July 2024 Game Discussion Thread

[Brian Boru]

Well, schmidt

Thank you for sparing us.

However, in a bad turn of events for the rest of us, if you remember what thread you were typing in, it may still be saved in the reply box [like a draft in email]—I've had such a rescue a couple of times.

 

[Colif]

The forums have a drafts function so as Brian says, if you close a thread and go back, it should still be there. You can clear them by using menu shown below (you may suffer de ja vu)

 

[ZedClampet]

Fortunately, all I lost was open tabs, but it took me a long time to whittle it down to those games because I was planning something a little different.

 

[Colif]

Just buy them now. Or do you really think you'll get less enjoyment from them now than if you were still a kid?

i thought of another reason - I got sidetracked looking at it last night - the Optimus Prime version of this toy costs $AUD1300 and I can think of other uses for that sort of money... like the DAC/Amp I am saving up for. It will be used more than the toy would be.

Glad I never got into Transformers or Marvel movies. Collecting figures was never my thing... too many choices now. Youtube for some reason decided I wanted to see all these videos about Iron Man Suit armour sets.

 

[Zloth]

Dastardly Horizon devs!

There are a couple of different blockers in Horizon: FW. These are just little do-dads that block your way until you get far enough into the story that you get a special tool to deal with them. Once you get to that point in the story, you can pop back to the blockers to see what was behind them. Most seem to just have a few treasure chests much like the ones you see scattered all over the place anyway and a few have a little bit nicer things.

Yesterday, I opened one up and was attacked by a stalker! Stalkers are particularly nasty critter-bots that spend most of their time invisible. There I am, being a good and proper rat, pushing the button 3 times to get his cheese, and suddenly I get hit with the electric shock!? Can't trust no-one these days.

Oh yeah? Well, when I was a kid, I used to wander far and wide, often wandering up to a couple miles from home.

A couple of MILES? Wow! When I was a kid, we couldn't go more than a couple hundred feet because space hadn't expanded that far yet. Guess that's why I love open world games.

 

[ZedClampet]

Dastardly Horizon devs!

There are a couple of different blockers in Horizon: FW. These are just little do-dads that block your way until you get far enough into the story that you get a special tool to deal with them. Once you get to that point in the story, you can pop back to the blockers to see what was behind them. Most seem to just have a few treasure chests much like the ones you see scattered all over the place anyway and a few have a little bit nicer things.

Yesterday, I opened one up and was attacked by a stalker! Stalkers are particularly nasty critter-bots that spend most of their time invisible. There I am, being a good and proper rat, pushing the button 3 times to get his cheese, and suddenly I get hit with the electric shock!? Can't trust no-one these days.


A couple of MILES? Wow! When I was a kid, we couldn't go more than a couple hundred feet because space hadn't expanded that far yet. Guess that's why I love open world games.

Not sure I ever actually went 2 miles. It was 1.5 miles to the school, and we used to go there. They never locked it. We went in and played in the gymnasium.

****

Got a rare (for me) 100 percent on Planet Crafter.

Got to the end and checked my achievements and the only one I didn't have was "Jump into lava" which hadn't occurred to me was something I wanted to do, but as it was the only one I was missing, I went to the nearest lava and dived in.

 

[ZedClampet]

Free co-op alert! Bronzebeard's Tavern is both fun and free. Guido and I have been playing it for several days now. I think we are on day 60. No couch co-op, though; just online.

Bronzebeard's Tavern on Steam

Bronzebeard's Tavern is a goofy and playful restaurant manager sim where 1-8 players can work as a team with multiplayer co-op. Fulfill a number of different roles, serve a diverse range of customers and cook up delicious dwarven cuisine.

store.steampowered.com

There's a popular review that states the game is unplayable after day 15 for 3 people, which is strange since Guido and I are on day 60.

Some tips. When you have special customers, assign one player to do nothing but take care of them until they leave. If they get unhappy. bad things happen.

Don't worry about the skeletons stealing food. They are walking away with something that cost you $3.50. How many $40 orders are you going to lose chasing that skeleton? Just ignore them.

Other than serving the customers, all you need to do is keep the power going. There is time early in the day when you aren't too busy. Just go ahead and run down there and put 2 coal in. That will solve the problem for the rest of the day. If you wait until the power is running out, there will be 10 customers in the tavern wanting to get food or drinks. Just do it early.

Relax. The only customers you can't make mad are the special customers. Just do your best with the rest, and you'll be okay.

Edit: I just read the Steam forums and have another tip to add. People are putting lots of meals on their menus. There is zero reason to ever have more than two meals on your menu. Everyone will order one of those items.

 

[ZedClampet]

One more tip about Blackbeard's Tavern. Don't get too organized. Don't have one person as a waiter and one as a cook. Both of you need to do everything. The only thing you should divide up is the kitchen. You each take half. And get the darn cooker upgrades as quickly as you can. People are making it much harder than it is. You run and get someone's order. You make the food and you take it to them. Any other plan is asking for disaster.

 

[neogunhero]

Finally finished with the move. Got everything set up and looking good. New place has better internet, I get about 45MB/s on ethernet to my pc, so I’m very happy about that. I haven’t lived anywhere where fiber has become the new standard, so this is blazing fast to me. Finally had more time to play some games, so I dove into more DayZ over the weekend.

There is a kind of comforting solace while playing DayZ. You’re stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, all the buildings are ransacked, cars destroyed, yet there are so many moments of peaceful bliss amongst all the hostility. This is best achieved on a PVE server so you don’t have to fear someone shooting you for no reason whatsoever (it can still happen but they will get banned).

Climbing on top of an apartment block building at the crack of dawn, watching my breath turn the cold air into mist, starting a campfire and watching the sunrise on the rooftop. Oddly, it’s moments like this that make DayZ one of the most comforting games I’ve ever played. At a certain point you are able to avoid all conflict or resolve it quickly, and once you reach that point then it’s up to you if you are going to engage with zombies or not. I’ve gone many hours in game only seeing a very small few amount of zombies because I’m in the woods building my base and cooking chicken. Of course the big cities are where all the zombies are at, but eventually you don’t even need to go there anymore unless you want a challenge or need more loot.

I also played a bit of 7 Days to Die 1.0 and I must say, the only major changes I’ve noticed are the new HD character models, new challenges system replacing the old tutorial quests, and faster/more dense map generation. The rest feels pretty much the same, maybe better performance. My girlfriend and I played it together over 2 years ago and enjoyed it, but last night she wasn’t really feeling it. Still trying to convince her to keep playing it with me a few more hours, but I may end up needing to go solo. 7DTD is a really good game solo though, so that’s not an issue.

I almost forgot but I also finally dove into Gloomwood over the weekend. Picked it up a month ago at the start of the summer sale, but just now found the time to really dive into it and take it all in. It’s definitely one of those games where you need to be fully paying attention, not really good for small play sessions. My first go at it, my eyes were glued to the screen for 3 hours straight. I knew that was going to happen so that’s why I waited until I had more time to fully check it out.

My first impressions are that it’s structured differently than I expected. I was thinking it would just individual levels you go through and complete, but actually it’s a large series of many different levels that have interconnecting paths between them. Each level or area is quite large with lots of do and secrets to find, but some things you need to come back to later with a specific item or key not found in that area. I had to turn the difficulty to Easy since I’m not great at stealth games, but so far it’s been a good balance of challenge and ease. I’m very excited to keep playing more, it seems right up my alley. New Blood have quickly became one of my new favorite developers/publishers, I have about 3 of their games and they are all amazing with no major flaws I can think of.

 

[ZedClampet]

Finally finished with the move. Got everything set up and looking good. New place has better internet, I get about 45MB/s on ethernet to my pc, so I’m very happy about that. I haven’t lived anywhere where fiber has become the new standard, so this is blazing fast to me. Finally had more time to play some games, so I dove into more DayZ over the weekend.

There is a kind of comforting solace while playing DayZ. You’re stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, all the buildings are ransacked, cars destroyed, yet there are so many moments of peaceful bliss amongst all the hostility. This is best achieved on a PVE server so you don’t have to fear someone shooting you for no reason whatsoever (it can still happen but they will get banned).

Climbing on top of an apartment block building at the crack of dawn, watching my breath turn the cold air into mist, starting a campfire and watching the sunrise on the rooftop. Oddly, it’s moments like this that make DayZ one of the most comforting games I’ve ever played. At a certain point you are able to avoid all conflict or resolve it quickly, and once you reach that point then it’s up to you if you are going to engage with zombies or not. I’ve gone many hours in game only seeing a very small few amount of zombies because I’m in the woods building my base and cooking chicken. Of course the big cities are where all the zombies are at, but eventually you don’t even need to go there anymore unless you want a challenge or need more loot.

I also played a bit of 7 Days to Die 1.0 and I must say, the only major changes I’ve noticed are the new HD character models, new challenges system replacing the old tutorial quests, and faster/more dense map generation. The rest feels pretty much the same, maybe better performance. My girlfriend and I played it together over 2 years ago and enjoyed it, but last night she wasn’t really feeling it. Still trying to convince her to keep playing it with me a few more hours, but I may end up needing to go solo. 7DTD is a really good game solo though, so that’s not an issue.

I almost forgot but I also finally dove into Gloomwood over the weekend. Picked it up a month ago at the start of the summer sale, but just now found the time to really dive into it and take it all in. It’s definitely one of those games where you need to be fully paying attention, not really good for small play sessions. My first go at it, my eyes were glued to the screen for 3 hours straight. I knew that was going to happen so that’s why I waited until I had more time to fully check it out.

My first impressions are that it’s structured differently than I expected. I was thinking it would just individual levels you go through and complete, but actually it’s a large series of many different levels that have interconnecting paths between them. Each level or area is quite large with lots of do and secrets to find, but some things you need to come back to later with a specific item or key not found in that area. I had to turn the difficulty to Easy since I’m not great at stealth games, but so far it’s been a good balance of challenge and ease. I’m very excited to keep playing more, it seems right up my alley. New Blood have quickly became one of my new favorite developers/publishers, I have about 3 of their games and they are all amazing with no major flaws I can think of.

I played a bit of 7 Days to Die, too. Had a bit of a rough start, dying several times until I found some better weapons like an iron spear. It kept spawning me about 5 feet from a dog, which immediately killed me. Finally it spawned me somewhere else, but there was a giant cat there, but it must not have seen me because it didn't give chase.

 

[neogunhero]

I played a bit of 7 Days to Die, too. Had a bit of a rough start, dying several times until I found some better weapons like an iron spear. It kept spawning me about 5 feet from a dog, which immediately killed me. Finally it spawned me somewhere else, but I there was a giant cat there, but it must not have seen me because it didn't give chase.

I highly recommend making the game a bit easier especially to start. Things like increased XP and loot multipliers make starting out a whole lot easier. I like the game to be a bit easier but still have challenging zombies and dropped loot on death. The new challenges system is a great way to start out, but I spent too much time completing it last night that I barely got a base made.

 

[Frindis]

@ZedClampet I would recommend looting a bit in high-level zones. Run in, loot stuff, and get back to the safe zone. Rinse and repeat like an insane hoarder of trinkets that might be usable and the hope for the love of god that you survive the blood moon


Btw: Has anyone tried out the Fallout: London mod that was recently released?

 

[ZedClampet]

@ZedClampet I would recommend looting a bit in high-level zones. Run in, loot stuff, and get back to the safe zone. Rinse and repeat like an insane hoarder of trinkets that might be usable and the hope for the love of god that you survive the blood moon


Btw: Has anyone tried out the Fallout: London mod that was recently released?

I've been looting in high level areas. I have a rifle, a pistol, a shotgun and an iron spear and iron hammer.

What I don't have yet is a base. My plan is to stock up on stamina juice and spend hoard night outside. Even if they get me, my stuff will be easily gotten the next day since it will just be lying out in the open.

I'm not sure what my difficulty is set at, but the zombies are really hard to kill. I just launched the game and took whatever was default. The only zombie who runs is the one with the glowing red eyes, so if I can avoid those, I'll be fine. I was under the impression that all the zombies ran at night. At least they used to, so maybe I'm on Easy. Not sure. I'll launch it later and check. I know that I lose all inventory including the hotbar when I die.

 

[Frindis]

I never got to make a base myself, I just stacked on stuff and got to a high place and camped out. Then at some point, I'd go back into the high-level zone only to be met by my demise when I "snuck" into a military base alerting waves of hellish creatures. I had guns, and bombs to the teeth, but it didn't matter at all.

 

[ZedClampet]

I never got to make a base myself, I just stacked on stuff and got to a high place and camped out. Then at some point, I'd go back into the high-level zone only to be met by my demise when I "snuck" into a military base alerting waves of hellish creatures. I had guns, and bombs to the teeth, but it didn't matter at all.

I went into a military base. Had enough ammo to arm a small country. Not sure what level it was. Had landmines all over the place. There was a bunker there that might make a decent pre-built base. I can't even make a workbench, though. I need to find more magazines. No reason to make a base without a workbench. That was basically all I was doing. Hunting for the magazines that let you build the workbench. Was a little tedious.

 

[Pifanjr]

Btw: Has anyone tried out the Fallout: London mod that was recently released?

I haven't, but a friend said it was "pretty buggy, but really great atmosphere so far, good writing and voice acting".

Also, fun fact:

Hotly anticipated videogame recruits former House Speaker John Bercow as voice actor

Its sounds like he’ll play a malfunctioning robot in the upcoming PC mod for Fallout 4

www.standard.co.uk

 

[Colif]

Assumes Zed mentioned this somewhere

Tried Terrascape, its not bad so far

 

[ZedClampet]

Assumes Zed mentioned this somewhere

Tried Terrascape, its not bad so far

Yeah. I tagged you. It's somewhere in this thread.

****

I have no idea what just happened. I installed the Riftbreaker demo. I watched a cutscene. It told me to find a resource. I found it. It said to press <space> to interact. I did. And I was dead 2 seconds later and getting a failure screen and knocked back to the main menu. I have zero idea of why I died. The whole thing lasted about 15 seconds. Can't really say I'm in the mood for whatever that was. Was looking for a tower defense game when I came across that.

 

[Colif]

its a little buggy. I played again, got way further and then randomly red shading appeared on screen and ruined any screenshots I might have taken. Current top score is 14k though I am only playing one of three modes, need to work out game first.

doesn't help there are Nikes called Terrascape. Google shows me shoes when I search for red shadow...

The game stresses out pc, only getting 335fps lol.

 

[ZedClampet]

its a little buggy. I played again, got way further and then randomly red shading appeared on screen and ruined any screenshots I might have taken. Current top score is 14k though I am only playing one of three modes, need to work out game first.

doesn't help there are Nikes called Terrascape. Google shows me shoes when I search for red shadow...

Use AI, "In the game Terrascape..."

 

[Colif]

I would prefer to find it myself without help from something that lies.

 

[ZedClampet]

I would prefer to find it myself without help from something that lies.

If you want to be stubborn and do things the hard way. I'm not going to try to stop you, but CoPilot has a good record with game information.

 

[BeardyHat]

Btw: Has anyone tried out the Fallout: London mod that was recently released?

It's on my list, but I still have yet to feel like I've finished New Vegas, in spite of completing the main story and I haven't been back in a year or two, so it's gonna be hard to get back...

The private Vanilla WoW server I play on is finally back up, after an attack and hack on Thursday; for something free and community driven, the private server community sure has weird drama and allegiances. Mine was attacked because it's believed to be run by someone who did some malicious things in the past (heresay though, as I only know what I've read on Reddit, which is claimed to be from completely legitimate and reliable source, 4chan).

At any rate, I've been fiending on that and I have to say: it is an impressive project and a direction Blizzard should have gone at some point in the past. It's basically the original World of Warcraft, but the developers are working to fill out that original world, completing areas that were notably unfinished and left to languish after the original release of the game.

It's so damn charming to have been playing this game for 20 years, only to discover legitimately new stuff and expanded spaces and lore that didn't exist in Blizzards game because they went on to greener ($$$) pastures; this server is clearly a labor of love. Putting it in contrast with what WoW has become, even Blizzards own Classic, you can see the difference. What is clearly a cynical money grab versus a passion project, like what Blizzard used to do.

Speaking of Blizzard, I got Diablo 2 Resurrected installed and working on my Steam Deck and it is fabulous. Where I grow rapidly bored with ARPGs on a proper keyboard and mouse, a controller just feels correct for them and I'm eager to play more.

Also still at it with System Shock, but nothing much to report there, still enjoying myself.

 

[Colif]

take 2

like other city builders like this, there are combos that build larger structures

I worked out what red shading means, it highlights tiles you can't build on. It was a hotkey I hadn't looked at.

 

[neogunhero]

Tried to stream games to my new TV last night. Went about as well as you’d expect. Turns out, neither Xbox Cloud Streaming nor Steam have dedicated apps for Roku TV, so no native streaming on the TV. I found a different approach, stream my desktop straight to the TV, and it honestly looked and felt pretty good. Quality was maybe a little low, and Win10 doesn’t give me any options to adjust streaming quality which is lame. It wasn’t terrible though, and the response time was quite decent, good enough to play most games and forget it’s there. Then came my main issue, my Xbox controller just couldn’t hold a connection to the PC. The Bluetooth transmitter isn’t strong enough to let me stay connected while in my bedroom. I may need to buy a BT 5.3 transmitter that apparently goes up to 360ft/100m, which I’m only about 20-30ft from my PC so that would help. However I’m not sure if I could justify throwing $20 away just so I can lay in bed and play my PC games.

This seems to be a problem I’ve struggled with a lot of my life haha. I remember dragging my PC to my TV just so I can sit on the couch and play games. Sometimes I really don’t want to sit at a desk, I want to get really comfy and game. Perhaps the only downside of PC gaming, the chairs and desks sometimes suck!!