What Videogames Have You Been Playing XXI: Going for the Platinum!

[Sommerswerd]

Frost Punk- Picked this one back up after a long time away from it and discovered a bunch of new DLC so I got it all, played a bit then put it down again for a while... Well now I'm back at it. I've been playing a bunch of games on the Endless Mode, where the only goal is to survive as long as you can. Playing on the "Builders" sub-mode, and on the "Flats" map. I tried a few games on the "Rifts" mode, which was enticing because they give you the all important steam cores as a gatherable resource, right in your settlement area, rather than something you have to go out into the frostland to search for, via random event. Steam cores are the holy grail of resources, (next to human resources, ie citizens) because they cant be produced and can only be found. On the other hand, the fissures all over your settlement area means you have to build prohibitively expensive bridges that burn up way to much precious steel, not to mention wood.

Its a challenging map type, but it was almost masochistic, so I switched to "Flats" which is similar to the standard "Crater", but just way bigger, so it allows you complete freedom to structure out your city exactly how you want, without almost any obstacles. The only drawback, is that because its so big, all the resources are far away, and the walking times for the citizens are much longer, noticeably so. So your people waste a lot of awake time just walking from place to place and it also impacts your micro, because it takes longer just to get the mouse from one location to the next, instead of being able to see everything all at once. It also means you have to use way more wood to build your network of roads. One last thing, that hasn't come in to effect yet, but I am sure will later, is that once the generator has been built, it is going to be way more expensive to heat all these remote structures and even more expensive once the mega storms start hitting, which I am expecting to be longer and stronger than the major storms I am getting now, while building the generator.

I've been playing as a bit of a perfectionist, trying to find all survivors and get no deaths in population, which is not too hard, once you get the hang of the game... until the periodic major storms roll in... then you can get dozens of deaths at the same time. One exception is deaths that are caused by story-related events in the game, like the old man who dies of old age and writes you a note of thanks because he didn't die of sickness or hunger or freeze to death or in some accident because of unsafe workplace conditions. (I actually got that event and it has been the only death in my current game so far) Without thinking about it, I signed the "Dueling Law", which reduces discontent by allowing the citizens to fight duels, at the risk of one of them getting killed... but I think I'll count that as an event rather than deaths due to mismanagement

So anyway, after borking it over and over, at least a dozen or so times and starting over, I've finally gotten into the swing of things. I've gotten the population of the settlement up to over 500 people, by finding tons of survivors and I've got a stable stream of resources, stockpiles of coal and open communications with multiple other settlements to trade with. Generator construction has progressed to completion of the core, which thankfully ends the "toxic gasses" hazard. I am now trying to scramble to produce the components to construct the generator casing before the next major storm rolls in. I also am trying to collect all the survivors and collect all the relics/treasures from the abandoned juggernauts before the major storm covers them and resets frostland. I have no idea whether collecting the treasures/relics actually has any benefit in-game, maybe there is an achievement? Getting one relic did unlock a new building, but it appears to just be a showcase/museum for the relic. I don't know whether it will increase hope or decrease discontent of give any other benefit.

Starcraft 2 - Santa Claus brought my older son a gaming laptop for Xmas. He specifically asked for a compy that could run SC2, which requires a ton of processing and graphics power. So now that he has his rig, and my younger son has my prior rig, and I have my current one, the two of them challenge me to 2 on 1 games of SC2. I actually struggle facing both of them at the same time, so I guess I will have to put in some practice.

 

[Takhisis]

I actually struggle facing both of them at the same time,

Best paternal humblebrag I've seen in quite some time, sir.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Takhisis nice screenshot from the previous page.

You know, with today's modern technology producing astounding video games that are truly mind blowing, I still find myself playing Civ3 from time to time.

Played for a few hours this weekend thanks to Delta Strife releasing some new units recently that I used in my personal mod.

 

[red_elk]

Trapper's cabin, Interloper mode IRL

 

[Sarin]

Gwent. I mean, The Witcher 3. Unfortunately the DX12 version of the next gen update is rather unstable.

 

[EgonSpengler]

The Long Dark: Tales From the Far Territory

Interloper, Day 62. I migrated from the Mystery Lake camp office to the Mountaineer's Hut on Timberwolf Mountain, mostly out of boredom. It was a day's hike to the farmhouse in Pleasant Valley, with cooperative weather, then up to Crystal Lake the next morning. Still no mag lens.

I saw a YouTube video by a TLD pro in which he noted a Korean streamer who had gone over 11,000 days in an Interloper game, before the DLC reset invalidated old saves. So, yeah, we're all [kittens].

 

[Takhisis]

the DLC reset invalidated old saves

Are the developers trying to get lynched?

 

[Birdjaguar]

Are the developers trying to get lynched?

If there were pvp in the game, the Devs would likely hang out at the [kitten] level and be fully armed with lots of ammo.

 

[Sommerswerd]

If there were pvp in the game, the Devs would likely hang out at the [kitten] level and be fully armed with lots of ammo.

Every time I imagine the implementation of PvP in TLD, I always come to the conclusion that no matter how you would try to do it, it would ruin the game, or at least completely change/undermine what makes the game special. It would just devolve into a less-fun FPS game. The potential for camping, griefing, sniping, hoarding, spawnkilling, etc., is just way too great in the game. Its not built for PvP.

What I do think would be interesting though, is the optional/introduction of a single, (or small number of) adversarial and/or cooperative NPC/AI characters. One "Jason/Michael Meyers" character (or Demon-Bear) constantly stalking you across maps to force you to migrate could be interesting. There is actually a minigame/scenario where the Demon-Bear is after you, but its just a minigame, and the Bear is too relentless, it doesn't stalk/follow you as much as auto-spawn wherever you are, which makes it too intense to actually play the game. You're just running away from the bear the whole time. The other time you encounter the Demon-Bear is in the campaign/story mode, but then the bear only appears in pre-set locations so its not the same as being stalked.

 

[Gori the Grey]

They need Cocaine Bear. (Just saw the trailer yesterday).

I'm snagging the thousandth post in this thread--to warn you all--just for the sheer fun of a guy who only plays one videogame getting it.

 

[red_elk]

I believe there was a PvP mod in The Long Dark. But it not only looks weird, but also defeats the purpose and atmosphere of the game. It always supposed to be "all alone in this world".

 

[EgonSpengler]

Every time I imagine the implementation of PvP in TLD, I always come to the conclusion that no matter how you would try to do it, it would ruin the game, or at least completely change/undermine what makes the game special. It would just devolve into a less-fun FPS game. The potential for camping, griefing, sniping, hoarding, spawnkilling, etc., is just way too great in the game. Its not built for PvP.

What I do think would be interesting though, is the optional/introduction of a single, (or small number of) adversarial and/or cooperative NPC/AI characters. One "Jason/Michael Meyers" character (or Demon-Bear) constantly stalking you across maps to force you to migrate could be interesting. There is actually a minigame/scenario where the Demon-Bear is after you, but its just a minigame, and the Bear is too relentless, it doesn't stalk/follow you as much as auto-spawn wherever you are, which makes it too intense to actually play the game. You're just running away from the bear the whole time. The other time you encounter the Demon-Bear is in the campaign/story mode, but then the bear only appears in pre-set locations so its not the same as being stalked.

I've long wondered whether a dog you could adopt would add anything to the game. You wouldn't want it to be too useful. It could provide a warmth bonus for sleep and bark in the direction of incoming predators, but at the cost of having to feed it, and an increase in your overall scent. You'd need more visual clues about wind direction, though (which I'd like to see anyway - I'd still be fine with an artificial "wind-sock" graphic on the screen).

As to events that can drive you from one region of the map to the next, I came up with two ideas last night:

1. The Long Dark: Ursus Maritimus. You start on Desolation Point. After a grace period, an adult male polar bear arrives from across the ice. It slowly pursues you, wherever on the map you are. It would take a long time to move from one map to another. Let's say it doesn't go through caves or shimmy under obstacles the player can crouch beneath (and of course it doesn't climb ropes or go through Carter Hydro Dam). Eventually, it either goes up over the mountains or it goes around, on the sea ice. I don't know how you'd know that it had arrived, other than seeing it, which on most maps would mean it's right in front of you. Maybe that uncertainty would be part of the tension. I was thinking perhaps the bear has a radio transmitter tag, that the Canadian Wildlife Service had affixed some time before The Collapse. You would need some kind of receiver. Would a regular radio pick up that signal? Probably not irl, but for a game maybe we could say your Survivor knows how to do that. Either way, it would only work during the Aurora, and the signal's not strong enough to pick up from an adjacent map, so if you hear the beep... beep... beep... then you know you have company.

Stuff I read about polar bears last night that might apply to TLD:

Spoiler :

- Polar bears are "hypercarnivores", an animal whose diet consists of 70% (or more) meat. Grizzly bears, the bears we currently see in TLD, normally have meat as 10% of their diets. For polar bears, it's 90%.
- Polar bears are twice the size of Grizzly bears; an adult male polar bear can be 700 kg/1500 lbs.
- Bears in general have insanely acute senses of smell, even better than dogs. A polar bear can smell prey from at least a kilometer away. Which is to say, if it's on the map with you, it can smell you.
- I don't know about irl, but in TLD polar bears wouldn't give a crap about blizzards.
- The polar bear would be tougher to kill than a regular bear. Revolver and bowshots to the body would do literally nothing. Rifle shots to the body would hurt it, but you'd need to hit it several times. Shots to the face would make it flee, for a while.
- An adult male polar bear can be 3m/10' tall up on its hind legs, so a lot of the fallen trees and rock perches from which you can typically shoot a bear in TLD wouldn't be safe. Jumping inside a car would only be a temporary place to rest. If you look for videos on YouTube, you'll see that Canadian sightseeing tours in polar bear country use big, semi-armored trucks with steel bars on the windows (and the bears still try to reach inside).

2. The Long Dark: Project Arrowhead. You start on Desolation Point. After a grace period, a permanent fog begins to roll across the island, from East to West. It would have to move very slowly, of course, allowing you some time on each map before it arrives.

 

[Josu]

online Sokoban

 

[Sommerswerd]

I've long wondered whether a dog you could adopt would add anything to the game. You wouldn't want it to be too useful. It could provide a warmth bonus for sleep and bark in the direction of incoming predators, but at the cost of having to feed it, and an increase in your overall scent. You'd need more visual clues about wind direction, though (which I'd like to see anyway - I'd still be fine with an artificial "wind-sock" graphic on the screen).

As to events that can drive you from one region of the map to the next, I came up with two ideas last night:

1. The Long Dark: Ursus Maritimus. You start on Desolation Point. After a grace period, an adult male polar bear arrives from across the ice. It slowly pursues you, wherever on the map you are. It would take a long time to move from one map to another. Let's say it doesn't go through caves or shimmy under obstacles the player can crouch beneath (and of course it doesn't climb ropes or go through Carter Hydro Dam). Eventually, it either goes up over the mountains or it goes around, on the sea ice. I don't know how you'd know that it had arrived, other than seeing it, which on most maps would mean it's right in front of you. Maybe that uncertainty would be part of the tension. I was thinking perhaps the bear has a radio transmitter tag, that the Canadian Wildlife Service had affixed some time before The Collapse. You would need some kind of receiver. Would a regular radio pick up that signal? Probably not irl, but for a game maybe we could say your Survivor knows how to do that. Either way, it would only work during the Aurora, and the signal's not strong enough to pick up from an adjacent map, so if you hear the beep... beep... beep... then you know you have company.

Stuff I read about polar bears last night that might apply to TLD:

Spoiler :

- Polar bears are "hypercarnivores", an animal whose diet consists of 70% (or more) meat. Grizzly bears, the bears we currently see in TLD, normally have meat as 10% of their diets. For polar bears, it's 90%.
- Polar bears are twice the size of Grizzly bears; an adult male polar bear can be 700 kg/1500 lbs.
- Bears in general have insanely acute senses of smell, even better than dogs. A polar bear can smell prey from at least a kilometer away. Which is to say, if it's on the map with you, it can smell you.
- I don't know about irl, but in TLD polar bears wouldn't give a crap about blizzards.
- The polar bear would be tougher to kill than a regular bear. Revolver and bowshots to the body would do literally nothing. Rifle shots to the body would hurt it, but you'd need to hit it several times. Shots to the face would make it flee, for a while.
- An adult male polar bear can be 3m/10' tall up on its hind legs, so a lot of the fallen trees and rock perches from which you can typically shoot a bear in TLD wouldn't be safe. Jumping inside a car would only be a temporary place to rest. If you look for videos on YouTube, you'll see that Canadian sightseeing tours in polar bear country use big, semi-armored trucks with steel bars on the windows (and the bears still try to reach inside).

2. The Long Dark: Project Arrowhead. You start on Desolation Point. After a grace period, a permanent fog begins to roll across the island, from East to West. It would have to move very slowly, of course, allowing you some time on each map before it arrives.

One of the things I like about TLD is the "clean" first-person view, with very little "heads-up" display going on. You have your stamina/fatigue/health bars at the bottom and you can temporarily call up the daylight/nighttime indicator by pressing a button (Tab IIRC), but your field of vision is mostly unobscured. I really like it that way, as I find it more immersive. If wind direction and/or speed actually matters in the game (I'm not sure that it does), then having a wind-indicator flag/sock appear when you call up the daylight-sundial would be helpful, but I wouldn't want a sock blowing in the wind permanently fixed to my field of view.

I've also thought that adding an optional dog/wolf companion might be interesting... maybe if you keep feeding the same wolf over and over with bait over the course of several days/weeks it starts to wag its tail and becomes friendly towards you and amybe even defends you from other wolves. Not sure how you would address bringing the dog with you when you leave regions or map locations that require scaling ropes, like Milton, for instance...

As far as the stalker-bear is concerned, I'd love to see it added as a survival game option... Interloper (w/stalking bear (or person!)). It's funny you mention that grizzly bears don't eat as much meat as polar bears, because the bears in TLD don't actually eat you, like the wolves do, they just maul you and then walk off, leaving you for dead.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Are the graphics such that the swaying of trees/tall grasses could be made to serve as the equivalent of a wind sock?

You guys make this sound like a great game. I have tons of vicarious fun just reading your write-ups.

 

[Takhisis]

Attempting Civ3 on Demigod again… let's see how hilarious my failure at overcoming the ridiculously overpowered AI is.

 

[Aiken_Drumn]

I play games to relax, I never play on a particularly high level. Too much stress!

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I'm close to sixty hours into Mass Effect Andromeda.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Are the graphics such that the swaying of trees/tall grasses could be made to serve as the equivalent of a wind sock?

You guys make this sound like a great game. I have tons of vicarious fun just reading your write-ups.

@EgonSpengler and I were discussing that a ways back in the thread(s). The environment 100% blows in the breeze and the trees, grass, stalks, flags etc., definitely sway and thrash more violently, the harder the wind is blowing. The wind also has a bunch of different sounds and howls and squeaks depending on how hard it is blowing... so much so that you can almost feel the cold, just by the ambient sounds of the wind blowing along with all the other sound effects, like wood and metal creaking under the stress of the wind... however...

I don't know that we ever decided, or figured out for sure whether you can actually use all those great visuals of stuff blowing in the wind, to actually tell what direction the wind is blowing. The other issue, is that I'm not sure we were ever able to establish, for certain, that being upwind/downwind was actually a thing for the purposes of scent. My suspicion, has been that your "scent" works kind of like a round halo that extends a certain distance in all directions around you, and will be picked up whenever it crosses the "smell" halo of nearby predators. I don't know that the halo is actually affected by wind.

What seems to be a thing, on the other hand... is wind resistance, when walking into the wind. The wind definitely seems to slow you down if you are walking "into" it, noticeably so. But again, I don't know that you can use the swaying of branches and other things in the environment, to guage what direction the wind is blowing. Then again, I've never really taken the time to try and test it out. Your situation in the game, when the wind is blowing hard is usually such that you are just trying to get into shelter as quickly as possible... you seldom think to take the time to actually just sit there and watch the wind blowing just to see what direction its going.

One exception, that I can think of, is when there is a storm, and you are trapped in a shallow cave with plenty of supplies. That gives you an excellent chance to just build a fife and watch the storm rage outside the mouth of the cave. During blizzards, I seem to remember that the snow will often blow in one pronounced direction or the other, such that you can absolutely tell when you are walking into the wind as opposed to with the wind. Again, it all adds greatly to the immersion factor of the game. It's really a beautiful game. I feel a little bad for folks who missed "Wintermute" the original opening theme (its been remixed, changed and updated with each new episode/DLC). The new themes have been excellent, but the original was just perfect. So haunting, sad, lonely, hopeless, relentless and ultimately, inevitable... just like the mood of the game.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Can you save the game, when you're in a strong wind, reload just to look at the trees, then reload to get to your destination? Or can you only save at certain savepoints?

Thousandth post. Warned y'all!