Computer Games

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noddy
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Re: Computer Games

Post by noddy »

NapLajoieonSteroids wrote:thanks for the heads up on Strife....

I had my eye on that as a Christmas gift, so I can cross it off.

I'm having the toughest time finding games that really pop out and seem to be worth a go according to everyone's tastes and inclinations.
yah, its slim pickins out there for action games, ive resorted to just throwing $10ish a month at humble bundle and seeing what the lands.
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NapLajoieonSteroids
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

Axiom Verge is going under the tree:

YmCqZnhXoxg

But let's rant about Metroid.

As far as I'm concerned they've made 2 really good ones: the original NES Metroid and the first Metroid Prime. The other Prime games seem okay (watching others play them), and the rest fall into not even worth it categories.

And that includes the much vaunted Super Metroid, which has to be a major fault line between the voluble minority who populate the game industry and message boards, and the wider world.

It took almost everything great about the original and simplified it or made it lame. Some of it unavoidable, due to technology changes, but a lot of it intended to make it appeal more to kids-- which it didn't at the time, as every bargain bin was filled with it and it was a disaster-- and those kids grew up to terrorize people with this game.
noddy
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Re: Computer Games

Post by noddy »

i played the original black and white gameboy version back in the day - remember enjoying it.

some have said that the new doom is akin to the new 3d reboots but ive never seen those.
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NapLajoieonSteroids
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

That game actually didn't cross my mind because I've never played it (or seen it played); while I heard its pretty linear, it gets a big pass in my book for being a limited gameboy game; the non-Prime, non-Retro made game series has practically thrown the first two games aside by remaking them in light of Super Metroid and the cinematic ambitions of Yoshio Sakamoto- who was involved, but the not the main creator of the first two games- that would be the late Gameboy designer, and a personal favorite, Gunpei Yokoi.

The remake of that gameboy game, Samus Returns, is filled with cinematic cut scenes and ninja moves and warp points. Samus can even hang on to ledges....going out of his way to erase what made the original games great, despite it being a big ol'Aliens ripoff.

...I guess in that sense, he's Ridley Scott :D
------

Yokoi (for those lurking looking for a factoid) was responsible for the gameboy and the direction pad, and probably has my favorite concept of a philosophy of design, that one should pursue "lateral thinking with withered technology."
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NapLajoieonSteroids
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

LA Noire (remastered) -

a (mostly) point-and-click adventure set in an open world environment with cinematic pretensions.

It is a very odd game; one of a kind in a sense as it was a dead end of game-making, fraught with a disastrous, abusive production and motion capture which still stands out several years after its initial release (and more than a decade since it began production). It also is closer to the type of computer game I generally rail against for being on a console.

There is something about this game which is highly compelling and almost perfect- now that (most of) the terrible bugs have been cleaned up in the remaster- almost to a point I wish other people and companies would explore when it comes to those wishing to make their interactive movies.

I can't quite put my finger on it yet but in retrospect, some of the criticisms I've read about it, are strengths in my opinion. Yes, the game world is mostly empty, there is a lot of repetition [get case, go to scene of crime, point and click for clues, interview everyone with shifty eyes, then do XYorZ to wrap it all up} and it is really bare-bone when it comes to side-quest and doodads to collect. This is all to its benefit. At no point did I feel like the game was wasting my time like a standard open world game might nor losing my attention like a standard point and click adventure might. By making it "open world", the game makes the player affirm every move while going through the story and it gives a greater sense of participation. It does an excellent job of leading you along without advertising that because it makes you affirm every move and doesn't bog you down in a collect-a-thon or showing off their open world. If anything, the few collectibles are probably too much because it does border on the ridiculous to be working a case and stopping just to get shiny object #1 of 30 in most instances. The only one which works are "extra" newspapers which further the story with little cut scenes. Now, most of this is unintentional; as its intention was obviously a grand theft auto competitor supposed to be released sometime around 2004...but somehow its a superior Assassin's Creed or the much better choose your own adventure- detailed but discrete...I'm gonna hafta think about this some more. There are plenty of problems and you it expects you to buy into the pulp story (which I guess caused some controversy) which YMMV...but it turned out a lot better than I expected.
noddy
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Re: Computer Games

Post by noddy »

i tried it briefly after a whimsical ps3 bargain bin purchase.

didnt last long - i remember the stumbling block was you having to read plastic faces and stilted dialog to guess if they where telling lies and i found that killed any interest as the engine wasnt good enough to make it a fun idea.

generally, I cant stand any of those 3rd person adventure things - assassins creed or uncharted, full of busy work and cutscenes, i consider it the opposite of gaming.

i am about to try http://store.steampowered.com/app/390030/DESYNC/ , which had interesting reviews - puzzle based and arena - shooting my 2 favourite genres

yay for steam and $5 games.
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

Tried out Skyrim VR- gave me a strong case of motion sickness. Really felt it jumping off a cliff and then riding a horse.
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

noddy wrote:i tried it briefly after a whimsical ps3 bargain bin purchase.

didnt last long - i remember the stumbling block was you having to read plastic faces and stilted dialog to guess if they where telling lies and i found that killed any interest as the engine wasnt good enough to make it a fun idea.

generally, I cant stand any of those 3rd person adventure things - assassins creed or uncharted, full of busy work and cutscenes, i consider it the opposite of gaming.

i am about to try http://store.steampowered.com/app/390030/DESYNC/ , which had interesting reviews - puzzle based and arena - shooting my 2 favourite genres

yay for steam and $5 games.
While I see your point, I had a blast reading the plastic faces and going through the stilted dialog, as it remained head and shoulders above the rest of the stilted dialog found in these types of games. And sure engine wasn't great but I guess I'm cutting it some slack for being so old and looking, to me, better than a lot of current games.

Compared to Uncharted 4, which I watched my gal friday plow through during the last snow storm:

cut scene- learn button- longer cut scene- loading scene-- about an hour of useless moping about Uncharted guy's house- cut scene- play Crash Bandicoot on a PS1 inside the game just to show it off/nostalgia/cross-promotion/another pointless cutscene/game really starts/cut scene/jump a cliff/cut scene....

and the little battles in between are a chore making you wish you get to the next cut scene as soon as possible. And Uncharted is a super detailed character- to show off PS4 we were speculating- whereas some of the other character models were really off and jarring next to Uncharted.

All the "look at me" locations blend together as you race to just get to the finish line. Number 4 may have been the most uninspired, bland mess yet- which is impressive in itself.
noddy
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Re: Computer Games

Post by noddy »

in the same vein i got "quantum break" from my humble bundle and it was hideous, i didnt make it out of the first section.

"watch movie, press w to walk to next movie"

glitch ended up being boring , no puzzles, just a dinky shooter with a graphical style that got tedious fast.

next up in my humble bundle is civ 6 - i havent played civ since civ 1 and i didnt like it much .....
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Re: Computer Games

Post by Typhoon »

Train drifting | AGDQ [Awesome Games Done Quick] 2018

Considering how many times I've taken the Hankyu line, I'm glad the driver has not tried try "multi track drifting".
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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NapLajoieonSteroids
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

Typhoon wrote:Train drifting | AGDQ [Awesome Games Done Quick] 2018

Considering how many times I've taken the Hankyu line, I'm glad the driver has not tried try "multi track drifting".
:thumbsup:
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NapLajoieonSteroids
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

noddy wrote:in the same vein i got "quantum break" from my humble bundle and it was hideous, i didnt make it out of the first section.

"watch movie, press w to walk to next movie"

glitch ended up being boring , no puzzles, just a dinky shooter with a graphical style that got tedious fast.

next up in my humble bundle is civ 6 - i havent played civ since civ 1 and i didnt like it much .....
Quantum Break was that one Microsoft had a tv show planned for, right? It was at the Xbox One unveiling, and originally you were supposed to play the game and watch the show and eat the cereal and vote one some choice they gave you which effected show and game? :)
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NapLajoieonSteroids
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

noddy wrote:in the same vein i got "quantum break" from my humble bundle and it was hideous, i didnt make it out of the first section.

"watch movie, press w to walk to next movie"

glitch ended up being boring , no puzzles, just a dinky shooter with a graphical style that got tedious fast.

next up in my humble bundle is civ 6 - i havent played civ since civ 1 and i didnt like it much .....
As for civilization 6-

that looks like it had clash of clans/smartphone customers in mind.

I haven't played anyone of them since 3 and my understanding is that by 4 and beyond it hits a ditch and has yet to recover.
noddy
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Re: Computer Games

Post by noddy »

all the resource games are dead to me - all i can see is a spreadsheet and i dont find accounting interesting.
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

I love spreadsheet games, puts my mind at ease

but...

they almost never live up to their ambitions.

Either computing power isn't there yet or they'd be too complicated for all but a very narrow user base or....

Civilization has the name and can crow about being first on the scene but not much else. Everything it does is done 10x better by other games.
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

RYwZ6GZXWhA

Still very early in the development process but still exciting news.

And to go with that, the original Age of Empires is receiving a "Definitive Edition" facelift treatment and will be out before March.
noddy
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Re: Computer Games

Post by noddy »

NapLajoieonSteroids wrote:I love spreadsheet games, puts my mind at ease

but...

they almost never live up to their ambitions.

Either computing power isn't there yet or they'd be too complicated for all but a very narrow user base or....

Civilization has the name and can crow about being first on the scene but not much else. Everything it does is done 10x better by other games.
I actually want to find one i like - the fact i havent liked one up till now is disappointing.

in theory they would provide an amusing tinker toy whilst my subconscious is busy solving a tedious structural problem without me :)

i think their are a fair few of them building up in my unplayed steam games list due to acquiring the 5-10 game collections on special but the act of downloading them and trying them seems a chore, so thats not happening.

if you have memories of any that you did find amusing, i wouldnt mind a shortlist to check against my unplayed catalog.
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NapLajoieonSteroids
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

noddy wrote:
NapLajoieonSteroids wrote:I love spreadsheet games, puts my mind at ease

but...

they almost never live up to their ambitions.

Either computing power isn't there yet or they'd be too complicated for all but a very narrow user base or....

Civilization has the name and can crow about being first on the scene but not much else. Everything it does is done 10x better by other games.
I actually want to find one i like - the fact i havent liked one up till now is disappointing.

in theory they would provide an amusing tinker toy whilst my subconscious is busy solving a tedious structural problem without me :)

i think their are a fair few of them building up in my unplayed steam games list due to acquiring the 5-10 game collections on special but the act of downloading them and trying them seems a chore, so thats not happening.

if you have memories of any that you did find amusing, i wouldnt mind a shortlist to check against my unplayed catalog.
out of Real Time Strategy? 4X games?Turn Based Strategy?

I'll have to think about it some....

starting with some of the classics (to get'em out of the way as you've probably tried these):

-Masters of Orion (the first one- while the 2nd one is highly praised, it's broken and too much of a "building race" in the same vein as Civilization- the first, based around the ships themselves evolves into choke point gameplay which makes every move count.)

-Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (from Meier's and Brian Reynolds, who designed Civilization II- the two of them together created something better than their original civilization series)

-UFO: Enemy Unknown/XCom/XCom2: the original UFO has MORE, it is also terribly buggy (though there is an open source correction to this floating out there) with an annoying interface. The Xcom remakes are simplified/streamlined

-Rome: Total War would probably go on this list too

-C-Evo: It's freeware Civilization II open-sourced, which fixes the problems inherent to Civ II (along with vastly improving the weak AI)

There is one I'm forgetting that I remember being really fun/popular but matches were 12 hour affairs....while great in theory, it's impractical for normal people to play.

The Command and Conquer and Tiberian Sun have aged incredibly poorly and not worth the time.

I've actually never played the Warcraft/Starcraft/Blizzard games even though they'd be up my alley. So I can't say much about them.

I've heard great things about the Masters of Magic 2010 remake-- totally fixed from bug issues and all....just never played it myself.

Of course I'd heartily endorse the Age of Empire series- 1, 2 and Age of Mythologies. I remember III being a bit dodgy. Everyone loves II and should be the one to play if you are looking for really competitive online play but the other two shouldn't be overlooked either.
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

My favorite strategy in Age of Empires II is playing as the Byzantines (great defensive/countering type) and walling my opponent in [double walls, with watchtowers to snipe at them), and watching the claustrophobia set in as they start running low on space and resources.

Another one that tended to work was to target their forests/wood supplies as early as possible. Send in a bunch of troops to destroy the forests around their area of the map, and if successful, you make it almost impossible for them to get anywhere in the later ages as everything requires lumber.

...I never really became great at offense when I played these games, so all my strategy came down to figuring out how to play defense and wear out my opponent(s). I became quite good at it, but it sort of left me in a position where I was good enough to beat novice and immediate players regularly, but totally vulnerable to most advanced players who could get by my defensive schemes quickly before I can even dent their economy. (as the game isn't really designed with that sort of defensive play in mind. ) The one stratagem which sometimes worked being the "wall'em in one)

Remains a dream to design an ultimate defense...maybe on one of the island maps, where I turn everything into fortresses. :mrgreen:
noddy
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Re: Computer Games

Post by noddy »

thankyou very muchly for that.

RTS is something i cant see myself ever playing again - back in the day of warcraft i pushed that to the limit with a mate and it quickly devolved into who-found-the-most-mines-first clickathon and when games require gentlemans agreements to work around structural problems its less fun, especially now that i only play singleplayer in stolen moments and the AI wont play by those rules :)

which brings me to ARPGS , got a diablo clone called torchlight for free.. talk about mindless clickathons but its somewhat amusing in bursts.

now the "work" of digging through all the things begins :)
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

noddy wrote:thankyou very muchly for that.

RTS is something i cant see myself ever playing again - back in the day of warcraft i pushed that to the limit with a mate and it quickly devolved into who-found-the-most-mines-first clickathon and when games require gentlemans agreements to work around structural problems its less fun, especially now that i only play singleplayer in stolen moments and the AI wont play by those rules :)

which brings me to ARPGS , got a diablo clone called torchlight for free.. talk about mindless clickathons but its somewhat amusing in bursts.

now the "work" of digging through all the things begins :)
I can understand that. The Empires series, has always had the ability to randomly generate different amounts and locations of resources. Or at least, two on down- with Age of Mythology really being built around it. Prevents the game from being played like chess.
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

I've been champing at the bit to get XCOM 2. As I don't do Steam, I'm SOTL for most of the sales.

There is this little (mostly used) game store not too far from here that's had a used XCOM 2 sitting on its shelves for a while. And every week or two, I've been stopping in to check to see if they still had it and to see if the price had dropped.

And it was, slowly. 54 dollars, 48 dollars, 45, 37, 32....in the last week it got to 25 and I've been stopping by every day [hah] on my way back from the little office, debating whether I should indulge a bit now or wait it out for the lowest price and hope no one else grabs it.

Well, I went with grab it now...and the minute I get home, I find out that a brand new edition with all the download content will be available "soon".

tKdcjJoXeEY
noddy
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Re: Computer Games

Post by noddy »

As I don't do Steam, I'm SOTL for most of the sales.
no PC or ethical problems with the DRM monster and walled garden ?
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

As fun as it would be to say it's a righteous stand and guerrilla war against the PC Master Race, it's more of a value thing.

I don't see a whole lot of value in the Valve route, for me.
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Re: Computer Games

Post by NapLajoieonSteroids »

Just want to add why Valve isn't all that valuable:

1)Couch co-op, social gaming is a priority to me. As much as I personally enjoy strategy/tactical games, the majority of my gameplaying time is with other people. Even single-player games. Console gaming still has big advantages in this regard. And for the record, I don't think playing someone online is all that social.

2)Still believe there is such a thing as console gaming which I prefer, even as it disappears. Console gaming exists in a nexus between arcade gaming and computer gaming. The games are not (and not designed to be) controller agnostic, they prioritize ease of use and accessibility, they are of shorter duration, carry over arcade design and aesthetics, and make use of hardware limitations to surpass them. Console games pursue the novel and inventive in the same way I expect computer games to bowl me over by pushing for the cutting edge in visuals, ludo-narratively, gameplay, processing...admittedly, this is increasingly obsolete and superficial distinction. The computer gaming market crashed and has been eaten up by smartphone gaming; Microsoft and Sony standardized the market; Valve/Microsoft and a few others control distribution; games are increasingly made to scale onto everything...and on and on and on.

3)Speaking of Valve- there is too much poor quality in the market place to find it appealing. Why should I have to wade through 8000 get rich quick half-baked games to find something of quality? This is the Atari problem all over again. Bad titles are preventing the ability of good ones from shining through- and that goes not just for put'em-in-quotations "indie" developers but the AAA companies. Way too many of their games suck and they are increasingly dinosaurs in a mammal market.

As an aside: what interests me is that Sony (with its first two PlayStation) was extremely successful with allowing (for lack of a better word) shovelware practices. Nintendo followed with the Wii and had the same success supposedly putting the old saw that "Atari flooded the market" to rest. Why is it no longer working? And its not working- Valve isn't growing the video game market by allowing everything onto their storefront like the original playstation did or Nintendo did....the best I can think of is that there was still a barrier of entry with a physical media for those systems...but what about Atari then? Is it that when there are two different competitive distribution formats (floppy disks/cartridges for atari) and (online/streaming vs disk) at present, it has an effect? The first two Sony systems and Nintendo Wii came about during the disk monopoly.
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