TyrianMollusk's recent activity
-
Comment on The Triple-i Initiative 2024: A new gaming showcase in ~games
-
Comment on Hey, monthly mystery commenters, what's up with the hit-and-runs? in ~tildes
TyrianMollusk Link ParentI've seen this thanks-issue come up several times in my brief time here. It seems like we really need to be able to mark our own posts as noise as we post them, so we have a safe method for...I've seen this thanks-issue come up several times in my brief time here. It seems like we really need to be able to mark our own posts as noise as we post them, so we have a safe method for "uninteresting" but important interactions like that, without needing others to process and tag for us. I know whenever I offer suggestions, someone saying thanks or that they'll follow up on my suggestions feels like a treasure. It's tragic that many consider such posts as things they should avoid.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkUsual staples of Guild Wars 2 (our Diablo style ARPG of choice) and Forza Horizon 5. Was waiting for the Steam Spring sale to see if Radio Free Europa went on its usual discount, and it actually...Usual staples of Guild Wars 2 (our Diablo style ARPG of choice) and Forza Horizon 5.
Was waiting for the Steam Spring sale to see if Radio Free Europa went on its usual discount, and it actually went a little lower so that was nice, especially since my partner and I were each going to get a copy. It's a tough little space shooter roguelite, and we've got some hours on it already, learning the ropes, and I have some lengthy feedback to get posted to the dev, since they're still around and active with the game.
Spent some time checking out Crew 3 Motorfest (aka Crew Horizon), since it was doing a free weekend and we have Crew 1 and 2 (soon to be just 2, since Ubisoft jerks are killing C1, probably because it still makes a lot of C2 and 3 look bad). Sadly, C3 kinda sucks, but it's a little hard to judge since it willfully puts its worst foot forward. It's definitely annoying, though, which will be a shame if we end up playing it. I mean, eventually we'll want a new face around for race day and C3 will be like $5... Pretty much what got C2 in the door. We like arcade racing, and what few options we get anymore always involve a lot of things we have to put up with for some new races. Wish we could get more without all the crap. Bad enough we're just driving plain cars nowadays instead of something like Blur. Of course, C3 may have a harder time getting in the door with this level of mediocrity if we just keep playing custom Horizon races, since those are much more substantial this edition.
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentYeah, they're definitely popular and successful, and clearly the way roguelite trends were developing. I wouldn't mind them much if there just weren't so many (I track Steam roguelites, and...Yeah, they're definitely popular and successful, and clearly the way roguelite trends were developing. I wouldn't mind them much if there just weren't so many (I track Steam roguelites, and there's a lot of new ones every week, and generally doing so little with their ideas).
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentI generally call those "horde survivor" games, but ASS definitely fits how I feel about them ;)I generally call those "horde survivor" games, but ASS definitely fits how I feel about them ;)
-
Comment on Do you have any game sub-genres that you have a name for, but aren't big enough to be "official" sub-genres? in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkI personally distinguish between twin-stick shooters and top-down shooters, which are taken as synonymous by many (because both are top-down and both are shooters using one stick to move and one...I personally distinguish between twin-stick shooters and top-down shooters, which are taken as synonymous by many (because both are top-down and both are shooters using one stick to move and one to aim), so I think that kind of fits what you're asking. To me, a twin-stick is a game like Devader, Assault Android Cactus, and Waves, where the play is focused on directing a stream of shooting at generally many enemies. A top-down shooter is the kind of game where you place your shots specifically as you move around.
The roguelite space is one that has several critical distinctions that people don't really make with labels. One split that's very important to me is between normal gameplay-focused games and what I call "passive stacking" games, where you pile upgrades that act automatically, often until they overwhelm much of the gameplay. Horde survivor games take this to the extreme, where most of the moment-to-moment gameplay has been removed and you mainly make upgrade decisions.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkThis week has been a lot of Guild Wars 2, which my partner and I enjoy playing together a lot even though we don't really like MMOs. We play GW2 as more of a Diablo type ARPG, just with more...This week has been a lot of Guild Wars 2, which my partner and I enjoy playing together a lot even though we don't really like MMOs. We play GW2 as more of a Diablo type ARPG, just with more engaging combat. Sometimes we just do dailies/weeklies (though we honestly preferred the game when it didn't have these pushier to-do tasks trying to keep players stuck to the game), but we've been doing a lot of map completion lately. That's basically checking all the activity/location boxes in map zones, which has a significant and needed reward attached to completing the whole core game maps. Our highest characters have made it to 80%, with most only around 50%. We've been playing for five and a half years, so it's about time we got at least one of our duos to completion.
After that for me, there's been weekly racing in Forza Horizon 5. Horizon has it's problems, but I've got to hand it to them: the races and road lines this time are just way more enjoyable than past installments, and with players able to make fully custom events, there's even more options for fun racing.
I said "for me" there even though my partner and I always play our Horizons together at the same time, because the rest of my playing has been trying some demos (none of which were really worthwhile, which is fine since I hardly need new games to pay attention to..), but my partner has been absolutely buried in Feed the Cups pretty much since it opened its early access, dwarfing their FH5 time. This is in the restaurant game vein of PlateUp, but here you make various weird drinks (drinks which you serve to customers which are themselves drinks--so you are in fact feeding the cups... cups?). If you like this kind of frantic management game, it has a demo and is surprisingly detailed and cute, if a bit on the random side as far as run upgrades and penalties.
In gaming-related activity, I've been doing some more tweaking to my Steam Input controller configuration for GW2. We play it on Xbox style controllers despite it having no controller support, which is still pretty neat, especially considering how complex that setup is, even if it does mean dealing with grating Steam bugs and issues that Valve never cares to bother straightening out. Right now I'm working on some minor tweaks and setting up a two-press quick-chat system. I already have a quick-emote system, so I have the construction worked out (and emotes are chat commands, so it's exactly the same, functionally), and I'm working on picking a set of simple, versatile chat snippets and arranging them in a pattern that makes as much sense as I can find (you need a pattern when you want mapping 24 results to four inputs to actually feel usable). This effort was mainly inspired by a WvW commander ( WvW is large scale PvP wars, but poorly conceived and kind of a weird construction all around) who was absolutely epic, holding off not one but two groups each comparable to ours for an extended and wild series of battles and sieges, all with nothing more than their know-how and single word chat orders. So, if small expressions can have that much utility, and I'm now sitting on a list of expert-proven words, why not upgrade the chat options I've left rudimentary for ages now, eh?
I want to get a new config version together to upload anyway, because some people have said Steam is bugging out finding the current share, and it seems maybe a new upload is proving more reliable somehow. Whatever's wrong, Valve isn't going to fix it, that's for sure, and there's no way to debug anything Steam Input, so make a new share and hope is all we've got.
-
Comment on Humble Choice - March 2024 in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkThis is a painful Humble Monthly for me. I've been wishing they'd put up a buyable bundle for a while (I'm riding on a 12-month Black Friday subscription from years ago), and three of the games...This is a painful Humble Monthly for me. I've been wishing they'd put up a buyable bundle for a while (I'm riding on a 12-month Black Friday subscription from years ago), and three of the games (Afterimage, Soulstice, and Black Skylands) are perfect bundle riders: games I'd take but that are kinda too low priority to actually buy (especially since we already got Skylands for my partner back during early access when it was a better game, and Soulstice has been an Epic giveaway, so I've got that off-Steam if I ever get to it, and Afterimage may be decent but I've really got to stop buying "decent" metroidvanias that I'm not getting around to :). Then, there's Nioh 2, which is a solidly fantastic game right up our gameplay-focused alley, and at like half its historical low--a crazy price drop out of nowhere... Easy bundle carry.
But I already bought Nioh 2 so I could play with my partner, who got it first. We can't do anything with a third, and like I said, the other three games just aren't buy level for us. So, here's our best monthly in a while, and I'm still stuck not only passing but a little frustrated I could have waited a bit longer on Nioh to get such a better deal.
-
Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentThe first things that come to mind are Frozen Synapse and Frozen Cortex. I remember Batalj was doing some neat things with this but the devs made pretty obviously bad project choices and the game...The first things that come to mind are Frozen Synapse and Frozen Cortex.
I remember Batalj was doing some neat things with this but the devs made pretty obviously bad project choices and the game has been entirely shut down. A shame.
There's also Decoherence. This one isn't simultaneous turn-based, but a mix of simultaneous setup and action. You set up your bot strategy at the beginning of the round and then watch it play out real-time, but you also can take control of a bot and play in the round yourself. It's been made free recently, so figured it was worth mentioning even if it isn't quite right.
Kill Knight might be worth a look to me, but man that trailer is exactly what's wrong with dev gameplay trailers anymore (I say "gameplay trailers" because anything that isn't gameplay is a complete waste of my time, so not showing gameplay is the other thing wrong with trailers anymore). It constantly cuts, splicing together a series of single-action moments that probably never actually occur anywhere near each other and completely misrepresent the actual flow or experience of playing the game. If you can do even a quarter of anything it showed in the same run, let alone the same level, I'd be shocked.
I wish devs would just be honest and present playing their game like they're proud of the experience they deliver instead of a bunch of whiz-bang screenshaking nonsense that tries to look more exciting than what they're selling.