I'd been interested in The Thaumaturge every since I'd heard about it a few months back, but after trying the demo I'm totally sold!
A Sherlock style investigation game, except instead of a superhuman sense of deduction, you actually have magic powers to read the psychic imprints people leave behind on objects. And you are tracking down Persona style demons and capturing them to gain their powers. And set in early 20th century Warsaw, you'll also be meeting up with famous historical figures like an Assassin's Creed game, like Rasputin who seems be trying to prevent his visions of WWI from coming true. With a surprisingly fun turn-based combat system.
I wouldn't mind the rising cost of AAA games quite so much if they weren't also bursting at the seams with additional monetisation. Fuck all the way off with making a game $120AUD then going "haha whoopsie that isn't the complete game" and offering the Deluxe Fuck You Edition with more content, release day DLC, lootboxes, battlepasses, and so on.
It drives me nuts cos frankly I’m happy to pay 150 au for mortal Kombats 6 dlc characters. I am not fucking happy that they shove a fortnite store in there and have real money for costumes. It’s not quite as bad as street fighter but it inevitably means they make costumes and unlockables a grind in the game itself. People complained about MK11 but it was downright generous with unlocks compared to 1. Put me off the game entirely and I regret buying the season pass just on principle because of it
Weirdly I’m “ok” with like costumes you can’t earn in game being purchasable, like fine whatever, make costumes that you can only buy via the store if that’s what you need to keep the shareholders happy, but don’t make it so you can buy shortcuts or stuff you can earn in game with real money, because that inevitably means you make those items harder to acquire without real money, and so it directly impacts the gameplay
Prohass on
+1
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I still think I haven't burned money better than buying Diablo IV for $144. Aside from the always online shit, the aggressive monetization and plain scummy feeling the game pervaded me with sits really uncomfortably for me. If it hadn't been for my woife who really wanted to play it, I would have been very happy never buying Diablo IV at all.
I want to see what would happen on that map if you fired (all of ww1) artillery shells at one spot. How long till the enemy's side of the map falls in?
I wouldn't mind the rising cost of AAA games quite so much if they weren't also bursting at the seams with additional monetisation. Fuck all the way off with making a game $120AUD then going "haha whoopsie that isn't the complete game" and offering the Deluxe Fuck You Edition with more content, release day DLC, lootboxes, battlepasses, and so on.
This is about where I'm at.
If games are too expensive to make, well first maybe make the games less big you motherfuckers, you're the ones who kept insisting Bigness and Detailed Looks was synonymous with Greatness - but failing that, sure, I'll pay extra upfront for a very large game if the game doesn't involve four additional layers of monetization. What I'm not going to be chill about is a game going on 80 euros and THEN having a hundred more euros of microtransactions and also seasonal battlepasses and who knows what else.
(Release day DLC I don't actually care terribly about - for most of these games there's a bunch of time between the game going gold and actually releasing, it's possible for a team to finish their first DLC plan by the time stuff actually gets to stores. Sure, whatever. But the multilayered monetization and hamstringing the game to sell you the solution to an intentional problem stuff? Nope, that dog won't hunt, monsignor)
I don’t know how much they really save from making the game less big though.
Like I think in a lot of cases (though not necessarily all)it makes the game a lot better to be smaller and more focused, but at the same time I don’t think adding 10 more story irrelevant provinces in Valhalla where you aid a random saxon guy on consolidating his kingdom in exchange for swearing fealty to the Norse really is what broke the bank there. To a certain degree I am sure they say “we’ve already made these assets, reusing them to make another region gives us 5 hours more content and all we have to do is record some voice lines an have a level designer place some already made stuff” and it seems like a bargain when you really want to put that “100+ hours” bullet point in your advertising.
It adds *a lot*. Basically, the thing with development is that often stuff goes geometric real fast as you start adding scope. A small new area and now you need more terrain modeling, more NPCs, more stuff to fill it with, maybe some models and some extra lines even if you recycle most... and the more you've insisted in making things detailed before (god but does graphical fidelity just multiply the cost of adding stuff), the more people you need to make the new place fit the rest, or more time, or both, and therefore the more adding stuff costs. Scope creep is a balloon.
Now, of course, it should not be forgotten that this is a 100% problem of their own making - AAA studios heavily spent in convincing players that this kind of size and graphic detailing and just having the most stuff is what makes a game "great" and prestigious. See how every time there's some award vote there's so many people going "well, this small indie game changed my life and cleaned my crops and ironed my clothes, but I can't give Game of the Year to a small indie game..."? Yeah, that's what several decades of successful messaging looks like. Because, well, it's the thing they have a monopoly on! A small A-level studio or an indie studio, they may be able to match or exceed in game design, and writing, and most other metrics - but if you ain't got a statistically significant fraction of a billion dollars to throw into a game you ain't making a Red Dead Redemption, the end.
But yeah, less Large And Epic-Looking(tm) games would absolutely cut down the costs a bunch!
Zombie party
Zome how itz what I was guezzing at with that trainer conzept above. You train your zombiez and zpawn them around the map, choice deployment yieldz better mizzion results. Fun timez, horrible tranzlation errorz
Lifeform 0
Fun had 0
% assets flipped 100
Game also loaded as gecko girl, suspicious
Forgotten But Unbroken
Loading....
Lucky Teacher
I named my character Jorhan Stahl and will be reading his dialog in Malcolm Mcdowell's voice
I'm starting to see Hooded Horse's catalogue and basically am going to be the same bottom for them that I was for klei.....whose games I am not buying because I am in a budget recovery phase.
Zavianuniversal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered Userregular
last night, ahead of today's latest Hearts of Iron IV DLC releasing in a few hours, I played as Egypt and through helping the UK fight the Axis in North Africa and Malaysa, I was able to peacefully transition from puppet of the UK to a free country, nabbing me a rare cheevo. During the war, the Allies for the first time in my game also managed to fully decrypt all of the Axis countries' ciphers granting me an additional rare Steam cheevo!
last night, ahead of today's latest Hearts of Iron IV DLC releasing in a few hours, I played as Egypt and through helping the UK fight the Axis in North Africa and Malaysa, I was able to peacefully transition from puppet of the UK to a free country, nabbing me a rare cheevo. During the war, the Allies for the first time in my game also managed to fully decrypt all of the Axis countries' ciphers granting me an additional rare Steam cheevo!
I really hope HOI is PDX's tentpole game next year and it gets the tutorializing that CK3 and V3 got. Like, sure I can go in and watch hours of videos to understand interactions, but by the time I get through a video, my interest had waned (whereas for sure I'd still be playing if the instruction was going on in game).
. . .that or EU (honestly, I would rather it were EU, though it feels a bit too familiar to CK3 to me). STELLARIS 2 I'm sure is years away.
"Get the hell out of me" - [ex]girlfriend
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ArmsForPeace84Your Partner In FreedomRegistered Userregular
Brain Spiders wanted me to look up this game after playing its sequel years ago but they appear to have disappeared from steam
Played like Halo moving towards 40K but not quite as bloody
Edit: it was an atari title, that explains so much
I played it ages ago on 360. Generic military sci-fi setting, design, and combat. It wasn't bad at the time, certainly not an embarassment like Haze on PS3, but it was already enough of just-another-shooter-with-spaceguns that it would probably feel a bit underwhelming 14 years later.
A more recent game that didn't find much of an audience, with combined arms space and ground combat that I was hoping to get into with some matches against what are supposed to be fairly capable bots, is Angels Fall First. While I wasn't feeling it, after trying a couple missions, it had enough going for it in terms of visuals and premise that I didn't refund it, and plan to explore it further at some point.
Also, I like rewarding developers and publishers, even if I'm late to the party, who include a robust bot match for offline play. Games in this genre tend to last weeks, at best, never filling up a single match. So if anything, far more effort should go into the bots than shipping with a bunch of modes and playlists that will just divide the player base further.
Brain Spiders wanted me to look up this game after playing its sequel years ago but they appear to have disappeared from steam
Played like Halo moving towards 40K but not quite as bloody
Edit: it was an atari title, that explains so much
I played it ages ago on 360. Generic military sci-fi setting, design, and combat. It wasn't bad at the time, certainly not an embarassment like Haze on PS3, but it was already enough of just-another-shooter-with-spaceguns that it would probably feel a bit underwhelming 14 years later.
A more recent game that didn't find much of an audience, with combined arms space and ground combat that I was hoping to get into with some matches against what are supposed to be fairly capable bots, is Angels Fall First. While I wasn't feeling it, after trying a couple missions, it had enough going for it in terms of visuals and premise that I didn't refund it, and plan to explore it further at some point.
Also, I like rewarding developers and publishers, even if I'm late to the party, who include a robust bot match for offline play. Games in this genre tend to last weeks, at best, never filling up a single match. So if anything, far more effort should go into the bots than shipping with a bunch of modes and playlists that will just divide the player base further.
Section 8 was a GFWL game, so that sort of explains the absense. I have S8: Prejudice, but I can't say I've played it any, to be honest.
Back in those days every publisher was chasing the "Halo Killer" crown, and quality was not really guaranteed.
last night, ahead of today's latest Hearts of Iron IV DLC releasing in a few hours, I played as Egypt and through helping the UK fight the Axis in North Africa and Malaysa, I was able to peacefully transition from puppet of the UK to a free country, nabbing me a rare cheevo. During the war, the Allies for the first time in my game also managed to fully decrypt all of the Axis countries' ciphers granting me an additional rare Steam cheevo!
I really hope HOI is PDX's tentpole game next year and it gets the tutorializing that CK3 and V3 got. Like, sure I can go in and watch hours of videos to understand interactions, but by the time I get through a video, my interest had waned (whereas for sure I'd still be playing if the instruction was going on in game).
. . .that or EU (honestly, I would rather it were EU, though it feels a bit too familiar to CK3 to me). STELLARIS 2 I'm sure is years away.
I do agree HOI4 is a huge deep dive, it's even more complicated than CK2 since at least with CK2 you can wrap your head around a single RPG character ruler. but with HOI4 it's basically a logistics simulator; you don't need spreadsheets as it does all of that for you and tells you whats needed, how long it will take to produce, etc., but it's a LOT.
it reminds me of those old PC games that came with huge chonky manuals!
one thing I like that HOI does that the other Paradox series don't is have an expansion pass subscription where you pay $5/month and get access to all the DLC. Thats a lot more affordable than shelling out $100+ or whatever for say Stellaris DLC!
the new DLC adds some interesting new mechanics as well as focus trees for Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. As Denmark, I managed (and trading Greenland to the USA in exchange for protection and supplies) within a few hours of release today to not only stop the German invasion of Denmark, but then push all the way to Berlin! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2183930/Expansion__Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Arms_Against_Tyranny/
+5
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Hmmm. Ghost Recon Breakpoint is 80% off. I wonder if it's worth it at that price.
Posts
Brain Spiders wanted me to look up this game after playing its sequel years ago but they appear to have disappeared from steam
Played like Halo moving towards 40K but not quite as bloody
Edit: it was an atari title, that explains so much
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Yeah, this needs longer to cook I think.
What, it's releasing in 4 weeks you say?
You need OCP coolant
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
You have 20 seconds to comply
Steam ID: Good Life
Dead or alive, your PC's fans are coming with me.
Steam | XBL
I am bad at it! Like, just terrible!
I'd buy that for a dollar.
Johnson: Too bad about @-Loki- 's fans, huh?
Morton: That's life in the big city.
Steam | XBL
A Sherlock style investigation game, except instead of a superhuman sense of deduction, you actually have magic powers to read the psychic imprints people leave behind on objects. And you are tracking down Persona style demons and capturing them to gain their powers. And set in early 20th century Warsaw, you'll also be meeting up with famous historical figures like an Assassin's Creed game, like Rasputin who seems be trying to prevent his visions of WWI from coming true. With a surprisingly fun turn-based combat system.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Pokemon?
Steam | XBL
Nah, i remember control in minigames (qte) and no control in combat/conflict
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
It drives me nuts cos frankly I’m happy to pay 150 au for mortal Kombats 6 dlc characters. I am not fucking happy that they shove a fortnite store in there and have real money for costumes. It’s not quite as bad as street fighter but it inevitably means they make costumes and unlockables a grind in the game itself. People complained about MK11 but it was downright generous with unlocks compared to 1. Put me off the game entirely and I regret buying the season pass just on principle because of it
Weirdly I’m “ok” with like costumes you can’t earn in game being purchasable, like fine whatever, make costumes that you can only buy via the store if that’s what you need to keep the shareholders happy, but don’t make it so you can buy shortcuts or stuff you can earn in game with real money, because that inevitably means you make those items harder to acquire without real money, and so it directly impacts the gameplay
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727760/Mars_Tactics/?curator_clanid=38719421
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
That is going on the wishlist immediately.
*opens mouth*
*shuts mouth*
It adds *a lot*. Basically, the thing with development is that often stuff goes geometric real fast as you start adding scope. A small new area and now you need more terrain modeling, more NPCs, more stuff to fill it with, maybe some models and some extra lines even if you recycle most... and the more you've insisted in making things detailed before (god but does graphical fidelity just multiply the cost of adding stuff), the more people you need to make the new place fit the rest, or more time, or both, and therefore the more adding stuff costs. Scope creep is a balloon.
Now, of course, it should not be forgotten that this is a 100% problem of their own making - AAA studios heavily spent in convincing players that this kind of size and graphic detailing and just having the most stuff is what makes a game "great" and prestigious. See how every time there's some award vote there's so many people going "well, this small indie game changed my life and cleaned my crops and ironed my clothes, but I can't give Game of the Year to a small indie game..."? Yeah, that's what several decades of successful messaging looks like. Because, well, it's the thing they have a monopoly on! A small A-level studio or an indie studio, they may be able to match or exceed in game design, and writing, and most other metrics - but if you ain't got a statistically significant fraction of a billion dollars to throw into a game you ain't making a Red Dead Redemption, the end.
But yeah, less Large And Epic-Looking(tm) games would absolutely cut down the costs a bunch!
Zome how itz what I was guezzing at with that trainer conzept above. You train your zombiez and zpawn them around the map, choice deployment yieldz better mizzion results. Fun timez, horrible tranzlation errorz
Lifeform 0
Fun had 0
% assets flipped 100
Game also loaded as gecko girl, suspicious
Forgotten But Unbroken
Loading....
Lucky Teacher
I named my character Jorhan Stahl and will be reading his dialog in Malcolm Mcdowell's voice
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
It's not what is drawing people to the game. Just feels like busy work to make it more "game-y"
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Huh, I should install Shank 2
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
It's so bad.
Interesting.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
^ With ray-traced reflections
^ Without, but all other ray-tracing options enabled
At least DLSS makes the game super-smoov with everyone else on psycho.
Steam profile - Twitch - YouTube
Switch: SM-6352-8553-6516
SHINY AND CHROME
I really hope HOI is PDX's tentpole game next year and it gets the tutorializing that CK3 and V3 got. Like, sure I can go in and watch hours of videos to understand interactions, but by the time I get through a video, my interest had waned (whereas for sure I'd still be playing if the instruction was going on in game).
. . .that or EU (honestly, I would rather it were EU, though it feels a bit too familiar to CK3 to me). STELLARIS 2 I'm sure is years away.
I played it ages ago on 360. Generic military sci-fi setting, design, and combat. It wasn't bad at the time, certainly not an embarassment like Haze on PS3, but it was already enough of just-another-shooter-with-spaceguns that it would probably feel a bit underwhelming 14 years later.
A more recent game that didn't find much of an audience, with combined arms space and ground combat that I was hoping to get into with some matches against what are supposed to be fairly capable bots, is Angels Fall First. While I wasn't feeling it, after trying a couple missions, it had enough going for it in terms of visuals and premise that I didn't refund it, and plan to explore it further at some point.
Also, I like rewarding developers and publishers, even if I'm late to the party, who include a robust bot match for offline play. Games in this genre tend to last weeks, at best, never filling up a single match. So if anything, far more effort should go into the bots than shipping with a bunch of modes and playlists that will just divide the player base further.
Section 8 was a GFWL game, so that sort of explains the absense. I have S8: Prejudice, but I can't say I've played it any, to be honest.
Back in those days every publisher was chasing the "Halo Killer" crown, and quality was not really guaranteed.
but was singing a song in my head
Made my words so much beetter
But comes from a character i really
Want
Ed
Dead
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
I do agree HOI4 is a huge deep dive, it's even more complicated than CK2 since at least with CK2 you can wrap your head around a single RPG character ruler. but with HOI4 it's basically a logistics simulator; you don't need spreadsheets as it does all of that for you and tells you whats needed, how long it will take to produce, etc., but it's a LOT.
it reminds me of those old PC games that came with huge chonky manuals!
one thing I like that HOI does that the other Paradox series don't is have an expansion pass subscription where you pay $5/month and get access to all the DLC. Thats a lot more affordable than shelling out $100+ or whatever for say Stellaris DLC!
the new DLC adds some interesting new mechanics as well as focus trees for Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. As Denmark, I managed (and trading Greenland to the USA in exchange for protection and supplies) within a few hours of release today to not only stop the German invasion of Denmark, but then push all the way to Berlin!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2183930/Expansion__Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Arms_Against_Tyranny/
It was ok. Probably better things to spend your time with. Not terrible but also not particularly good.