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42 votes
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What irrational video game requirements do you have?
For me it's bunny hopping. If I can't sail across a map at 100km/h in an FPS, it'll be very difficult for me to get into it. I get that I'm missing out on a lot of good games, but normal movement...
For me it's bunny hopping. If I can't sail across a map at 100km/h in an FPS, it'll be very difficult for me to get into it. I get that I'm missing out on a lot of good games, but normal movement just feels so empty and slow.
For those who don't know what bunny hopping is, it's a mechanic in primarily FPS games where you jump repeatedly instead of walking/running. This allows you to move much faster and pull off some complex manoeuvres.
Anyway I'm curious to see if others have admittedly ridiculous requirements like this.
49 votes -
Brighter Shores is a new MMORPG by the creator of Runescape
17 votes -
Daggerheart. The new Critical Role game system.
28 votes -
Some thoughts about Starfield's world
Warning: this post may contain spoilers
I wrote a blog post for basically my first time ever. It's a first draft, but whatever. I never share my thoughts because I lack confidence, but I want to work on that. I welcome criticism of the way I've presented my thoughts, but my main priority is just discussing Starfield here! I want to hear what y'all think, mainly about the world of Starfield.
I was starry eyed when I first launched Starfield, but it ultimately left me feeling spaced out. After spending around 25 hours with the game I've realized that I wanted something different from Starfield, and that the game just doesn't keep my mind engaged and imagination running. I feel some guilt saying that. It took a buttload of human working hours to bring Starfield to fruition after all, and I don't want to dismiss that work. It's a very pretty game, with a lot of mechanics, characters, and stories. On paper, it's an ideal game for me. It's a first person adventure through the stars meeting strangers and ogling at alien planets packed in with loot and rpg elements. That's my kind of treadmill to be running on. The type of game loop I enjoy. Ultimately though, it did not fill the space in my head that I wanted it to.
Starting with the core game play, it's what I had the least expectations for. I am no Bethesda mega fan, but I've dabbled in their games. Their combat, stealth, traversal and so on have always registered as just serviceable to me. That's not really even a criticism as I've never gotten the impression that Bethesda's intention was to draw fans on those elements. They want to provide a simple set of tools to interact with their worlds. The tools they've provided here in Starfield feel fine. They all work. Gun play feels fine, traversal feels fine, stealth feels fine. It's the way those tools interact with their environments, characters, and narration that typically attract me, but don't here. Even their newest game play addition in space ship combat echoes their standard approach. It feels simple but solid. No extravagance like a Star Fox 64 barrel roll, but there's enough going on to feel good. Like the rest of the tool set, it's serviceable enough to let the player interact with their world. The world is what has left me cold.
Bethesda introduces us to Starfield's world in a baffling place, a place almost opposite to space, a mine. Sure, they planet isn't Earth, but it might as well be Earth. It's dark, dirty, rocky and far from a feast for the eyes. It's no surprise that mines are in the game as Bethesda has always included similar spaces in their games. Such environments are perfect for stuffing loot and combat encounters into, but imagine if Skyrim had began in a cave instead of out in its beautiful landscape. Starfield could've opened in space on a ship or on a number of visually alien worlds, and I think it's a misstep to begin the player in the most unappealing of its environments. Unfortunately, I think it's telling of a large part of the way you will be seeing Starfield's world. From a lot of interior spaces. It's often easy to forget that I'm playing a sci-fi game set in an open world space setting.
Starfield's world looks like what I imagine it would look like if human space colonization were to actually happen. In that regard, I think they were incredibly successful. It's the realization of this image that I think held Starfield back. Just like a lot of our own real universe, it is often empty and dull. Many landscapes of the planets and moons of Starfield, while sometimes pretty, are more often unremarkable. Procedural generation is an incredible tool that can easily lead to unimaginative results. I'm never able to escape the thought that what I'm looking at was probably computer generated. After visiting around 15 planets, I began to feel as though I'd seen it all before, just in different colors. Often fauna and foliage looked strange but lacked a certain spark of hand crafted creativity. I was never struck by their beauty nor their horror but only their only seemingly random assortment of attributes. On planets with human inhabitants their lacked personality in their work and living spaces with exceptions being the hand crafted major settlements. Buildings and structures felt modular and mass produced by the same manufacturer. All of this is probably an accurate depiction of a real future where we branched out into space, but it doesn't make for a fun video game to see and soak in. Major cities like New Atlantis and Akira City lent much more life to Starfield's world with obvious heart put into their creation. You can see their influences from the sci-fi genre in their construction. Instead of aiming for a large and marketable open world, it's a smaller handcrafted galaxy I wish we would have gotten. Somewhere with its own politics and drama taking place on landscapes with intent and personality. A larger existing universe could be hinted at with follow ups in sequels. Bethesda is bursting at the seems with creative talent, but there was simply too much space to make aesthetically daring from every angle. Instead that talent was stretched an inch thin and a mile wild.
The inhabitants of Starfield are offensively inoffensive and so dry they'll leave you parched. They're boring, full stop. They lack nuance and detail in their personalities. They begin and end at their core archetypes. The meaning of their existence is only to facilitate the player and be impressed by you. In my 25 hours of play, I didn't find my self endeared to any character except for a sweet old grandma exploring space, but I only liked her because I like that trope. Characters are very formal and professional which I believe was Bethesda's intent. After all, the context of most every interaction has you acting in an official capacity for one of the factions. You're a representative for the professional work these factions are doing, like being a volunteer cop for the United Colonies or Freestar Collective's Rangers or an explorer-researcher for the stuffy Constellation. It makes sense that conversations would be formal, professional, and often to the point. Ultimately that just doesn't make for compelling conversation. I engage with fiction, especially genre fiction, for its strong sense of personality. The characters I found in Starfield feel like they're just going through the motions of their 9 to 5 job. Their framing as a talking head when having conversations with them only highlights their stiffness.
I believe Starfield is a well-done realization of Bethesda's intent. It's a very corporate and made by committee vision, but it's well executed. It seems they wanted to create a world that resembles a legitimate future where humans leave Earth and colonize the stars. The result is barren unremarkable planets, sterile labs, boring mining and manufacturing facilities, mass produce modular homes, and plenty of empty space. I think they're right, this is what a settled galaxy looks like, but it just doesn't make for a satisfying video game.
edit: fixed spelling from "feel" to "fill"
26 votes -
Game recommendations, specifically (round 2)
Looks like there was renewed interest in this idea as the old topic has seen some recent posts. It’s been my experience that older topics don’t tend to get a lot of attention when they resurface,...
Looks like there was renewed interest in this idea as the old topic has seen some recent posts. It’s been my experience that older topics don’t tend to get a lot of attention when they resurface, so I figure we were due for a refresh.
As such, here’s round 2!
This is a thread for game recommendations, but not just any standard game recommendations.
This is a thread for game recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for.
Maybe you're looking for a certain type of experience that can't easily be summarized with genres and tags. Maybe you're looking for a game that will evoke a particular feeling that's hard to put into words.
Whatever you're looking for, share your desired specificity below, and let people try to recommend games that fit it.
26 votes -
On Bleem v. Sony and the legality of emulators
The Bleem v. Sony case is often brought up whenever legal action against emulators happens, and I got curious, so I dug a bit deeper. It's quite hard, as most of the actual source material is not...
The Bleem v. Sony case is often brought up whenever legal action against emulators happens, and I got curious, so I dug a bit deeper. It's quite hard, as most of the actual source material is not publicly available for free, only the appeal decision by the ninth court. But from what I've gathered from secondary sources, this is what actually happened.
- Sony sues Bleem on one count of unfair competition and one count of copyright violation for the use of Sony game screenshots in Bleem advertising.
- A judge dismisses the unfair competition claim. Sony wins the copyright violation.
- Bleem appeals, and the Ninth Court reverses the decision on copyright violation for advertisement material.
- Sony sues again, this time for unfair competition and also patent infringement for using their BIOS.
- Sony and Bleem settle for an undisclosed amount. Bleem declares bankruptcy.
As far as I can tell, the only precedent was on whether or not you can use a competitor's screenshots in your advertisement, and indeed that's all I've ever seen the case referred to in future cases. The first unfair competition claim was dismissed (so cannot be a precedent) and the second case was settled. I see a lot of people say that this case set a "precedent" that "emulation is legal", but I don't see how?
Is this just another case where through a game of telephone and rumors people just take it for assumed fact that somehow or another this case "set a precedent that emulation is legal"? For over 20 years?
On whether or not emulation is legal, generally things are legal unless they are made to be illegal; there is certainly no specific law that says that emulation is legal. The question, then, is whether or not emulation is inadvertently made illegal by an existing law.
In that respect, Bleem v. Sony is a useful indicator in that Sony's lawyers couldn't really find anything concrete to nail Bleem on. But not really more than that, unless you really care about whether or not an emulator can use screenshots in their advertisements.
19 votes -
The Finals | Season 2 trailer - March 14
15 votes -
Stellar Blade developer Shift Up to go public at projected valuation of $2.3 billion
4 votes -
For some Helldivers 2 players, the fascist role-play has gone too far
30 votes -
Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of March 3
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week! Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle...
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!
Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”
Rules:
- No grey market sales
- No affiliate links
If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.
All previous Save Point topics
If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add
save point
to your personal tag filters.15 votes -
Building a full adventure map in Valheim - Start to finish
13 votes -
Happy MAR10 Day! To mark the occasion, please take a look at this video for the latest news about Mario.
9 votes -
Apple terminates Epic Games developer account calling it a ‘threat’ to the iOS ecosystem
57 votes -
Adult Swim Games titles are being pulled from stores by Warner Bros
33 votes -
What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
20 votes -
Humble Choice - March 2024
March 2024's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games. Steam Page Opencritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of...
March 2024's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games.
Steam Page Opencritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin – Ultimate Edition 70 41/60 Win ❓ Unknown 🟨 Gold Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition 85 87/88 Win 🟨 Playable 🟨 Gold Saints Row 63 56/64 Win ❌ Unsupported 🟨 Gold Citizen Sleeper 84 91/94 Win, Mac 🟨 Playable 🎖️ Platinum Black Skylands 77 80/82 Win ✅ Verified 🟨 Gold Soulstice 71 70/78 Win 🟨 Playable 🎖️ Platinum Afterimage 76 77/80 Win ✅ Verified 🟨 Gold Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter N/A 68/77 Win 🟨 Playable 🟨 Gold Does anyone have experience with any of the games and, if so, would you recommend them? Is there anything in here that you're particularly excited to play?
14 votes -
Rooster Teeth is shutting down after twenty-one years
56 votes -
The Nintendo DS emulator Drastic is now free as Yuzu lawsuit fallout begins
26 votes -
Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition PC specifications revealed, out March 21
19 votes -
"The biggest myth in speedrunning history": A cosmic ray didn't help a Mario 64 speedrunner
6 votes -
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is coming to PC on May 16
19 votes -
Game recommendations, specifically
This is a thread for game recommendations, but not just any standard game recommendations. This is a thread for game recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for....
This is a thread for game recommendations, but not just any standard game recommendations.
This is a thread for game recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for.
Maybe you're looking for a certain type of experience that can't easily be summarized with genres and tags. Maybe you're looking for a game that will evoke a particular feeling that's hard to put into words.
Whatever you're looking for, share your desired specificity below, and let people try to recommend games that fit it.
58 votes -
Inside Apple Arcade: axed games, declining payouts, disillusioned studios – and an uncertain future
30 votes -
Infinite Mario 64
16 votes -
Yuzu, popular Nintendo Switch emulator, settles with Nintendo for $2.4m and halts development and distribution indefinitely
76 votes -
The history of blindfolded Super Mario 64
14 votes -
Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread
Server host: tildes.nore.gg Dynmap: https://tildes.nore.gg Playtime counter: https://tildes.nore.gg/playtimes.html Verification site: https://verify.tildes.nore.gg Tildes website extension (shows...
Server host:
tildes.nore.gg
Dynmap: https://tildes.nore.gg
Playtime counter: https://tildes.nore.gg/playtimes.html
Verification site: https://verify.tildes.nore.gg
Tildes website extension (shows online status & location): Firefox (Desktop and Android) - ChromeThe server operates on a soft whitelist. Anyone can log in and walk around, but you need a Tildes account to gain build access.
16 votes -
'I stopped believing in myself': Game developers share the human impact of over a year of mass layoffs
42 votes -
Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of February 25
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week! Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle...
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!
Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”
Rules:
- No grey market sales
- No affiliate links
If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.
All previous Save Point topics
If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add
save point
to your personal tag filters.14 votes -
Wicked Inside | Showcase
2 votes -
Nintendo is suing the creators of popular Switch emulator Yuzu, saying their tech illegally circumvents Nintendo's software encryption and facilitates piracy
67 votes -
Remedy Entertainment has announced it's acquired the full rights to its Control series from publisher 505 Games for €17m
36 votes -
EA cutting 5% of workforce
23 votes -
Sony is laying off 900 PlayStation employees
42 votes -
Stardew Valley 1.6 release date announced: March 19th
60 votes -
Surviving the Steam Next Fest | Cold Take
7 votes -
What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
16 votes -
No Rest for the Wicked's crunchy combat is more Dark Souls than Diablo
14 votes -
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in North American theatres
17 votes -
Fully documented source code for Lander on the Acorn Archimedes
8 votes -
Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of February 18
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week! Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle...
Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!
Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”
Rules:
- No grey market sales
- No affiliate links
If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.
All previous Save Point topics
If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add
save point
to your personal tag filters.13 votes -
What's a "house rule" that has made a game more fun for you?
A "house rule" is one that isn't explicitly in the game but that you choose to apply nonetheless. The question can apply to either videogames or tabletop games. What's the rule/ruleset? How does...
A "house rule" is one that isn't explicitly in the game but that you choose to apply nonetheless. The question can apply to either videogames or tabletop games.
What's the rule/ruleset?
How does it affect your enjoyment of the game?57 votes -
Playing Fallout 4 with only my eyes - Feat. SpecialEffect
8 votes -
Elden Ring DLC: Shadow of the Erdtree | Gameplay reveal trailer releases tomorrow
32 votes -
Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection | Announce trailer | PS5 & PS4 games
7 votes -
Quinns Quest reviews: The Wildsea
9 votes -
GMs: Collaborative worldbuilding
GMs: do you have any gaps in the worldbuilding of your setting that you're looking for help filling? Post them here! In case it wasn't already clear, I need help as well. My setting is a...
GMs: do you have any gaps in the worldbuilding of your setting that you're looking for help filling? Post them here!
In case it wasn't already clear, I need help as well. My setting is a near-future hybrid of Shadowrun and Cyberpunk, in 5e. There are two major gaps. First, in my setting North America has fractured into a handful of nations - but the middle part split into a radioactive wasteland and a loose coalition of city states. What locations might be concealed in the wasteland? (A fallout vault-like society living in the NORAD mountains of Colorado?) Which city states would have survived and what would their character be?
I also need ideas for more megacorporate factions.
Here is the work in progress for the setting, if you're interested.
Help me and I promise I'll help you!
13 votes -
Nintendo is telling game publishers Switch 2 will be delayed [until early 2025]
25 votes -
The Playdate handheld console is now in stock and available in twenty-two additional countries
32 votes