I’ve been thinking about making this thread for a few days. Sometimes, I play a game and it has some very basic features that are just not in every other game and I think to myself: Why is this not standard?! and I wanted to know what were yours....
Some things were already mentioned so here my other pet peeves:
customizable difficulty - no default preset will be as good as one that can be modified to your liking. Sometimes the issue lies with difficulty making things more of a chore than a challenge, sometimes they tune things too much where you get stuck in a weird middle ground where one difficulty is way too easy and the other bashes your teeth in.
character speed control on PC - we had this stuff figured out in 2002, when Splinter Cell came out! Why the hell are we still stuck with terribly slow walk and slightly too fast jogging? This isn't hard to implement either - there are already multiple speed states when playing with a gamepad, all that's required is an option to control it with a keybind.
visible body in first person games - I always try to immerse myself as much as possible and having a physical body helps sell the idea that I'm a character in this world rather than just a floating camera.
I was mostly thinking about action (or generally keyboard walking) games but that's good to know, I never got to play those titles honestly.
It's not like customizable difficulty would be mandatory - you have your default presets and an option to customize. You could even add a disclaimer about how "modifying difficulty can break the experience" or whatever.
I'd rather have a choice and not use it than be stuck with options that never feel "right".
I realize that games (and software in general) today are about simplifying things and removing any possibility of user messing up but it can make the end product way less engaging in my opinion.
That's not what I mean though. Back in Splinter Cell you could use mouse wheel to increase or decrease your character walking speed - similar to how you can do it with an analog stick. It's about giving player more gradual control on how fast/slow you move.
That said, customizable game time scale (not game speed) is also another thing I'd like to see in games.
I think you're making this a little bit more complicated than necessary. Those gadgets are cool but that would probably require more support by the devs than a simple keybinds and considering how niche this stuff is... I think the latter is a more probable option.
Those two axis you mentioned would be modified together anyway since we'd want the speed modifier to be the same no matter the direction. Alternatively one could make it into a separate variable included in speed calculations - this way you can keep the direct input value provided by the controller (whether it's a gamepad or a keyboard) and have one more piece that can sit unchanged when playing with analog controls.
Mouse scroll was an example since that's how it worked in Splinter Cell back in the day (it's also how Star Citizen does it today). You could just as well use any other key to increase/decrease the this muliplier (or make it mouse scroll + modifier key).
Overall, I do agree that more flexibility in input mapping would be a good thing. Can't go wrong with giving people more choice.
Most of the videos consists of two friends, Mike and Zack, playing modded Bethesda games. Their main gimmick is that they are playing games like Fallout NV in "multiplayer" but they also play other stuff (Mass Effect, Inscription, Stray to name a few).
Lot's of military stories, some great gun rants from Zack and a general feeling of just two friends having adventures together.
I also completely forgot to mention another duo - Chip & Ironicus.
This one is a little different as they record their commentary over premade footage. They can also be a bit more... low energy (?) compared to many bigger channels but if there's one thing they (or more specifically Chip) really shine in, is the huge amount of effort put into each and every playthrough.
Pretty much every episode is released in two versions, cut and uncut commentary, to let you choose whether you want the option to focus during cutscenes etc. They are also filled with cool trivia, secrets and just good skill level in general.
They have a pretty legendary MGSV LP where Chip prepared 3 seperate playthroughs, each with a different approach (stealth, combat and goofy).
Besides that, they also have stream recordings with live commentary, a podcast and regular charity streams.
Chip worked at recently closed Volition so he could definitely use more views.
Taking a firm stand against what Unity have been doing, Terraria developer Re-Logic announced today they've begun funding Godot Engine and FNA with a big donation and ongoing funding.
When I mean “specific,” I mean things like something dedicated to a certain genre, a certain video game, to gaming suggestions, to asking whether you should buy a certain game… anything that isn’t just one catch-all for any video gaming topic. So I’m not including the various !games@instance or !gaming@instance links....
I see you've included gacha titles as well. There's a small Girls' Frontline community - it's mostly me posting posting news at the moment so it could definitely use a spotlight.
I got it expecting to hate it, but as I kept playing, I found myself legitimately enjoying it. Not begrudgingly enjoying it, not enjoying it outside of one or two small details, but actually being engaged in the story and gameplay. Which leads me to wondering why people had a problem with this game in the first place again?
A lot of reviews and comments (in general, not here) went with a very surface level "critique" about the game without diving into what failed compared to previous titles.
For me personally, the new game missed a lot of what made the previous games special writing wise - characters are barely that, story is way more contrived and bland. Gameplay and activities are nowhere near what we had before as well. It's just a weaker game with a nicer coat of paint.
I know that might be a tough sell, but I feel like this video by Tehsnakerer gives a really good look into what went wrong while avoiding (and even calling out) some of the most common complaints. It's a good watch but it's also 2.5h long and not everyone has time or interest in that. If that's the case I might write a short summary when I have some time.
That said I already had some problems with SR3 and 4, doesn't mean I'm going to try and force people to hate them. If you had fun with the new one that's the important part.
A lot has been said about Trespasser but I wanted to bring the huge amount of information together with the context and comparison to other games of the same year (my retrospectives aren’t usually this long!)....
That wasn't meant as a negative, I love long form content!
It was a fun read and I'm glad I could learn a bit more about the game. Shame about their over ambition but at least they gave it a shot - having all the processes figured out can cause a bit of blandness these days, more so with high-budget titles.
Fun fact, I actually managed to score with the basketball on my first try when I played the game last year. Didn't try again, decided to take my win while I could.
I feel like Trespasser would be an interesting project to try and recreate for VR - the basic gameplay is already there after all.
Also, RIP Neverhood. Don't think I ever finished it but it was a fun one.
That's pretty much me with most (open world) games.
I always treated games as a different worlds to get immersed in and that's how I approach them to this day.
I'm also a weirdo who likes to makes games more difficult and realistic/tedious for myself which means stuff like limiting the amount of carried items, not using fast travel, acting like an actual part of the world, turning off the UI if possible and choosing fashion over min maxing.
I don't think I ever did any kind of "gimmick" challenges. Probably because it kind of contradicts with my usual way of play.
It is however always interesting to read up on them - it amazes me what some people come up with to spice up their playthrough.
Yeah, it's definitely not for everyone nor for every game but it can be really fun and relaxing as long as you don't care about constant action or lots of progress.
The former seems to be quite a bit easier than I remember it being, but not to a point where it would affect my fun (I'm also realitively early into the game).
Pangya is really growing on me as well. Just finished episode 1 with the first character and got about half-way with char #2. I really like it and I'm surprised I didn't know about this game for so long.
Lastly, I replaced Minecraft with The Sims 2. I was planning to install it just to see how it works through WINE and suddenly realized I've been building for like 6 hours. Boy those games are scary...
Got back to Minecraft - probably not for long as it was mostly something to fill the time rather than a real need to play it again. It's a good game for that anyway.
Besides that, I got a craving for some good old PSP fun and jumped on two games there - Pangya: Fantasy Golf & Ridge Racer 2.
Despite the fact I don't really care about golf (neither real nor in video game form), Pangya is pretty fun. Nice graphics, simple but enjoyable gameplay. Just started so I'm curious how difficult it'll get later on.
As for Ridge Racer 2... played A LOT of it when I was younger, never finished it though. Still as good as remember. I'm also surprised how much of the game stuck with me - guess I had way more fun with it then I thought.
Not sure if there are any Girls' Frontline fans here but RC is a turn based strategy (well, tactics) game set in the same universe.
Haven't played much yet but it's pretty fun so far - graphically looks like a mix of improved GFL and XCOM, gameplay is easy to grasp and looks like it might be a bit of a challenge when aiming for all bonus objectives on higher difficulties.
Also works perfectly with proton!
Now to test it with Deck...
Update on Deck:
Game runs pretty great, with two caveats:
UI during combat sections (mostly dialog) is a bit small
videos in tutorial prompts don't show up at all
game defaulted to KB+M controls scheme, had to change to gamepad
No other issues so far, plays great with normal gamepad preset. Battery life is also rather nice (~4 hours in my case).
What is something (feature, modes, settings...) you would like to see become a standard in video games?
I’ve been thinking about making this thread for a few days. Sometimes, I play a game and it has some very basic features that are just not in every other game and I think to myself: Why is this not standard?! and I wanted to know what were yours....
Can anyone recommend let's play channels or streamers wherein a group of multiple people play single player games together?
Examples include: Scary Game Squad, Gamegrumps, Team Double Dragon, and the like....
Terraria dev Re-Logic donates $100K to Godot Engine and FNA, plus ongoing funding (www.gamingonlinux.com)
Taking a firm stand against what Unity have been doing, Terraria developer Re-Logic announced today they've begun funding Godot Engine and FNA with a big donation and ongoing funding.
List of specific video game communities on the Threadiverse, feel free to comment with more (kbin.cafe)
When I mean “specific,” I mean things like something dedicated to a certain genre, a certain video game, to gaming suggestions, to asking whether you should buy a certain game… anything that isn’t just one catch-all for any video gaming topic. So I’m not including the various !games@instance or !gaming@instance links....
What's wrong with the Saints Row reboot again?
I got it expecting to hate it, but as I kept playing, I found myself legitimately enjoying it. Not begrudgingly enjoying it, not enjoying it outside of one or two small details, but actually being engaged in the story and gameplay. Which leads me to wondering why people had a problem with this game in the first place again?
Possibly The Last Word on Jurassic Park Trespasser (p7uen.neocities.org)
A lot has been said about Trespasser but I wanted to bring the huge amount of information together with the context and comparison to other games of the same year (my retrospectives aren’t usually this long!)....
Alternate ways of playing games
Inspired by SNESDrunk’s “Unconventional Ways to Play Classic Super Nintendo Games” videos. (You should definitely check SNESDrunk out)....
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of July 23rd
A new week and a new thread....
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of July 16th
Another week another thread!...
Steam Next Fest June 2023 is now live (June 19 - 26) (store.steampowered.com)
I always enjoy checking out the demos from these events. Has anyone else tried any yet? Would love to hear about any fun demos you've found.