sub_

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sub_,

Wait, there’s a split screen on Baldur’s Gate III? Normally I’d expect split screen games are for games with shorter gameplay loop, e.g. FPS, racing.

It’s kinda interesting that there’s a split screen couch co-op for a long sprawling RPG. Also doesn’t that make all the UIs and texts even more busy / cramped?

I just read that some people are trying out split screen. on steam deck, that’s wild.

sub_,

it’s a complex issue, and it will probably end up dirty, since it’s business in the end.

I could understand why people would avoid buying Hogwarts Legacy, because how much the IP is tied to transphobic JK Rowling. But the devs on the other hand, they mostly don’t get the say on which IP to work on. I personally avoid games like that, because the same person has enough followers to keep spouting hate which could and have translated to real world bigotry and violence. And the game serves as marketing for people to follow JK Rowling.

Then there are companies with sexual harassments incidents. In that case, spreading the words and making enough noise so that some legal investigations or actions are taken, should be the way. Then there’s crunch and overwork issues, helping them to spread the word about union, not to cross the picket lines, etc.

There are many of those issues, because we didn’t address them earlier in the past few decades. But shedding the light on them and you feeling frustrated are good things, it means that we’re progressing, we’re identifying, feeling guilty, and trying to address them.

I’d say, be more conscious when purchasing games, maybe if you really really want to play Baldur’s Gate 3, then only buy it when there’s a steep discount? Nowadays I play a lot more indies and retro games, and probably would only buy a full price games once or twice a year. There’s large number of other good games out there, don’t be pressured to be FOMO, wait until there’s steep discount. And after waiting for awhile, sometimes you realize that you could just ignore the problematic game altogether.

Also, just because they are indies, don’t mean that they can’t be piece of shit. Main dev of Ion Fury is homophobic, Jonathan Blow of the Witness is misogynistic POS, Kovarex from Factorio dismissing statutory rape as SJW term

sub_,

Sadly indies are not insular to those issues, here are recent examples:

The thing is that, there’s always a right wing crowd swarming those communities that they’d downplay, gaslight, and of course play a part in the gaming → far right neo nazi pipeline

I’d say do it in case per case basis

sub_,

I’m finally at Disc 4 of Final Fantasy 8 Remastered. Tried playing this game several times, but never finished it. I decided to use all the QoL options (combat boost, 3x speed, no-encounter) to avoid being frustrated by the gameplay (junctioning, drawing, etc), and I’ve been enjoying the story, even post Disc 3 twist.

Hideki Kamiya thinks Japan should be proud of ‘JRPG’ and wants to use ‘J-Action’ (www.videogameschronicle.com)

He added: “So when it comes to the term ‘JRPG’, this is something that ties into this – these are RPG games that, in a sense, only Japanese creators can make with their unique sensitivity when it comes to creating these experiences. “I think it’s certainly something that should be celebrated moving forward, and...

sub_,

There was a strong dislike of JRPGs and Japanese games in the 2000s.

Development struggles

From what I heard is, during the shift to HD development in early PS3 360 era, many western devs switched to use Unreal engine, while Japanese devs were sticking to their in house engines. But, in house engines were not cheap nor easy to build / maintain, so they struggled to recoup their expenses.

One of their strategies is to make their games more appealing to the west, but they were kinda doing it from the lens of what they think American games are appealing, so we get games that weren’t universally loved, like

  • Quantum Theory: Koei’s Gears of War-kinda clone
  • DmC: kinda split the fanbase
  • PS3 era Silent Hill games
  • Neverdead: WTF
  • Yakuza games: they were marketed as if they were GTAs

Inafune was partially right, although hyperbolic, saying that Japanese games are dead. They were definitely struggling to find an identity.

Squeenix’s outputs

Then there’s Square Enix during PS3 era that published these games, many were received poorly

  • FF13: convoluted story, L’cie, Fa’lcie
  • NieR: reviewers stuck at fishing minigame, and the whole gameplay was just boring
  • Star Ocean Last Hope International: Lymle, kay
  • Front Mission Evolved

It didn’t help when we got bangers like Mass Effect trilogy, Skyrim, Fallout 3. So Square definitely disliked the JRPG term. However if you were to ask smaller Japanese devs at the time, e.g. ATLUS or Nihon Falcom, they’d probably prefer the term, because their ‘niche’ games (at the time), sold quite well while Square struggled.

Not a really descriptive term anymore

But you’re right, JRPG is non-descriptive when it comes to reviews. I’d prefer that reviewers have a small box that lists out the mechanics of the game, e.g. turn-based, random loot drops, predesignated character, linear dungeons, etc. But even nowadays reviewers are recommending games like Jedi Survivor, while the game is still a broken mess, which made me wonder what’s the point of reviews anymore?

It’s great when the devs like the term, but it barely helps anyone when reviewers use it. Not to mention the political tension when they use the term JRPG for games developed by Chinese or Korean devs.

Of course I haven’t mentioned that some reviewers were just racists fucks. Also it’s the period when Famitsu will just give any games 40/40 if the publishers bought enough advertisements from them, FF13 got 39/40, and Square was probably wondering why the games were not well received outside Japan

Hideo Kojima Says Death Stranding 2 Will Redefine 'Strand' (kotaku.com)

At the beginning, there was the theme of “connecting,” and after that, I made a lot of notes about character settings, game ideas, and so on. Like how to connect it. I put it together while maintaining a balance…But I had to rewrite everything because of corona. In Death Stranding, it was justice to connect, but with the...

sub_,

That’s bit harsh to say that all his great works are not his.

I do share the sentiment that Kojima’s writing has been in downhill for quite sometime and he really in need of a good editor. I actually think that his stories are more coherent or at least entertaining in his earlier works, e.g.

  • Snatcher
  • Policenauts
  • MGS 1
  • Some like MGS 2, but I think the boring oil rig setting broke me, and the constant chatter with ‘Colonel’ didn’t help
  • MGS 3
  • Peacewalker
  • MGS Rising

What I actually like is his obsessive attention to details that barely matters when it comes to gameplay, e.g. melting ice cubes, aiming at enemy’s crotch to get dog tags, etc.

Kojima games started clicking for me when he introduced the ‘R&D system’ in Peacewalker, where it’s actually a RPG progression system but the rewards are absurd equipments. As the matter of fact, I like the ‘walking and R&D’ parts of Death Stranding a lot, but really dislike the enemy encounters and the story in that game.

And it’s okay, not every games are for everyone, I’m glad that someone is giving him blank cheques for his absurd ideas that are not the norms.

sub_,

I think they haven’t decided on the official name yet, the trailer says it’s still a working title

sub_,

I played The Forgotten City, and it’s a really good adventure game (with very minimal combat). I’d recommend you to try it out if you haven’t

sub_,

They should pause when showing item description and after the end credits, they should link to youtubers explaining what happened actually in the anime.

sub_,

Hell yeah

Nic also has a movie coming out digitally this week, titled Sympathy for the Devil, no idea whether it’d be an okay movie or just another direct to DVD garbo, but still gonna watch it since I’m on the quest of watching every Nic Cage movies.

Also since he was sighted with Kojima recently, and Kojima has been wearing Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’s t-shirt, I do hope that Nic would star in his next game. (He’s probably already scanned for Death Stranding 2 cameo)

What type of game do you want to play that doesn't really exist?

Have you ever played a game and wondered what if you could do something that it doesn’t really allow you to do, for example being able to move around blocks in Minecraft fluidly instead of in sectors, edit the world in Hogwarts legacy with spells, be able to fly in a world like Elden Ring or Elder Scrolls with epic sky...

sub_,
  • Sealed room murder mystery, with no quirky characters. And with puzzles that require you to wiki stuff.
  • RPG that takes place outside of western European / American / Japanese setting. I wanna see games that take place in Korea, India, Africa
  • RPG that takes place in a small city where you can interact with most people, a small open world like Kamurocho (maybe larger), but allows interaction with most people, instead of just handful of quest givers.
  • Igavania but with modern sci-fi settings. Shadow Complex exists, but that’s more metroidvania (no leveling up or equipment drops from enemies)
  • Flight simulator but for road trip. Truck simulator but with real world map data
  • Flight simulator but for underwater exploration, with real world data.
  • PS3 Africa, but expanded to more regions, more animals.
  • God of War, but other mythologies, e.g. Egyptian, Chinese, South East Asians, Africans, Polynesians, etc.
sub_,

Yes, I love that game.

Also Lucas Pope surprised me when he used Minnan / Hokkien / Formosan language in that game, it’s very close to my native tongue.

But of course

spoiler___ the game is less of a sealed murder mystery, more of a supernatural mystery. While I would love to see a realistic whodunnit, that requires you to research on physics / chemistry / actual real life tools, etc.

sub_,

I basically have a spreadsheet to tackle my backlog, I add 10 - 20 games to my list of games that I’ve bought (mostly on discount, some from bundles, and some from PS+, some emulated games, etc), then I’d just stream them.

If I don’t feel like the game is resonating with me, I’d just stop, assign Not Resonating tag and move on.

I do admit that when I see a big backlog, I tend to exhibit these behaviors:

  • Guilt in buying new games, which is not bad, now I only buy full priced game once or twice a year, and mostly buying discounted stuff
  • The need to power thru games that I don’t like, until I started using Not Resonating tag, which I give games that don’t click with me two tries, before giving up

Playing games on stream made me:

  • Alternate between long and short games
  • Alternate between AAA games and indies

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/157ffe8e-077f-4c9c-afbf-75220c632a47.webp

sub_,

I have hard time aiming the stomp, handling the motion control, and by the time I reached the underwater level, I’m exhausted.

It’s a good game, but sadly it’s not for me, at least not for long term session of playing. Maybe one day I will play the game in short bursts, but platformer is sadly not my genre.

sub_,
  • Yeah, vocal animations for side quests are off, some are saying this is the aftereffect of the pandemic. They also didn’t lipsync for Japanese dub, so you might want to stick with that
  • As per overworld map, it’s similar to FFX
  • Side quests are very sparse around the beginning of the game, by the end of the game I was complaining at how unevenly distributed they are that they just drop large number of them before endgame. They are there to flesh out the side characters
  • Not sure about graphics, but the music is by same composer Masayoshi Soken
  • Is it really Kingdom Heart’s combat? I played 90% of KH games and DMC games, and I’d definitely say that it’s more DMC combat than KH, considering they hired Ryota Suzuki who designed the combat system for DMCV and Dragon’s Dogma as the combat director

If you’ve played FFX, XIII, 7Remake, Crisis Core, then you’d be less shocked by how linear it is.

Gaming laptop or handheld PC?

I recently posted about finding time to game as a parent and the community has provided a bunch of good suggestions. Thank you! After reading all comments, I think it really boils down to accessibility of gaming for the occasional moments of free time that I do have in my busy schedule. The ability to pick something up easily,...

sub_,

Steam Deck seems to be a good fit. If you wanna get a gaming laptop, maybe wait until there’s one where you can easily swap out the batteries / components. I’ve seen videos about Framework laptop, and that does sound like a good investment for longer period.

I heard there were issues with ROG Ally, the device gets too hot, and the fan exhaust was near the SD card slot. So it frequently dislodges the SD cards from the slot because of the heat.

sub_,

All the mainline games are not interconnected at all, they are pretty much very separate in terms of story / settings / characters. So you can jump into any one of the games. Also, their turn-based systems, aka Active Time Battle, aren’t anything interesting, compared to say Shin Megami Tensei’s Press Turn system. All FF games have very linear / streamlined experience compared to other games, i.e. choices don’t matter much, you don’t choose the stats, equipments are streamlined.

Here’s some overview:

  • First 6 games were 2D games, the best of those bunches are Final Fantasy 6. Great story, great villain, great music
  • original FF7 is the one popularized the JRPG genre, and probably broke the base between older 2D fans and newcomers. It has memorable characters, music, story about eco-terrorism. The gameplay revolves around materia system, it’s like logic system where say if you connect Fire magic with All-effect and 2x-effect, you can casts double Fire magic that hits every enemies, etc. FF7 Crisis Core is one of the best FF spinoffs out there, while FF7 Remake is a ‘remake’. It’s advised that you finished the original FF7 before playing those two.
  • FF8 also broke the base. The game is more romance-centric in some way, but still sci-fi. The gameplay revolves around junction / draw system, where you draw magic from enemies to junction it to your stats.
  • FF9 is kinda back to original game. It’s more high-fantasy setting, and was released during the end of PS1. It wasn’t as popular as FF7 or FF8, but there are definitely fans. I had hard time getting into it, because the animation is kinda slow, but maybe I should replay the HD version
  • FFX is very well received, it’s a sci-fi romance story that takes place in south east Asian-like tropical islands. The first FF game on PS2. FFX has a sequel, FFX-2, which is also well received
  • FF11 is MMO, I don’t play MMO, so I have no idea about it.
  • FF12 is great, it’s more political than usual FF games, because it’s written by Matsuno, who made Tactics Ogre and FF Tactics. The gameplay is bit weird, bit MMO like.
  • FF13 was not well received, the only mainline FF game on PS3. It spawned two other games FFX-2 and FFX Lightning Returns. The main complaint about FF13 was that the story was incomprehensible, the game is very linear, and the battle mechanics is very confusing. I think what happened is that
    • they used tons of opaque in-game terms (Fal’ Cie, La’ Cie), that’s barely explained until very late in the game.
    • the game also opens up very late, there’s a one large wide region for you to roam around and engage in enemy encounters, but they only give it to you very late in the game
    • the combat wasn’t explained clearly, the paradigm shift system is actually fun, and a step up from ATB
    • annoying characters, they focused too much on Hope and Snow. Hope is a whiny child, but he’s a child, so it’s ok. Snow on the other hand, is just an annoying character who likes to talk about himself.
  • FF14 is another MMO, I don’t touch MMO
  • FF15 is kind of a mess, it was in development hell. I like the roadtrip story, where you just drive around. The open world is bit sparse and serves mostly for enemy encounters. One of the main issue is that some of the stories are gated behind DLCs. The gameplay is bit more weirder than normal ATBs. I like this game, but not as much as others.
  • FF16 is great. Devil May Cry combat, very streamlined and nicely paced story, those huge spectacle Asura’s Wrath-esque battles, etc. This game is my current GOTY.

There are other spinoff games, e.g. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, World of Final Fantasy, but they are mostly spinoffs, mostly for fans who want more after playing the mainline.

But there’s one that I want to recommend, and that’s Final Fantasy Tactics. It’s a strategy RPG and it’s amazing. There’s an updated version released on PSP, called Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, which is probably the one you should play.

There are rumor swirling around about FF9 and FF Tactics remakes, but can’t say anything until we see it.

sub_,

My personal favorite is original FF7, but in terms of presentation, it’s very dated.

If you don’t mind linearity, FFX is well beloved by the mainstream audience, has good story, voice acting in cutscenes.

I don’t want you to accidentally choose, say FF12, which is a great game, but bit of an acquired taste.

sub_,

Do you own a PC or other console?

Nintendo Switch is great for 1st party games and some exclusives, but frame rate / resolution might not be able to compete with other consoles, plus the MSRP of many games on e-shop can be 1 - 3 bucks more expensive compared to, say PSN.

If this is your only gaming device, then maybe consider Crisis Core, Hollow Knight, Octopath Traveler 2, Live a Live. If it’s not, then stick to 1st party games, exclusives, and graphically less taxing games.

Also maybe consider getting 3rd party controllers

As for discounts, I use DekuDeals to keep track of the price drops. Most 1st party Nintendo games only have discount up to 33%, and those discounts happen like 2 - 3 times a year. While 3rd party games… I swear to god I’ve seen games that are on sale every month or so.

sub_,

Super Mario Galaxy, I didn’t own a Wii, and not much of platformer gamer.

There’s some really fun parts, but the motion control is annoying for the surfing section, and I still have problems aiming my stomps at enemies.

Deleted the game after a frustrating fight with that giant mandibug boss (can’t aim my stomp), came back, reinstalled the game, and defeated it after watching YT video on the timing. I will give it another try later.

I tried remastered Mario 64, and quit since I have issues with the flying control. Tried sunshine but somehow it doesn’t stick.

sub_,

I played Super Mario Galaxy, and was having difficulties with motion control and aiming the stomp (even after doing the spinning stomp move), then I reached a place with underwater level, I bailed out. Personally for me, it’s probably better suited for short bursts of gameplay than longer period of streaming the game.

Right now I am replaying Zero Time Dilemma. I am still enjoying it.

sub_,

My favorite was 1997, I only owned a PS1 at the time, and here’s some really good games that was released that year:

  • Gran Turismo
  • Final Fantasy 7
  • Castlevania Symphony of the Night
  • Crash Bandicoot 2
  • Final Fantasy Tactics
  • Parappa the Rapper
  • Vandal Hearts
  • Mega Man X4
  • Breath of Fire 3
  • Mega Man Legends
  • MDK
  • Oddworld Abe’s Oddysse
  • Tomb Raider II
  • Grand Theft Auto
  • Klonoa
  • MK Mythologies Sub Zero

Some other non PS1, but notable games that came out that year:

  • Diablo
  • Mario Kart 64
  • Turok
  • Goldeneye 007
  • Star Fox 64
  • Fallout
  • Panzer General II
  • Age of Empires
  • Mortal Kombat 4

1998 was also very good

It’s harder and harder to get a year that can produce a large number of hits, especially since AAA has become so expensive and time consuming. Even great indies take longer than usual now. The explosions of hits released between late 2022 and this year, is probably caused by Covid delaying multiple projects.

With more game devs consolidation, and Embracer stumbling, I’m not too sure about the near future.

sub_,

I’m not a “make my own fun” gamer, and now when I think about it, because all of my “make my own fun” is done outside of gaming, e.g. playing music, coding, 3d printing, drawing, etc.

sub_,

I’ve been playing retro games for the past years, and here’s some that might fit the criteria of forgotten cult classics:

  • ScummVM:
  • TurboGrafx CD:
  • SNES:
  • Sega CD:
  • Sega Saturn:
    • Policenauts: I like Policenauts more than Snatcher, but both are interesting sci-fi visual novel like by Kojima
  • Playstation:
    • Mega Man Legends
    • Mega Man Legends 2: both MM Legends have heartwarming light hearted stories and okay gameplay
    • Tail Concerto: similar to MM Legends, but gameplay is bit more basic. Features tons of cute anthropomorphized cats and dogs. Very lighthearted
  • Playstation Portable:
    • Remember11: The last game in Infinity series, co created by Kotaro Uchikoshi who went on and created Zero Escape trilogy. Out of the Infinity series, this is probably the best one, it is more sci-fi than romance/dating visual novel, there’s no longwinded slice of life section.

All of those games are either in English or have been fan-translated

sub_,

I remember when I was still on twitter a couple of years ago. Ken Klippenstein used to request FOIA from police and govt. departments, and often they would make the similar mistake, manually redacting parts with marker / pen.

So you just take the screenshot and adjust the contrast / brightness to see the redacted part.

sub_,

Final Fantasy XVI, I’m 70% in, and I’m having a real good time.

The story is interesting and keeps you going, not convoluted or opaque like in 13 or 15.

The sidequests are very boring at first, and still mostly fetch quests / fight certain enemies, but they eventually reward you with background story of the side characters, and some of them are pretty good.

The combat keeps throwing you new stuff with a good pace.

The eikon fights are what we can get as close to Asura's Wrath sequel. Every big fights are just hype

Also the music is top notch.

This game is gonna end up as one of my top 3 favorite mainline FF games.

(edit, deleted original post, since I accidentally clicked on post before finished writing)

Is FF16 really linear like FF7 Remake was? What is the structure of the game?

I've seen footage of wide open areas in the game, but I don't know if that footage is misleading or not. The game has a menu-based map, so does that mean each area is small and linear like the bog section in the demo? Or are you able to explore and find new areas on your own? How does the structure of the game compare to the...

sub_,

I've played like 7 hours of the game, it's pretty linear. Feels like FFX I don't think you should go in expecting it like The Witcher or Dragon's Dogma (maybe Dragon's Dogma but with the very empty stretch being cut out)

So far I've visited 3 areas. The first one is a tutorial area, short. The second one is more corridor-y, but longer, with more enemy encounters. The third one is wider, less corridor, there's a 'town' in the middle that's so far only for story beats.

All those areas are 'dungeons' to be honest. At this moment, I can't just select and visit those areas, but the game provides you with ability to replay those sections.

But again, all the sidequests i've done are tutorial sidequests, the game hasn't opened up yet.

Indiana Jones Game Deal Amended to Exclude Playstation (www.pushsquare.com)

An Indiana Jones game, previously announced by Bethesda subsidiary MachineGames, was planned for multiple platforms – but the contract with Disney was amended following Microsoft’s buyout of the publisher. Confirmation comes as part of the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing court case regarding the Redmond firm’s...

sub_,

To be honest, fuck big companies, and the merger & acquisitions that leads to monopoly, and often the dissolving of the teams behind those acquired companies (look at EA, and now Embracer)

I wish the cost of game development hasn't ballooned so much that it's hard for medium size companies to stay afloat. Companies started by game devs / enthusiast, find buyouts attractive, got absorbed by publishing companies, CEO replaced with MBAs / Lawyers, downward spiral.

Mac gaming is right around the corner (www.theverge.com)

"Apple has created a new Game Porting Toolkit that’s similar to the work Valve has done with Proton and the Steam Deck. It’s powered by source code from CrossOver, a Wine-based solution for running Windows games on macOS. Apple’s tool will instantly translate Windows games to run on macOS, allowing developers to launch an...

sub_,

I'm actually excited for this.

Not expecting much of the latest AAA games being ported over, but excited for older games, that are either broken when Mac abandoned 32-bit, or titles that could have been ported over but didn't because Apple didn't care much about gaming.

Also I wonder if this porting toolkit could help with the development of emulators. Citra had issues with Mac, and even now OpenEmu is having issue with the shaders.

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