Video Games Chat Thread: Julys of P(osting)

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What are your gaming plans for the summer? This poll is closed.
Win at video games	37	23.72%
Hone gaming skills	27	17.31%
Unlock hardcore mode achievements	14	8.97%
More grinding	24	15.38%
Post about video games	54	34.62%
Total:	82 votes

[Edit Poll (moderators only)]

Last Celebration: Mar 30, 2010

Yeah, I think I remember some YouTubers just openly admitting �whenever I plug for likes/subscribes I get significantly more likes and subscriptions per video, so smash that Like button and subscribe!� so I can�t really blame anyone who�s not too obnoxious or at least self-aware about if they�re trying to make a living off of it or justifying doing it instead of other things that would make them more money.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:27

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 19:45

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Ibram Gaunt posted:

Weren't you talking about how Diablo 4 was one of your favorite games of the year...what happened.

The game starts off very strong at first! You get through the campaign and start unlocking end game mechanics and features, like the paragon, but then the motivation to continue just takes a nose dive off a cliff. Nightmare dungeons arent interesting, paragon boards dont really do anything exciting, and the itemization is a huge mess and balance problem that I know Blizzard is working really hard on.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:28

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

If it's anything like Dragonflight, D4 will have a bucketload of support + content on the way.

Dragonflight is basically just rolling updates with new content every few months and it's great.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:31

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Infinitum posted:

If it's anything like Dragonflight, D4 will have a bucketload of support + content on the way.

Dragonflight is basically just rolling updates with new content every few months and it's great.

Yeah, Blizzard has a ton of new features and balanced changes lined up for season 1 & 2. I usually play for a little bit each day, it's just not the super excited to play game that I was thinking it would be based on the beta's.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:34

Saint Freak: Apr 16, 2007; Regretting is an insult to oneself; Buglord

Infinitum posted:

If it's anything like Dragonflight, D4 will have a bucketload of support + content on the way.

Dragonflight is basically just rolling updates with new content every few months and it's great.

Sorry I heard they're copying Overwatch 2 for this one.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:34

Ibram Gaunt: Jul 22, 2009

I said come in! posted:

The game starts off very strong at first! You get through the campaign and start unlocking end game mechanics and features, like the paragon, but then the motivation to continue just takes a nose dive off a cliff. Nightmare dungeons arent interesting, paragon boards dont really do anything exciting, and the itemization is a huge mess and balance problem that I know Blizzard is working really hard on.

Ah I see, makes sense. I took a big break before I hit world tier 4 since I wanted to be fresh for the season so alot of these problems didn't show up for me yet.

Infinitum posted:

If it's anything like Dragonflight, D4 will have a bucketload of support + content on the way.

Dragonflight is basically just rolling updates with new content every few months and it's great.

Still amazed that they almost put in a quest where you have to go back in time to ensure a character is raped to 'preserve the timeline' with a goofy tone. But the fact that they took it out after everyone complained at least owes to something I guess.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:34

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

Last Celebration posted:

Yeah, I think I remember some YouTubers just openly admitting “whenever I plug for likes/subscribes I get significantly more likes and subscriptions per video, so smash that Like button and subscribe!” so I can’t really blame anyone who’s not too obnoxious or at least self-aware about if they’re trying to make a living off of it or justifying doing it instead of other things that would make them more money.

I imagine saying that stupid poo poo is a lot like when you work at a restaurant or wherever and the company compels you to say some insufferable phrase as part of the job. You just learn to disassociate in those moments, so that while your body may be making some pained pun about chicken and love sauce, your inner being is floating free.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:35

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

Ibram Gaunt posted:

Still amazed that they almost put in a quest where you have to go back in time to ensure a character is raped to 'preserve the timeline' with a goofy tone. But the fact that they took it out after everyone complained at least owes to something I guess.

Yeah this was stupid af, but glad the community collectively went Get hosed and it was changed before it hit live.

Like why even go back to that edgy af content to begin with, absolute brain fart.

Saint Freak posted:

Sorry I heard they're copying Overwatch 2 for this one.

Don't you want a free skin? Please play Overwatch 2 please
https://twitter.com/PlayOverwatch/status/1676637130657857553

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:41

Atoramos: Aug 31, 2003; Jim's now a Blind Cave Salamander!

Diablo 4 is Blizzard proving they do in fact still know how to make a game, while making it clear how far quality dipped from losing their best talent. The little I played of WoW Classic really showed this off, it was a good reminder of how packed-to-the-gills WoW Classic was with details, literal months of things to explore and do. D4 is a fine game and lots of fun, but it's obviously a teaser for the game they'll someday turn it into. Barely visiting Hell in the campaign, the cliffhanger of a story, focusing endgame grind on a very thin vertical of dungeons, all clearly ways to sell more content to gamers.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 15:59

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

They're doing Hardcore/Permadeath Classic WoW servers soon, so that might be a nice challenge for people

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:14

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."

The coolest things about D4 have been the accessibility options for various impairments. I don't even use them but it's been interesting to read about in the D4 thread - someone made a real good effort post about some of the visual stuff just the other day... I'll go find it.

Here:

unattended spaghetti posted:

Sure. I love talking about this poo poo.

It’s worth noting that ARPGs are especially good for vision related accessibility for a couple reasons.

Isometric games, z axis or no, ultimately only allow eight way movement, and no matter how the environment looks it’s a flat plane for purposes of navigation.

The other thing is that combat in these games is far more about numeric advantage than anything else. Even when a build does require fine-tuned movement and execution, the sequence is made clear through the build itself.

So the genre is already predisposed to implementing vision related accesssibility features because it’s never more complicated than sequencing, not getting surrounded, target prioritizing, etc etc I’m not telling you anything you don’t know already.

The game has a screen reader, first and foremost. That’s not particularly notable other than the fact that I can count on one hand the number of released games that have one that actually reads the whole interface. Kinda amazing, by the by, that developers can get away with claiming cred for including TTS in a game when that TTS only covers some of the interface elements. But hey Kotaku will suck some dev dick and tell you how considerate the devs were for putting in a half-baked feature. So the fact that the entire inventory, any tooltip, the whole skill tree, all menus, and some other things I’d not expect that I’ll get to in a sec, were all present and accounted for is a big deal on its own. Pretty sad that I have to celebrate what we’d call a minimum viable product but eh I take my wins where I can get them.

But the really notable inclusions are these:

1. Facing any interactable object will provide a dual layered sound. There’s what I imagine is an invisible radius around the PC, and anything that comes into that radius is a candidate for playing the audio. It triggers on facing, plays as soon as you’re looking in that direction. The dual layering is done because there’s a wide variety of stuff you can click on, this being an ARPG. So one layer is just a little click saying this is something you can interact with. The second layer specifies the object. Crumbling rock for ore, creaky lid for chests (given.a third audio layer if it’s radiant or whatever to let you know it’s more important), a like metal hinge sound for armor stands (lol who loots these?), leafy sounds for herbs, so on and so forth.

Because the sound plays on facing, you always know where something is relative to you.

2. This notification feature combined with the screen reader gives a ton of situational awareness. The enemy name that pops up at the top of the screen? Same facing rules apply, but the screen reader will pull the text of that name. So what you’ve got is a way to keep track of which enemies need prioritizing. Mostly, it’s good for burning down elites and otherwise it’s just there.

3. This one’s useful for everyone, I think, personally. But YMMV. You can turn on ambient audio for lootable drops on the ground. Different tone/frequency for every conceivable type of item. I’m not sure but I think it also distinguishes between rarities as well. So gold, potions, all gear, the herbs/ore that pop out of poo poo when you interact with it, all of that gives off an unobtrusive ambient hum, and because they’re all different frequencies, you just need to listen and move toward the stuff you want. Needless to say, positional audio and the best cans you can get are musts to get the most out of this.

These are honestly very small features. I can’t imagine they were that hard to implement, but the end result is, even though I have functional vision, I can manage any content in the game by listening alone.

But it’s the implementation of the notification and the ambient audio that really put it a cut above.

Let me take TLoU II as the comparison point.

That game is rightfully credited with making some huge accessibility leaps and innovating in ways that even I didn’t think were possible. But being a trailblazer, and also being a very different kind of game with very different requirements to make it accessible meant that they had to make some concessions. So the way TLoU did it was you’d essentially need to move toward a waypoint (story objective or item), but the problem is with the environment being magnitudes more complex to navigate, they couldn’t just let you point yourself in a direction and go there. You’d have to ask the game to nudge you toward an objective, which it does by triangulating a path through a series of waypoints, at which you get a little sound effect. Needless to say triangulating the whole time is cumbersome and annoying, even if it does work.

Compare this to D4, which tells you, unobtrusively, where something is merely by facing it. That’s huge and is much more informationally dense, where in TLoU’s case, you’re being dragged by the nose through the game. I’m sure the devs essentially drew lines through the environment for objectives, and then fall back on the triangulation algorithms when someone gets off course. It’s apples and oranges, but TLoU was the proof of concept and D4 is the streamlined improvement.

Accessibility right now in games is fascinating because it really is the wild west. Devs are throwing poo poo at the wall and seeing what sticks. Many devs don’t understand accessibility at all, so you get some really weird implementations. I can definitely tell which devs used consultants and which did not. TLoU and D4 most assuredly did.

Eeeeesh.

There’s probs some other stuff. Sorry for so many but it’s hard to explain this stuff when most people don’t have a grounding in the fundamentals.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:16

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

Oh and the new Dragonflight patch drops next week, and one of the single best features is that it instantly unlocks all the old Allied Races which were previously locked away behind grinds and quests.

You do need a lvl 40 character, but you can bypass that instantly by making an Evoker as they start at 58.

Cross Faction Guilds are in as well, so you can be an Orc in an Alliance Guild if you want; and vice versa

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:19

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

What the gently caress is an evoker

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:23

Morpheus: Apr 18, 2008; My favourite little monsters

Khanstant posted:

What the gently caress is an evoker

Someone who specializes in evocation magic such as magic missile or fireball h2h

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:25

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

Khanstant posted:

What the gently caress is an evoker

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:26

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

The dragonfurries are called an RPG class name??

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:27

Rinkles: Oct 24, 2010; What I'm getting at is...
Do you feel the same way?

External Organs posted:

The coolest things about D4 have been the accessibility options for various impairments. I don't even use them but it's been interesting to read about in the D4 thread - someone made a real good effort post about some of the visual stuff just the other day... I'll go find it.

Here:

did they do anything to alleviate RSI (like native macros)? I got suuuch horrible wrist/finger pain from binging Diablo 3.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:28

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Infinitum posted:

Oh and the new Dragonflight patch drops next week, and one of the single best features is that it instantly unlocks all the old Allied Races which were previously locked away behind grinds and quests.

You do need a lvl 40 character, but you can bypass that instantly by making an Evoker as they start at 58.

Cross Faction Guilds are in as well, so you can be an Orc in an Alliance Guild if you want; and vice versa

I want to play a vulpera! The allied race selection reminds me of Everquest, with how varied and unique the races are in that MMO.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:29

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

Khanstant posted:

The dragonfurries are called an RPG class name??

Dracthyr can only be one class atm, Evoker.

I said come in! posted:

I want to play a vulpera! The allied race selection reminds me of Everquest, with how varied and unique the races are in that MMO.

From July 11th you can!

They are pretty cool. I made a new Monk so I could join my Alliance guild with one.
Armour sits really well on them

https://i.imgur.com/v5iIweh.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/yUhIjoa.mp4

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:35

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."

Rinkles posted:

did they do anything to alleviate RSI (like native macros)? I got suuuch horrible wrist/finger pain from binging Diablo 3.

I don't think macros no. But it's got full controller support and feels great.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 16:35

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HPKKnEUwCM

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:02

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

https://twitter.com/eurogamer/status/1676977710084530179

https://www.eurogamer.net/peter-molyneux-teases-new-project-with-idea-thats-never-been-seen-in-a-game-before

I don't mind Peter Molyneux making a new game at all so long as it's not crowdfunded, and has no web3.0/crypto/NFT poo poo in it.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:13

Dabir: Nov 10, 2012

Infinitum posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HPKKnEUwCM

Some thoughts on that

Woop woop Moonview Highway!

When I first played Sonic Robo Blast 2 as a little kid and I was pushing buttons exploring the multiplayer stages, one of them was a battle stage set in an immense version of Invader Zim's bedroom. That bathroom course gives me the same vibes.

Is Vancouver canon to Mario?

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:14

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."

I said come in! posted:

https://twitter.com/eurogamer/status/1676977710084530179

https://www.eurogamer.net/peter-molyneux-teases-new-project-with-idea-thats-never-been-seen-in-a-game-before

I don't mind Peter Molyneux making a new game at all so long as it's not crowdfunded, and has no web3.0/crypto/NFT poo poo in it.

RESET THE CLOCK

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:18

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

Infinitum posted:

Dracthyr can only be one class atm, Evoker.

From July 11th you can!

They are pretty cool. I made a new Monk so I could join my Alliance guild with one.
Armour sits really well on them

https://i.imgur.com/v5iIweh.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/yUhIjoa.mp4

Wow they made a new race and class for them before giving the people a goddamn Tinker class. I'm adding this to my boycott demands.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:20

Hwurmp: May 20, 2005

I said come in! posted:

https://twitter.com/eurogamer/status/1676977710084530179

https://www.eurogamer.net/peter-molyneux-teases-new-project-with-idea-thats-never-been-seen-in-a-game-before

I don't mind Peter Molyneux making a new game at all so long as it's not crowdfunded, and has no web3.0/crypto/NFT poo poo in it.

finally a videogame that will do all my house chores and also let me live forever

loving lol that they would describe Molyneux as anything but a con man

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:30

Rinkles: Oct 24, 2010; What I'm getting at is...
Do you feel the same way?

"So in days gone by, I would just start telling you about the whole game and the whole game design and why it was going to be the most brilliant game in the world", firstly admits Molyneux about the secret project 22cans have in the works for a while now. "And people looking at this would then get very annoyed and angry. So I'm not going to do that".

"I do think, though", he concedes, "we have stumbled, and it feels like stumbling on a mechanic that has never been seen in a game before.�

Old habits die hard.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:35

Infinitum: Jul 30, 2004

I said come in! posted:

https://twitter.com/eurogamer/status/1676977710084530179

https://www.eurogamer.net/peter-molyneux-teases-new-project-with-idea-thats-never-been-seen-in-a-game-before

I don't mind Peter Molyneux making a new game at all so long as it's not crowdfunded, and has no web3.0/crypto/NFT poo poo in it.

Peter Molyneux presents his latest game - Grifty

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:35

Oxxidation: Jul 22, 2007

I said come in! posted:

https://twitter.com/eurogamer/status/1676977710084530179

https://www.eurogamer.net/peter-molyneux-teases-new-project-with-idea-thats-never-been-seen-in-a-game-before

I don't mind Peter Molyneux making a new game at all so long as it's not crowdfunded, and has no web3.0/crypto/NFT poo poo in it.

*whaps him with a rolled up magazine* GET. THE gently caress. AWAY. FROM ME.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:39

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Are they going to put the cube guy in charge of this one

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:41

Blue Labrador: Feb 17, 2011

Is someone a conman if they believe their own hype?

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:45

Propaganda Hour: Aug 25, 2008; after editing wikipedia as a joke for 16 years, i ve convinced myself that homer simpson's japanese name translates to the "The beer goblin"

I said come in! posted:

https://twitter.com/eurogamer/status/1676977710084530179

https://www.eurogamer.net/peter-molyneux-teases-new-project-with-idea-thats-never-been-seen-in-a-game-before

I don't mind Peter Molyneux making a new game at all so long as it's not crowdfunded, and has no web3.0/crypto/NFT poo poo in it.

He's gonna smash his own dick with a hammer for $60 a pop

# ? Jul 6, 2023 17:54

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."

Blue Labrador posted:

Is someone a conman if they believe their own hype?

That's the most dangerous type of con man!

# ? Jul 6, 2023 18:17

Morpheus: Apr 18, 2008; My favourite little monsters

Blue Labrador posted:

Is someone a conman if they believe their own hype?

Yeah I think Molyneux is actually quite excited about his ideas, and truly believes they will be awesome. He's just really bad at all of it.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 18:32

unattended spaghetti: May 10, 2013

External Organs posted:

The coolest things about D4 have been the accessibility options for various impairments. I don't even use them but it's been interesting to read about in the D4 thread - someone made a real good effort post about some of the visual stuff just the other day... I'll go find it.

Here:

Hey thanks for the plug.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 18:37

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."

unattended spaghetti posted:

Hey thanks for the plug.

# ? Jul 6, 2023 18:38

Khanstant: Apr 5, 2007

Blue Labrador posted:

Is someone a conman if they believe their own hype?

Yeah, it just makes them more effective most of the time. This article about the symmetry between psychic scams and the people who think chatbots are intelligent is interesting and tangentially related to this discussion

https://softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llmentalist/

# ? Jul 6, 2023 19:22

ChickenHeart: Nov 28, 2007; Take me at your own risk.; Kiss From a Hog

I'm calling it right now, It's gonna be Black & White 3 but this time all the villagers are individual players!!!

I call dibs on the accordion boat guy

# ? Jul 6, 2023 19:34

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

I'm the guy who just got killed by a truck-sized ape turd

# ? Jul 6, 2023 19:37

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 19:45

Propaganda Hour: Aug 25, 2008; after editing wikipedia as a joke for 16 years, i ve convinced myself that homer simpson's japanese name translates to the "The beer goblin"

haveblue posted:

I'm the guy who just got killed by a truck-sized ape turd

"You're gonna love that turd" - Peter Molyneux, 2023

# ? Jul 6, 2023 19:38

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