Random video game news... Games are Randomly News Worthy

[xzar_monty]

45 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

Four of your example games came out recently, so it seemed like you were being facetious. That being said, we aren't lacking in games that fit your criteria. 

The most recent one was WotR, which came out in 2022. I suppose that could be described as "recently", but none of the others are recent, at least in my book.

So, if we aren't lacking in games in production that fit my criteria, can you name one? I'm asking because I can't.

[kanisatha]

52 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

The most recent one was WotR, which came out in 2022. I suppose that could be described as "recently", but none of the others are recent, at least in my book.

So, if we aren't lacking in games in production that fit my criteria, can you name one? I'm asking because I can't.

I am completely in agreement with you on this question. Your game preferences are exactly mine as well, and I also am very unhappy, even angry, that I'm not getting any games that fit those preferences.

[kanisatha]

22 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Dragon's Dogma 2 is less than a month away.

I've long been puzzled as to why more games don't copy Monster Hunter's combat. Over the last decade or so, everybody and their grandmother have tried to copy Dark Souls combat, and with good reason. Very few games have tried to copy Monster Hunter combat, despite the fact that it is the gold standard for fighting gargantuan beasts IMHO. One of the few games that did copy Monster Hunter was the original Dragon's Dogma, I believe some of them worked on Monster Hunter previously, so it makes sense. Anyway, this game looks ****ing awesome. 

I looked at this game, and do like a lot about it. But I draw a firm line against their pawns concept, specifically the idea of sharing pawns with other people. That is a very hard 'no' for me.

[Keyrock]

I'm honestly surprised other devs haven't tried to swipe Dragon's Dogma's pawns system. It's a pretty ingenious way to do companions IMHO.

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, xzar_monty said:

The most recent one was WotR, which came out in 2022. I suppose that could be described as "recently", but none of the others are recent, at least in my book.

So, if we aren't lacking in games in production that fit my criteria, can you name one? I'm asking because I can't.

I'm just having trouble with the idea you can't type it into google yourself, or look at the store pages for Steam, GoG, Epic, or whatever. You want story rich RPG's that aren't turn based, and there seems to be unlimited options. I guess if you want something coming out soon, Dragon's Dogma would be a good one, which is being discussed in this very topic. But Avowed also a thing. You could also play the Witcher series. There is supposedly a new Dragon Age in the works. I think a new Elder Scrolls is in the pipeline. You could play Elden Ring or about a dozen Souls-like games that also fit your criteria.  These are just the bigger developers. There are also a bunch of indie titles. I don't even know where to start on those. If you want to go deeper on the story and less on the combat, you've got this whole new Disco Elysian style that is taking off. 

Also maybe expand your horizons a bit. You are asking for a game that has already saturated the market for the last 30 years. Why does it need to be fantasy? Can it be cyberpunk, sci-fi, modern?

[xzar_monty]

2 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

I'm just having trouble with the idea you can't type it into google yourself, or look at the store pages for Steam, GoG, Epic, or whatever.

I have indeed googled this on occasion, and nothing much seems to come up. The reason I asked you is obvious: you made the following statement, "That being said, we aren't lacking in games that fit your criteria". Therefore the logical thing to do is to ask you to specify which games you mean, if we indeed "aren't lacking" in them. How could this be troublesome to you?

As for what the options are, I would amend your "unlimited options" (in your post above) to "essentially no options". As far as expanding my horizons is concerned, I am quite happy not playing computer games at all and having the industry go whichever way it goes. I have been interested in a certain kind of role-playing since the 1980s, and if there's something available in that niche, I'm curious, otherwise I am much happier doing something other than playing computer games.

[Hurlshort]

21 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

I have indeed googled this on occasion, and nothing much seems to come up. The reason I asked you is obvious: you made the following statement, "That being said, we aren't lacking in games that fit your criteria". Therefore the logical thing to do is to ask you to specify which games you mean, if we indeed "aren't lacking" in them. How could this be troublesome to you?

I'm not your personal shopper, so it would be troublesome for me to dig through all of the indie titles that might strike your fancy. I gave you a list of stores that you can find them in and that would seem to be enough. 

(I did actually list a bunch of the mainstream ones in the works, so I guess I do a little bit of personal shopping.)  

[Mamoulian War]

2 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

The most recent one was WotR, which came out in 2022. I suppose that could be described as "recently", but none of the others are recent, at least in my book.

So, if we aren't lacking in games in production that fit my criteria, can you name one? I'm asking because I can't.

from my wishlist

https://www.gog.com/en/game/black_geyser_couriers_of_darkness released in 2022

all of the others are turnbased, as this is my preferred style.

[kanisatha]

55 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

I'm not your personal shopper, so it would be troublesome for me to dig through all of the indie titles that might strike your fancy. I gave you a list of stores that you can find them in and that would seem to be enough. 

(I did actually list a bunch of the mainstream ones in the works, so I guess I do a little bit of personal shopping.)  

I think ( I may be wrong) the gap between you and Monty is that you are talking about all RPGs whereas Monty is being limited to classic, old-school cRPGs. I also used to limit myself that way, but eventually decided I wasn't going to get too many of those old-school cRPGs without TB combat nowadays. So now I have embraced ARPGs up to a point. I still won't do games that are pure dungeon-crawlers or pure hack-n-slash. They still have to be story-rich, character-development-rich, and roleplaying-rich.

It is interesting that given the choice of expanding to ARPGs versus accepting cRPGs with TB combat, I am very much more accepting of the former over the latter.

Edited March 4 by kanisatha

[Keyrock]

I have sympathy for @kanisathaand @xzar_montybecause I was in a similar position some years back. I believe they are specifically looking for isometric RTwP CRPGs. A little while ago both isometric and turn-based games were out of fashion, so you can imagine that isometric turn-based CRPGs were few and very far between. Since then we have had a resurgence both in isometric games and in turn-based games, which is right up my alley because that's my jam, but now RTwP fans are the ones getting the cold shoulder. I unfortunately have no suggestions for y'all since, as I've mentioned, RTwP isn't my thing, so I have no reason to seek those games out, but hopefully some isometric RTwP games are in the works, plus RTSs. I feel bad for RTS fans, they've been malnourished for years. I don't play RTSs, on account of being complete dog**** at them, but, man, it's been tumbleweeds in RTS land for like a decade, I hope y'all get some good games eventually.

Edited March 4 by Keyrock

[xzar_monty]

1 hour ago, Hurlshort said:

I'm not your personal shopper, so it would be troublesome for me to dig through all of the indie titles that might strike your fancy.

Indeed you are not, and I would not expect you to be.

It's just that if I were to make a claim that, "That being said, we aren't lacking in games that fit your criteria", I would expect myself to be able to name a fair number of titles, if someone were to ask me to back up my words.

@Mamoulian War: You are indeed correct about Couriers of Darkness. That one would seem to fit the bill, but I haven't actually played it.

Edited March 4 by xzar_monty

[kanisatha]

19 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

@Mamoulian War: You are indeed correct about Couriers of Darkness. That one would seem to fit the bill, but I haven't actually played it.

You may want to check out this site. It not only gives you info on the new expansion coming for this game but also a whole bunch of additions and improvements coming for free to the base game:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grapeocean/black-geyser-dlc-tales-of-the-moon-cult

[Mamoulian War]

27 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

Indeed you are not, and I would not expect you to be.

It's just that if I were to make a claim that, "That being said, we aren't lacking in games that fit your criteria", I would expect myself to be able to name a fair number of titles, if someone were to ask me to back up my words.

@Mamoulian War: You are indeed correct about Couriers of Darkness. That one would seem to fit the bill, but I haven't actually played it.

It is two more days on sale, if you have not played it yet

Anyway, just in case, I will post you one more game from my wishlist, which should be released soon , although it is Turn-based one, but I think, it might fulfill all of your other criteria.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/realms_beyond_ashes_of_the_fallen

[kanisatha]

2 minutes ago, Mamoulian War said:

It is two more days on sale, if you have not played it yet

Anyway, just in case, I will post you one more game from my wishlist, which should be released soon , although it is Turn-based one, but I think, it might fulfill all of your other criteria.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/realms_beyond_ashes_of_the_fallen

Sorry to disappoint, but this game is vaporware. The devs absconded with the KS funds, and with bankruptcy and a legal war between the two main devs. The project is dead and we won't be getting the finished product.

If TB is acceptable, these are the current old-school indie cRPGs I would suggest:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1159090/Zoria_Age_of_Shattering/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1478850/Vendir_Plague_of_Lies/

This one is RTwP, but not quite a cRPG; more a cross between cRPG and ARPG:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/945770/Dark_Envoy/

[LadyCrimson]

^ I'm still waiting for more quirky and generally isometric (in feeling if not true reality) RTS games ala Dungeon Keeper, Majesty, Stronghold/Crusader.  I've been waiting forever.   Note that I am not looking for Starcraft or AoE or even Anno #36120.

Which is one reason I'm eager to see how Manor Lords turns out. Although I'm also bracing for disappointment, again.

[Hawke64]

I would add The Waylanders, though it is not exactly the best of the genre. The wishlist shows Sovereign Syndicate, but I can't tell if it is turn-based or not. The Way of Wrath, Worldstone Chronicles, New Arc Line seem fine?

That is to say, there are few high-quality* party-based CRPGs in a fantasy setting at the moment.

*have a professional writer and functional gameplay systems

---

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/that-189gb-epic-games-hack-may-have-been-a-scam-aimed-at-other-hackers

Quote

Last week's alleged Epic Games hack was a scam, so-called "ransomware" group Mogilevich have confessed, or at least, are reported to have confessed in a self-congratulary new statement. The group have not, it now seems, stolen a bunch of login data, WIP software and payment information from the creators of Fortnite; they were only pretending to have done so with a view to duping other hackers into buying their tools.

Well, I still have changed my password.

[the_dog_days]

Fair warning, both the Waylanders and Black Geyser have been abandoned due to the studios closing. The Waylanders specifically is really buggy. Black Geyser's better but both have a much smaller scope than you might be expecting if you're coming off of BG3 or PF:tWotR.

[Bartimaeus]

Highly popular Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu was sued by Nintendo last week, and today agreed to fold and pay 2.4 million dollars to Nintendo to settle it, along with some other terms like the dev team never being allowed to work on emulators for the rest of their lives. Although painful for the future of Nintendo Switch emulation and preservation, I think they pretty much deserved what they got: they did the stupidest thing possible, the one thing you absolutely cannot do unless you want to bring the law down upon your head, which is blatantly advertise and monetize leaked/pre-release content. How stupid do you have to be to sell Patreon-only builds (they were earning tens of thousands of dollars a month, by the way!) that can run The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before the game has even officially released? Any support for pre-release/leaked content is bad enough and will draw the ire of crime investigators and lawyers alike in of itself, but then going so far as to actively monetize it... Woof.

Edited March 4 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

40 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Highly popular Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu was sued by Nintendo last week, and today agreed to fold and pay 2.4 million dollars to Nintendo to settle it, along with some other terms like the dev team never being allowed to work on emulators for the rest of their lives. Although painful for the future of Nintendo Switch emulation and preservation, I think they pretty much deserved what they got: they did the stupidest thing possible, the one thing you absolutely cannot do unless you want to bring the law down upon your head, which is blatantly advertise and monetize leaked/pre-release content. How stupid do you have to be to sell Patreon-only builds (they were earning tens of thousands of dollars a month, by the way!) that can run The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before the game has even officially released? Any support for pre-release/leaked content is bad enough and will draw the ire of crime investigators and lawyers alike in of itself, but then going so far as to actively monetize it... Woof.

Knowing nothing about this I have to say it sounds incredibly dumb on the part of Yuzu. We all know Nintendo can be extremely litigious and to test them by trying to scalp them on their biggest release in years is asking to get your ass buried in lawyer drama.

That said Nintendo's track record of preservation is atrocious and it's sad that what was one avenue for preserving a rich catalog has effectively been demolished. I'm thinking back to the N64, GameCube, and even Wii games that will likely never be able to be played legally without hunting down old consoles and physical media.

[Bartimaeus]

I'd be more sad about it if there hadn't already been a competing Nintendo Switch emulator, Ryujinx, that was doing alright itself. They haven't been doing all the stupid pre-release/leak stuff, they don't have official instructions for how to circumvent the Switch's cryptography and DRM, their Patreon doesn't sell/gate features behind payment, and they don't run an official Discord that is basically in a constant state of "WHAT GAMES ARE WE GOING TO PIRATE NEXT?" like Yuzu did. I think emulation and preservation of the Nintendo Switch will be just fine. Now Nintendo 3DS emulation, where the only emulator (Citra) was made by the Yuzu team which also got taken down as a result of this lawsuit...well, the emulator was not being updated very much anymore and it was more or less feature-complete, I'm sure someone will host the latest version somewhere.

As to why Yuzu was doing all that stuff...complacency and dollar signs is my guess. A small dev team was getting paided $30-40k a month, and they'd gotten away with every potentially legally problematic thing they'd done before, so what's one more? Whoops.

Edited March 4 by Bartimaeus

[Mamoulian War]

57 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'd be more sad about it if there hadn't already been a competing Nintendo Switch emulator, Ryujinx, that was doing alright itself. They haven't been doing all the stupid pre-release/leak stuff, they don't have official instructions for how to circumvent the Switch's cryptography and DRM, their Patreon doesn't sell/gate features behind payment, and they don't run an official Discord that is basically in a constant state of "WHAT GAMES ARE WE GOING TO PIRATE NEXT?" like Yuzu did. I think emulation and preservation of the Nintendo Switch will be just fine. Now Nintendo 3DS emulation, where the only emulator (Citra) was made by the Yuzu team which also got taken down as a result of this lawsuit...well, the emulator was not being updated very much anymore and it was more or less feature-complete, I'm sure someone will host the latest version somewhere.

As to why Yuzu was doing all that stuff...complacency and dollar signs is my guess. A small dev team was getting paided $30-40k a month, and they'd gotten away with every potentially legally problematic thing they'd done before, so what's one more? Whoops.

Sigh. Shame about the Citra

[Bartimaeus]

Did I really write "paided" in my previous post? Good lord.

[xzar_monty]

12 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

It is two more days on sale, if you have not played it yet

I bought it as soon as it came out, just to support the studio. It's just that I haven't played it yet. I understand that it isn't particularly good, but I will give it a whirl eventually.

Pentiment, by the way, was one that I had rather high hopes for, but it did turn out to be a disappointment. Not that it was poor, per se, it just wasn't especially good, and some of the hard-coded choices didn't fit my character at all, as far as I'm concerned, so I felt heavily railroaded.

[kanisatha]

20 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

Fair warning, both the Waylanders and Black Geyser have been abandoned due to the studios closing. The Waylanders specifically is really buggy. Black Geyser's better but both have a much smaller scope than you might be expecting if you're coming off of BG3 or PF:tWotR.

Did you mean Realms Beyond? Because Black Geyser is very much alive, and recently had a successful KS for its DLC due later this year.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

18 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'd be more sad about it if there hadn't already been a competing Nintendo Switch emulator, Ryujinx, that was doing alright itself. They haven't been doing all the stupid pre-release/leak stuff, they don't have official instructions for how to circumvent the Switch's cryptography and DRM, their Patreon doesn't sell/gate features behind payment, and they don't run an official Discord that is basically in a constant state of "WHAT GAMES ARE WE GOING TO PIRATE NEXT?" like Yuzu did. I think emulation and preservation of the Nintendo Switch will be just fine. Now Nintendo 3DS emulation, where the only emulator (Citra) was made by the Yuzu team which also got taken down as a result of this lawsuit...well, the emulator was not being updated very much anymore and it was more or less feature-complete, I'm sure someone will host the latest version somewhere.

As to why Yuzu was doing all that stuff...complacency and dollar signs is my guess. A small dev team was getting paided $30-40k a month, and they'd gotten away with every potentially legally problematic thing they'd done before, so what's one more? Whoops.

Yeah that's worse than I'd have thought.

Mostly I'm just sad about Nintendo both being sue happy IP trolls and bizarrely unwilling to curate their classic titles. I can see doing one or the other, but doing both is just head scratching.