What are you playing? (Redux)

[crazy canuck]

For me the best to recharge my batteries is peace and quiet. There's a very high probability that I can get that at home. There's a very low probability to get that anywhere I feel traveling to.

Everyone recharges differently, and if people like to do this by being active in nature or meeting people or lie in the sun, sleeping, that's great, but I've tried that in the past and it just doesn't do much for me.

It's been a while since I have been in your city, but I seem to recall a number of places to walk about pick out a place to sit and just watch the world go by.  If you feel like it, just walk to any number of those wonderful cafes and take it all in for a while. 

[Tamas]

For me the best to recharge my batteries is peace and quiet. There's a very high probability that I can get that at home. There's a very low probability to get that anywhere I feel traveling to.

Everyone recharges differently, and if people like to do this by being active in nature or meeting people or lie in the sun, sleeping, that's great, but I've tried that in the past and it just doesn't do much for me.

It's been a while since I have been in your city, but I seem to recall a number of places to walk about pick out a place to sit and just watch the world go by.  If you feel like it, just walk to any number of those wonderful cafes and take it all in for a while. 

[Syt]

For me the best to recharge my batteries is peace and quiet. There's a very high probability that I can get that at home. There's a very low probability to get that anywhere I feel traveling to.

Everyone recharges differently, and if people like to do this by being active in nature or meeting people or lie in the sun, sleeping, that's great, but I've tried that in the past and it just doesn't do much for me.

It's been a while since I have been in your city, but I seem to recall a number of places to walk about pick out a place to sit and just watch the world go by.  If you feel like it, just walk to any number of those wonderful cafes and take it all in for a while. 

I am well aware and do that occasionally. However, I also have phases where I can easily fall into sensory overload, and that's currently where I'm at.

[crazy canuck]

For me the best to recharge my batteries is peace and quiet. There's a very high probability that I can get that at home. There's a very low probability to get that anywhere I feel traveling to.

Everyone recharges differently, and if people like to do this by being active in nature or meeting people or lie in the sun, sleeping, that's great, but I've tried that in the past and it just doesn't do much for me.

Yeah, fair enough. 

do your best 

[FunkMonk]

Started up Elden Ring on my Steam Deck and I can't stop playing 

[Syt]

Started up Elden Ring on my Steam Deck and I can't stop playing 

How does it run on it?

[FunkMonk]

Started up Elden Ring on my Steam Deck and I can't stop playing 

How does it run on it?

Getting a solid 30-40 fps on medium to low settings. Perfectly playable.

I don't have the new expansion but I've read it runs much the same.

[Grey Fox]

How can you do all those precise and timed  buttons press on a handheld  is beyond me.

Impressive.

[Syt]

Been playing an hour of Star Trek: Resurgence. It's a narrative game set during the TNG movie era, post Dominion War. It's basically a Telltale style game. It's set aboard the USS Resolute, a science vessel that had a catastrophic accident/malfunction during an experiment klling many crew members including the beloved First Officer.

You switch between playing two characters. One is the new First Officer, brought in by the Captain who knows you from Starfleet Academy. The Captain is slightly unhinged, blaming himself for the accident, and thinking no one trusts him anymore, hoping you can help him stay in command. So you have to manage a partly distrustful bridge crew and a paranoid commanding officer. On the other side you have an NCO in engineering, giving a "lower decks" perspective.

Gameplay jumps between dialogue/decision where you usually have to choose between three answers and "mini games" (esp. as engineering guy) where you have to use your controller to perform actions (if you've played David Cage games, you know what I mean - hold trigger to grab a lever and turn the thumb stick to move it etc.), sometimes under time pressure.

It's ... ok, I think? The writing is Trek enough, though it seems scary that Starfleet leaves a guy like the Captain in command. Then again, that seems par for the course, considering the number of unhunged captains and Badmirals we see across the shows and movies. The voice acting is ... a bit wooden? It doesn't always feel like naturally flowing dialogue; I'm assuming budget constraints? The worst problem is the graphics and controls when you walk around. The graphics would have looked dated 10 years ago. That could be fine if it was stylized more, i.e. trying to give it a more animation show look, but they seem to strive for realism. Additionally, it also feels fairly jank, esp. when you walk your character around an environment, making them look like a drunk navigating a rolling ship on high seas. Looking at reviews, some say the narrative is good, so I will keep playing it in short bursts (it's segmented into short "chapters" that auto-save at start/end, but no manual save option "in the middle") to see where it's going.

Also been going back to Drox Operative 2. There's a lot to criticize about the game. Its gameplay loop is incredibly repetitive with its limited number of quests/win conditions, though each run gives you enough customization options to keep each galaxy as long or short and as easy going or challenging as you like.

Progression is fine, though I wish upgrading the number of ship equipment slots was handled differently - you unlock them by spending skill points, which are finite ... you get 2 per level, at 100 levels max there's 200. You start with 3 each of light/medium/heavy. Unlocking more slots is progressive - you need to level up "command" which unlocks higher skill tiers (like Titan Quest/Grim Dawn). That's 36 points to get tot he top. and then the progression is linear - always light => medium => heavy, with each tier costing progressively more points. Opening the fourth slot costs four points each, the fifth slot five points each, etc. So to add the full 7 slots per tier you pay 147 points, plus the 36 "command progress" to unlock the tiers, totaling at 183 points, leaving you with 17 to spend on various other skills/buffs. In theory this means that you need to balance how many equipment slots vs. buffs you want, which might lead to interesting decisions. However, while you can change your skill point distribution occasionally (some races in game let you do that when you visit their worlds), you can never remove equipment slots once they've been unlocked.

Anyways, the game basically drops you into a randomized galaxy where a number of races fight for control. Your job is to "win" - that can be done by being allied to all (remaining) major races who are also allied to one another, or by picking a race and making them the sole remaining major race (while being allied to you), or by attacking the races and gaining "fear" points, or aiding them and gaining "legend" points, or by doing quests for the Drox guild which are random (start a war between races, build up a race, ally to races or make them ally each other etc.).  Besides doing quests you can use some other tools to create harmony/conflict between races (usually by spending money to buy them a colony or diplomat ship, creating rumors/propaganda, sabotaging planets etc.). Meanwhile, the races will colonize planets, expand, go to war, while independent enemies will start threats that usually follow "escalation" quests if you don't handle them. Overall it's not overly complex or deep once you get the hang of it, and mostly you fly through space, blowing things up, and looking for better gear. Which is fun enough while also switching off your brain.

I checked out Din's Legacy, also by Soldak (who makes Drox), the successor to Depths of Peril and Din's Curse. It has a similar concept (hero dropped into a map to help/hinder factions), except in a fantasy ARPG setting. It has similar trappings - random quests for random factions that can escalate if not handled in time - but with a more general fantasy vibe. Legacy adds "mutations" that you randomly get that can grants boons/banes to your character, and can affect how you build your character. Overall, I'm not sure I like it as much as Drox, though. Managing equipment is a lot more finicky, combat is messier, at least when you melee, and managing your money/equipment/companion is a hassle. In theory it offers a bit more (you can donate your loot to the townsfolks in case they get attacked), and there seem to be a lot more options for customizing each map, but it also seems a lot more punishing and stressful than Drox; not to mention that the level up system seems a tad convoluted between class skills, mutations, and adding "mutations" from other classes to gain access to their skills. And the maps are a hassle to navigated compared to the space maps in Drox. Mostly the game needs way more quality of life features IMHO.

[Caliga]

How can you do all those precise and timed  buttons press on a handheld  is beyond me.

Impressive.

I can play GTA5 on my Deck with no issues.

[Grey Fox]

How can you do all those precise and timed  buttons press on a handheld  is beyond me.

Impressive.

I can play GTA5 on my Deck with no issues.

How?

[frunk]

I've been enjoying Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnaughts.  There are so many bad interface and game design decisions, particularly in campaign mode, but I'm finding fun in it anyway.

[celedhring]

I'm on a JRPG lark and after finally playing Chrono Trigger (lovely game), now I've moved to Nier: Automata, which has all the weird fetishisms and overall insanity + interesting gameplay ideas that I expect from a JPRG.

I might give the new Final Fantasy a spin, it's been decades since I last played a FF game.

[Syt]

Chrono Trigger is a great one. It was one of the games I played when I first discovered emulation. And the soundtrack is awesome

[Syt]

Decided to take American Truck Sim for a bit of a spin while catching up on podcasts. Random impressions from Northern Texas between Dalhart and Amarillo.


















The last one IRL: