Keeping the player eyes on the actual game and not on a tiny map on the top right is so much better for the experience in general
#general gaming
random steppe
sour hill
yeah
random steppe
For the lack of a big map, the challenge is creating levels of which every corner is pretty distinctive and with plenty of landmarks
Which SR 100% has in spades
fresh bane
I'm not saying not including a map is about hardcore gaming, I've never complained about Dark Souls 1 not having a map myself, I'm just saying it's a funny addition considering that's what people used to say about the game similarly to how people talk about Dark Souls is only for hardcore gamers because of so and so
gaunt marten
I'd definitely prefer if Dark Souls 1 had a map
fresh bane
SR1 doesn't have a minimap but it does have a compass which people were worried would make the game too easy but honestly it made no difference for me and it's really easy to miss that it's even there because of how little I used it
I've come across people that say that, and if DSR had an option for a map I wouldn't have been mad about it, but I never felt like it ever needed one
Throughout all my playthroughs even on my first one I never had an issue with navigation in that game
sour hill
I'd definitely prefer if Dark Souls 1 had a map
Yeah? Well, you know, that's just like uh, your opinion, man
random steppe
I think it's fine without, but I could see a Soul Reaver remaster kind of map also working for it.
It doesn't need it but it would be fine with it
I am definitely against a minimap, but a large map it's whatever, ER works well with it, it doesn't really change much
fresh bane
On the topic of all this, I came across this video the other day
https://youtu.be/XA4tD6mUImc?si=T2Y3zwuCzaA_huHf
there's a surprising amount of videos like this for SR1 specifically 
but this is the most polished and complete one I've seen
visual hill
some games are built around the minimap, like GTA or Driver
these would be pretty hardcore without one
I think GTA went too far with the GPS that's here since GTA IV, but that's just me 🙂
green fulcrum
Ix and I were just talking about this last night, actually. I had forgotten that they added a map for Spyro 1 levels.
random steppe
I feel like even GTA would be better off without minimap, but those game are less impacted than fantasy games that really rely on you taking in the sights to deliver you an experience
fresh bane
Is GTA built around the minimap? I think I used the map itself a lot more as a kid playing through Vice City and San Andreas...
maybe for driving to objectives but back in those games you didn't have the GPS style guided system where it told you where to even turn so you just had to figure out the fastest route yourself
random steppe
GTA is well made but like, it's an urban setting, you aren't missing that much by not looking at freeway number 35
random steppe
Ok this is silly levels of accuracy tho
I think maybe they could have fixed the wrongly rotated texture
We'd have been fine
light gate
Accuracy is Accuracy 
light gate
I became a speed runner.
gaunt marten
fuckingdie%
light gate
I can’t stop laughing lmao.
Lara teleported to the top because there is this weird speedrun trick that essentially causes a teleportation due to engine quirks. Somehow… I won the lottery.
So yeah, that was cool.
light gate
Yay I did it!
green fulcrum
"Why are there modern bullets in an ancient temple that's never been explored?"
"Who cares?! Backflips! Wheee!"
Also followed by an immediate fall to your death. 
light gate
The Tomb Raider classic experience
fresh bane
I will consume your soul before this day is done... 
... RUN 
river veldt
game recommendations for under 45 bones ?
quiet swift
Hades 1/2~
(isn't helldivers 40$? 
)
persona 3 reloaded is 42$ on steam thanks to the sale...
visual hill
game recommendations for under 45 bones ?
any game already in your backlog 😛
river veldt
What genres are you looking for?
hmm, well i like open worlds and platformers
rpgs i like sometimes
also preferably steam deck compatible
arctic fern
(isn't helldivers 40$? <:cocothink:908027043776724992>)
i second this but its MP i guess
river veldt
i tried getting Psychonauts to work but alas
arctic fern
dave the diver has been fun so far
river veldt
what kind of game is that
gaunt marten
Dave the Diver is funny
visual hill
hmm, well i like open worlds and platformers
there's this, which is free: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2985610/The_Big_Catch_Tacklebox/
gaunt marten
Did you play A Hat in Time yet?
visual hill
it's a vertical slice
arctic fern
subnautica, the long dark, saints row 3 (2 is arguably better but 3 runs better,) bastion, assassins creed 2-4, dead rising 2 and off the record, dust: an elysian tale, hitman, the metro series, west of loathing, shadows over loathing, the stanly parable, super hot
visual hill
I would also recommend Deus Ex or Thief, but neither are great games on Deck due to their UI (and being pretty dark in general, so not ideal to play outdoors)
arctic fern
what kind of game is that
uuuuh
the game has two stages
yo're exploring the deep as a diver getting fish and exploring, then you sell the fish at your sushi restaurant
its a very weird game but very fun
gaunt marten
https://store.steampowered.com/app/253230/A_Hat_in_Time/ Collectathon platformer. You'll like it if you haven't already played it!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082710/Bug_Fables_The_Everlasting_Sapling/ This is an RPG that copies Paper Mario in style
Bug Fables is a lot of fun and has a nice interesting world
arctic fern
oh yeah
that
river veldt
https://store.steampowered.com/app/253230/A_Hat_in_Time/ Collectathon platformer...
i played it on my switch a few years ago
it wasn't a very good port so that kind of colored my perception
but it's also probably better on steam deck so maybe i'll try it again
gaunt marten
It was pretty buggy and had bad performance at release time
You could play Crosscode! https://store.steampowered.com/app/368340/CrossCode/
quiet swift
Actually screw all that. Go play Okami! It's 5$ too!
gaunt marten
It's a beautiful open world action RPG, with a really compelling story
One of my favorite games ever
river veldt
do you have any recommendations for spooky games ? not necessarily horror games, just games that are kind of spooky, a la inscryption/i know it's a show not a game but Gravity Falls too has a similar vibe to want im wanting
gaunt marten
Crow Country
You may also like these two games: https://store.steampowered.com/app/417290/Ghost_of_a_Tale/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1283410/Tails_of_Iron/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/913740/WORLD_OF_HORROR/ This one's a horror game but it's pretty close to Inscryption in themes
Oh yeah, Oxenfree is a spooky mystery with excellent design https://store.steampowered.com/app/388880/Oxenfree/
hushed onyx
For some reason I "saw" something about Greek philosophy in the Oxenfree description, and now I wonder whether there are any games themed around Greek philosophy
Probably not, except in a very loose sense...
gaunt marten
For some reason I "saw" something about Greek philosophy in the Oxenfree descrip...
Does the Talos Principle count?
hushed onyx
Haven't played it, can't say 🤷♂️
gaunt marten
It's a puzzle game with a philosophy narrative.
And 2, which is even more philosophy focused https://store.steampowered.com/app/835960/The_Talos_Principle_2/
visual hill
also known as Serious Puzzle
it's one of the best Portal-likes out there
(mechanic isn't like Portal, but the vibe of "first person puzzler with a deeper meaning" is)
river veldt
oh yeah people like Talos Principal
principle
whatever
is the Hat In Time DLC worth it
gaunt marten
I haven't played Nyakuza Metro yet but I heard really good things. Ask Ixrec
river veldt
@slim thorn
gaunt marten
For the other one, it adds one level, which is okay, and a new Death Wish mode, which I like a lot
Remixes old levels and adds special challenges
craggy vine
I have been capping it to 60, using the steam gaming mode interface in linux.
slim thorn
<@283037539755884554>
Both DLCs are easily worth it. However, if Death Wish isn't your thing (some of them are great and some of them are stupid hard, no sane player will do 100% of those challenges with all the bonus objectives), Nyakuza Metro may be the stronger DLC to recommend / better value for money overall since all of its content is new areas and at the normal difficulty level.
visual hill
tags are community-submitted, so vandalism is common
I remember when the game b had the tags Psychological horror, Female protagonist and Anime to it
even though it was a game involving a cute flying bee and not much else
the reviews are quite something too
quiet swift
why is Cookie Clicker have the tag "horror"
Grandmapocalypse... 
hushed onyx
I remember when the game *b* had the tags *Psychological horror*, *Female protag...
I mean, bees are generally female, so "female protagonist" seems technically accurate...
slim thorn
let the record show I solved Tree Tops without looking anything up or even using the minimap
gaunt marten
Lies
green fulcrum
No no, I was there. He did
It did consume 90% of his lives though. He may have won, but at what cost?
green fulcrum
He is now currently solving the supercharge puzzle in Haunted Towers. Did it without any hints from me too.
slim thorn
ok, I'm calling Spyro 1 done at this point, don't feel like doing the other speedway all-in-ones
craggy vine
https://youtu.be/2MpiWZYjVJE?si=dOWb9gCMOGULELWJ
I love when I look for a song which is part of a game sound track and the name is just something simple for in game like "random encounter 9". And then I'm just like, fuck Random Encounter 9 goes so hard. I really love Random Encounter 9.
craggy vine
I have been thinking about this again, and just how good SSAA as well as another anti aliasing on top of that can good. I did it a lot when I played on my rtx 2070 super. I have a 1080p monitor but I rendered most games at 4k, basically at 400% resolution scaling. And then when you add more anti aliasing on top of that, it gave a basically perfect render. I played rdr2 at 400% rendering resolution and TAA, and it basically looking like an absolute perfect render on my monitor. No stay pixels at all. Felt like I was literally controlling a movie at times.
Did the same in many other games like L4D2. Playing at 400% rendering resolution with 8x msaa, it gave such a perfect looking render. The kind of look that looks like a movie render.
Yes it probably is a bit of a waste of recourses, it is incredibly recourse hungry just to have the game have no stay pixels and be super clear, but man it looks impressive. I also prefer having it compared to graphics detail sometimes, because I love the look of such a perfect render over having graphics details. Also why I hate the industry going towards FSR and DLSS so much, I want my rendering resolution higher then my monitor, not lower.
Probably more so as I have grown to notice things like aliasing and lower resolutions more.
dire gate
wind stump
astral steeple
wind stump
is that the actual remix dropping?
dire gate
is that the actual remix dropping?
wind stump
LFG
random steppe
it didn't sell that well unfortunately
3 million copies is pretty respectable
Especially at that price point
(even tho it had a long tail, meaning most sales were probably on a discount)
quiet swift
and on gog today
bronze abyss
Necro Fantasia X Megalovania
what are they doing to necrofantasia 
gaunt marten
On Steam Deck?
river veldt
yeah
random steppe
If it doesn't work, remember that steam has a no question asked refund policy
gaunt marten
Some people say it can take a long time to compile vulkan shaders on the steam deck
river veldt
hold on it started i think
gaunt marten
If you know how to install Proton GE, that fixes the slow startup
It should only be that slow the first time
If you want the game to run at 60FPS set the settings to Medium and turn performance mode on
river veldt
thank you
visual hill
hold on it started i think
let it cook
river veldt
ooh Red Dead Redemption won best soundtrack on the steam awards
river veldt
It has a soundtrack?
yeah it's really good
gaunt marten
I'll have to buy it from the discount bin when it dips under ten dollars
river veldt
lol that's totally fair, it's a 15 year old game it shouldn't have been more than 20 bucks, but Rockstar's gonna Rockstar i guess
gaunt marten
One day Rockstar will die
river veldt
anyway, this is a song from RDR2 but it's fantastic https://youtu.be/AF22vaGLziM?feature=shared
gaunt marten
Then I will feast
gaunt marten
anyway, this is a song from RDR2 but it's fantastic https://youtu.be/AF22vaGLziM...
They should release that one on a 19-inch CD
Seems pretty good. Too American for me, but I can't fault them for making a wild west song in the wild west game
What was my favorite recently released videogame soundtrack?
quiet swift
gaunt marten
I can't believe Liar's Bar won most innovative gameplay
When I looked at it, all I saw was "It's poker/dice but you fucking die if your bluff gets called"
I'd mark Helldivers as having more innovative gameplay
river veldt
i would totally buy an RDR2 vinyl record
arctic fern
i dont think helldivers is really innovative in terms of gameplay
gaunt marten
It's not innovative!
arctic fern
elden ring is labour of love? really? helldivers had more, in my opinion
gaunt marten
It has the funny strategem system which is more innovative
gaunt marten
elden ring is labour of love? really? helldivers had more, in my opinion
Labour of love is about games that were not released this year but keep getting updates
(Factorio should have won)
arctic fern
still not elden ring
river veldt
didn't Elden Ring have it's huge expansion this year
arctic fern
ill agree elden got an update, but wasnt it a paid DLC? does that count?
gaunt marten
Yes
river veldt
yeah why wouldn't it
gaunt marten
The only thing that disqualifies a game is if the release date on the main game says 2024
river veldt
maybe terraria would have been a good pick too
gaunt marten
A game that was released in 2024 qualifies for all of the other categories, of course.
river veldt
i still don't really know what makes Wukong so good compared to other soulslikes 
i don't think anyone i know has actually played it ? iirc it's huge in China so maybe that's why
random steppe
I think that when you look at sizeable expansions, I don't actually mind if they put that game back in the running for awards
Like, it works that way for MMOs
gaunt marten
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Steam_Awards
This page has a list of winners and nominees for past labor of love awards if you're curious. Stardew Valley got nominated twice. Terraria win once.
gaunt marten
i still don't really know what makes Wukong so good compared to other soulslikes...
What blew my mind is the director was very upset and felt he wasted his time when he didn't win game of the year.
He had a speech prepared long in advance
random steppe
Wukong is extremely good to be fair
river veldt
doesn't everyone who's nominated have a speech lol
gaunt marten
Sure, once you're nominated is the time to write it up
Not before you release the game
gaunt marten
I'll find the article. It was a blog post he made in Chinese
random steppe
Maybe it's the kind of thing, like, dress for the job you want...write the speeches for the awards you want
gaunt marten
There's a button to provide machine translation
The games nominated this year were all exceptional, but honestly, I still can't figure out what the criteria were for Game of the Year, I feel like I came all the way here for nothing!
He wrote the game of the year acceptance speech two years before the nomination
hasty patio
maybe terraria would have been a good pick too
Terraria won a few years ago, so it is forever DQ'd of another Labor of Love (GTA V won it twice and I suspect that was the cause for the change).
NMS or Stardew would have been my picks (I picked NMS).
green fulcrum
https://fixupx.com/mikeshapiroland/status/1874213952680607922
Holy shit. Is it finally happening? There's no way.
It's not possible.
river veldt
https://fixupx.com/mikeshapiroland/status/1874213952680607922
MIKE WHAT DOES THIS MEAN
sidenote, it's kind of crazy watching an interview with him and he can just suddenly slip into the G-Man voice
hmm, people on r/halflife are skeptical (of course lol), and say it could be related to Half Life Alyx's 5th anniversary
gaunt marten
Oh, Mike
river veldt
someone on reddit put all the frames of the video together, here's what it looks like https://i.imgur.com/HJOSTPC_d.webp?maxwidth=1520&fidelity=grand
damn you embed
here
green fulcrum
A painting of some kind. Does anybody recognize it?
river veldt
i don't, looks vaguely similar to Van Gogh though
bold sonnet
A painting of some kind. Does anybody recognize it?
I'll ask my mom tomorrow she will know
light gate
Holy shit. Is it finally happening? There's no way.
It's not possible.
... I'm starting to think Valve is gonna do a shakeup in the industry.
smoky sonnet
orange box two baybeee
light gate
First the HL2 anniversary thing, then the TF2 comic, then the SteamOS Compatible stickers...
The leaked controller...
And now a few strings of a leaked console CEC HDMI component
Is Valve gonna actually reattempt Steam Consoles again?
honestly I'm not sure if I should be excited or actually scared. It'd would suck if the Steam Console initiative restarts without any physical discs as well, maybe the last push to digitalization and no physical media.
bold sonnet
Is Valve gonna actually reattempt Steam Consoles again?
I think yes
light gate
If so, then I expect $500 max.
quiet swift
https://open.spotify.com/album/7A0AGQEqdD36vv4UEsKCHf the picture looks to be from his spotify page
light gate
I mean I love my PS5 but I really don't want to have ANOTHER CONSOLE.
light gate
https://open.spotify.com/album/7A0AGQEqdD36vv4UEsKCHf the picture looks to be fr...
"3:17" March 17th?
bold sonnet
But it will be a console that lasts longer and has many customizations I think
visual hill
https://open.spotify.com/album/7A0AGQEqdD36vv4UEsKCHf the picture looks to be fr...
Longdog is the new name of the Popdog callout in the CS2 map Train
(it's a long corridor now and no longer has a "pop dog" ad)
bold sonnet
https://open.spotify.com/album/7A0AGQEqdD36vv4UEsKCHf the picture looks to be fr...
Oh I was thinking it's classical art
Or traditional, I'm not sure the word in English
light gate
But it will be a console that lasts longer and has many customizations I think
I doubt that's the reason.
I feel its more inline to abolish physical media.
bold sonnet
What do you mean a reason?
quiet swift
light gate
I don't think that is why they're making it.
bold sonnet
They're making it for money why else you make a console?
light gate
I mean duh, yeah.
I just don't know but feel not happy about this foreshadowing. Having to once more move back to another platform is bloody annoying.
gaunt marten
You don't have to move back to another platform
light gate
I don't know I feel extremely conflicted right now.
bold sonnet
They want a thing that runs games and has SteamOS like Steam Deck, but more versions of steam deck. Some stationary, some handheld. They want to make people play PC games easier, without using Windows or Linux
light gate
But SteamOS is Linux.
bold sonnet
Oh then Windows
I think it's a wonderful idea to believe like Todd Howard said to just work
light gate
I guess I'll watch n see.
I just hope its not a console that consumes more than 300 watts I swear.
bold sonnet
What is a downside of having Steam OS console, either handheld or stationary, if it doesn't run Windows?
light gate
It doesn't run Windows.
That's the downside.
Majority of games only work on Windows.
bold sonnet
That's a big point
light gate
Well yeah, but they think Proton will be enough.
Proton being that tech that essentially allows games to work on Linux by essentially doing a bunch of translation.
bold sonnet
I think it would be very like, benefitial, if somepony here plays games only on Linux and wants to say from their part
light gate
I mean I do that already, and its not straightforward at all. You have to enable proton, then try and hope it works on the first try. If it doesn't, then you need to go to protondb or find wiki guides and hope you can find a solution to run your game.
And even if you do all that, its not guaranteed that it will work forever. New proton versions can and have broken other titles, which is why they give you many choices of proton versions to use.
I just dunno how the average consumer will bother with that.
gaunt marten
It runs ~50%ish of big Windows games with no further config
river veldt
https://open.spotify.com/album/7A0AGQEqdD36vv4UEsKCHf the picture looks to be fr...
this is pretty good
light gate
I don't think I've ran a game without configuration tbh.
gaunt marten
The majority of games that run into big issues are ones with anticheat that expects a windows setup
Hey, CaptainMario, what was your experience with Proton? What sort of games fail to run by default that you needed to do stuff to fix?
gaunt marten
I know you just ran into an issue with a Hat in Time
river veldt
yeah that's the only one that's given me trouble so far
light gate
And that is an Unreal Engine 3 game.
river veldt
even the games marked "unsupported" work straight out of the box so idk lol, the verification process seems kind of arbitrary
gaunt marten
"Unsupported" means "we haven't tried to make this game work"
It doesn't mean "we guarantee this game doesn't work."
So if it works, then Proton's basic support works for it and no further changes are needed (most indie games should fall under that)
light gate
Maybe I'm just extremely nervous.
I just hope its good if they are doing it.
And hopefully, they can solve the anticheat issue.
Because my god....
gaunt marten
I'm not holding my breath
visual hill
Windows is only needed for games with kernel anticheat at this point, or those refusing to enable Linux support in EAC
(it's a checkbox)
fickle garnet
https://fixupx.com/mikeshapiroland/status/1874213952680607922
Oh fuck
slim thorn
but i'd never heard of wukong before being nominated so...
maybe this is because half of my favourite games have some soulslike inspiration so I hear about other soulslikes, but I was aware of Wukong before it released, and never played it because the few people I did hear any opinions from were pretty mixed on it
dire gate
I'm more surprised that it didn't win every single awards, it must've got like 1.3 billion votes
(/j if not obvious)
slim thorn
yeah, presumably it's mostly up there because of the China vote
bitter stream
oof, So I'm playing Hitman WOA's Freelancer mode, roguelike contract based system where you get gear and items as you play randomised missions. There's one particular location that just ends me, and I'm starting to think I should just force start there to learn the map better in terms of Freelancer. There's also the option to learn it in the Campaign setting but that's different to freelancer and you have access to all your unlocked gear in campaign.
Darn Colorado, why do you end all my runs lol
craggy vine
even the games marked "unsupported" work straight out of the box so idk lol, the...
It depends on the games, and you can read specificly why it is unsupported. Some games will say unsupported because it only supports keyboard and mouse and requires you to type, but you can use steam input to set buttons to keyboard presses and press steam + X or just swipe up to bring up the keyboard anyway.
Assuming you are talking about the ratings in steam. Which the ratings in steam are only for steam deck compatability, not linux compatability in general for the most part.
river veldt
yes
craggy vine
I mean I do that already, and its not straightforward at all. You have to enable...
I only game on linux now (and on a handheld that isn't a steam deck) and I haven't had any of those issues. I have had to select a specific proton version for valve games but only because they defaulted to linux runtime 1.0. For me it has been extremely straightforward. I think it depends on what distro you download too. If you use Arch you may have to install a bunch of extra things in terminal, but I use Bazzite that just came with everything from the get go, and even came with the most recent drivers for my graphics card. I just downloaded the OS, downloaded a game, and played. And kept playing games. So far my experience has given me much better performance and battery lfie then in windows.
In saying that, what is straightforward for each of us is subjective. Installing linux and installing something with terminal is straightforward to me, even though I only started using it a few months ago. But to others it may not be.
Only time I have used terminal so far though was to install noisetorch, basically RTX voice style noice suppression in linux. It works weird in that it isn't a full on app though, you gotta open the UI using the terminal.
I use higher graphics settings in linux on Cyberpunk then in Windows even. I think because in windows, the way it manages ram for integrated graphics is a little worse. Linux also just has more free memory compared to windows.
rotund forge
I beat miitopia. Now for the grind of getting all the achievements, as i only have 35% after 60+hours.....le sigh
rotund forge
https://fxtwitter.com/TangoGameworks/status/1874259495783981205
What games did they make again? They sound familiar
dire gate
hifi rush
rotund forge
Oh nice!!
fresh bane
The Evil Within and Ghostwire Tokyo
But so far they've only managed to re-acquire the rights to Hi-Fi Rush
slim thorn
still, even getting one of those back is huge
plus TEW and Ghostwire aren't exactly begging for sequels atm, even if they decide not to start with a brand new IP
river veldt
just beat Portal in an hour
craggy vine
Fuck yeah
smoky sonnet
portal my beloved
craggy vine
https://youtu.be/VzD6WAMt60A?si=DPsLQyL1mhNjbxoJ just an interesting video
visual hill
the first TEW is one of the two third-party id Tech 5 games
(the other one being Wolf TNO... and TOB, but that's more of a standalone DLC)
azure lichen
Twitter
quiet swift
Was already talked about yesterday. Seems to be for music of his but we don't know much more yet
visual hill
https://www.moddb.com/mods/dnf2001-restoration-project/news/2024-paving-the-grounds
an update to DNF2001 is coming out soon-ish 🙂
craggy vine
Omg I found skippy in cyberpunk
sacred grove
https://www.moddb.com/mods/dnf2001-restoration-project/news/2024-paving-the-grou...
I feel like calling it a "restoration project" is doing it a disservice at this point. They're literally just doing game development with leaked 2001 DNF as a base
It is becoming its own alternate-universe Duke game
shell shore
Does anyone play animal crossing on their pc
shell shore
Nvm i think i figured it out
sour hill
This game is awesome
gaunt marten
No reason to pay for it when it's free
wind stump
i already have it on EGS in the first place 
craggy vine
No reason to pay for it when it's free
I still would because I hate the epic games store
fickle garnet
Nice. Maybe I'll play this after I finish BG3
uneven epoch
you get a dog, there is a drinking skill, what more could you want
lilac basin
blissful sand
are you building a vault in survival ?
cerulean herald
supple elbow
river veldt
gm big city
craggy vine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmvAphwMoos&list=WL&index=3 This just shows how much you can do with hacking sometimes
dense crypt
Having that transparent plastic that lets you see the electronics inside is cool af tbh
forest shoal
Then again, I would have to take apart a DS
DS are nightmarish to take apart because of all the ribbon cable
static bluff
There's a Twitch streamer I like who plays Dwarf Fortress, mostly. They posted this in Discord today and it's got me rolling 🤣
@river veldt ^ I meant to ping you for this and forgot
wind stump
bitter stream
it looks like you got a rare piece? Were you looking for something else HC?
wind stump
no this was just pain
took like 3 attempts to even kill the bastard
bitter stream
nice work getting it done
shell shore
I learned how to timeskip on animal crossing and i feel so evil
wind stump
i want to meet one of the BeamNG devs and go "Oh, BeamNG? That funny car crash simulator?"
river veldt
got the new Indiana Jones game 🎉🥳
wind stump
I like how Nisha's Action Skill in presequel is literally an aimbot
just no thoughts, head empty
FAN THE HAMMA
cinder hatch
astral steeple
shell shore
I just downloaded all the old pacman and mario games on my nintendo for my dad
random steppe
That's sweet
teal sonnet
https://vxtwitter.com/atari/status/1874833151580618839
this looks fire as fuck
fresh bane
aaaaand that's 100% on SR1 
all glyphs, all health power ups, all energy power ups
apparently the game has a bug where it displays Ruined City's collectibles as 0 even if you find it, that really bothered me because I thought I forgot to pick that one up but no, just a bug
Of course I knew it going in already, but this final fight being so anti-climactic is very funny (and, weirdly enough, incredibly fitting given the context of the story)
that was fun though, even though I really love SR2 especially because it's the game I was more familiar with as a kid and because it's where the story really starts to pick up the most, holy hell is SR1 just in a completely different league as a videogame
smoky sonnet
abbreviating a game by a subtitle 
absolutely despicable
(this is not saints row)
i only recognize this bc i was watching whatever show they announced it at
fresh bane
That's the normal abbreviation for these games lol they're not called Legacy of Kain, they're called Soul Reaver
slim thorn
even officially, the 2s of both SR and BO apparently dropped the LoK part of the title
I also get the impression that the SRs are by far the most cared about part of this franchise? and that there's no shared gameplay between all the LoKs, only shared story?
smoky sonnet
okay fair djxjdb
fresh bane
Both SR2 and BO2 still have Legacy of Kain in their titles, they're still both technically LoK:SR2 and BO2:LoK respectively, it's just commonly referred as SR2 and BO2
smoky sonnet
its just hard to understand when its not used once in full
fresh bane
Soul Reaver 1 is definitely the most popular one, Blood Omen is still a cult classic though, a little more niche than Soul Reaver 1 which went more mainstream in comparison but a lot of people still care for Blood Omen still, as for the gameplay both Blood Omens have a more action adventure style whereas SR1 and 2 are mostly action platformers, Defiance is an action platformer too but with a bit more emphasis on combat like a Devil May Cry 1, so there's definitely gameplay connection there
smoky sonnet
<- hasn't played any of them
slim thorn
that looks more like "The Legacy of Kain Series: Blood Omen 2" than "Blood Omen 2: The Legacy of Kain"? also more like they turned LoK into a sort of separate branding logo like Marvel or DC that's on the box but usually not part of the title
anyway, I agree that everyone shortens LoK:SR to SR in my experience, it's the SRs that are always getting talked about anyway
smoky sonnet
i was just saying that because i only recognized it as legacy of kain bc of the recent remaster, and only understood it as being soul reaver abbreviated because i looked up legacy of kain
fresh bane
I think that was just a thing they did for both these two games since they were developed and released at the same time, but it's just for the cover art, if you look the games up online on sites like steam they both always have LoK in the titles
Defiance dropped that "part of the LoK series" logo and went back to Legacy of Kain in the title
But yeah I know acronyms are confusing and all but that's just how the titles are abbreviated (even on the achievements screen I showed they differentiate the games as SR1 and SR2) but also more importantly you can just use context to figure out that clearly the game in the clips is not Saints Row
smoky sonnet
clearly! looking up "sr1" "sr2" gives saints row though
slim thorn
my favorite is when everyone talks about AC5 and AC6 and I think they're talking about AC5 because I never played a single AC or a single AC and I stopped playing the ACs after AC3
fresh bane
You mean Armored Core 5? /s
chilly mural
rediscovered the love for binding of isaac
slim thorn
another factor is I haven't really heard people talk about Saint's Row in a while
but of course there are probably people who didn't even hear about Soul Reaver, I managed to mostly miss that franchise even in the 90s/00s when I was supposed to care
random steppe
Animal Crossing 6: The Fires of Ezio Auditore
fresh bane
It's not exactly a mainstream franchise, no, even SR1 which is the most popular isn't exactly mainstream
smoky sonnet
yet google will still give saints row first and foremost 
despite having a bad game release and being pretty much dead
slim thorn
probably helps that Saint's Row was a thing after the internet game documentation complex got into full swing
fresh bane
To be fair the criticism there is more about acronyms being similar than calling a game by its subtitle, but I get what you probably meant anyways
random steppe
To be fair, Saint's Row is a much more relevant game title than Soul Reaver in 2024/5 despite the remaster
slim thorn
it probably is
it just isn't to me 
anyway back to FE10, aka RD, which I'm sure are both totally unambiguous acronyms
smoky sonnet
To be fair the criticism there is more about acronyms being similar than calling...
being infodumped at because i worded something wrong, this is JUST like trying to google SR1 
fresh bane
To be clear we're not necessarily infodumping at you we're just nerds and we like to talk about things
(Well, that's the case for me anyways... 
)
smoky sonnet
anyway back to FE10, aka RD, which I'm sure are both totally unambiguous acronym...
yeah, almost no one numbers games that high and instead slaps random subtitles with no indication of where it is in the series 💀
at least the google result gets fe10
fresh bane
My favourite example of this is probably DS
smoky sonnet
ac is the silliest one
armored core? ace combat? okay those are similar enough in vibe. assassin's creed? sure- ANIMAL CROSSING??
slim thorn
I legit forgot about Ace Combat when I was making that joke
fresh bane
GOW is another one where I feel like both games it could refer to are similarly relevant enough to get confused with each other
Although maybe not anymore though
slim thorn
what are the others for DS and GOW?
also do we still have HK or is that ambiguous too
fresh bane
Gears of War/God of War
Demon's Souls/Dark Souls/Dead Space/Don't Starve/Death Stranding
fresh bane
also do we still have HK or is that ambiguous too
Ah yes my favourite game, Hingdom Kearts
I don't know any HK games actually
slim thorn
ah, I guess I've never seen someone use DS out of context except to refer to Demon/Dark Souls so that's been okay so far
Hollow Knight
I have to refer to it constantly lol
fresh bane
Oh yeah the one game everybody and their grandma played that I still don't know anything about
I guess that's why I didn't know the acronym
slim thorn
the hype backlash will be very real presumably
for me it's unavoidable since a lot of my favorite games take inspiration from Hollow Knight or Soulslikes
especially modern indie metroidvanias often resemble HK more than they do either Metroid or Castlevania
(and not just because I don't like the Castlevanias as much)
smoky sonnet
Gears of War/God of War
Demon's Souls/Dark Souls/Dead Space/Don't Starve/Death S...
arguably Gears of War/God of War/God of War
fresh bane
the funny thing is that for me that game I compare everything to is Blasphemous lol
slim thorn
tbf it is a great game
fresh bane
I guess Hollow Knight was first though, and I know it's stupidly popular even if I never played it or really even seen it actually
slim thorn
yeah there's no question that HK is the more popular and (what's more relevant to me at least) more influential
HK was even the first game I randomized on Flitter's recommendation, which led to me making my own randomizers
fresh bane
I'm now wondering if Soul Reaver has a randomizer or if it would even work
slim thorn
there's no way we're the first to think of it, but I haven't personally checked if there's a working one or if it's original vs remaster or what
nothing on the Archipelago server at least
fresh bane
I wanna say it's impossible since it kinda completely hinges on the Zelda/Metroidvania style progression of unlocking previously inaccessible areas with new abilities but if ALttP and OOT have one....
I guess the games just aren't popular enough for one though
slim thorn
oh no those are the best kinds of games to randomize
in fact LttP is one of the most popular randomizers of all time, even the Archipelago system started out historically as an alternative LttP randomizer
what you're probably thinking of is the fact that a "no logic" randomizer won't work for those games because you'd likely just get softlocked with no way to progress further, but that's why the randomizers I play/maintain have a concept of "logic" / what you need to get places so it can ensure the item arrangement it chooses is still playable
fresh bane
Right, you'd need that because the first boss gives you the ability to go through thin walls which is required to even access the area where you get to the boss that gives you the ability to climb walls which is completely required to even access the area that gets to the boss that gives you the ability to swim through water, and so on...
I guess it'd need some sort of logic where either the boss of the area or any collectible in the area that's possible to get on a first visit must give you the powerup required for accessing the next area
slim thorn
yeah, or in randomizer jargon "there must be a progression item in sphere 1"
fresh bane
But some areas don't even have collectibles or bosses so I guess it's probably not a super exciting randomizer anyways lol it'd probably be more straightforward and normal than something like a Zelda or a Metroid, but I don't really know a lot about randomizers
slim thorn
funny you mentioned swim; in Hollow Knight randomzier I'm somehow cursed to always find the swim in acid ability before the swim in water ability
imo what really matters for a "metroidvania-style" or "progression-based" randomizer is whether or not moving the items around would typically force you to visit areas in different orders or solve problems in different ways
Zeldas are perfect for visiting areas in all sorts of weird orders
platformers (which includes a lot of metroidvanias) are often perfect for solving problems in different ways, because a lot of the movement upgrades can compensate for each other, like if you get wall climb and double jump in the opposite order to vanilla that not only unlocks different areas but also means some reachable areas require different moves to reach
fresh bane
There is exactly one singular reddit thread I found about a SR1 randomizer and this one answer about whether it'd be possible is actually pretty good
I want to say that SR1 is specifically designed to build up on and progress is based on the abilities you get previously throughout the game, but I guess that's technically a kinda broad answer for games in general, although it's definitely a bit more "linear" in a sense than a Zelda like OOT though it's kinda similar
Just in case some of those words are indecipherable, EE is magic meter, pie piece is heart containers, glyphs is usable abilities (like the fairy spells of OOT)
I'll say one thing, it's already tricky to play through the game normally, I can't imagine a randomizer lol
slim thorn
I should also just play SR remastered myself at some point
if I can finish FE10 today, maybe SR can be my last "play this before holiday ends" goal
lol they even suggested warp rando
the randomizer I made has warp rando
fresh bane
It's pretty short and even if you don't want to particularly run around the place for a while picking up all the optional glyphs and powerups some of them are easily encounterable in the way through areas on your first visit, but even if you wanted to it's still very short, just 8 hours or so for 100%
I would say to also check out Blood Omen if you can get past old game being/looking old since it's actually pretty similar to a Zelda experience and easily available/cheap on GOG, ...but I'll just let you get to soul reaver before I even start talking about the other games
slim thorn
but yeah this sounds about like what I expected after the JSH video on SR1, it seems like a textbook example of a solid game to randomize, I'd just have to play SR myself to judge how good of a rando it could be compared to all the stuff I play
fresh bane
I don't know the first thing about randomizers so I'd just have to wait on you to say too
slim thorn
(not that I'd be actually making it regardless; I'm already committed to a Nine Sols randomizer next)
fresh bane
I'd say that's fine and that there probably not that big of a community out there for a randomizer but there was recently a new WR for Soul Reaver 1 speedrun... So who knows
worldly summit
https://vxtwitter.com/atari/status/1874833151580618839
whoever currently owns the Atari brand name banks way too hard on that name selling things
I'm sure it has its niche though
dire gate
Currently Atari owns Atari
I'm not even joking because the company that bought Atari changed their name to Atari
blissful sand
Like how Porsche belongs to Volkswagen who belongs to Porsche
random steppe
ah, I guess I've never seen someone use DS out of context except to refer to Dem...
Demon's Souls/Dark Souls coming from the same community essentially were standardised early on to DS and DeS so it's not something people confuse much
unreal idol
DS to me refers to the nintendo ds lol
river veldt
same lol
cerulean herald
Donkey Song
random steppe
Yeah I guess I mean among the two more than anything else
Also Demon's Souls being shortened to DeS by the souls community in general you rarely see it shortened to DS even outside of it
hushed onyx
Donkey Song
This makes me think of a donkey who aspires to become a bard…
visual hill
I'm not even joking because the company that bought Atari changed their name to ...
it's even more confusing now because the Infogrames publishing label was relaunched last year
complete with a new logo
wind stump
a few Golden Keys.
visual hill
a few Golden Keys.
@river veldt we need your golden skull key now
river veldt
wind stump
you know what?
LET'S GO GAMBLING!
I can't stop winning!
I love Jakobs weapons (And the guy in Borderlands 3) and especially a pistol is great for my character
i'll probably use the other 3 in the grinder and see if I can get a shotty to pair it with
slim thorn
Demon's Souls/Dark Souls coming from the same community essentially were standar...
fair, first I've heard of "DeS" but I'm also not in the places where people compare them much
wind stump
perfect drivng
hushed onyx
I kind of want to play Knights of the Old Republic and the sequel again…
graceful bridge
static bluff
This video killed me omg
hushed onyx
I’d also like to try Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor, but those require a real gaming computer of course.
static bluff
CalebCity's idle animations always get me rolling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfFQTt_nkJM
cerulean herald
slim thorn
https://youtu.be/r8Mh9LPNAkI?si=SysV5mnke-iNDN6E
the malice sensing invis staff could be useful if you were allowed to use it in a story moment to detect a secret bad guy
static bluff
Okay everyone line up and prepare to be bonked by the malice stick
hushed onyx
It could also be useful if you have blindsight or other “see invisibility” abilities, although the damage would be subpar by that point probably.
green fulcrum
CalebCity's idle animations always get me rolling - https://www.youtube.com/watc...
Ahem, Fallout.
visual hill
https://youtu.be/r8Mh9LPNAkI?si=SysV5mnke-iNDN6E
I'll take the GEP gun.
wind stump
what the fuck
gaunt marten
A royal flush is only 800?
unreal idol
Huh is that shovel knight
unreal idol
Neat
sour hill
Where's Goku?
gaunt marten
Pack 1: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Dave the Diver, Among Us, Vampire Survivors
Pack 2: The Binding of Isaac, Slay the Spire, Stardew Valley, Cyberpunk 2077
Pack 3: Shovel Knight, Don't Starve, Cult of the Lamb, Enter the Gungeon, 1000xResist, Warframe, Potion Craft, Divinity: Original Sin 2
sour hill
I like the dead cats
wind stump
I use Shovel Knight, Slay the Spire, Enter the Gungeon and Isaac
I'll admit that Gungeon is my least played (No shit, I have 1k hours in Spire)
static bluff
i did it again!
Trash hand, discard it
minor plover
Trash hand, discard it
unironically good advice because ||this is how you unlock Brainstorm||
static bluff
wind stump
literally going To The Moon
minor plover
literally going To The Moon
then you really need to get the banana ;)
wind stump
update: fission mailed
minor plover
F
chilly mural
you'll get 'em next time
visual hill
heh, Serious Sam Siberian Mayhem can't detect my hardware on the Game Pass version
it's weird because older Serious Engine games have no problem with it
wind stump
surely you can't be serious
visual hill
yay for the console still being accessible 😛 I've updated the PC Gaming Wiki pages accordingly
robust latch
lol i remember when drives over 4gb started to become a thing and soo many games/apps complained about not enough drive space to install the application becuase their detections didnt recognise over the 4gb mark
wind stump
ah damn, guess i can't use this Joker
green fulcrum
Pack 1: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Dave the Diver, Among Us, Vampire Survivors
Pa...
Surprised Minecraft and Fortnite aren't in there, considering they're, well, everywhere.
wind stump
(i thought it was funny)
gaunt marten
Surprised Minecraft and Fortnite aren't in there, considering they're, well, *ev...
You'll note how almost all of these games are indies. It's likely that Localthunk could not or did not try to secure a deal with Microsoft or Epic
light gate
update: fission mailed
99% of gamblers quit before they make it big /s
Also Balatro has also affected me, mobile wise
static bluff
Same. It's the perfect mobile game for me
green fulcrum
You'll note how almost all of these games are indies. It's likely that Localthun...
Ah, true
light gate
We need more of these classic mobile games without the mtx I swear.
green fulcrum
I think the only two that might not be indie on there are Cyberpunk and Witcher. All the rest definitely are.
light gate
Tunic deck when?
gaunt marten
Slice and Dice is really nice
visual hill
We need more of these classic mobile games without the mtx I swear.
Feral does many of those ports but they don't sell that well on Android
visual hill
You'll note how almost all of these games are indies. It's likely that Localthun...
indies are likely easier to deal with for crossovers, less paperwork involved
imagine trying to collab with Rockstar, you'd have to call it Red Tape Redemption 😛
random steppe
Exhibit 10.000 as to why having player/clan housing is very important for your MMO game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dFdyg2G3Yk
light gate
Feral does many of those ports but they don't sell that well on Android
well of course it doesnt sell, piracy is heckin rampant
Its so much easier to find a hacked apk.
Also, most people refuse to pay more than a dollar or two.
visual hill
I feel cross-buy would be the answer (i.e. make games more expensive but you get them on all platforms automatically), but it's a risk to take
buying separately for multiple platforms always felt weird for me
there are games/apps that work this way but they're few and far between
gaunt marten
Slice and Dice has a Steam version, an Android version for the same price, and a more expensive itch.io version that gives you both Windows and Android
dire gate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnVTVqPBAWM @slim thorn
Castlevania Dominus collection RTA in Japanese, I think you may find it interesting
wind stump
static bluff
Gambling be like
minor plover
Credit Card jonkler?
wind stump
minor plover
green fulcrum
...Whoever names their kid "Justin" with the last name of "Case" deserves whatever they get.
minor plover
...Whoever names their kid "Justin" with the last name of "Case" deserves whatev...
they have a contingency plan for whatever they get
wind stump
unreal idol
Congrats! (?)
river veldt
oh i get it
static bluff
so many jokers
fresh bane
oh hell yeah game looks great at 1080p wow 
(also hell yeah x2 no pressing a button to climb stairs and no loading screens in between doors, awesome 
)
quiet swift
And that's hogwarts legacy done (finished main story. Got bored of side stories so not gonna keep playing). Pretty fun, can see why it sold well.
Next, Octopath Traveller (from my fiancée's library while the steam family share thing still works...will be changing soon 
)
gaunt marten
Playing Octopath but not Crystal Project 
quiet swift
Because neither of us owns that
visual hill
secret area in Siberian Mayhem 🙂
it's missing the applause sound when you successfully complete the trial course though
sour hill
secret area in Siberian Mayhem 🙂
what a great name for a game
sour hill
oh hell yeah game looks **great** at 1080p wow <:mistypog:1121118113992294470>
...
oh is that that game I started playing once but stopped because I had too many other ps2 games to finish?
bold sonnet
oh hell yeah game looks **great** at 1080p wow <:mistypog:1121118113992294470>
...
It sounds like Silent Hill, what is it?
sour hill
I think it's Haunting Ground
river veldt
playing Control and it's kind of funny that even though Jesse becomes the Director right at the beginning of the game you still need to find keycards for certain areas
quiet swift
How dare you assume it would make it easy on you
green fulcrum
Ixrec's current mood: "TROUBLE WITH THE TROLLEY, EH?"
gaunt marten
What a fucked up level
dire gate
Ixrec's current mood: "TROUBLE WITH THE TROLLEY, EH?" <:rdsnrk:58778032933542297...
Will Ixrec kill one person or five
fresh bane
iconic 2000s survival horror girl outfit: acquired
gotta have the long brown boots
this is probably one of the best looking PS2 games I've played, I don't know what kinda trickery they pulled to get this much expression and emotion from this model but it looks excellent (even if her only expression so far is completely confused and terrified )
I guess it's just the perks of being a late PS2 game
green fulcrum
I don't know what kinda trickery they pulled to get this much expression and emotion from this model but it looks excellent
Facial tracking tech?
fresh bane
Of course, but I mean how they get it to look that good
Again, probably benefits of being a late PS2 game so they got the tech all figured out by that point but still, this and SH3 are crazy good looking
dire gate
I've been playing It takes two with my friend recently, the game itself is quite fun but god the writing I don't like at all
Me and my friend concluded that the correct way to interpret the story here is that the couple is high
cerulean herald
whats wrong with the writing? I havent played it so idk the story
dire gate
Aside from most characters being (intentionally) annoying for most of the time, the story is very...straightforward. A bit too straightforward...while dealing with a very complex real issue
gaunt marten
It Takes Two just has a shallow obnoxious character writing
fresh bane
mmmmm yeah, that sweet sweet nightmare fuel 
more importantly though: dog acquired
I didn't know dogs came with so many instructions though... 
Also while I was playing I was messing around with more graphic options and accidentally ticked a box to apply a widescreen patch, it completely messed up the aspect ratio even after I unchecked it but once I changed the aspect ratio to widescreen (which previously just completely stretched the image and it looked awful) now it actually looks pretty good!
I didn't mean to do it since I'm perfectly fine with 4:3 games but, hey, I'll take it, it looks pretty nice and I appreciate the small extra view of the area I'm in for a game like this
fresh bane
also I didn't mention it earlier but I thought the little unique Capcom screen was very cute 
light gate
Judging if I should get Cyberpunk with the DLC or just buy the game and ignore the DLC.
Its $25 standalone vs $46 with the dlc.
quiet swift
DLC is fantastic. I'd highly recommend with
light gate
Yeah but its too expensive
Idk if I’ll like Cyberpunk
I for sure didn’t like The Witcher series.
fresh bane
Honestly it's probably less expensive to get it with the DLC than it would be buying it afterwards and depending on who you ask the DLC is almost worth as much if not more than the base game, if it's too expensive for you I'd recommend probably waiting for another sale probably around any holidays or seasonal sales or such, sometimes you can get lucky and get the entire game plus dlc for 10 or 20 bucks if it's a really good sale
quiet swift
It's very different from Witcher, gameplay wise. It's an FPS at its core, but you do get 'powers' and passives
That can change the combats to a certain degree
fresh bane
Whether you enjoy the game or not depends entirely on whether you enjoy open world rpgs that you can sink dozens and dozens if not 100+ hours into, but it's not really The Witcher
light gate
Honestly it's probably less expensive to get it with the DLC than it would be bu...
We talkin one dollar more expensive
quiet swift
Heck, I'd almost compare it to Borderlands, fighting wise
light gate
I guess I’ll pass.
quiet swift
smoky sonnet
Judging if I should get Cyberpunk with the DLC or just buy the game and ignore t...
the dlc is fantastic, def recommend picking it up at some point if you like the game
gaunt marten
You can wait five more years. That's what I'm doing
quiet swift
You aren't a good metric, you wait 5 years for everything
light gate
That sounds rude.
tawny jacinth
I was trying to film the terrible roads in ETS2’s Poland and ended up with a funny beat drop instead
slim thorn
El Paso Elsewhere has been a lot of fun so far, curious if we have any classic Max Payne fans in this thread who might have thoughts on it
slim thorn
yeah, I'm probably gonna keep binging it until GT's around for more Spyro
visual hill
El Paso Elsewhere has been a lot of fun so far, curious if we have any classic M...
I played MP1 and 2 last year
I've never heard about El Paso Elsewhere
I have yet to play MP3 too
slim thorn
I've never heard about El Paso Elsewhere
it's a recent indie game that most would reasonably summarize and pitch as "Max Payne: Vampire Hunter", though the level/enemy design and interdimensional setting often reminds me of Doom or Control as well
gaunt marten
You aren't a good metric, you wait 5 years for everything
That's precisely what everyone should do
I buy games immediately if the price is suitable. If the price doesn't suit you, don't grin and bear it! That will only embolden companies to keep selling at that price
fresh bane
El Paso Elsewhere has been a lot of fun so far, curious if we have any classic M...
I was talking about it a bunch as I was playing it when it came out
slim thorn
search shows... one mention of it from you over a year ago, makes sense I missed it
fresh bane
Okay maybe it was just a bit less than I thought
But I did talk about it
Maybe I'll go back to it and finish it now that you brought it up since I was looking for something to kill time with, maybe after Haunting Ground which I just started
wind stump
great name
quiet swift
wind stump
damn, invalid input
fresh bane
I've always wondered how that sound effect was made, it's such a perfect representation of what it is, it just feels exactly like how that would sound
also speaking of satisfying video game sounds, just listen to that satisfying menu sound design
the tasteful thickness of it, oh my god, it even has a soundbite from RE4
fresh bane
jesus, how strong is this girl?
the whole hiding and restored status thing gives me such tonal whiplash it feels so arcade-y for such an atmospheric and immersive horror game
slim thorn
honestly all of Haunting Ground has the vibe of an experimental game, which is part of why I'm glad I played it with Tale so we could discuss all the good and bad points
because hoo boy is there a lot that didn't work despite being a good idea on paper
fresh bane
More than experimental that one thing feels very japanese to me, one thing I noticed is they really like putting that sort of arcade game-y stuff in their games especially back then but it's just so out of place it's almost funny
I haven't come across much jankyness so far but I wanna say I'm pretty early in, it does feel very different at what it sets out to do compared to the other capcom survival horrors
right now I'm honestly a bit lost so I'm just trying to figure out where to go next lol
slim thorn
More than experimental that one thing feels very japanese to me, one thing I not...
true, that specific game-y aspect might be more of an older Capcom thing? even if the incongruence happens to also add to the broader "experimental" vibe
fresh bane
oh welp
death 1 I guess
jeeeeeesus CHRIST
so glad I didn't pick the other hiding spot instead
Oooooookay I was gonna say I'm so glad these encounters operate with Mr. X/boss fight Nemesis rules where once you ''defeat'' (or evade) the enemy they stay out of your way instead of being this threat that is constantly around and would super get in the way of solving puzzles or just progressing but right as I got out of the shower after it clearly said 'Coast Clear' I immediately encountered the guy waiting right outside the bathroom
So thanks for lying to me game
Also I can already tell since this is one of those survival horror games with fixed camera but no tank controls that this probably feels smoother to play with an actual analog instead of directional keyboard keys for movement, I can already see that this game is trying to mitigate the usual problem that comes with this control scheme where once the camera changes you jerk in the complete opposite direction and have to re-adjust your movement by smoothly panning the camera around any curves and keeping the amount of harsh camera cuts to a minimum but it's obviously still a bit of a 'problem'
I can adjust pretty well myself but i can see how to anyone else it would be a problem, and the game doesn't seem to do the usual fix to this that other games do where you continue walking in the direction you were pressing after a camera cut and you only change direction once you move the analog stick again, which usually works pretty well for this kind of thing
I'm now wondering whether that encounter and the other I had after avoiding him were scripted (by the way, I told Hewie to attack like 40 times and he didn't do anything lol) or whether that was a ''random'' encounter that I got because... I guess I was being too loud? Does this game have a stealth system where walking attracts less attention than running? it's not very clear
slim thorn
I believe some encounters are scripted and some are effectively on a timer
mostly because when the stealth system broke down for me, the effect was getting in these "chase loops" where the bad guy would spawn, I'd run back to whichever of the 1-3 usable hiding spots in the region I hoped would be far enough away, wait for them to despawn, then run back to the puzzle and think about it until they spawned again
which is as tedious as it sounds, especially when the hide spots don't work consistently or are super far away
slim thorn
Oooooookay <:flutterwaaaugh:685079096518377473> I was gonna say I'm so glad thes...
yeah, sadly no, the RE2 remake Mr X is what all of these stealth horror games wish their enemies were (heck, arguably including original RE2)
fresh bane
I know people praise Mr X a lot but I actually really don't like remake Mr X because I think it's incredibly annoying, really should've had some points in the game where he's out of the way for a bit rather than being constantly around
I really wonder how a remake of this game would look like considering Capcom's still riding that remake bandwagon, I can definitely imagine some more polished stealth mechanics maybe actually letting you walk around while crouching and better systems for hiding behind stuff
fresh bane
mostly because when the stealth system broke down for me, the effect was getting...
ever since the first chase moment that's what I feared would happen, I mistakenly thought the idea was to distract the guy, go back to the room where the cutscene happens, move the crate out the way from the door and escape, but it kept not working obviously so I was like ''Oh this game's gonna be loooooong'' until I realized I had to hide under the bed and wait for him to go away and things to return to normal
It's been working like that... so far, but I'm gonna try and make an effort to walk and make sure to not call for Hewie so much to see if maybe that diminishes the chances of getting found
slim thorn
well remake X is only a constant threat for the I want to say second act where you've had time to learn the police station layout but are still doing stuff in the police station so chases through the whole building are totally feasible
and unlike Haunting Ground, remake X still won't enter several of the puzzle-only dead end rooms where it actually would be just obnoxious
for me the usual flow in that part of 2RE was more like studying a puzzle room enough to realize that I needed to get an item from or take an item to <other room>, and then there was a "how do I get there without X finding me" segment where maybe I'd listen or look around or maybe I'd bump into him and then quickly figure out a detour route, but either way after I successfully made it to <other room> I could safely do the thing there uninterrupted
not to mention the parts that aren't even in the police station
slim thorn
It's been working like that... so far, but I'm gonna try and make an effort to *...
if this is actually true I'm going to be so mad at the game for never explaining or indicating this despite the dozens of pages of tutorials lol
but I'm 90% sure if this was the case I would not have seen the bad guy respawn as consistently as I did whenever I got stuck on a puzzle in that game
much less resort to save state scumming just to allow myself to actually make progress instead of repeating the exact same hide-under-a-bed sequence for the tenth time
I should probably mention the really bad chase loops I experienced were mostly in the 2nd and 3rd areas, it mostly wasn't an issue with this 1st guy you're seeing now
slim thorn
I really wonder how a remake of this game would look like considering Capcom's s...
Well... as interesting as it was to play HG, personally I think: Amnesia already did this style of run-and-hide horror far better. The unique part is obviously the dog mechanics, which are okay in this game but have since been done better in other (non-horror) games. There probably is still space for a 3rd person stealth horror game that learns the design lessons from Amnesia and also has a controllable animal companion, but to be that much better it would have to be so different from HG I don't think you could call it a remake (like, way more different than RE2 and RE2RE are).
it's not a Code Veronica situation where "fix the softlock, update graphics, move that one save room in Antarctica to a sane place, fix the final boss, rewrite Steve" would turn a very mixed game into one of the best in the series while retaining most of the content the original had
bold sonnet
ever since the first chase moment that's what I feared would happen, I mistakenl...
Do you think maybe one day you would like to play it on stream here?
visual hill
I buy games immediately if the price is suitable. If the price doesn't suit you,...
or play via Game Pass, which is technically more interesting for newer games than older games
(because the newer game would have cost you more if you bought it)
fresh bane
Well I've never played Amnesia and I'm still early on this first playthrough here so I can't say much about this specific style of horror gameplay as opposed to a more conventional survival horror experience, but of course even if other games probably did this gameplay style better there's the fact that people care about this game's characters and world and story, etc, so even if another game did it better it's still not this game, plus it's been 20 years since it came out now, surely with today's technology and game design knowledge they could do something to spruce the experience up a bit
At this point I'm completely done with hoping that any Capcom remake would be faithful to the original game and they're more complete reimaginations with lots of changes so sure, it would probably be different, but I think it could be interesting, maybe at least a spiritual successor if not a remake, but it's not like Haunting Ground would be anywhere near the top of their priority list for games they'd revisit anyway
slim thorn
eh... I don't care about the characters/world/story of HG beyond Hewie lol
river veldt
i should probably actually finish that The Bunker playthrough i was watching
i liked what i saw though
fresh bane
if this is actually true I'm going to be so mad at the game for never explaining...
It sure seems like that's the case, although definitely wandering around the one area for too long doesn't seem like a good idea... at least it seems like running and constantly telling Hewie he's a good boy or telling him to follow you definitely increases the chances that whoever's chasing you will appear in the room or any nearby rooms, I just had an encounter where Debilitas appears from the area I entered the room from, but after reloading and doing the section again, he was on the room I was going into, so they definitely still seem to roam around the place and probably go after noises like doors opening or closing
slim thorn
I think when I was playing I managed to convince myself that the HG enemies are not truly roaming the way remake X does
mainly because RE2RE allows you to hear/see remake X before he sees you, so you can often avoid him without even triggering a chase, which is part of why that's so good
in HG the enemies seem to not exist until VERY LOUD MUSIC and they're already chasing me
and they never struggled with guessing which room I went into even when there were multiple paths, they're only thrown off by hiding places, so I'm pretty sure they were programmed to just follow me instead of search for me
fresh bane
Oh they definitely exist, sound is super important I've noticed
More than once I've heard multiple footsteps at once, only to stop and realize I can hear the footsteps of Debilitas around since they're heavy stomps and sound very distinct before I get an encounter, the only times I've gotten an immediate encounter is when there's a ''scripted'' chase or if I enter a room and they happened to be there
slim thorn
interesting, maybe the footsteps are just too quiet for me to hear them in practice from far enough away to matter after part 1
fresh bane
Since I haven't managed to necessarily outrun Debilitas so far he always is right behind me as I enter a room so it makes sense he'd go into the room I'm hiding in, but so far I haven't actually gotten found but the game is supposed to make each hiding spot less effective each time, so I'm waiting for that to happen yet, so far all my hiding spots have worked
And the other way sound comes into play is definitely that the coast is clear message is a super lie, I've had that message pop up or even had the music die down completely before I hid in a spot only to find Debilitas stomping into the room again and the music starts blasting again, so you definitely need to wait until the normal music comes in instead of there being silence, because if there's just silence but no normal ambience music then they're definitely still looking and alert
at least that's what I've noticed so far
slim thorn
oh wait, I think it's more like after they lose you, they spend some time searching and then disappear a room or two away
fresh bane
this hole... it was made for me!
slim thorn
Since I haven't managed to necessarily outrun Debilitas so far he always is righ...
tbc this mostly matches my part 1 experience
in my case I don't think I ever noticed hiding spots becoming less effective because the only places where I had to re-hide enough times to matter were also the ones with only 1 or maybe 2 hiding spots available so of course they can't disable it or you're just softlocked
similar to how, maybe they truly are roaming around at all times, but if I could never see/hear/detect/predict them coming in practice (even with a second person watching to theorycraft enemy behavior with me) then it's a distinction without a difference
(with the exception of exiting a hiding spot after they lost me and were searching randomly, of course then I was hearing their footsteps, but IME only then)
fresh bane
oh damn, nice
slim thorn
ok, ~4 seconds of warning
fresh bane
that's actually a good example of why hanging around in one spot is not a good idea, they definitely make them spawn faster if you're just aimlessly hanging around, I thought Hewie was solving a puzzle in that hole which is why I stayed there but I guess I was wrong, I dunno what that was for
I thought he'd react negatively to being scolded but i guess if he's not obeying and just sitting around you just tell him to cut it off and he'll actually listen to you advanced dog mechanics
slim thorn
huh, that would fit, though unfortunately if that is a thing they did then wow did it backfire badly
gaunt marten
Digimon World 1 has a mechanic where if you scold your digimon it would become more obedient but hate you more, unless you scold it for a "valid" reason in which case it boosts both happiness and obedience
fresh bane
huh, that would fit, though unfortunately if that is a thing they did then wow d...
The increased chance of an encounter if you hang around a room too much or Hewie?
slim thorn
yeah, that part of the dog mechanics works quite well in HG, my Hewie was surprisingly obedient by the end of the game
slim thorn
The increased chance of an encounter if you hang around a room too much or Hewie...
the former
gaunt marten
It fun to abuse because you can tell the digimon to do something it would not do and then scold it, move a few steps and repeat until both are maxed out
fresh bane
Ah then yeah, definitely, although any ''puzzle'' luckily doesn't seem to be as complex as any puzzles you'd find in Dino Crisis or Resident Evil at least that I've encountered so far anyway
Off the top of my head what I thought would be the case and what I kinda think would work is giving you an area with puzzles that need solving, and then getting interrupted with a ''scripted'' chase sequence, scripted in the sense that the pursuer would be roaming around the place, then after successfully evading them they're fully gone either permanently or for a sufficient and somewhat clear amount of time so that you have a chance to maybe get more familiar with the place and solve any puzzles before you have to start worrying again about where they could be and what your next move should be
At least that's what I think would work just brainstorming some ideas here while I play, there definitely doesn't seem to be any timer of any sort in here that dictates you're safe to explore for a while after getting chased, if you go out the room immediately after you successfuly hid away, you will get found again
I'm probably gonna look up exactly how the mechanics of this game work, I'm sure some obsessed guy 10 years ago probably wrote an entire guide in some gaming forum with all the details, not necessarily to spoil me just I want to understand the specifics of the game and know what I'm doing here
slim thorn
I will reiterate that my issues really started in later parts of this game, you should probably keep playing for now and see if you have a similar experience later on
fresh bane
man that was a rough one
I had to look up what to even do because even though I had the right idea about the hole, Hewie wasn't retrieving anything and the location of the hole and the basement didn't really line up at all, so I thought clearly it can't be that right? So after I looked it up I realized, I had to put him in the hole, then I had to go down to the laundry room to meet him in the other side of the fence, which even though I half figured it out man is that confusing because that's not how things worked with Hewie so far
Then when I started trying to do it, that blue orb kept spawning and probably definitely attracting Debilitas and I kept trying to maneuver Hewie to get into the hole without making too much noise
slim thorn
ah, that one I figured out on my own, but it's a good example of a "puzzle" that you really don't want to get interrupted in the middle of
fresh bane
I'm usually not this bad about figuring out stuff like that, I was wondering if that was really all that was to do with that hole but I didn't know I had to 'store' Hewie in there and go around myself, at least not without giving me a clue or something, but maybe I'm too dumb
''wha-- where?! oh 
he's just over th-- OH MY GOD ''
slim thorn
I'm usually not this bad about figuring out stuff like that, I was wondering if ...
it's fine, I remember I tried a bunch of other things before I worked out the dog could do this
fresh bane
damn so he can just do that huh wow
on the one hand: great representation of intense panic
on the other hand: I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING
random steppe
My brain doesn't like that at all
fresh bane
holy hell this alchemy minigame thing fucking sucks 
I give up, I'm not doing that stupid minigame
I don't think I even need any of the items anyway
fresh bane
Oh wow the game has actual bosses too, alright
That was a fun one, it felt weirdly action-y the way you have to strategically know when to backstep and evade and when to throw hewie to attack so you can kick the chandelier straps, also that music I mean it fits but again weird tonal shift
river veldt
#Control - i like Ahti he's like a friendlier G-Man
fresh bane
Ahti's awesome
quiet swift
That's the ||janitor|| right
river veldt
ye
green fulcrum
God I'm f*cking DYING from this 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z77QooNRpvg
quiet swift
God I'm f*cking DYING from this <:cadancewheeze:761000388232347658> <:wheeze:633...
Reminds me of the channel Smii7T, I had tears of laughter while watching their Party Animals videos. Went to check... and yeah, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20KZPkLbXxE they have a few of these too. The cackles of these guys are so infectious
green fulcrum
I've seen a few SMii7Y videos, his group is funy af too
quiet swift
After watching 5 min of this one, this is definitely the energy I was looking for 
green fulcrum
The Regulation Podcast is made up of some former Rooster Teeth members (including Gavin Free and Geoff Ramsay), and all of them are agents of chaos (although some wear masks and try to be the mature adults in the room, but fail spectacularly).
Also, Rooster Teeth was highly regulated and corporate a lot of the time towards the end. Here, as the Regulation Podcast group, they can all actually enjoy playing games again, and play what they want rather than what the schedule says they must do.
Let's just say that by Rooster Teeth's end, the most they could get out of me was a small chuckle. Here, the guys at Regulation Podcast are very regularly making me laugh so hard I get headaches and need to catch my breath.
quiet swift
Ah, never got into any of those
chilly mural
I watched a lot of halo reach horse and plays of the week for rooster teeth back when reach was the latest halo game
quiet swift
I've not even really gotten into Smitty as a group, just the occasional game that I know looks a bit unhinged as a party game, they've been funny
The only group I do follow are these guys from mainly the UK. Main guy's channel, they did a bunch of funny WoW raid videos, they are pretty much the source of Among Us blowing up when the pandemic started too, and i've watched them since. https://www.youtube.com/@Kaiff
I mean, that description right there says it all
green fulcrum
If you want a super stupid and funny UK group, look up WorstPremadeEver. Those guys are fantastic.
slim thorn
I don't think I even need any of the items anyway
fwiw, I never needed the items either, the ones I picked up naturally I sometimes tried to use but quickly found they aren’t useful in practice besides basic health recovery
quiet swift
If you want a super stupid and funny UK group, look up WorstPremadeEver. Those g...
A few minutes in, this is pretty funny so far
Also what is that, a Half Life 2 mod that makes it like left for dead?
fresh bane
fwiw, I never needed the items either, the ones I picked up naturally I sometime...
I have found items pretty often too but I ended up going there anyways because I was going through the area with Daniella and I thought I'd probably need them, I ended up not needing them then but I definitely did a bit later, I totally cheated using the slowdown function of the emulator though... I tried doing it legit but it's legitimately an impossible minigame it's not even funny
these orb things were incredibly annoying to deal with, but I'll admit this whole puzzle thing where you have to guide one to the lamps is pretty creative, and also made me notice that the entire experience is completely seamless, no loading screens or going through door animations
quiet swift
fresh bane
and again, unconventional boss fights but pretty fun and strategic
also, 'coast clear', biggest lie ever told I knew the game would pull this at some point, that's why I stayed there for longer, I tried hiding there again and he found me then too so I guess that closet is just a fake safe spot
I guess I'll be finishing tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I'm almost at the end
I do wonder what some of the issues you mentioned are because maybe I just got lucky but so far... The experience has been pretty smooth, even after starting to run everywhere again and even after alerting Daniella which I later found out you could totally just do her entire section without ever encountering her if you just don't trigger any of her scenes like in the bathroom or the mirrored room with the furnace, she'll just stay put wherever she currently is
Hell I did the entire alchemy process thing and only encountered Riccardo like a couple times and I'm sure most were completely scripted
river veldt
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD comes out on the 16th omg
slim thorn
ultra graphics strikes again 
river veldt
what's wrong ?
slim thorn
the red gem is fully covered by the grass at the normal camera angle
green fulcrum
It was the final gem too lol
river veldt
sneaksy sneaksy
gaunt marten
Oh uh
gaunt marten
the red gem is fully covered by the grass at the normal camera angle
Did you know that you can press one of the analog sticks to find the nearest gem? Remaster only
slim thorn
yeah that's how we found this one
GT mentioned it pretty early, it's a big part of why I've been going for 100% gems on every level (except the S1 speedways)
slim thorn
and again, unconventional boss fights but pretty fun and strategic <:lyrathumbsu...
damn, you breezed through part 2 compared to my playthrough
slim thorn
these orb things were incredibly annoying to deal with, but I'll admit this whol...
I think part of it is that neither of us figured out the wisp thing until several deaths in that same area, can't even remember if we looked it up or not
slim thorn
finished El Paso Elsewhere btw
slim thorn
thanks to the youtube algorithm, I'm now familiar with the story of Hungrybox and the crab
wind stump
okay i know hungrybox is like, the jigglypuff player but what is this crab?
slim thorn
after one of hbox's wins, one of the audience members literally threw a crab at him
slim thorn
yeah, much of the video was about context for why that is sadly typical of that community, which was all new to me
slim thorn
ok, looks like I'm playing Soul Reaver Remastered this week after all
slim thorn
wow there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in this game, not sure what to even comment on
slim thorn
few things make you appreciate being a feeble meatbag irl than a game where you cannot get past the most basic doors in your non-physical form
random steppe
Yeah, stuff can't move in the spectral realm
slim thorn
the true 90s gaming experience: missing one random switch on a wall vital to progression, wandering all the way to the opposite end of the map in search of something else to do, then wandering back and finally finding it (without googling anything!)
the humans' reactions were interesting though
random steppe
The claw icon for interactions is new for the remaster btw
slim thorn
...oh my god
fresh bane
The good thing about the remasters is they added a button to find interactables in both versions of the game
random steppe
There is only one bit that is really easy to miss
fresh bane
Didn't use to have that luxury in the original
slim thorn
oh I don't think I've found that button yet, I've only seen the claw icon when I walk up to stuff
fresh bane
That's what I meant
random steppe
Like, to the point you can barely tell it's something you are supposed to interact with
wind stump
The clawwww
slim thorn
fortunately I did pick up on that
ok there does not appear to be a button to highlight all nearby interactables, maybe that was a miscommunication
random steppe
There is no game over either so the only way to lose progess is for the game to crash or you to close the game without saving, still..
slim thorn
I have been kinda half-testing if you can softlock yourself by going in weird directions
random steppe
Yeah I meant the interaction mark when you get close to things
That wasn't on the original game
There isn't a "Here you can interact with all of these things" button you can press that would show that at a distance
slim thorn
ok cool we're on the same page about that bit
I do not want to have to think about trying to play a game like this without even that mark
unrelated
is it just me or is Raziel super classist
random steppe
I mean, do you know a vampire that isn't?
wind stump
Alucard.
Sophie from Ms. Vampire Who Lives in my Neighbourhood.
Flandre Scarlet
Alexa, define rhetorical
random steppe
I feel like Alucard is classist as fuck
fresh bane
To be fair, you have to take into consideration Raziel only knows Vampires to be what he was in the beginning and his master
By comparison the vampires you find all this time later seem more like monsters
random steppe
Isn't he like, a nobleman from the 1400s?
fresh bane
Remember to press start and save
Important to note everytime you load back up you will always spawn in the beginning room, there are a lot of teleportation gates throughough the map so make sure to find each in every area you visit so you keep backtracking manually to an absolute minimum
No loading screens during warping btw
slim thorn
I did figure out the admittedly jank UI for dimension flipping and fast traveling
and I've activated... four? fast travel gates already, that's a habit beaten into me by every other video game ever
wind stump
ah so you're saying Alucard is only a good guy because of daddy issues
random steppe
You getting teleported at the start when you quit is pretty handy too sometimes
fresh bane
Yep I've used that to quickly leave areas when I was collecting all items
random steppe
If you have a pretty loose definition of good guy
wind stump
well i was thinking mostly the SoTN Alucard, i'unno about Netflix Castlevania... or stuff outside Castlevania.
Flan is still valid tho, she's not classist
slim thorn
I don't recall Netflix Alucard having any particular bias issues
random steppe
I was legit just thinking about Hellsing
slim thorn
even after saving the world was no longer on the table, the worst I recall him doing was being a self-pitying loner instead of figuring out wtf to do with himself
wind stump
oh neat, you can manage mods straight from Steam menus rather than having to go into workshop
fresh bane
damn, you breezed through part 2 compared to my playthrough
Daniella's section was way chiller than I anticipated though I think it's thanks to each new area being way smaller than the first one and progress is much clearer since there's only the one way to go and less backtracking
fresh bane
finished El Paso Elsewhere btw
I'll have to install that again and finish it, I left off like halfway through, game is longer than it looks
fresh bane
wow there is a _lot_ of interesting stuff going on in this game, not sure what t...
Hopefully good things 
slim thorn
I'll have to install that again and finish it, I left off like halfway through, ...
took me... "9.7 hours" to do all ||50|| chapters, fwiw
slim thorn
Daniella's section was way chiller than I anticipated though I think it's thanks...
that is not how I remember HG part 2 lol
part 2 is smaller in the sense that the rooms and hallways are more cramped (which probably contributed to my chase loop problem), but it was slightly more complex to navigate and progress through, albeit both parts are straightforward enough when you're being left alone
slim thorn
Hopefully good things <:starlightstare:399725090645737472>
atm mostly "good" and "I hope this will be good but ofc I can't judge it this early" and "lol 90's jank"
anyway I'll be streaming SR in quiet VC if anyone cares
fresh bane
did you get through a boss yet? 
visual hill
Did you know that you can press one of the analog sticks to find the nearest gem...
TIL, thanks for mentioning it
slim thorn
stopped that session after tagging the cathedral(?) warp gate, which yes is after the first boss
visual hill
yeah, much of the video was about context for _why_ that is sadly typical of tha...
I remember last year when hbox did a forward throw on a chair... in real life
slim thorn
unfortunately I had to look up how to do the boss because despite wandering around the arena 10+ times I never saw the gaps in the walls, and the crank existing yet not turning felt like I was missing some unexplained nuance of the control scheme (but it turns out I just wasn't supposed to use the crank yet)
visual hill
my locals never have that kind of thing going on, the stakes are too low
but the big FGC scene thrives on trashtalk and "storylines"
slim thorn
yeah, not my thing
visual hill
probably more so than the rest of esports due to the focus on 1v1
wind stump
and also like
literally fighting
fresh bane
unfortunately I had to look up how to do the boss because despite wandering arou...
Ah yeah it took me a second to figure it out myself but once I saw I could jump past the gates and I could open and close them I pretty much knew what to do then
I wasn't looking at the stream maybe I could've helped with a hint or something
I did just 100% the game so I know where stuff is
Maybe I could help with the cathedral, I got super stuck with a specific puzzle there but maybe you won't have trouble with it
slim thorn
no yeah it was easy once I saw the gaps in the walls, I just literally never saw them when I was looking around before
my only explanation is that the draw distance is about five feet in this game and I'm not used to having to account for that when looking around a room while being chased
fresh bane
Oh yeah they didn't touch the draw distance for the remaster
Which I'm actually glad because for the first game it adds tons of atmosphere but also it makes it so that even when you're in a boss room if it's big enough you will not be able to see all of it
They did add skyboxes though
slim thorn
I will definitely be conscious of that issue next time
fresh bane
It's not a big issue for the rest of the bosses but for exploration.... Yeah
The last boss has a very funny issue separate from the draw distance though that I had to annoyingly deal with but I wonder if you'll get it too lol
fresh bane
very helpful map
minor plover
looks chaotic
fresh bane
well it wasn't that chaotic in the end...
Fiona I know this is a very stressful situation and all but I'm gonna need you to stop passing out at the most inopportune moments
Oh... that's just straight up the answer to a puzzle... hidden away in the memos
hm
bold sonnet
I don't play videos because I want to play this game some time. It gives Silent Hill vibes and I'm all for it 💝
fresh bane
well that's two games in a row now I've played with a planetarium style area
ohh.... oh this is gonna be some bullshit
Oh okay thank god if you order Hewie to 'go' he'll stand on the next platform
fresh bane
''I know writers who use subtext and they're all COWARDS''
jeeez again what are this girl's legs made out of? kicking down walls and rubble, shins of steel
aaahah there he is, so that's how you're supposed to know where hewie goes
lol wow okay so when you know what to do this fight is not even a fight at all
my first attempt was more ordering Hewie to attack over and over then Hewie gets downed so I just start running in circles like a complete idiot until I realize ''hey that wall there looks weirdly differently colored and texture from the rest...'' and then I just reset and tried again in shame
I'll give myself some credit though, at least I figured out a way to play footsies with the boss by using the RE3 style evade and immediately attacking for a tackle, then dodging and trying to kick or do that again
does it actually do any damage to the boss? I have no idea, but it feels cool to pull off
fresh bane
sheesh this game really knows how to make you uncomfortable huh
lol Fiona the engineer
''this machine ain't working? just give it a little kick or two it'll work like it's brand new ''
|| and, of course, that's where my frail old disgusting pursuer is gonna go into... ||
hushed onyx
Good old percussive maintenance...
fresh bane
It's a real thing, it works!
worthy rose
river veldt
i thought that already existed it's called Starship Troopers
random steppe
I love the game as much as the next guy but IDK if the franchise has the depth for that
Unless it's a comedy, if it's a comedy it 100% can work
rotund forge
Unless it's a comedy, if it's a comedy it 100% can work
Be like the DnD movie
rancid herald
...it'll star Chris Pine?
quartz pawn
''I know writers who use subtext and they're all **COWARDS**''
when the guy with the speech impediment wants to go into your room
fresh bane
lol alright
wh-- stealth camo?????
oh also I got my threads back
well, sans the boots...
I can't believe she refers to the other outfit by its outfit title lol that's insane
bold sonnet
fresh bane
aaaaand that's tiiiiime
Haunting Grounds finished
green fulcrum
Unless it's a comedy, if it's a comedy it 100% can work
It'd work better as a comedy/military/adventure series following a squad of Helldivers that sticks to three main characters and occasionally rotates out the fourth member without any of them noticing just as a running gag, and all of them jump from planet to planet trying to be the heroes of some big story, but really they're just extremely lucky idiots.
quiet swift
"MEDIC!"
fresh bane
woah hold on a second
ufotable???
huh
the ufotable?
huh yeah sure enough, that's the ufotable logo
cool
jesus christ capcom, really.... yeah I'm not even gonna show those
well that was haunting ground, that was pretty good
slim thorn
aaahah there he is, so that's how you're supposed to know where hewie goes
ironically on this one I did figure out what they wanted me to do, but it didn't work the first few times I tried it, so I spent a lot of time trying other things until I gave up and googled a video
slim thorn
well that was haunting ground, that was pretty good
yeah it sounds like you had infinitely better luck than I did with all the jank and design issues that got in the way of the intended experience
Rule of Rose was similar for me, in that I like what it's trying to do, but a bunch of implementation and execution issues kept dragging it down into something I can't seriously recommend except for historical interest
bitter stream
good luck with Soul reaver Ixrec!
I don't have the energy to watch atm, but wanted to say so
slim thorn
Hopefully good things <:starlightstare:399725090645737472>
ok I feel like rambling more today
The #1 thing I'm liking about this is how they implemented the spectral and material realms. Plenty of games have a mechanic of swapping between two worlds for puzzle solving, but there's a lot of unique details with this dual world that are new to me and also... surprisingly immersive? It really feels like somebody thought about the lore they wanted their fictional vampire fantasy world to have before thinking about how to turn it into game mechanics.
To make that concrete for the non-Soul Reaver players: in this game you can't die. If you run out of health in the material realm, you're just forced back to the spectral realm; there is no dying/respawning per se. Being in the spectral realm makes most objects non-interactable, even disabling gravity for those objects (see screenshot of this floating pot), and disables water physics (which is relevant to navigation since material water is lethal). Along with the usual different enemies and platforms and stuff you'd expect.
#2 would be Raziel's design. Before playing this myself, all the footage I saw in the past made me think he was just some emo kid with blue skin , but the opening cutscenes putting it proper context and highlighting all the anatomical wrongness of it immediately made me share his revulsion at his new form and frustration at Kain for doing this to him. By the time he flipped his cloak into a scarf I was thinking "good idea, that's a big improvement" lol.
#3 is just the self-serious, antiquated, bombastic way everyone talks with zero irony. An odd side effect of not playing this until 2025 is that it's downright refreshing that they all take themselves 100% seriously while talking this way But it is perfectly appropriate for the setting of course.
now there's also plenty of jank, and ways that later games improved on a lot of these systems (e.g. I can't even honestly call this game's "map" a real map compared to what modern game maps can do), but that's probably all stuff anyone would expect going into an old game remaster so not really worth discussing in detail
random steppe
The map does a couple of things that the original game lacked completely
A checklist of stuff you still have to get
And it puts the locations you visit in a better spatial relation with each other
slim thorn
yeah, the checklist is the main thing it does do
random steppe
Keep in mind, the game lacked the compass as well in the original game
slim thorn
that'll be nice when I'm far enough in the game to actually hunt for items
random steppe
So when you get to the swirling vortex and Raziel goes "gotta go east" everyone was "the hell you are on about bud?"
slim thorn
yeah, the cutscene does show which way is west when he says that, but if you missed/forgot that shot then you're out of luck without the remaster's compass
random steppe
Yeah it does show it, but at least when I was a kid I heard the cardinal direction, my brain went "West, yeah well, let's open the map to figure out where that is" and by the time I realised that wasn't an option whatever was shown me already left my mind
Not like there are other obvious directions to go to, it's not a massive deal, but it's a lot better that they added the few tools for that to not even be a problem anymore
slim thorn
I did end up trying every other direction in that area but only after I got stuck in the intended area lol
right now I'm semi-stuck in upper cathedral...
...or not
why did hitting this bell not trigger that cutscene the first time
slim thorn
of course there's an audio puzzle 
even after looking up the answer I have no idea why it was the answer
random steppe
You mean to open the ||lids?||
slim thorn
yeah
random steppe
It's like, not really much of a puzzle, you just to open two of the 3 IIRC
It's always been trial and error for me
slim thorn
it does seem like nobody has a clue why it's those 2
random steppe
There are 3 possible combinations, it doesn't take much to try them out to be fair
slim thorn
in my specific case I got stuck there because I found both sets of 3, tried opening every lid, and one glass bubble broke "after opening 5 lids"
I had no idea the two sets of 3 were two separate "puzzles" for separate glass bubbles until googling this
random steppe
Oh, makes sense
slim thorn
this whole cathedral area seems to be riddled with "you missed an interactable/puzzle five rooms ago" situations, it's sadly unplayable without a guide
really makes you appreciate the Zelda style of dungeons where most rooms are mostly independent of each other so you know when you're done with each part
it must've been horrible without even the claw marker
random steppe
Bawk in mah days we ran around the creepy spider catedral until we found them puzzles
slim thorn
on the other hoof
I like the look of this boss+arena
cool, figured out boss 2 on my own
random steppe
Congrats ||for cooking your brother eggs||
slim thorn
And it puts the locations you visit in a better spatial relation with each other
hm, tbh it's not even managing that; there are times when I take a few steps to the side and the region it thinks I'm in changes to the opposite end of the map, so I end up convinced the map is wrong but unsure which part is since it only gives a region
slim thorn
so, switching dimensions is Select then X, but Select is showing what looks like a wheel of several things to select from, even though I have only one thing; am I missing something important there?
random steppe
I wouldn't say important, but yeah, those things can be filled if you stumble on certain locations
Do you want the spoiler about what they are or you prefer stumbling on it yourself?
slim thorn
if it's not important let's leave it unspoiled for now
I was more worried that it'd turn into a blocker later
random steppe
Whatever it is it's totally optional, I will say this much
slim thorn
I'm guessing it's related to that one map waypoint I have no idea how I got and isn't one of the fast travel areas
fresh bane
The #1 thing I'm liking about this is how they implemented the spectral and mate...
Of course someone though about the world building and lore before making the game, Soul Reaver is a direct sequel to Blood Omen, a fame that famously focuses on very rich lore and world building
slim thorn
which I knew absolutely nothing about until you posted some clips!
fresh bane
#3 is just the self-serious, antiquated, bombastic way everyone talks with zero ...
A recurring joke people say about these games is that you play them and come out knowing a lot more english because of how... Verbose the characters are
gaunt marten
I learned English thanks to playing Final Fantasy
slim thorn
did that lead to any notable vocabulary or phrasing quirks
fresh bane
The original concept for the game was called Shifter early in development, supposedly the Legacy of Kain stuff got added in on top later, but really it was decided early on so it's not like they just lazily slapped it on top of an already existing game
gaunt marten
No because I kept my media diet varied
I did run into a mystery my parents and dictionary couldn't solve
The word "draw" for FF8 draw points where you would absorb spells from locations that had a lot of magic
Took me years to eventually figure it out because googling it wasn't a thing
fresh bane
why did hitting this bell not trigger that cutscene the first time
Hah! You did encounter this problem too
Ah yes the cathedral experience....
Where many kids got so confused they dropped the game because they didn't know what to do
slim thorn
indeed, that's almost certainly where I would've had to give up if I played it guideless back then
fresh bane
I'll try to be present to try and help for next time, but I'm not going to lie I also looked up a walkthrough to quickly look at specific puzzles I got stuck on and see how the person was doing them, usually I'd either completely get it right but didn't do it the way the game wanted (the bells) or I completely missed pieces of the puzzle completely (the pipes you have to push for activating the air in the cathedral)
slim thorn
I also had to look up the pipes
I still don't know what the other 2(?) bells were for
actually I got kinda close with pipes, because I managed to activate one all on my own but then it just kinda failed to raise me enough and I couldn't tell if I was missing some nuance of the glide controls, or if I was supposed to whack the inside of the tube in midair (it looked like a giant bell) but no turns out it was only 1/3rd active and I needed more pipes and valves in totally different rooms
fresh bane
The two bells you have to ring to destroy the glass wall so you can pull the lever and then in spectral mode go into the moving wall in the other side of the room
fresh bane
actually I got kinda close with pipes, because I managed to activate one all on ...
I had completely and entirely missed that any other pipes existed so I had no clue what to do either for a good bit
slim thorn
which is really ironic because it's clearly a cluster of 3 pipes pushing you up, with better graphics it would've been visually obvious that only 1/3 was working
slim thorn
The two bells you have to ring to destroy the glass wall so you can pull the lev...
wait wait wait wait WAIT, two bells to destroy the glass wall?
fresh bane
Yeah the two bells sitting opposite to each other in the area that you glide up into
slim thorn
I only rang one to destroy the glass...
fresh bane
You hit one then run all the way to the other, hit that, destroys the glass wall
slim thorn
ok so that puzzle is just utterly broken lol
fresh bane
I'm gonna be honest I had to look up how to make that one work because I couldn't figure it out and when I did all I found was I just needed to get good and do it faster, I had to use specific movement to maximize my speed to hit the other bell in time for it to work
The cathedral is definitely gonna be a... Memorable area for you