What are you Playing Now? - the man sez Video games are bad for you - fight the man!

[Zoraptor]

8 hours ago, Wormerine said:

I just did the hunting mission. So far the story felt urgent so I was reluctant to wonder off. So can I safely assume that I can just follow the story for now, and there will be a more natural break for exploration later?

There isn't really a natural break where you're told to go off and do your own thing, beyond the occasional note about having to wait for things to develop or similar. The main story is largely the excuse for Henry to not act like a typical feudal obligate and be able to toodle off randomly for days on end. Indeed, many of the main story quests are timed in some fashion, at least after you have triggered them.

eg if you're told to go off and investigate something and there's an obvious bad consequence to not doing so you can be relatively sure they don't expect you to do it instantly, but do expect it to be done in a reasonable timeframe. If you don't, typically the obvious bad consequence happens but you can still progress.

Having said that, if you've done the urgent part so the crisis is resolved and all you have to do is report back with some non time sensitive information... well, sometimes that could take a while.

[Wormerine]

16 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Having said that, if you've done the urgent part so the crisis is resolved and all you have to do is report back with some non time sensitive information... well, sometimes that could take a while.

Thanks. Yeah, I decided to leave Ginger be for a while, and spent couple days doing other work, including(@BruceVC) taking lovely Theresa for two dates (2nd one in Tavern gave me strong Mafia "walk lady home" flashback). I got better in fighting, gained some gold, bought an actual sword, collected some bandit ears (BTW. How do they now it's a bandit ear and not someone elses? Could I slaughter a random village and collect their ears? Does it always have to be same ear, so I won't double dip with two ears per single bandit? It feels like a shaky system). I think I am ready to go back to the main story.

Edited Wednesday at 12:53 PM by Wormerine

[BruceVC]

19 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Thanks. Yeah, I decided to leave Ginger be for a while, and spent couple days doing other work, including(@BruceVC) taking lovely Theresa for two dates (2nd one in Tavern gave me strong Mafia "walk lady home" flashback). I got better in fighting, gained some gold, bought an actual sword, collected some bandit ears (BTW. How do they now it's a bandit ear and not someone elses? Could I slaughter a random village and collect their ears? Does it always have to be same ear, so I won't double dip with two ears per single bandit? It feels like a shaky system). I think I am ready to go back to the main story.

Well done Wormie, it sounds like you being the perfect gentleman with Theresa

I was worried you were going to assume this was another  sordid and lascivious Viconia type dating arc .....and I didnt want you to get disappointed 

 

[melkathi]

From what a quick online search revealed, it seems that cropping usually happened to both ears, so I guess with bandits you would be paid for sets or only either the left or right, so people couldn't double dip.

[majestic]

So, I, like, never having played Kingdom Come: Unwoked Incline, just went and looked up Theresa, because @BruceVC has kept mentioning her for a while now. I had certain expectations going into this image search, mostly because the aforementioned poster said that Veilguard did not cater enough to the horny incel core audience of these games.

Now, to make this comparison properly, here's one of these character models from Veilguard that doesn't cater to the horny incel core audience. Probably because of her rack size, but that I do not know for sure, because said poster refused to actually tell what it was about that game that made it unappealing for horny incels.

This is Neve in her civilian attire, i.e. in non-combat locations. Take not of the lack of anime style giant boobies.

Now, before looking up Theresa, here's what I thought I would get:

That's how Neve should look, I guess, to make the incels happy?

And this is Theresa, apparently. At least according to a quick googling.

Imagine my surprise when Theresa turned out to be a plain country bumpkin, completely unremarkable. Normal, one might say. Certainly less catered to horny incels than Neve was.

This is so confusing.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

51 minutes ago, majestic said:

So, I, like, never having played Kingdom Come: Unwoked Incline, just went and looked up Theresa, because @BruceVC has kept mentioning her for a while now. I had certain expectations going into this image search, mostly because the aforementioned poster said that Veilguard did not cater enough to the horny incel core audience of these games.

Now, to make this comparison properly, here's one of these character models from Veilguard that doesn't cater to the horny incel core audience. Probably because of her rack size, but that I do not know for sure, because said poster refused to actually tell what it was about that game that made it unappealing for horny incels.

This is Neve in her civilian attire, i.e. in non-combat locations. Take not of the lack of anime style giant boobies.

Now, before looking up Theresa, here's what I thought I would get:

That's how Neve should look, I guess, to make the incels happy?

And this is Theresa, apparently. At least according to a quick googling.

Imagine my surprise when Theresa turned out to be a plain country bumpkin, completely unremarkable. Normal, one might say. Certainly less catered to horny incels than Neve was.

This is so confusing.

Huh, I guess in this case it's more triggered by brown people legitimate concerns about fantasy demographics than no tiddy. Who could have thot?

[Hurlshort]

9 minutes ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Huh, I guess in this case it's more triggered by brown people legitimate concerns about fantasy demographics than no tiddy. Who could have thot?

I thought the new thing was people get angry the employees of the company rather than the content of the game. For example, the anti-woke crowd got all mad about Avowed because an artist on the game posted some stuff online that hurt their feelings. 

In terms of Kingdom Come, I thought Theresa's DLC was the best part of the game. A Women's Lot was a great short story and you didn't have to play the absolute lug Henry. Honestly the only characters in the first Kingdom Come that don't come across as idiots are the women. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

I thought the new thing was people get angry the employees of the company rather than the content of the game. For example, the anti-woke crowd got all mad about Avowed because an artist on the game posted some stuff online that hurt their feelings. 

Who the hell knows, those people just love being mad about **** and everything seems to trigger them.

[Lexx]

Honestly you can't win. If they want to be mad about whatever you do, they'll find a reason. Pretty sad existence, imo. Imagine having to be mad all the time, especially about the contents of video games when there's so many games you can play.

[majestic]

Oh, and by the way, before anyone remarks on it: I meant no value judgement of Kingdom Come: Deliverance with my post. As I said, I never played it, and I probably never will, because everything that made the game stand out are things that I am glad modern games left behind*, and any sort of realism is not what I am looking for in a combat system. It is probably a good game that deserved its success in the same way Pretty Woman was great (presumably, at least) and wildly successful romantic comedy. I just don't like romantic comedies.

*Hilariously enough, you just need to look at @Sven_'s posts about what he likes in games (sue me, I just assumed gender based on the user name being male ) to find out what I don't enjoy at all. There are things made to make a game more immersive that are dealbreakers for me. Like not having a map that properly helps with navigation. In real life, ever since the advent of affordable GPS navigation systems, I have never once thought back to the good old days of having to buy ginormous maps to plan routes well ahead of leaving home and thought: "Man, that used to be great, I should do that again."

Finding places in the game world based on descriptions by characters is just something I don't care for, and in the worst case, is frustrating. The first thing I installed when playing World of Warcraft Classic was a UI mod to tell me where to go for questing. There's enough in this game to waste my time, avoiding them whenever possible is good for the experience.

There's a whole bunch more that I don't like, that many players consider good game design, like NPC schedules and timed quests - basically anything that makes a game feel less like a game, and more like a simulation. I already deal with NPC schedules and timed quests almost every day in my life: it's called work. Somehow, I don't care for it in my break from reality, and I cannot understand why people would want that in their games. But that's okay. I don't really have to. De gustibus non disputandum est, after all.

[Zoraptor]

On KCD romances..

Spoiler

..there is one romance in KCD which is mildly cringe, but Teresa certainly ain't it.

 

2 hours ago, majestic said:

Like not having a map that properly helps with navigation.

The map in KCD has quest markers and Henry shows up on it, same as any modernish game. It also has fast travel and the rest of the modcons.

It only doesn't show Henry's location (or have fast travel) in hardcore mode. Which is what I'm playing. No matter how much of a crusty boomer gamer you are you wouldn't have much fun playing KCD in hardcore mode first time through.

6 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

A Women's Lot was a great short story and you didn't have to play the absolute lug Henry. Honestly the only characters in the first Kingdom Come that don't come across as idiots are the women. 

A Women's Lot overall is a great DLC, might actually be the 2nd best I've played.

[Wormerine]

20 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

The map in KCD has quest markers and Henry shows up on it, same as any modernish game. It also has fast travel and the rest of the modcons.

It only doesn't show Henry's location (or have fast travel) in hardcore mode. Which is what I'm playing.

Yeah, Kingdom Come definitely feels in some ways like a throwback title, but it is not early as obtuse or “hardcore” as I expected. Even saving so far hasn’t been a hassle, though from what I understand quest checkpoints and quit&save haven’t been there from the beginning. 

The biggest change from modern RPGs is that KC:D doesn’t shy from rags to riches design - you start as completely incompetent tool, and grow as you progress. And as it is a bit of RPGs that I have been missing, I have been enjoying it a lot. 

[Zoraptor]

I played the GOG version so never had the 'fun' of the initial release. By the time I played it it definitely had (some at least) checkpoint saves and save on exit. The lack of checkpoint saves would definitely have driven me bonkers given the general stability of the game and the reliability of its cinematics at the time.

 

[BruceVC]

5 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Yeah, Kingdom Come definitely feels in some ways like a throwback title, but it is not early as obtuse or “hardcore” as I expected. Even saving so far hasn’t been a hassle, though from what I understand quest checkpoints and quit&save haven’t been there from the beginning. 

The biggest change from modern RPGs is that KC:D doesn’t shy from rags to riches design - you start as completely incompetent tool, and grow as you progress. And as it is a bit of RPGs that I have been missing, I have been enjoying it a lot. 

There are several mods you can load to change how Saves work in KCD if you dont like the default system

I loaded one that made a change around the Schnapps usage or something similar 

[BruceVC]

14 hours ago, majestic said:

So, I, like, never having played Kingdom Come: Unwoked Incline, just went and looked up Theresa, because @BruceVC has kept mentioning her for a while now. I had certain expectations going into this image search, mostly because the aforementioned poster said that Veilguard did not cater enough to the horny incel core audience of these games.

 

 

This is so confusing.

My advice is dont get emotional about these things, avoid the whole cultural wars garbage that influences people on both sides around what makes a good game 

End of the day sales numbers will define if a game is successful and sustainable 

It doesnt really matter what you and I think because it has no outcome on sales 

Veilguard ended up being a  sales disaster and Bioware missed there target badly and faced mass retrenchments and sadly Bioware may never release another game again

What difference does it make if give you my opinion on this sales failure? If I say its because Veilguard ended up a woke disaster we dont know thats true because we dont know why  it failed to sell, there are lots of opinions around this 

I only want to focus on games that are successful and have a future 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 07:08 AM by BruceVC

[bouyahywi]

Right now, I'm playing Diablo IV and Doom Classic. Two very different vibes, but both are super fun in their own way. Some people say video games are bad, but I say they help with stress and even strategy skills. Plus, nothing beats slaying demons after a long day. What’s everyone else playing?

[Malcador]

Raptor : Call of the Shadows 

Sheesh this game is hard  

[majestic]

Hey, look everyone, it's the other AI bot's lost sibling.

14 hours ago, bouyahywi said:

Right now, I'm playing Diablo IV and Doom Classic. Two very different vibes, but both are super fun in their own way. Some people say video games are bad, but I say they help with stress and even strategy skills. Plus, nothing beats slaying demons after a long day. What’s everyone else playing?

 

On 3/7/2025 at 9:42 PM, marwaha said:

Right now, I'm on Diablo IV and Project Zomboid. Two perfect games to lose yourself for hours and prove that gaming is not just wasted time. It stimulates reflection, creativity and sometimes even strategy

Guess they learned writing game names in italics in the meantime.  

Edited Friday at 01:04 PM by majestic

[Sven_]

On 3/26/2025 at 10:39 PM, majestic said:

There's a whole bunch more that I don't like, that many players consider good game design, like NPC schedules and timed quests - basically anything that makes a game feel less like a game, andmore like a simulation. I already deal with NPC schedules and timed quests almost every day in my life: it's called work. Somehow, I don't care for it in my break from reality, and I cannot understand why people would want that in their games. But that's okay. I don't really have to. De gustibus non disputandum est, after all.

Nintendo disagrees, they still don't quite as mindlessly let you follow markers for reason.  However, KCD isn't actually like that. You have a map and you have some guidance (Hardcore Mode is a bit "trickier"). Additionally, simulation is awesome. It's what allows for emergent behavior and solutions rather than simply ticking off a list of tasks. The game even suggests you watch where NPCs are going should you feel the desire to rob them / break into their homes  (crime is still too simple, mind).

That said, you know what's actually like work? Game developers thinking you need a gaming nanny (or a control freak of a boss) guiding your every move as apparently you can't be trusted to even start the game. Where's the escapism in that?  Like seriously: Push X to open door. Push Y to accept quest. Move precisely over here to talk to character Z. Now move to place A, then to B, activate your witcher senses, follow the yellow paint and DO IT DO IT NOW, WELL DONE GOOD BOY. I never got into World Of Warcraft by the way as that kind of loop alongside to MMO fetch and grind quests is the definition of completing a laundry list of "busywork" (markers or not). The poor sod who used to put the caps onto Cola bottles by hand actually had it good: His task wasn't near as mundane and he was left alone as his boss trusted he was capable of doing it all on his own.  

 

 

 

On topic: The Evil Within 2. 

Undecided if the first game or the second game had the better structures. The first tossed you into new scenarios every chapter, kind of like a best of Horror -- the second is more hub-based. I prefer them both over the original RE4 though, just a silly game after THAT start.

Edited Friday at 02:39 PM by Sven_

[Hurlshort]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Hey, look everyone, it's the other AI bot's lost sibling.

 

Guess they learned writing game names in italics in the meantime.  

I wonder if they just choose a random game to throw in with Diablo? I mean, I assume Project Zomboid isn't paying for bot advertisements. 

[Bartimaeus]

The spambots that at least had vaguely intelligible-sounding usernames instead of just random letters mashed together did it better.

[Zoraptor]

Right now, I'm playing Diablo IV and Control Ultimate Edition. They promote world peace and harmony much like my other hobby of ikebana. 

I really ought to be enlarging my mind by traipsing around medieval Bohemia instead since KCD2 is out on GOG now but no rush.

6 hours ago, Sven_ said:

Game developers thinking you need a gaming nanny (or a control freak of a boss) guiding your every move as apparently you can't be trusted to even start the game.

That always reminds me of the story from... Thief Deadly Shadows*? about them playtesting a level with a bunch of off the street type gamers. They were told (in game) under no circumstances should they leave the party they were at. Most didn't have a clue how to progress because, of course, you were meant to ignore the guards etc and leave the party. Which lead to a load of hand holding type stuff being added because it actually was necessary.

*or Dishonoured/ DXHR maybe? [from context, almost certainly was in fact Dishonoured]

Edited Friday at 09:14 PM by Zoraptor

[Theonlygarby]

On 3/25/2025 at 1:15 PM, Zoraptor said:

There isn't really a natural break where you're told to go off and do your own thing, beyond the occasional note about having to wait for things to develop or similar. The main story is largely the excuse for Henry to not act like a typical feudal obligate and be able to toodle off randomly for days on end. Indeed, many of the main story quests are timed in some fashion, at least after you have triggered them.

eg if you're told to go off and investigate something and there's an obvious bad consequence to not doing so you can be relatively sure they don't expect you to do it instantly, but do expect it to be done in a reasonable timeframe. If you don't, typically the obvious bad consequence happens but you can still progress.

Having said that, if you've done the urgent part so the crisis is resolved and all you have to do is report back with some non time sensitive information... well, sometimes that could take a while.

Im really hoping the spot i chose to side quest isn't timed... it feels like it won't be because I keep getting side quests that are to be completed in the camp where I need to meet Katherine.

 

I need to meet Katherine in a camp... if you know for sure it's not timed it would be helpful... if it is timed... whoops because I have taken a lot of time away from the main story.

[Zoraptor]

1 hour ago, Theonlygarby said:

Im really hoping the spot i chose to side quest isn't timed... it feels like it won't be because I keep getting side quests that are to be completed in the camp where I need to meet Katherine.

I need to meet Katherine in a camp... if you know for sure it's not timed it would be helpful... if it is timed... whoops because I have taken a lot of time away from the main story.

You may need to ask @Sven_ about that since I'm 90% sure it's KCD2 rather than 1. Sounds like it wouldn't be timed though, based on the first game.

(If it's the same as the first game when there are timers they are fairly generous unless the quest is obviously urgent, ie someone is dying --> don't go off rescuing cats on the other side of the map. Meet someone though, generally not timed unless you're told to do it urgently or there's an urgent framing device eg they're going to be attacked or similar)

Edited Friday at 09:10 PM by Zoraptor

[Theonlygarby]

Yeah im fairly sure it's not timed.  Honestly, even if it is, at this point I'm screwed unless I want to lose like 8 hours of side questing.

 

From what I remember in KCD1 there weren't that many timed main quests.  Since Katherine is a main character I highly doubt she's going to die because I took too long