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Subjunctive posted:Oh man! Is there anything you can do for the people you never get to “play” with? If you don't want to study a wiki and if you're playing the PC version, there is a mod where the game will just show what they like.
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Jan 17, 2024 15:36
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Jack Trades posted:Over time characters will have a Heart icon over then and if you chat with them they will tell you "I'd really like X right now" They are very much not necessarily their favorite gifts. The special requests are often not even liked gifts except when they're making that specific request. Similarly, many of Sandrock's quests will lie to you and tell you that an NPC likes, for example, fish, when they don't care one way or the other about fish outside that specific quest.
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Jan 17, 2024 19:39
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These games really need 1) a way of tracking liked/disliked gifts and 2) a mechanical where they will give you the benefit of the doubt and say "Hey I really hate this thing, I won't accept it.". (could probably add in some characterization where the nicer characters give you three chances where you give them fish entrails where the curdmudgeon doesn't say anything at all, etcetc) I remember in Stardew, I think I just had a big stack of Coffee? Sashimi? and just checked out of having to figure out everyone's likes without the wiki. COULD be a fun mechanic if devs broke out of the mold.
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Jan 17, 2024 20:37
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Jyrraeth posted:These games really need 1) a way of tracking liked/disliked gifts and 2) a mechanical where they will give you the benefit of the doubt and say "Hey I really hate this thing, I won't accept it.". In Sandrock you can see the likes/dislikes you’ve discovered about them in the NPC-information section of the info menu.
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Jan 17, 2024 20:45
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Subjunctive posted:In Sandrock you can see the likes/dislikes you’ve discovered about them in the NPC-information section of the info menu. Coral Island does the same thing, but yeah, the whole system needs an overhaul. There's too many items. No one wants to try each item with each character. Like, that should just be part of the each character's bio: "Rachel likes muffins, coffee, and pink flowers." Or make the NPCs say what they want. Or have a gift action that opens the inventory and shows which items the NPC likes. Or when you give them an item they dislike, have them suggest something better. Like there's a bunch of different options that don't involve blindly giving one of hundreds of items to each character, one at a time, hoping it's not a reject.
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Jan 17, 2024 22:11
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AARD VARKMAN posted:For once I tried giving gifts instead of looking it up when I was playing Coral Island. Actually tons of them just hate violets specifically. I forget where I saw it in the game, but something in the game did mention this re: violets. I could not figure out why violets specifically were considered a poo poo flower. LLSix posted:They are very much not necessarily their favorite gifts. These MOSTLY made sense for me, but a big weird outlier was that they don't seem to have properly coded Fang to be a vegetarian. They have him liking spicy food in general, some of his favs even have meat in the name. And he'll still want a meat dish often at the Blue Moon. He's very very clear about being a vegetarian, even if he will use animal products in medicine specifically to help people out. sim posted:Coral Island does the same thing, but yeah, the whole system needs an overhaul. There's too many items. No one wants to try each item with each character. Like, that should just be part of the each character's bio: "Rachel likes muffins, coffee, and pink flowers." Or make the NPCs say what they want. Or have a gift action that opens the inventory and shows which items the NPC likes. Or when you give them an item they dislike, have them suggest something better. Like there's a bunch of different options that don't involve blindly giving one of hundreds of items to each character, one at a time, hoping it's not a reject. This gets extra confusing when, I THINK, it deals in genres of object. Sometimes. So you see that someone likes a daffodil, that means they actually like all gatherable flowers except violets. But it just shows the daffodil. And the violet is a weird outlier that's hard to figure out. Does someone like a specific item or a genre that item is in? Dunno, gotta try more! I just look at a drat guide. Nothing quite shows what someone likes well enough for me. Sandrock got it closest, but there's people and critters you can't hang with, so that's a big flaw. Oh, though I do remember one that confused me: You're told Elsie likes fishing, but actually it means she likes receiving fishing gear, not fish. And sometimes they'll say they like old world artifacts, but actually their favs are very specific ones and not just all of them. It's hard to just have that work out in dialog, I guess. Sandrock still did get it closest. Midnight Voyager fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Jan 18, 2024 |
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Jan 18, 2024 01:31
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what's this insane poo poo about asking people what they like? why not use a crystal ball to spy on their heart's innermost desire like a normal person, as Wylde Flowers does? (their heart's innermost desire is usually pizza)
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Jan 18, 2024 15:36
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This is one thing I really enjoyed about Spirittea. There's no gifting, to build up friendship you hang out with people and do their favourite hobbies together.
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Jan 21, 2024 04:01
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I’m curious about Rune Factory 4, as a single-player something between Sandrock and playing Palworld with my kid. I’d be playing it on Steam Deck, most likely, and the Steam reviews indicate that the controls aren’t the greatest. I’m especially worried about RT being an instant (and, I fear, often accidental) teleportation home, but I can probably address that with Steam Input trickery. Is it generally playable? I haven’t played any RF games before, so if there’s a better place to enter the series in terms of QoL, I’m open to that.
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Jan 24, 2024 00:04
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Rune Factory 4 is entirely playable and the RT is literally only used to teleport home. It's nothing but a delight in almost every single way.
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Jan 24, 2024 01:07
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Subjunctive posted:I’m curious about Rune Factory 4, as a single-player something between Sandrock and playing Palworld with my kid. Runs like a charm and the controls are fine
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Jan 24, 2024 07:28
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The recommendation for people enjoying Sandrock to play DQB2 may just push me to do the inverse. I’m famous among my friends for loving DQB2 and comparing it to other games. Is there anything else I should check out aside from Sandrock?
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Jan 24, 2024 09:48
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What do you love about DQB2? If it’s a high level of building/control options and some level of “make people happy and put them to work” you may want to look more at survival building games like PalWorld and Age of Conan
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Jan 25, 2024 19:54
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DQB1 is finally coming to PC in February: https://kotaku.com/dqb-dragon-quest-builders-1-minecraft-steam-pc-port-1851206934
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Jan 29, 2024 23:22
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I tried the demo of DQB2 and found the disconnect between the cutesy graphics and the brutal storyline jarring. Early on there's a cinematic with one of the cutesy weeble families refusing to desecrate a religious icon and being decapitated by the monster folks. It was just too drat weird for me.
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Jan 29, 2024 23:31
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God let that be a sign we might be getting 3. Alternatively I’d do absolutely shameful things to get a FF Builders…
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Jan 29, 2024 23:58
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Saxophone posted:God let that be a sign we might be getting 3. yes please
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Jan 30, 2024 00:06
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skeleton warrior posted:What do you love about DQB2? If it’s a high level of building/control options and some level of “make people happy and put them to work” you may want to look more at survival building games like PalWorld and Age of Conan Realized I didn't respond here. I care most about the freedom to build cool things with "some level of function" being a nice bonus. I'm not big on survival mechanics, but things that cause things to thrive are pretty cool. This all reminds me that I need to pick up Wildmender again! Saxophone posted:God let that be a sign we might be getting 3.  EDIT: Actually, good time to ask: is it worth picking up DQB1 if you played 2 first? broken pixel fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Jan 30, 2024 |
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Jan 30, 2024 00:47
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broken pixel posted:
I think it has a better structured campaign, but the controls are ROUGH to go back to. I also didn't mind the reset between worlds thing that a lot of people hated, though.
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Jan 30, 2024 03:20
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Yeah, while it's nice that it's getting out of PS4 Jail the sequel is just a better game overall and I've never been able to go back to the first one after playing it.
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Jan 30, 2024 09:13
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The mech farming game Lightyear Frontier has a demo out on Steam. I really like the vibe, the world kinda reminds me of Satisfactory but instead of building a factory you're gradually restoring ecosystems and making a cool farm. Lots of decorative items and it has a survival game style homestead mechanic where you get buffs based on how much you have decorated your home. The demo is small but it seems like there will be a lot of stuff to explore. Everything is sized appropriately for the mech but you can also get out and walk around which makes everything feel gigantic. The official start of EA is next month and it'll be on Gamepass so I think I will probably check it out.
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Feb 6, 2024 20:50
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Sandrock is on sale for $31.99 if anyone was waiting for a discount.
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Feb 6, 2024 22:11
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I recently started Death Stranding and almost immediately wished that it could be a life sim type game. It's such a lovely environment packed with cool design. Let me run around delivering cargo and building things without all the terribly grim stuff!
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Feb 6, 2024 23:41
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Counterpoint, I would LOVE a grim lifesim
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Feb 7, 2024 00:58
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Isn't there that depressing Russian one where you're an old drunk living in a little cabin? EDIT: Farmer's Life - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yo29kvjk_U Dick Trauma fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Feb 7, 2024 |
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Feb 7, 2024 01:23
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Dick Trauma posted:Isn't there that depressing Russian one where you're an old drunk living in a little cabin? Farmer's Life is quite good too, at least in my opinion. It has the most depressing tutorial ever, as you lose all your poo poo to alcoholism and depression, but you are able to turn the guy's life around and you can eventually get him married and even have a happy little ending credits scroll if you follow the "main quest" to completion. It's kind of janky, but much better than most Playway simulation type games. The developer actually put a lot of work into it.
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Feb 7, 2024 02:39
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Maybe it’s a case of the last 20% costing some insane amount of time and effort, but it’s bizarre to me that so many Playway published games are just… so close, but not there. It feels like 90% of their published games could be my absolute favorites but they always just stop short. Maybe it’s just the economics and kids are entertained by what they deliver versus weird grogs like me.
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Feb 7, 2024 08:51
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I've been playing DQB2 and it is so charming and calming. It kinda feels like a never-ending tutorial but it has a lot of heart. There is a LOT of NPC talking and every character has a unique written voice style. Its been causing me to have the most wonderfully OCD dreams about placing blocks in the correct places lately and I love it.
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Feb 7, 2024 14:10
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Dick Trauma posted:I recently started Death Stranding and almost immediately wished that it could be a life sim type game. It's such a lovely environment packed with cool design. Let me run around delivering cargo and building things without all the terribly grim stuff! Yeah, I really liked Death Stranding for the delivery aspects and how it handled terrain, weather, etc... but the endgame (and the insistence on combat and boss fights) was enough that I never actually finished it. I'd love to see someone take the formula and run with it. Especially since what I've heard of DS2 sounds like they're doubling down on the parts I didn't care for.
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Feb 7, 2024 15:27
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Gadzuko posted:The mech farming game Lightyear Frontier has a demo out on Steam. I really like the vibe, the world kinda reminds me of Satisfactory but instead of building a factory you're gradually restoring ecosystems and making a cool farm. Lots of decorative items and it has a survival game style homestead mechanic where you get buffs based on how much you have decorated your home. The demo is small but it seems like there will be a lot of stuff to explore. Everything is sized appropriately for the mech but you can also get out and walk around which makes everything feel gigantic. The official start of EA is next month and it'll be on Gamepass so I think I will probably check it out. Thanks for posting this. Love the vibes and getting to restore ecosystems and help cool space animals 
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Feb 7, 2024 18:21
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Count Thrashula posted:Counterpoint, I would LOVE a grim lifesim shepherd's crossing is right there
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Feb 9, 2024 21:40
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Is Voices of the Void a life Sims game? You arnt farming but you do do a job every day. You can even fish. Its also spooky
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Feb 10, 2024 07:49
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I just started playing Wylde Flowers and I really dig it, but what the gently caress is up with the economy in that game. I made some juice, went to sell it and it sells for less than the component ingredients! Went on the wiki and it looks like that's a common thing across all recipes.
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Feb 11, 2024 21:02
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Soonmot posted:I just started playing Wylde Flowers and I really dig it, but what the gently caress is up with the economy in that game. I made some juice, went to sell it and it sells for less than the component ingredients! Went on the wiki and it looks like that's a common thing across all recipes. Game designers have traditionally had to choose between three differently bad ways to set relative costs for crafting products and their ingredients. A) Make craft products always sell for more than their ingredients. This makes intuitive sense, but incentivizes players to spend time in crafting loops to make infinite money. Thereby letting players skip over entire game segments or mechanics. This is especially bad when crafting does not allow making batch lots or is otherwise tedious. Even minigames that would usually be fun will frustrate players if they find themselves being forced to do them 100s of times to play "optimally." B) Make craft products sell for less than their ingredients. Now players won't waste time making stuff to sell. Unfortunately, devs often mess up the math on this and players end up not engaging with advanced crafting at all as it becomes cheaper to buy finished products from NPCs than make stuff themselves. It also has the bad feels you are experiencing where crafting feels like a fun tax. It also results in players upset from wasting time crafting if they didn't realize how the math worked out. C) Make craft products sell for exactly the same as their ingredients. This makes no sense at all in-universe, but at least sidesteps the issue of players who are upset when they realize they lost money by crafting. Unfortunately, the math here gets really tricky if you can use the same ingredients for several crafts and most of the time there end up being a few products that lose a little money to make and a few products that make a little money. This often ends up with the worst of both A & B options. D) "Recently" a new option has been introduced - make crafting profitable but have it happen on a timer, either real-world or in-game time. The downside here is that it feels "mobiley" and "exploitative" because it often is exploitative, as in the case of "freemium" games where you have to pay real money to make in-game actions happen in a reasonable time frame. This is the solution Stardew Valley and the My Time games both used. So I try not to get too frustrated at games where crafting isn't profitable. All it means is that's not something the developers want players to feel like they have to spend a lot of time doing. Wylde flowers feels more like a narrative game with farming tacked on to me. It seemed much more focused on the backstory and somewhat on character relationships, with everything else being a way of supporting those elements. This doesn't make it a bad game, just different from SV which is more sandboxy.
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Feb 11, 2024 21:34
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Hihohe posted:Is Voices of the Void a life Sims game? I had never heard of this and now I'm watching a youtube playthrough and am fascinated. I used to use telescopes like this sometimes at university. Never in a spooky woods though! Thanks for the tip.
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Feb 11, 2024 21:46
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You could just make selling items an order only thing. You don't get to sell 200 stacks of corn or whatever for infinite money whenever you want, if nobody is buying nobody is buying. Graveyard Keeper does kind of do that in that goods you sell become cheaper the more you sell of them, and then slowly rise up to normal. This incentivizes you to branch out and only make a little beer and wine, then go make a few pies and a few wooden boards or whatever. I thin that's my main complaint with the economy in games like Stardew. You can just focus on the most valuable thing and now you're a monocrop farm growing only the thing that makes the most money this season. In Sandrock I don't really interact with the stores beyond buying annoying to make items like canvas. I just go with commissions.
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Feb 11, 2024 21:50
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okay, I can see that. It's not affecting my enjoyment of the game, I just found it really weird. I never noticed the price changes in Graveyard Keeper, because the only things I was mass craftin was whatever would spit out the blue experience!
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Feb 12, 2024 00:00
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Imagine a game with futures trading like the real world. Now that would be an interesting challenge for a dev to balance. I know many games try and fail to stimulate an economy, but making it fun seems hard.
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Feb 12, 2024 01:24
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Jyrraeth posted:Imagine a game with futures trading like the real world. Now that would be an interesting challenge for a dev to balance. Sure but it'll be a double A-ness indie game that gamers won't buy till it's on sale for $15 so they can flame the dev in verified purchase reviews.
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Feb 12, 2024 02:36
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HopperUK posted:I had never heard of this and now I'm watching a youtube playthrough and am fascinated. I used to use telescopes like this sometimes at university. Never in a spooky woods though! Thanks for the tip. Its strangely addicting. i recomend going in fresh, theres a lot of secret things and events that are made better if you dont know about them.
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Feb 12, 2024 02:52
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