June 2024 Game Discussion Thread

[neogunhero]

I’m in a massive slump again. Can’t find any good games I want to delve into. I started up Starfield again and it was captivating for the first two hours but quickly ran its course. Just can’t bring myself to run around huge empty planets or do any of the missions. Tried to boot up Elder Scrolls Online but really don’t want to start a new character and my old max level characters I have to reassign 400 champion points which is so annoying. Got tired of Age of Empires 4, still not in the right headspace to play Animal Well right now. Game Pass has been boring, nothing new or good on there.

I have a million games but nothing to play. I’m also kind of in the mood to play something new and modern, nothing old or classic, but really don’t wanna spend $70 on a game I’ll play a little bit. What a drag!

 

[Colif]

Too much choice is worse than none at all. I used to have that problem working out what song to play, and that was before I got Tidal. Now I just restrict choices.

 

[BeardyHat]

flying motorcycle game with melee weapons... sounds more dangerous to the rider than anyone who might want to pass them...

Is this a modern version of Road Rash? (they were fun for their time)

I would buy an updated version of that as at least the weapons aren't rockets like in other games. No mines... no blue shells.

Ever checkout Road Redemption? I thought it was pretty cool and ended-up playing 16-hours of it, both solo and via Split Screen with my wife and occasionally my Brother in Law. It has guns, but it really takes some practice and effort to be good with them and at $2.99, it's worth checking out.

Save 85% on Road Redemption on Steam

Road Redemption lets you lead a biker gang on an epic journey across the country in this driving combat road rage adventure. Huge campaign, dozens of weapons, full 4-player co-op splitscreen and online multiplayer.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Hveðrungr]

I’m in a massive slump again. Can’t find any good games I want to delve into.

Advice I always give and that works for me: do something other than gaming. Read a book, watch TV, even go for a walk and touch grass. Maybe it'll take a few days, maybe it'll be a few weeks, but that break will refresh your eagerness for a game and let you enjoy the games you've got rather than listlessly dropping them prematurely and desperately seeking novelty.

 

[Brian Boru]

slump

In the vein of what @Hveðrungr said: whenever I need a gaming break—which is admittedly rare—I watch some movies or catch up on a fav YouTuber's backlist. If you don't fancy long movies, Omeleto on YT has an excellent library of shorts, with a few new ones every week.

It's a good time for sport too, maybe sample some new ones just for kicks
Tennis: French Open just finished;
Football: buildup to Euro '24;
Rugby: URC, Super Rugby and Top 14 playoffs in progress;
Cricket: T20 World Cup in progress;
Athletics: Euro c'ships in progress;
Olympics: next month;
F1: season in progress;
Golf: US Open starts Thursday;
Cycling: Tour of Britain in progress;
Basketball: NBA final in progress;
Hurling: Limerick just won 6th Munster c'ship in a row;
Horse Racing: Can Derby winner take the Eclipse?
Winter Sports: Hey @Colif, what's happenin'?

If you have a cat, play hide n seek with it. But you must stay hidden—it's not ignoring you, it's still searching…

 

[Pifanjr]

I’m in a massive slump again.

Same. And not just for videogames, it's been hard to get anything done besides the bare minimum. I haven't played Slay the Spire in a while and haven't continued my Pokémon game since I restarted.

The only motivation I've had videogame-wise is for playing Baldur's Gate 3 with my wife and Crusader Kings 2 with my friends. However, my wife is in a slump as well, so we often don't have the energy to play, and my friends wanted to continue the CK2 game today but I already had an appointment.

 

[BeardyHat]

I’m in a massive slump again. Can’t find any good games I want to delve into. I started up Starfield again and it was captivating for the first two hours but quickly ran its course. Just can’t bring myself to run around huge empty planets or do any of the missions. Tried to boot up Elder Scrolls Online but really don’t want to start a new character and my old max level characters I have to reassign 400 champion points which is so annoying. Got tired of Age of Empires 4, still not in the right headspace to play Animal Well right now. Game Pass has been boring, nothing new or good on there.

I have a million games but nothing to play. I’m also kind of in the mood to play something new and modern, nothing old or classic, but really don’t wanna spend $70 on a game I’ll play a little bit. What a drag!

Same. And not just for videogames, it's been hard to get anything done besides the bare minimum. I haven't played Slay the Spire in a while and haven't continued my Pokémon game since I restarted.

The only motivation I've had videogame-wise is for playing Baldur's Gate 3 with my wife and Crusader Kings 2 with my friends. However, my wife is in a slump as well, so we often don't have the energy to play, and my friends wanted to continue the CK2 game today but I already had an appointment.

Those times are the absolute worst. Everything feels so aimless and nothing really brings much joy.

I do find that I sometimes just need to completely change what I'm doing; picking up a book is usually helpful and gets me reading for several weeks, giving me motivation to play games and the like afterward.

 

[Brian Boru]

my wife is in a slump as well

Kid rearing exhaustion?

@neogunhero you got young kids playing vampire with your energy?

The cure: grandparents! They need to suffer too

 

[Colif]

This doesn't look bad, Anno 1886 but you are pirates

 

[Pifanjr]

Those times are the absolute worst. Everything feels so aimless and nothing really brings much joy.

I do find that I sometimes just need to completely change what I'm doing; picking up a book is usually helpful and gets me reading for several weeks, giving me motivation to play games and the like afterward.

I have started making my way through the Dune series, currently halfway through the second book. As usual, the books are much better than the movies.

It's made me very curious about how much of the politicking is going to make it into Dune: Awakening.

 

[Hveðrungr]

Same. And not just for videogames, it's been hard to get anything done besides the bare minimum.

Go for a long walk. “Touch grass” isn't just a meme, it's important for psychological health.

 

[Colif]

I have started making my way through the Dune series, currently halfway through the second book. As usual, the books are much better than the movies.

Especially with Dune. I haven't watched the new movies but I can just tell they can't include everything. I should read them again... its been long enough. I just need to get them off my brother now. He has them still.

 

[Pifanjr]

Go for a long walk. “Touch grass” isn't just a meme, it's important for psychological health.

I spend quite a lot of time outside with my kid and my dog, which is probably why I'm not doing worse.

We're going away this weekend with my family and then I have the Monday after off from work while my wife and kid are gone. I'm hoping I can recharge during the weekend and then use the Monday to just get a whole bunch of stuff done that I haven't been getting around to.

Especially with Dune. I haven't watched the new movies but I can just tell they can't include everything. I should read them again... its been long enough. I just need to get them off my brother now. He has them still.

I believe for the game they have gotten rid of the Fremen entirely (or at least until an expansion or something brings them back), so they've already cut quite a big part.

The main thing I missed from the movies is all of the internal dialogue. The books do a great job at showing how each character has limited information and how they draw different conclusions from the same facts, which the movies can't really do.

 

[ZedClampet]

Nearing the end of our Kingdoms Reborn game. I'm very slightly ahead, but I don't want to win, so I've started just perfecting my little kingdom that has moved into the Industrial Revolution.

 

[ZedClampet]

Who said game development takes a long time? Clothing Store Simulator managed to make a perfect clone of Supermarket Simulator in just a few months. Of course, these are very basic games. They could have game-jammed it last week, as far as I know.

Even the roadmap is identical. Wonder if they/he/she will immediately abandon it like the Supermarket Simulator dev did.

 

[Rolfil]

I'd been happily playing The Planet Crafter until their last update. It added an 8000 item limit which crashes my game when a drone tries to deliver something into a full container - at least that's what it seems like.

I've started another game but I need to play something else. Waiting till the next Helldivers 2 patch tomorrow and will take some frustration out on the Bots.

 

[BeardyHat]

I have started making my way through the Dune series, currently halfway through the second book. As usual, the books are much better than the movies.

It's made me very curious about how much of the politicking is going to make it into Dune: Awakening.

I actually want to get started on them, but haven't been in a reading mood lately. Leading up to May I was reading a whole bunch and finished several, but then as happens, it kind of fell off the radar after finishing the last book I was reading.

Especially with Dune. I haven't watched the new movies but I can just tell they can't include everything. I should read them again... its been long enough. I just need to get them off my brother now. He has them still.

I feel like one thing the movies (I haven't seen the second) are doing that really stands out to me is their impressive sense of scale. I like that there's not a lot of dialogue and it's really just an expansive set of visuals. Seeing a "ship" or whatever the hell it is, hovering over the planet with the landing craft coming out of it really sticks with me as just being an incredibly well composed shot to get across that scale to the viewer.

 

[Brian Boru]

Clothing Store Simulator managed to make a perfect clone of Supermarket Simulator in just a few months

Obvious Q is, could it be same dev in different clothing?

Dune series

It's many decades since I read them, but if I recall correctly, there is a significant change after the first 3 books—as if the rest were just riding on the laurels. I could be wrong tho, I devoured a lot of scifi back then and it's all a bit of a nebula these days

 

[ZedClampet]

Still playing our Kingdoms Reborn game. Guido is pretty far behind. He decided to start in the desert, which makes food production tough. Plus, he doesn't know the game as well as I do, so he hasn't properly maximized his science, which makes his research take forever. I told him he needed to rebuild his residential areas from scratch. That's where you get all your science points--by making your citizens smarter with things like schools and libraries.

Anyway, I filled the time waiting for him by building too many new production buildings, so now I have too little population and all my storage space is filled up with luxury items. I'm having to set up more trade to be able to get rid of it all.

 

[ZedClampet]

Obvious Q is, could it be same dev in different clothing?

Maybe, but I doubt it. The success of Supermarket Simulator caused him to have a mental breakdown, and he's disappeared. Unless it's all a ruse, and he disappeared to work on this game.

 

[Zloth]

I started up Hardspace Shipbreaker last night. It's good but requires patience. After being shown how to use your tools, you're plopped down in front of a small ship. It doesn't guide you on how to take it apart, you've got to figure that out on your own. It took me a while, maybe an hour? It was long enough that my left pinky was starting to hurt from hitting the control key (which acts as the break).

The next ship was basically the same layout, so it went much faster. This is also where the game introduces you to the ships having stuff inside that you can salvage - often for a lot more money than those big, heavy hull parts. Oh, and the one I picked had oxygen bottles, too! Those are great - the company charges 16,000 per oxygen recharge.

...and then I sliced into a door frame and BOOM! Wow, those oxygen bottles really explode! Maybe I set off a chain reaction? I got hurt (and got an achievement for burning a little) but survived. As I kept dismantling the ship, I discovered a fuel tank! It was on the undamaged side of the ship kinda back near that door. I wonder if there's another on the other side of... oh. It wasn't oxygen bottles. I blew up a rather expensive fuel tank.

Oh well. "Expensive" is just 350,000 or so. I'm currently in debt to the tune of, let's see.... ah, here, you can see it in the upper right of this screenshot:

Once I had salvaged a few things from the second ship, I got an achievement for finishing the tutorial. Only 47% of players got that achievement.

The game is about to impose a 15-minute time limit per shift, demanding speed. I think I might restart and turn that off. I like taking my time and I'm afraid I'll avoid breaking up new ship types because they'll take longer.

 

[BeardyHat]

I started up Hardspace Shipbreaker last night. It's good but requires patience. After being shown how to use your tools, you're plopped down in front of a small ship. It doesn't guide you on how to take it apart, you've got to figure that out on your own. It took me a while, maybe an hour? It was long enough that my left pinky was starting to hurt from hitting the control key (which acts as the break).

The next ship was basically the same layout, so it went much faster. This is also where the game introduces you to the ships having stuff inside that you can salvage - often for a lot more money than those big, heavy hull parts. Oh, and the one I picked had oxygen bottles, too! Those are great - the company charges 16,000 per oxygen recharge.

...and then I sliced into a door frame and BOOM! Wow, those oxygen bottles really explode! Maybe I set off a chain reaction? I got hurt (and got an achievement for burning a little) but survived. As I kept dismantling the ship, I discovered a fuel tank! It was on the undamaged side of the ship kinda back near that door. I wonder if there's another on the other side of... oh. It wasn't oxygen bottles. I blew up a rather expensive fuel tank.

Oh well. "Expensive" is just 350,000 or so. I'm currently in debt to the tune of, let's see.... ah, here, you can see it in the upper right of this screenshot:

Once I had salvaged a few things from the second ship, I got an achievement for finishing the tutorial. Only 47% of players got that achievement.

The game is about to impose a 15-minute time limit per shift, demanding speed. I think I might restart and turn that off. I like taking my time and I'm afraid I'll avoid breaking up new ship types because they'll take longer.

I do love that game and somehow have played 31 hours. When the time limit was first introduced, I also bristled at it and was annoyed, but ended up just dealing with it and honestly, after a a few times, you get used to it.

I do like the chill nature of working and not feeling the time pressure, but honestly, I think it kind of shows you how irrelevant your debt ultimately is. Plus, it trains you to be efficient and focus on the biggest parts that will net you the most money quickly and figure out what items can go into what portal and what you need to separate and what you don't.

The game, as it goes, becomes more about the surrounding narrative and characters and you really stop worrying about that limit.

Not that I'm suggesting you keep it if you don't like it, because I totally understand.

 

[BeardyHat]

One more day, then I'll be flying out to Dallas for the weekend for VCF Southwest. Why? Well, it seemed like something to do at the time when my wife was insisting I take a solo vacation.

I'm excited to go, but not really sure how long I'll actually spend at the convention, as I don't know a ton about old hardware outside of what I grew up with, but should be a fun little diversion.

I'm thinking about picking up some old (Thinkpad) laptop if they have them for some retro PC gaming. Why? Again, it seems like the thing to do while I'm there, but I'm not really sure what I'd use it for, given that most things I want to play still work on a modern Windows machine and messing around with PCEm I can pretty much do anything I want (which isn't much) with it.

At any rate, I'm looking forward to spending a good amount of time with Skald on my Deck during travel. My flight is at 9am and I'm wondering if that's too early to have several drinks to calm my anxiety over flying.

 

[Brian Boru]

I'm wondering if that's too early to have several drinks

“Why limit happy to an hour?”
—W.C. Fields

Have fun!

 

[Brian Boru]

Gaming giant Steam accused of ripping off 14m UK gamers

Steam owner Valve accused of ripping off 14m UK gamers

Legal claim alleges Steam's market dominance means consumers are paying too much for video games.

www.bbc.com