March 2025 General Game Discussion Thread

[neogunhero]

Don't take anything you read at ScreenRant.com very seriously without checking the information somewhere else. A lot of the incorrect game information that CoPilot gives me is sourced to ScreenRant. In fact, I'd guess the majority of it comes from ScreenRant.

I've notice that if you tell CoPilot that something is incorrect that it actually changes its response some time later. Either it gets flagged in their system or different sources just come out with the correct information. For example, I corrected it at one point on a mission in Weed Shop 3. I asked it the same question about 6 months later, and it gave me the correct answer, and I'm pretty sure that answer isn't available anywhere. I checked Google, the Steam forums, Steam guides, etc. Also, when it gave me the answer, instead of giving me a source, it said, "There has been some discussion that says..."

Just in my own personal speculation, the following news outlets are very bad with clickbait and pumping out hundreds of articles a day to maximize SEO: Screenrant, TheGamer, and GameRant. The amount of times they show up on my searches with fairly low quality articles is seriously annoying.

 

[neogunhero]

I’m having some weird issues with my Bluetooth. My Xbox controller works most of the time with no interruption, but every now and then it will struggle to hold a connection. This kept happening to me last night while playing Yakuza. It got so annoying that I did some digging around to figure out a solution.

First step was to check device manager. The Intel Bluetooth adapter on my PC had a driver dated back to 2019, and Windows driver update said it was up to date. I went to Intel’s site and saw they literally just put a new driver update out yesterday. I manually updated it by downloading the setup file.

Then I connected my controller to my PC via USB and went to the Xbox Accessories app and saw there was a controller update. Pro tip for anyone who uses a Xbox controller on PC, do this! Just like everything else, it’s always a good idea to keep firmware up to date, and Windows doesn’t do this automatically for your controllers. It takes a few minutes to update so that’s probably why.

After that, it seems my issue was resolved. This could be total placebo, but it felt like my controller was ever so slightly more responsive, but again I could just be overthinking it. I wouldn’t totally rule it out though, as I had a nearly 6 year old BT driver.

 

[ZedClampet]

The developers of Big Ambitions kicked me out of my game!

I turned in a bug report using the in-game reporting, and about 5 minutes later I was just zapped out of my game. They warned me about that a long time ago, but I had completely forgotten. Wish I had saved my game before turning in that report.

This is a huge pricing bug. Why am I the one who had to turn it in? It's been over a month since the update that presumably broke it. And it's not like they don't have players. They've sold over 500k copies.

 

[ZedClampet]

The developers of Big Ambitions kicked me out of my game!

I turned in a bug report using the in-game reporting, and about 5 minutes later I was just zapped out of my game. They warned me about that a long time ago, but I had completely forgotten. Wish I had saved my game before turning in that report.

This is a huge pricing bug. Why am I the one who had to turn it in? It's been over a month since the update that presumably broke it. And it's not like they don't have players. They've sold over 500k copies.

Apparently I'm a very bad writer because the developers aren't understanding what the bug is, which is simply that the "lowest market price" is showing as way too high. The problem is that I changed it before turning in the report. They said, "The lowest market price says $7.60, which is fine." Sure it's fine because that's what I set it at. When I first got there it was $22

 

[ZedClampet]

Apparently I'm a very bad writer because the developers aren't understanding what the bug is, which is simply that the "lowest market price" is showing as way too high. The problem is that I changed it before turning in the report. They said, "The lowest market price says $7.60, which is fine." Sure it's fine because that's what I set it at. When I first got there it was $22

Ok, they got it now. Said there's a problem with monopoly pricing, and they will fix it next update

 

[DXCHASE]

Another Diablo 4 event, another painfully, stupidly low drop rate of said events materials, in this case, goblins. Event is only 7 days with like 12 tiers or something. You have to kill a certain amount of treasure goblins each time. Ive sankin roughly 5-10 hours since this event went live yesterday and have seen/killed exactly 7. So the first tier was kill 6 goblins, the second tier is 12 and have no clue what the last 5 or 6 would be.

Long story short, goblin spawns are irritatingly low for something i cant spend every second of the day trying to complete by next tuesday. Diablo has this irritating factor that in order to retain players, the drop rate of top-tier gear is .00000000000000000005%. Just the grind is so already tedious, then they throw in this event with even worse "drop" rates of the actual events stuff.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played a bit of Minecraft Blightfall today. I finished moving everything over to a single base, then made myself a crossbow and some armour and set out to do some exploration quests.

I got to an obsidian tower with lavafalls, but I managed to get myself knocked into some lava by a skeleton and died. Luckily this modpack doesn't make you drop your items when you die. In my second attempt I just built a dirt stack to the top of the tower and worked my way down, which was a lot easier as none of the enemies could reach me. So now I have found myself a blood altar, which should open up some new possibilities.

 

[ZedClampet]

Random speculation:

I suspect that Steam quarterly sales started because publishers were always putting their games on sale at those times anyway due to the end of the fiscal quarters, trying to get those earnings up before they had to be reported to investors. The only sale that wasn't at the end of a traditional fiscal quarter was the autumn sale, which was trying to take advantage of black Friday instead. But this year the autumn sale will be moving to the end of the third quarter.

 

[JCgames]

You have lots of Youtubers doing similar things like calling themselves "Angry *whoever*" and doing "Angry reviews" and yet people pay attention to those people. Angry Joe has been linked on here multiple times.

ScreenRant is often the number one result showed by Google. They write so many articles on so many things (they are borderline stream-of-consciousness articles) that they are frequently the only site that claims to have an answer on something.

Google search results are paid to be higher on the list. It isn't higher because it's more relevant. Just because it has relevant info often it makes people think that's the reason. Digging often gets you better or atleast more in depth info. I often just cluck page 3 before I even really look at stuff to filter out all the artificially raised results.


As for the rant stuff, it's been scientifically proven a lie or a rant travel 10-100 times faster than something positive or truth. Just look at how often people say soy milk is turning people gay.

 

[ZedClampet]

Google search results are paid to be higher on the list.

As Mark Twain said, a lie can travel half-way around the world while the truth is still tying its shoes. This is one of those times. Sites cannot move up Google's algorithms via payment. This is a fact. There are zero artificially raised results. That's a conspiracy theory that's been proven wrong time and again. Now if you are talking about the ads that show up when you do a search, then yes, those are clearly paid for, but they are obviously not a part of the real results. I can't tell you what they look like because I haven't seen an ad in about 10 years due to adblock.

I myself used to have two sites that were consistently in the top three on Google, sometimes even first. One of them--American Sentinel (dot) com--was a political site that was often quoted by other sites, famous pundits and even politicians. We even had a band that provided us with original, comedic music about political issues. Unfortunately, I lost my will to continue it as I grew disgusted by all things political, I had 8 writers, so I passed it off to them, but the site closed down less than two years later because, despite our popularity, we never made a dime. In fact, it cost a small fortune to run. Site advertising back then was brutally ineffective. We would have needed someone to actively sell advertising rather than relying on Adsense and affiliate links. Also, people were constantly trying to hack us and do DDOS attacks on us. It was more trouble than it was worth, and it was worth less than nothing.

Sorry for getting sidetracked. All of that was to say that I'm quite familiar with SEO and how Google's algorithm works.

Just look at how often people say soy milk is turning people gay.

This made me laugh because I had never heard of it, so I looked it up. While soy milk may not be turning people gay, it actually does have an impact on children. Female infants fed soy milk were more likely to be tomboys, and male infants also showed more masculine interests than breast fed males.

Here's the study by the US National Institute of Health: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3261982/

 

[BeardyHat]

I’m having some weird issues with my Bluetooth. My Xbox controller works most of the time with no interruption, but every now and then it will struggle to hold a connection. This kept happening to me last night while playing Yakuza. It got so annoying that I did some digging around to figure out a solution.

First step was to check device manager. The Intel Bluetooth adapter on my PC had a driver dated back to 2019, and Windows driver update said it was up to date. I went to Intel’s site and saw they literally just put a new driver update out yesterday. I manually updated it by downloading the setup file.

Then I connected my controller to my PC via USB and went to the Xbox Accessories app and saw there was a controller update. Pro tip for anyone who uses a Xbox controller on PC, do this! Just like everything else, it’s always a good idea to keep firmware up to date, and Windows doesn’t do this automatically for your controllers. It takes a few minutes to update so that’s probably why.

After that, it seems my issue was resolved. This could be total placebo, but it felt like my controller was ever so slightly more responsive, but again I could just be overthinking it. I wouldn’t totally rule it out though, as I had a nearly 6 year old BT driver.

Ah, yup! I had the exact same issue with my Xbox One controller. The firmware update solved the issue of the random disconnects for me. As for responsiveness, I couldn't say.

 

[DXCHASE]

I’m having some weird issues with my Bluetooth. My Xbox controller works most of the time with no interruption, but every now and then it will struggle to hold a connection. This kept happening to me last night while playing Yakuza. It got so annoying that I did some digging around to figure out a solution.

Controllers, to me, have always been annoying to deal with on a PC. I use a PS5 controller and i have to have 2 different programs running to get the functionality i want. They are steams controller settings and "controller companion app" and then this DS4 app for PS controllers to function right outside of any game that's not on steam. I also have used xbox controllers but i get the same annoying issues so its not my main controller but it had its own problems.

So what i have to do when using a PS5 controller is, If i play a steam game, i have to turn off DS4 or vice versa because the game will act like im using 2 controllers at once if both these programs are running. If i want to surf the internet or open and close programs normally with a controller, i have to either exit steam or turn off its controller settings (easier to exit steam).

But if i want the functionality of the buttons (hitting buttons to bring up keyboard, using X as "enter" etc. etc.) i have to close out DS4 so i can use the controller companion app to do that. Its frustrating and thats if turning on the controller actually connects properly on the first try too.

PS. Theres also times where i do go into device settings/manager and tinker with things, esp. to get a xbox controller to work, but it saves no time.

TL;DR. Controllers have always been annoying to work on a pc and i wish they would just function normally when you turn them on (act like 1 controller and have mouse/keyboard functions). No program or controller settings work flawlessly.

 

[BeardyHat]

Aside from needing the firmware update, I've never had any issues with Microsoft Xbox controllers (specifically the brand name s stuff), I just plug them in and they work without fuss. It's why I keep my Xbox 360 controllers going, even after my kids have damaged the cords on them repeatedly (which are fairly easy to replace), because I can just plug them in and they pick up the appropriate settings (Controller 1 through 4).

The only ones I've really had struggles with are the cheapos. After my kids broke one of my controllers for the eightieth time, I finally wised up and got them no name ones off Amazon, which work 80% of the time, but randomly will behave really weird. I've had less trouble with some $13 Logitech ones, which are shaped like PSX controllers.

 

[neogunhero]

TL;DR. Controllers have always been annoying to work on a pc and i wish they would just function normally when you turn them on (act like 1 controller and have mouse/keyboard functions). No program or controller settings work flawlessly.

I think in this instance it really is just my Bluetooth adapter. Unfortunately I was getting the same issue last night. I may just go pick up a cheap USB adapter and see if that helps. Apart from Xbox controllers feeling the best to me, I just assumed they’d work best natively with Windows. For the most part I don’t have this issue, but increasingly and randomly it has started to occur. Unfortunately no stores immediately around me have one, but I can order one an Amazon for cheap. Will update to see if that fixes the issue, or if it’s a Windows/controller issue.

 

[BeardyHat]

I think in this instance it really is just my Bluetooth adapter. Unfortunately I was getting the same issue last night. I may just go pick up a cheap USB adapter and see if that helps. Apart from Xbox controllers feeling the best to me, I just assumed they’d work best natively with Windows. For the most part I don’t have this issue, but increasingly and randomly it has started to occur. Unfortunately no stores immediately around me have one, but I can order one an Amazon for cheap. Will update to see if that fixes the issue, or if it’s a Windows/controller issue.

Did you check and see if there was another update? You know how sometimes updates need to be run sequentially.

 

[neogunhero]

Did you check and see if there was another update? You know how sometimes updates need to be run sequentially.

I haven’t yet. I will tinker around with it some more tonight. I hope this doesn’t give me any issues tonight when I try to connect TWO controllers to play Split Fiction… that may prove to be more than my PC can handle

 

[neogunhero]

I'm in the Split Fiction Steam discussion forms halfway trolling, halfway stoking the fire and it's hilarious. Once again, a high profile game release is met with a wave of online hatred, and this time it seems the gooners are mad that the game features two women that don't have unrealistic body types, and the fact that you can't change your character to a male.

I just made a post on there pointing out that anyone who is mad about those two points are just pathetic, and I knew I was going to get a big reaction from it. Alongside that, there are people saying the reviews all seem AI generated. I dunno about that, it could just be the ones they're looking at, because I've already seen some video reviews and reviews from very reputable outlets (including PCG of course) that are praising the game on being a great co-op game. There could absolutely be bots in the Steam reviews, but 30K players the first hour it launched doesn't seem to warrant the need for bot reviews to me.

I'm just getting so sick of seeing the same BS every time any game comes out. I'm not even talking about the specific things they are mad about, it's more about the constant wave of hatred and controversy surrounding just about every new high-profile game release. There is always something they can nitpick on and tear apart, and my main thought is always, "don't you guys know there are quite literally millions of other games you could be playing?". Just because a new game that comes out is not up to your personal preferences doesn't mean you can just spew your unwarranted opinions everywhere, but then again this is the internet, and that's pretty much what it was made for. It's just so tiring lol.

 

[ZedClampet]

I'm in the Split Fiction Steam discussion forms halfway trolling, halfway stoking the fire and it's hilarious. Once again, a high profile game release is met with a wave of online hatred, and this time it seems the gooners are mad that the game features two women that don't have unrealistic body types, and the fact that you can't change your character to a male.

I just made a post on there pointing out that anyone who is mad about those two points are just pathetic, and I knew I was going to get a big reaction from it. Alongside that, there are people saying the reviews all seem AI generated. I dunno about that, it could just be the ones they're looking at, because I've already seen some video reviews and reviews from very reputable outlets (including PCG of course) that are praising the game on being a great co-op game. There could absolutely be bots in the Steam reviews, but 30K players the first hour it launched doesn't seem to warrant the need for bot reviews to me.

I'm just getting so sick of seeing the same BS every time any game comes out. I'm not even talking about the specific things they are mad about, it's more about the constant wave of hatred and controversy surrounding just about every new high-profile game release. There is always something they can nitpick on and tear apart, and my main thought is always, "don't you guys know there are quite literally millions of other games you could be playing?". Just because a new game that comes out is not up to your personal preferences doesn't mean you can just spew your unwarranted opinions everywhere, but then again this is the internet, and that's pretty much what it was made for. It's just so tiring lol.

Alright, I got the "Friends Pass". You can invite me whenever you're ready.

As for the hate mongers, I saw that the one who posted "Only Females = Must Buy" got banned either by Valve or by Hazelight. Usually when a developer bans someone they put a reason in the thread as a warning to others, so it might have been Valve.

I got banned from a Steam forum once for pointing out that the developers had run 3 successful Kickstarters for the game under different names, and each one had used the same demo that was nothing at all like the final game. Apparently that was too much reality for them, but somehow I got unbanned soon after. I didn't bother them anymore, even though this was before refunds, and I had completely wasted my money due to the fake demo, which I think was downloaded from the Unity store.

 

[neogunhero]

Alright, I got the "Friends Pass". You can invite me whenever you're ready.

Already taken, better luck next time

I’ve seen some pretty convincing arguments that these types of posts have to be ran by bots to drive up cynicism. Not sure what good comes from that, but it seems to come from a place of hatred, and not getting things the way you want them. As I said in the Avowed thread, I’m seeing these kinds of posts come up more and more often with nearly every major game release. It’s getting so tiring to the point where I should stop caring, but I still hate the amount of damage these kinds of posts can do. Not that I think I’m doing anything to stop it, but if I can make some realize how dumb those kinds of posts are before they fall for them, then I feel somewhat accomplished.

 

[ZedClampet]

Already taken, better luck next time

I’ve seen some pretty convincing arguments that these types of posts have to be ran by bots to drive up cynicism. Not sure what good comes from that, but it seems to come from a place of hatred, and not getting things the way you want them. As I said in the Avowed thread, I’m seeing these kinds of posts come up more and more often with nearly every major game release. It’s getting so tiring to the point where I should stop caring, but I still hate the amount of damage these kinds of posts can do. Not that I think I’m doing anything to stop it, but if I can make some realize how dumb those kinds of posts are before they fall for them, then I feel somewhat accomplished.

Hopefully no one is believing their crap anymore.

 

[Pifanjr]

I continued my Blightfall game today. I spend 1.5 hours looting a big tower I found last time and there's still more. There's some really good stuff in there though, which will allow me to start on several different paths for automating stuff and crafting new gear.

---

I also continued my Ironmon playthrough. I had to go through Rock Cave blind as I didn't have the Flash HM and couldn't be bothered to get it. It almost ended my run as I couldn't find my way back to the Pokécenter and kept getting paralysed. Luckily I managed to just pull through, only using a single item and almost out of power points for all of my moves.

I exited the cave and successfully avoided a couple of trainers to get to the Pokécenter on the other side, finally healing my Pokémon. Then I went back to beat the trainers I avoided to get some more XP and on the very first Pokémon I missed my first attack, at which point it decided to selfdestruct, taking my Pokémon with it...

Luckily I had caught a somewhat decent backup Fearow in what is normally the Diglett cave. He has an insane attack stat, but mediocre speed and terrible defense. The upside of the insanely high attack stat is that he instakills almost everything. The downside is that if he gets confused by an opponent and hits himself, he does a ton of damage as well.

I got insanely lucky however and shortly afterwards found the Yellow Pokéflute, which is a reusable item that cures confusion specifically. I also still had a Leftovers, so I get some passive healing to make up for the terrible defense stats. I still expect to be one-shot at some point though, so I'll have to try to find a new back-up before that happens.

 

[ZedClampet]

I also continued my Ironmon playthrough.

I need a game I can play Ironman on. I'm thinking something like "Bobo Learns to Count!"

 

[neogunhero]

LOL, my thread on the Split Fiction forums got deleted. Here's the developers message: "Had to delete your thread... it looks like your heart was in the right place, but this is just pouring gas on the fire. Please let the mods do their jobs and keep the chaos to a minimum."

I apologized for throwing fuel on the fire and explained how I'm so sick of seeing this kind of post become the default discourse. I knew what I was doing all along, but yeah it just wasn't the best way to go about addressing it all. It was fun while it lasted, refuting and arguing with all the weirdos.

 

[BeardyHat]

Chuds gonna Chud. Just ignore the discussions and move on with your life.

I finally finished Black Mesa and I have to say, the very final Xen sections, while beautiful and very fun to play initially drag and drag and drag, ending-up spoiling the game as a whole. Like, the developers did great work (mostly) when they had a template to work from with the original Half-Life, but them going hog wild on Xen, it's like reading a post from me, where there clearly needs to be some editing and culling.

I was really loving it, but it just ended-up leaving a sour taste in my mouth. I got so tired of saving and reloading after the endless fights up to Nihilanth, I got 90% of the way through that fight and threw my hands up. I put on God mode and did the last couple of hits I needed on him and called it a day.

 

[ZedClampet]

Kaiserpunk, the beautiful city builder / grand strategy / rts that I posted about is now launching on 3/20 right as the spring sale ends. First they avoided Next Fest, then they realized the spring sale was right around the corner and decided to dodge that as well.

I don't know what the price will be, but the developer said it would be more than my suggested price of $5.