@ItalianSkeletonGaming @games not sure how well alt text federates, so for those wondering the games in the image are Jump4 (top) and ParaPerspective (bottom)
Haven't gotten around to trying any demos yet personally, but ParaPerspective looks like my kinda game as someone that enjoyed Echochrome
Heya, I dig the walls of text sometimes! I also tend to bounce around a variety of games, so I like the idea of short notes about each. Until recently I was writing similar notes digitally as separate notepad files and littering them throughout my computer, but I've been trying to make a habit of using stuff like Zim or Joplin to keep them better organized. 😅
Also right there with you on covering weird jank and "subpar" games, so thanks for writing about them!
Hey yeah, appreciate the detail in how you go about it! I'm kinda surprised by the responses saying they don't tend to write anything until further in and/or completion, but it's reassuring in a way, as that's been my approach too for some time.
I also dig that you try to engage with the "soul idea" as you call it of games. It resembles what I've read elsewhere of a reviewer trying to evaluate in part on whether a game achieved what it set out to do or not, which I thought was interesting.
Interesting approach, and I get it for those more involved or longer games, as some don't even have all their systems in play till awhile into the game (which is worth noting in itself!).
Thanks for your perspective!
Oh yeah, and here's to Outer Wilds! Absolutely a game for the ages!
How do you like to approach writing about games?
I've noticed there are some folks writing at length here on their experiences playing games, so this felt like a good place to ask. Do you take notes as you play, and/or after each session, then write out full thoughts upon completing a game?
Or are your reflections compiled only after finishing a game, no notes?
I've dabbled with different approaches, and haven't really settled on a consistent process personally.
I agree, and strive to remain cognizant of how both game size and digital only games serve to widen the digital divide.
Appreciate your reply compelling me to elaborate, as without I see where it can read like, "why not redownload several 50+ GB games" which unfortunately is increasingly people's situation with games. 😟
It's decent enough to consider it, I'll give you that.
Something worth adding, I think:
I mainly play smaller games (like ≤ 10 GB, often below 5 GB at that), with few bigger ones in the mix, which is why I even considered this method.
Also back when GOG Galaxy was being introduced, GOG had fewer big games, I think. If not then it's that I lean towards smaller and older games in general.
@JulesTheModest Er...How do you mean? The Galaxy app has its issues, but I've not run into this one.
Biggest issue I ran into was years back trying to point it to my existing directory of GOG games from before Galaxy to get it to recognize them without reinstalling them, but eventually I just decided to reinstall whenever I felt like playing them again (and uninstall from old location).
Online scifi space game Starbase resumes development after an extended pause!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFmEXGaBSmk
For those unfamiliar, Starbase is an ambitious in-development online multiplayer game that has a mixture of first-person on-foot, and vehicular gameplay, with the ability to build ships and stations.
Awhile back its development was paused as the studio had to focus their resources on a different game, but now they're back to working on Starbase.
I think I may have it wishlisted, so I'm definitely trying to keep an eye on it. Waiting till it's fully released so I don't feel compelled to play it more like pseudo-QA and enjoy it less though
Thanks for the suggestion!
It sounds kinda familiar, but I don't know if I have or not. I'll have to look into it!
I'm also bookmarking Worlds Apart to check out later, so thanks for both suggestions!
These are solid suggestions for sure! I still need to get around to the rest of the Dishonored series past the first and finish Prey.
Immersive sims I think are pretty close to what I might be wanting, but they're unfortunately not that common, and some have RPG elements I don't find enjoyable. The Arkane games you mention pretty much avoid them last I checked though, and I dig'em for it
I have, a little, and have enjoyed those I've played, but I'm also fond of more visual art in games, so on the text heavy front I lean towards point and click adventures and visual novels more.
However like yourself, I tend to think I should play more of them, see what they experiment with and push boundaries on.
Btw you might check out The Trackless if you like interactive fiction. It mixes some light text parsing with a 3D adventure game, making for a unique experience.
Right, as I mention though, from what I recall they didn't always have cheats, or necessarily the sort I might want like removing random battles for the games with them.
I use Steam, but I also go for games outside of Steam, which is what my message was indicating. I'm into first/third-person puzzle games, for sure.
Not much of a fan of Bethesda's style of RPGs (given you asked in another comment). They're too buggy/unstable in my experience, but also plainly RPGs.
@Donjuanme Yeah, you're not wrong. The trick is, "games these days", which I enjoy a fair amount of, but I'm also interested in games from across time, so older titles as well.
Those are a little iffier to play given some lack the settings or options, and sometimes also any cheats. Do you happen to know of any sites/resources advising how to use emulators to sorta do that for older titles?
Alternatively may need to review which old titles I have that have cheats for that kinda thing...
Yeah sorry, I ran into limits from where I'm posting (Mastodon).
Some reference points might be like Outer Wilds (nice mix of story & interaction) and going back a bit, games like Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Mega Man Legends.
Each have a certain sense of place and an enjoyable degree of interaction in terms of either roaming around or trying to figure out how to get around.
What kinds of games might you recommend with deep worldbuilding and interaction that aren't RPGs?
I like worldbuilding and stories, and I like when they're mixed with the interactivity of games, so RPGs seem like they should be a natural fit. Problem is, I dislike the stat-heavy, grindy progression of many RPGs.
I enjoy point & click adventures and visual novels but they're often more limited in their interactions. What kinds of game might I be missing combining the two?
Thanks! I have them, but the scale of the pieces isn't similar, albeit the perspective is kinda close.
Suggestions for a non-survival building game with a similar scale/level of detail to Lego Worlds?
I've found myself with this interest once more, and looking about, it seems like there's still not much like ol' Lego Worlds.
However, I'm hoping I may be overlooking something right in front of me, and no, from what I've seen, Lego Fortnite is not that option. Non-generated world I think, different building style, simply a different sort of game despite the same branding.
The sad part is, those preyed upon aren't always necessarily well off enough to afford it.
It's one of those situations where either the microtransactions are in fact small, so the low costs add up over time before the victims realize it, or they're set up to pressure people into multiple rapid transactions, and so they either exploit some people's poor impulse control or gambling addictions, or more often than not, both.
Your initial claim remains false.
As indicated, digital game storefronts offered refunds explicitly prior to Steam, and it wasn't leading the way, especially given its policy was that all purchases were not refundable, up till 2015's changes.
Leading the way isn't making some exceptions to their policies occasionally, it's making refunds a part of the policies from the outset when others aren't.
@Kedly What? This is flat out untrue. Back in 2008 Stardock's attempt at a storefront via Impulse offered refunds: https://web.archive.org/web/20080708091849/http://tgnforums.stardock.com/315290
Later in 2013, EA of all companies would also offer refunds on their storefront, Origin: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/08/ea-begins-offering-refunds-for-its-digital-game-sales-on-origin/
And later that same year, GOG would offer refunds: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/gog-s-new-money-back-guarantee-is-more-about-trust-than-refunds
It was only a couple years after EA & GOG, in 2015, that Valve began offering refunds on Steam: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/06/valve-begins-offering-refunds-for-all-steam-games/
Not OP, but I hadn't heard of Tempest Rising before! I'll have to keep an eye on that, thanks for mentioning it!
Whoa, that's a massive discount! Went ahead and picked them up because 1. could always use more shmups, and 2. why not for so cheap.
Didn't realize how deep the discount was till after that! 😂
Downpour - a tool for making simple games on mobile, and exportable to the web, is out now!
Some dev details may be found via their blog here: https://v21.io/blog/downpour
And the main site for Downpour itself is here: https://downpour.games/
I'm a big fan of simple dev tools to open up game dev to others, and this looks right in line with those!
Which video games have been trapped on a hardware platform (console/handheld/headset/etc.) that you wish would be ported well?
I was reading about Oculus accounts that haven't been assimilated into Meta accounts being erased, & it got me thinking about games trapped on hardware platforms again. What are some of the games you wish would have good ports across different hardware?
What online multiplayer games play well over wifi/higher latency?
I'm thinking turn-based games may work okay in this respect, but which of those might you recommend besides Civ? Also what other types of games work better over wifi/higher latency than you might expect?
I know ideally you'd simply wire up your system to not have to fuss with either, but it's not always an option in some circumstances.
\#AskGames #AskFedi #VideoGames #Gaming #Multiplayer #GameSuggestions
Is there a site/tool to help browse consoles' digital stores by exclusives?
I play on PC and console, and pretty much anything that's multi-platform I lean towards getting on PC since PC tends to be more reliably backwards compatible. However as not everything's on PC, I also get consoles for a mix of exclusives and less finicky local co-op games.
But narrowing to exclusives is surprisingly tricky, so...Any help?
Does Playnite have a year in review setting/feature?
Seeing some of the Steam year in review posts here & there made me wonder if Playnite has a feature like this stowed away somewhere. Another more offline app I use for music has it to where you can share an image of your most played music from the past year, so I'd think similar might be possible with Playnite.
Anyone happen to know?
What games would you suggest that have LAN support these days?
While PC may be one's first thought here, I'd also be really interested in any mobile games that might leverage one's local wifi network for multiplayer.
Classics are a-okay for suggestion too, btw!
What are some of your favorite free and open source games with mod support?
The metaverse was to be for businesses what the fediverse is for people.
![gmr_leon](https://media.mstdn.social/accounts/avatars/109/323/419/941/507/183/original/0d4ed5f4ce1ee54b.jpg?format=webp&thumbnail=64)
i ramble about video games. i like sharing & weird stuff. @ me with weird games.