Steam Thread: 1000xPAGES

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Goa Tse-tung: Feb 11, 2008; ;3; Yams Fan

fez_machine posted:

Farthest Frontier
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1044720/Farthest_Frontier/

that also looks good what teh heck

# ? Nov 12, 2023 12:47

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# ? May 26, 2024 20:50

Saoshyant: Oct 26, 2010

Goa Tse-tung posted:

that also looks good what teh heck

Thanksgaming in the year of our Lord Gaben 2023.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 12:49

exquisite tea: Apr 21, 2007; Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."

Those survival crafting games always sell like 10 billion copies. I don't really understand it myself but such is the diversity of all gamers.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 12:50

Fruits of the sea: Dec 1, 2010

It's more of a city builder with mild sim elements. I'm happy it's working out well for Crate.

E: sim as in simulated seasons and crop cycles, not as in SimCity :v:

# ? Nov 12, 2023 13:31

mystes: May 31, 2006

Azran posted:

Grim Dawn's not just getting a new expansion in 2024, it's also getting a pretty great patch on November 16th.

* You can now play up to level cap on Normal if you wish (you used to be forced to play through all three difficulties consecutively, like in Diablo 2), since areas now scale up to 100.
* Monster-specific unique items are guaranteed drops
* You get access to both higher difficulties on that character as soon as you beat the final boss
* If you complete a quest that gives skill points as a reward in a higher difficulty without completing it in the previous difficulties, you get the rewards for all versions of the quest
* Dash action added as a baseline for all characters, regardless of class. It has i-frames.
* Between 30-60% less item drops, made up by greatly increased drop quality and money.
* Health and Mana potions removed from the game, they're now a baseline skill that does not takes up any inventory space.
* Toggled buffs don't need to be manually activated and have no upkeep.
* Improved mod tools.
* Hard crowd control skills removed from a lot of non-boss monsters.
* Like a thousand more itemization and balance changes.

This might be the biggest instance of genre modernization I've ever seen happen to a game, especially this long after release. Can't wait for the expansion.

That's a pretty big list of changes, wow

Having fewer better items drops is probably the best considering how in its current form you pretty much have to filter the visible items because the sheer quantity of standard items is ridiculous

mystes fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Nov 12, 2023

# ? Nov 12, 2023 14:20

explosivo: May 23, 2004; Fueled by Satan

Goa Tse-tung posted:

that also looks good what teh heck

It's real good!

# ? Nov 12, 2023 15:14

tensai: May 8, 2007; Just trying to keep my boyfriend away from that redheaded harlot.

FuzzySlippers posted:

I had Star Control Origins from a bundle ages ago and finally spent some time playing it. I was prejudiced against it for being from Stardock and all the nonsense that went on with the old devs. Still, I wanted to give it a try.

Anyone played through this game and can say it gets better?

I've played through the game twice. I consider SC2 the best game ever and I think you hit the nail on the head for Origins. It's the exact same as the original, but somehow doesn't feel as good. I got a ship mod that autocombats and skip that section of the game. The resource gathering isn't fun, but is a "play while working or not really paying attention" activity.

Basically, if youve played this far, you've seen everything the game will throw at you. I still liked it, but can't explain why.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 15:36

spincube: Jan 31, 2006; I spent so I could say that I finally figured out what this god damned cube is doing. Get well Lowtax.; Grimey Drawer

exquisite tea posted:

Those survival crafting games always sell like 10 billion copies. I don't really understand it myself but such is the diversity of all gamers.

I assumed they end up as bundle fodder, making them the modern legacy of those 1000-in-1 game cartridges.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 15:39

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

Artelier posted:

These all sound great and I put Grim Dawn on my wishlist! Does it play good with controller support? I've reached the point in my life where a million clicks is not great for my hand/wrist so I try to play all games on pad/stick if I can.

I didn't have any issues playing through with a PS4 controller.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 15:46

goferchan: Feb 8, 2004; It's 2006. I am taking 276 yeti furs from the goodies hoard.

Azran posted:

This might be the biggest instance of genre modernization I've ever seen happen to a game, especially this long after release. Can't wait for the expansion.

That's awesome. I killed a week or so waiting for the last PoE league to come out by playing blind hardcore mode Grim Dawn and it was really fun, most stuff felt pretty intuitive. With this change list I think it might be time for me to really dig my teeth into it.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 16:16

goferchan: Feb 8, 2004; It's 2006. I am taking 276 yeti furs from the goodies hoard.

mystes posted:

That's a pretty big list of changes, wow

Having fewer better items drops is probably the best considering how in its current form you pretty much have to filter the visible items because the sheer quantity of standard items is ridiculous

I imagine they're not going to streamline drops to the point where you still don't want to use a loot filter. Honestly I've never played an ARPG where "no filter needed" is a positive thing -- you streamline it too hard and you end up with Diablo 3 where literally everything but the rarest, highest-tier equipment gets autoconverted to currency, which feels like playing a slot machine where every symbol is blank except for the jackpot. PoE loot density and the necessity for third-party filters is probably too far on the other end of the spectrum, but I think Last Epoch hits a pretty good middle ground where it's easy to customize filters in-game to suit your needs & the loot diversity allows for "interesting" drops to slip through.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 16:22

Jimbot: Jul 22, 2008

Azran posted:

Grim Dawn's not just getting a new expansion in 2024, it's also getting a pretty great patch on November 16th.

* You can now play up to level cap on Normal if you wish (you used to be forced to play through all three difficulties consecutively, like in Diablo 2), since areas now scale up to 100.
* Monster-specific unique items are guaranteed drops
* You get access to both higher difficulties on that character as soon as you beat the final boss
* If you complete a quest that gives skill points as a reward in a higher difficulty without completing it in the previous difficulties, you get the rewards for all versions of the quest
* Dash action added as a baseline for all characters, regardless of class. It has i-frames.
* Between 30-60% less item drops, made up by greatly increased drop quality and money.
* Health and Mana potions removed from the game, they're now a baseline skill that does not takes up any inventory space.
* Toggled buffs don't need to be manually activated and have no upkeep.
* Improved mod tools.
* Hard crowd control skills removed from a lot of non-boss monsters.
* Like a thousand more itemization and balance changes.

This might be the biggest instance of genre modernization I've ever seen happen to a game, especially this long after release. Can't wait for the expansion.

I wonder what sort of eldritch apocalypse this expansion will unleash. Makes me laugh that each expansion has been like "we needed to start an eldritch apocalypse to stop... an eldritch apocalypse!" But yeah, holy moley, those changes are really drat good. A replay may be on the menu!

# ? Nov 12, 2023 16:50

John Murdoch: May 19, 2009; I can tune a fish.

Azran posted:

Grim Dawn's not just getting a new expansion in 2024, it's also getting a pretty great patch on November 16th.

* You can now play up to level cap on Normal if you wish (you used to be forced to play through all three difficulties consecutively, like in Diablo 2), since areas now scale up to 100.
* Monster-specific unique items are guaranteed drops
* You get access to both higher difficulties on that character as soon as you beat the final boss
* If you complete a quest that gives skill points as a reward in a higher difficulty without completing it in the previous difficulties, you get the rewards for all versions of the quest
* Dash action added as a baseline for all characters, regardless of class. It has i-frames.
* Between 30-60% less item drops, made up by greatly increased drop quality and money.
* Health and Mana potions removed from the game, they're now a baseline skill that does not takes up any inventory space.
* Toggled buffs don't need to be manually activated and have no upkeep.
* Improved mod tools.
* Hard crowd control skills removed from a lot of non-boss monsters.
* Like a thousand more itemization and balance changes.

This might be the biggest instance of genre modernization I've ever seen happen to a game, especially this long after release. Can't wait for the expansion.

I'm still leery of GD due to stuff like the map design and being steered towards literally using a single spam skill to clear the entirety of Normal difficulty if not the whole game, but this will definitely get me to at least give it another try.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:07

Perestroika: Apr 8, 2010

It's been a few pages since it was mentioned, but I just wanna say that Cobalt Core is indeed fun and cute. I can't quite gauge yet just how much longevity is in there, but so far it feels like a nice mashup of FTL and a deck builder.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:09

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

John Murdoch posted:

I'm still leery of GD due to stuff like the map design and being steered towards literally using a single spam skill to clear the entirety of Normal difficulty if not the whole game, but this will definitely get me to at least give it another try.

Or you could not do that and just beat the game with a full skill bar just maybe at a slightly slower rate instead of listening to efficiency freaks on youtube

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:42

Jack Trades: Nov 30, 2010

Mordja posted:

Or you could not do that and just beat the game with a full skill bar just maybe at a slightly slower rate instead of listening to efficiency freaks on youtube

That's the stupidest argument whenever someone points out that a game is poorly designed.

It's the developer's responsibility to make the game fun to play, not the player's.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:49

mystes: May 31, 2006

goferchan posted:

I imagine they're not going to streamline drops to the point where you still don't want to use a loot filter. Honestly I've never played an ARPG where "no filter needed" is a positive thing -- you streamline it too hard and you end up with Diablo 3 where literally everything but the rarest, highest-tier equipment gets autoconverted to currency, which feels like playing a slot machine where every symbol is blank except for the jackpot. PoE loot density and the necessity for third-party filters is probably too far on the other end of the spectrum, but I think Last Epoch hits a pretty good middle ground where it's easy to customize filters in-game to suit your needs & the loot diversity allows for "interesting" drops to slip through.

I mean common items are basically 100% pointless in grim dawn except for maybe the first hour. You could just eliminate them entirely and have fewer drops so the other stuff drops at the same rate and it wouldn't affect the gameplay. Even the lowest tier rare items drop constantly and they're mostly junk.

You don't need every enemy to drop a useless item all the time.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:51

Volte: Oct 4, 2004; woosh woosh

I beat GD several times and had fun with multiple skills and at no point did I feel obligated or even aware that you could beat the entire game by spamming a single skill. Infinitely worse than a single-player game that can be broken over your knee if you choose is a single-player game where the developers constantly squash powerful builds in pursuit of the dream: a medium beige build for everyone

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:51

explosivo: May 23, 2004; Fueled by Satan

Jack Trades posted:

That's the stupidest argument whenever someone points out that a game is poorly designed.

It's the developer's responsibility to make the game fun to play, not the player's.

OP's argument is completely subjective and in no way reflects my time with Grim Dawn.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:52

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Jack Trades posted:

That's the stupidest argument whenever someone points out that a game is poorly designed.

It's the developer's responsibility to make the game fun to play, not the player's.

Shut up.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:54

MajorBonnet: May 28, 2009; How did I get here?

Video games are a collaborative medium where the developer and player work together to create a fulfilling experience.

In this post, I will...

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:57

FastestGunAlive: Apr 7, 2010; Dancing palm tree.

I did my first run thru on GD with an extremely unoptimized half pet half laser beam build and had no issues with anything including the dlc on normal difficulty

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:58

Jack Trades: Nov 30, 2010

Mordja posted:

Shut up.

The feeling is mutual.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:59

Red Red Blue: Feb 11, 2007

Jack Trades posted:

That's the stupidest argument whenever someone points out that a game is poorly designed.

It's the developer's responsibility to make the game fun to play, not the player's.

Having one button builds isn't poor design though

# ? Nov 12, 2023 18:59

Runa: Feb 13, 2011

Giving everyone a free dodge/mobility button with iframes definitionally adds more buttons to press for even the one button build.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 19:10

Damn Dirty Ape: Jan 23, 2015; I love you Dr. Zaius

2 buttons!? wtf do they think I am, some kind of coked up esport gamer?

*leaves negative steam review*

# ? Nov 12, 2023 19:21

Deakul: Apr 2, 2012; PAM PA RAM

PAM PAM PARAAAAM!

Jack Trades posted:

That's the stupidest argument whenever someone points out that a game is poorly designed.

It's the developer's responsibility to make the game fun to play, not the player's.

How is build optimization poor game design lol

# ? Nov 12, 2023 19:22

goferchan: Feb 8, 2004; It's 2006. I am taking 276 yeti furs from the goodies hoard.

Jack Trades posted:

That's the stupidest argument whenever someone points out that a game is poorly designed.

It's the developer's responsibility to make the game fun to play, not the player's.

If I'm trying to min-max optimize an ARPG build I'm having more fun by killing everything with one button, not less. When "developers make the game fun to play" you end up with late stage Diablo cancer where you're basically doing MMO skill rotations. let me just spam loving whirlwind.

Also I'd argue that if ARPGs don't have any game-breaking builds where it feels like you're doing something wrong that the devs didn't account for, they aren't interesting ARPGs.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 19:28

Jack Trades: Nov 30, 2010

goferchan posted:

If I'm trying to min-max optimize an ARPG build I'm having more fun by killing everything with one button, not less. When "developers make the game fun to play" you end up with late stage Diablo cancer where you're basically doing MMO skill rotations. let me just spam loving whirlwind.

Also I'd argue that if ARPGs don't have any game-breaking builds where it feels like you're doing something wrong that the devs didn't account for, they aren't interesting ARPGs.

If you want to kill everything by pressing one button then you might as well just play Vampire Survivors instead.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 19:32

Volte: Oct 4, 2004; woosh woosh

Your individual choices shouldn't matter and each build should just be a different set of animations and colours overlayed on the same immutable linear power curve (positive deviations from the curve constitute an objectively better build and are bad game design). You'll know you're having fun when you can kill Level 50 enemies at Level 50 in the exact same amount of time you could kill Level 1 enemies at Level 1.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 19:32

Hwurmp: May 20, 2005

real pros kill everything with half-presses

# ? Nov 12, 2023 19:37

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

Master_Odin posted:

Why would you do that when you could join the Bad Rats King Klub?

Accidentally clicked join so I had to quickly download and beat Bad Rats to avoid looking like an idiot.

Of course now I look like an idiot in a different way

# ? Nov 12, 2023 19:50

Owl Inspector: Sep 14, 2011

I got a lot of value out of grim dawn but it definitely got pretty dull on the second playthrough difficulty as the game basically expected you to stack one damage type as high as you possibly could and invest everything you could in whichever skill you wanted to use as your primary, other than investments in survivability. the gameplay's pretty brainless so when number starts going up slower and slower on that second difficulty (levelups eventually give fewer skill points, there are fewer constellations to get, and you'll find improvements to your gear less frequently) I was only able to get characters through the first playthrough before losing interest. So its dual class system looks like it gives you tons of options, but you actually just choose your second class based on whichever one will improve your one big skill the most. Adding a dash and cutting down on loot spew sound like really good changes.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 20:26

queeb: Jun 10, 2004; m

grim dawn is up there in the terrarria tier of developer support. game has had so many updates since its release its amazing.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 20:28

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

I really enjoyed Grim Dawn while listening to a podcast about the Silmarillon, that was cool

I think my favorite set of Diablolikes are Titan Quest, Grim Dawn, Path of Exile, Inquisitor, and the not-good-but-weird Zombasite.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 20:29

mystes: May 31, 2006

Owl Inspector posted:

I got a lot of value out of grim dawn but it definitely got pretty dull on the second playthrough difficulty as the game basically expected you to stack one damage type as high as you possibly could and invest everything you could in whichever skill you wanted to use as your primary, other than investments in survivability. the gameplay's pretty brainless so when number starts going up slower and slower on that second difficulty (levelups eventually give fewer skill points, there are fewer constellations to get, and you'll find improvements to your gear less frequently) I was only able to get characters through the first playthrough before losing interest. So its dual class system looks like it gives you tons of options, but you actually just choose your second class based on whichever one will improve your one big skill the most. Adding a dash and cutting down on loot spew sound like really good changes.

I think the dual class system would be better if you got separate points for each class and the skills combined in more interesting ways.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 20:42

HopperUK: Apr 29, 2007; Why would an ambulance be leaving the hospital?

Grim Dawn is too visually muddy. I can see what's going on but it feels like a real strain. I'm visually impaired and I don't demand the game cater to me or anything, but it's a problem I've *only* had with Grim Dawn, and with the labyrinth sections in Path of Exile. Everything else I've played is fine. So I'll probably just play Titan Quest again with a loot mod to make unique items drop more often, but this GD update looks kickass.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 20:46

mystes: May 31, 2006

HopperUK posted:

Grim Dawn is too visually muddy. I can see what's going on but it feels like a real strain. I'm visually impaired and I don't demand the game cater to me or anything, but it's a problem I've *only* had with Grim Dawn, and with the labyrinth sections in Path of Exile. Everything else I've played is fine. So I'll probably just play Titan Quest again with a loot mod to make unique items drop more often, but this GD update looks kickass.

I'm not visually impaired and not only do I find it impossible to see where you can actually walk in dungeons without opening the map (probably worse than in Diablo 2/3?) I actually had to lower the graphics settings to have any loving clue what was going on on the screen

I still like it overall, although it can get a little tedious if you play it too much. I didn't like Diablo 3 and grim dawn feels more like "more Diablo 2" which was what I wanted (although I kind of want something that's more like Diablo 1 too)

# ? Nov 12, 2023 20:49

Runa: Feb 13, 2011

Jack Trades posted:

If you want to kill everything by pressing one button then you might as well just play Vampire Survivors instead.

don't you threaten me with a good time

# ? Nov 12, 2023 20:49

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# ? May 26, 2024 20:50

HopperUK: Apr 29, 2007; Why would an ambulance be leaving the hospital?

mystes posted:

I'm not visually impaired and not only do I find it impossible to see where you can actually walk in dungeons without opening the map (probably worse than in Diablo 2/3?) I actually had to lower the graphics settings to have any loving clue what was going on on the screen

oh thank God I just assumed it was my stupid eyeballs

Yeah, I had to use the minimap to know where to walk. Drove me batshit. And I feel bad because it's the kind of meaty ARPG I really enjoy otherwise. Gonna play Chronicon out of spite.

# ? Nov 12, 2023 20:50

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