AI52487963's recent activity
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkThis week we played the shmup Star of Providence for our podcast on roguelike/lite games Overall: we really enjoyed it! I played a lot of it years ago when it was previously titled "Monolith" and...This week we played the shmup Star of Providence for our podcast on roguelike/lite games
Overall: we really enjoyed it! I played a lot of it years ago when it was previously titled "Monolith" and always had a great time playing it. Unlike traditional shmups, Star of Providence has a lot of room-based cover that you can hide behind which I think helps a lot with the difficulty curve for people like me who are somewhat green to the genre. My co-hosts and I typically play more "bullet heck"-level games like Enter the Gungeon or Binding of Isaac, but Star of Providence provides a nice bridge for us to get our toes wet into shmups without getting too deep into stuff like Touhou.
There's such a brilliant mix of NES aesthetic visually and in the sound design that would feel really at home on a CRT or in an arcade cabinet even. If you're a fan of Gungeon or Isaac you should def give Providence a look. Should be coming to the Switch soon as well.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkGot to revisit the classic puzzle game Into the Breach for our roguelike podcast episode this week Such a lovely game, from the animations to the a-ha moment you get when you finally see the...Got to revisit the classic puzzle game Into the Breach for our roguelike podcast episode this week
Such a lovely game, from the animations to the a-ha moment you get when you finally see the solution to a mission you've been puzzling over for 30 minutes. I think if you're a fan of any kind of tactics game, you'd be well served to play it and will get a lot of enjoyment even out of just grinding easy mode missions.
Also there was a content update a couple years ago, so if it's been a while since you played it at launch, there's a few new mech squads, pilots, items, and bugs to take into consideration. I kind of wish there was more stuff for Into the Breach, but it's such a streamlined experience that any additional story or mechanics would just get in the way of what's already a great, near perfect experience.
-
Comment on It annoys me that so many PC games feel like they're intended for consoles in ~games
AI52487963 LinkYou may be interested in Cataclysm' Dark Days Ahead if you're into survival horror crafting sandbox games built explicitly for PC. Open source and with more keyboard commands than you can shake a...You may be interested in Cataclysm' Dark Days Ahead if you're into survival horror crafting sandbox games built explicitly for PC. Open source and with more keyboard commands than you can shake a stick at.
-
Comment on Titanfall is still EA's most innovative shooter ten years later in ~games
AI52487963 Link ParentI'm hoping for a game that takes the combined arms gameplay of Squad and somehow adds a mech angle. Were almost 20 years on from the original release of Chromehounds which was way ahead of it's...I'm hoping for a game that takes the combined arms gameplay of Squad and somehow adds a mech angle. Were almost 20 years on from the original release of Chromehounds which was way ahead of it's time.
A similar game was being solo developed for a while but I think it may have fizzled out.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkPlayed Balatro this week for our roguelike podcast I was a little skeptical when people were saying this was going to be the next best roguelike deckbuilder since Slay the Spire, since that was...Played Balatro this week for our roguelike podcast
I was a little skeptical when people were saying this was going to be the next best roguelike deckbuilder since Slay the Spire, since that was being said about Cobalt Core last year. CC is a fun game in its own right, but Balatro has somehow captured the entire gaming world by storm in less than a month.
Overall: we really liked it as a group, but I've been having a tough time with it myself. It's fun, but sometimes feels punishingly random with not as many strategic outs as you can get in Monster Train or Luck Be A Landlord, even. That being said, every time I've sat down to only play 20 minutes, at least 90 have gone by. There's a great balance of visual aesthetic to its hard brained math puzzles where I can just sit at a round to play and think for ages.
It's such a great game to play on the Steam Deck, that I imagine anyone with a Switch is also playing it nonstop. It will be interesting to see how a mobile port shapes up and compares. I'm personally looking forward to expanded content, as I think there could be more obvious synergies to build up as a run progresses. That's maybe the toughest area for me to grok at the moment, but I've only put 12-ish hours in, versus 100+ that some of my social circle have already.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkMy three podcast co-hosts and I recently played the very popular roguelite city builder Against The Storm and were very mixed on it. I found the city building part to be very interesting once you...My three podcast co-hosts and I recently played the very popular roguelite city builder Against The Storm and were very mixed on it.
I found the city building part to be very interesting once you get over the learning curve of how all the systems operate. The game does take a very long time to play each run, though, averaging between 45 to 90 minutes even on triple speed. There's a lot of interesting choices to make with how to win each settlement between fulfilling orders from the Queen, cracking open supply caches on the map, or focusing on your population specifically.
The major hinderance to Against the Storm is everything outside of the city building part. It feels like there's been a tremendous amount of energy put into the art direction and bits of story and lore throughout, but it's never connected or capitalized on. The titular Queen you're serving is someone that no one knows anything about and you never see during the game. The meta-goal of "what am I building these cities for exactly?" isn't really explained or rationalized. And I think the worst part is that there doesn't seem to be any kind of victory or catharsis in the game at all. You beat a settlement and you move on to the next one. You beat the seal and finish a full run, but you hit a button and start it all over again?
I like a lot of the flexibility and systems design in Against the Storm, but the rest of the game, including the hard-to-grok tutorial really makes for a hard headwind even for people who are big fans of other similarly complicated games like Rimworld or Factorio. I feel like those figured out tutorialization and emergent gameplay or victory conditions in a more straightforward fashion.
Given the furious pace of development, it wouldn't shock me if Against the Storm had some kind of major overhaul or refactor or content update to smooth out all those things. I think the game has some good foundations to it, but just needs some more time to bake.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkPlayed the highly influential Tales of Maj'Eyal this week for our roguelike podcast. Reviews were generally positive with me really liking it, two other co-hosts being a light recommend, and one...Played the highly influential Tales of Maj'Eyal this week for our roguelike podcast.
Reviews were generally positive with me really liking it, two other co-hosts being a light recommend, and one with a light not-recommend. Different strokes for folks, as we have a pretty wide diversity of preferred play styles among the group.
Overall: the graphics are bad, but can be modded to be more palatable. There's a lot of fun experimentation and good design decisions to be had in a genre that's notorious for tedium and overt complexity. TOME is much easier to get into than, say, NetHack, ADOM, CDDA, or others of its time and type. It's much closer to Diablo than it is any of those games and all for the better IMO.
That being said, I think there's a fundamental clash between run-based permadeath games and long time-investment RPGs. It feels really bad to lose a character you've invested a lot in, particularly if you have to re-tread the same campaign all over again. TOME is fun, but I could totally see more casual roguelite players getting tired of doing the same quests over and over again. I think a game like Path of Achra (or other, coffeebreak-length traditional roguelikes) does this in better in a more straightforward fashion, but our coverage of that is still sitting in the production pipeline.
-
Comment on Steam Next Fest: what have you been playing? in ~games
AI52487963 Link ParentI haven't had a game like that make me so physically uncomfortable to play in a very long time lolI haven't had a game like that make me so physically uncomfortable to play in a very long time lol
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkRecently played the 90s-inspired boomer shooter Nightmare Reaper for my roguelike podcast Overall: I think half of our podcast hosts liked it as a flawed gem, and the others didn't find it their...Recently played the 90s-inspired boomer shooter Nightmare Reaper for my roguelike podcast
Overall: I think half of our podcast hosts liked it as a flawed gem, and the others didn't find it their cup of tea. To be fair, they aren't super into old school sprite-based shooters as much anyway, but NR has some design flaws that anchor it down. For me, I thought the presentation and overall flow was great, but the minigame-based upgrade system is a total bummer the longer you interact with it.
The upgrade system really needs to be taken out completely. The idea is that the main player character has a gameboy that you play tiny Mario stages in to get some extra currency before completing the level and getting the unlock you, well, paid for at the start. The stages are short and easy enough that they aren't a problem per se, just not interesting enough to warrant an extra 2 minutes of playtime.
But it gets so much worse than that. There's a second and third upgrade tree that have totally separate, yet somehow more tedious minigames. One is an open world pokemon, the other is an open world space exploration game. These would be neat easter eggs to find in the world of the game, but really anchor the gameplay significantly. There's an accessibility option to skip them entirely and I can't imagine playing the game without that option on. If you couldn't skip them, they'd probably be one of the worst upgrade systems in a game I've ever played if I'm being honest.
I think there's an idea of 3dRealms-era shooters that translates very well to roguelike/lite genre games, but NR doesn't quite fit. It feels too rooted in the aged-poorly design ideas of the past with find-key-open-door gameplay flow and map design. In fact, I think procedural map design kind of goes in the opposite direction to that kind of idea.
That being said, the chainsaw weapon has a grappling hook attached to it, which is maybe one of my top 10 favorite weapon ideas in a game ever.
-
Comment on What is your favourite episode of a podcast? in ~talk
AI52487963 LinkA couple friends did a podcast reviewing every N64 game. I think my favorite episode of theirs is the 4 hour finale where they go over all of their reviews from worst to best....A couple friends did a podcast reviewing every N64 game. I think my favorite episode of theirs is the 4 hour finale where they go over all of their reviews from worst to best.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkThis week for our roguelike podcast we played Wildermyth Going in blind, I was thinking it was pretty close to a cartoony Invisible, Inc but it's much more of an X-Com like game with elements of...This week for our roguelike podcast we played Wildermyth
Going in blind, I was thinking it was pretty close to a cartoony Invisible, Inc but it's much more of an X-Com like game with elements of base management. I really like the presentation with the charming graphics and simplified, faster combat than you get with other tactics games, but boy is the game wordy. I feel like that's the make-or-break factor for Wildermyth with folks is if they like that kind of narrative structure or not. I can see why people would love it and others would hate it.
Our overall podcast rating was on the positive side. I liked it the best of my 3 co-hosts, but you really need to be in a specific mood and space to play it. Wildermyth would be tough to follow story-wise if you were distracted by a background podcast or TV. The game overall is good, but I feel like it could use some polishing up in some very minute areas to really make it shine.
I was also kind of shocked that Wildermyth isn't out on consoles yet, particularly Switch. I played a lot of it on the Steam Deck and it worked surprisingly well. I think it's supposed to hit consoles in 2024 sometime and I imagine it will be a big hit with casual gamers. Wildermyth does have a sort of PG fun-for-all style to it and if you think you would like the kind of game it presents itself as, you probably will. Just be ready to read and flip to the next comic page a lot.
-
Comment on Any good PC games that are inherently slow or cooldown-based? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkI feel like lots of modern turn-based traditional roguelikes could fit this description. Ones that come to mind would be: Cogmind, Rift Wizard, Path of Achra, Brogue, Tales of Maj'Eyal, Jupiter...I feel like lots of modern turn-based traditional roguelikes could fit this description. Ones that come to mind would be: Cogmind, Rift Wizard, Path of Achra, Brogue, Tales of Maj'Eyal, Jupiter Hell, HyperRogue, Hoplite (mobile game), 868-Hack, WazHack, Rogue Fable III, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, and Golden Krone Hotel.
Based on your preferences for city builder type games, you may also enjoy Against the Storm, which is a real-time-with-pause game that you can pick up and play in a very civ-like fashion I think.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkRecently played Rogue Tower for my roguelike podcast I think this game has a lot of interesting concepts to it, but is held back significantly by its UI. Roguelike/lite tower defense games aren't...Recently played Rogue Tower for my roguelike podcast
I think this game has a lot of interesting concepts to it, but is held back significantly by its UI. Roguelike/lite tower defense games aren't something you see a lot of, so it's an interesting game to explore. We previously reviewed a tower defense rogue game that was much more on the RPG end of the spectrum in The Last Spell, and Rogue Tower is very much more on the arcadey end of the spectrum. That being said there's still a lot of metaprogression to unlock, be it different towers, support buildings, etc.
Two of my podcast cohosts got super into it, but the other half of us weren't bit as hard. I only put in about 6 hours compared to 100+ that one of us did (who also thinks he may have a WR in some part of the game). I still had fun and there's a good degree of one-more-run-itis in it that you want from a rogue-type game. There's a laundry list of things that I would want added or polished to make the game an overall better experience (for me anyway), but the dev has said he's done with work on it and is set on his new project. I can kind of sympathize with that, as you don't want to be constantly tooling on a previous work forever. Whatever their next game is, I'm certainly at attention to play it, that's for sure.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 Link ParentInto the Breach is one of my favorites and a definite stay tuned on the podcast for sure. I've been meaning to look into the new advanced edition content they released and still have yet to beat...Into the Breach is one of my favorites and a definite stay tuned on the podcast for sure. I've been meaning to look into the new advanced edition content they released and still have yet to beat it on hard mode, but I think I wound up unlocking everything in the base game a while back. Love me some Rusting Hulks
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkRevisiting some of the top games we reviewed this year for my roguelike podcast's end of season playoff tournament. Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - Still holds up as one of the best roguelikes for its...Revisiting some of the top games we reviewed this year for my roguelike podcast's end of season playoff tournament.
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - Still holds up as one of the best roguelikes for its age. It still feels great to play and beating The Womb is good enough for a finished run for me these days. Anything past that feels far too luck based, but I was glad for us to review it and to have it come back for the finals.
Cogmind - 2/3 of the podcast hosts love Cogmind and one hated it. Sort of emblematic of traditional roguelikes in a nutshell - they not for everyone. But Cogmind is the top of its class, far beyond Caves of Qud for me anyway. I don't expect it to win the finals tournament, but it's part of the conversation and important to come back to.
Dead Cells - We only just covered this one recently as our last reviewed game of the season and it was quite a hoot. I forgot how much I love everything about Dead Cells and I'm only just diving into the DLC now. It hits all the right notes in just the right way that I could see this one taking the crown at the end of the day.
Enter the Gungeon - Another split decision rankings-wise. It took a long time to get into, but once you click with Gungeon, it does feel so good to play. I wish there was as much variety and QOL things here and there about how Dead Cells treats various things like unlocks and item drops, but Gungeon is its own thing and that's totally ok.
FTL: Faster Than Light - Maybe the grandpappy of modern roguelikes, and not totally shocking that it's #1 on our podcast list, just barely eeking out Dead Cells. I've been dabbling with the Multiverse mod recently and been having a lot of fun with it. I just wish it was more easily available via the steam workshop a'la Slay The Spire's Downfall mod. Multiverse is really an FTL 2 and I'm all here for it.
Hand of Fate 2 - A surprise that this one performed so well, but it's been fun to come back to. HOF2 does everything bigger (and I think better) than it's predecessor. Sometimes the Dealer get's a little annoying with his nonstop chatter, but playing on the couch on the Steam Deck is fun for a run here and there.
Invisible, Inc - I can understand people's love for this game, but it just feels super slow to me. There's some kind of game design principle about leveling up your party of allies, only for one or two of them to die off and you having to replace them with lower level units. I feel like that anchors this type of game (and other Xcom-likes) pretty hard. Unlike FTL where you're able to buy pretty high level allies pretty often to offset the death mechanic, it feels really painful to lose characters here in a way that feels more RPG-ish than rogue-ish.
Luck Be A Landlord - What a treat! It's such a fun pocket-sized game that plays so well on the Steam Deck that I could just sit there and spin spin spin all day long. The fact that this is a deckbuilding game in sheep's clothing is a fun twist. And once you get those item synergies going you feel like you're on such a roll you never want to stop. Gambling in a nutshell maybe?
Monster Train - Another surprise and one of our highest rated games on the podcast. I don't like the art style, but the gameplay is so well thought out that I find myself coming back to this more often than Slay The Spire. At least, for the moment anyway.
Rimworld - Hey that's not a roguelike! You'd proably be right, but we're using the excuse of "Well if Dwarf Fortress get's a pass...". I'm still learning the ropes of the Rim, but my cohosts have this as one of their favorite games of all time. Are colony builders roguelikes? Well maybe. We did an almost 2 hour long podcast episode on the topic.
Streets of Rogue - Another delight, but maybe accidentially too easy? We beat the game on our first try in a multiplayer setting. It was frantic and crazy and we had a lot of fun, but haven't really had the desire to come back since. It felt like we had seen it all in the few hours that we played. I am excited for the sequel, though!
The Last Spell - Another edge case, ATS feels a bit more of a tower defense RPG with some very rogue-lite mechanics baked in. The art style is great, the music is great, but each round goes on just a little too long for me. Overall, a fun game, but only if you're feeling up for the time investment IMO.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkPlayed Dead Cells for the last game review of the season for my roguelike podcast It was such a breath of fresh air to come back to Dead Cells after a long time. I originally played the alpha at...Played Dead Cells for the last game review of the season for my roguelike podcast
It was such a breath of fresh air to come back to Dead Cells after a long time. I originally played the alpha at PAX West 17 and knew there was something special about it.
I remember playing when it first came out in early access and being excited to finally get my hands on the full release. I've played off and on since then but I was glad to have a forcing function of the podcast episode to really chew hard on it.
Turns out Dead Cells is still great. The fluidity, the tough item decision making, fighting to get those times, and finally getting to the Hand of the King, all a great experience. Maybe I should keep an eye on those DLCs as the next steam sale approaches....
-
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
AI52487963 LinkIf you count Steam API hacking, then I recently showcased some data science investigations into Roguelike data for an invited talk The Steam API isn't too shabby for putting together datasets....If you count Steam API hacking, then I recently showcased some data science investigations into Roguelike data for an invited talk
The Steam API isn't too shabby for putting together datasets. Issues arise more with tagging systems based on (IMO) data quality. I'm trying to think of a product tagging system that makes anyone happy, but one underrated aspect of Steam's is that we can parse out the value counts of tags to leverage with cosine similarity scores for more accurate product recommendations.
-
Comment on Anyone learning an instrument (especially those who have no musical education)? in ~hobbies
AI52487963 LinkIn college a roommate and I decided to do rent to own programs for string instruments. He did violin and I did cello. His musical background was much deeper, having played piano for years at a...In college a roommate and I decided to do rent to own programs for string instruments. He did violin and I did cello. His musical background was much deeper, having played piano for years at a respectable hobbyist level. I hadn't played an instrument since 4th grade recorder.
My motivation was wanting to learn an instrument and not wait until I'm retired to try and regret the missed opportunity. I took private lesson with an instructor who was fine but said (probably right at the time) that I was tone deaf. I played in a recital where I was the oldest person by at least 10 years and felt super humbled by 5 year olds playing the same music but much better.
I had to return the cello for a bit as I was away from the area for grad school, but I missed it the whole time and buying a cello was the first thing I did when coming back. I signed up for lessons again and have been going constantly for probably 8 years now.
Like any long term life skill its all about consistency. I don't practice all the time but it helps to have a great instructor that I get along with which motivates me a lot.
Just sticking with it for a long period of time helps with reflection on how far you've come too. I watch some video recordings from years past and cringe hard, but knowing that I've come a long way since feels good and helps to reinforce continuing to go to lessons.
I think adults playing in recitals for studios is also a good thing since it sets an end goal for the season to work towards. You get over the stage fright eventually, as the kids don't care and the parents are even more scared of doing it themselves. Working towards that goal is quite motivating and I could totally see how other adults lose interest in it if they are too timid to play with middle schoolers.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
AI52487963 LinkPlayed some of The Finals before the playtest closed. I think if you're into competitive lootbox shooters, it has an interesting backbone of gameplay. I haven't been into that space in a long time...Played some of The Finals before the playtest closed.
I think if you're into competitive lootbox shooters, it has an interesting backbone of gameplay. I haven't been into that space in a long time and I don't think it will woo me over, but I bet fans if Apex Legends will like it.
That gameshow narrators were definitely novel, but made me feel like I was playing for an audience's enjoyment that felt maybe a little unsettling to me lol. Might be because of the game genre, but in some sense I felt a little icky with the premise.
That being said, the gameplay loop was cool and the destructible environment and gameplay decisions needing to be made were very unique. I was also impressed that it ran pretty well on my ancient 970.
We recently played Returnal for our roguelike game podcast and boy do I have some thoughts.
Playing on PC can be a gamble if your system is going to be buggy or not, but if all the stars align and you're able to run the game relatively okay, then I'd say give it a look when it's on sale.
I don't think I've been as locked in and focused during combat sequences in a very, very long time. Returnal is a game that I actually woke up early to play before going to work, and was the first thing I'd do when I got home. It's such a captivating experience, it's just a shame that the PC port is pretty poorly optimized. I'm sure it plays just fine on a PS5, though.
Story and ending spoilers
The story is very interesting, but I don't like the direction it went about 2/3 of the way through the first act. There's one cutscene that sets the direction for where the story is nebulously headed, and I was really hoping that it wouldn't truly be it, but my fears were confirmed.
My enthusiasm for playing through a second time really got the wind taken out after rolling credits the first time. I get there's more to the story, but now it feels like all the cool stuff in the game is effectively worthless. I hope I'm wrong and that a NG+ run here will serve as an interesting spin on all the assumptions I made the first time through, possibly with some monologue references to the bosses and major objectives, but I really don't want to go on a big fetch quest for another unresolved ending.
In a way, I'm reminded of Hollow Knight and it's ending. Top notch gameplay with a "bad" default ending, but a "good" ending you can unlock after via a harder sequence. That sort of system really bugs me and is the principal reason why I haven't finished Hollow Knight multiple times. I would hate it if Super Metroid had a similar ending.
The more I reflect back on Returnal's story the more I think about Metal Gear Solid 2. Maybe the first ending is my Raiden moment that I haven't fully come to appreciate yet, but MGS2 had a similar feeling of massive disappointment only to be slowly won over throught the years. Now MGS2 is in my short list of all time favorites specifically because of that. Maybe Returnal will share a spot once I fully complete the rest of the story?