General Game Chat

[Moonface]

I love companies that want $200 for a Collector's Edition, then don't ship it out by release date, and five days after release people are still wondering why their CEs haven't shipped yet and the company won't say a word about it on any of their socials.

Oh yeah, can't forget they also charged everyone for it back in June when pre-orders started. Gotta love it.

This reminded me of that situation I posted about a while back about Gaming Heads taking forever on orders and then ultimately having to cancel them all because Sony pulled the contract. It also reminds me of a situation at least 7 years ago when I ordered Christmas gaming sweaters from some notable merchandise company who proceeded to not fill any of the orders and wouldn't communicate about it, then out of the blue just cancelled the orders. Can't remember who it was now though.

What CE did you get and who from?

[Dragon Lord]

The company in question is the ever incompetent Square Enix. The CE is Star Ocean The Second Story R.

Incompetence and useless are very common for Square Enix, basically their bread and butter, but this has been absolute shit even by their extremely low standards.

[Moonface]

The company in question is the ever incompetent Square Enix. The CE is Star Ocean The Second Story R.

Incompetence and useless are very common for Square Enix, basically their bread and butter, but this has been absolute shit even by their extremely low standards.

Ah. I'm surprised they would drop the ball so badly for orders done directly through them because it will just give off such a bad look. At least if orders were being delayed that went through a third-party SE could avoid the impact to their reputation as the fault could be pushed onto the third-party and not themselves.
I hope it gets resolved soon or that SE actually puts out a statement. Either way they should definitely compensate people for all of this, but I won't be surprised if they don't because it doesn't sound like their handling of this has been great from before orders were even close to reaching their ship date.

[Maniakkid25]

Wow, I never would've thought a handheld console would feature RCA cable ports on it.
Did you manage to fix it or did you not get around to it yet?

Haven't done it yet; I keep putting it off because the task legitimately terrifies me. I just don't wanna break it irreparibly, and shipping it out to get it repaired (there is no local repair shop near me that would do this, even though I have the part) would be another 30 bucks, so I've only got one path.

Decided to go looking through the articles of a gaming website I've not visited in a while, and came across this article: Time Extension | Best Music Videos Featuring Video Games
I never knew any game had been featured notably in a music video, or at least not to a degree where one can make the claim of "Music videos and video games go together well. It’s a well-known fact." If that's a well-known fact then I present to you the rock I live under, because this is the first I'm hearing of these two mediums mixing together in this way. Not counting things like Californication by RHCP because while that is a gaming themed music video it isn't themed after a real video game.

The only music video I know of that actually features a game is Nine Inch Nails' "Less Than". That features the PS4VR game "Polybius" rather extensively. And yes, it is named after the mythical arcade game on purpose. It's meant to be part recreation and part joke version of an imagining of what the game might have been like. It's by long-time game designer Jeff Minter, and judging by the look of it, it plays like a racing shooter after being spiked with LSD.

[Maniakkid25]

I just realized how warped my gaming priorities are, and I find it so amusing. Like, I'm sure people are freaking out over the new hotness, whatever that may be (probably Persona 5 Tactica, or something), but I'm over here checking my GOG account, and it knows what I want: Boiling Point Road To Hell! Hell yeah, baby, it's back and on Steam and GOG, let's f***ing go!

...I see you haven't had the pleasure.

Boiling Point: Road to Hell is a jank-as-hell FPS game made by Ukrainian studio Deep Shadows back in '05. Unpatched, it's bugged to the point of near-unplayability, but when you've patched it, you've got an interesting Deep Sim FPS that actually tries to simulate the logistics and capabilities of a lone operative in a foreign nation acting on his own. You can make alliances, and those alliances will effect your quest progression and can even lead to you getting ambushed! You have to take care of a vehicle, because that's your best storage, you have to take care of your weaponry, because weapons can jam in the heat of combat at low durability, and it even has a unique health system where your limbs are rated separately, and you lose effectiveness based on your various limbs' health pools. For reference, Fallout 3 would come out 3 years after this. And the healing items you use lose effectiveness over time as you become addicted to the drugs, meaning you have to get flushed out at a clinic to be able to use them at full effect again!

Is it good? *very unsure noises* Is it interesting? Hell yes it is. This is a game with ambitions, tanked by a studio that just didn't have the capabilities to back those ambitions up. It's 10 bucks on Steam or GOG. Try it if you're curious. Just make sure it's patched.

[Moonface]

I always love discovering games that have incredibly cool ideas but their overall package fails to be executed well for whatever reason, or just show promise of something that could have been incredibly good. Although, according to Wikipedia the game was received very well by anyone who reviewed it late after the 2.0 patch was released, so it makes me wonder if the overall package of Boiling Point is actually well done and just suffered from a rocky launch. I guess maybe user reviews on Steam or wherever might give a good indicator if there's enough people hearing about this re-release to buy a copy of the game and share their thoughts on it.

I was curious if Deep Shadows were still around or if they had gone under, but surprisingly to me they're still going. I also wondered how White Gold was received since it's a sequel or prequel (seemingly no one knows which it is?) but there doesn't seem to be anything about its reception on its Wiki page.

[Maniakkid25]

White Gold, as far as I understand, appears to be completely unrelated to the original Boiling Point. While it does have a Saul Myers, the two aren't the same Saul Myers (Boiling Point explicitly lists Saul Myers as French Foreign Legion, while this Saul Myers is ill-defined). It's much more of a descendant in concepts rather than a true sequel, also having a similar gameplay scheme (open world, logistical troubles, health system, etc.).

Based on the reviews on Steam right now, it's appears to be sort of patched? It appears it's been released with its own update, rather than the 2.0 update, meaning Your Mileage Will Vary on how well it works. As far as I know, though, Ziggurat is actively working on bug squashing, based on the newsletter they put out on their own website having a survey to report bugs. And don't get me wrong, here. When it works, it's jank. It's good jank, and very interesting jank, but it's still jank. This is not going to play as fluidly as, say, Borderlands would. Okay, lets bring that bar down a bit; it's not gonna play as well as Area 51 did. But you will be able to see where the game clearly is trying to be good. It reminds me of Operation Darkness: you can see its heart is in the right place, but they did NOT stick the landing.

Also, while their site works, I have my doubts Deep Shadows is still around, simply because the About and Contacts links do not work. If you click on the games, though, they will take you to storefronts where you can buy them (allegedly; Boiling Point links you to an Amazon page). Also, to give you an idea of how in over their heads they were making Boiling Point, outside of the Xenus trilogy (Boiling Point, White Gold, and The Precursors), all of their games are hidden object games. I.E. I-Spy! HOO BOY, we are in for a ride, there!

[Moonface]

This is not going to play as fluidly as, say, Borderlands would. Okay, lets bring that bar down a bit; it's not gonna play as well as Area 51 did. But you will be able to see where the game clearly is trying to be good. It reminds me of Operation Darkness: you can see its heart is in the right place, but they did NOT stick the landing.

If you're referring to the 2005 Area 51 game I remember loving that game when I first played it, but then tried playing it again years later after having played some FPS games on PS3 and found it had aged rather poorly for what little I could get through before I put it back down.
Although even when I first played it I always hated the part where you first fully transform and get forced into using melee only. It took me so long to get through that section of the game.

[Moonface]

I swear War Thunder is the gift that keeps on giving even when it isn't because of government documents being leaked: https://wiki.warthunder.com/AH-1S_Kisarazu

Apparently this design comes from a real life one that came about from this particular series of events: https://otakumode.com/news/51a149bf8ccdf...-Last-Time!

[Moonface]

Pfft, these guys are so full of shit they could actually overpopulate the empty shell of a world in The Day Before with it.

The trailer for the game alone shows they knew they were misleading people and promising things that were never going to happen; miscalculation doesn't even come into it. I won't be surprised either if they're just closing down to rebrand under a new name so they can try another scam without any of the red flag history attached to them.

[Dragon Lord]

I wonder what would lead them to sca....

>Russian developer

Ah, no more questions needed to be asked.

[Moonface]

I've been reading more about this whole thing and it's crazy how far the developers managed to take this. The Last Day was officially backed by Nvidia with full blown trailers which would have played a huge part in convincing people this game was legit, and I have to wonder what Nvidia were shown or told to endorse a game by a developer who apparently has never had the best track record. They even had collaborations with other companies such as inDrive and had music composed for the game by a notable artist who has done work on Mortal Kombat 1, which I get are both instances where money will come into play rather than the state of the game but it certainly helped make the game appear convincing in marketing.

The game is now no longer on Steam and apparently Steam will be refunding all players who purchased it. The two developers who ran the studio have also deleted all of their social media accounts (including LinkedIn) and the games YouTube channel has been nuked as well. I'm surprised their Twitter page is still up honestly but I suspect it'll be gone soon enough once it no longer serves as a means to communicate this whole situation to people.

[Moonface]

Has anyone else here ever questioned the point in keeping their graphics card drivers up to date? While checking if my laptop can run the Halo Master Chief Collection I got told that my graphics card is x months out of date, but I always had the impression that updating it is more for helping it with running newer games and stuff. Since I tend to only play games that released like 8+ years ago I just figured there's no benefit to updating my card drivers so just haven't really bothered about keeping on top of it but I'm suspecting there's a good reason to do it regardless of what I'm actually choosing to play.

[Moonface]

Xbox Developer_Direct on January 18
Xbox will be presenting a new edition of Developer_Direct on Thursday, January 18 at 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 8pm UK. The presentation will give an inside look at a selection of highly anticipated games coming to Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Game Pass. Shortly after, ZeniMax Online Studios will host The Elder Scrolls Online 2024 Global Reveal at 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm UK to preview 2024’s biggest update. Xbox have shared that the following games will be in the presentation:

• Indiana Jones game: MachineGames, the award-winning studio behind the recent Wolfenstein series, will reveal their upcoming Indiana Jones game, an action-adventure that puts players in the leather jacket of the legendary archaeologist. Developer_Direct will showcase more than 10 minutes of game and developer insights, including details about the game’s setting and story, how fans will actually play as Indy, additional details from his next globe-trotting adventure, and the premiere of the first gameplay trailer.
  
  
• Avowed: The team at Obsidian will share the first deep dive into the gameplay experience fans can expect in Avowed, their upcoming fantasy action RPG, set in the fantastical, vibrant Living Lands. Learn more about how Obsidian’s expertise in building worlds with deep themes, dynamic gameplay, and thoughtful reactivity come to life in Avowed where players will have agency to make choices to shape every step of their adventure.
  
  
• Ara: History Untold: Hear from the leads at Oxide Games – a studio founded by veterans of the strategy genre and the creators behind classic strategy titles including Civilization V – as they unveil exclusive new gameplay and share more details about the inspiration, key features, and road ahead for their upcoming historical grand strategy game.
  
  
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II: Ninja Theory take us behind the scenes at their studio in Cambridge to give us some insight on how they are crafting Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. The team will speak to the ambition and meticulous care involved in creating Senua’s journey of survival.
  

It was also clarified that no Activision Blizzard titles will appear in the presentation. Instead, updates on those games will be shared later this year.

[Dragon Lord]

Has anyone else here ever questioned the point in keeping their graphics card drivers up to date? While checking if my laptop can run the Halo Master Chief Collection I got told that my graphics card is x months out of date, but I always had the impression that updating it is more for helping it with running newer games and stuff. Since I tend to only play games that released like 8+ years ago I just figured there's no benefit to updating my card drivers so just haven't really bothered about keeping on top of it but I'm suspecting there's a good reason to do it regardless of what I'm actually choosing to play.

I keep mine updated because I figure overall it's just better to do so and not have to worry about it. Unless an update completely breaks the system, then there's really no harm in keeping them updated at all times. Of course the big problem there is that you normally won't know  an update is going to be problematic until after you update, haha. Though so far I haven't run into any major issues when updating my graphics drivers yet.