2023 VIDEO GAME CATCH ALL THREAD

[Contentious C]

5 hours ago, Death From Above said:

Demon's Souls is a game from 2008 and the remaster is by a totally different company. Though honestly reading most of your posts, you should absolutely avoid Elden Ring for totally different reasons. You 100% seem like the kind of person that would leave the tutorial cave and die to the completely optional miniboss on horseback 50 times and then rage post about it for the next 7 years.

Stay classy.

Just put me on ignore since I can't ignore you in return.

[J.T.]

And the list of games that will be available for Gamepass Core at launch are:

• Among Us
• Descenders
• Dishonored 2
• Doom Eternal
• The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
• Fable Anniversary
• Fallout 4
• Fallout 76
• Forza Horizon 4
• Gears 5
• Grounded
• Halo 5: Guardians
• Halo Wars 2
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
• Human Fall Flat
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps
• Psychonauts 2
• State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition

[A.M.B.]

16 hours ago, Contentious C said:

I spent $15 to avoid wasting $40 today.

Signed up for PS Plus and decided I was going to give Demon's Souls another try because MaYbE i'M mIsSiNg SoMeThInG but no, I'm not.  I spent the last couple of months getting muscle-trained back on TOTK and switching was a bit much.  Found myself hammering items I didn't want to use when I was supposed to be spamming attack, and it was just too frustrating to get out of that mode.  So I looked in the settings, and fuck no, why would you be able to change the controller layout of a game in 2023?

At least that saves me ever, ever bothering with Elden Ring, either.  Fuck they’re bullshit.

 So your primary complaint for the game is you can’t tell R1 from Square?

[Contentious C]

Man, Uncharted 4 is boring.  I can live without long-ass cutscenes/wannabe-movies badly masquerading as 'video games', which I suppose are only in this format because the profit margin is better.  At least The Last of Us felt like there were stakes.  I was pretty close to buying this during the Sony sale last Christmas when I got the PS5 itself; really glad I didn't waste the money on that, either.  It's too bad I do have the rest of the series on PS3, though, because now it seems there's a decent chance I wasted my money on those when I bought that used several years ago.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Contentious C

[Raziel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFVPYDEXxEE&ab_channel=IGN

 

Ok, I get to play MK1 with Omni-man and fucking HOMELANDER!!! Yup, that sold me.

[Tabe]

13 hours ago, Contentious C said:

Man, Uncharted 4 is boring.  I can live without long-ass cutscenes/wannabe-movies badly masquerading as 'video games', which I suppose are only in this format because the profit margin is better.  At least The Last of Us felt like there were stakes.  I was pretty close to buying this during the Sony sale last Christmas when I got the PS5 itself; really glad I didn't waste the money on that, either.  It's too bad I do have the rest of the series on PS3, though, because now it seems there's a decent chance I wasted my money on those when I bought that used several years ago.

Uncharted 4 definitely has some pacing issues. And frustrating moments. Uncharted 2, on the hand, is one of the best games ever. 

[odessasteps]

Just in time for Marvel Puzzle Quest to celebrate its 10th anniversary, DC just launched their match 3 game. 

[COLETTI]

All over the place lately. I've needed small bites after putting 60+ into NieR: Automata. 

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge fucking ruuuuuuuuules. 

GRIS is absolutely beautiful. 

Carrion is silly, gruesome fun. 

Once I'm done with those, I think I'm gonna dedicate some time to Kena: Bridge Of Spirits or Alan Wake Remastered. Might have to flip a coin. 

 

 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 hour ago, christopher.annino said:

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge fucking ruuuuuuuuules. 

April air juggling people for dozens of hits is the best thing in a beat-'em-up in decades.

[COLETTI]

Just now, Sparkleface said:

April air juggling people for dozens of hits is the best thing in a beat-'em-up in decades.

It's the first time I've actually wanted to play online multiplayer like... ever. It's SO fucking fun and chaotic. 

[SirFozzie]

Terra Invicta:

File this one under: Watch someone play it before you buy it. It's completely, utterly and absolutely overwhelming.

Take Shadow Government. Combine with Xcom. Combine with Proto-Kerbal Space Program.

What do you have?

A big, sprawling, very BUSY game.

On earth, you're trying to fulfill goals based on your faction about an alien invasion. You're going to be doing political things to try to sway large chunks of the nations of Earth under your sway. Controlling key points in national governments will allow you to divert resources to building a space program to eventually build bases on other planets in the solar system, for the raw materials that you need to build a fleet to defend your faction (not necessarily the earth, considering some factions want to leave space to the aliens, or even collaborate with the aliens..). Eventually, over the space of a couple decades, you can take the fight to the aliens (if that's your factions goal) for supreme victory.

And you have to pause every two weeks to issue your councillors new missions all the time (or risk the other factions taking control of earth's governments). While building those fleets. While doing research for the NEXT generation of fleets, one component at a time. While building multiple space stations. And while controlling those fleets in battle.

It's damn impressive.

It has a very passionate audience, who love the minutaie, of the sheer level of THINGS you need to do to win. It may not be for you.

But, here's the thing. For 99% of us, that's going to be WAY too much, and I'm not sure the game has ways to automate doing the things that you don't want to do.

So if you're thinking about it, watch at least some of this video (and the series) of a streamer playing this game. It will make up your mind one way or the other. (for example, in this video series, the streamer starts by insinuating themselves into France, and decides to bring the other parts of Europe into a Pan European Union. He has to sway all these smaller nations to their point of view, one at a time, to finally kick out the other factions supporters, and merge them into the European Union. Again, he has to issue new orders to his councilors (agents) every two weeks of game time to do so. We're 3 hours in by the end of the first video, and it's still the very embryonic START of the game)

[url]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRY6EVZy1IhoOZ1AElU6k7lPURPo0LBEj[/url]
 

[JLSigman]

So since everyone on my Mastodon server has mentioned Path of Exile in the last week, guess who decided to check if my account is still active (It is!) and downloaded it?

[JLSigman]

1 hour ago, JLSigman said:

So since everyone on my Mastodon server has mentioned Path of Exile in the last week, guess who decided to check if my account is still active (It is!) and downloaded it?

Only took 15 minutes to crash to desktop. Ah, yes, now I remember why I got so frustrated with it...

[Craig H]

Not a video game, but as part of what seems like a midlife crisis that now involves losing my job this upcoming September, I've started bowling again. I haven't bowled in so long. Probably not since my older daughter was 5 or 6 and that was just goof around bowling. It's been at least 25 years since I bowled in a league. So right now I'm just trying to find my swing again and nail down my approach, release, and all of the mechanics. I'm starting to get that feel for it again. There's something very satisfying to starting my approach very far to the left and throw a perfect hook right into the pocket and get a strike. That same satisfaction turns into frustration on the next ball when I try to remember or figure out what I did differently on the previous frame. 

Either way, I'm seeing my scores climb. Right now I'm averaging around 150 to 160. The cool thing is that one of the nicer lanes around here has Kids Bowl Free so I can go and bowl for free with my daughter every day. It's been fun teaching her and teaching myself.

The other great thing is that this beats the heat. Golfing is pretty much out of the question with how hot it has been and golfing is expensive as hell and takes 3 to 4 hours between driving to the course, playing, and driving home. Bowling is as little as 30 minutes or as much as an hour. It's the perfect amount of time.

My hope is to keep improving over the next couple weeks to then start bowling in a fall league.

[Zimbra]

On 7/31/2023 at 9:05 AM, JLSigman said:

Only took 15 minutes to crash to desktop. Ah, yes, now I remember why I got so frustrated with it...

I liked how every patch, no matter how small, took at least an hour to install.  And there were a shitload of patches.

Also the game is pretty boring.

[SirSmUgly]

2 hours ago, Craig H said:

Not a video game, but as part of what seems like a midlife crisis that now involves losing my job this upcoming September, I've started bowling again. I haven't bowled in so long. Probably not since my older daughter was 5 or 6 and that was just goof around bowling. It's been at least 25 years since I bowled in a league. So right now I'm just trying to find my swing again and nail down my approach, release, and all of the mechanics. I'm starting to get that feel for it again. There's something very satisfying to starting my approach very far to the left and throw a perfect hook right into the pocket and get a strike. That same satisfaction turns into frustration on the next ball when I try to remember or figure out what I did differently on the previous frame. 

Either way, I'm seeing my scores climb. Right now I'm averaging around 150 to 160. The cool thing is that one of the nicer lanes around here has Kids Bowl Free so I can go and bowl for free with my daughter every day. It's been fun teaching her and teaching myself.

The other great thing is that this beats the heat. Golfing is pretty much out of the question with how hot it has been and golfing is expensive as hell and takes 3 to 4 hours between driving to the course, playing, and driving home. Bowling is as little as 30 minutes or as much as an hour. It's the perfect amount of time.

My hope is to keep improving over the next couple weeks to then start bowling in a fall league.

I'm doing the same thing right now!

I was shooting 195 last time I bowled league, but it's been over a decade. Now I'm back. 

Been watching a bunch of '80s PBA tournaments and modern-day P-League, too. It gave me the itch. 

[supremebve]

2 hours ago, Craig H said:

Not a video game, but as part of what seems like a midlife crisis that now involves losing my job this upcoming September, I've started bowling again. I haven't bowled in so long. Probably not since my older daughter was 5 or 6 and that was just goof around bowling. It's been at least 25 years since I bowled in a league. So right now I'm just trying to find my swing again and nail down my approach, release, and all of the mechanics. I'm starting to get that feel for it again. There's something very satisfying to starting my approach very far to the left and throw a perfect hook right into the pocket and get a strike. That same satisfaction turns into frustration on the next ball when I try to remember or figure out what I did differently on the previous frame. 

Either way, I'm seeing my scores climb. Right now I'm averaging around 150 to 160. The cool thing is that one of the nicer lanes around here has Kids Bowl Free so I can go and bowl for free with my daughter every day. It's been fun teaching her and teaching myself.

The other great thing is that this beats the heat. Golfing is pretty much out of the question with how hot it has been and golfing is expensive as hell and takes 3 to 4 hours between driving to the course, playing, and driving home. Bowling is as little as 30 minutes or as much as an hour. It's the perfect amount of time.

My hope is to keep improving over the next couple weeks to then start bowling in a fall league.

I play softball and we're truly terrible,  but there is nothing better than the incremental improvements. So,  I'm also studying to become a data analyst, and I've been keeping very detailed stats. I was the worst hitter on the team our first season(last summer), but right now in our 4th season,  I've the best hitter.  I went from last, to 9th, to 4th, and now I love when I'm up to bat in big spots.   The discipline it takes to stand there,  stay back,  don't lunge, and don't bail the pitcher out by swinging at bullshit, has lead to me getting better day by day. It's been really satisfying. I still want to get one over the fence,  but if I can keep hitting hard line drives into gaps I'll take it. 

The data analysis part has also been satisfying,  but more in a, "I figured how to stop getting kicked in the nuts by using parentheses when I should have used a bracket," and now I have to stop getting kicked in the nuts by 42 other things. 

[Craig H]

1 hour ago, SirSmUgly said:

I'm doing the same thing right now!

I was shooting 195 last time I bowled league, but it's been over a decade. Now I'm back. 

Been watching a bunch of '80s PBA tournaments and modern-day P-League, too. It gave me the itch. 

Hah, it was YouTube that gave me the itch. I was bored one day and looked up hooking a bowling ball because it had been so long. Oh, and randomly, a video of Belmo popped up in my recommended videos. Everything took off from there. Bowling videos flooded my recommended videos and I fell down a rabbit hole. Next thing I know I'm buying new bowling shoes because I lost my really old ones, I bought a Storm Summit since the ball I'm using was my dad's from 1995, and I bought a basic plastic ball for spares. Went to the pro shop last week to get fitted and everything should be ready on Thursday. Not sure what I'll do with my dad's bowling ball. I thought about getting the holes plugged and getting it redrilled for me, but I also thought about turning it into a lamp.

1 hour ago, supremebve said:

I play softball and we're truly terrible,  but there is nothing better than the incremental improvements. So,  I'm also studying to become a data analyst, and I've been keeping very detailed stats. I was the worst hitter on the team our first season(last summer), but right now in our 4th season,  I've the best hitter.  I went from last, to 9th, to 4th, and now I love when I'm up to bat in big spots.   The discipline it takes to stand there,  stay back,  don't lunge, and don't bail the pitcher out by swinging at bullshit, has lead to me getting better day by day. It's been really satisfying. I still want to get one over the fence,  but if I can keep hitting hard line drives into gaps I'll take it. 

The data analysis part has also been satisfying,  but more in a, "I figured how to stop getting kicked in the nuts by using parentheses when I should have used a bracket," and now I have to stop getting kicked in the nuts by 42 other things. 

I'm not studying to become a data analyst, but I was really surprised at the stat tracking that's out there for bowling. There's a couple apps that connect with bowling centers that will record every shot you throw, your ball speed, etc. It's been good for learning a lot about my progress, but not so much for gaining consistency. I think what I'm going to do is print out a sheet with bowling frames on it and record the date, what boards I stood on, what arrows or dots I aimed at, what arrow did the ball actually cross over, and what approximate board did the ball start to hook. Then I can compare that with the data I get from my app and see what I should be doing every time. Hell, you can setup your phone to record you bowl, upload the video to Reddit, and people on r/bowling will tell you exactly what your speed AND revs are and revs are the one thing that none of the apps track. The one flaw in that is that oil patterns change, but it's cool to look at all of that data and use it to improve my game and become more consistent.

I'm just hoping when I go to join a fall league that I'm not stuck with a bunch of douchebags or heavy drinkers. I'd like to bowl on my brother's team, but he's completely full up and has a few backups too when someone can't make it so that's not an option.

[SirSmUgly]

Yeah, I got a Motiv Venom and a plastic for shooting it hard and straight at single pins. 

I just like to go and shoot a few games to clear my mind. There's something about the singular focus on the pins and making my best shot every time that is a big de-stressor for me. 

It's too bad that bowling alleys are going out of business left and right, though. I have to drive a ways to get to the lanes.

[Craig H]

7 minutes ago, SirSmUgly said:

Yeah, I got a Motiv Venom and a plastic for shooting it hard and straight at single pins. 

I just like to go and shoot a few games to clear my mind. There's something about the singular focus on the pins and making my best shot every time that is a big de-stressor for me. 

It's too bad that bowling alleys are going out of business left and right, though. I have to drive a ways to get to the lanes.

That was honestly one of the first things I did once the depression kinda lifted after my role elimination news. I think the next day or the day after I said fuck it, grabbed my bag, and went bowling. It was a nice way to get some tension out and get my mind off of things, well, until I got back to my car anyway. 

And that sucks that you have to drive far to go to a center. I'm lucky enough that there's one newer center that's about 5 minutes away and three others that are about 15 minutes away. There used to be way more than that around here though. One of them I'm surprised is still open. It's been around for what seems like forever and the owner and his son seemingly are there every single day except days they're closed. The pin setters aren't the best and frequently drop pins so I'm guessing they can't afford newer equipment or a mechanic to work more than part time. However, the lanes are good and aren't torn up and everything else there is really clean. I'm guessing that's the next one to fall though and we'll be down to three in this area.

With losing my current role though and my future at my company, I have started wondering how much it would cost to own and run a bowling alley. I've had the same thoughts about woodworking and making furniture, but there just aren't any local lumber yards to facilitate that being a business. A bowling alley though...that would be pretty cool. Probably not feasible, but it would be cool.

[Ramo2653]

Ooh fellow bowlers!

I'm throwing a RotoGrip Helios, Storm MatchUp Hybrid (for dryer lanes) and a Storm Mix for spares. I play a few sweepers during the summer for fun but the kids from the UW-Whitewater team usually show up and dominate those. 

I ended up getting lessons to fix my swing since I got into the bad habit of finishing on the wrong foot and my average shot up 30 pins. I need to work on getting more revs on my ball but that's something to shoot for this season. I'll be in 2 leagues in the fall which works because sand volleyball usually ends around that time.

Bowling alleys are comically expensive to run, minimum starting costs are 250k+ plus you'd need to find a way to keep getting people in and also have them not tear up your lanes and equipment.

[dragonzombie]

Super Boy 1., unlicensed game for the Master System, ported from MSX

 

[JLSigman]

18 hours ago, Zimbra said:

I liked how every patch, no matter how small, took at least an hour to install.  And there were a shitload of patches.

Also the game is pretty boring.

I'm facerolling through it at the moment, once I turned everything that might make it interesting off. It still randomly dumps to the login screen about once a day. My stubborn side has latched on, tho, so I'll go as far as I can (I don't think I've ever gotten past Act V) before giving up again.

[Craig H]

20 hours ago, Ramo2653 said:

Ooh fellow bowlers!

I'm throwing a RotoGrip Helios, Storm MatchUp Hybrid (for dryer lanes) and a Storm Mix for spares. I play a few sweepers during the summer for fun but the kids from the UW-Whitewater team usually show up and dominate those. 

I ended up getting lessons to fix my swing since I got into the bad habit of finishing on the wrong foot and my average shot up 30 pins. I need to work on getting more revs on my ball but that's something to shoot for this season. I'll be in 2 leagues in the fall which works because sand volleyball usually ends around that time.

Bowling alleys are comically expensive to run, minimum starting costs are 250k+ plus you'd need to find a way to keep getting people in and also have them not tear up your lanes and equipment.

I'm trying to even imagine how you were finishing on the wrong foot. Maybe it's been so embedded in my brain since I was a little kid (my mom's side of the family owned a bar with a four lane bowling alley in it) to finish on my left foot and slide with that foot. My new bowling shoes don't even have a slide on the sole on the right shoe. It's still weird getting used to that style, but I haven't gone ass over tea kettle yet in them.

Getting more revs on my ball is a goal of mine too. I think I'm going to focus on throwing slower, like around 13 to 14 mph, and try to get more revs on the back end. Or I'll at least learn if that's possible once I get to use my new ball tomorrow. That's my thought though, throw slower, focus on delivery by staying under the ball and keeping my elbow bent, and trying to pick up my revs. I'm never going to be like Belmo, who's a 2 hander anyway, rifling the ball down the lane with a million revs on it.

I did spend one day trying to learn to bowl 2 handed and it's very weird. However, in trying to teach my daughter, I had her switch to 2 handed because she's nearly running up to the foul line and she didn't do too bad throwing it that way. She at least had a 10 pin improvement in one game just by having her throw 2 handed. That's the smallest sample size, but I'm going to keep having her do that. The cool thing watch her is that even though she basically totally new to bowling at 13 years old, when she throws the ball, either 1 handed or 2 handed, she's doing a really good job of getting the ball onto the lane over the foul line and having it hit the lane like a plane landing. It's really smooth. If she could learn consistency with just bringing her arm straight up like she was going to shake someone's hand instead of pulling to the left or right then I think she could be really good at this.

[SirFozzie]

I couldn't do big-ball bowling well, even before my health deteriorated, we mostly have a superior version (Candlepin) here in New England, but even that had to stop as my knees and hips got worse.

For Reference: