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I have played Pillars of Eternity, Life is Strange, and Tyranny. To be clear, I'm not talking about the choices having an effect on the game world, I'm talking about the deliberate exploration of concept. In the case of these three, I like them all in terms of the meaningfulness of their choices if that's what I am going for, relative to stuff like Dishonored or Deus Ex. They are good examples of player agency. However, in this request I think Tyranny is probably the best candidate as something that explores different ways of being a bad person. Anyways I am a turbonerd please dig deep
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Dec 12, 2021 22:36
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Omori, maybe? If you want exploration of concepts you might be better off looking at visual novels, walking sims, point & clicks, or text adventures rather than RPGs.
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Dec 12, 2021 22:40
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Hwurmp posted:Omori, maybe? Maybe so but the problem is I also want to feel like I am playing a video game
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Dec 12, 2021 22:42
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Shine posted:Space Rangers is loving dope. I gushed a out it in the stickied Best Games Ever thread. Definitely one to try if you like games where you, individually, are not special. You play by basically the same rules as everybody else, in ways that are both neat and frustrating. It's one of those games I'll reinstall every 2-3 years and lose myself in it for a month or two. It's been years since I tried a Space Rangers run. One thing I loved about an early version of the game is that it would minimize itself to your system tray and drop CPU usage to 0. It would do this whenever it lost focus. a) more games, nearly all games, should do this b) this is a game that knows the environment in which it is being played, i.e., the workplace Shine, if you ever get the desire to author a bigger writeup of SR2 in the best games thread, I morally support your endeavor.
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Dec 12, 2021 22:48
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signalnoise posted:I have played Pillars of Eternity, Life is Strange, and Tyranny. To be clear, I'm not talking about the choices having an effect on the game world, I'm talking about the deliberate exploration of concept. In the case of these three, I like them all in terms of the meaningfulness of their choices if that's what I am going for, relative to stuff like Dishonored or Deus Ex. They are good examples of player agency. However, in this request I think Tyranny is probably the best candidate as something that explores different ways of being a bad person. Synthetik is a game that explores such deep and captivating concepts as "How many ways is there for a high speed lead projectile to pierce a synthetic cranium." and "Can you really trust your fellow man when he's got a high powered sniper rifle and you're currently between him and his enemies."
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Dec 12, 2021 22:48
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Have you played Undertale?
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Dec 12, 2021 22:49
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signalnoise posted:Tell me the RPGs that take on cool topics like ethics directly like Shin Megami Tensei or Ultima but in the cool exploratory way those do it, not the gimmick way games like Dishonored, Deus Ex, or The Witcher do it, where it's just kind of a story toggle instead of that being the point. Obvious suggestion but Planescape Torment
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Dec 12, 2021 22:49
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pathologic
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Dec 12, 2021 22:58
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DEEPER. ENHANCE.
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Dec 12, 2021 23:05
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signalnoise posted:DEEPER. Go figure it out then
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Dec 12, 2021 23:11
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Well what are the things in other genres? It's a tough pill to swallow that there are like 6 games/series in RPGs that have core themes that the story and characters revolve around, but I'll take it. Show me the walking simulators that tickle this itch! 
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Dec 12, 2021 23:19
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SOMA maybe?
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Dec 13, 2021 00:04
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grate deceiver posted:SOMA maybe? You're not the first person to recommend it, so I think I'll have to give it a shot. I am very scareable though so let me know if it is like, actually frightening, or just some stupid jump scare or Until Dawn type "horror"?
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Dec 13, 2021 00:07
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signalnoise posted:Well what are the things in other genres? It's a tough pill to swallow that there are like 6 games/series in RPGs that have core themes that the story and characters revolve around, but I'll take it. Show me the walking simulators that tickle this itch! Eliza.
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Dec 13, 2021 00:11
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signalnoise posted:You're not the first person to recommend it, so I think I'll have to give it a shot. I am very scareable though so let me know if it is like, actually frightening, or just some stupid jump scare or Until Dawn type "horror"? There's a few sections where you have to run away and hide from monsters, but there's mods to turn all enemies off so you can experience it as a pure walking simulator
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Dec 13, 2021 00:21
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signalnoise posted:Tell me the RPGs that take on cool topics like ethics directly like Shin Megami Tensei or Ultima but in the cool exploratory way those do it, not the gimmick way games like Dishonored, Deus Ex, or The Witcher do it, where it's just kind of a story toggle instead of that being the point. have you played tactics ogre? the psp remake is very good
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Dec 13, 2021 00:34
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exquisite tea posted:Eliza. I like this recommendation, and have now wishlisted it! Every once in a while I come across what looks like a good visual novel, but it's hard to build up a taste for them. grate deceiver posted:There's a few sections where you have to run away and hide from monsters, but there's mods to turn all enemies off so you can experience it as a pure walking simulator Thanks for that, I'll keep it in mind. Also something that came to mind that would go along with the solid recommendations for agency games that some of yall might appreciate if you haven't played it but like the telltale style presentation of adventure game- The Council is a pretty decent one in my opinion for just having a lot of different branches to go with, a ridiculous story, and a neat stats system. Along the same lines, I haven't ever played them, but I have heard good things about The Longest Journey, or at least that it became good by the end of Dreamfall Chapters, and it always seemed to have something interesting going on. Anyone got an idea on if it's a good game/series, what parts are worth skipping, and/or if it fits my criteria separately? ninjewtsu posted:have you played tactics ogre? the psp remake is very good Hell yeah dude, Knight of Lodis too
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Dec 13, 2021 00:35
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signalnoise posted:You're not the first person to recommend it, so I think I'll have to give it a shot. I am very scareable though so let me know if it is like, actually frightening, or just some stupid jump scare or Until Dawn type "horror"? most of SOMA's horror is about guilt, more than surprise or terror there are a few segments where a creepy monster is wandering around and you have to not get near it or look at it, but it's more a constant presence than jump scares (also, honestly, it's the weakest part of the game. strongly recommend playing on the narrative mode because being able to lose doesn't actually add anything to the experience except tedium)
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Dec 13, 2021 00:37
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Longest Journey/Dreamfall is deffo worth checking out Also remembered about Consortium - it looks ugly, but it does some interesting things, I've played through it a couple of times to see everything
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Dec 13, 2021 00:42
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:most of SOMA's horror is about guilt, more than surprise or terror Right on, thanks for the heads up. I can do with Condemned levels of scary.
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Dec 13, 2021 00:42
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Kentucky Route Zero?
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Dec 13, 2021 01:57
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signalnoise posted:Tell me the RPGs that take on cool topics like ethics directly like Shin Megami Tensei or Ultima but in the cool exploratory way those do it, not the gimmick way games like Dishonored, Deus Ex, or The Witcher do it, where it's just kind of a story toggle instead of that being the point. Save earth from aliens, explore cool planets on the way and decide what to sell and what to save, ranging from scrap to whole civilizations. It's an adventure and choices definitely matter, with optional tactical space battles, some time management and high replayability. Everyone should play this btw.
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Dec 13, 2021 02:09
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Mind Scanners
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Dec 13, 2021 02:39
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Papers Please, Frostpunk, This War of Mine, The Gods Will Be Watching? Lisa?
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Dec 13, 2021 02:57
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Funktor posted:Kentucky Route Zero? I've heard of this, but I'd never heard of it in a way that really describes what it's about. It looks interesting, but summaries talk about it being an adventure game and talks about the setting of the plot rather than the theme/topic. Could you elaborate just a little on what it's about outside of the scenario itself? RabbitWizard posted:The Captain I'm not sure it applies to what I'm looking for in this particular context, but I'll definitely be wishlisting it because it looks rad otherwise, in a Backbone sort of way. If it also satisfies what I described it'll just be that much sweeter. PosSibley posted:Mind Scanners Seems sort of like a sci-fi psychology Papers, Please? Neat, I'm interested to see where that goes. I'll check it out. SlothfulCobra posted:Papers Please, Frostpunk, This War of Mine, Tried Papers, Please already. I wasn't aware Frostpunk really had much going that would put it in the same list as Lisa and This War of Mine, so I'll definitely be looking into that. I think I have This War of Mine free from psplus or something already, so thanks for the reminder on that. The Gods Will Be Watching? Steam description says "centered on despair, commitment, and sacrifice as players face narrative puzzles and moral dilemmas that will affect both the lives of your team and the people you’re are sworn to protect." Yep that's a wishlister. I haven't played Lisa yet mainly because videos on it seem to have focused a lot on punishment of the player directly. Is it as annoying to play as random shitlords have made it out to be? Is it more or less annoying to deal with than occassional random battles, for instance?
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Dec 13, 2021 04:58
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The gameplay experience of lisa is perfectly adequate and fits the narrative. Hbomberguy had a video where he sung praises on the game's combat design to high heavens and while I don't disagree with anything he said I don't think the end product is really a selling point of the game, so much as it doesn't drag the game down. There's just only so much you can do with that style of turn based combat to make it interesting. Punishment on the player is generally fairly minor and more of a prank the game pulls on you than anything. There's some very notable exceptions where the game asks you to choose if you're willing to have a much worse time in exchange for not compromising on your morals and if you choose to not compromise your morals the game delivers exactly as hard as the weight of those decisions would imply. There's also one segment that is very much the game just being a dick to you and imo it's very funny. But even then the cruelty is really playing more into the attachment players will typically form to party members than how much harder it actually makes the game. Just keep in mind that the game has several dozen party members so permanently losing a few does not by any means torpedo your ability to finish the game ninjewtsu fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Dec 13, 2021 |
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Dec 13, 2021 05:13
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ninjewtsu posted:There's just only so much you can do with that style of turn based combat to make it interesting. Oh, yeah that's fine, that style of combat system is really rare to get actually fun. What I was more concerned with was whether the game itself was overly punitive outside combat and wasting the player's time. I take it from your response that's a no, was just making sure because you can never tell with what you read or watch these days about games on platforms. I'll take this thread's weird over that though for sure. Great recs today thank you
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Dec 13, 2021 05:21
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I think if I was to sum up how lisa is a dick to you in the gameplay it'd be that it's designed to make you feel like you're always on the knife's edge, even though in actuality it's a pretty generous and easy game. It's very good at feeling punishing without really being all that punishing - the game is pretty well designed to make success still reasonable even if you get hit by every awful event, so just keep soldiering on and it'll be fine.
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Dec 13, 2021 05:29
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Oh also frostpunk is the same devs as this war of mine. I dunno if I'd rec it just for the narrative but what's there is reasonably in line with your original ask
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Dec 13, 2021 05:35
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ninjewtsu posted:Oh also frostpunk is the same devs as this war of mine. I dunno if I'd rec it just for the narrative but what's there is reasonably in line with your original ask Yeah I mean at the end of the day this particular ask is for directly addressing the thing. Like going further out, Judgment revolves around decisions the characters make that display good or bad judgment, whether it is by judging a person incorrectly, having various means justify ends, doing things for atonement, and so on. Then you've got Eternal Sonata, which is directly set in the dreams of Frédéric Chopin while he was dying, and various npcs are stand-ins for his relationships and emotions and stuff. There are lots of games that do it without much narrative, and that just means they do it in less time, I think :p. Anyway I know it's kind of a weird ask because it's so specific and sort of subjective, but it's getting me results so that's cool with me!
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Dec 13, 2021 05:59
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The main theme of Frostpunk is trying hard to keep everyone working so that they stay alive through the harsh cold, and in addition to the crises posed to you by the scripted missions, there's a tree of laws that may provide useful tools potentially at more of a cost than you think you should've paid. Lisa is a very dark game punctuated by weird silly bits or dark humor, mostly drawing its influence from being some very adult version of Earthbound, but with minor platforming mechanics, and I think there's some weird things to think about in there that might qualify as philosophical, but I'm not gonna doublecheck because it's very dark. Kinda like all those JRPGs about high schoolers killing eachother.
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Dec 13, 2021 06:08
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Gods Will Be Waching I found tedious and not fun to play at all. All you're doing is preventing some counters from going down and making some others go up, it's the type of gyme you could probably solve with an excel spreadsheet if anyone cared about it enough. I guess most games are about balancing numbers in some sense, but this one hides it really badly. Also OP, play Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. It has 'cool concepts' coming out the rear end and remains the best 4x made even 20 years later
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Dec 13, 2021 15:12
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I found it kind of hard to get into how dated the UI was. Would buy an HD remaster with overhauled UI in a heartbeat.
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Dec 13, 2021 19:24
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Has nobody made OpenAlphaCentauri or something? Seems like the kind of game that would.
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Dec 13, 2021 19:37
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Frostpunk is a bad (or maybe it would be better to say "simple" or "basic") city builder but a very solid narrative game that uses the city-building mechanics mainly as a plot device. I found it had very little replay value and even on a first go-round there wasn't that much strategic depth but it was still a lot of fun, just not for the reasons you would expect if you went in thinking it was, like, an Anno clone or something.
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Dec 13, 2021 20:19
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signalnoise posted:Tell me the RPGs that take on cool topics like ethics directly like Shin Megami Tensei or Ultima but in the cool exploratory way those do it, not the gimmick way games like Dishonored, Deus Ex, or The Witcher do it, where it's just kind of a story toggle instead of that being the point. All right, this is going to sound crazy but hear me out: Hearts of Iron 4 (yes, that one, the Paradox Interactive grand strategy game), with The New Order (TNO) installed as a mod. TNO explores what the world would look like if the Axis powers had achieved total and unconditional victory over the allies and Soviets during world war 2. It takes place a few decades later, in the sixties. It is also more akin to a visual novel (and an impressive one, at that) that has been wrangled into a wargame's mechanics, but it does so impressively, using the Hearts of Iron 4 mechanics to tell a story. While the setting sounds like a wet dream for Wehraboos, the mod critically explores what such a victory would look like, and it's not pretty - even for the winners. Fascism always requires an external threat to keep sustaining itself - once victory has been achieved, the fascists cannot help but turn on each other. Soon after the game start, everything goes to poo poo, and this gives an opportunity to the last remaining holdouts of the free world to fight back now the fascists are destroying themselves. In a lot of ways, it's a critical examination and dismantling of fascism as an ideology. As a visual novel, it also carries themes that, even in the darkest times when all seems lost, we should always fight for a future we believe is better, and there is always hope. I'm probably overselling the mod's literary qualities quite a bit, but if you go into the mod with that design philosophy in mind you might scratch the itch you're seeking (even if it's all kind of shoehorned into a straight up war simulation game)
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Dec 13, 2021 21:13
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Deltasquid posted:All right, this is going to sound crazy but hear me out: Just reading about that mod and watching playthroughs of it was legit disturbing, especially the part with the nuclear apocalypse. Definitely in competition with Defcon for most disturbing portrayal of nuclear armageddon in a game.
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Dec 13, 2021 22:35
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Jack Trades posted:Has nobody made OpenAlphaCentauri or something? Seems like the kind of game that would. Probably because you’d be subject to DMCA claims from Take Two and EA if you included the original characters and without the characters it’s just an OK game.
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Dec 13, 2021 22:36
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So I'm looking for a recommendation for games that are fun to play, but not long to play. The sort of game where you can just play it for an hour in the evening and not feel pulled to play more of it -- they have neat stopping points and they don't pull you in with a drip-drip-drip of upgrades and features. I'm getting pretty exhausted with a lot of RPG's and even multiplayer games where you need to spend hours of your time just to get to play with the cool upgrades and mechanics, and the little skinner box design where new features or upgrades are drip-fed to you. I want something where progression is relatively fast and you have free rein to experiment. Some games I've enjoyed in the past have been Age of Empires II, Slay the Spire, Nova Drift. These are games where I can play them for around an hour at most, quickly play around with different playstyles, and then when I'm done, I can drop it and go do other things without feeling the urge to go back and score some new upgrade or whatever. Games I've enjoyed but don't want are Factorio, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Rimworld. These games suck up a lot of time, and it's easy for me to fall victim to that "Just one more turn" mentality.
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Dec 13, 2021 23:03
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Xanderkish posted:So I'm looking for a recommendation for games that are fun to play, but not long to play. The sort of game where you can just play it for an hour in the evening and not feel pulled to play more of it -- they have neat stopping points and they don't pull you in with a drip-drip-drip of upgrades and features. Hades
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Dec 13, 2021 23:15
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