57 straight races of coming in first in Candy Crush.
substitute 'solitaire' for Candy Crush and you've just described a typical day for my retired mother

A race takes something shy of an hour if you complete every puzzle on the first try. So that's gonna be some three months of giving the game an hour, sometimes two about half the days of the week. I find it both relaxes me and tries to keep me sharp. At least sharper than I'd otherwise be. Not sure what will happen now that the game has hit a point where I'm not nearly x steps ahead to figure out a way forward any more.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:34 pm

As a Canadian taxpayer, I'm not even mad.

Anarchist Fallout Mod Claims To Be Funded By The Government

The Canadian government has apparently used taxpayer money to pay for an anarchist Fallout mod. And not just once or twice, but four times. I have so many questions, mainly: “What does it take to get rejected from a Canadian arts grant?”

Nous Aurons is an overhaul mod that turns Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel into a post-apocalyptic world of anarchist communes. In most Fallout campaigns, you’re just trying not to get shanked while collecting some bottle caps. This mod tries to turn all of that on its head. Nous Aurons portrays a “utopia” where people organize themselves along the “shared values” of “anti-domination, direct democracy, freedom, and autonomy.”

But it still feels incredibly odd that the Canadian government would be funding a project that is explicitly in favor of a world where liberal democracy doesn’t exist (and is in fact undesirable). How did the mod’s creators manage to secure “support” not only from the Quebec Council of Arts and Letters and Canada Council for the Arts? Kotaku reached out to the creators to ask if the funding assessors knew about the anarchy component, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

According to the lead developer Hugo Nadeau, he was able to obtain government funding multiple times by submitting an English and a French version of the game to each organization.

“They gave me money, so all the rest was up to me to organize.” Nadeau wrote in the official Discord server. “So I did a bunch of exhibitions [...], live performances […] and finally online game sessions.” He added that these exhibitions were a requirement for receiving funding.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 5:19 pm

I don't get why the anarchist component is an issue. Like is he actively advocating overthrowing the government? You're free to be an actual anarchist in Canada if you're not planning criminal acts. Kotaku has been an embarrassing low-effort rag for a long time, if not always.

I'm more worried about the effects Call of Duty has on people, but the evils of the military industrial complex are full endorsed by our nations for whatever bizzare reason.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 5:35 pm

Yeah, it's just a click-bait take to frame it as some sort of ironic paradox or whatever. It's also old news -- I took a look at the mod, and it was released in 2017 (although it appears that he is still maintaining it, so maybe the grants were given more recently than that, I didn't bother looking into it).

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:05 am

Manifold Garden - Portal-like puzzle game with Descent-style view shifting. this wins the prize for 'first non-VR game to give me motion sickness'

it's even a prominently pinned topic in the game's Steam forum:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/473950/d ... 840781755/

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jan 08, 2023 8:29 pm

EA app Origin app.....It appears EA is going through changes again and is trying to shift everything from the old Origin launcher to a new EA app launcher. Should I just delete my Origin stuff and install the EA app? Has anyone done this or tried it?

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:04 pm

I read that they were doing this, but since I so rarely use anything in Origin, I haven't looked at or tried migrating. And despite having a few decent games on that account, I suspect I won't get to it anytime soon. Hopefully it'll work smoothly for you.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jan 08, 2023 11:14 pm

Well figured I might as well get it over with. Also felt Id keep Origin installed until I made sure the new EA launcher worked like it should. ANd I have Star Wars Squadrons installed. The EA was a bully. One of its first moves was to uninstall Origin. Poof gone. Oh well. Once that was gone it installed fine. Seems to work fine. But my Squadrons game shortcut was accessible. Gave me and excuse to uninstall the game for a bit. Also had forgotten my pw so had to be emailed a link to make a new one. Wee.

Seems its replaced Origin ok so far.