General gaming discussion

MOH

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Episode 5, what a masterpiece. Even if people don't want to watch a while season of something, go download episode 5, it's a stand alone ep about a couple who make a game in the 90's, just brilliant.

Loved the rest of the season too, can't wait for season 2.

Weirdly, I've literally just watched it, and I absolutely hated it. From the bizarre hipstereque lead, to ... I dunno, pretty much every thing about felt like a bunch of aliens landed in 200 years time, compressed human culture over 30 years or so into one lump, and decided to call it "the 90s". I kept waiting for the punchline when it all turned out to be a meta spoof about just how bad fake retro stuff can be. But sadly that never happened.

Mr Crispy

"What It Takes to Make a Reload Animation in Witchfire" (during a pandemic).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3ORpnnWRGg

ShaneU

Hi everyone, hope the mods don't mind me posting this here.

I'm doing a game about videogames over in the forum games some of you might enjoy

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058073243

The goal is to pick the most popular videogame beginning with A through Z (you can google)

The catch is I'm playing too (using just my memory) and if my guess turns out to be the most popular, the score is halved. So picking what you think might be the second choice could actually score higher.

Hope some of you enter. Will be open for a week or two. PM me your answers

marcbrophy

Anyone know of a site or an app that allows you to log into all/most of the PC store fronts, so you can see what games you own across all the services?

Kiith

marcbrophy wrote: »

Anyone know of a site or an app that allows you to log into all/most of the PC store fronts, so you can see what games you own across all the services?

GOG Galaxy pretty much does exactly that. 2.0 release soon (or out already?).

Mr Crispy

Kiith wrote: »

GOG Galaxy pretty much does exactly that. 2.0 release soon (or out already?).

"In the coming weeks", I think I read a few days ago.

Robert ninja

I use lutris.net

It doesn't allow you to log in directly to said platforms (except steam) but you can add games irrespective of which store you got them from. Installing/launching is configured by the user, with some default script automation available if needed. I like the way it handles emulators, wine and pretty much allows the user to add anything they damn well please. I'm not sure about any Windows equivalent. GOG Galaxy was supposed to be the one ring to rule them all but they've gone and fecked that up again imo.

marcbrophy

Kiith wrote: »

GOG Galaxy pretty much does exactly that. 2.0 release soon (or out already?).

Thanks, I'll check that out!

Mr Crispy wrote: »

"In the coming weeks", I think I read a few days ago.

You can download the open beta, if you like

https://www.gog.com/galaxy

johnny_ultimate

Playing through Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom at the moment and the deeper I get the more I’m surprised it hasn’t received more attention. Did notice good buzz around it at release but it’s the sort of big, lavish Metroidvania style game that usually has a long tail. It’s a challenging action platformer / RPG with a really vast amount of things to see and find - there are six distinctly different player forms just to start, and then within individual ones there are plenty of permutations and upgrades that allow you to explore ever deeper. Feels really great to play for the most part too, a handful of quirks and rough edges aside. Surprisingly unforgiving underneath its cheerful cartoon exterior.

Never played the original Wonder Boy / Monster World games so can’t compare this to them... but would certainly recommend this one.

Retr0gamer

Nobody really picked up on the game at the time. I was interested in it but didn't realise how good it was until John linneman from digital.foundry picked it as his game of the year. Same guy picked Ace Combat 7 as last year's game if the year so truly a trustworthy source. It really is a top tier metroidvania but being a Wonderboy title has its own feel closer to the likes of shantae or krobun studio games like Pharaoh Rebirth.

Have to feel sorry for the designer. While he was at Westone he made some of the greatest games of all time which never did that well. His puzzles games also never took off until they were blatantly ripped off by the likes of zinga and popcap.

pixelburp

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Playing through Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom at the moment and the deeper I get the more I’m surprised it hasn’t received more attention. Did notice good buzz around it at release but it’s the sort of big, lavish Metroidvania style game that usually has a long tail. It’s a challenging action platformer / RPG with a really vast amount of things to see and find - there are six distinctly different player forms just to start, and then within individual ones there are plenty of permutations and upgrades that allow you to explore ever deeper. Feels really great to play for the most part too, a handful of quirks and rough edges aside. Surprisingly unforgiving underneath its cheerful cartoon exterior.

Never played the original Wonder Boy / Monster World games so can’t compare this to them... but would certainly recommend this one.

Just watching some trailers and that looks a really slick, polished take on Metroidvanias. Literally never heard of it or the series before - am I just that out of touch or would it be fairly niche to begin with?

On a related Metroidvania note. Hadn't played it in a while but gave Bloodstained another go and just find it tough to get into. The game feel is just a bit too stiff for my tastes, while I just simply hate the art style. Thought it might grow on me, but the "Catholic sexy" and weirdly inconsistent monster design keeps putting me off. Feels like I'm playing a heavy alpha full of temp assets, or a sloppy fan mod.

Retr0gamer

It's not your fault you don't know about it.

Dragons Trap is one of the all time greats but released on the master system and TG16 so didn't get much attention. It was a metroidvania before super Metroid.

Then monster world 4 was one of the best games on the megadrive but stayed in Japan until a shock English release snuck out last gen.

johnny_ultimate

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Nobody really picked up on the game at the time.

Well if nothing else apparently the game has done pretty well for the publishers on Switch in particular - something like eight times as many sales on Switch as other platforms combined. Got a huge boost with a half-price sale late last year as well (IIRC that's when I picked it up).

pixelburp wrote: »

Literally never heard of it or the series before - am I just that out of touch or would it be fairly niche to begin with?

I have a general awareness of the series, but it has so many bloody names through localisation it's hard to keep track

On a related Metroidvania note. Hadn't played it in a while but gave Bloodstained another go and just find it tough to get into.

Honestly, I think Bloodstained is just not particularly good. It's what it said it would be, which is fine, but absolutely nothing more: it's a talented developer on cruise control. The game looks like absolute ****e, I'd agree, but it also doesn't feel great to play until towards the very end when you finally have all the upgrades. Indeed, pacing is a big issue - it takes bloody ages to start unlocking the good upgrades that make movement and navigation more fun.

It's the same with a fair bunch of the 'Kickstarter nostalgia gold rush' games of a few years ago: big hullaballoo made about their crowdfunding successes only for the games to emerge to something of a shrug. Yooka Laylee, Mighty Number 9, Shenmue 3... Bloodstained at least is decent unlike some of the others (MN9 and Yooka Laylee are nigh on insufferable), but the whole thing just felt like a game that had the bare minimum of effort and creativity put into it. Compared to something like Hollow Knight or indeed Monster Boy it's a pretty weak effort.

johnny_ultimate

Gotta say the whole ‘stay at home’ business has been another great showing for the versatility of the Switch. Stuck at my PC for work every day has limited it as a gaming machine (staying at my desk for another two hours after work isn’t the most appealing prospect), and a shared TV for now has me turning to the Switch for downtime quite a bit. And once again that flexibility of being able to move around and play wherever is a godsend - whether that’s for the daily Animal Crossing check-in or a longer session.

It’s a heck of a device, tbh, and almost certainly the smartest console design ever. Have even decided to start digging into Dragon Quest XI on it now - since the Switch is going to be getting fairly heavy use over the next few months by the sounds of it, may as well try tackle a time sink

Chris_Heilong

pixelburp wrote: »

On a related Metroidvania note. Hadn't played it in a while but gave Bloodstained another go and just find it tough to get into. The game feel is just a bit too stiff for my tastes, while I just simply hate the art style. Thought it might grow on me, but the "Catholic sexy" and weirdly inconsistent monster design keeps putting me off. Feels like I'm playing a heavy alpha full of temp assets, or a sloppy fan mod.

You should really stick with it, it is one of the best games of last year, once you get enough powers the controls really come into their own, As someone who has played all the castelvania games to death I would put it in the top 6 even though it is wearing a different skin, if you want something a bit more traditional looking check out Momodora which is also a great game.

pixelburp

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

You should really stick with it, it is one of the best games of last year, once you get enough powers the controls really come into their own, As someone who has played all the castelvania games to death I would put it in the top 6 even though it is wearing a different skin, if you want something a bit more traditional looking check out Momodora which is also a great game.

I last stopped at the boss

dragon with two heads around the tower

so not sure how much further until the game clicks according to you? Like said, it's a hideously ugly game and feels like a Unity asset flip sometimes, while the feel is way off. Too deliberate than snappy (which I generally prefer. Dead Cells nailed it for me by way of example). I love Metroidvanias in general, but Bloodstained has been a disappointment.

Reberetta

Forum games has a game about video games.

Grumpypants

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Gotta say the whole ‘stay at home’ business has been another great showing for the versatility of the Switch. Stuck at my PC for work every day has limited it as a gaming machine (staying at my desk for another two hours after work isn’t the most appealing prospect), and a shared TV for now has me turning to the Switch for downtime quite a bit. And once again that flexibility of being able to move around and play wherever is a godsend - whether that’s for the daily Animal Crossing check-in or a longer session.

It’s a heck of a device, tbh, and almost certainly the smartest console design ever. Have even decided to start digging into Dragon Quest XI on it now - since the Switch is going to be getting fairly heavy use over the next few months by the sounds of it, may as well try tackle a time sink

Same here I'm at a pc or console all day. And swamped with kids at home. There is no time or want to go to the other room and switch on the pc or ps4. But I'll happily sit with my four year old playing Kirby, or grab a bit of Doom here and there on the Switch.

Gets me off the stupid phone too.

megaten

What uk shops are still delivering? Should have access to my ps4 again soon so I’m looking to pickup ff7 remake.

Retr0gamer

Got my ass handed to my by the Ace combat 7 dlc. The final stretch of the first mission with the boss fight against the brother and sister is such a pain. Brother distracts and is hard to hit as he keeps launching decoys while the sister sneaks up behind up and plows missiles into you. Bastards!

Gunmonkey

Wonderful 101 codes started going out to Kickstarter backers last night (well, after receiving an e-mail with "None" in the codes section at first).

Hope it plays well, heard the final boss battle is one of Platinums best.

SomeSayKos

Does anyone else find the Nintendo Switch Online store infuriating? It just seems to be dominated by shovelware. I've gone on twice in the last week to buy a game but navigating the store is so annoying.

Retr0gamer

There's an awful lot of dross on there and could do with being curated but the search function is ok and they have thankfully updated the wishlist function so you can have way more titles on it so it's not the nightmare it once was.

Most annoying thing for me is seeing some nice anime art and wondering if it's some hidden gem from the doujin scene in Japan only to realise its a RPGmaker game from Kemco again. They put out incredible amounts of ****e.

johnny_ultimate

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Wonderful 101 codes started going out to Kickstarter backers last night (well, after receiving an e-mail with "None" in the codes section at first).

Hope it plays well, heard the final boss battle is one of Platinums best.

Was actually delighted how this worked out. Picked up a physical Switch copy but as ever was wondering whether the Steam version would’ve been better. Now because of the wholly understandable shipping delay I get a free Steam code anyway :pac:

johnny_ultimate

SomeSayKos wrote: »

Does anyone else find the Nintendo Switch Online store infuriating? It just seems to be dominated by shovelware. I've gone on twice in the last week to buy a game but navigating the store is so annoying.

Yeah it’s ****e. The offers section is usually top-loaded with the big hitters, but a lot of cool smaller games can get lost in rivers of crap. Especially since a bunch of tiny studios use the technique of reducing the price of their crappy (not exclusively crappy - just a lot of noise) games to next to nothing to rack up easy sales.

Interesting piece on that last technique: https://kotaku.com/developers-cash-in-by-selling-their-switch-games-for-pe-1838184195

Mr.Saturn

My heart really goes out to that one mug that bought The Way: Remastered at full price.

J Mysterio

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Yeah it’s ****e. The offers section is usually top-loaded with the big hitters, but a lot of cool smaller games can get lost in rivers of crap. Especially since a bunch of tiny studios use the technique of reducing the price of their crappy (not exclusively crappy - just a lot of noise) games to next to nothing to rack up easy sales.

Interesting piece on that last technique: https://kotaku.com/developers-cash-in-by-selling-their-switch-games-for-pe-1838184195

Strange thing about Nintendo is everyone praises them for their quality and thoroughness, but there's more dross on the Swithch than any platform.

Retr0gamer

J Mysterio wrote: »

Strange thing about Nintendo is everyone praises them for their quality and thoroughness, but there's more dross on the Swithch than any platform.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. They were the worst in the world for having such a closed system and now that they've made it easier to publish they are getting **** as well.

Also if the PS4 has it's fair share of dross and shovelware on it.

Like Days Gone :pac:

Jordan 199

^ Did you actually play Days Gone?

ERG89

J Mysterio wrote: »

Strange thing about Nintendo is everyone praises them for their quality and thoroughness, but there's more dross on the Switch than any platform.

Are you questioning the merit of games like Santa Tracker or Astro Bears??

They can be more thorough too when a significant amount of first party games went through a release on WiiU already. I don't particularly like the direction Pokemon or Fire Emblem have went either. Animal Crossing is doing really well but I find every iteration of it to be basically like Nintendo's FIFA; basically a few bells and whistles added to the same game.