Coelacanth

Coelacanth , 17 hours ago

Can we not go after one of the few good guys in gaming? Please? If you want to hound someone Nintendo is right over there.

Coelacanth , 1 day ago

This is why the game lost me to be completely honest. I felt like the type of storytelling changed into more of a Sunday morning cartoon type vibe where the gang always wins and nobody ever dies.

There was a point during the story (probably Post-ARR through the beginning of post-Stormblood patch quests?) where it felt like there were actual stakes and risks of consequences and the lives of beloved characters were actually in danger and I loved that.

But instead more people seemed to come back from the dead than actually die.

Coelacanth , 1 day ago

For sure. Will probably be even more likely if the Elden Ring DLC does really well and further propels FromSoft into a true mainstream household name.

Coelacanth , 4 days ago

I’ve played only Origins but this trailer is not doing a whole lot for me. Even visually I don’t like it (which is bizarre because I think Origins looks like shit and still I somehow prefer it). Don’t really like this art direction, personally.

Coelacanth , 5 days ago

Impressive that enough people still care for there to be a backlash.

Coelacanth , 5 days ago

Yes, definitely! Using the !community works well for communities, but linking to posts is a bit of a headache honestly.

Coelacanth , 8 days ago

That really is one of the biggest flaws of Civ. It’s so hard to find a breakpoint where the gameplay “feels good” but still is challenging. If you’re at a difficulty level where the gameplay is mostly intact, the AI is just too dumb, and if you bump it up it becomes a meta game of playing around the AI bonuses.

Coelacanth , 8 days ago

Sounds like programming.dev might be a good fit, or perhaps dbzer0?

Coelacanth , 9 days ago

I haven’t played 2 or 3, but calling DA:O bad is a bit of a hot take. What did you not like about it?

While the overall plot is fairly standard issue fantasy save-the-world fare, I think the execution and the RPG aspects were excellent. How the game really made your choice of origin matter was incredible to me, and I enjoyed several of the characters too.

It does look like shit though, I’ll give you that. I wish it was less depressingly brown-grey washed out looking.

Coelacanth , 9 days ago

I don’t know, I never saw it as a meme but rather just shorthand in cases where no other term existed that efficiently communicated the genre or style of a game.

Do you have a replacement term available for Souls-like that sums up what you can expect of a game within that genre using two words or less?

Coelacanth , 10 days ago

Nothing compares to getting into the flow when you’re playing Spy, I love some psychological warfare. Stringing together long sequences of backstabs and hide-and-seeks with the enemy team is so much fun.

The knife that hides backstabbed corpses and instantly disguises you as them is also super fun to use.

Coelacanth , 11 days ago

I’m not sure if the above comment played on launch or after the Final Cut update, but there isn’t all that much reading in the game anymore. Almost all text is fully voice acted now. You still have to mentally absorb it of course, but I find it less taxing than reading, personally.

The book-like nature of it is spot on though; it’s better to treat it like an interactive novel where you choose the order in which you read its pages than as a traditional RPG.

Don’t be afraid to pick wild and weird dialogue options, and especially don’t be afraid to fail at things. The game pioneered a “fail-forward” design philosophy

Coelacanth , 11 days ago

I think my favourite low-int detail was in Fallout 2. You come across the tribal Torr early on in Klamath and he speaks in grunts and broken sentences just like that if you talk to him with normal INT or above. However, if you talk to him with low INT the conversation completely changes into long eloquent sentences with advanced vocabulary for both him and you, matching the dialogue options unlocked at 10 INT. Amazing.

Coelacanth , 11 days ago

Played a lot of Wuthering Waves since it launched. It’s a tricky one because it has a lot of flaws and weaknesses, but at the same time the core is actually really solid.

The combat feels amazing, and that really is the big selling point here. Parries and perfect dodges feel great, the bosses have fun movesets and the pace is fast and fluid with lots of tech like animation cancelling and character swapping. The character gameplay design is also excellent, with each character having a unique feel and playstyle, and a unique way of building and using the Forte gauge.

I wish the main story wasn’t complete garbage, but hey ho. At least there is a skip button. Even the good characters (like Aalto and Encore) feel out of place and too goofy in a supposedly post-apocalyptic setting. Funny enough some unvoiced side quests have been better than the main story by a long shot (I’m thinking of Eternal Concert, for example).

Also the localisation is insultingly bad and it definitely seems like Kuro actually disregards the importance of non-chinese regions to the point of not employing a single foreign language speaker even to their localisation team. Even their announcements are worse translations than Google translate, and it’s the same for all languages. You’d think they’d at least care about the JP translation. Puzzling and almost offensive.

Still, the game is mechanically satisfying enough to have me hooked for now. And it’s free (and very F2P friendly at the moment).

Coelacanth , 25 days ago

I do agree that a lot of the find-the-symbols puzzles felt like an afterthought, but overall they didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the game. The story and presentation were fantastic and I thought the blind trial was extremely well done and one of my favourite video game levels.

Coelacanth , 29 days ago

I haven’t played this since I was a kid but I used to have such a good time with it. I had almost forgotten about it so this was a great blast of nostalgia. I guess people are still playing it? Warms my heart.

Coelacanth , 29 days ago

I had a lot of good times and even more bad times with DotA over the years, until I finally freed myself from it years ago.

IceFrog being behind this backed by Valve bodes well, and I think the premise of an FPS/MOBA hybrid has promise, despite the market being insanely oversaturated already.

I’m not really interested in competitive games these days, but I hope it’ll be good to watch at least. Following The International was fun even after I quit DotA.

Coelacanth , 29 days ago

I could be mistaken, as I don’t really play competitive games anymore. I thought between Overwatch, Valorant, Apex, The Finals and what have you there was lots of stiff competition.

Coelacanth , 30 days ago

I love this. The evolution of the slang is so interesting. I read somewhere else that Japan started to use the symbol for “grass” to mean great laughter because the initial abbreviation “www” looks like blades of grass.

Coelacanth , 29 days ago

It was definitely the go-to abbreviation during the early days of the internet, at least in my circles. Nowadays we’ve become so anglicised that everyone just uses English norms instead.

I remember using asg as a kid/young teen, and I remember people at the time were looking down on those using “lol” or “rofl” instead, calling them silly posers.

Coelacanth , 30 days ago

Interesting. So the side content is mostly uninteresting, I take it?

I still have only played DA:O, which I really liked. I still haven’t played the sequels, would you say they’re still worthwhile or is it for the best to leave the story at the end of Origins?

Coelacanth , 30 days ago

Thank you for the extremely comprehensive run-down! I don’t think I’ve ever had it laid out so clearly before.

I think I’ll keep them on my tentative “to-do” list, but maybe not at the highest priority. I loved Origins but with how it ends I don’t have a super pressing need to continue the story immediately. There are so many good games out there, and more keep being released. It’s hard to find time for all of them. I’m really looking forward to Hellblade 2 next.

I think I will get around to them at some point, though. Exporting my save through all three games and seeing callbacks and consequences does sound interesting, and I’ve heard that is something that does happen.

Coelacanth , 1 month ago

I think DS3 is great in its own way and has some awesome areas, but it’s hard to compare anything to the first half of Dark Souls. That level design is just something else.

What I like about DS3 compared to ER is there are a lot less delayed attacks and fakeouts. I get that FromSoft needs to constantly up the challenge but it makes it harder to get the same kind of enjoyable combat flow, at least for me. DS3 has some bosses that are just so enjoyable, even though they’re not super hard.

Oh and, don’t know if you’ve done them yet but the DLCs should be more challenging than the main game, if that’s what you’re after.

Coelacanth , 1 month ago

I think OWB is many people’s favourite, and Honest Hearts is certainly the weakest DLC. It does have some cool lore and story bits to it though, and the environmental storytelling with the survivalist is very neat. And I think Joshua Graham is a great character.

I hope you come back and do Lonesome Road too, I absolutely love it and think the level design and environments are outstanding.

Coelacanth , 1 month ago

Having the exact same experience, though I’ve only barely started the PL storyline. The rebalance and revamped perk tree has created so many cool builds and so many fun ways to play. The game is just a joy to play honestly.

Coelacanth , 1 month ago

I’m so excited for this game. I thought the first game was really interesting and did really well with a limited budget, and really showed a lot of potential.

Hopefully a bigger budget, bigger scope and expanded combat can have this game really blossom.

Coelacanth , 1 month ago

This is the correct answer I think. They’re also not interested in releasing sub-par games, and again like you say they don’t need to release games at all to make money anymore. So if they’re not that interested and haven’t come up with anything conceptually/mechanically that reaches the high bar they’ve set for themselves, it makes more sense to scrap/postpone.

Their reputation is much more important, and they’re just not going to half-ass Half Life 3. It will come out when they feel they have something truly extraordinary, or it won’t come out at all.

Coelacanth , 1 month ago

Started playing Phantom Liberty today after having finally finalized my modlist. Still hunting down the source of some crashing, but still.

Haven’t played Cyberpunk since 1.63, and I am loving the changes so far. Very cool builds available with the perk tree changes, I can already tell I will probably do another full playthrough with a different build once I’ve ran through Phantom Liberty. Right now I’m playing a Tech/Body/Reflexes spec going full into explosives, combined with Sandevistan, Kerenzikov and all the dashing/mid-air stuff. It’s definitely a lot of fun, bouncing around the battlefield like a Gummi Bear on speed while everyone around you explodes and burns.

Coelacanth , 1 month ago

Mood.

Coelacanth , 1 month ago

I think this has to be in the contention for most overrated game of all time.

Before you grab your pitchfork, I’m not saying it’s a bad game. It’s fine. The combat is solid, the boss fights are fun and it’s very pretty. Was very well optimised too, ran like a dream on an old, fat first gen PS4.

It’s not the greatest game of all time though, or anything close to it. The open world is your garden variety UbiSoft style, the tone and the writing is all in a stoic monotone with only crumbs of Kenji to break it up, and the quest design is uninspiring at best and awful at worst. On top of it all the game is way too long considering those flaws.

I know it’s been hyped up, but I still recommend waiting for a sale.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

Don’t know if just me, but this spoiler tag doesn’t work on either Sync nor Boost.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

I’m actually happy to hear that. I was afraid it would take too much inspiration from the Bethesda games, but sounds like maybe they looked more at Fallout 1 and 2, which would be just what I hoped they would.

I’m excited to give it a chance now.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

I did enjoy LivestreamFail on the other site being Northernlion-only for a day as April Fools this year. However, harmless, fun and wholesome April Fool’s are so few and far between.

We struggle with misinformation in our society already, and on a smaller, more personal scale I always found April Fools to be an extremely mean-spirited tradition purely existing to promote and encourage having fun at the expense of others. I never enjoyed humiliating others, and I don’t enjoy being pointed and laughed at either.

I think I’ll pass.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

I think Uematsu is the absolute GOAT, but XV had a great soundtrack. Not on Uematsu level of memorable, but still very good.

The leitmotif work with Valse di Fantastica/Sunset Waltz/Dewdrops at Dawn always was my favourite, but Ardyn has a nice theme too. Loved when the second version of his theme came in towards the end of the game.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

I’ve done loads of Wasgij jigsaw puzzles with family over holidays, they’re great. If anyone here thinks this sounds like a fun idea I encourage you to check them out!

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

Definitely will check out this round of testing. I’ve had my eye on this project for a while. Great to see the progress made despite switching engine.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

Fought him before the patches as well. I thought the fight was absolute bullshit and cheesed it with plague breath.

Never came back and tried him after the patches.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

Still completely and unhealthily obsessed with F1 Manager 2023, nearing the end of my second season as Aston Martin. Hard/Hard difficulty has felt about appropriate thus far, at least on a team starting in a good position like AM. I was sweating at the start of this season since the board expected me to get second and I started the year a little slow, but it looks like I will pull it off. Still couldn’t touch Red Bull or Max this year, though I have taken a couple of race wins.

The development race has been tight so far, with Mercedes roaring back after a dismal 2023 season and Red Bull refusing to let me outdevelop them.

It’s a little sad that the first two installments didn’t sell well and F1 Manager 2024 looks like it will be the last entry in the series. Sure, the game has its issues, but there are a lot of good things here too, and a lot of systems that could be refined with time. I didn’t play F1 Manager 2022, but it seems like a lot of the problems with it were addressed in 2023, as well.

Overall, I still recommend the game if you’re an F1 fan, especially if you can find it on sale. You probably have to at least like racing (if not F1) to enjoy it though, as the main draw here is the race-day experience.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

How fun is this game without a friend group that also plays it? I’ve seen some clips, but most of the fun seems to lie in squad based gameplay.

Coelacanth , 2 months ago

That’s about what I figured. I’m not that great with strangers, and English is my second language. I’ve tried other squad based games that rely on voice comms to be enjoyable, and I only really enjoy them when playing with a group of people I’m comfortable with.

Coelacanth , 3 months ago

It’s more like AI art in reverse, when you think about it. Instead of an AI spitting out images to our taste, it’s the YouTubers pumping out images to the algorithms taste.

Coelacanth , 3 months ago

Same boat man. Tough call.

Coelacanth , 3 months ago

What metric are we using? The developer whose games I like the most? The developer who treats their employees best? Or treats their customers best?

Valve has produced mostly bangers, seems to treat customers well and is by all accounts a great place to work. They’ve also been pushing development for gaming on Linux. Hard not to go with them, even though it’s debatable whether they could be classified as a game developer anymore. But that’s fine.

Remedy deserves a shout-out for sticking to their guns, and continuing to produce weird artistic games that push the envelope in the AAA space.

I’m not as high on BG3 as most people (though it’s obviously a great game), but Larian also belongs in the discussion surely. I only ever hear good things about them.

Finally, the developer who inspires me the most is probably Lucas Pope. I love his ability to think outside the box and find entertaining gameplay loops in seemingly mundane things, but moreover I am just so impressed by how multitalented he is. I still can’t believe Obra Dinn was a one-man production. I love his artstyle and the music he makes as much as the games themselves.

Coelacanth , 3 months ago

No-poop guy truly was a Lemmy moment.

Coelacanth , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago)

The original poster was @mizu6079 who seems to have deleted his account and the original post. It was archived in various places though, sadly without the original comments (which had some back and forth with the OP that only increased the mystery). It was the top upvoted post on Lemmy as a whole for a while. Here is a link to an archived version of just the OP:

lemmy.world/post/616615

Coelacanth , 3 months ago

Makes sense. And I have heard those terms before. I guess i just need to update my internal definition. All this time I thought boomer shooter meant “slow FPS for old folks who can’t keep up in Valorant anymore”. Which is a group I probably belong to myself, to be honest.

Coelacanth , 3 months ago

Great! Did you finish 1? The two games are narratively independent, but there are references to events and things from 1 in the sequel.

Any combat skill that is a good go to OP one? Im usually most interested in speech skills, maxing them before anything else.

Stay away from Throwing unless you install a combat rebalance mod. All other combat skills are viable, through some peak at different times. Melee is great early but falls off a little bit. Still viable all game though. Unarmed can be great, there are some awesome Unarmed-only perks, but you can raise it to like 100% for free if you want to min/max. Big Guns and Energy Weapons are great late and very fun, but it might take a while to find one. Small Guns is the easiest way. You’ll find plenty of them early, and the late game options scale well.

I recommend starting with high INT, tagging Small Guns, Lockpicking and Speech and going from there. If you want more build advice just ask. Also the Nearly Ultimate Fallout 2 Guide is basically the Bible when it comes to looking up solutions to frustrating problems. It contains basically anything you could possibly want to know about the game. Tons of spoilers though, of course. So beware.

Coelacanth , 3 months ago

Anytime!