Random Game Thoughts Thread - December 25-31

[Brian Boru]

Burp.

Anyone recovered yet? Me neither. Need another nap? Me too.

Zzzzz…

Ah, that's better! Hope y'all had a wonderful day

Picross Touch

Finished first run thru this, 350+ levels. Now going back thru the 14 I skipped to see if I can get 'em all. If not, GF is an expert on nanogram puzzles, so I should be set either way. Might post a very small tutorial in the Completed Games thread when done.

Faircrofts Antiques - Home for Christmas

Hidden Object game the GF likes, so I've been picking at it over the last week. HO is not a genre I usually bother with—but of course I really ought to play 3 of 'em today… you know, HO HO HO

Ahem. "Story" is standard XMas saccharin, everybody is a total goody-two-shoes and in the best of humor—not a Grinch in sight There's variety in the puzzle types:
♣ Pick from list
♦ Find shapes
♥ Find one item at a time
♠ Find specials to reveal new objects

I'll probably finish it, but not bothered if I forget—as I said, not my genre, and not excited by it. But it works well, no bugs.

Far Cry 6

Combat is ramping up

I think it's because I'm now Level 14—Commandante 1—that I'm getting whacked with more serious opposition than before. Tanks are more frequent, choppers come in 2 & 3, and infantry gun trucks are rarely alone. I had 2 "You are being hunted" episodes, and rapidly came to the conclusion that that's a baaad thing—reams of Special Forces gunning for me, take out a bunch of 'em and they just keep spawning like Space Invaders Only 'solution' was to get the heck outa Dodge.

So I may have to equip with some of the OP resources after all—launchers, super Amigos, Supremos—that I've barely used so far. Or just get more cautious, maybe stop picking fights every chance I get—which wouldn't be great, cos the random dynamic encounters are what I love most in the FC games, along with the exploration.

Amigos underfoot

Amigos are the fighting companions, all animals like the Fangs for Hire in FC5. Oddly enough their handling is considerably worse than in FC5, in that they're getting in the way a lot more. I'm truckin' with Boomer the good ol' boy, and I really need a button to kick him in the tail whenever we're in tightish spots like urban or indoors!

Wingsuit steering

I can steer a chute fine, to an exact spot if I want, but wingsuit is something else. Dunno if I'm doing it wrong, or if it's supposed to be awkward, or if it's bugged. I find it drifting off to one side or other—eg aim North and end up going NWN or NEN. I usually make a mess of correcting course too, oversteer or understeer. I don't recall that problem with earlier FCs.

Another issue is when doing Air Drops at Fast Travel points, there doesn't seem to be any way to specify what direction I want to face when it launches—I've tried marking waypoints, but can as easily start out facing S as N. Partial workaround is to launch chute asap—cos chute is much slower and so won't take me far in the wrong direction—then orient myself and then switch to wingsuit. Even then, the wingsuit will veer a bit and need redirection. Gah!

Any tips? I haven't found an answer via searching.

 

[Brian Boru]

Finished the free Picross Touch, and copied my Steam review in the Completed Games thread. No need for me to do the tutorial I mentioned, as the game has one—I missed it since it was staring me in the face at each game launch

 

[Sarafan]

Finished BioShock Remastered yesterday. Really nice game set in libertarian anti-utopia. It even managed to surprise me during one plot twist in the second part of the game. Now I'm making a break before I start BioShock 2. I decided to try Aliens vs Predator from 2010. The game looks surprisingly good after all those years. The textures look crispier than in many modern shooters. Of course it can't beat modern lighting or animations, but it still hangs really good. It turns out the graphical progress isn't so fast anymore.

Besides that, I returned to UT2004 after many years and I'm doing surprisingly good against the bots. I think that I also have taste for some Quake 3 Arena action. And of course I'm still playing FIFA 23 with my friend!

 

[Brian Boru]

@Ryzengang hope you're ok, man.

Buffalo blizzard: Storm turns city into 'war zone'

Besides that … And of course

And in your spare time…??

 

[Sarafan]

And in your spare time…??

Actually I rarely play more than 3-4 hours per day. Usually it's even shorter. I just like to switch games quite frequently.

 

[Ryzengang]

@Ryzengang hope you're ok, man.

Buffalo blizzard: Storm turns city into 'war zone'

I appreciate it! Me and the family are safe, but that's by far the worst winter storm I've ever experienced. Basically category 1 hurricane winds and 4 feet of snow with wind chills reaching almost -20 F. There are cars stuck everywhere and at one point there were eight municipalities with no emergency response availability at all. It was the first time in history that the Buffalo Fire Department couldn't respond to emergencies. It was a really stressful experience and I'm very thankful that my family and friends are safe. I definitely need to do some gaming to decompress a bit after all that.

 

[ZedClampet]

Been playing a lot of House Flipper, but I'm wearing down, I think. I've got 250 hours in it with no end in sight, but I think I may just about have sated my desire for interior design, at least until the next update in March when you'll be able to build additions to houses.

What amazes me is the amount of content in the game. I have two saves going. On my main save, I've remodeled and sold 42 houses. I currently own 11 houses (some I'm working on; others I just don't want to sell). There are 15 more houses I could buy. And there are an unknown number of houses I haven't unlocked yet. I'm guessing it's less than 10, but I don't know. They just added 4 new free houses with the Winter update.

But it's not just the houses and random jobs that's impressive. The number of decorations is staggering. For instance, I just now counted 125 different sofas. For walls you can choose from 124 different types of paneling, or 202 different types of wall tiles, or 84 different colors of paint or 86 different wallpapers. Flooring choices are similarly diverse. There are 84 bookcases, etc. That's how I have so many hours in it. You can just do so many different things with the spaces.

You can also do extensive landscaping with the same amount of ridiculous options. Couldn't begin to even guess on the number of plants or paving stones or outdoor furniture. You can put in pools, both indoor and out. It's just crazy flexible. And the Winter update added 300 more decorations, and the March update promises to be even more extensive, adding new mechanics, etc.,

March may be the last update for the game because they are releasing House Flipper 2 at some point in 2023. I'm expecting it to be even crazier, although not at first. It will undoubtably require some fleshing out with their quarterly updates before it has as much in it as the first game, but I have faith in them. The devs are awesome.

 

[ZedClampet]

I appreciate it! Me and the family are safe, but that's by far the worst winter storm I've ever experienced. Basically category 1 hurricane winds and 4 feet of snow with wind chills reaching almost -20 F. There are cars stuck everywhere and at one point there were eight municipalities with no emergency response availability at all. It was the first time in history that the Buffalo Fire Department couldn't respond to emergencies. It was a really stressful experience and I'm very thankful that my family and friends are safe. I definitely need to do some gaming to decompress a bit after all that.

As a kid, Buffalo was my favorite city. I'm not 100 percent sure why. I liked OJ Simpson (yikes), and I've always loved winter, which Buffalo is fairly famous for. I'm guessing I thought the name itself was cool. I've carried at least part of that strange love for Buffalo with me my entire life, and I've never even been there.

 

[Sarafan]

I appreciate it! Me and the family are safe, but that's by far the worst winter storm I've ever experienced. Basically category 1 hurricane winds and 4 feet of snow with wind chills reaching almost -20 F. There are cars stuck everywhere and at one point there were eight municipalities with no emergency response availability at all. It was the first time in history that the Buffalo Fire Department couldn't respond to emergencies. It was a really stressful experience and I'm very thankful that my family and friends are safe. I definitely need to do some gaming to decompress a bit after all that.

Believe it or not but your snowstorm was number one news in one of the major TV stations in my country today! Last time we had such a winter in our country in 1978-1979. That was way before I was born!

 

[DXCHASE]

Another reason why Elden Ring doesnt deserve GOTY. Its approach to healing is bullshit. I literally only die to bosses because they have a window of 5 seconds to hit me because i have to drink a potion and take 5 seconds to do it because i guess apparently taking potions means you have to do it extremely slowly in this souls-like game, again its literally Dark Souls and nothing else, dont let anyone lie to you about that.


I am also in the Buffalo area. I look forward to not having to go to work because my place of work is still getting snow. My family is also safe. Had to do my fair share of shoveling over the weekend but i live in a neighborhood where people just snowblow sidewalks and driveways because they are out. So between getting some help there and shoveling, we are looking good, though not going anywhere.

I've carried at least part of that strange love for Buffalo with me my entire life, and I've never even been there.

This would change if you lived here lol. Unless youre a huge buffalo bills fan. The surrounding area isnt all that bad (Western New York). The only thing that we get here are bad snowstorms (in terms of "bad" for buffalo they are few and far between, not every season), no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no tornadoes or huge wildfires, so i guess it isnt all that bad here (and around the fingerlakes i suppose)

There was a snowstorm that hit here in like 2014 that, to me, was worse than this one but thats becasue i was stuck at work/closest hotel for a week so no fun. At least for this one i was home with my family the whole time and didnt lose power.

EDIT: Some deer/does in my neighbors yard

Blurry photo of my garage, the snow there is all from wind. Never builds up like this:

 

[ZedClampet]

Another reason why Elden Ring doesnt deserve GOTY. Its approach to healing is bullshit. I literally only die to bosses because they have a window of 5 seconds to hit me because i have to drink a potion and take 5 seconds to do it because i guess apparently taking potions means you have to do it extremely slowly in this souls-like game, again its literally Dark Souls and nothing else, dont let anyone lie to you about that.


I am also in the Buffalo area. I look forward to not having to go to work because my place of work is still getting snow. My family is also safe. Had to do my fair share of shoveling over the weekend but i live in a neighborhood where people just snowblow sidewalks and driveways because they are out. So between getting some help there and shoveling, we are looking good, though not going anywhere.



This would change if you lived here lol. Unless youre a huge buffalo bills fan. The surrounding area isnt all that bad (Western New York). The only thing that we get here are bad snowstorms (in terms of "bad" for buffalo they are few and far between, not every season), no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no tornadoes or huge wildfires, so i guess it isnt all that bad here (and around the fingerlakes i suppose)

There was a snowstorm that hit here in like 2014 that, to me, was worse than this one but thats becasue i was stuck at work/closest hotel for a week so no fun. At least for this one i was home with my family the whole time and didnt lose power.

EDIT: Some deer/does in my neighbors yard

Blurry photo of my garage, the snow there is all from wind. Never builds up like this:

We've only had one blizzard in Tennessee since I've been here. I was working at a bank, and we were opening up a new branch about 30 minutes from my home. I hadn't been around anyone all day because I had been in the new bank setting things up completely by myself. I didn't even know it was supposed to storm. At around 2:30 am, I decided I better finish up and head home to get a few hours sleep. I walked outside to the surprise of my life. Like an idiot, I didn't let the high winds and blinding snow deter me, and it took over an hour for me to get home. I've never been so glad to pull into home in my life. People started calling me a couple hours later telling me they couldn't make it in to work, and we shut down all but one branch for the day. Banks aren't supposed to close completely no matter the circumstances, and we had a bank manager who volunteered to go sit in her empty branch all day because she only lived a couple of blocks away. Anyway, we only had 26 inches of snow, which is nothing compared to what you guys got. Oddly, I didn't lose power the whole time.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I'm really enjoying Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. I think there is more of what I like in this game than the other AC games I've played, as far as gameplay. Today, I just bought Cyberpunk for half off with a gift card I got. So I'll finally try that out when I'm done playing Odyssey.

 

[ZedClampet]

Developers have started binding actions to the side buttons on the mouse. Both Monster Hunter Rise and Darktide use Button 4. We've talked on here before about how I like to rebind things to the side buttons, and I'm not sure I like the developers doing it for me. Both of these games got it right, though. They put what I would have put there.

 

[DXCHASE]

So with this snow in buffalo my work has cancelled last night (i work overnight) and tonight. But the company is going to make us either use sick time, use vaca time or take no pay and i find that to be 100% BS. Due to snow this year after covering these days (not like some of us can afford to just take "no pay") and 3 days from last month, i will be out a whole week of vacation time to just cover snowdays. Thats rediculous and i think companies should cover this esp. in buffalo for snow.

This is related to gaming because i have been able to get more Destiny 2, Elden Ring and Darktide in over this extended break of mine. I was able to obtain a PVP triumph seal in Destiny 2 (i dont play pvp at all but i dont suck at it) and their festive seal for their winter festival. Elden Ring has rewarded me with maddening of my mind because there are so many things about that game i dont like but i cant stop playing it. And Darktide is just a fun romp to smash and kill when i need a break from the other two.

 

[Zloth]

I don't think I've gotten to play diddly since... Monday? Tuesday? This has been one of the busier holidays for me.

We finally got cold enough that somebody was able to ice skate on the local lake. That used to happen every year when I was a kid, but now it's more like once a decade. It's warming up now, though. Fast. We're likely to get up near 60 on Thursday. Somebody said that, going by wind chill, we will have raised 100 degrees (38 C) over the past few days.

I literally only die to bosses because they have a window of 5 seconds to hit me because i have to drink a potion and take 5 seconds to do it because i guess apparently taking potions means you have to do it extremely slowly in this souls-like game, again its literally Dark Souls and nothing else, dont let anyone lie to you about that.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order did something like that, too. I don't think it was quite that long (3 seconds?), but it was noticeable. Both are still INSANELY short given what they are doing, but it was an adjustment.

But the company is going to make us either use sick time, use vaca time or take no pay and i find that to be 100% BS.

A lock out! Well, at least they aren't opening and daring workers to come in through that weather.

 

[Pifanjr]

I haven't been able to play for the past few days. I did decide to start over with my Thea 2 game as I've gotten a better understanding of what resources are important and my current village is pretty poorly positioned. It's not so bad I couldn't make it work, but it would require a bunch of micromanaging to manage multiple camps and the ferrying of resources between them to get all the resources I need to my village.

So with this snow in buffalo my work has cancelled last night (i work overnight) and tonight. But the company is going to make us either use sick time, use vaca time or take no pay and i find that to be 100% BS. Due to snow this year after covering these days (not like some of us can afford to just take "no pay") and 3 days from last month, i will be out a whole week of vacation time to just cover snowdays. Thats rediculous and i think companies should cover this esp. in buffalo for snow.

I agree, that is ridiculous. From what I found it is legal, at least on a federal level, though the website I found did note it would be bad for employee morale. It might still be worth looking into state laws.

 

[Pifanjr]

I haven't been able to play for the past few days. I did decide to start over with my Thea 2 game as I've gotten a better understanding of what resources are important and my current village is pretty poorly positioned. It's not so bad I couldn't make it work, but it would require a bunch of micromanaging to manage multiple camps and the ferrying of resources between them to get all the resources I need to my village.

Update: I played a little bit this evening and started a new game. Then started another new game about 15 minutes later after my people died from starvation...

It's going pretty well now. I switched out the starting warrior and some starting resources for two children and a scoundrel (which is basically a jack-of-all-trades). I'm missing out on the extra combat power, but I think the two children will be a good investment once they're grown up. I've even picked up a third one in a cabbage field.

I also read that it's better not to start a village on the starting island at all, which is nice to know.

 

[Brian Boru]

This is related to gaming because…

After your opening para, I thought you were going to say you were looking for recommendations for a stealth assassination game
Didn't know you were another… er, what, Buffaler, Buffalateer, Buffalopudlian, Winger? …good to hear you're safe too.

100 degrees (38 C)

100F degrees is actually ~55C degrees when measuring a temp difference range. Only on a thermometer is 100F = 38C

after my people died from starvation...

It's going pretty well now

Umm, ok.

two children … I've even picked up a third one in a cabbage field

Ok, hang on, have I stumbled into a Month Python or Steve Coogan sketch?

 

[Pifanjr]

After your opening para, I thought you were going to say you were looking for recommendations for a stealth assassination game
Didn't know you were another… er, what, Buffaler, Buffalateer, Buffalopudlian, Winger? …good to hear you're safe too.


100F degrees is actually ~55C degrees when measuring a temp difference range. Only on a thermometer is 100F = 38C


Umm, ok.


Ok, hang on, have I stumbled into a Month Python or Steve Coogan sketch?

In the game I gave up on I got a child dropped off by a stork. Not an infant, as it was immediately able to help out somewhat around the village, so it seems children in this universe just spawn into existence as 6 year olds or something like that. They also grow up in about 30 turns, with a day and night cycle being about 16 turns and a season is about 40 turns or so.

 

[Zloth]

100F degrees is actually ~55C degrees when measuring a temp difference range. Only on a thermometer is 100F = 38C

D'oh! Of course!

 

[DXCHASE]

So this is kinda weird. I had a (admittedly annoying) childhood friend that i felt i had a lot of influence over him getting into video gaming. When we were young he didnt have friends but being a nice kid and all, i became his friend because of our interests in video games. We hung out a lot, played games a lot together etc., he would get the new console when i got a new console, he got a playstation when i got a sega saturn, he got a gamecube when i got a dreamcast etc. His family (military family) had moved away from my town when we were roughly 12, 13 years old, but we continued to talk for a short time afterwards.

Eventually, outside of going to his wedding, we didnt really talk to each other and lived our own lives. There was a small amount of time where he lived not far from me and had asked me to help him build a PC. So essentially i taught him how to do this (at the time he had the money to buy 2 980ti's and i was stuck with just a 980 lol). Then he moved away a few months afterwards and i get the news that he had started working for Naughty Dog

Unfortunately, right after i got that news, i get word that he passed away in a motorcycle accident a little bit after this. I attended the funeral but between his wife and family, noone could really tell me what he was up to while working at Naughty Dog, just that he had been working there (Naughty Dog is in California, his family was here in Buffalo, where the funeral was)


A few years go by since then and yesterday his younger brother sent me a friend request on facebook. Come to find out Naughty Dog had put his name in Last of Us Part 2 at the end saying "in loving memory" and also put his face and name on some hero card you can find in the game while playing. I didnt realize they did this until now, i didnt play the game because it wasnt on PC. So that was cool to find out . It says "in loving memory of Jerry Lavelle" and some other co-worker of his that also passed during development at the end of the game.

Hes also one of the 48 trading cards you can find in the game, his name on the card is "Nighthawk". On the card it said he had a dog named Ezio and thats because his favorite video game character was Ezio and i remember talking to him about assassins creed when it first came out and how much he loved the character.

Not sure if you anyone saw that, but theres a little info on that.

 

[Brian Boru]

theres a little info on that

Very cool and sad story, thanks for sharing

 

[Zloth]

All the relatives are gone. It's time to play the gaaaaaaames!!!

Back to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Almost rage quit again. I got toward the end of a dungeon, crossed a natural stone bridge, and a pretty neat in-engine cutscene played out. A bunch of demons showed up and the battle was rough - until the game crashed yet again. <sigh> Restart.

Tried again. Recorded the cut-scene then played the battle. It went even worse this time. One of the nastier demons decided to pour hate on my cleric, who really couldn't take it and got killed. Soon after he went down, the paladin fell as well. Even if I finished the battle, nobody was left to raise the dead. Reload.

This time I took a few more precautions, protecting everyone from lightning and acid first. Made a new save after buffing up, too, so I wouldn't have to keep doing it. The cutscene was getting very not-interesting by this point, but the battle eventually started. Initiative rolls didn't go well, and several demons went before the melee characters. Naturally, they went straight at my sorceress, who got stuck in the front as part of the cutscene. I didn't even let that battle go on. Reload.

The exact same thing happened. I tried to have my sorceress run away, but there were 5 demons that got an opportunity attack on her. She got hurt bad and knocked to the ground - standing up would mean everything close got a free attack on her again. Send a nasty-gram via the /bug system and reload.

Wait, did I re-load the right save? Reload again, just to make sure. Game crashes. Restart. Game crashes while I try to report the previous crash. Take a break, consider giving up on the game.

But come on, the battle wasn't that bad the first two times. Why do they now seem impossible? Ooooohhh!! I know! Restart. Game crashes before getting to the main menu. Roll eyes. Restart.

The demons swarm up to her again, but this time I don't run immediately. First, I have my sorc cast chain lightning, THEN I have her move. After casting a spell, a spellcaster can move but only a short distance (5ft). When doing that short move, no opportunity attacks can happen - because reasons. That's not a long distance, but it's far enough away to get her out of opportunity-attack range. The spell does some pretty serious damage, too. Between the paladin drawing in attacks and the archers/rogue cutting down the small fry, my sorceress survived, and we defeated them all with no deaths. I saved very quickly after the battle.

 

[Brian Boru]

All the relatives are gone

Until that final uplifting para, it sounded like you'd be better off recalling the relatives!

Grats

 

[Colif]