Haven’t bought yet but I’m thinking of getting Old School Rally. I played a few racing games that looked just like this when I was a child so the visuals are giving me intense nostalgia
Why? He is a historical figure. Why does a historical figure in his historical setting feel bizarre?
Why him being a “full fledged samurai” even matters?
This is just difference in opinion. For you it’s OK. I get that this series is only very vaguely based on history but this is a step too far for me.
Seriously ask yourself why having ONE SINGULAR black protagonist in a series where protagonists have so far been overwhelmingly white
Why MUST they make the main character in a 1580’s japanese setting black? The series hasn’t had a single asian protagonist. Couldn’t they have chosen a black history setting if this is what they wanted?
I just think it’s bizarre to have a black dude protagonist in a historical japanese setting. I’ve read through the sources on Yasuke and I think it’s a stretch to say he was like a full fledged samurai. Especially given that the biggest proponent of that theory, Thomas Lockley, made some sketchy edits between the Japanese and English version of his book on him.
Yeah fair enough, this stuff isn’t unique to Californian developers, they are just the first that come to mind.
And does it not matter that it’s based on a historical figure?
Yasuke existed in Japan but I think they went too far in making him a protagonist. As I understand it he was a curiosity that Nobunaga kept around, not a full fledged samurai. I think it’s also important to consider the current gaming landscape. There’s titles like Dragon age Veilguard, Concord, Dustborn, Forspoken, Fintlock and others coming out these days that put heavy focus on inclusion/diversity over quality (as evidenced by poor sales numbers). It’s hard to then look at an upcoming game set in historial Japan that somehow features a black protagonist and not think that they’re trying to push some weirdo agenda rather than tell a cool story.
The point about translation, for instance
I want to touch up on this. The reason I didn’t write much about my claim about for Yasuke not being a proper samurai is because it is my understanding that it is the default position and thus doesn’t need to be proven by evidence. But if I was asked to provide evidence, I would link the comparison of his translated and untranslated book in this post. Since Thomas Lockley is the main source behind the myth, I think discrediting his book should be enough to also discredit Yasuke’s role as a proper samurai.
I’m thinking of three games specifically from these studios, TLOU2 basing the whole narrative around a woman hulk, spiderman 2 with the long story segments as Mary jane and the whole debacle on Yasuke. But yeah it’s not just these three california studios that are putting out games with this stuff, they are just the first that come to mind.
Nobody complained when Assassin’s Creed had Leonardo da Vinci hand you a tank or a glider
Yeah fair enough, people will have different lines in the sand for this stuff. I get that this series has time travel and aliens and whatever, but I think everyone can agree that if they randomly put, for example, modern sportscars into a historical setting it would be too unbelievable and ruin immersion. A massive black samurai slaughtering asians in feudal japan (and then seeing them bow down to him in another scene) has that effect for me.
(For the record I did look up on primary sources from japanese historians and everything points to the man being just Nobunaga’s pet curiosity. It helps that here’s all the shady stuff going on where the english and japanese versions of Thomas Lockley’s books say different things)
Are you a racist?
I am not. I just dislike when developers sacrifice the game’s story, quality or whatever in order to put in representation. I don’t understand why the story can’t just have a diverse cast and be done with it, right now it feels like all these studios are focusing on diversity first and foremost as a major selling point when it should be just a normal thing that doesn’t need to be highlighted
The rightwing/gamergate side not contesting this whole issue being called “Politics in videogames” is the biggest blunder. I don’t know the best way to call this phenomenon (political preaching?) but surely there is a better phrase. Right now you can’t talk about this stuff without getting hit by “Oh, you claim to hate politics in videogames yet you love Bioshock” type retort, when the actual thing people have problems with are californian nutcases pushing their views on US political crap onto the player as if it were gospel.
Your comparison to Satisfactory makes me think you’re approaching the game with a completely wrong mindset. It’s not supposed to be a chill sandbox playground with no difficulty where you rapidly conquer the planet and build cool stuff. It’s intended to be an engaging survival game with a horror aspect of diving into dark depths and hoping that whatever lurks there doesn’t notice you. It’s meant to be atmospheric, with the threat of starvation, predators and later on some story aspects pushing you to explore further and deeper for materials and tech.
I hope you give the game anoher chance at some point because it really is a one of a kind experience. There’s two things you should be aware of: First, in regards to another comment: there’s no events for you to miss, IDK what that person is saying. There’s two big plot points that happen in a playthrough regardless of your presence. Both of them give you a timer well in advance so you can show up to / observe the place when it happens. Everything else, like all the distress signals or abandoned bases? They’re empty from the start of the game, even if you go there immediatelly nothing will change. You aren’t missing out on anything.
Second, don’t feel bad about missing out on upgrades or whatver. The vast majority of them are sidegrades. The important stuff that you need to progress both spawns much more often than the sidegrades, and you will often find it at the distress signal locations.
I just finished watching Mugthief’s video on the review conspiracy thing, it does make a lot of sense.
I went and checked my copy of Dragon Age Origins, and thankfully I’m not misremembering nor is it “just what I think”, as on the back it says “A Dark Fantasy epic”. That’s what the series was, directly quoted from the creators behind it. Same thing with Inquisition, it was bleak, had tough choices, things were at stake. This new game couldn’t be further from the previous titles - it doesn’t belong.
I don’t think it’s right to keep your head down and say nothing when something you like is being taken in a direction you don’t enjoy. Saying something critical against it doesn’t hurt anyone, worst thing that could happen is not enough people agree and nothing changes.
It’s not just gaming - people had a similar reaction on the trailer for the Megamind animated TV series. I think it’s a difference in mindset, some people don’t care while others see it as disrespect to their beloved franchise.
I’m willing to give it a fair shot
Personally I’m going to trust what the studio behind the game chose to showcase in the official reveal trailer. They’re selling the game as a lighthearted, cartoony, high fantasy romp where a band of constantly quipping misfits save the world, all without a hint of seriousness anywhere. I don’t care whether the game is good, it’s not Dragon Age.
I am not hoping for a franchise I love to fail. What I am hoping for is that this imposter, which wears the series’ skin purely for brand recognition, fails.
Technically yes. However, the company buildings are directly across the street, the studio behind this game used to be part of Hirez , the founder of both is the same person and ofcourse the Tribes franchise is property of Hirez. It really seems like these companies are the same entity under the hood
If you’re not excited about Brighter shores then I really don’t know, for some reason no one else has ever tried to make the same type of game (aside from Genfanad and Titanreach, both of which have shut down quickly after release)
You could check out Project: Gorgon, it’s something of a mix between Runescape’s multitude of slow-to-level, interconnected skills on one character and a more typical MMO with distinct classes, buildcrafting and group content. It has a free demo on Steam. All of that said it’s only vaguely similar, and I wouldn’t mention it if there was anything closer to OSRS.
The game is free, you can also get it on the author’s blog or through itch.io
The Last Sovereign (NSFW) is an 18+ RPGmaker game. The basic premise is this: What if you had a setting with a bunch of hentai tropes lumped together and played straight, with no porn logic or stupid characters?
You play as a middle aged, very competent army veteran who gains the powers of an incubus, and reluctantly uses them with the aim of making the world a better place, slowly developing a harem of well realized, cool characters along the way. There’s sex scenes, obviously, but you very quickly forget all about them as you are plunged into an underdog story where you have to manage your fledgling armies + resources and have to constantly make tough decisions.
"A preliminary investigation indicates Kang knew the victim only online, having met him playing a fantasy video game called ArcheAge. According to the game’s website, it is shutting down its North America and European servers this week because of a declining number of users. "
No wonder they don’t have players left, this dude beat them all to death
Artisan TD, a classic tower defense game. I quit after the second map. It’s not that it’s bad, it just didn’t grab my attention, doesn’t seem to have anything unique going for it besides maybe the pretty visuals. There are dozens of games exactly like this one. As a fan of the genre, I might check it out after release if it’s on a large sale.
Level Zero: Extraction, a PvP extraction shooter with the option of playing as the horror creature team that’s out to kill everyone. Basically unplayable, not sure what the server situation is but playing from europe I had consistent 0.5sec-1sec delay on all actions. No comment since I couldn’t really experience it.
Let’s Minesweeper, a massively multiplayer game of Minesweeper. Not sure what I expected of this one, it’s exactly what it says it is, you load into a huge map of minesweeper and clear it out for score and xp which translates into bragging rights and cosmetics (?). Unique experience and could be fun if you are the type of person who enjoys zoning out at minesweeper for an hour.
Enderal, a total conversion mod for Skyrim. Free, just requires ownership of the skyrim base game or special edition (there’s a version for either).
Has a whole new map, reworked classes, changes to combat, banger OST (here’s my favorite, hits incredibly hard when you’re listening to it in-game at a tavern) and the story is just incredible. I still think about it, and the choices I made, years later. Dozens of hours long, moreso if you are a completionist.
you’ve been able to fucking play it for a decade
tech demo out = game is playable, unbeatable logic
If they said they released it years ago and called these all “updates” you’d have nothing to bitch about
It’s not about what the developers say the state of the game is, it’s about what’s actually out and playable - and for Star Citizen, last time I checked it’s some barebones version with one planet, bajillion missing features, 200000000$ ships and in general a buggy mess
You star citizen fans are insufferable. I get spammed with these videos, ads and articles hyping up the game for being the best thing ever, always claiming the next update to be some gamechanger but it’s still the same unfinished garbage. Love how every time someone mentions the absolutely disgusting monetisation, it goes in one ear and out the other.
Now get back to licking chris robert’s shoes, you’ve missed a spot
If you want to rant about GPU prices, why randomly call out one/two specific games? Not like it doesn’t apply to any other modern release. I don’t get this post
Also I looked up some benchmarks and you can get 60FPS on medium with an RX 6600 (about 200 USD curently in the US) in both finals & helldivers. Could possibly get away with a cheaper card on Low settings
The numbers this game pulled during the nextfest have me on edge… it often took me 5 minutes to find a match even when there was just one playable mode and, I assume, no skill-based matchmaking.
It’s gonna release for 20 USD, which I much prefer to the free to play model but at the same time I’m really not sure the game can launch into a stable population without that influx of free players
Tried to get into fighting games on a keyboard, could not perform any motion input after an hour of trying, not even a quartercircle. Finally looked it up online and realized you’re supposed to drag your finger across the keys, not tap them. Really embarassing
Put like 20hrs into Borderlands 2, really wanted to like the game but I kept getting my teeth smashed in even though I watched guides, used a meta build, tried different characters etc. Then I tried multiplayer with some friends & observed one of them stop progressing to farm some unremarkable zone. After a while she got a specific legendary weapon and proceeded to instantly destroy everything for the next hour+. Finally realized I was approaching the game like it was a narrative FPS when in reality it’s an ARPG.
Ouroboros - an RPGmaker game where the protagonist is trapped in a looping simulation and tries to escape without alerting his captors. Short and sweet, perfectly executes the power fantasy of being a hyper competent rational character who’s gone completely emotionally numb after living for thousands of years. It’s an adult game and features some sex scenes but they’re not important and I think they can even be turned off. It goes on an 80% discount every steam sale.
The title feels misleading, this isn’t the actual main lawsuit, the case is far from over. I doubt Steam will want to display the game again given that they are still in hot water legally
Kira has been covering the situation from the start and he has a great video talking about this development
Can’t stand media that thrusts you into a zany, fantastical world where completely insane shit happens constantly, nothing makes sense, there’s no consistency and you’re supposed to somehow keep going through the fever dream of a setting for however many hours before you can piece together what’s actually going on and become invested
Needless to say I bounced off Nier: Automata really hard
Oh wow! I’m not the only one! It’s nice that the bot issue seems to be severely reduced, this year is was the first one where I didn’t have to switch servers multiple times to avoid masses of spinning snipers