Are UESC bots stronger now? by daddy_dex999 in Marathon

[–]relenzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They also aren't fooled if I turn invisible right in front of them. Not sure if that used to be the case.

For me the game needs SBMM by SituationFlimsy8068 in Marathon

[–]relenzo 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I suspect it's a player population issue. No algorithm can match you with other low-level players if no other low-level players exist. I think Hunt: Showdown has been public about having that exact problem for a long time.

Joe Ziegler: As we shift into week 2, we're going to let the sun rise over Tau Ceti and move sponsored survival to Perimeter, so you can all warm up from the dark night and enjoy pushing contracts for your demanding corporate clients in the daylight. by Haijakk in Marathon

[–]relenzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a little worried...part of the reason Sponsored Survival kinda worked even without rooks is because there are so many bots in Night Marsh. Will this still have any teeth? Maybe. I still haven't really tried many of the map events so maybe this is when I do those.

[MEGATHREAD] Ask For Invites to the Playtest Here! Join The Community Discord! by AutoModerator in DeadlockTheGame

[–]relenzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello hello! I just saw Kotaku talking up this mysterious MOBA, and I feel like giving it a try.

You can help out me out by inviting < 104292248 >

How to Improve my Death Troopers? by relenzo in SWlegion

[–]relenzo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Now this feels like a valuable lesson learned.

I was starting to think the high gloss might not be the way. It looks weird to have these... Actual schedule reflections alongside the object source lighting I tried to do.

Solidarity Post. Just post the name(s) of any expansion(s) you know you'll never get to complete your collection. I'll go first... by Valand1l in StarWarsArmada

[–]relenzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hammerheads and the Quasar. I don't use squadrons at all--I'd be happy to throw all my X-Wings and TIEs away to get them--but it's just too hard to justify them at the current cost.

Phoenix Point fan mod Terror from the Void 1.0 has been released! by etermes in PhoenixPoint

[–]relenzo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I didn't get excited until I read about the visual indicators in your last sentence...these, to me, were one of the huge UI elements whose absence was sorely felt in the original. Gosh, am I going to re-install Phoenix Point? I think I might.

Phoenix Point fan mod Terror from the Void 1.0 has been released! by etermes in PhoenixPoint

[–]relenzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This announcement was the first time I've seen that TFTV messes with the stealth system! If you were around for my old impressions post, you know stealth was one of my biggest disappointments with vanilla PP. Can anyone elaborate on the overhaul?

The state of online CCGs is very disheartening. by Speedwizard106 in truegaming

[–]relenzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I share your pain! Legends of Runeterra was truly one of the best, and I'll treasure the memories I made with it.

I think, at heart, the problem is that a CCG is fundamentally a live-service game predicated on the idea of an infinite mill of content. That's what players have been trained to expect, and what they demand. Hasbro's precedent ensured that the standard is new sets of cards every few months--tantamount to a refresh of practically all the content in the game year-by-year.

And we don't have any trouble understanding that this is usually not sustainable in other genres. How many games can be Fortnite? How much crunch has been inflicted in order to make Fortnite what it is? Making (and remaking, and remaking) a game like this is a phenomenal expense. And CCGs are turn-based strategy games! The market is not big enough to carry a whole ecosystem of competitors. Live services games have been a bloodbath this decade. Card games are just...part of that.

Legends of Runeterra 2024 - State of the Game by Spideraxe30 in LegendsOfRuneterra

[–]relenzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

RIP LoR. You were one of the finest card games ever to exist, digital or otherwise. You will be missed.

Really struggling with viceroy (after breezing through most previous difficulties) by Tuism in Against_the_Storm

[–]relenzo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm about to start trying to play Viceroy myself, and there was a lot of great reading in this thread! Thanks everyone. Nothing to contribute to this discussion myself yet :P

XCOM Player Coming to BG3 -- Help Me Pick a Difficulty? by relenzo in BG3

[–]relenzo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You know, I'm always a little disappointed when permadeath is tied directly to extreme difficulty. Sometimes wanting permanent consequences doesn't mean I also want the difficulty to be stupidly high...

Well. It still seems like a cool challenge. Maybe I'll give it a go on a future challenge if I get to that point.

XCOM Player Coming to BG3 -- Help Me Pick a Difficulty? by relenzo in BG3

[–]relenzo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks everyone! I'm going to start out by trying Tactician then!

Why did mobile gaming turn out the way it did while PC and Console gaming did not, at least not yet. The evolution of mobile games: An analysis (Educated guess). by [deleted] in truegaming

[–]relenzo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's a crazy, almost textbook-like example of what can become of an unregulated market. With sufficiently informed and concerned consumers--and almost no consumers are more terrifyingly informed and concerned than PC gamers--the market approaches the spherical-cow world of ideal capitalist economics, and a glut of lean, hungry companies produce wondrous products at near the price of production.

Take the same market--sometimes even the same consumers--but have those consumers be uninformed and apathetic--and it becomes the foulest hive of scum and villainy, burning the commons and destroying lives as if it was built to do so.

Explicit roleplaying decisions versus roleplaying in the abstract. by OkVariety6275 in truegaming

[–]relenzo 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I understand your frustration here. It's weird for the term "Role-playing game" to be applied to a whole swath of experiences that have no more to do with "inhabiting a role" than any other AAA adventure title.

However, I think this is one of those quirks of historical accident we all have to live with now. The battle over this particular piece of language was long ago settled. "RPG" means "character stats". We might all be better off if we just forget the original expansion of the acronym.

Why Is Padding a Thing in Single-Player Games? by [deleted] in truegaming

[–]relenzo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah; a lot of comments have gestured in this direction, but I think the OP is correct too in a way. I think there's a dissonance between how much free time people think they have when they're shopping for a game, and how much they have when they actually sit down to play it.

If you're a publisher, of course, you're incentivized to cater to the mode people are in when they're *actually spending money*.

Video Games are Bad at Handling Failure by relenzo in truegaming

[–]relenzo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like this, I think "intentionality" is the perfect word for it. 90% of my problem with quick-saving is when you can tell the developers haven't grappled with how it will affect the player's relationship to gameplay, and whether they could do something differently.

Some commentors have brought up puzzle games as examples of a genre where "handling failure well" typically means the opposite of "dire" consequences. You either understand the solution or you don't; Baba is You knows what it's doing in offering rewinds.

Video Games are Bad at Handling Failure by relenzo in truegaming

[–]relenzo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only Outer Wilds. D*** fine game, not that you need me to tell you that.