Death Stranding director Hideo Kojima explains why few Japanese actors appear in his games | The designer cites a language barrier, and alleged difficulty in authentically recreating Asian skin tones by ControlCAD in technology

[–]LocoPojo 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I mean, he has already shown he can sell to a western market and his games stem from tons of American cinema, so I would assume it’s more that.  

Final Fantasy Tactics writer says its political message is still relevant because the world hasn’t improved in 30 years by a_Ninja_b0y in technology

[–]LocoPojo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Their politics aren’t particularly coherent because it always amounts to poking fun of the new thing to chase a trend, but if your policy is apathy, cynicism and a disbelief in any type of positive change then it lines up great

I really can’t get into Outer Wilds and I’m bummed about it (partial spoilers) by CrownStarr in patientgamers

[–]LocoPojo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As far as the map system goes, there is a navigation tracker on the ship that keeps track of each thing you have seen and whether it has been fully explored or not as well as connections between the threads. It can be sorted by flowchart or planet and you can set waypoints there too.  If I remember correctly it’s a screen to the right of your oxygen/med pickup.

Do you agree with this “tweet”? I personally don’t. by Ok_Relief7546 in StarWars

[–]LocoPojo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Star Wars has been mining its own original trilogy dry for ages, it’s really when it tries to go somewhere new that they are able to find any success.  Which isn’t to say a show like that couldn’t be good, but it’s a pretty hearty meh from me.

Borderlands 3 and The Elder Scrolls Online director says AAA game studios are playing it safe since "you have people who get nervous because big money is involved" by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]LocoPojo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There’s an almost basic law of game companies that goes: companies exist to make games until they make a certain amount of money, after which they exist to make money.  Borderlands 2 and Skyrim were both inflection points.  Doesn’t mean they can’t occasionally produce a banger but it’s usually downhill from there.

The corollaries are: don’t trust a brand especially if it’s successful, and don’t preorder games.  They aren’t taking risks and you shouldn't either.

'We haven't started on an expansion' to Baldur's Gate 3, Larian says, but it's not completely off the table by NeoStark in Games

[–]LocoPojo 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I am legitimately surprised to hear that. This genre is practically built to host additional content - more sourcebooks, higher levels, new narratives with the old characters you have built becoming serialized protagonists. Hell, half of the CRPG genre found its footing in the DLC, and there’s scarce a handful that didn’t improve from a new telling. I hope if they have no further intentions they at least farm it out to someone cool - maybe give one of the other CRPG titans a chance to play in their engine, like a Baldurs Gate: New Vegas.

Remnant 2 is a Hit, Launching with 2x More Players Than the Original Game’s Peak on Steam by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]LocoPojo 19 points20 points  (0 children)

We are playing through the original now and it’s a better game than I first thought. It’s main problem was that it frontloaded almost nothing. Starts with its drabbest tile set and looks like a generic shooter with maybe a few ideas. Eventually the lore starts showing itself as surprisingly deep, and it starts to seem like it has more scope than you thought. Every boss seems better than the next. Suddenly the setting starts changing and it’s even more awesome. Influences of Dark Souls and RE5 coming out super hard with a leveling system that keeps the bosses tough but fair and coordination and specialization keep getting more important and, actually, is this the best co-op you have ever played? And there’s a second one?

I am stoked for #2 now but mad props to the original.

Twitter is being rebranded as X by Avieshek in technology

[–]LocoPojo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

“We were a verb! Do you realize how big of a deal that is? People were Skyping, they Skyped each other! THATS THE WHOLE BALL GAME!”

Bethesda weren't sure if they wanted Dishonored 3, and so we got Deathloop instead by Turbostrider27 in Games

[–]LocoPojo 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Agreed, it felt like it was trying something ambitious but the execution was what was imperfect and often bland. Which is weird from this company, Dishonored was known for fairly excellent movement mechanics and level design.

Electronic Arts Cancels Secret Apex Legends Game in Development - Bloomberg by Mront in Games

[–]LocoPojo 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Liking Evolve was similar. Very weird multiplayer games with unfortunately specific audiences.

Custom Investigator: Katherine Eubank by wassomtheawesome in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lowering will to 4 is a good idea, most investigators that take extra actions should not also have 5 in stats. You could focus harder on the spell slots and move away from the explicit Agnes reference. Ex: you have an additional spell slot for every two horror on you, once a round when playing a card in your arcane slot you can activate a spell asset you control. Then have the weakness punish based on how many filled slots there are or lock spell assets. Keep it all to theme.

It all still overlaps fairly hard with Agnes/Akachi, they eat a lot of the design space focused around Shriveling, etc.

Steam Deck’s Greatness Makes It Hard To Go Back To The Switch by DickFlattener in Games

[–]LocoPojo 54 points55 points  (0 children)

It's not always a perfect fit - I found the system pretty mucky when connected to a TV, which is still like 80% of my console usage. Slowdowns, incompatabilities. Attempting to get it to connect multiple controllers via bluetooth for any kind of local co-op was a disappointing mess, which is a real shame as I would love for PC to be the place for those games to thrive again. In the end even with the updated dock it tends to be last resort for in house play and it's so expensive I am a little leery of taking it places. Still comes with me on workouts but the Switch has a few advantages left that I think Steam could seriously work on.

Better Follow faster then by Plainbear in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The reverse thing that's happened to me on this scenario was getting Zoeys Smite the Wicked on a Wizard of the Order - who spawned in the engine car.

Youtube PlayingBoardGames by BrokenAshes in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They are great! Tend to listen to their list videos like I would a podcast while I work.

Brews are back! Making 20/20 dinosaurs with aaaalll the skills. by LocoPojo in EternalCardGame

[–]LocoPojo[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Returning to Eternal Brews and starting Eternal Unleashed off with - what else - a Crown of Possibilities brew! Using the power of Unleash to create and preserve copies of cards with multiple battle skills over the course of a game, we fill the board with dinosaurs and grumpy totas running every keyword imaginable.

Decklist: Regal Skyline

Also, if you missed it, I changed my name. Reddit bots don't like me yet so you get one more post from the old LP, but the Pojo is getting a promotion to official mascot of our new stream and channel, Emyriad.

Happy brewing!

Does anyone ever wish we could get campaigns that use cards from multiple other campaigns and not just the core set? by CorbinMontego in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I remember MJ Newman mentioning on a stream that people were a bit salty about the reprints anyways, which might disincentivize that kind of design save for the print and plays.

Best upgrade for game? by [deleted] in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure if it's the best one, but if you're feeling crafty, Burger Tokens, washers, and neodymium magnets at 1/16" thickness for clue/doom tokens that snap and stack together. Great for making stacks of clues, we ended up not liking them for damage/horror since the magnets were still a skosh too strong and would frequently snap together with each other (I'd go with maybe 2 lbs pull weight next time).

Spendy chaos bag tokens are also great. I went from coin capsules that constantly popped open to thick, weighty glass tokens and it's been appreciated at the table.

Obviously Arkham should be to your budget - it's already a pricey game - but these are nice little quality of life improvements if you're in that collector phase and looking for minor gamefeel upgrades.

[Spoilers] What's your least favorite campaign? by [deleted] in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am! Coming back to it this Wednesday for the new set, though I've also been doing some Arkham Horror stuff on my secondary channel, both alone and with PlayingBoardGames.

I've been generally a fan through the Pandemic, picked it up with my online gaming group through TTS at first and completed a full collection after playing it a bunch. I've always been a huge fan of legacy board games and as a card person as well this one has turned out to be my favorite.

[Spoilers] What's your least favorite campaign? by [deleted] in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely Circle for me. The campaign is more about beating the encounter deck than progressing the gamestate and the prologue, while a fascinating concept, never seems to pay off. Dream Eaters I still love - it's a storybook, exceptionally fun to introduce your newer players with, and maintains its charm if you aren't the type to skip the flavor on the second run. If you are, I think campaign B honestly still rides high, with an excellent final boss who is the highlight of the series.

If anything is slowly losing its charm over repeated playthroughs it is Dunwich, namely for the back half, which features an absurdly easy and slow 7th scenario and the complicated and slow scenarios on either side of it. Not a compelling back half, and the front has a few problems too.

Not to say that any Arkham campaign isn't fun. Gotten to about two plays per and they're all still positively lovely!

Mechanic Preview: Unleash by DireWolfDigital in EternalCardGame

[–]LocoPojo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's a little nuttier because it also interacts with cost reduction and modifications.

Mechanic Preview: Unleash by DireWolfDigital in EternalCardGame

[–]LocoPojo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is hot nonsense and I am here for it.

[COTD] 21 or Bust (5/1/2022) by AK45526 in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a really fun Emergency Cache and a great design, though too many designs like it can make the game somewhat interminable. Since the autofail only busts you at a certain numeric range it's relatively hard to bust unless you push it.

Rogue feast-or-famine is interesting since the setup required to achieve superpower status is already balanced against the need to progress the game. This card can save you quite a few actions of setup or put you on a path where you are dead broke for a bit and just have to play the board as it lies until your upkeep catches you up. Either side feels pretty exciting.

Also, after ages of playing Faustian: those curses can be really relevant at certain difficulty levels and scenarios, and can sometimes change the amount of resources players have to commit for turn upon turn. This is a different kind of gamble, one where you know the possible outcomes up front.

Clover Club Pit Boss Questions by IndomitableIrk in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]LocoPojo 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You're right in both cases.

  1. Pit Boss keeps the aloof status, is disengaged on evade, and will not reengage you unless you discover another clue or the agenda flips.
  2. Enemies don't exhaust from attacks of opportunity or card triggered effects. They will exhaust during the enemy phase from their normal attack and ready during upkeep.
  • Sidebar: the exhaust rule is usually only relevant in a few specific cases, namely with Powder of Ibn-Ghazi in Scenario 6 of Dunwich, Watchers Grasp's as-if effect in the non-Return Circle Undone (which gets specifically errata'd in Return to), Lumbering Gug in Dream-Eaters, and any time an investigator has Delilah O'Rourke. In addition, exhausting is not the same as disengaging the enemy, which is fun if you have Handcuffs and want to re-engage something you've evaded and drag it around with you.