Grangle1

@Grangle1@lemm.ee

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨what was the last game you played in 2024?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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 ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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 ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨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 ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨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 ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨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 ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨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 ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨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 ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨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 ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨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 ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

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

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sega is delisting 60 classic games from Steam, so now’s the time to grab them⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They already did this with the classic Sonic games (Sonic Origins) and removed them from any new Steam copies of the Genesis/Mega Drive Classics collection. I doubt they’re working on all the games in their library, but it may be enough of them that they just decided to pull the whole collection rather than leave it so gutted out. Sucks, but yeah, that’s the way it goes. That said, Shining Force remaster please? That would be awesome.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sega is delisting 60 classic games from Steam, so now’s the time to grab them⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Classics collection. I have it myself (bought several years ago). It’s just an official emulator/GUI wrapper (styled like a bedroom with a CRT) that comes with the games. If you have the collection you can find all the ROMs in the collection’s folder and play them with whatever emulator you want. If Steam ever threatens to take them away I strongly recommend backing that folder up somewhere.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pocketpair Confirms Which Patents Nintendo And The Pokemon Company Are Suing It Over⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  To be fair, they’re both Japanese companies, but yeah, Japan’s patent/trademark/copyright laws, or at least the way they’re enforced, make America’s look like China’s. It’s a big part of how Nintendo can be the copyright bullies they are: they’ll do this, file suit in Japan, and steamroll anyone who dares oppose them in court. Because both companies in this case are Japanese, though, all the Japan vs foreigner stuff doesn’t really apply here.

  And as a foreigner who lived in Japan in the past, I will say there’s some truth to the above, but it’s a bit exaggerated. Due to that homogeneity, 90+ percent of any racism anyone might experience there is due to stereotypes, not hostility or hatred. It’s still wrong, but more due to ignorance. That is, unless you’re Chinese or Korean. Japan, China and Korea HATE each other (each one hates the other two) for many historical reasons, and while the hostility isn’t as overt nowadays, it still simmers just under the surface. The US is basically forcing Japan and South Korea to play nice and be “allies” so that China and North Korea don’t run them both over. Otherwise, they would all be at each other’s throats.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Random Screenshots of my Games #47 - Cult of the Lamb⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Fun fact: at least in the Catholic Church, “cult” is a neutral word that basically means “popular following”. In the Church, it’s mostly used to refer to particular devotions or holy people that catch on in local communities and spread to a wider area, which the Church may look into for official " approval" for anyone to participate in or promote worldwide, or as a beginning sign that a holy person may become a saint. Even if the Church doesn’t officially canonize a person a saint, they may still say the person has a “cult” in a particular area.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Batman: Arkham Origins - TV Spot [YouTube]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Origins tends to be the “forgotten” title in the Arkham series since it wasn’t developed by the same studio and doesn’t feature many of the iconic characters/villains of the others (just Penguin, Deathstroke, Riddler and Joker), but IMO it’s still a very good game that can be held up with the others in the series and can introduce players to a variety of other members of Batman’s rogues gallery they may have not heard of before.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Barrel of Doom | Screenshot of what I'm playing, day 5⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Ah, yes, that infamous barrel. Claims many a hedgehog’s life due to timing out. I did actually manage once or twice as a kid to get under it through fast and clever jumping, until I only learned in adulthood that you’re supposed to move the D-pad up and down to control it. Really doesn’t help that the game doesn’t show you before how to control a barrel like that, and that stage can push players to the edge of danger timewise with or without that barrel.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Stories and Mechanics around punishing over-aggression⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Competitive Pokémon tends to go back and forth between times of “stall” (turtling) and hyper-offense (aggression) dominating the metagame, depending on which strategies and team builds players will find. Whenever one becomes dominant, fans of the other will constantly hound tournament runners to change tiering or ban certain pokemon to change it.

  As for a “fun” game to go hyper-aggressive with zero HP, max damage, I’ve seen some YouTubers attempt “Danger Mario” runs in the first two Paper Mario games, maximizing FP and BP and never taking HP when leveling, keeping Mario in the “danger” zone where lots of evasion or damage badges will stay activated. They then rely on those badges, items and partner abilities to avoid taking damage.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'It Has Plateaued': Should We Be Worried About Console Gaming's Future?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What I mean is, whether or not there’s going to be a visible graphical upgrade in the Switch 2. The console’s existence has been known for a while.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'It Has Plateaued': Should We Be Worried About Console Gaming's Future?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Within console generations, change has indeed always tended to be gradual, but I think the point here is that we’re talking about the step up to the next console generation, for which the visual difference in graphical power used to be very large, you could do a lot more on the newer console than the older one, but has become more gradual over time. Many already didn’t see the need to upgrade to the new Playstation or Xbox from the PS4 or Xbox One, and a lot of their libraries were backported to the older consoles (granted, the consoles dropped during Covid so scarcity played a part in that but even after production picked back up they’re not doing as well overall). The only console that could still likely make a big visual leap to a new generation any time soon is the Switch to the Switch 2, and we still don’t have confirmation on whether Nintendo is even planning on such an upgrade. Just like the Wii, it sold like crazy while still being the least powerful in the generation because it had a knockout combination of utility and quality games. On the other hand, it is showing its age now, so if Nintendo doesn’t make that upgrade who knows if the fans will continue to support it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sonic x Shadow Generations | Review Thread⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The original got overshadowed (pun not intended) by high profile releases such as SKYRIM and a new Mario Kart at the time and was followed up by the very mid Sonic Lost World, so here’s hoping the good reviews help people decide to pick this up and actually see 3D Sonic done right.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A Trip To Machida, The Real-Life 'Pallet Town' That Inspired Pokémon⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I always thought Pokemon regions being inspired by real-world regions/countries was one of its neater aspects.

  For those who don’t know:

  • Kanto: Kanto region, Japan (Tokyo and surrounding area)
  • Johto: Kansai region, Japan (Osaka, Kyoto, etc)
  • Hoenn: Kyushu island and Okinawa, Japan
  • Sinnoh: Hokkaido island, Japan
  • Unova: New York City metro area, USA
  • Kalos: France
  • Alola: Hawaii, USA
  • Galar: the UK
  • Paldea: the Iberian peninsula (Spain, Portugal)
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shigeru Miyamoto comments on AI, says "Nintendo would rather go in a different direction"⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That said, they’re not likely to license an already made AI for their projects either, which is also nice.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Most Loved Video Game Character in Every Country⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  If they’re just scraping tweets, it’s probably looking at mentions of a million and one regular guys in the US named Sam Fisher and not the character.