The crank folds down into an extremely satisfying magnetic dock that it can sit in while not using it.
Also… These aren’t classic Gameboy games, they’re modern games made specifically for the device. The unique control mechanism is the niche, and it’s surprisingly fun to use. You just also CAN emulate Gameboy games on it. There’s people who have made e-readers for it too… Though… That’s where even i draw the line lol
Sounds like this isn’t your thing though, there are lots of Gameboy emulator powered handhelds if that’s all you’re looking for. If you want extremely unique gameplay by tons of small indie developers (including Lucas Pope of Papers Please), super easy to make games for (I’ve made 2 just for friends), really easy side loading, and something just fun to show people, it’s a super easy sell.
Absolutely. Procedural generation is not the same as AI generated. Spelunky’s level generation is great and the different combinations of hand-created rooms with smart rules on how they connect. Unexplored (that’s the name of the game) is a full on multi-level dungeon with puzzles and combat. Proc gen gives these games their life, but designing a good proc gen system is level design unto itself.
To be fair, many people KNEW your character pre-amnesia. There are very valid reasons for many of them to treat your character like an asshole, because to be frank, he kinda was. This is a very big and very intentional part of the game. You’re also a cop coming to police an area that hasn’t seen a cop come around in literal decades.
Garte, the hotel manager, doesn’t like that you’re being incredibly loud and trashing your room. He’s a bit of an asshole, but honestly with good reason, and he comes around if you make an effort to apologize.
Lena, the Cryptozoologist, is really friendly and very charming.
Cuno is a drugged out kid, he’s supposed to be absurd.
If anything, Kim is impossibly accomodating and patient with you. Even if you’re an asshole to him. There’s a reason people love him and call him “best boy” because he’s got these little windows into his personality even through his stiff police exterior.
There are some actual racist assholes in the game, but I feel very confident in stating that the vast majority of the characters are not assholes.
Because it’s an opinion article and maybe it’s OK for the author to make an subjective statement of the quality of a thing they love? Like, if they really believe it, is it wrong to state that? Do they need to qualify everything in their article with “this is just my opinion, sorry if you don’t agree.”
I get being annoyed by hyperbole in articles, but I don’t really think that this warrants this kind of response. Sometimes it’s OK to make strong statements. You can make statements like that without implying that people who think differently are bad/wrong.
That’s a really bizarre read, how do you come to the conclusion that every character was a terrible person? Even amongst the first 6 or so people you talk to, most of them are decent people living in a very poor area. I usually hate media where everyone is an asshole but DI is so NOT that that I’m just… Confused.
It’s obviously not great for the type of community that’s about knowledge sharing and learning, and it does suck that a lot of communities went there.
But it’s a great platform for simple social servers that are just about communicating. It’s super easy to sign up and set up a server. A lot of it just works well for chat.
Them going public probably puts a timer on the service though, so if it happens Discord probably just will get worse.
Most Bethesda RPGs are going for bredth instead of depth. They give you a giant world to explore and usually throw you into that world with complete freedom relatively quickly.
I generally agree that Skyrim (and Oblivion to be honest) aren’t particularly strong games when you look at pretty much any individual system, and the games don’t interest me much, but I totally get the appeal.
It’s honestly a pretty fun game! It is Overwatch+Dota and the way they’ve done landing/farming with last hits and denies in a shooter is really interesting.
Team fights are fairly chaotic and I can’t tell what’s going on, and honestly there might be too much complexity, but the moment to moment gameplay is really solid. Movement and shooting feel great, combat is chunky and satisfying, and comebacks are semi common.
IDK if I have the desire to get into another MOBA like this, but this is unique enough to enjoy playing with friends for awhile.
It’s an awesome little device! You’ve got plenty of games to work through, but if you feel like trying a side loaded one, give my game Pogo Arc a try: https://thesambassador.itch.io/pogo-arc
It’s not a full dedicated gaming console that you’re spending hours and hours playing. It’s a toy that’s great for quick sessions and it’s really fun to develop games for. It’s very well made and the software is great.
It’s not a fair comparison to existing handhelds. It’s niche, and definitely not for everyone. Personally, I love it and think it’s just a unique toy that’s fun to show people. If you’d need to get X hours of gameplay to make it “worth” it to you, it probably isn’t your style.
It’s an enthusiast device. As a gamedev myself, it’s super fun to make little games for, and then you can easily show your friends/family. The limitations and unique input (the crank) lead to some awesome and interesting games.
I don’t really view it as a serious gaming device. It’s great for 5-20 minute sessions but it is basically a toy. I think if you’re interested in experimental indie games, it’s a great little device that’s absolutely worth it. It shouldn’t be directly compared to a “normal” game console because, frankly, it isn’t.
The place where it broke down for me was a moment where, as part of the main quest of the game, a character asks Aloy to help with a very emotionally personal request (help figure out what happened to his dead sister), and Aloy starts off with “that’s your war, not mine” and is super reluctant. Then, not 2 minutes later, I talk to a side quest NPC asking for help investigating a stolen heirloom, and Aloy is like “yeah sure, I have time for that and also maybe I could run and get your grocieries and do your dry cleaning and whatever else no problem.”
I think this recent video by Raycevick covers the “cool” parts of the game and a bit of the background of getting the game re released. I never played it, but it looks like it had some cool ideas on conversation mechanics, reactive NPCs that actually comment on your clothing choices, and a complex branching story. All that with some pretty janky combat gameplay.
It helps, but you can’t do that to talk to people. Some of the shop keepers are surrounded by so much stuff you can pick up, and even being very careful I accidentally triggered at least 4 fights. My wife missed out at talking to Rafael at last light because she accidentally picked up the chess board that he’s playing (he literally just disappears).
I do think BG3 is a very impressive game and deserves a lot of the praise it gets.
That said, it sucks how finicky it is to run away from a fight. There’s way too many fights that just sort of happen with very little explanation as to why they’re attacking you. It’s also waaay too easy to accidentally steal things and trigger fights, especially on controller.
You basically do have to save scum a little, because one accident can lead to an entire town being pissed at you. If the game had better ways to de escalate combat and some better signposting of consequences, it’d be a 10/10 game
Epic building a launcher that has equivalent features to Steam would do nothing. Everyone wants all their games in one place, and everyone already has their friends list there.
Getting exclusives and giving away games is probably the only way they could even enter the market. Yeah the launcher kinda sucks, but Valve has decades of development that they’ve poured into Steam, it isn’t simple to just copy everything. There was a time that Steam sucked.
Steam is a de-facto monopoly. They luckily don’t really do anti competitive practices, they just focus on having a great product, and that’s why people (myself included) love them. But I don’t think another company can ever really enter the PC market without a few tricks like exclusives or free games.
I dislike it too, but not always. It’s usually dependent on how long they start in EA. If you read their “how long will this be in EA” and they say anything more than 1 year, or they make vague statements that don’t give you a time scale, it’s almost always a pass from me.
Genre also matters. Roguelites are great EA games since normally they just flesh out the item pool. Crypt of the Necrodancer was great in EA. Survival games tend to stay in EA forever.
You have to know what you’re buying into. It’s not a finished game.
The story gets better, but it’s paced really weirdly and has some major issues. There’s a lot that’s not explained and the characters often just don’t react to what’s happening. The visuals and music are GORGEOUS though.