TyrianMollusk's recent activity
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Comment on Thoughts on a Democratic postmortem in ~misc
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Comment on Thoughts on a Democratic postmortem in ~misc
TyrianMollusk LinkNo, they did not. Trump got two million fewer votes than 2020. He did not put up a winning campaign or a winning plan. Getting fewer votes than his previous losing campaign would be a clear...They viewed Trump as being likelier to fix things, with a big bold plan (tariffs, deportations, tax cuts).
No, they did not. Trump got two million fewer votes than 2020. He did not put up a winning campaign or a winning plan. Getting fewer votes than his previous losing campaign would be a clear political disaster to learn from, had the democrats turned up at the polls.
Democrats did not show up, just like they didn't the first time with Trump v Clinton, when it was widely considered "obvious" no one would be insane enough to actually pick Trump for president. Fifteen million "get that guy outta here" votes Biden had that Harris did not see, and those numbers did not go to Trump. They sat on their couches and watched. Again.
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Comment on Elections: ultimately, it’s going to be okay in ~talk
TyrianMollusk Link ParentAmericans don't run second big party candidate campaigns for president unless you've won. Anything else, sure, you learn and you run again. But with president, you only get that first chance to be...Americans don't run second big party candidate campaigns for president unless you've won.
Anything else, sure, you learn and you run again. But with president, you only get that first chance to be the R/D candidate. Harris had her chance, and now she's done. Her getting another chance won't even be considered a possibility.
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Comment on Elections: ultimately, it’s going to be okay in ~talk
TyrianMollusk Link ParentNo, we need to make it what it was supposed to be, and not the cheap, no-effort exploit it became, where a senator can just declare filibuster instead of people having to actually get up and...Honestly, we need to be rid of it.
No, we need to make it what it was supposed to be, and not the cheap, no-effort exploit it became, where a senator can just declare filibuster instead of people having to actually get up and execute it.
It's pretty true that sometimes someone needs to take the kind of stand that requires something as ridiculous as a filibuster, but the filibuster is supposed to have a very real price in effort, time, and plain old public absurdity. When you take the price away but not the power, it becomes completely broken, and that changed the entire mechanics of how the senate does business.
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Comment on 2024 United States Election Megathread in ~news
TyrianMollusk Link ParentYeah, it does: the group of people who stayed home and didn't vote. It doesn't really matter what we can say about the people that voted and who they chose. Trump got millions fewer votes than...The margins on this loss are big enough that it doesn’t come down to any one “group”.
Yeah, it does: the group of people who stayed home and didn't vote. It doesn't really matter what we can say about the people that voted and who they chose. Trump got millions fewer votes than 2020. Harris just got way way fewer votes than Biden did. So many people stayed home instead of voting. Even though Trump set himself up to lose by running the same disaster as always--and we need to look at his numbers and see that this campaign did not work to win him the election--people did stay home in enormous numbers and he walked away with it despite himself.
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Comment on Humble Choice - October 2024 in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentToo good? A $12 bundle isn't a great deal, especially for the deliberately random array of games they get to go in on these. I got several prepaid months on a Black Friday sale a while back which...That seems like a really good deal - too good to be true.
Too good? A $12 bundle isn't a great deal, especially for the deliberately random array of games they get to go in on these. I got several prepaid months on a Black Friday sale a while back which brings the per-bundle price down to $7.60, and I skip most months because the bundle isn't worth it.
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Comment on Humble Choice - August 2024 in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkGreat to have a Humble Choice that's finally worth getting for me, though it's amusingly got nothing I'm particularly excited to get. Sifu and Astral Ascent were both games I figured I'd pick up...Great to have a Humble Choice that's finally worth getting for me, though it's amusingly got nothing I'm particularly excited to get. Sifu and Astral Ascent were both games I figured I'd pick up some day when they're cheap, and I wouldn't even buy Gotham Knights, but I've been sitting on a key from a previous charity bundle, which is useless unless I get a second key, because if I were to bother playing it, it would at least have to be together with my partner. Maybe its multiplayer won't get shut down before we try it.
So this bundle sweeps up all three of those nicely, and there are a couple other "sure whatever" tier games in there. Looks like I haven't taken a Choice bundle since early 2023--only three more months left now from a Black Friday 13-month deal so old I don't think it was even Choice yet.
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Comment on Why is ‘left stick to sprint’ so unpleasant in games? in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkStick-click buttons are an absolute abomination that never should have happened. They're bad for hands, for gameplay, and for controllers. There's not one upside to them. They are just such a...Stick-click buttons are an absolute abomination that never should have happened. They're bad for hands, for gameplay, and for controllers. There's not one upside to them. They are just such a stunningly bad idea.
Nowadays, though, controller makers have finally allowed us a few more buttons to use, and we can remap the stick clicks to something actually viable and erase that mistake, especially since we're crippled anyway and most things won't recognize buttons that aren't already present on the system's standard controller. Having to hard-remap the controller using things that are already there would be even dumber if not for salvaging L3 and R3.
With my current under-buttons, it's been pretty nice having R3 and L3 usable, both for extra functionality options and relief from trying to get devs to stop designing things so badly on stick clicking. Too many devs just don't listen about controller play.
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Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2024: Hidden gems in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentThis is the Hidden Gems thread, so posting does have some presumption of being a hidden gem, and I don't know that I'd really double down on arguing something your linked site estimates averaging...This is the Hidden Gems thread, so posting does have some presumption of being a hidden gem, and I don't know that I'd really double down on arguing something your linked site estimates averaging over 90,000 daily players this month as hidden, just because they have it ranked "only" the 14th highest populated MMO. This month has Helldivers 2 posting a peak 90k daily Steam player count.
Other games in the thread are looking at 1,000 total Steam reviews as a major, sometimes even insurmountable milestone. Double-digit average player counts are something many such overlooked games count as a blessing. Some of the games I suggested--which are legitimately great games in their space--have all-time daily peaks in single digits.
Now, I'm not saying people shouldn't have a look around if they haven't paid GW2 any attention, and that goes even if they don't like MMOs, because it does have its own feel. But this thread doesn't work if we bring in everything with huge active player counts just because we'd like to see even more people play them. A 90k daily playerbase is a massively popular game, and it's straining the bounds of rationality to call it overlooked just because a handful of MMOs have even higher numbers.
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Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2024: Hidden gems in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentI can definitely talk about that, as I've been duo partied for most of my playtime :) I'm not sure there's anything we had to actually split up to do solo, but there are some issues you'll hit...I can definitely talk about that, as I've been duo partied for most of my playtime :) I'm not sure there's anything we had to actually split up to do solo, but there are some issues you'll hit here and there of various types, mostly just bugs and poor design.
First off, the game has several modes and ways to play. Where you go and how you want to play will have a big effect on duo-ing. My partner and I are kinda anti-social, so there are several things we don't do because they are designed for more than two, and several things we don't do optimally, because we don't like "other people" :) Dungeons and fractals, for example, are instanced modes designed for parties of 5. We've duoed enough of those (I suggest necromancers if you try this) for basic box-checking and opening content, but it's definitely easier if you bring a group. Raiding and strike missions (think mini-raids) are for larger squads, and we don't do those. Naturally, if you don't mind grouping up and are only concerned about forced solo stuff, you'll have no issues with such parts of the game.
General open world play is most of what we do, and it's pretty duo-accessible. There are some "group" events you'll need to watch out for, but once you are leveled and have decent exotic-tier gear, you can take many of the champions and groups events that aren't too big. There are large-scale "map meta" events in many zones which won't succeed unless you have a group (and sometimes a well-organized one), but many of these can be done just by hitting them alongside others at good times, so while you'll need to catch other people, there's nothing you won't be able to experience. We don't mind working with other players in open world type stuff, as it's generally sufficiently impersonal.
Now, for the story, you will have various issues. Occasionally, you hit an achievement that only counts for the lead player, which requires various tedious workarounds, like redoing the story. We generally write these off, mainly because story is generally terrible and something we try to get over with so we can go back to things we enjoy. Sometimes the story will get too into being a solo story, and it will make the non-leader something dumb like a ball of light that just follows, or cheers for the lead, or your actions just don't count and you have to wait for the leader to advance things. That's annoying, but it doesn't block anything or force you to split. One issue that used to come up was story instance size changes, where the story would advance and change the boundaries of the instance, but not actually check where the players were. Since the non-lead is irrelevant, they can get suddenly kicked for being outside the new boundary. I think that has been fixed, so you get bounced into the instance instead of kicked from the activity, but we avoid triggering it regardless out of fearful habit. I think we may have sometimes ended up running separately because of a bug or connection glitch that dropped one of us, but we usually log out and back in again to restart the story section together.
Oh, one thing to note, is the early story depends on your character creation choices, so if you want to play those together, you need to make the same choices. You're not locked out or anything, as you can always do them together anyway, but you may need to, for example, do one person's level 10 chapter, and then do the other person's level 10 chapter. You have to be at the same step in the same story for doing it together to advance the story for both of you. Making the same race and character background choice (these sound important, but by the time you do about the level 40 story chapter, they'll never matter again) will let you play all story together, but if you want different races/backgrounds, you can work around that by repeating or splitting, until the storylines merge.
There are some activities that don't work with parties. These are on the level of goofy mini games that come up in seasonal festivals and some such things, and you'll often or always get split doing these. They're not really a big deal, and most aren't great concepts anyway, so most just want to get it over with and get out.
In short, no, you don't have mandatory solo things that split a party, but there are issues to be aware of and things that need more than two if you want to do them.
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Comment on The Steam Summer Sale 2024 is live (runs June 27 - July 11) in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentDon't forget ITAD's browser extension "Augmented Steam", which they took over from the devs of the old Enhanced Steam extension. Augmented Steam is a huge Steam store upgrade for anyone who uses...Don't forget ITAD's browser extension "Augmented Steam", which they took over from the devs of the old Enhanced Steam extension. Augmented Steam is a huge Steam store upgrade for anyone who uses Steam, with price info, links, and personal note space right on the store page.
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Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2024: Hidden gems in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentI don't think it's fair to call one of the big MMOs a hidden gem, but the fact that it doesn't really work like most MMOs (permanent max level, no gear treadmill, and all content stays relevant...I don't think it's fair to call one of the big MMOs a hidden gem, but the fact that it doesn't really work like most MMOs (permanent max level, no gear treadmill, and all content stays relevant and fun, not just the newest thing) and is a lot more fun to engage even for people who don't want to play MMOs has some of that hidden gem quality.
My partner and I actually are such anti-MMO players, and came suspiciously to GW2 on suggestion when we were looking for a Diablo-style ARPGs that had more actual gameplay instead of feeling like play was basically running a build simulator, and that turned out to be a pretty great suggestion as we've enjoyed it for a couple thousand hours now (and dumped a bunch of cash into it, since while the content is cheap, the gemstore is pricey and even having a character of every class is surprisingly expensive).
You can even play on controller (which we have our whole time) at only minor (and mostly ignorable in the open world) disadvantage, thanks to the optional action camera setting and something like Steam Input to handle and automate the kbm mapping. Here's the configuration we use, but there are others available if you look for it.
Whether you play on controller or not, make sure you uncheck the double-tap movement key to dodge in the settings, and get used to a dodge key. That double-tap dodge will 100% kill you at some point, and probably many times over.
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Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2024: Hidden gems in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentOK, if you bought it, then you have a paid account. The game went F2P at some point, which mainly made the original base game fully free but kind of made it a trial version, where there are...- Exemplary
OK, if you bought it, then you have a paid account. The game went F2P at some point, which mainly made the original base game fully free but kind of made it a trial version, where there are restrictions on free accounts that get removed if you buy any expansion, which upgrades you to a paid account in addition to the expansion content. You're already a paid account, so that's just some background. You have the full base game and no free account restrictions, and everything you had should still be there and work for you. Watch out for birthday gifts on your characters. Those will have some pretty valuable things, but it'll pile up a bit if you take them all and get opening, so maybe put that off a bit while you re-acclimate, unless you had bought a bunch of inventory space before. Do *not * delete those old characters before you both take their birthday gifts and know what you'd be missing from future birthday gifts that new characters will be many years from seeing.
A second big FYI is the game released on Steam, but they did it in a weird way. You have a standalone GW2 account, and that is different from having a Steam GW2 account. One of those can never become the other, so you should never buy anything GW2 through Steam, because then it will go to a Steam GW2 account and be unusable to your standalone GW2 account.
However, while you can't buy through Steam, you can play though Steam perfectly easily, by having the Steam client add the launch argument "-provider Portal" (mind the capital) which tells the game to start in standalone mode. Just don't forget that doing this doesn't make you a Steam account, and you still must not buy through Steam. Anywhere else is ok, just not Steam. Steam accounts are the opposite: they can only ever buy and run through Steam, and they can't even use gem gift codes.
You're almost caught up ;) Next is expansion content, which has also gone through changes and left things pretty messy to make sense of.
We have three kinds of content: the three big "real" expansions and the "living world seasons" (which act as filler between expansions) are the old model, while the new model is much smaller annual expansions that release in quarterly chunks, so the game always has something coming within three months, to keep players from calling the game dead because they are off working on big content. A second part of the new model is basically a seasonal battlepass, and buying the current year's expansion includes premium tier on the battlepass for that expansion's August to next August year (and that's the only way to have premium tier).
So, for example, people who bought Secrets of the Obscure all have premium tier until late August, when premium tier will switch to anyone who has bought Janthir Wilds, which will drop its first quarterly chunk at that time. If you want to both have premium and ignore all the details, consider the game to have a $25 annual subscription you buy in August, which will always get you the new content and the premium tier.
OK, that's the new model. Unfortunately, catching up requires the old model, but since you don't have any expansions, this has a shortcut. The $50-on-sale "Elder Dragon Saga Complete Collection" bundles up all the old model stuff, both the expansions and the otherwise gem-store-only Living World. If $50 isn't a big deal to drop on playing, just buy this, know you're getting a lot of content for a good deal, and never worry about how you'd have assembled that piecemeal. If you're rather take the cheap bit at a time step back into the game, the $7.50 two expansion bundle of Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire will get you the lowest price for the game's best and most valuable content, or the $20 bundle of those plus End of Dragons, will give you the three big core expansions, giving you essentially the core content.
Living World mainly adds a bunch of somewhat smaller map zones to explore, but Living World Season 4 also allows you (with work and gold) to get the racing beetle mount and the flying dragon mount.
Secrets of the Obscure has basically three zones to play plus a smaller hub city, a "streamlined" (but still arduous and costly) path to the dragon that doesn't require LW4, gives all classes one new weapon option to play with, has a path to legendary armor that does not require raids and is all PvE world stuff, and premium tier battlepass until late August.
Janthir Wilds will drop its first chunk (and usually the largest, so don't set expectations based on that) when it releases late August. It promises another weapon option for every class (this time, they are all two handed spears, which are becoming a land weapon option--you can log in and try them all through the spear beta until Sunday), some more maps, and some kind of home designing system, so players can have individual homes to customize instead of just the pre-designed home instances in the racial capitals. Like I said above, it's also the premium battlepass from its launch until August 2025.
That should crash course you back into things. My short super-simple answer: buy the $50 complete collection I linked above, and get playing. You'll have a ton to do while you figure out what SotO and Janthir have to offer.
My play advice whatever you buy would be start Heart of Thorns with a character (use a level-80 boost on someone if you don't have someone max level, especially if they're good for the celestial all-stats gear the boost gives you), play until you unlock the glider (comes very early), and then get the heck out of that crazy place and start Path of Fire. Explore it to unlock and upgrade those mounts while you catch up on the game. If you play World vs World, make sure you set a WvW guild, because that's how teams are organized now instead of by servers, and you'll need to do some work there to unlock WvW gliding and your warclaw mount (which is the only mount you can use in WvW).
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Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2024: Hidden gems in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentN++ has a ton more levels... Also, consider Trials. The use of momentum to get past obstacles is similar, but with more factors and controls to enhance play.N++ has a ton more levels... Also, consider Trials. The use of momentum to get past obstacles is similar, but with more factors and controls to enhance play.
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Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2024: Hidden gems in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkOK, sorted my list for our local hiddenness categories (though I really don't think it's worth distinguishing between <20 and <50 reviews, as both are obviously tragically low). I'm a gameplay...- Exemplary
OK, sorted my list for our local hiddenness categories (though I really don't think it's worth distinguishing between <20 and <50 reviews, as both are obviously tragically low). I'm a gameplay player, not a story player, so these are play-focused picks I track for hidden gem type threads. Always makes me sad going over the list to see which devs feel so forlorn they don't even bother going on sale (Devader and Galak-Z this time, poor things).
"Shockingly Overlooked"
- $1.74 Twin Ruin (18 reviews)-- intense twin-stick shooter roguelite with color switching mechanic
- $5.99 Radio Free Europa (9 reviews) -- rich little space shooter roguelite with facing-biased movement and aggressive enemies
"Under the Radar"
- $3.99 Gravity Ace (28 reviews) -- mission thruster with good base game and user level building
- $1.99 Zeit^2 (27 reviews) -- scrolling shmup with a puzzly time manipulation mechanic (does not use the 3rd party DRM Steam warns about anymore)
- $2.99 Dracomaton (33 reviews) -- simple, cute little top-down shooter where you pick three modes for your character/moves
"Buried Treasure"
- $2.49 Yar's Revenge (56 reviews)-- rail shooter with hit chaining named after an old Atari game it's got nothing in common with
- $7.49 Cavity Busters (77 reviews) -- top-down roguelite with a lot of really game-play heavy mechanics and creativity
- $1.99 Space Bandit (67 reviews) -- simple but tight and fast top-down shooter roguelite with enemies that act more interestingly [not on sale but they dropped the base price to $2 sometime, so it's cheap regardless]
- $4.24 Metal Mutation (52 reviews) -- janky top-down melee roguelite with various abilities (including a strong parry) and layered metaprogression
- $8.44 Red Tether (60 reviews) -- weird top-down roguelite where your weapon is launching bungie cables
"Underrated Great"
- $11.99 Trinity Fusion (419 reviews) -- platformer roguelite with some good fighting (and an unlockable parry)
- $5.24 Jydge (393 reviews) -- top down mission/objective game built on Neon Chrome
- $0.89 Galacide (31 reviews) -- mind-bending cross of scrolling shmup and Magical Drop style puzzle game
"Cult Classic"
- $3.74 Cryptark (869 reviews) -- top-down style roguelite with infiltrate and destroy design
- $3.74 Super Time Force Ultra (648 reviews) -- sidecroller action where you build an assault by fighting alongside your own past selves
- $7.99 Cloudbuilt (770 reviews) -- 3rd person parkour, user-made levels
- $9.09 Quantum Protocol(544 reviews) -- deckbuilder with very gamey deck mechanics and programmed enemy cards that tick/respond, so there is no enemy turn, just things that happen as you play
"Gem Graduate"
- $2.99 Fury Unleashed (1,522 reviews) -- twin-stick style action platformer roguelite with an emphasis on fun, fast play
- $5.99 Trials Rising Gold Edition (2,377 reviews) -- really rich evolution of 2d platforming with a fantastic user level building community (only buy gold edition because the progression is a lot worse without the expansion levels)
- $10.49 Devil Slayer Raksasi (2,648 reviews) -- top-down melee roguelite with good spacing-oriented fighting, lots of varied enemies, and nice art
- $8.99 Brigador (4,066 reviews) -- top-down stompy mecha style mission game with various vehicles and procedural mission generator
- $6.29 Nova Drift (10,122 reviews) -- thruster-style space shooter roguelite with really rich build system, leaving its years of early access behind "in 2024" (not so much under-appreciated with so many reviews, but, notable on leaving early access)
- $7.49 Dustforce (1,137 reviews) -- speedrunning platformer with user-made levels
- $7.49 N++ (2,332 reviews) -- momentum-based 2d platforming, many user-made levels and added content
- $4.99 Distance (5,290 reviews) -- time-trial racing with weird levels and lots of user-made content
- $2.99 Monaco (3,731 reviews) -- top-down stealth heists with local/online co-op and workshop levels
And please, twin-stick fans, play the demos for Combat Complex and Reality Break! Don't let these upcoming gems get hidden.
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Comment on The Steam Summer Sale 2024 is live (runs June 27 - July 11) in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentThanks, I didn't expect two Steam sale threads, so I stopped at the first one I saw ;)Thanks, I didn't expect two Steam sale threads, so I stopped at the first one I saw ;)
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Comment on The Steam Summer Sale 2024 is live (runs June 27 - July 11) in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkI'm a gameplay player, not a story player, so these are play-focused picks I track for hidden gem type threads. Always makes me sad going over the list to see which devs feel so forlorn they don't...I'm a gameplay player, not a story player, so these are play-focused picks I track for hidden gem type threads. Always makes me sad going over the list to see which devs feel so forlorn they don't even bother going on sale (Devader and Galak-Z this time, poor things).
Under 1,000 reviews:
- $1.74 Twin Ruin (18 reviews)-- intense twin-stick shooter roguelite with color switching mechanic
- $5.99 Radio Free Europa (9 reviews) -- rich little space shooter roguelite with facing-biased movement and aggressive enemies
- $3.99 Gravity Ace (28 reviews) -- mission thruster with good base game and user level building
- $1.99 Zeit^2 (27 reviews) -- scrolling shmup with a puzzly time manipulation mechanic (does not use the 3rd party DRM Steam warns about anymore)
- $2.49 Yar's Revenge (56 reviews)-- rail shooter with hit chaining named after an old Atari game it's got nothing in common with
- $7.49 Cavity Busters (77 reviews) -- top-down roguelite with a lot of really game-play heavy mechanics and creativity
- $3.74 Cryptark (869 reviews) -- top-down style roguelite with infiltrate and destroy design
- $1.99 Space Bandit (67 reviews) -- simple but tight and fast top-down shooter roguelite with enemies that act more interestingly [not on sale but they dropped the base price to $2 sometime, so it's cheap regardless]
- $4.24 Metal Mutation (52 reviews) -- janky top-down melee roguelite with various abilities (including a strong parry) and layered metaprogression
- $8.44 Red Tether (60 reviews) -- weird top-down roguelite where your weapon is launching bungie cables
- $2.99 Dracomaton (33 reviews) -- simple, cute little top-down shooter where you pick three modes for your character/moves
- $11.99 Trinity Fusion (419 reviews) -- platformer roguelite with some good fighting (and an unlockable parry)
- $5.24 Jydge (393 reviews) -- top down mission/objective game built on Neon Chrome
- $3.74 Super Time Force Ultra (648 reviews) -- sidecroller action where you build an assault by fighting alongside your own past selves
- $7.99 Cloudbuilt (770 reviews) -- 3rd person parkour, user-made levels
- $9.09 Quantum Protocol(544 reviews) -- deckbuilder with very gamey deck mechanics and programmed enemy cards that tick/respond, so there is no enemy turn, just things that happen as you play
- $0.89 Galacide (31 reviews) -- mind-bending cross of scrolling shmup and Magical Drop style puzzle game
Over 1,000 reviews:
- $2.99 Fury Unleashed (1,522 reviews) -- twin-stick style action platformer roguelite with an emphasis on fun, fast play
- $5.99 Trials Rising Gold Edition (2,377 reviews) -- really rich evolution of 2d platforming with a fantastic user level building community (only buy gold edition because the progression is a lot worse without the expansion levels)
- $10.49 Devil Slayer Raksasi (2,648 reviews) -- top-down melee roguelite with good spacing-oriented fighting, lots of varied enemies, and nice art
- $8.99 Brigador (4,066 reviews) -- top-down stompy mecha style mission game with various vehicles and procedural mission generator
- $6.29 Nova Drift (10,122 reviews) -- thruster-style space shooter roguelite with really rich build system, leaving its years of early access behind "in 2024" (not so much under-appreciated with so many reviews, but, notable on leaving early access)
- $7.49 Dustforce (1,137 reviews) -- speedrunning platformer with user-made levels
- $7.49 N++ (2,332 reviews) -- momentum-based 2d platforming, many user-made levels and added content
- $4.99 Distance (5,290 reviews) -- time-trial racing with weird levels and lots of user-made content
- $2.99 Monaco (3,731 reviews) -- top-down stealth heists with local/online co-op and workshop levels
And please, twin-stick fans, play the demos for Combat Complex and Reality Break! Don't let these upcoming gems get hidden.
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Comment on Steam Business Update - Update on the Steam Platform, features, and global trends in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentBut they won't, because it's labor only relevant to Steam owners for things that need to be handled some other way anyway, which is exactly the problem. It needs to be broader than Steam, both so...and I wish more would do it
But they won't, because it's labor only relevant to Steam owners for things that need to be handled some other way anyway, which is exactly the problem. It needs to be broader than Steam, both so it will actually get used on the dev side, and so someone who actually cares about it working will fix it once in a while.
It's good when it works, and in theory it's the best option we have, but I've seen Valve break things and then just write the brokenness into the documentation rather than fix it. Direct mouse positioning has been just broken for months now. It wasn't fixed in the beta client, and now it's broken in stable too. Will that get fixed, or will mouse positioning join other things that have just been relegated to no longer doing what they're supposed to do? We don't even know, because Valve never actually talks to us about anything, just asks us to post in the forums where it's either ignored or harassed. I've lost hours of work (tedious work) multiple times lately to different dumb bugs that end users shouldn't even be seeing in modern software.
It's almost great, which is frustrating, because it has such serious problems and we never know whether things will just get written off or further downgraded. Controller use is growing despite Steam Input, not because of it.
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Comment on Steam Business Update - Update on the Steam Platform, features, and global trends in ~games
TyrianMollusk Link ParentIt's funny they just cite controller user counts there, since they obviously don't care about Steam Input itself, which is a UX trash fire full of major ignored bugs. I really wish Steam Input...Steam Input - 6.7 million daily active controller users, 19.2% increase in controller sessions over 2022
It's funny they just cite controller user counts there, since they obviously don't care about Steam Input itself, which is a UX trash fire full of major ignored bugs. I really wish Steam Input weren't under Valve. It's conceptually a huge value for gaming and clearly someone there once dreamed big, but it needed a consortium behind it, not to just be tied to one platform that really doesn't care if it works or is usable.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
TyrianMollusk LinkReality Break, pre-release demo -- Was spending some more time with this top-down space shooter as I'm itching a bit for its release and I left my main character in a build that I didn't much care...Reality Break, pre-release demo -- Was spending some more time with this top-down space shooter as I'm itching a bit for its release and I left my main character in a build that I didn't much care for, so I reset them back to the class I found most enjoyable and built them back up to a reasonable state, so when the game does release, I'll be able to go right from there and hopefully unlock something new for the next reset. I also made a new character of the type my main had been testing and built that back up a bit so I can see if it gets more interesting at release (there are some post-demo tools that can rewrite class attributes, which could have useful consequences). I already have another character of the third type (the demo only has the three), but that needs a redesign to have any point to playing at all, and the demo seems to not be getting new work while the dev focuses on finishing the game for release (full release, not early access). I don't know how characters and everything will work in the real game, but the game has a strange design kind of based on seasonal ARPGs, where you periodically can or must reset and start a new play-through with your character, so all that truly matters for now is the cross-run progression and I have a ton of that banked, so I don't have to care about grinding any of that in the full game unless the systems get wildly more expensive. I return to waiting patiently for "Q3" and wondering how the market will look at its rather strange design.
Combat Complex, pre-release demo and playtesting -- This more raw action, twin-stick style top-down shooter is a hell of a lot of fun, and I'm lucky the dev invited me to playtest (for once, my writing extensive feedback to help new releases was rewarded) so I don't have to just wait or replay the relatively small demo. There's zero chance I don't buy this the instant it has a playable price tag, but I'm concerned about how it will do in an early access that will almost undoubtedly be slow and unprofitable. It's an intense, gameplay heavy experience that's just lovely for a twin-stick fan like me, but the market for that kind of thing has just been painfully small regardless of how good a game the devs make. There have already been some people demanding they adopt auto-battler mechanics as though that's the expected norm for top-down action, and calls that this 2-3 person team "obviously" needs to build tons of fluff, because a game can't just be really fun to play anymore :(
Never Mourn, early access -- This is a weird 3rd person roguelite where you fight alongside your small band of minions through rather generic enemy rooms. The gimmick here is dual mode play where you switch between damage dealing abilities and healing/resurrection abilities. It's mildly entertaining, but way too backloaded on metaprogression, so it's going to be a lot of runs before I'm really getting to play it properly, which is a tedious problem of many roguelites. I had low expectations here and mainly picked it up just because it was kind of novel managing the dual modes, and gives you a lot of active abilities and play to pay attention to, even if the enemies are on the lackluster side.
Rogue Prince of Persia, early access - This new platformer roguelite just seemed an obvious thing to get at its early access price plus typical minor launch discount. It is early, so there's not much of the game there and it definitely needs some polish and attention for what is there (they've definitely made some surprising mistakes in the controller handling, which is especially weird for experienced devs presenting their game as controller-preferred), but it does have a fun fight feel that's a little different from your typical action platformer, which I think will give it some enjoyable legs. This just came out today, so I've only done a couple test runs and built a Steam Input configuration to compensate for their poor handling in case I play it more before the devs clean that up, but I don't really consider this project a risk or needing much close attention.
Oh, and a little Guild Wars 2, as my partner and I were pushing through their painfully bad story chapters in hopes of never having to touch those again. The new annual expansion model is not a hit with us, since we feel a great relief at being done slogging through their "story" so we can get back to enjoying actually playing the game, and having quarterly story assignments (significant things are tied to getting through the story, in case you're wondering) is just really annoying. Our chapters so far have of course been tedious, poorly built, and stupid, but at least there are only two left now, and then we're again "done"... until August.
When almost eight times as many Ds stay home as Rs, you get big percentage shifts all over the place among those who did vote. Hard to say how much switching would even register if some of that missing 16% of Biden voters had showed up, but we wouldn't be wringing hands over it like this.
Trump lost votes. I'm not convinced it matters who switched sides to bolster Trump's lower turnout, when that many Ds didn't turn out at all.