Video Games

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 5:19 am

I knew it was first person, so it's just me complaining about preference.

Combat examples are probably early game so no crazy augments, but it felt slow and didn't really feel like cyberpunk future instead of present day setting games with normal country people fighting zombies and bandits and whatnot.

I feel the game would be better off 3rd person with first person toggled for careful aiming

Pariah Dog · Post by **Pariah Dog** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:56 pm

Mimimi, the creators of Shadow Tactics are going to be making Desperados 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd8DOlEf0t8

Footage shows a lot of similarities between ST and D3 but I'm looking forward to this one.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:48 am

I played a Shadow Tactics Demo, it was fun, spinning was a good trick

RelentlessImp · Post by **RelentlessImp** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 4:15 am

So the new Spider-Man game has a screenshot feature that allows you to cast any screenshot as a comic book cover.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 5:16 am

That's pretty cool (and hopefully will result in people creating comic covers of the dumbest moments).

The VR Marvel game lets you pose for a comic cover at the end of each level. If this is a thing they generally want to push for their games, I can get behind that.

Zaranthan · Post by **Zaranthan** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:25 pm

Reminds me of the propaganda poster feature from XCOM 2. I'm always a fan of that kind of stuff. I've spent far too many hours in Warframe's Captura making dumb shit.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 4:46 am

I haven't played the VR Marvel game (I don't have any kind of VR rig and I'm not sure how well it would work for me - one of my eyes is significantly lazier than the rest of me so I do most of my seeing through the "dominant" eye, any kind of "here are two pictures next to each other" or "focus your eyes on this point" things don't work for me), but I hope the hand-things used keep track of individual fingers. Because it's important that there be a whole bunch of comic covers where Doctor Strange etc. are flipping you off. Or throwing the Too Sweet.

It does let you punch by swinging your fist if you use the hand-hold things and not a controller, and do the HULK GAMMA CLAP! thing by basically clapping, so that's a plus. And if you play as Hulk, you actually are bigger than everyone so you can just pat everyone on the head.

(As with most games, my experience is through Keep et Classy, so there's a certain level of "two Australians fucking about" involved. Such as teabagging Venom, which sounds like a totally safe idea.)

maglag · Post by **maglag** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 3:06 am

Gotta love that when the Wii came out many people were "pfft, motion controls are a stupid gimmick, waving your hands to play is stupid" and now everybody's "motion controls, yay!"

RelentlessImp · Post by **RelentlessImp** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:00 am

It's just history repeating itself. Remember the Lynx and Game Boy came out at the same time, and the Lynx had full color - not only that, but an ambidextrous layout. But the Game Boy won market share despite being an inferior system. It did it again with the Game Gear. Only when the NDS came out were people all "Oh, look! A handheld with proper backlighting and FULL COLOR!" and bought it in droves.

Similarly, the Lynx II (upgraded version of the Lynx) was put out back in 1991, and only now are people all aflutter at the idea of the same console generation getting upgraded versions with the PS4 Pro and the XBox One X.

It only stands to reason that motion controls would go the same way - with the Wiimote and the Sixaxis released the same year, within a week of each other, and now they've hit the point where motion controls are looked at as something more than a gimmick - even if they are a giant gimmick all the same.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:18 am

I like the idea of motion controls when it is to replicate an action that basically uses the exact same motion and close to the same level of resistance: the Hulk just swings his meaty fist, and anything in the way soon ceases to be in the way. You don't have to go "But what if his fist stops against something but my fist keeps moving?" because his fist doesn't stop against something. Even normal Wii boxing didn't really work well, and not just because of the lack of VR, you're swinging straight through their guard. Sword fighting and light sabres are right out because you need to have the clang-clang and the bit where the light sabres cross the streams and scrape together.

If a game has a ghost sword (alternatively, all you fight are ghosts), and you slash straight through things, that can probably work too. Pointing and shooting likewise, as long as you don't need any recoil.

But I expect it still requires VR to really work even with those caveats. Which is something that Nintendo deem to not be worth looking into - after all, they tried it with the migraine inducer Virtual Boy, and that failed, which proves it is an incontrovertible fact that VR can never work. So basically 95% of the Wiimote bullshit is just a terrible gimmick, but the other 5% could be good in the alternate universe where you have a Nintendo VR Headset.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:51 am

Shooting and steering are two places where motion controls genuinely work, but most of the time they just get paired with a bunch of arbitrary gestures which are used as another set of button inputs, because apparently the future of gaming a less convenient jump button.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:55 am

At first I had my doubt about driving because you expect a car to shake you around, but I don't even need VR to do the swaying on my own, leaning into turns. And as a non-driver I don't even really understand force-feedback so that's all good.

maglag · Post by **maglag** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 7:54 am

Koumei wrote:I like the idea of motion controls when it is to replicate an action that basically uses the exact same motion and close to the same level of resistance: the Hulk just swings his meaty fist, and anything in the way soon ceases to be in the way. You don't have to go "But what if his fist stops against something but my fist keeps moving?" because his fist doesn't stop against something. Even normal Wii boxing didn't really work well, and not just because of the lack of VR, you're swinging straight through their guard. Sword fighting and light sabres are right out because you need to have the clang-clang and the bit where the light sabres cross the streams and scrape together.

If a game has a ghost sword (alternatively, all you fight are ghosts), and you slash straight through things, that can probably work too. Pointing and shooting likewise, as long as you don't need any recoil.

But I expect it still requires VR to really work even with those caveats. Which is something that Nintendo deem to not be worth looking into - after all, they tried it with the migraine inducer Virtual Boy, and that failed, which proves it is an incontrovertible fact that VR can never work. So basically 95% of the Wiimote bullshit is just a terrible gimmick, but the other 5% could be good in the alternate universe where you have a Nintendo VR Headset.

The reason why there is no good Nintendo VR yet is simply because Nintendo always goes for cheap hardware. And right now VR sets cost in the order of hundreds of bucks. Give it a few years for the tech to get cheaper, just like HD and portable color.

But fact is that the Wii showed there was a public for motion controls. Sony came up with the Move soon after.

And then followed all the new VR projects. Because you simply cannot do VR with no motion control. Even if you use a classic controller the VR still needs to track your head movements.

Shooting and steering will indeed be the best paths for VR to do now but what knows what the future holds.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 10:11 am

VR will probably really take off when actually GOOD con/prosumer devices enter the market for below 500 bucks of local currency equivalent and software outside of games can actually handle them . .
Like for example mediaplayers for movies. That do not look to you, the user, as if you were looking at a 42" flat screen in 2m distance.
Semi interactive things like basically crime movies where you can stop the scene and wander about looking around for clues as to who did it.
The main problem right now is the divide between sit down VR and room scale VR because not many actually have the kind of space needed for that.
And if you do, the cable shit is still a horrible hassle.
Maybe if they manage to make the VR-Devices actually wireless WITHOUT fucking up the latency issues again we might see headway being made.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 11:24 am

VR will take off when the porno sim rig is lower in price

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 1:24 pm

True.

maglag · Post by **maglag** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 2:57 pm

Speaking of nice gaming things, I really love how in Xenoblade Chronicles II some quests give you the choice of "you can do this boring task yourself, or you can assign a bunch of your waifus minions to do it and they'll be done in a bit".

Anyone knows of other rpgs where you can do that?

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:40 am

Some of the sidequests in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and A2 let you do that. There were even some missions that could only be completed that way or required specific jobs to encourage creating and leveling a diverse team instead of throwing all the XP on your starters.

Pariah Dog · Post by **Pariah Dog** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 2:34 am

Plus if you lost people to the Jagds or prisons it made the process of starting to train up replacements a bit less xcom-y.

maglag · Post by **maglag** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:42 am

Hmm, I played FFT advance but seems like I forgot there were missions like that too.

Still in Xenoblade Chronicles II they do it in a particularly smooth way:
-The side-mission time runs in real time even when you're paused so you can just be checking unit stats or organizing stuff and side-missions will be completed.
-You can start and receive the sidequests anywhere any time short of cutscenes and the middle of battle. Mandatory "protagonist was separated from party and is now lost in mysterious ruins"? Your waifus can still find you, deliver the goods and then be sent again!
-Waifu progression is based in both "trust" which is kinda like experience but also completing a bunch of specific objectives, some pretty simple like "score X crits", others really assinine like "go kill Y monsters of this specific kind that only exist in that backwater place, by the way only a couple spawn at a time", but the side-quests will somehow satisfy all those fancy requirements and thus one can do most of the waifu leveling up with sidequests alone. Rare waifus still have special requirements that you'll need to personally satisfy (like go to that nice garden and have a chat about your personal feelings), but it still saves a LOT of grinding.
-Which comes particularly in handy since there's several world obstacles that need "Field Skills" to bypass. Like an old metal door can be broken down if you have waifus with enough Fire and Earth skill, and if you've been keeping your waifus busy you should have enough to take care of it. Even if it turns out you sent out a waifu with a skill that you need right now, you can cancel their mission and have them return right away!

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 8:11 am

maglag wrote:Speaking of nice gaming things, I really love how in Xenoblade Chronicles II some quests give you the choice of "you can do this boring task yourself, or you can assign a bunch of your waifus minions to do it and they'll be done in a bit".

Anyone knows of other rpgs where you can do that?

I really F'ing wish FFXIV did that, I really didn't like the 2.0 storyline quests

The Chinese MMO Age of Wushu (I think that one) has you do crafting/fetch quest type stuff/patrolling your clan fortress when you log out, you become an NPC that others can interact with.

...but there's the risk a group of PC's will capture you and sell you into slavery or castrate you if male. When that happens the next time you log in you gotta break out of the slave camp, go on a quest to regrow your testicles (or stay a eunuch).

Count Arioch the 28th · Fri Sep 07, 2018 12:21 pm

Ug, don't get me started on FFXIV. I could not get through Heavensward because of how much the story irked me. Story is split between helping a bunch of asshole elves who 100% deserve to get eaten by dragons, and you try to prevent them from getting eaten by dragons. The other half you're dancing on the political strings of some smirking little shit who gets away with everything at the end. I've played a lot of MMOs where I was completely uninvested with the story but I let it slide because the actual gameplay was good (admittedly, I did like the dungeons and primal fights in Heavensward). This is the first time I played an MMO where the story pissed me off to the point I didn't give a shit.

And yes, I know the dragon thing gets straightened out. I don't care if Admiral Merlwyb shows up in real life to play a sloppy note on my bonerphone if I complete it, I don't care to go any further.

Zaranthan · Post by **Zaranthan** » Fri Sep 07, 2018 5:13 pm

OgreBattle wrote:The Chinese MMO Age of Wushu (I think that one) has you do crafting/fetch quest type stuff/patrolling your clan fortress when you log out, you become an NPC that others can interact with.

...but there's the risk a group of PC's will capture you and sell you into slavery or castrate you if male. When that happens the next time you log in you gotta break out of the slave camp, go on a quest to regrow your testicles (or stay a eunuch).

That sounds hilarious. I wonder how many people have two accounts so they can safely park their main in the crafting hall.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Sat Sep 08, 2018 5:21 am

I’m going to the tokyo game show! Gonna be fun

Iduno · Post by **Iduno** » Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:19 pm

I got around to playing Stellaris (free to apologize for Battletech being bought by Paradox).

The story (almost none of the game) feels like a game made by people who played Master of Orion, but the gameplay is pretty much Crusader Kings II in space. Except, because it's space, you can no longer move from place to place freely? Each star is connected to 1-3 other stars, so there are a lot of dead-ends, and you can pretty easily get cut off from further development.

The main entertainment I got was starting a federation with the first race I met, after learning how to make the policies of my pacifist race match the policies of the other pacifist race I met. They then proceeded to start wars with everyone else because their non-pacifist beliefs are different, and therefore a reason to start a war. The warrior race's attack fleets (2-3 for each race that I saw) were each larger than the combined power of every ship both of us had. You can't kick someone out of your Federation until you've got at least 3 members, and my fleet was at the other side of the galaxy getting blown up by a single amoeba mob. So that was my first 12 hours of this game. Oh, I also fought off pirates for half of the time I was playing.

Aside from "diplomacy doesn't work in a 4x or civ game," are there suggestions for the game? The new player guides are all 4 major updates or more out-of-date, and the tutorial in the game is just "go do this thing. It's in a menu somewhere, or maybe it isn't." Even if I figure out how to play, should I? I guess that's my real question. Is the game worth the effort of learning, or should I got pick up something like Master of Orion or Alpha Centauri instead?