What are you Playing Now: Living the Game Life

[melkathi]

I got sent a deluxe key for Humankind by amplitude as thanks for my help testing the game.

I did not test the game.

I am not certain if I should be happy or offended. It could say a lot of what they thought of my feedback on other games.

[Wormerine]

20 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I got sent a deluxe key for Humankind by amplitude as thanks for my help testing the game.

If you feel bad for using the key you didn't earn, I shall be happy to take it off your hands 

[Malcador]

25 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I got sent a deluxe key for Humankind by amplitude as thanks for my help testing the game.

I did not test the game.

I am not certain if I should be happy or offended. It could say a lot of what they thought of my feedback on other games.

All bugs are your fault.

[Sarex]

The biggest issue with Civ like games, is the endgame. If someone figures out how to make that interesting they'll take the throne.

[Sarex]

1 minute ago, Malcador said:

All bugs are your fault.

That's how it works.

[Malcador]

Playing D3, shame that etheral I got wasn't at 70, thing is sweet with boosts to Archey skill and paragon damage.  Also is a shame the free set is Nat's, I dislike that set.

Got AoW : Planetfall for my birthday so think I will play that and fail utterly at it, and thus label the game overrated trash.

[Gfted1]

HUZZAH! Happy Birthday!

[Malcador]

Soon I will be an old fogey like the rest of you

[melkathi]

If you have questions about AOW Planetfall, gimme a shout.

Did you get expansions?

[Keyrock]

Happy belated birthday @Malcador

[BruceVC]

Okay DS update and interesting configuration story

I started to play today and immediately noticed serious issues with the screen size and HUD on my gaming monitor which offers 3440 x 1440 resolution. DS is an old game and this is not uncommon and I am  experienced at using Wide Screen Fixers  and getting Mods to work so I had already downloaded certain Mods for DS 

However it took me 3 hours to finally solve the numerous issues with getting the correct  resolution and screen size, I needed to tweak an ini. file and use specific settings in the Wide Screen Fixer GUI before the resolution is perfect for my monitor ....well it looks fine is more appropriate because DS is an older game 

But I was only able to fix the problems because a Steam user immediately responded to my question around how to address my issues. He shared with me links to websites that discussed how the DSFix Mod works with the Wide Screen Fixer and I followed those instructions. Sometimes Steam users can be so helpful and share pertinent information 

Anyway now I can proceed with starting DS1 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by BruceVC

[Wormerine]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Okay DS update and interesting configuration story

Ah yeah, DS1 and it's ****ty port. I am glad you managed to get it fixed. 

[Keyrock]

I've been through the time loop 3 times so far in The Forgotten City. Every time through the loop my goal is to complete one quest, anything beyond that is gravy. I'm impressed with how many areas they crammed into what on the surface seems like a fairly small city.

[BruceVC]

9 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Ah yeah, DS1 and it's ****ty port. I am glad you managed to get it fixed. 

Oh that reminds me, Wormie did you play DS1 on console or PC ?

[Wormerine]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Oh that reminds me, Wormie did you play DS1 on console or PC ?

PC, Prepare to Die edition. It wasn't too bad at this point. Playable, but suboptimal port. 

On my old laptop I was almost able to run everything without issues. There was one boss that tanked my framerate to sub 30FPS, but luckily he wasn't very tough. I have no clue if it was my PC or port. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Wormerine

[BruceVC]

25 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

PC, Prepare to Die edition. It wasn't too bad at this point. Playable, but suboptimal port. 

On my old laptop I was almost able to run everything without issues. There was one boss that tanked my framerate to sub 30FPS, but luckily he wasn't very tough. I have no clue if it was my PC or port. 

Exactly the same version as me 

[Mamoulian War]

I've started and finished Tales of Arise Demo on my PS4. I have preordered the game, and wanted to have some glimpse on the gameplay and visuals, and I am now very satisfied with that decision. Both field and characters are really gorgeous, English voice acting is high quality as well. Unfortunately, the combat is not as satisfying as in some of the previous Tales of titles. I hope that this will change in the final version of the game.

[Hurlshort]

This weekend I played the heck out of Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. I had played the original back in the day on a console and enjoyed it a bit, but never got close to the end. The sequel seems to be even better. It was on sale and I was looking for an escape, so it was good timing. 

I was surprised to find one orc sarcastically talking to me with Kumail Nanjiani's voice. He died, but I almost felt bad about it.

[Skarpen]

On 8/19/2021 at 8:01 PM, Sarex said:

The biggest issue with Civ like games, is the endgame. If someone figures out how to make that interesting they'll take the throne.

As it is for most strategy games be it TB or RTS etc. At some point in the game there is a time where the other side is basically defeated and the rest of the game is just boring jog to the finish line. I think those games should take the chess route and offer surrender when the game is clearly won. In top chess games it is rather rare to see checkmates as the players know when the rest of the game is pointless. 

[Mamoulian War]

More Rebel Galaxy again. Just hit 30 hour of gameplay, and 5 million worth in equipment on my ship After not being able to sell Meteoric Diamonds for a good price, for almost 10 hours, I landed in another sector, and was able to sell 26 tons for more than 700 thousand credits That made me smile, and I almost immediately spent it on more equipment I have now two memory fragments in my possession and I am trying to get info out of another guy, which could give me some stuff, to find the third one

[Tale]

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. I love me some Ace Attorney. It's the main reason I bought two generation of handheld consoles. Maybe it's getting a bit tired all these years later, but they're still fun. It was always a VN first and a game with puzzles second, but it really feels like it's leaning more towards the former than ever. It keeps dropping new case mechanics only for them to be entirely scripted for drama.

This might not be a bad thing. Just a way of keeping the story fresh, I suppose. And then maybe they'll become relevant mechanically in later episodes.

 

Also I finally gave up on Doom Eternal. Was playing DLC1 and decided that fighting way too many waves and the occasional Marauder made the whole thing an unfun slog. And so I wrote a negative review about it on Steam to which id software responded. 

Let me repeat myself. The game developer that got me hooked on video games, that is only 25 minutes away and that I once applied for a job at, responded to a review where I called the latest installment in the franchise that defined my childhood "overdeveloped." There's no way in heck I'm reading that response. It would only break my heart.

[213374U]

15 hours ago, Skarpen said:

As it is for most strategy games be it TB or RTS etc. At some point in the game there is a time where the other side is basically defeated and the rest of the game is just boring jog to the finish line. I think those games should take the chess route and offer surrender when the game is clearly won. In top chess games it is rather rare to see checkmates as the players know when the rest of the game is pointless. 

Well, the opposition surrendering after it deems it has already lost simply means there is no late game, but it doesn't address the late game being boring or pointless. It's interesting because in chess it takes mental discipline to press the advantage, but not letting impatience and wanting to get it over with drive you to make mistakes. That very rarely can happen in computer games, though.

I think Stellaris did it better than other games -- if not necessarily well. The idea of optional endgame crises is, I think, a way to keep the game interesting after the normal factions have been dominated and regular mechanics and gameplay have little else to offer. More games should explore that concept, but maybe toy around with other kinds of crises beyond war. Maybe your empire succumbs to ennui? Sudden environmental changes upending the conditions that underpin economic output? The problem is that kind of thing can feel gamey, contrived and heavy-handed as in Stellaris. Catch-up mechanics that prevent the player from ever gaining an excessive advantage may be another solution.

[Sarex]

15 hours ago, Skarpen said:

As it is for most strategy games be it TB or RTS etc. At some point in the game there is a time where the other side is basically defeated and the rest of the game is just boring jog to the finish line. I think those games should take the chess route and offer surrender when the game is clearly won. In top chess games it is rather rare to see checkmates as the players know when the rest of the game is pointless. 

 

10 minutes ago, 213374U said:

Well, the opposition surrendering after it deems it has already lost simply means there is no late game, but it doesn't address the late game being boring or pointless. It's interesting because in chess it takes mental discipline to press the advantage, but not letting impatience and wanting to get it over with drive you to make mistakes. That very rarely can happen in computer games, though.

I think Stellaris did it better than other games -- if not necessarily well. The idea of optional endgame crises is, I think, a way to keep the game interesting after the normal factions have been dominated and regular mechanics and gameplay have little else to offer. More games should explore that concept, but maybe toy around with other kinds of crises beyond war. Maybe your empire succumbs to ennui? Sudden environmental changes upending the conditions that underpin economic output? The problem is that kind of thing can feel gamey, contrived and heavy-handed as in Stellaris. Catch-up mechanics that prevent the player from ever gaining an excessive advantage may be another solution.

The only solution I see is better AI. I despise that the difficulty settings in these games are just letting the AI cheat. I would imagine that getting the AI to band together is a better stopgap to the endgame problem, but I have never seen it done well.

[Wormerine]

16 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

This weekend I played the heck out of Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. I had played the original back in the day on a console and enjoyed it a bit, but never got close to the end. The sequel seems to be even better. It was on sale and I was looking for an escape, so it was good timing. 

Aside from me disliking the "spirit" of the game, so to speak, Shadow of Mordor was pretty great. I asume you are talking about Shadow of War - I have it on steam for quite some time, got it for free. I am meaning to give it a go one of these days, but lootbox extravaganza somewhat put me off the title, through from what I understand they removed it a while back.

Meanwhile:

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[BruceVC]

45 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Aside from me disliking the "spirit" of the game, so to speak, Shadow of Mordor was pretty great. I asume you are talking about Shadow of War - I have it on steam for quite some time, got it for free. I am meaning to give it a go one of these days, but lootbox extravaganza somewhat put me off the title, through from what I understand they removed it a while back.

Meanwhile:

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Wormie are you Irish by birth or you did you immigrate their, I just wanted to ask you  something  about Irish food but only if you are comfortable discussing it ?

Edited August 24, 2021 by BruceVC