July 2024 Game Discussion Thread

[ZedClampet]

I haven't played NMS. Every time I look at it, it seems intriguing, but smacks as something a mile wide and an inch deep as far as mechanics and exploration, so I've avoided it.

It really is a mile wide, but it doesn't have to be an inch deep. However, it shines mostly as a rich sandbox experience. If you go into it just for the main questline, I'm not sure you would enjoy it. You would be overwhelmed with systems and mechanics that you never use. But if you enjoy sandboxes, you'll likely use them all.

If you like complex economies, building purpose-driven bases, plentiful reasons to explore, and basically running a space-based business, including recruiting a wide range of ships for your fleet--and much more--then you will enjoy the game. But that is all sandbox. You don't have to do any of it, and if you aren't a sandbox player, you probably won't.

One of my favorite side things was becoming the mayor of a colony on my home planet and having them plot to overthrow, or even assassinate, me as I continuously sent them on dangerous missions. But that, too, is sandbox. People who don't do well with sandboxes likely won't even realize that's in the game.

So yes, it's many miles wide, and if you are an RPG or shooter person, it's going to feel an inch deep. But if you are a sandbox player, it's one of the richest toolboxes ever made.

 

[Colif]

It sounds similar to City building sims. There is no real story but room for you to make your own. Cities Skylines isn't very deep but it too is wide. Enough there to trap people.

 

[Hveðrungr]

Struggled according to what metric?

Struggled by the metric of hipsters shouting “BUGTHESDA!” as they giggle into their real ale. It's a good game, not quite as good as Bethesda's best but still good.

 

[Colif]

Perhaps the 2nd version will be better and not constrained by the engine they used.

 

[ZedClampet]

I've thought about getting Arcade Paradise on multiple occasions. Thanks for the freebie, Epic.

 

[Hveðrungr]

I've thought about getting Arcade Paradise on multiple occasions. Thanks for the freebie, Epic.

I had this experience last week with Floppy Knights.

 

[Pifanjr]

I had this experience last week with Floppy Knights.

Have you played it yet? I hadn't heard of it before, but it looks very interesting.

 

[ZedClampet]

Someone recommended this to me on reddit as a free scene editor. I didn't even read the store page since it was free. I'm not sure what's going to happen when I hit "OK", but I'm pretty sure I'm more interested now than I was when I downloaded it

I'm pretty sure this isn't a scene editor. Or maybe that's just one feature of it.

 

[Hveðrungr]

Have you played it yet? I hadn't heard of it before, but it looks very interesting.

No, unfortunately I have too much work on. (What do you mean, “Then why are you posting so much on here…?”)

 

[BeardyHat]

It really is a mile wide, but it doesn't have to be an inch deep. However, it shines mostly as a rich sandbox experience. If you go into it just for the main questline, I'm not sure you would enjoy it. You would be overwhelmed with systems and mechanics that you never use. But if you enjoy sandboxes, you'll likely use them all.

If you like complex economies, building purpose-driven bases, plentiful reasons to explore, and basically running a space-based business, including recruiting a wide range of ships for your fleet--and much more--then you will enjoy the game. But that is all sandbox. You don't have to do any of it, and if you aren't a sandbox player, you probably won't.

One of my favorite side things was becoming the mayor of a colony on my home planet and having them plot to overthrow, or even assassinate, me as I continuously sent them on dangerous missions. But that, too, is sandbox. People who don't do well with sandboxes likely won't even realize that's in the game.

So yes, it's many miles wide, and if you are an RPG or shooter person, it's going to feel an inch deep. But if you are a sandbox player, it's one of the richest toolboxes ever made.

Thanks for all the responses.

It sounds vaguely intriguing, but I do also struggle with sandboxes, often thinking, "What's the point?" I thought about buying X4 recently, but realized it was a "make your own fun" kind of game and that's just not for me; I need some goals and objectives to provide me with some guidance.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I decided to try EA Play out of morbid curiosity to see what SImCity (2013) is like last night. There were some bits I liked, like the use of Sims 3 models as advisors and the like, but so far I'm very underwhelmed.

 

[Pifanjr]

No, unfortunately I have too much work on. (What do you mean, “Then why are you posting so much on here…?”)

I can relate.

Thanks for all the responses.

It sounds vaguely intriguing, but I do also struggle with sandboxes, often thinking, "What's the point?" I thought about buying X4 recently, but realized it was a "make your own fun" kind of game and that's just not for me; I need some goals and objectives to provide me with some guidance.

I can relate.

 

[Hveðrungr]

It sounds vaguely intriguing, but I do also struggle with sandboxes, often thinking, "What's the point?" I thought about buying X4 recently, but realized it was a "make your own fun" kind of game and that's just not for me; I need some goals and objectives to provide me with some guidance.

 

[Brian Boru]

"make your own fun" kind of game and that's just not for me; I need some goals and objectives to provide me with some guidance.

I guess my ideal is the combo—goal-led initial playthru to demo the games systems & mechanics, followed by plenty of room to make your own fun.

I'm not sure what's going to happen when I hit "OK"

We await your report with great anticipation. Go on, it's safe—we stranded wife over 1,000 miles away just for this!

 

[Hveðrungr]

I guess my ideal is the combo—goal-led initial playthru to demo the games systems & mechanics, followed by plenty of room to make your own fun.

I like for games to have a set goal that I can reach in whatever way I like using a variety of approaches. Immersive sims are best for this but nearly all strategy games are also good for it.

 

[ZedClampet]

Ok, so that software was attached to a porn game. I didn't try it, but I played around with the scene maker. The thing is, you can only make porn scenes. So that's what I did

Honestly it is great software. If someone made a non-porn version of it, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. It's not finished yet. As it is, you can't import other models, and all the animation are...interesting. If they add enough non-porn content, I'd still consider getting it when it is finished. But I need something now, and I'll probably get so comfortable with blender that I won't need anything else.

I probably won't try the porn game that came with it. Based on the scene maker, there's a lot of furry and futanari stuff, which don't really do anything for me. If you don't know what a futanari is, it's a mythical Japanese cross between a hermaphrodite and a huge Amazon woman. They are extremely popular with online comic artists, which is where I came across them. Don't google it at work. I've never seen one wearing clothes

 

[ZedClampet]

Thanks for all the responses.

It sounds vaguely intriguing, but I do also struggle with sandboxes, often thinking, "What's the point?" I thought about buying X4 recently, but realized it was a "make your own fun" kind of game and that's just not for me; I need some goals and objectives to provide me with some guidance.

If you end up wanting to try it, I suggest waiting for a big sale because the main story-line is just not worth much, or at least I didn't think it was.

@Brian Boru Didn't want to put this in the demo thread, but I'm going to give this RTS a try if it has a tutorial. A few years ago, I was invited to join a beta for a C&C-like, which is something I'd never played. The invite had almost no info, but I went ahead and accepted. Turns out it was only for the PvP mode, which is generally what betas are for, but I hadn't thought about it. So it pairs me up with someone, which didn't really make me happy, tbh, since I had no idea what was going on. There was no tutorial. The UI was a placeholder and had no information on it, and I twisted in the wind for about 2 minutes and decided I was done and exited.

****

Heard a sports talk-show host talk about gaming today, which was kind of funny. He bought a PS5 just to play the college football game, but he had been a bit of a gamer in his youth, so he went ahead and bought a couple of other games. He didn't say what games they were, but I have to guess one of them was Call of Duty.

The funny part was him describing his games. He doesn't have a microphone, so the kids he was playing with apparently assumed he couldn't hear them. They were all rage quitting because of his terrible play. He said every time he played a match at least one 9-year-old started cussing like a sailor and left the match. In some perverse way, he was actually enjoying making kids rage quit. He was cracking me up telling the stories.

 

[Zloth]

If you end up wanting to try it, I suggest waiting for a big sale because the main story-line is just not worth much, or at least I didn't think it was.

Oh, definitely not! The stories are good for justifying the goals they set out for you and giving you a sense of each faction's character, but I don't think they are meant to be a selling point for the game.

 

[Pifanjr]

Thanks for all the responses.

It sounds vaguely intriguing, but I do also struggle with sandboxes, often thinking, "What's the point?" I thought about buying X4 recently, but realized it was a "make your own fun" kind of game and that's just not for me; I need some goals and objectives to provide me with some guidance.

I thought about this a bit more. I don't necessarily need a story or specific goal, as long as I get one or more NPCs to care for. That's why I like playing Dwarf Fortress or Rimworld and why I usually abandon a save once my people are self-sustaining.

Similarly, I don't think Stardew Valley would be enjoyable at all without any of the NPCs, even though they don't add that much mechanically to the game that you couldn't do with simple menus.

 

[Frindis]

Game event update: I'll soon have a draft ready and when everything is in order, I'll post the competition on August the first and we'll all have a month to compete with the final best lap results and winner in Death Rally shown before the next event.

 

[Johnway]

Managed to get a lot of progress done yesterday. killed 3 bosses: the old demon king, the pontiff sulyvahn and more importantly Yhorm the Giant. Got to say, having an AI player by your side makes the boss fights much much easier. Especially facing off against the Pontiff and Yhorm. The bosses seem to struggle against multiple targets, they can only focus on one target and those AI characters seem to do pretty well on their own as well. unsurprisingly, whilst they were distracted i take advantage attacking from the flanks and with my +11 estus flasks i just tanked most of it.

So... onwards and upwards. Was it deserved victories because i was getting better at the game? Absolutely not.

 

[Zloth]

Horizon: Forbidden West is HUGE! More of the map keeps opening up! I'm trying to do all the side-quests, but there's just no way. I'm at 25th level and doing missions meant for 16th level still.

There are also a lot more weapons to use. The weapons from the first game are all still there: light bow, sniper bow, tossing bombs with a slingshot thing, and the good old pointed stick. They've also got an even lighter and faster bow, a bolt caster that acts something like a machine gun, a javelin thing I haven't even tried yet, some sort of disk-throwing boomerang thing, and probably more. Between the abundance of quests, the weapon variety, the many skills to invest in, and the sheer size of the place, this one should have a lot more replay value than most story-based games.

@mjs warlord, have you started playing it yet? I know you liked Zero Dawn a lot.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Ive just beaten the Kislev tutorial in Total War Warhammer 3. Lets see how much it hooks me in again. Campaigns seem fun and I still get sucked into the real time battles fully.

Shadow of the Erdtree continues, few bosses still to mop up around the map and a couple of main ones to go I think. Its good, if you want more Elden Ring then here it is in a slightly condensed form. Its probably as big or bigger content wise than the 3 Dark Souls games. No complaints.

 

[Brian Boru]

@ZedClampet fyi 29m from Gameranx:

20 Best COOP Campaigns You SHOULDN'T MISS

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

 

[Hveðrungr]

Ive just beaten the Kislev tutorial in Total War Warhammer 3. Lets see how much it hooks me in again. Campaigns seem fun and I still get sucked into the real time battles fully.

You picked a great time to start. They've pretty much fixed everything they broke when they launched the game, plus benefitting from all the improvements they made over #1&2.

Would anyone be interested in playing TWWH3's three-player co-op campaign?