I will buy the explanation that the game is too old to continue to support when they stop adding new microtransactions every six months or so

Appears to no longer be free, so I’m gonna take this down for now. If it was an error and it becomes free again, feel free to repost!

Any PR statement that includes the words “we hear you” can be safely ignored

The only one I have found was [email protected], but it isn’t very active.

Too late, I already own all the Stellaris DLC, my bad choices have been made long ago

Not sure yet! I’ve not bought a lot of games recently, but I do enjoy large swathes of the strategy genre. Stellaris, Civ 5 and 6, Terra Invicta, Frostpunk, etc.

Tried posting the video this time instead of a link to the news page.

Some welcome changes to the Lithoid species pack - tweaks to their unique origin, tweaks to Terravore to make it less fiddly. A new advanced space racism civic! (This is one of the weirder parts of talking about Stellaris.) Personally I’m a bit underwhelmed by the new portrait; It’s good art, but I really prefer more out there non-humanoid designs, which is the opposite of what they’re going for here. The quality of life changes to ascension perks and gestalt nodes are welcome as well. This kind of tidying up is why I like the whole concept of the custodian team.

Only real negative thing here is the increase on price for some older DLCs. It’s only two dollars, and they are tweaking them to be better, but I still feel like it’s gonna cause unnecessary backlash for little gain.

I generally agree as well. This buff to bandages will also indirectly buff ammo boxes even more, and medics will still have their niche in being able to heal others without even using up their bandage supply.

Meaty update here. I’m not one to comment on weapon balance too much, but I do wonder: Do you think that all classes being able to self-heal a bit with the bandage will significantly shake up the game?

(Screenshots taken from the Interface in Game site, here: https://interfaceingame.com/games/team-fortress-2/)

I wanna talk about the game I’m currently absorbed with, Team Fortress 2. TF2, being rather old, allows total customization of the UI, from the HUD to the menus. The default UI is clear, but also dated in places; you can really see where they slapped on new elements that clash a bit with existing ones, like the medals on the scoreboard compared to other elements, or the loading screen for a map, which has the very old Source infobox in the bottom right, a stylized background and panel taking up most of the screen, and a well integrated but still a bit off info bar at the top that was added more recently. The most glaring example is probably the community server browser compared to the newer slide-out tabs and menus for navigating play options. If Valve was still doing major work on this game, I’d say they need a good UI unification art pass.

When browsing TF2 custom HUDs on a site like this, there’s quite a few different styles to choose from, ranging from those that attempt to refine the vanilla HUD to those that make it something entirely different. Many competitive players prefer minimalistic HUDs that put pertinent information like health and ammo count closer to the center of the screen, so that one doesn’t need to divide their attention while fighting. Still others will pick a HUD that is a different style but still “complete” and fleshed out; even others still will fill their UI with memes (which I never understood, but to each their own).

Sometimes you just have to appreciate the little touches, though, like the animations and presentation on a map’s video tutorial and the class select screen. It oozes a particular aesthetic that the game has deviated from, over time.

I’ve bought every Stellaris DLC over the years, and I’m not even a particularly avid Stellaris player (347 hours played (which while notable is peanuts compared to the superfans’ hours) and haven’t played recently). Here’s my thoughts on it:

I buy DLCs day 1 that I am supremely interested in, and everything else I pick up on discount either during a sale or from another site (not sketchy key resellers - I use https://isthereanydeal.com/, which lists more legitimate sites). In multiplayer, all players can use the DLC the host has, so I’ve been the dedicated host for my friend group there. I don’t think the massive amount of DLCs is good, but it is at least tolerable (I liken it to a subscription model) and I enjoy how the devs share some of their insights during the development process. Despite all the flaws it has, Stellaris is a really cool sci-fi 4x game that probably has the least ridiculous learning curve compared to other Paradox strategy games.

It’s a bit divisive amongst enjoyers of the first game, but I played a lot of it and even finished the main story. It’s 100% run based with metaprogression even moreso than the first one - you end up caring a lot about the party you have on your run, but not really that much about individuals across runs. The art style was perfectly translated to 3D, it looks great. There are some wonky UI elements and I think the in-between tedium between locations of interest is a bit too long, but I would recommend.

This dev diary actually goes beyond what just the title implies - they are not only doing some neat experiments with leaders (which, while I generally like the system they drew up for the leader rework a while ago, it had some glaring flaws that they seem to be addressing (looking at you, Generals)) but also sharing some tweaks they’re making to other stuff, like the origins that let you start off in a federation/hegemony. Making those origins not gimp you by spreading out your starting compatriots will be very nice.

As for the instance overall, I think it depends on where it is hosted and that country’s attitude toward piracy and enforcement of anti-piracy laws.

In any case, it’s definitely not a moral judgement, just a practical decision on our part at least.

We are following the rules of the LW instance which indictate not to share piracy links.

As for memes - there are many other general meme communities, and if your meme is about a specific game you should consider posting it to that game’s community or making such a community - Lemmy overall needs all the help it can get in supporting niche communities.

In what jurisdiction are those instances hosted?

Gonna have to check out that timer, could be useful.

Deep Rock Galactic is a good choice for me after a long day at work, it’s a PvE co-op game. Even at the highest difficulty you can have a smooth time with a good team, and otherwise you can turn down the hazard level a notch or two - it’s fun and not too mentally taxing to mow down bugs en masse.

Bonus, drinking a beer in game while having a beer in real life is peak immersion.

5x larger map size than the first game - I assume this means they’ve made some performance enhancements to keep up! Maps look very pretty.

Also, some of the very close-up city shots had some low fidelity textures, which is to be expected as I don’t think they expect anyone to actually zoom in that close, but I still find it a bit surprising they kept it in.

I know it’s not what’s being talked about but whenever I hear someone ask for Isaac in smash I think it’s the one from Binding of Isaac

For the record and to hopefully explain with an example, I do like that they exist for people that like them and some games are fairly clever with it.

Oh I know. I apologize for the negative response you’re getting, but I really do appreciate outside perspectives from people who don’t like the thing - it can point out flaws that may be missed otherwise.

Most of it boils down to death as a core mechanic. I’m also a pretty casual game player and most of the games I like are fairly laid back, so the difficulty is also a factor. Although I do like difficult games sometimes, I don’t like games designed to kill you easily, if that makes sense. I dislike grinding and most leveling systems, so making a game have grinding as a necessity for someone like me who’s going to need it is frustrating. I feel like I’m just dying a bunch to get “level ups” so that I can actually play the game. Feel free to ask clarifying questions on this. It’s a bit difficult for me to explain, I’m finding.

This is mostly a feature of the modern roguelike, or rather roguelite - the metaprogression in general. Some roguelikes that aim to be truer to the original classification forgo this, like Pixel Dungeon and its variants - you could win on your very first run, the only thing holding you back would be the lack of accumulated knowledge and skill. All still involve a good amount of dying, though, which can be a turnoff - early runs can feel bland if the balance isn’t right, and even later on the first part of each run can feel similarly bland if the game is more item-and-build based, as most don’t give you much in the terms of starting items. I’ve felt this especially hard in games like The Binding of Isaac - outside of characters that deviate more from the standard, a lot of runs are a painful slog where you get a not very impactful item on the first floor and have to make your way through with base stats for a while.

If you want a random off-the-cuff suggestion from an internet stranger about a game in a genre you don’t like, I tried out the demo for Wizard with a Gun during the last Steam NextFest. It is by some measure a roguelite, as it has a run based structure, but each run is rather short and if you don’t die, you can escape back to a hub area with all of your resources, without losing anything, store some away for safe keeping and continue the next run from there. It has crafting and building elements (resource gathering and a research tree, but no hunger system or anything like that) and I quite liked it from what little I saw.

I think this is one of the big pitfalls of community prescribed tagging. Lord knows the Psychological Horror tag must be a mess.

The allure comes from either knowing that you can beat the game in any run, you just need to work for it, or in trying to gather enough resources to enable you to win the game on a future run (this is a staple of roguelites). The latter can get boring if the game isn’t balanced just so, I admit. Additionally, if a game is very complex and well put together, just the fun of duking it out may be enough, win condition be damned.

I really like how the Stellaris devs are willing to show off how the sausage is made - that is, the extremely experimental internal testing they do, even if it’s a bit buggy and has placeholder art.

As for this Dev Diary - I am cautiously optimistic about how they may change habitats. I always found it way too micromanage-y to construct more than 2 or 3 habitats, even for Stellaris. Consolidating that into one complex per system with support structures available will be much more manageable.

I have Backpack Hero, and while I do enjoy it I feel like runs can become too static (at least with the starting character) - you get your OP build, and getting to that point is pretty fun, but then you can just coast with that for a long time, maybe forever. The other characters and their gimmicks/playstyles help alleviate this problem at least.

Oh man I wish I could get into Noita. It is by all merits a very good game, but I bounced right off it - it was too complex for my brain to get a good grasp of.

What don’t you like about it?

I ask this question in the interest in generating more discussion; there are many genres that I personally don’t like that I know others do.

Oh my god, I assumed no one would have ever heard of Wazhack. I bought that one years ago, and am continually surprised when it receives updates. Dev seems like a cool guy, too.

Oh yes, I found this and debated including it in the post but personally felt that it was an overly narrow definition. I’ll add Roguebasin to the resources though!

Inscryption is somethin special. It’s both a solid deckbuilding roguelite, a deconstruction of a deckbuilding roguelite, and a classic “don’t look up anything about this game just play it” game.

Does it count? It has the hallmarks of procedural generation and technically has distinct “runs” (though a single run can last dozens of hours, I know from experience). It just seems too “grand scope” for me to consider it a roguelike, I suppose.

Steam tells me I’ve clocked 297 hours into StS. I’ve only barely reached I think A17 or 18 with Silent, ~A15 with Defect, and only 1-2 for the other two. Still got a ways to go!

If you really like StS, I can recommend Downfall, a fan expansion for the game on Steam. It is not as polished, and the mechanics aren’t quite as tightly wound, but it offers a whole lot of very novel new mechanics and characters as well as an entire new mode where you play as a Boss working your way downward instead of the reverse.

Hadn’t heard of this one! I’m gonna have to check it out.

Though I’ve played games of the roguelike/lite genre for a while, I actually had to do a bit more of a deep dive to make this post. People ascribe a lot of different meanings to roguelike, and I got entirely conflicting messages on why the term roguelite was created. I hope what I put down is accurate enough!

I picked this up, played it for about twenty hours. I definitely enjoyed my time, but I could clearly feel how most of the game loop was just scraping by until you could fully pop off at the end - I liked that, but I grew a bit weary of the initial setup on each run.

I’ll go ahead and start off with responding to some of the points:

What are some of your favorite examples of roguelike games?

All-time favorites have to be Slay the Spire and Hades. StS was one of the cornerstones of deckbuilding roguelikes while still remaining one of the sleekest of all of them; mechanics fit together perfectly, with each loss leaving you working out how you screwed up rather than cursing the game for unfairness. Hades I like for entirely different reasons - it absolutely oozes style, with excellent presentation in terms of art direction, music, and copious dialogue. The rougelike nature of the game is woven directly into its narrative in a way I find very satisfying.

Enter the Gungeon should also be noted as one of the few games I’ve 100%ed. Although it has some flaws, the sheer amount of combinatory item synergies (both actual mechanical synergies noted by the UI and otherwise) gives it great replay value while not ballooning to absurd levels ala The Binding of Isaac (which, while still great, can be daunting in its scope).

Do you continue to play roguelike games after reaching the “end” / reaching 100% completion? Why, or why not?

Personally no, unless there is some sort of prestige mechanic that adds new challenges on successive runs (though one may consider beating all prestige levels part of 100%ing); I am still grinding out Ascension levels on both Slay the Spire and Monster Train. I find satisfaction in finishing a game that actually has a win state, and often lose interest after it’s been achieved. Enter the Gungeon was one of the few exceptions to this, although by the time I had truly finished the game I was already very close to the full 100%.

Are there any upcoming roguelike games you’re excited for?

Hades II, for obvious reasons of course. Other smaller titles on my radar include Wizard with a Gun, whose demo I played and (while rough around the edges) had an engaging and swift core gameplay loop with metaprogression (though one must question the fuzzy distinction between a roguelike and a run-based game in general, or if there is one at all) and Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers, a tiny but funny little deckbuilding roguelike that smashes together a lot of different card games and concepts for a wacky time.

Proper link structure for a Lemmy community is [email protected] - this should work!

And I also have played SPD quite a lot. Despite it being free, I tossed the developer a couple dollars - they’ve been doing great work with it, a whole new class was added not too long ago. I’m only now picking it up again after some time, and I’ve only beaten the game with 2/5 characters, so I got a lot to learn to get good at it again.

Man, I’ve been wanting to try out one of those TF2 megaservers but couldn’t find an open one. How long until we get that coveted battle royale custom gamemode?

I personally recommend against casual play, even though it’s the most popular mode, specifically because it is unpredictably crap like this. Check the community server browser for a server running a vanilla game mode instead; the only concern may be that, depending on which one you pick, the average skill level may be higher, but with something like Skial that won’t be an issue.