Hangout The Games Hangout Thread

[Jammin]

Fair point. But my point isn't so much the lack of shady practices as it is the happy customers and Capcom has got those.

Like xio's image illustrates loud internet stuff is just that. Noise. When people vote with their wallets it's not because of something they shout on the internet. It's because they no longer want what's being offered. That doesn't happen suddenly and loudly. That happens quietly and slowly. But it does happen. I think a lot of game companies are foolishly walking down that road for short term profits.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 25, 2019, Original Post Date: Apr 25, 2019 ---

On a different note...

 

[TrienDarkform]

Welp.

Epic buying Psyonix.

Seeing that Rocket League is probably the game that gets the most playtime from me these days, I'm pretty ticked off.

If it ends up forcing any kind of interaction with their platform, especially once the game is pulled from Steam, count me out.

 

[xi0]

Welp.

Epic buying Psyonix.

Seeing that Rocket League is probably the game that gets the most playtime from me these days, I'm pretty ticked off.

If it ends up forcing any kind of interaction with their platform, especially once the game is pulled from Steam, count me out.

It's not an exclusive and apparently they're not pulling it from Steam either. It'd be kind of insane to do that considering their entire PC playerbase is there. But I could maybe see a situation where the EGS version gets DLC first or some exclusive stuff or something.

--- Double Post Merged, May 2, 2019, Original Post Date: May 2, 2019 ---

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/ep...orms-no-announced-plans-to-pull-it-from-steam

Nvm, I spoke too soon. I guess they'll pull it from Steam in late 2019 when you can actually buy it on EGS. The language seems deliberate here, saying that they'll continue "support" for the game after that. But I guess Steam Workshop stuff will stop being a thing, as well as the Marketplace. At least for new customers. What a joke... How anyone supports this nonsense with a straight face is beyond me. Not even EA pulled all of their games from Steam when they launched Origin. Oh and I guess fuck any of the poor souls who don't use Windows, since EGS doesn't support Linux or OSX IIRC.

 

[z.5]

Gaming on macOS?

But, yeah, their deliberate non-committal answers aren't really fooling anyone.

At least they gave people time to buy it on Steam, however.
Surely that's improvement, right?

Anyway, Tim Sweeney did say that, in the future, Epic will stop pulling this kind of shit.
You believe him, don't you?

Why would he lie to you, the loyal consumer?!?

 

[xi0]

Gaming on macOS?

Eh, I lumped them in out of pity, but really this is about Linux users getting shafted.

At least they gave people time to buy it on Steam, however.
Surely that's improvement, right?

Yes, how gracious of them!

Anyway, Tim Sweeney did say that, in the future, Epic will stop pulling this kind of shit.
You believe him, don't you?

Why would he lie to you, the loyal consumer?!?

He already changed his mind after GDC

 

[z.5]

He already changed his mind after GDC

Always so pessimistic...
Surely, if he changed his mind once he can change it again?

 

[xi0]

Always so pessimistic...
Surely, if he changed his mind once he can change it again?

He's just waiting for Valve to meet EGS's 12% cut and then he'll generously stop with the exclusivity strategy. Of course Sweeney is completely altruistic and just wants whats good for all of us! the developers! the publishers!

 

[Jammin]

@xi0 Not to mine even more salt from you but what are your thoughts on the various rumors and such that Bioware may be getting ready to quietly bail on Anthem?

 

[xi0]

@xi0 Not to mine even more salt from you but what are your thoughts on the various rumors and such that Bioware may be getting ready to quietly bail on Anthem?

It's speculation based on reporting that several leads have already moved on to DA4, no? I mean, I don't know honestly... I haven't touched the game in two months. You'd think they wouldn't completely bail on it, but maybe the playerbase has shrunk so significantly that they don't think it's worth it anymore. It's clear their development roadmap was nothing more than theoretical based on top of something that was barely playable by some people, and very flawed from the beginning.

Everyone wanted to make the comparison to Bungie fixing Destiny 2, but there had to be more goodwill there as well as experience for the developers. So the expectation that it's issues would be "fixed" with time is probably more grounded in reality.

I guess I can only say that I'm happy I didn't pay $60+ for the 90 hours or so I spent playing it, and happy that I wasn't playing it solo. Otherwise this would have been more disappointing to me personally, probably. The more disappointing thing is the Bioware name and brand no longer means much to me anymore.

 

[z.5]

To be honest, as far as modern games go, 90 hours out of a purchase is pretty good (though I still think $60 is a bit much for a PC game *mumble grumble*)

Anyway, in a small attempt to try and counter some of xi0's insidious melancholy (and, therefore, hopefully stop you lot getting too depressed), here's a developer listening to feedback and trying to preemptively [before it's even released] fix their game


It's a refreshing change of pace, in the modern gaming world

 

[xi0]

To be honest, as far as modern games go, 90 hours out of a purchase is pretty good (though I still think $60 is a bit much for a PC game *mumble grumble*)

Yeah but I did have caveats. It was 90ish hours of playing with two other people a lot (@Hakuteiken and @Ēsu Taichou ), shared commiseration, memes, etc. I don't think I'd have as many hours if I was solo. Moment to moment and mechanically the game was really fun and unique to me. But it has very little content, the loot system is atrocious, a sluggish development team who has shown time and time again that they don't care what the playerbase wants, no real roadmap for the future, etc. So I don't resent the game's existence or anything, and even if the game had a perfect launch I doubt I'd still be playing it now. But this game is undoubtedly a disappointment.

 

[z.5]

Nothing about that game looked interesting to me - and when I heard it was a 'looter shooter' then that just confirmed my lack of interest.

As far as shooters go, I really can't forgive grinding (it's tedious and, as far as I'm concerned, just encourages laziness in development).
It's probably why I could never get into Borderlands (it's especially bad in FPS games, where I feel that aim should always trump gun statistics).

There are many games I own which I only play and enjoy in multiplayer.
A prime example would be Magicka ([1 not 2] a game well worth the cash).
This game is fantastic, but only in multiplayer - I wouldn't touch it otherwise.

 

[xi0]

Well I would say that probably applies to Anthem for me, considering the game has no text chat and the VoIP was either horrendous quality or just didn't work. Plus, I prefer playing multiplayer games where I have a choice with who I play with.

--- Double Post Merged, May 3, 2019, Original Post Date: May 3, 2019 ---

It was hard to ever take Borderlands seriously, so the stupid weapons never really bothered me due to a lack of realistic gunplay. But in general I do prefer shooters that are more realistic.

 

[Jammin]

Well as long as there is some bright side to it, it's not that bad.

As I look at the steady decline of Bioware, I feel like the upside to that is that it will free up some of that talent to go other places and do better things. The demand for RPGs never really went away. I'm curious who will step in and fill that void. Because the demand for those games is there.

I find myself more and more gravitating away from the Activision and EA's projects and toward more niche focused stuff anyway.

Like I'm playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker right now and absolutely loving it. And as I look at the next year in games. The games I'm most hyped for aren't the massive budget projects. They are like Bloodlines 2, Mechwarrior 5. Games that are aimed toward a pretty specific audience and want to try to give them as much as they can. Sure, there are huge games that I'm looking forward to (Borderlands 3, the supposed Viking Assassin's Creed) but I know those games won't be as interesting as something that isn't trying to be liked by everybody but rather LOVED by a certain audience.

Maybe Bioware falling apart will allow some of thier talent to spread throughout the industry and too some of those lower tier studios that could do more interesting things with their skills. I loved Bioware but the Bioware I loved was the one that produced Dragon Age Origins and ME2. I liked Inquisition and Andromeda but if that's the best they can do in thier current situation. I don't know if we really need that.

 

[z.5]

For me: Bloodlines 2, for sure, and Cyberpunk 2077.

I'm pretty interested in the new Samurai Showdown (for that old-school nostalgia) - though it'll be heavily dependent on their DLC stance

Spoiler: which means

... so it'll probably go onto my ever-growing list of games I'd love to own, but refuse, point blank, to buy

There's a few other things here and there, I'm sure, but nothing which springs to mind at this moment.

 

[Hakuteiken]

Yeah but I did have caveats. It was 90ish hours of playing with two other people a lot (@Hakuteiken and @Ēsu Taichou ), shared commiseration, memes, etc. I don't think I'd have as many hours if I was solo. Moment to moment and mechanically the game was really fun and unique to me. But it has very little content, the loot system is atrocious, a sluggish development team who has shown time and time again that they don't care what the playerbase wants, no real roadmap for the future, etc. So I don't resent the game's existence or anything, and even if the game had a perfect launch I doubt I'd still be playing it now. But this game is undoubtedly a disappointment.

We would definitely not play it a lot if not for sticking together, true. I think the game had the fun potential to be enjoyed solo, as well, but way too much annoyance prevented that. Rather, BioWare did their very best so that the game is not enjoyed solo with their patches.

It was not the worst launch ever perhaps (since the game was interesting at first), but the follow-up live service was disastrous. If there were any signs of life (aka a roadmap that is not a joke), I think we would all have kept our subs and maybe play every now and then.

But hey, BioWare magic at it again, ayy!

 

[Freid]

i've been hyped for Mortal Kombat 11. But all the talk about micro transactions and grind turned me off. there's nothing stupider than having to grind in a fighting games lol guess i'll stick to smash

I play mk11 and right now the only thing you can buy (not including the kombat pack) are the time krystals which you can earn by just playing the game and it's purely for cosmetic purposes, so there's no pressure to spend a dime of your actual money.

Also I haven't seen any DLC to make fatalities easier yet. If it comes later, I think it'd mostly be training wheels for beginners but then again this is my first mortal kombat game and I have no trouble getting my fatalities off consistently. It would eliminate the awkward movement most characters have to do to get off their fatalities though.

Edit: I've just double checked and found you really can buy tokens for easier fatalities. It costs in-game currency though and is limited. I think literally noone will use this in the long run.

 

[xi0]

U.S. Senator Introduces Bill To Ban Loot Boxes And Pay-To-Win Microtransactions - Kotaku

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) today announced a bill that would ban loot boxes and pay-to-win microtransactions in “games played by minors,” a broad label

kotaku.com

Sad and hilarious that it's come to something like this. But I'd be more than happy to be rid of this garbage if that's the result.

--- Double Post Merged, May 10, 2019, Original Post Date: May 8, 2019 ---

Having a lot of fun with Mordhau. Have about a dozen hours into it so far. It's actually somewhat crazy to me to think that this was made by a handful of people remotely, as it has a lot of depth, customization, and progression elements to it that you wouldn't expect from an upstart Indie company.

 

[Jammin]

Having a lot of fun with Mordhau. Have about a dozen hours into it so far. It's actually somewhat crazy to me to think that this was made by a handful of people remotely, as it has a lot of depth, customization, and progression elements to it that you wouldn't expect from an upstart Indie company.

Is it kind of like For Honor? Certainly looks fun.

I'm still playing Pathfinder Kingmaker. Which is a lot better than I expected. It's basically a new Neverwinter Nights 2. Which is, for anyone who doesn't know, a D&D based CRPG. Much like Baldurs Gate. Except this follows the Pathfinder rule set. Which is based off of D&D but slightly different.

For people that enjoy these kind of dice based RPGs, like Baldurs Gate, I think this is just an incredible game. I guess when it launched it was buggy but it seems fine to me now. It really scratches that CRPG itch for me. Like I would say this is better than Pillars of Eternity 2 in terms of being Baldurs Gate-like experience. The fact that you can build and manage your own kingdom and how they've fitted that into the role playing experience is ambitious and adds something. They also did a good job with the story, characters, and companions; and how all that weaves into a story.

That's what I felt like Pillars always struggled with. It never seemed like a personal experience to me that Baldurs Gate did. This game does that.

I guess an enhanced edition is coming out on June 6th which will add a bunch of stuff. So I'll probably start another campaign then. Anyway this game was a great surprise.

 

[z.5]

Yeah, I was hesitant on this game (Pathfinder) - as I'd heard less favourable comments, from some friends of mine.
But I'm still interested - I might well get it next time it's on a solid deal (probably buy it over PoE2)

I think the main reason I haven't bought it yet is how busy I tend to be, these kind of games are [unfortunately] rather time consuming...