Be Excellent To Each Other :: View topic

This week's humble bundle is highly recommended.

Valdis Story is probably the most underrated metroidvania around, and The Dream Machine is brilliant.

I liked the first Wasteland, but i just can't get seem to get excited for this one. Also, the common complaint that it has too much text (and uninteresting at that) doesn't pull me in. Pillars of Eternity suffers from the same problem. It just drags on and on. "Show, not Tell" is something that these rpg designers totally ignore.

One of the other features of this game was the inclusion of a printed collection of paragraphs which the game would instruct the player to read at the appropriate times.[4] These paragraphs described encounters and conversations, contained clues, and added to the overall texture of the game. Because programming space was at a premium, it saved on resources to have most of the game's story printed out in a separate manual rather than store it within the game's code itself. The paragraph books also served as a rudimentary form of copy protection, as someone playing a copied version of the game would miss out on much of the story as well as clues necessary to progress. Additionally, the paragraphs included a completely unrelated story line[3] about a mission to Mars intended to mislead those who read the paragraphs when not instructed to, and a false set of passwords that would trip up cheaters with results that ranged from character sex changes to unintentionally detonating a bomb.

its using the 'bards tale' engine and one of the first post apocalyptic RPG's (along with Origin's Autoduel)

RuySan wrote:

I really think the reason that it worked so well in the original Wasteland was that they were very much restricted in what they could fit into the machine - from memory it was 4 'sides' of a C64 so 4x170k in total for the whole game and they used some creative ways to fit more of the story in

From the wikipedia page

Quote:

Cardhunter is brilliantly addicting. Anyone who feels bored should try this. It's got so much more depth.

RuySan wrote:

Cardhunter is brilliantly addicting. Anyone who feels bored should try this. It's got so much more depth.

addictive

I also put in another couple of hours into Project Cars, but I can't say I really care for it. It's too simmy for me and I'm more of an arcadey sort of bloke when it comes to racers. I'm kinda hoping that NFS Underground or whatever the new one is called actually has some substance, instead of being like a protein shake like the last few.

I played a single level prototype of Party Hard a while back and really enjoyed it. I suspect it won't be the most engaging thing long-term but it was amusing enough that I'll happily pick it up. General pitch: you've been driven to violence by the ongoing noise coming from a nearby party so you work your way through the environment trying to bump off all the party-goers using environment traps and stabbing without getting spotted or arrested.

I've found our perfect co-op game, Bamba.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... ime-review

-edit- local co-op only, sadly.

I need something like that for the PS4. And a econd controller that isn't £50.

MaliA wrote:

I need something like that for the PS4. And a econd controller that isn't £50.

Got ur back, bruv http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-PlayStatio ... controller

I've found our perfect co-op game, Bamba.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... ime-review

-edit- local co-op only, sadly.

Future Warrior wrote:

I've found our perfect co-op game, Bamba.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... ime-review

-edit- local co-op only, sadly.

I think there is chat about patching in internet co-op isn't there? I might've made that up.

I'm not a massive fan of classic point-and-click games these days but this sounds fucked up and affecting enough to be well worth playing:

http://www.thejimquisition.com/2015/09/dropsy-review/

I was totally not aware of this but apparently The Beginner's Guide, the new game from the developer of The Stanley Parable, is out in a couple of days.

Bamba wrote:

I was totally not aware of this but apparently The Beginner's Guide, the new game from the developer of The Stanley Parable, is out in a couple of days.

Nice.

Author:	Satsuma [ Thu Jun 25, 2015 23:08 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Here we are: 100% Ok, I think the percentages are wrong. Still, I spent 8 hours 22 minutes on it and got 11/12 green circles and 13/15 blue circles. And I didn't even need all the circles. BUT I WANTED THEM. So that's 24 circles out of 27 circles = circle% So in terms of percen for how good this game is I'm obliged to award it 88.88%. All games should be measured this way.

Author:	RuySan [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 9:42 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
This week's humble bundle is highly recommended. Valdis Story is probably the most underrated metroidvania around, and The Dream Machine is brilliant.

Author:	Bamba [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 10:04 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
RuySan wrote: This week's humble bundle is highly recommended. Valdis Story is probably the most underrated metroidvania around, and The Dream Machine is brilliant. I bought it for Tengami and Where Is My Heart.

Author:	Satsuma [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 10:11 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
On a not-related-to-Humble-Bundle note, I started up Wasteland 2 last night. It has a live action introduction which I didn't like and then reams and reams of text. I wasn't impressed. And it had loads of buttons I didn't know what to press. Maybe I should've paid more attention to the text. Then travelling around the world map was just a big arrow a largely empty map. Then an X-Com style fight in an arena. I didn't know what I was doing and it was jarring cause I didn't know it was an turn based fighting thing. Maybe I should have read about it beforehand. I'll have to come back to this when I'm more in the mood I think.

Author:	RuySan [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 10:15 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Wasteland 2 is one of those cases where every reviewer liked it, but every time i read about is on forums and comments the sentiment is usually negative. I want to play that someday, but Divinity: OS has the priority, and i still haven't finished Dark Souls 2 and Lords of Xulima.

Be Excellent To Each Other https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/

The PC Gaming Topic https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10011	Page 7 of 15

Author:	zaphod79 [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 10:17 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
The original game was something I played on the C64 , its using the 'bards tale' engine and one of the first post apocalyptic RPG's (along with Origin's Autoduel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasteland ... eo_game%29 A series of youtube videos of the C64 game : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvYcu5q ... 83&index=1 If you dont have any nostalgia for the first game then it will probably be quite a rough thing to get into - the kickstarter basically promised a similar game and thats what they delivered

Author:	RuySan [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 10:22 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
I liked the first Wasteland, but i just can't get seem to get excited for this one. Also, the common complaint that it has too much text (and uninteresting at that) doesn't pull me in. Pillars of Eternity suffers from the same problem. It just drags on and on. "Show, not Tell" is something that these rpg designers totally ignore.

Author:	zaphod79 [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 10:27 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
RuySan wrote: I liked the first Wasteland, but i just can't get seem to get excited for this one. Also, the common complaint that it has too much text (and uninteresting at that) doesn't pull me in. Pillars of Eternity suffers from the same problem. It just drags on and on. "Show, not Tell" is something that these rpg designers totally ignore. I really think the reason that it worked so well in the original Wasteland was that they were very much restricted in what they could fit into the machine - from memory it was 4 'sides' of a C64 so 4x170k in total for the whole game and they used some creative ways to fit more of the story in From the wikipedia page Quote: One of the other features of this game was the inclusion of a printed collection of paragraphs which the game would instruct the player to read at the appropriate times.[4] These paragraphs described encounters and conversations, contained clues, and added to the overall texture of the game. Because programming space was at a premium, it saved on resources to have most of the game's story printed out in a separate manual rather than store it within the game's code itself. The paragraph books also served as a rudimentary form of copy protection, as someone playing a copied version of the game would miss out on much of the story as well as clues necessary to progress. Additionally, the paragraphs included a completely unrelated story line[3] about a mission to Mars intended to mislead those who read the paragraphs when not instructed to, and a false set of passwords that would trip up cheaters with results that ranged from character sex changes to unintentionally detonating a bomb.

Author:	Grim... [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 10:58 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
zaphod79 wrote: its using the 'bards tale' engine and one of the first post apocalyptic RPG's (along with Origin's Autoduel) Speaking of Bard's Tale, a new one is lighting up Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/in ... ds-tale-iv

Author:	RuySan [ Fri Jun 26, 2015 12:18 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
zaphod79 wrote: RuySan wrote: I liked the first Wasteland, but i just can't get seem to get excited for this one. Also, the common complaint that it has too much text (and uninteresting at that) doesn't pull me in. Pillars of Eternity suffers from the same problem. It just drags on and on. "Show, not Tell" is something that these rpg designers totally ignore. I really think the reason that it worked so well in the original Wasteland was that they were very much restricted in what they could fit into the machine - from memory it was 4 'sides' of a C64 so 4x170k in total for the whole game and they used some creative ways to fit more of the story in From the wikipedia page Quote: One of the other features of this game was the inclusion of a printed collection of paragraphs which the game would instruct the player to read at the appropriate times.[4] These paragraphs described encounters and conversations, contained clues, and added to the overall texture of the game. Because programming space was at a premium, it saved on resources to have most of the game's story printed out in a separate manual rather than store it within the game's code itself. The paragraph books also served as a rudimentary form of copy protection, as someone playing a copied version of the game would miss out on much of the story as well as clues necessary to progress. Additionally, the paragraphs included a completely unrelated story line[3] about a mission to Mars intended to mislead those who read the paragraphs when not instructed to, and a false set of passwords that would trip up cheaters with results that ranged from character sex changes to unintentionally detonating a bomb. Yes, i had the Interplay collection from the mid 90's that besides Wasteland also had Dragon Wars which used the same system. The Crpgaddict (http://crpgaddict.blogspot.pt/) covered that quite well. I do remember reading that huge manual in the bathroom. So much that it got all moldy

Author:	Bamba [ Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:39 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
I put The Magic Circle on my wishlist after seeing Jim Sterling play it for a while but it's good to see it get some more mainstream coverage there as well. The gist of it is that you're a QA tester playing a game that's in development hell. You're trying to work your way through the unfinished levels by manipulating the environment and enemies while also playing witness to the ongoing infighting that's led to the current state of affairs. So in part a game industry satire, but with some unique and interesting mechanics that mean it looks to stand on it's own as a game as well.

Author:	JohnCoffey [ Tue Jul 21, 2015 13:24 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
I finished my first season on Pcars the other day I'm now ready to drive the 250cc season. Been playing lots of Borderlands with Mrs JC also and we're nearly finished the main story now, then it's onto the DLC. Changing out two GPUs for one will hopefully allow me to play Wolfenstein : The old blood because I've been itching to play that. Oh and I got Batman for free. It's not bad at all really but it's buggy and a bit of a mess. At 4k though it really is one stunningly pretty mess

Author:	RuySan [ Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:43 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Cardhunter is brilliantly addicting. Anyone who feels bored should try this. It's got so much more depth.

Author:	Mr Russell [ Wed Jul 22, 2015 9:56 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
RuySan wrote: Cardhunter is brilliantly addicting. Anyone who feels bored should try this. It's got so much more depth. addictive

Author:	Bamba [ Wed Aug 12, 2015 21:54 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Further experiments: Binary Domain: the actual 3D effect is very good but it runs like utter shit and is unplayablr as soon as the shooting starts. Battlefield 3: surprisingly, this looks really good and actually seems to run at a playable rate. I didn't play too much of it but it certainly looked the part. In fact the biggest issue were the controls; the core stuff is available on various control pad buttons but random things aren't. So, for instance, I had to cross to my PC and hit the left mouse button or space at certain points in the intro mission just to get past them, which was really odd. Tomb Raider (the new one): as I was setting this up I noticed that it actually has a built-in 3D option which I hadn't even heard about and it looks fucking incredible frankly. It also seems to be very playable and I went through the first intro type section quite happily. Whenever I get round the playing this properly I'll proably play it normally with the settings as high up as my machine will take it just to see how smooth I can get it to run and then decide whether it's worth turning stuff down to get the 3D effect. So, weirdly, the newer the game the better experience I seem to have.

Author:	RuySan [ Mon Aug 31, 2015 12:11 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
I'm quite confused by Abyss Odyssey. On one hand it looks lovely and kind of reminds me of the aesthetics of Shadow of the Beast 2, right to the coins coming from the bashed chests. On the other hand, the movement is a bit sluggish reminding me of Super Smash Bros, which is a series that never did anything for me.

Author:	Bamba [ Wed Jul 22, 2015 10:00 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Mr Russell wrote: RuySan wrote: Cardhunter is brilliantly addicting. Anyone who feels bored should try this. It's got so much more depth. addictive Addicting is a real word and apparently appropriate in this sense. Though it does sound completely made up and makes me grind my teeth every time I see anyone use it.

Author:	RuySan [ Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:27 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
ok

Author:	Cras [ Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:30 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Isn't it American English?

Author:	JohnCoffey [ Fri Jul 24, 2015 21:47 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Well it's been gaming all day for me. I've mainly been playing Metro 2033 : Redux as I never played it before. When the first one came out my GTX 470 was not really man enough to run it at any decent clip so I gave it a wide berth. Then, about two years back I played Metro Last Light and absolutely fell in love with it. The only thing is, a lot of Metro 2033 is actually in Last Light so it does all feel a bit samey right now. I'm hoping that it changes up a bit more as I get into the story more. I shouldn't have done it backward though, but what turned out to be a "let's just have a quick sneaky peak of the graphics" turned into an 8 day love affair Last Light really was a class act. I also put in another couple of hours into Project Cars, but I can't say I really care for it. It's too simmy for me and I'm more of an arcadey sort of bloke when it comes to racers. I'm kinda hoping that NFS Underground or whatever the new one is called actually has some substance, instead of being like a protein shake like the last few. I would guess that Metro will keep me busy for at least a few days though, though even in Spartan mode I'm still having issues finding sodding ammo.

Author:	lasermink [ Fri Jul 24, 2015 23:14 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
JohnCoffey wrote: I also put in another couple of hours into Project Cars, but I can't say I really care for it. It's too simmy for me and I'm more of an arcadey sort of bloke when it comes to racers. I'm kinda hoping that NFS Underground or whatever the new one is called actually has some substance, instead of being like a protein shake like the last few. There's a free demo for The Crew now, you could give that a try.

Author:	JohnCoffey [ Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:45 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Yeah I may try it. Problem is it's UBIsoft and their stuff is horrible.

Author:	JohnCoffey [ Sun Jul 26, 2015 23:29 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Well I completed what's there of Dirt Rally earlier. Sod me, it's hard isn't it? no aids and the tracks are tiny. Then I put in a few more hours on Metro 2033 : Redux and got past a couple of really hard bits so I was dead pleased with myself must say though it does feel like I am playing Last Light again. Very, very similar to the sequel.

Author:	Bamba [ Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:43 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
MirrorMoon EP looks well worth a shout at current price of £1.32. I've had it installed for a while but haven't got round to playing it yet. And Niko: Through the Dream looks like a fairly relaxed and very pretty puzzler that's worth your time.

Author:	Bamba [ Wed Aug 12, 2015 20:49 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
I spent some time this evening playing around with TriDef 3D. It's an app you run on your PC which converts games to 3D; as in to use with 3D glasses type of 3D. So only of any interest if you've got a 3D TV basically. I only tried it with a few games because (a) I've only got a few games installed and (b) my machine's getting on a bit now so wouldn't be capable of running anything modern in the dual rendering required for this stuff to work. Candidates were: Portal 2: This worked pretty well. The only problem is that the reticle was a wee bit annoying as it distracted from the 3D every time your eyes focussed on it. That's easily turned off with a console command but then, of course, aiming's a pain in the arse. Oh, and I had to turn off AA as per TriDef's on-screen advice otherwise it ran like crap. The only significant fuckup is that the water effects came off a bit weird and distracting in places but it's not like you spend a lot of time looking at water in Portal. Tomb Raider: Legend: I expected good results here as it's the oldest game I tried so the performance should've been good but there was something janky about the way it drew shadows so they came out all fucked up in 3D. Things were much improved with those turned off but overall it just didn't feel very good; and it suffered from a variation on Portal's water render weirdness. Tomb Raider: Underworld: By far the best result, the 3D was flawless right from the start with and everything looked great. I can see me playing this all the way through with the 3D turned on. Excellent stuff. Batman: Arkham Asylum: I had relatively high hopes for this but something went tits up with .Net updates when I first launched it and it's gubbed. I deleted it and am reinstalling now so will probably give it another shot tomorrow. The only other thing I considered was the newest Tomb Raider game but to run that with the dual rendering going on I'll need to turn pretty much everything off so it'll look horrible even if I can get it to run. I can't turn the resolution down because I found out early on my TV won't switch into 3D mode unless the input signal is full 1080p for some reason. I might try it out at the same time as Batman though because why not? Oh, and I've just remembered that I've got Battlefield 3 hanging around so I could that too; though I expect the same performance issues as for TR. So the results are mixed and the entire enterprise is hamstrung by my shitty PC but if you had the rig for it I reckon it would run modern games very well; and certainly when it work, as in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, it's very impressive stuff. I can't imagine anyone else has a 3D TV and their PC hooked up to it but, if you do, it's worth a shot as it's pretty painless to setup and there's a free 14 day trial at that link.

Author:	Satsuma [ Wed Aug 12, 2015 21:15 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
I like the word janky. It sounds like something Ice Cube used to say when he was awesome.

Author:	JohnCoffey [ Wed Aug 12, 2015 23:07 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
That Tomb Raider is the business. One of gaming's better moments.

Author:	JohnCoffey [ Mon Aug 17, 2015 13:20 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
So for the past couple of days I have been playing The Witcher 3. I had issues with it before that turned out to be a bug in the drivers that caused horrid flickering with Gsync enabled. Now that I am on one GPU the game runs beautifully. And I must say that even though I am totally not into medieval sort of games it really is grabbing me. Possibly down to how beautifully made it is and how utterly stunning it is to look at. Still had a few moments where I have laughed though (the partially naked woman at the start looks like a Real Doll (TM). And then later on the same woman had a hair stuck on her neck that was a total pube Good old Hairworks, eh? But yeah overall the game is beautifully made and very easy to get into (and hard to put down also !).

Author:	Bamba [ Wed Aug 26, 2015 9:23 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
I played a single level prototype of Party Hard a while back and really enjoyed it. I suspect it won't be the most engaging thing long-term but it was amusing enough that I'll happily pick it up. General pitch: you've been driven to violence by the ongoing noise coming from a nearby party so you work your way through the environment trying to bump off all the party-goers using environment traps and stabbing without getting spotted or arrested.

Author:	Bamba [ Wed Aug 26, 2015 9:26 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Oh, and the protoype is still playable in your browser here: http://gamejolt.com/games/party-hard/38699

Author:	Satsuma [ Wed Aug 26, 2015 9:43 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Bamba wrote: I played a single level prototype of Party Hard a while back and really enjoyed it. I suspect it won't be the most engaging thing long-term but it was amusing enough that I'll happily pick it up. General pitch: you've been driven to violence by the ongoing noise coming from a nearby party so you work your way through the environment trying to bump off all the party-goers using environment traps and stabbing without getting spotted or arrested. The pitch drew me in, the YouTube videos sealed the deal and now I wants it.

Author:	JohnCoffey [ Fri Aug 28, 2015 14:03 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Dying Light. I tried to be good at this before but became stuck because I didn't know how to kill lots of zombies. I really didn't concentrate on crafting and it cost me. Now? throw in some fireworks get them all in then chuck in a molatov or throw some exploding stars at their heads. A great game it really is

Author:	myp [ Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:21 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
I've found our perfect co-op game, Bamba. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... ime-review -edit- local co-op only, sadly.

Author:	MaliA [ Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:24 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Future Warrior wrote: I've found our perfect co-op game, Bamba. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... ime-review -edit- local co-op only, sadly. I need something like that for the PS4. And a econd controller that isn't £50. And a friend. <sobs>

Author:	Grim... [ Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:32 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
MaliA wrote: I need something like that for the PS4. And a econd controller that isn't £50. Got ur back, bruv http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-PlayStatio ... controller

Author:	MaliA [ Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:33 ]
Post subject:	Re: The PC Gaming Topic
Grim... wrote: MaliA wrote: I need something like that for the PS4. And a econd controller that isn't £50. Got ur back, bruv http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-PlayStatio ... controller Nice one. Ta. To the PS4 thread as I might have questions before I buy!