I just picked up the highly hyped Blue Prince. On the other hand reviews have also called it a very niche game. I like puzzle games to a certain extent and roguelikes, but these are subjective experiences.

Anyways, I was hoping to get the gist of it and get into a groove and decide if I like it within the refund period.

The game mechanics are explained through notes in the game at it took me 80 minutes to reach a point where an important mechanic is explained.

This could have been done much earlier, I wonder why the developer delayed the explanation when it's just useful information

Other games also front load the prologue with long tutorials and cutscenes. So by the time you get into the meat of the game the refund window is out.

The other elephant in the room is if steam refunds are meant as a demo for everything or just to check technical issues like FPS and network connection issues

Finished my first BG3 run, man the acting is great, especially at the when characters get their big emotional moments. I'm thinking "that's acting!", also recognised Omni Man immediately.

Now I'm on to Alan Wake 2 and omg I can't take the dialogue and voice acting. It feels jarring. The prior game I played was Silent Hill 2 and I remembered it was OK, the MC was very chill in a horror game but its kinda explained by the story

The battery on my Cycle 7 stopped working suddenly, it still works wired, but no power when unwired, not sure if I inserted the plugs upside down or something

I started at 7 and looked forwards to every iteration of the series since then, 8 was more of the same with a weird story, 9 was cute and a good throwback, then I went back to 6 which was a masterpiece, 10 was emotional and beautiful, 12 wasn't great but had cool worldbuilding, being a FFT fan.

Here is when it starts to diverge a little. I would call this the start of 'modern' FFs

I actually liked 13's battle system, it worked out many of the kinks of old systems, like healing after each battle and focused on each interaction as a puzzle to be solved. The story was OK and then the sequels kinda tried to do something different. Lightning Returns had terrible reviews, possible due to the time limit, which is why I never tried it

14 had a bad start and did a reboot to become a well loved MMO, but starting in the first world is such a chore with outdated MMO mechanics as someone who started later

15 was ambitious and unfinished. the first time I was truly disappointed in a FF game.

In a switch you get on/off, but a button returns to the original setting.

Neva recently triggered this post, for those who don't know Neva is by the same studios that made Gris, a sort of 2d walking simulator/puzzle platformer through gorgeous art. While the balance between gameplay and aesthetics is a subjective choice, it just shows the range where interactive media and games can appeal to different people and how it doesn't appeal to me particularly.

Neva - I'm just at the early stages of the game and they are slow in introducing gameplay mechanics, even though there's an airdash involved, early enemies have throw or dash patterns but by the first hour of Hollow Knight you've already experienced much more. I don't fault them, the studio is known for beautiful environmental art and non verbal story telling, you do have to hug a dog a lot.

Dynasty Warriors - If it ain't broke don't fix it, DW series did evolve beyond the early days of button mashing from 1-4, adding dating sims, stamina bar and just a lot of content, but the combat did not really update

So this problem started back in 2023 as in still occurring. Dead Space Remake, Jedi Survivor and Silent Hill 2 are some of the offenders. All these games were highly rated on gameplay and graphics

Basically, even if you have a 4090, the stutters and poor fps still exist due to the way the game is designed.

Its exceptionally frustrating because open world devs do optimise for performance while corridor type REMAKES like Dead Space and Silent Hill forget the work their predecessors did on worse hardware years ago

First some definitions or my understanding of terms.

JRPG - Story heavy, narrative driven games originating mostly from Japan with anime tropes and featuring turn based character battles commonly

Core gameplay - The main gameplay element of a game, for example Dodging, rolling and spacing combat in Elden Ring, Monster Hunter. Character placement, team builds, XCOM, TRPGs

Sub system - Mini games or the social systems in Persona games, a secondary gameplay element that is different and unrelated to core gameplay

I've enjoyed Yakuza Infinite Wealth, FF7 Rebirth and Persona these few years which led me to think that I enjoyed "JRPGS" so I booted up old "Tales of" game (action battle) and am having a hard time pushing through

I then realised that the JRPGs I've played have a lot of investment into sub systems, Yakuza basically being a collection of minigames polished over several series. FF7 adding even more mini games than the original in a 1/3 installment and also having a non turn b

Personally 2024 was ok for me even though I was laid off and unemployed for 6 months. Ok maybe it's a little shitty.

If we're in the darkest timeline, what was the last point where it felt there was so much hope and joy in the world?

Some options commonly put out.

• The day Pokémon Go released July 2016. So prepandemic and we went outside and and a girl told me where to find Weedles. Yep I'm in a videogame
• The day before 9/11 or when Harambe got killed
• When Endgame released, culmination of 10 years of marvel moments into a single movie, people cheering in the cinema. Still pre pandemic, maybe there's a trend here

Got the gamepass deal for $1 again, somehow, different email? So I took the opportunity and holiday season to try out Black Ops 6 and Diablo 4. Obviously the main reason was to play Indiana Jones, but that's another story..

Here are some points I noticed

• The developers expect you to know the game, no more handholding and tutorial for the 22nd game in the series, you already know the buttons to shoot and crawl and sprint crouch. Zombies mode was a revelation, insanely complex since I played the first one and the tutorial only scratched the surface
• This ties in to new mechanics, new game, new things to do right? BO6 has a grappling hook, while not new(?) introduces some sort of proof of concept and different gameplay in a couple of levels which shakes things up, in Diablo, I didn't notice anything new, it feels like a mobile game now though.
• They have no time to chill, devs think Gen Z or whoever their audience is has no time to admire the view. In old Cod, MoH games, you coul

We know that certain games are big, like BG3 or Persona 5. But recently games like FF7 rebirth and Indiana Jones just kept going on and on past "Act 3". Also Rise of the Golden Idol seemed a little short to me

Are developers getting more efficient with generating content?

Firstly, no idea about the origin of this phrase, but it seems like a poorly constructed idea that is broad enough to generate discussions on any point of view that you want.

What I take from researching is that sharing your troubles shouldn't be a one way street, if both people support each other it isn't therapy it's sharing, which is just semantics at this point. Can I vent about life to my partner or only to my close friends? or do I need to hire a professional?

Alternatively a very direct reading is that your partner doesn't have the medical expertise to solve your mental issues. Which is very fair, but again lay people can't be expected to diagnose if their partner is suffering from depression or just sad that their dog died.

A really negative reading of this is just a toxic excuse, "Oh, my boyfriend cried in front of me so I dumped him, I'm not his therapist"

At the end of the day, ignoring this phrase, should I share that I had a bad day with my partner? Should we talk abo

Have you ever met a stranger that gave you advice that changed your life?

Have you lost a partner at a young age? Got a rare disease?

Decided to buy bitcoin on a whim in 2009?

Changed careers several times?

I think it's a spin on there are only 7 stories. But Google isn't helpful at the moment. I think it might be Youtuber theorist kinda thing and one of the movies might be The Wizard of Oz

The 9800X3D just came out, so I'm looking to upgrade my 2017 PC to join the modern era, which means I'm waiting to play Baldurs Gate 3 (runs, but not ideal), Dead Space Remake (poorly optimised), Space Marine 2, Cyberpunk, Metaphor etc when I build my new rig in a couple of months.

In the meantime, I've finished some indies like Rise of the Golden Idol, first run of Satisfactory, did the Elden Ring DLC.

Then, there's the gap from now till the next RGG game and Monster Hunter, which would really scratch that action, open world itch.

Any recommendations for action games that feels like you're doing some exploration? Trying to get into a flow state. I may actually take a break and go read a book instead.

We're all just roleplaying as our ancestors hunting down mammoths and giant sloths to get fur and meat. No wonder it's so addictive.The book is Sapiens btw

I want to play an easy shooter where you feel like you're in a flow state aiming at targets, the only time I've ever felt like that was in the PS2 Medal of Honour, kneecap, helmet shot, head shot or up till MW4 original.

I've tried the latest CoD and the cinematics and cutscenes are just overblown.

Borderlands would be a kind of turn off your brain type but they haven't made a new game in awhile.

Helldiver had great shooting but the grind, limited levels and multiplayer means I wasn't too invested in it after a hard days work

3 big ones recently, this year was God of War Ragnarok, FF7 Rebirth and Jedi Survivor

Back when 3d games were new, tomb raider, prince of persia etc the traversal was the challenge, the gameplay.

Eventually they got watered down and simplified, now they are cleverly disguised choke points while the open world or boss ahead loads.

You'll notice the squeezing between narrow walls to separate 2 areas or a simple climb against a flat wall just before a boss. I think Uncharted was the first to do this as they moved away from climbing and focused more on combat and puzzles.

There is no reason to actually have the characters climb anything if it's not fun or there are better ways of traversal, GoW being the biggest offender here

Jedi Survivor embraces traversal more but still locks you out with invisible walls and floors that kill you

I think I might prefer the elevator loading screens from Elden Ring, at least you get to stretch out your fingers when waiting

They both good looking people, but I guess their chins got typecast

I missed the days of Uncharted and Tomb Raider, those games don't exist anymore, instead open world "everything games" have taken its place, AssCreed, Horizon, Fallen Order etc.

So Jedi Survivor scratches that traversal itch well, it has limited platforming sections and exploration, but enough to get the sense of wonder I had previously in the worlds of the old games.

It does a lot of things and takes inspiration from Souls likes, adventure platformers, hack and slashes, open world etc, but does none of it particularly well. This iteration focuses more on platforming and metroidvania as compared to the first game, here are some things that I wished were better.

1. It takes too long to get good. The setup at first seems very similar to Uncharted, solid platforming and combat wrapped around chunky set pieces placed in each act, however for some reason, Cal starts with losing all his abilities from the previous game and has to start again, you also slowly gain platforming abilitie