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.
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.
When I made my post about Chex Quest, it got me thinking about the classic Doom games released from 1993-1997, and I thought it would be great hearing some fellows Tilders thoughts about these classic games that can run on just about anything.
I thought of some questions, but please share anything Doom related! I think it's awesome seeing how this game has had such a lasting impact over the last 30+ years and how people continue to push this game in new and surprising ways.
Hi everyone,
I was never so lucky as a kid to have a gaming console (forbidden by my parents) so I could only be jealous of my school friends getting gameboys and super nintendos. But I’m an adult now, so I got myself a RG35XX H to try all these games out, and enjoying myself.
So I was thinking why not create something like a book club but for these old games? We’d play (and attempt to beat) one game per month or something along these lines and then discuss the game itself, the story, context around how and when it was made, etc.
I’m looking to share this hobby with others (as it is rather solitary otherwise), and create a social aspect around it.
What do you think? Would anyone be interested?
I moved across the world from my friends, and as a dad I don't have much time for gaming. I really enjoy the idea of play by email (PBEM) or cloud format games, and got into playing ranked Advance Wars by Web for a little while that goes in that format. I then stopped playing as much due to spending more time than I had set aside for gaming thinking through my turns to try and improve my ELO.
Sadly, I haven't been able to get my friends to buy into playing a game in this format yet, but I'm holding out hope that when my kids are older, and I have a bit more time to game regularly, I can start up a game in this format with some internet strangers.
What got me thinking of this topic was remembering that I had bought Shadow Empires for my birthday with a Steam Gift card my brother gave me after my oldest was born, and it has been sitting in my library with 8 minutes of gameplay since then. I know it support PBEM, and I think my friends would enjoy it if I could get them to give it a try.
I'd thought I'd see what my fellow Tilders think about this style of game.
Do you have a favorite game you play in this format?
Any long-running games that you've had going on with a group? I know games in this format can take years to finish.
Are there any games that you wish would adopt this format?
Anything else/stories you felt like sharing about this kind of games?
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.
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.
The concept of achievements in games has existed for quite a while now. According to Wikipedia's article on video game achievements, they were first programmed into some games in the 90s, and perhaps first made it big with the Xbox 360 in 2005. Steam achievements shortly followed in 2007.
Some of them are very easy - "Complete the tutorial" is a comment achievement. Some of them are silly - "Pet all the dogs in the game" has become a bit of a meme. But some require an incredible amount of patience, luck, and/or skill.
What are some achievements that you or others you know have put time into that felt significant? Or perhaps even ones that stand out for being a clever addition by the game developers.
I saw that @Deimos had made a post about the history of Chex Quest about this game in 2019, and since it has been over 6 years since then, and I felt the urge to play it again, I figured I'd see if anyone else had any memories of this game.
Note: The video that was included in the original link appears to have been taken down, I found a re-upload here: https://youtu.be/pxu1cq_vRUw
My dad brought a copy of this home with him one day from work that he got from a coworker whose kids enjoyed it. My brother and I played it a solid amount and it was an awesome game, and also my first exposure to a game that ran in the Doom engine. I also had a distinct memory of seeing the game play of the original Doom for the first time and thinking "hey that looks like Chex Quest!".
Chex Quest is a shareware title so you're able to download the files and play the game for free. I can't remember where I got them, but I have the first three Chex Quest games as .wad files that I was playing with Chocolate Doom. There are also fan made .wad files in the Chex Quest style that I've yet to play, but maybe one day! I even remember there being a Doom randomizer that included the ability to generate random Chex Quest levels, but I can't seem to find it while doing some quick searching online.
Edit: I found the random level generator a few minutes after posting this: https://github.com/obsidian-level-maker/Obsidian
They also released a Chex Quest HD on Steam that I remember got me to go back and play the original game 5 years ago.
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.
Do you base it solely on age? On the year/console of release? Graphical style? Vibes? Divination?
Additionally: based on your criteria, what are some complicated edge cases?
For example: is DOOM 3 "retro" because it's over 20 years old and its series was rebooted, or is it modern because it's got nice 3D graphics and lighting and whatnot? Is Crow Country retro even though it came out last year?
The point of this isn't to find the hard line of what is/isn't retro -- it's to play around in the gray areas for what "retro" potentially does or doesn't describe.
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.
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.
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.
Maybe you spoiled the story.
Maybe you min-maxed the fun out of it.
Maybe you played it SO much that eventually its tiny little flaws were all you could see.
Maybe you spent so much time excitedly modding it that, when it came time to finally play it, the fire was out.
Whatever the reason: what was the game, and how did you ruin it for yourself?
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.
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.
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.
Which one wins for you? Zero Hour easily wins for me. Very active community. Lots of tournaments and excellent game play. Not slow like AoE2, not fast like RA2. Just the sweeet spot.
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.
Hey, gamer tilderinos. I've followed our Minecraft server threads but I've never participated.
Any interest in a Tildes Satisfactory server?
Do you think that game lends itself well to a shared server for this scale of people?
I didn't see any mention of this board game here. I just played it with my brother and subsequently picked it up and played it with my wife, and I have to say, this is a great co-op board game. They've really nailed the fun of this where you get new things and meaningful decisions while the difficulty ratchets up nicely. It's hard for any one player to dominate because each character works differently, everyone is forced to work together.
Wondering what other fun new co-op board games people are playing these days? What have you not been able to put down?
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.
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.
Edit: I've set up a Discord and have sent invites out to any folks who have commented below. If you're interested and didn't comment below, feel free to ping me directly and I'll share an invite link!
Disclaimer: aside from a somewhat recent Helldivers 2 thread, there hasn't been a full-on "LFG" topic on Tildes in several years, so if this isn't well-received, I'd be happy to delete this and repost it as a parent-level comment in the "What are you playing" topic instead.
I initially thought about posting this in the appropriate subreddit(s) over on The Other SiteTM, but after giving it some thought, I figured I'd much rather garner interest from my fellow Tildes users before opening myself up to all the extra noise there.
This is an LFG post for those of us who may only have a couple of very specific hours to play any given day, who also may have unforeseen hard stops mid-session, and who might go for long stretches of time without playing. The kind of LFG for folks who might enjoy multiplayer games, but rarely choose to engage in them because (a) you can't find the time, or (b), when you do find the time, the last thing you'd want to do is let folks down because you might have to step away mid-game. In my case, we have an infant at home and I'm really only ever available to play for a couple hours after he goes to bed... but if he wakes up, I'm going to leave mid-match to take care of him, no exceptions. This LFG is for folks who wouldn't mind that happening to them mid-game, because I certainly wouldn't mind extending the same grace to them in return! I originally was going to call this "An LFG for parents," but I'm sure there are other folks who find themselves in similar situations but don't have children, and didn't want to exclude them :)
I'll start with my own time windows and gaming preferences, and I invite others to post their own parent LFGs in the comments if they are so inclined.
North America (CDT, UTC-5), I tend to play from 8:30-10:30pm. Could be any day of the week. Weeknights are usually more consistent but it really just depends how the little guy is sleeping.
PC (not opposed to PS5 or Switch in the future, just don't have any games slated on them at the moment)
If it would sweeten the pot, I'd also be happy to team up with folks in Elden Ring, including DLC, in exchange for somewhat competent teammates in Nightreign. Well, more competent than randos, which, bar is pretty low.
Looking forward to the discussion and hope we can bring some folks together!
EDIT (posting down here for added visibility) - Please PM me if you're interested but don't want to comment, and I'll send you an invite link to the Discord! Thanks!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Examples:
Let us know what it is, and why you feel that you missed out on it.
Hey all - after a couple threads discussing randomizers and Archipelago, we should try to get a multiworld game going here! I'm thinking this would start the night of May 8th depending on availability and interest. If you are interested, just shoot a reply in here and let us know your planned game! I'll tag a post about a week out asking for YAML files, and I'll likely make a Discord server for the event itself so we can stream and share info.
Per Archipelago.gg: This is a cross-game modification system which randomizes different games, then uses the result to build a single unified multi-player game. Items from one game may be present in another, and you will need your fellow players to find items you need in their games to help you complete your own.
Essentially, you choose a game and then load into it with few or no items. When you would normally obtain an item, it will either give you a random item from your game or send a random item to another player. Everyone must work together to finish their game!
It is, sometimes! But it's easier than you'd expect. Thankfully there are a couple things to get people moving:
Even though the items will be out of order, the default logic will scatter the items such that every game is possible to beat as intended.
Archipelago is asynchronous. There isn't a time limit, so everyone can take their game at their own pace.
The settings are fairly flexible and let you set your own difficulty if you want to make things a little easier or harder. Don't want to deal with trainer battles in Pokémon? Turn 'em off! Want to start without a sword in Zelda and get creative? Ditch it! Want the duck dragon in Adventure to be four times as fast? Something is wrong with you!
Almost every game has a tracker that actively tells you which checks would trigger an item in your particular game, where they are, and whether you are able to reach them with your current loadout. They'll help you figure out how the game logic works very quickly.
Should you get stuck behind an important check - eg Link's bow, or Samus's morph ball - you can earn points and buy hints. These will tell you which specific check in which game unlocks that particular item.
The list at Archipelago.gg should have you covered.
(...Almost! For anyone a little more savvy, there's also an extended list over here. Anything "In Review" or higher should be safe to run, if a little harder to set up.)
Don't feel like everyone needs to play something different! You can have as many instances of a game as desired within a particular multiworld setup.
Whatever will keep you most interested is best! I've personally had fun with Sonic Adventure 2, Pokémon Red/Blue and Emerald, and Super Metroid. My friends really enjoy LttP, OoT, Kingdom Hearts / 2, Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, and plenty of others.
I think the only game I've seen people have a bad time with is OSRS due to the absurd amount of effort required.
First go to Archipelago.gg, find a game you'd like to play, and follow the setup guide. You'll generate a YAML file off of the game's settings page, which will dictate the settings for your run. Then you can send that to me before we start - I will throw it into the generator and get the game started. You will also want to download the Archipelago client, which handles the connection between your game and the Archipelago server.
Once we start, games running from an executable will run a mod, patch, or side program which handles the connection to the Archipelago server. They're fairly easy to install as long as you follow the guide to a T.
For games using an emulator, you'll need a clean ROM of the game (can't help you there!) and a version of the emulator BizHawk specified by the guide. The client will come with an installer which handles patching the game for you.Typically you flip a couple settings in BizHawk and restart the program. Then when you run the patched game, you will also run a provided Lua script which reads the game to communicate to the client and everything magically works. It's pretty cool!
First-time setup is probably the most difficult part of the whole thing, so I'm happy of help anyone running into issues.
This tends to be a game-specific question. The first time you play a game can be a little weird as you figure out how the settings play - too easy and it's like blowing through on cheat codes; too hard and it can be frustrating. The Archipelago discord can probably give some good first-time suggestions, and I'm happy to ask around for anyone who needs help.
Generally would I suggest for anyone doing RPGs to take advantage of EXP multipliers or other shortcuts that don't have to do with actual objectives, as it will save a ton of time on grinding. It's definitely a good idea to triple or quadruple EXP in something like Pokémon to keep the game moving - there are other options available like level caps if you'd like to introduce difficulty back in a more dynamic way than gating time. Think about things that annoyed you in the vanilla game and turn those off!
Keep Death Link off for the first time. I'd also suggest using Remote Items if it's available as an option. (If you obtain items in your own game, it may not be tracked by Archipelago because it's unnecessary to use the server to track. However if your save file corrupts or your game freezes/crashes, you would need to collect them again because the server doesn't handle them. Remote Items makes it so, in the case you lose progress, the server will track them and give them back to you as you load if they're missing for any reason.)
Pokemon Emerald: Set EXP to at least 3x and catch rate to minimum 30 (Snorlax's catch rate) if not higher or instant catch. Enable remote items. Add hidden items if you want more exploration checks and lean on the tracker plus a map. For shits and giggles: Randomize all parties and wild encounters, randomize abilities but blacklist Arena Trap / Shadow Tag, add all the extra roadblocks, add extra fly location, Turbo A (just be aware it's FAST). ALWAYS randomize music and fanfares. For some more difficulty based on progression add level cap plus bonus levels. You should blacklist Wonder Guard, but where's the fun in that?
Pokemon Red/Blue: Similar stuff to the above.
Hollow Knight: Randomize Dreamers, Skills, Charms, Keys, Mask Shards, Vessel Fragments, Charm Notches, Pale Ore, Geo Chests, Relics, Maps, Boss Geo. Set Egg Shop to 0.
Mario 64: Get the thing to work first, then randomize everything but 1-up Blocks. Disable 100 coins stars if that's a boring thing.
Ocarina of Time: Make sure it's not keysanity and shops are cheap. Everything is open. Lower big poe count to 1 and have all timesavers on.
Super Metroid: Make sure that Layout Patches, Varia Tweaks, Elevators Speed, Doors Speed, Spin Jump Restart and Infinite Space Jump are enabled. Refill Before Save can also help if you struggle with health and ammo
StarCraft 2: Grid for mission order and maybe turn off challenge/mastery locations.
Sonic Adventure 2: Randomizing chao keys and gold beetles is very reasonable for extra challenge. Do not randomize item boxes. For extras Whistlesanity should be pipes only, Omosanity is mostly fine but might get grating. Highly recommend disabling missions 2 and 4 for all characters (100 rings is particularly repetitive, time limits aren't typically that difficult but make getting extra checks annoying); kart levels are however many you wish to do. Recommend setting level gate density to early so you have more levels to work with before getting stuck.
Mystic Quest: Don't shuffle dungeons, keep Enemizer Attacks normal and Regions Strict for Progressive Formations.
Secret of Evermore: Shorter boss rush is probably nice, put Exp modifier at least 300.
That's OK! It's daunting, but the experience tends to be a little easier than expected. Don't throw really spicy limits at yourself in your settings and you should be OK. I never actually beat Ocarina of Time the first time I played it in Archipelago, but I still made it! (Hell, I still haven't played any of Ganon's Tower. I learned a skip instead off the entrance torches!) Having the tracker available helps a ton to point you in the right direction. There are also plenty of people on the Archipelago discord happy to give you suggestions if you feel stuck, as I'm sure we will be ready to help too.
Individual Archipelago worlds tend to play a little faster than playing the vanilla game, as the Archipelago versions of the game usually skip cutscenes, dialogue, etc. Occasionally you'll hit some gordian knot of backwards item progression which halts your progress; occasionally you'll get an overpowered item early and you can blow through half the game in a short bit. The progression balancing in every settings page can help you adjust if you'd like the earlygame to open up a little quicker, which will make the game go by a bit faster.
Multiworlds between my friends tend to take about a week to complete around 15 games.
Have I got the deal for you! Technically, if you'd like, you can play more than one game. Just generate two YAML files, set both games up, and switch between them at your leisure!
I promise there's no pressure if you need to take your time! But if you would like to jump ship, you have two options. One is that you can give someone your file and let them complete your save via your username. Otherwise, there is a !release option that will end your game and send out all checks hidden within your game.
This is a bit far into the future and I wanted to make sure the date would work for people interested, so no need to send YAMLs or anything yet. But do let me know if you'd like to join - no matter your skill level, we'd be happy to have you!
(edit: hid that bigass faq thingy)
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.
I've been a fan of the farming/life sim/role playing/cozy games or however you want to label these games since I was a kid and my older brother brought home a new game for the Nintendo 64: Harvest Moon 64. Over the years, I played several titles in the series through the Wii/NDS era, before my tastes changed, and I found myself playing more online games with my friends and just less gaming overall.
Stardew Valley releasing was a huge event for the genre and I do greatly enjoy the game (even though I've yet to finish a play through as I keep restarting after taking a break from playing) as it captured the feeling of the early Harvest Moon games really well. It also got me to start the habit of having an N64 emulator and a copy of Harvest Moon 64 on practically every device I own.
There have been some recent remakes of older games, specifically Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful life, but I didn't enjoy the art style and some of the changes made to the games, which ended up with me not picking them up.
I was curious if anyone else was a fan of the series (or one particular game in the series), or if there are any recent games that you felt are great in this genre.
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.
I was reading the recent post about strategy games, and I'm still astonished to see for how many hours (at least hundreds, often 1000+) people are playing these. I'm guessing that in these cases, all your gaming time is exclusively taken by that single game.
So, do you have (or did you have) games, or series, like that? Do you play solo or multi? What compels you to spend so much time on a single game? How do you feel about it?
Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour:
It has a very active community and there are lots of tournaments. Matches are very intense and fun.
Europa Universalis IV:
At this point of my life, I can say I am almost super pro at this game with thousands of hours 🥲
I also want to get into Red Alert and Star Craft series but I find them super complicated for some reason lol. Maybe I lost my game learning skills at the age of 29…
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.
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.
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.
I've had some ideas for a game simmering for a while now and I've finally committed to learning Godot to see what I can put together. I'm still in need of some inspiration, though, and I know there's a few folks around here who have made games. Complete, polished, sketchy, half-baked - doesn't matter! - I'd love to see what people here have come up with!
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.
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.
This is primarily aimed at the younger folks here, but it can conceivably work for anyone.
Is there a game that came out from before you started gaming that you have since played and loved? An oldie for you, but still a goodie?
I’m curious because gaming has changed so much so quickly that a lot of older games feel like they almost require fond nostalgia to counterbalance their clunkiness. For others, they were sort of a “you had to be there” moment because gaming hadn’t developed fully as a medium so we players weren’t aware of their limitations at the time.
Without nostalgia or direct experience with them, a lot of their magic is gone.
Has anyone found that magic in a game even without the nostalgia? If so, which one(s). What made them resonate for you?
In particular, I’m interested in games that specifically aren’t remakes/remasters since those often modernize elements, but I won’t say they aren’t allowed for the purposes of the question or anything, since they’re also a very accessible way for modern gamers to access older titles.
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.
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.
This thread is aimed toward discussing video game mods, whether that be major overhauls, more tame additions to what is otherwise still pretty much the base game, simple QoL stuff, tech demos showing off black magic the game's engine only begrudgingly accepts to let happen, mods you're making yourself, modpacks, or anything else that is related.