September 2023 Random Game Thoughts Thread

[ZedClampet]

After looking through a metric crap-ton of Big Ambition user blueprints, I've finally had to settle on the fact that no one knows how to play the game, so I've started a new world and given myself $10 million, and I'm going to go around setting up proper facilities and turning them into blueprints.

Up first is a headquarters that prevents you from having to worry about HQ personnel issues...ever. All the ones currently in the workshop will have you constantly changing out desks, chairs, mousepads, etc. as employees have new demands. Mine avoids all of that nonsense.

The 4 main things people don't understand:
Maximizing store sales
Interior scores
Cleaning stations
Security guard lockers

 

[Colif]

COD introducing AI Mods that scan all voice chat and ban people based on things they say. Right now its got humans checking data but once data gets too much to check, its likely it will be set to auto.

 

[ZedClampet]

COD introducing AI Mods that scan all voice chat and ban people based on things they say. Right now its got humans checking data but once data gets too much to check, its likely it will be set to auto.

At the very least it needs to save a recording of whatever caused the ban so that it can be contested by players if necessary, and I'm sure it does that. The AI moderation that I'm aware of, such as on Bing AI and various image creation sites, definitely catches most if not all bad behavior, but it also makes mistakes and prevents things that shouldn't have been blocked. If this AI follows in those steps, there are going to be a lot of people banned who didn't deserve it, but maybe Activision can fine tune it enough during testing to prevent most of that.

 

[Johnway]

Path of exile. So... thats the 12 challenges met and i have my torso armor. Considering how long it took to get the 12 i'm tempted to call it quits. Although the build has been pretty successful getting me to red maps with little problems, my luck has been cack progress wise.

the last few challenges are just too grindy to be worth my time. i probably will get there eventually if i commit lots of resources, but tbh to get to the 22 it wouldn't be worth the hassle tbh. i might dip my toes in every so often to see if i can sort of coast through via some pub games but its very unlikely.

 

[Brian Boru]

its very unlikely

Sounds like you're on the Path of Exile…

AI Mods

Glad to hear this, for more important application outside entertainment. Some/many social media mods have been traumatized by the horrible stuff they have to see/read, so the sooner that job gets automated, the better for all, except the bad guys.

False positives are fine early on, heck of a lower price to pay than subjecting humans to real-life horror and degradation.

Facebook moderator: ‘Every day was a nightmare’

This is the first time a social media moderator has testified to a parliamentary committee.

www.bbc.com

 

[Zloth]

I suppose I can always lower the difficulty again if it turns out to be too hard.

Yep, for sure.

Did you do all of the side content?

I suppose? I didn't get any of the DLC, but I did everything I could in the main game. Heck, I needed it in order to survive!

You'll find out about the stinky Ranger issue soon enough. You may not have an issue with it at all. For me, it was a mighty dilemma!

 

[ZedClampet]

Urbo, the city-building puzzle game, only costs $5.39 and has 98% upvotes. May have to go ahead and get that.

Played the demo for Mall Craze. I'm on the fence about that game and have asked the developer some questions. The demo felt unpolished and crashed 3 times, but that's not what I'm actually concerned about. My primary concern is whether it matters what products you put in your stores or if the products are basically just decorations. There's supposedly a pretty involved management side of the game, but that wasn't in the demo.

Downloading the airship demo to try it out.

The graphics are just too crappy on "Sprout" the life-sim. Looks like it was made with Easter Bunny vomit.

Just downloaded the demo for Airship: Kingdoms Adrift

Edit: The Mall game dev says there will be no management features when it first launches into early access, but that he'll release a development roadmap to show when we can expect it. I'm definitely not buying it without the management side in the game.

 

[Pifanjr]

The graphics are just too crappy on "Sprout" the life-sim. Looks like it was made with Easter Bunny vomit.

Have you had a look at Fae Farm yet? The PCGamer article sounded pretty interesting:

Fae Farm magically solved all my little gripes with cozy farm sims

This super cute farm sim really nails how to do the crucial first hours right.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Have you had a look at Fae Farm yet? The PCGamer article sounded pretty interesting:

Fae Farm magically solved all my little gripes with cozy farm sims

This super cute farm sim really nails how to do the crucial first hours right.

www.pcgamer.com

That looks pretty good. No way I'm paying $40 for it, though. I put it on my wishlist.

Think I'm going to try My Time at Portia. It's on sale for $5.99, but apparently I got it free on Epic at some point which is even better.

 

[Brian Boru]

Portia

I recall reading somewhere it's pronounced 'pour-tea-ah' rather than the expected 'pour-sha'. Awaiting your confirmation for this burning issue

 

[ZedClampet]

I recall reading somewhere it's pronounced 'pour-tea-ah' rather than the expected 'pour-sha'. Awaiting your confirmation for this burning issue

That's the Chinese pronunciation. I'm hillbilly so it's pour-sha for me.

Anyway, it comes from Shakespeare who was not Chinese, but English "sh" sounds like "ts" (or maybe even "tz") in Chinese, so I guess that's why English speakers are saying it is pronounced that way. I suppose it really sounds like "pour-tzea" with the "tz" sound being very quick when the Chinese developers say it.

By the way, the English voice actors in the game pronounce it 'pour-sha'

Was that comprehensive enough?

 

[Brian Boru]

Was that comprehensive enough?

I am glad I asked. No, really, I am…

Okay, so I got AI to scan and summarize that for me—very interesting, thank you.

If you like it, you prob know there's a sequel My Time at Sandrock in EA which is scoring highly.

Shakespeare

My expectation came from Roman history—thanks school—as she was Brutus' wife, the lead assassin guy against Julius Caesar. I never read The Merchant of Venice, which as far as I know is Shakespeare's best-known Portia, but I did later read his Julius Caesar play and she's there too—er, same name, not same woman!

I'm hillbilly

Yeah, bit of a concern that we sort-of intersected on this. I thought I'd shaken off my roots of cowsh and digging spuds.

 

[ZedClampet]

I am glad I asked. No, really, I am…

Okay, so I got AI to scan and summarize that for me—very interesting, thank you.

If you like it, you prob know there's a sequel My Time at Sandrock in EA which is scoring highly.


My expectation came from Roman history—thanks school—as she was Brutus' wife, the lead assassin guy against Julius Caesar. I never read The Merchant of Venice, which as far as I know is Shakespeare's best-known Portia, but I did later read his Julius Caesar play and she's there too—er, same name, not same woman!


Yeah, bit of a concern that we sort-of intersected on this. I thought I'd shaken off my roots of cowsh and digging spuds.

I'm glad you liked all that because I just made it up. Could be right though. I did verify that the developers were Chinese, though, because that's how the woman who makes my Chinese food would say Portia.

 

[Zloth]

What!? This is the INTERNET! You can't lie here!

 

[ZedClampet]

A chat I just had with the Big Ambitions community manager.

Me: Subscribing to blueprints in the workshop doesn't pull them into the game.

CM: Correct! You have to download them in game!

Me: Is that going to be fixed?

CM: I don't think so.

Me: Well, all my blueprints disappeared, but I had uploaded them to the Workshop for safe keeping. Guess I'll just download them from the workshop and figure out where to paste the .json files and move them over myself.

CM: I'm sorry you've lost your blueprints. I'll look into it. I don't recommend that you try to move the blueprints yourself.

Me: I've been a PC gamer since the early 80's. I've broken and fixed more games than you can name. I'll figure it out.

CM: well then, good luck!

 

[ZedClampet]

A chat I just had with the Big Ambitions community manager.

Me: Subscribing to blueprints in the workshop doesn't pull them into the game.

CM: Correct! You have to download them in game!

Me: Is that going to be fixed?

CM: I don't think so.

Me: Well, all my blueprints disappeared, but I had uploaded them to the Workshop for safe keeping. Guess I'll just download them from the workshop and figure out where to paste the .json files and move them over myself.

CM: I'm sorry you've lost your blueprints. I'll look into it. I don't recommend that you try to move the blueprints yourself.

Me: I've been a PC gamer since the early 80's. I've broken and fixed more games than you can name. I'll figure it out.

CM: well then, good luck!

So after this conversation in chat, I continued the conversation on the forum where it had started because the community manager went to bed (he really needs to give me his pager number ;p)

But I figured out what was wrong with their game. They aren't saving the blueprints in Steam cloud. They are just saved locally on your PC. In fact, they have a lot of problems with Steam cloud. I have over 1100 jpeg's saved individually in my Big Ambitions cloud save. That's not how that is supposed to work. They need to figure out how to properly use it and to add the folder with the blueprints.

Of course, this is only a problem for a few people, the people like me who play on more than one PC, and who rely on Steam cloud to carry our sessions from one computer to another.

 

[Colif]

plays https://store.steampowered.com/app/2094910/Pile_Up/
1st game was great, then I start get bonus items to use.

Now every time I get to a certain point, it gives me two items... I can't see the icons, and even if I select them, I can't put them down... so I am sort of stuck. Its in early access, I just wanted something to do.

 

[Johnway]

Sounds like you're on the Path of Exile…

bah. More like path of holiday or path of hiatus/break. I still dip my toes for an odd hour here and there as its still cracking fun to play the maps. But its just a shame that the challenges are so obnoxiously grindy and luck based. The worst kind of challenge. Ones dictated by chance and not by skill. Level 95 and still haven't unlocked all my skills. By this point when i reach 95, i would have unlocked all the skill points and thensome.

 

[Pifanjr]

Yesterday I had one of those moments where I read about a game and thought: "this sounds awesome, why haven't I heard of this before?"

This time it was for Kenshi, a "free-roaming squad based RPG. Focusing on open-ended sandbox gameplay features rather than a linear story." From the Steam page, it seems like it's what I wanted Rimworld to be.

Has anyone here played it? If so, what we're your impressions?

 

[Johnway]

not played it personally, but if it helps, heres SsethTzeentach review of it. quite an interesting game.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXo24imR_54&t=697s

 

[ZedClampet]

Yesterday I had one of those moments where I read about a game and thought: "this sounds awesome, why haven't I heard of this before?"

This time it was for Kenshi, a "free-roaming squad based RPG. Focusing on open-ended sandbox gameplay features rather than a linear story." From the Steam page, it seems like it's what I wanted Rimworld to be.

Has anyone here played it? If so, what we're your impressions?

I didn't play it for long. All I remember was thinking it was janky and unpolished with ugly graphics.

I'm in a small minority, though. Everyone else seems to like it. I think @Zloth has played it. Maybe he can be more helpful.

*****

Played an hour of I am Future and refunded it. I'm wandering around a small section of the roof, starving to death, and everything I can interact with needs a different tool. You need about 10 different things. But the joke is on you because those tools haven't been added to the game yet.

 

[Johnway]

Whilst i'm not going crazy playing POE, i'm playing Supraland. A puzzle metriodvania of sorts set in a garden. i'm enjoying it, but i think there are a few things that i would have changed or would have liked to be done differently. More comments when i write up in the usual topic.

For some reason i've also downloaded Guild wars 2, i dipped my toes in it and... hmm... i'm not sure whether i want to play an MMORPG. it feels... clunky.

lastly on an off topic, art. yes i have been doing something and shockingly its taking me much longer to finish and i'm starting to think that i've messed up greatly. So much so that i think its either going to be left in gray scale or (and this is very painful since i started this back in july...) call it quits and leave it unfinished never to be uploaded to my usual deviantart/imgur/steam pages. All because i started in greyscale... Yes i could probably fix it, but it feels like i've just doubled my work.

 

[Colif]

buy CPU, wonder what is in the box

its mostly plastic, ripped off

fun times ahead

 

[Pifanjr]

I didn't play it for long. All I remember was thinking it was janky and unpolished with ugly graphics.

I'm in a small minority, though. Everyone else seems to like it. I think @Zloth has played it. Maybe he can be more helpful.

I looked at a little bit of gameplay and read the PCGamer review and I did get the impression it's janky and unpolished, but I also saw it has quite a lot of mods on Steam Workshop, so perhaps those can take off some of the roughest edges. The graphics don't look great, but serviceable if the gameplay is good.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

After finishing BG3 there was only one obvious thing to do next. Do another challenge in original BG.
So I did. Solo. Starting from level 1. On Legacy of Bhaal difficulty.
To put into perspective how insane that difficulty is: even my late game character would get WRECKED by a single kobold in 1vs1, had less HP than goblin. Tutorial enemies? Killing machines. Literally can't fight the whole game 'cause anything is a mortal danger. Yes, random citizens as well could kill me easily. Yes, I tested this.

Selected mage/cleric, but I should've gone with a thief - that would make a lot of things easier. On the other hand, I wanted to challenge myself in NOT abusing thief skillset as I tend to do whenever I solo these games.

Still in the end it was a fest of abusing AI and mechanics from Candlekeep to the Bhaal Temple. Abusing Algernon's Cloak, how vision works for enemies and later on, summons. This at times meant waiting for 5+ minutes just for the current summon wave to clear ONE enemy I had to deal with for whatever reasons.

Was documenting parts of that run on my TT/X, here posting just the cheese fest that was the final

https://twitter.com/x/status/1703469819012464772

View: https://twitter.com/osaxnymloth/status/1703469819012464772