August 2023 Random Game Thoughts Thread

[Brian Boru]

AND…

You watched a beaver take a shower!

*shudder*

 

[Zloth]

Options are a Good Thing!

Oh, are they?

Options - Having Your Cake & Eating It, Too!

Options are a wonderful way to widen a game's appeal. Graphic options let you tailor a game's graphics to fit your system's capabilities and your own tastes (depth of field OFF!). Difficulty settings let you tailor the game to your own skills and even mood. Gameplay settings let you customize...

forums.pcgamer.com

 

[Brian Boru]

Oh, are they?

Yep, it was my tag line even back then—see post #8

 

[ZedClampet]

Oh, are they?

Options - Having Your Cake & Eating It, Too!

Options are a wonderful way to widen a game's appeal. Graphic options let you tailor a game's graphics to fit your system's capabilities and your own tastes (depth of field OFF!). Difficulty settings let you tailor the game to your own skills and even mood. Gameplay settings let you customize...

forums.pcgamer.com

Options are awesome. I just now, moments ago, was deciding between 3 games and bought the one that talked about its wide array of options in the description of the game (Farthest Frontier).

Options are a great thing for the player. If I start a game that's new to me, and I'm not sure for some reason how an option is going to impact the game, then I'll leave it alone to start with. I think most players who are afraid of options (I've never met any myself) would simply skip them. There may be some games where character creation is intimidating, and the beginning of Football Manager is a nightmare for people who don't understand soccer, but that's not the kind of options we're talking about.

And options are great for the developer, as well, as it opens up their games to a much larger audience. Doesn't matter if it requires more work, and most of the games that I play with small to one person development teams seem to have the most options in their games (It is definitely NOT the case that AAA games have more options. This I know for a fact. Other than graphics options, which is not what we're talking about, AAA games only options are usually Easy, Normal or Hard. Contact was a great exception). If you design your game for options from the beginning, I suspect it isn't much more work at all, as opposed to having to add an option later due to customer demand. Take Total War games as an example. I mod those pretty often, which is similar to giving options, and it never takes more than a few minutes because that's the way the game was designed. Same with Farming Simulator. I can change the whole game around by playing with the files, and it takes little time or effort on my part. It's because the game was specifically designed for flexibility. Both of those developers use their own engines, though.

IMO options are all good and no bad.

 

[Brian Boru]

AAA games only options are usually Easy, Normal or Hard. Contact was a great exception

Agree with all that, but add 4X games into the lots of options category. I don't know Civ6 well enough yet, but it has loads. Civ4 BtS has approx:
♣ 9 Difficulties;
♦ ~15 map types and 5-6 map sizes;
♥ ~20 civs and ~30 leaders to mix and match—you can even cross-mix, eg have Lincoln as leader of Egypt, or randomize leader personalities;
♠ Always war, always peace, peace but war possible;
♣ 7 victory conditions;
♦ At lease 4 major peaceful economy choices;
♥ Barbarians absent, present or raging;
♠ Start game in any of the eras;
♣ Tech trading and/or brokering allowed or not;
♦ Presence or absence of Vassal States, Tribal Villages, Perm Alliances, Random Events, Espionage;
♥ 4 game speeds;
♠ ~4 climate choices;
♣ However many opponents you want, random or chosen.

As far as I know, Firaxis balances the Civ games for a default set of conditions—ie 'Normal' everything'—and the options are there to supply a massive playground. Then we have all the mods…

But yeah, it's a difficult topic to reach any conclusions on

 

[ZedClampet]

Agree with all that, but add 4X games into the lots of options category. I don't know Civ6 well enough yet, but it has loads. Civ4 BtS has approx:
♣ 9 Difficulties;
♦ ~15 map types and 5-6 map sizes;
♥ ~20 civs and ~30 leaders to mix and match—you can even cross-mix, eg have Lincoln as leader of Egypt, or randomize leader personalities;
♠ Always war, always peace, peace but war possible;
♣ 7 victory conditions;
♦ At lease 4 major peaceful economy choices;
♥ Barbarians absent, present or raging;
♠ Start game in any of the eras;
♣ Tech trading and/or brokering allowed or not;
♦ Presence or absence of Vassal States, Tribal Villages, Perm Alliances, Random Events, Espionage;
♥ 4 game speeds;
♠ ~4 climate choices;
♣ However many opponents you want, random or chosen.

As far as I know, Firaxis balances the Civ games for a default set of conditions—ie 'Normal' everything'—and the options are there to supply a massive playground. Then we have all the mods…

But yeah, it's a difficult topic to reach any conclusions on

I'm an idiot, so take this for its full value (nothing), but certain traditional PC genres like 4X, cRPGs, and management tycoon games--for instance--I never really considered to be AAA. I always put them in their own category as just PC games, and this has persisted even after they've long since gone mainstream. I have to remind myself that most people lump them into the AAA category these days.

However, there are now a lot of 4x games that look just as good as Civ that most people still wouldn't call AAA because they aren't made by huge studios like Firaxis, which seems to me like it's kind of missing the point.

Anyway, there was no point to all of that. Just writing out more random thoughts.

 

[Brian Boru]

Seems there's also a "III" (Triple-I) designation for some indies!

AAA (video game industry) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Waits for genitalia sliders in the next Civ game

 

[Brian Boru]

@Kaamos_Llama Er, Um… would you pile 'em on a platter for a get-together or double 'em up for a fun weeknight main?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

 

[Pifanjr]

I've played some more Fallout 4 today, but I've started to get a bit bored with the game. Or maybe it's my built specifically. Most of my perk points have been spent on crafting, lockpicking, hacking and increasing the damage of my guns, but those perks don't really feel interesting. The only interesting perk I have is the one that allows you to hack robots, which has been pretty fun.

I've also gotten to the point where loot is mostly worthless. I've been exploring every nook and cranny of every location out of habit, but 90% of it is literally junk and I'm pretty sure I have more crafting supplies than I'll ever need. And since I put so many levels in crafting, I never find an upgrade to the weapons I already use. Even the legendary stuff I find is almost all useless. I only occasionally find some armour with better base stats than what I'm wearing and the occasional magazine, most of which feel pretty underwhelming as well.

I did finally make it to Diamond City and continued the main quest, which was surprisingly interesting. I can't remember the last time a Bethesda main quest actually made me want to see more of it instead of making me want to wander off into the wilderness. I might just grab my fat man and all the mini nukes I've found so far and rush through the main quest line, then either start a new character with a more interesting build or play a different game.

 

[ZedClampet]

I've played some more Fallout 4 today, but I've started to get a bit bored with the game. Or maybe it's my built specifically. Most of my perk points have been spent on crafting, lockpicking, hacking and increasing the damage of my guns, but those perks don't really feel interesting. The only interesting perk I have is the one that allows you to hack robots, which has been pretty fun.

I've also gotten to the point where loot is mostly worthless. I've been exploring every nook and cranny of every location out of habit, but 90% of it is literally junk and I'm pretty sure I have more crafting supplies than I'll ever need. And since I put so many levels in crafting, I never find an upgrade to the weapons I already use. Even the legendary stuff I find is almost all useless. I only occasionally find some armour with better base stats than what I'm wearing and the occasional magazine, most of which feel pretty underwhelming as well.

I did finally make it to Diamond City and continued the main quest, which was surprisingly interesting. I can't remember the last time a Bethesda main quest actually made me want to see more of it instead of making me want to wander off into the wilderness. I might just grab my fat man and all the mini nukes I've found so far and rush through the main quest line, then either start a new character with a more interesting build or play a different game.

You can eventually get all the perks, etc. in Fallout 4 because there's no level cap. Personally, though, I liked how they did all of this in Fallout 76 where you could respec as much as you liked. Leveling was harder, but being able to create different set-ups was very fun.

By the way, you can respec in Fallout 4 with a console command if you don't mind cheating a little. It's not a simple respec command, though, you have to give yourself the individual perks and stats.

A better solution is probably the Quick Player Respec mod.

 

[ZedClampet]

So much for the idea that huge, massively complex AAA games can't be patched quickly. Larian has patched BG3 twice today and 3 times since I bought the game a couple of days ago.

 

[neogunhero]

I love having multiple options in games and the ones where you can fine tune the difficulty is awesome. No Man’s Sky is my most recent experience with this where you had full control of almost all aspects of the game. I turned down combat, increased how much crafting materials I gathered, decreased the amount of materials needed for crafting, and more along those lines. I made a truly custom difficulty setting and it was perfect to how I wanted to play the game. I think the recent Assassin’s Creed games and Ghost Recon Breakpoint does this as well. It is a nice departure from the standard “Easy - Medium - Hard” options and I believe it allows players of any and all skill levels to approach the game how they want to experience it. Hardcore gamers can turn up the difficulty to create a play style that is very challenging, and easy-going players can make the game more relaxing and quicker to reap rewards. I hope this becomes more and more commonplace for games in the future as it makes the game more accessible to more people.

 

[mainer]

Looks like I was wrong (again). I haven't read this article because I'm avoiding spoilers, but I thought you might want to see it:

Baldur's Gate 3 is the horniest RPG I've ever played and honestly it's a bit much

Everyone wants to bone and I'm shy.

www.pcgamer.com

As a counter point to that article, there was this one:

Baldur's Gate 3 is the horniest RPG I've ever played and I love it

I'm too thirsty to fight mind flayers today, sorry.

www.pcgamer.com

Personally, I think the whole this is a bit overblown, as it's really a very small part of the game, but so many people (especially in the Steam Forums) seem fixated with it. I've only had to conversation/encounters like that so far, and I politely declined and that was the end of it. I know who I want to have a relationship with, but she's only a bit neutral towards me at the moment.

But whether you indulge or not, it still seems like a very small percentage of the actual gameplay.

 

[Zloth]

The final mission for Marvel's Midnight Suns DLC was kicking my tailpipe last night.

The real kicker was that I was getting really close to beating the final boss, so I kept trying. In this game, when you restart a battle, the random seeds aren't changed, so you'll still get the same cards in the same order. On the one hand, this is a great help because you'll know what cards are coming for as long as your memory holds out. On the other hand, if some cards you're depending on didn't show up, they aren't going to show up no matter how many times you restart the battle. I got some cards toward the start that really weren't helping me out so much, but restarts let me optimize my strategy. I made a lot of progress and even got to the point where I needed just ONE more play to win, but I didn't have it, and it was time to start over yet again.

I ended up loading up a save from before the mission started, lowering the difficulty a notch, and going in again with the same loadout as before. I didn't really want to do that before because this is a two-part mission (you have to beat a sub-boss in one battle to be allowed to fight the final boss) and that battle was pretty rough for me. With the difficulty lowered, though, I ripped through the sub-boss and then pulverized the main boss with only one hero getting KO'd.

Afterward, there was a party by the pool. Deadpool made tacos, which everyone loved. My custom character didn't get any because Firaxis hates their customers.

 

[Pifanjr]

You can eventually get all the perks, etc. in Fallout 4 because there's no level cap. Personally, though, I liked how they did all of this in Fallout 76 where you could respec as much as you liked. Leveling was harder, but being able to create different set-ups was very fun.

By the way, you can respec in Fallout 4 with a console command if you don't mind cheating a little. It's not a simple respec command, though, you have to give yourself the individual perks and stats.

A better solution is probably the Quick Player Respec mod.

Thank you for the information, but for some reason the idea of respeccing my character now feels wrong. It clashes with my idea of who my character is and I can't change that in the middle of a game.

I think instead I'll try switching it up by bringing a gun with a suppressor with me, so I'll be able to sneak more. I put quite a lot of points in sneaking, but that doesn't help much if the entire area gets alerted as soon as I fire the first shot. It's good enough for sniping from a distance, but it doesn't work inside buildings most of the time.

 

[ZedClampet]

Thank you for the information, but for some reason the idea of respeccing my character now feels wrong. It clashes with my idea of who my character is and I can't change that in the middle of a game.

I think instead I'll try switching it up by bringing a gun with a suppressor with me, so I'll be able to sneak more. I put quite a lot of points in sneaking, but that doesn't help much if the entire area gets alerted as soon as I fire the first shot. It's good enough for sniping from a distance, but it doesn't work inside buildings most of the time.

I've never tied my RP identity to a playstyle, so that feels kind of foreign to me

 

[Pifanjr]

I got a suppressed 10mm pistol for close range and a suppressed pipe rifle for longer range in Fallout 4. It's a pretty big improvement, though I feel like enemies get alerted quicker than they did in the earlier games. Even if they haven't spotted you they will go to where you shot from and even start shooting in your direction.

I also found a use for the bottle caps I've collected: I bought a gauss rifle and some ammo for it. It's not much ammo, so I'll have to save it for when I really need it. It already came in handy once when I entered a room and was confronted with a boss in power armour and 4 of his goons. A critical headshot from my combat rifle did maybe 20% damage, but a single shot of the gauss rifle finished him off.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've never tied my RP identity to a playstyle, so that feels kind of foreign to me

It seems I'm not the only one who feels like this. From this article:

I started Baldur's Gate 3 over from scratch after 20 hours and I have no regrets

Confessions of a chronic re-roller.

www.pcgamer.com

Now, Baldur's Gate 3 has its respec system, but that just doesn't feel right for this drastic a change. I like to use the respec system to hone the finer points of a character build, attempting different variations of Paladin or combinations of Rogue and Ranger, but staying with a theme. When it comes to making a full 180 on a character, I have to get that clean break: not just my same guy as before, reconfigured, but a completely new guy. I don't know about you, but I like to make up backstories in my head for all my dudes, and I just couldn't reconcile shifting rails from John Q. Paladin to Thiefy McHunter on the same guy.

 

[ZedClampet]

It seems I'm not the only one who feels like this. From this article:

I started Baldur's Gate 3 over from scratch after 20 hours and I have no regrets

Confessions of a chronic re-roller.

www.pcgamer.com

Oh, I know lots of people do it. Just not me. I like to be as flexible as possible and change my style up whenever the urge hits.

 

[ZedClampet]

So much for the idea that huge, massively complex AAA games can't be patched quickly. Larian has patched BG3 twice today and 3 times since I bought the game a couple of days ago.

Another patch today.

Okay, I'll stop now

 

[ZedClampet]

Do you ever discover "the trick" for something in a game and think, "Wow, it's true. I actually am the biggest idiot."

 

[Brian Boru]

Do you ever discover "the trick" for something in a game and think, "Wow, it's true. I actually am the biggest idiot."

My first Far Cry 6 playthrus, you'll find posts from me dissing the sidearm as irrelevant & useless.

Last playthru 1-2 months ago, my posts built a shrine to the Desert Eagle. That what you mean?

Or when I first encountered a wingsuit, many years ago, and kept going straight down. "Hey Brian, you need to keep pressing the W key after you launch—it's not a toggle, ya know?"

 

[Pifanjr]

Do you ever discover "the trick" for something in a game and think, "Wow, it's true. I actually am the biggest idiot."

No, I always blame the developers, they should have made their game idiot-proof