Gaming thoughts, bite-size chewables - new orange flavor!

[Frosty Grin]

So, The Crew MOTORFEST.

Yep, "fest" as in festival, like in Forza Horizon - which everybody is craving at this point. Plus some neon visuals as if from NFS Heat. It doesn't even look terrible. Just terribly generic. But I found The Crew 2 unplayable, so it still might be a step forward.

 

[kperrier]

So is there a developer people would have been happy with for a new Star Wars game, because for the longest time it was "get rid of EA exclusivity", and now we're straight into "I'm not buying from Ubi"

I didn't buy the Cal Kestis either games because I HATE "Dark Souls" like games.

Nothing in that above linked game play makes me want to buy the game. On-rails ship combat, pretty standard "steal something, get betrayed, run" level. Except for the fact that its a Star Wars game it wouldn't even be on my radar.

 

[Frosty Grin]

Assassin's Creed Mirage looks kinda like the next gen remake of AC1 - but with some of the additions from the later games. I guess I'll never get used to the eagle as an equivalent of a drone. But the whole package looks good.

 

[Scifigod]

No, I'd rather play off-brand Pokemon with guns.

I am pretty curious about that one to be honest.

 

[Frosty Grin]

Did you want "pokémon" with machine guns? Congratulations, your dreams have come true.

 

[JiveTurkeyJerky]

Welp, Star Wars Outlaws looks to be another paint-by-numbers Ubisoft release. I think it's going to live or die by its story.

As someone who is biased to favor Massive [The Division franchise], I'm mostly just hyped to see what Snowdrop can do without the PS4 holding it back.. it seems a lot

All that matters to me is if there is co-op and how's the shooting. Story is bonus, but it seems to be leaning into Mando/Boba territory. Awaiting more details, but pensively optimistic.

 

[GloatingSwine]

This speeds up loading by at least ten times. It's a critical mod.... and of course it disables achievements, if those are important to you.

As recent as FO4 is, the code is absolute shit. I think Starfield is going to be built on the same foundation, which is unfreaking forgivable. They should long since have transitioned to another engine.

If achievements are important to you in FO4 you use the mod that turns them back on if you use mods

 

[JiveTurkeyJerky]

I didn't buy the Cal Kestis either games because I HATE "Dark Souls" like games.

Nothing in that above linked game play makes me want to buy the game. On-rails ship combat, pretty standard "steal something, get betrayed, run" level. Except for the fact that its a Star Wars game it wouldn't even be on my radar.

It's Massive - so open world, with "on rails" missions is my guess.

Expecting this to be The Division 3 in space [with some Far Cry elements?], to be honest.. if it has co-op.. though I'll hope for no Looter-Shooter elements

Edit: hmm.. extended trailer.. not what I was expecting.. shall see, we will..

 

[malor]

If achievements are important to you in FO4 you use the mod that turns them back on if you use mods

They aren't, which is why I didn't bother finding such a thing.

But, yes, that's good advice for the people I aimed my original comment toward.

 

[invertedpanda]

Assassin's Creed Mirage looks kinda like the next gen remake of AC1 - but with some of the additions from the later games. I guess I'll never get used to the eagle as an equivalent of a drone. But the whole package looks good.

Exactly. My writeup of the latest gameplay demo was basically "Combining the best of classic and modern AC without pushing boundaries too much".

Ubisoft is a Wal-Mart developer in that they don't want to take any significant risks in their formulas anymore and try to appeal to the greatest groupings of gamers, but in this case I think it'll work out fine. Mirage doesn't have to be a game of the year game, just.. Not Valhalla. By sticking to what has proven to work they are guaranteed a sustainable success which is exactly what they need right now.

 

[Lt_Storm]

I'll clarify: the open-world is filled with busywork and the quests don't need (or want) the open-world. If it was a third small region-based presentation then nothing would have been missing and it would have been a tighter story presentation. I think an witcher open-world game could work in a way that needs the open-world but it would have to lean, heavily, into the actual witching part of the story and not be focused on a big, overarching, narrative.

I think that, to some degree, these narrative vs exploration are conflicting design goals at discussion here. I mean, a really good open world game such as BOTW, TOTK, or most Bethesdasoft games is largely not about story. I mean, sure there may be a story to give a little context to the play, but, for the most part, you spend your time in those games dicking around and seeing what's behind the next hill rather than engaging in story. So, if you are playing them to get a good narrative, you are likely to have a bad time.

Similarly, more narrative focused games tend to have areas designed around guiding you from point to point, so there isn't as much space available for dicking around in. As such, you get the story that they wrote for you to enjoy, and, if you are playing primarily go dick around and see what's behind that next hill. In these games, the open world takes you away from the interesting part rather than providing it, so if you try to seriously engage with it, you are likely to have a bad time.

As such, knowing what you want and what to expect from the game and what you want is pretty important to the enjoyment factor. The Bethesda RPGs are among the best of a certain class of game, but, if you are looking for narrative, well, it's a bit like expecting a steak to quench your sweet tooth, you aren't going to find what you want and, because of that, you aren't likely to enjoy what you find.

My son will play Spiderman and Spiderman: Miles Morales for hours and hours and hours, unlocking and trying on different spider suits, swinging around the city, etc. Watching him play, I realize that it simply is not for me, and playing like he does is boring as fook. But really we do the same thing, explore, improve, and get finer threads (or armor).

IDK, I'm not sure that you can judge those Spiderman games by watching someone else swing around the city. After all, the fun of the swinging is in the feeling of the doing and watching just isn't doing.

 

[Frosty Grin]

Mirage doesn't have to be a game of the year game, just.. Not Valhalla. By sticking to what has proven to work they are guaranteed a sustainable success which is exactly what they need right now.

I read that supposedly Mirage isn't going to be a full-priced game anyway. So there won't be game of the year expectations in the first place.

 

[invertedpanda]

I read that supposedly Mirage isn't going to be a full-priced game anyway

I'm.. Hesitant to believe that.

I could see it being $59.99 since $69.99 is the new standard, but given that Ubisoft is touting never-ending gameplay I can't see them charging less.

Maybe $49.99, but if they go any lower than that, I'd be extremely surprised.

 

[Sulphur]

I think that, to some degree, these narrative vs exploration are conflicting design goals at discussion here. I mean, a really good open world game such as BOTW, TOTK, or most Bethesdasoft games is largely not about story. I mean, sure there may be a story to give a little context to the play, but, for the most part, you spend your time in those games dicking around and seeing what's behind the next hill rather than engaging in story. So, if you are playing them to get a good narrative, you are likely to have a bad time.

As such, knowing what you want and what to expect from the game and what you want is pretty important to the enjoyment factor. The Bethesda RPGs are among the best of a certain class of game, but, if you are looking for narrative, well, it's a bit like expecting a steak to quench your sweet tooth, you aren't going to find what you want and, because of that, you aren't likely to enjoy what you find.

I do think it's possible to do both, it's just really, really hard. You don't have to pit narrative vs exploration as a dichotomy, because they're not completely mutually exclusive; they can in fact reinforce each other if you do it right. The question is more about the amount of resources you're willing to spend on making the game just about deep enough and worthwhile enough at all levels, and how much skill you have as a developer in each of these areas. I know I mentioned Red Dead Redemption 2 earlier, and it's not an RPG, but it approaches what I'm talking about, where you can fuck around in the world all you like and discover interesting stuff (yes, to a lesser extent than Skyrim, comparatively), or follow the main track when you've had enough and get a good story out of it.

And, you know, we have Fallout: New Vegas. too. It's not as good at creating that sense of 'do what you want and there'll be something interesting nearby', but it damn near almost gets both aspects right down the middle.

(Of course, the elephant in the room is Ultima VII: The Black Gate, which raised my expectations for RPGs permanently as a kid to a level that may have been a tad unrealistic for the past few decades and counting.)

 

[Frosty Grin]

You don't have to pit narrative vs exploration as a dichotomy, because they're not mutually exclusive. The question is more about the amount of resources you're willing to spend on making the game just about deep enough and worthwhile enough at all levels, and how much skill you have as a developer in each of these areas.

Pacing and structure are also very important - and can be difficult even in linear games. When you add convoluted exploration, having to maintain context and tension for the main track becomes another challenge. And then you also have the issue that the player will "fuck around" in the world, but without "finding out" anything. Making it feel static and artificial.

Some games do find ways to accomplish this, e.g. Pathologic - but they don't fit all games.

 

[Sulphur]

Pacing and structure are also very important - and can be difficult even in linear games. When you add convoluted exploration, having to maintain context and tension for the main track becomes another challenge. And then you also have the issue that the player will "fuck around" in the world, but without "finding out" anything. Making it feel static and artificial.

Some games do find ways to accomplish this, e.g. Pathologic - but they don't fit all games.

That's a good point, yeah. It comes down to skill level as a developer, again. How do you scope your world, how much do you want to signpost things, what kind of and how much 'content' do you want to design across the map, and is this at odds with the overarching story you're trying to tell?

I'd discuss Pathologic, but I really need to finish it first, heh. It is a great example of doing a lot with a relatively smaller space, though.

 

[MichaelC]

The one thing you both have not mentioned is that it needs to have a chair. And be like, a thousand levels.

 

[Sulphur]

The one thing you both have not mentioned is that it needs to have a chair. And be like, a thousand levels.

You mean like this one? Shit, why not!?

 

[Diabolical]

I have upwards of 20 demos installed from all the announcements so far, and we’re not done yet. What terrifies me is that next week is the summer Steam Fest as well! So many demos.

 

[grommit!]

It's Massive - so open world, with "on rails" missions is my guess.

Expecting this to be The Division 3 in space [with some Far Cry elements?], to be honest.. if it has co-op.. though I'll hope for no Looter-Shooter elements

The narrative and creative director provided some additional background. Sounds like it's a single-player narrative focused game, which is fine by me.

 

[rcduke]

Final Fantasy XVI demo was released early this morning. Got it downloading and will report back in the near future. Friends playing it are enjoying it, but I think the "fast-action" gameplay is gonna take me a while to get used to. Which I can do, with the demo!

Progress also saves over to the full game, for what it's worth, when it releases on 6/22/23.

 

[infernal666]

Final Fantasy XVI demo was released early this morning. Got it downloading and will report back in the near future. Friends playing it are enjoying it, but I think the "fast-action" gameplay is gonna take me a while to get used to. Which I can do, with the demo!

Progress also saves over to the full game, for what it's worth, when it releases on 6/22/23.

And I'll be playing it in a couple years apparently because there is officially no chance the PC version will be available when the Xbox version is released in December. :/

 

[GMBigKev]

Vampire Survivors updated yesterday. New achieves and a new map. No new characters or weapons.

 

[technophile]

I do think it's possible to do both, it's just really, really hard. You don't have to pit narrative vs exploration as a dichotomy, because they're not completely mutually exclusive; they can in fact reinforce each other if you do it right. The question is more about the amount of resources you're willing to spend on making the game just about deep enough and worthwhile enough at all levels, and how much skill you have as a developer in each of these areas. I know I mentioned Red Dead Redemption 2 earlier, and it's not an RPG, but it approaches what I'm talking about, where you can fuck around in the world all you like and discover interesting stuff (yes, to a lesser extent than Skyrim, comparatively), or follow the main track when you've had enough and get a good story out of it.

I would say Horizon: Zero Dawn navigated both of those pretty well. The narrative was well-written and engaging enough that I was always feeling the pull of that next story mission, but when I needed a break from it or when it was a little too far away there was always an interesting marker or beasty close enough by to go find something interesting to do/see. Immortals: Fenyx Rising also balanced story and "ooh what's over there" pretty well.

 

[Diabolical]

Demos! Very, very brief impressions for the most part.

Meh.
Odinfall: Not a fan. Top down arcade action rogue like. Eh.
Swordship: Pretty, cool dodge-em concept and execution. Pass for me - seems like a frustration generator.
Escape From Mystwood Mansion: Escape room puzzle game. Meh. Not my thing. Tried it though, could be neat for someone who is into the genre.
Puzzles for Clef: I wish I could recommend it for the dev's sake (Slava Ukraini), but I don't find it that appealing either visually or mechanically. The controls are just BAD.

Eh?
Ebenezer and the Invisible World: Metroidvania. Neat setting. Mediocre movement. If it's extra cheap.
Paper Trail: Environmental puzzler where the level is composed of paper that you fold in different ways to create paths and complete puzzle objectives. Very neat concept, but not one I'm going to go out of my way to purchase. Should definitely look at the video / demo though.

Yah!
Wizard with a Gun: WANT! It's an isometric action RPG with survival elements. You are a wizard. With a gun. It controls nicely, it looks stylish and cool. Want. Took less than 10 minutes to make sure.
Onde: Wow, came out of nowhere. Light and sound environmental puzzle game. Once again, only took a few minutes for me to smile and decide yeah, I like it.
Homeseek: That water-is-scarce-post-apocalyptic world city builder thing in the vein of a lot of others. Seems like it can be extremely punishing. Sucked me in - I put almost 40 minutes into the demo.
Station to Station: Think Kingdoms and Castles, and Islanders, and you'll have the idea. Laid back city builder with trains, gorgeous graphical style - voxel blocks don't normally look like hand build dioramas, but there you go!

Also yah, just not as enthusiastically.
Lost Twins 2: Environmental puzzler where you control two characters and the actual level arrangement (set up as a series of push/pull tiles with entrance and exits that have to match up). Neat little concept. The preview video is exactly what the game is.
Luto: PT-like with it's own twist, like most FPS horror games that aren't action titles. I won't play it, but I'll watch someone else play it.

I still have 15 more to go.

 

[S2pidiT]

Pack it up folks. GOTY has arrived.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLXTbyaUmdQ

Since no one else said it: this game looks nuts.

 

[GMBigKev]

Since no one else said it: this game looks nuts.

disappointed.gif

 

[S2pidiT]

disappointed.gif

I couldn't leaf it alone.

 

[Elore]

Final Fantasy XVI demo was released early this morning. Got it downloading and will report back in the near future. Friends playing it are enjoying it, but I think the "fast-action" gameplay is gonna take me a while to get used to. Which I can do, with the demo!

Progress also saves over to the full game, for what it's worth, when it releases on 6/22/23.

Canceled my purchase after playing the demo. Which I suppose is exhibit A for why companies generally no longer do demos, in recent times SE are now 4/5 in getting me to not buy a game I was interested in.

Primary reason being technical deficiencies. The performance mode is quite bad. Cutscenes will cap to 30 regardless, but exploration in the small castle section struggles to go much above 40. And in combat they drastically reduce resolution to hit 60, which makes for a very inconsistent experience.

After all their talk about focusing on one platform and substantial delays to make sure the game is the best it can be, I'm not cutting them any slack in that area. And it's not like it's a visual stunner to begin with, cross-gen games like Horizon or God of War are a clear cut above while also performing much better.

There are other issues I have with it, but that's really the big one. It's just not enjoyable to play because of it. If you're fine with the 30fps mode, YMMV.

I think I'm just done with this company, to be honest. It's not the 90s anymore, they've shown again and again they can't deliver. Hard to let go of that nostalgia, though.

 

[Sulphur]

I would say Horizon: Zero Dawn navigated both of those pretty well. The narrative was well-written and engaging enough that I was always feeling the pull of that next story mission, but when I needed a break from it or when it was a little too far away there was always an interesting marker or beasty close enough by to go find something interesting to do/see. Immortals: Fenyx Rising also balanced story and "ooh what's over there" pretty well.

I agree, but to a degree. HZD's lore and story were well-written, but the environments didn't really work me up to go explore everything - in fact, the activities' breadcrumb trails of lore and the mystery of 'what happened to get us here?' pushed me to do that more than the green postapo landscape did. A friend said the aesthetic was very Thomas Kinkade, and I concur, it's a similar sort of oversaturated homogeneity. The game's visuals are very pretty, but also tiring in large doses.

 

[Xavin]

Final Fantasy XVI demo was released early this morning. Got it downloading and will report back in the near future. Friends playing it are enjoying it, but I think the "fast-action" gameplay is gonna take me a while to get used to. Which I can do, with the demo!

Progress also saves over to the full game, for what it's worth, when it releases on 6/22/23.

The demo is fantastic. The combat is good if you like that style of japanese action combat (it's fully action this time, no active time or menus), the music is best in class, and the story seems like Final Fantasy flavored Game of Thrones, complete with horrible murder and betrayal.

The only issue is, as Elore mentioned, the performance is very worrying. I immediately switched it to performance mode, because fuck 30fps in 2023, and walking around the castle you get to after the initial teaser section it was jumping from 60 down to 40s? depending on what I was looking at. In the linear corridor "dungeons" in the rest of the demo it seemed fine, and I didn't notice any slowdown in combat. Hopefully they can tweak some numbers and fix it before launch. It uses UE4, which has had a terrible year as far as AAA games go and performance problems, but at least from the demo the problems don't seem nearly as bad as they have been in the other recent disasters.

 

[Elore]

It uses UE4, which has had a terrible year as far as AAA games go and performance problems, but at least from the demo the problems don't seem nearly as bad as they have been in the other recent disasters.

It's not UE4. It's also not Luminous, but a custom engine that I would assume to have some roots at least in the FFXIV engine, as that's what the team would have been using already prior to this. Can't blame the poor performance on UE4 this time.

 

[Xavin]

It's not UE4. It's also not Luminous, but a custom engine that I would assume to have some roots at least in the FFXIV engine, as that's what the team would have been using already prior to this. Can't blame the poor performance on UE4 this time.

It sure looks like UE4. If it's not that gives me much less hope they can fix the performance issues. Japanese game engines, and SE's in particular don't have a good track record. UE4 has some serious issues trying to use it in modern games, but the problems and fixes are at least well known, even if devs don't usually seem to get the memo until after the game's release.

 

[cogwheel]

I don’t think you do, not really. I deeply enjoy open world experiences that are well done, well crafted. I have an immense amount of fun in games that really go out of their way to encourage exploration, and truly fascinating experiences can happen with the lore or setting or even a bit of asset art placed in just the right way to evoke an emotional response. I keep a notepad by my PC for games for a reason - a couple of those pages of game notes basically turned into a narrative player journal of what my character saw and did and experienced, usually outside of the main quest line.

I like the settings! I enjoy the concepts! I cry out in anger and frustration at the execution!

My objection isn’t to the type of games at all. Fuck, I bought all of those games I listed up there because I really, really wanted to play and enjoy them. My objection is entirely based on the developer.

Are there any games in this genre that you've enjoyed? I loved Morrowind, couldn't get into any subsequent Standard Bethesda Game anywhere near as deeply, and am wondering if I just don't like the genre any more.

 

[Xavin]

I loved Morrowind, couldn't get into any subsequent Standard Bethesda Game anywhere near as deeply, and am wondering if I just don't like the genre any more.

Oblivion and Skyrim both veered hard towards focusing on a story and being more accessable to more people, while all the Elder Scrolls before that were basically fantasy sandboxes with a few stories here and there. Those early ES games were also nearly impenetrable as far as trying to "beat" them or play them like traditional games. Mods made a big difference for the whole spread of games of course, but IMO each one of the ES games has been pretty distinct and different from the others. IMO Bethesda has always been pretty terrible at storytelling. Just think about how often you hear people talking about the main story for ES games. Basically never. At best it's bland generic fantasy, at worst it's bad generic fantasy. I would wager that even most people with hundreds of hours in Skyrim have never actually "beat" it or could describe the main story past the first 2-3 hours.

I also find I just go in cycles as far as which game genres I like, back in the SNES to early PS2 era I loved JRPGs, then I didn't want to touch them for about 15 years, and now for whatever reason I want to play them again. So maybe wait a while and try again, your tastes might have changed.

 

[krimhorn]

I would wager that even most people with hundreds of hours in Skyrim have never actually "beat" it or could describe the main story past the first 2-3 hours.

Picard is murdered in front of you and sets you on a Quest to find his last "son" Boromir. You incidentally save Kvatch and find Boromir who sets you on a Great Quest to find some tchotchkes that will reignite the shield between the world and Oblivion. While doing so you learn that it's Mehrunes Dagon behind everything and you really need to stop stopping to smell the flowers and chase butterflies. Eventually you have all of the magical tchotchkes and you head to the Imperial City with Boromir just in time for Giant Dagon to show up and start laying waste. Boromir, doing what Sean Bean does best, goes into a church and dies to turn into a giant dragon which kicks Dagon's tail and sends him packing back to Oblivion.

The moral of the story? One does simply walk into Oblivion.

 

[CommanderJameson]

I would wager that even most people with hundreds of hours in Skyrim have never actually “beat” it or could describe the main story past the first 2-3 hours.

Something about a quest to find one’s roots, culminating in a rap battle with a dragon on top of a mountain?

 

[Tom Foolery]

I must admit I have not really pursued the main plotline of Skyrim very far. I met the Greybeards and the dragon, but really did not go further. And as for the other major plotline, if two factions of racists who are prejudiced against each other, please have at it. I am embarrassed to say how many hours I actually have in the game. Between the mods and the extra content, as well as starting the game over about six different times, it's been well-worth the money spent on it, entertainment-wise.

 

[LordDaMan]

Picard is murdered in front of you and sets you on a Quest to find his last "son" Boromir. You incidentally save Kvatch and find Boromir who sets you on a Great Quest to find some tchotchkes that will reignite the shield between the world and Oblivion. While doing so you learn that it's Mehrunes Dagon behind everything and you really need to stop stopping to smell the flowers and chase butterflies. Eventually you have all of the magical tchotchkes and you head to the Imperial City with Boromir just in time for Giant Dagon to show up and start laying waste. Boromir, doing what Sean Bean does best, goes into a church and dies to turn into a giant dragon which kicks Dagon's tail and sends him packing back to Oblivion.

The moral of the story? One does simply walk into Oblivion.

I always though the plot was you are born of dragon and like to scream at things. Also there's no real magic, or dragons it's just all the booze everyone drinks all the time makes you think there are. You also have a serious eating disorder where you stub your toe and then eat like 20 pounds of whatever you found laying arounds within minutes. In fact your disorder is so bad that literally anything you pick up that you can stick in your mouth you try to eat ,often with bad side effects. Also again, you like to scream at everything and even have these really old men showing you how to shout at more things.

 

[BigLan]

Can you spoiler that stuff? I'm waiting for the extra-deluxe remastered edition (GOTY) + season pass before I start a playthrough.