video-games

[clear python]

!!

[fathom juniper]

It’s like comparing a car to a vacuum cleaner because they both happen to go vroom

Come on now

[rotund umbra]

i mean

if you're comparing that vroom

then I see no problems

[fathom juniper]

Oh my god

It’s like the roguelite convo all over again

[clear python]

on that note: dyson vacuums have the most annoying sound possible

[fathom juniper]

Their owners too

[rotund umbra]

lmao

[clear python]

I only met one so far, lucky!

[hybrid jetty]

vaccum cleaners are a roguelike

whatever I pick up with them is procedurally generated

[sand sleet]

No aiming down sights except for sniper rifles

[urban elk]

And while you do runs after runs, you get marginally better each time but do not gain mechanical benefits

(there are pay to win mechanics tho)

[clear python]

csgo is kinda like a roguelike, without the procedural levels. Though 3kliksphilip featured a mod that did exactly that

[ocean iris]

i cant wait for CS2

[rustic falcon]

i finished the cosmic wheel sisterhood just now, its awesome and i really recommend it

[sand sleet]

Sniper elite 4 is way nicer than sniper elite 3, no sand and bullet drop is not exaggerated, well at least not as much

[fathom juniper]

oh yeah SE4 is

easily my fave in the series

haven't played 5 though

[ocean iris]

https://youtu.be/FVYpnQufXEY

[round sundial]

https://twitter.com/HenrySchraderVO/status/1692216698307293381?s=20

Henry Schrader (@HenrySchraderVO)

So, to anyone who doesn't know, Hi-Rez Studios, the people behind Paladins and Smite, have stated that they will be using AI to clone voices and refused to add in any words to contracts that would protect actors from it. More info in the thread. Please share to other VAs. (1/?)

Likes

22450

Retweets

7968

Twitter · Aug 17, 2023, 4:47 PM

Thoughts on this ?

[rustic falcon]

i cant view the thread but just from this tweet, not very good thoughts

[fathom juniper]

That’s…
Less than ideal

I’ll look into it later

[round sundial]

I only know Paladins but whenever they have a new skin most of it have custom vfx and VAs

So this is gonna be problematic

[rotund umbra]

I mean, it was inevitable someone would try this

AI voices will only get better

doesn't mean I agree with it but the threshold has been crossed

[ocean iris]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/888317171271344152/1142080659083497502/ssstik.io_1692355665044.mp4

[mystic wave]

i love playing dressup https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/512790960816783363/1142112117789560852/image.png

[fathom juniper]

On one hand
This means less Troy baker

On the other
This means more Troy baker

Cause this ai had to be trained on something and he’s been in every goddamn game released in the last decade

The peak troy was in 2013 when out of four biggest AAA titles of that year he played main roles in 3 of them

Like
What

I hope their databases don’t go that far back

[vale narwhal]

So,
BioShock Infinite
Last Of Us
… I’m blanking on the other

[fathom juniper]

And RE6

Hey I said the biggest, not the best

[rotund umbra]

I mean I have no problem with Troy Baker

but yeah there was a period where he was in everything

like I'd never thought he would voice the Joker

but he also was pretty good at it, so I'm not complaining

[rotund umbra]

Also there's now a Sex% speedrun category for BG3, currently at 8 minutes

[sand sleet]

Tried baldurs gate 3, as I expected I liked character customization but gameplay is just not my thing

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/870680987208667187/1142139035129749637/Screenshot_775.png?width=1247&height=701
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/870680987208667187/1142139036975239278/Screenshot_777.png

gay ass characters

[fathom juniper]

Most of them would make mods angy

[twin yarrow]

[sand sleet]

I hit a 231 meter shot in sniper elite 4

playing on authentic difficulty, pretty fun but would be cooler if there was no crosshair when aiming not scoped

although ig it is 3rd person soo

[fathom juniper]

Oh hey
That post is still here

Looks like mods are asleep

[clear python]

lmao https://x.com/ouren/status/1692036521807815051

Wolfgang ✈️ Gamescom/PAX (@Ouren)

We tried to pitch this to Epic when the Switch was going to launch and they rebuked us. Called the games old and not worth it. 💀

Likes

859

Retweets

167

▶ Play video

Twitter · Aug 17, 2023, 4:51 AM

[woven breach]

What does that 8 minute represent?

[rotund umbra]

How fast you can get laid in the game

[fathom juniper]

Oh
Oop

And there it goes

[woven breach]

Genshin does a monty phyton

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/882892644810887189/1142010685048487988/20230818_152228.jpg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/882892644810887189/1142011193469435934/20230818_152438.jpg

[mystic wave]

monty python pog

[hybrid jetty]

strange archons lying in ponds distributing visions is no basis for a system of government

[twin yarrow]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/775583829649129495/1142515982586355843/Baldurs_Gate_3_Screenshot_2023.08.17_-_02.29.40.44.png?width=960&height=540
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/775583829649129495/1142515983412645899/Baldurs_Gate_3_Screenshot_2023.08.17_-_02.45.48.08.png?width=960&height=540

my friend's chars

she's playing it safe, yeah

[rotund umbra]

I see a druid

I approve

[fathom juniper]

she's playing shrek

made fiona and farquad

not gonna lie
i kinda wanna try BG3 just for the character editor

but knowing me i'd just wastea day making my character

then play the game for a few days and then drop it

acutally - this kinda reminds me

wasn't there a game that also had a cool character creator and then the devs released it for free as a demo?

so that you could mess about with it and try all the stuff and then port your character to a full game

[rotund umbra]

spore

[fathom juniper]

[rotund umbra]

not false tho

[fathom juniper]

i mean...
well

[rustic falcon]

black desert online

i downloaded it and all but it wasnt available in my region

[fathom juniper]

yeah this one's on me - i've set the bar too low

[rustic falcon]

so sad

[fathom juniper]

OH WAIT
i remember now

it was some final fantasy game

which one was the MMO?

[rustic falcon]

oh, final fantasy 14

[fathom juniper]

14?

[rustic falcon]

yea

[fathom juniper]

ye

[rustic falcon]

i remember it

but its character creation isnt very complex and in depth

[fathom juniper]

i actually remember being quite dissapointed with that character creator

it was... "alright" at best

[rotund umbra]

spore > ff14

confirmed

[fathom juniper]

maybe i was spoiled by APB

[rustic falcon]

its funny because i did make a character in the benchmark and when i started playing for real she was still there

[fathom juniper]

i myself made up like... 10% of the playerbase of that game

dead garbagio
but i still liked it

speaking of
have you tried APB?

[rustic falcon]

huh

[fathom juniper]

that GTA online before GTA online was even a thing?

published by EA

[rustic falcon]

not sure, what does it stand for

but i dont tend to play many MMOs and online games in general

[fathom juniper]

it cost like a hundred million gorillion dollars to produce and made like...

2

and 49 cent

[fathom juniper]

all points bulletin

[rustic falcon]

no ive never heard of it

[fathom juniper]

basically - it's this almost-but-not-quite MMO where you had this big ole city...
...barely chugging on an early UE3

the city was under a constant martial law and when making a character you had to pick one of two sides
either the good guys or the fun guys

and then you did quests and what not

and here's the thing

when a criminal (or a party of them) started a quests, i - and many other enforcers - could get a ping about it
a literal radio call

and the first party to pick up that call joined those criminal's quest as the other side
which then turned it into this sort of dynamic 5v5 deathmatch

but you still had the entire massive city to fight in
and everyone had their different guns and totally different characters and their own cars and what not

and when things got out of hands the losing side could summon reinfocments - other players
but then that made the teams unbalanced so then the other side could call in backup

and in bigger missions this grew and grew and grew until you had like... 40 players fighting across the entire damn city and oh
it was amazing

and yeah - that game still to this day has one of the best character creators ever

it even had a built in graphic design module where you could paint anything you want...
AND THEN PUT THAT THING YOU JUST MADE ON ANYTHING YOU WANT

want a shirt with your own logo?
sure

[twin yarrow]

can you create an avali in FF14? yeah, i thought so.

[fathom juniper]

want a tattoo with that?
go right ahead

paint it on your car if you want too

buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut then the microtransactions got out of hands and the whole thing died for like the 4th time

[twin yarrow]

who would've thought.

is there a whole department there dedicated to killing game series and devs?

[fathom juniper]

yes

it's called the executive branch

but yeah
check this out
https://youtu.be/ef3GPO67lTc

ultimately - this game became a janky, stuttery mess of microtransactions and just...

more microtransactions

but every now and then - when all the mechanics were firing at all cylinders it all just... clicked
and it was beautiful

an experience like no other

[mystic wave]

the game to do this with is nioh 2

[fathom juniper]

buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut then after chasing 4 players all across the city for robbing a jewelery store
windows rolled down, your favourite music blasting at max volume for everyone around to hear
you hop out of the car, chase them down an alley, up the ladder and onto the roof
you jump from one building to another, finally corner down that last dude...

[ocean iris]

https://tenor.com/view/uoh-gif-23538924

[fathom juniper]

...only for him to turn around and whip out that goddamn golden Whisper SMG that has 99% accuracy, no kick and minimal spread
more damage than your kited-out shotgun at a point blank range and a firing rate so high you get three new bullet holes in your fancy custom-made character EVERY FRAME

and it's like...
what was the point of any of it anyway?

that game...
had some of the worst pay 2 win i've seen in my life

those paid golden guns were so OP that in 9/10 cases you didn't even have enough time to fire a single shot before going down

[fathom juniper]

yeah...

it was a game so good they had to kill it 3 times

also it had some of the funniest ragdolls ever

it had ragdolls so stretchy and bendy they made stretch armstrong look rock solid by comparison

also - i think this is the only MMO that had turned griefing other players... into an actual gameplay mechanic

AND only one side could do it and the other one was defenceless

and it was awesome!

god i miss this game so much

[ocean iris]

You know

I think Warden from R6 is inspired by that glasses and moustache guy from Sicario

[fathom juniper]

the who from what by who?

[ocean iris]

COME ON NOW

[fathom juniper]

https://tenor.com/view/mgs5-metal-gear-solid-snake-fire-why-gif-15219632

[ocean iris]

This lad doesnt watch enough special forces flicks

[fathom juniper]

the what

[fathom juniper]

you know what?

let's see how APB is doing on steam right now
it's been years since i checked it out

oh jesus hamburger christ
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/638031423340806185/1142539618995151028/image.png

with an AVERAGE of 190 players a day

this is an MMO... apparently

hey @ocean iris
you ever played APB?

[ocean iris]

nuh uh

[fathom juniper]

shame

something tells me you'd love it

back in the day when - you know
there were people to actually play with

[polar dragon]

Technically more than one is already Multiplayer, so more than three is probably massive.

[fathom juniper]

yeah yeah and DMCV is legally classified as an RTS because V commands 3 edgy pokemons from all the way tf over there

[rotund umbra]

uhm excuse me it's actually a roguelike

thank you very much

[fathom juniper]

i...

UGH

[rotund umbra]

[fathom juniper]

i'm not drunk enough to go into this whole genre-definition convo again

i was yesterday
and apparently i said something bad which i don't honestly remember and i can't see what it was cause the message got removed

but that's besides the point

oh yeah - speaking of not remembering things
@ocean iris boye
tell me - what the hell is going on with death stranding 2?

seems like everyone's forgotten about it

there's no trailers besides the one that they showed like a year ago
no hype train, no ruse cruise
just... radio silence

[floral mauve]

Gannondorf if he was a cowboy

I also have a question since i see some boomer shooters on sale, but not sure if i wanna get em

Are the Doom games worth getting into? I know some people kind of point & laugh at 3 cause it was a terrible reboot

But i know 1, 2 & 64 are solid

even if a little dated compared to other FPS games

Wasn't there a trick in the first few games where since you could not look up at the time, its like a scan based on your direction or somethin

[fathom juniper]

Oh BUOI you’ve come to the right place

Are old doom games worth getting into? Yes
Is it worth it to struggle with old limitations?
Only once for the sheer curiosity

It’s 2023, we use sourceports for this

So here’s what you do
You get a doom game on pc
Get gzdoom
And then you enjoy more content than you could feasibly play in your entire liftetime

Here’s a handy dandy little crash course on how to easily enjoy doom in the best way possible @floral mauve https://youtu.be/34HfmGvUJIM

[floral mauve]

Noice

gee thanks bot

The fact that the original Doom is damn near FORTY years old

https://tenor.com/view/metal-gear-solid4-mgs4-solid-snake-old-snake-becoming-old-gif-24179307

Hell it turns 40 in December

I might just get some mods that give traditional FPS aiming, cause while i like Doom 1 & 2 fine enough, your aiming method is a lil outdated

I do find it a little unfair that the enemies can snipe you with guns or fireballs from across the room, meanwhile you have to be a little closer at times with a boomstick in tow

[fathom juniper]

first of all

it's 30, not 40

i'm not that old

and second
you don't need mods for aiming and jumping and crouching
this stuff comes free with gzdoom

[twin yarrow]

looking at it from another point of view: you can snipe them as well with pistol, standard shotgun, machine gun and even rocket launchers

problem is they don't have to aim, they always get you

[fathom juniper]

they do

autoaim screws them over too

[ocean iris]

Let him COOK

Mark my words

Gamescom

[woven breach]

oh boi

oh boi

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is released

OH BOI

I'mma grab my wallet

[fathom juniper]

ok so i've got a question

can anyone name a few games with cool explodey fire extinguishers ?

or like - any other kind of pressurized tank

i need to record some sounds

[mystic wave]

idk about sound but i threw quite a few such tanks in prey

[fathom juniper]

hmmmmm

THATS IT!

ok hang on i gotta fire up my ps4v

[mystic wave]

did you finish prey

[fathom juniper]

no

[mystic wave]

played cookie instead

[fathom juniper]

it's gotten a bit boring and annoying

[mystic wave]

not judging!

[fathom juniper]

nah

i played doomy ternal

this time with keyboard and mouse

aka - the proper way

this... game just proved to me that there are some divine forces on this earth

so i was looking for a neat little sound bit of some pressurized container going pop, right?

a fire extinguisher or a propane tank or whatever

i wasted over an hour on youtube - couldn't find anything i could use

i downloaded gmod and went through all the props - nothing

you just told me to check out prey @mystic wave
and get this

i load into the game - completely not knowing where i am or what i was even supposed to do

i literally took a single step into one of those grav shafts

and it took me down to a new place that apparently had a quest waiting for me
and it was that part of the station that had a gas leak and a single spark could set it all off

and then - and brace yourself for this
THE GAME SPAWNED A SINGLE MIMIC AND A PROPANE CANISTER IN THAT GRAV SHAFT RIGHT ABOVE MY HEAD

i panicked
shot it once

it made just the perfect sound

and then the whole station exploded

you can't make this stuff up

i guess i got what i asked for

[mystic wave]

Lmao thats epic

[twin yarrow]

poggers

[woven breach]

I guess

you can say

you had a... blast

[fathom juniper]

[woven breach]

🗡️

come at me!

[fathom juniper]

[woven breach]

🔫 🔫

Don't screw with me! these are filled with hot waters!

[fathom juniper]

waters?

there's more than one?

[woven breach]

you bet!

[twin yarrow]

🧯

[fathom juniper]

OH YEAH
speaking of that fire extinguisher

here's what i used it for
https://youtu.be/abtsXgX6Ano?t=368

i used that recording from prey and just smushed it with a bunch of other stuff

and now it sounds like it's own thing...
...hopefully

and yes - that is the soundtrack from Hard Boiled

[twin yarrow]

sounds just right

is it a game on goldensource with doom assets, or is it actually a doom engine?

[fathom juniper]

it's gzdoom

the same sourceport 90% of us have been using for decades

unless you want vanilla accuracy
then you go for stuff like prboom or choco doom or whatever

but under all this fancy stuff beats the same old heart written by carmack 30 years ago

and it beats 35 times per second
GOD this number still pisses me off

and i've been doing this for 7 years now

[ocean iris]

man

im kinda excited for XDefiant

[fathom juniper]

https://tenor.com/view/disgusting-gif-23219266

no
come on, man

you know better than this

[ocean iris]

the playtests turned out to have a great game behind

plus the rebranding

[fathom juniper]

wait

it's not called the "Tom Clancy's XD" anymore?

[ocean iris]

it used to be called Tom Clancy's XDefiant and have a very flashy and cringe aesthetic

now it's only called XDefiant

and looks way better

and more professional

[fathom juniper]

yeah that's how i remember it

[ocean iris]

yeah no

it's great now

waiting for the release at the end of summer

[fathom juniper]

poor tom was rolling so fast in his grave you could hook him up to a turbine and solve the current energy crysis

[ocean iris]

it has 5 factions iirc

[fathom juniper]

that initial rrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeveal ws

whoa

tessssssssssssstinggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

[ocean iris]

those freedom fighters from FC6, the cleaners from the division, ded sec, third echelon and phantoms (renegade ghosts)

[fathom juniper]

I’m on mobile now

My keyboard is freaking tf out

[ocean iris]

im kinda glad it has all those factions

and the fact that third echelon still exists for ubisoft

[fathom juniper]

I honestly couldn’t care less about ubisofts universe

At this point it feels like a cruel joke to put Sam fisher into literally anything but his own game

[ocean iris]

i mean

it only happened in siege and breakpoint

which kinda make sense since they are a shared universe

[fathom juniper]

And that mobile thingy

[ocean iris]

wish john kozak and mitchell got the same love

[fathom juniper]

And now everyone’s rocking sams goggles like they got them from wish.com

[ocean iris]

they do only in later ghost recon games but not outside their universe

[frigid hollow]

Self-promotion?

[fathom juniper]

eeeh not really

and besides - it was in respones to a convo we had here a bit earlier

maybe next year

[frigid hollow]

Lol wtf

I guess #video-games is the way

Dynobot moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq3S96oGS34&list=PLJjvT7H_WpVHwzqQnPX5Rh72QVgZCPfr6&index=1&ab_channel=Meteaura22

[rustic falcon]

this is not really appropriate for the server

[ocean iris]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/888317171271344152/1143126622896148571/Screenshot_20230820_114318_Instagram.jpg?width=677&height=676

[fathom juniper]

I mean
MGS 5 is basically a Barbie game with robots

There’s ponies you have to take care of
And puppies
And you have to play dressups
And you can buy stuff for your house

[ocean iris]

actually very real

[ocean iris]

🤓 ☝️ um ackshually by MGS5 you probably mean Peacewalker! Because that was the original name and if you mean the Phantom Pain or Ground Zeroes you mean V because it stands for Venom!

[fathom juniper]

V stands for Very Convoluted

Kojima
Buddy

It’s quite easy - it goes 1 2 3 4 5

[rotund umbra]

"it's quite easy" should never be used in MGS context

[ocean iris]

Peacewalker was quite literally more of a mainline game than V

at least events wise

a very nice of work of experimental cinematography for V tho :3

[fathom juniper]

It was even initially supposed to be called mgs5

[ocean iris]

well I literally said that

[fathom juniper]

what i meant is that... i don't agree with that entire sentence

i still believe peace walker still is more of a mainline mgs game

but during development it was literally called mgs5

[twin yarrow]

why are there three mgs5s

[fathom juniper]

YEAH

[twin yarrow]

and looks like it was supposed to be another one

[fathom juniper]

WHY, KOJIMA!?

funny thing is

there's 3 mgs 5 games

and not a single one of them is finished

well ok - peace walker is, but...
iunno

ok, maybe that was a bit oo harsh

but honestly - after spending 20 years with this series i actually like low key crapping on it for all the dumb things it did

while at the same time i adore the things it does well more and more with every year

it's like this space between its bad things i laugh at and good things i like grows wider and wider with every year

testing testing

oh this keyboard is driving me up the goddamn wall

ANYWAYS

i just wanted to post this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg-CrIx7gVQ

i love when devs do stuff like that

and man - i'm so jealous of payday fans and of their game getting such a good sendoff

there was the event
or like... 2 even
the crude awakening heist with that absolute tearjerker of a score

and now this

and it makes me sad to know that KF2 wont get anywhere close to this

oh look at that
even the devs themselves are crapping on the engine too

[fathom juniper]

ya know
i just thought of something

going back to kojima

i think i'd be more excited if kojipro stopped making those big expensive blockbuster movie games and went down the PT route

which is - focusing on small, super polished and super experimental games

with way smaller budgets and shorter dev cycles

this way we could let kojima flex his weird ideas
gamers wouldn't have to wait for so long
and kojipro devs could enjoy a more normal work enviroment with less crunch, probably

[ocean iris]

you know

PT would have been the same as you mentioned before

it just didnt get made

[fathom juniper]

yeah but what i mean is...

would you rather have a death stranding 2: poopy grenade boogaloo

or like...
4 different PTs made in the same timespan?

like, ok - hear me out
how about a short little experimental FPS?
with this signature supernatural tacticool feel?

they obviously experimented with the idea back in early mgs4 days

OH JESUS HAMBURGER CHRIST

look at this
https://youtu.be/_iew2fGKhao?t=177

on fullscreen though

ooooohhhh this is making me sick 🤢

[ocean iris]

MGS4 ended up feeling like third person CSGO

and it's a good thing

[fathom juniper]

OH MY GOD

you're doing this on purpose, aren't you?

[ocean iris]

no

im dead serious

it literally is

at least MGO was

[ocean iris]

i think experiences like PT should be reserved to the indie single developer space tbh

it just limits Kojipro's output and scope

Like it was just a teaser

It was supossed to be way bigger

[fathom juniper]

hey @ocean iris

https://www.gamesradar.com/the-metal-gear-solid-collection-is-so-true-to-hideo-kojimas-original-vision-that-it-needed-a-new-content-warning/

on one hand - great
i'm glad they're preserving those gems exactly the way they were

...i'm actually shocked that i have to applaud someone for doing the bare damn minimum
but still

ON THE OTHER HAND, HOWEVER

this collection basically comes with a
warning
this old game is old

tf?

[ocean iris]

i mean

maybe it stops zooms complaining on twitter that it's a great game but has LE JANK

[fathom juniper]

no it wont

i'm just glad mgs3 finally comes to pc

once it hits my hard drive i'm gonna mod the everloving snake out of it

first things first - balance

half the tranq ammo
and supressors wear off twice as fast

[vale narwhal]

I’m happy just in being able to experience these games for the first time

Closest I’ve been to the Metal Gear series is buying Revengance during a Winter sale year - and subsequently not touching it since

[fathom juniper]

revengence is to metal gear what...
fast and furious 8 is to drive

[vale narwhal]

I’m aware

[frigid hollow]

Is this appropriate for the server

[fathom juniper]

what is ?

mgs3?

come on - if we ban MGS @ocean iris will have no games to talk about

[frigid hollow]

True

Then how will he continue living

[sand sleet]

I've played mgrr and mgsv and mgrr is funnier

[fathom juniper]

that just means you played 5 the wrong way

[vale narwhal]

MGRR is inherently funnier, but the ways you can mess around with MGSV’s systems - oh man…

Even just what you can do with the ||inflatable dummies and rocket arm|| are hilarious

[fathom juniper]

although as far as mainline MGS games go...

(well then 5 shouldn't count, but that's besides the point)

i still think 3 is the funniest

both in terms of whacky strats and writing

[sand sleet]

mgsv is uh
too trying to be serious imo

[rotund umbra]

it's more like mgrr is the only one not trying to be

[sand sleet]

probably yeah

[fathom juniper]

i mean - last time i played mgs3 i saw this legendary soldier saving the world from world war 3 by throwing dead frogs at soviet soldiers, recharging his batteries by eating glowing mushrooms and thinking about it really hard while wearing a croc cap

mgs5 being too serious? yeah

mgr being the only one not trying to be serious?
nah

[rotund umbra]

I mean MGS kinda has a bit of conflict where it wants to be taken super seriously but also throws in a lot of completely ridiculous/insane stuff

MGRR kinda just gives up on the seriousness most of the time

[fathom juniper]

i mean - that's always been the charm of the series for me

[rotund umbra]

altough the main plot is people harvesting child brains

oh yeah it's not necessarily a bad thing

but mgrr is tonally very different, even if kinda the building blocks are similar

[fathom juniper]

i mean - the thing about the best MGS games is that they're really skillful at injecting small bits of levity here and there to disarm you for those really hard hitting emotional moments

and then GZ and V came along and it's like...
all warcrimes and sad music and WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and we're gonna shove this bomb up this girls....

i'm not even gonna finish this sentence

was that scene shocking?
sure

but it was shock for shock value

it was in a bit of a bad taste

usually MGSs "bad taste" comes up in a poorly timed poop joke

but not... this

[rotund umbra]

ye I can agree with that

you need to take a DOOMP

[fathom juniper]

iunno - i'm the kind of guy that thinks the 1911 scene from MGS3 to be one of the funniest things in the entire series

and still somehow more relatable than 90% of what V had to offer

[rotund umbra]

I'm trying to remember what levity there is in V and other than burgers I'm kinda coming up short, most levity there comes from the gameplay rather than actual jokes

[fathom juniper]

a Digital Optical Output Mounting Proxy

[fathom juniper]

such a lust for revenge

• inhales *

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

although this one wasn't intentional

[rotund umbra]

I was about to say

[fathom juniper]

hey - what's skullface's favourite band?

it's The WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[rotund umbra]

but tbh non-intentionally funny stuff is also kind of a MGS thing sometimes

[fathom juniper]

oh yeah

hey @rotund umbra - what's skullface's fave movie director?

[rotund umbra]

oh boy

[fathom juniper]

JOHN WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[rotund umbra]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOuzIQNYOGg

[fathom juniper]

remember all those skullface memes right after the game came out?

[rotund umbra]

oh yeah

[fathom juniper]

people were all like "ehmergerd he planned it all!"
"he was on shadow moses!" and such

and they kept photoshopping him into screenshots of previous games

[ocean iris]

that's literally the whole metal gear series lmao

[lost igloo]

i remember 3 friends and i finding this scene WAY TOO FUNNY. and is one of my favorite parts of mgs3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU9xP3X63PY

like, bro just jumped out of a plane doing what 60+ mph? then ragdolls for 15 feet across the surface of the water. not to mention the year long pause in the middle of "Untill we meet again .................................................. John!"

[ocean iris]

this scene was too out of pocket HE LITERALLY JUST LOST HIS MENTOR AND MATERNAL FIGURE

@fathom juniper okay its confirmed at this point, Death Stranding 2 at Gamescom

which starts tomorrow

how I know that?

well kojima posted a tweet of him using some video editing software a few times recently

and reposted gamescom posts

I absolutely cant wait to see more of it

oh yeah he also reposts Sam x Higgs soft boy's love fanart

🫡

[fathom juniper]

Cool

[fathom juniper]

it's happening

and todd is on stage

KILLING FLOOR THREEEEE

LET'S GO!

wow - a game i'm actually hyped about

i wonder how they're gonne mess this up...

[twin yarrow]

looking at the footage.. barely figuring out what's going on

i have to ask, suddenly realizing.. are people really live with high values of brightness?

is that why they found "light themes" painful?

[fathom juniper]

yes

i clicked the light thingy in my mail client today cause i couldn't read it and i got freaking flashbanged

i can still hear that hight pitched noise in my ears

[twin yarrow]

is that why when adjusting brightness to "make left symbol barely visible" i have to tune it all the way to the max?

[fathom juniper]

• eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee *

probably

[twin yarrow]

is that why late HP movies were barely watchable?

or maybe it's not on me

[fathom juniper]

no - that's because they're bad

[fathom juniper]

jesus hamburger christ this has to be one of the most boring shows i've seen in my life

[twin yarrow]

maybe we're all just got tired of gaming?

i hope that's the case

[fathom juniper]

no

this show was just... garbolium

[twin yarrow]

not that the games became boring

[fathom juniper]

GOD this is so mindnubingly dull

why am i even watching this?

[toxic cosmos]

coping for news for stuff you care about?

[fathom juniper]

coping for hecking anything

i was hyped for a second when i saw a bit of KF3
which i already knew it's coming out

and then i cooled off when i realized how they fumbled kf2 post launch

eh

jeff is genuinely

honestly

trying to hype up blizzard live on stage

i'm watching it live on stream and chatting with friends and i honestly cannot copy a single one of those posts here cause each and every one would break all of the server rules here
all of them at the same time

that's how hard we're crapping on blizzard and they deserve every single bit of it

i like you jeff, but please...

[toxic cosmos]

Thanks Goodness You're Here looks flipping amazing

[fathom juniper]

oh wow

it does!

finally something fun and cheerful and creative and not cringe

SAM LAKE!

i love you, sam!

sam lake is still one of the best western game writers out there

i wanna see weird and creepy and self aware stuff

[twin yarrow]

oh, Alan Wick

[toxic cosmos]

Riiiight, it's over

Welp

[rustic falcon]

i liked dustborn

looks interesting

[fathom juniper]

i'm so on board with this

wait

it's over?

it's all ogre?

jeff!

please!

kojima called he said he's stuck in traffic!

don't end the show he'll be there in 5 minutes!

[twin yarrow]

liked the idea, but animations could be better imo

[fathom juniper]

oh well

jesus hamburger christ that was one of the most nothing shows i've ever seen a

and i've been watching every single major one for at least a decade

[twin yarrow]

idk why, but somehow many projects despite looking nice, also look pretty.. generic?

[fathom juniper]

yeah

there was a lot of videogame: the game

[twin yarrow]

magic, knights, swords, stuff we already saw in..

[fathom juniper]

also - shoutouts to jeffs slipup

[twin yarrow]

countless games before

[fathom juniper]

they showed that movie and after that jeff went "thanks for showing us this game"

[twin yarrow]

they're just.. nice
but nothing remarkable

[fathom juniper]

I AM NOT JOKING

this was so souless
so deflating

so mid
absolutely nothing

i coudl've done so many things in those two hours

but hey - realms deep is soon

[twin yarrow]

can't say i really regret about that two hours mostly bc i'd spend then doomscrolling or staring at the blank screen anyways

[hybrid jetty]

i take it that i missed nothing of note

[twin yarrow]

at least we know what to expect

[fathom juniper]

i've spent this time drinking and poopposting

so i at least had some fun

the biggest highlights of this show were...
the kf3 trailer...
which showed like 5 seconds of gameplay? yay?
and we already knew it was coming out

sam lake showed up on stage
for a game we already knew is coming out

frank klepacki popped up for like 5 frames of one trailer

and Than Goodness You're Here looks adorable

so that's like...
one proper game announcement?

and the dude that broke in on stage was just

just... just go away, mate...

wasn't even funny

also i'm watching this kf3 trailer, and...

[twin yarrow]

i think the presentation itself could be organized better

[fathom juniper]

well it looks like they're going even harder for generic sci-fi kf2 style rather than this rusty, dusty kf1 style

the guns ain't even real

BUT
there's been like
7 frames of melee combat

[twin yarrow]

if one makes a full on-stage presentation, with big names invited, it could be something more interesting than.. well

[fathom juniper]

so we might be either getting the martial artist perk
which was promised back in kf2 days but never delivered

which is nice

or we might be getting some sort of glory kill finishers
which is not nice

[twin yarrow]

a single-man narration with prerecorded trailers

[fathom juniper]

i can't really imagine that fitting in killing floor

also fleshpounds are now larping stretch armstrong

[twin yarrow]

or maybe it's just a showcase of close-combat melee animation that is used when you're out of ammo

[fathom juniper]

https://youtu.be/D6Yq3fBkDTA?t=55

which could be interesting for gameplay

[fathom juniper]

yeah but that's what i mean
if it's a stock finisher that locks you in place to play this cool animation then...
...no

please no

i've played A LOT of kf1 and 2 and that just seems like a recipe for a disaster

the "please kill me while i watch this cool animation" button

BUT

if it's an actual fluid combat system that doesn't lock you in place then
...yes

yes please

it was supposed to be the 10th perk in kf2 but they couldn't pull it off so they replaced it with the survivalist

the "i don't wanna play the game on anything higher than hard - i just wanna goof around" perk

it's like...
oh you wanna be a medi-sniper with molotovs and shotguns?
go right ahead

you won't do much good for the team, but go have some fun

also - this game is totally running on UE4 and...

...i figured it out from a single frame flash of lens flare at 1:04

and i am not joking
look
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/638031423340806185/1143641415830745128/image.png

this is the stock UE4 post processing
i've seen this exact type of lens flare in so many games and it was always ue4

i'm either that good at spotting this sort of stuff, or...

...i may need some help

eh...

[twin yarrow]

sigh

why it's always as if mc is a robot with cameras for the eyes

[fathom juniper]

well

have you played kf2?

[twin yarrow]

i'll take that as "mc is a robot"

[fathom juniper]

kf2 has this wonderful ability where...

[twin yarrow]

no, i haven't

[fathom juniper]

it's characters have those really fancy and human-like moves in first person
the way hands are animated and the gentle sway of the camera and so on

and then you play with other people and they act like the dumbest bots out there

it's amazing

the kf2 fanbase never ceases to amaze me

...in the worst ways possible

kf2 is great - as long as you don't play public lobbies

there's absolutely no teamwork there

which is weird because kf1 somehow had that figured out

people were healing each other and dropping guns and sharing cash

but in 2 it's just...
6 players playing alone on the same map, if that makes sense

get a buddy
or ask your neighbour
or at least train a monke to mash some keys on the keyboard and you're gonna have fun

just don't play pubs

[twin yarrow]

yeah, i totally can imagine

but i was talking about lens flare thingy

i mean, it's not impossible to make visual light effects less generic and more immersive

[fathom juniper]

oh you mean that

[twin yarrow]

have you ever squinted while looking at the lightbulb?

[fathom juniper]

i don't have to
i have astigmatism

i have natural built in lens flare

[twin yarrow]

especially with wet eyes

[fathom juniper]

my whole life is a crappy JJ abrams movie

[twin yarrow]

sorry for that

[fathom juniper]

basically - bright lights (especially at night) look for me like this
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/638031423340806185/1143643790813442168/image-3147763451.jpg

LOOK AT THIS LENS FLARE

but my glasses help with this a bit

[twin yarrow]

well.. so that you can imagine it's possible to translate such effect

[fathom juniper]

yeah actually - the game that got the closest to this was...
the OG bioshock

it wasn't quite there
but it had those cool triangular lens flare thingys

also - back to the topic of kf2

i hope they keep the gore system from 2

which is still unmatched

get this - kf2 came out in 2014
and to this day this is STILL the only horde shooter where you can literally paint the entire map red

blood decals never dissappear
and the tech side of it is so simple and efficient it doesn't make you drop any frames

like - it feels so obvious now in hindsight i'm shocked no one copied this tech yet

you wanna know how they got this to run?

[twin yarrow]

actually, yes

i have some ideas, and want to know if they are related

[fathom juniper]

so in any other game if you kill a zombie in a room with a wooden floor the game just loads up a texture of a blood splatter and spawns it where it died on top of that wooden texture
either as a sprite or a decal or whatever - basically, it creates a new object

[twin yarrow]

yes

[fathom juniper]

so when you kill like a 100 zombies there - that creates a problem
cause then you have potentially a 100 new different objects - which slowly adds up and becomes taxing
then there's the issue of overlapping objects and what not
so most games have to find workarounds or just limit the amount of sprites and decals or just slowly fade them out

well - here's how KF2 does it

in kf2 if you kill a zombie in the same room with that wooden floor the game just...
makes a copy of that wooden texture, then opens it up, paints blood directly on that texture and then loads it bakc up to the game and replaces that original clean texture

so at first with just one zombie it's a little bit more taxing - cause now you have two copies of the same texture
but as you keep killing them - it doesn't matter if it's 10 or 500 zombies - the game just keeps painting over and loading the same texture
it just edits it each time

they can't do it in real time - they coded it so that it takes a few frames to make such an edit
but the result is that you can kill as many zombies (or "zeds" here) as you want - the moment the game has a second backup set of textures - it doesn't matter anymore

and it's so simple and efficient i am genuinely shocked no one else has done it

[twin yarrow]

yeah.. like, adding another sprite is a technology from 90s

[fathom juniper]

it's the same general idea, yeah

[twin yarrow]

surely it was more effective at that point, but

times changed

[fathom juniper]

also the killcount in kf2 quickly hits quad digits in a single match

and it has some ABSURD gore

so it quickly adds up

[twin yarrow]

my idea was kinda same, except for another alpha-layer texture, where splats are painted

[fathom juniper]

especially if you have a demo and a support specialist on team

those guys paint harder than bob ross

hang on i'm gonna dig up some of my old screenshots

[twin yarrow]

now it's only left to figure out realistic bullet holes

that are not transparent shadows of cracks

[fathom juniper]

oh kf2 has some top tier gunplay

like - get this
not only all guns were animated at hundreds of frames per second

but they also mocapped most of the first person animations

WHAT OTHER GAME DOES THAT!?

look at this crap
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1135041856

this ran at solid 60 on my old laptop
THAT THING COULDN'T EVEN PLAY MY OWN DAMN DOOM MOD AT 60!

here i can't even see the ground anymore
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=957352382
it's all red

also it had some top tier death animations for zeds with great blending
you could shoot chunks of their flesh off
it even had nvidia physics support for fluid simulation and soft squishy guts for even more gore

god it made for such satisfying combat

and then slow motion kicks in for everyone on the server and you get to watch all of this in black and white slow motion

also you could do some goofy stuff like this
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=941884237

[twin yarrow]

why is the game called killing floor when you can't see the floor
(confused peepo)

[fathom juniper]

of course - in slow motion
so that everyone in the server can see you crap out a flaming rocket

[fathom juniper]

well there's been a lotta killing on that floor there

also - before i go
let me share with you my fave KF2 screenshots
solely because of that caption
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=947432740

that's my own gun there, btw
don't... ask me how that happened

[twin yarrow]

magik

[fathom juniper]

but yeah
if you're even remotely interested in kf2 then i have to DM you one review of it

can't really post it here cause
well
well the server rules tab is right there and i'm already on thin ice

cause despite it's many, many flaws
and slightly fumbled post launch support

this game is still unmached in its genre

i should go back to it sometime

if only the game wasn't so damn bloated...

ironic, considering that my least favourite enemy of this game is called The Bloat

OH!
oh

and on the topic of KF3

tripwire
lads
please...

this is a really good opportunity to finally remove those damn robots from your game
please, thank you

[ocean iris]

you really think so?

[fathom juniper]

yeah i really hope they remove the edars

or at least delegate them to their respective bossfight and maybe some seasonal events

[ocean iris]

What the hell is Dustborn and why does it look and play like an unity game

[clear python]

hey at least it's not just cel shading thrown on top, eh

[frigid hollow]

Hopefully KF3 doesn’t crash everytime I boot it up like KF2 does

[polar dragon]

Okay honest question

How many programs do you run in the background while gaming? I'm talking Discord, Spotify, recording software, etc.

I just realized that my computer on "idle" is never really idling since there are like 7 or 8 apps running in the background that are all more or less necessary...

[tame veldt]

google with 1-3 tabs open, discord, spotify, steam if that counts, snipping tool, file explorer, and sometimes fl if i forget to close it

i would think these are pretty low requirements but discord and spotify just suck memory

[fathom juniper]

don't worry
you've got like 27 fans to keep your puter cold

[polar dragon]

Guess what

I need a software to control all those fans too

[fathom juniper]

[polar dragon]

And another to monitor the hardware so I know the fans are operating optimally

Let's see
Spotify, Discord, Playnite, Steam, Epic, ShareX, Logitech mouse application, EVGA AIO application, HWMonitor, PhoneLink, AMD Adrenaline

That's... 11 apps

Not to mention Chrome and game of choice

Technology, am I right

[ocean iris]

ah....made by quantic dream

too bad the people behind it are australian C words

((david cage))

[fathom juniper]

C stands for cage, yes

[twin yarrow]

let's see.. Telegram, NVIDIA control panel, Discord, Steam, Firefox (1-10 pages), sometimes Opera GX (around 500 or so pages, give or take 300), Tamriel trade center, Adobe reader, Process explorer, Java update, Adobe update, sometimes launcher of running game, actual running game..

sometimes Notepad with all the passwords

[clear python]

Discord, Steam, browser with 400 tabs (unironically) and a lot of other stuff, but most of them just need memory which is at like 70% lmao, CPU is at like 4% and discord is the one that uses it the most...

[rotund umbra]

what kind of a savage uses two browsers?

[fathom juniper]

I do

[twin yarrow]

no idea, i think, two is not enough

one for the socials and links from friends, youtube and stuff
one for general usage, info searching, youtube twink or incognito
one for working stuff, instructions, very important info that should be saved
one for access to restricted parts of the internet
and one for viewing gifs

[sand sleet]

I close everything except discord when gaming

Close discord as well in some cases

[rotund umbra]

[rustic falcon]

well i just checked, quantic dream is only publishing it. red thread are the devs

they made dreamfall chapters and draugen

[clear python]

dreamfall chapters is great, draugen is... a nice empty package

so interesting at least

[rustic falcon]

also i have discord, wallpaper engine and steam open and thats basically it when i play games. i close my browser when i dont need it and i usually dont when playing a game

i guess some apps are in the bg like logitech and nvidia stuff

sometimes ill open obs when i want to record something and sometimes ill listen to something on spotify web if im playing something that doesnt require music on

[rustic falcon]

i own chapter but also all the other TLJ games, hoping i get to them One Day so i can play chapters

[clear python]

I only played Chapters actually

[rustic falcon]

how did you like it?

i remember playing very little of the longest journey... but in reality it was 10 hours... i wonder how far i actually got

[clear python]

I liked it a lot, didn’t feel like you’d have to know any of the other games. It very much it’s the longest journey though, probably the longest adventure I’ve ever played. And it does feel epic in that regard. Also a rather good adaption of parallel storylines. It all works exceptionally well

[fathom juniper]

oh yeah - i can't imagine quantic dream producing a new game anytime soon after the, uh...

after David "failure of a game designer" Cage had that awful meltdown in court and started shouting slurs and threw a childlish temper tantrum

which is a thing
that actually happened

god wtf even is this timeline we're in?

ANYWAYS
Cool Gaming™️ Stuff©️
https://youtu.be/pJawkVX--I4

[lofty pecan]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/419255159143661571/1143946252099268730/Screen_Shot_2023-08-23_at_9.33.54_AM.png

aaaaa cant wait for it to release

also i cant believe im missing out on playing baldurs gate, ac6, and starfield becuase i dont have access to my pc until next month

[fathom juniper]

ok so this may not be videogame related
but it is really puter related
and it's just... super cool and wholesome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRIklga9IBQ

[hybrid jetty]

ITS TOMORROW????

I have got to finish this baldurs gate run 😭 😭

[fathom juniper]

frens

i'm conducting an experiment

i'm gonna say "hollow knight" and i need you to type in a score from 1 to 10 for it as quickly as possible

aight
ready?
here it goes

Hollow Knight

[lofty pecan]

depends on where u live

[fathom juniper]

10 being the best, of course

[frigid hollow]

Kingdom of Amular

[fathom juniper]

that's a weird way of spelling 7

or 7.5

[acoustic jacinth]

i'd say solid 8

[polar dragon]

6.5/10 coming from someone who hates Metroidvania. If just gameplay and not the path finding/navigating aspect, solid 8.5/10

[fathom juniper]

well color me surprised

i was kinda expecting to see here a bunch of 10s

oh right it's...

it's not a roguelite...

nevermind

[rotund umbra]

or is it

[fathom juniper]

ooooIOOOOOOHHHH MY GOD

[rotund umbra]

insert vsauce music

[acoustic jacinth]

if it were a roguelite i'd rate it lower

[twin yarrow]

i'd give it 9 out of 10, but just bc my OCD hates that game for unrelated reasons

otherwise it'd be 10 out of 10

[mystic wave]

10

There you go

[chrome prism]

10/10 game

[dire warren]

8
minus 1 point for markoth
minus 1 point for absrad

[frigid hollow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq3S96oGS34&list=PLJjvT7H_WpVHwzqQnPX5Rh72QVgZCPfr6&index=1&pp=gAQBiAQB

[tribal lotus]

9… the 0 is locked behind a abusively hard platforming sequence so can’t immediately type a ten

[polar dragon]

We are talking about the road that contains unpleasant feelings, right?

[polar dragon]

It just committed the mortal sin of being a Metroidvania for me. Like why would I want to traverse an area more than once looking for random paths (yes I'm aware of the irony that roguelite also forces you to replay the same area over and over again).

[frigid hollow]

0

[polar dragon]

They just took the "can't immediately type a ten" literally

[frigid hollow]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1032608240745332746/1143987819241549924/IMG_6123.png

[broken smelt]

Hollow knight is a solid 7/10
-1 for markoth, -1 for no eyes, -1 for p5 somehow getting an achievement but not PoP
(In all seriosness I'd give HK 8.5/10)

[polar dragon]

Tldr HK is that nice friend who advertently pisses everyone off somehow. But no one really hates them because they are just really nice.

Also any Chaos Gate Daemonhunter player in here?

[broken smelt]

If you want HK to be mean, there's mods for that

Something something grass randomiser

Yes they randomised the grass

[sand sleet]

I only played hollow knight for one session and when tried to return to it a bunch of time later I forgot where anything was got lost and got bored

Navigation really sucks in hollow knight

[polar dragon]

Are you me?

[broken smelt]

Same, so I started from the beginning

If you're okay with modding hk (the scarab modding client is awesome)
I'd probably use compass always on and vanilla map mod

Till this day i dislike the accessibility of compass costing a charm notch

[rustic falcon]

I just replayed the red strings club with a friend and I just wanted to say. Everybody play this game right now it’s so good

[hybrid jetty]

hollow knight would be a 9/10 if the white palace was removed

[sand sleet]

Found out broforce just got an update with some new content

Replaying it rn, never gets old

[toxic cosmos]

10/10 for me, there's little i dislike about it

Mainly the pantheon bindings but besides that eh

P5 was hellish, but I enjoyed the challenge
It's mind-boggling that some speedruns do it while overcharmed

[dire warren]

speedrunners are just on a different level

[woven breach]

Me: why do my hands always hurt?
Also me: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/817270982191874081/1144176939708465152/vlc-record-2023-08-24-14h47m34s-2023-08-24_14-30-18.mkv-.mp4

I managed to beat the song

....after 3 days of on and off trials

[twin yarrow]

dam.

i guess, it's another level

of being

[ocean iris]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/888317171271344152/1144287201342009395/ssstikio-1690899796342_1.mp4

[urban elk]

3

Translation issues made the game a huge pain

[fathom juniper]

frens

i bring you free serotonin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FigIAAYHoW8

OH MY GOD this is so good

not only it speaks to me as a top gear fan

but it also speaks to me as a DS2 hater

[fathom juniper]

OH MY GOD i'm getting old and senile

i just had my first grandpa moment

i fired up firefox
and instead of typing "netflix"...

...i typed in "firefox" in the search bar

kinda reminds me of seeing my mom using the internet for the first time
she had chrome open
typed in "google" in the url bar
just "google" - no .pl or .com
so chrome automatically googled google and displayed the google search result page

she then clicked the first link which got her to google's main page
and then typed in google in there AND DID IT ALL OVER AGAIN

mom i love you, but

she's good now
she improved a lot since

[wise cedar]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1135927743557664908/1144333315499888790/image.png

[mystic wave]

https://streamable.com/rvl8of

[fathom juniper]

https://tenor.com/view/bard-vibe-bard-gif-24902419

[viscid topaz]

Are there any games that have a similar combat system to Lightning Returns (FF XIII-3)?

[fathom juniper]

is that the one with mid-combat dressups?
where you have to change clothes to do different attacks?

i, uh...
the sims, i guess

and some barbie games

[viscid topaz]

well not quite what I meant lol

[frigid hollow]

Lol

[viscid topaz]

but I realized one

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

the Torna DLC especially with the mid battle formation changes

[rustic falcon]

How is their gameplay? I haven’t played either

[viscid topaz]

timing your attacks

[frigid hollow]

Like Pyra and mithra

[viscid topaz]

in the base Xenoblade 2 game, you can shift between 3 different movesets and skill sets because of the Blade partner system

Blades are the extra characters, you find them in crystals, they are assigned to a party member, they give you their weapon and the ones that have unique designs get a questline

aside from generally being stronger than the generic variants

[viscid topaz]

ok, Xenoblade 2 is an action RPG where timing and positioning is very important

the control scheme is a bit weird, in battle the face buttons are your special moves, but all your character do auto-attacks while you are standing still and not touching anything

[mystic wave]

https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls/comments/u7vpep/did_did_he_parry_me_by_changing_his_clothes/

[viscid topaz]

(moving even a single pixel does reset the attack animation tho, which in some cases is better in terms of DPS lmao)

and you can move around the enemies and attack them from the back or the side too for some special moves that require it

of course, if you are aggroed, the enemy will be facing you, so if you want to use those moves optimally you need a party member to take the heat off

[fathom juniper]

the forbidden arts of Giant Dad

no one should wield this power

also - this clip is a great example of why i like the PVP in ds1 the most

or rather - why i hate it the least

it's such a broken, janky and hilarious mess it's impossible for me to take seriously

and outside of the DLC - no one sweats about it
all the invasions i've had on my last run were just super scuffed silly fun times

and then ds3 came along and it's all just

[viscid topaz]

then there's like a billion ways to do combos, between elemental Super moves, chaining together super moves of different elements to "seal" an enemy's skills, but only very specific ones like calling reinforcements or blowing itself up, but you can also break the seals you place in a super duper team attack move to deal extra damage and get better loot drops and also the Driver combos, which is basically a chain of status effects that lead to a stun.

[fathom juniper]

i just think focusing more on making the PVP more balanced and viable was a mistake

[viscid topaz]

it's not like the game tutorial doesn't tell you this.. it just does it badly and way too soon for it to mean anything

[fathom juniper]

it just sucks the fun out of it cause lets be honest - once you remove fun out of it in the name of being competitive - people will start playing it like that

[viscid topaz]

out of combat you walk around the overworld, can jump for... the sole reason being trying to do some weird cheese because you can probably count the amount of times you need to jump on two hands (which is very little for a 200 hour RPG)

[fathom juniper]

and thus in ds3 i never had those funny PVPs
it's all just sweatlords with min-maxed builds

[viscid topaz]

and the overworld has plenty to explore tho

gathering points to collect various types of resources, secrets to unlock by using Field Skills (which I'll get to) and also quests, as is par for the course

the crux of the combat tho are the blades, as I said

each party member is a Driver, someone who can harness the power of the Blades, beings that are born out of crystals that need to resonate with a person (or really any sentient being, there's a wolf with a Blade as an optional boss) to come to life

each Blade has different stats, movesets and specialties, some more suited for tanking, some for long range combat, some for quick hit and run stuff, there's a great variety

you can have 3 on any given driver at any given time, you switch between them with the d pad (fourth D-Pad input being the team attack thing) and if you time your switching correctly, your Special moves, or Arts, are instantly filled up and ready to be used

Timing is important, since timing the use of an art right at the end of a segment of the auto attack animation (they come in 3 segments) enhances the move, dealing more damage and later on filling it back up slightly so it can be reused sooner

then the positioning aspect is also important with the Blades, as they stand near a given Driver at all times and form a tether that, over the course of the battle and with good move timing, will change color from blue to bright yellow, meaning your moves are gonna be stronger and sometimes triggering skills

if you veer too far from your blade (or your blade gets stuck on a piece of map geometry if you picked a very inconvenient spot to battle) the tether will break and you're set back to square one

as if all of this wasn't enough, Blades have their own experience, which is tied to mini-quests they require you to do

they have an "Affinity Chart", which is divided into five tiers that unlock after you increase your Trust, gained through battles, using specific items that they like which is a whole other system that isn't important enough to dive into.

The chart allows you to level up their Super moves, their passive skills and their Field Skills, (which you often need multiple levels with multiple blades to get through specific sections of the overworlds) all through a bunch of mini quests that can range from "Deal X Damage" to "Kill this one specific enemy X number of times" to "Collect X of this" to the much dreaded "Advance through the unique questline", you know, stuff like that.

[viscid topaz]

I explained way more than you probably wanted me to and I am not even done, but the rest isn't nearly as interesting or worth discussing

no, but the real part that makes this game one I recommend with like 5 asterisks is how you obtain Blades

And that is through a Gacha system. No real world money or premium currencies or microtransactions, but still a randomized Gacha system

[rustic falcon]

that’s pretty funny

[viscid topaz]

you collect Crystals that you then let one of your party members open up

the crystals come in various rarities, the higher the rarity, the better chance for a Unique Blade

these being the Blades that are actually characters

and that kinda sucks, right?

well, yeah

some Unique blades are obtained through specific crystals you can find in set locations, but the amount of times that happens can be counted on one hand

the funniest thing is that one of the strongest healing blades is found this way, and the rest are mostly bad

[viscid topaz]

there's 34 Unique Blades, excluding the ones you get from the story, and not all of them are winners

which very nicely leads me to the comment about not being able to play the game in public and what counts as two of the asterisks I mentioned earlier!

so... this game's character design

it's bad

ok that's a little much, it does have a lot of stinkers though

and often times it's for the same two reasons if you know what I mean

[rustic falcon]

😔 it’s clear

[viscid topaz]

a lot of the unique blades were designed by mostly separate artists

and you can tell a lot of them also drew hentai

and the weird thing is that often times the designs just... never jel with the character

the main characters Pyra and Mythra have it especially bad

Mythra in particular, her design just doesn't fit her character at all

[viscid topaz]

the weird thing is that the game basically frontloads all of the stereotypical weeb garbage

it's the mother of all bad starts

tho the story is pretty good, I couldn't blame anyone from dropping the game as soon as Tora showed up, god knows I was about to

Tora is the Otaku-like character, and I can probably stop here

this little pissant can't wield a blade, or at least he doesn't wanna risk getting disintegrated since that happens if you can't synch up with a crystal, so he builds one

it would have probably been better if he did risk and got disintegrated, since he builds Poppi

Poppi is a fine character, but the fact that she's coded like a child and the creator is a pervy Otaku should tell you everything... but I had to suffer so I will mention one thing

the scene where she is activated for the first time has her boot up in "cheerful maid mode", where her first words are "how can I serve you, Master?". This is meant to be a joke, since there are other female characters in the scene, which are completely appalled, and even the MC is uncomfortable despite being a teenager who somehow has no idea what sex is because Anime. Tora then immediately shuts her down and said he "made a mistake"

I swear this game is good and has a good story

which hilariously, it gets really good after Tora stops being relevant to the plot

[viscid topaz]

the thing is though, the Torna DLC campaign, which you can buy standalone too by the way... gets rid of all the weeb garbage

the fanservice is completely gone

well, it is a prequel, Mythra still has her terrible design, but every other returning character are the ones that either didn't have boob windows with a few strands of clothing to vary it up or are younger and sport different designs

it also streamlines a lot of stuff

granted, it's mostly due to you being locked with a set party formation all game long, so you can't get new Blades, but it's still a massive improvement

Field Skills now don't require you farming Gacha crytals since you always have the same characters

also Tora hasn't been born yet, so that's another blessing for the world

there IS one asterisk for the Torna game tho... it's a prequel

and while it does stand on its own merits, you can't really get the fullest enjoyment out of it if you haven't played the original

and the devs I think knew, since this is significantly shorter

a quarter of base Xenoblade 2's length

[mystic wave]

This is so funny https://youtu.be/hyAMped6efo?si=MTs3fL7hEUQypi-T

[woven breach]

I have played bomb rush cyberfunk

I bopped to their BGM

my neck hurts

ow

[twin yarrow]

do you people also find it irritating that OST track usually sounds pretty shortened and less interesting compared to the in-game version of the same track

[clear python]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB6FIu2barg

[ocean iris]

Finally someone talks about this

[woven breach]

usually it's the other way around, no?

oh cool

I have a bouldy next to my name

[mystic wave]

ac6 is so much fun

[mystic wave]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/512790960816783363/1144960646501367888/image.png

she's so cute!

[ocean iris]

THATS A LITERAL AK

[ocean iris]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/778518436828807181/1144995083725328404/image.png

[hybrid jetty]

unsurprising it looked awful

they forgot that the reason tales is the best borderlands game is because it has good writing

[polar dragon]

I also haven't even heard of it and I really liked Tales from the Borderlands and am playing through BL3

So

[leaden heart]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tecmladKuD4

[ocean iris]

@fathom juniper i just realised why MK11 is worse than other NRS games

and it aint the MTX or anything

it's one simple thing

the removal of the 3 meter bar and making fatal blows separate

😭

i was so oblivious

but of course NRS spends a lot on those flashy super moves so they gotta show them off

supers used to be exciting tbh

[rancid token]

I mean, I'd also want to show off the only decent animation in my game lol

That's maybe not fair, the cutscenes are also good in the story modes

[fathom juniper]

oh yeah

i went on a massive tangent about this a few months back

it's...
it's dumb

among 11's many, many flaws

the fatal blow mechanic might just be the biggest

it just KILLS any sort of tension and momentum a fight might have on low and mid levels

because now everyone gets an xray for free and there's no downside to using it

[ocean iris]

I moticed MK1 did away with the fatal blows and got back to the 3 meter bar

Also did away with the meter burn thing

[fathom juniper]

that's cool

[ocean iris]

Too bad now that MK1 is as realistic as possible in terms of artstyle

[fathom juniper]

shame they can't fix this horrendous artstyle

YEAH ABOUT THAT

[ocean iris]

Yeah I aint a fan

[fathom juniper]

we literally posted this at the same time

also - i wonder if this cameo fighter mechanic is as gimmicky as it looks like

[ocean iris]

Why the hell would you make cameo fighters but cant play as them

literally renders the possibility of a tag team feature null

[fathom juniper]

ironic considering i talked with a buddy today
and we talked about how mk9 had that concept nailed down over a decade ago

you just set up a 2v2 fight
you fight 1v1
tap a single button

and your character walks off the arena and the other player takes control with the other character

iunno

i think this series peaked at MKXL

but instead of slowly going downhill after that it took a damn nosedive

just