general gaming

[mossy flume]

The geth were either unified and aligned or destroyed depending on your choices there.

[little badger]

Yeah.

[mossy flume]

Mass Effect pretty much allowed for all known enemies to be resolved

So it would need to be a new external threat

[little badger]

But what though what would be bigger than a reaper.

[mossy flume]

That’s the question.

The trilogy was tied up pretty neatly

Some questions were open though

[little badger]

But remember they changed the ending in 3

[weak river]

Sorry for the delay, y'all; apparently I had an "obligation" to attend an "important event" as a "responsible member of society". All nonsense, I tell ya.

Ooooh, N7.
And I concur with Aegis's assessment of that armor looking Asari-esque; they're the only species in the galaxy that has the capacity to slap built-in coattails onto a bulletproof, kinetic-shielded suit of armor.

It could be that they're leaning farther into the Kett. ||It was implied in MEA that the Kett Empire spanned across the entirety of Andromeda, exalting species throughout the galaxy. The Milky Way races also seemed to intrigue the Kett that made contact with the Andromeda Initiative, so it makes sense that events in the Heleus Cluster might have drawn the Empire's eyes to the Milky Way. Pair that with the fact that the story seems to be going intergalactic, and we have a potential plotline there.||

[mossy flume]

That tracks

I never did finish ME:A, it just... kept boring me.

So I never really figured out what was going on there

[weak river]

Yes, that seems to be a common issue for a lot of fans. Even my father stopped after the first few hours of gameplay, and he was and remains a die-hard Mass Effect fan.

I definitely found it to be worse than the trilogy, but I still liked it for what it was. Hopefully this upcoming game helps with the setting/story issues that held Andromeda back.

[mossy flume]

Yeah, Mass Effect was kinda my whole personality for a long while and I still bounced off of ME:A after ten hours or so despite repeated attempts

ME still remains as one of my top three franchises ever though

There was a whoel story about ME:A's development that led to it being what it is, so... I kinda don't really blame them

[light gate]

Its almost time.

[river veldt]

for what

[weak river]

Intergalactic conquest, Captain.

...or maybe just some sort of teaser instead. Either way, it is, in fact, almost time.

[slim thorn]

the time has passed

[weak river]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBzbMdw90do&t=1s

[light gate]

bruh

[slim thorn]

&t=1s lol

[weak river]

At long last, the fan-favorite character "Masked person with pistol and awesome suit" is returning.

[weak river]

Well, now we get to see the trailer a full second faster than everyone else. That's just maximizing efficiency.

...certainly not me clicking the wrong button, of course. I mean, that would just be embarrassing.

[slim thorn]

but seriously, this doesn't really tell us anything, does it?

[river veldt]

what makes this N7 day

[arctic fern]

whats the date today

[river veldt]

holy shit

[light gate]

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

[river veldt]

is november 7th important in the lore

[arctic fern]

i dont think so

[mossy flume]

No, it’s just N7

It became a pseudo-holiday for Mass Effect fans

[weak river]

Nothing outright, but there is some speculation going around.

The most popular opinion right now is that this masked individual is T'Soni, particularly on account of the boots. That fact doesn't have any wider implications at the moment, but it is worth mentioning in this context.

Beyond that, these video fragments were posted on various pages on EA's website, which had some intriguing text accompanying the videos (there was something about a distress signal from Andromeda being received, and the year that Andromeda takes place was mentioned).

There are some theories floating around about T'Soni potentially working on a form of interstellar travel that doesn't rely on mass effect fields, which would imply that Bioware is picking up the dark energy plotline from back when Mass Effect 2 first released, but we don't have anything concrete yet on that front.

...or maybe something else entirely is going on.

My brain is far too small for this, I think.

[river veldt]

oooh like March 10 ok

[quiet swift]

A new patch for both wow and d4, and mass effect news on my birthday?

[weak river]

Oh, hey, it's Tcherno's birthday.
Congratulatory celebration day.

[light gate]

Let me see if I can deblur that ship

[mossy flume]

That really must be Liara. The outfit has too many inspirations from her outfits in ME2 and ME3

[thorny loom]

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-layoffs-continue-ubisoft-cuts-124-jobs-worldwide-including-nearly-100-in-canada/

[mossy flume]

And she favors pistols

[grave tide]

Damn, Ubisoft not making FarCry fails

How did that happen

[arctic fern]

massive layoff at company
and she prefers pistols
lol

[thorny loom]

Were getting far cry avatar in December

Far cry 6 officially ended support a month or so ago.

[light gate]

Okay, changed the frame... I think I got a good deblur now.

holy cow

[harsh kestrel]

Ubisoft have been putting out some decent titles lately in my opinion. Better than a lot of other AAA releases of the modern age have been. I had a good time with Far Cry 6, and of course XDefiant being addicting. Who knows when that's gonna come out at this rate though lol

[light gate]

oh my god, so this is the ship!

[weak river]

That definitely seems to be the implication, for sure.
...now the real question is whether or not we're subtly misled one way or another.

[grave tide]

YEAH BABY THAT'S I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR

[weak river]

Space travel confirmed. Nice.

[mossy flume]

Could be the ship from the first teaser, maybe??

[light gate]

That says XT something

[grave tide]

I would prefer to not even try understand what Bioware did in this trailer

[mossy flume]

XT6 or XT8

[grave tide]

Because this can become production hell

And after this ME4 will become like Andromeda

[light gate]

Also yes, I somehow thought it was a good idea.

I wonder if this

[robust steppe]

https://vxtwitter.com/thegameawards/status/1721935553258463510

[mossy flume]

That helmet, though.

[light gate]

Daft Punk lookin

[mossy flume]

Definitely tracks as a blend between asari and alliance tech

[light gate]

Its her.

[mossy flume]

Definitely

[light gate]

It has to be her.

[mossy flume]

No doubt

[weak river]

I'm really hoping for this character to be an ally, because I don't think I can stand against that sense of style.

[light gate]

Does this mean she wants take revenge or...

oh boi, now I want to replay the entire franchise.

[mossy flume]

Already ahead of ya

[light gate]

[sage iris]

so.. finished with Phantom Liberty

pretty cool

[mossy flume]

Now to go back and see the four other endings.

[sage iris]

four?

I saw 2

||saving so mi|| and ||saving myself||

expected more from the first one though, not gonna lie

second one... was interesting, for sure

mixed bag, but interesting

wait, 4 you say? Do you get 2 more if you decide ||to go with reed instead of so mi||?

[mossy flume]

There are 4 endings to Phantom Liberty directly and an alternate ending to the vanilla game if you choose the right ending(s) for Phantom Liberty.

[mossy flume]

Yes

[sage iris]

ooooh

damn, I can't be assed to replay that whole thing again though

just gonna watch on youtube

[mossy flume]

It's actually a lot

You'll want to go back to the hard save

[sage iris]

yeah, I know. I tried that, but there's a lot to redo

also apparently a whole bossfight that I skipped

[mossy flume]

||The other choice ends up with another few hours of gameplay||

[sage iris]

oh

okay then I might

[mossy flume]

The choices are major

[sage iris]

cool branching in this DLC

[mossy flume]

Yep

[sage iris]

what did you choose? ||reed|| or ||so mi||? or did you do both paths?

[mossy flume]

||You did the boring ending||

I did all the paths, I made hard saves immediately before each key choice

[sage iris]

damn holy shit, I would've just completely missed all that if I you hadn't told me

okay, I'll replay it from there

[sage iris]

what was your gut choice though? Your first one?

[mossy flume]

||My gut choice was going with So Mi first||

[sage iris]

heh, yeah same

dunno why exactly either

[mossy flume]

https://vxtwitter.com/bioware/status/1722011793856598386

[light gate]

That looks sick as hell.

[slim thorn]

oh I get it, it's the Cloak of Levitation

[weak river]

Somebody in another server mentioned that it looks like Afterlife in the cloak.

[slim thorn]

doesn't matter which humanoid is wearing a helmet, the Cloak is the new protagonist

[mossy flume]

it's fucking sick and I want it

[light gate]

I think I see some sort of bird

[mossy flume]

That was my first thought too. Either AFterlife or a club on the Citadel.

But Afterlife seems likely given that specific architecture

[weak river]

I'd go for Afterlife as well; that bar on the left seems to be a bit of a giveaway.

This screenshot shows a similar angle, and you can definitely see some similarities: the bar on the left and the elevated platform in the back, for instance.

[mossy flume]

Yep, that tracks

Bah I wonder if we'll get to see this next year

[quiet swift]

Oh god, this guy

[teal cliff]

Bethesda is, and always has been, a better publisher than developer

Games made by Bethesda; Fallout 3, 4, 76, Skyrim,
Games Bethesda published: Prey, Fallout New Vegas, Dishonored/Deathloop, Elder Scrolls Online, Evil Within 1&2, Ghostwire Tokyo, Hi-Fi Rush,

[river veldt]

Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal as well

[teal cliff]

the Quake remaster too

and Wolfenstein if that's your thing, but I haven't played any of those so I can't actually judge if they're any good. The last actually good game Bethesda put out themselves was Morrowind but their record as a publisher is still fairly immaculate except for Redfall.

[rotund forge]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj8EAF4RzxQ

[river veldt]

yea

[rotund forge]

I love Nin10doland's content...but he has the most clickbaity thumbnail images.

[white phoenix]

avi arad
it's over before it even began

[river veldt]

he's produced some good movies

[mossy flume]

Avi Arad directing?

Or producing?

The answer there will be very important for expectations.

Oh looks like he only produces

TIL

He has a mixed track record, but there are some genuinely good movies in his portfolio.

[white phoenix]

I'm cautiously curious

Most of me wished it was animated instead, but live action might work?

watch them cast tom holland as link though

[rotund forge]

Nah, John Cena was made for the roll

[little badger]

@mossy flume what did you think of the teaser trailer.

[river veldt]

yeah there are some clunkers like the Amazing Spider-Man movies, but then there are some masterpieces like the Spiderverse movies

[mossy flume]

I want that trenchcoat.

[light gate]

I'll take their entire stock.

[river veldt]

https://fixupx.com/smwikiofficial/status/1722016159808074205?s=46

[thorny loom]

Today i found out in warzone they made memes into a weapon microtransaction

[white phoenix]

they know

[little badger]

Yup!

[light gate]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/7/23951123/revenant-hill-canceled-night-in-the-woods

Serious health issues impacted the development team.

From the same article:

In a separate post, artist and animator Scott Benson, who worked on both games, wrote, “Over the past 12 months or so I got very sick and it didn’t go away. Eventually I was diagnosed with severe heart failure, most likely from a virus. It will continue to greatly limit me for the foreseeable future and as such I’ve had to stop working in the manner I once did.”

Such terrible news to hear.

[thorny loom]

oh fuck off MS https://www.pcgamer.com/new-halo-1-cosmetic-armor-in-halo-infinite-costs-twice-as-much-as-halo-1-itself-straining-recent-fan-goodwill/

[slim thorn]

oh right, Infinite exists

I mean if people are still paying for its updates, this kind of thing is exactly what they bought into

next time I'm in a Halo mood I'll just replay one of 1-5

[light gate]

I am waiting for the fifty dollar skin packs.

[slim thorn]

golden warthog armor

[light gate]

YES

Ixrec gets it.

I hate Discord typography.

I looks like an L

[slim thorn]

that hasn't happened in quite a while

[light gate]

You may reset the count.

[sour hill]

Discord had to go and change the font to make Ixrec unambiguous

[light gate]

l'II handIe it, l'm sure of it.

[mossy flume]

Oh for fucks sake, that’s ridiculous. $22 for a cosmetic? That’s the price you attach to a story DLC.

[light gate]

It does come with story dlc, its the anger and frustrations the gamer had to make in order to buy the damned skin.

I love the part where the money is sent to Microsoft and the gamer is defeated.

Such a twist!

[quiet swift]

||https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DvWkRG|| Someone recreated the first room of Disco Elysium, detective and all. Put it behind spoilers because it spoils one mystery (your name)

[quiet swift]

https://youtu.be/SZS3aQl7ByU

[gaunt marten]

I'm not interested in Darkest Dungeon until they get rid of the wagon mode

[hasty patio]

I don't think that is going to happen sadly.

[gaunt marten]

Yeah, me neither

[random steppe]

The wagon mode?

That's like...the game

[gaunt marten]

Yeah I don't like the game and I want them to make a different game

[random steppe]

It's like saying "i'm not playing Isaac until thet get rid of the square rooms you walk in"
It's like, the one thing the game does

[gaunt marten]

Correct

[random steppe]

I think I like DD1 a bit more, but I appreciate them doing something different

And I must admit, at the end of DD1 I was kinda done, the campaign was a bit too long and repetitive for me

[astral steeple]

is halo infinite free or does it cost money?

[thorny loom]

Multiplayer is free. Campaign costs money

But charging $22 is a bit ridiculous for a skin

[white phoenix]

it being more expensive than halo 1 is hilarious

[rose rose]

Hey, where's all that Phil Spencer Is The Greatest praise from this morning gone?

[fresh bane]

https://vxtwitter.com/DUSKdev/status/1721986799642284515

Dusk dev is fucking cooking Epic

[white phoenix]

half of the entire pc gaming revenue is huge

what were they thinking

[astral steeple]

its somewhat tame

especially compared to other game's microtransactions

its somewhat understandable though for the multiplayer

they still gotta be able to keep the game running/pay the employees/etc

[white phoenix]

here's a list of games around 22 and under

also mass effect legendary edition for $12 CAD

Might be time to finally play mass effect lol

[mossy flume]

Half? Under what timeframe?

20 years?

[river veldt]

DUSK is also $20 i believe

[white phoenix]

yeah it's 22 CAD so probably

[mossy flume]

Epic would have to build a deeply compelling service to start eating market share and they have not done that

[river veldt]

DUSK is so good

[mossy flume]

The problem with Steam is that… it’s functionally a monopoly and everyone’s happy to fuel that fact despite the incredible position of power it puts Valve in.

Microsoft Game Pass can and does eat up market share because the value proposition it offers is fantastic. But Epic isn’t competing in that sense.

So I really have to wonder how true that assertion is because… it should be obvious that Epic isn’t going to eat up half of the PC market with their current offerings.

[bleak lintel]

There's also GoG and the tiny stores.

[river veldt]

https://fixupx.com/discussingfilm/status/1722087444340768946?s=46

??????

[mossy flume]

What, already?

[bleak lintel]

It has been 10 years.

[rose rose]

Imagine they had managed to get say Activision, Zenimax, and Ubisoft to distribute everything exclusively via the Epic Games Store

[bleak lintel]

GTA5 was a PS3 game.

[river veldt]

hoping for a fem protag

[mossy flume]

Yeah, see, THAT would’ve given Epic a useful advantage!

[rose rose]

(this email is four years old, from before Microsoft owned two of those three companies)

That's almost certainly what they were thinking

There were requirements for the prediction to hold and they were not met.

[mossy flume]

If they could basically eat everyone else’s launchers and stores, that would put Epic in a strong position for growth

Yeah, that tracks

[rose rose]

I assume that was the concept underlying the email.

[astral steeple]

regarding the EGS, my only complaint is even if you have the remember device thing selected, it like still makes you constantly have to re type in the verification code every time you login/open it

[rose rose]

And taking it out of context to just assume everyone involved is an idiot is probably unfair.

[hasty patio]

Sept 17, 2013. Before the dark times. Before the timeline went off the rails.

[mossy flume]

Agreed

The Before Times™️, how I miss thee.

[rose rose]

(also the same email proposed another scenario where they end up at 8%)

https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/21043983-2019-october-epic-details-egs-free-game-how-well-aggressive-vs-wind-down-exclusives-strategy/#document/p16 is the actual document being discussed.

[dire gate]

To be honest though "pay for exclusives and we shall reach 50% of the market" sounds like a terrible strategy

[random steppe]

It's pretty much Sony strategy and it works for them

[white phoenix]

I swear there have been "gta 6 trailer next week" rumors for the past two months at this point

oh damn wait it's leaked by jason schreier

[sour hill]

gta 6 will be released this Sunday

[light gate]

GTA 6 is out now.

[sour hill]

I've been watching GTA 6 gameplay on YouTube for years!

[white phoenix]

I wonder if they're going to be releasing the trailer on the game awards or on their own thing

doing it live would be a spectacle lol, the live chats would go insane

[sour hill]

Same. I think it's a safe bet

At least if they're still doing multiple protagonists

[rose rose]

The game is set in a fictional version of Miami and features two protagonists, a man and a woman, Bloomberg News has reported.

[sour hill]

Hooray

[rose rose]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-08/rockstar-plans-to-announce-much-anticipated-grand-theft-auto-vi?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTY5OTQxMjMwNywiZXhwIjoxNzAwMDE3MTA3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTM1JWQkREV0xVNjgwMSIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.3ryTNPoXswLuh9rS0VUSAbr-Uj4ezdsFo5JjTaKz2PA

[sour hill]

That's a big ol token

[rose rose]

Apparently it makes the article readable without a subscription

[sour hill]

It gives us access

[rose rose]

An access token, one might say

Also if I worked at rockstar I would be super pissed off that this leaked

People! Quit leaking!

[rancid herald]

I kind of wonder if it would even give them an advantage at that.

[light gate]

Last time there was a mega leak, it was Nintendo and Valve.

[dire gate]

https://vxtwitter.com/Reggie/status/1722106919173894210

What a cool guy

[fresh bane]

Unironically would sell me on the movie

[white phoenix]

legit, I probably would actually go out to the theater to see this one

[rotund forge]

Ahhh we got 9 days until Super MArio RPG Remake!!!! AHHHH!

[river veldt]

[white phoenix]

gta 6 is going to set records for hype alone

[harsh kestrel]

Alright. Based on all I saw, that dude on Twitter is stating straight facts. Unless you're Overwatch 2 trying to get more players trying to move to Steam. Then you're just fucked lol

In terms of the GTA 6 thing, I've just seen rumor after rumor for so long that I'll believe it when I see it pop up on YouTube

[white phoenix]

same, but jason schreier reported it, who is one of the most credible video game leakers out there, so hope is a bit higher for this one

[visual hill]

Grand Theft Auto 6, but they release The Definitive Trilogy version of it first

also featuring GTA 7 and 8, and based on a mobile port intended for the iPhone 29

[peak mesa]

Calling it, GTA 6’s trailer will set to be the most viewed YouTube video that isn’t a music video.

It’ll destroy the Internet.

It’ll break records.

[arctic fern]

https://youtu.be/HJ0GdGkZ5PM?si=EIA7R-AXJNKLLuRZ

[gaunt marten]

Good, but also that sounds like clickbait

[arctic fern]

what?

no, the vid is about looking at game prices 2 years ago and prices this year

[visual hill]

Hello, you absolute legends.

[arctic fern]

spoiler: they dropped massively

[quiet swift]

Must you comment on every single link and video how you like it/don't like it/think it's clickbait?

Like, actually giving it a watch would 99.999% of the time answer the question

[gaunt marten]

Yeah, this is the goal of socialization

[arctic fern]

i must admit constantly commenting that "this sounds like clickbait" is a bit annoying
i dont generally link clickbait

[gaunt marten]

Well, having watched the video, I can say this is definitely clickbait. The premise of the thumbnail is misleading. It implies the market as a whole (or just SMB 1) dropped by 97%, where in the video it's just the one game that dropped by 97%, and the others dropped less

It's also a video about Heritage Auctions and their specific system of retro videogame grading, rather than the used videogame market in general

[arctic fern]

heritage artificially inflated the whole market

[gaunt marten]

Yeah, and it sucks!

I have no issue with the content of the video, but I have problems with the labeling

[arctic fern]

the vid was using the original offenders to show what was going on

[gaunt marten]

Right, so it should mention them in the thumbnail

[little badger]

https://fxtwitter.com/rockstargames/status/1722237703553798312? @graceful bridge @mossy flume

[graceful bridge]

I think the only GTA game I ever played was Vice City.

[little badger]

Back in the day or recently?

[graceful bridge]

Back in the day

[little badger]

Yup it was a classic

@sage iris

[sage iris]

What's up

[little badger]

Look up gta 6 is finally getting announced

[sage iris]

Not a huge fan of gta

[little badger]

Oh I thought you played it with Abby before?

[sage iris]

I never have, no

[little badger]

Ah right.

[teal cliff]

hope the online is good.

That was the most fun part of V.

[little badger]

I’m sure it will be bigger.

[teal cliff]

Yeah but will it be any good

[peak mesa]

WELL WELL WELL

[teal cliff]

Like I'm afraid of them making it really cringe and money-grubbing, or just really boring like RDR2's online

[sour hill]

I mean I'd say GTA V's online was cringe and money-grubbing

[teal cliff]

yeah but it could have been worse.

There was nothing locked exclusively behind real money that I can remember

and all update content was free

[thorny loom]

https://fxtwitter.com/thexpaw/status/1722176195603689860?s=46&t=bVzXPIZvXYyJJoEkCfgMsQ

[teal cliff]

lmao

[gaunt marten]

That might allow me to finally play incremental games without having them ruin my playtime on Steam

[teal cliff]

I imagine this is like, 50% for nsfw games and 50% for people who were upset they got removed by people for buying shitty wizard game 2023

[gaunt marten]

It's also for me and I fit in neither category

[bitter stream]

Is there a way to disable Steam tracking time playing games? I do find it annoying sometimes to be reminded I've only put X minutes into a title which I was hyped about but turned out to be average.

[gaunt marten]

No

The workaround is to launch the game without using steam (for DRM-free games)

Or to ask for it to be removed from your library entirely (for games you never want to see again)

[bitter stream]

ah ok, thanks for the info Flitter.

[gaunt marten]

With this upcoming feature you will be able to hide games from others but not from yourself

[bitter stream]

"Oh the misery, myself is my greatest enemy" 🎵

[astral steeple]

https://vxtwitter.com/IGN/status/1722222960139018486

[gaunt marten]

Ultimately, the consequence of this is it might help you give in to hype less in the future

[bitter stream]

Here's hoping, though I do try to temper my hype already. Success rates vary

[teal cliff]

oh that's neat.

man Dead by Daylight really is collecting a whos-who of famous fictional killers

the only big one I'd say they're really missing anymore is Jason and that's not happening soon because of his knock-off game lmao

but aside from him they've got Freddy, Michael, Leatherface, Chuckie, and Ghost Face

[astral steeple]

honestly, i just really want fort to get more fictional killers already lol

they got michael myers so far and thats it

no idea how that one even happened

[teal cliff]

I love Michael Myers in DBD lol.

whenever i play him I play a build I've named people peeper Myers and instead of killing anyone I just get his tier 3 then aggressively walk behind people and stare at them

[teal cliff]

oh I forgot the Pig from Saw, that's another big one.

[astral steeple]

i just love running around shooting people in fort as michael and then doing the macarena and stuff with him lol

seeing him do like most dances is super cursed

[teal cliff]

honestly who is DBD really missing anymore :O

[teal cliff]

like... the Candyman maybe?

oh, Pinhead probably. Or Edward Scissorhands.

[teal cliff]

lmao. reminds me of the stupid California Girls animation in the Friday the 13th game

[astral steeple]

lol what

[teal cliff]

one sec

[astral steeple]

thats a thing?

[teal cliff]

||https://youtu.be/iAyerz54368?si=G-sFeEmwAqFAlQwB|| very light spoiler bc men in speedos I guess.

[astral steeple]

lmaooooooo

oh yeah

michael doing the cupid dance from fifty fifty is even more cursed

[teal cliff]

emotes were a mistake

dancing should be illegal

[astral steeple]

lol

now they need to add caramelldansen as an emote

and the nyan nyan dance

that'd be like peak cursed

[harsh kestrel]

Rockstar finally tweeting about a GTA 6 trailer. A message from them over 10 years waited for

[static bluff]

lol i'm watching dunkey's video about the gta 6 trailer as you speak

[rotund forge]

I'd get back into Fortnite for a single day just to spam the emote all day

[astral steeple]

lol

[sage iris]

okay so I went through the other path today and it was quite a ride. Though I can't seem to find anything online about the "alternate ending to the vanilla game" you mentioned. Maybe I'm just not looking well enough, can you link it?

[mossy flume]

|| https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/cyberpunk-2077-phantom-liberty-endings#:~:text=There's a wealth of different,) endings you'll receive.||

[rose rose]

It's the quest ||Who Wants To Live Forever||, which is only triggered if ||Songbird ends up alive in FIA custody||.

[dapper cedar]

MY FAVORITE HORROR LAD 💜

[rose rose]

||Which is possible after either choice in Firestarter, but you also must make the right choice later on on either branch||

[mossy flume]

I see they decided to get ahead of the claims saying that they’ll reveal it this year. Sounds like a TGA reveal.

[sage iris]

Oh I assumed MA meant something different

Like an alternate ending to The Tower

Yeah I saw all 4 of them

I think the ending themselves felt a little lackluster but the rest of the DLC (including the sequences right before each ending) was fantastic

[little badger]

Yeah I was thinking that. You going to get it when it releases?

[mossy flume]

Probably

[little badger]

Look how many views it’s had

[gaunt marten]

I'm not interested in supporting Rockstar monetarily

[wind stump]

a few views

[chilly mural]

I wonder how much crunch they did

[peak mesa]

Before Rockstar announces GTA 6: “where’s the trailer?”
After announcement: “why so late?”

People can’t be satisfied.

[white phoenix]

dude wtf its already got almost 1 mil likes on twitter in 4 hours holy

gta truly is on another level in the video game industry

[thorny loom]

Well its been a decade since 5 came out

People are desperate for a new game from them since red dead 2 was essentially abandoned

[visual hill]

goddamnit… I just realized MGS2 doesn't autosave even in its HD edition

I lost like 3 hours of gameplay

guess that's it for my MGS2 playthrough, as I didn't make a savestate either. I assumed autosave was the norm by the time the PS3 was a thing

or I have to mindlessly repeat what I did because at least I remember the bomb locations

[gaunt marten]

That sucks

[astral steeple]

https://vxtwitter.com/charlieINTEL/status/1722303045843759207

lol what

[peak mesa]

Remember when Burger King marketed Halo 3?

[sour hill]

Still no fortnite burger

[astral steeple]

the burger king in fort would be hilarious lol

ronald mcdonald too

granted they already have their own burger mascot in the game lol

[gaunt marten]

Game's out https://store.steampowered.com/app/1337520/Risk_of_Rain_Returns/

Steam

Risk of Rain Returns

Carefully designed, beautifully remastered, and loaded with new ways to play—Risk of Rain is back and better than ever! Dive into the iconic roguelike full of unique loot combinations, entirely new Survivors, overhauled multiplayer, and more!Hone your skills and abilities, discover new Survivors, and dive into progressively stronger runs! Discov...

Price

$12.74

▶ Play video

[visual hill]

I got back to where I was previously at, didn't take too long in the end

yay for cartwheeling over enemies just before a zone transition :^)

[gaunt marten]

Nice

[visual hill]

this texture has seen better days.

[gaunt marten]

It's jarring when they improve every texture in quality except for one

Ooh, https://store.steampowered.com/app/824000/Hokko_Life/ is on sale. It's some sort of knockoff animal crossing.

Steam

Hokko Life

Hokko Life is a cosy, creativity filled community sim game.Step off the train into the town of Hokko and get settled into your new home! This quiet village needs your help to turn it into the charming rural town everyone loves. With hammer and paints in hand it's up to you to design, build and decorate homes for all of your new friends!Busy your...

Price

$4.99

Recommendations

1476

Metacritic

54

▶ Play video

I'm seeing bad reviews, though, citing quality of life and polish issues

Someone else buy it and tell me if it's any good

It's 75% off

[visual hill]

there was a Tintin game released yesterday and Microids apologized because they had to release it in a broken state

it makes the French person in me sad.

[thorny loom]

Gamer fuel is back btw

[thorny loom]

Hd texture packs im sure exist

Or are you plating the konami port

[gaunt marten]

This is the Konami remaster

[thorny loom]

Yeah the konami remaster port

Im sure it will get better with patches

Or mods for hd textures will be ported for it

[wind stump]

https://youtu.be/2lKlje27SpA

I'm already learning things
Like on 150cc the AI cheats and can just phase through shit

[mossy flume]

Huh, I knew the AI cheated but I didn't know it skipped geometry.

[wind stump]

like in the footage the AI bowser just goes through a whomp

[wintry canopy]

Speaking of Mario Kart the sixth wave of the 8 deluxe dlc drops tonight at 8 for the east coast of the US.

[thorny loom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Ffh8jEpL8

[astral steeple]

https://vxtwitter.com/shinobi602/status/1722334378519335296

[river veldt]

[astral steeple]

"Our focus is on transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always on gameplay through live services, multiplatform and free-to-play extensions with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms. Ultimately we want to drive engagement and monetization of longer cycles and at higher levels. We have put specific capabilities. We are currently under scale and see significant opportunity to generate greater post purchase revenue".

CEO David Zaslav, Q3 Earnings Call```

[visual hill]

RPCS3 lacks support for texture replacement

[visual hill]

PS3 version actually, so not the recent remaster

[random steppe]

So what they are saying, is that they will release that Suicide Squad trash fire they were cooking, maybe a couple more of the IPs they control, notice they aren't making any money and close them down, then maybe go back on it in a couple of years

[visual hill]

the remaster will likely become the best way to play eventually, but right now it's hit-and-miss

[river veldt]

does David Zaslav hate money and success

[random steppe]

Basically the Squeenix model

[river veldt]

im sad that Kevin Conroy's final performance will be in that Suicide Squad game :(

but maybe it will be good

[white phoenix]

yeah this is just sad

[river veldt]

(huffs copium)

[random steppe]

It's kind of impressing that WB came so late to the live service party, and yet can't see the writing on the wall

Where literally every other developers are scaling down their live services, except the few that essentially do only that

[astral steeple]

isnt DC Universe Online a live service game

[random steppe]

It's a MMO, it is a live service game but also not technically part of the recent type of live services

Also I'm pretty sure it's in mainteneance mode at this point

At least if I'm thinking of the right game

I played it quite a bit forever ago, it has an awesome transmog system

[gaunt marten]

https://youtu.be/Ro7OGLO1Olk?

This is the sort of video that I like

All background audio, four hours long

This is a 100% run that collects everything you can transfer to the sequel via a bronze tier password

It doesn't abuse glitches too badly, because the category prevents the worst group of them

[slim thorn]

mood

[mossy flume]

Same

[sage raptor]

[visual hill]

am I softlocked here? I did a stupid and saved after going this one-way bridge (I don't have any prior saves). My cartwheel only goes so far (you can cartwheel over the first gap, not the second)…

the door on the left (in the area on the left) is locked and I don't have the AK-74U which is required for the disguise to work. And the AK-74U is in a warehouse in another building, I can't get it in this building

oh nevermind, you can move sideways while hanging from the railings

[fresh bane]

I've yet to encounter a very heavily guarded area thus far on MGS2 but it's interesting to me that I'm sorta playing Cyberpunk and MGS2 simultaneously and I'm doing a pretty heavy stealth character on Cyberpunk so it's interesting seeing the different approaches to stealth from game to game and most importantly the AI's behaviour
The little times I've been spotted and had to either fight back or run away and hide the AI in MGS2 has been actually really impressive, especially when they start clearing the rooms after going on Alert and you can hear your heartbeat thumping faster and faster when they're closer

[thorny loom]

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-overwatch-league-is-officially-dead-blizzard-is-transitioning-away-from-its-groundbreaking-esports-league-as-teams-reportedly-vote-to-withdraw/

[visual hill]

you literally hear your heartbeat while hiding in a locker

and feel it, even

when you play spy in casual TF2

[mossy flume]

https://fixupx.com/daramgar/status/1722287484158017867

[quiet swift]

"Ya little shit! "

[fresh bane]

https://youtu.be/PeNwUsaWfQs?si=KS4sYlf3NdWt2bR7

I could not be less excited for this game

And considering how little people are actually even talking about it I'm not the only one

[quiet swift]

https://vxtwitter.com/RageDarling/status/1722359747066626349 So this is apparently a thing going on on the tweets

(not wheeze at the person, but at the trend itself)

[fresh bane]

Oh wow I didn't even know the co founders of Rocksteady fucking left before more news about Suicide Squad dropped

[astral steeple]

lol what

[sage iris]

@quiet swift so I clocked in about 3 hours in The Invincible already and here's my impressions so far:

it's clearly a AA game, the graphics, animations, etc lack the quality you'd expect from a AAA game.
BUT
...the art direction is wonderful, the design is fantastically done, the landscapes and environments are beautiful that it doesn't matter as much.
it's also a surprisingly polished game, haven't noticed any bugs so far. The music is great, voice acting is on point. Honestly really enjoying it so far

The mechanics are very simple, it's pretty much just a walking simulator, but the story more than enough makes up for it! Very intriguing and it's already got me on the edge of my seat
_ _

considering it's only $30 I'd definitely say it's worth playing

I hear the choices in this game matter a lot too so you're likely to get a lot more out of it than a single playthrough, though I can't confirm that myself yet

if you don't mind the simple and slow gameplay then definitely worth trying

[quiet swift]

I briefly tried that game.... disappearance of esther or something along those lines? That was a true walking sim and i bounced off that. This feels more somewhat puzzle-y game?

[green fulcrum]

Man, the hype for it was so real when it was first announced, and then it got torpedoed almost instantly.

F*ck greedy video game companies, man...

[sage iris]

not really. I haven't seen any puzzles so far

it's basically a walking simulator + press buttons when prompted simulator

but with a very engaging storyline

[sage iris]

dear esther? I haven't played it, but it feels like a game where you literally just walk around and do nothing else

[quiet swift]

Ah, i just checked a review

[sage iris]

here at least you get to interact with stuff, talk to people, there's action sequences and such

[quiet swift]

"Firewatch in space"

[sage iris]

eh kinda, yeah

[fresh bane]

Fuck the greedy executives/producers/shareholders

The ones that keep pushing live service games and wanna be the next fortnite without knowing literally nobody wants these games and we just put up with them

[astral steeple]

lol

[fresh bane]

The actual devs likely were like "NO PLEASE GOD NO " behind the scenes

Just like what happened with the Saints Row game where the devs literally had in a whiteboard that the game would be the death of their studio and it was

[astral steeple]

live service games can be good

if done right

just most developers have no idea how to make one work

[fresh bane]

It's like watching yourself dying and being unable to stop it
Now it's way too late to actually change the nature of the game so all the devs can do is polish it as much as they can

Exactly like Gotham Knights

[river veldt]

i honestly forgot about Gotham Knights

[astral steeple]

also afaik, volition being shut down had nothing to do with the saints row game

it was because embracer did a restructuring

[fresh bane]

Yeah and ask yourself why they did that "restructuring" lol

[quiet swift]

Wait, what?

[quiet swift]

That's not even close to the truth. Most devs do not have the money to get a live service game to the point that it would attract enough people to be self sustainable, and there's often directives from the purseholders who have no idea how games work either to do this this this this while, as mentioned before, devs are screaming

[quiet swift]

Because a 2 billion dollar deal with the saudis fell through at the last hour

[fresh bane]

I'll try to find it later, I may be mixing it up with another studio/game maybe but all these trainwrecks blend together after a while

[fresh bane]

Yes, but the fact that the game tanked so bad (and they actively insulted their fanbase for not liking the game) didn't help matters

[quiet swift]

Yes, but that wasn't going to salvage the losses from that failed deal no matter how well it did

Unless it got to say, COD levels but yeah that ain't happening

[wintry canopy]

The last Mario Kart 8 Deluxe dlc wave is out.

[thorny loom]

https://www.pcgamer.com/revenant-hill-the-spiritual-successor-to-night-in-the-woods-is-cancelled-as-developers-struggle-with-serious-health-issues/

[chilly mural]

pony bros, are we back to 2011?

[fresh bane]

I fucking knew it

Oh my fucking god no way they started talking about Transformers

and James actually knows the lore

It's crazy how well directed this game's cutscenes are

[thorny loom]

https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bethesda-classics-bundle

morrowind and oblivion goty editions plus one other game for $6

[fresh bane]

On the other side of the spectrum, holy hell Jedi Survivor is 3K UYU (75 USD)

[white phoenix]

that's the way it goes these days

did they ever get around to fixing this game or

[fresh bane]

doesn't seem like it

both recent and all reviews are still mixed

[visual hill]

https://www.counter-strike.net/news/updates

Random numbers used for shooting spread are now synchronized between clients and servers by default. This makes tracers and decals match their server-authoritative trajectories more closely. Note: Spread has been synchronized on Valve official servers since 10/14
the end is near

(this has been requested since early 2015)

[visual hill]

nope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsskwVyPoxs

not even a top-end PC can power through it, unlike Fallen Order where this is somewhat feasible (though shader compilation stutter will still be noticeable)

I expect this to be the kind of game that will really be smooth when maxed out in 6-7 years from now, similar to Arkham City which is just starting to be in this situation thanks to more powerful hardware and mods

[gaunt marten]

Arkham City ran fine near release for me

The Witcher 2 performed okay on release but had that one setting that was designed with future GPU capabilities in mind

[gaunt marten]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562700/SANABI/

Steam

SANABI

You, a legendary retired veteran, are called upon for one last operation: to ascend a mega-city ruled by a corrupt conglomerate. You were chosen for this mission because of your signature chain-hook prosthetic arm and the ability to maneuver and quickly defeat enemies. The mission: to hunt down a mysterious entity known as “SANABI” and uncover c...

Price

$11.99

Recommendations

2986

▶ Play video

Seems really neat

[slim thorn]

Jedi Survivor ran fine on my laptop

compared to a game which actually doesn't run, I'm gonna have to call that video clickbait BS

maybe if you care about running things on very high graphics settings it still has problems, but I do not, and that should definitely not be the only perspective in judging whether something is "the worst PC port ever"

[heady bridge]

I mean with PC just because something runs well on one particular setup doesn’t mean the game is well optimised or runs as well as it should do.

[quiet swift]

Isn't the worst pc release performance wise cities skyline 2 right now?

[slim thorn]

I'm not saying it's a good port, just that it's completely playable and caused no significant issues for me

which makes it not even in the running for worst of <any large group>

(unless it got worse in the months after I played it?)

[teal cliff]

I haven't seen any issues with that on max graphics settings personally but I also haven't gotten to having a very large town yet.

[quiet swift]

(it didn't, it's hyperbole. There's some definite slowdowns but as a whole the game runs better than some later releases)

[heady bridge]

The video doesn’t say it’s the worst though, just that it is still poor. Tbh any Unreal game with shader compilation stutter still by this point is unacceptable

[slim thorn]

the title of the video is literally "The Worst Triple-A PC Port Of 2023"

if you're gonna pull the "but the actual video doesn't say that" card, then that's still "clickbait BS"

[gaunt marten]

Cities Skylines was actually hotfixed

I'm not sure what they fixed, but they may have actually turned on LODs

[heady bridge]

I mean, I don’t play much AAA, especially on PC so I can’t comment on the validity of the statement but I can say I’m lucky being a fan of a series where the PC versions are made by Durante (of fixing Dark Souks on PC fame) and his team at PH3 so I have close to perfect PC ports anyway…

[slim thorn]

ironically I think I might've played at least as many mobile-to-PC ports as console-to-PC ports lately

plus I can't even tell when shader stuttering is an issue since there are other sources of lag and in most games I'm not good enough for small pauses to matter

Hi-Fi Rush is the last game where I was constantly noticing pauses, but iirc that was PC on day one, and probably my fault somehow for running other apps behind it

[heady bridge]

I mean most games I have played in 2023 either used a bespoke engine, Sony’s ancient PhyreEngine (that dates back to 2005) or Unity. Not played much this year that uses Unreal.

[gaunt marten]

Games should tolerate other applications being run

It's not the 90s anymore

[slim thorn]

ideally yeah

anyway I've never seen anyone complain about Hi-Fi Rush's performance or optimization so I assume I only noticed it there because it's the only game I've played lately where timing matters that much (and it was still infrequent enough not to hurt the experience)

similarly sized pauses in Jedi Survivor would not matter at all; Soulslike combat is a much slower pace

[heady bridge]

I think the tolerance for stutter can vary on the user though, and with these channels that analyse performance week in week out they probably are a lot more susceptible to noticing stutters than an average user.

[slim thorn]

yep, I am probably the least likely to notice it in most games

[random steppe]

The video explicitly says Trple A PC port

City Skylines isn't considered a triple A game

[slim thorn]

would you say it's single A or double A

[random steppe]

I am not sure what the distinctions are, it's mostly vibes is my understanding
It's the reason I said "it's not considered"

As it's kind of hard to define those terms objectively

I like the term I've seen used, "Triple I" for big indies tho, I thought it was cute

[gaunt marten]

Gollum is a Triple A PC port, unfortunately

[random steppe]

It was bad, I don't know how the performances were tho

[gaunt marten]

The title says worst, not worst performing

[random steppe]

The worst pc port

As in, worst performing compared to the console

[gaunt marten]

Yeah, is Gollum a PC port or a native?

[random steppe]

Probably a port, but I think performances are comparable
When we talk about a "bad port", we talk about performance, not overall quality of the game

Well perofrmance and probably UI

[heady bridge]

Well all formats came out on the same day for Gollum but the game was a mess everywhere so…

[random steppe]

Since mouse and keyboard support have to be added, and maybe changes to the ui elements

[heady bridge]

https://fxtwitter.com/Andy_VGC/status/1722273836715094366

TimeSplitters is cursed by this point.

[random steppe]

It would be funny if it wasn't tragic how Embracer came, spent a shitton of money buying a bunch of studious, and now is imploding before they could develop anything at all

They should probably sell off one or two instead of downsizing and crippling all of them IMO

[heady bridge]

They certainly didn’t learn by the example set by Infogrames/Atari in the 2000s which did the exact same thing and also almost went bust.

[random steppe]

But maybe they have some reasons for which they can't do that

Like, contract stuff when they bought them prevent them from selling them before a certain date or some shit like that

[heady bridge]

Embracer was relying on a massive deal with investors from Saudi Arabia, they backed out though and now Embracer are having to cut everywhere to keep the lights on after all the acquisitions they have made the past decade

[random steppe]

Oh got it, basically blame Flitter

[gaunt marten]

True

[random steppe]

[thorny loom]

https://fxtwitter.com/zt2zoo/status/1722479126756675709?s=46&t=bVzXPIZvXYyJJoEkCfgMsQ

[river veldt]

what a horrifying cover

[gaunt marten]

I know, right?

I hated it when it was new

[thorny loom]

Still a really good game

[gaunt marten]

It was okay

[teal cliff]

I like Planet Zoo.

[wind stump]

so... you're finally awake

Oh my GOD i have a STAND

[bitter stream]

what game is this HC?

[wind stump]

Ender Lillies

[bitter stream]

neat, enjoy

[slim thorn]

oooh HC's playing EL

(I was beta testing the randomizer for it a few weeks back)

[gaunt marten]

Yeah, it's 50% off

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369630/ENDER_LILIES_Quietus_of_the_Knights/

Steam

ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights

Long ago, in the distant reaches of Land's End, an unforeseen rainfall transformed all living things into frenzied undead monstrosities known as the Blighted. Faced with a calamity far beyond their understanding, the kingdom fell into ruin with no end to the accursed rain in sight.Meanwhile in the remnants of this devastated land, a young woman ...

Price

$12.49

Recommendations

27091

Metacritic

86

▶ Play video

I'm thinking of grabbing it myself

It's six dollars for me

[wind stump]

yup
the dodge in this game is the loli fucking faceplanting, basically

which is more realistic than her performing a perfect roll but

i can't not see it as a faceplant

i'm getting way too distracted ranting about Girls Und Panzer in another server tho so I haven't gotten too far

[slim thorn]

we usually call it a "flop"

(she gets a better dodge later)

[wind stump]

is this a fucking HOLLOW KNIGHT REFERENCE

yes i am being slow

again, Girls Und Panzer

[slim thorn]

I don't think benches as save points is unique to Hollow Knight, but can't rule it out

now if there was a toll bench that'd be an HK reference, those are uniquely silly

[wind stump]

is HK part of that archipelgo thing

[slim thorn]

plus EL has a lot of non-bench furniture as respites

Hollow Knight and Ender Lilies both have Archipelago randomizer mods, yes (although EL's is technically in beta)

[gaunt marten]

You should play Archipelago with us

I'm organizing the next game soon

[wind stump]

I was just thinking it'll be funny to see my joke become "canon"

[young creek]

soon

[slim thorn]

I don't even know what games I'll play this time, other than it'll definitely be multiple again

[gaunt marten]

Well hold your horses

[young creek]

wind waker alpha baby

no customizable settings

[gaunt marten]

If it ends up shorter than normal (because we're not doing it for a full month) you may want to cut your game list

[wind stump]

god i'm speedrunning so hard

[slim thorn]

yeah, I'll make up my mind the day it's actually announced with a timeframe

[wind stump]

FLOP ONLY %

(i tried but it wouldn't let me climb ledges)

[gaunt marten]

In our current game we're 1/8 games done

[slim thorn]

wait till you learn about flopstall sequence breaks /hj

[wind stump]

God dammiiiiiiiit

don't tempt me wit hthis shiiiiit

[slim thorn]

did you know this is a metroidvania

[wind stump]

YES

oh no

THIS IS THE FIRST BOSS WHY DO YOU HAVE A PHASE 2

A phase ironically easier than the last

but STILL

[little badger]

https://fxtwitter.com/hazzadorgamin/status/1722633337364480369? @mossy flume

[thorny loom]

https://www.pcgamer.com/io-got-the-007-license-because-it-wants-to-make-multiple-bond-games-in-the-same-way-it-handled-hitman/

[slim thorn]

that sounds like good news

[arctic fern]

i mean IO making a bond game sounds amazing, they can do stealth/action incredibly well

imagine bond in the hitman engine

dayum

[wind stump]

Oh that's cute, your equipped spirits spawn when you take a rest

i mean i expected the knight since the protag is silent and he does all the talking but not the priestess

[dire gate]

I feel like 007 and hitman would work a bit different, but also I believe they know the difference and will adapt to it

[wind stump]

I mean, you are kind of
dead and all

i dunno, i'd fuck off to the afterlife if i woke up to this

[arctic fern]

oh sure, i doubt the costume changing mechanic would translate that well for example

[thorny loom]

Nerd

[wind stump]

berd

[thorny loom]

https://www.pcgamer.com/for-just-dollar45-bioware-will-now-sell-you-a-poster-of-their-teaser-for-a-mass-effect-game-they-havent-even-confirmed-the-name-of-yet/

[visual hill]

missed opportunity to sell a daki

they have experience with this after all

[thorny loom]

Garrus dakis are already a thing

[wind stump]

[slim thorn]

put a pin in that thought

[slim thorn]

that's one of my favorite things about the vibe of this game; Lily never attacks herself, it's only the spirits of people she's freed from the Blight protecting her, and Defeat Means Friendship because most of them wanted to protect her or other innocents in the first place, so by the end you have this whole army of ghost friends hanging out with you

[wind stump]

yayyyy, undead blight friends!~

also i died, lol

the first of many

[slim thorn]

[rancid herald]

the real death is the friends we make along the way

[wind stump]

so does this make Ender Lillies a reverse harem

Ah I just murdered a child, fantastic

[slim thorn]

the first of many

dw it was already suffering a fate worse than death

[wind stump]

after NieR child murder isn't even a blip on my morality

Now if you want to see real child murder you have to play Umineko-

Which I should get back to
once the thought of cake doesn't make me have flashbacks

HONSE

[slim thorn]

the fast travel horse gets bonus points for not even needing a boss fight to become your friend

[wind stump]

thank god

murdering children is one thing, but i couldn't bring myself to hurt a horse

[thorny loom]

Okay this is actually s good design

https://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcrafts-new-warbands-system-is-going-to-force-me-to-resub/

[quiet swift]

One thing stopping it from appearing earlier is just technical limitations that they had with how the game was made

[mossy flume]

https://youtu.be/Val70_mgge4?si=SWeNsMIvheci2k74

Bunny game

[thorny loom]

Oh look. Konami being Konami again

https://fxtwitter.com/chrs4lfe/status/1722356595370471920?s=46&t=bVzXPIZvXYyJJoEkCfgMsQ

[quiet swift]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INc1M9acshI

[mossy flume]

https://fxtwitter.com/wario64/status/1722670593517252732

[visual hill]

this will likely put a dent in other handhelds, especially if the battery life claim is true

[bitter stream]

oh gosh! that's cool. I wonder if it'll reach more countries this time, or if it'll also be a limited production run? Time to check the link

ah well, maybe next time.

[rose rose]

I am not buying another steam deck but I would like one

[mossy flume]

https://www.theverge.com/23951674/valve-steam-deck-oled-price-release-date

Full specs

[light gate]

Oooooooooooo yes

I now gotta save up

[mossy flume]

Ohhh and a limited edition transparent version

Why does everyone always make transparent stuff limited edition one-offs? And so rare? Please make transparent tech commonplace again

[gaunt marten]

What is this, 1998?

I do not want my hardware to be transparent because if it was I'd see all the gnomes living inside

[mossy flume]

I know it's not as shock resistant, but that difference is marginal

I adore the aesthetic

I want to see the inside of my stuff

[random steppe]

It may be that many shitty off brand PS1 controllers were transparent but I am conditioned to assume that transparent = cheap and bad

Even if there is no reason to assume that's the case

[gaunt marten]

I don't mind seeing the insides but not all the time

I had a transparent GBC

[quiet swift]

https://www.gamepressure.com/newsroom/breakthrough-in-baldurs-gate-3-optimization/z66358

[thorny loom]

https://www.pcgamer.com/this-angry-birds-clone-made-entirely-through-ai-prompts-makes-me-wonder-what-the-future-of-small-scale-game-development-is-going-to-be-like/

We have one of the first ai generated video Games.

[gaunt marten]

We've had those for a long time. I've made some myself

[random steppe]

It's ironic that the concept is also copied

[rose rose]

Also it seems to be unplayable?

The performance is remarkably bad

[thorny loom]

Its a proof of concept

Its one level of essentially angry birds but with pumpkins

[random steppe]

I mean...if it's a clone of another game what are they concepting?

[thorny loom]

It was all done via ai

[river veldt]

transparent is so cool

[random steppe]

With all you mean the art right?

[thorny loom]

No coding too

The ai coded the game essentially which is also a major milestone

[random steppe]

Interesting, but I do wonder exactly how that went

[thorny loom]

Cant wait for in a couple years when the android store is filled with all of these lmao

[random steppe]

Like, was that the Ai generated thousands of scripts and lines of code and coders just picked what was usable out of the garbage or it was something made more specifically

[slim thorn]

it's the sort of thing I might watch a livestream of, but as just a headline there's such a wide range of things it might actually mean I doubt it's something I didn't already know

[rose rose]

There is more than the headline.

https://twitter.com/javilopen/status/1719363669685916095

Just ask it to do all the pieces and tell it what errors you get back

[mossy flume]

Gotta love that Twitter just doesn't work at all anymore.

[rose rose]

At some point I'm not sure how much effort you really saved with the AI.

[random steppe]

I can't wait until Steam is flooded with thousands of automatically generated games that suck ass

[mossy flume]

Steam already banned AI generated assets

[random steppe]

If this goes like with the sites you get every time you google something, that's likely what will happen

Yeah but that's assuming you disclose it's AI generated

[mossy flume]

Well... there are already stories of games being banned from Steam because Valve decided it uses AI generated assets when it doesn't.

[random steppe]

There is definitely some potential but I don't trust that potential to be used to make worthwhile things

[slim thorn]

pretty much

when it's used skillfully, for better reasons than "I can't make real art/music/etc", it'll probably be indistinguishable from "normal" ways of making this stuff

[random steppe]

Right now the biggest real impact that AI had, was the flood of spambots everywhere that try to scam you

I don't know if this will go any differently

[slim thorn]

yep, same as any new technology that makes something more accessible

[gaunt marten]

I have never encountered a single scambot that was LLM-based

[slim thorn]

lots of software frameworks (including game engines) get a bad rap for the shovelware people make, which ironically is an indication of how good the frameworks/engines/etc are at making the dev process easier

we spend a lot of time banning scammers, and it's often unclear if they're a bot or a human or a human handed a script or what exactly

[mossy flume]

Yeah, like Unity for a long while was considered a junk engine, but it's actually really damn good

[random steppe]

I'm pretty sure that the recent flood of commission scammers on discord, are either that or dudes in india paid to read a script.
And we ban 3 or 4 a day.

[gaunt marten]

Dudes paid to read a script is likely because they follow the script better and improvise in more convincing ways

[slim thorn]

and if paying those humans is cheaper than running bots... oof

[random steppe]

I personally lean AI because dudes in India were availble years ago, the fandom was much bigger, and Discord had worse tools to find them, so if it made ecnomic sense to do that it'd have happened earlier

[slim thorn]

I guess I'm skeptical that being slightly more convincing is worth what it costs

[gaunt marten]

Well we only got a commission channel recently

[slim thorn]

but none of us are scammers with stats on this

[random steppe]

Nah it's not posting in channels, it's just DMs

[slim thorn]

yeah, the recent AI boom wouldn't explain a sudden rise in human scammers

[gaunt marten]

Yes, but having a commission channel means the server has an audience of people seeking commissions, which makes it a target audience for this sort of scam

[slim thorn]

maybe, but I don't think the scammers are really aware of that

[random steppe]

It's not just us, this is fandom wide phenomena

[slim thorn]

most humans already fail to notice most of the channels below the main category

[gaunt marten]

That makes sense

[random steppe]

We are in talk with pretty much every other big server one way or another

[slim thorn]

and yeah a lot of the scammers we ban are reports from other servers

so it's definitely nothing to do with Manechat specifically

[light gate]

LCD Steam Deck Internals -

OLED Internals

[mossy flume]

Been streamlined a bit

[rancid herald]

don't you mean it's been steamlined?

[gaunt marten]

I should play Backpack Battles

[thorny loom]

Ai generated artwork is fine. Mine you so long as its in say a workshop mod

[rancid herald]

They should make a special steampunk edition

[random steppe]

I think Valve landed in a similar place where I did, fine as long as it's not for profit

[light gate]

it looks a little smol

But yes, that thing powers gpu and cpu stuff.

[mossy flume]

Yeah, they did a die shrink but otherwise it's the same

Just efficiency gains

[thorny loom]

Lmao

https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-deck-oled-upgrade-old-deck/

[light gate]

Well yeah, that would eat profits but also you get an inferior Steam Deck still. Just with OLED.

The efficiency gains are modest, Cyberpunk 2077 went from 1 hr to 2 hrs. So that's not bad.

[mossy flume]

They probably actually aren't swappable.

Fit is likely different

[light gate]

Its also slightly bigger.

[mossy flume]

Yeah

[light gate]

I think I want to go for it, but I am also cautious with Switch 2.

I could sell my Switch, but my games.

[mossy flume]

There's probably plenty of time to save up if you start now

[light gate]

Ehh, there is a lot coming this month.

So time is not on my side.

never is

I buy stuff after the sales, that's how I roll. (With my bad luck lmao)

My only gripe with the Deck is the docking station now, its pretty much a glorified charging dock that does not increase performance.

So that sucks.

[rose rose]

What did you expect?

[light gate]

The bare minimum, although I already knew the Dock was not gonna be updated.

[rose rose]

How were you imagining it would "improve performance"?

[mossy flume]

The Switch is unusual in that it has two operating modes.

That’s not a standard thing for things like that

[rose rose]

The switch dock doesn't improve performance, the thing just throttles less when it has power available.

(and perhaps not having the heat generated by the screen being on helps)

There's nothing magic about that dock either.

[mossy flume]

Well the Switch does downclock when it’s undocked

[rose rose]

Yes, which as I just said has nothing to do with the dock

[mossy flume]

It switches back to full when docked and bumps internal resolution

Right, the dock just flips a switch essentially

[rose rose]

The Switch makes a tradeoff where it spends less power when undocked because the required resolution to drive the internal screen is lower, so reducing heat and extending battery life is worth it. When it's plugged in the constraints no longer apply and it needs more power, so it runs at full tilt (and that's still not really good enough but what can you do)

The Steam Deck is happy to run at full tilt all the time and puts the throttle controls in the user's hands

The only way the dock could achieve the same results as the switch dock would be to artificially handicap it in the first place.

[mossy flume]

Or overclocking

But you can already do that anyway

[rose rose]

You could do that just as well with it undocked anyway

So that would still be artificial limitation

[light gate]

I am more glad that the 64GB one got phased out.

Holy crap.

The hell you installing with 64GBs?

[rose rose]

Well the idea is you use an SD card

So nothing.

[light gate]

"High speed sd card"

ehh, I guess

[gaunt marten]

Every NES and SNES game

[mossy flume]

And N64!

[rose rose]

First thing I did with my steam deck was buy a 1 TB SD card to go with it.

(Indeed I think the SD card showed up first)

[gaunt marten]

Let's not get carried away

[rose rose]

Of course now I have a 2 TB SSD in there which is generally much nicer.

[gaunt marten]

Grabbing every N64 game means you have to get Gex and Conker on the same device, and they hate each other

[thorny loom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT4xGOC0Bo8

[gaunt marten]

I didn't have a lot of fun with Braid due to puzzle design issues

[sage iris]

if there's one thing this game does right.. it's the visual design. HOLY SHIT

[fresh bane]

https://youtu.be/_vTsZMvjJ-A?si=6A0PSKZ3iMywEud4

dope

Larger hdr oled screen, 30-50% more battery life, easier to take apart, nicer case with the terabyte premium models, Wi-Fi 6e, better thermals (bigger fan), slightly better touch responsiveness and haptics, dedicated Bluetooth antenna for better connection to other devices, some other minor updates to hardware (no significant performance changes), 90hz screen, a bit lighter, Bluetooth 5.3

[wise frigate]

What game is this?

[quiet swift]

The Invincible

[sage iris]

yup

came out a couple of days ago

[wind stump]

PAIN

[fresh bane]

I hate the fact that this video is the first time I ever hear about this game existing at all and that now I have to live with the fact that this badass robot lady isn't even a finished character in this game either

[chilly mural]

I’m so glad you checked that video out Nire

You a real one

I didn’t even care about rising thunder when I first heard about, but seeing how the care and craft for it was real, puts so much into perspective

[fresh bane]

Behind every failed project there's a team of people that put their heart and soul into it

I already had the video on my watch later but I hadn't checked it out yet, it seemed like some horror video because of the thumbnail until I read the title

[thorny loom]

Money

https://fxtwitter.com/wario64/status/1722499466039558492?s=46&t=bVzXPIZvXYyJJoEkCfgMsQ

Oh dear god

https://www.pcgamer.com/a-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-bug-is-spawning-every-player-in-the-same-spot-triggering-a-nonstop-bloodbath/

[fresh bane]

Apparently from the comments the Rising Thunder devs were brought in to Project L so that's really cool

[gaunt marten]

Project L sounds like a terribly ironic name

[thorny loom]

Heh

[stark meteor]

I find it funny how I've heard of both a project L and project W when it comes to gaming now

[fresh bane]

Project L is not the actual name

[thorny loom]

Project M

Rip

[mossy flume]

Did Project M die?

[gaunt marten]

Yes

[mossy flume]

Whaaaat

Noooo D:

[gaunt marten]

At least, it was discontinued. Not sure if that constitutes dying

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_M#:~:text=According to the team's attorney,to prevent future legal issues.

[teal cliff]

So how much do they cost...?

[thorny loom]

New models are around $550

[slim thorn]

classic; I always underestimate Gerrod when I replay this

[thorny loom]

1tb one is $650

[wind stump]

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING

[slim thorn]

Ender Lilies mimics are a lot less funny than Frieren mimics

[thorny loom]

https://www.pcgamer.com/warframe-developer-axes-publishing-division-will-transition-full-control-of-online-action-rpg-wayfinder-to-its-developer/

[wind stump]

oh yeah before i forgor
Gerrod OP

i use the big hammer to B O N K

(It doesn't help that in midair it slams the enemy down for additional damage)

[slim thorn]

personally I've never been good at using the slow heavy attack, so I end up not using Gerrod much except when the slam is needed to get past a barrier

[wind stump]

oh no i saw the game's banner

looks like a spear-ey boi will be joining me at some point

at least, if my theory is correct and the banner is displaying only the main spirits/wepaons

... I actually can't tell if that's a spear or just a really long zweihander handle

but like, Gerrod already covers the "big slow swing" niche

another day

[slim thorn]

spear guy is an actual spirit you'll get later yes

[slim thorn]

close, but not exactly; it's missing some of the mains and includes a few non-mains (which aesthetically is for the best)

[wind stump]

HAHA I KNEW IT

cannot wait to have my asshole pulled out by Spear Guy™️

... wait that's a Mario enemy, lmao

[sage iris]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1081185029885009962/1172276953898819604/image.png?ex=655fbafd&is=654d45fd&hm=93e76aa7d8e749e5f422e8eba9172f059685a7f310fd9f2672ea5ffc3be1a527&=&width=1025&height=577

[untold vigil]

I can finally rest

[thorny loom]

Big surprise

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-09/cod-modern-warfare-3-faces-bad-reviews-after-rushed-development? the new cod had a rushed development even by cod standards

Tl:dr. It had a year and half dev time instead of the usual 3

[thorny loom]

Amazing

https://www.pcgamer.com/modern-warfare-3-early-release-trick/

[gaunt marten]

The task manager trick is force closing the game after the launcher authorizes you to play the previous game then launching the new game instead

It's not actually specific to task manager

[fresh bane]

https://youtu.be/8SwdBsrkK9U?si=zaDLPO7cK3oUi93A

FOX Engine still looks so damn gorgeous

It's very fascinating seeing high level MGSV play, it was fascinating to watch back in the day and it still is almost 10 years later

[bronze abyss]

what a surprise,epic removed most of the bullshit and suddenly the game is playable and theres no more getting third partied by a fucking kamehameha because lil timmy got mad at build mode having builds

first game was like 6 kills with controller no aim assist

[astral steeple]

lol

game was playable before and much more fun

[thorny loom]

There was definitely a bloat problem with fortnite

Way to many crossover skins it got kinda ridiculous they didn’t have a default mode

Until now anyway

[stark meteor]

The problem with fortnite is save the world's execution tbh

But that's a long story

[bronze abyss]

well yea stw is an entirely different beast from br with its own problems,but i feel like it didnt take as much of a fall over time as BR did

just cuz it still had its core gameplay and roots to rely on,br got its own fundamentals literaly demolished

[stark meteor]

It's kinda hard to fall when you're already at rock bottom

...I love STW

But I will say

[bronze abyss]

its dogshit but lovable dogshit

[stark meteor]

launch stw was one of the worst games I've ever played

[bronze abyss]

br is just dogshit

[stark meteor]

If STW launched as it is now honestly I could've seen it going well though

[bronze abyss]

wait is STW even officially out yet? cuz like p much forever it was """early access"""

[stark meteor]

As for BR, I haven't played it enough to form a strong opinion

[stark meteor]

Yes

It's kind of a walking husk, pun slightly intended

It's now a $16 "premium experience"

...which I'd argue is a steal if you would like the game tbh

[bronze abyss]

man i miss when you could farm a fuck ton of vbucks in STW before they removed the collection rewards

[stark meteor]

But at the same time there is no twine storyline and the current story ends on a cliffhanger

[stark meteor]

If your account is a founder you still can via missions and dailies

I have 40k vbucks stashed thanks to that

[bronze abyss]

yea ik,but there used to be more methods they removed

that were way easier and ridiculously quick

[stark meteor]

Yeah collection book and shop used to sell them

As did daily rewards

Now you have to actually play the game to get them which for me isn't a problem but it is a bit harder

[bronze abyss]

i dont see it as an issue either but ofc free vbucks are cool

[stark meteor]

But still if you know how to reroll your dailies and know the right builds to demolish early missions

You can stack up vbucks pretty fast and pretty passively

As well as bpass xp

[bronze abyss]

issue is i started the game when i was like 11,so i didnt have any builds or anything and actually even gave away most of my items when i thought i would "quit" the game so im severely underleveled/underpowered and stuck in plankerton

and use primarily melee weapons cuz i have hoarding issues with ammo lmao

[stark meteor]

I can help you get good stuff tbh

[bronze abyss]

we could probs hop on some time,maybe when im finished with the photography presentation

[stark meteor]

Yeah sounds nice

[bronze abyss]

havent played it in months if not years at this point so wouldnt be too bad to catch up with all the changes

[stark meteor]

As for the ammo hoarding stuff, my advice is like

The only ammo that you'll ever run out of is energy cells and rockets

Everything else is very easily replaceable because ammo boxes give just so much free ammo

So unless you're being intentionally wasteful or relying on builds with very high fire rate weapons, you'll never run out

[bronze abyss]

i usually just used to craft ammo i think?

[stark meteor]

I haven't crafted "normal" ammo in ages tbh

I just searched ammo boxes because they gave so much

[astral steeple]

br is great

the crossover skins arent even an issue

plus the whole chapter 1 thing is only for this month anyways

then chapter 5 starts

which will be back to being similar to how chapter 4 was

just a new map and new weapons and stuff

and not the boring limited weapons chapter 1 has

[wind stump]

https://youtu.be/_yv1ZgDHMUM

More Skul?
More Skul.

Oh shit I didn't even realise the DLC drops in less than a week

imagine significant content additions as DLC?

[smoky sonnet]

skul my beloved,,,

i need to play it, my friend was showing it off last night

[graceful bridge]

https://youtu.be/7FKJODmcdiM?si=VdUw3Bmlpr60OUII

[visual hill]

it seems to resolve a lot of issues I had with the Deck, but still no need for one

press F to pay respects for most alternative handhelds. 👀

(alternatives might be faster, but they no longer have much of a display advantage, and they all have worse battery life)

[graceful bridge]

I'm sorely tempted to get one. My husband never did figure out what to get my for my birthday, and Christmas is coming up, soooooo...

[visual hill]

it is a very good product if you travel/commute a lot

[mossy flume]

Also great if you just like lounging around your home and would like the freedom to play games here and there. It's also an excellent emulation device.

I love my Deck. Wish I could get that OLED version, but I'll have to wait for Deck 2 in a few years

[visual hill]

when you get a chunk error in a racing game

it was a straight portion thankfully, so I could actually drive over this

[wind stump]

[slim thorn]

her third phase is fun

[wind stump]

DIE BITCH

[slim thorn]

that's going to feel awkward when she's on your side

[wind stump]

we resolved the issues

after i pummeled her into submission

[spiral kraken]

Hey, anyone who is European and has Risk of Rain Returns PC want to play with me ?

[gaunt marten]

I'm waiting for the game to stop updating and go on sale before I buy it

A sacred tradition that I did for the original Risk of Rain

[wind stump]

I've been very silent on Umineko stuff because literally everything is a spoiler BUUUUT
(Umineko Question Arc) ||BUNNY GIRLS YAAAAAS ||

For context, I sorta knew they existed because of Golden Fantasia having them on the store page but I didn't know anything other than well ||B U N N Y||

so yea like 50 hours in i finally get what i've been wanting, lol

[thorny loom]

Bunny people

[wind stump]

worse
||Bri'ish bunnygirls||

[dire gate]

It's interesting to see English translations deliberately do those stuff

[wind stump]

wdym?

[dire gate]

I am pretty sure they're not british in Japanese

[wind stump]

oh i'm just guessing that based on their names and the mention of Pendragon

[dire gate]

oh lol

[wind stump]

i am a clown

[dire gate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UubKYqEy3s

[quiet swift]

https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/11/10/starcraft-2-made-less-money-than-wow-mount-blizzard-jason-hall

[dire gate]

It's so sad that I am not surprised for even a single bit

[quiet swift]

Probably the sparkly star pony back when both first came out, but still ... 😐