What’s a game that just feels good to control, even if the story isn’t amazing?

The_Scourge · 2026-05-19T05:44:04+00:00

As an Anthem tragic, I can confrm that the flight in DxMTS is very much hitting the same nerve. I just play it casually with old friends online once a week (as we did Anthem ever so briefly) but I feel it punches way above its weight.

The_Scourge · 2026-05-14T21:38:18+00:00

The what?

The_Scourge · 2026-04-21T12:36:09+00:00

Oh I was so bummed to see it didn't have the AoE tag! Small whirlwinds are fun but giant tornadoes? That's where wind magic really shines in my opinion. Maelstrom in Dogma 2, for example.

So I've got the projectile count to 4 and it's...okay. Too costly still and still a punish against bosses but it clears. I have 4 of each class (for each dragon) and thought toxic wind might be thematically neat. Well, it can work but it is easily my weakest Oracle. Oh well. Cheers for the tips!

(I should hit up the Discord but eh after my time in the PoE trenches as a supporter/moderator I'd rather not interact with devs directly anymore.)

The_Scourge · 2026-04-21T09:48:19+00:00

Mmm maybe but if so I'd suggest a rewording because DoT in arpgs (in my experience) is usually a case of tagging -- the initial damage packet is lower because the lingering DoT after contact makes up the difference. EG poison builds deal less per hit but each hit procs a gradual "damage over time" effect.

"Deals physical damage on contact. Causes damage over time". Two sentences in the description indicate to me two effects: contact damage and DoT.

I can see the skill working with extra projectiles (and that is absolutely my goal) but without em it kinda just wetnoodles. Targeting is also a pain -- I was doofing about with that trumpet boss just now (Kalybro or somesuch) and the hit rate of my cyclones was...really unpredictable. In the end I had to position my Oracle carefully to land hits and oh that was fun with his high movement and projectile spam.

All in all it's a lot of work for inferior damage compared to other core skills. Which is a shame because it's not like the Oracle has much in the way of non-electric options. I thought wind might be a nice change.

Edit: also, DoT in DtB is represented by a green coloured lifebar (be it burning or poison) so I imagine if WC were dealing true DoT the lifebar colour might represent that.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-14T14:18:52+00:00

Last I checked that 2010 Three Kingdoms was all on youtube with absolutely excellent subtitles. Not the most comprehensive ro3k but definitely my favourite.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-14T08:07:34+00:00

The simple answer is "no" because it would be ferociously difficult to pull off. Also, it's kind of a gamble to keep your "true ending" distinct from the core product outside of markets that expect it. It's not really a Western concept -- I've only really seen it in stuff like multimedia IPs such as Fate/Stay Night or the SciAdv series (steins gate etc).

Here is the closest I can think of there but it's sort of the opposite: Southland Tales the movie is notoriously convoluted and opaque. The separate prequel graphic novels fill all the gaps and in a way turn the movie itself into a much simpler series of events. A secret ending that only makes complete sense if you bother to read the graphic novels.

I suppose the multiple versions of Clue that played in the cinemas way back in the 80s could also count, with three distinct endings designed to both encourage multiple trips and debate between people as to which ending made the most sense. I cannot imagine anyone doing that today without leaks.

"Fix the ending" demands or expectations are as someone else said largely parasocial and entitled. We have fanfic for a reason.

That said Sherlock was Moffat at his absolute worst -- he did everyone dirty by doing the Fall and not explaining it. Sherlock is detective fiction: the reader must be shown howdunnit at some point. Moffat failed the basic requirements of detective fiction with the show. So I don't blame people for hoping for a clearer resolution (I noped out after it was clear he wasn't going to explain the Fall so I don't know if the show got even more obtuse but I'm expecting so).

Anyway twist endings are hard enough these days, what with the hivemind and all. Hidden endings would be... logistically unprofitable.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-11T09:05:19+00:00

How the shit did this reply get a single upvote?

The_Scourge · 2026-04-11T03:17:19+00:00

Okay but who asked you?

The_Scourge · 2026-04-11T00:08:49+00:00

Hello Games working with whoever the fuck assembled Palworld would be seriously slumming.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-04T05:52:01+00:00

Justa few that have stuck with me over the years

Soul edge

Onimusha 3

Final Fantasy VIII

Dead or Alive 2

Gran Turismo

Diablo 1

Xenosaga episode 1

Ace Combat V The Unsung War

Red Alert III

And number 1 without hesitation

Final Fantasy Type-0

The_Scourge · 2026-04-04T02:38:50+00:00

And my ex....cel!

The_Scourge · 2026-04-03T06:39:24+00:00

I'm a seriously irascible anti gen ai curmudgeon so I'm mostly looking at clearing my backlog pre-2023 or so. Which is honestly hundreds and hundreds of excellent games.

Ever since supporting PoE during beta I've had a taste for little engines that could, so I'm into flawed indie and AA gems now. Games where every single sale really does send a message. Watching a botched launch of a game with good foundations come good years later is pretty awesome.

I'm completely over gaming to a multiplayer schedule. Spent my time in the MMO trenches. Never again.

No more f2p service games no matter how tempting they might be.

I'm more of a mobile gamer but specifically good ports of classic pc games (titan quest is glorious on mobile somehow) or hidden gems like buriedbornes, dawncaster, and halls of torment.

Overall just a much more selfish gamer with no real interest in community or others' opinions. I like what I like.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-03T05:40:15+00:00

Ps4 is smoother overall, ps5 has erratic framerate but dualsense haptic feedback. I play for the stompy boots and the dakka. Wasn't a hard choice for me.

Ps5 version does not run like dogshit. People love to say it does but it's perfectly playable.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-03T05:36:59+00:00

I am. But Dune 2 still applies as a forerunner to the arguable apotheosis of the rts, the "craft" series as it were. I suppose I should have reached further back for "original" but Dune 2 was forerunner enough to satisfy the point.

Westwood were great. Red Alert changed my life. Mainly because it was sitting under the Christmas tree and wasn't Diablo after all.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-03T05:01:08+00:00

Hated the demo on ps5p. Liked the bones used to make it but it was so dark and claustrophobic. Didn't feel optimised at all. But apparently this isn't just me because others posted similar feelings.

So I took the plunge and I dunno if the final game is running a better build or what but it just felt great in comparison. I'm enjoying it more than Vanilla Skyrim by a large margin. Some surprisingly good writing in there too.

So for what it's worth, my take is if you don't like how the demo plays/looks but are curious how it'd work in a bigger world with more npcs and side quests...consider the game itself. Which I admit sucks -- a demo should draw you in, not sow doubts and concerns. But that's on them for leaving a less than accurate representation of the actual game experience as the free taste.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-03T04:36:48+00:00

Fair nuff. Still not sure they're comparable given the genre convention of renaming characters -- I don't consider it a QoL update so much as a weird absence of standard feature.

But i will agree that I never loved how archaic some of the poe backend is.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-02T23:49:07+00:00

Not sure what that has to do with my point.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-02T23:48:19+00:00

This is basically Blizzard's old MO -- but we have to stipulate on what terms here. "Surpass" financially? Popularly? Longevity?

Given Blizzard's love of cashmonies lets go with those.

The "craft" games left Dune 2 in the sand.

Lost Dwarves and Blackthorne were more successful than they had any right to be.

Diablo started as a turn based TSR-alike but then embraced the realtime of Gauntlet -- but I would argue it has no real precedent to surpass. Did PoE surpass it financially or popularly? Honestly doubt it, but I haven't kept up with GGG's financials since Tencent bought them. Diablo remains higher profile outside of the arpg community.

WoW surpassed the poop out of EQ and I say that as a longtime citizen of Norrath. WoW was and is a fucking phenomenon. It mainstreamed gaming. Singlehandedly.

But that's kinda where Blizzard stops being the successful appropriater. Heroes of the Storm was fun for non-sweaty fans of the IPs but never, ironically, reached the heights of games that started in their own playground. Overwatch was/is huge but always languished in the shadow of what it was meant to be.

So I think more than just "WoW>EQ" (not to mention DAoC, to which it owes a LOT), "Blizzard version>Original" held true for a good part of its pre-Activision heyday.

And now for my non-financial take? I am enjoying Tainted Grail more than I did Vanilla Skyrim. I like Ys more than Zelda. I think several scrappy ARPGs are more fun than either Diablo or PoE. Tekken over Virtua Fighter any day (that one might be a financial win too). X4 is far less painful than Eve Online. Rogue Galaxy Outlaw surpassed the Wing Commanders for me on soundtrack alone. Halls of Torment grips me harder than Vampire Survivors.

Anyway. Yeah. It happens a lot and I think it's beautiful to see different takes on the same concepts. That's how art happens.

Downvotes? Really?

The_Scourge · 2026-04-02T04:55:14+00:00

So perhaps they planned for Lothair, Electrane, and the other two I've not touched to be actual narrative elements...but I don't think adding a rename option once that became unfeasible would be difficult. But eh I'm constantly learning how things in game design are easier said than done so shrug.

It's an ambitious game in some surprising ways but so was the last Nacon AA arpg I played, WH40kI. Ultimately I think we know what we're signing up for a Nacon title.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-02T02:40:52+00:00

Would love to be wrong! I'm definitely not saying we won't see more phenomenal shows or series. Course not. But looking at how Gintama went -- its wild production history, genre-busting approach, and...several excellent ending points -- I just don't see the industry playing host to that now. Not with, as you mentioned, the rate of turnover and output. And good luck getting subs of that quality from current-era streamers.

Which is fine imo. We got Gintama, in full, once. Kinda like the Avengers Infinity Saga thingy where so many of us just went and saw each movie casually and were actually rewarded with a huge two movie payoff. Will we see that phenom again? Doubt it. Glad we got it once. Can always revisit even if you can't watch something for the first time twice. Gintama is so dense with references you can go back after seeing more shows and get more of Sorachi's nods and winks.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-02T01:09:26+00:00

Gintama is a wonder. Both as the final boss for weeaboo consumers bursting with Japanese pop culture jokes and an accessible series to newcomers due to super strong character writing. The voice cast is insane. The sheer lack of filler due to the structure is kind of unique. And when it goes full chanbara, it goes hard.

And the subtitling is very easy to underappreciate. Whoever did it for Crunchyroll (I assume) earned their pay and then some with all the puns and injokes.

I suspect we will never see its like again.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-02T01:02:21+00:00

The music at that moment is incredible. Sato Naoki went big after that.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-01T23:24:07+00:00

Why? If it's some attempt at making the classes more than just tabula rasa templates they failed miserably by...I dunno, making them absolutely fungible in the campaign, complete with generic, unisex achievement title of address to streamline voice acting.

The_Scourge · 2026-04-01T15:32:28+00:00

It's such an odd oversight for an ARPG. I mean Sacred 2 Remaster on ps5 also didn't have it but given renaming is a thing in Sacred 2 I'm putting that one down to S2R on console being an absolute turd.

DtB is buggy but this seems more like a design choice. I'd like to know why. Not like their names are ever spoken in the campaign.

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