general gaming

[visual hill]

I've had issues with timing windows in games that require strict timing. Oddly, Quake isn't a game that requires that much precision with timing your moves

so that's probably why I do quite well

[slim thorn]

#KentuckyRouteZero: I have no idea what's going on at this point but I'm quite enjoying the vibe

[fresh bane]

when it comes to fighting games, people not only practice and have to learn to have quick reflexes and know how to react to certain things, for example in fighting games usually whenever a player grabs you the only way to cancel that is to command grab yourself too so that way you can break free, although usually people try to predict that rather than actually react to it since the timing is so strict

and going beyond that a lot of people also look into the frame data of fighting games which is basically all the intricacies of the hitboxes and the timing of each single move a character makes, they measure the distance, the time it takes to throw the attack and recover, how good it is or if it's not a good move to use, etc

once you get your feet wet there's a vast amount of stuff to get into and it's just not the type of stuff a mainstream audience wants to do which I understand, people don't want to do homework to play a game and so only the people that REALLY care about it remain after the hype dies down on a new game

[river veldt]

i used to be pretty decent at Smash Bros cause i played it at lunch with my friends almost every day

[slim thorn]

there are a lot of high investment games I could see myself getting into if I lucked into the right friend group, but that just never happened around any video game

[slim thorn]

I think this problem goes even deeper for fighting games than for some other genres: I've also never understood any strategy game well enough to have fun playing them, but I can enjoy watching a well-commentated competitive strategy game, while a fighting game remains visual gibberish to me no matter how much explanation is attempted

[teal cliff]

Its also that like.

losing at a fighting game really badly is not fun?

A lot of games can be fun when you're losing

[gaunt marten]

I used to be really good at smash bros because all my brothers are shit at it

[teal cliff]

but getting perfected over and over has almost no appeal to it

[slim thorn]

(well to me that's all multiplayer games)

[teal cliff]

theres a scale to it imo.

[fresh bane]

watching competitive fighting game stuff can be very fun even if you don't know anything about fighting games, but it does run into the same problem I see people run into with other games like LoL where if you watch a clip or even just a screencap you have no fucking idea what is even happening on the screen

[slim thorn]

yeah, you definitely can't get away with not knowing anything

whereas I watched a lot of Starcraft 2 games without any prep

[fresh bane]

Learning about fighting games is also equally as fun even if you never plan to play or even watch any fighting games at all

[slim thorn]

I remember one of you linked this video of some apparently legendary block chain comeback at an EVO(?) tournament and all I could really get was "uh... well the crowd certainly reacted to the other health bar going down suddenly"

[fresh bane]

Evo Moment 37?

[slim thorn]

maybe

[fresh bane]

The funny thing is, that's not quite as legendary anymore since ever since that moment so many people can recreate that, but it was legendary seeing someone with a literal magic pixel left of HP making such a precise amount of parries and perfectly execute his special to make that comeback

Just like with any other big moment in any other game it loses its impact if you don't know a little bit about why people got so hyped
and of course if you're also just not interested in fighting games at all it will also not be that interesting either too

[hushed onyx]

Well, the experience of making a comeback from way behind is pretty universal.

I mean if you want to stretch it a bit it’s literally Biblical

[fresh bane]

Sure, but my point is that without the proper context it's not as exciting, luckily evo moment 37 comes up literally every 5 min on any discussion or fighting game video essay lol

https://youtu.be/36m-teYaQmE

https://youtu.be/46mw-b8VDc0

learning about fighting games on yt is a rabbit hole in itself, it gets really interesting to just learn about stuff even if you don't play :sunsetbounce:

[chilly mural]

I wonder if there mlp x evo moment 37

[slim thorn]

welp, I'm about to enter the sub-10% club

[chilly mural]

https://manebooru.art/images/635471 well I'll settle for ponified Makoto

[wind stump]

oh good

loading in Nier Automata reclothes 2B

as funny as using the self destruct is, it makes things awkward

i mean... more awkward than usual, anyway

"No, fuck off."

If only Kaine was here...

I miss that loudmouth hussy.

[hushed onyx]

Now I’m wondering if Nire has ever thought of ponifying fighting game characters.

[teal cliff]

I'm fucking rolling rn
In AC Odyssey I had a dramatic fight start on a cliff and I immediately roll behind him and punt him 1000 feet to his death

[slim thorn]

considering how many times Nire's drawn Juri, I'd be surprised if he hadn't at least thought about it

[wind stump]

That happened to me in Code Vein

big fuck spinning around to swing on me and vwoop off the cliff he went

[slim thorn]

Act III, Scene II

A Tree

brilliant storytelling

[wind stump]

Oh... One of the fucks who died in the first five minutes? Yeah, don't worry about it.

[slim thorn]

you know a game has you when you start unironically thinking things like

"oh, duh, the reason pausing the game leaves all the idle animations running in the background is that a core theme of the story is how the world never stops changing out from under us, and everything and everyone we care about including ourselves will never stop getting older, and we can never hope to stop this, only to choose how we respond to it"

[gaunt marten]

And that's why Dark Souls not allowing you to pause the game is good

[minor plover]

not being able to pause, but being able to disconnect and reconnect to the same circumstances, is just pausing with extra steps.

[fresh bane]

meanwhile the devs: ''oh whoops we accidentally left the animations running while the game is paused '' /s

[slim thorn]

"actually let's leave it that way, feels more appropriate"

cryptic nonsense

[minor plover]

why are they talking that way at the bottom of blighttown, just before crossing the swamp to Quelaag?

[dense crypt]

On their way to the second bell of awakening, of course

[wind stump]

FISH

tiny feesh

I caught a carp as well

[fresh bane]

🔎

feesh doko

[fresh bane]

oh

look at that small fella

[wind stump]

Bigger feesh

[fresh bane]

:sunsetclap:

that's better

we eating tonight

[wind stump]

I don't think androids need to eat

[fresh bane]

they don't need to but that doesn't mean they can't treat themselves here and there

🍔

good old anime girl + hamburger combo, never fails

[wind stump]

blessed

[flint iron]

[teal cliff]

Okay so apparently it was confirmed 100% at some point that Mirage is not going to have a female protagonist option like the last few ACs. Guess it's not worth playing.

[fickle garnet]

...what?

[rose rose]

Mirage having a female protagonist would not make sense, given it's about a specific character who has already shown up

You can't pull a "there are two strands of DNA" or whatever justification on that

You know who it's supposed to be

[teal cliff]

Odyssey and Valhalla are ostencibly about specific characters

[rose rose]

But not previously depicted major NPCs

[teal cliff]

and like. if they wanted a female protagonist, they could have just written an explanation for it

[astral steeple]

honestly id have to agree

i also hate it when games dont have a female character that you can play as/female character customization lol

[teal cliff]

They're the ones who wrote the game. If it doesn't work with the writing it's their fault lol

[rose rose]

I think it's entirely reasonable for a game billed as The Backstory Of This One Guy to make you play as specifically that one guy

[fickle garnet]

It is

[teal cliff]

I mean, they also said that it's because women are harder to animate

Which is a lie

[wind stump]

"Shit we had the history books wrong, he was actually a she." /s

[teal cliff]

And that they wanted to "return to their roots". They've never given us a mainline game with only a female protagonist.

Remember when Assassins Creed Unity's co-op had a bunch of playable characters and they were all men? 🙃

[rose rose]

I do not think that comments from ten years ago, since which they have released two major games with both options, are a particularly fair complaint.

[teal cliff]

they are when the series director says they're "Returning to their roots" and starts by getting rid of female protagonists

[rose rose]

I mean nobody says you have to play it but "games shouldn't be about a specific character" really feels like a poor take.

[fickle garnet]

...

[teal cliff]

When you have two games that demonstrate you can have a gender option, and then you get rid of that option, you are absolutely progressing backwards

[fresh bane]

Returning to roots also means not doing multiple protagonists since that was only a thing that started with Oddyssey to my knowledge

[mossy flume]

Sometimes the main character happens to be a guy.

[rose rose]

Or you're telling a different story.

[minor plover]

it's OK for Commander Keen to only have Keen as a playable option. It'd be weird of Baldurs Gate 3 only had one playable option.

[teal cliff]

Sometimes? In Assassin's Creed's case it's every time

[rose rose]

(except the last two times)

[teal cliff]

Returning to your roots isn't supposed to mean getting rid of your good ideas :P

[teal cliff]

The last two times had a gender option, not a solo female protagonist. There has never been a mainline AC game about specifically a woman

[dense crypt]

Surprised there isnt a make-your-own assassin game

[fresh bane]

The one thing to criticize and say Mirage isn't worth playing for is the fact that it looks to be the same stuff that AC fans have been complaining about that they haven't gotten rid of and also that one of the main drawing points of an AC game which is the parkour looks like trash

[mossy flume]

Wasn’t that the PS Vita game?

[rose rose]

They're doing one of those too. Though I think it's a mobile game?

If this were Random New Character I think you'd have a fair complaint. But it's not, it's Basim, who is a Very Major Character

[fresh bane]

PS Vita had Liberation and the Chronicle games

[rose rose]

Who is ||still alive in 2023||

[mossy flume]

Also that

[minor plover]

also I was confused bc I associate AC with Animal Crossing and I was like "male protagonist backstory???"

[teal cliff]

They're the ones who decided to make the game about him.

They literally could have not done that

[fresh bane]

But they decided to

[teal cliff]

Or written a reason for a female protagonist. it wouldn't have been that hard

[rose rose]

They could, but deciding to tell that story is not an intrinsic evil

[mossy flume]

Like, the main character in current day is a woman for a whole trilogy

[teal cliff]

Odyssey was originally supposed to just be Kassandra but the higher ups at Ubisoft said there had to be a male option

Funny how that hasn't ever been true in reverse

So the two options are not male or female protagonist, it's male protagonist or gender option, so you can always play as a guy

[fresh bane]

It's not really that big of a deal

[flint iron]

Yeh

[teal cliff]

Yes it is.

[astral steeple]

i mean for some it is kinda a big deal

not everyone wants to play as guy characters in games

[fresh bane]

Then they can just not play the game

[rose rose]

At this point are plenty of other games that only let you play as a woman.

[mossy flume]

It would be nice to have a predefined main protagonist as a woman at some point in the AC series, but it feels a smidge overblown to get angry about a game that’s about an existing specific character.

[teal cliff]

It's honestly so insulting how if the developers want to make a female protagonist the suits step in like "woah woah woah, what about all the players who want to play as a guy?"

[fresh bane]

Not every game needs to have a gender option or multiple protagonists

[teal cliff]

but they can make as many male-only protags as they want and it's not a problem.

[fresh bane]

and AC didn't have them before unless you cound Haytham and Connor in AC3 which barely counts

So it's fine

[mossy flume]

It would make more sense to be annoyed about it when it’s a new game about a previously unseen character

[fresh bane]

I would be annoyed if there was an option regardless of whether it was a new character simply because I don't like that game style in AC, I would much rather they make a focused story with a female protagonist from the get go if they wanted to do that like they did with Liberation

[green fulcrum]

coughs Tomb Raider coughs

[fresh bane]

Metroid...

[teal cliff]

That's not

those aren't assassins creed games???

[mossy flume]

Horizon is pretty great too. (And honestly probably better than AC anyway, given the past several games haven’t been terribly impressive)

[fresh bane]

You're right

They're not

but they're games with female protagonists that a lot of male players love

[teal cliff]

Okay so what do they have to do with the executives having misogynistic priorities regarding Assassins Creed

[fresh bane]

that feels like taking the convo into a completely different one

[teal cliff]

It's just continuing off of what I said here

if the developers wanted to make a male protagonist they were allowed to do so, but when they wanted to make a mainline game about a woman they were told they had to have a gender option

That is unfair.

And it shows that the management behind these games value male players more.

[fresh bane]

Yeah but it has nothing to do with saying Mirage isn't worth playing for not having a female protagonist too, it's an entirely different discussion

The point is, Mirage doesn't need to also have a female protagonist because not every game needs that

[astral steeple]

games are better when they let you play as female characters tbh lol

[teal cliff]

The Assassins Creed mainline games had introduced the feature of a female protagonist it and it's ridiculous to go backwards on that front

[fickle garnet]

I prefer playing as female in games but that doesn't mean i wont play as a male

[teal cliff]

All they've done is remove the player choice in the protagonist's gender, that's dumb

[fresh bane]

The introduction of multiple protagonists was a thing they did because they went hard into a more action RPG style of game and the point of this game is to return to AC's roots, which isn't an RPG

[teal cliff]

You can still have a choice in the protagonist's gender without the extra RPG elements.

Women aren't exclusive to roleplaying games :/

[mossy flume]

I’m not sure that follows.

I think it’s entirely because it’s about one specific preexisting character.

[green fulcrum]

Not if it's telling the story of a man who was previously mentioned and/or shown in other games...

[teal cliff]

They wrote the story! They decided that! This game should have been planned from the ground up to have the feature of a protagonist of either gender bc that's how the last two games have worked

[green fulcrum]

YES! They decided to tell a story.

[teal cliff]

They can literally justify any part of it they want because they're writing the game!

[green fulcrum]

Which happened to have a male character as a protagonist.

[mossy flume]

It’s not like you could go make a new MCU game and make Thor available in male or female options all of a sudden.

[teal cliff]

So they can easily have included a choice in the gender of the protag.

[green fulcrum]

I mean...technically you could now? lol

Iron Man would've been a better comparison

[mossy flume]

Hm, I guess Jane is a thing, that’s true

Right

[astral steeple]

yeah i was about to say

female thor is just jane foster

[rose rose]

But they are still different people; you can't interchange them.

Hm that reply wasn't intentional

[mossy flume]

Also that

See, I would 100% expect future AC games where a new protagonist would be available in male or female options. Or maybe they’ll (hopefully) decide on an exclusively female protagonist.

But in this case of Mirage it would be rather awkward to do.

[fresh bane]

I'd like another game with Shao Jun

[mossy flume]

That would be nice. I haven’t played the spin-offs.

[fresh bane]

But honestly I don't really look forward to any AC game anymore and I haven't for years

The Chronicle games are really good

[mossy flume]

I’m kinda hopeful about Mirage, maybe they’ll get their shit together and hopefully that carries forward into future games.

[astral steeple]

i lost interest in the AC games after like the first few ngl

[mossy flume]

I lost interest in AC after it became clear that they lost their own plot

[teal cliff]

There is nothing stopping them from making an explanation up

[fresh bane]

knowing that I saw a gameplay clip of Mirage with the character teleporting around to assassinate people and the parkour looked stiff as a brick I can't say they will

maybe they'll surprise everybody who knows

[mossy flume]

Did they put out a gameplay demo?

[quiet swift]

A monthish ago

[mossy flume]

Huh

[quiet swift]

I think they were explaining it that the character is so fast that the machine can't keep up and "teleports" him as an explanation

[fresh bane]

https://youtube.com/shorts/U-1URdpWg3g?feature=share

[quiet swift]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxpYHW-M_Ac

[green fulcrum]

Look, speaking as a writer, it can be extremely difficult to just "make up a reasonable explanation" for something. Anything. It doesn't have to involve gender, it could involve an action for a character that would be perceived as detrimental to the character's development even if it's what "the fans" want.

Creating a reasonable explanation for why a female character is taking charge in another character's storyline is damn near impossible, because you then have to basically create two storylines, one for the canon character, and one for the non-canon female character. You might as well just recreate the game as a whole.

They chose a male solo protagonist because that's the story they wanted to tell. Get over it.

[teal cliff]

You can tell the exact same story with a female protagonist and simply handwave the reasoning with one sentence

Gameplay mechanics do not need detailed narrative explanations every time

[green fulcrum]

No. You. Can't.

[teal cliff]

You can! They've done it twice already!

[quiet swift]

With a game like AC, you have the whole aspect of how women were treated compared to men, throughout history

From the get go that's a massive change in story

[teal cliff]

The AC games are not realistic in their portrayal of history or sexism anyways, it does not matter

[quiet swift]

Now you're being pedantic

[green fulcrum]

Those were characters that were never mentioned before ever, so they had a little something called ambiguity. But with Mirage, it's UNAMBIGUOUSLY a male character.

[teal cliff]

THEY MADE IT UNAMBIGOUSLY A MALE CHARACTER

They could have very easily just! Not done that!

[green fulcrum]

Because they chose a character that was previously mentioned to be in this time period.

[mossy flume]

Oh right, I saw that demo

I thought it looked great

[green fulcrum]

Who just so happened to be a male.

[mossy flume]

I like the teleport mechanic, that looks fun to play with

[teal cliff]

We've already established rules in this series that allow for uncertain character gender in history, they could have done that with this character too, or made up a new explanation

[astral steeple]

have they done a futuristic AC game yet?

if not that'd be a neat idea

[mossy flume]

Because he has been in multiple previous AC games

[mossy flume]

Not yet

Would be nice

But they’ve finally decided to do feudal Japan

Like ten years ago they said they would never ever do that

[green fulcrum]

Sure, but this character is unambiguously a man. End of. They have history, they have canon.

[mossy flume]

Excited for that one

[fresh bane]

''time to vanish!''
runs at a leisurely pace and slowly jumps around rooftops I can't believe they never went back to Unity's parkour... I would say I hope they change this before launch but I doubt it

[fresh bane]

they also said they'd never do Egypt either

[mossy flume]

It wouldn’t work because his own history is established and stable as far as the Animus is concerned

[teal cliff]

Because they made it that way!

[mossy flume]

Oh did they?

[fresh bane]

Back in like 2013

[teal cliff]

You're saying that they can't make the protagonist of Mirage a woman bc of rules that they themselves wrote.

[fresh bane]

Around that time was when they said they'd never do Japan or Egypt since fans kept asking them to do one in those settings

Instead they went to France! 🇫🇷 🥖 🍷 hon hon hon

[quiet swift]

The rule being followed here is continuity of the story

[mossy flume]

Yes… that’s what it means to write yourself into a corner… if you don’t obey your own rules then you’re just doing random stuff and that devalues the whole work.

Which is exactly what got people mad about the past few games in the first place

[teal cliff]

They, from the ground up, should have planned this story around having a gender option like the last two games

[fresh bane]

They ''should'' have not done anything really

[mossy flume]

It’s the same problem the MCU is currently experiencing, incidentally

[fresh bane]

They chose to do it this way and that's the end of it it's not that deep

[teal cliff]

The fact that they didn't is a failure on their part that betrays them not putting much care into the premise of this game.

[fresh bane]

God of War is no better or worse for not having a female character option because Kratos is Kratos

Basim is Basim

simple

[teal cliff]

God of War never set a precedent of changing protagonists

if the AC games were all about 1 guy, it'd be different

[mossy flume]

I feel like we’re going in circles at this point

[fresh bane]

AC never did either

[teal cliff]

?????????????????????

[flint iron]

I personally am cool with playing a character regardless of gender, all genders can have characters that are badass and well written

[green fulcrum]

That is exactly what we're saying, because that's how writing WORKS.

[teal cliff]

How many main characters have we had? Like, 8?

[fresh bane]

That's why I said like 3 times that Mirage is going back to the roots of AC which was not an RPG franchise with multiple protagonists before

[teal cliff]

AC has a new main character with almost every game!

[astral steeple]

honestly a gender swapped god of war game would be pretty good

just have the storyline set up so kratos somehow magically gets turned into a woman lol

[teal cliff]

This precedent was set as early as the 2nd title in the series

[fresh bane]

That has nothing to do with multiple protagonists in a single game

[mossy flume]

And this one is an old character

That’s the end of it

[fickle garnet]

Exactly

[teal cliff]

That's not what i meant when I said God of War had no precedent of changing protagonists

God of War has always been about Kratos, Assassins Creed is about a new person every time

[fresh bane]

And this time it's about Basim

[teal cliff]

If God of War had 8 different main characters and had never given us a woman, that would be a flaw of the game

But it's just about 1 guy so it doesn't matter

[mossy flume]

So it follows then that a game about a specific predefined character who is not ambiguous in any way should be represented as such.

[fresh bane]

Like AC1 was about Altair, and AC2 about Ezio, and 3 about Connor, and none of those games had multiple protagonists

[green fulcrum]

Oh, how ironic this statement is...

[teal cliff]

And then in future titles they made progress by giving us an option for the protag

and now they are rolling backwards by removing that option

They are removing features present in previous entries, that is dumb

[fresh bane]

Well now that's just your subjective opinion thinking that it's progress to have multiple options for protagonists and it's somehow a step back for not having it

Which jus tmeans this convo is gonna go in circles because you fundamentally disagree and think that

[mossy flume]

Nobody here disagrees with you that there should be a mainline AC game with a strictly female character. This just happens to have a predefined male character.

Because the character already exists, like Kratos does

[teal cliff]

We've moved past AC games having single male characters as the only option, that was a thing of the past, why are we going backwards

[fresh bane]

Because it's not going backwards

[teal cliff]

removing options is going backwards.

[astral steeple]

i tend to avoid playing as male characters in games tbh

playing as guys in games gives me dysphoria

so i play as female characters/custom female characters

[fresh bane]

They're not removing gameplay options

[fickle garnet]

Not when giving that option doesn't make sense

[fresh bane]

It's not a very hard thing to understand that not every story needs to have the option for more than one protagonist

[mossy flume]

So if the God of War series had a game about a character you ghouls choose the gender of, and then later made another game about Kratos that didn’t let you change Kratos’ gender, would that be wrong?

[hushed onyx]

I switch back and forth between male and female characters tbh.

[green fulcrum]

How is having a pre-determined solo main character of one singular gender a "thing of the past"?

Give me a f*cking female Doomguy, then. By your logic, Doom's also misogynistic.

[white phoenix]

this is like if george lucas announced that there would be two versions of the prequels with anakin being a different gender in each after already establishing who he was in the original trilogy

[mossy flume]

I usually choose female these days, I find that more engaging

[teal cliff]

Doom never gave us options and then took them away, you are missing the point here

[green fulcrum]

Your logic falls apart completely when applied to literally every other game franchise.

[fresh bane]

I'd watch a version of Ep 4 with a female Darth Vader
.... for no reason

[green fulcrum]

No, you are ignoring every other point but yours.

[quiet swift]

For fuck's sake, we're saying that Mirage is a guy because the character is in like 2 other games and they'd have to go back at least that many games to change it. They are not giving you an option because it's NOT A NEW CHARACTER

[white phoenix]

shooot, that would be nice

[mossy flume]

You’re begging the question

[teal cliff]

You don't understand the difference between a series that's just about 1 character and a series that's about tons of characters that seemingly never decides to be about a woman

[mossy flume]

And at this point this conversation needs to be shut down

It’s not going anywhere

[green fulcrum]

Yes I do, and I don't have to prove anything to you.

[teal cliff]

When the developers want to make a game about a man, they're allowed to, and when they want to make a game about a woman, they have to compromise, how is there not a problem with that?

[hushed onyx]

I’ve kind of moved in the opposite direction, I used to mostly play women but now play guys more.

[green fulcrum]

Again, this logic falls apart with any other franchise.

But like Midnight said, we're going in circles

[fresh bane]

come on GT don't engage anymore

[green fulcrum]

Just like my eyes, I should say.

[fresh bane]

you know it's not gonna work

[teal cliff]

Give me one example.

One.

That fits what i just said.

[flint iron]

I'm excited for TMNT the last ronin

[fickle garnet]

Same

[flint iron]

It's said to have god of war like gameplay, but dont take my word for it

[astral steeple]

the only god of war game ive beaten was one of the psp ones ngl

[fickle garnet]

God of war is fun

(Talking about the new ones)

[flint iron]

The psp one has a special place in my heart because I played that during a long camping trip years ago

[fickle garnet]

GoW 3 was the first one i played

[flint iron]

God of war 3 is my personal favorite

[fresh bane]

https://tenor.com/view/kratos-god-of-war-gif-26526142

press O to block out the feels

[flint iron]

[fickle garnet]

Press O to ignore the child

[river veldt]

YES

i really need to read the book

[white phoenix]

[astral steeple]

the psp one was alright but overall the god of war games just arent my type of games

i mainly prefer games that let you just mess around and do whatever

even moreso if the game lets you play as female characters/has female character customization

Fortnite, tony hawk, DC Universe Online, console pubg, gmod, gta 5, saints row 4, skate 3, etc

[green fulcrum]

I love that little sigh he does after she goes in a second time. It's like "ugh, really?"

[white phoenix]

is... is it over?

[river veldt]

i really wish i hadn't spoiled myself on which turtle the Last Ronin is but oh well

[fickle garnet]

I dont know who it is

[river veldt]

well don't spoil yourself like i did !

[flint iron]

I highly recommend it, it was a good read

[river veldt]

maybe i'll get it next week while im at Barnes and Novle

[flint iron]

I spoiled it before reading it, I'm never doing that to myself again.
Curiosity got the best of me

[fickle garnet]

I might read the comic too

[river veldt]

i donmt think i've ever read a TMNT comic

[flint iron]

Ive read a good amount of the idw comic series

[river veldt]

are they good?

[flint iron]

Yeah, but they get pretty dark a lot

[river veldt]

ooh

i really need to see the new movie it looks awesome

[astral steeple]

i just randomly realized

mlp g5 got a mainline console game, but g4 never did

despite both the xbox one and ps4 being around for almost the entire time g4 ran

[flint iron]

I like whenever they give them unique redesigns like how he they did in the new movie and rise of tmnt

[river veldt]

oh yeah

[flint iron]

Yeh a mlp g4 rpg would've been awesome

[river veldt]

i like when Raph is fucking huge lol

[flint iron]

Same

[astral steeple]

i remember years ago there was an Equestria girls android game

you could like run around the school itself and do different quests and stuff

[river veldt]

have you seen the Mutant Mayhem concept art of the turtles as smalls ? it's so funny

[flint iron]

No not yet, are they normal turtles or mini versions of them

[river veldt]

hold on

[flint iron]

I remember playing that, same with the gameloft game but that game still exists

[river veldt]

LOL i found it

[flint iron]

All of them look goofy and I love them

[river veldt]

Donatello 😭😭😭

[flint iron]

The single snuggle tooth and glasses combo

[river veldt]

it's a true combo

[flint iron]

Michaelangelo's face is a true emotion

[fresh bane]

Donny looks like he's having no thoughts and simultaneously thinking about everything at once

[fresh bane]

https://youtu.be/5FtZG6d58Hc

Hearing a speedrunner suddenly declare that he doesn't know the route through the level has the same energy as the pilot coming over the intercom and going "does anyone know how to fly this thing?"

I've known about speedrunners blatantly cheating on speedruns for a long time before getting caught before but actually going into a room full of people who know about speedrunning, in front of a live audience of people expecting a good speedrun, and admitting out loud you don't know what you're doing is some next level stuff

I love how some people 100% know he's full of shit and take the piss like the guy sitting directly next to him, he super knows

[thorny loom]

Oh wow

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/overwatch-2-steam-worst-game-review-bomb/

Thats determination

[bleak lintel]

Isn’t Steam reviews a binary choice of “Do you recommend this” and most (90%) are selecting no?

[white phoenix]

yeah

[green fulcrum]

@river veldt Bingus! Bingus in Baldur's Gate 3!

[river veldt]

BINGUS

@kind shadow

[kind shadow]

BING

[mossy flume]

[dense crypt]

binger

[thorny loom]

Kitty

[visual hill]

I just got this from Steam. Thug life

(it's a sale of a Steam card that I got while playing Quake 2, which was worth more than what I bought the game for on sale back in 2016)

Steam is literally play-to-earn. (Remember when NFT games called themselves "play to earn"?) 😛

[hasty patio]

Probably a false alarm, but they probably bought it super cheap or at a higher price than you picked.

[wind stump]

new touhou game dropped

and
L O R E

[wind stump]

This game is weird

[quiet swift]

[grave tide]

I love our society

Fuck Blizzard

[quiet swift]

"And here we observe a wild downvoter"

[harsh kestrel]

It's deserved with how they're treating not only the game, but the fan base that got them there in the first place, oh God, I have hope that Microsoft straightens them out

[river veldt]

happy birthday to PT

it cane out 9 years ago yesterday

forever bummed Silent Hills never came out

[thorny loom]

Rip

At least konami is remaking SH2

[slim thorn]

#KentuckyRouteZero: gotta love meaningless statistics

[harsh kestrel]

I thought I was the only one who used that animated Zipp emote lol

[visual hill]

Secret Area!
You Crazy Rocket Jumpers!
…or so they say

[fresh bane]

They're not though

Bloober is

[mossy flume]

Hey all, I have a question. What would someone who is an older individual, just retired, has no interest in FPS games and hasn’t really played video games before be interested in playing?

Complexity may not actually be a problem so Baldur’s Gate 3 might be a legitimate option for them. But I’m curious what others might have to say about it

[gaunt marten]

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2

(With OpenRCT2)

"Toybox" style games like the Sims, RCT and so on are somewhat popular with retirees

So's Train Simulator.

You can also recommend grand strategy games, as those take a lot of time but can be paused at your leisure.

[fresh bane]

Older people seem to enjoy simulators don't they

Like flying simulators I think is a popular one

Hell euro truck simulator too

[river veldt]

i second this

[gaunt marten]

You basically want games that can be done with keyboard and mouse, games that take a lot of time, games that can be paused at leisure, and games that require thinking but not ones as complicated as Zachtronics stuff (Though Opus Magnum is a good suggestion)

[rose rose]

(For extra context, the older person in question has a PhD in mathematics and just retired from running the University of Cambridge)

[gaunt marten]

Oh good. Then probably those too.

I also think they might like incremental games which reward long term planning, like Idling to Rule the Gods or Trimps.

[mossy flume]

Almost tempted to suggest Factorio to them entirely because I want to see what they would make with it

[gaunt marten]

Factorio is a good suggestion! Might be difficult to pick up first, especially if they don't turn off biters.

[rose rose]

Maybe racing games. His previous hobbies included track racing. Though I imagine he'd probably want a proper wheel setup and that's a pain.

(Also he might learn his reaction times are now relatively poor)

[mossy flume]

Forza has several assists available

[minor plover]

would he be interested in something more in the "truck simulator" direction, where fast reflexes aren't as important?

[rose rose]

I have genuinely no idea 😄

I don't feel like that's his thing but my understanding of his thing historically has been like... chess, so I dunno.

[uneven epoch]

fire emblem

thats just anime chess

[minor plover]

chess makes me think in the MYST direction. Puzzle solving, logic, seeing the possible moves...

[rose rose]

Also he doesn't own a Windows PC (he's all Mac) and we probably want to minimise the number of objects he buys.

[mossy flume]

I think I’ll compile a list of several games, like maybe a dozen across different genres and complexities along with a short description of each.

Oh that does make things harder

[rose rose]

(He also describes the Switch screen as "too small to see")

(though docking makes that trivially resolvable)

Apparently he still manages his finances in an old version of Quicken in a Windows XP VM on his Mac.

In fairness I gather quicken did go downhill.

Actually I think it stopped existing in the UK at all? There was definitely a thing around it

Don't recall what

He also mentioned he was theoretically intrigued by the PSVR2 but again didn't know what he would use it for.

[river veldt]

he should play Quake (joke)

[quiet swift]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/to-the-core-contains-interplanetary-mining-with-the-spectacle-of-vampire-survivors

[mossy flume]

I've accidentally started a spreadshseet

[quiet swift]

My dad's in his 70s, and his partner (not my mom, they are separated) is about 15 years younger. My dad himself doesn't really play games, but I kinda introduced the two of them to gaming a few years ago. They've mostly enjoyed playing some Sherlock Holmes games, Syberia as well comes to mind. This past trip though I introduced Disco Elysium to them and she was completely hooked. Might be something to try as well?

[rose rose]

Disco Elysium feels like a good call

[mossy flume]

Disco Elysium might be a good call

Heh

[rose rose]

Jinx?

[mossy flume]

That's a whole genre with several good entries

[quiet swift]

Planescape Torment comes to mind too

(I'd also suggest Grim Fandango for a fantastic story but that's admittedly a fairly different suggestion)

[mossy flume]

Civ might be interesting too

[quiet swift]

[rose rose]

Civ would also fulfill his desire for Online Gaming With Family.

Except I suck at Civ

[quiet swift]

Is Hades too fast paced?

[mossy flume]

Ohhh

I thought about Hades, but the whole "you gotta die a lot" thing makes me hesitant to suggest it

[rose rose]

Hades might be a tall order

But maybe that's me being biased because I never got anywhere

[mossy flume]

Yeah, it requires preexisting skill

[quiet swift]

I can see why but at the same time you do have a lot of story progression

[minor plover]

it's been a very long time since I played Civ IV

[mossy flume]

Is my current list

[minor plover]

I don't think I ever actually played the full version. Just the alpha.

[quiet swift]

Compared to say Dead Cells which has a harder time of telling the story, imo

[rose rose]

I don't think he's a The Sims person. HZD is functionally a third person shooter.

Fire Emblem may be too anime.

[mossy flume]

Ah, right it does have a lot of shooting

Was basically thinking third person RPG type game

[quiet swift]

Uncharted!

[mossy flume]

Also has shooting

[quiet swift]

Yeah but it's basically a new generation's Indiana Jones

Tone down the difficulty level and it should be okay

[river veldt]

MARIO ODYSSEY YIPPEE

[quiet swift]

(My dad and his partner watched me play that and they loved it)

Also Peach did make a comment there - how partial is this person to anime?

[mossy flume]

Kerbal Space Program

[quiet swift]

(Personas come to mind)

[rose rose]

I do not think he has ever seen any

[mossy flume]

It would be surprising if he had

[quiet swift]

Not even Ghibli?

[mossy flume]

Yeah

[quiet swift]

[rose rose]

He is not inherently opposed to animation, though - he apparently enjoyed Lower Decks

[quiet swift]

Well Persona might not be the best intro to anime then best go with movies and such

[mossy flume]

Persona is extremely anime, yeah XD

[fresh bane]

I wouldn't recommend a Persona game to an older person who has never played a game in their life or probably doesn't know lick about anime

[quiet swift]

Stray? 🐱

[mossy flume]

Hmm, that might be interesting

[quiet swift]

I mean you asked for suggestions but I think we need to know their likes/dislikes of other media

[fresh bane]

Papers Please could be an interesting suggestion

[rose rose]

Hey now, he played the Game Boy (original)

[quiet swift]

Cinematic experiences for example, I'd suggest Last of Us, despite the shooting aspect

[river veldt]

Papers Please is soooooo good

[fresh bane]

Well you didn't mention that

[mossy flume]

Pokémon?

[fresh bane]

In that case maybe some Nintendo vidya could be thrown in there too

[rose rose]

I don't actually know if he played it but he definitely owned it.

[fresh bane]

It's hard to make concise recommendations without knowing a person personally or knowing what their tastes are

[rose rose]

The only games he owned were Tetris and some racing thing

[quiet swift]

Yeah that's what I'm saying Nire

[rose rose]

It is. Unfortunately I don't know much either

[mossy flume]

Nor do I

But blind suggestions are useful nonetheless

[river veldt]

the list just says "Legend of Zelda" maybe a simpler Zelda game like Link's Awakening would be good

[quiet swift]

Ask him for a list of movies he likes, like top 10 or so and that can help

[mossy flume]

Or LttP

[quiet swift]

(Darkest Dungeon? )

[river veldt]

LttP yes !

[fresh bane]

In that case probably just ask this person what they may enjoy, I'm more inclined to recommend an older person videogames that aren't too videogamey or include stuff they may be unfamiliar with just so they don't feel too overwhelmed or too uninterested

Which is why so many older people tend to go for things like simulators for example instead of.. I don't know, Pokemon

or Shin Megami Tensei

[quiet swift]

Yeah. I'd also randomly throw out say, Life is Strange, but I know a few older people who have less interest with anything high school/college related at that age

[slim thorn]

this stuff depends so heavily on the person that even "is old, hasn't played much" wouldn't make me confident recommending anything in particular

[river veldt]

how about Asteroids for Atari 2600

[slim thorn]

what shows/movies/books they like would be relevant

[quiet swift]

That's what we've been asking Ixrec

[slim thorn]

yes I'm agreeing

[quiet swift]

Ooh, Firewatch

[fresh bane]

I guess just take whatever games we've thrown out there and once you ask this person a bit more you can make a more educated recommendation

[quiet swift]

Oh, Telltale stuff, depending on the franchise

[slim thorn]

the list above is probably fine as far as "let's try a little of everything and see what sticks"

[quiet swift]

(wolf among us)

[river veldt]

AMONG US ,?????

[quiet swift]

[river veldt]

BWAAAM tick tick tick tick

[fresh bane]

Oh Professor Layton games could be a good pick for something very chill and not too complicated for a new player, especially an older person

[river veldt]

(among us theme)

[slim thorn]

yeah, Layton is a nice gentle introduction to puzzle games

[fresh bane]

hell Animal Crossing could be nice, if they can get past the artstyle, gotta keep in mind the perspective and tastes of an older person, not saying they can't like games we like but it's just two very different perspectives

[quiet swift]

Hm. Octopath Traveler? Anime-ish but that's more hidden in the pixel art stye

[fresh bane]

I doubt it

[slim thorn]

(and going back to how personal this stuff is: I tried a Sims and a Civilization at some point and couldn't even figure out how to play them; didn't get far enough to tell if I was entertained or not)

[fresh bane]

Yeah, that's what you don't want to happen if you wanna introduce someone to games and find what they may enjoy, don't wanna go with anything too overboard at first or hard to get into so they don't get too overwhelmed and lose interest

Hell they don't even necessarily have to be old for that to happen just a person that has never been into gaming

[river veldt]

you torture the sims by removing the ladder from the poil

pool

[fresh bane]

I do wish more old people got into gaming, any game really, just because it's a very nice hobby to have and depending on the games you play it can even help maintain your brain and mind active rather than just sitting there all day just, watching the birbs

who knows maybe they get into it and 4 months later grandma tells you she bullied an 8 year old on Call of Duty and 360 noscope'd him out of existence

[rose rose]

I don't think "old" is even particularly relevant really, versus just "has not played games any time in the last thirty years"

[slim thorn]

I regularly share point-and-clicks and puzzle games with my mom these days, but she also got me into those genres when I was a kid

the generation gap is real but what it means depends entirely on the person

[rose rose]

(he is 67, apparently)

[quiet swift]

I forget if it was buzzfeed or something, but there was one channel of "old people watch/listen to/" X and they were playing some games sometime

(One time was GTA 5...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHoOrFdgYR8

[slim thorn]

well GTAV is too much for me on multiple levels

[rose rose]

I know he enjoys sci-fi TV (particularly Star Trek, Stargate, and similar; read all of Foundation, and so forth). Doesn't much care for the MCU but wants to see Into the Spiderverse. Watches cricket.

Across the Spiderverse? The last one. I forget.

[quiet swift]

...Stellaris?

If complexity is not an issue.

[slim thorn]

Stellaris was on the list above, but that seems like a risky one for someone with limited game experience

then again I have no idea what a gentle introduction to 4X(???) would be

[quiet swift]

Civ 4, I think less complex than more recent ones

[slim thorn]

still, some people like games more for setting/aesthetic than for gameplay so worth thinking of stuff that's more sci-fi than what's currently on the list

FTL comes to mind for me

[slim thorn]

I'm about 60% sure that's the one I bounced off

[fresh bane]

want's to see Spiderverse?
Easy, spiderman ps4 then /s

[slim thorn]

you know that's actually not a bad idea

but I see the list has HZD on it

[quiet swift]

Also, @mossy flume . No interest in FPS, as in the POV, or the shooting aspect? If the latter, is it a hard no for anything shooty?

[rose rose]

I think HZD relies way too much on precision shooting

[slim thorn]

right, Spider-Man's probably a much better intro to the whole open world 3rd person action-y stuff

[fresh bane]

it's really not, it's not super complex and if they already like the thing it only helps to make them more interesting and willing to spend time with it

[quiet swift]

For some bosses yeah. I can't remember if HZD has a difficulty slider

If the POV is the issue because of say, motion sickness, that's one thing

[rose rose]

I think he'd enjoy HZD from a story perspective but the gameplay is quite hard

[fresh bane]

The more ''balanced'' experience of something chill but still more than just barely a videogame would be Animal Crossing, at least from the top of my head

[rose rose]

Also since I don't think it was ever mentioned the guy is my dad

[quiet swift]

Peach: I just checked, there's a "Story" difficulty mode!

[fresh bane]

I think it's a good pick for something that is still very much not too complex for someone who doesn't play games but still isn't just, Tetris or something

[quiet swift]

Oh oh!

Subnautica!

[fresh bane]

it's apparently a popular pick from what I just looked up, and apparently WoW comes up often too that's a weird one but okay

[rose rose]

I now wonder if he'd enjoy Tetris Effect VR

[mossy flume]

I was wondering about that too

[rose rose]

(He has played Tetris. It is the only game I know he has played.)

[fresh bane]

A VR game? I dunno....

[mossy flume]

It was stated earlier that he’s interested in VR

[slim thorn]

I've heard anecdotes that people unfamiliar with video games find some genres easier to pick up in VR than in the traditional format, since they don't have all these standard button controls ingrained like we do but hand motions are more "inherently obvious"

[quiet swift]

Any interest in Star Wars? Shooty, but the Jedi fallen order/survivor are options

[rose rose]

I do not remember!

But those are very hard games

[quiet swift]

There's difficulty modes

(But I admit I don't know how easy 'Easy' is)

[mossy flume]

Complexity is unlikely to be a problem, I’d bet. Difficulty may be another matter

I suspect Stellaris might be a neat intro to 4X

[fresh bane]

Hmmm I guess that's true... but some people already have issues with constantly having to wear a headset, the VR screen and feelings of diziness and such

[quiet swift]

I'm mostly going through a list of sci-fi and trying to see what is a good option. There's a lot of shooty stuff though

[mossy flume]

I was debating KotOR

[fresh bane]

Gotta be careful with an older person with that stuff

[mossy flume]

But Jedi Fallen Order might be good! Depends on interest

[rose rose]

IIRC he liked Old Star Wars but thought that whatever is going on now is incoherent

Which... fair

[quiet swift]

The jedi games are definitely very coherent and grounded

[fresh bane]

Kotor... might work, but I'd worry about it being too complex for a first experience

I probably wouldn't recommend any star wars games though myself

[mossy flume]

Well Jedi Fallen Order are much better than the recent Disney movies

[slim thorn]

I remember liking KotoR way back when I played it, but I'm pretty sure I glossed over or ignored most of the combat mechanics and just relied on outleveling everything

[quiet swift]

Those would be the only ones I would, honestly

If FPS as a POV is not an issue, then there's always Portal 1/2 as well

[fresh bane]

I'd keep it simple for some starter games

Portal could work actually

[mossy flume]

Portal would be a good way to get familiar with 3D games

[fresh bane]

It's very puzzle oriented and the shooting isn't really too demanding

[rose rose]

Portal might be a decent idea

[quiet swift]

You said earlier "no interest in FPS", could that be defined more? Like, no interest in killing at all/fighting?

[fresh bane]

Also 2 has a really neat story to get into as well

And it's sci fi!

[mossy flume]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[quiet swift]

'Cause if we're talking sci-fi...

[rose rose]

I don't know, that was just a verbatim quote.

[fresh bane]

Anything that involves combat I would probably not recommend just in case, to keep things simple to begin with

[quiet swift]

Fair enough. Worth narrowing it down, cause that narrows down a hell of a lot of utterly fantastic games

[mossy flume]

I was debating this too haha

There’s a lot of shooting in Mass Effect

[rose rose]

I remember he didn't like me playing Pokémon when I was young because capturing and battling creatures seemed morally difficult. But he liked that it made me think strategically.

[wind stump]

this isn't guessthegame what dis /s

[quiet swift]

[rose rose]

But that comment is twenty years stale and had extra context.

[fresh bane]

now that I see Ix playing KRZ I wonder if any games of that sort could work, something very chill and laid back and not super videogamey or with too many mechanics or stuff to confuse someone who is new

more of an experience

[quiet swift]

https://www.gamesradar.com/best-sci-fi-games/ i mean, this is a fairly good list

[slim thorn]

oh I thought we had the "narrative experience" bit covered somewhere earlier

[quiet swift]

(make them play EVE )

[rose rose]

Well he is very good at spreadsheets

[fresh bane]

Silent Hill 2 /s

[slim thorn]

(I wouldn't recommend KRZ as a first time since it's very complex, mind screw-y and metatextual; unless of course your dad loves that kind of artsy indie film )

[mossy flume]

What about FFXIV?

[rose rose]

I don't think he is particularly artsy indie film.

[quiet swift]

(I still say story-difficulty Uncharted would be great)

[rose rose]

(I did sell him on Asteroid City in the same conversation that prompted this though)

[mossy flume]

I was legitimately half-tempted to put that on the list

[slim thorn]

oh right you had Disco Elysium up there; that's probably ideal for "narrative experience" out of what I've played, especially given the "sci-fi" qualifier

[mossy flume]

Might be worth adding to the list

[fresh bane]

only thing I know was mentioned is he's into maths so I'm probably gonna fall back to maybe something like professor layton that may line with his interests or what he's into without being very overwhelming at first

and Portal which I did think was a good idea

something very puzzle ish oriented maybe

makes ya think

[mossy flume]

I agree with Portal

[fresh bane]

makes ya strategize and what not

[mossy flume]

Also why I think Factorio-like games and Zachtronics games might work

[slim thorn]

oh maths; if you're still looking at puzzle games I'd also throw in Monument Valley, that's an extremely gentle introduction to puzzle games that exploit non-standard geometry

[mossy flume]

Monument Valley is a good one

[rose rose]

Plus he already has a phone. Though maybe that's too small. Already has an iPad?

[quiet swift]

If he has a mobile device.. Vampire survivors!

[rose rose]

(recall the other context where he currently only owns Apple computing devices)

[slim thorn]

ah MV's perfect for mobile

[mossy flume]

It was originally a mobile game!

[rose rose]

And a Windows XP VM I guess

[mossy flume]

Clearly should hook him up with the classic Lego games, then.

[rose rose]

Not sure he shares your nostalgia for those 😛

[mossy flume]

[quiet swift]

Surviving Mars, Homeworld, Trine games (more puzzle than sci fi, for sure)

[mossy flume]

I did think of C&C. Homeworld might be great.

[slim thorn]

I never did play those

[quiet swift]

Also as I said earlier, Telltale games

[mossy flume]

I never touched Trine

[quiet swift]

Wolf Among Us for example is a great entry

Trine I think can be played with 3 people? I think. Each controlling one of the characters

[mossy flume]

The Expanse has a Telltale game now.

[quiet swift]

Haven't played it/heard anything about it though

[mossy flume]

Surviving Mars came to mind too

[rose rose]

I have!

[quiet swift]

But I can attest to WAU being great

[mossy flume]

Yeah it looks very good

[rose rose]

Only the first chapter is out so far though.

[mossy flume]

I’m not in a huge rush to play it because it’s not all out yet, but I’m very excited for it

[rose rose]

But they're on a chapter-every-two-weeks cadence this time

[quiet swift]

MA: i posted a bunch of suggestions but I think you went AFK A bit. Lemme go through it again

[rose rose]

You're supposed to experience it like a TV show

We are both out at lunch

[mossy flume]

I was driving, yeah

[fresh bane]

You know what, might be a bit of an odd recommendation but just for the sake of it I'll throw it out there, Return of the Obra Dinn is pretty cool, might be too much but I did just think of it since it's a puzzle-ish investigation sort of game

[slim thorn]

that could work, yeah

[mossy flume]

Oh hell

That’s an excellent idea

That’s the exact right kind of investigative game that I wanted to suggest on the list

[quiet swift]

Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment, Hades, Uncharted, Darkest DUngeon, Life is Strange, Firewatch, Octopath Traveler, Stellaris, Subnautica

Portal and others you've seen already

[river veldt]

Portal 1 and 2 are so good

[slim thorn]

I'm gonna strong disagree with Planescape; the story's great but the mechanics are a pain in the ass even for seasoned gamers like us, Disco Elysium covers that sort of game much better for a first timer

[mossy flume]

Ace Attorney doesn’t quite fit the bill

Excellent

[rancid herald]

Portal 3 is really good though

[mossy flume]

I think that’ll give me a healthy list of games to suggest to him

[white phoenix]

portal 2 for me is a perfect game, not because it's my favourite ever, but because I genuinely can't find any faults with it

[rancid herald]

so good that they're legally not allowed to release it

[mossy flume]

Thank you everyone for the help

[fresh bane]

I thought of Ace Attorney but quickly remembered all the over the top anime stuff in that game and thought better not lol

[river veldt]

maybe a controversial opinion but i don't think we need a Portal 3, 2 wrapped up the story pretty good and the co-op was a pretty good epilogue

[rancid herald]

you're right, that is controversial

banned

[fresh bane]

Your opinion rights are revoked

[gaunt marten]

Maybe a controversial opinion but I don't think Portal's story is what makes it interesting.

[fresh bane]

I slightly disagree, it very much made Portal 2 very interesting

[gaunt marten]

It's the puzzles

[quiet swift]

It needs a 3 (portal or HL), we still need to know about the Borealis

[fresh bane]

Once you have all that focus on story like Portal 2 did, in comparison to 1, going back to the more strictly puzzle oriented style of Portal 1 would feel like there's something missing

Although to be fair Portal 2 had all of Portal 1 as a setup which is why it worked so well since it had all that material to work with and build on top of

[river veldt]

Half Life 3 we need because that was left on a cliffhanger

[rose rose]

Remember when they actually patched the ending to Portal to set up Portal 2?

[river veldt]

ye

[slim thorn]

the puzzles are the larger part of why Portal was such a big deal, but (unlike most puzzle games) the story did make a significant positive contribution too, in both games

[fresh bane]

even the actual Half Life 3 (Alyx) ended on the same cliffhanger

[river veldt]

yeah but now Eli isn't dead so that's cool

[gaunt marten]

Well I am a person who does not play any game for the story

[rose rose]

From a set of games we have to synthesise hardware suggestions, too. He did state a preference for a console he could just plug in to a television, but that's not necessarily a hard rule

[fresh bane]

I'd assume most games we mentioned are on the switch no?

[slim thorn]

what I'm playing "for" depends a lot on the game, I've done lots of "for the story" and lots of "for the gameplay" and some more specific subtypes

he wanted a larger screen than the Switch

[river veldt]

Factorio is on the Switch

[fresh bane]

Switch can be plugged in though is what i mean

or docked, whatever it's called

[slim thorn]

I don't think I'd want to play a game like Factorio without a keyboard and mouse

[rose rose]

Well I meant "as opposed to a PC"

But yes, it can be

[mossy flume]

Factorio becomes hardware-constrained for sufficiently good players (programmers, mostly)

Switch wouldn’t be a great idea

It also doesn’t translate well to gamepad

[rose rose]

Factorio has a Mac version so that's free

[river veldt]

wish i had a Mac

[gaunt marten]

Big Macs are cheap

[river veldt]

nuh uh

[gaunt marten]

It's the small macs that cost you

[river veldt]

a meal costs like 9 dollars

[gaunt marten]

Yeah but imagine trying to eat a two thousand dollar mac instead

[river veldt]

computers aren't edible

[gaunt marten]

Not at that price for sure

[mossy flume]

Big Mac but with gold foil

[rose rose]

Gold foil is surprisingly cheap

[fresh bane]

aren't those edible gold foils super cheap

[mossy flume]

They are, yes, but crazy expensive foods come with them sometimes

[fresh bane]

it's the weirdest trend for people with money to have on food since they're not even expensive at all and it's not like it's some secret delicious ingredient either

it also makes food look ugly

[mossy flume]

Agreed

[rose rose]

I wonder if I could take a PS5 on a plane

I'll be seeing him in Italy in a few weeks

Could let him try some things

Do American ones work on 240V?

[quiet swift]

I took a PS4 in carry on baggage

[mossy flume]

PS5s are huge though

It’s doable but it would be super cumbersome

[rancid herald]

just wear it like a backpack

[gaunt marten]

I wouldn't try it unless it comes with a power converter

[mossy flume]

Should go to Tache Station first

…nobodys going to get that one, are they.

[rose rose]

I looked it up and it does indeed support 110-240V 50/60 Hz

[slim thorn]

no I got that

#KRZ: just watching this ||abandoned civil war-era ghost ship with no humans and a million cats on board|| slowly drift by, because of course that's a thing in these caves

[fresh bane]

but now they're treating me like a scruffy nerf herder

[slim thorn]

oh boy we're about to sail through the "bat sanctuary"

[fresh bane]

https://tenor.com/view/my-little-pony-echo-bat-pony-gif-9309248

offer the bats a mango and they may reward you sailor legend says

[white phoenix]

[visual hill]

just finished the Quake 2 remaster, there's a second id Hall of Fame in the last level by the way (hidden within the original one)

[harsh kestrel]

I grew up with collect-a-thon platformers. Some bigger than others. Classics like Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and even some licenced games like Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom. Those games, they just have that satisfaction of feeling good about yourself once you've found everything. Even if you shamelessly use YouTube guides sometimes like I do

[slim thorn]

I love how they phrase all of the "are you done with this area? y/n" questions in this game

I am sad now and it's hard to explain why

[arctic fern]

What game is that?

[gaunt marten]

Kentucky Route Zero

[arctic fern]

Never heard of it

Is it good?

[gaunt marten]

The music is good!

[slim thorn]

it's absolutely excellent, if you're into the kind of high-brow artistic stories about the ennui of the human condition that get described with phrases like "magical realism", but also in video game form

[arctic fern]

Uh

No I'm not

[slim thorn]

yep, it's a niche, I get it

[arctic fern]

Bang bang shooty boom boom

[slim thorn]

like this game is from 2013 and I've been aware of it for nearly that long but the mood just didn't strike me until recently

[arctic fern]

Hey you have fun! Glad you're enjoying it

[slim thorn]

but yeah anyone who's into the whole "games as art" thing needs to check out KRZ, there's a ton of little details in it that enhance the story in ways only a game can do

[hushed onyx]

[hushed onyx]

I’m pretty sure I should, but don’t.

(Well, now I do)

[fresh bane]

From 2013 yes but it wasn't "finished" until 2020

So you played at a good time

[teal cliff]

I made a tier list based on how much I like each guilty gear character

[chilly mural]

I'm very sad you don't like Johnny

[teal cliff]

I do not care for him.

[fresh bane]

Ramlethal is easily S+

Precious burger loving gal

[river veldt]

have any of you guys ever played Rogue

[mossy flume]

The original?

I have

[river veldt]

is it good

(i like old graphics and ancient games)

[mossy flume]

Well, it is the game that defined an entire major genre

Good would be subjective, but I think it's pretty neat

[rose rose]

I don't know if I'd describe Rogue as having "old graphics", because that implies the presence of graphics.

[mossy flume]

Yeah, it's literally a terminal game

[rose rose]

For reference

[river veldt]

whoa

[mossy flume]

There are a ton of roguelikes that are similar to this aesthetic which are more fleshed out than the original Rogue (you might see the connection with the genre name) and some which actually have real graphics.

[river veldt]

yes the genre name is why i asked

[rose rose]

The original Rogue does also come in minor variants that swap the font for something slightly less literally ASCII characters.

[river veldt]

only roguelike ive played is uh

[rose rose]

But that's just a veneer

[river veldt]

Isaac i think

i guess Hades counts too

[mossy flume]

Yeah, the Rogue variant on Steam is the 1985 version which has some slightly less terminal graphics in it

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1443430/Rogue/

Steam

Rogue

In the early 1980s, a computer game emerged that changed the world of fantasy gaming forever. Randomly generated rooms meant that each journey into the infamous Dungeons of Doom was unique. The potent combination of random generation with perma-death proved to be intoxicating, and the game was so influential it spawned an entire genre: "Rogue-li...

Price

$2.99

Recommendations

333

▶ Play video

The MS-DOS for IBM version to be more exact

[static bluff]

I love this kind of asthetic.

Growing up programming BASIC games. This feels like that.

[mossy flume]

If you want a more fleshed out and slightly more modern interpretation of this sort of game, you may be interested in Caves of Qud (https://store.steampowered.com/app/333640/Caves_of_Qud/) or Hack/NetHack/NetHack Legacy (https://www.nethack.org/ or https://store.steampowered.com/app/837200/NetHack_Legacy/)

Or Dwarf Fortress, which may need no introduction

[static bluff]

I've been thinking about starting another DF world

[mossy flume]

There are hundreds of games like this

[static bluff]

expedition*

[mossy flume]

Caves of Qud is notable because it's more traditional than DF is, has actual graphics, and is hitting 1.0 soon after being in development for 20-odd years

And being published by Kitfox Games

[static bluff]

oh yeah, i heard about that. Pretty cool!

[visual hill]

if you learn to play that game, do you Git Qud?

[unreal idol]

Dorf is comfy and familiar

[light gate]

Caves of Qud looks interesting.

[wind stump]

Sounds like NieR with less violence

i say that as a compliment

[wind stump]

ah yes just find a random stubby on the roof and we engage in fisticuffs and afterwards he just becomes a side quest

[quiet swift]

You will call him Sensei you lout

[wind stump]

Sensei Father Servo

[quiet swift]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX8uTzA-USg

[teal cliff]

this makes me think of like
James Camerons Avatar meets Anthem, lol

[slim thorn]

oh wow, I did not know that

[slim thorn]

probably, yeah, though I can't yet tell if this is putting me in the right mood for NieR or using up said mood

[slim thorn]

Flitter — 11/25/2021 8:39 PM
The best classical roguelike that I would recommend for people who want to try the genre out is https://store.steampowered.com/app/98800/Dungeons_of_Dredmor/

Steam

Dungeons of Dredmor

Long ago, the Dark Lord Dredmor was bound in the darkest dungeons beneath the earth by great and mighty heroes. Centuries later, the magical bonds that hold him in place are loosening and his power grows ever stronger. The land cries out for a new hero, a powerful warrior or a mystic wizard like those spoken of in the prophecies of yore. ...

Price

$7.99

Recommendations

3446

Metacritic

79

[gaunt marten]

Dungeons of Dredmor is fantastic and funny but if Captainmario wants an oldschool roguelike, it is not one.

[slim thorn]

it does depend on exactly what they meant by "old school"

[gaunt marten]

Mechanics-wise it strictly adheres to the traditional format

[slim thorn]

but just throwing it out there for completeness

[river veldt]

that looks like the Doom cover art

[gaunt marten]

That's the idea behind the cover!

[river veldt]

that's cool i like Doom

[grim stirrup]

dungeons of dredmor is like 90% references

[gaunt marten]

But art wise it's fully sprited and voiced

[grim stirrup]

depending on what you want; tales of maj'eyal, dungeon crawl stone soup, nethack, and cataclysm dark: dark days ahead. might be better choices (and all at least have free versions if you just wanna try em)

i think tales of maj'eyal is the only one on the list that has a paid version (which is the one on steam) i might be wrong though

[wind stump]

[grim stirrup]

they're all pretty difficult and have pretty high difficulty floors compared to most games people are used to

[gaunt marten]

Yeah. Traditional Roguelikes in general are really hard and that's part of the appeal so be patient and careful

Dungeons of Dredmor has an easy mode, but that's still pretty hard!

[grim stirrup]

the paid version of tales of maj'eyal has an "adventure" mode which gives you infinite lives that gives you a lot of lee-way, but can be abused to just win when you shouldn't

if you want an easier option (note: still pretty hard) there are options like https://store.steampowered.com/app/288120/Dungeonmans/ which is easier, less overall complexity, and has meta progression that can give you a legup so its a roguelite and also doesn't have the more traditional aesthetic

Steam

Dungeonmans

Crush monsters and get loots in the classic turn-based style of deep dungeons and high adventure! Serious gameplay surrounded by a light-hearted atmosphere, designed to evoke the feel of history's great RPGs and dice-slinging adventures around the tabletop. True roguelike adventure: turn-based, tough but fair, countless combat options.More than ...

Price

$14.99

Recommendations

890

▶ Play video

[gaunt marten]

Is this what 90s game would've been like if trailers were as shit as today's trailers?

Please put the gameplay first in the trailer!

[grim stirrup]

yeah pretty much

most of that is gameplay though

zoomed in and not 100% clear about whats going on but still

[gaunt marten]

Yeah I want to see what the game looks like when I play it

[gaunt marten]

https://youtu.be/OyoiDc1-1lM

@wind stump remember this game?

It's the free one we talked about a while back

[quiet swift]

Sequel to a quite old game

(or prequel? I forget)

[wind stump]

OH YEAH I NEVER PLAYED THAT

i should

[quiet swift]

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

[wind stump]

continues playing FFXIV

[little badger]

@sage iris @graceful bridge my new build

[graceful bridge]

Damn , nice

[sage iris]

[graceful bridge]

That is a hell of a large m.2 SSD, I'm jealous. 😄

[sage iris]

sooo when are you getting it? It's been a like a month since you showed me this same build last time

[little badger]

Yeah I had to change a lot of stuff since what I previously said. Only developers would need which I’m not

And this a new build

[little badger]

For the low price of

[gaunt marten]

You pay a 16% VAT?

[little badger]

Some items are 20%

[gaunt marten]

Oh that makes sense

[little badger]

Yeah.

[little badger]

What build do you have Merc

[sage iris]

I have a laptop

[little badger]

Oh yeah.

It won’t be for a while will need to save up for it. But will it run starfield @graceful bridge

[graceful bridge]

Well, yes.

[little badger]

[teal cliff]

I wonder how hard Starfield will really be to run

I still play relatively new games at ultra settings so I assume I'll be able to run it, but how far will I need to lower settings to do so

[astral steeple]

https://vxtwitter.com/FallGuysGame/status/1691117635201798144

[river veldt]

do you guys think we'll ever get a Daikatana remaster

[quiet swift]

I'm in spitting distance of Romero's new studio. If only I could go in just to ask that

Though I think someone else owns the rights these days

[green fulcrum]

Okay, I'll admit, that's waaaaay cuter than most skins Fall Guys has.

[teal cliff]

Fall Guys seems neat. I have not played it.

[quiet swift]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE5fUINbml4&ab_channel=GameCinematics Also, outcast had outtakes, which is pretty rare in games

[rose rose]

Why does this thing even have a hard drive? At this level of excessive and expensive overkill just put in another SSD

[thorny loom]

For 4tb you can get a good nvme ssd on a sale. Anything over that hdd are still the main way to go

[rose rose]

When you're spending four thousand pounds you clearly don't care

But that's also not more than 4 TB

[thorny loom]

Fair enough lol

[slim thorn]

#KRZ: clearly act 5 is going to be the best part so far since ||it starts off with me controlling a cat||

[little badger]

I would use the SSD for gaming but I need to have a hard drive it won’t let me buy it otherwise.

[rose rose]

That's very silly of it.

I've not had a magnetic hard drive in any computer I've had in many years.

[little badger]

I suppose I could just get a smaller HDD and keep the SSD that I currently have in the build

[thorny loom]

I just switched over to an all ssd build

[eager wedge]

Do as luni does and have a whole stack of small capacity 7200rpm laptop drives for certain games

[thorny loom]

I just use my hdd for storing stuff and backup images of my os

[rancid herald]

I have like

4 ? Hard drives now?

1 ms whatever the tell mobo ssd, two hdd, and another ssd (only has one game on it)

[little badger]

Actually I’ve just went over it again so I don’t actually need to get a HDD so I’ll keep the 2 SSD’S

[eager wedge]

Ewww norton

It's like paying someone while you install spyware on your computer

[little badger]

The other options are like install steam for £5 and I can do it for free

[wind stump]

Call me Goon again and you're getting Beastlord up your ass

[rose rose]

My Big Gaming Computer has three 2 TB SSDs. My usual computer has one 4 TB SSD, my other Gaming Computer has one 2 TB SSD. My laptop is also a 2 TB SSD, I think?

Of course there's also the Big Storage Server with its eight 12 TB HDDs

[little badger]

Wow that’s a lot of storage.

[eager wedge]

My laptop has uhh 8 Tb of ssd storage across its 4 nvme slots

I don't know why it has 4

[mossy flume]

The Big Gaming Computer will probably need another SSD before long

[rose rose]

Probably, they're all mostly full

[wind stump]

ah yes just a causal 22 level difference

[gaunt marten]

@slim thorn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYRmZkDqRdQ

[slim thorn]

oh

as soon as I get to a stopping point...

[fresh bane]

Oh right, I forgot a second Blasphemous is being made

still haven't even seen the first

[slim thorn]

#KRZ: ||horse funeral ||

[fresh bane]

|| creatures of pure compassion ||

[slim thorn]

so now that I've finished my deep artsy nonsense for the month

maybe I should finally play Death's Gambit again

[gaunt marten]

Ooh, good luck

[wind stump]

Just me, the desert, and an 8 foot tall robot girl.

Fuck.

[white phoenix]

wait 2b's 8 foot?

[fresh bane]

she's like 170

still taller than me

[white phoenix]

I want to say that I didn't mean anything by asking that question

[astral steeple]

https://vxtwitter.com/Dexerto/status/1691147926133682187

huh???????

[quiet swift]

This timeline sucks

[young creek]

Big fan of this

[thorny loom]

Metaverse jobs lol

[wind stump]

[flint iron]

Thats really nice scenery

[slim thorn]

first try

[gaunt marten]

Well done. Remember the notes here for the future.

[wind stump]

The apocolypse is pretty~

[quartz pawn]

looks sick

[gaunt marten]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3330/Zuma_Deluxe/ @slim thorn

Steam

Zuma Deluxe

Survive the ancient temples of Zuma, the critically acclaimed action-puzzler from PopCap! Deep in the jungle lie hidden temples bursting with traps and trickery, and it's up to you to uncover their treasures. Fire magical balls from your stone frog idol to make matches of three or more and clear the deadly chain before it reaches the golden skul...

Price

$4.99

Recommendations

3224

[green fulcrum]

Oh man, I remember these kinds of games.

Luxor was my jam when I was a kid.

[gaunt marten]

Luxor is good!

Zuma was relevant for reasons other than it being good

[grim stirrup]

i played that game so much as a kid

[gaunt marten]

Are you all right, Steam? https://i.imgur.com/qCdK7J7.png

Project Zomboid does not have a single A in it.

[quiet swift]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1486920/Tempest_Rising/ so they have a playtest going on... and I just clicked on request access and immediately got it. Welp.

Steam

Tempest Rising

Classic RTS action meets modern production and performance in Tempest Rising. Inspired by RTS greats of the 90s and 2000s, Tempest Rising is a classic, base-building real time strategy game set in a modern day alternative history war scenario. It features 3 unique factions, each with its own approach to combat and economy and offering a variety ...

Release Date

Coming soon

▶ Play video

[dense crypt]

this reeks so much of command and conquer, and i want it as a result

even the UI for building is the same as C&C3

[mossy flume]

Oh hecc

I’m down for this

Oh it’s already on my wishlist

Haha

[harsh kestrel]

I haven't seen Zuma in years

[mossy flume]

I’m sad that C&C Generals + Zero Hour never got a remaster or anything.

[thorny loom]

There were plans for remastering more command and conquers

But i guess ea has basically stalled on that

[astral steeple]

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/rainbow-6-siege-halo-master-chief-skin-leak/

[white phoenix]

not even the most outlandish skin they have

there's a 2b skin

[astral steeple]

oh yeah

if only they'd add 2b to fort lol

[river veldt]

https://x.com/gonintendotweet/status/1691264507354529792?s=46

[dapper cedar]

for a second I thought this was like
here’s what’s being changed and added to the park… and luigi doesn’t like it very much

looking at the blueprints and going off on a ramble to himself

[river veldt]

lol

[quartz pawn]

https://youtu.be/mwh9WrWFuL4 This video is so funny to me man, basically every time he gets hit/shot his speedrun or run is over and his reactions to the agony of losing hours of his life is very funny but also pretty sad to think about. Challenge of one hit KO in GTA

[quiet swift]

Okay, got around to trying this. Some minor gripes (cinematics) and one gameplay gripe (building construction) but overall I'm quite liking the feel of it. It's just a single mission of one faction though

[wind stump]

I have the Zuma "ping" sound as my TF2 hitsound

works so well

also nostalgia

[wind stump]

Yoko Taro has standards

[grim stirrup]

ah yes, yoko "if they want more they can pay me" taro has standards that arent money

2b is a much more sexualised character than any i recall from fortnite which is a more likely reason

[wind stump]

That too

It's funny because I'm waiting for the Nikke/NeiR event and that's a much better fit for a design like 2B.

and like
not dancing around the topic
Yoko Taro made 2B the way she is because he wanted to, lmao.

He is a blessed person

[astral steeple]

Chun li

[grim stirrup]

in the games chun li isnt even close to as sexualised

you get an achievement for looking up 2bs skirt

[wind stump]

also you can blow up 2B and strip of her clothing as a gameplay mechanic

most of it anyway

NeiR Automata is a funky game, I'm enjoying it a lot

[grim stirrup]

people sexualise them about the same but the content itself doesnt

[wind stump]

and honestly Nikke and NieR crossing over makes a lot of sense since they're both post-apocolypse games with robot girls trying to save the world

also like
themes of humanity and what it means to live and-
I-I'm serious, Nikke actually has a good story-

better than Star Rail anyway

[grim stirrup]

that is another point, glancing through the crossover list, nier has a way way heavier story than anything else the very core themes is what it means to be alive but like, in a way that questions if they are alive or just automatic things