toxicitizen

I've been digging into Don't Starve a bit more. I think I'm getting to a point where I've got the fundamentals down and can start focusing on more long-term goals. It's a really fun game but some aspects of it can get a bit tedious after a while. After almost dying to a night time spider attack, I started trying to build a wall around my camp only to realize that I actually needed an absolute shitload of wood to do that. So it was either chopping down trees endlessly or moving my entire camp to a less spider-infested area. Also, it can get really stressful when you're preparing to settle down for the night only to realize you're short a few things to make a fire. So you need to run off and find some ASAP otherwise it's dead o'clock. Fun times.

Jack initially made more of a general statement, though. He only used the Payday example once I replied to that first post. Also, Payday 2 isn't out yet, and difficulty can be a pretty subjective thing (and come in many different forms), so until it's actually out it's impossible to judge whether the change is anywhere near as drastic as that turn-based StarCraft comparison. I searched for that quote Jack talked about and it sounds like the guy was mostly referring to having RPG elements and not giving the player all the information. He also mentions Diablo II as being an influence and clearly talks about "pulling off that perfect heist without killing anybody", which really sounds like something that should be a challenge and not something you'd pull off on a first run. So I think it's possible Jack read a bit too much into that one quote. Like I said, comparing a game to Dark Souls has become this kind of ridiculous marketing thing so I can't really blame him for that. Also, I personally haven't played the original Payday but based on what I do know of it, it doesn't exactly seem like baby's first heist game, either. Have you even seen that secret vault thing? That shit was insane! Yes, it was optional. But it shows that the idea of challenge was in the dev's mind to begin with. And for the record, I'm sure people would complain like crazy (I wouldn't wish Blizzard's fanbase on my worst enemy), but a turn-based StarCraft sounds fucking awesome to me.

Because in this case it's very much a core aspect of the design. For example, I recently played through Dust: An Elysian Tail. Great game. But if I have one complaint about it it would be this: there's a knockback effect when you take damage. In combat, it's not that big of a deal. But in some platforming sections, it can be fucking infuriating if the level design doesn't take it into account. Sometimes I'd misjudge a jump, hit some spikes and get knocked way the fuck back, causing me to fall down and out of the fucking screen entirely (and Dust has some fairly large "screens", i.e. the camera doesn't just move, there's a transition). That shit drove me nuts. Some older games are also guilty of this, the Castlevania series in particular comes to mind. You could have full health but if you got hit at the wrong moment or place, you would fall into a pit and die instantly. Now that's one fairly small aspect of a game I otherwise really loved. It was a design decision but not a core one. The game wouldn't be fundamentally changed if that knockback effect was removed. In fact, I'd argue that having that kind of knockback in a platforming-heavy game can be a pretty damn stupid design decision. But when a dev chooses to make their game very difficult, it's not just one small aspect of an otherwise likable game. It's very much tied into the spirit of the game and, if they do their job right, the entire game will be designed around that difficulty. Dark Souls without the crushing difficulty just wouldn't be Dark Souls anymore. Remove that difficulty and it would no longer be anywhere near as rewarding to finally beat that boss or to make it through that section without taking any damage. That wouldn't necessarily make it a bad game, but it would no longer be the game the dev set out to make. And hell, if every aspect of it was designed with that difficulty in mind, it would likely become a boring game if the difficulty was toned down. I feel like this is more akin to saying "I don't like turn-based stuff, so no games should be turn-based". It's too broad and core of an aspect to complain about without dismissing an entire "genre" of games.

It was heavily implied, though. The thread is titled "Gaming tropes that need to go". Besides, saying that they should "keep it to themselves" isn't an implication at all, it's literally saying "I don't like difficulty so it shouldn't be in games that interest me". That does sound kind of entitled. I don't have an issue with him not liking difficulty, I made that clear. I take issue with him saying that there shouldn't be difficulty.

You're not a pussy or casual or whatever for not wanting to play difficult games. To each his own. What you are is someone who should just go play something else, plain and simple. If the dev chooses to make his game be difficult as a design decision then you're simply not in the game's intended audience, even if the game would otherwise interest you. Difficulty by design isn't an objective flaw and you're not entitled to having it be easier just because you don't like difficult games. The way that Dark Souls is being used as kind of a buzz word is a bit stupid, though. But that's only happening because it's the game that showed there's actually a market for really challenging games.

So don't play those games? Just because you don't like difficult games doesn't mean there shouldn't be any.

Nah, I figured it would be every bit as frustrating as the first so I just went for normal. Still ended up dying a bunch of times. Really wish the original's co-op was online, though. I'm usually not big on co-op but I totally would've played that one since it acts as a prequel to the game.

Shank and Shank 2. Mostly wanted to play the second one but it had been so long since I did the original that I had completely forgotten the story. Since they're ridiculously short, I figured I'd just play both. Tried doing the original on hard but holy shit, this game doesn't fuck around. Enemies are tougher and harder to kill, that was to be expected. But the game also decides that mid-level checkpoints are for pussies. So you die, you start the level over. After spending two hours struggling through what should've been the first 30 mins of the game, I decided it just wasn't worth it and started over on normal. And that was with all the strongest weapons unlocked from my previous playthrough. But yeah, they're fun violent little brawlers. I really love Klei's art style in these and Mark of the Ninja. The second one improves the combat a lot but the story isn't as much fun as the original's straightforward revenge plot. There's not much else to say, I guess...

Yeah, base management is fun. I just wish there was more depth to it. That's one aspect I really hope they expand upon in whatever they're doing next, whether it's an expansion or a sequel. In the original, you really had to be more strategic about how you built stuff because at some point the aliens would attack your base and if you didn't have choke points you were fucked. Also, you ended up having bases all over the world instead of just having hangars for your aircrafts.

Lol. The alien base attack is only the first of the main story missions. You've only just finished the first third. If you've got satellites everywhere, though, the rest should be kind of a cakewalk (assuming you're playing on normal).

This bundle is quite a steal, only $2.50 more than either games individually. Still, I was holding off on buying it, hoping it would get a daily or flash deal. It did not. So instead, I made my own damn flash sale. Sold most of my cards, made 12$ and ended up only paying 50 cents for it. And that should be my last purchase as I'm pretty much broke and out of cards at this point. I'm pretty happy with the sale, overall. The big deals weren't the best so that it made it quite easy to ignore them. Plus, I got pretty much everything that was on my shopping list. Let's recap! Stuff I was actually planning on getting: Walking Dead: 400 Days Don't Starve Dust: An Elysian Tail Gunpoint Anodyne Joe Danger Bundle Impulse purchases: Poker Night 2 Reus Surgeon Simulator Strike Suit Zero Just Cause So, excluding the credit I generated from selling stuff on the marketplace, I only spent $42.93 Pretty sure that's the least I ever spent during a Steam sale. edit: Every. Fucking. Time. I'll say I'm done and then inevitably end up getting something else. Oh well... It was already 4AM so I figured I'd stay up another hour to catch the last round of flash sales at 5AM. Retro City Rampage finally did get that 80% discount. That should be the end of it now. I'm off to bed.

TDKR is a good film but the more time passes, the more disappointed I am with it. Even on my second viewing, I didn't enjoy it any more or less. It's a fun action movie but it pales in comparison to TDK or even Begins.

Such a catchy song, too!

Yeah, I was getting back into the game about a month ago and made myself stop after a week so I wouldn't get burnt out before BNW. Didn't want a repeat of G&K where I bought it at launch and ended up not playing it for an entire year. Then BNW came out and I didn't buy it in favor of getting more games in the sale. Funny how that works...

Don't know if it's a pricing error but it's 96% off. Cost me 27 cents. edit: It's the Encore day and it's still not showing up so I went for the GMG deal. With their discount and my store credit, it ended up costing me 89 cents.

Uh, woah. So, the next Superman movie is apparently going to have Batman in it. http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/07/20/report-supermanbatman-movie-planned I can't believe this is actually happening. Whoever they cast is gonna have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Started digging into Reus. It was an impulse purchase but now I'm really glad I picked it up. As a complete god games noob, I'm having a lot of fun with it. Also played the first two missions of Strike Suit Zero. It's alright. Hasn't really sucked me in yet but the combat is fun enough. Was worth the 3$ I paid for it.

That seems a bit low. The game would have to be dirt cheap to begin with to even get at that price. Strike Suit Zero is a 20$ game. But yeah, even at 3$ it had to be more than random curiosity. I've actually wanted to try it for a while. And from what I understand, Infinity is more of an arcade survival mode whereas Zero has a proper campaign with a story.

Damn, that's awesome. The side-scrolling bit had me interested because I was a huge fan of the arcade game on NES, but if there's a full-blown story mode on top of that, then yeah, I'm gonna have to get this.

Currently on flash sale for 3$. That's very much in my "fuck it, I'm curious" price range. I was hoping to also get Retro City Rampage for 3$ but it didn't win the community vote because people are idiots. I'm also tempted to grab Anodyne from GMG. They're having a big indie sale and it's currently 66% off, which makes it cheaper than it currently is on Steam (or even the Humble store). I'm still waiting to see if Steam gives it a daily or flash (in case it's better) but as the sale nears its end, it's starting to look kind of unlikely. Alternatively, I could just use my GMG store credit and get it for less than a dollar. Less than a dollar is a good price.

Yeah, I'd only seen the gameplay videos from this thread and I just assumed it was a AAA release. So, if I'm getting this right: the 3D combat is a survival mode kinda deal and the actual meat of the game is a side-scrolling brawler in the style of the old arcade games? The trailers I've seen seemed to focus on the 3D side of it so that's why it didn't occur to me that this might be a smaller game. That last video you posted is the first I hear of the side-scrolling part.

So, I randomly found out that this is actually a downloadable game and not a 60$ retail release? If so, my interest in this just skyrocketed. It looks good but not 60$ good. But around 15$? Yeah, I'll bite.

Gunpoint. Awesome little game. It's sadly very short but at least it offers a decent challenge, I think. Some of the missions actually made me think a bit and the last one had me stumped yesterday. I only managed to beat it just now and it took a fair amount of trial and error. There's a tiny bit of replay value in that there's a couple of branching paths when choosing your missions, but it's otherwise kinda light on content. There's a level editor but I have no idea how active the community is for it. I really wish the campaign had been a few hours longer.

Dust: An Elysian Tail. Wow, that was pretty fucking good. Probably my best purchase of the entire summer sale. I expected it to be kinda short but it has a solid 10-12 hours story. Took me more like 20, though, because I wasted so much time backtracking every single time I got a new ability, looking for treasures and secrets I couldn't reach before. The game looks amazing, too. The big character sprites that show up during conversations are kind of ugly but the level backgrounds and enemy designs are beautiful.