therearerules

I've got a stand, and very little stock to actually sell there, so by Sunday I hope to just be hosting a casual chat stand instead, in which case I'll insist upon a muk meetup there.

3 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

Oh, really? That's interesting, as a lot of what @Ketchup has written still resonates with my experience of the game. I imagine that it could have been frustrating if the puzzles were even more opaque than they were post-patch. Apart from the final puzzle and the last seal, which I've posted about above, I was able to do it all without a guide, but if you do come up against something that stumps you then you're pretty stuffed as, unlike the main game, it's not like you can just fly off to another planet and pick away at something there instead.

 

Also, is there a reason that 

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the dam breaks when it does? I get that it's wooden and, presumably, no one has been around to maintain it for hundreds of years as the owlmen are all dead, but it seems like too much of a coincidence that its destruction coincides with the 22 minutes that you're alive.

 

Also, also,

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I really thought there was going to be another bit where you break into or access another part of the ring's exterior, like that cool bit when you discover the window that's blown out from the failed experiment. That was an awesome revelation, so I'd have liked more of that.

 

2 hours ago, PaB said:

Has there ever been such a spectacular fall from grace for a darling developer? I’m struggling to think of one. I mean it’s easy to blame this on Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker leaving, but they were involved from the ground up in terms of the gestation of this title and the vast majority of its development. 
 

I mean we’ve had lots of examples of great studios closing and another rising from the ashes, or lots of people leaving and forming a new studio. But for a developer to go from basically top tier to being in all sorts of trouble is pretty rare I think. 
 

This is like a rockstar north or naughty dog level developer we are talking about. 

Bioware releasing Anthem?

A new contender for worst rulebook ever arises in Stationfall. It's a simple game full of small complications and twists, all it needs is a learning game, then a game with all those twists. Instead the game opens with a baffling array of everything, then staright into the strategy of a tutorial game. Genuinely the worst rulebook ever, it's absolutely impossible to learn anything from it. The educator in me is compelling me to rewrite the whole thing and create a learning game.

Also it's actually three rulebooks, a tutorial game, a dossier of characters ~(the only place you'll learn how they effect setup) and then a glossary which explains how things work using a decimal number system that's incredibly unhelpful. At no point does the gmae actually tell you how to play it. Abysmal.

20 minutes ago, Darren said:

If you're reading this thread, and bought the game, and post in this thread about it, and feel bad, that's not because other posters are making you feel bad. It's because there's a disconnect, a kind of dissonance, that's jangling your conscience. The dissonance is: I'm on their side/they asked me not to do something/I did it anyway/now I feel bad. That's a good thing to feel! It means you have a working conscience, and a sense of empathy.

Actually I'm pretty sure it's because other posters are not happy with them and responding in kind, just as you quoted earlier. Otherwise there's be no need for any personal criticism at all- if people already feel bad why is anybody posting to make them feel worse? That would be horrible. I also strongly dislike the idea that people only feel bad when they've done bad things, we all know that's not true. But if posting about enjoying the game is a bad thing then why are we allowing it?

Just for the record, because you keep on posting like I've bought the game, I haven't.

12 minutes ago, Darren said:

 

Well, I think you have got the wrong end of the stick. I accept it must be uncomfortable to feel guilty feelings for doing something that people you want to support asked you not to do. I suppose the right thing to do then would be to reflect on why you feel that way, and what you might do differently if similar circumstances arise in the future. And if your answer to the first part is along the lines of "because those people keep talking about it" then maybe reflect a bit more.

 

Of course, those who didn't want to support those people in the first place will have no guilty feelings anyway and have nothing to worry about.

I'm not really sure how this connects to my post? When are these posters doing reflecting, is that the purpose of making them feel bad? Once they've reflected, do they need to post that they've reflected everytime they post, or just the first time? A disclaimer at the start of each of their posts? What if they didn't reflect well enough for people's liking?

Your post is saying people who bought the game have done wrong, and every time they post they are doing wrong, hence the responses, which is pretty much the same end of the stick as I put forward.

edit- to put it more simply:

Is posting about how much you enjoy this game considered belittling the issues faced by trans people? And if yes, why is it permitted on the forum?

2 minutes ago, Darren said:

 

1. No it isn't.

2. That isn't what's happening anyway.

 

Otherwise, spot on!

Maybe I'm getting the wrong end of the stick, but that's how it's coming across. Someone posts anything frivolous about the game and it's taken as diminishing the issues trans people face. Even anyone posting they bought the game but aren't a transphobe is read as someone admitting to guilt asking for absolution (and being told no). It might be that that's what's actually happening, and it would be pretty easy to troll this thread just by posting about the game at this point, but I'm not sure everyone is. Then, in order to show we're not a forum full of transphobes, or at least support trans allies, people are criticising that poster and making them feel bad for playing the game. Fair enough if that's the forum's stance, but it then seems ludicrous to let them post something which diminishes the issues of trans people in the first place.

Just now, Darren said:

 

If you can't tell the difference between "not everyone is going to be thrilled about that and respond in kind" and "banning game discussion" then I don't know what to tell you.

? If every post about the game is followed up with people not happy they haven't reflected enough (in their eyes) upon JKs transphobia in order to discuss the game and telling them to discuss the game elsewhere it's just banning game discussion by proxy.

How is that different to just banning game discussion?

On 02/03/2023 at 13:39, Mortis said:

Anyone from here off to Airecon next week? 

Yeah! I'm there Thursday evening, Friday evening and all day Saturday, Sunday. I'm also buying Stationfall on Thursday, and intend to be a skilled enough educator to teach it straight away (if anyone wants to play it). That and maybe run some BotC in the evenings.

3 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

Really? Does turning it on change the gameplay much?

Very very slightly. I turned it on halfway through, and wish I did it earlier. I liken it to turning on the easier jetpack controls to make the platforming sections less frustrating.

I would actually recommend turning that on- not because of the scariness, but to reduce gameplay friction.

The DLC is amazing. Just do it, and be prepared for more jaw dropping moments.

I was hoping there'd be multiple pulleys at the end to make that easier if you know pulleys. But then it's a physical competition, not a thinking one.

Yes. The difficulty of the Fromsoft games isn't communicated well- I've completed Ds1, 3, BB and ER, but I'm just about competent and there's a load of games far more challenging. Rather than just being difficult, they're different to a lot of hack and slashers. There's a rhythm to get into in the combat, and an understanding that the game will let you happily wander into an area you are massively underleveled for.

Elden Ring is even more welcoming on this front, as in game summons are more readily available, resurrections are a lot friendlier, and if a boss is causing you grief you can just go and do something else instead and come back a few levels later.

It will also smash your face in immediately upon leaving the first building, but that's to teach you something.

I haven't got that far but I'm also knocking this on the head. The font is far too small to read anything on the TV so the upgrade screen is just a garbled mess. Th voices are just terrible, and I actually threw up yesterday from motion sickness playing it.

I can't read the writing (way too small), so I'm stuck with the genuinely terrible voice over, and having to guess at what buttons I'm meant to be pressing.

2 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

The Quest 2 was well on its way to becoming mass market before Meta fucked it completely by raising the price. It had gone way, way past the early VR adopters… as has been anecdotally raised a few times in this thread, I believe. This thing is a journey, and Meta was on the right path. Not anymore! If only it had continued holding its nerve and got the headset down to £199.

They must have been losing so much money on it though.

2 hours ago, MarkN said:

Fucking hell. I'd maybe expect that for my first time fighting a top-ranked heavywight boxer, just after laser eye surgery, whilst on ketamine, on top of a speeding train going across a suspension bridge, after eating something well past its sell-by-date.

 

I felt a little giddy on my first go with VR. I think that might be the more normal response. Also, fuck me - that was ace!

Yeah, over Christmas my parents and wife played Walkabout Golf, a full course, with no adverse effects.

2 hours ago, thesnwmn said:

 

It's not going to be less faff than a console though is it? It might be the same faff as a console for a standalone headset. It can only be more for PSVR where you have the console and the headset. And then once you're playing, at least a certain set of VR games require a lot more investment than today. Moving my head around. Or my arms. Or standing. Or ducking and diving.

 

Patching is a perfect little real problem of the extra friction that needs to be considered. If I've spent time getting the headset seated and tightened and the headphones in and holding the controllers and then I have to patch the game I'm going to take it off again right? What else do I do with my head in there? Hopefully it's quick I guess and I switch to AR mode, full passthrough with a HUD to tell me when it's done. It's all solvable but look at what a mess patching games is already today? Mostly they update when in sleep mode but not always. And that not always becomes a bigger and bigger deal if it's inconveniencing me.

Honestly it's about the same faff, and consoles require the TV, which someone else might be watching. I suppose it depends upon your floor space.

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About three hours into the game P-3 suddenly decides his catchphrase is "crispy critters" and he shoves it into every scene in the most awkward and nonsensical ways.

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 One character gets decapitated, shows up later just totally fine, then gets decapitated a second time

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At another point, when asked to make a right angle with his hand, P-3 responds "what am I, the Spanish Inquisition?" and I still have no clue what that's supposed to mean.

Genuine laughter here.

1 minute ago, Flub said:

I struggle to find the energy to game at the best of times. Even the smaller setup investment of the Quest 2 is a bit too much for me. Get all of it laid out, point a fan at my face, pop the headset on, find the controllers, realise the game I want needs a patch. And after all that even with my excellent VR legs I'm lucky if I can last an hour before I fancy a break.

 

And I *love* VR

 

But you can just put it on and start playing? That's one thing that surprised me about it, the lack of faff.

Yeah, the peripheral versions will be exactly that, peripherals.