100% I first đ´ââ ď¸my way through bg3, then was like âbruh I genuinely wanna get the achievements this is so good wtfâ and ended up buyin*on steam, but even was still so over satisfied that I sprung for the deluxe upgrade
Story Characters and Looks. I count three irrelevant metrics. What is the fourth? Have you not found Factorio yet or have you downloaded the pirated version with added microtransactions? đ
I meant 4 and 5, but yeah agree with looks as well actually. Really the most important is that the gameplay is fun, and I find microtransactions significantly reduce how fun a game is to me.
I often return to playing ESO and the ingame shop is the main cause of me quitting again. Never bought anything in it, repeatedly seeing "buy this for premium money!" and after a while I just want it to fuck off and uninstall again.
It was just a little joke about how sometimes pirated games contain viruses and malware and microtransactions are basically viruses with how toxic they are.
These days, probably Expedition 33, but there lots of others every year. Probably moreso than 15 years ago by raw numbers.
People over focus on AAA budget games, but there are several indie and AA budget games that are comparable or even surpass production quality of AAA games 15 years ago.
AAA budget these days should really be called like S-tier budget. In 2010 and earlier, the top end of budgets were like $50-100 million ($70-140 million after inflation) including marketing. Budgets started ballooning after that and hese days, top end budgets are more like $500-700 million)
As you said, people shouldn't focus on AAA games as much as they do. Anyone who knows gaming in the modern day can fairly accurately predict that AAA games will be shit on launch, and will only sometimes improve to something playable eventually. Meanwhile, indie and AA games tend to be at least enjoyable at launch, and often don't have the bullshit gambling or microtransaction scams that AAA games have. Oh, and they also have soul, which a corporation shitting out a new game every year will never be able to replicate.
Honestly, the last AAA game that I enjoyed was Helldivers 2, and I'll still boo it for its warbond system, even though you can grind for the in-game currency.
Still, I think it's easy to forget AAA's successes next to the overall shitty syesten. Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, Doom Eternal, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, Diablo 4, Armored Core 6 are all AAA with solid launches in the last 5 years as far as I remember, and arguably with distinct soul.
I agree with you on most of those, though personally didn't find much soul in Horizon Forbidden West or God of War Ragnarok. Likely just a taste thing.
Would you call HD2 triple A? I understood it was an indie studio until they released HD2, and floored absolutely everyone with how good of a shooter it was (considering HD1 was top down, and they had never done it before). Happy to be wrong, just how I understood it lol
That's true. I personally consider it AAA, since it was published by Sony, which does fit the wikipedia definition, despite it being developed by Arrowhead.
It did for me too the first time I played. I'm very bad with time limits and feeling rushed. It was never going to be a good fit for me.
But a friend convinced me to try again and it did eventually get better. It's a combination of things that's hard to quantify. The log of hints/objectives in your ship is a huge help, as is making liberal use of the autopilot. Then as the game unfolded and drew me in, I couldn't put it down. Now it's one of the most unique and unforgettable experiences in my nearly 40 years of gaming.
It starts out as a bunch of random stuff to explore and it didn't feel to me like there was much direction or even motivation. But the more I explored and learned, the more I started to ask certain questions. I'd find myself thinking I wanted to explore a place with something specific in mind. But it's a gradual shift that builds and builds and keeps building like a book that you forced yourself to read one chapter a night. Then it's two, and before you know it you're keeping yourself up way too late reading until you're left empty that there's no more.
I only say this because you always hear about the people who adore Outer Wilds, and I wasn't one. I utterly bounced off it and set it down for years. But I'm so glad my friend got me to try again. I want other people like me to know that you can still get into the game and end up loving it even if it didn't click at first. It's also okay if you don't want to. But I have only heard one person ever say it wasn't worth it, and it was someone who spoiled themselves.
You convinced me to give it another shot. My problem is I was looking for a game to play when I needed to relax a bit after getting my ass kicked in Silksong. The intro to Outer Wilds makes it seem like a nice, cozy game to slip into. Which it definitely is not! Black holes, tornado planets, shit's crazy!
It has its moments of quiet exploration and somber reflection, but it's nothing if not varied. It's chill in that there's no penalty for dying and indeed you're literally forced to. But it's still wild and exciting, and sometimes even terrifying.
While I was playing, I had someone ask me my favorite death and I knew my answer right away. That was one of the moments I realized my experience of the game had started to flip, because I had been enjoying even the parts I hated.
Better time control helps a bit too. You can wait at the fire before launch to get a better alignment for where you want to go or for a specific event. I think it was the tornado planet I tended to wait a short bit just so it lined up better? You can also end a loop early, but that you have to be taught. I don't think it's a spoiler to say, but if you do don't finish this paragraph (not sure my app is doing spoiler tags right):
::: spoiler spoiler
the guy on the tornado planet will eventually teach you at some point, so just go back and exhaust his dialogue every once in a while until you trigger whatever does it.
:::
As for my favorite death: I was trying to land on the interloper but missed slightly and it flew right past me. I scrambled to change momentum and chase after it. It got farther and farther away but then slowly I started gaining on it again. I gained more speed and started leveling out after what felt like minutes of turning as hard as I could at max thrust. And then the sun appeared from off screen, like an angry father that just caught a misbehaving child. My punishment was immediate and thorough.
I couldn't stop laughing for the entire loop animation. (and then I went to the interloper as planned)
Enderal is absolutely goated. Wish I had finished it but I think other stuff came up or I had a soft lock or something. Either way I'm sure it's patched and the 40ish hours I put it was 10/10.
Satisfactory has me fully in it's grasp right now lol. Current project is a giant vacuum tube to take me back and forth to where the coal miners are, because the steel ingot supply has become erratic.
This is me after modding out all the elements of Cyberpunk I hate.
Its weird, but Cyberpunk took such a while to grow on me because the gameplay near the start is super unfun because of how weak your starting weapons are and how spongy the enemies are.
Like if you play on the easier settings, the AI are just brain dead stupid, but at very hard, the enemies at first take forever to kill and its just a boring game of shooting, hiding behind cover and healing, waiting for your heals to recharge behind cover, and repeat.
The game basically only starts to truly be fun in my opinion in Act 2, which is kinda the majority of the game without any spoilers.
::: spoiler spoiler
I will never meet Hanako at Embers
:::
Atomfall was a bit of fun though. Clearly not a game of the year candidate but fun, no MTXs and the best difficulty settings I've ever seen. You get so many options to remove or add things that you find fun or don't find fun.
Like, I realized I wanted to collect all of the [thing I don't want to say for spoilers sake] so running out of breathe while running just became annoying because it was never a combat constraint in the first place, so it only served as a minor realism boost. Turned that off pretty quickly.
Did they ever remove the rubber banding of the camera when you move? Only the Emperor of Man knows why they put that in the game. The camera was close to perfect in Wrath.
Absolum is fantastic too. After my first 3 or so runs i loved it, but thought that the game hasn't enough to offer to keep me playing. And i'm still playing, i almost 100% it, which isn't something i usually do a lot.
88 Comments
NichEherVielleicht@feddit.org · 125 pts · 308d
TehBamski@lemmy.world · 70 pts · 308d
Bless your soul for including the meme template!
NichEherVielleicht@feddit.org · 78 pts · 308d
pentastarm@piefed.ca · 27 pts · 308d
Valmond@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 308d
Still sends you to gulag.
bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 308d
He doth shareth
lena@gregtech.eu · 2 pts · 308d
I didn't know Jesus was a commie smh my head
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz · 10 pts · 308d
Beat me to it! thank you!
NichEherVielleicht@feddit.org · 19 pts · 308d
pemptago@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 308d
You might be interested to know this scene is a homage to the Looney Toons short, Feed the Kitty (apologies for the YT link)
Resplendent606@piefed.social · 45 pts · 308d
I felt this way with Baldur's Gate 3.
standarduser@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 308d
100% I first đ´ââ ď¸my way through bg3, then was like âbruh I genuinely wanna get the achievements this is so good wtfâ and ended up buyin*on steam, but even was still so over satisfied that I sprung for the deluxe upgrade
WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 308d
My first thought was âI havenât experienced this since Final Fantasy XII,â but youâre right.
Edit: wait, it says âstory is great,â disregard my FFXII comment đ
Smoogs@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 308d
Runs on Linux⌠my arm hurts
87Six@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 308d
The graphics aren't smeary... My arm fell off but it's still jorking it
Smoogs@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 307d
Thatâs dedication
db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 27 pts · 308d
Indie game it's where it's at. these are just the boring standards these days
pyre@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 308d
congratulations you found indie games
PunnyName@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 308d
BG3
perviouslyiner@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 308d
Rimworld f.t.w.!
littlewonder@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 308d
I would murder for a great mobile port of Rimworld.
SorryQuick@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 308d
Mods are what make rimworld great. Since they wouldnât work on mobile, I donât think it would have the same appeal as on PC.
littlewonder@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 308d
You've got a good point.
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 15 pts · 308d
And suddenly you notice you're back in 1995
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · 14 pts · 308d
4/5 are irrelevant to most games I play tbh. Factorio story is simply automate the extermination of the bugs.
Fizz@lemmy.nz · 2 pts · 307d
Trainsaw. Always trainsaw
XM34@feddit.org · 2 pts · 308d
Story Characters and Looks. I count three irrelevant metrics. What is the fourth? Have you not found Factorio yet or have you downloaded the pirated version with added microtransactions? đ
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 307d
I meant 4 and 5, but yeah agree with looks as well actually. Really the most important is that the gameplay is fun, and I find microtransactions significantly reduce how fun a game is to me.
I often return to playing ESO and the ingame shop is the main cause of me quitting again. Never bought anything in it, repeatedly seeing "buy this for premium money!" and after a while I just want it to fuck off and uninstall again.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 1 pts · 307d
I don't understand the pirated thing
XM34@feddit.org · 1 pts · 306d
It was just a little joke about how sometimes pirated games contain viruses and malware and microtransactions are basically viruses with how toxic they are.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 1 pts · 306d
Lmao
python@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 308d
Chess
jared@mander.xyz · 14 pts · 308d
What game?
Soleos@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 308d
These days, probably Expedition 33, but there lots of others every year. Probably moreso than 15 years ago by raw numbers.
People over focus on AAA budget games, but there are several indie and AA budget games that are comparable or even surpass production quality of AAA games 15 years ago.
AAA budget these days should really be called like S-tier budget. In 2010 and earlier, the top end of budgets were like $50-100 million ($70-140 million after inflation) including marketing. Budgets started ballooning after that and hese days, top end budgets are more like $500-700 million)
jballs@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 308d
Expedition 33 is great. Checks all the boxes from the meme, plus has a banger of a sound track!
Soleos@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 307d
Expedition 33 is freakishly good and it's actually more of a AA budget at est $30mil.
ThisSeriesIsFalse@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 308d
As you said, people shouldn't focus on AAA games as much as they do. Anyone who knows gaming in the modern day can fairly accurately predict that AAA games will be shit on launch, and will only sometimes improve to something playable eventually. Meanwhile, indie and AA games tend to be at least enjoyable at launch, and often don't have the bullshit gambling or microtransaction scams that AAA games have. Oh, and they also have soul, which a corporation shitting out a new game every year will never be able to replicate.
Honestly, the last AAA game that I enjoyed was Helldivers 2, and I'll still boo it for its warbond system, even though you can grind for the in-game currency.
Soleos@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 308d
Still, I think it's easy to forget AAA's successes next to the overall shitty syesten. Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, Doom Eternal, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, Diablo 4, Armored Core 6 are all AAA with solid launches in the last 5 years as far as I remember, and arguably with distinct soul.
ThisSeriesIsFalse@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 308d
I agree with you on most of those, though personally didn't find much soul in Horizon Forbidden West or God of War Ragnarok. Likely just a taste thing.
spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 308d
Would you call HD2 triple A? I understood it was an indie studio until they released HD2, and floored absolutely everyone with how good of a shooter it was (considering HD1 was top down, and they had never done it before). Happy to be wrong, just how I understood it lol
ThisSeriesIsFalse@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 308d
That's true. I personally consider it AAA, since it was published by Sony, which does fit the wikipedia definition, despite it being developed by Arrowhead.
Credibly_Human@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 308d
The thing is, a lot of people want high fidelity games, and you are typically not getting that from a mid size studio without awful mtxs etc.
JackLSauce@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 308d
The Hollow Knights would be my first guess
DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 308d
Outer Wilds
jballs@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 308d
Outer Wilds stresses me the hell out. I don't know why. Maybe it's the inevitable deaths that happen over and over again.
TheBluePillock@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 305d
It did for me too the first time I played. I'm very bad with time limits and feeling rushed. It was never going to be a good fit for me.
But a friend convinced me to try again and it did eventually get better. It's a combination of things that's hard to quantify. The log of hints/objectives in your ship is a huge help, as is making liberal use of the autopilot. Then as the game unfolded and drew me in, I couldn't put it down. Now it's one of the most unique and unforgettable experiences in my nearly 40 years of gaming.
It starts out as a bunch of random stuff to explore and it didn't feel to me like there was much direction or even motivation. But the more I explored and learned, the more I started to ask certain questions. I'd find myself thinking I wanted to explore a place with something specific in mind. But it's a gradual shift that builds and builds and keeps building like a book that you forced yourself to read one chapter a night. Then it's two, and before you know it you're keeping yourself up way too late reading until you're left empty that there's no more.
I only say this because you always hear about the people who adore Outer Wilds, and I wasn't one. I utterly bounced off it and set it down for years. But I'm so glad my friend got me to try again. I want other people like me to know that you can still get into the game and end up loving it even if it didn't click at first. It's also okay if you don't want to. But I have only heard one person ever say it wasn't worth it, and it was someone who spoiled themselves.
jballs@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 305d
You convinced me to give it another shot. My problem is I was looking for a game to play when I needed to relax a bit after getting my ass kicked in Silksong. The intro to Outer Wilds makes it seem like a nice, cozy game to slip into. Which it definitely is not! Black holes, tornado planets, shit's crazy!
TheBluePillock@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 305d
It has its moments of quiet exploration and somber reflection, but it's nothing if not varied. It's chill in that there's no penalty for dying and indeed you're literally forced to. But it's still wild and exciting, and sometimes even terrifying.
While I was playing, I had someone ask me my favorite death and I knew my answer right away. That was one of the moments I realized my experience of the game had started to flip, because I had been enjoying even the parts I hated.
Better time control helps a bit too. You can wait at the fire before launch to get a better alignment for where you want to go or for a specific event. I think it was the tornado planet I tended to wait a short bit just so it lined up better? You can also end a loop early, but that you have to be taught. I don't think it's a spoiler to say, but if you do don't finish this paragraph (not sure my app is doing spoiler tags right): ::: spoiler spoiler the guy on the tornado planet will eventually teach you at some point, so just go back and exhaust his dialogue every once in a while until you trigger whatever does it. :::
As for my favorite death: I was trying to land on the interloper but missed slightly and it flew right past me. I scrambled to change momentum and chase after it. It got farther and farther away but then slowly I started gaining on it again. I gained more speed and started leveling out after what felt like minutes of turning as hard as I could at max thrust. And then the sun appeared from off screen, like an angry father that just caught a misbehaving child. My punishment was immediate and thorough.
I couldn't stop laughing for the entire loop animation. (and then I went to the interloper as planned)
Dave@lemmy.nz · 11 pts · 308d
Could be anything from Stardew Valley to Baldur's Gate 3.
Blackmist@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 308d
Loads of them if you stay away from multiplayer slop.
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 8 pts · 308d
Exactly. Micro transactions are rare to nill in single player and indie games. 98% of AAA can suck it.
Sunsofold@lemmings.world · 5 pts · 308d
That's a lot to ask of one game these days. Last one that ticked those boxes for me was Pacific Drive.
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 5 pts · 308d
Most of them.
Credibly_Human@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 308d
Oh I wish. Not these days.
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 2 pts · 308d
If all you play is pvp then yes. Otherwise, no, 98% of games do not have anticheat
sepi@piefed.social · 5 pts · 308d
runescape
standarduser@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 14 pts · 308d
Hades
Glytch@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 308d
Also Hades 2
falseWhite@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 308d
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 308d
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 308d
stratoscaster@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 308d
Enderal is absolutely goated. Wish I had finished it but I think other stuff came up or I had a soft lock or something. Either way I'm sure it's patched and the 40ish hours I put it was 10/10.
Tempted to go back into it again
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 308d
TBi@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 308d
It says you need to own Skyrim to play it, not sure how that is âfreeâ.
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 1 pts · 308d
It's a mod. That's how mods work.
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 308d
Dvixen@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 308d
No Man's Sky and Satisfactory keep me coming back. Cozy and itch scratching without being harassed for the latest microtransaction.
That said, if a game does have microtransactions without jamming them at my eyeholes, and I'm not missing anything without them, also acceptable.
CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 306d
Satisfactory has me fully in it's grasp right now lol. Current project is a giant vacuum tube to take me back and forth to where the coal miners are, because the steel ingot supply has become erratic.
ashenone@lemmy.ml · 10 pts · 308d
Armored Core 6
Credibly_Human@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 308d
This is me after modding out all the elements of Cyberpunk I hate.
Its weird, but Cyberpunk took such a while to grow on me because the gameplay near the start is super unfun because of how weak your starting weapons are and how spongy the enemies are.
Like if you play on the easier settings, the AI are just brain dead stupid, but at very hard, the enemies at first take forever to kill and its just a boring game of shooting, hiding behind cover and healing, waiting for your heals to recharge behind cover, and repeat.
The game basically only starts to truly be fun in my opinion in Act 2, which is kinda the majority of the game without any spoilers.
::: spoiler spoiler I will never meet Hanako at Embers :::
Atomfall was a bit of fun though. Clearly not a game of the year candidate but fun, no MTXs and the best difficulty settings I've ever seen. You get so many options to remove or add things that you find fun or don't find fun.
Like, I realized I wanted to collect all of the [thing I don't want to say for spoilers sake] so running out of breathe while running just became annoying because it was never a combat constraint in the first place, so it only served as a minor realism boost. Turned that off pretty quickly.
ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 308d
Knowing my luck it would turn out to be a PvP game.
Darkard@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 308d
Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader for me.
HK65@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 308d
I got sucked into the two Pathfinder games they made, I want to wait out Rogue Trader's last DLC before playing it
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 2 pts · 308d
Did they ever remove the rubber banding of the camera when you move? Only the Emperor of Man knows why they put that in the game. The camera was close to perfect in Wrath.
SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 308d
Game must be for DOS with all those green flags
MilitantAtheist@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 308d
Escape from duckov
LaserTurboShark69@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 308d
Just bought this. Really looking forward to diving in
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 308d
First thing that comes to mind, last game I played: Hades 2.
slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org · 1 pts · 307d
Absolum is fantastic too. After my first 3 or so runs i loved it, but thought that the game hasn't enough to offer to keep me playing. And i'm still playing, i almost 100% it, which isn't something i usually do a lot.
the_q@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 308d
Mardukas@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 308d
Ghost of yotei
CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 306d
I really liked the first game, hoping this one doesn't take forever to come to Steam.
halvar@lemy.lol · 5 pts · 308d
i've been playing deltarune for a few weeks now and im amazed
Bombastion@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 308d
CrossCode was this for me. An unexpected gem
Rusty@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 308d
I don't think I ever played a game with micro transactions. Are you talking about mobile games?
felixwhynot@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 308d
Shattered Pixel Dungeon and Dicey Dungeons are two I like
jaschen306@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 308d
Ghost of Yotei
A couple of scenes made me cry. Difficulty can be set so you can really enjoy the game.
Eternal192@anarchist.nexus · 4 pts · 308d
Mandragora Whispers of the Witch Tree was surprisingly good.
dumbass@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 307d
Landless2029@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 307d
I just started playing wildmender from my backlog. Probably from a humble bumble.
Totally up my alley. Got my wife a copy and now we're playing it together.
Sandbox survival with a storyline and quests
alsaaas@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 308d
Disco Elysium
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 308d
Any of Mimimi's games with the added bonus of no EULAs or DRM.
Cliff@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 304d
Try Deep Rock Galactic. A fun space dwarf extraction shooter with a pretty decent vibe.
And it is on sale right now ;)
ekZepp@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 307d
Basically, any indi game.