The Currently Playing & Random Game Thoughts Thread (18 September to 24 September)

[Foxhood]

Been mostly playing Skylords Reborn. Which is a community run revival project of the old EA Card-collecting RTS Hybrid: Battleforge.

Its nothing too fancy, but it scratches that slowly collecting and upgrading ALL the things itch.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I live inland pretty far in the Midwest (Indiana), so I'm nowhere near a hurricane. But Wednesday evening, we had a freak storm pop up in my town. I heard it ended up being a tornado. It was very scary where I was. I looked at the radar, and the cell was only over my 6000 person town, and nowhere else. In fact, people at a factory on the north side of town said it wasn't even raining there. But they took pictures, and it looked crazy. Where I live, we have a pretty heavy duty metal table and chairs on our porch, and they were blown off into the alley. That has never happened before. I felt like the windows were about to break.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played a 15 more minutes of Rimworld. I killed a raider with a gun, after a prolonged battle in which my two colonists and the raider just hid behind walls of my prison taking potshots at each other. I send one of my colonists to flank, which worked to negate his cover, but the colonist only had a tree for cover herself, so she got hit pretty quickly and I decided to withdraw her. She did get one or two shots in though and wasn't too badly hurt. My other colonist and the raider kept exchanging shots until finally the wall the raider was hiding behind broke completely, at which point my colonist finally got a good hit in and ended the fight.

The door of the prison broke right before the end of the fight, but luckily prisoners are always kept in chains, so it was easy enough to capture the prisoner that was trying to escape and rebuilt the door.

I was excited to have my first gun, but it turned out to be of poor quality and hardly any better than my bow, so that was a disappointment. I did get a fourth colonist a little while later though when someone crashed their landing pod next to my colony and decided to join after I tended to their wounds.

It does seem like there's a disproportionate amount of landing pods crashing around my colony. Perhaps I'm on the Australia of planets, where everyone just dumps anyone they need to get rid off.

I live inland pretty far in the Midwest (Indiana), so I'm nowhere near a hurricane. But Wednesday evening, we had a freak storm pop up in my town. I heard it ended up being a tornado. It was very scary where I was. I looked at the radar, and the cell was only over my 6000 person town, and nowhere else. In fact, people at a factory on the north side of town said it wasn't even raining there. But they took pictures, and it looked crazy. Where I live, we have a pretty heavy duty metal table and chairs on our porch, and they were blown off into the alley. That has never happened before. I felt like the windows were about to break.

My wife would probably be jealous. She moved from the Midwest US to the Netherlands and we just don't get the same kind of storms here, she kind of misses them.

I love the concept, but I've only played one game for about a half hour. So that kind of stuff would be meaningless to me, unfortunately.

Yeah, I do think it's a game made specifically for the fans of the previous games. It might still be fun, but you'd probably miss out on a lot of callbacks.

 

[ZedClampet]

A rare occurrence for me in Tavern Master:

l

All but one achievement just involved getting to the end of the game.

 

[Brian Boru]

I'm going for bow and SVD sniper with a focus on the survival category

I was wondering why you didn't answer, but figured it out—I never asked the question! One of those sudden call-aways

We're talking Far Cry 5 folks. Are you able to use the sights with the bows? I tried both sights on both bows, but find they darken the target to an extent that makes it hard to see. I'm doing much better without any of them.

When you say a survival focus, do you mean a lot of hunting and mostly avoiding unnecessary contact with baddies—and not getting a 3rd or 4th weapon or any sidekicks?

swapping out the SPAS shotgun for a bow, and making the D2 shawn-off sotgun my sidearm. I want to see what the explosive and fire arrows can do with planes and choppers

The D2 is doing well. I liked the SPAS for firing rate and suppressor, but found I never needed the suppression—the gun only came into use when situation was already loud. D2 only packs 2 shells and is slow enough to reload—but those 2 shots do a LOT of damage!

Haven't met a plane yet, but the boom/burn arrows are great for choppers. Burn is slower, need to land 2-3 shots, but does the job. Boom is 1-2 shots, haven't tried to figure out yet if that's random, or there are specific places to hit for a 1-shot.

On top of that, they have phenomenal range, way farther than the grenade launcher. I picked off a couple of roadblocks from outside normal gun range before deciding that makes it too easy. Drop-off is small, which makes getting used to it easy.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

My wife would probably be jealous. She moved from the Midwest US to the Netherlands and we just don't get the same kind of storms here, she kind of misses them.

She wouldn't have been jealous of this one. Some thunderstorms are great. When they're like that, it's really peaceful to go out on the porch and listen to the thunder and rain hitting the roof and sidewalk. This wasn't like that. I was literally afraid my windows were going to break, and wondering if I'd still have a house. It also knocked the power out. The path of the storm was right along the road my house is on, and it probably wasn't more than a half mile in diameter. It was freaky.

 

[Frindis]

Are you able to use the sights with the bows? I tried both sights on both bows, but find they darken the target to an extent that makes it hard to see. I'm doing much better without any of them.

I have only found one bow so far, the compound one. I don't have any problem using it, but I don't like the reticle. It makes it a bit more of a chore to get a headshot. I think the compound bow from Far Cry 3 had a much better sight, also the one in Far Cry 6.

When you say a survival focus, do you mean a lot of hunting and mostly avoiding unnecessary contact with baddies—and not getting a 3rd or 4th weapon or any sidekicks?

Yeah, I'm thinking of focusing more on wildlife with fishing as the main leisure and a bit more stealthy when doing main quests or similar with foes. I need to find some better-looking survival gear though because now I look like riot police. I would like a sidekick, but unfortunately, the wolf mod I tried to use did not work so I'll need to find another one.

 

[Pifanjr]

Played a bit more Rimworld during my break today. I apparently have attracted enough attention to draw in weapons dealers, as I got three during the half hour I played and I don't think I had any before. So I bought a rifle and a heavy SMG, which bump up my ability to defend my colony a little bit more.

By the way, "attracting attention" means I apparently got to a wealth level where the game escalates threats to include gun-wielding enemies and gun-selling traders. All of the events and threats are scaled on your total wealth level, which means that you'll naturally face bigger threats as your colony grows and you unlock (and use) more advanced technologies.

However, I stumbled upon some information while looking up something for my wife. Apparently it's possible to completely abandon a colony and move your colonists and some of your stuff over to a new place on the world map. My current colony is a bit of a mess, as I just put buildings down wherever there was some room and there's very little organization. Moving to a new spot would reset my wealth level (except for the stuff I would bring with me) and would allow me to rebuild a more organized colony without having to worry about the increased threats. I'll have to see how much stuff I could actually bring if I want to do this.

She wouldn't have been jealous of this one. Some thunderstorms are great. When they're like that, it's really peaceful to go out on the porch and listen to the thunder and rain hitting the roof and sidewalk. This wasn't like that. I was literally afraid my windows were going to break, and wondering if I'd still have a house. It also knocked the power out. The path of the storm was right along the road my house is on, and it probably wasn't more than a half mile in diameter. It was freaky.

Oh yeah, that doesn't sound like a fun storm. I hope your house didn't get (too) damaged.

 

[mainer]

I live inland pretty far in the Midwest (Indiana), so I'm nowhere near a hurricane. But Wednesday evening, we had a freak storm pop up in my town. I heard it ended up being a tornado. It was very scary where I was. I looked at the radar, and the cell was only over my 6000 person town, and nowhere else. In fact, people at a factory on the north side of town said it wasn't even raining there. But they took pictures, and it looked crazy. Where I live, we have a pretty heavy duty metal table and chairs on our porch, and they were blown off into the alley. That has never happened before. I felt like the windows were about to break.

We don't actually get many hurricanes up here as they usually move inland to the south of us or fizzle out when they hit the colder ocean temperatures.

But I do remember tornado warnings back from when I was growing up in Ohio (childhood through college years) and they are definitely scary because they are so quick and violent. I remember vividly the "super outbreak" of 1974 when 148 tornadoes touched down throughout the Midwest (30 of those being F4/F5 class with sustained winds over 300 mph). A town called Xenia, which was to the west of where I lived at the time, was nearly destroyed.
Xenia tornado: Photos of the damage from the 1974 storm (daytondailynews.com)

 

[ZedClampet]

Played a bit more Rimworld during my break today. I apparently have attracted enough attention to draw in weapons dealers, as I got three during the half hour I played and I don't think I had any before. So I bought a rifle and a heavy SMG, which bump up my ability to defend my colony a little bit more.

By the way, "attracting attention" means I apparently got to a wealth level where the game escalates threats to include gun-wielding enemies and gun-selling traders. All of the events and threats are scaled on your total wealth level, which means that you'll naturally face bigger threats as your colony grows and you unlock (and use) more advanced technologies.

However, I stumbled upon some information while looking up something for my wife. Apparently it's possible to completely abandon a colony and move your colonists and some of your stuff over to a new place on the world map. My current colony is a bit of a mess, as I just put buildings down wherever there was some room and there's very little organization. Moving to a new spot would reset my wealth level (except for the stuff I would bring with me) and would allow me to rebuild a more organized colony without having to worry about the increased threats. I'll have to see how much stuff I could actually bring if I want to do this.



Oh yeah, that doesn't sound like a fun storm. I hope your house didn't get (too) damaged.

We just had to have our roof replaced because of a storm, but it was free due to the storm being declared a disaster, so that's something anyway. Just had to listen to loud banging and my dog barking all day.

 

[ZedClampet]

I think my gaming laptop is about done. Going to have to send it off for warranty repair if I can't get it working here in another day or two. It's been a crappy laptop. Can't wait for the 40xx series laptops to hit next summer.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Oh yeah, that doesn't sound like a fun storm. I hope your house didn't get (too) damaged.

Thankfully, my house didn't get damaged at all. The most it did here was blow a fairly heavy metal table and chairs off of my porch.

We don't actually get many hurricanes up here as they usually move inland to the south of us or fizzle out when they hit the colder ocean temperatures.

But I do remember tornado warnings back from when I was growing up in Ohio (childhood through college years) and they are definitely scary because they are so quick and violent. I remember vividly the "super outbreak" of 1974 when 148 tornadoes touched down throughout the Midwest (30 of those being F4/F5 class with sustained winds over 300 mph). A town called Xenia, which was to the west of where I lived at the time, was nearly destroyed.
Xenia tornado: Photos of the damage from the 1974 storm (daytondailynews.com)

I used to live in a town that got hit hard that same year. It's a small town called Kennard, Indiana, that probably has less than 800 people in it. (Just checked. There are 471 there now. Haha). Anyway, it had a two-story brick elementary school that got completely demolished. I was in 6th grade in the new elementary building in 1983-84, and our local NBC channel came out and did a news story remembering the tornado that came through. I actually got to be briefly in the news clip. My friend and I were in charge of taking the flag down and folding it every day.

 

[Zloth]

Back into the Dungeon of Naheulbeuk for me. I'm glad I took a break from it because now it's fun again!

 

[ZedClampet]

Against my better judgement, I got pulled into a new Total Warhammer 3 game despite the last two ending in game breaking bugs.

I'm playing the Tomb King who does not serve (his lore is pretty interesting). I've mentioned on here before how much I love the Tomb Kings and why, so I'm trying to refrain from covering that ground again lol

It's been a rather relaxing campaign so far. I've only been invaded once, the perpetrator being Clan Mors. They didn' t really think it through very well and offered a peace treaty two or three turns later, but by then I had three armies rolling through their territory, so I declined.

It's odd because, as usual for me, everyone around me is in the red for diplomacy, and I keep expecting the bottom to drop out as it usually does, but so far everyone has been chill.

 

[Pifanjr]

So I decided to move my colony in Rimworld, so I could start over and make it a bit more organized. I started by deconstructing most of my furniture. However, getting everything deconstructed and then hauled to my stockpiles so I could bring it along ended up taking way longer than I thought, so my colonists had to sleep on the floor for a night. When I finally got everything sorted out and started creating my caravan, I discovered that most furniture and raw materials are very heavy (which I suppose makes sense). I ended up only taking food, medication, mechanical components (which are very limited and needed for all machines) and 3 of my best beds. I realized later I forgot to take any of my money.

I now have most of the main stuff set up again. There's still a bunch of stuff to do before I'm at the same point I was with the previous colony, but the basics are taken care of. I also got a sixth member now and have equipped the three colonists I use to fight off raids with plate armour (of which only one is actually competent).

However, while it's nice to have a more organized colony, the entire process also made me realize I don't really have a goal I'm working towards. My colonists are fairly safe and have their basic needs met, so there is no real struggle any more. It has made the current game feel bland.

I think the main problem is that the game has no real victory condition, so all of the work I'm doing to get my colonists safe and satisfied isn't really going anywhere. The game calls itself a Story Generator, but by treating my colonists as just work drones instead of individuals I'm ignoring the story potential. For example, one of my colonists has the Cannibal trait, but has never eaten a corpse because I throw all of them into the incinerator as soon a possible so my colonists don't get a negative mood penalty from seeing a corpse.

It seems to be another example of optimizing the fun out of the game. By trying to optimize the mood of my colonists, I have ignored what actually makes the game fun, which is the stories you can create in the game.

I'm considering starting a new game on a higher difficulty. I'm also looking at some mods that take some of the tedium out of the game and make it easier to see the social interactions between colonists so I can take those into account and make a story around them instead of treating them like a random mood boost/penalty.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

So I decided to move my colony in Rimworld, so I could start over and make it a bit more organized. I started by deconstructing most of my furniture. However, getting everything deconstructed and then hauled to my stockpiles so I could bring it along ended up taking way longer than I thought, so my colonists had to sleep on the floor for a night. When I finally got everything sorted out and started creating my caravan, I discovered that most furniture and raw materials are very heavy (which I suppose makes sense). I ended up only taking food, medication, mechanical components (which are very limited and needed for all machines) and 3 of my best beds. I realized later I forgot to take any of my money.

I now have most of the main stuff set up again. There's still a bunch of stuff to do before I'm at the same point I was with the previous colony, but the basics are taken care of. I also got a sixth member now and have equipped the three colonists I use to fight off raids with plate armour (of which only one is actually competent).

However, while it's nice to have a more organized colony, the entire process also made me realize I don't really have a goal I'm working towards. My colonists are fairly safe and have their basic needs met, so there is no real struggle any more. It has made the current game feel bland.

I think the main problem is that the game has no real victory condition, so all of the work I'm doing to get my colonists safe and satisfied isn't really going anywhere. The game calls itself a Story Generator, but by treating my colonists as just work drones instead of individuals I'm ignoring the story potential. For example, one of my colonists has the Cannibal trait, but has never eaten a corpse because I throw all of them into the incinerator as soon a possible so my colonists don't get a negative mood penalty from seeing a corpse.

It seems to be another example of optimizing the fun out of the game. By trying to optimize the mood of my colonists, I have ignored what actually makes the game fun, which is the stories you can create in the game.

I'm considering starting a new game on a higher difficulty. I'm also looking at some mods that take some of the tedium out of the game and make it easier to see the social interactions between colonists so I can take those into account and make a story around them instead of treating them like a random mood boost/penalty.

Isnt the victory condition building a space ship to leave the planet? Are you playing on a lower difficulty level?

I'm curious because I was thinking about buying the game today. Banished for example had a lot of potential, but with no campaign once I'd managed to build every building and the place was self sufficient I didnt see any point playing anymore, and I wasnt much motivated to start a new game and do the same again.

I guess an inverse difficulty curve is kind of a feature of survival games, but I'd hope that developers would find a way of keeping a game interesting later on in other ways, without the player having to tie their hands behind their back to do it for themself.

 

[Brian Boru]

Far Cry 5

Haven't met a plane yet, but the boom/burn arrows are great for choppers

Met first plane at the end of fist mission I played tonight—liberating Falls End town. Tried about 4 Boom arrows but didn't make a hit, had to change to sniper to get rid of it. I think it was because I hadn't used the bow, so I was a bit rusty on arrow flight time and ballistic arc. I'll definitely try again tho.

I would like a sidekick, but unfortunately, the wolf mod I tried to use did not work so I'll need to find another one

Can't you get Boomer at Rae Rae's Pumpkin Farm? It's close to the start island, just a bit SW of it, and easy to liberate—only a handful of baddies hanging around.

 

[ZedClampet]

I have only found one bow so far, the compound one. I don't have any problem using it, but I don't like the reticle. It makes it a bit more of a chore to get a headshot. I think the compound bow from Far Cry 3 had a much better sight, also the one in Far Cry 6.

Yeah, I'm thinking of focusing more on wildlife with fishing as the main leisure and a bit more stealthy when doing main quests or similar with foes. I need to find some better-looking survival gear though because now I look like riot police. I would like a sidekick, but unfortunately, the wolf mod I tried to use did not work so I'll need to find another one.

Far Cry 5 is all about getting sidekicks. You should get one almost right away. The dog.

I don't remember the site for the bow in 5, but bows are my favorite weapon for almost the entire game, and you get double drops when hunting with a bow, which is good because hunting will probably be your primary source of income unless you are just crazy prepared (Brian?) and go straight to the caches and stuff.

 

[Frindis]

Thanks for the tip @Brian Boru & @ZedClampet. I'll go for Boomer, looks like a great dog from the pictures I have seen!

 

[Johnway]

Well, after a somewhat disappointing 80 minutes i've rage quit and rage uninstalled chivalry 2. i'm not cut out for PVP and its another painful reminder that i should stay away from that stuff. i did sink something like 45hrs but was it worth it? i doubt it. I might reinstall it, but honestly if i have to play the game every day practicing and forming a habit over one game, i think i'm better off moving away from it before it becomes an obsession.

 

[Ryzengang]

My gaming has definitely increased as there has been a considerable drop in temperature here over the past week or so. I've spent a decent amount of time messing with the Steam Deck. I had to get some games installed and I explored some of the features it offers. It's a really cool device with a ton of tweakability. I set my refresh rate and frame rate limit to 40 FPS, and that kind of customization is awesome. 40 FPS is a great choice for increasing smoothness while also limiting power and improving battery life.

In terms of what I'm playing, I started Final Fantasy VIII on the Deck and it has been a really smooth experience so far. Generally speaking, I've found that JRPGs are well-suited for handheld play and FFVIII certainly aligns with that idea. I've only played about an hour and a half, so I don't have any strong opinions about the game yet. On desktop I'm still chipping away at AC: Black Flag and I've continued with my new playthrough of The Witcher 1. The first Witcher game is jank but I can't help but feel they had something special even back then. The soundtrack is brilliant and the atmosphere is exceedingly good. TW1 just has this really gloomy and grimy vibe that is so fitting. I'm not sure I could outright recommend it, but I believe it gets to like $1.50 on sale so it may be worth a shot depending on your tastes.

 

[Pifanjr]

Isnt the victory condition building a space ship to leave the planet? Are you playing on a lower difficulty level?

I'm curious because I was thinking about buying the game today. Banished for example had a lot of potential, but with no campaign once I'd managed to build every building and the place was self sufficient I didnt see any point playing anymore, and I wasnt much motivated to start a new game and do the same again.

I guess an inverse difficulty curve is kind of a feature of survival games, but I'd hope that developers would find a way of keeping a game interesting later on in other ways, without the player having to tie their hands behind their back to do it for themself.

You can build a space ship to leave the planet and "win" the game, but if that's your only goal you'll probably just sit and wait for most of the game once you've managed to build a self-sustaining base, until you've either build the ship or an event you weren't properly prepared for undoes all your progress. The difficulty scales with your colony's wealth, so the events will get progressively more difficult to deal with and there are plenty of difficulty options to make sure it the game doesn't have to be too easy, so it does avoid the problem of an inverse difficulty curve. I just don't think this game works well if you play it as if it's a roguelike management sim with the goal to build a spaceship.

I did play Banished when it was still in early access and had the exact same experience.

 

[Brian Boru]

unless you are just crazy prepared (Brian?)

Take out "prepared" and you've nailed it!

The Witcher 1 … I believe it gets to like $1.50 on sale

It does.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

You can build a space ship to leave the planet and "win" the game, but if that's your only goal you'll probably just sit and wait for most of the game once you've managed to build a self-sustaining base, until you've either build the ship or an event you weren't properly prepared for undoes all your progress. The difficulty scales with your colony's wealth, so the events will get progressively more difficult to deal with and there are plenty of difficulty options to make sure it the game doesn't have to be too easy, so it does avoid the problem of an inverse difficulty curve. I just don't think this game works well if you play it as if it's a roguelike management sim with the goal to build a spaceship.

I did play Banished when it was still in early access and had the exact same experience.

Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, and procedurally generated story telling

Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld have been named story generators, a type of game in which fun does not come from reaching specific objectives but rather from seeing non-scripted stories play out from the actions of the player.

www.gamedeveloper.com

I see, still think I'll give it a shot after reading the above article. I very well might not be as good as optimizing as you and from what I read it does involve a lot of systems mashing together from the characters personality traits that can cause some unexpected chaos to work through. Also maybe you just got lucky with a bunch of colonists and a seed that are pretty harmonious for some reason?

I'm not all that interested in role playing my own individual characters stories and I dont necessarily get very attached to them, but I do enjoy it when systems blindside you and turn everything upside down. Its the macro stories the game can create I find more interesting. I also really like to have an end state to work towards even if its a grind in the very end to get there, for a while.

Of course once you start to master a game, it can get less interesting. In that case I understand challenge runs or focusing on a different method than the absolute optimal just to see if something else works. What I wont buy into is something thats pretty easy to beat, and being forced to handicap your own game because there was little to no challenge in the first place.

I think I played the full version of Banished, pretty sure I wouldnt have bought anything early access, so I assume it didnt change much after full release.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

https://www.pcgamer.com/youre-the-emergent-ai-who-destroys-or-saves-humanity-in-this-sandbox-strategy-game/

Talking about emergent systems with multiple end game states to work towards. Thats 3 Hooded Horse games going on my watchlist now.