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
Rhinos! RRHHIIIIINNNOOEEESSS our enemies hide in METAL BAWKSES the cowards, the fools! We... we shall take away... their metal BAWKses.
I don't remember it exactly and can't check because you deleted the comments (grr!!) but it was weirder than that. It went something like: First he said he played Stardew before FoM, then a few days later claimed he had never played Stardew ever, and in the next post he said he played it after FoM
What about the Fields of mistria stuff though? Did you play it before or after stardew valley? Those are the weirdest posts
EDIT the dude deleted his account, guess we will never know
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
I just dislike a lot of the studios based there (Insomniac, naughty dog, ubisoft) for how hard they try to push POC/minority representation in their games. Especially when it doesn't make sense (black samurai)
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.
(Brighter Shores) You should NOT be taking ideas from Cube world!
I'm gonna be talking about two games, so I want to start with a description of both incase you haven't heard of them:
Brighter Shores is a newly released MMORPG from one of the original creators of RuneScape. This isometric, point-and-click game openly embraces its inspiration from the creator’s previous work. However, aside from this connection, little was known about it prior to launch.
Cube World is an open-world RPG that initially launched with great success in an alpha release back in 2013, only to be abandoned by its developers shortly after. In 2019, the game was released on Steam in an updated beta version, which is the one I'll be mentioning.
When Cube World launched on Steam it came with many changes, but perhaps the biggest one was the newly implemented Region system. No longer could you freely explore the world however you wanted and slowly progress your character with vertical power boosts. Instead, both your combat equipment and traveling tools were location bound to the zone where you first found them, with the only permanent progression being insignificant out-of-combat perks.
This design led to a repetitive gameplay loop: enter a zone, gradually grind for better gear, unlock travel tools like gliders, defeat the boss, earn a small permanent boost (such as a +2.1% swimming speed increase), and then move to the next zone to repeat the process.
This was AWFUL.
Not only is the whiplash of suddenly going from hero to zero for no good reason going to instantly get the majority of your players quitting the game then and there, what exactly does a mechanic like this even solve? Instead of trying to find a way to improve on the flaws of the existing system - which made progression feel pointless at times due to enemies scaling to your level, or gave you no reason to return to low level zones - you are now forced to essentially play a new character in every region. Ok? How is this any better?
Anyway, finally onto Brighter shores. Uniquely, this game is split into distinct pieces called Episodes, where each offers its own area, story and skills. With the game's launch yesterday, players quickly found out that your combat skills and gear both do not carry over between these episodes. Worse still, even your non-combat skills like Cooking or Foraging either have a very limited interaction with other episode content, or are straight up only useable within this one space.
Why? Not only is it clear that a majority of players are put off by a system like this (as seen in the Steam reviews), but for a game that proudly embraces its RuneScape heritage to impose strict limits on how skills interact—and which ones you can use—feels contradictory. Make it make sense.
As a sidenote - some people have dug up the developer's previous comments on progression, and are now speculating that these early episodes serve as a kind of tutorial, after which you will reach zones where the limits on skills are more relaxed. This to me does not make sense, specifically because of the zone combat skills. They are basically copies of one another with a different name, as they use the same exact gear and have no gameplay differences. Surely, if they were supposed to be made available simultaneously later on, they would have some strengths and weaknesses comparatively?
Anyway, finally getting to the core of this post, on why I am mentioning these two games together. When Cube World launched on Steam, there was a ton of negativity and criticism early on. Seemingly everyone hated it, and you could barely find one positive thing about it. But only 24 hours later and there was a complete 180. If you were active in the game's communities on Steam, Youtube, Reddit, Discord etc, you were suddenly swamped with people finding reasons why the Region system is actually great, how it has huge potential, how you cannot criticize the game because it's in Early access (???).
In reality, the people who professed love to this awful Region system were just doing it for... i don't know. Love of the developer? Trying to combat toxicity on the internet? Who knows. What I can say for certain is that it was all just lip service as they didn't like the system either, given that the game essentially lost all of it's playerbase a month or so post launch.
Now in that game's case, it was all ultimately a pointless discussion because the devs took the money and ran for the second time. So no matter the public opinion, nothing would have ever changed. But it seems the same cycle is happening to Brighter Shores. I really hope that in this case, players could learn from history of games like Cube World, like Helldivers 2, like Space marine 2 etc and understand that, even if you personally think a system is OK or even fun, you should consider the opinions of the majority and admit to issues, rather than trying to constantly blow smoke up Andrew Gower's ass while stonewalling all concerns.
You can find a game fun and you can want the developer to suceed all while allowing people to share criticism and ask for improvements. The game's purportedly in Early access, and if that word means what you think it means then now's the last time for big changes to be made - like rethinking this awful episode system that will kill the game.
Thanks for reading, let me know your thoughts. I had to put this stuff to paper, infuriating to see history repeat again.
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.
They don't reset, they just don't carry over, also your gear is severely debuffed. If you come back to the previous episode you'll still have the levels in that episode's skills.
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.
I am not aware of any conspiracy like that, It's just my personal hope.
Please god let these positive reviews be paid off. I don't want this game succeed, it has nothing to do with the series - complete tonal shift, choices barely carry over and not being able to control companions is just.... I wish they made a new series, this isn't the Dragon age I know. Hope it fails
RIP that was just brutal. Once the baron steal happened the game felt like it was over already. Just got worse from there
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
Steam Next Fest is currently ongoing - which demos did you like/dislike?
Steam Next Fest is a week-long celebration featuring hundreds of FREE playable demos as well as developer livestreams and chats. Players try out upcoming games on Steam pre-release, developers gather feedback and build an audience ahead of their Steam launch, everyone wins!
Steam Next Fest, which is a regular event for showcasing upcoming games, is happening now on steam and will continue until February 12 at 10:00 AM PST (UTC-8).
With hundreds of demos available, even if you're only interested in a fraction of the games it's going to be difficult to try everything before the event ends. With that in mind, I'm hoping people can use this thread to share their thoughts on the titles they've played.
Which games did you enjoy, and which do you think suck? Please share your thoughts!
What happened to Genfanad?
Genfanad, short for Generic Fantasy Adventure, used to be a browser-based parody/clone of OldSchool runescape with a very sarcastic and self aware sense of humor. If you're a fan of Josh Strife Hayes, you've probably seen his video on it a year back. I've never really played it myself, but I randomly checked the website today and found that the game transformed into some sort of MMO card battler hybrid?
Not going to lie that combination sounds super interesting to me but I'm very confused on why such a huge shift happened in the game's development direction. I had to check the date to make sure it's not April 1st.
Are there any fans of the game here that know why this happened, or want to share their feelings on the change/the state of the game? I've found very few people talking about it online
How are you liking Palia so far?
It's been a while since the open beta started, I haven't tried the game myself but if you did, do you recommend it? I would love to hear your thoughts about it in general, I'm interested in the game but haven't seen many reviews yet
War of Dragnorox changes title to Eternal Tombs, shows new trailer
I don't think the announcement is up on their website, but you can see it here on their Discord.
If you're never heard of it, it's an indie MMO that's going for an oldschool feel with the unique feature of dungeon masters interacting with the players live. You can see that it's super janky, but it has some charming features like the classes and the setting. It was previously set to release Q3 2023.
Alongside the name change, they've also announced a rework of the combat system and removed the release date estimate.
I barely follow the game's development so maybe this delay was something that could be seen from miles away but I personally thought the game would be a fun way to pass a few weeks, especially given that there's not much else in the MMO space that's coming out soon besides Palia. In my opinion, I think this game is destined to have a niche following before petering out some months after release, and a combat rework by itself won't change that, it's just wasting time and money.
Were you aware that the game existed at all? And how do you feel about the changes?
Any titles to look out for during the Steam sale?
With the curent Steam summer sale going on, most MMORPGs on there are going to be on sale. Which titles do you think are worth picking up? If you bought anything new, how do you feel about it?