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SelenicMartian posted:How bad is Shadow in that regard? Less combat and more lovely puzzle tombs
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Dec 9, 2018 11:09
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SelenicMartian posted:It feels like almost every optional tomb in Rise of the Tomb Raider is a water temple. How bad is Shadow in that regard? The tomb design is much stronger, but there are a lot more water sections if that's not your thing.
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Dec 9, 2018 12:29
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SelenicMartian posted:It feels like almost every optional tomb in Rise of the Tomb Raider is a water temple. How bad is Shadow in that regard? He's Sonic with a Gun so pretty bad
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Dec 9, 2018 13:14
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I forgot just how darn feel-good Katamari is. Highly recommend picking up Katamari Damacy Reroll and I get the impression it isn't a game that will sell particularly well on either Switch or Steam and I need more Katamari in my life.
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Dec 9, 2018 13:16
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Shadow of the tomb raider is pretty much the same game as rise but way shorter and more eel attacks Square is so loving bad at managing the eidos portfolio
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Dec 9, 2018 13:35
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Conundrum: On the one hand: I love Katamari and I want its games on sale for PC so everyone can enjoy it. On the other hand: I have such a huge loving backlog and I seriously am trying not to jump into games I already beat or endless MMOs, and I will kick myself for rebuying a game. What do I do. 
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Dec 9, 2018 14:13
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Morter posted:Conundrum: On the one hand: I love Katamari and I want its games on sale for PC so everyone can enjoy it. Stop worrying
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Dec 9, 2018 14:16
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Morter posted:Conundrum: On the one hand: I love Katamari and I want its games on sale for PC so everyone can enjoy it. Katamari isn't too long. It's feel good as well, so enjoy the ride.
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Dec 9, 2018 15:34
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Memnaelar posted:Vampyr has hit the magical 50% price point that I'd consider buying it at. However, I've heard little about it since launch. 50% is fine, DONTNOD is a fine studio that deserves support, or they will be doomed to make life is strange games forever Honestly I’m just a big Remember Me fan, what a beautiful visual design in that game. Which reminds me, has anyone noticed the Beta publisher pages? Last night Ubisoft had more fans than Valve itself, which I guess makes sense because one of them makes games and the other is a store
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Dec 9, 2018 15:39
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Taintrunner posted:Less combat and more lovely puzzle tombs The tombs own though.
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Dec 9, 2018 16:35
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They would own except detective vision spoils them and much of the game as well cause im hammering it constantly and mad at the cooldown
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Dec 9, 2018 16:40
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Why is Steam telling me d2d1.dll is missing, when it's right loving there?
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Dec 9, 2018 16:53
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Real hurthling! posted:They would own except detective vision spoils them and much of the game as well cause im hammering it constantly and mad at the cooldown If you set puzzles to Hard then it disables clues entirely.
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Dec 9, 2018 16:54
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SelenicMartian posted:Why is Steam telling me d2d1.dll is missing, when it's right loving there? maybe try this if you're using windows: https://www.howto-connect.com/register-dll-file-windows-10-64-32-bit/
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Dec 9, 2018 17:31
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Kevin Palpatine posted:maybe try this if you're using windows: https://www.howto-connect.com/register-dll-file-windows-10-64-32-bit/ Maybe I've missed a couple dozen updates for my Win7.
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Dec 9, 2018 17:43
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Easy Diff posted:Remember in BioShock, where your choices were "murder a little girl to get 250 Adam, or let her go and get 175 Adam, which is still plenty"? No you definitely get way more powerful if you go the murder route. You only get a poo poo amount of blood if they are a lovely person. The problem is that the combat isn't that hard to cheese, so you don't really need to. Except for the final boss which is way tougher than any other enemy you fight. Also, not consuming people means you don't have a lot of abilities, so combat can get a little bit repetitive and tedious. One cool thing about the combat, is that you can basically get every ability an enemy has. The game also has a thing where you manage the health of the residents by giving them medicine. I kind of like the idea behind it, but it takes way too long to travel across the map, since you can't use your sprint in safe zones. It also encourages you to wait a long time to level because people's health only updates when you level up. I found the writing to be decent to good. However, the game is also sometimes really bad at making it clear what a choice means. Especially a certain choice you make early on, which seems like basically everybody misinterpreted. The story also has a romantic development that feels real rushed and forced. Another thing is that while the game has a theme that every person is important to the health of a community, even killing unrepentant and active serial killers reduces the well-being of a community. I'd be interested in a sequel that fixes my complaints, I think it would have the potential to be a great game instead of just a decent one. Oh, and I'm super hyped for Pyschonauts 2 despite SA being convinced that Tim Schafer is the satan of video games. It seems like the powers are going to be really cool this time from some of the development diaries they put out. IShallRiseAgain fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Dec 9, 2018 |
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Dec 9, 2018 17:55
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How does Vampyr actually handle the power fantasy of being a badass vampire?
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Dec 9, 2018 18:03
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IShallRiseAgain posted:Oh, and I'm super hyped for Pyschonauts 2 despite SA being convinced that Tim Schafer is the satan of video games. It seems like the powers are going to be really cool this time from some of the development diaries they put out. this is incredibly disingenuous...they hoovered everyone's money for an early access game then dumped it into release into an unfinished state, never to look back. why would you give someone like that any money?
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Dec 9, 2018 18:29
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Kevin Palpatine posted:this is incredibly disingenuous...they hoovered everyone's money for an early access game then dumped it into release into an unfinished state, never to look back. why would you give someone like that any money? Tim Schafer wasn't the project lead on the other game, so I never had much hopes for that game in the first place. Especially since it was clearly released super early in development. Tim Schafer hasn't made a bad game yet.
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Dec 9, 2018 18:38
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Kevin Palpatine posted:this is incredibly disingenuous...they hoovered everyone's money for an early access game then dumped it into release into an unfinished state, never to look back. why would you give someone like that any money? While this sucked it shouldn't be what you necessarily focus on vis a vis Tim Schafer and Doublefine being garbage, they've done plenty of other things since then that prove they have very little talent for managing scope or money. poo poo they created Fig which should really be all the ammunition you need.
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Dec 9, 2018 18:58
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Kevin Palpatine posted:this is incredibly disingenuous...they hoovered everyone's money for an early access game then dumped it into release into an unfinished state, never to look back. why would you give someone like that any money? I agree, lets stop buying games off Steam.
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Dec 9, 2018 19:02
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Leal posted:I agree, lets stop buying games off Steam. The entire scheme of buying/not buying because of a publisher is the powerless grasping of the consumer under capitalism. It’s an understandable if laughable strategy. Buy games you think you’ll like. Don’t buy others. Any other consideration is giving yourself way too much credit as the least important factor in the entire enterprise: the individual consumer. One person buying a lovely game is a tragedy. One hundred thousand people buying a game is a Steam sale.
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Dec 9, 2018 19:43
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Orv posted:poo poo they created Fig which should really be all the ammunition you need. lol, what. fig was founded by a former doublefine guy, but the company itself has never been involved with its creation or management.
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Dec 9, 2018 19:47
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Also, what the gently caress is wrong with Fig? I'd never give them money, but so far they've funded: Outer Wilds (looks amazing) Phoenix Point (looks amazing) Consortium: The Tower (looks amazing) Wasteland 3 (looks like it will be about ten points better than Wasteland 2) They also funded and delivered Deadfire. I'm not a big fan of it but it was successfully delivered. Seriously, tell me why I'm supposed to hate them again?
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Dec 9, 2018 19:55
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People who actually invested rather than just kickstart got crap payouts, maybe that?
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Dec 9, 2018 20:01
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Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:lol, what. fig was founded by a former doublefine guy, but the company itself has never been involved with its creation or management. My bad, Tim Schafer only greatly promoted it. friendly 2 da void posted:Seriously, tell me why I'm supposed to hate them again? I'm not taking issue with the success, which has done fine for pretty much all of the games that funded (Consortium 2 is in some kind of dev hell but that doesn't really matter) I'm taking issue with the way it works. Having the option of a full on investment appeals to the broke brained people who think of Kickstarter as an investment with a much higher floor of entry which means those broke brained people spend more. Realistically speaking I don't imagine that many average gamers actually invest on Fig as opposed to backing but I'm sure it happens. In addition the payouts have been, as I understand it, not great. Video games are an inherently mercurial business proposition so average people investing expecting any kind of meaningful return are being softly duped at best. Ultimately it's produced mostly quality games and a lot of my issue stems with it being moderately psychologically scummy.
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Dec 9, 2018 20:10
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What have the actual payouts been? The only thing I can find on that are from some articles written earlier this year claiming 245% payouts. Though that number may be inflated by the Outer Wilds dev being bought by a publisher. https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/16/17129146/fig-first-returns-245-percent-successful-outer-wilds-annapurna Also the barrier to investing is high enough that I imagine not many people are casually deciding to jump on board. you have to be certified, have loads of money already, etc. Basically, as I understand it, the only people who are allowed to invest on fig are people who likely already have some form of investment experience. Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Dec 9, 2018 |
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Dec 9, 2018 20:18
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Orv posted:While this sucked it shouldn't be what you necessarily focus on vis a vis Tim Schafer and Doublefine being garbage, they've done plenty of other things since then that prove they have very little talent for managing scope or money. That said, if reviews turn out good, and I hope it does, I'll buy Psychonauts 2 in a heart beat. I love whimsical  graphics with some adventure puzzling collecting stuff and Psyconauts 1 is still a really great game. But uh yeah, I have 0 expectations at this point and not excited until I hear otherwise when it comes out.
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Dec 9, 2018 20:27
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Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:What have the actual payouts been? The only thing I can find on that are from some articles written earlier this year claiming 245% payouts. Though that number may be inflated by the Outer Wilds dev being bought by a publisher. https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/16/17129146/fig-first-returns-245-percent-successful-outer-wilds-annapurna This is the latest one I found.  Kingdoms and Castles completed with $108,767 and had $83,000 in investment. At most that means a split between 83 people but it's probably a bit lower than that. The minimum investment is $1,000, the game sells for $10 and these two clauses apply to every Fig game. Fig will receive 50% of sales receipts until it receives 1.0x of the amount received by the Developer through the Fig campaign (including Fig Funds and pledges); and thereafter Fig will receive 25% of sales receipts until 24 months after the commercial launch of the game. So while they made some money back, they aren't millionaires by a long shot. That's also Fig's most successful return, most of them have been 100-125% and there's that 12% one there that had $12,000 in invesment. I mean look, it's obvious that no one is going to make bank on investing $1,000 in a video game but I still think the idea of a Cool Kickstarter where they get a giant cut is inherently lovely. As to being an accredited investor being a requirement I can't find anything 100% concrete on that and the language currently on the site implies that you might only need certain things like proof of residence. It certainly has a big old "Come invest now!" vibe going on and presumably doesn't say poo poo about accreditation until it absolutely has to.
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Dec 9, 2018 20:29
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The accredited investor thing was there when the platform launched at least. Maybe they relaxed that requirement?
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Dec 9, 2018 20:34
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Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:The accredited investor thing was there when the platform launched at least. Maybe they relaxed that requirement? Not to just fuckin' quote Wikipedia but uh. Wikipedia posted:Due to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act which changed how the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) treated crowdfunding, Fig will allow anyone to invest at a minimum of $1,000 into future campaigns starting in December 2015. However, there were initially some issues with gaining SEC approval to collect funds from unaccredited investors, holding up the funding for some of the campaigns after this point such as Psychonauts 2, and Fig has been supplying the requested funds to developers through internal support and investment.In September 2016, the SEC approved Fig's plan allowing unaccredited investors to purchase Fig Game Shares once campaigns have succeeded. Basically anyone can invest and the SEC may or may not crawl up your rear end to see if you're good for it?
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Dec 9, 2018 20:37
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Fig is literally just like Kickstarter, except there's some curation so most of it isn't straight garbage and scams and the whales get a return instead of gently caress all.
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Dec 9, 2018 21:12
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Even when the accredited investor thing was a hurdle, you can still get accredited if you're middle class and rent a CPA to shuffle your asset buckets around long enough for the SEC to say sure I guess. The market existing drove Fig to do the leg work on unaccredited and accredited investments by consumers but that doesn't mean the market was very mistaken. These days consumer investment outside of unmanaged mutual funds can't help but be scummy just by comparison - the only reason to take personal risk in a business venture you personally inspect and vet but have no say in operations is for gambling (possibly on something you believe in personally but I'm scared if video games are your peak belief).
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Dec 9, 2018 21:13
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Is there a way to remove the time limits in Katamari Damacy Reroll? I remember when playing the original that it was a little frustrating to never get the satisfaction of rolling up the entire level.
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Dec 9, 2018 21:29
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I don't mean to interrupt the argument at hand, but if you'll refer to your gaming calendars for a moment you'll see that today is the first day of Roguemas! That's right, it's once again time to count down twelve roguelikes in review format, one a day until the start of the Steam Winter Sale. This year's games were almost all recommended to me by goons and readers, and I've been streaming all of them in the leadup to this festive occasion. If you'd like to follow along in the moment this is my official page for the event (and you can find the last three years here, here, and here), or you can just wait for me to repost reviews here a little after they go up at 8am PST every day. So, without further ado... Roguemas IV: (D)eck the Halls On the first day of Roguemas, the RNG gave to me... An eye for our hero to see (Unexplored)    As much as I love classic roguelikes, I have to admit a certain amount of fatigue with them. It’s not them, it’s me, of course… With so many turns to take and tactical considerations for each, it’s inevitable that I lose focus and die to a stupid, avoidable mistake. That’s why I tend to favor more modern action-oriented roguelikes now, but I do miss that mechanical depth from time to time. I feel like Unexplored must have been made for people like me, a fast-paced and engaging action adventure with frankly bewildering depth to its system, sometimes rivaling that of the genre’s greats. Remember the Amulet of Yendor? Yep, time to go diving in the Dungeon of Doom for it again. This time though you’re a fuzzy, one-eyed critter set to barrel through just about whatever gets in your way to find it. On each floor of the dungeon you’ll encounter treasures, traps, puzzles, pests, and plenty of mysteries to solve. Once you’ve mostly cased the place it’s on to the next floor, a little bit deadlier and hopefully more rewarding than the last. Much of your equipment and items will need to be identified if you want to use it safely, and there are all kinds of tools and artifacts to find and make use of in solving puzzles and reaching new depths. If you parse that word salad you might think this sounds a bit like NetHack or Crawl, and you’d be more right than you know. There’s a lot that’s remarkable about Unexplored but we’re going to start with the mechanics because they keep impressing me more and more. You can find a wide variety of stuff in the Dungeon of Doom, from torches and flint to potions and wands to shovels and ropes, and all of it can be considered versatile. A torch, for example, needs to be lit on either a piece of flint or another fire source like a torch or brazier or incoming fireball. It’ll go out if you dive in deep water, it keeps you warm and dry in cold levels, it keeps small enemies like bats at bay, it can light other objects on fire or ignite flammable gasses, and it provides light even in magically-induced darkness. And that’s just a torch! You can chuck potions to render their effect on enemies, you can use flasks on any liquid (and many other things) to gather some, you can set forests ablaze, and so on. The interactions here have incredible depth, and you’ll need to work out at least some of that to survive. Fortunately there are helpful books scattered around that give you clues to recipes, hidden treasures, and upcoming challenges. The longer you play the more deft you’ll become at using your tools, as well as solving the many puzzles posed in the dungeon that require special conduct or reasoning to overcome. Sometimes just getting out of a room or locating the stairs is a bit taxing, but the promise of new secrets to unravel is a compelling reason to press on. Another reason is the incredible variety of levels you’ll have to explore. You may have already heard about Unexplored’s level generation but it bears repeating: This is one of those rare games where every run feels like an entirely different adventure. Whatever it is that’s going on under the hood allows the game to craft networks of caves, lakes, chambers, and fortifications in just about any configuration. I’ve seen frozen cisterns choked with fog, puzzling temples of switches and locks, water-logged ruins hiding a necromancer, a giant rat guarding a pitch-black labyrinth, and burning pits of sulphur guarded by flame-spewing turrets. Each of those examples I’ve only seen once after hours of play, and not once have I seen a room where I could say “oh, I remember what to do here.” Much of what has been mentioned already comes standard with the original giants of the genre. Those features are far, far rarer in real-time action-oriented titles, and that’s what Unexplored brings to the table. You’ll control your fuzzy little hero with WASD and the mouse, allowing you to sidestep attacks and outmaneuver your foes to land killing blows. The actual combat is a clever evolution of bump combat, really. Both your main and off-hand items are always out at the ready, and in the case of blades they damage just by touching foes. Most have additional active attacks like swings or jabs, and every time you use one or land a hit your weapon has to cool down for a moment. Enemies play by the same rules and have shockingly clever AI for baiting out attacks, flanking, and challenging your spacing. The combination of deep systems and tricky combat gives Unexplored a steep learning curve, but certainly not an insurmountable one. There’s a lot to learn about best practices for surviving the Dungeon of Doom, and getting used to the movement and attacks took me several hours to get comfortable with. You won’t find any meta-progression here to circumvent those challenges, but the unlocks there are provide compelling rewards. After each run you can use the gold you found to buy additional starting gear with, and new gear and classes are unlocked by completing the game’s achievements. This can help lead you in particular directions in terms of conduct, and help you gain knowledge about the game’s systems which proves to be the real challenge in mastering this one. I don’t think anyone who considers themselves a roguelike fan can afford to overlook Unexplored. It’s a polished, engrossing attempt to bring classic roguelike mechanics into a modern gameplay structure, and it works beautifully. The graphics are simple shapes and flat colors but it fits well with the humorous tone and focus on fundamentals. Special attention should be given to the sound design, rife with rich creaks and clanks and helpfully subtitled when coming from unknown areas. There will always be something more to find, something more to appreciate in this title, and if that doesn’t make for compelling gaming then I don’t know what does.
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Dec 9, 2018 21:56
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selec posted:The entire scheme of buying/not buying because of a publisher is the powerless grasping of the consumer under capitalism. It’s an understandable if laughable strategy. no you don't understand you vote with your wallets
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Dec 9, 2018 22:28
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Morter posted:no you don't understand you vote with your wallets Tyranny of the majority motherfucker. 
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Dec 9, 2018 22:31
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Morter posted:no you don't understand you vote with your wallets microtransactions have made this completely worthless. You can lose hundreds of buyers if you get a single whale to sink over 10k in your game. Your use of their product is a waste of their time.
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Dec 9, 2018 22:33
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It has almost never worked because there will always be dozens if not hundreds of thousands of copies purchased by people who don't ever once read a "This is why you shouldn't buy this/support this company" post on the internet, and those only work if a large majority of the people aware of such things all don't buy it. Genuinely all I can think of is like, Arkham Knight? as the only thing that sold so abysmally that the publisher was forced to recall it. And it wasn't even that it sold abysmally, everyone on earth bought it and then everyone on PC refunded.
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Dec 9, 2018 22:36
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A crucial element in Unexplored is that you can pause at any time to figure out your next action. This is what made it playable rather than too challenging for my sluglike brain to handle. also reinstalling it caused me to discover they released a free DLC in August, heck yeah
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Dec 9, 2018 23:03
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