Flashfall's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkDiceomancer released last week after being initially showcased at a Steam Next Fest a few months ago and it's yet another fun variation on the classic deckbuilder game. The gimmick in this one is...Diceomancer released last week after being initially showcased at a Steam Next Fest a few months ago and it's yet another fun variation on the classic deckbuilder game. The gimmick in this one is a magical die that lets you manipulate any number on the screen, from health bars to card values to your current mana pool to even the values of buffs and debuffs in the compendium itself. There's your usual spread of mana types, null, purple, red, blue, green, black, and cards to go along with them. You can't choose cards to start a game with, but you do choose 3 color orbs to determine your class, which has its own innate perk and gives you a set of starting cards of matching color.
Beating the game itself isn't hard, though like every good deckbuilder you're encouraged to try out every possible combination of colors to beat it over and over, and you earn coins to unlock new cards, relics, color orbs, opportunities to use your number-altering die, etc. And there will absolutely be plenty of opportunities to use it, though it does consume some charges each time you do which recharge as you progress, so you can't just set your enemies' health bars to a value between 1-6 in every encounter. Also, the game has this cute hand-drawn cartoon art style and quite a few cards which reference other games and media, which are just extra treats on top of a very replayable game.
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Comment on Helldivers 2 support studio Toadman Interactive to shut offices in Sweden and Norway – some positions at developer's Berlin office also at risk in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentNah, there's no community servers. Daybreak just had a handful of servers to support a few different regions and a bunch of those already got merged due to declining player numbers. There aren't...Nah, there's no community servers. Daybreak just had a handful of servers to support a few different regions and a bunch of those already got merged due to declining player numbers. There aren't any real alternatives to Planetside either, since it already seems like black magic for this game to support 1000+ players on the same map in a shooter and still manage to maintain acceptable latency, so those server costs are probably eating up almost all the money they'd be making from subscriptions.
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Comment on Helldivers 2 support studio Toadman Interactive to shut offices in Sweden and Norway – some positions at developer's Berlin office also at risk in ~games
Flashfall LinkThis is the same studio that entirely took over continued support and development of Planetside 2 from Daybreak Games, though that's a much more niche title than the ones they have listed in the...This is the same studio that entirely took over continued support and development of Planetside 2 from Daybreak Games, though that's a much more niche title than the ones they have listed in the article. For the tiny handful of active Planetside 2 players that use Tildes, sorry but unless they sell the IP to someone that actually cares about reviving it, I think the game is actually done for this time.
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Comment on An important update on Concord - "At this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024" in ~games
Flashfall LinkDamn, knew this was going to go poorly for Sony but I didn't think they'd just shut it down outright. Hopefully they're just taking it down temporarily so they can relaunch it after a proper...Damn, knew this was going to go poorly for Sony but I didn't think they'd just shut it down outright. Hopefully they're just taking it down temporarily so they can relaunch it after a proper marketing campaign with more success. I still wouldn't buy it since I'm just not interested in hero shooters right now, but I'm sure there's a decent audience of disgruntled Overwatch players that Sony failed to capture due to basically nobody even knowing the game existed.
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Comment on Hunt: Showdown 1896 | Official launch trailer in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentThe action can definitely be much more drawn out and deliberate due to the generally lower rate of fire and longer reload times of the old guns, as well as the cat-and-mouse style engagement that...The action can definitely be much more drawn out and deliberate due to the generally lower rate of fire and longer reload times of the old guns, as well as the cat-and-mouse style engagement that happens when hunters converge on a bounty location to steal it from the defending hunters. At very close range though, things can still get hectic especially if there's multiple teams present.
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Comment on Tildes' favourite movies in ~movies
Flashfall LinkI missed that last thread, but still happy to see In Bruges and Ghost in the Shell mentioned in this list, even if they only have one and two votes respectively. That said though, I am a bit...I missed that last thread, but still happy to see In Bruges and Ghost in the Shell mentioned in this list, even if they only have one and two votes respectively.
That said though, I am a bit disappointed to not find Patlabor 2 or Redline mentioned here. They are admittedly pretty niche animated titles, but damn if they aren't perfect for what they are.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkI started Once Human last week and it's gotten far more of my attention than I expected it to. It's a third person free to play survival MMO with lots of RPG elements, though the survival aspect...I started Once Human last week and it's gotten far more of my attention than I expected it to. It's a third person free to play survival MMO with lots of RPG elements, though the survival aspect is definitely more dominant. The theme and monster design is pretty solid, and it feels like it's taken inspiration from a million different supernatural-themed IPs - SCP, Control, Death Stranding, Nier/Drakengard, Remnant, Destiny, internet horror in general like the Backrooms, just tons of things from all over but it does a decent job of somehow combining it all into one package. The story and characters are entirely forgettable and not at all worth playing the game for. The combat is solid enough, with a good amount of build variety and a decent spread of weapons.
The crafting, base building, and other survival aspects are top-notch though, maybe with the exception of the snapping being inconsistent. You can claim a territory almost anywhere on the map that isn't a town, road, or enemy encampment, as long as it's not already claimed. Any storage within your territory is automatically drawn from when building, crafting, cooking, etc., which is hugely convenient. You can MOVE CHESTS AROUND WITH ALL THEIR ITEMS IN THEM. I cannot understate how great that is. There's a fair bit of things that can be automated once you reach the later tech tiers, the power system is relatively simple, the water system is relatively simple, you can literally relocate your entire territory to another zone at no cost with a 10 minute cooldown as long as it doesn't break any of the territory rules stated above and it will preserve the whole base as is, easily one of the best base building systems I've seen in any survival game, if not the best.
But, BUT, the game does have some big issues. For one, there is a HUGE amount of things it will not tell you how to do, and you will either need to learn by trying it out yourself or looking it up. Tons of intricate interactions that aren't explained, and you'll likely still be learning new things even a few hundred hours in. Also, there is a frankly ridiculous number of menus. You'll be going through menus to get to other menus to collect rewards for seasonal events or character milestones or important progression unlocks and it's horribly confusing early on, and still cumbersome later even after you remember where they all are.
And the biggest turn off for most, is that each "season", or at least the current and next season, only lasts 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, the next season starts and you will be prompted to move to that one, which will preserve some valuable resources, unlocks, and currencies, but for the most part your levels and gear will be reset. There's a separate, creative-mode instance that never resets and you can use a currency you can earn there (not paid for) to transfer a certain amount of gear over to the next season, but it's still limited. The upside is that it shouldn't take you much time at all to get back to max level, and you keep your blueprints so you can craft any gear you have blueprints for, including legendary gear, as soon as you have the requisite material. You can even create a blueprint for your base to do the same, which again is another huge point of praise for the building system. But a wipe is a wipe, so for those who don't like to lose progress and rebuild regularly this will be a huge breaking point for them. I'm approaching this more as a survival game so I'm alright with it, especially since they do get to change the map and scenario with the reset, but the devs have heard peoples' complaints about the reset, specifically how short the seasons are, and they've been very receptive to feedback so far so we might see improvements to this as well.
I haven't even mentioned the deviations yet, which are a core part of the game as paranormal entities you can capture to assist you in combat or help you out in your base by providing materials or improving efficiency of various activities. It's less involved than Palworld in that they're much more passive and thus easier to manage while still being very helpful, though the process of getting some of the more valuable ones can be frustrating due to RNG. I won't spoil any details on them since they're fun to discover, but I like them.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkI returned to Destiny 2 to play through The Final Shape expansion campaign and see the conclusion to the 10 year narrative of Light vs Dark and I have to say, this expansion is a great return to...I returned to Destiny 2 to play through The Final Shape expansion campaign and see the conclusion to the 10 year narrative of Light vs Dark and I have to say, this expansion is a great return to form for Bungie after the disappointment that was Lightfall. The Pale Heart sets the gold standard for patrol zones now, and Overthrow is a significant improvement on public events. The zone itself also looks beautiful and there's a plethora of secrets and other collectibles scattered about.
The campaign story itself did not disappoint, though for the sake of avoiding spoilers I won't mention any specifics here. All I will say is that it provides excellent closure for both in-game characters and veteran players alike, and the final mission is a real spectacle that does the ending of such a long story justice, with many callbacks to all the events and seasons that have transpired in the past years. What's even more surprising is how well they set the ending up for the continuation of the story in new directions. I thought I'd just come back to beat the campaign and raid and then be done with the game but I suddenly want to play Destiny again.
As for the raid, my clan is one of those casual groups of friends so we gave the first encounter a few tries on contest mode on friday evening and then we had to get back to life stuff. The raid race itself was mildly interesting to follow but the fact that it was won by a team that wasn't even streaming to a large audience was pretty funny. Also Saltagreppo is an elitist prick so him not taking world's first again pleases me. My clan will give the raid a proper shake some time this week after reset and it'll probably still take us multiple sessions to finish it even with guides out, what with it being the most difficult raid yet and all.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentI haven't actually, and my friend even said the second one was a lot better than the first gameplay wise so it wouldn't be very fun. I took his word for it and watched a playthrough instead to...I haven't actually, and my friend even said the second one was a lot better than the first gameplay wise so it wouldn't be very fun. I took his word for it and watched a playthrough instead to learn the backstory for the second game.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkA friend sent me a copy of Blasphemous 2 after beating it because he enjoyed it just that much, though he is a huge fan of metroidvanias. I decided to give it a go and after some 27 hours I've...A friend sent me a copy of Blasphemous 2 after beating it because he enjoyed it just that much, though he is a huge fan of metroidvanias. I decided to give it a go and after some 27 hours I've gotten the 100% completion achievement. This is a really solid game. The fantastic pixel art and animation, the Spanish religious iconography, the superb soundtrack by Carlos Viola, tight gameplay with simple but effective variety and mobility, great map design with a fair spread of ability-gated pathways and collectibles, bosses that are all very unique and mostly very fair. It's a great game with great pacing, even when going for full completion, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys metroidvanias.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkAbiotic Factor released in early access last Thursday so I picked it up with a friend and we binged it together until we progressed to the story's current state of completion. To put it simply,...Abiotic Factor released in early access last Thursday so I picked it up with a friend and we binged it together until we progressed to the story's current state of completion. To put it simply, it's a survival crafting style game set in an underground research facility that's very reminiscent of the Black Mesa Research Facility in the first Half Life game. You play as one of the researchers in the lab and your goal is to escape to the surface after the lab suffers a total containment failure and all hell is breaking loose. The graphics are even done up to appear visually similar to the first Half Life, though the lighting and other details make it feel modern enough. Even the sound design is similar to the first Half Life. Aside from all the Half Life referencing though, there's also some inspiration taken from SCP. There's various anomalies and whatnot that are either locked up in containment or interactable to varying degrees.
If you like the original Half Life and also enjoy the survival crafting genre this game is a great way to kill 40ish hours so far, with more on the way. Getting past some of the puzzles needed for progression can definitely be a bit confusing right now though since the game usually won't hand you the solutions on a silver platter, so make sure you read the lore and journal entries, the information there can be good for more than just world-building.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkI got back into Warhammer 40,000: Darktide to catch up on all the updates after not playing for a year and it's just as hectic and visceral as it was before, only with more maps, more banging...I got back into Warhammer 40,000: Darktide to catch up on all the updates after not playing for a year and it's just as hectic and visceral as it was before, only with more maps, more banging music, and a lot more build options. As far as co-op games go, Helldivers 2 is probably still more fun but this one does top it in multiple departments, from music to immersion to rewarding skill by being considerably more punishing at the highest difficulty. Managed democracy is great, but I will always have a soft spot for the God Emperor of Mankind.
Also bought Balatro to play when I'm not in the mood for multiplayer and wow this game really is as addictive as everybody said it was. Who would have thought turning one of the most timeless card games into a roguelike would be such a dangerous combination. Haven't got all that much done in my collection and haven't even started on the challenges yet, but I did get one hand over a million and I'm pretty happy about that.
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Comment on Which anime or manga transcend the boundaries of genre and medium? in ~anime
Flashfall LinkPing Pong the Animation is my favorite coming-of-age story, and one of my favorite stories in general. The very unorthodox but incredibly expressive art style, the extremely natural voice acting...Ping Pong the Animation is my favorite coming-of-age story, and one of my favorite stories in general. The very unorthodox but incredibly expressive art style, the extremely natural voice acting of all the characters, and the animation which hits this sweet spot of being tame enough to not break immersion, but fantastic enough to really enhance dramatic moments, all those come together to create a story with some of the most realistic characters I've ever seen in fiction, and some of the most emotion and empathy I've felt from any piece of media. I try to recommend it to friends that also watch anime but the art style really isn't for everyone.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentAs a fan of the STALKER games, I enjoy the vibes of Pacific Drive. I get that the environment's supposed to be hostile and partly horror, but I guess I'm so used to it that I can kinda just cruise...As a fan of the STALKER games, I enjoy the vibes of Pacific Drive. I get that the environment's supposed to be hostile and partly horror, but I guess I'm so used to it that I can kinda just cruise through it like it's a scenic drive. More relaxing than I anticipated it to be.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentNot the devs, and not even well versed in network infrastructure, but from what I can surmise the reason people can't host their own servers is due to a combination of the need to avoid saving...Not the devs, and not even well versed in network infrastructure, but from what I can surmise the reason people can't host their own servers is due to a combination of the need to avoid saving data client-side to avoid all the really easy client-side cheating, and everyone's data being stored in one location to update the galactic war information. At any rate, I highly doubt we'll see player-hosted servers or even an offline mode anytime soon, if at all.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentThat's unfortunate to hear but sadly your story is hardly a unique one. Any of the community forums for the game (reddit, steam, discord, etc) have all become much more toxic in the span of a week...That's unfortunate to hear but sadly your story is hardly a unique one. Any of the community forums for the game (reddit, steam, discord, etc) have all become much more toxic in the span of a week due to people raging that they bought the game because they heard how awesome it was, and now they can't even play it. It's definitely a rough launch, though at least it's the best kind of problem a game could have. For the devs' sake though, I hope they're able to fix whatever is bottlenecking their servers soon, since folks are starting to refund and leave bad reviews.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Flashfall LinkI've put about 20 hours into Helldivers 2 despite the server instability and it's some of the most fun I've had in a co-op shooter in a long time. It doesn't take itself seriously at all (that is,...I've put about 20 hours into Helldivers 2 despite the server instability and it's some of the most fun I've had in a co-op shooter in a long time. It doesn't take itself seriously at all (that is, unless you are serious about protecting the liberty of all citizens of SUPER EARTH), it feels mechanically great, it runs really well (aside from server issues of course) and isn't very demanding on hardware, it's pretty accessible and doesn't require you to have great reflexes or tons of game knowledge to have a good time, and the presentation and little details are just chef's kiss. There isn't a ton of variety right at launch when it comes to different enemy or mission types, but the utter chaos that can ensue during a mission and the tightness of the core gameplay should keep it fresh and fun for a long time regardless. Plus, this game's theme is somehow more Starship Troopers than Starship Troopers is. It might be just corny over the top military propaganda, but it absolutely works. Cannot wait to get off work and spread some more democracy.
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Comment on Steam Next Fest: what have you been playing? in ~games
Flashfall LinkI tried the very short demo for Pacific Drive and as a fan of survival/scavenging games as well as STALKER, this fits my tastes pretty well. Driving around in a half scrap-metal car, avoiding...I tried the very short demo for Pacific Drive and as a fan of survival/scavenging games as well as STALKER, this fits my tastes pretty well. Driving around in a half scrap-metal car, avoiding anomalies and radiation, scavenging materials from wrecks and abandoned shelters, and spending all that on repairs and upgrades to do it again, but better. The UI is a bit scattered all over with different bindings for various interactions but it probably wouldn't take more than a few hours to get comfortable with it.
8/10 demo, hopefully the game is even better as what's on offer right now is VERY limited.
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Comment on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach | State of Play announce trailer in ~games
Flashfall Link ParentI kind of enjoy the really campy writing and "beat your skull in with a cinder block" subtlety that Kojima has. The extreme contrast with the otherwise stellar quality that everything else has...I kind of enjoy the really campy writing and "beat your skull in with a cinder block" subtlety that Kojima has. The extreme contrast with the otherwise stellar quality that everything else has makes the already weird plot points even weirder.
Disco Elysium isn't really an RPG, at least not by regular video game definitions. It's more of a point and click adventure with dice rolls, and the gameplay itself is such a minor part of it that if you don't enjoy the art and absurd dialogue it's not going to be a good time. It's not something you need to force yourself to enjoy or understand just because it reviewed well.