December 2023 General Discussion Thread

[neogunhero]

Some cool announcements at TGA last night.

View: https://youtu.be/WBUFL1IA2wo

World of Goo 2 is perhaps one of my most anticipated games of the bunch last night, I used to play the first one so much on my Wii. Definitely a childhood favorite of mine.

View: https://youtu.be/Er0lEy6ufeI

I was really digging this! I love the juxtaposition of a realistic looking world mixed with silly, “My First Blender Project”-esque looking characters and buildings. It has a whimsical adventure feeling, and I really want to give it a shot.

View: https://youtu.be/basLDO2bj2k

I love the goth edginess of the Blade movies, and the tone and art style of this trailer captured it for me. I love Arkane but we all know their legacy has been tainted by their last few titles, so in a way I’m hoping they can redeem themselves with this one.

There were a few other titles that looked cool, like Hello Games’ new Earth sized open world coop adventure. Besides that, not a whole lot of announcements captured my interest that well.

 

[neogunhero]

With my internet being down last night I decided to play some more Vampire Survivors. Currently at 51% achievements, 101 total unlocked, and I just keep checking what I haven’t unlocked yet and going for that whenever I play. I don’t recommend to play that game in a dimly lit room however, it was starting to hurt my eyes with how crazy things were getting. I purposely went with characters and items I don’t normally use and I unlocked 3 new evolutions last night. The Pentagram sucks at first, it destroys EVERYTHING in sight, even items and chests, once every minute or so. As you upgrade it the cooldown gets shorter and you get a percentage to not have items disappear. Eventually I evolved it to something I forgot what it’s called, but when it goes, it kills all enemies but creates new gems and automatically collects everything. It was cool and interesting to see, particularly because it produces different colored gems that you wouldn't see otherwise without the evo. Got to level 135 before the 30 min timer ran out with the Garlic Grandpa Poe. Can’t wait for the Among Us DLC, not because I’m an Among Us fan (I’ve never played it), but because it means new characters, levels and items

 

[BeardyHat]

Played around 7 hours of Alien: Isolation now and I'm feeling a little meh on the game. I think I like it? I kind of want to keep playing, but more than scared, I feel annoyed. I understand why they've designed the game the way they have, but the tension of the game feels largely artificial; my tension is ramped up when the Alien or other enemies are around because I'm worried about losing progress, not about being killed. The save points are decently spaced out, but it feels like there's times where I'm getting killed and then have to repeat stuff to get back to where I was and then rush, rush, rush to find the next save point so I don't lose progress.

Lending to this artificial feel is the fact that I don't feel like there's really any "skill" in evading the Alien or any other enemy. The Alien just seems to mostly wander aimlessly and always seems to be put right where you are, even when there seems to be no reason for it; like, I've just evaded the Alien and moved several rooms over and am being very quiet, but the Alien shows up anyway and begins stalking the area. I feel like the game might feel a little less artificial to me if this wasn't the case and there were more instances where I'm bumping into something, shooting a gun, doing something to really make the thing actually come to me; it just feels random and forced.

Then you have Androids, which are pretty scary, but all they do is wander around aimlessly. In Thief, I feel like I'm mapping a Guards path and patrol route in my head, in Alien, I can't. The Androids just move about and aren't doing anything; they move, stare at a wall or off in the distance for awhile and then move again and on and on.

Maybe I'm just being nitpicky. I love the atmosphere, the design, the graphics and the story is fun and interesting so far, but I just end-up feeling annoyed much of the time and again the tension I feel feels unwarranted. I'm not worried about getting caught because dying is scary, I'm worried about getting caught and having to repeat my steps from the last 10 minutes.

 

[neogunhero]

Played around 7 hours of Alien: Isolation now and I'm feeling a little meh on the game. I think I like it?

…the tension of the game feels largely artificial…

Ah man, I played this when it first came out and loved it! Then I went back to it just a few years ago and felt the exact same way… When it was new, perhaps I was so invested in the world and graphics that I believed the Alien really was reacting to my every move, but the second time I played it I noticed a lot more of its flaws. What you said about the Alien just appearing randomly in the rooms you’re in is spot on. You could evade it and be as quiet as a mouse, but the Alien will still show up if the game decides it should be there. This made me lose all sense of horror, and instead got increasingly frustrated with it.

The Androids were pretty funny on my second playthrough. I got good at just running from them, enough to where I could hide because I knew I was being too loud. Then the Alien would appear, leave, rinse and repeat.

Overall I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game, it’s just specifically the Alien AI that ruins the magic of what it was supposed to be. The graphics, story, voice acting, and audio design are all great. I can still hear the scanner’s beeps…

 

[BeardyHat]

Ah man, I played this when it first came out and loved it! Then I went back to it just a few years ago and felt the exact same way… When it was new, perhaps I was so invested in the world and graphics that I believed the Alien really was reacting to my every move, but the second time I played it I noticed a lot more of its flaws. What you said about the Alien just appearing randomly in the rooms you’re in is spot on. You could evade it and be as quiet as a mouse, but the Alien will still show up if the game decides it should be there. This made me lose all sense of horror, and instead got increasingly frustrated with it.

The Androids were pretty funny on my second playthrough. I got good at just running from them, enough to where I could hide because I knew I was being too loud. Then the Alien would appear, leave, rinse and repeat.

Overall I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game, it’s just specifically the Alien AI that ruins the magic of what it was supposed to be. The graphics, story, voice acting, and audio design are all great. I can still hear the scanner’s beeps…

Let me be clear: It is not a bad game. There's tons I love about it. I love the motion detector, the interface, the interactivity, the computers, the atmosphere, the story is interesting so far, I love that everything is animated, I feel like I'm physically opening doors and using switches, etc. I love the way the station comes alive as you walk through it, the *thunk* of lights that come on as you move through an area, it's all really, really great. That's the stuff that is really driving me forward and wanting me to keep playing.

But, I'm glad I'm not the only person that feels this way. I thought maybe something was wrong with me and that I was just being nitpicky for no good reason, so it's nice to hear that my complaints aren't totally off-base here. But that's how I'm feeling with the game right now, just annoyed because I can't explore the station in peace, because the Alien just insists on following me when there's no good reason for it to be where I'm at. It's feels like more of an annoying obstacle than a threatening creature that's out to get me and something that's going to instantly end my game sometimes for no apparent reason and force me to redo everything I've just done.

 

[Brian Boru]

World of Goo 2 is perhaps one of my most anticipated games of the bunch last night, I used to play the first one so much

Oh yes! Me too, that was a great and original game 'back then'

I don't feel like there's really any "skill" in evading the Alien

Yeah, hate those pot-luck encounters. There was one in Far Cry 4 which annoyed me each time I played it, escaping from the mountain prison with a monster [was it?] wandering the maze.

I thought maybe something was wrong with me

Oh hey, good thought, don't give up on it.

Alien: Isolation

Guys, check these out:

The best Alien: Isolation mods

Make the alien as scary, or as tame, as you like.

www.pcgamer.com

Best Mods For Alien: Isolation, Ranked

Alien: Isolation is a great horror game that can be made even better through the application of mods.

www.thegamer.com

Mods :: Alien Isolation

Browse 46 mods for Alien Isolation at Nexus Mods

www.nexusmods.com

If Garry's Mod is related, then Steam Workshop may have mods too.

 

[BeardyHat]

Oh yes! Me too, that was a great and original game 'back then'



Yeah, hate those pot-luck encounters. There was one in Far Cry 4 which annoyed me each time I played it, escaping from the mountain prison with a monster [was it?] wandering the maze.



Oh hey, good thought, don't give up on it.

Alien: Isolation

Guys, check these out:

The best Alien: Isolation mods

Make the alien as scary, or as tame, as you like.

www.pcgamer.com

Best Mods For Alien: Isolation, Ranked

Alien: Isolation is a great horror game that can be made even better through the application of mods.

www.thegamer.com

Mods :: Alien Isolation

Browse 46 mods for Alien Isolation at Nexus Mods

www.nexusmods.com

If Garry's Mod is related, then Steam Workshop may have mods too.

Thanks. Doesn't look like it has a Workshop, but I'm sure I can get them installed on my Deck without issue.

If anything, I may grab the Unpredictable Alien mod to delete the tether. Seems like it might actually make the game a little more rewarding for me if I can escape the Alien and have some time to myself in peace to just explore around without it leashing to me.

 

[Zloth]

There were a few other titles that looked cool, like Hello Games’ new Earth sized open world coop adventure. Besides that, not a whole lot of announcements captured my interest that well.

There were some interesting trailers for sure. After an hour, though, they really started blending together. Nearly all of them seemed to center around third person battles of some sort. I guess that's just how trailers are made. Even something like Civilization 6's Launch Trailer avoids showing anything of the actual game, but still gives plenty of 3D battle footage.

Still, if Firaxis wants to announce Civ 7 at the next game awards, I'll be happy if they show actual gameplay instead of yet another 3D battle between our hero and whatever. It would be a relief!

 

[DXCHASE]

Retired my old friend today, unless somethin happens, but gave the pc early so now it sleeps. 2016-2023 lol. I think the 10 series was one of the best imo.

https://imgur.com/zWJVNkV

View: https://i.imgur.com/zWJVNkV.jpg

 

[Brian Boru]

Falcon has a nice 17m summary of the Fall and Rise of CyberPunk2077, very positive conclusion:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLd2nw0mlpI

 

[BeardyHat]

Retired my old friend today, unless somethin happens, but gave the pc early so now it sleeps. 2016-2023 lol. I think the 10 series was one of the best imo.

https://imgur.com/zWJVNkV

View: https://i.imgur.com/zWJVNkV.jpg

Venerable.

Hard to figure out what to do with those old GPU's after they've served us so long. I finally retired my 970 GTX this year after a similar amount of service and now I'm trying to sell it for like $50, just to see. That said, I have an old Thinkserver it could be put to use in if I ever decide to setup my basement for the kids and their friends.

 

[Johnway]

just saw the news. The doom wad Eviternity 2 has dropped! unexpected and a pleasant surprise. Will i play it now? Not with POE league running and i'm also playing another doom wad atm (although that one is pretty short).

besides that i'm going through POE's new league and i have to say, a pretty substantial league with mechanics etc. Still plodding along at a low pace as my first character. being a summoning monsters build, i don't think its going to be that hot, i might get a second character to do the heavy lifting. Perhaps reapply boneshatter as i had amazing endurance/survival the last time i played.

 

[ZedClampet]

Played around 7 hours of Alien: Isolation now and I'm feeling a little meh on the game. I think I like it? I kind of want to keep playing, but more than scared, I feel annoyed. I understand why they've designed the game the way they have, but the tension of the game feels largely artificial; my tension is ramped up when the Alien or other enemies are around because I'm worried about losing progress, not about being killed. The save points are decently spaced out, but it feels like there's times where I'm getting killed and then have to repeat stuff to get back to where I was and then rush, rush, rush to find the next save point so I don't lose progress.

Lending to this artificial feel is the fact that I don't feel like there's really any "skill" in evading the Alien or any other enemy. The Alien just seems to mostly wander aimlessly and always seems to be put right where you are, even when there seems to be no reason for it; like, I've just evaded the Alien and moved several rooms over and am being very quiet, but the Alien shows up anyway and begins stalking the area. I feel like the game might feel a little less artificial to me if this wasn't the case and there were more instances where I'm bumping into something, shooting a gun, doing something to really make the thing actually come to me; it just feels random and forced.

Then you have Androids, which are pretty scary, but all they do is wander around aimlessly. In Thief, I feel like I'm mapping a Guards path and patrol route in my head, in Alien, I can't. The Androids just move about and aren't doing anything; they move, stare at a wall or off in the distance for awhile and then move again and on and on.

Maybe I'm just being nitpicky. I love the atmosphere, the design, the graphics and the story is fun and interesting so far, but I just end-up feeling annoyed much of the time and again the tension I feel feels unwarranted. I'm not worried about getting caught because dying is scary, I'm worried about getting caught and having to repeat my steps from the last 10 minutes.

Love this game. I consider it either the best or the second best horror game ever made just depending on my mood.

I've never worried about dying in a game just because dying is scary. It's always what is at stake that makes it scary. It's why Lethal Company has over 100k concurrent players right now.

For me, the Xeno has to basically follow you around. It can't just be randomly searching the ship, otherwise you might never see it. There has to be near constant tension. Maybe it's tracking your scent. Or maybe it has great hearing. A dog would have no problem finding you, so just assume it's better at tracking than a human, but worse than a dog.

******
Changing the subject. What goes through a developer's mind when they make a recipe like: 4 eggs and water equals one boiled egg? What happened to the other three eggs? "Game logic" is an insufficient response. If you want the player to have fewer boiled eggs, don't give them as many unboiled eggs, make them more expensive in some way.

 

[Pifanjr]

Changing the subject. What goes through a developer's mind when they make a recipe like: 4 eggs and water equals one boiled egg? What happened to the other three eggs? "Game logic" is an insufficient response. If you want the player to have fewer boiled eggs, don't give them as many unboiled eggs, make them more expensive in some way.

In most games with resource management all your resources are kind of entangled, meaning you can't make one more expensive without affecting other resources as well.

Or maybe increasing the time between getting an unboiled egg is problematic because unboiled eggs start spoiling as soon as they spawn and making the spawn time very long means players don't check for eggs often enough causing the eggs to spoil before being found.

Thing is, there's a ton of things to account for when designing an in-game economy and changing a recipe typically affects the least amount of other parts of the economy.

So it really just means the developer gave up and took the easy way out.

 

[BeardyHat]

Love this game. I consider it either the best or the second best horror game ever made just depending on my mood.

I've never worried about dying in a game just because dying is scary. It's always what is at stake that makes it scary. It's why Lethal Company has over 100k concurrent players right now.

For me, the Xeno has to basically follow you around. It can't just be randomly searching the ship, otherwise you might never see it. There has to be near constant tension. Maybe it's tracking your scent. Or maybe it has great hearing. A dog would have no problem finding you, so just assume it's better at tracking than a human, but worse than a dog.

I think for myself, it takes me out of the game, because it feels like a game. I'm wandering around in this very well realized world, which is easy to immerse myself in and then there's this creature that's just always there, even when there are other, better targets or I've sneakily escaped from it without alerting it in any way and it's there anyway. It doesn't feel to me like I'm being a proficient sneak or playing the game well, it feels like no matter how well or crap I do things, the Alien will be right behind me. It ends-up making this immersive world feel very gamey and artificial for me, diffusing all the tension. Especially considering there are actually many other humans on this station (which is huge) that the Alien could also be stalking, but instead I have Main Character Syndrome and it only wants to kill me.

I contend that it would be much more tense and scary if the Alien would frequently disappear for unknown stretches and then suddenly it's there and on my butt; I open a door and it's standing there and kills me.

I actually need to go get the Unpredictable Alien mod still, because my initial complaints have kind of put me off the game for the time being and I haven't had any desire to go back to it.

******
Changing the subject. What goes through a developer's mind when they make a recipe like: 4 eggs and water equals one boiled egg? What happened to the other three eggs? "Game logic" is an insufficient response. If you want the player to have fewer boiled eggs, don't give them as many unboiled eggs, make them more expensive in some way.

I generally universally loathe crafting systems in games, with the exception of games that were designed around them, like Terraria or something. I don't know what it is about them, but as soon as I find crafting in a game, my brain almost immediately discards it and ignores the entire concept. Actually, bringing it back to Alien: Isolation, crafting in that game is decent; no need to mess around finding a crafting bench, hoarding ingredients, etc. Just a few button presses and bing-bang-boom, you've got your item.

 

[ZedClampet]

I think for myself, it takes me out of the game, because it feels like a game. I'm wandering around in this very well realized world, which is easy to immerse myself in and then there's this creature that's just always there, even when there are other, better targets or I've sneakily escaped from it without alerting it in any way and it's there anyway. It doesn't feel to me like I'm being a proficient sneak or playing the game well, it feels like no matter how well or crap I do things, the Alien will be right behind me. It ends-up making this immersive world feel very gamey and artificial for me, diffusing all the tension. Especially considering there are actually many other humans on this station (which is huge) that the Alien could also be stalking, but instead I have Main Character Syndrome and it only wants to kill me.

I contend that it would be much more tense and scary if the Alien would frequently disappear for unknown stretches and then suddenly it's there and on my butt; I open a door and it's standing there and kills me.

I actually need to go get the Unpredictable Alien mod still, because my initial complaints have kind of put me off the game for the time being and I haven't had any desire to go back to it.




I generally universally loathe crafting systems in games, with the exception of games that were designed around them, like Terraria or something. I don't know what it is about them, but as soon as I find crafting in a game, my brain almost immediately discards it and ignores the entire concept. Actually, bringing it back to Alien: Isolation, crafting in that game is decent; no need to mess around finding a crafting bench, hoarding ingredients, etc. Just a few button presses and bing-bang-boom, you've got your item.

Haha I love crafting, but I don't like it in AAA games usually, and about 90 percent or more of the games I play aren't AAA.

Maybe you haven't gotten there yet, but there are a number of decent stretches without the xeno around, and also several times when you come across him attacking other people. I didn't expect to be long without him, so none of that bothered me. But you don't have to like the game. There are tons of well respected games I didn't like for whatever reason, like Baldur's Gate 3 and Disco Elysium.

 

[BeardyHat]

Haha I love crafting, but I don't like it in AAA games usually, and about 90 percent or more of the games I play aren't AAA.

Maybe you haven't gotten there yet, but there are a number of decent stretches without the xeno around, and also several times when you come across him attacking other people. I didn't expect to be long without him, so none of that bothered me. But you don't have to like the game. There are tons of well respected games I didn't like for whatever reason, like Baldur's Gate 3 and Disco Elysium.

Honestly, part of the problem is that I do really like it! I love almost everything about it, but the Alien just kills the fun for me. If I didn't like it, I probably would have dropped it and never thought about it again.

 

[ZedClampet]

In most games with resource management all your resources are kind of entangled, meaning you can't make one more expensive without affecting other resources as well.

Or maybe increasing the time between getting an unboiled egg is problematic because unboiled eggs start spoiling as soon as they spawn and making the spawn time very long means players don't check for eggs often enough causing the eggs to spoil before being found.

Thing is, there's a ton of things to account for when designing an in-game economy and changing a recipe typically affects the least amount of other parts of the economy.

So it really just means the developer gave up and took the easy way out.

Well, the potential problems in this game are either that It gives you too much food when getting food in the early game is supposed to be more difficult, or you get too high a price for them at the market. It might get more entangled later in the game, though.

 

[ZedClampet]

Honestly, part of the problem is that I do really like it! I love almost everything about it, but the Alien just kills the fun for me. If I didn't like it, I probably would have dropped it and never thought about it again.

Well, hopefully you can find a mod that changes it for you.

 

[Pifanjr]

Well, the potential problems in this game are either that It gives you too much food when getting food in the early game is supposed to be more difficult, or you get too high a price for them at the market. It might get more entangled later in the game, though.

I'm assuming it's an indie game you're talking about? Balancing games is hard even for AAA studios, probably because it's a very boring and tedious job and it's very easy to miss the consequences of changing any part of the system.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Retired my old friend today, unless somethin happens, but gave the pc early so now it sleeps. 2016-2023 lol. I think the 10 series was one of the best imo.

https://imgur.com/zWJVNkV

View: https://i.imgur.com/zWJVNkV.jpg

Yeah, that was such a good series. It was a big upgrade from the previous gen. I just retired my 1080 this past spring. I moved from that to a 4080 which was a huge upgrade. My son got my old 1080.

 

[ZedClampet]

I'm assuming it's an indie game you're talking about? Balancing games is hard even for AAA studios, probably because it's a very boring and tedious job and it's very easy to miss the consequences of changing any part of the system.

Yeah, it's an indie game. I can't really tell yet how complex the economy is going to eventually be, but it looks like the number of different items you'll eventually be able to sell may be in the hundreds. This includes components and final products, so this particular indie economy is quite a bit more complex than most AAA games (at least the ones I play) or even other economy-based indie games. This is not like Starfield, where you find and sell paperclips. Frankly, based on how they've handled the eggs, I'm not all that eggcited to find out just how deep it goes.

 

[ZedClampet]

Based on what I read, the average Lethal Company team lasts 15 days, and tonight we made it 39 days, so we're doing pretty good. Funny thing is we don't use weapons at all, not one. Guido and I are at the highest rank. My daughter, the daredevil, is somewhere in the middle. Out of the 39 missions, I only died once. I only stay in the facility until 3 pm and then start carrying things back, but the outside world is often just as dangerous as the facilities.

I'm not sure how many days you can last, but with the escalating quota, I think we were about as far as we can manage, maybe one more set of 3 days if we are perfect..

 

[Pifanjr]

I'm set to become the galactic emperor in my Stellaris game. When I quit I had about 60-70% of the votes and I don't expect that to change suddenly. Then I can finally force my peaceful and spiritual ways upon the entirety of the galaxy.

Then I need to check if the end game crisis is turned on. If it is, I'll continue playing until it's triggered and I've defeated it. If it isn't, there isn't really anything else I want to accomplish and I'll probably just call it a win.

 

[neogunhero]

I redeemed my Microsoft points for a month of Game Pass Ultimate. It’s nearly double the points as 1 month of Game Pass PC, but we just rearranged the bedroom so I’d like to play on my Xbox One while in bed. I downloaded a bunch of good games to my PC; Remnant 2, Against the Storm, Roller Drome, but what I ended up playing all weekend was Goat Simulator 3…

Goat Simulator 3 is exactly what I needed right now. Something lighthearted, immediately fun, no pressure, but still with goals and challenges to complete. It feels like a more fleshed out version of the original (in case you’re wondering, there was no Goat Simulator 2, just a bunch of DLC and standalone expansions for the first). You have challenges to complete, and specific areas will usually have a tiny side quest for you do to when you’re in it, such as crash a wedding or a rave. You can wear different clothes and some clothes give you special abilities such as a saddle to pick up people on your back or a mask that shoots lasers from your eyes.

It has a surprisingly large and detailed open world. I mean, it’s not on the same scale compared to a game like Skyrim, but it’s still decently large and packed full of secret areas, collectibles and Easter eggs for a game like this. You can drive cars which admittedly don’t feel that great but then again this is Got Simulator 3, don’t expect GTA caliber of driving. They’re still fun to run people over with and go off ramps.

My biggest gripe is that while you have multiple clothing slots, all clothing that has an ability all uses the same button to activate it if it’s not passive. So if I have a saddle, I press RB to pick up people, but if I also have the laser mask, I’ll shoot a laser as I try to pick someone up. Hilarious sometimes but I wish there was a way to remap that button different for different clothing.

Game Pass Ultimate offers cloud gaming, and I decided to try it out. Surprisingly Gaot Sim 3 isn’t available on Xbox One, the way the game looks you’d think it would be. So I streamed it via cloud gaming and I was surprised how well it worked, even with all my networking issues on the Xbox One. For context, I pay for 200mbps internet which is roughly 25MB/s, although on most PC apps I can download closer to 30MB/s, and my PC is connected to Ethernet. However my Xbox One doesn’t work properly with my internet and maxes out at 30mbps, roughly 3MB/s, on WiFi no matter how close I get it to the router, though I have not tried Ethernet on it since it’s not possible to route a cable that way. Even with the networking issues, the game ran buttery smooth at 60fps. A few network glitches but the game itself never stuttered or failed to work, it was just low quality visuals every so often. In a game like this I don’t mind that at all I can look past it, I was just so amazed at how smooth it was the whole time. A bet a simple 2D game would work perfectly as well with even less visual glitches.

I don’t think I’d spend a whole lot time playing this game but for what it is, it’s dumb fun that you can get into immediately. There were a few boring cutscenes when first starting but you can skip them, after that it’s instant dumb fun.