Random video game news... RNG says "Nope"

[Gromnir]

The Lamplighters League Dev Diary #7 – Allies, Supplies, & Customization

The Undrawn Hand is a deck of cards that has the uncanny ability to change a person’s fate. It is the signature relic of the Lamplighters, filled with cards that look blank when drawn but show themselves for Lamplighters that tempt fate in service of the fight against evil. With it, you will create builds unique to your friends playing Lamplighters, with opportunities to unlock the most potent of combinations.

The Lamplighters League Dev Diary #8 – The Race for the Tower

If any of the three Clocks fills completely and hits the final Breakpoint, that's game over, for you and for the world as you know it. But there's still a ghost of a chance to pull things back: a Last Stand mission you can run to stall them for a short time. The stakes are high, though. Last Stands are difficult, and failure means losing the world.

...

am wondering why/when the card "feature" became popular in rpg and tactical rpgs 'cause is not the first recent title am having seen cards as gameplay.

also, while am ordinarily opposed to quest timers, am recognizing how the three clocks in lamplighters is effective keeping score o' the strategic elements o' the game and therefore at least has a purpose. also, the lamplighters clocks ain't hidden or arbitrary as is the fail in many games. even so, there is a tendency for "game over" time management aspects to be poor implemented or unnecessarily punishing, existing only to create a layer o' difficulty for games which would otherwise be too ez.  

am appreciating the informative developer diaries and we remain optimistic 'bout the title.

HA! Good Fun!

[Wormerine]

7 hours ago, BruceVC said:

They saying things like " look at the pillow talk in Starfield...ha-ha. This game is going to be an epic failure, I told you " 

Honestly, the pillow talk sounds awkwardly hilarious. If all of Starfield will be that entertaining, I will be pleasantly surprised.

[Zoraptor]

I'd guess the point is that that doesn't work towards being pleasantly surprised in general/ actuality. End of the day, the bad dialogue is funny and entertaining because of the context, and if you remove that then you're back to just having bad dialogue.

Not like prior Bethesda games haven't been successful/ entertaining despite that though, of course.

[BruceVC]

9 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Honestly, the pillow talk sounds awkwardly hilarious. If all of Starfield will be that entertaining, I will be pleasantly surprised.

Wormie we can fix that  cringe Romance dialogue with some nice friendly  Loverslab mods

[Humanoid]

I'd never heard of that Lamplight game (but am aware of the notorious Fallout 3 area). Looking at the thumbnail though, boy that's some collection of angry faces.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Humanoid

[kanisatha]

The Solasta DLC is releasing on the 25th. A good preview here:

 

[Sven_]

On 5/2/2023 at 3:47 PM, Keyrock said:

Yeah, Redfall's been getting dragged over the coals by reviewers. Not that long ago, Arkane was one of the most consistently celebrated devs but they've had a couple of stumbles lately.

A glance through Redfall's credits reveals that 70-80% of the Arkane Austin level/OW design team consists of people who've never worked on an Arkane game before. 

The "fresh blood" were collected from all over the OW games industry, working on games such as Mafia, Saints Row, Watch Dogs, Far Cry, Destiny etc. before. OW lead designer Rachel Adams prior worked on ME Andromeda and (fittingly?) Anthem. There's at least one leading level designer in Kelly Mangerino who prior was but a junior on Mafia 3 and got promoted for this immediately. In some ways, this makes sense, since Arkane have been built from the ground-up as a highly specialized studio -- and cooperative looter shooter open world games wasn't what this specialization was about. The mirror men of Arkane | Polygon

However, a bulk of the newbies according to their LinkedI were hired as late as early 2022. There's still veterans in key positions, such as Bare, Huso and Steve Powers, people that go way back all the way to Deus Ex. Still, Prey's system lead Seth Shain is at Bungie. Prey's lead level designer meanwhile at Archetype. Gaming journalists, this would likely make for an interesting post mortem, eventually.

And that's even without considering that Arkane founder and Prey director Raf Colantonio has left Arkane alongside a couple of other Arkane guys to form WolfEye (their first game, Weird West, is actually pretty fun). Bets accepted that they will be joined by more Arkane staff for their second game, for which they've signed a deal with an investor and posted job offers.

Despite my ancient 1050ti not being up to par, I'd finally just bought an oldschool boxed copy of Deathloop (from Arkane Lyon, with the fabulous Dana Nightingale, once hired from the Thief fan mission community and famous for D2's Clockwork Mansion, still there).

That's all you can do as a consumer: Sending the right market signals.

Rather than the wrong ones. Because wasting studios like this on projects like Redfall is the blockbusting gaming industry at its most immature -- and similar as if Hollywood were to waste its better talent on the most generic Marvel spin-offs and Assassin's Creed movie tie-ins for life.

Edited May 13, 2023 by Sven_

[Keyrock]

Triple A publishers keep pushing studios once upon a time known for making good engaging single player games into making multiplayer looter shooters chasing that pot of gold at the end of the Destiny rainbow.

 

[Katphood]

Man, I had no idea Chasm: The Rift got a remaster for PC/Consoles. I want to play this so bad right now.

 

[MrBrown]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/15/23723703/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition-approved-eu-european-commission

[Katphood]

 

Did we ever had a good X-Files game?

[majestic]

7 hours ago, Katphood said:

Did we ever had a good X-Files game?

Yes.

[Wormerine]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/overwatch-2-has-dumped-plans-for-their-promised-pve-hero-mode

[uuuhhii]

2 hours ago, Wormerine said:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/overwatch-2-has-dumped-plans-for-their-promised-pve-hero-mode

this is just sad

[Keyrock]

4 hours ago, Wormerine said:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/overwatch-2-has-dumped-plans-for-their-promised-pve-hero-mode

LOL. Wasn't the pve mode the entire justification for Overwatch 2 being sold as a """"""""""new game""""""""""?

This is a level of scumbaggery from Activision that's so brazen that I can't help but be impressed. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Keyrock

[Wormerine]

13 hours ago, Keyrock said:

LOL. Wasn't the pve mode the entire justification for Overwatch 2 being sold as a """"""""""new game""""""""""?

If I understand it correctly it was also a reason for not supporting OW1, as they were working on big singleplayer mode.

To be fair, they claim that that work won't be entirely wasted and they will reuse some of it for events and story missions - which allegiadly are to be more substantial than archive missions from OW1. It only refers to a rather vague PvE mode with hero progression, unlockable skills etc - a big thing that's been hanging in front of the player base like a carrot on a stick. Story missions are set to come out as seasonal content.

[Lexx]

Or maybe they won't and have fooled everyone again.

[Mamoulian War]

Nah, it will be part of OW3 for sure!!!

[Malcador]

Something great was lost going from 6 to 5 anyway.

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, Malcador said:

Something great was lost going from 6 to 5 anyway.

I actually really like the change. Even as a healing main, I had a much better experience in OW2 than I did in OW1. Monetization has driven me away from the game pretty quickly though.

[uuuhhii]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OshXJ8E2O0&ab_channel=IGN

mortal kombat seem tobe double down on brutality

Edited May 19, 2023 by uuuhhii

[MrBrown]

 

[Lexx]

4 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OshXJ8E2O0&ab_channel=IGN

mortal kombat seem tobe double down on brutality

Jeez, that's kinda getting a bit much even for me now.

[Mamoulian War]

3 hours ago, Lexx said:

Jeez, that's kinda getting a bit much even for me now.

But got forbid to show female characters in MMA-like outfits

[Malcador]

I approve of the music choice, if for nothing to troll people.  Impotent nerds need their metal I guess.