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Tag game recommendations with [rec]. Tag your critique or commentary threads with [discussion]. Both table-top and video game content is welcome! Original content or indie/DRM free material is encouraged!

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At a time where video game productions are getting more outrageously expansive every year, Dishonored 1 and even the more recent Deathloop (2021, also Arkane) remind us that games are meant to be FUN.

I recently played through deathloop for the second time and am now approaching the end of dishonored 1 for the third time, and at every step I've been thinking, it's just a fun game. It doesn't try to punch above its weight and do stuff it can't manage, it's just a solid gameplay experience that doesn't hate the player, which is a rarity these days.

When talking about fun in video games, I am always reminded of David Sirlin's philosophy to approaching Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Yes, that's what the game was called lol. Instead of trying to put on a grandiose show or wowing audiences with graphics, he focused on making solid gameplay, and he did this through balance. His idea was that if the game was balanced, people would ultimately find their fun (considering it's a 2-player versus game). He made the controls easier so that skill came not from knowing the weird and hard combos like quarter-circles, but from the strategic gameplay, i.e. Yomi. Good players were still good, but newer players reached the intermediate level much faster. Ultimately, this is good for everyone: less frustration to new players, and more opponents to experienced players.

My fellow co-admin was asking about Death Stranding a few days ago which got me to boot the game up again and, let's be honest, it's a movie that pretends to be a game. You may disagree and that's fine haha. Kojima doesn't hide his affection for cinema, but playing DS just got me asking... why not make a movie at that point? The gameplay of DS is often reduced to being a 'walking sim' but I didn't find it boring like the name walking sim implies. Rather, I felt like the gameplay was only a glorified countdown until I could unlock the next cutscene. And sorry but that's just not what I'm looking for in a game, nor what I think games ought to be, because they don't have to compete with movies!

In Dishonored, the story is only a pretext for more gameplay (it's basically the count of monte cristo with extra steps), the characters are one-dimensional and it's not a super long game. Because of that, themes don't have time to develop and the story has no real climactic or impactful moments.

BUT... it works. It's fun, it's a solid experience, and it's one of the few games that can catch my attention for hours at a time.

Its level system, which was getting outdated by 2013 standards already, basically drops you into a self-contained sandbox with an objective: kill your target. How you get to your target and how you take them out is up to you. A nonlethal option is always possible, if you find it. And that's all you get. Once you're in a level, it's basically you and the objective. There's no new cutscenes or exposition or people endlessly yapping in your ear about how to complete your objective. The game leaves you to it and doesn't try to shoehorn you into doing one thing or another.

There's some collectible stuff but nowhere near the level of what you see in modern games, e.g. having to dismount from your horse every 15 meters so you can pick up a brightly glowing plant that you'll use to make some potion in a menu. I think one thing that makes the levels work is that you also can't go in a straight line; they are crafted to make every method to your objective viable. In contrast, in open world games you usually end up walking in a straight line to the next objective marker because you just want to get to the game. Nobody takes the train just for the sake of taking the train: you travel to go place. In Dishonored, the level is the objective so it doesn't feel like you're traveling so much as you're completing an objective.

In other words, it doesn't sidetrack you with bullshit every 10 seconds trying to get you to do something different. I think this is something games are sorely missing nowadays; in an industry that has so much competition, a lot of the overall effort is put into the graphics and into retaining the player's attention. This is a mistake, as Dishonored shows the player will invest their attention in a game naturally; it doesn't need to keep yelling "hey! hey! do this! do that! go get this! upgrade that!" all the time.

The pacing is sometimes very fast, but it's fine because the game keeps moving forward to the next set piece. It's level after level and you keep asking for more.

There's more I could say but this is getting long lol. In closing I would like to say please make games that are fun, not tedious. The purpose of a game - video or not - is to be fun, and fun comes from different places. A story can be told through a variety of mediums, but only a game is interactive.

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I’m looking for a (probably modern) Hearts of Iron IV mod that isn’t full of liberal BS. The one I was playing, Novum Vexillum, calls the DPRK under Kim-Jong Il “fascist”. It also has a habit of shoving unavoidable events that should be tied to a focus down your throat that lead to a war or something. Even if the mod isn’t, “Socialist” per se, it should at least be neutral when it comes to things like this. Thanks!

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early game spoilersSo early on after completing a few key deliveries we finally get a bike at distribution centre. We aren't able to use it the first time but the next mission gives us a generator that makes the bike usable.

The problem I have is that I can't take it anywhere. Once the game allowed me to use the bike, I was supposed to go to Capital Knot City but there's a mountain in the way that the bike can't traverse. How should I use the bike properly? Should I just leave it before the mountain/hill, traverse on foot from there, then hop on the bike again on the way back? I didn't do this because I thought the bike would disappear (stolen by MULEs or other porters maybe).

(I feel so stupid. I painstakingly managed to take the bike to Capital Knot City somehow by hopping and jumping at whatnot. But I can't bring it back from there because of the adverse terrain. So I stuffed it into the Capital garage and am now walking around like a jabronj.)

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Yeah, I'm at the point where I don't want things to END.

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Modded Minecraft Java 1.21.5 server, at thecomm.apexmc.co. discord.gg/89UuZtZEpx to get the mods installed. Supports cracked clients and has instructions. Not my own server

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cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/8395650

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/8395649

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/8395648

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/8395647

I don't particularly care about the cost or the hoops I have to jump through, I primarily want the best and most effective VPN's.

I'm also a heavy gamer, so the ones that are most excellent and allow for the least minimal delay when playing online multiplayer/live-service games, would be what I'm looking for.

And while this last one is optional, I would prefer if the recommend VPN's are also usable in the U.S., so I could set them up before I move to Chengdu.

I'm aware I could likely change VPN's, but that could be a headache or a hassle, so I'd rather stick with one. Unless I would have to compromise on quality/ VPN effectiveness.

Also, the more cost efficient for the value, the better. But I primarily care about quality rather than cost effectiveness.

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Just showing vidya games to help lighten the mood in what is normally a political forum.

Goes on to show horror games.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

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I have played and enjoyed Persona 3, 4 and 5. While I don't like the themes and stories as such, the games are fun. I am giving Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance right now and it feels bleak and unfun. I haven't reached Tokyo Tower yet but should get there soon. Does it get better or should I consider dropping it?

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Is the new Legendary Edition a marked improvement over the original version? I want to play it on a weaker computer so I don't care for graphics and stuff. But I might consider it has significant quality of life improvements like better controller support etc.

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I have $50 that I can spend on Steam through a gift card, but I’m trying to wait for a sale for the games I want.

Currently, I might get Warno or Helldivers 2 or RuneScape Dragonwilds.

RuneScape 3 is an MMO that I grew up with and love, though I played OSRS originally and still do occasionally.

Warno might be interesting, but maybe too anti-Soviet or anti-communist? I have a friend playing it though and it seems like a milsim or tactical shooter of some sort.

And Helldivers 2 has several of my friends playing it.

I'm willing to play any of these games with someone since they're all multiplayer in one way or another.

I have other money that I'm saving up on so I likely won't dip into that.

I have a Steam Deck, a good laptop (but not good enough, I should say, and not as good as my Steam Deck) and a PS5, which I won't use in this case.

I also have Fallout 76 but I might rest on that before going back to it. In the meantime, I want one more multiplayer game that "everyone else" is playing. Fallout 76 just isn't that right now. But if you all want, we can play it; same with the other three games mentioned before.

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I know I complain a lot but I really can't grasp my head around sandbox games. If you find these things fun idk you need a better personality (said affectionately if you're on lemmygrad and enjoy these games lol)

Stormworks is a game where you build intricate vehicles in land sea and air and then take them out for a spin. My problem is not with the creative aspect, but with the "gameplay" they tried to put around that. I love trying out these super complicated sim games, e.g. kerbal space program or stationeers, and usually I play them for a few hours, realize it goes way over my head, and leave it to the pros. That's not what I have a problem with.

Stormworks was underwhelming. It's not the building aspect that's a problem either, it's literally everything else they put on top of it.

The game gives you a starter boat. This starter boat will float away if you don't take the time to rope it every time you park it in your dock. Having a dock with a closable door is not something they thought of apparently (the land portion of the dock is closable, but not the sea part). Ask me how I know that happened? It happened to me. I had to restart the game because I didn't have enough money to order a new boat. I wouldn't mind the boat floating away but this game has no failsafes in place to prevent a complete and total defeat.

Then I go to a mission to make sea repairs on a stranded boat. I get on top of it to inspect the damage (at night, because missions like spawning at night) and... it immediately sinks at the bottom of the sea. To be honest that was more funny than anything else, even though I wasted a very boring trip.

I finally get a mission to go get 3 stranded capsize victims to a hospital, great. That'll pull in some money. I make my way there and because of a DLC some helicopters start shooting at me. Like bruh I just started the game lol. I try turning off the lights, reducing my footprint, but it doesn't seem to prevent them from shooting at me. Thankfully they don't have great aim and I make my way to the victims, putting them into my boat (you have to manually carry each one, they will not help you in any way getting into your boat). I get them in and realize a hospital boat is closer than the hospital I originally was aiming for, so I turn to the huge ship. Hey, it's more interesting than just driving in a straight line for 10 minutes. I get side by side with the hospital ship and try to go get my rope to tie my boat to it when I fall into the sea - because the starter boat is not wide enough and so you need to jump in a weird spot to get from the back (where the helm is) to the front where the rope is.

Guess what? I can't catch up with my boat that is still moving forward. The capsize victims in the meanwhile just sit there on my boat, not doing anything to help. As I desperately and futilely swim behind my boat, never catching up to it, I realize the hospital boat is slower than I am. So I aim for the right moment and grab its ladder. Then, I pull myself up on the bridge, running towards the front - it's faster than swimming. Just as I catch up with my boat... it capsizes too, because it got caught in front of the hospital ship and did a weird turn or something.

Well, at least I caught up to it. I jump back in the sea, fail to catch the boat (I think that's a physics thing in how the speed of the hospital ship was transferred to me), and then realize I'm missing one injured. Their head was underwater too long and instead of being automatically ejected from their seat, they instead decided to drown. I catch up to the helm, frantically get in place so I can try to salvage this shitshow, and... nothing. I knew that was going to happen, but eh. You gotta try anyway. Obviously my motors are underwater and can't get oxygen, so the boat is just lost.

So anyway that's when I quit the game lol. Trying to save my mission and boat for 5 minutes only to end in absolute failure state, no chance of saving. Looking it up online, the only solution when you capsize is to drown yourself so you spawn back at base, and then build a towing boat. Or, and I had a good chuckle at this, swim back to your starter island. Sure, I'll just waste 40 minutes of my real life pressing W in one direction. That seems like a great time that I definitely could not spend better somewhere else (spoiler alert: just make an "I'm stuck" button and save players the waste of time). On top of which I don't have any money because half the missions the game generates are missions I can't do with my simple starter boat, so my game is just fucked for a second time and it's a campaign restart (unless I wanted to swim around to collect loot crates that give 10k$ but see my previous sentence).

And the game auto saves all the time so it's very likely that I had no save before the capsizing. I didn't feel like trying a load anyway as I figured I'd just keep running into more problems. When my boat disappeared god-knows-where I had no idea of knowing where it was (there's no map tracking) and the game had just saved as I got into the hangar.

My screed would end before it even began if these problems were reflected somewhere, but no! Everybody loves this game! from the subreddit to the steam reviews, you'd think this tech demo is the most complete game to ever grace the world. I think people who actually play more than a few hours in this are people who just play sandbox and build a fleet of vehicles. Nobody plays this for career mode.

If you enjoy the creative aspect of building complicated vehicles and seeing how they perform that's not my issue either, my issue is how these games add a career or campaign mode, and then do nothing with it. But I want them to do something with it! I would love that game if there was an actual career mode like the one they make you think is in there. The broader problem beside game-breaking bugs is that usually in these games, there's not really a reason to keep going. Make more money so you can build bigger vehicles but for what? At that point you should just play sandbox and skip the grind from the get-go.

I had the same problem with aviassembly; reviews rave about how great that game is, and then you play it and it's barely a prototype. My problem is not the arcade flight simulations (you can apparently fly a plane that's just a tube), it's that there's barely anything in there. Missions in that game are always the same repetitive go here, grab this, go there and the landscape is ugly to look at; there's no unique monuments or areas, there's just low-poly textures. Also I'm sorry but the steam video is just lying about that game. You have no reason to ever make a biplane, there is no such thing as crashed wrecks, you never get out of your plane to carry boxes into it, you don't deliver mail, and the rest of the video is conveying something that's technically in the game, but definitely not the same experience.

I have a very simple principle when it comes to game design: the player (not the character) should never be idle. If I alt tab to do something else while I wait to travel to a place, you've failed something somewhere. It was one of my issues with Kenshi too. At least aviassembly avoids that by making distances very short; you barely have time to reach cruising altitude before you have to prepare for landing.

The reason I'm so critical of stormworks is because, well, I need to tell someone lol (the capsize rescue was a whole odyssey I'll give them that), but also because I want to like these games! I love the idea behind stormworks of having different ways of making money with vehicles you build yourself, setting up automated revenue, buying up more islands, and I don't know what else they have. It's just I'll never experience it because your career mode is so punitive (whereas the creative mode is, by definition, only rewarding - go figure). If you make a game for creative builders then make that, don't slap on a half-assed 'campaign' to sell copies to unsuspecting players.

I enjoyed trailmakers recently, that game is definitely between arcade and sim. And at first I loved the setting of the campaign mode, on a planet of frogkin where you start with a shitty land vehicle, upgrade it to solve organic challenges, then move to sea vehicles... but then you realize, oh, that's all there is to it. Make one passable vehicle and just play with that the whole time. Then you move to tier 2 which is the sea area, then tier 3 which is the air area. The campaign is pretty much over before it even began - though with the DLCs I see there's also a space campaign and a third one too iirc.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/29968664

Easter egg hunt, settler edition.

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With the remaster coming out I started looking into the original game since I had never played it. I found that a mod, NorthernUI, exists that adds controller support to the game. So I decided to install a GOG copy of the game on the Steam Deck.

I tried to get Mod Organizer to work but failed. But it turns out there is a native Linux mod manager called Limo Mod Manager that can work with Skyrim. The whole process of getting it work kept me up til 2AM.

So I have the original game installed now with NorthernUI and Unofficial X Patches for bugfixes.

Anyone has suggestions for more QoL mods that can smooth out the jankiness? Thanks.

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This build requires hail of blades to output damage quickly, so you forgo phase rush, but if you take ghost you can compensate for your lack of mobility.

Many bruiser items synergize well with Alistar because of their defensive stats and passives

Guardian angel, so you can dive their team more aggressively because of the revive. While you're temporarily dead your cooldowns go off so you can combo them again

Bloodsong, you have more consistent damage than AP builds

Steraks, for CC heavy teams, the tenacity allows you to be more sticky. Even with ult cleanse, you can still be chain cc'd

Roaming boots because it's cheap

Mercurial for magic resist, and to chase down enemies with the movespeed buff

Deaths dance along with GA for heavy AD teams, synergizes well with your passive when enemies die that makes you survive better

You can go wits end if they're AP heavy, but the attack speed feels wasteful since most of the damage should be coming from the first three hits of HoB

Secondary runes are of course hexflash and cosmic insight

The reason why I think it's better than tank or AP is because if you go tank, you're less of a threat and can be more easily ignored. If you're AP, you lack consistent damage and are heavily reliant on long cooldowns.

With AD, you have more constant DPS which makes you more of a threat, and you can still be tanky with bruiser items. Combo them, auto them twice, then for the third auto you save it for your E proc. You attack very quickly due to hail of blades.

Is this viable or troll? I only play swift games nowadays so I don't know if this is good in ranked. Though I have reached platinum in the past with tank Alistar, or was it AP alistar I forgot.

Maybe this should be reserved as a for fun only build

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I should probably come out and say that I really don't get them, but I'll try not to be a contrarian in this thread lol. Looking for genuine perspectives.

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They say it's a "Remaster" but it's clearly a remake (yeah, I know, there's generally some controversy surrounding the terms).

Oblivion was (aside from Morrowind and, I guess, Daggerfall) one of the best games I've ever played and I sunk more hours into it than Skyrim, which I only sunk into for two weeks (Oblivion was for two or three months and then I played The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask in 2008 for the first time and was blown away even more). Honestly, it was a good combination; they were excellent displays of what open-world games can be. Oblivion also had the best quests (compared to the lackluster Skyrim), but of course, retconed the lore from Morrowind, which was annoying. It was also the first game I ever played in The Elder Scrolls lore.

What are your thoughts? Apparently, it has a "Gamebryo API backlink" for mods, but uses Unreal Engine 5, which actually excited my younger brother (who is, otherwise, not really all that interested in a remake and just wants Bethesda to make another game).

Your overall thoughts?

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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4531612

Month old, but no early access plans is based. I believe FireWo Games is making the right choices to succeed with this ambitious game. Chinese gaming, ftw.

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Major Update Highlights

  • 64-Bit Support: Enhance your gaming performance and stability with our transition to 64-bit architecture.

  • New Boss Units:

    • Double the Challenge: Confront two powerful new boss units, each offering unique gameplay experiences.
  • Station Unit:

    • Introducing the New Station Unit: Expand your strategic options with this innovative addition.
  • Shield Upgrade:

    • Fortified Defense Mechanism: Upgrade your shields to improve defense capabilities against formidable foes.
  • Background Graphics:

    • Infinite Cosmic Space String: Enjoy a stunning visual experience with our newly designed infinite cosmic space continuous string in the backdrop.

Prepare for an upgraded adventure that combines enhanced visuals and intense challenges. Dive into the action and explore all these exciting new features!

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Pinging those that were here before.

Discussion questions:

What video games have you played recently?

and

What are your favorite video game genres?

Question of the week:

What games of 2025 are you enjoying right now, if any?

and

What do you think of the recent Nintendo Direct? And the upcoming one on April 2nd? And, once the Direct airs, what did you think of it? (Last question is for when it airs in the future.)

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