December 2024 General Game Discussion Thread

[red_5ive]

Download the new Indiana Jones game on Game Pass, but haven't played it yet. Played a little more of Dark Descent. Did okay. Want to try to get into something today that lasts me awhile instead of constantly jumping from game to game. Still sort of taking a break from Satisfactory.

I ended up installing Indy instead of Dark Descent. Playing through the opening sequence now.

And first things first, I'm a little annoyed that I can't get it to play over 60 fps, and it almost doesn't budge. VSync is off and FPS limit is maxed. and I can't seem to get it higher. It's at least as smooth as butter so far. I also installed the texture pack, it looks great so far, as does HDR!

 

[ZedClampet]

@neogunhero wasn't there a tavern game we talked about that was supposed to launch in November?

Edit: I found it. It says 2025 now. Tavern Keeper.


Think I'll try Ale and Tale. Demo was good and it's on sale now.

 

[Pifanjr]

I continued Shadow of War and encountered the Ettin. I think I've only just now actually unlocked every mechanic of the game, after more than 20 hours of playtime. Maybe, I'm not entirely sure what the garrison is used for...

Luckily this 6 year old answer from @Zloth on the Steam forums answers that question.

I managed to recruit a legendary captain, an olog with a flamethrower, and I'm very excited to see what he can do when I get ready to attack the fort of the region I'm in now. I want to get all of the warchief spots to be occupied by orcs under my control first though, not because I need it but just because I can.

I actually haven't died to an orc in forever. I did have a couple of Last Stands, but with all of the skills I've unlocked I have so many options I can hardly die any more. Though that's not to say I don't have to run away occasionally.

One thing I think would've been nice is if you could more easily switch between different loadouts. You have 6 different pieces of equipment and a ton of possible passive effects that can be useful depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the enemies you're fighting against, but switching out gear is such a pain I just stick with a single loadout the entire time. And it's not just equipment either: each skill has two or three modifiers of which only one can be active at a time, but I don't think I'll ever bother switching between them.

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I played a little bit of Into the Breach as well, but despite turning on all the advanced options on my new run it feels like I'm just doing the exact same thing as the first two runs and I haven't really felt like playing more. There were a couple of other new games available through Netflix, so I might try one of those.

 

[red_5ive]

I really love how Steam does a better job at logging on to Ubisoft Connect than Ubisoft Connect does at logging on to Ubisoft Connect.

 

[Colif]

I really love how Steam does a better job at logging on to Ubisoft Connect than Ubisoft Connect does at logging on to Ubisoft Connect.

Well, Steam actually cares if you can play game due to a review system. Ubisoft don't care once you pay them money.

Stupid Youtube running some experiment on me now. The "New to you" category in recommended page is missing... I use it all the time to find something different to recommended which almost always shows the same videos every day. I wish I could edit the choices it shows in recommended.
Subscription page is annoying as it has a shorts shelf I can't hide.
Why can't we just be able to personalise page?? Oh wait, cause we are the product since its a free service. Can't have differences as then AI can't scrape me.

Its possible the YouTube thing is a bug - link - as I am not only one who noticed today. It kind of makes it really hard to find any new links. All recommended shows me is things I have already seen... and ignored the first 20 times it showed me.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Into the final Act 4 of Tactical Breach Wizards and Im tiring of it a little. Its a fun game, and the writing is decent but I feel like theyre stretching it a bit thin. The story went from not taking itself too seriously to, well, taking itself too seriously as it went on. Its mostly skippable to be fair

The levels are getting more puzzle-like as the game goes on, its actually usually fairly easy to just get through, but there are extra goals that make levels more challenging for extra cosmetic rewards. Stuff like cause a certain amount of damage with one characters ability, finish in a certain number of turns, or knock a certain number of enemies out the window.

I can handle the puzzling aspect here better than something like Into the Breach because there are infinite rewinds within a turn. So when I make a really dumb mistake as I often do its very easy just to reverse the move as many times as needed, The 5 playable characters abilities are all very different, and they mix up which ones you are in control of level to level, in some cases you'll get two copies of the same character. Solid game 7.5/10.

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Also been playing Sifu which is what they would have called a beat em up in the 90's, its a 3D game, interlinked corridor like levels with some Roguelite elements. Not a button masher, you need to parry and pull off button combos to perform moves which needs pretty good reflexes. I'm making slow progress but you have to be willing to practice to improve to get anything out of it.

There are no in level checkpoints or lives. Every time you die your character ages and you come back to life in the same spot you fell. The amount you age determined by the number of times you died already. So always starting at 20, youll go 21, 23, 25 and so on until you get to 70 or over and the last chance. Once you beat a boss the next level becomes available, but you start that level at the best age at which you completed the previous one. So your going to need to go back and do better for a better chance at winning. You also gain damage and lose max health every 10 years of age, and the character appearance changes.

I'm only early on but it seems that there are unlockable shortcuts found by exploring and finding keys and doors in non critical path areas which you keep for future attempts at the level. So when you repeat levels you can skip a lot and get to the bosses quicker and at a lower age.

The level up system is based on experience from beating opponents, and unlocks new moves within a run that you lose when you die. Once you purchased an upgrade 5 times (iirc), you unlock it permanently, and some upgrades become unavailable to pick as the character ages up within a run. So there is going to be some powering up as new abilities become available, but you still need to figure out how best to execute.

Nothing else Ive played quite like it very good very good.

 

[BeardyHat]

Still playing Elite over here, nothing much new to report. I broke 100 million credits yesterday; someone on a different forum who has over a billion offered me some of them, but I haven't responded yet. Don't really want to make the game too easy or lose my motivation.

Still haven't done much else in it, as I feel like I'm trying to build-up a solid base of credits. Not exactly sure what I'll do once I've done that...

I did do a lot of Benchmarking yesterday and the evening before. I'm hoping to make a post on it just for fun, but not quite ready for that yet.

 

[Johnway]

just started playing Ramp 2024 and i've got to say i'm very impressed with some of the work. Ramp 2024 does things slightly differently to previous years. players are now given the option of playing a more curated affair to all the maps. Ramp 2024 will unlock a set of maps and if you want to access more, you have to complete the objective at that particular station. of course you can simply unlock everything and just go nuts.

before you begin your journey on the underground, you can even pick the length of game. of course, i choose odyssey so i will be playing all the maps and their stations...

So i started in hanger 17, completed my batch of space base maps. highlight without a doubt was substation zero with all its GZDoom advanced graphics and gave its a doom 3 vibe to the gameplay.

heres a few on my journey there:

 

[neogunhero]

@neogunhero wasn't there a tavern game we talked about that was supposed to launch in November?

Edit: I found it. It says 2025 now. Tavern Keeper.

Yeah, was a little sad to hear it was delayed especially after supposedly 10 years of development, but as long as the final game is good then I’ll be happy. I played the demo a few months ago and had a blast with it.

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Had an extremely long day yesterday, didn’t get home until super late but wanted to squeeze in a tiny bit of gaming. I fired up Marvel Rivals since the matches can be super fast. It makes for the perfect game in those kinds of situations, where you may only have 30 minutes or less and want to play something. I ran up 4 matches and lost three. This game suffers from the classic hero shooter woes, such as no one wanting to play healer, no one wanting to play tank and actually do tank stuff, everyone scattering around, no teamwork, etc. Very typical for the genre. I decided to take matters into my own hands and play Loki who is a healer in this game.

His main attack deals damage to enemies and heals allies, so the whole time you’re just blasting all over the place. You also have an AoE healing ability, ability to create an illusion of yourself, teleport to the illusion, and your ultimate is shapeshifting into any character in the match and use almost all their abilities for a short while. I kept trolling the enemy team by placing my illusion right where they were coming from, which helped keep them back a bit while we captured the point. I also ended up doing tons of healing and saving my teammates at the last second from the brink of death. He was actually very fun to play and I’ll keep playing as him.

Marvel Rivals has 33 characters, all fully unlocked when you start the game. I have only tried 7 of them; Hulk, Iron Man, Venom, Wolverine, Loki, Magneto and Captain America. Iron Man is fun if you just want to get kills, Wolverine is for when I want to get right in the middle of the battle, Hulk for when I want to tank. Venom is good but harder to learn than Hulk, Magneto has a bunch of abilities I haven’t fully learned yet, and just first played Loki last night. I like switching between them all. I really need to check out the other characters, there’s so many.

 

[ZedClampet]

I was just lying in bed the other night looking around Steam, and I came across a cute free "game" called "My Singing Monsters". Holy Chit that game is aggressive in trying to sell you stuff. It just goes on and on. And to encourage you to spend, it sucks the life out of you by making you wait forever on everything: "Would you like to speed this up with diamonds?"

If they had toned it down a bit, I might have bought something, but I absolutely refuse the way it is now. I'm sure people who play on their phones a lot are used to this sort of thing, but I'm not. The only free-to-play game on Steam that I've played other than this was that dating sim Crush Crush, and they didn't bug you hardly at all.

 

[neogunhero]

I was just lying in bed the other night looking around Steam, and I came across a cute free "game" called "My Singing Monsters". Holy Chit that game is aggressive in trying to sell you stuff. It just goes on and on. And to encourage you to spend, it sucks the life out of you by making you wait forever on everything: "Would you like to speed this up with diamonds?”

Had this exact same experience with the same game. I’ve seen a few videos of the game where people recreated songs using it, and it looked like fun so I downloaded it on my phone. First red flag, never download free games on your phone unless it clearly states no in app purchases which is super rare unless it’s Vampire Survivors. I was immediately bombarded with attempts at getting me to spend money on it. I noticed how long it takes to get anything done as well. No thank you, not worth the time, effort or money just to play a silly little game.

 

[Colif]

you by making you wait forever on everything: "

Sounds like a typical phone game

I downloaded it on my phone.

Yep.

The free games that don't charge you constantly must be a small percentage on phones.
Glad I can't read my mobile phone screen without glasses and I have better choices than to play anything on my phone. I only played one game on phone and saw where it was leading and stopped.

Mobile games are what AAA wish they could do on PC. EA liked idea so much it did.

 

[neogunhero]

The free games that don't charge you constantly must be a small percentage on phones.
Glad I can't read my mobile phone screen without glasses and I have better choices than to play anything on my phone. I only played one game on phone and saw where it was leading and stopped.

Mobile games are what AAA wish they could do on PC. EA liked idea so much it did.

I only play mobile games if the missus is playing something on my PC (need to get a Steam Deck), so it’s quite rare for me to find one I actually like. I tend to avoid free mobile games at all costs but there are a few exceptions. The videos of that game I saw were intriguing, the ability to make silly little songs with it was what Inwas interested in. The reality is if you don’t pay or play for a very long time, you have maybe two-three “monsters” that produce different sounds and that’s all. If it were a one time purchase for the full game, I would definitely play it.

Very rarely is a mobile game entirely free. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Vampire Survivors minus the paid DLC. No ads or microtransactions. The trend I’ve been seeing, especially for more well established games outside of the mobile space, is that the full game will be entirely free for only 1-2 hours of playtime. Beyond that you have the buy the full game, but at least there are no predatory microtransactions or ads that take up the entire screen. I see it as a better option for the player if they just play on mobile, you essentially get a demo before deciding if you want to buy it.

 

[DXCHASE]

Help, i cant get away from POE 2. Ive dropped Stalker 2 and have not started the Indiana Jones game all that much because i just cant not jump into POE!

This game suffers from the classic hero shooter woes, such as no one wanting to play healer, no one wanting to play tank and actually do tank stuff, everyone scattering around, no teamwork, etc. Very typical for the genre. I decided to take matters into my own hands and play Loki who is a healer in this game.

Why i've always steered clear of this genre or at least, modes outside of Team Deathmatch in a PVP game. Its a f2p marvel game so i was going to stay clear anyways, but i Love counter-strike and ill dabble in some COD matches but never objective based matches regardless of the game.

Destiny 2 always forced you to do objective based PVP matches for certain guns, but youd go through a whole slog of what you wrote. Players not playing the objective, doin their own thing, feeding the enemy team etc.,

I even get a little upset when playing somethin like Helldivers 2 and the 2 or 3 other players im with decided to go off on their own and not work together lol.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I was just lying in bed the other night looking around Steam, and I came across a cute free "game" called "My Singing Monsters". Holy Chit that game is aggressive in trying to sell you stuff. It just goes on and on. And to encourage you to spend, it sucks the life out of you by making you wait forever on everything: "Would you like to speed this up with diamonds?"

If they had toned it down a bit, I might have bought something, but I absolutely refuse the way it is now. I'm sure people who play on their phones a lot are used to this sort of thing, but I'm not. The only free-to-play game on Steam that I've played other than this was that dating sim Crush Crush, and they didn't bug you hardly at all.

I dont disagree about the begging, but my kid loved that game. The songs are very catchy as you get more monsters. We never paid for anything, you can get all of the monsters by breeding them and waiting using a guide, you can also gradually get diamonds via mines you can buy from currency made in game. We would check in, do the daily games, feed the monsters and then leave it until the next day. I kind of treated it as a lesson that we dont buy any extras in games, but they will always try and fleece you. Seems to have worked so far.

24 hours in game according to Steam, this is one of the I think 6 islands we have. This one has the most monsters and stuff

Well, that felt confessional somehow.

 

[ZedClampet]

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no one wanting to play tank and actually do tank stuff, everyone scattering around, no teamwork, etc.

These people would suck at Darktide, then. Come to think of it, most people actually do suck at Darktide. I love to play the Ogre/tank and do tanky things, like charging ahead all the time with my shield up deflecting bullets then bashing down into the baddies.

The only problem is that if I play with randoms, I can't use my shield because it makes you go a little slower, and they all go running past me, then I find myself in the back as the tank. So I just charge without it, which is a little painful sometimes.

Then there was the time I drew the attention of a boss, put up my shield, and everyone left instead of killing the boss. I stood there for like 5 minutes holding up my shield hoping someone would come back and start shooting the boss, and I finally gave up, lowered my shield and got killed. Then I exited the mission. Hope they had fun without a tank.

 

[ZedClampet]

I might, very calmly, start streaming simulator games. Everyone uses the same person to market their games, and she is awful. I mean, she seems like a sweet person, but she doesn't know how to play the games.

 

[Johnway]

I dont disagree about the begging, but my kid loved that game. The songs are very catchy as you get more monsters. We never paid for anything, you can get all of the monsters by breeding them and waiting using a guide, you can also gradually get diamonds via mines you can buy from currency made in game. We would check in, do the daily games, feed the monsters and then leave it until the next day. I kind of treated it as a lesson that we dont buy any extras in games, but they will always try and fleece you. Seems to have worked so far.

24 hours in game according to Steam, this is one of the I think 6 islands we have. This one has the most monsters and stuff

Well, that felt confessional somehow.

Ah my singing monsters. played that years ago with my sister. The biggest annoyance i found was the MTX side of things. Yeah i get old green gem eventually an some of the exclusive stuff does become free but couldn't customize it as much as i wanted. The second thing was probably the limited space. Felt a bit stingy.

 

[neogunhero]

Why i've always steered clear of this genre or at least, modes outside of Team Deathmatch in a PVP game.

Rivals does have a TDM mode called Conquest but it is incredibly overstimulating. I mean, the whole game is, but that mode condenses the entirety of the game into a 4 minute rainbow explosion fest. So much is happening all at once, I can see it turning off a lot of people. I would normally be that kind of person but something has drawn me into the game. Extremely chaotic fun.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Ah my singing monsters. played that years ago with my sister. The biggest annoyance i found was the MTX side of things. Yeah i get old green gem eventually an some of the exclusive stuff does become free but couldn't customize it as much as i wanted. The second thing was probably the limited space. Felt a bit stingy.

We mostly fell off because the most advanced monsters have a small % chance to spawn when you breed them, it gets boring to log in everyday to the same monster or a reskin with the same song after a 16 hour wait. Got quite far before it got too much though as seen above, the early monsters are much quicker and are pretty much guaranteed. I built as many free diamond mines as possible so we did get to cheat and skip the waits occasionally as a rare treat.

I didnt think it was too bad tbh, some of the games my kid has wanted to try on the tablet are really obnoxious, adverts with dark patterned designs to try and get you to click on them, or just adverts every 2 minutes for 15 seconds cutting straight over the game.

Im not paying for any tablet games, so we either turn off the wifi which seems to stop a lot of them while still letting us play the game, or I gently encourage her towards the Switch or PC. Mostly Switch because I dont want her taking over my seat every evening, and she definitely isnt ready to get her own PC yet. God help me.

 

[Colif]

 

[Zloth]

Witcher 4 has HUGE boots to fill.

I note the lack of a release date - even one saying "when it's ready" like Cyberpunk did. They learn from their mistakes.

Luckily this 6 year old answer from @Zloth on the Steam forums answers that question.

"Also, if you some orcs for opening a chest..." Eeeesh. Oh! Steam lets me edit the post still. Fixed!

 

[ZedClampet]

Great trailer, but it won't be the same for me without Geralt.

 

[Frindis]

Did not like the trailer. Some of the animations are weird like the water and Ciri's facial animation. Ciri also looks like a Hollywood actress taking a role way too big for her personality. I also hope we are not stuck playing a female "witcher". As far as I know, Ciri never did become a Witcher, she only partook in the training. I forgot that she has elder blood in her veins, but I still find it a bit weird seeing her chugging on the potions that are specifically made for witchers.

Ahhh, it seems we have an answer for why Ciri is a Witcher: "Ciri has undertaken the famously painful Trial of the Grasses which has mutated her into a powerful and resilient warrior" - https://www.ign.com/articles/inside-the-witcher-4-cd-projekt-reds-plans-for-its-next-big-rpg

I guess she could not do it as a teenager, but now that she is an adult women she could. Does that mean she looses her elder blood power?

 

[Pifanjr]

I actually haven't died to an orc in forever. I did have a couple of Last Stands, but with all of the skills I've unlocked I have so many options I can hardly die any more. Though that's not to say I don't have to run away occasionally.

Time to reset the "number of days since I died to an orc" sign. I was trying to recruit an epic captain, but got downed twice by him in the chaos of the fight that included a second orc captain. I managed to run away and kill the second captain separately, then tried to attack the epic captain again with full health and no other orcs around him, but he just attacked me thrice in a row without giving me the opportunity to dodge, wiping out my entire health bar and killing me.

The worst part is that he is now one level above me, so I either have to level up first or defeat him twice to be able to recruit him.