nfreak
@nfreak@lemmy.ml
- Comment on After GOTY pull, Clair Obscur devs draw line in sand: 'Everything will be made by humans by us' 6 days ago:
Yeah this is something that keeps getting completely lost in this conversation.
The assets in question were from development during 2022-2023 at the latest. GenAI image tools at that time were extremely primitive compared to what’s out there now - remember DallE-Mini? That’s the kind of thing they were using. And because these tools hadn’t breached containment yet, literally no one was talking about ethical issues yet. Sandfall was basically just experimenting with brand new tech long before it was “good” and long before anyone was talking about it.
Now? It’s good to see them committed to avoiding it. GenAI is a plague and should be treated as such. But 2022-ish was totally different than today.
- Comment on The biggest video game stinkers of 2025, according to Metacritic 1 week ago:
I was already leaning against getting a Switch 2 when they first announced it, but advertising a tech demo as a paid product sealed it for me.
- Comment on Indie Game Awards Disqualifies Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Due To Gen AI Usage 1 week ago:
A contractor used it for placeholder background assets in 2022 when the best genAI tech available was DallE-Mini and literally no one was even remotely aware of any ethical concerns yet.
Like I get that time feels nonexistent since 2020 but people seem to forget genAI was literally not even a known thing until 2024 at the earliest.
Today genAI and all those who support it in any capacity deserve to rot in hell, and it shouldn’t even be used for placeholders or concepts at any stage in the process. That’s a given. But why are we applying 2025 standards to something clearly done at a time before anyone knew anything about this shit?
- Comment on Indie Game Awards Disqualifies Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Due To Gen AI Usage 1 week ago:
GenAI shouldn’t be used in any part of the process, including concepts and placeholders.
That being said, the assets that slipped through in E33 were from 2022. The most powerful publicly available genAI tool at the time was fuckin DallE-Mini, which basically just spit out fuzzy messes. None of the ethical concerns were common knowledge yet, Altman and his ilk were basically nobodies at the time, this was far before any of the current tools and companies that are driving everything to hell.
On top of that, there’s a dogshit article going around where Sandfall says they “use a small bit of AI” internally, and elaborate that they’re referring to Unreal machine learning tools and such, not genAI.
Fuck genAI, fuck Altman, and fuck anyone who intentionally uses any of this shit today, but the E33 case is a literal non-issue. They had 2022 fuzzy garbage slip through the cracks, immediately removed it, and there’s absolutely nothing to indicate that they’re using the modern, problematic tech today.
The only issue here is that there’s no reason for it to be considered an indie game. That’s it.
- Comment on Indie Game Awards Disqualifies Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Due To Gen AI Usage 1 week ago:
Also based on development timelines, these couple of textures were likely from the DallE-Mini era, long before anyone was even talking about ethical concerns with the tech and before fuckass Altman was a known name.
There’s another article going around where they say they use a “little bit” of AI but they’re very obviously referring to Unreal tools and regular old machine learning.
This whole thing is dramatically overblown. Absolutely fuck genAI and every data center should be bulldozed over. But this is a huge case over literally nothing.
- Comment on Do we have No Man's Sky fans here? 2 weeks ago:
I think this is why it never quite clicked with me. It’s a gorgeous game and it’s really come such a long way, but personally I could use a bit more direction.
- Comment on Any games I missed in the last 21 months? 2 weeks ago:
Silksong surprise dropped this September after 7 years with like a 2 month heads up
Clair Obscur Expedition 33 came out of absolutely nowhere and is a work of art in every way
Deltarune chapters 3 and 4 finally launched, 3 is fun but 4 is incredible.
I think Balatro came out in that timeframe, and CloverPit in a similar vein this year (though the latter’s most recent update is frankly terrible and hopefully most of the charges will be reverted in the next update)
Ball X Pit becomes more of an idle game once you make progress, but it’s a great little casual take on Breakout, with a fair bit of grinding for completion.
Eden Ring Nightreign is an interesting take on the formula and IMO a far better game than its original counterpart
Alan Wake 2 may have been 2023, my memory’s a bit fuzzy, but I think if anything they dropped a decent sized update last year.
Mycopunk is a fantastic early access FPS, coop emphasis and super chaotic
Path of Exile 2’s early access is phase is finally nearing its end. Game has solid bones
Ninja Gaiden Ragebound is pretty underrated, first modern game in the series that builds on the classic NES formula instead
Antonblast is a great little Wario-inspired platformer. Not as speedy as Pizza Tower, but really tight.
Yakuza Pirates I guess, though I’d argue it’s legitimately the worst game in the franchise. It’s not bad but it’s not good.
Witchfire is another early access FPS about to hit 1.0. It’s been out for a few years now but they’ve been really cracking down on the updates lately.
These couple years saw a huge resurgence of casual party-based games. Lethal Company, REPO, and Peak are all fun with the right group, though popularity of the first two is dwindling last I checked. A bit of a fad but they’re fun.
I’ve definitely missed a handful here and got my years wrong in some places, but these have been some standouts for me lately.
- Comment on Left 4 Dead co-creator is directing a mysterious co-op shooter for JJ Abrams' production company, and Sony's going to publish it: "We hope to deliver a bold, innovative experience" 3 weeks ago:
It feels like so many devs and studios have been trying to bring back the magic of that era but L4D was such a product of the times. Hard to imagine any similar games in that vein succeeding today.
- Comment on Last Epoch players turn on the action RPG for announcing a paid DLC class, tanking its Steam reviews: 'go play Path of Exile instead' 4 weeks ago:
After ditching D2 last year well past the 10k hour mark, I’ve been bouncing around a bunch of different games, mostly working through the backlog but also looking for a long-term grind to scratch that same itch. Out of everything I’ve tried, PoE2 and Warframe feel like the only ones doing live service “right”, especially the latter. Between both games, the only MTX gripe I have is PoE2’s stash tabs.
Last Epoch had a ton of potential but the team were in way over their heads and forced to start cashing in, and the Krafton buyout was the nail in the coffin. It feels like they just flat out didn’t have the budget to keep it going.
- Comment on Last Epoch players turn on the action RPG for announcing a paid DLC class, tanking its Steam reviews: 'go play Path of Exile instead' 4 weeks ago:
As soon as Krafton bought them out it wasn’t just downhill from there, it was a steep drop off a cliff. The game had so much promise but got royally fucked.
- Comment on Last Epoch players turn on the action RPG for announcing a paid DLC class, tanking its Steam reviews: 'go play Path of Exile instead' 4 weeks ago:
Everything is cosmetic last I checked aside from stash tabs, which granted should be earnable in-game, but it’s nothing like an entirely MTX-only class
- Comment on What game is a guilty pleasure of yours? 5 weeks ago:
For a bit it was Destiny Rising, I quit D2 over a year ago but DR does genuinely do a lot of things much better than the base game and directly addresses a lot of my core complaints that made me quit after 10k hours in the first place. Stupid mobile gacha game with predatory monetization out the ass, and I was shrugging aside the handful of AI NPC voicelines.
Needless to say I came to my senses and dropped it entirely on a whim. Can’t support the AI bullshit, I found I’d spent much more than I thought on the game already, and the endgame is entirely just p2w or get a handful of mats you need every 2 weeks.
That entire franchise is just a warehouse full of monkey paws
- Comment on What is your favorite Metroidvania? 5 weeks ago:
You know at first I didn’t really think it would be considered one, but looking back you’re absolutely right. I really need to replay those games.
- Comment on Figured I'd join in sharing what I'm playing- my platinum team ☺️ 1 month ago:
I love how so many of these old games has custom servers up and running. Metroid Prime Hunters apparently has a thriving community too (though I left the biggest discord as soon as I joined because it looks the lead admin is literally a DHS nazi 💀)
The bigger hurdle really is the DS’s wifi compatibility since WEP is so outdated and insecure.
- Comment on Sony cracks down on Concord custom servers, issues DMCA takedowns on gameplay videos 1 month ago:
Considering how much Bungie has fucked over their one game and its playerbase for years and seem to keep finding ways to double down on it, I never had any faith in Marathon from the beginning.
What’s wild is this is far from the first time that studio’s been caught for art theft too.
- Comment on Sony’s Concord Is Playable Again Thanks To Fan-Made Custom Servers 1 month ago:
Tbh the marketing and price tag are what killed it. The game itself was actually pretty fun, played a lot like Destiny 1 pvp and really didn’t feel like a hero shooter at all (which is a good thing). The abilities complemented the gunplay, not the other way around, and movement was crisp.
Firewalk had a great core, but Sony fucked it up.
- Comment on Years later, Arkane’s Dishonored is still a modern stealth classic 1 month ago:
A bit of a tangent, but tbh I feel like Half-Life Alyx was a perfect example of where they can take the franchise, but being a PC VR title (and one that really leans heavily into the tech and loses a ton if played with non-VR mods), it didn’t have nearly the same impact as the rest of the franchise. It was definitely innovative but not in a way to appeal to the mass market.
- Comment on Years later, Arkane’s Dishonored is still a modern stealth classic 1 month ago:
I’ve started playing it and it hooked me for a bit but once it really opens up I’ve been struggling to stick with it. Very interesting premise and characters so far though, I have no idea who can actually be trusted and that feels intentional.
- Comment on Subnautica 2 and inZOI publisher Krafton launches voluntary resignation program for employees as it transforms into an “AI first company” 1 month ago:
God I forgot about that one too. I feel so bad for that team, they put out a banger out of nowhere and keep getting thrown to the wolves.
- Comment on Subnautica 2 and inZOI publisher Krafton launches voluntary resignation program for employees as it transforms into an “AI first company” 1 month ago:
Huge shame to see Last Epoch get bought out by these assholes just before all this too
- Comment on What's a recent game you've tried playing that isn't worth the hype? 1 month ago:
It’s a huge part of why I quit Destiny 2 entirely. A game that doesn’t respect the player’s time and pads it with RNG on top of RNG to extend playtime feels awful.
- Comment on What's a recent game you've tried playing that isn't worth the hype? 1 month ago:
If it were more linear akin to their older games and dramatically reduced the visual clutter of most bosses, it would’ve been perfect, but those two things brought it way down imo. These sorts of games excel in smaller, more linear but interconnected environments.
- Comment on What's a recent game you've tried playing that isn't worth the hype? 1 month ago:
Nine Sols. Played it right after finishing Silksong to keep the metroidvania kick going.
The parrying was some of the worst feeling parrying I’ve ever felt in any game, the world felt tiny and extremely linear, the narrative was predictable and felt extremely flat, and the final boss is the only time I’ve ever switched to a story mode difficulty in any game just to get it over with, I love difficult games but that difficulty spike is absurd and the game never remotely prepares you for that.
They advertise this game as a Sekiro-like metroidvania, while it feels like they completely miss what made Sekiro work or what a metroidvania is.
- Comment on What's a recent game you've tried playing that isn't worth the hype? 1 month ago:
This is something that gets completely lost in the translation to an open world game. The DS trilogy, Bloodborne, and even the original Demon’s Souls feel hand-crafted and carefully structured without being completely linear. ER loses a lot by leaving that formula behind.
On top of that, the boss/enemy design is imo some of the worst they’ve ever done. The past games (with DS2 being the one with the most exceptions) typically give you very fair but challenging fights. Telegraphs are clear without being slow and obvious. Particle effects and such are generally kept to a minimum to prevent visual clutter from taking over the screen. Bosses hit hard, but very few hits or combos, if any, would one-shot most builds outside of challenge runs. ER throws all of that out the window - bosses tend to hit like trucks, are visual clusterfucks (either enormous models with a terrible camera, tons of particle effects blasting out the ass, or both). I feel like the final boss of the DLC as an example is the most egregious example of this sort of design philosophy. Hell, Nightreign works so much better with the exact same designs because it’s such a faster-paced game where getting knocked down once or twice isn’t usually the end of a run.
- Comment on What's a recent game you've tried playing that isn't worth the hype? 1 month ago:
I echoed this in another thread. I honestly feel like ER is the weakest “Soulsborne” game they’ve put out. It feels like a lot of conflicting design philosophies at once.
The lore and worldbuilding are phenomenal but gameplay-wise it falls short of what made their past games shine.
- Comment on What's a recent game you've tried playing that isn't worth the hype? 1 month ago:
I bought it ages ago but finally decided go give it a go. From the first day I could tell it wasn’t gonna be a game for me. Note-taking is basically mandatory, and it seems so easy just to get fucked out of a run by RNG.
Narrative seemed interesting but I feel like the whole “ability to decide what room you’re going into” thing should be weaved into the story off the bat.
- Comment on Welcome To Armored Core - A Chronological Breakdown Of FromSoftware's Legendary Mecha Series 1 month ago:
I’m in the camp of Soulsborne vets whose first AC game was AC6. Took me like 3 tries for it to click but it finally did, then I binged the hell out of it and platinumed it in a week. Phenomenal game and really got me interested in picking up the rest.
- Comment on US government uses Halo images in a call to 'destroy' immigration, Microsoft declines to comment 2 months ago:
Equally disgusting tbh. Boycott for life for sure.
- Comment on US government uses Halo images in a call to 'destroy' immigration, Microsoft declines to comment 2 months ago:
Microsoft declining to comment may as well be a confession that they gave this shit the go-ahead
- Comment on Has InZoi been better than the Sims in your opinion? 2 months ago:
Yeah the entire game is basically AI slop. Hard pass.