Build 42 unstable right now, is more single player until they iron out everything for a stable release.

I would say if you don’t mind playing build 41 until they release build 42 stable - then short story long:

I can be fun with friends, but if you want to play without having to worry about too much grind then it is best to play with sandbox settings and tweak gameplay towards what you and your friends find fun.

The world can made persistent, but your individual character is unique and when they die you would have to respawn with a new character

There are mods that do help with the starting out from scratch bit:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2503622437&searchtext=journal - make a journal that stores a characters stats so you don’t have a grind a new character again)

The sandbox settings are very flexible (and mods can make it even more so) and you can even play in a world without zombies if you wish

Firstly, I feel offended you reduced the giant mecha vs a dragon cinematic to robot vs a doll army :P

Ff9 did the “all powerful god” but it is really a wtf out of no where momement that can feel jarring with the themes of the game - a ludonarrative narrative dissonance, unless I missed some obscure reference to it somewhere

I would argue that ff6 wrote a less jarring “kill a god” fight:

That is a shame, I would have thought that she would have some measure of control after the events of the first game

Especially, since the burden she was carrying was lifted.

FF 8 Spoiler Response

FF8 spoiler response

I do agree on it being a great game, and she fights gods on her way to her final goal but

Edit

It is a goofy game but that is what gives it its charm.

Environmental interaction( especially with spells) is great

Tip with the rogue, stealth will be very useful at one point

Haven’t finished 1,2,3 but spoilers below:

I would say anyone interested in the game a general rule of thumb would be trash mobs and easy fights = real time and bosses and difficult fights turn based.

One can luckily change that on the fly.

I mean if one is confident in their micro, then one can do most of the game in real time, but the game does have enemy encounters that just feel unfair when fighting real time while feeling better tuned in turn based.

Good game though as one journeys through one of initially 2 “ascension” paths that can eventually branch out into one of 10 different paths as one takes the fight against, technically, gods - but not in the heavenly sense.

I can only guess being dark and broody or “Bad Boys are cool heroes” was the trend at the time

A time where trying to be “edgy” was hitting a desired target market - a time Ubisoft put effort in their games trying to push boundaries.

Now that I think about it was also a time where games had to try new things because the target market hadn’t exploded in volume yet as well

The original 3D Prince of Persia trilogy - If I had to pick one I liked the most ( or left the strongest impression), then Warrior Within for the shear guilty pleasure of using time powers to hear what the Dahaka says to the Prince when it is chasing him and the story of the angsty, emo prince being knocked down a peg and starts the decision to take responsibility for his actions

I will admit Sands of Time had the most engaging story though and that The Two Thrones shook up the formula a bit with the a bigger focus on combat with the transformation ( which is a like a meta-narrative nod to the changes the Prince undertook over the course of the trilogy)

That is fair in the case of fishing, foraging and to a lesser degree farming

If one wants to finish it as soon as possible then there is a pressure to not miss something - a bit of a heresy - but Joja Mart route can ignore that pressure, but it does feel better getting the community center up and running though.

I know the T.V. channel that Pam provides is helpful for fishing and for me I try to set up a schedule where I dedicate a day to get a particular item or to improve a skill to make it easier to get a item I am looking for.

My first two years are usually very busy as my farmer is on a “sigma grindset” and approached as a game getting everything sorted.

I do feel that it plays better when I tried to compromise a bit and try to roleplay like start the day, sort out my fields and animals, have regular meals, visit the town, greet everyone, maybe look at the message board - doing something like fishing, foraging, mining or cave diving for a bit, head to the bar at night for a night cap and then make my way home for the night - especially Friday nights.

I break that habit a bit when it is a really lucky day but I can write that off as a day that my character felt like some “me” time or they are focussed on getting resources for an upgrade to the farm or an item for center

One starts to learn everyone’s schedule and you start to feel part of the Valley as familiarity helps build the “community” feel

That reminds me of the earlier versions where the Grandpa would judge you harshly if you didn’t get enough points and in the worse case scenerio would wonder if he should have given the farm to some other relative at the end of year 3.

But Concerned Ape removed that as it went against the spirit of the game - there is only one time sensitive event in the game and is a friendship event with one of the characters that should be done before the end of year one

I missed it for the longest time, but it does help flesh out that character but besides that, the valley is in a proverbial time bubble where everything can be done at your leisure within the time frame - which is usually dedicating a day for something.

I would say that that the desert dungeon requires planning and being efficient with your time to get to the 100th floor in a day though

Just my opinion - but Stardew Valley, for me, is best enjoyed in the same vein like something like Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing.

It is like Sims: Rural. I liked the idea of someone being sick of the corporate drone lifestyle and being given the opportunity to start a new life in the country-side.

While I agree, especially in the beginning that the timers do feel restrictive, farming can be a chore when you are starting out and the stamina can be annoying but it has been built towards an idea that

“This is your character’s life and just enjoy a new start in the countryside”

It does get easier, more streamlined and opens up more options when one starts getting into the specialisations in leveling and gain benefits from progress which brings with it more “set and forget” tasks (like ancient fruit in a green house with sprinklers) which are profitable and if farming isn’t your thing I was going to say to try animal husbandry - which starts out with just giving the animals you buy some attention and food everyday ( buy hay or use a scythe on long grass), open the barn hatch in the morning (when not raining) and close it at night and collect the resource either by picking it up or having the right tool for the animal.

Animal husbandry is a lot of initial setup and then animal maintainence to get a resource, which leaves more time to explore other aspects of the game

I guess it is a game best enjoyed to roleplay as one learns about everybody in the valley and make your mark as someone of important as you can either make your fortune, have a family, make friends or just check off the list of collectables

I do feel it is a bit unfair to compare it to something like Rimworld as it is a great colony simulator in its own right with it having the focus of developing a “blank slate” community of random people in a harsh and cruel world where the player is the “architect” as you create the plan and the pawns enact it.

Comparatively, I do feel Rimworld farming is more involved than in Stardew Valley as there is a lot of external factors to consider like fertility, effective crop placement to avoid disease ruining all your crops if your pawns are too slow to contain it, raiders burning it, weather and events that ruin the crops, etc)

While Stardew it is a cycle of seasonal preparation, planting, watering, scarecrows placement to avoid crows stealing crops and harvesting - it is quite simple although more hands-on in practice and some of these steps can eventually be automated.

I guess Stardew Valley is predictable and consistent without much risk and can come across as a chore whereas Rimworld has a lot of external variables that keeps one needing to have a plan in the back of one’s mind when things go wrong.

Fair enough if you do not find it interesting, it might just not be your style of gameplay. Give credit where credit is due that you gave it an honest go at it and if you do not refund it it, maybe you will enjoy it one day

From an audio perspective, Terraria has great a thunderstorm effect - just something that really stuck as weighty and impactful

For the whole experience, Project Zomboid isn’t a slouch either as it has the audio/visuak effects down and feels better with the some of its parts together as individually there are parts that feel weaker but as a whole makes the for an engaging experience if one decides to wonder during a thunderstorm

I am kind of the subborn idiot that initially struggled with the tutorial, but struggled enough to learn what it was it was trying to teach.

I remember and know it from failing, leaning and trying different things seeing what works.

The three starting default characters all have something they are good at and looking at those - all three are meant to get through the tutorial, although Norg is the most straight forward approach.

As I said before, it is not the best and they could have done a better job, yes.

It can leave one feeling annoyed that their gun character struggles - sure

Can it suck knowing you have to put some token effort into a melee skill if you do not want to sneak around or evade the enemies - indeed

But my point is that, regardless of its poorer presentation, especially when put up against Fallout 1’s tutorial, there is more than one way to do it other than pure brute force.

While I agree the tutorial is rough for something meant to teach, it can be done with different playstyles.

Although having some form of melee combat does make the experience a lot less frustrating and can save a lot on time spent trying to hit the enemies, but I think enemies have like 5 ap or so which one can avoid most of them on an agility build by outspeeding them.

A determined person could probably get through it without fighting as a challenge I guess as an agility and stealth focus.

There is a lock pick and explosive tutorial that are mandatory but aren’t too difficult and then there is a trap room which can be a problem if one is low on perception.

The final challenge can have the guy be talked down with enough speech

For ease of getting through it, strength or agility with a melee skill will make it a lot easier though.

Pathfinder WoTR is an overall improvement, but Pathfinder Kingmaker also has its charms.

It feels like playing a DnD campaign with the developers acting as the DM.

It does require some metagaming if one wants to experience everything, it does have an ending act that drags on for too long, it can feel oppressive with the disaster timers ticking away while one is still trying to figure out a rhythm and it can end up with things spiraling into danger if one doesn’t “rush” and plan around each main act quest.

It is one of those rough games that does have a certain appeal to those that do not mind working through the frustrations for a more grounded adventure - relative to the setting.

Tyranny, from a world building experience was great, felt like it was short an act though as I got to the final act and thought - “wait, what is that it?”

Also it is refreshing to have a game where morality is fluid and open to interpretation and up to the player to rationalise their actions, where the decisions lean more towards following an ideology more than morality

For a Warhammer cRPG, Rogue Trader is something to consider as well as it captures the feel of its setting pretty well

Seems I got a fairly good idea from your answer and OPs post.

Seems VP1 is more optimistic in its outlook by comparison as your companions seemed to have already been qualified to be tested to join the ranks for Ragnarök. But seems to place more value on an individual character as it has effect on the meta-narrative value.

I do know that CotP deals with some pretty heavy topics of the reality of the period and I did appreciate that rawness to it as it helped sell the setting and provide sufficient investment to see how far the rabbit hole went.

I have only played Covenant of the Plume - not sure that falls in the franchise - and I recall that game was grounded in human politics and the exploring the personal stories of the characters one interacts with.

It seems to be a more personal journey as the characters that one has access to and what type of story arc one plays is decided by the decisions one makes through the story and having to weigh the value of human life against a backdrop of colourful characters.

Seems the games are similiar in concept and design with some differing gameplay mechanics

I played it a long time ago, but still recall how the way of open fist and closed fist symbolized I guess concepts

Closed Fist, was a philosophy selfish desire and domination with the ideal of only the strongest getting to make the rules

Whereas open fist was selflessness with the ideal that one’s strength is only as strong as the weakest link

The morality was binary choice with the environments changing somewhat accordingly, but I recall it having a more noticable effect on the “kung-fu” you could learn and it was an interesting mechanic to try and match one’s fighting style to the philosophy one follows.

I recall open-fist felt more disciplined and “soft” in its impact whereas closed-fist had a more viseral feel with the intent to cause harm and show superiority

Although the choice was either open or closed fist it did leave a stronge impact on how different the ending sequence played out which at the time was something I really felt impressed with as the difference in tone during the last moments - showcasing that both paths can achieve the goal.

I think Mass Effect probably had its early roots, in regards to morality system, from Jade Empire with influence from KOTOR as well.

[Indubiously] Forta would be filled with pride knowing that. [Bewildered] Imagining having to script all of Hamlet with all that pretext

To be fair the greatness of experiencing Elcor Hamlet was intended to be seen through his actions not emotions.

[Regretfully and with much sorrow] One cannot truly experience it in its 14 hour splendour

[Restrained Optimism and sadness] It will be a different game considering the people behind it and the aftermath of the trilogy. [Wistful Contentment] Having the next Mass Effect have some grounded world building and, if need be, mix elements to a compromise of old and new

That is fair, I prefer renegade femshep as well. Jennifer Hale, for me, does her renegade lines with more menace and she carries authority better.

Male Shepard, I feel, does the vulnerable moments well, especially in 3… maybe it is a bias in the display of male lead vulnerability. I feel like Mark Meer does the more meme-worthy comedic moments better.

Generally I lean towards light hearted paragon MaleShep and badass renegade FemShep on voice preferance

Jade Empire, takes me back. Great game and had a nice morality system that effected how your character developed with skills and how the playable character interacted with the world and how it had a strong effect on type the ending that would play out.

Also thank you for the link, will have a look

Disppointed there are no insert

Greedy Corpo:

“Aah yes, 👐 A.I. 👐 we have dismissed those claims”

Jokes aside, at least in regards to Mass Effect both voice actors bring something to the game for me

Although, I admit female shepard is consistently better throughout the triology, male shepard has his charm as Mark Meer improved on his performance throughout the trilogy. The human element can do much to elevate a weaker performance and in its own way leave a stronger impact, at least for me.

Hope this cross-post works

https://lemmy.world/post/927104

Although, if I had to think of beginner tips - knowing the keyboard shortcuts help a ton in getting familar with the game and one can use the “enter” key until you get use to it

I personally learnt by using the starting scenario of the shelter to get familiar with getting the basics of water purification, food sustainability and crafting going and camped out in the shelter and get my crafting up to scratch.

I know that I started to enjoy taking advantage of the weaker zombies in the early game and try and find a small town and try clear it out for a nice cushion to get one up to have a lot of raw material on hand, but that is more when one is more confident in the ability to handle zombies and found a style of play one enjoys

Edit

There is another one on the [email protected] instance, but it is not my post but here is it is https://lemmy.world/post/1796938

Noita, a precedurally-generated fully destructible, with physics, pixel-graphics action rogue-like game where you play as a mage going through the various layers of a dungeon with the use of your spells that one can spell mix and match with a wand system that can provide the player with interesting and wacky spell combinations.

CDDA, takes awhile to get comfortable with the controls, but it does scratch a certain itch once one can get setup and start to test one’s luck in search of the good stuff.

One has to make their own objectives for it though otherwise one can sort of just get to a point and not know what to do. But getting to a point where you can just walk into a city and be the most dangerous thing there does have a certain charm to it considering the journey getting there. It certainly rewards exploring though as one can find all sorts of craziness hidden away waiting to be found.

I know it is cliche to say but it took me the longest time to really knuckle down and play it, but boy once I did - I basically started up another playthrough right after to see what I missed and the shift in perspective when I played a different type of character was interesting to say the least.

So started as a skeptical intellectual who had to pull themselves from a sorry cop to a regular cop and approached things logically with a touch of eccentricity and pangs of regret and then compared to a wishy-washy communist with fascist leanings (which characters called the character out on) psychic superstar cop with an alias he truly believed was his name and I enjoyed and saw a completely different side of the game which was unexpected.

I cannot speak on the rest of the series, but I have played devil survivor 1 and 2:

Devil Survivor 1 does have a bit of a difficulty curve that can take one by surprise with the first major boss and it is like priming the player towards what to expect but its story I personally enjoyed.

Devil Survivor 2 is lighter in tone, well compared to the Devil Survivor 1, but I felt it was a smoother experience - doesn’t feel as tightly packaged but it does compensate with having a better presentation and provides choice in a lot clearer manner.

I liked Devil Survivor 1 story better but enjoyed Devil Survivors 2 gameplay more

It would be glorious but that level of attention to the art of “dancing” is a dying breed in games, personally a fan of the “one-stop drop shot” and the “fire man shuffle”

I will also say, the original Fallouts are games of its time. It sold itself off its narrative and as I am playing Fallout 2, it is still enjoyable but I do concede there are moments of frustration that one learns to work around.

It is not a perfect game, but it is a game that was written in a plausible manner that could be considered too real look at human nature at times and in the same breath going off the rails crazy with something out of pocket that can catch one off guard.

It does a great job of allowing one to make it their story, although some of the writing might not gel with everyone it at least framed it well in setting.

It think it gels well with people that can roleplay in a setting as even the combat logs have humour to it. It requires a lot of reading and the people in the videos look like clay dolls but it is bound to envoke something in someone if they are enjoying themselves playing these types of games.

The turn-based nature of the combat can turn people off, but I cannot deny the charm of running up to someone and giving them a concussion by wolloping their head and then going in to gouge their eyes to make them useless in combat and finishing them off with a shot to the groin.

You would have hated the original Stardew Valley Gramp Pa, would give you a stern talking too and declare his immeasurable disappointment (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

I can somewhat understand though, I like the timer aspect even if I do not like the feeling of being “rushed”. But I understand, you would hate pathfinder:kingmaker though

I can see them doing a better job of it yes, they are probably the closest to understand the how the older Fallout works and already have experience making games like it too in a more modern setting

Thank you for more eloquently writing what I couldn’t really properly get out

There are things in Fallout 2 that stick with me since the first time I played it more than a decade ago because their are moments that feel impactful - it made me feel guilt for my actions, it made me laugh at something totally ridiculous and it has charm and subtlety that I feel Bethesda games struggle with.

I played and finished fallout 3 and new vegas, played a bit of 4 and besides New Vegas giving me some of that old fallout charm, it does not have as nearly as memorable moments that live rent free in my head

Fair enough, Fallout 2 at least did deal with a lot of dark themes that I don’t see Bethesda retreading.

In regards to the kids thing, there were ways around it, it was more an annoyance having to buy back stuff that got stolen if one didn’t take those precautions and on an evil playthrough could cut the pretense and do it without much consequence besides the perk reputation as the place was a craphole anyway.

The older fallouts needed one to get into the setting to start the ball rolling, it is not a pretty game and would not be above throwing the playable character in difficult situation if they didn’t prepare for it but it had a way with its writing that helped one to roleplay once one got to a point where one got established which is an older game paradigm that isn’t popular nowadays - building a reputation, and once you have one can start to interact with the world proper.

New Vegas scratches that itch, but isn’t completely the same

I suppose it is like playing a interactive book and then falling in love with the writing and systems that represented uncomfortable realities in an interesting way.

Bethesda’s version is toned down

• Cannot kill children in Bethesda games (without modding)
• Fallout 2 dealt with some realities of porn, learnt about terms like being a fluffer if are not fit for porn and if you had the skills it provided a pretty salicious perk image and a stage name among a couple of other changes. Sex referencing was used quite a lot in game - sometimes disturbingly so at times.
• Gravedigging fair enough, there is a perk one gets in fallout 2 that hits you with karma penalty when you do it but otherwise point taken
• Joining the slavers in Fallout 2, you get branded with a facial brand telling the waste “Look at me, I am a Slaver” which had the effect to lock a character out of quests and be automatically branded an enemy of the NCR - which is a choice that can be made in the second town.

I really would not like Bethesda level writing and character gating to muddy the classics. I seriously doubt it will do the old series justice with the level of inappropriate content.

Easiest examples being the thieving children in Fallout 2, it allowed you “solve” that problem if you didn’t have patience and got a negative quirk in the process.

A low intelligence run was almost a completely new experience with a different level of interaction that was tongue-in-cheek look at someone who really struggles with “standard” game narrative.

That not to mention how much of a mess it will be for bethesda to code for a player plus up to 5 party members per encounter ( making Charisma not a “dump” stat). I strongly doubt they can pull it off if it as a company is still struggling to make the player character plus 1 work smoothly.

I also feel that the old fallout’s sense of humour might not fly with today’s sensibilities specifically the level of objectification, a female character can use to their advantage or the level of “male power fantasy” with specific perks and SPECIAL loadout - which I am sure is something Bethesda will try to avoid as they seem to push for a more gamified systems.

And I really do not think they will be willing to make The Brotherhood play a minor role as they are like a “minor” faction that tries to avoid too much attention in setting in their mission to preserve the old tech from repeating the mistakes of the past

I strongly doubt Todd and his team are the right people to devote resources to truly capture the dark world of old fallout into a faithful reproduction. I think it would be toned down and would most likely follow a bethesda vision for the series.

Maybe I am being overly negative, but I feel even if they maybe revamped it with some prettier graphics and modern system sensibilities, it might still lose some of its soul in the process. I am willing to be proven wrong though

I am surprised no one has spoke about the mutli-launch fatman launcher? - Fallout 3

Quests I found interesting- limiting myself 7 points

Fallout 3 :

• Republic of Dave is a fun diversion
• Agatha’s Song add another radio channel if I can recall
• Working for the slavers and getting everyone on their list
• Dunwich building
• Killing all Behemoths
• Bobblehead collection
• Deciding what to do with the Declaration of Independace

Fallout New Vegas

• White Glove Society
• Sunset Sarsaparilla
• Collecting snowglobes
• Michelangelo quest
• Red Lucy’s Quest
• A decision with Euclid’s C-Finder
• Vicky and Vance Missing Gun

Fallout 2 recommendation

• Had to really earn brotherhood of steel trust
• Has a whole new play style at “brain dead” low intelligence level
• Mysterious hooded stranger on a bridge
• Can have a car
• Can build your own super brain bot buddy
• Meet an unlucky dog
• Get a deathclaw companion