March 2025 General Game Discussion Thread

[February's Ghost]

Also fired up Book of Hours, which I wasnt expecting to be quite so aesthetically similar to Cultist Simulator. Seems that the themes are similar, but maybe not quite so finnicky as the older game. Has similar music though and thats definitely a plus.

Book of Hours seems to have an obscure level of complexity that I just don't get. I have zero idea what the damn game wants me to do. If feels like one of the lame ass board games that have 67 rules and only 5 of them make any sense.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Book of Hours seems to have an obscure level of complexity that I just don't get. I have zero idea what the damn game wants me to do. If feels like one of the lame ass board games that have 67 rules and only 5 of them make any sense.

I can understand that reaction, it doesnt have a tutorial, you have to read everything, infer some stuff and just throw cards at the slots if unsure.

The way you progress seems quite similar to Cultist Simulator so far, and I liked that game quite a bit so that definitely helps.

 

[ZedClampet]

I really wanted to pick a name for my art gallery that would nail that first feeling you get when you look at something I've painted.

Whether the name is accurate just depends on how much effort I put into a painting. Each painting starts off as a combination of "LOL" and second-hand embarrassment, but with more effort, I can take most works to "WTF".

But to the customers in this game, I'm an artistic genius they are discovering for the first time.

I played the demo quite a bit and didn't realize they had launched the game until @Johnway mentioned Passpartout in the Spring Sale thread, and I wanted to show him this game.

As I understand it, this game determines the quality of the paintings based on the colors used and how long you spent painting it. Each customer only has so much money, though.

 

[DXCHASE]

Back from NYC! For those asking, if you are a Cowboy Bebop fan, i highly recommend checking this Bebop Live Band if you can. The players do an amazing job bringing the soundtrack to life and mixing in the series/movie at great times. They also had the original VA of Fay and one of the original singers for the one band represented in the series, but it was NYC, so they wont be everywhere, but It was a good time.

The rest of New York City...was NYC lol, lots of people and walking, but amazing pizza.

Some shots from the Cowboy Bebop live! show:

The show also played most of the series iconic songs, but they also played parts of the Anime especially fight scenes where the music kicks in. Was cool to hear it live and watch.

Now that im home with some time left until work next, i will be playing Avowed, they got a new update i haven't tried yet, getting extra points to use on my character, a 3rd person POV slider, some optimization. Looking forward to that. Then trying out Rise of Ronin. I hear it runs bad so id like to see how bad.

 

[ZedClampet]

Back from NYC! For those asking, if you are a Cowboy Bebop fan, i highly recommend checking this Bebop Live Band if you can. The players do an amazing job bringing the soundtrack to life and mixing in the series/movie at great times. They also had the original VA of Fay and one of the original singers for the one band represented in the series, but it was NYC, so they wont be everywhere, but It was a good time.

The rest of New York City...was NYC lol, lots of people and walking, but amazing pizza.

Some shots from the Cowboy Bebop live! show:

The show also played most of the series iconic songs, but they also played parts of the Anime especially fight scenes where the music kicks in. Was cool to hear it live and watch.

Now that im home with some time left until work next, i will be playing Avowed, they got a new update i haven't tried yet, getting extra points to use on my character, a 3rd person POV slider, some optimization. Looking forward to that. Then trying out Rise of Ronin. I hear it runs bad so id like to see how bad.

I hate to admit I'd never heard of Cowboy Bebop. Of course, I'd never heard of Dragon Ball until the 2010s.

 

[BeardyHat]

I hate to admit I'd never heard of Cowboy Bebop. Of course, I'd never heard of Dragon Ball until the 2010s.

It's pretty good.

I don't like anime, but Cowboy Bebop is good.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've been slowly making progress in the Minecraft Blightfall modpack. I've been making some decent progress through the Blood Magic pack, mostly by using an exploit to get villagers to ignore the max villager cap so they keep breeding, so I can occasionally come in and sacrifice a couple dozen.

The modpack has a bit of lore scattered around. There was a part about someone sacrificing a bunch of people so he could further his research that would help the entire kingdom. He sounds like a swell guy.

I also have like a dozen other things I want to work on, but it's so easy to get sidetracked in this game, because almost everything has multiple solutions and every solution opens multiple paths to other solutions.

For example, I can also trade with all of those villagers I have. So while I was getting ready to make some sacrifices I saw that several villagers were offering oreberries as a trade. And just like that, I spend over an hour planting jungle, oak and spruce saplings to get wood to turn into barricades and tool stations to trade for oreberries to plant in my underground oreberry farm, then making a harvest and gather golem to automate said farm.

And that's just one type of trade, there's a whole bunch more stuff you can get. And this happens with almost every solution.

It's pretty good.

I don't like anime, but Cowboy Bebop is good.

I've watched some anime, but I couldn't get into Cowboy Bepop.

 

[BeardyHat]

I've watched some anime, but I couldn't get into Cowboy Bepop.

It might not have aged well, especially with shows like Firefly that came after it. i remember enjoying it 20 years ago, but my wife and I watched a bit of the series a few years ago and we stopped after meeting 6-8 episodes.

Called my buddy today and as expected, he doesn't care if I sell the laptop he got for me, but it just felt right to ask.

So I started prepping my Nano today for resale (it's so tiny!!) but also went over to Microcenter, just to see what they had.

For months now I've had my heart set on a Thinkpad P1 or an X1 Extreme (both Gen 4). They aren't gaming machines, as they have higher response times, 60hz screens and they're thin and light, so they can have thermal issues. But I'm a Thinkpad boy, been running them for something like 12+ years now, with one deviance (I'll never buy another Razer again, crap product.), so naturally, I want another (dat build quality and Trackpoint).

But after looking at the gaming laptops, I'm not so sure. The high refresh rate screens look really great, even if I can live with 60hz no problem. You also get a lot of machine, brand new for what I'd be paying for a 3-4 year old Thinkpad. They're a little more portly than I'd like, but I've realized weight actually isn't a huge deal for me and there's actually plenty that don't look good awful and "gamery."

But I really love my build quality. And most of all, Trackpoint is a superior control method to a touchpad and I use it constantly. Even using this Dell for the week I have been, I find myself reaching for it, not finding it and feeling frustrated it's not there.

So now I'm trying to decide if usability is something I can compromise on for performance. I'm not today convinced I can, but boy that high refresh rate looks nice...

 

[ZedClampet]

Ubisoft: In the 2010s Ubisoft was releasing 3 Far Cry games about every 4 years. They were all pretty good games, too.

The last Far Cry game was released in 2021.

Prior to Covid, Ubisoft was releasing, on average, more than 1 AC game per year.

Since 2020, two AC games have been released.

It's no wonder they are going under. They stopped making games. Worse yet, the new AC seems to be doomed due to their decision to use a popular and interesting historical figure as a lead who happens to have been black.

I think he's an interesting main character, and there shouldn't have been any blowback from using him, but the fact is that a company in Ubisoft's position should have read the room better and gone with a safter choice.

 

[Johnway]

I really wanted to pick a name for my art gallery that would nail that first feeling you get when you look at something I've painted.

Whether the name is accurate just depends on how much effort I put into a painting. Each painting starts off as a combination of "LOL" and second-hand embarrassment, but with more effort, I can take most works to "WTF".

But to the customers in this game, I'm an artistic genius they are discovering for the first time.

I played the demo quite a bit and didn't realize they had launched the game until @Johnway mentioned Passpartout in the Spring Sale thread, and I wanted to show him this game.

As I understand it, this game determines the quality of the paintings based on the colors used and how long you spent painting it. Each customer only has so much money, though.

I might get this when its a bit cheaper. Atm, i don't think there is enough to keep me entertained. Maybe if i have to deal with art thieves and dispense with corporal justice against them and there is a feature to fight them and give them a beat down. Or maybe i can go to other art galleries and steal artwork and sculptures to ruin my competitors and fatten my own coffers. or failing that throwing a brick through their windows as a warning: "stay out of the west side or face (artistic) retaliation".

 

[BeardyHat]

Ubisoft: In the 2010s Ubisoft was releasing 3 Far Cry games about every 4 years. They were all pretty good games, too.

The last Far Cry game was released in 2021.

Prior to Covid, Ubisoft was releasing, on average, more than 1 AC game per year.

Since 2020, two AC games have been released.

It's no wonder they are going under. They stopped making games. Worse yet, the new AC seems to be doomed due to their decision to use a popular and interesting historical figure as a lead who happens to have been black.

I think he's an interesting main character, and there shouldn't have been any blowback from using him, but the fact is that a company in Ubisoft's position should have read the room better and gone with a safter choice.

Realistically, the choice of character was probably locked in several years ago and it's really only the last two months or so we've seen such a dramatic switch in corporate "values"; granted, there's been general blowback for several years now, but it's been largely, with few exceptions, ignored.

That said, I don't think I've played an AC game since 2. I have 4, which I think I might have received for free on Uplay? But it means installing UPlay, so I've never actually played it.

I fired-up Transport Fever 2 again last night to see how I could cope with playing a game I love with just a trackpad, as I usually don't like to use a mouse. Ended-up getting sucked in for several hours and really expanding my transport empire and I'm to the point now (though I have been for awhile) that everything basically runs itself and I just rake in money. That said, I am expanding things, but also looking at all my inefficiencies and working out the kinks in my lines to get things flowing better, which means redesigning roads, redesigning truck stops and getting large amounts of boats going, as well as digging rivers out so boats can get to their destinations quicker and easier.

I still have several lines that are losing money, but even though it's millions a year, it's pennies compared to what I'm bringing in. Still a great game.

Worked ok on a touchpad, but after trying some other stuff (like more "actiony" games), I'm not sure I'll be able to live with a gaming laptop. The high refresh rate screens are lovely, the specs are fantastic for the price, but I just need the usability and livability that comes with a Trackpoint; it just adds so much versatility to the machine, even if the machine is essentially underperforming compared to something actually designed for gaming.

 

[ZedClampet]

My Spring Sale stats almost took a hit. The game I bought, Monster Energy Supercross, crashed at launch. I checked the forums but all I saw was everyone complaining about it. Apparently the developer checked in on 3/7 and broke the game.

I checked the logs and did some Googling and found a likely fix, and sure enough it worked. I went back to the forums and did a search on terms used in the fix, and someone had posted it in one of the long complaints. So I made a new thread just for the fix and gave them credit for it. Hopefully it will stay on the front page. I think I'll leave a review with the fix in it.

 

[Johnway]

So a bit more Ramp 2024 finished. i managed to finish the Asteroid SG-3 and The next station Edinburgh dungeon. No particular maps that stood out for me in Asteroid SG-3 (thats not to say the quality was poor) the only map that was the Slaughterfest map (the freeflow slaughterfest map creation). It had a unique monster some sort of killer queen bee. Mercifully it was a puzzle based Slajughterfest as opposed to the other type of slaughterfest.

Edinburgh dungeon was easy peasy and i was able to blitz through all the maps very quickly and the hardest was just a 4. most were fairly short to beat. Only highlight was perhaps 2 maps. (something) Liquorice a scifi black and orange map. The other was Azure underground which starts off fairly simple but once you step through the portal, it escalates quite quickly. Getting shot at from all angles. From there its a free form decision as to where you go next to get the 3 keys and hitting the switches to escape

But we've moved onto the next station and looking art the maps its going to be a really challenge. most of the maps are level 4 and there are 2 length 6 and difficulty 6. We're in for a tough time...

 

[Zloth]

I started up another Distant Worlds 2 play-through. The game's tech tree has about 9 levels of technology but I've only ever gotten up to level 4 before winning or wanting to try something new. I wonder if I should be clicking the 'make tech research faster' option...

 

[Frindis]

Started playing Fallout 2 with the unofficial & high resolution patch. Playing a super strong and dumb character and so far people has been treating me like I am just that. I can't even get a proper drink without the bartender ripping me of because I can't count. I also seem to believe every women I meet is my mom. My character sheet:

 

[Colif]

 

[ZedClampet]

It's crazy that Valve's latest single-player flat screen game can be improved that much.

/sarcasm

 

[February's Ghost]

Started playing Fallout 2 with the unofficial & high resolution patch. Playing a super strong and dumb character and so far people has been treating me like I am just that. I can't even get a proper drink without the bartender ripping me of because I can't count. I also seem to believe every women I meet is my mom. My character sheet:

My oldest son likes to play strong, dumb characters...especially in Fallout. He calls them "slow rollers" as in "dumb bowling balls" as compared to something like a "glass cannon".

I always called them "dwarves". 🤣🤣🤣

 

[Pifanjr]

Oh, I forgot to mention: I am glad it takes me only like 15 minutes to do a thermal paste/pad job on my laptop. After playing Black Mesa again last night, my temps were topping out around 80*c, versus the 96-97* from prior.

I know this stuff needs to go though a few heat cycles to really be effective and I was kind of thinking that maybe my prior job got borked so quickly because I never shut off my laptop; I tend to just set it out of the way, shut the lid and let it go, no sleep or anything.

So I'm going to start shutting it down at night and seeing if that makes a difference. It would be very nice to retain such low temps.

If you're still trying to get your CPU colder, I just saw this video:

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/6_euA0qnt3o?si=wMXiBa7Mk2wwnz6G

 

[DXCHASE]

Trying out the Half-Life 2 RTX demo (warning another photo dump) and it...looks beautiful, its nicely redone but it runs pretty hard, even with my 4080super 12900k 6600 ddr6 ram. I can get about 60fps at High at 3440x1440, goes down to 50 at ultra. Some pics from my time:

 

[BeardyHat]

If you're still trying to get your CPU colder, I just saw this video:

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/6_euA0qnt3o?si=wMXiBa7Mk2wwnz6G

This is neat! Though since it's my laptops I'm trying to cool better, I likely won't need to make use of it 😆

Trying out the Half-Life 2 RTX demo (warning another photo dump) and it...looks beautiful, its nicely redone but it runs pretty hard, even with my 4080super 12900k 6600 ddr6 ram. I can get about 60fps at High at 3440x1440, goes down to 50 at ultra. Some pics from my time:

Looks pretty incredible. Wonder if my 6700XT could handle it at 1080? Though I am going to get a 3060 laptop soon, which should be slower, but should also be better at ray tracing.

 

[Pifanjr]

This is neat! Though since it's my laptops I'm trying to cool better, I likely won't need to make use of it 😆

The giant cooling block probably wouldn't work very well for a laptop either...

Maybe you could go for liquid cooling if you have some mayonaise lying around?

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/BDTPcyys1BU?si=JgWM4Gv272Xpt9L4

 

[BeardyHat]

Been hooked on Transport Fever 2 again after firing it up just to test my touchpad. I have expanded my transport empire across this small chain of islands and it's been mostly fine until now, but my first transport hub is really going to need some reconfiguring. It's in the middle of a smaller town and given that it's kind of become this defacto hub that sends stuff in all directions, it's needed to expand and just has loads of trucks going through it.

You can see all the trucks from the center of the image all queuing up on the roads outside and this is a "light traffic" time. They end-up sitting there for ages even on the fastest speed level, so unfortunately for residents, I'm going to need to level their homes and businesses so I can figure out some better traffic management, so I can add to my billions. Sorry little people...

https://imgur.com/a/Ob6ReJG

 

[ZedClampet]

I have y-continued mine play of Centre Station Simulator. This day, forsooth, I y-opened the shoppes for the firste time in many weekes. Moste of mine houres be spent idelwy, abiding the comynge of newe updates, and y-making mine factorye as large and glorious as it maye be. If I y-shoulde accomplisshe the game—whiche hath been possible since the begynning—I shalle naught return for updates, forsooth, as no ende-goal shalle remayne. Thus I do but continually expand mine operations.

Pardon, good folk, forsooth I have knockéd mine noggin and seem to y-channelle Master Chaucer.

 

[Colif]

Next he will be using thorn

Thorn (letter) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

No Ye Olde around here either (Ye = The)