EvaUnit02 on 8/2/2024 at 16:15
Played a bit of the
Skull and Bones open beta. Never mind the connectivity issues and bugs, the game is as boring AF and so thoroughly mediocre. They probably would've cancelled this mega bore about a decade ago if the Singaporean government hadn't have invested in it.
I imagine that the teething issues with bugs and connectivity will be fixed, but this game is out in less than like a week and has been in development for about a decade. They won't be turning this ship around at this point.
It's a modern Western game so of course the female characters are ugly AF by design. Certainly a far cry from the Ubisoft as late as 2015, who were not scared shitless by some cat ladies with brain worms.
Inline Image:
https://files.catbox.moe/kyvgot.jpgInline Image:
https://files.catbox.moe/pzh1v1.jpg(Washed out look due to HDR being on.)
Aja on 8/2/2024 at 17:03
It is perplexing that developers don't consult EvaUnit02 when designing their female characters.
Sulphur on 8/2/2024 at 17:31
Ah yes, the Evaunit school of design where if they don't have massive boobs spilling out of their tight blouses and don't have their panties showing below their miniskirts while begging to be dominated by the player, they're ugly AF woke wankshite.
PigLick on 9/2/2024 at 08:22
C'mon, surely they are just doing it for brand awareness now.
henke on 9/2/2024 at 10:40
Modern characters fail to pass the EvaUnit "Boner test" - Game industry in shambles
demagogue on 19/2/2024 at 06:22
Incidentally, I wanted to talk about a cool thing I figured out in
Chants of Sennaar for the
Anchorite language. (I'm posting it here because I think this is the only place we've really talked about the game in any detail.) I don't think this is really too much of a spoiler -- in the sense that if you can crack anything from this post, then you're already basically playing the game as it's intended anyway -- [edit: except for the bottom spoiler which I edited in later, which I think is a proper spoiler] but if you want to go into the game fresh, which I'd even recommend, then you ought to stop reading, play the game, and then you can come back to this. But I'll spoiler tag it anyway.
So, anyway, I was looking at the
Anchorite language (here is a (
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2108303366610630145/B550AD580508EDC4D51EC5FECA1FAAE68E85C754/) screenshot of its glyphs without the meanings) and thinking
I know I've seen something like this before. And then it struck me.
They're very much like the glyphs in (https://www.facebook.com/cade.sensei/posts/pfbid0F1PtEfn5wJPJTwGxofWjVxkkc7jvmPrnP9nQusq8a4jagGQzkCRZeUdH5PnHAkaEl) this puzzle, which is something I originally saw in Japanese, and then I had to invent an English version on my own and create my own glyphs for it just so other English-speaking people could also try to solve the puzzle.
And not only are they very similar. This is BTW a big hint about the language, short of just saying it... My puzzle glyphs ended up being very close to the game's for basically the same (kind of) reason. And what's really interesting about it is that, once you get the basic concept and try to create glyphs for it, which you can see both I and the creator of CoS did--and you can try to solve the puzzle as I created it and play the game and see what concept they share--you quickly realize that you are pretty restricted in how you can manifest that concept. So I could see right away that the creator of this game came to almost exactly the same kind of glyphs that I was creating for that puzzle because the concept basically paints you into that corner. It's hard to do it any other way except to make these kinds of glyphs.
What I mean is, I don't think he saw that puzzle before. I think he had the same basic concept that that original puzzle-creator had, and that I had recreating it in English, which led all of us to create the same basic type of glyphs. It's like convergent evolution. Different people independently coming to the same structure for the same reason.
Anyway, it was a very cool moment for me the instant I saw the Anchorite glyphs, it reminded me of the glyphs I made for that puzzle, and right away I bet that the concept behind that puzzle was the same trick this language was doing. And then it turned out I was right! It was doing very close to the same thing, so its glyphs looked like mine for basically the same reason.
Well that was a cool revelation that I wanted to share that anyone who's played the game should be able to appreciate, even if it takes a bit of thinking through some puzzles to fully appreciate what I mean.
Edit: To basically explain the concept explicitly though, and this is a proper spoiler giving away
the puzzle and the game language, they both use negative space, where missing pieces of new glyphs fill in the negative space of the presented glyphs. In the case of the puzzle, the negative space glyphs replaces the presented ones, and in the game, the negative space glyphs combine with the presented ones to create a mixed glyph that combines their meanings. But aside from that difference, I think it's basically the same concept, and I guessed it the second I saw them.henke on 19/2/2024 at 10:27
I have DONE IT. I have finished DISCO ELYSIUM! Wrapped up the case nice n neat. Only a few people got killed. The villain known as Cuno remains at large. But I made some friends along the way. Also made some startling discoveries about the world and myself. Had some laughs. Damn what a good game.
Thirith on 19/2/2024 at 10:47
So very glad you liked the game, since this means that I can continue talking to you. :cheeky:
Malf on 19/2/2024 at 10:58
I've been pouring a lot of time into Dwarf Fortress recently. It still has the ability to make hours pass like minutes.
My current fortress did seem to be on the verge of "General Strike" complaxity, where the amount of jobs starts to overwhelm the maximum population of 200 dwarves, but I seem to have pulled it from the brink by trimming my list of Orders (the logic that automates the running of a fortress) and by hard-assigning dwarves to certain tasks.
It's a fortress built around a volcano with a thriving steel industry, 40 hardened veterans equipped with said steel, a moat that freezes in the winter which I am attempting to prevent happening by adding underfloor heating (a lava moat underneath the water one), a resident monarch whose quarters are furnished in masterwork crafted gold furniture and an underground amphibian man capture workflow in order to provide live targets for my crossbow dwarves.
I've also been dipping in and out of Sleeping Dogs again, thanks to the excellent "The Brothers Sun" on Netflix.
It's still probably my favourite GTA-alike (outside of RDR2). It's aged pretty well too, although the character models are showing their age. Even then though, facial animations are great, and the in-game cutscenes really help sell the story.
And I've also been twatting dinosaurs about the noggin with a big hammer again in Monster Hunter World, which is great for those times when you just want to drop in for some quick action.
The interlocking systems hold up well enough that each expedition ends up feeling unique. The story is less compelling, and at high levels, is a real chore playing solo. I just took down the ape-like Rajan, and that just wasn't a fair or fun fight solo. I could probably have done better with a different weapon. But due to the way MHW handles gear, you're probably going to specialise in one or two weapons only, and gear that complements those weapons. Otherwise, it gets ridiculously grindy, more so than usual.
And that's the problem I have with a lot of games that rely on gear and specialisation without offering free re-specs. It makes it that much harder to learn and adopt a new playstyle should the rug be pulled out from under your feet.
In essence, if you're going to introduce gameplay elements that invalidate the playstyle of some of your players, make it easy for them to switch to a new one.
The other issue is that while I'd love to play this with the usual TTLG co-op crew, much like other games with egregious levelling and gear (See: The Division, Destiny2, Diablo 3, etc.), the power difference would make it trivial and boring for all involved if I played at a lower level, and frustrating & daunting to have lower level characters play at my level.
I think there's massive problems with levels and gear score in games that are primarily co-op unless they're quick and easy to cap out. Not just from a casual enjoyment perspective; at their heart, these systems are FOMO and create an uneasy, low level competetiveness that can in the worst cases be tuned to drive people towrds microtransactions.
Mind you, MHW doesn't seem to care if you use Cheat Engine to bolster its numerous currencies, unlike a lot of the worst offenders. That can help eliminate the grind.
Tomi on 20/2/2024 at 16:45
I've been playing EA Sports WRC quite a bit lately. So far I haven't even tried the career mode which is something that I've really been looking forward to. But in fact when I first started playing WRC, the game actually advised against playing the career mode because it's not fully functional yet. :erm: So I've been busy with the "Moments" game mode instead, where you race through more or less iconic stages from rallying history. Compared to all the other players, I seem to be pretty average - so much slower than the best drivers that it can be a bit discouraging at times, but also much faster than the worst drivers.
The latest patches have fixed a lot of the performance issues, which is great, even though there are still some stages (particularly in the Mediterranean and Monte Carlo rally) that can get a bit laggy at times. But right now I can say that I'm enjoying this more than the Dirt Rally games. The stages feel more authentic, and I absolutely love the super long stages. The longest one that I've played so far was more than 32 kilometers! That's quite exhausting even when I'm sitting comfortably on my sofa and playing the game with my XBox controller, so I can only imagine how exhausting it'd be in real life. :)
The driving model is somewhat more lenient than in Dirt Rally, but I'm okay with that. I found the first Dirt Rally in particular to be a bit too unforgiving at times. There are still more than enough ways to screw up in EA WRC, and it all feels realistic enough for me. The damage model is one thing that I'm a little disappointed about. You may lose a door or two and the bonnet of your car may fly off, but no matter how badly you crash your car, it never looks that badly damaged.
Anyway, I'm really enjoying EA WRC at the moment! Jason Moyer, have you tried it yet? :cool:
