Grangle1

@Grangle1@lemm.ee

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Almost 19% of Japanese people in their 20s have spent so much money on gacha they struggled with covering living expenses, survey reveals - AUTOMATON WEST⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Like I mentioned before, “tutorial pulls” are part of that hyper-generosity that gachas will commonly have for new players to give them enough of a dopamine rush to hang around and be more likely to spend more later. That generosity will not last and can’t last or elee the game will not make nearly as much money. Give it another week and you will find that the supposed good luck runs out, as well as the free currency offered for things like logging in, and then it will start requiring a ton of grinding or real world money to acquire the necessary currency to get to the “pity” in order to ensure you get a top-rarity item. That’s how gacha systems work.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Almost 19% of Japanese people in their 20s have spent so much money on gacha they struggled with covering living expenses, survey reveals - AUTOMATON WEST⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Most “pity” systems require hundreds of pulls beforehand, which unless someone saves months worth of free currency for those pulls, can be very expensive in real world money to get the currency to afford. In a way, pity systems are just designed to increase the amount of money players spend.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Almost 19% of Japanese people in their 20s have spent so much money on gacha they struggled with covering living expenses, survey reveals - AUTOMATON WEST⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  The difference is in the details, that with other paid DLC, you actually get the thing you paid for, guaranteed. With a gacha, if they’re promoting some super-strong character, weapon, etc. that you want and you buy currency to spend in the gacha, you are not guaranteed to get that item or anything of the same quality/rarity in any of those pulls you make. It’s all random chance, gambling at its core. Exceptionally good or bad luck can start playing psychological tricks on you, such as FOMO (there will always be something stronger coming soon), sunk cost fallacy (you’ve already dumped this much into it and got nothing, what’s the difference with this much more?), and before you know it, if you’re not watching carefully, you’ve spent far more in in-game and/or real money than you realized. That’s far different than a one-time purchase straight-up for a cosmetic or weapon to use with no further need to spend any more, and that’s what gets people hooked like gambling. You may not have experienced this much because gachas tend to be very generous to new players in order to get them started out quickly as whales fodder and get them hooked on the adrenaline rush of “winning” in the gacha system before the gacha currency starts to dry up on them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Almost 19% of Japanese people in their 20s have spent so much money on gacha they struggled with covering living expenses, survey reveals - AUTOMATON WEST⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, it can be both at the same time. The games may be good as games (I play a few myself) but the mechanic can also be extremely predatory to those who have a problem with gambling and/or controlling their spending.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Found a good video sharing my opinion about Nintendo Switch 2⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Outrage farming is getting really tiring overall, not gonna lie. It’s OK, everyone, we can feel other things aside from angry and life will go on.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake New Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I admit I haven’t played too much of either Dragon Quest or FF. I have a bit more experience with FF (I’ve at least started playing 1, 7 and 10). I’ve only played Dragon Quest III, currently going through its HD-2D remake and enjoying it decently enough. If I like it enough when I finish it maybe I’ll pick up I and II as well.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake New Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This, and it’s THE big traditional JRPG franchise in Japan itself, as big as or bigger than Final Fantasy. FF just happened to have more worldwide appeal.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨BloodBorne Released 10 Years Ago Today, Fans Once Again Organize a Return to Yharnam⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  My daily reminder that I’m older than I think/feel like I am.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Your all-time favorite game? Let's discuss the best options!⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  My “nostalgia favorites” will always be Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Sonic 2 (Genesis version). Sonic 2 is just so fun to go back and play any time I want a quick retro sides rolling platformer fix, and I’ve played through it more times than I can count. OoT was the first game I played that showed me what games could be through a combination of story/cutscenes and gameplay, as someone who was never able to get my hands on an SNES to play the epic JRPGs of the console growing up (I loved my Genesis, but let’s be real, those kinds of games on Sega consoles didn’t really come until later).

  Nowadays Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have eclipsed OoT for me, and for other more modern games another standout fave is Fire Emblem Three Houses, due in large part to its story and setting having everything I look for in a game, and its characters actually being more fleshed out and developed than the one-note units handed to you in many other games in the franchise. Engage has more… Engaging gameplay (sorry not sorry for the pun) but the story and characters hold it back quite a bit for me. Gameplay-wise, my favorite strategy RPG actually has to be Triangle Strategy, in that it has quite creative maps and every unit is designed with the potential to be useful depending on how you approach your own strategy, but I like the story/characters of Three Houses at least a bit more, and I tend to value story more in general in games. I’m also a big fan of the Ace Attorney franchise for the overarching story, characters and writing that it’s built up through its history. Phoenix, Maya, Edgeworth, Apollo and friends are all among some of my favorite characters in gaming, and I’m glad I decided long ago to give that quirky-seeming series a try. AA7 when, Capcom?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bloomberg analyst anticipate Nintendo Switch 2 to be priced at 400$ or more⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, I’m betting on at least a new 3D Mario too. Wouldn’t be surprised if Z-A was cross generation. Maybe the new Mario Kart they showed off in the short trailer. I don’t think Prime 4 will be out right at launch but I could see it in the first year.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bloomberg analyst anticipate Nintendo Switch 2 to be priced at 400$ or more⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I notice they tend to have one “killer app” and then the rest of it isn’t much to write home about, at least since the N64 (SNES had a whopping 2: F-Zerp and Mario World). The exception being the Wii U, which had… Nintendo Land? NSMB-U? Nothing really.

  N64: Mario 64 (and had almost literally nothing else until StarFox) GameCube: Luigi’s Mansion Wii: Twilight Princess, or Wii Sports, since TP also released for GameCube Switch: BotW

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Balatro wins formal appeal to reclassify poker game as PEGI 12⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Ugh, I remember those days well. I saw personally what MMOs did to two friends of mine (one from high school and one from college), and how the high school friend was able to really pull himself together and make a good life for himself after we helped pull him out of MMO addiction, and how the college friend we couldn’t help just wallowed in a sea of empty energy drink cans and turned EVERYTHING into WoW during that time. I don’t know if he was able to build a solid life/career after college, but I could imagine him looking back at that time and wanting more from it. Either way, I saw both their situations and vowed to never pick up an MMO because I didn’t want the same to happen to me. Just because an addicting game isn’t extractive of one’s money doesn’t mean it’s not harmful if you have a hard time with self-control and moderation. You either lose your money directly or your time, which may cost you money in other ways in addition to other indirect costs. Ultimately you’ll end up losing something of great value you will unlikely get back, if ever.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds - Announce Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My only frustration was that you had to essentially master the game completely to unlock all the racers. Sure, rewards for mastery all the way to the highest levels of the single player mode are good, but I felt they should have changed it up so you unlock all the racers earlier and offered some different rewatds for the end. Or maybe I’m just salty that I had to go to the very end on the highest difficulty to play as characters I wanted to play from the start, in a Sega racer, no less, which are generally harder than most. At least in a game like Smash Bros Brawl, you just had to beat the final boss to unlock Sonic, you didn’t have to perfect it on the highest difficulty.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨what was the last game you played in 2024?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, a few days ago. Been busy or just didn’t feel like gaming since then.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Video Games Can’t Afford to Look This Good⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yep, it’s a byproduct of the “bit wars” in the gaming culture of the '80s and '90s where each successive console generation had much more of a visual grqphical upgrade without sacrificing too much in other technical aspects like framerate/performance. Nowadays if you want that kind of upgrade you’re better off making a big investment in a beefy gaming rig because consoles have a realistic price point to consider, and even then we’re getting to a point of diminishing returns when it comes to the real noticeable graphical differences. Even back in the '80s/'90s the most powerful consoles of the time (such as the Neo Geo) were prohibitively expensive for most people. Either way, the most lauded games of the past few years have been the ones that put the biggest focus on aspects like engaging gameplay and/or immersive story and setting. One of the strongest candidates for this year’s Game of the Year could probably run on a potato and was basically poker with some interesting twists: essentially the opposite of a big studio AAA game. Baldur’s Gate 3 showed studios that gamers are looking for an actual complete game for their $60, and indie hits such as the aforementioned Balatro are showing then that you can make games look and play great without all the super realistic graphics or immense budget if you have that solid gameplay, story/setting and art style. Call of Duty Black Ops 48393 with the only real “innovation” being more realistic sun glare on your rifle is just asking for failure.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Frostpunk creators cancel "Project 8" and lay off staff amid concerns that "narrative-driven, story-rich games" don't sell⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Odd to say Veilguard was a success when from what I can tell, one of the few things uniting the very fractured and divided gaming community this year was that the writing in Veilguard was horrible. And you know that’s true when the various members of that community can give their own varied reasons why the writing was horrible and they would all be valid.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What game surprised you with their length?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The only time I was really caught off guard by a game like that was Darksiders II. I went into the final area expecting a gauntlet of challenges, beat the first big boss enemy in there… And final cutscene and credits. That guy was the final boss. Made me literally put down the controller and say “That was it?” I’ve always known long games were going to be long going in to them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Vice Undercover imagines an alternate past where '80s drug lords had the internet, so obviously you've gotta hack 'em⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Sounds a lot like Hypnospace Outlaw, which came out a few years ago and had you exploring a fictional Internet from the mid/late-90s era on an OS designed to mimic Windows 95/98 (with an upgrade to an XP-like desktop later in the game). You were basically a mod/censor who went around and busted people for copyright infringement and stuff. Also a real nostalgia trip if you miss that kind of aesthetic.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Making peace with liking very few games?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You have a narrow taste in games and that’s perfectly OK, nothing to be ashamed of at all. Enjoy what you like. You have no obligation whatsoever to play the newest, most popular thing just to keep up with the gaming Joneses. The list of popular games I haven’t tried myself is MUCH longer than the list of them I have played, either because they don’t appeal to me or I just don’t have the spare time or money, and I am 100% fine with that. I buy the games I know I’ll put time into and enjoy and don’t worry about the rest.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New report claims gamers spend more time watching videos about gaming than playing games⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Checks out. I’m the same as others have mentioned, after work I’d rather just tune out and watch someone play a game (or have it on in the background) than actually build up the mental strength to play one myself, or at least a game that has any challenge to it, most days. If I play a game on an evening after work, I’m usually just cruising the Paldea region in Pokemon hunting for shinies or some other interesting pokemon to catch. I can just shut my brain off, move my character around, and look for a different colored pokemon.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What video game company/developer/publisher loves shitting on it's fans?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  TBF, the Smash Bros community brought their all-but-destruction on themselves. The rest is pretty valid, though.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What video game company/developer/publisher loves shitting on it's fans?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A better question would be which one doesn’t, the list of those who don’t would be a lot shorter than those who do in some way, shape or form. All three major console companies, any second party devs associated with them, and most major third party console or PC devs and publishers pull some sort of anti-consumer BS or another. The wall of shame includes the likes of EA, Ubisoft, Capcom, Square-Enix, Activision Blizzard, and many more. One of the huge selling points of BG3 was that it was a major release that didn’t have anything in it designed to screw fans over, and it was (deservedly) greatly praised and rewarded by the fans for it, to the point that other jealous devs/publishers freaked out about the future of their business if more of them followed suit. That should tell you all you need to know.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What games have you put the most hours into?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Pokemon, either Pokemon Sword or Pokemon Violet, I would have to look at the Switch itself to compare, but last I looked at either one it was around something hours. Shiny hunting can be a surprisingly cozy time-waster, lol.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D is out and it is beautiful⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Due to my financial situation I shouldn’t be buying any games right now, but this is so tempting to buy anyway.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Zeebo, only released in Mexico and Brazil. More info in the comments⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The YouTube channel Stop Skeletons From Fighting made an entertaining and informative series of videos on the Zeebo and its games. Definitely recommend it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Windows 7 and 8 now dead for gaming, as new Steam update pulls support⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Kinda weird of me to be throwing this out there as a longtime Linux user, but TBF XP was quite good too, maybe even better for its time than 7.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Larian revealed that Baldur's Gate 3 has sold 2 copies in the Vatican⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It would probably also have to run on Red Star OS. It runs well enough on Linux with Proton, but would they have Proton?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Larian revealed that Baldur's Gate 3 has sold 2 copies in the Vatican⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Believe it or not, the Catholic Church is far less into the “Satanic Panic” idea that anything that mentions magic and stuff is evil and should be avoided than most Protestant Christian churches, especially the Evangelicals. Pretty much the only thing they consider sinful outright in the media is porn, otherwise you’re just advised to avoid stuff that influences you to commit other sins. This includes things like Baldur’s Gate 3. If it’s not influencing you to sin, it’s not a sin to play. Same with Harry Potter and other stuff like that. It’s just some extreme folks in the Church, influenced by the Evangelicals, who push the Satanic Panic farther than the Church officially teaches and give the Church a bad name in that regard. Lots of priests are sci-fi/fantasy/gamer nerds, and Tolkien (author of Lord of the Rings) was a faithful practicing Catholic.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nintendo sues a streamer for streaming ten games before their release⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Exactly. This has much more to do with pirating games, especially before release, than any emulator crackdown. He’s the poster child of every reason Nintendo has used to go after anyone not using legit hardware. And frankly, I think more people than many are comfortable admitting are like this guy: they use emulators primarily for piracy. I’m not 100% totally against emulation, but that’s where we need to point companies like Nintendo who are hyper-aggressive with their IPs to the real target: illegal ROM sharing sites and other avenues of game piracy, instead of the emulators. People who are emulating just for backup/preservation of games, as many claim they are (and I don’t have a problem with), shouldn’t really have an objection to the real pirates going down.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Guy Who Taunted Nintendo About Streaming Pirated Switch Games Before Release Now Faces $7.5 Million Lawsuit⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, play with fire enough and you’ll get burned. No sympathy from me.