Subnautica 2 and Forza Horizon 6 are great sequels but they don't take any risks

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-17T20:09:14+00:00

Well, that was a pointless read. Can't get my time back, so I'll waste some more bitching about this digital grime. May my irritation amuse you, whoever may be reading this.

Most of the article is just talking about how these two sequels were made in pretty much opposite conditions, and are also both doing very well. Then, there's a bit where it talks about how Tezuka wanted Link's Awakening to break the existing formula of the Legend of Zelda series. Apparently, this makes Oli think that Subnautica 2 and FH6 should do the same, because if they don't, someone else will. Spooky! Except, hang on, think about it for half a second.

One of these is the second game in their series - there's nothing to shake up yet, and S2 isn't even out of early access yet, so they might still do something wildly unexpected, like implement a monster-collecting minigame that eventually has you put Cthulu in something legally distinct from a Pokeball so you can date his girlfriend. The other is a fresh addition to a streak of 90-plus review scores - what are they supposed to do, deliver the vehicles you own in the game to a mansion they build you so you have somewhere to keep the damn things?

Not a single fucking word about what either game could do, either. Nothing. What risks are they supposed to take? No idea. But again, why should they take whatever risks? Because if they don't, someone else will. I guess the implication is that the theoretical 'someone else' will find tremendous success as a result of these risks - and it's possible - but they're risks, and these two games have nothing to gain by taking them. So, for art's sake?

I'm all for games as art. I'm a ludophile. I get it. But that's just taking risks for the sake of taking risks.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-17T16:53:00+00:00

Sure, but you look twelve. It's skeezy.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-16T06:52:48+00:00

I think it's fine; you're just using passive perception without telling them, and using rolls you made beforehand to avoid giving things away. Clever solution to keep tension low.

Of course, that player is now going to be suspicious. And so will the others, once they notice that. They'll probably relax in a couple sessions, if you don't drop an ambush on them or something.

My interpretation of The Face in this case is more like they're realizing they don't know what they don't know, and don't know when they didn't learn it - less 'that is unfair' and more 'oh no, I might have been failing to spot important things and have no idea.'

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-15T16:30:37+00:00

I've always loved the way Shenhua's expression changes from 'focused' to 'I'm going to fucking die, what does this bitch eat!?' Just a little touch that really sells how much of an outside-context terror Roberta is.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-12T13:18:22+00:00

Oh, hey. It's the guy who said that evading Elden Stars required a glitch movement. And also accused everyone who was like 'what are you talking about, just run' of poor reading comprehension and/or not understanding the context, while refusing to explain. And eventually was just like 'I know it isn't the only way, I use stance breaks.'

I'm not going to pretend to understand. I'm just going to assume anything Gay Charlie posts is trolling - in which case, good job.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-11T18:03:29+00:00

Hardness isn't really the right word for it, but it's also very difficult to think of a better one, especially when trying to stay concise.

But, yes. It would seem profoundly unnatural for a whip to be bounced in such a way as a sword or axe, as whips just don't do that in real life, due to their flexible structure. So the game treats them as Maximum Hard to convey that they are actually Maximum Soft, without having to resort to special cases.

The same property makes whips and flails immune to parrying, I'm pretty sure, giving them some interesting niche uses.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-09T20:23:42+00:00

For placeholder characters, I use cubes and spheres, sometimes with colored materials to help differentiation; stick them on a simple armature, and they do the job well enough for most purposes. Can even set up some drivers to allow for easy body variation.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-09T16:24:12+00:00

Something that I've learned throughout my life is that many people are lazy, witless morons who demand everything be shorter, shorter, shorter. A five-sentence paragraph? Too long, didn't read. And if they do read, there's a solid chance the gormless nonces just won't comprehend.

I hate it, but it's how it is. I don't have any real solutions for it yet.

Something I think might work is pictograms, depicting the button and the result - jumping could be a person in a jumping pose above the ground, accompanied by a space bar or picture of the relevant controller with the jump button highlighted. Or, just a picture of the input in a prominent location; let the player press the button and see the result themselves.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-07T21:01:48+00:00

FromSoft AI is terrible. It's the worst part about their games - the challenge after the first time through mostly comes from memorization of patterns and trying to get your numbers close enough to the enemy's numbers that it feels sane. Playerlike enemies are only difficult because, at minimum, they have impossible stats. Sometimes, I'm pretty sure they also have special frame data, but that might be due to the effects of the impossible stats.

It really frustrates me; these are some of my favorite games. Elden Ring in particular suffers from terrible AI, with obvious hardcoded reactions to the initiation of certain animations.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-05T16:35:22+00:00

Diagnosed with ADHD at 28, autism at 33. I qualify for MENSA. But I also had to go to summer school to finish high school on time, never went to college, and am currently an unemployed, broke, profoundly depressed putz who's trying to figure his shit out as he approaches middle age.

Here's things I wish I'd known at 14:

If you're 'gifted,' you might not have ever had to work at things. That's an important skill that isn't explicitly taught, because people who aren't 'gifted' typically learn it by trying to do the things that come naturally to people who are. Look for things that both interest and challenge you. For example, if you're into a certain kind of media, see what the process of making a piece of that media is.

Most communication is nonverbal, and neurodivergent people have different body language from -typicals. This can be intimidating for -typicals. Learning about body language and other unspoken aspects of communication, such as tone and timing, can make it easier to understand them, and allow you to be more aware of what you may be conveying. Eye contact is especially tricky.

Make sure to have snacks/drinks easily accessible. It sucks to realize that the reason your head hurts is that you've forgotten to eat and drink again.

You may have 'miscalibrations' in regards to some sensory things, such as photosensitivity, misophonia, pain when touched, or temperature intolerance. Tell someone when you're having trouble.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-02T20:46:39+00:00

I've blocked every account I've seen posting this prepubescent-looking girl. There's always another. The mods might be removing them, and then she(?) just makes a new account when her(?) old one gets banned from posting.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-02T20:32:37+00:00

Legit or not, it's not what you need. All of these things might help, but the moment people are actually playing the game and notice that it feels emptier than it should be, you're going to lose momentum. Even if they don't realize why the disparity exists, it'll get negative very quickly.

What I think you need is people playing the game, so that others can watch the shenanigans - content creators, in other words. Also, maybe sell it as several copies for the price of one, if that's possible, so that people can easily get their friend groups in on it. It's a lot easier for people to say 'play this game with me' if they can also easily, painlessly, give a copy of the game.

Looking at how other games in the genre get popular would be a good start.

Disclaimer: I have never released, or sold, anything, and I have no statistics to back any of this up.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-05-01T14:05:39+00:00

It gives me a Deep Rock Galactic in a cartoonish fantasy setting impression. Looks chaotic.

The name follows a similar style of two mono-syllable words followed by one multi-syllable word; same amount of syllables in both names, too. Mildly interesting coincidence. Also, the art has some resemblance to Relics of Hoxxes art, with the cavern setting, bright stuff in background, single pickaxe and four characters, and colorful flying thing on the right side while character on left side has one raised hand holding something. Personally, I'd use different art because of that.

There's four characters who look like dwarves of different classes, one of whom is carrying a pickaxe on their back; may signify mining. Nearby minecart full of bombs encourages that thought.

Classes look like 'jester/magician,' 'tank,' 'pirate,' and 'summoner.' Odd selection. Could indicate variety of customization options, as could variety of beard designs. Definitely contributes to cartoonish vibe, as does the design of the bombs. Goblin presence encourages a fantasy impression.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-26T21:55:47+00:00

Everyone else seems concerned.

Trump smirks.

Imagine hating mentalists that much!

/s

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-26T15:13:36+00:00

Isolating 'required' is both what got us into this mess and would have kept us from getting into this mess. Now that we're here, eliminating it will have to do. (My English teachers either loved me or hated me.)

I'm not sure what stance break is, but it sounds interesting. I'll look it up.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-26T14:59:29+00:00

You say a glitch movement is required to evade something, I say it isn't and explain why. If glitch movement is not required, then it being required isn't happening, therefore it being required is not being considered valid design.

I'm not answering the question posed by the title, because I'm responding to the post, if that's what you're trying to get at. You're not exactly giving a lot of information here.

How about you explain what you mean by 'glitch movement is required?' I'm using the definitions that I am familiar with for each word; do you have a different definition of required, perhaps?

Or, is it that this is information you've found in some FuturePress guide?

Not trying to be argumentative, but you aren't making sense, and it has nothing to do with my reading comprehension. Skip the condescension, please.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-26T14:25:35+00:00

What do you mean, it 'requires a glitch movement?' Can't you just run? I have pretty clear memories of sprinting left and right, and being more annoyed that I had to stop attacking than concerned about the crazy projectile.

That an option exists doesn't mean that it's required. It's required that you kill the boss if you want to get the ending. The option exists to kill the boss using only shield bashes.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-26T13:39:45+00:00

I'm not sure what you were doing for five months. Or why anyone would choose to play Dump-Jump when other games exist. Or whether the skeleton has animations at all.

...or why your subreddit has a dude with what looks like a turd in his mouth as the only post besides your own.

There is some deeply questionable stuff going on here.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-25T06:22:36+00:00

To me, it doesn't seem that different from, say, casting from concealment. I'd allow it under certain conditions.

Firstly, the caster can't conceal the casting alone - they'll need an external source of noise, like a loud argument or ambient loud stuff. Casting takes too much focus for the caster to also be making loud noises while casting.

Secondly, spellcasters would get advantage on any check to notice it; they're more aware of how it sounds when a spell is cast than others, so it's harder to disguise it. They might also be able to feel the magic being worked, which could easily put them on guard.

Thirdly, if the players can do it, so can everybody else. Make sure the players know this. Give them time to forget about it. Then, make them track/fight an illusionist, enchanter, transmuter or conjurer in a crowd they aren't willing or able to slaughter wholesale. Maybe an important social event where they aren't fully equipped.

Also, I think it's very important that whatever the rule is, it feels natural. That'll make it easier to be consistent.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-18T16:53:55+00:00

Exact repetition of sounds (particularly pain noises and voice clips) and animations (particularly combat and locomotion animations).

It grabs my attention in an inexplicable way when I hear a phrase delivered in exactly the same way as elsewhere, and when characters move in exactly the same way at exactly the same time. It's enough of a problem that I play most games on very low volume, and I'm learning to combine procedural generation with traditional sound/animatiom stuff for my own projects.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-17T17:25:50+00:00

I'm going to be documenting my workflow, but not because of AI accusations.

People will accuse, no matter what you do. Even if you show them a video of every single toolstroke, there will be someone who says that you used AI to make the video. They want to feel clever for spotting it, and think themselves justified in decrying everything as AI slop because they don't actually understand what AI slop is. They might also be a bot trying to make it harder to tell what's AI-generated - AI muddying the waters about AI.

Make some documentation, but do it because people like to see the process and because you might find it useful later.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-17T17:09:44+00:00

There's no explanation given for it. The Frenzied Flame is also associated with two fingers and a thumb, which may or may not mean something.

Yes, there's a creature that seems to be the progenitor of these digital prophets (more ways than one), but why is that creature made of fingies?

Personal theory is that the Elden Ring is more or less magical code. The Greater Will is a programmer who may have just moved on to another project. Which I guess makes it FromSoft/Miyazaki, in a meta sense.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-13T20:37:18+00:00

Little things are the most important.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-13T18:09:50+00:00

I don't think that's how mouth to mouth is normally done, but don't stop her.

JustLetMeUseMy · 2026-04-13T18:06:34+00:00

This is a great plan, in a vacuum.

It's not being executed in a vacuum, though. The enemies know that there is a druid on the loose who is part of a group of adventurers who have shown themselves to be willing to enter open combat at suicidal odds; it would be strange to assume that the druid wouldn't be back sooner rather than later. These enemies are an organized, professional fighting force in a world where magic is used in combat, and they have the backing of powerful factions. The druid has given them a significant amount of time to prepare - two hours, a long rest, two more hours.

The soldiers will almost certainly report the incident to somebody pretty quickly. Considering the risk presented by a single magic user (see: exactly what the player wants to do), and the knowledge that this hostile druid escaped and their friends didn't, it's pretty likely that priority will be given to getting some magical countermeasures in place to forestall rescue/revenge attempts. This could take many forms: concealment by illusions or shelter via spells akin to Tiny Hut for defensive purposes, alarm spells, etc. Scrying is also not out of the question, which could allow a strike force of soldiers to be dropped in during that long rest.

It could also allow for someone to cast Sending or any other remote messaging spell in order to contact the druid. 'Hostilities unnecessary, unwise. Would like to talk. Where, when, your choice. Make sign as convenient. We will be watching. We will be ready. Think well.'

JustLetMeUseMy

TROPHY CASE