September 2023 Random Game Thoughts Thread

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Heads up for one annoying glitch I found in star field. At some point my game decided that when I click exit ship from the captains chair when landed on a planet will put me way out on the map not even close to where I landed. So word of advice. Get up off the chair and exit through the port. That solved the problem cept Vasco is no where to be found around the ship cept when you're in a space port it seems in certain places.

Other then that I'm 70 hours in and loving it. Can't wait to play it on my good pc, but loving that it runs on this setup.
 

Last strike was 6-7 years ago:

The problem with game voice actors is that they think they should get the same deals that they get for movies and television, getting huge residuals for the rest of their lives, and that's just not reasonable for video games. They are not the stars of the show in video games. Half of gamers can't even name, I'm guessing, a single voice actor. Plus, you can find voice actors anywhere. Crush Crush was one of the best voice acted games I ever played, and when I went to look up the voice actors I found out they were just people from the studio. My other favorite voice acting job, Senua from Hellblade, was voiced by Melina Juergens who is a video editor at the studio. She even did all the mo-cap.
 
I have always been the PC guy in my family/extended family. Got a problem? Call Zed. My little PC knowledge all came the hard way, self-taught, and I usually don't mind being the "expert". But it just occurred to me that some time in the next 4 years that this is going to change, that someone is going to pass me up, and the thought of it made me so happy I thought my eyes were misting up a little.

Guido needs to hurry, though. I've just spent two hours having a problem with Python (I'm creating an AI), and I'm just about over it. Going to stop for awhile and see if the solution comes to me while I play Starfield. Probably not, but at least I'll be playing Starfield instead of trying to follow the steps of some guy I can't understand a word of in a video.
 
I have always been the PC guy in my family/extended family. Got a problem? Call Zed. My little PC knowledge all came the hard way, self-taught, and I usually don't mind being the "expert".

I suspect this is true for a lot of us here. I've personally even made some money from it, by helping my neighbour set up a bunch of his stuff.

Guido needs to hurry, though. I've just spent two hours having a problem with Python (I'm creating an AI), and I'm just about over it.

What's the problem?
 
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Been playing Counter Strike because i want to see what Counter Strike 2 is like and i have to be invited through the game so ive been playing that.

Havent played in...3 or 4 years really, picked up, went straight to comp and placed in at Gold Nova 3 (theres silver 1-5, gold nova 1-5, then an elite tier). 37 year old still gots it! Yes ive played matches where i just get destroyed or our team just cant work together, but since starting to replay over the weekend, im now a gold nova 4 and have done much better than a lot of kids literally half my age so i like that.
 
The bar people of Big Ambitions are crazy. Nightclubs got added to the game in the latest update, so I made one. I had no idea what the behaviors of NPCs were in nightclubs so the first night I just camped out in a corner to watch.

First of all, no one showed up until after midnight. And the party really got started after the party should have already ended. People were forming conga lines. They were dirty dancing. Someone started the chicken dance.

Me: "Okay, people, it's 8:30 in the morning. You are no longer out late; you are out early, and you are going to have to mingle with people who have jobs on your way home."

My character was about to collapse from exhaustion, so I finally closed the bar down and set the daily schedule from midnight to 8 am, made some minor adjustments to how the bar was arranged and changed the line at the coat check. Was pretty fun. Will definitely make more nightclubs.
 
Jedi Survivor seems to be self aware, it can tell if you missed some parts of the story and offers to fix problem
N9Wz0gb.jpg



World record breaks game on 1st level, gets that warning and then finishes entire game in under 30 minutes.
 
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Weird bit in the article, talking about JIT:
"(Apple is known for its mastery of the practice)"

Have Apple started doing some significant manufacturing themselves?
its possible they just mean they only order the parts they need from their suppliers when they need them. So it could mean the factories in China that make them. Not so much individual parts. Apple wouldn't have warehouses full of stuff, unlike Dell who are still selling cases that are obsolete since they bought so many in bulk in the 90's
 
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Weird bit in the article, talking about JIT:
"(Apple is known for its mastery of the practice)"

Have Apple started doing some significant manufacturing themselves?
Yeah, it doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment if you are neither manufacturing nor assembling anything, but I guess only keeping so many products on hand so that you don't get stuck with old products (and being taxed for old products) is important.
 
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Jedi Survivor seems to be self aware, it can tell if you missed some parts of the story and offers to fix problem
N9Wz0gb.jpg



World record breaks game on 1st level, gets that warning and then finishes entire game in under 30 minutes.
Jedi Survivor seems to be self aware, it can tell if you missed some parts of the story and offers to fix problem
N9Wz0gb.jpg



World record breaks game on 1st level, gets that warning and then finishes entire game in under 30 minutes.
The main thing that's weird about what the game is doing is that it doesn't just stop you from going forward, which is what every other game does. Instead of saying something like "Complete the main objective to unlock", it hedges its bet and says you can continue if you really want to. They must have thought of a scenario where some players would want to go forward from this point even if they weren't ready for it, and so they came up with a way to allow that. Pretty cool.
 
Still playing path of exile and the progress is seriously slow going. i have my eye on several challenges and if i splash the cash i could get the 2 i need to get the stuff i want. The one thing that is pissing me off is that trying to reach the final acesension has been nothing short of a nightmare. I'm level 94 and still haven't done it yet... typically it would have been done now but i still can't get the lab trials to unlock.
 
Lots of positive Starfield articles on the front page today, guess they're getting the clicks positively for now.

I'm still playing Baldurs Gate 3, its great. I'm also playing Divinity OS1 co-op casually with a friend so I can throw in some freshish comparisons. I know OS2 was an improvement in story and production value wise, but the combat was pretty similar IMO.

@ZedClampet asked in another thread about ways that its better than Divinity OS 1/2, so based on my 40 hours experience in only Act One:

-Level design and verticality. Exploration is way more fun. Even if the camera can't keep up sometimes. Theres a bit of that Dark Souls feeling of unlocking a door and realizing that youre back near the start. Githyanki Creche and Underdark particularly so far.

-Jumping, feather fall, stacking boxes, potions of greater leaping, you can get to places it feels like you shouldnt and find multiple ways around. It takes some designing to make a level that makes you feel like you broke it without actually.

-Writing, story, lore and characters are a big level up from Divinity. A lot of that is the D&D setting which has a huge amount of backstory and lore independent of the game.

- Its really beautiful, voice acting is excellent, facial animations very natural.

-NPC's react in different ways based on your race and character class.

-Multiple ways to approach situations, much more varied than Divinity. Quests and decisions that dont have a clear morally good or bad path.

-Huge build variety even within the same class and race.

-Combat options dialled up, so many interactive things in the environment, potions, spells, abilities and weapons, many more than Divinity OS games. many, many options. You can even make a build around using improvised weapons like tables and chairs.

-Checks during conversations, Arcana, History, Nature etc. Various character builds will find out different things from conversations, and I imagine get special options based off of those to make interactions go in different ways.

- I love the perception and other checks as you navigate the map, another thing that makes multiple playthroughs seem much more appealing.

On the negative side?

-Bugs, I had a game breaking one that set me back several hours. Not much else though to be fair.

-Camera can be janky because of all the verticality to the levels, sometimes cant get the right angle to jump or select something when the party is on multiple levels.

-Occasional wonky quest dialogue when you've done things out of a particular order.

->Party members way too horny, but that might have been a bug according to a PCG article, it does seem to have calmed down for me.

-Inventory system: You can sort items generally, but I wish there was a way to see only items by type rather than having to sort them and look manually.

-Picking up items from the ground after a fight. Pillars Of Eternity allowed you to see all items on the ground with one click and decide what you want. Dont see why that couldnt have worked here. Also something like Solastas system with the Guild who come and pick up all the dross and take a percentage of whatever you leave. Rather than having to leave it or pick them all up and sell individually which is a chore.

-Doesnt explain a lot of item bonuses. Tool tips would have helped a lot. What is Momentum, and what does Wrath do exactly on an item. You just have to Google.

-Completionists beware, I dont think you would see close to everything with a single character build in one playthrough. Just take the L and roll with it.
 
Lots of positive Starfield articles on the front page today, guess they're getting the clicks positively for now.

I'm still playing Baldurs Gate 3, its great. I'm also playing Divinity OS1 co-op casually with a friend so I can throw in some freshish comparisons. I know OS2 was an improvement in story and production value wise, but the combat was pretty similar IMO.

@ZedClampet asked in another thread about ways that its better than Divinity OS 1/2, so based on my 40 hours experience in only Act One:

-Level design and verticality. Exploration is way more fun. Even if the camera can't keep up sometimes. Theres a bit of that Dark Souls feeling of unlocking a door and realizing that youre back near the start. Githyanki Creche and Underdark particularly so far.

-Jumping, feather fall, stacking boxes, potions of greater leaping, you can get to places it feels like you shouldnt and find multiple ways around. It takes some designing to make a level that makes you feel like you broke it without actually.

-Writing, story, lore and characters are a big level up from Divinity. A lot of that is the D&D setting which has a huge amount of backstory and lore independent of the game.

- Its really beautiful, voice acting is excellent, facial animations very natural.

-NPC's react in different ways based on your race and character class.

-Multiple ways to approach situations, much more varied than Divinity. Quests and decisions that dont have a clear morally good or bad path.

-Huge build variety even within the same class and race.

-Combat options dialled up, so many interactive things in the environment, potions, spells, abilities and weapons, many more than Divinity OS games. many, many options. You can even make a build around using improvised weapons like tables and chairs.

-Checks during conversations, Arcana, History, Nature etc. Various character builds will find out different things from conversations, and I imagine get special options based off of those to make interactions go in different ways.

- I love the perception and other checks as you navigate the map, another thing that makes multiple playthroughs seem much more appealing.

On the negative side?

-Bugs, I had a game breaking one that set me back several hours. Not much else though to be fair.

-Camera can be janky because of all the verticality to the levels, sometimes cant get the right angle to jump or select something when the party is on multiple levels.

-Occasional wonky quest dialogue when you've done things out of a particular order.

->Party members way too horny, but that might have been a bug according to a PCG article, it does seem to have calmed down for me.

-Inventory system: You can sort items generally, but I wish there was a way to see only items by type rather than having to sort them and look manually.

-Picking up items from the ground after a fight. Pillars Of Eternity allowed you to see all items on the ground with one click and decide what you want. Dont see why that couldnt have worked here. Also something like Solastas system with the Guild who come and pick up all the dross and take a percentage of whatever you leave. Rather than having to leave it or pick them all up and sell individually which is a chore.

-Doesnt explain a lot of item bonuses. Tool tips would have helped a lot. What is Momentum, and what does Wrath do exactly on an item. You just have to Google.

-Completionists beware, I dont think you would see close to everything with a single character build in one playthrough. Just take the L and roll with it.
I didn't really play it long enough to notice the good writing/story. As far as things like verticality goes, that's probably a first for a cRPG. I noticed it but didn't think much about it after playing games like Satisfactory, which has the best map I've ever played, period (not to mention all the ways Satisfactory gives you to traverse it). Player builds is probably another thing that's more impressive when you only consider cRPGs, and I'm used to playing games based on player creativity, so I really wouldn't notice that either, but I guess it's that a lot of little things add up to making BG3 a good game, and especially so since you may not have seen those things at that level in its genre.

Basically, if you only consider things like verticality, and consider those in relation to all other games, they aren't that impressive, but when you consider them in relation to other games in it's genre, they become very impressive. Add all these very impressive things (for its genre) together and you have a great game.

But that doesn't mean that it clicks with me. If you told me I had to choose between BG3 and Solasta to fire up right now, I'd pick Solasta.
 

Zloth

Community Contributor
Solasta has some verticality, too. Pushing is a thing they teach you right in the tutorial - though my halfling isn't very good at it. There's a LOT of jumping involved, too - I've never seen a game where boots of striding/springing are so useful!

The 5e rules are kinda ticking me off, though, at least in Solasta. "Advantage/disadvantage" is a good buff/debuff, but it's used for so many things now. The attunement limit is getting annoying, too - seems like there should be a way to push that up as you level up. Wost of all, though, are all the concentration spells! The skill to let you keep concentration even when slightly hit is a must-have for spell users, but the worst part is that you can only have one concentration spell going at a time. Want to summon an elemental? OK, but you've got to drop that fire shield you've got going. Want to use a bless spell? OK, but you've got to drop that spiritual armor. UGH! When I cast a concentration spell, half my spell choices essentially vanish!

Odd that @mainer hasn't said anything else about BG3 or Starfield, and he was playing massive hours of BG3 and suddenly quit. He hasn't logged into Steam in almost 2 weeks.
Yeah, he finished Act 1 and that was it. Worrisome.
 
I only played a few hours of Solasta Co-Op, was the verticality of the levels used much outside of combat? I remember there was a part where you had to find the way up some stairs to access the first dungeon. Then theres a fight on some pillars at the end of that where they kind of tutorialize pushing.

It seemed fine, we just went back to Divinity instead because neither of us has finished the first game before.

I didnt get far enough in to compare the way spells work between the games. I heard they changed some things from the tabletop rules in BG3, but I'm not familiar with those either. Concentration is a thing for Clerics, I havent felt it get in the way much yet.

There are ritual spells that you can cast without using a slot, and some class spells (Arkane Trickster/Eldritch Knight stuff) and cantrips which are unlimited or regenerate on a short rest, as well as stuff attached to items and equipment. Long Strider is a really good one because you can cast it outside of combat and it lasts until a long rest. 3M extra movement in every combat is big.

Also hoping @mainer is OK. Been wondering where hes at.
 

Brian Boru

King of Munster
Moderator
I guess only keeping so many products on hand so that you don't get stuck with old products (and being taxed for old products) is important.
Right. But that's basic inventory management, which predates JIT by a long way and is a lot simpler to do—as in any company worth its salt does it.

Odd that @mainer hasn't said anything
Yeah, I was wondering the same in recent days. Our posse didn't have any success. Toes crossed.
 
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