Recommend me a game, again

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Recommend me a game, again

SkeletonHero: Sep 7, 2010

StoryTime posted:

There's Noita, which is a rogue-lite where you craft wands that range from shooting a magic missile to exploding the world and killing you in the process.

Technically a witch, not a wizard.

Witches are acceptable also.

These both look very much like what I'm looking for, thank you.

# ? Feb 22, 2022 18:43

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# ? May 23, 2024 14:16

deep dish peat moss: Jul 27, 2006

It's not as good of a game as Noita, but I had a lot of fun with this silly little roguelite named Runers back in 2014 and it's only $10:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/306550/Runers/

It's a short twin stick shooter/action roguelite where you collect runes and craft them into custom spells:
https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2034269/movie480.webm?t=1447363490

There's also Wizard of Legend which is a much better-playing game that's also an action roguelite about being a wizard, but it doesn't have spell crafting:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/445980/Wizard_of_Legend/

It does a good job of making wizards feel like action movie heroes instead of grumpy old men:
https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/256716903/movie480.webm?t=1526402113

deep dish peat moss fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Feb 22, 2022

# ? Feb 22, 2022 18:54

LLSix: Jan 20, 2010; The real power behind countless overlords

SkeletonHero posted:

Good non-RPG wizard games. Action RPGs are okay. I just want to be a wizard going around doing wizard poo poo. I didn't like Magicka very much but the vibe was right.

Academagia? Bobbin did an engaging lp ages ago: https://lparchive.org/Academagia/

# ? Feb 22, 2022 19:38

ninjewtsu: Oct 9, 2012

Wizard of legend rules, seconding that rec

# ? Feb 22, 2022 19:40

SlothfulCobra: Mar 27, 2011

SkeletonHero posted:

Good non-RPG wizard games. Action RPGs are okay. I just want to be a wizard going around doing wizard poo poo. I didn't like Magicka very much but the vibe was right.

Dragon's Dogma has some of the most amazing magic I've seen in an action RPG, managing to make spellcasting a lot more kinetic and active than it usually is. And it can get weirder when you bring in the hybrid classes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCtARsbRjzM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mXQlO4iUf0

# ? Feb 22, 2022 19:41

A Worrying Warlock: Sep 21, 2009

SkeletonHero posted:

Good non-RPG wizard games. Action RPGs are okay. I just want to be a wizard going around doing wizard poo poo. I didn't like Magicka very much but the vibe was right.

Wizard of Legend is fun, but the above mentioned Noita is great.

# ? Feb 22, 2022 22:34

SkeletonHero: Sep 7, 2010

Thank you all for the wonderful wizard/witch game suggestions. Masterworks, all.

# ? Feb 23, 2022 02:30

Hyper Crab Tank: Feb 10, 2014; The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation

Ziggurat 2 is a roguelite FPS where you are a variety of wizards using a variety of wands, spells, staves and (magical?) rocket launchers to massacre a variety of monsters. It plays like your typical FPS but it also has like, levelups and perks and stuff during the run.

# ? Feb 23, 2022 17:23

Jack Trades: Nov 30, 2010

SkeletonHero posted:

Good non-RPG wizard games. Action RPGs are okay. I just want to be a wizard going around doing wizard poo poo. I didn't like Magicka very much but the vibe was right.

Arx Fatalis (with the Arx Libertalis mod, so it works on modern machines) is the game that nails being a wizard best, IMO.
ALL spells consist out of runes that you need to draw to cast a spell and those runes can be translated to actual words, which you can switch out to cast a different spell.
For example you might learn that Create-Missile casts a Magic Missile but if you were to do a Create-Fire-Missile then you cast a Fireball instead.
Or if you learned that the Heal spell was Increase-Life, then you could via some experimentation draw the Increase rune upside-down and find a secret Harm spell by drawing Decrease-Life instead.

# ? Feb 23, 2022 17:51

ninjewtsu: Oct 9, 2012

tangent to the original question as it's kind of an RPG, but i think Outward is the game that most made me feel like a wizard. played it co-op with some friends and being the dude who had specific dietary and
(lack of) sleep requirements, alongside the clunky-in-the-right-way shortcut system really added a lot to the feeling that i have massive power at my fingertips but doing any of it is very convoluted. i carry 3 different types of lantern on my person at all times and keep spares in my pack because "flamethrower" is the most convenient to cast spell and for just that one spell i have dedicated a nontrivial amount of effort into managing my inventory and equipment. my decision to be a wizard has a constant impact on every aspect of gameplay and it rules. game's great at taking what should be obnoxious mechanics and selectively applying them to enhance the experience rather than detract.

ninjewtsu fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Feb 25, 2022

# ? Feb 25, 2022 17:22

External Organs: Mar 3, 2006; One time i prank called a bear buildin workshop and said I wanted my mamaws ashes put in a teddy from where she loved them things so well... The woman on the phone did not skip a beat. She just said, "Brang her on down here. We've did it before."

So I find that I weirdly enjoy stealth kills in Elden Ring...are there any notable third person games where stealth can be a viable strategy? For some reason it just feels great.

Xbox games please. Tia!

Edit: I should probably download aragami 2 on gamepass huh.

External Organs fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Mar 2, 2022

# ? Mar 2, 2022 05:41

Party Boat: Nov 1, 2007; where did that other dog come from

who is he

Hitman Trilogy is also on game pass and you'll likely do your fair share of knocking people out / throwing cans of expired spaghetti sauce at their heads from the shadows in that.

Not on game pass and it's a bit older now but Metal Gear Solid V is a great stealth-first game.

# ? Mar 2, 2022 07:39

Jack Trades: Nov 30, 2010

External Organs posted:

So I find that I weirdly enjoy stealth kills in Elden Ring...are there any notable third person games where stealth can be a viable strategy? For some reason it just feels great.

Xbox games please. Tia!

Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War has extremely satisfying stealth kills.

# ? Mar 2, 2022 07:41

SlothfulCobra: Mar 27, 2011

There's a lot, honestly. A lot of big Open-World games have implented optional stealth systems. Still, there's a lot that are more dedicated to it as a concept.

Shadow of Mordor is one of the best, although a lot of the time you may find yourself drawn into open combat. The sequel, Shadow of War, has a demo, but it's a lot busier and more prone to drawing you into combat than the first game.
Styx, which has a demo to try to see if you like it.
Arkham Asylum, which only has like a third of the game tops as the stealth predator sections, but they're very impressive.
Sniper Elite 3 and 4. Shooter stealth games. They have a whole system where the enemy will identify where you're shooting from over time, forcing you to move to find new vantage points, unless you find something to mask the sound of your gun. There's also mechanics focused on tracking soldiers at a distance.
~~Horizon Zero Dawn has a strong stealth component to the hunting of robot dinosaurs, including setting up traps. There's also lots of bits where you hunt down and kill humans.~~ not on xbox
Metal Gear Solid V. Kind of the apotheosis of stealth shooters. Lots of tools for stealth and combat, maybe too many tools. It's hard to keep track of all your options. The whole Metal Gear series is something worth exploring, although it can vary a lot.
There's also the entire Assassin's Creed series, which has its own variation, and it is my curse to have made my way through the whole series.
- AC1 lacked story, but it's the purest to the base concept of just doing little side tasks to build up to assassinations
- AC2, Brotherhood, and Revelation, are more story-based, but lack challenge.
- AC3 added complication to the combat system to add challenge, but also was really dumb
- Liberation and Freedom Cry are smaller sidegames that are more stealth-focused and maybe better than the main games
- AC4, Rogue, and Syndicate drift a lot further from the stealth aspect of the game, although it's still there
- Origins and Odyssey have much more dynamic, open structures that encourage a range of options, as well as more detailed combat, but while stealth in theory is always an option, the level system makes it harder because higher-leveled enemies will often be able to live through a stealth assassination attack and ruin your sneaking.
- And looping all the way back to Shadow of Mordor, it sure seems like Shadow of Mordor took AC's mechanics and built a much more system-driven game out of them with a better level of challenge

# ? Mar 2, 2022 08:26

External Organs: Mar 3, 2006; One time i prank called a bear buildin workshop and said I wanted my mamaws ashes put in a teddy from where she loved them things so well... The woman on the phone did not skip a beat. She just said, "Brang her on down here. We've did it before."

You guys rule, awesome ideas. I bought the Etzio collection for 10 bucks a few months ago so that might be next on the list.

Somehow missed the Mordor games completely, I didn't really play or keep up with games from 2010-2020.

# ? Mar 2, 2022 15:47

Manager Hoyden: Mar 5, 2020

Have thee been any good phone games released lately? I'm looking for a paid game that is designed to be played on a phone. I know there are a lot of good games you can technically play on a phone, but the minute the display goes sideways to a loading screen I kind of check out

# ? Mar 2, 2022 16:09

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

If you want more stealth focused games, the original Aragami is worth checking out. There's also Shadwen, a third person stealth game by the Trine devs where time only moves when you do.

# ? Mar 2, 2022 16:11

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Manager Hoyden posted:

Have thee been any good phone games released lately? I'm looking for a paid game that is designed to be played on a phone. I know there are a lot of good games you can technically play on a phone, but the minute the display goes sideways to a loading screen I kind of check out

I got a couple I liked, Humbug is a fun puzzle game that looks great. Gets somewhat tough as you go along, but very satisfying to solve.

My Friend Pedro: Ripe for Revenge is a ground-up mobile sequel to My Friend Pedro which was an awesome game. It's a much more action-oriented game with puzzle, shooty shoot and platforming elements.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 01:47

A Worrying Warlock: Sep 21, 2009

External Organs posted:

So I find that I weirdly enjoy stealth kills in Elden Ring...are there any notable third person games where stealth can be a viable strategy? For some reason it just feels great.

Xbox games please. Tia!

Edit: I should probably download aragami 2 on gamepass huh.

A lot of people have already recommended Assassins Creed, but if you enjoy the stealth in that I would also consider giving Far Cry 3 or 4 a shot. It's the same stealth system but in first person, and can feel incredibly smooth once you get used to it. It is first person, though.

And if that isn't a problem, then Dishonored 1 and 2 are on Gamepass. They're my personal favorite stealth games, together with MGSV.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 02:07

Shine: Feb 26, 2007; No Muscles For The Majority

Metal Gear Solid V is great because if a stealth section is bothering you, you can call in a helicopter to shoot rockets at things while it blares "Take On Me."

# ? Mar 3, 2022 10:43

Phigs: Jan 23, 2019

I'm looking to research First Person Melee on PC and I'm putting together a list of games with good or interesting implementations. So far my list is:

Dying Light
Condemned
The Chronicles of Riddick
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Shadow Warrior
Chivalry
Fight Knight
Zeno Clash
FEAR 1
Jedi Academy
Far Cry Primal
City of Brass
ELDERBORN
Dishonored
Mordhau
Pirates Vikings and Knights II
Warhammer Vermintide 2
Overwatch
Elder Scrolls Online
Mortal Online 2
Mount & Blade

Can anyone think of a game not on this list? In particular I'd really like to see a game that has tried to incorporate special abilities like you get in ARPGs or WoW. But I think everything on this list is mostly light attack, heavy attack, block/parry, and maybe a kick if you're lucky.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 10:49

Magnetic North: Dec 15, 2008; Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

Phigs posted:

I'm looking to research First Person Melee on PC and I'm putting together a list of games with good or interesting implementations. So far my list is:

Today I learned that Escape from Butcher Bay never got a PC release. Huh.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 11:24

Phigs: Jan 23, 2019

It's also hard to find Assault on Dark Athena on PC, though luckily I bought it on GoG ages ago before it got taken down.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 11:30

menki: Jun 19, 2010

Phigs posted:

Can anyone think of a game not on this list? In particular I'd really like to see a game that has tried to incorporate special abilities like you get in ARPGs or WoW. But I think everything on this list is mostly light attack, heavy attack, block/parry, and maybe a kick if you're lucky.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance comes to mind. No special powers or anything, attacks are more about managing angles and setting up combos to get your opponent off-guard, but it worked pretty well. Got really hectic when handling multiple opponents, and did a good job of making character progression feel significant.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 11:39

Fat Samurai: Feb 16, 2011; To go quickly is foolish. To go slowly is prudent. Not to go; that is wisdom.

Manager Hoyden posted:

Have thee been any good phone games released lately? I'm looking for a paid game that is designed to be played on a phone. I know there are a lot of good games you can technically play on a phone, but the minute the display goes sideways to a loading screen I kind of check out

I'm playing Siralim Ultimate on Android and it's a good port. It's an RPG where you build a team from thousands of different monsters and traits to completely clown the opposition. You can be a Defiler that triggers 15 different debuffs at the start of battle, which additionally lower enemy defenses and HP and make your creatures attack out of turn when deployed, or a Pyromancer who always has a battlefield engulfed in flame, which damages your enemies and heals your dudes, who cast automatically and for free with fire spells when dealing fire damage, or a dodge focused Druid whose creatures grant each other dodge change, and counterattack and heal themselves when dodging, or a Hell Knight who se creatures get stronger and weaken your enemies as turns go by, or...

Cross platform with PC and I guess iOS. A couple of days ago all profits were going to Red Cross Ukraine, so that's a plus as well.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 11:53

Shine: Feb 26, 2007; No Muscles For The Majority

Magnetic North posted:

Today I learned that Escape from Butcher Bay never got a PC release. Huh.

It did, some years later.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 12:49

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

External Organs posted:

So I find that I weirdly enjoy stealth kills in Elden Ring...are there any notable third person games where stealth can be a viable strategy? For some reason it just feels great.

Xbox games please. Tia!

Edit: I should probably download aragami 2 on gamepass huh.

you've played Sekiro, right? just to get the obvious out of the way. because if you haven't it's an extremely similar game from the same developers except you're a ninja and the mechanics are more tuned for sneaking

# ? Mar 3, 2022 13:43

External Organs: Mar 3, 2006; One time i prank called a bear buildin workshop and said I wanted my mamaws ashes put in a teddy from where she loved them things so well... The woman on the phone did not skip a beat. She just said, "Brang her on down here. We've did it before."

Tuxedo Catfish posted:

you've played Sekiro, right? just to get the obvious out of the way. because if you haven't it's an extremely similar game from the same developers except you're a ninja and the mechanics are more tuned for sneaking

I have not! It's on my list...I just can't bring myself to pay 60 bucks for a three year old game at the moment. But it went to 30 dollars apparently. Once. (digital only since I'm a series S guy).

# ? Mar 3, 2022 19:15

Tuxedo Catfish: Mar 17, 2007; You've got guts! Come to my village, I'll buy you lunch.

External Organs posted:

I have not! It's on my list...I just can't bring myself to pay 60 bucks for a three year old game at the moment. But it went to 30 dollars apparently. Once. (digital only since I'm a series S guy).

let me put it this way: i'm not even especially enamored of stealth as such and consider it better value for money than Elden Ring

# ? Mar 4, 2022 00:15

Ensign Expendable: Nov 11, 2008; Lager beer is proof that god loves us; Pillbug

External Organs posted:

I have not! It's on my list...I just can't bring myself to pay 60 bucks for a three year old game at the moment. But it went to 30 dollars apparently. Once. (digital only since I'm a series S guy).

I bought it for $30 on sale and it was decently fun. I stopped playing because of the Activision-Blizzard boycott and definitely not because I'm bad at video games and it was too hard.

# ? Mar 4, 2022 22:15

pofcorn: May 30, 2011

So I got a 3070 and it's pretty baller, but I'm actually looking for some chill games that look great and feature ray tracing. Something like an RPG or adventure game that I can max out and play at 60 fps on the couch.

# ? Mar 5, 2022 00:37

Hwurmp: May 20, 2005

pofcorn posted:

So I got a 3070 and it's pretty baller, but I'm actually looking for some chill games that look great and feature ray tracing. Something like an RPG or adventure game that I can max out and play at 60 fps on the couch.

Amid Evil
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

# ? Mar 5, 2022 00:42

Jack Trades: Nov 30, 2010

pofcorn posted:

So I got a 3070 and it's pretty baller, but I'm actually looking for some chill games that look great and feature ray tracing. Something like an RPG or adventure game that I can max out and play at 60 fps on the couch.

I'm not sure you're going to be able to notice raytracing from the couch but...Control fits the bill.

# ? Mar 5, 2022 08:20

SpaceGoatFarts: Jan 5, 2010; sic transit gloria mundi; Nap Ghost

pofcorn posted:

So I got a 3070 and it's pretty baller, but I'm actually looking for some chill games that look great and feature ray tracing. Something like an RPG or adventure game that I can max out and play at 60 fps on the couch.

Deliver us the moon maybe?

# ? Mar 5, 2022 08:59

Party Boat: Nov 1, 2007; where did that other dog come from

who is he

Yeah Control bumped down to easy difficulty should be a good choice. Shadow of the Tomb Raider also has ray tracing.

For a different but much more chill option Lego Builder's Journey has ray tracing in service of rendering the most accurate looking virtual Lego bricks

Final Fantasy XV doesn't officially have ray tracing but there's a reshade mod that some people say looks fantastic

# ? Mar 5, 2022 09:02

Heran Bago: Aug 18, 2006

I'm similarly looking for games that demonstrate ray tracing where the gameplay loop doesn't lean on putting bullets in dudes or driving a car.

I can think of Minecraft RTX and Ghostrunner.

E: found a list. Not sure if it's comprehensive, says about 100 games support ray tracing.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_games_that_support_ray_tracing

Phigs posted:

I'm looking to research First Person Melee on PC

Zeno Clash was really interesting. But you got it on the list. There's a sequel, never played it.

Heran Bago fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Mar 7, 2022

# ? Mar 7, 2022 18:30

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

What is ray tracing and how does it make games look better?
:frogbon:

# ? Mar 7, 2022 18:38

Jack Trades: Nov 30, 2010

poisonpill posted:

What is ray tracing and how does it make games look better?

Long story short, ray tracing is very performance heavy technique that makes everything related to lighting (lights, shadows, reflections) look much better AND makes everything related to lighting easier for developers to implement.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 18:52

HerpicleOmnicron5: May 31, 2013; How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?

poisonpill posted:

What is ray tracing and how does it make games look better?

Better reflections and lighting logic.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 18:52

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# ? May 23, 2024 14:16

TooMuchAbstraction: Oct 14, 2012; I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.; Fun Shoe

Jack Trades posted:

Long story short, ray tracing is very performance heavy technique that makes everything related to lighting (lights, shadows, reflections) look much better AND makes everything related to lighting easier for developers to implement.

Though ease of implementation is moot right now because you still have to support a traditional graphics pipeline for all the people who don't have super-fancy graphics cards.

Raytracing is basically: for each pixel you need to render, you fire a ray from the camera through the scene. See what that ray hits. Figure out where the lights are in relation to that point, as well as the material properties of whatever you hit (its smoothness, reflectivity, etc). Then potentially fire additional rays from that point to pick up color data. Eventually end up with the color of the point that that ray hit. Now repeat that process for every other pixel in the camera. I'm eliding a lot of complexity, and there's some cool shortcuts that you can take that lean on machine learning to avoid having to use as many rays, but that's the gist of it.

Traditional rendering is more like:
- Sort all the objects in the scene by how close they are to the camera
- For each object, if it isn't already obscured by some other object, flatten it against the camera
- Use a bunch of complicated shortcuts to determine color from lighting and texture data
- Bam, there's your image

Again, eliding a lot here. Rendering is a very complicated topic.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 19:01

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