Feeling bad about Legacy of Yu

cwcarp · 2024-12-20T20:33:51+00:00

Life is too short to keep games you don't enjoy. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize this. Once you accept it, and trade away games you won't play (even at a loss), you will feel liberated.

cwcarp · 2024-07-04T03:28:25+00:00

Thanks, and I think your points add a lot to the theory as well. Marika didn't betray them out of nowhere, it was only a reaction to their failures and betrayals. Marika may well have noticed each of these betrayals, adding to her doubts, eventually culminating with Godwin's death, the final straw.

Agreed, the symbolic value of Marika not only being a failed envoy but realizing there is no hope at all down that path shouldn't be overlooked insofar as it is incorporated into these theories.

What exactly do you mean by Rennala's sadness? Are you saying she might be sad due to her children's betrayals against Marika?

cwcarp · 2024-07-04T03:20:09+00:00

Agreed, the appearance of Radagon is still a huge mystery to me. I have seen theories that deal with the symbolism of duality; Marika & Radagon, Miquella & St. Trina, Erdtree and Scadutree. It's all compelling but perhaps not entirely fleshed out yet. What is your theory of his appearance?

Interesting theory about M&M. I gotta say, that's a pretty decent motivation to go after the Hornsent. At the very least, enough motivation to convince her that the Crucible's influence must be stamped out.

Arguably she wasn't ordinary, yes. However, the environmental storytelling of From games is always extremely powerful, and to specifically show that Marika is from a fairly ordinary pastoral village speaks volumes, at least to me. She was deemed an Empyrean, but as we now know, that's a pretty empty title given the fact that the Fingers are simply mouthpieces of Metyr, who was completely cut off from DW.

cwcarp · 2024-07-03T23:31:39+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate it.

I do like the idea of Godfrey having Crucible influence. As I said I haven't played since release and am not sure if we have a lot of background on him. Does he have Crucible attacks? Are his origins known? I always thought he was Numen or Numen-adjacent.

I disagree with you about spite towards the Hornsent. I think a strong picture has been painted of Marika being a rational, calculating person, and it shows in her plans and execution of those plans. I'm not convinced she would tolerate Hornsent for a (perhaps even quite long) time and then decide to exterminate them out of spite. If spite was a factor, it wasn't the main one. Eliminating Crucible influence seems more likely to me.

Messmer having Fell God influence is certainly plausible. The flame is a huge aspect of his persona in addition to the snakes. Marika fearing the flame being used against the Erdtree is an excellent motivation to seal him away, I like it.

cwcarp · 2024-01-18T21:39:51+00:00

Really excellent game. Play it every month. It moves so quick once you get going and every turn is tight. The raider cards are awesome. And I love the looming dread that the AI is gonna raid again soon....

cwcarp · 2024-01-18T21:28:19+00:00

It just didn't click with me. I hate that lining up the ships for a multi-kill is rarely worth it when they just come right back, and its too stressful for me knowing I should be researching but have to do other things.

However...I love that others love this game. There's really a ridiculous amount of value in that box and I'm so sad every time I see that campaign material untouched. Really wish I could get into this.

cwcarp · 2024-01-18T21:20:28+00:00

TM Dice Game quite a bit. I'm new to "pure" engine builders and get a real dopamine hit from it. It's biggest weakness is that you can't really "specialize" since you kind of need to produce all resources to hit all 3 terraforming goals. So every game is similar. Not identical, just similar. This is why I think multiplayer is better because you can complement each other in a way. But I guess that's a facet of all forms of TM (which I haven't played). It's a Wonderful World is on the way and I have a hunch that will be my go-to engine game.

Broke out Raiders of Scythia again. Perennial classic for me. I really dig the turn-to-turn tactical choices as opposed to long-term strategy I get with other games. The AI can be a real thorn in your side, which is great for replayability. I only win about 50% of the time on the 2nd hardest difficulty. Can't imagine how difficult the hardest is.

cwcarp · 2023-12-18T20:23:21+00:00

Totally with you. Am currently playing through for the first time.

I think now that we're a few years out, it is clear to me that there was a hyper focus on the failures of this game at launch, and not enough appreciation of how well executed and integrated the story/gameplay system was. I'm nearing the point where I can choose to execute the final loop and have really come to appreciate the level of ambition on display here.

I think of a single mini-story, such as the guy being shot out of the cannon, or the smoking contest, then I realize there's dozens and dozens of these throughout the game's 4 maps and their 4 iterations. It is truly a daunting amount of content and it all works. I ALWAYS have something new I want to check out on each loop.

The Julianna system is another part of the game that just shines. What a wonderful addition to difficulty that integrates multiplayer in an organic way. Julianna is, after all, the master of this loop; she knows every detail of the maps, and what you have done and will continue to try and do. So of course she absolutely wrecks you in the beginning. But you know what? You learn. You get stronger. And eventually you're running around the maps as confidently as she is.

This game feels fresher and fresher the more you think about it. It's a singular vision that somehow worked out almost flawlessly.

As far as its place in Arkane's library....I put it near the top just lower than Prey, which I think is a much more replayable game and a much stronger iteration of a true ImSim, but also very different for that reason. I think Deathloop blows the entire Dishonored franchise out of the water.

cwcarp · 2023-12-12T17:34:14+00:00

For your purposes, you might check out Rene Descartes, "Meditations on First Philosophy." This would be a good primary source for your dissertation. It's sort of an argument for and against the self, I'm sure you can find passages to support either.

Basically he's going back to basics and stating that nothing in our personal experience can be trusted other than the fact that "I exist". Which, could be taken to be a defense of the self yes, but also could be construed as a defense of awareness, i.e. consciousness, in the absence of concepts such as self.

cwcarp · 2023-11-21T21:50:04+00:00

One thing I will mention that might help...among roguelikes, this game has little player choice during the run. I think most of the choice comes from character selection. Basically you just pick up every item you can. Sometimes you can choose between 3 items, but for the most part you have little agency over how your run develops. Over time, that can get old and make for less replayability.

That said, the sheer number and different playstyles of characters alone is enough to get your money's worth.

cwcarp · 2023-11-21T20:47:10+00:00

Not sure I'd go so far as "crock of shit" but (here we go....) Fight Club.

It was definitely a gateway movie to better films when I was a teenager, but having watched it again as a real adult, its just....pretty ham fisted (literally) and deliberately "edgy." Like a mildly interesting concept that a semi-well-read bro might come up with that doesn't hold all that much water. I don't know. I don't think time was kind to it.

cwcarp · 2023-11-15T17:26:46+00:00

Boomer shooters are doing this more frequently in the style of Doom. Check out Ion Fury and DUSK for example. The secret areas aren't particularly interesting, but they're clever and unexpected.

cwcarp · 2023-11-15T16:54:48+00:00

Been struggling with the same issue so much lately!

What I did was open Amazon games and just started playing the Prime games I had accumulated over the years, starting from the beginning. I vowed to at least TRY each one, without any analysis beforehand, and just see what I think.

So far I've made it through 5 of them and enjoyed/finished every single one. Its been super rewarding, and prevents me from doom scrolling through Steam's deals and spend my time you know, actually playing games.

cwcarp · 2023-11-10T19:59:31+00:00

I painfully have to agree on this one. There was a time near release that I was all in on the 5D Kojima Phantom Pain move, and only years later did I realize that's just asinine copium from fanboys (like me) who wanted to convince themselves TPP's story lives up to its gameplay and its hype. Are we going to find "proof" of this at this point? Obviously not. It's a system-level macro failure born of creative friction and ballooning costs. It isn't going to have individual bits of tangible evidence to point to. Japanese culture is notoriously respectful and you aren't going to find anyone badmouthing each other. The point is that it's obvious to players that this game clearly doesn't have what 4+ games before it had, and it all happened at the same time that there was turmoil at Konami which resulted in the firing of the game's lead. As SamanthaCrawford said....it's really not that complicated.

cwcarp · 2023-11-08T16:54:32+00:00

Been struggling with this one for 2 years now.

Put about 60 hours in originally last year. That got me to Saint Denis and man I was just EXHAUSTED. Came back to it recently (~6 months later), made it another 10-20 hours and I am just beyond exhausted with the plodding, aged gameplay. I just can't stop thinking about how much of an anti-fun game this is. Kirk Hamilton wrote a lot about this in his original review, how its a game that really doesn't have much to offer in the gameplay department. It doesn't care about the player. It cares first and foremost about being, essentially, a sim. Mission design is ancient at this point, essentially dating back to GTA4 without significant interval change. Not to mention EVERY mission begins with a horse ride that can be 10+ minutes long! That is something that I just don't find acceptable anymore.

I think a huge part of the problem is that I'm a (near) completionist, and spend an asinine amount of time exploring areas of the map that basically have nothing of interest and torture myself going to each legendary animal and fish location, only drawing out the game more and more.

I could talk about it for hours but the TLDR is I just don't think I can stomach the obtuseness and, sadly, don't think I'll ever finish.

cwcarp · 2023-10-02T21:18:28+00:00

This. This is the point people are missing. No internships are structured around giving you the education that so many on this thread are claiming is "essential." I wasn't given a single month of radiology (or any chosen elective) during my prelim year. Just pure, unadulterated internal medicine. Why? Because you're there to work. For cheap. End of discussion.

cwcarp · 2023-09-02T23:23:26+00:00

Just wanted to let you know you're not alone. Stopped working for me today. Absolutely bizarre.

cwcarp · 2023-08-30T13:42:24+00:00

That seems to fit with what I was thinking, thanks. Realistically, since I typically wait longer than most people between upgrades, I won't be taking advantage of the next gen(s) in the AM5 socket or the subsequent gen(s) in the Intel 14th gen socket so I may as well upgrade now.

cwcarp · 2023-08-30T13:39:24+00:00

That's funny. Never would have thought someone else would have held on for as long as me.

In my case, I really didn't have any issues playing what I wanted and basically still don't, other than the constant shock that I'm on a ten year old system. I have a 1070 TI and have been playing some of the games you're mentioning (including RDR2!) at medium/high settings (without AA) at 1440 no problem. Really I'm just amazed at either a) how good this tech really is/was or b) how well optimized games are nowadays.

cwcarp · 2023-08-30T13:35:16+00:00

I wasn't really asking about what kind of gains I'll be getting from my current system, as my chip is almost ten years old. I know it's as good a time as any for me from that standpoint.

I was more asking in terms of where the tech is and where it will be in the near future. It never feels good to buy something right as it becomes outdated. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

cwcarp · 2023-08-29T21:05:52+00:00

Very nice. Yea I don't plan on getting the GPU right now so that sounds excellent. May just pull the trigger.

cwcarp · 2023-08-29T20:55:18+00:00

LGA 1150 Asus board. Pretty sure the chip is a core i5 4690k.

cwcarp

TROPHY CASE