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[nenjin]

Breakership Hardspace?

[Dostoevsky]

Breakership Hardspace?

That sounds more like a shipboarding torpedo-marine simulator, which would be completely amazing.


Anyways, going to give a quick plug for Monster Sanctuary on Steam Early Access. I know, Early Access, but it feels in a pretty decent place right now - sizable amount of content, stable, getting fairly frequent updates. They also have a demo (with seamless save transfer to the full version).

As to what it actually is, it's a 'pokemon metroidvania'. In practice, that means lots of battles along with some platforming and light puzzles. The battling is definitely the meat of it, so decide based on that. One of those 'bump into the enemies to fight' setups, not random swirly screen of fight.

As to those battles, you have a party of 6 but fight 3 v. 3. Each monster (and there are a little under 80 at the moment) has its own set of skill trees comprised of active & passive skills. Passive traits aren't nearly as influential as, say, Siralim, but there are still plenty of options and the net combination of possible skills does help set monsters apart from each other pretty well.

Also like Siralim, health/mana are recovered between fights which means that each individual fight has higher stakes than just long-term resource management.

The main negative I'm seeing is that leveling up a low-level monster can be something of a pain - there are items like rare candy, but it seems like you have to jump through some hoops for them instead of just purchasing. Thankfully this is only really an issue if you're trying to raise an early-game monster or one you've let go fallow for a while - monsters from your current area tend to be pretty close to your current level. Only your active team of 6 gain XP, which means you can passively level 3 monsters while actively using 3. It's not terrible, but I'd prefer a smoother way to get lower-level monsters back up to speed.

Other potential negative is that it features something of a level-scaling system. Basically, the first time you enter a cell/screen/block the monsters there are set to your current level (with a minimum but not a maximum, I think). This means you'll never be overleveled for a new area, but you can come back later at a higher level. Combined with the above, however, means that if you're leveling up some lower monsters you may want to switch away from your A team from time to time for more even leveling.

Really though, just try the demo. The early game monsters have slightly more basic skill trees on the whole, but are still a good introduction of how the gameplay feels.

[Cthulhu]

I'm playing The Last of Us 2.  I feel like you need to break the last of us into categories in order to rate them, because the games' contents are very clearly bifurcated.

TLOU1:
Gameplay vs zombies: 2/5 - Rarely fun,  mostly boring, very one-dimensional compared to...
Gameplay vs humans: 5/5 - fuckin mastapeece.  Dynamic stealth, enemy behavior, melee and weapon mechanics combine to combat vs humans an ugly chaotic, desperate mess that's an absolute joy to play and perfectly captures the post-apocalyptic theme.
Other "gameplay:" 0/5 - Okay we're in another part where Joel and Ellie walk forward and talk and occasionally move a ladder.  This is a cutscene, just because I can control the character doesn't mean it's gameplay
Story: 4/5 - Some cliches, but genuine emotion and character development and a very ballsy ending

TLOU2:
Gameplay vs zombies: 3/5 - More dynamic, some new QOL changes make it less of a chore, still pretty boring
Gameplay vs humans: 5/5 - It's the exact same thing but the enemies have names and it plays smoother than TLOU1.  They didn't do anything new and they didn't need to, I chef kiss it
Other "gameplay:" 0/5 - fuck off why is this shit in the game.  I hate it so much.
Story: 3/5 - The bleakness gets tiresome after a while.  The new partner characters don't have the same dynamic, I've heard the ending sucks but I'm not there yet, we'll see.

Overall, I have to give it a 10/5 because the combat vs humans is so fucking good it doesn't really matter what the rest of the game is.  I haven't said enough good things about it.

Everybody seems to have decided to hate the game, I haven't paid enough attention to figure out why but it seems to be knee-jerk.  Ellie is a lesbian which who cares, people also hate Abby because she has biceps or something.  I think she's fun

Game's worth the money in my opinion, but they really need to either stop trying to tell stories in video games, or figure out a way to tell a story without making 75% of the game completely non-interactive.  The first actual gameplay is 20 minutes into the game and it's a 90 second snowball fight with children, followed by another fifteen or 20 minutes of cutscenes and parts where you're technically in control but the only thing you can do is walk forward.

[Mephisto]

Most of the review bombing mentions sjws and lesbians and thus can be safely ignored. The rest seems to be about the

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

dog

scene and false choice a la Spec Ops: The Line.

[Cthulhu]

It has the spec ops the line feel for sure.  Far Cry 2 and 3 do that much better, mainly because they don't comment.  Far Cry 2 you go to a brewing border conflict in Fictional African Country to catch an arms dealer and in the process of manipulating the two factions to draw out the arms dealer you start a devastating conflict, kill hundreds of people yourself, destroy food and supplies, basically fuck the area you were sent to save beyond repair.  Aside from the very end the game never comments on any of this.  if you notice that you're the villain of this story, that's on you.  Likewise Far Cry 3 is initially about rescuing your friends but as it goes on that increasingly becomes a distracting aside to your character's transformation into a cold-blooded killing machine.  Again, it never shoves it in your face, it just gives you the guns and lets you do your thing.

A lot of hate towards Abby too, I've heard back and forth that she's trans which seems like a big part of it.  I'm not sure if they out her at some point or if people are just saying she is.  Guess we'll see.

I mean she also SPOILER, but that's not what the people I've seen complaining seem to be mad about.

[Egan_BW]

Overall, I have to give it a 10/5

wait, that's illegal

[Iduno]

The new Skatebird demo makes me realize/remember 1) it's been too long since I've done skateboarding stuff and 2) I kind of suck at video games.

[Dostoevsky]

Debating between making a post here v. the really old thread that does actually exist for it, but wanted to alert folks that the recent Itch bundle contains what I'd argue is a real gem - Airships: Conquer the Skies.

Kind of like a simplified 2D From the Depths, but that doesn't really give it justice. Also, the crew mechanics are an element I don't believe is in FtD, and understanding the ins and outs of a good interior can make a huge difference.

2 main issues: the campaign mode lacks any form of diplomacy (something the developer is slowly making progress on correcting), and the Itch version doesn't have access to the excellent array of Steam Workshop mods. The dev has set up a Nexus page to try and get it populated with mods, but as of this writing only a few are up there yet.

[MCreeper]

Debating between making a post here v. the really old thread that does actually exist for it, but wanted to alert folks that the recent Itch bundle contains what I'd argue is a real gem - Airships: Conquer the Skies.

Kind of like a simplified 2D From the Depths, but that doesn't really give it justice. Also, the crew mechanics are an element I don't believe is in FtD, and understanding the ins and outs of a good interior can make a huge difference.

2 main issues: the campaign mode lacks any form of diplomacy (something the developer is slowly making progress on correcting), and the Itch version doesn't have access to the excellent array of Steam Workshop mods. The dev has set up a Nexus page to try and get it populated with mods, but as of this writing only a few are up there yet.

This one actually haves a thread there, although small one.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=157903.msg6972125#msg6972125
EDIT: Whoops, i'm blind.

[Dostoevsky]

Yep, as mentioned I was debating reviving that really old thread just to give a plug for it being included in the recent megabundle.

If/when the diplomacy update comes out for it I may well give that old thread a necropost, but for now didn't think it was quite worth it.

[Frumple]

Okay, so. I Dracula Genesis. Twinstick roguelite, enter the gungeon-ish. Seems neat, not point of post.

Is anyone else that has noticed the thing also getting significant Chaos Engine vibes from the general aesthetics? 'Cause I've been watching vids, hearing folks say the look is significantly unique, and I'm just going, "Chaos Engine. This thing reminds of me of chaos engine." Modernized, and whatnot, but... still.

[Cthulhu]

Aside from the SJW stuff it seems like the main complaint about TLOU2 is similar to Spec Ops The Line, that it's shaming you for doing things the game forces you to do.

I kind of get it.  Not that specific problem, but the story's not as good as TLOU1 and I think the main problem is lack of buy-in.  That plus the general development climate of the game, crunch time and all, turned people against it early on, making them less disposed to emotionally invest in the story, so when it demonstrates the consequences of the characters' actions people are taking them directly instead of viewing them as story elements.  The game isn't Ellie and Abby in a tit-for-tat blood feud and the miserable consequences for everyone, but a wagging finger direct from Neil Druckmann to the player.

The big complaint is the dog scene though, which is bizarre to me since immediately following the dog scene

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ellie accidentally kills a pregnant woman

Following that scene you replay the events of the game as Abby, seeing everything from the other side.  You visit Ellie's mission areas before she arrives and talk to NPCs with the dramatic irony that you know they'll all be dead in a few hours.  E.g. at the beginning of the hospital scene there's the two wolves where the one is dating a soldier and recommends her friend do it too since it's got perks, it's in the gameplay trailer.  You talk to them in the Abby sequence, just for a second, if you're not paying attention you might not notice.  I grabbed the guy from behind and used him as a human shield to shoot the lady in the head, then stabbed the guy to death.  It's an interesting touch.

I think it's also a hazard of paying attention to games journalism, especially the leaks and shit.  I basically consumed no media regarding this game aside from watching the official trailers.  I didn't even realize the dog scene was significant, I just blew through it, assumed it was one of those periodic stalling sequences they do to conceal load times.  I'm guessing something in the media hype, maybe the leaks, is what got people riled up.

Other cute touches, Abby is afraid of heights which becomes a minor story point/character development moment.  If you look down a fatal drop while you're playing her, she starts visibly getting distressed, breathing heavy and hugging herself and the camera dolly zooms back

[scriver]

I tried the Solaria (alpha or beta, it's not released yet anyway) demo.

The game itself is solid.

But Jesus. The camera. I think this game has the most awful camera of any game I've played in... I don't even know. Highly unsuited to the game. Highly unsuited to the level design. Just. Can't. Deal. With it. It's bad enough to be the single thing making me not want to get the game once it eventually releases. It's terrible.

[Frumple]

Uh. Is that the actual name? Cause a search shows a Solaria Moon (which is 3d, so could be what you're talking about) and a Crusaders of Solaria (which looks like it might be some kind of dungeon fighter online clone, from the screenshots, i.e. there isn't really a camera moving around to complain about) and a Solaria Tactics (also sorta' 3d, so maybe), but the only games I'm finding called just Solaria are some kind of board game and like a plant growing simulator over on itch.io.

[scriver]

Ah, pardon my laziness. The actual name was Solasta: Crown of the Magister. I didn't even remember the prename right x(