borntyping's recent activity

  1. Comment on Nintendo President on the new Switch 2, tariffs and what's next for the company in ~games

    borntyping
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    I think (almost?) every single one of these has launched with tiered pricing where multiple digital "editions" of the game are offered at price points that vary from more normal prices to far...

    In recent years, many of the biggest games have not been stuffed full of microtransactions either: Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy, Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Shadows, Ghosts of Tsushima, Horizon series, TLOU series, Halo Infinite, Spider-Man, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Resident Evil, Deathloop, and on and on and on.

    I think (almost?) every single one of these has launched with tiered pricing where multiple digital "editions" of the game are offered at price points that vary from more normal prices to far above that (for example, the "complete" edition of Assassin's Creed Valhalla launched at 120GBP, double the price of the standard edition at 60GBP, and well above the 75GBP price point Mario Kart World is launching at).

    It might not be fair to call that nickel-and-diming, but I'd also suggest it's also not quite the same approach to pricing as the average first party Nintendo game, which tends to have a single edition without any DLC. As you say, the extra content in a lot of these "editions" is pretty insignificant to playing the game, but I think that just makes me feel far worse about the grossly elevated prices.

    2 votes
  2. Comment on V-Rising dev update #29: Weapons of the night in ~games

    borntyping
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    I played it solo and found the default economy/loot settings are definitely tuned for group play; and had a much better experience when I changed those settings — there's still some grind, but I'd...

    I played it solo and found the default economy/loot settings are definitely tuned for group play; and had a much better experience when I changed those settings — there's still some grind, but I'd only have to make a single trip to a zone to collect materials for whatever I was building instead of spending potentially hours collecting.

    4 votes
  3. Comment on Your favorite game OSTs in ~games

    borntyping
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    I'm currently listening to the Ace Combat 7 soundtrack a lot. It's a bit same-y but I'm finding that in it's favour - I can listen to it over a workday without it being repetitive or having the...

    I'm currently listening to the Ace Combat 7 soundtrack a lot. It's a bit same-y but I'm finding that in it's favour - I can listen to it over a workday without it being repetitive or having the music jump massively between intensities.

  4. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    borntyping
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    I was definitely worried about this too when I played it near launch, but I was very glad my fears were misplaced. I think I still like the first game more, and it certainly made me more...

    I held out for a long time fearing it would never hold up to it’s predecessor but boy was I wrong

    I was definitely worried about this too when I played it near launch, but I was very glad my fears were misplaced. I think I still like the first game more, and it certainly made me more emotional; but I was also deeply invested in the second's story and it completely avoided retreading the material from the first to tell a beautiful story.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on Factorio: Space Age | Trailer in ~games

    borntyping
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    I've been waiting very impatiently for this. Stopped playing my existing modded Space Exploration sometime after they announced Space Age - so many of the improvements sound like a huge quality of...

    I've been waiting very impatiently for this. Stopped playing my existing modded Space Exploration sometime after they announced Space Age - so many of the improvements sound like a huge quality of life increase that it feels like it'd be a pain to play the "old" version now. I think I'd be excited for just 2.0, but Space Age looks like it adds a lot of interesting mechanics mods couldn't really do before.

    3 votes
  6. Comment on Factorio: Space Age | Trailer in ~games

    borntyping
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    It took me a very long time to launch the rocket across several attempts, but after I'd done it once I was able to do it again much faster (even with additional constraints for achivements).

    It took me a very long time to launch the rocket across several attempts, but after I'd done it once I was able to do it again much faster (even with additional constraints for achivements).

    2 votes
  7. Comment on FBC: Firebreak | Official announcement trailer in ~games

    borntyping
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    Not sure what to think of this. I loved Control (at least right up until the end), but this seems quite a dramatic tone shift. I'll look forward to seeing more about it I think.

    Not sure what to think of this. I loved Control (at least right up until the end), but this seems quite a dramatic tone shift. I'll look forward to seeing more about it I think.

    3 votes
  8. Comment on How do I sync my dotfiles between PC and laptop? in ~tech

    borntyping
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    I use Ansible to provision dotfiles onto all my machines. It's a bit overkill, but has some nice advantages like being able to install the programs that use the dotfiles and configuring machines...

    I use Ansible to provision dotfiles onto all my machines. It's a bit overkill, but has some nice advantages like being able to install the programs that use the dotfiles and configuring machines differently in the rare case I need that.

    2 votes
  9. Comment on Share your personal dotfile treats and Unix tool recommendations in ~comp

    borntyping
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    Some of my favourites I don't think have been mentioned yet: atuin for storing shell history in sqlite and syncing across machines. kubectx + kubens for switching between Kubernetes contexts and...

    Some of my favourites I don't think have been mentioned yet:

    • atuin for storing shell history in sqlite and syncing across machines.
    • kubectx + kubens for switching between Kubernetes contexts and namespaces quickly.
    • micro for a terminal text editor using modern conventions and keybindings.
    5 votes
  10. Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Weekly in ~games

    borntyping
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    I don't have any plans to play at all, but really appreciate all the screenshots! It's quite neat seeing the town grow over time.

    I don't have any plans to play at all, but really appreciate all the screenshots! It's quite neat seeing the town grow over time.

    4 votes
  11. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    borntyping
    Link Parent
    I've also been playing Star Wars Outlaws and it's definitely gone beyond my low expectations. I like that it clearly tries to hit all the tropes for a Han Solo-type character, and the story and...

    I've also been playing Star Wars Outlaws and it's definitely gone beyond my low expectations. I like that it clearly tries to hit all the tropes for a Han Solo-type character, and the story and mechanics fit together well. It's still a Ubisoft open-world checklist at it's core, but definitely one of the better ones.

    2 votes
  12. Comment on Borderlands 4 | Official teaser trailer in ~games

    borntyping
    Link Parent
    Yeah, I recall the reception to Borderlands 3 being mixed at best.

    Yeah, I recall the reception to Borderlands 3 being mixed at best.

    4 votes
  13. Comment on I worked for Mr. Beast, he’s a fraud in ~tech

    borntyping
    Link Parent
    StuffMadeHere did a couple videos in 2022 on building a puzzle solving robot, which go into a lot of detail on all the difficulties he faced with both the hardware and software that you might...

    StuffMadeHere did a couple videos in 2022 on building a puzzle solving robot, which go into a lot of detail on all the difficulties he faced with both the hardware and software that you might enjoy.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu_1S77XkiM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsPHBD5NsS0

    26 votes
  14. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    borntyping
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    The Riftbreaker: returned to this now it's had a few DLC packs. Still just as fun as it was when I first played it, and the mix of tower defence and factory building is a nice combination. It's a...

    The Riftbreaker: returned to this now it's had a few DLC packs. Still just as fun as it was when I first played it, and the mix of tower defence and factory building is a nice combination. It's a bit too easy to build up overproduction of basic resources by the time you reach the late game which can take some challenge away. The missions in the newest DLC feel a lot more creative than the base game and do a lot more storytelling.

    Forza Horzon 4: Brought it cheap on Steam after the announcement parts of the online services would be shutting down. The big setpieces are fun but it's such a big game that I don't feel the pull to complete everything I normally would with the "big world map with a list of tasks" style.

    Final Fantasy XIV: Slowly going through Dawntrail. Won't say much as I've not finished it and I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm having fun.

    1 vote
  15. Comment on No Man's Sky: Worlds Part I | Update trailer in ~games

    borntyping
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    I really hope one day to see a documentary about what goes on inside Hello Games and how they got to a place where they could ship major updates to the engine and game so frequently—almost every...

    I really hope one day to see a documentary about what goes on inside Hello Games and how they got to a place where they could ship major updates to the engine and game so frequently—almost every time they announce an update it feels like the last one only just came out. I'm not sure any other studio is doing that without compromising on a lot (crunch, overhiring, formulaic "content" updates, etc).

    8 votes
  16. Comment on Crunchyroll announces the removal of its comment section across all platforms to 'reduce harmful content' in ~tech

    borntyping
    Link Parent
    For some additional context, Dropout had an official Discord server where people discussed episodes and such, and they shut it down just over a month ago because it was becoming unmanageable and...

    For some additional context, Dropout had an official Discord server where people discussed episodes and such, and they shut it down just over a month ago because it was becoming unmanageable and expensive to moderate it; as well as having some friction due to having creators and fans in the same space that sometimes limited discussion.

    10 votes
  17. Comment on Please convince me to like Fallout 76, I beg you in ~games

    borntyping
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    The good bits (and I hestiate to call them that) are the main quest lines, though the earliest ones were written before the game had NPCs. The newest expansion has some quite talkative characters,...

    The good bits (and I hestiate to call them that) are the main quest lines, though the earliest ones were written before the game had NPCs. The newest expansion has some quite talkative characters, but I still haven't found myself interested enough to finish the plot. I mostly play it as a "junk food" game that scratches a specific itch, that nice loop of wandering around, fighting enemies, collecting loot and junk, and turning it into a nice base.

    There's a couple quality of life mods that improve the UI but not much more than that due to it's online nature, and some very annoying inventory limits that require a subscription to remove. I think I'd have a lot more sympathy for it's flaws and nice things to say about the bits I liked if it was a singleplayer game instead of a multiplayer game that puts most of it's effort into collecting money from it's whales.

  18. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    borntyping
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    Took a second go at Assassin's Creed Valhalla while trying to find something I wanted to play. I'm an absolute sucker for big open world games—and loved Odyssey in particular—but absolutely...

    Took a second go at Assassin's Creed Valhalla while trying to find something I wanted to play. I'm an absolute sucker for big open world games—and loved Odyssey in particular—but absolutely nothing in this game is grabbing me at all.

    Before that I spent a month playing Fallout 76. It's a pretty fun Fallout game with some social elements, but it's not £11 monthly fun.

    If I go back a bit further to the last game I actually finished: Wall World. It's a unique-ish side(wall?) scroller where you switch between combat and mining on a timer, and at the end of each run improve your gear until you can survive several boss waves in one run and finish the story. I really quite liked it.

    1 vote
  19. Comment on Is Nebula worth it? in ~tech

    borntyping
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    I subscribed for a bit for some specific creators I liked, but once I got through their backlogs I found I very rarely visited the site. I might have kept the subscription if it was easier to find...

    I subscribed for a bit for some specific creators I liked, but once I got through their backlogs I found I very rarely visited the site. I might have kept the subscription if it was easier to find other creators, but as other commenters have mentioned the homepage/discovery isn't great. That said, I did really like knowing more of the money went to creators than it would have on other services like YouTube.

    I might rethink the decision as I was trying to save money at the time, but so far the only streaming service that's ever managed a permanent subscription from me is Dropout.

    2 votes
  20. Comment on X4: Foundations 7.00 trailer in ~games

    borntyping
    Link Parent
    I've put a lot of time into both over the years. The major differences are that X4 is a completely solo game, with a partially randomised universe created for each save game, and that it's...

    I've put a lot of time into both over the years. The major differences are that X4 is a completely solo game, with a partially randomised universe created for each save game, and that it's generally a more management oriented game. ED's ships are far more detailed and there's a big focus on the UI all being "in-universe", whereas X4 has simpler graphics (though still pretty!) and a lot of focus on some very bare management UIs used to focus on the economic parts of the game.

    You'll still fly your own ship around, but depending on how you play you might sit in a passenger seat with an NPC pilot flies the ship, or sit in an office in a station, all while managing entire fleets of ships. Most games still start you in a tiny one-person equivalent of the Sidewinder, though the largest ships in the game are carriers and builders that dwarf even the bigger ED ships.

    Trading focuses more on setting up your own production lines and repeating routes than finding good opportunities or loops. Ship customisation has a similar level of complexity, mostly focused around factions providing different versions of components that optimise for different stats. Combat is a little simpler when you're flying a ship directly and fighting one-on-one, but wars and other mass combats can have hundreds of ships involved. Like ED, the parts of the game you focus on are very self-directed.

    Singleplayer also means support for mods, or multiple saves with different starts and different choices leading to a different universe. Factions quite actively fight each other, and even before any player choices are made two saves might end up with zones being owned by different factions.

    1 vote