Essence_of_Meh

@Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Settings you believe ANY game should have? (This is me advocating for a restart/reboot button on ALL games)⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I’d be down with that. Or at the very least give us modifiers like skulls in Halo games - dunno if that’s just Master Chief Collection addition or if they became a thing after 1 but it’s better than nothing.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Settings you believe ANY game should have? (This is me advocating for a restart/reboot button on ALL games)⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I completely agree that accessibility/assist modes are more important and if I had to choose I’d go with that. Since we’re in a fantasy land however I’m still going to advocate for customisation because, let’s be honest, most of the difficulties (besides “the main one”) are usually not that great.

  I’m speaking from a perspective of someone who tends to go for the higher difficulty options which extremely often go with the laziest possible decisions like turning enemies into damage sponge and increasing their attack power. That’s it. Stuff like improved enemy awareness, faster reaction times, smarter tactics aren’t exactly common and that’s my main pain point when selecting difficulty. There are also other things like ammo/loot scarcity, need drain in survival games etc.

  Having an option to tweak at least some of these things could help folks like me who often end up in a situation when one difficulty is piss easy and the other feels like a drag. Peoples skills and expectations vary way too and there’s simply no way few basic difficulty settings will be right for everyone. And if someone damages their experience? Oh well, let people make mistakes and take responsibility for their choices. Inform them that changing this stuff will affect their experience and leave them to their decisions. We can’t (and shouldn’t) baby-proof everything, in my opinion.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Settings you believe ANY game should have? (This is me advocating for a restart/reboot button on ALL games)⁩ ⁨⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I agree to an extent but there’s a difference between “we made a specific design choice because it fits with what we want the game to convey” and “well, normal mode works like X and feels super easy to anyone experienced with gaming but on hard all the enemies are bullet sponges with 5x HP and player dies in one hit”. The latter approach brings nothing to the table and that’s what I’m against. Plus already mentioned accessibility options for those who need them.

  Besides, many games ALREADY HAVE easy modes - giving me ability to adjust things manually (which in my case is usually up, not down) wouldn’t affect their vision any more than it’s already possible.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Settings you believe ANY game should have? (This is me advocating for a restart/reboot button on ALL games)⁩ ⁨⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh totally, I’m mostly focusing on solo and co-op titles like Terraria/Minecraft/Raft or whatever is popular for multiplayer these days. That said, it’s not like Souls games have to by played with online functionality even now - it’s already off when not in human form after all.

  It’s not a perfect choice for every single title but a good chunk of games could support it without worrying about matchmaking and the like.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Settings you believe ANY game should have? (This is me advocating for a restart/reboot button on ALL games)⁩ ⁨⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Customisable difficulty. Have a single or multiple presets balanced to what you’d like your players to experience but give me an option to adjust some of the stuff to my liking. There are SO MANY games I’d love to play way more than I do but none of the difficulty options feel “right”, bringing the whole experience down.
  It’s also a great feature from an accessibility standpoint - pretty important thing for those who literally can’t play your game for reasons that could be easily worked around if such customisation was there.

  “But my artistic integrity and vision!”

  No, shut up. Your vision doesn’t mean squat if my experience with the game is annoying to the point where I don’t even care about the lore implication of an enemy placement or how gameplay systems intertwine with themes and story of the game. It’s important, sure, but it shouldn’t be more important than player’s enjoyment of your product.

  Balance your game how you imagine it but let me play with the sliders to make it feel how I want it to. Just drop a scary message about it not being the intended way to play and it’ll be fine.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What game is a guilty pleasure of yours?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  It was also an unfortunate victim of the time when IOI struggled with figuring out how to transition from “classic” way of making games to the modern, high budget approach. I’m glad they managed to get back into the rhythm with new Hitman games but it’s still a little disappointing K&L had to serve as a stepping stone towards better times.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What game is a guilty pleasure of yours?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  The worst part is there’s no “full” version since each beta added new features and removed other ones. I’d give a lot for a build which combines all of the lost mechanics into a single package.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What game is a guilty pleasure of yours?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  I knew I forgot something! Fantastic style and soundtrack, engaging gameplay and a bit rough in execution - it was great.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What game is a guilty pleasure of yours?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Can’t say I feel guilty about liking these but if we’re talking about mediocre games I love that would be:

  • Drakengard 3 - simple, repetitive gameplay, huge amount of asset reuse and terrible performance if you’re crazy enough to play it on PS3. It also has a really engaging and tragic story, full of weirdness unique to the series (well, the first game anyway, haven’t played D2 yet).
  • Oni - 2001 action game by Bungie. Really cool hand-to-hand combat system, huge empty levels, simple story with wannabe Ghost in the Shell elements.
  • Starbound - lots of hype about Terraria in space, lots of wasted potential and cool features that didn’t make to the final release. I tend to prefer beta versions (mainly “Glad Giraffe” beta) but the final one also seemed alright based on what little I played of it. Definitely not as good as it had chance to be during development.
  • Scarface: The World is Yours - budget GTA clone based on the 1983 movie with Al Pacino (it’s actually a sequel). It looks bad even for the time but it plays well enough and has some neat mechanics which made it stand out, if only a little.
  • Tresspasser - the infamous Jurassic Park game with full control of your arm and focus on physical interactions with the environment. It’s a bit clunky and far from polished but it’s an interesting experience nonetheless.

  That’s all that comes to mind for now, I might update the post if I remember anything else.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Silent Hill f, now on GOG⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m pretty resistant to old games being… well, old so that’s rarely a problem for me. But yeah, it sucks when that happens.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Silent Hill f, now on GOG⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Things like this make me feel less bad about my backlog - got plenty of things to play while waiting for a price drop!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Silent Hill f, now on GOG⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It probably happened way earlier for me as well to be honest, I’m just mainly into older and indie games so I don’t really pay attention to new (mainstream) releases. Seeing this was a bit of reality check.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Silent Hill f, now on GOG⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Man, I appreciate this happened but seeing the price all I can do is chuckle and move on since this thing is almost 3x the reasonable price in my local currency. Never expected to get priced out of AAA gaming but here we are.

  Still, nice catch for GOG. I hope this is a good sign for the future.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ghost in the Shell – 1997 Developer Interview - shmuplations.com⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I played through the whole thing like 3 years ago, I think. It’s simple but really fun, especially after getting used to the controls - camera can get a bit disorienting at times though. Worth trying out if you’re a fan of arcade style action games.

  Thanks for sharing, it was an interesting read!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New article says #StarCitizen will release in 2027-2028, we contacted the author to ask for clarification on the source and he quoted Chris Roberts himself as saying "1 or 2 Y probably after S42"⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think Chris should just go back to… well, whatever he’s doing these days and not talk to the press until either of the games finally releases. There were so many promises, dates and pledges that nothing he says has any value at this point. Not to mention the delusions in some of the things he says here.

  Let the games do the talking and just watch from sidelines until then, please.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Unbeatable | Official Release Date Trailer (Nov 6)⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Man, I’ve been waiting for this since the [white label] demo four years ago. Can’t believe it’s almost finally here. AND it had an updated demo all this time?! I know what I’m doing tonight.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It's Time We Talked about Disco Elysium, Again - People Make Games⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, it’s a shame they only got one side of the story for this one. I was hoping there’d be a bit more when I wrote my initial comment but they pretty much focused on Argo’s and Dora’s perspective. I understand why (not much new stuff happened in terms of the whole picture, not everyone wanted to talk as can be seen with the limited responses Chris received) but I think waiting a bit longer and seeing how things turned out for everyone involved would be a better idea.

  There were some interesting new details there but overall it didn’t really feel like the amount or weight of material worth making another documentary about at this point.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It's Time We Talked about Disco Elysium, Again - People Make Games⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The first 20 minutes are about acknowledging and discussing the criticism of the original documentary which is a welcome addition. While I didn’t have as many issues with that as some, it wasn’t perfect and it’s good to know that Chris and the team are aware of what could be improved in the future.

  It’s a pretty interesting video so far (haven’t finished it yet) and clarifies some things left unsaid in the first one, on top of bringing new topics that came up since. Seems like a really good follow-up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GOG and game publishers launch FreedomToBuy.games to raise awareness on censorship in gaming – GOG Pressroom⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh absolutely, that’s as much (if not more) of a reason for them keeping quiet. No big company will willingly jump into the pit against payment processors, there’s way too much to lose.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GOG and game publishers launch FreedomToBuy.games to raise awareness on censorship in gaming – GOG Pressroom⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, Valve’s silence isn’t really surprising to be honest. They generally tend to keep quiet and let things go away on their own whenever possible. I’d be more surprised if the came out in force on this issue.

  They did respond to the recent claim by Mastercard about them not being responsible for this recent mess - that’s something, I guess? Here is a Kotaku article (don’t kill me, that’s the source I have for this) and here is the relevant part:

  “Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” Valve’s statement sent over email to Kotaku reads. “Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks. Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steam’s policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution. Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.”

  There’s a bit more in the linked article but that’s pretty much the gist of it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GOG and game publishers launch FreedomToBuy.games to raise awareness on censorship in gaming – GOG Pressroom⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Man, I really appreciate GOG. They’re not perfect and, as with all corporations, one shouldn’t take them completely at face value but their approach to game preservation, DRM and stuff like this are the reasons why I keep them as my main choice for purchases whenever possible.

  Is it a relatively cheap PR stunt? Maybe. Probably. It’s still more than any other store did or said in regards to the recent events. Might as well grab some free publicity.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Statement on Stop Killing Games - VIDEOGAMES EUROPE⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, that tracks - it’s a business organisation first and foremost. And yeah, we definitely do.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Statement on Stop Killing Games - VIDEOGAMES EUROPE⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a group representing the biggest publishers in the industry, used as a front to pretend they’re able to self-regulate when it comes to consumer laws vs business wants. So no, not a governing body but more of a cartel or lobbying group, I guess? One with A LOT of money on the line and enough lobbying power to push against things like the Stop Killing Games campaign the moment they feel threatened.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Statement on Stop Killing Games - VIDEOGAMES EUROPE⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Either way it’s pure speculation considering something truly massive would have to happen for Steam to even get to this point.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Statement on Stop Killing Games - VIDEOGAMES EUROPE⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  He did say something similar years ago if I recall correctly but we never got any details and it was so long ago it’s hard to guess whether that’s still the plan. Reassurance or update on that wouldn’t be unwelcome, that’s for sure.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Statement on Stop Killing Games - VIDEOGAMES EUROPE⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  These are the board members of this organisation, in case someone is curious about their relevancy/neutrality on the matter:

  • Hester Woodliffe – Chair (Warner Bros. Games)
  • Canon Pence (Epic Games)
  • Kerry Hopkins (Electronic Arts)
  • Ian Mattingly (Activision)
  • Klemens Kundratitz (Embracer)
  • Qumar Jamil (Microsoft)
  • Clemens Mayer-Wegelin (Nintendo of Europe)
  • Cinnamon Rogers (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Matt Spencer (Take 2)
  • Alain Corre (Ubisoft)
  • Alberto Gonzalez-Lorca (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
  • Karine Parker (Square Enix)
  • Mark Maslowicz (Level Infinite)
  • Felix Falk (game)
  • Nicolas Vignolles (SELL)
  • David Verbruggen (VGFB)
  • Nick Poole (UKIE)

  You know, the people who “ensured that the voice of a responsible games ecosystem is heard and understood” (direct quote from their website).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Th EU iniative for Stop Killing Games has reached the goal of 1 million signatures!!⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Fresh update video from Ross about the campaign.

  TL;DW:

  • There’s a chance many of the signatures for the EU petition aren’t real. Keep signing to build up a safety margin.
  • Some countries had problems with signing using the digital ID system - suggests to use the manual method (instructions on the campaign page) or try again later.
  • Someone not related with the campaign released a SKG crypto. Don’t touch it, obviously.
  • Ross heard about people harassing Pirate Software, asks to stop.
  • He’s got a lot of messages to reply to, prioritises ones important to the campaign for now.
  • UK petition cleared 100k signatures. Number is most likely more reliable than the EU one.
  • Link about contacting UK MP’s for those who want to do more than just sign a petition.
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The UK Stop Killing Games petition has reached 100.000 signatures⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s actually one of the most annoying parts about the whole thing. SKG campaign has been running for what, a year now? Barely anyone with an audience cared enough to even look into it, let alone spread the news. Now that things came close to failing suddenly everyone thinks it’s an important topic and scrambled to make videos/posts/whatever. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt but I just don’t have that in me any more…
  We could’ve been in so much better place with awareness, petitions and general sentiment if people in the industry actually cared about these things from the start.

  Better late than never, I guess. I just hope there’s enough time to push through the EU petition as well.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The UK Stop Killing Games petition has reached 100.000 signatures⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  After Ross announced the campaign is dead a bunch of YouTubers (and media, I think?) picked up the topic and started spreading the word far and wide. This is the result.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Signatures skyrocket for Stop Killing Games campaign after big youtubers take up the cause, resulting in 100k signatures in 2 days. (Details on how to help in text body of post)⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  He actively misrepresented the campaign and spread misinformation about its goals. I don’t know if he genuinely didn’t understand or if he was too embarrassed to admit to a mistake but he did a lot of damage to the momentum and perception of the whole thing.

  It sucks these big creators only now pick up the mantle but it’s better than nothing. There’s still some time left.