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Any castle builders worth playing since the 2D stronghold games? I played the Going Medieval demo back when that was a thing, and it was alright but not amazing.
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Apr 6, 2022 18:59
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Unreal_One posted:Any castle builders worth playing since the 2D stronghold games? I played the Going Medieval demo back when that was a thing, and it was alright but not amazing. Kingdoms and Castles is good and cheap as well.
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Apr 6, 2022 19:05
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External Organs posted:I'm curious to know about any games with a specific setting: a weird far future with cool technology but you play as a guy with a sword. Essentially I'm thinking Samurai Jack (which, btw, is the 2021 game any good?) but just curious if any other games of any genre are set in that kind of thing. The fallout games and in particular New Vegas allow you to punch things and use machetes and swords
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Apr 6, 2022 20:02
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External Organs posted:I'm curious to know about any games with a specific setting: a weird far future with cool technology but you play as a guy with a sword. Essentially I'm thinking Samurai Jack (which, btw, is the 2021 game any good?) but just curious if any other games of any genre are set in that kind of thing. do you want a narrative game or just future + sword? if the former Caves of Qud not only has future swords it has the CEREMONIAL VIBROKHOPESH as the peak of sword technology if the latter throw Overwatch (Genji) and Risk of Rain 1/2 (Mercenary) on the list
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Apr 6, 2022 21:29
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:do you want a narrative game or just future + sword? I'm just in it for the vibes, man! Genre doesn't matter much...probably not gonna play Overwatch though. Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I've added a bunch of stuff to my wishlist!
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Apr 6, 2022 21:39
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External Organs posted:I'm curious to know about any games with a specific setting: a weird far future with cool technology but you play as a guy with a sword. Essentially I'm thinking Samurai Jack (which, btw, is the 2021 game any good?) but just curious if any other games of any genre are set in that kind of thing. EYE: Divine Cybermancy
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Apr 6, 2022 22:20
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Oh Ghostrunner is the other pretty good one I've been trying to remember for hours, it's pretty one-note but it's a good time and has excellent "bisecting futuristic gunmen with your katana" vibes
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Apr 6, 2022 22:26
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External Organs posted:...probably not gonna play Overwatch though. yeah i wouldn't either, it was just too obvious to omit 
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Apr 6, 2022 22:28
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External Organs posted:I'm curious to know about any games with a specific setting: a weird far future with cool technology but you play as a guy with a sword. Essentially I'm thinking Samurai Jack (which, btw, is the 2021 game any good?) but just curious if any other games of any genre are set in that kind of thing. Metal Gear Rising, Nier, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, Crosscode, Hyper Light Drifter, Transistor. Also depending on your definition of sword, there's also a lot of Star Wars games where you mainly have to use a lightsaber, some of which don't even give you a fallback gun option so you have just use a saber against groups of guys with guns. I feel like some melee-focused but not strictly sword games might also have the vibe you're looking for like Transformers Devastation.
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Apr 7, 2022 02:35
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Overwatch killed all competitive gaming for me, and Blizzard's handling of toxicity in that game burned out a small piece of my soul I'll never get back. Don't play Overwatch, don't play any Blizzard game online. Not even because the company they're a part of killed a woman, but because it'll tear you apart if you're even a little bit sensitive to negativity. The only competitive games I play now are fighting games, because it's ruined the idea of being on a team of people who'll yell at you for existing. Hell, it's hell.
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Apr 7, 2022 04:45
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Got another one of my tricky requests, let's see what ya'll goons can come up with. Absolute baseline, I am thoroughly, just utterly exhausted with Modern Gaming Junk at the moment. That is to say, I am very, very tired of RPG elements, progression mechanics, unlock systems, collectibles, achievements, etc. Because I get extremely wrapped up in that stuff so basically when 100% completion isn't a totally insane chore (ie, that old Ghost Recon game where one of the achievements is to be ranked #1 in the multiplayer, I'm not dumb enough to chase stuff like that just for its own sake) I get hyper invested in it and now I'm burnt out on all of it after playing too many roguelikes/roguelites in quick succession. ...The problem is that even a lot of low-key indie games have things of that nature.  Hell, even that new Kirby game has those side challenges that would likely drive me up the wall.Additional wants: - PC, ideally nothing super brand spanking new that's gonna tax my machine or is gonna cost $60 up front. I own...entirely too many games already so if you suggest something a little older there's genuinely a 90% chance I already have it. Not that I mind spending  on some cute indie thing if it comes down to it.- Doesn't have to be super easy casual in terms of overall difficulty, but should be accessible and easy to get into. Casual-friendly vs. just casual, I guess. Like, ignoring that it has those dreaded unlocks and achievements to worry about, Into the Breach isn't an easy game, but it's quick to get into a run compared to something like XCOM. - I want something in the middle between mindless and mentally taxing. No simulator games (too repetitive, often mindless and often have some kind of progression system to chip away at) and I'd prefer something that's not a point and click adventure game (I own an endless number of them already and don't really need recommendations). - In general I'm not big on "make your own fun" games. Sandbox stuff, or even stuff like SimCity is a hard sell even if those can otherwise be relaxing. - I like exploration but...most exploratory games by their nature involve one or more of the things I'm explicitly trying to avoid. - Narrative isn't a requirement, but is appreciated.
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Apr 7, 2022 06:23
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John Murdoch posted:Got another one of my tricky requests, let's see what ya'll goons can come up with. Thomas was alone is a narrative platform puzzler with like 2 dozen optional collectibles in the entire game. I think Gunpoint doesn't have any of the junk you're avoiding, but it does have branching paths.
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Apr 7, 2022 07:15
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I can think of a lot of games without progression systems, but thinking of games without any collectibles or optional challenges is tougher. Maybe something like Spectacular Sparky? Or Copy Kitty? Copy Kitty does have optional challenges to finish levels without losing more than x health or in less than y time, would that be too much? If you're okay with some extremely ignorable collectibles scattered around the levels, Freedom Planet could work. Thumper? It's easy to get into, even if it does get hard, but it does require all of your focus. Just throwing this out there, maybe Rez Infinite? If you haven't already played it, I'd consider it pretty much the ideal version of what you describe.
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Apr 7, 2022 08:56
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Unreal_One posted:Thomas was alone is a narrative platform puzzler with like 2 dozen optional collectibles in the entire game. These are quality picks, both of which I own and subsequent totally forgot existed. Trick Question posted:I can think of a lot of games without progression systems, but thinking of games without any collectibles or optional challenges is tougher. Maybe something like Spectacular Sparky? Or Copy Kitty? Copy Kitty does have optional challenges to finish levels without losing more than x health or in less than y time, would that be too much? If you're okay with some extremely ignorable collectibles scattered around the levels, Freedom Planet could work. Thumper? It's easy to get into, even if it does get hard, but it does require all of your focus. Yeah, it's a challenge in and of itself to find games that don't slather that stuff all over the place. There's some wiggle room, but it's hugely subjective and somewhat irrational. FWIW, I'd say for me there's at least a distinction, however slightly fuzzy, between optional bonus modes and additional modes that are "expected" for completion's sake. So like, all those games that just have a tacked-on "do it fast because now there's a timer" leaderboard type stuff, doesn't faze me in the slightest. But I can very easily picture driving myself insane feeling obligated to 100% Hollow Knight with all of its additional mean boss gauntlet and platforming stuff, even if that's all technically optional. Hopefully that makes some sense.As for the games, I wasn't aware of Spectacular Sparky and it looks  so onto the wishlist it goes. The rest I'm at least passingly familiar with, and I dunno the platformers are probably all a little too fast paced for what I'm currently after. Thumper very much so. But I do like Rez as a palette cleanser.Oh, also I didn't think to mention it but anything easily emulated is fair game too, so that opens up a whole slew of retro stuff that's more than likely a bit more "pure". But also I guess I'm not sure I could be truly surprised by most retro recommendations unless they're some really obscure hidden gems. Maybe it's finally time to boot up For Frog the Bell Tolls...
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Apr 7, 2022 10:39
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Danger - Octopus! posted:Hyper Light Drifter 
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Apr 7, 2022 10:50
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John Murdoch posted:Got another one of my tricky requests, let's see what ya'll goons can come up with. Exo one as far as I remember has no collectible, is straightforward and has light narration. It is also short.
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Apr 7, 2022 11:00
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John Murdoch posted:Got another one of my tricky requests, let's see what ya'll goons can come up with. Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Frog Detective Carrion lots of old Sega games like Bio-Hazard Battle and the original Streets of Rage are available on Steam and entirely innocent of number-go-up, if pretty light on narrative Hwurmp fucked around with this message at 11:20 on Apr 7, 2022 |
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Apr 7, 2022 11:18
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John Murdoch posted:Got another one of my tricky requests, let's see what ya'll goons can come up with.
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Apr 7, 2022 11:26
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Hwurmp posted:Carrion i haven't played the other two but Carrion is a great response to that prompt and i second it
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Apr 7, 2022 11:35
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Come join us in the Old FPS Thread, and experience simple Doom Zen.
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Apr 7, 2022 13:02
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:i haven't played the other two but Carrion is a great response to that prompt and i second it It's a great game but there's definitely progression mechanics like in metroidvanias where you need to unlock skill X before you can come back to a place and open a new route.
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Apr 7, 2022 13:35
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SpaceGoatFarts posted:It's a great game but there's definitely progression mechanics like in metroidvanias where you need to unlock skill X before you can come back to a place and open a new route.
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Apr 7, 2022 13:54
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SpaceGoatFarts posted:It's a great game but there's definitely progression mechanics like in metroidvanias where you need to unlock skill X before you can come back to a place and open a new route. if your interpretation of "progression mechanics" is that broad there are no games that meet the criteria. carrion's vertical scaling in the RPG "number go up" sense is basically non-existent, the secrets / achievements are all things you could do while playing normally and not even notice you'd done them, and even if you are compelled to seek every last one of them out, 100%-ing the game takes like eight hours tops Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Apr 7, 2022 |
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Apr 7, 2022 15:03
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John Murdoch posted:Got another one of my tricky requests, let's see what ya'll goons can come up with. Do you own Twinsen's Odyssey?
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Apr 7, 2022 15:05
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:if your interpretation of "progression mechanics" is that broad there are no games that meet the criteria. I disagree with this. Carrion is an awesome game, but like all metroidvanias, it does include bactracking to unlock previously locked secret areas, and secret upgrades. Since OP specifically said this "Because I get extremely wrapped up in that stuff so basically when 100% completion isn't a totally insane chore I get hyper invested in it" I think it's not the kind of game they are looking for. But you are correct, not very much modern games meet this criteria, but a few do. I mentionned Exo one as an example. Another one would be In Other Waters. Both are short, pleasant games with no secrets/collectibles/whatever and you get a nice feeling of satisfaction when finishing them.
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Apr 7, 2022 15:11
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Outer Wilds might be a good one, any optional stuff is just additional lore and background. There's a clear path to completion with basically no stats, progression etc beyond knowledge - you can do all the steps required to complete the game immediately upon starting if you know what you're doing
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Apr 7, 2022 16:45
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SpaceGoatFarts posted:But you are correct, not very much modern games meet this criteria, but a few do. I mentionned Exo one as an example. Another one would be In Other Waters. Both are short, pleasant games with no secrets/collectibles/whatever and you get a nice feeling of satisfaction when finishing them. \/ Good point, would something like Rogue Legacy work since while there are progression mechanics they're all just "Spend the money you got last time to get more buff" \/ Splicer fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Apr 7, 2022 |
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Apr 7, 2022 18:26
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Is it unlocks in general that are the problem, or is it more about feeling the need to obsessively track down a bunch of marginally-meaningful crap? I guess it's mostly a moot point, since any game with meaningful unlocks will probably also have largely meaningless unlocks since they're a cheap way to add content. I don't have any suggestions either way, but as a game designer, I would like to understand the player psychology here.
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Apr 7, 2022 18:29
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My game of the minute is Rogue Fable 3. No unlocks, allegedly every seed is beatable with whatever class/race you pick, and cheevos are all doable. Runs are under two hours and the best speed run is like 8 minutes. The game does track individual race/class combo wins/deaths/streaks if you care.
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Apr 7, 2022 19:50
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So, I ended up getting 9th Dawn III on IOS and it's a fun mobile game. Reminds me of Diablo with a deeper crafting system. I'm in the dungeon Sinfall right now. Thanks for all the recommendations.
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Apr 8, 2022 15:56
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Big ole quote train incoming...External Organs posted:Do you own Twinsen's Odyssey? Splicer posted:You might have an older version but transcendence got a bit of a tweak a year or so ago.  Lunchmeat Larry posted:Outer Wilds might be a good one, any optional stuff is just additional lore and background. There's a clear path to completion with basically no stats, progression etc beyond knowledge - you can do all the steps required to complete the game immediately upon starting if you know what you're doing  Sobatchja Morda posted:Come join us in the Old FPS Thread, and experience simple Doom Zen. Splicer posted:I've got a bunch of games that would fit the no unlocks (outside of steam achievements) criteria, but not easy drop-in games. Pretty much any 4X would count for example. If we ignore that requirement I would 100% endorse Planetfall and just playing through the campaign(s). TooMuchAbstraction posted:Is it unlocks in general that are the problem, or is it more about feeling the need to obsessively track down a bunch of marginally-meaningful crap? I guess it's mostly a moot point, since any game with meaningful unlocks will probably also have largely meaningless unlocks since they're a cheap way to add content. In a similar vein, when I'm actively in the thick of a Metroidvania I'm not necessarily paralyzed by the thought I've missed an item somewhere at all times, but inevitably when it comes time to do a sweep of a the map and gather everything up, you better believe I'm stressing out about every last missile container as if my life depended on it. This even extends to outside of games themselves, I'm the rear end in a top hat who hate hate hates not having the "Complete Edition" of games with lots of DLC. I guess it's also worth noting that I'm coming off of Enter the Gungeon and Risk of Rain 2, two system mastery-heavy roguelikes with lots of incredibly mean bespoke challenges to overcome. My tipping point was struggling to unlock the newest hidden character in Vampire Survivors, which is some fiddly and arcane bullshit. So in that sense it might not entirely be progression systems in a vacuum, but also anything requiring a high degree of system mastery. Like I loving love the Dark Souls games, but like hell am I going to try and tackle Elden Ring right now. Yet just like trying to pin down games with minimal progression mechanics it's about as hard and deeply subjective to pin down games with minimal system mastery.  To put it yet another way, I'm looking for a self-contained game where I won't find myself going to Google and/or Youtube to look something up. Whether that's because I'm stuck on figuring out how to find a collectible or solve a puzzle in-situ or because the game is complex enough that I need to devote out of game study hours to it. But, as a counterpoint, it ideally needs to be something with a little bit of substance to latch onto. Not to be too reductive, but while I can appreciate something like Journey for what it is, that general range of """artsy fartsy""" games isn't what I'm after at the moment. Hence why I'm left wondering if something more retro might be the ticket, Mario 3 or Doom just go (though they both still have secrets to worry about  ).
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Apr 8, 2022 16:02
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Also I guess apologies for moving slightly afield from "recommend me a game" and more towards "diagnose my mental illnesses". :/
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Apr 8, 2022 16:33
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John Murdoch posted:Also I guess apologies for moving slightly afield from "recommend me a game" and more towards "diagnose my mental illnesses". :/ These are fun questions, don't even fret! Edit: it's for sure toxoplasmosis, watch out for cat poop
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Apr 8, 2022 16:40
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John Murdoch posted:Also I guess apologies for moving slightly afield from "recommend me a game" and more towards "diagnose my mental illnesses". :/ let he who has never 'sperged cast the first stone
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Apr 8, 2022 16:47
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One of the unique things that videogames have going for them as a medium is that you can choose your own level of engagement so that the experience of playing a game can expand and contract with how long you, the player, want it to be. A book can't slip in a couple extra passages for you to read if you're really interested in a certain aspect, but a videogame can slip in lore entries and extra quests for a bit that you're into that players who aren't into can just breeze past. That's why collectables and achievements have just gotten so popular. Completionists can wring 20 hours out of a game that speedrunners can beat in 2. Some games may go overboard with systems like that (especially Ubisoft), but it's supposed to be just an extra instead of an obligation. Breath of the Wild sort of punishes you for going through the effort of finding all 900+ seeds in a game that otherwise is about a world that is too big to cover every inch of. My favorite (and maybe the newest) game that I can recommend for being chill and probably not triggering any completionist urges is A Short Hike. It's just a lot of wandering around on a mountain trying to get enough feathers to get to the top. Some other self-contained games without much in the way of extra collectibles that you may or may not have already tried: Subnautica, Wuppo, Bastion, Punch Club, Celeste (if you don't stress about the B-sides), Shovel Knight (if you don't get into Joustus with King Knight), Westerado, Shadow of the Colossus. There may be extra collectables and achievements in those games, but they very much don't matter. Celeste has a whole commentary on the experience of doing something hard like playing a hard game or climbing a mountain with its plot that you may find some meaning in. Some games I think have a relatively small and attainable amount of collectables you might not be as stressed about are Arkham Asylum, Jedi Fallen Order, and Snakepass. Snakepass doesn't have a leveling system but also doesn't have a story. You may also take some solace in roguelikes where there aren't really permanent collectibles between games so you can make your peace with the concept, but the flipside of those is that actually getting to the end in a roguelike is very hard and most average gamers will never finish them. Spelunky has a free version that you can try to see if you like it.
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Apr 8, 2022 17:08
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John Murdoch posted:Also I guess apologies for moving slightly afield from "recommend me a game" and more towards "diagnose my mental illnesses". :/ Nah, you're fine! I find this all quite interesting. Do you think it would be accurate to say that problems start when the game starts measuring your "progress"? Or to put it another way, the existence of a reward for "doing everything" creates a sense of obligation for you to be a completionist? I'm working on a game that features collectable upgrades -- new technologies that you can use to build better warships. While most of them are just randomly dropped (with a drop rate such that you should get all the techs in a mission if you kill most of the enemies), most missions have a "treasure" tech hidden away somewhere that requires a bit of hunting to find. The game tells you how many techs you've found in each mission, as well as how many there are to find and whether you've found the treasure. I'm guessing this is exactly the kind of thing you're trying to avoid? Would it help if there was a gameplay option that specifically removed all of the treasures and also made it so that you could only find, say, half of the other techs in any given playthrough? In other words, it'd specifically make completionism impossible, while also all-but-guaranteeing that you would get every possible tech in each mission.
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Apr 8, 2022 17:37
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John Murdoch posted:Uh...what? Do you mean https://store.steampowered.com/app/364510/Transcendence/?
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Apr 8, 2022 21:05
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Looking for something semi-specific I'm a huge fan of the Monster Hunter series and am looking for that similar "Fight > Get materials > Craft Gear > Repeat" cycle but for a low-mid end laptop. Something on the chiller side would be nice, maybe something turn based, though that's not a requirement. Something monster/creature based would be great too, but again not a requirement. The only hard requirement I have is that its not party based, I want to control/upgrade one character. I'm burned out on roguelikes like ToME and the big name loot titles like Diablo
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Apr 8, 2022 23:11
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Oh poo poo Transcebdence was cool when i played it long ago. I see they still haven't made part two :/ Spoiler, you never get to the galactic core.
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Apr 8, 2022 23:14
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I don't know if this would yield much of a result but I'm looking for recommendations for games that have interesting commentary or portrayal of the gyaru subculture. Preferably ones made or set around the height of it. My only knowledge of them up until recently were old SA threads clowning on it a decade or so ago, but I clicked on a random para para dance video and lead into a documentary deep dive and realised I didn't really know anything about it aside from the style associated with it. The only games I can think of that might have something are the Yakuza games seeing as most of them are set around that time. I've definitely seen the image reflected in other games but I'm kind of hoping to find a little more even if it's simply what the perception of them in Japan was at the time.
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Apr 9, 2022 03:00
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