demagogue on 29/10/2020 at 04:41
I finally cracked and got it (Cloudpunk) while it's on sale. I like it, but to put that in context, the main way I play GTAV anymore is just driving a car around the big loop. So flying this car around this city from point A to B is something I'm okay with doing anyway, because it looks great, the atmosphere is great, the sound track is great. And then it feels like the actual "game" is this audio recording going on while you're meandering around the city anyway. So it works for me.
The car handling could be better. I'm a speed junkie, so I wish the ability to have fast chases or just going fast was possible. And I kind of wish there were a bit more things to explore or interact with while you're going around. But it's okay. It's nice for what it does if all you want to do is cruise in a cyberpunk city like we always dreamed of since Blade Runner, BttF2, 5th Element, and all of those kinds of movies.
henke on 29/10/2020 at 07:01
I liked Quarantine, but it's not much like Cloudpunk, nor do I think it'd hold up well today. The driving was pretty bad even back then. I'd love a modern remake tho.
twisty on 29/10/2020 at 14:18
Quote Posted by demagogue
I finally cracked and got it (Cloudpunk) while it's on sale. I like it, but to put that in context, the main way I play GTAV anymore is just driving a car around the big loop.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever actually finished a gta game yet. I like the sandbox worlds they create and getting lost in the sugar rush of side quests and other distractions, but the main story never seems compelling enough to make me want to stay the course.
froghawk on 31/10/2020 at 03:29
Got halfway through the 2nd level of Doom Eternal and I wish I could refund it at this point. I accidentally bought a key for the Bethesda launcher I didn't know existed which supports all of 6 games, and by the time I realized that it was already nonrefundable (GMG). I also encountered gamebreaking bug that forced me to restart a level, with a door refusing to open after a checkpoint restart.
But what really gets me is the game itself - my first impression is of an aesthetically disastrous bloated mess. The combat isn't fun yet - it's a stressful chore. Glory kill for more health! Dash (careful, monitor the cooldown!)! Chainsaw for more ammo (careful, monitor the cooldown!)! Switch weapon mods! Switch weapons! Flamethrower for more armor (careful, monitor the cooldown!)! Grenade! Special punch! All bound to their own keys, and nearly all essential for survival. I don't play Doom to juggle, I play it because I want to get a lost in a mazelike level and mow down 5 enemies at a time with a super shotgun. And on that front, the level design is a string of arenas linked by platforming sections filled with hidden collecti-bullshit. There's an RPG style leveling system, weapon upgrades, a bunch of nonsense lore, a story which feels somewhat parodic but provides zero context at the start... this isn't Doom, and it's not id. This is classic Bethesda - throw every mechanic you can think of at the wall and hope it sticks! But unlike other Bethesda games, you're forced to take advantage of everything it offers, and the result is total chaos. Even the visuals reflect that, with garish pickups sitting in moody environments.
Maybe it'll grow on me, but I feel like I'm forcing myself to play it.
demagogue on 31/10/2020 at 05:14
To the extent Aentity is a game you can "win", I won it. I got to all of the areas and achieved Allness.
Once you realize each scene is a physical space with various scenes playing out, repeating characters, and they have a kind of dream logic to them, and of course when you find out that looking at a frame in the museum will make the entryways into that area briefly appear alongside the frame's title on the wall, then it becomes a little easier to navigate and figure out what's going on & how to trigger every scene.
What a trip that game is. Really makes me think about the nature of reality and how completely dependent it is on our perception of it.
henke on 31/10/2020 at 06:36
Ooooh, sounds like you got more out of it than I did, dema. I did manage to make out a few "scenes" but I never began piecing together any kinds of narrative.
henke on 31/10/2020 at 06:54
Quote Posted by henke
I liked Quarantine, but it's not much like Cloudpunk, nor do I think it'd hold up well today. The driving was pretty bad even back then. I'd love a modern remake tho.
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, look what just popped up on Steam: (
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1420850/CyberTaxi/)
Look...
I...
Uh...
I know I literally JUST SAID I would love a modern remake buuuuuuut I'm not buying this.
[video=youtube;zMgI-zs0nVo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMgI-zs0nVo[/video]
It looks like they've only updated the graphics and left all the clunky-ass gameplay as intact as possible. And while the graphics certainly are updated, they've been updated in the most ugly way possible. What a mess.
demagogue on 31/10/2020 at 07:30
Quote Posted by henke
Ooooh, sounds like you got more out of it than I did, dema. I did manage to make out a few "scenes" but I never began piecing together any kinds of narrative.
Haha, if you didn't see it yet, your screenshot was my inspiration on this latest journey.
I made on comment to it on just that point right before I took the plunge.
In the end, taking notes & reading the author's comments, I don't think there's any strict narrative (although there still could be), more like just recurring characters and scenes inspired from famous artworks and concepts. If you look around an area long enough, though, you start noticing little details off in different corners that add to the meaning. I think particular characters and arrangements had particular roles to play.
I think you were right about "Ambitions" (edit: the scene you took a screenshot of), two sitting guys on their boat plumbing the depths and trying to make it to the island, which has a few horses and a special character if you can avoid the 7 sisters & make it there. I believe the three characters at the very start are also at the beating heart ("one core") of the game, not so much the end but the center. There's a field of grazing horses that I think later are gathered by a boy leading them in a circle, training them... A longlegs on a platform seems to be a kind of boss in the game; you'll sometimes see him in front of a massive crowd in a few arrangements, like giving them a speech, and he'll visit you in other places. Of course there's the lovers. Well, there's a lot of things.
I think the author once intimated that it's a dying brain playing through the fading scraps of its memories, basically the most important scenes from its life, and that would make sense of a lot of things.
I'll have to put my notes online somewhere because there's almost nothing written on this game out there, and almost all of that is pretty superficial.
EvaUnit02 on 31/10/2020 at 10:27
Did you get it on Steam? Man, the regional pricing is utterly jacked on that game for NZ, I imagine it's a similar situation for Oz. $67 NZD sale price for a Deluxe edition Bethesda launcher key vs. $97 NZD on Steam, sale price. If only Bethesda launcher wasn't an absolute shit pile.