Skip Navigation

InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)CO
Posts
0
Comments
201
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • It's crazy how far micro-transactions and monetizing games have come since Bethesda charged $2.50 for cosmetic armor to put on your horse. If you'd told someone back then that one day an in-game mount would cost more than the game itself they would have laughed you out of the room.

  • Latter-stage of its life cycle? It feels like it just came out. I haven't even bought a next-gen console yet. I know that there are mid-gen refreshes supposedly in the works, but sometimes it feels like both Sony and Microsoft are just kind of checking out of this generation

  • Always impressed by the lengths people will go to preserve game history and more than a little concerned about them getting cease-and-desisted by Nintendo. At least it looks like it's already on the Internet Archive, so that's good.

  • Back to Yakuza: Like A Dragon after a week of playing steam demos from the Next Fest. I was surprised at just how many I ended up enjoying. Crypt Custodian is a neat little metroidvania about a cat sentenced to be the underworld's janitor. Nice art style, sense of humor, and good puzzles. Cryptmaster is a typing-based dungeon crawler where every enemy you defeat gives you letters that you use to spell out the names of the skills you use in combat. It's certainly an inventive take and I'm looking forward to the release. Surprisingly, my favorite demo ended up being for a platformer called Happy! the Hippo. It's based on janky PS2-era platformers like Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. The game is purpose built for you to pull off those kind of tricks where you skip chunks of the level or even break outside the bounds of the game entirely. It's really fun to play, but what I'm really enjoying about the game is the weird, almost horror game stuff that shows up the longer you play. It feels like an ARG game in a way, like Crow 64 if anyone remembers that. Or something like Shipwreck 64, a game that is a platformer on the surface but is actually a horror game once you get in far enough. Except Happy! the Hippo never turns into a horror game. At least not in the demo. There's plenty of strange stuff the more you explore, but it never descends into an outright horror game. It feels like all the talk about how old 3D platformers could be unsettling and odd was a major inspiration for the game. Hoping the finished the game keeps that tone when it releases.

  • Hard to say if he's right given how much of this is behind-the-scenes business dealing. I honestly didn't think much about them ending support for the game, since it had been so long since it was released. Still, announcing they were going to support the game until 2025 and then ending updates the same year their sequel game is supposed to launch isn't a great look. Especially since Evil Empire was still talking about continuing updates last year. Makes it seem like a sudden decision on Motion Twin's end. It's impossible to say for sure, but it really feels like they didn't want their old game serving as competition. Hopefully Evil Empire is able to recover and start work on their own project.

  • The gaming industry is dying is an ice-cold take at this point, but I really don't see how it's sustainable in its current form with the way things are going right now. Sure, the analysts are saying things will course correct, but how is that supposed to happen if nothing in the industry changes? Games are just going to get more expensive to make and it feels like the cost-cutting is only going to get worse as more companies invest in AI tech.

  • Seven years feels about right for a length between consoles. I am curious to see what they do with it. It's hard to see Nintendo not sticking with the handheld console approach with the Switch 2, but just building a more powerful Switch doesn't feel very Nintendo, if that makes sense. Like there has to be some feature or gimmick to set it apart from the Switch.

  • It's really been whiplash inducing to go from reading about how Microsoft was going to dominate gaming because of the Activision buyout to reading about how Microsoft is going to be the next Sega and are possibly exiting the console market. And it all happened in the span of a few months.

  • Sure it is, Yves. If any game would qualify as quadruple A it's the Black Flag spinoff that's been in development hell for years. Genuinely curious how long this game lasts, even if it does get good reviews and finds an audience. Feels like Ubisoft would have cancelled this ages ago if the government of Singapore hadn't been providing subsidies to help fund the project.

  • Yes, because console wars. A lot of people that bought into the Xbox brand are angry Microsoft is "giving up" and "disgracing" developers by putting their games on PlayStation. It doesn't help that without a clear statement from Microsoft people are free to speculate that Microsoft is going to be the next Sega and Phil Spencer is going to personally come to their house and destroy their Xbox.

    More seriously, there is some genuine concern about what will happen to the digital libraries of people who bought into the Xbox eco-system if Xbox stops being a thing. Or what will happen if the AAA game market comes down to Sony and Nintendo. But there are a lot of people angry their favorite mega-corporation "lost" even though we have no idea what Microsoft's actual plans are.

  • Well, that's certainly not going to reassure Xbox fans. Just seems like they're waiting for things to die down before confirming the rumors. It will be interesting to see how that goes. If they start treating PlayStation the way Sony treats PC in terms of releases then I could maybe see the Xbox consoles staying afloat as a Gamepass box. I've seen speculation that they'll pull out of the console market entirely, but I just can't see Gamepass coming to the PS5 or Switch especially since Sony has been trying to build up their own answer to Gamepass with their PS plus tiers. Then again stranger things have happened. If they do decide to become the next Sega it's going to be surreal watching Halo and Gears of War show up on PlayStation.

  • Honestly, I'm curious to see if this rumor turns out to be true. If it does then I'm not really sure what that means for Xbox in the long-term. Putting just Starfield out on PS5 is one thing, but it sounds like they are thinking of putting most if not all of their first-party games on other platforms. If you're releasing your first-party games on other consoles then what exactly is the point of the Xbox? Is it just going to become a Game Pass box or are they planning on pulling out of the hardware business entirely like Sega?

  • Finally got around to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so I've been making my way through that. Enjoying the turn-based RPG game-play a lot more than I was expecting. Focused on the main story right now, but the side-content I've dabbled in has been pretty fun. Feels like one of those games I'm going to be chipping away at for a while.

    I've also been playing Dread Delusion and absolutely loving it. I don't tend to pick up Early Access games, but hearing it described as a "Morrowind-like" RPG caught my interest and it is the perfect way to describe the game. It really captures that feeling of playing Morrowind for the first time, of being a nobody in a strange land. The game doesn't even give you a map when you start out. You have to get by on directions and landmarks until you complete the side quest that gives you a map. And even then you have to fill it out as you explore the world. More than that, it's that sense that you never really know what you're going to encounter around the next corner. You can wander into a town looking for your contact to continue the main quest only to end up accepting a quest from the atheistic Inquisition to help them hunt down a rogue god and their followers.

    Like I said it's still Early Access so it is a little rough around the edges. There's more than a handful of bugs and the combat is...fine, but not much else. Then again there's such a focus on sneaking, talking, and magicing your way around problems that that might be intentional. Still, what I've played so far has got me excited for when the finished product releases.

  • Granted, it is from GamesIndustry.biz, but this really seems aimed more at investors and shareholders who are going to have a very skewed sense of what hopeful means. Personally I'd say all of the indie hits we saw in 2023, and continue to see in 2024, are a good reason to be hopeful about the future of the industry. I'd also throw in the success of Baldur's Gate 3, which brought CRPGs back into mainstream prominence after years of being a niche genre for hardcore fans.

  • I mean, every "Mon" series has to deal with the fact that your basically making animals fight for your amusement, but that this is somehow a good and normal part of the world that the player shouldn't think too much about. But yeah, unless the game is trying to actually comment on that aspect of the genre then it's probably best not to even bring it up. Palworld is an interesting case. What with the guns, putting pals to work, and butchering them for resources. Admittedly, I haven't played the game, but it really doesn't paint the player in the best light. You're certainly not an innocent ten-year old off an adventure. If anything you'd be a villain in a Pokemon game. But it's difficult to say how hard the game wants you to think about that. Like, is the fact that the game lets you do all these things the developers way of saying "Being a Mon trainer would be really messed up if these games were realistic" or is it part of the "Pokemon with Guns!" attitude that has been a big part of the marketing?

    Either way, I think that a game that focused on building a cooperative relationship between a "trainer" and their Mons would be interesting. Like instead of just capturing them and sticking them in a PC you would need to actually work to keep them satisfied and willing to follow you. Kind of like SMT mechanics, but more of a constant relationship you have to manage. Could get tedious, but it's an interesting idea.