The soundtrack to Tunic is so moody.
I used a few little hints to help with the “true final boss”, but it was a fantastic reorienting of everything, and was glad by then it got away from traditional combat. I enjoyed the core combat too, although I usually don’t even like Soulslikes.
I was getting into Blue Prince, then I think I got a little annoyed with a puzzle involving a time lock, that claimed you could set it to open at a future date/time and it would stay for one hour. Fun, inventive way to get people to plan ahead.
But no, then I wasted several out of game days planning only to find that it’s referring to in-game time; something that has not plainly existed through any of the other mechanics thus far. I’ll likely get back to it, just think they could’ve chosen the orientation of “big picture” puzzles like that a bit better.
I think about the creativity that goes behind translations like Ace Attorney, and lament that people are skipping past the nuance. Ex:
I think there is a “graphical plateau” to gaming; a universal constant a bit like Moore’s Law. And while it’s not certain, it’s very possible the Steam Deck has mostly moved beyond it.
I definitely don’t think there’s an infinite bound to the detail games can add, especially within the resolution displayed on the Deck. Plus, many formats of games have not been well-served by that sort of extra detail. When a fringe hit like Liar’s Bar, REPO, or Lethal Company comes along, it never really needs the extra horsepower of top consoles. There’s a few rare PS5 exclusives that may struggle on it, but given Cyberpunk 2077 runs on it, I don’t even think we need be too worried.
Is yours part of a larger network? I am lucky to live in a denser area where multiple library branches are within biking distance; and they generally share a database. They also have some options to have items delivered to a branch by request (though, with the demand video games get, this is probably more common for particular books)
It sounds like Nintendo games would really be the preference for librarians.
I remember the game Bully extended this take. The main character has no beef with the nerds, and helps them, but they still extend their victim complex to him and antagonize him.
Basically, it’s a problem with using the generalized word “people” in statements like that.
This is a problem a lot of VR games have to work with. They work best when you’re not adventuring around, so many of them prescribe a long set of challenges in a small space.
If the Princess gets any kind of ranged ability, you could make it like a sniping “puzzle” game across a wide parapet. And, if trying to elongate the game, come up with story reasons why just as the Knight opens the gate to her keep, he’s discovered and an evil dragon/Baron whisks her to a different tower. (Kinda like what Super Meat Boy does every level)
Another Crab’s Treasure.
Oh, haha, a souls game but with crabs, funny parody haha!
Except, no, while it does seem like it would be compared to SpongeBob humor, and it does self censor “shit” to “ship”, the themes of the story go well beyond just “Crab must find his stolen shell!”
It takes time to ramp up but in some ways it feels like a better-written game than most Soulslikes (to me, that’s not a high bar given the way many of them wrap their lore in many layers of obfuscation that you don’t get to enjoy in the moment)
Watching speedruns and trying NG+ is also a lot of fun.
While the proposed bill in the article was a poorly-defined measure, I object to the idea that gun control will always be losing. It’s one of The Onion’s reliable jokes; “No way to present this, says only nation where this kind of thing happens regularly”. And that’s not because healthcare and housing are perfectly solved issues everywhere else.
I’ve spoken with several gun owners in my state who are in perfect agreement that many do not respect the weight those objects have, and follow no safety rules - and would like to see sane regulations on model production and better background check systems, based specifically around how the most gun crimes are committed. We’re just in a ridiculous spiral where the right keeps complaining Democrats want to take away all guns, and lawmakers keep aiming for these vague “assault bans” that would accomplish nothing.
Valve hasn’t gotten the memo yet. Someone email them again?
There’s a movie called Rebel Ridge in which this practice, and a corrupt police department, serve as the antagonists. It’s a very harsh movie but very vindicating conclusion.
You know how police are regularly accused of having racial prejudice? The common joke is that you join ICE if you’re too racist to be a regular cop.
I’m mostly PC. I have a PlayStation, and I just like the rental tryout system of PS+. I still think it’s a nicely cost effective way for someone new to gaming to try a lot of stuff.
But yes, even then you can often get much of the same through Steam key bundles.
I still don’t understand the sentiment that turn-based doesn’t sell. We just got Clair Obscur breaking expectations.
Part of it is, you have to make the combat interesting visually, tactically, and sometimes even tactilely. Some games get that right: Persona 5, Like a Dragon, etc.
I would also go on a limb and say that 99.9% of strategy in turn taking games is terribly designed. Buff attack, use strongest attack. The one that I really wanted to see more of is a system like Cosmic Star Heroine’s.
Recently, Clair Obscur told another story of ex-publisher success. So far, we only know of the review success and I don’t actually know if it’s a financial success.
If it is, I can only hope it leads to some investor understanding in just how done the world is of lottery-planning in the game world; seeing one victory, and having every single publisher chase it.
That’s the thing, though. I respect the analogy, but the equivalent here would be if the game was also checking your drive for other games, for financial apps, scanning your browser’s cookies to see which sites you visit, etc.
If, while playing a singleplayer game, they’re recording what actions you take within that singleplayer game, it’s understandable some people wouldn’t even want that - but I also don’t see that as nearly so invasive as other data travesties. Worse, highlighting it here feels like a “cry wolf” situation where you’d desensitize people to the most harmful privacy breaches.
Based on the article text, it’s only citing things like how long you play. I thought most games collected telemetry like this?
Don’t get me wrong, if it was scanning your drive to sell data to harvesters, I’d be extremely unnerved. And you should definitely be able to turn this off. But I feel like even Valve has recorded things like “60% of players quit after losing to this boss”
If anyone is done with the official series and wants some more, some indie games that nicely follow its success:
Gyakuten Live, a fan game based on Love Live School Idol - three cases in, generally based around lower-stakes crimes but with surprising escalation
Occult Crime Police, a series based on small town paranormality
Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane, takes place in a world of magic where rules of spells are often a form of evidence.
I suppose I’ve plugged it recently, but Another Crab’s Treasure.
It opens pretty plainly as an ocean-based Soulslike parody with a simple story premise and some self-subverting humor in the dialog with other crabs. As you go on though, every 20th conversation becomes really pointed and real-world-connecting, going beyond just “pollution bad”. It’s not quite Spec Ops: The Line, but it at least has something to say about society.
The combat is frustrating but addictive, much like Souls games - and it’s okay with handing off a number of allowances like accessibility modes and tip systems. It’s even helpful that, if I die to a glitch or something bogus, I can actually just choose to re-obtain my microplastics (souls) through a menu.