Shagger

Are we even worth the effort?

This DLC has been out now for a couple of days and whilst it has been received well by critics, it is getting review bombed on Metacritic for the DUMBEST reason. And no, it's not because the DLC is PS5 only, even though that is both a common and legitimate complaint. Because this is a spoiler, I'm warning you now and will scroll down a bit before saying it, so if you don't want to know, click away now. Spoiler Alert ... It's because Aloy acquires a female love interest. Full story from Push Square. Here's a link to the Metacritic Page for Burning Shores if you want to check it out. Yes, Aloy now has a possible and entirely optional female love interest for the game, and as we've sadly come to expect, here comes the bigots. Why is it in 2023 gamers keep doing this? This is frustrating because we know most gamers aren't like this. Most of us, even amongst those of us that are cisgender male aren't bothered by this sort of thing because we're secure in who are and can't see inclusion as threat. Let's go through the inevitable excuses that will come to justly this one buy one, because we these man-babies have no imagination: It's pandering to a gay agenda! There is no social/political agenda, gay people want nothing but to live thier lives in a way that doesn't hurt you. Inclusion is nothing more than a reflection of reality, a realty that most of us aren't threatened by. If you are threatened by that reality that wishes you no harm, then that's on you. They're trying to indoctrinate people into being gay! There is no indoctrination. How the f**k would that even work through a video game? Just because these man-babies are stupid, impressionable and prone to manipulation doesn't make the rest of us as easily sculpted. There're stifling creative freedom in exchange for pandering! Regardless of why LGBTQ+ themes in games, movies, TV shows or whatever are included, that IS thier creators creative freedom. I don't see a game developer's choice to have thier game star Stg-Jack-Awesome-Straight-White-Man-Penis as any less of a free creative choice than choosing to have a game star a character on the spectrum. Aloy didn't need to gay (and if fact, doesn't, like I said the lesbian romance is entirely optional), that's true and that is kind of the point I'm bringing, it's barley even a factor. It's still the same character. The gameplay and story quality of the DLC is not affected by this, so only an obsessive hatred of LGBTQ+ people would bring this kind stuff out of people over something this trivial. The only reason you would get upset over this is if you are a bigot, simple as that and it's pathetic. Aloy was never gay! This next point is just my opinion, but I feel Aloy did show signs of being gay as far back as the very first game. She never took kindly to attention from males, even the good guys like Avad and Errand, and just got along much better with woman. And then there was Petra, she and Aloy basically flited outrageously to almost rom-com level of entertainment. I remember having a discussion with somebody on discord a couple of years back contemplating the possibility that Aloy was gay before the second game came out (No pun intended) based on the way she interacted with people. It sort of ended with a agreement that it was possible, but more importantly "unexplored" area of her character. It could just as easily lead to her being straight, but ultimately a non factor. When the second game came out, the case for Aloy being gay, if anything, strengthened. It was revealed Elisabet Sobeck was in a relationship with a woman, and Aloy is of course genetically identical to her (Another reason one can't be "indoctrinated" into being gay, it's something you're born with). Whatever though, it doesn't matter, I'm not trying to convince anyone whether Aloy is or isn't gay, just pointing out that it always on the cards. And if you don't believe she is or just don't want to believe she is, than that's fine. However, I feel compelled to help you steer a course away from the path anger on this issue. All you just have to do is follow my two step program; Step 1: Choose one of the options on the right. Step 2: Grow up.

So wait, I'm a little confused. Do you like start a railway in the 1800's then run it to the present day?

Magic Carpet 2 (With a HD mod). The game is a childhood favourite, but I decided to try out a mod to sharpen up the textures and hopefully improve stability. It was a nightmare to install and had to contact the mod's developer directly to get it to work, who is going to adjust the installation instructions based on our interaction. It certainly looks good, but it does come with it's own set of bugs in it's current version.

This is worrying indeed. I would like to think that young people today are smart enough and well informed enough to not be easily influenced by this kind of propaganda, but anyone can be conned and manipulated. There is a difference between free speech and hate speech and I do hope Discord steps in.

The only one I've really played is Hogwarts Legacy, and whilst I'm not exactly an expert on the Harry Potter franchise, one thing I do know is RPG's and Hogwarts Legacy is a peach.

An explanation from Microsoft. At the very basic level, a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is anti-tampering hardware implemented in conjunction and made to work with specific software. It doesn't look like something any normal computer user needs to concern themselves with.

Beat the game last night with a few collectables and side quest still to go. I loved the game. Great story, interesting side missions (especially the relationship quests) and very enjoyable combat, even if the game was a little on the easy side. Well, until the final boss, then the game was a certifiable nightmare. Don't get be wrong is was brilliant; Thank you, Ron. Overall, I would recommend it. It is still a shame that buy buying the game you are supporting a crazy TERF, but judging the game on it's own merits, it is fantastic.

A standalone Quidditch Game has been announced. Harry Potter Quidditch Champions is coming to PC and console at, as yet, an undetermined time, but one can sign up to a playtest of the game now at this link. Full story from Push Square. Not too many facts about it yet, but this is looking like it's going to be a team based, competitive multiplayer game based on the famed fictional wizard's sport. This is from the same publisher (Warner Bro's Games), but not the same developers as Hogwarts Legacy and apparently has been in the works for a number of years, which when combined with the timing of this announcement is why there is no doubt in my mind that the absence of Quidditch from Hogwarts Legacy is all down to this. So if you can't tell, I'm annoyed. Not because Quidditch was absent from Hogwarts Legacy, but why it was in an otherwise brilliant game. In a strange coincidence, I actually beat it last night just after this was announced. Still, I don't want to come down too hard on Harry Potter Quidditch Champions because it does sound like fun. It's a multiplayer game, a good move, and so long as they get the balance of the game right whilst still staying as true to the source material as possible it has real potential. Getting that aforementioned balance I think will be an unenviable task as the sport was created as a story ark to empower the hero of the books and was never intended to be a real competitive arena, but I'm hoping for the best. And for the love of God, do NOT make this some free-to-play, pay-to-win dross, Quidditch deserves better than that.

I have played on a PS5 yet, but I see people remembering and creating thier own versions of Haptic Feedback. Or then again, maybe they'll get sued into oblivion y Sony for trying, but the point is that is what people will remember the most.

I feel that what @Reality vs Adventure has described is muscle memory and getting to know game controls. As for weather gaming can help with memory issues, I can see it, but I don't know for sure. And even if if does, I doubt it's a better alternative to reading and metal exercise.

MGS3, whilst a brilliant game, I feel was overrated. I actually preferred 4 and had as least as much fun with MGS2. Still, I would like to see this happen if I wasn't convinced Konami would make a mess of it.

All we can do is try to post and comment whenever we can. I have been preoccupied in recent weeks, but I will try to be more attentive and more active.

RIP Lemmy Kilimister and all of those unnamed hero's.

I use passwords that are impossible to guess, so just because some idiots use a birthday and thier name, doesn't mean the rest of us are that stupid. @Ravenfreak, what other forums are you on? I'm asking as a member not a mod'. I just want to know what gaming forums are out there. PM me if you feel more comfortable that way.

I really can't put it better than James Stephanie Sterling does in this video. What I find particularly bad about this is that they waited until the game had been out, got it's positive praise and review and now with those reviews on the internet forever and never to change, they add this shit in retroactively. As stated in the video, this is practically bad for people who know that are, for one reason or another, weak against these types of practices. What if, for example, games like FIFA and Madden were given adult rating because of thier lootbox mechanics(as they fucking should be), what would stop companies like that from releasing those games to get that E rating then adding thier microtransactions later. So what Capcom have done here is, at least in my opinion, worse that having these microtransaction in from the very beginning and Capcom should be ashamed of themselves. The regulators need to get on this kind if practice because it sets a very bad precedent.

There is a chance they may look at video games the same way as literature, music and artwork as expressions of our culture (And I'd say they should), but because video games are an expression of our technology as much as anything else, I do see it being more likely they'll see it the way @killamch89 described. If this alien civilisation was advanced enough to have the technology to reach us, odds are they would see video games as jejune and puerile.

This has been in the works for a while. I first heard about it a few years ago and I was (and still) really exited for it. I love Oblivion, I really do, it's story especially, but I have real issues with the balance of the game and it's terrible levelling system. Skyrim's mechanics in Oblivion sounds like a match made in heaven. I wish I had something to contribute to this project, by my skills in this field are less than zero. This is a great project and I can't wait to see it realised.

This Monster Hunter style RPG launched back in February and is free to trial for up to 10 hours until April 13nth through EA Play. That makes it available to Xbox Gamepass Subscribers too as as EA Play is included with that service. Full story from Eurogamer. But, Shagger, why are you discussing this as Gaming News? Surely this belongs in the Video Game Deals Sub-forum? Well that was plan, but then I looked into the game a little more, more specifically the Steam Page and there appears to be one teeny, tiny problem... ... The game doesn't work. And according to the article, the console version has problems as well. That's why I decided not to discuss this on on the Video Game Deals sub-forum because I couldn't in good conscience recommend this in it's current state. And given the fact the game has been out almost two moths at this point, it's unlikely these issues will be fixed before this deal expires. This looks less like a genuine promotion from EA, who as far as I can tell have barley promoted this game until now, and more like a desperate ploy to up the player count before making some report to investors or something. I can think of no other reason they would only now heavily peddle a game in such a poor state. It's also significantly more expansive than Monster Hunter Rise, a game that also has a demo on PC that isn't a limited time offer, is also available with Gamepass and is available on both previous and current generation consoles. What the hell were they thinking?

Maybe I didn't make it very clear, and if I didn't I apologise, but what I mean is in open world RPGs and action/adventure games, or at least the good ones, the reward is both adventure and the more vain stuff like loot, experience or whatever because that's the whole point. You want to know a game of that type that offers no adventure, nothing fun or interesting to discover and no stories to tell the player by exploring? Well, I'll tell you; In other words, not a very good one: While I'm at it, I wonder if Metacritic lists HZD as a looter shooter? Apparently not. Getting back to the point, Forspoken, like as aforementioned almost every RPG, also loot in it in the form of cloaks; Jewellery; And... nails? OK, so this game is a little unconventional; I haven't even played this game, but I knew there would be loot in it because that is what these games do, and yet the rest of us, who must be crazy, don't call them looter shooters. The point is, just because a game has loot, doesn't make it a looter shooter, and I can't believe I need to explain that to you because It's an obvious fact! So obvious in fact that it's actually quite hard to frame and explanation why into words. It's like trying to write the dictionary definition for the word "word". I really can pick out just about game of this type and find these kind of look mechanics in them... Hogwarts Legacy AC Odyssey Dragon Age Inquisition I could go on forever. It's, of course, not limited to equipment either, there's often weapons, resources and other things, but it's same thing of it's random, you find it, it's yours. Maybe it's something you want, maybe it's not. Regardless of what the "loot" specifically is, it's this thing with each game's indigenous spin on it throughout video games the world over, looter shooter or not. Nobody, not even you who has proven time and time again that his pride far out measures his cognitive abilities and logical reasoning, can be this stupid. Which is why if this sound patronising I apologise in advance, but if you don't get it, I have little choice. Just because a game has loot, it is not a looter shooter. Just like how a game can have a focus on story (The Last of Us) and not have it be an interactive narrative (Examples of Interactive Narratives: Life is Strange, Detroit Become Human, Telltale's The Walking Dead). It is not difficult, so either you are slightly stupid, or you know you're lying when you mislabel a game's genre like you have HZD. Why you would lie, I don't know. Maybe by calling HZD a looter shooter you feel that can influence somebodies pre-conception on the game, but whatever the case those are the only two possibilities here. I'm going to admit to something that I probably shouldn't admit to. My pride is pleading with me as I type this not to it, but I'm going to honest. You calling HZD a looter did upset me, and I'm going to explain why. It doesn't matter if you only write reviews for fun or a form of self expression (I do as well, believe me I get it), the very fact you expect or hope for people to read them means it's your responsibility to get your facts right. I agree, genre labelling is inherently restrictive because is shuffles works of creative expression with thier own unique identity into a conformed order and that's annoying. I understand that, I truly do, but that doesn't change the fact that when people are looking make a well informed choice about what they want to watch/play/read/listen to, understanding the genre of that creative expression is one the first and most important steps people take in making that choice. And in the end, regardless of why you wrote the review, the reason people read it is to use that review as a tool to help them make that choice. Like it or not, there is a general consensus to what fits into the conformed ideas of what genre. That is why it pissed me off when you called HZD a looter shooter because it's not your opinion, it was an obvious and glaring error. As somebody who has also wrote reviews in the past just a form of self expression, that grated me. When I write I review, I feel obligated to reader to as honest and as correct a possible, and I'm sure you do as well. However, I have enough humility to word what I right in such a way that it is fits to the conformed and defined parameters that I expect to be established in the mind of the reader, not my own interpretations. How glad I am you didn't actually call it that in you review, that's the silver lining, but I still find it incredible that somebody who writes reviews, even for fun, could make such a mistake and worse, take pride in it. If you say is true (And it barley is, the specific controversy stemmed more from the game being too far from the stealth roots of a Tom Clancy game to carry the name as well as the inclusion of NFTs.), then is looter shooter even a genre? You can removed microtransactions from an RPG and it's an RPG. This is nothing against what you've said here, you're not wrong, it's just now I've thought about it can a genre even qualify as a genre if begging back a controversial feature changes that genre? Maybe I'm thinking to hard about this and Ghost Recon Breakpoint was simply a poor execution of an even worse idea, but it does make me wonder. I already explained that character customisation, especially with acquired loot, is a huge a part of what defines a looter shooter. I didn't make it up, it's a common observation I've make in several of these types of games. I never said it was THEE defining feature. In fact the definition of a looter shooter is so loose (To the point whare I'm now questioning to myself whether it's even a genre at all) that I don't think there is such a thing as a defining feature for a looter shooter. Like I said, it doesn't matter whether people understand it or not, it's about what they think about when they hear the term. Certain terms carry certain meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words. That is why I would describe calling that mechanic in HZD a "lootbox" as misleading, even though it is literally a box you open with random loot in it. Again, as somebody who writes reviews, albeit only for fun, you should know why calling an in-game randomised look mechanic that is not attracted to any for of microtransaction a "lootbox" is a problem. Em, how about loot? With your broad, but stubbornly literal definition of a "lootbox" an argument can be made that looting the chests you find laterally everywhere in RPG's count as lootboxs. You don't know what you're gonna get and it is not revealed until you open it. It's the same thing, really. It could also be the same thing with looting dead bodies in these types of game. I admit that's a bit of a stretch, but the mechanics are essentially the same.

I don't think hunger, or lack thereof, has anything to do with it because I'm starving and I feel sick looking at it.

The big challenge presented to people when making a game about less obvious disabilities and mental health is, well, having to make them obvious. Ninja Theory managed to show schizophrenia and psychosis in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. I posted about a while ago it in the form of a kind of mini review (Find it here), but to summarise it worked well in that game because the nature of Senua's condition. When observed from her perspective it is very apparent, the difference between her mind and a healthy one is very clear to the player, but still really brings you into her situation by blending your perspective into hers to the point whare you can't tell whether any of this real or not. With something like depression or anxiety, it's a much more passive and subtle condition that would be cumbersome and unintuitive to work into a gameplay mechanic. Even I as a suffer of depression can't think of a way to make that work that wouldn't be, frankly, embarrassing. The world looks normal, sounds normal, feels normal and undistorted. So what would you do, a quick time event to pull the character away from the edge? A button mash to help the character fight a panic attack? It's just awkward and wouldn't really convey it the right way. It works much better as something observed in a story that you can then influence from the outside, like with character Kate Marsh in Life is Strange. That way you see the full effect of the debilitation because that's the nature of it and how it's best observed. So whilst there are games that have done this well like Hellblade and Life is Strange, there are games that have done this sort of thing badly, like The Quite Man. It's a game whare you play as somebody who's deaf, so there isn't any audible dialogue or sounds. This had potential, it did, but the problem is that you are expected to be able to lip-read, like the protagonist can, to understand any of the dialogue because there are no subtitles by design. And even if you could lip read, you are at the mercy of the third person (Yes, third person) camera to be pointing in the right direction, which it often isn't. There are even points whare there are things he reads, and clearly read them, but you don't get to because the camera didn't give you a chance to. The game has other issues as well, but the problem is this context is that you simply can't relate to the character because you can't understand what's going on, so you can't sympathise with his motivations nor admire him for moving past his impermeant because he isn't struggling. You are struggling as the player, be he isn't. An admirable concept, but deeply flawed in it's execution. Maybe there was no way to do that in a way whare it would actually make the game playable, but still accurately simulate what it's like to not be able to hear. I don't know, all I'm sure of is that it would take somebody with more brains than me, not to mention more brains that those responsible at Human Head Studios and Square Enix, to make it work.

Let me answer you're very first question. Yes, this is real: Sonic is dead. He's been murdered, and it's on you to solve the crime. This is a point-and-click visual novel by SEGA that is free on Steam right now. Whilst I can't believe that this is real, the game looks to have been well received well by fans with it's story and art style receiving praise all around. So, if you ever wanted Sonic dead, good for you because I suppose it's cannon now.

OK, who asked to play as John Cena in a golf game? Seriously, who? This is ridiculous! This is like announcing Lewis Hamilton as a playable character in Call of Duty. Even as a fan of both, and I am, this just doesn't make sense.