I'm not totally convinced the new Civ 6 expansion is worth the pricetag, but I can tell you that I built Cristo Redentor in the shadow and ash of an active volcano, and later won a cultural victory when my scrappy rock band, Little Bucket, played an epic set at the Phoenician Great Pyramids.
+25
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
edited February 2019
I Don't Know What Steins;Gate Is, But This Trailer Seems Like It's Got Pep:
Darkest Dungeon is one of my favourite games, but the quality of the DLC and the various post-launch balance changes they've made have left me nervous that it's not a game they know how to iterate upon.
+7
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PiptheFairFrequently not in boats.Registered Userregular
stein's gate is a visual novel turned anime that deals with time travel and shit and was mostly light-hearted
the new one is apparently not at all light-hearted
None of them are light-hearted, you might have gotten that impression from shit like the tuturu memes, but the stories always turn dark and overdramatic by the end. Also they tend to disappear up their own philosophical buttholes pretty completely, and make little effort to be more clever than 2 bit detective novel mysteries that are invariably solved with stupid, unsatisfying, cop-out "oops I wrote myself into a corner" magic that doesn't make sense.
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
the colossus bundle has a bunch of 7/10 games on for $8 USD
two of them are mystery games, you'll find out more about them on Feb 25th
It came with one of their worst ever balance patches, but to me it was just totally pointless. The endless mode was surplus to my requirements, and it added nothing of any note to the game. Crimson Court was an awful slog, which is a shame because it's aesthetic was great.
I'm not sure if Darkest Dungeon wanted to be a balanced RPG or a game that just unreasonably fucks you over
but I can definitely tell you that I often felt dissatisfied, frustrated, or just straight up bored while playing it
It wants to be a game about managing odds and accepting that those odds will sometimes ruin even the best laid plans. I've rage uninstalled it maybe thirty times, but at it's best it's a very shrewdly put together game and I certainly die a lot less than when I was bad at it.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Sunless Skies talk for... probably just Pooro but whatever
The captain before my current one finally made it to Albion. I'd had the resources to get there for a while now, but I've been absolutely unable to discover Lustrum, and I was waiting until I had done that to move on. But I finally gave up, and I went to Albion, and while I was there, I experienced my first non-hull breach death. Well, I guess technically a part of my hull was breached by my insane and mutinous crew. But it's not the same.
I had been hoping that whole time that when I died in Albion I would respawn in London as opposed to New Winchester, and I am delighted to find that such is the case, especially because it means I can enjoy the thrill of exploration with a new character again, something that I've not really been able to do for a few captains now. I'm also hoping beyond hope that the chart I received from my previous captain doesn't include his maps of the Reach, but I know that's probably too optimistic.
Anyways this game is still great even if I've killed like a dozen captains by now (mostly by getting cornered by two star maddened explorers at the same time).
I already got Sunless Skies during last sale, but Im waiting with starting to play it. My... backlog... is... too big!
Im glad that creators appear to be happy with sales of their new title.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
The prospects and bargains system makes trade so much less of a slog, too, so even in areas where you have a lot of travel distance it's much less of a thing.
I never got into the dedicated trade game in Seas, but if you did (and Tube, I know you did), you were working on the slimmest margins possible. Like, the $5 profit per item in a trip that would cost you $60 in fuel and supplies sort of things. Now if you have the right prospect or the right bargain, you're working with much better margins, but in a way that frequently incentivizes switching your routes up, exploring new territories, and finding unheard of ports.
The prospects and bargains system makes trade so much less of a slog, too, so even in areas where you have a lot of travel distance it's much less of a thing.
I never got into the dedicated trade game in Seas, but if you did (and Tube, I know you did), you were working on the slimmest margins possible. Like, the $5 profit per item in a trip that would cost you $60 in fuel and supplies sort of things. Now if you have the right prospect or the right bargain, you're working with much better margins, but in a way that frequently incentivizes switching your routes up, exploring new territories, and finding unheard of ports.
For me, I found a really great route that let me make money and then they nerfed it and I didn't want to play any more. I felt like the "this is a game with open world systems" was often clashing with "this is a game where you just explore rich narratives"
The prospects and bargains system makes trade so much less of a slog, too, so even in areas where you have a lot of travel distance it's much less of a thing.
I never got into the dedicated trade game in Seas, but if you did (and Tube, I know you did), you were working on the slimmest margins possible. Like, the $5 profit per item in a trip that would cost you $60 in fuel and supplies sort of things. Now if you have the right prospect or the right bargain, you're working with much better margins, but in a way that frequently incentivizes switching your routes up, exploring new territories, and finding unheard of ports.
For me, I found a really great route that let me make money and then they nerfed it and I didn't want to play any more. I felt like the "this is a game with open world systems" was often clashing with "this is a game where you just explore rich narratives"
The designers at the time got a little reactionary at the idea that people were playing it as a trading game. In this one, trading (and the relationship of trade to empire) are core parts of the narrative and gameplay loops.
Sunless Skies has a few different difficulty-modifiers that make "getting to the story" a lot easier, if you prefer it that way. You can make fuel and food last longer, you can slow down enemy projectiles, you can load a saved game when you die if you aren't ready for a new captain. I recommend all of them (with the caveat that much of the game is hidden away if you never start a new captain).
Last time I played Sunless Skies, I descended into the unmarked grave of an unknown star. Its lingering spirit whispered its final lament to me, a terrible truth which drove me slightly mad-ish and gave me recurring nightmares. I scraped the star's bones, taking samples, so that I could perform an autopsy and learn what terrible force can poison a sun.
The prospects and bargains system makes trade so much less of a slog, too, so even in areas where you have a lot of travel distance it's much less of a thing.
I never got into the dedicated trade game in Seas, but if you did (and Tube, I know you did), you were working on the slimmest margins possible. Like, the $5 profit per item in a trip that would cost you $60 in fuel and supplies sort of things. Now if you have the right prospect or the right bargain, you're working with much better margins, but in a way that frequently incentivizes switching your routes up, exploring new territories, and finding unheard of ports.
For me, I found a really great route that let me make money and then they nerfed it and I didn't want to play any more. I felt like the "this is a game with open world systems" was often clashing with "this is a game where you just explore rich narratives"
Yeah, there's no longer going to be a really great route that lets you make money. Every port sells something other than Fuel/Supplies, but if you cart that back to a hub port (think London in Seas, although it's a fair bit different) then the price you'll sell it for is the same as what you bought it at. You're not necessary for the continuation of regular shipping lines.
Essentially, trading now functions like little procedurally generated quests.
What you'll have instead is someone that you know through your criminal connections selling some tea at a steep discount for some reason. Or a message will come in to the hub that the city of Lustrum desperately needs five crates of munitions, and is willing to pay nearly twice the market price for them. Either one of those is an opportunity for profit, but if you manage to get lucky and combine the two, then it's an opportunity to get rich.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I don't get why Lovecraft games are so linked with grinding. I watched someone play Cultist Simulator and I wanted to die
Everyone's mileage varies, of course, but I find that elements of routine establish comfort. A sturdy loop, a strong foundation, giving you an expectation for what comes next.
When that is disrupted by something new and dreadful, it is more potent. If there's a nonstop onslaught of horror, that becomes routine, which is antithetical to the whole enterprise.
+4
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
I am very, very slowly chipping away at Torment: Tides of Numenera
it's weird that it is taking me so long because I like the writing and especially the plot elements I've seen
I think the main problem is that there's very rarely a break from doing more dialogue and reading, so it starts to feel more like a visual novel
also, Numenera, or the Ninth World, I guess, the overall setting, is frankly really hard to get excited about
I am very, very slowly chipping away at Torment: Tides of Numenera
it's weird that it is taking me so long because I like the writing and especially the plot elements I've seen
I think the main problem is that there's very rarely a break from doing more dialogue and reading, so it starts to feel more like a visual novel
also, Numenera, or the Ninth World, I guess, the overall setting, is frankly really hard to get excited about
That was the problem I had. I've only played maybe 20 minutes and didn't hate it, but I didn't love the world immediately (and hate the character model) and it throws a ton of jargon at you right from the start.
Epistory, in Tier 2 of the Fanatical bundle above, is a a charming, lovely game that doesn't overstay its welcome. You play as a girl trying to reclaim her memories by riding around a beautiful papercraft world on a giant, papercraft fox and dispatching enemies (bugs, mostly) by typing the words that appears over them. Nice, solid game and worth the price of that tier.
Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
I love the castoff (I maintain that calling them "the last castoff" is dumb and incorrect because it's hard to say and I refuse to do it) and the central hook is honestly pretty inspired, it's very much in keeping with the spirit of the original while also feeling fresh
it's just, this setting is nowhere near as cool as Sigil
I love the castoff (I maintain that calling them "the last castoff" is dumb and incorrect because it's hard to say and I refuse to do it) and the central hook is honestly pretty inspired, it's very much in keeping with the spirit of the original while also feeling fresh
it's just, this setting is nowhere near as cool as Sigil
It goes some interesting places, and I REALLY like the concept of a world that's so old that you basically find old bullshit relics everywhere.
But yeah, it still doesn't hold a candle to a city in the center of the universe ruled by an impassive unknowable woman who has banned all gods from the city.
+3
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
i'm currently giving darkest dungeon a serious shot and i think the devs could make a pretty good game on these foundations, but there are a lot of areas that need improvement, mostly it's just too repetitive and boring
also they're still sticking with the name 'red hook', huh
They really should change their name. I think a LOT of people are unaware of how racist that story is... Or how racist Lovecraft was in general, actually.
Obviously that doesn't excuse them, though. They should know what they named their studio after!
+2
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I don't get why Lovecraft games are so linked with grinding. I watched someone play Cultist Simulator and I wanted to die
Everyone's mileage varies, of course, but I find that elements of routine establish comfort. A sturdy loop, a strong foundation, giving you an expectation for what comes next.
When that is disrupted by something new and dreadful, it is more potent. If there's a nonstop onslaught of horror, that becomes routine, which is antithetical to the whole enterprise.
To build on this, I think video games are fighting a bit of an uphill battle with creating horror, especially the sorts of cosmic horror that we're talking about here.
Through the simple fact that you're playing the main character of a video game, you exist in a world that was designed around you. Maybe not flavor-wise, but they functionally have to be built that way. Therefore the whole malign indifference of the universe element of cosmic horror doesn't really hold up in play, even if it does in flavor.
The uncanny also has had a lot of trouble being scary, being limited by graphics for many years. And honestly at this point, we've kind of seen everything - the terror of the uncanny has already been mined poorly for many things, and it is difficult to recreate that original feeling of terror.
And then there's desperation. Which frequently ties in to that whole nihilistic indifferent stuff, as it is often centered on powerlessness, but in practice it's a bit different. And in practice, no matter how desperate your video game situation is, for many games you can just reload and try again. This one has been conquered by horror games the best, probably - either through the permadeath of the Sunless games and Darkest Dungeon, or through invulnerable enemies like Mr. X and Pyramid Head. But it also is frequently only in specific situations that it actually applies, that you can actual have that powerless desperation.
Anyways, bringing it back to Pooro's point, the creation of a routine allows you to recenter yourself in the game and forget about these things a little bit. Your routine means that the world will keep ticking away even though you're the main character. Your routine means you have expectations, and when something terrible is aboard your ship, those expectations are shattered. That sort of thing.
+2
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
Devotion is a first-person atmospheric horror game depicting the life of a family shadowed by religious belief. Explore a 1980s Taiwan apartment complex lost in time gradually shift into a hellish nightmare. Delve into the vows each member of the family has made, and witness their devotion.
Posts
"afloat"
the new one is apparently not at all light-hearted
it's a visual novel series by an inexplicably popular awful writer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gycSZoYzEks
comes from
the farm was mostly harmless
but I can definitely tell you that I often felt dissatisfied, frustrated, or just straight up bored while playing it
Twitch (I stream most days of the week)
Twitter (mean leftist discourse)
None of them are light-hearted, you might have gotten that impression from shit like the tuturu memes, but the stories always turn dark and overdramatic by the end. Also they tend to disappear up their own philosophical buttholes pretty completely, and make little effort to be more clever than 2 bit detective novel mysteries that are invariably solved with stupid, unsatisfying, cop-out "oops I wrote myself into a corner" magic that doesn't make sense.
the colossus bundle has a bunch of 7/10 games on for $8 USD
two of them are mystery games, you'll find out more about them on Feb 25th
https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/colossus-bundle
Steins Gate 2: D e p r e s s i o n
It came with one of their worst ever balance patches, but to me it was just totally pointless. The endless mode was surplus to my requirements, and it added nothing of any note to the game. Crimson Court was an awful slog, which is a shame because it's aesthetic was great.
It wants to be a game about managing odds and accepting that those odds will sometimes ruin even the best laid plans. I've rage uninstalled it maybe thirty times, but at it's best it's a very shrewdly put together game and I certainly die a lot less than when I was bad at it.
The captain before my current one finally made it to Albion. I'd had the resources to get there for a while now, but I've been absolutely unable to discover Lustrum, and I was waiting until I had done that to move on. But I finally gave up, and I went to Albion, and while I was there, I experienced my first non-hull breach death. Well, I guess technically a part of my hull was breached by my insane and mutinous crew. But it's not the same.
I had been hoping that whole time that when I died in Albion I would respawn in London as opposed to New Winchester, and I am delighted to find that such is the case, especially because it means I can enjoy the thrill of exploration with a new character again, something that I've not really been able to do for a few captains now. I'm also hoping beyond hope that the chart I received from my previous captain doesn't include his maps of the Reach, but I know that's probably too optimistic.
Anyways this game is still great even if I've killed like a dozen captains by now (mostly by getting cornered by two star maddened explorers at the same time).
It's much less of a time commitment than Sunless Seas. They took out a lot of travel distance and replaced it with bees.
Im glad that creators appear to be happy with sales of their new title.
I never got into the dedicated trade game in Seas, but if you did (and Tube, I know you did), you were working on the slimmest margins possible. Like, the $5 profit per item in a trip that would cost you $60 in fuel and supplies sort of things. Now if you have the right prospect or the right bargain, you're working with much better margins, but in a way that frequently incentivizes switching your routes up, exploring new territories, and finding unheard of ports.
Oh my god, Becky, look at her backlog
For me, I found a really great route that let me make money and then they nerfed it and I didn't want to play any more. I felt like the "this is a game with open world systems" was often clashing with "this is a game where you just explore rich narratives"
The designers at the time got a little reactionary at the idea that people were playing it as a trading game. In this one, trading (and the relationship of trade to empire) are core parts of the narrative and gameplay loops.
Last time I played Sunless Skies, I descended into the unmarked grave of an unknown star. Its lingering spirit whispered its final lament to me, a terrible truth which drove me slightly mad-ish and gave me recurring nightmares. I scraped the star's bones, taking samples, so that I could perform an autopsy and learn what terrible force can poison a sun.
Then I had a cup of tea with my busybody aunt.
Yeah, there's no longer going to be a really great route that lets you make money. Every port sells something other than Fuel/Supplies, but if you cart that back to a hub port (think London in Seas, although it's a fair bit different) then the price you'll sell it for is the same as what you bought it at. You're not necessary for the continuation of regular shipping lines.
Essentially, trading now functions like little procedurally generated quests.
What you'll have instead is someone that you know through your criminal connections selling some tea at a steep discount for some reason. Or a message will come in to the hub that the city of Lustrum desperately needs five crates of munitions, and is willing to pay nearly twice the market price for them. Either one of those is an opportunity for profit, but if you manage to get lucky and combine the two, then it's an opportunity to get rich.
Well for Cultist Simulator and Sunless Seas and Echo Bazaar, the answer is Alexis Kennedy
Everyone's mileage varies, of course, but I find that elements of routine establish comfort. A sturdy loop, a strong foundation, giving you an expectation for what comes next.
When that is disrupted by something new and dreadful, it is more potent. If there's a nonstop onslaught of horror, that becomes routine, which is antithetical to the whole enterprise.
it's weird that it is taking me so long because I like the writing and especially the plot elements I've seen
I think the main problem is that there's very rarely a break from doing more dialogue and reading, so it starts to feel more like a visual novel
also, Numenera, or the Ninth World, I guess, the overall setting, is frankly really hard to get excited about
Oh man have you met the guy that built a device to spy on creatures fucking across the multiverse yet
That was the problem I had. I've only played maybe 20 minutes and didn't hate it, but I didn't love the world immediately (and hate the character model) and it throws a ton of jargon at you right from the start.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
it's just, this setting is nowhere near as cool as Sigil
It goes some interesting places, and I REALLY like the concept of a world that's so old that you basically find old bullshit relics everywhere.
But yeah, it still doesn't hold a candle to a city in the center of the universe ruled by an impassive unknowable woman who has banned all gods from the city.
no but I did help a barful of psychic veterans kill the nihilistic intelligent hunger waiting to consume all of this reality, and the next
also they're still sticking with the name 'red hook', huh
Obviously that doesn't excuse them, though. They should know what they named their studio after!
To build on this, I think video games are fighting a bit of an uphill battle with creating horror, especially the sorts of cosmic horror that we're talking about here.
Through the simple fact that you're playing the main character of a video game, you exist in a world that was designed around you. Maybe not flavor-wise, but they functionally have to be built that way. Therefore the whole malign indifference of the universe element of cosmic horror doesn't really hold up in play, even if it does in flavor.
The uncanny also has had a lot of trouble being scary, being limited by graphics for many years. And honestly at this point, we've kind of seen everything - the terror of the uncanny has already been mined poorly for many things, and it is difficult to recreate that original feeling of terror.
And then there's desperation. Which frequently ties in to that whole nihilistic indifferent stuff, as it is often centered on powerlessness, but in practice it's a bit different. And in practice, no matter how desperate your video game situation is, for many games you can just reload and try again. This one has been conquered by horror games the best, probably - either through the permadeath of the Sunless games and Darkest Dungeon, or through invulnerable enemies like Mr. X and Pyramid Head. But it also is frequently only in specific situations that it actually applies, that you can actual have that powerless desperation.
Anyways, bringing it back to Pooro's point, the creation of a routine allows you to recenter yourself in the game and forget about these things a little bit. Your routine means that the world will keep ticking away even though you're the main character. Your routine means you have expectations, and when something terrible is aboard your ship, those expectations are shattered. That sort of thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTGHXH1wlRs
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1006510/Devotion/
looks kinda PT-ish? definitely in the 2spooky4me category
hat tip to @akajaybay for the find!
It's cool that you can avoid every fight in the game, but it also makes it even more visual-novel-y. I think I fought three times total.