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krotomo
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Saturday, October 14 2017, 7:55 pm EST
The Shepherd

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Braid is a pretty neat game
atvelonis
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Saturday, November 11 2017, 10:47 pm EST
Apocryphal Ruminator

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I finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution today. It was a lot of fun! Here's my review:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a story-driven, stealth-based cyberpunk shooter in which the player has to navigate a future world where human biotechnology (augmentations) have become commonplace and highly advanced. Placed in the city of Detroit in 2027, you encounter a tense world caught up in a fierce ethical debate over the use of human augmentations. This theme provides an excellent philosophical dilemma to many character interactions and remains a major focal point of the story all throughout.

Heavy on atmosphere, the game takes somewhat after Blade Runner in terms of aesthetics and sticks to its own color scheme very consistently. This produces a fascinating game world that only becomes more interesting as the details of your surroundings are revealed to you. The game has a couple large cities and various other hubs in which you can travel freely, progressing in the main questline and completing side objectives at your own pace.

The layout of these areas encourages exploration, and you need to be pretty crafty to get to certain areas. The level design in general is quite well-done, although the cities can feel somewhat jumbled at first. Many areas are non-linear, allowing you to take multiple approaches to infiltrating enemy bases or whatever else. Want to take a stealthy route, crawling through air vents and dropping down to stealthily knock out your opponents? That's just fine, and often leads to the discovery of some interesting hidden areas. Want to do a full-frontal assault every time? That's equally possible, but you have to know when to harness the cover mechanic and when to conserve ammunition.

You have access to a number of guns and grenades, as well as hand-to-hand combat. Each of these can be enhanced in some way with various upgrade kits scattered throughout the map: increased ammo capacity, faster reload speeds, cooling systems for automatic weapons, and more. When sneaking up on opponents, you also have the choice of knocking them unconscious or killing them with your fists via a quiet takedown cutscene. As for stealth, the cover mechanic is much less frustrating to use than, say, the one in Metal Gear Solid V, and the level design supports its use very well in most areas. Enemies enter an "Alert" mode if they are suspicious of your presence and a "Hostile" mode when engaged in direct combat, and will resuscitate any unconscious enemies whose bodies are not hidden well enough. Unfortunately, hiding from enemies yourself is a little too easy, because they cannot climb ladders or enter air vents, and will give up searching for you after only a minute or two.

Every action you make, including fighting enemies, hacking into computers, and finding hidden areas through exploration grants you XP, which is translated into a "Praxis point" when enough is acquired. These points allow you to upgrade some of your abilities, including getting more defensive armor, stealth enhancements, hacking abilities, and more. They can be saved over time for use later, which is a nice allowance. You can also trade goods with merchants stationed in city hubs in exchange for credits, which can be used to purchase weapons, grenades, hacking tools, Praxis kits, and other useful items. However, there are only a couple of merchants in each city, which can be somewhat annoying if you need to drop off some loot but aren't near a place to sell it. The inventory uses an upgradable grid system, with heavier items taking up more boxes than lighter ones. This design works fine, but some items are oddly unstackable, such as grenades, which can be frustrating.

The game's two greatest strengths are probably its dialogue and its story. You can interact with every NPC in the city regions, and many of them have a couple unique lines to say about your location or current events. Their dialogue changes somewhat as the story continues, making note of newsworthy happenings. Some lines are reused, and there is no visual indication that you have already spoken to a character, but it is still interesting to speak to everyone you meet: they do not necessarily idolize you, and some will even react with disgust at your presence. When conversing with quest-important NPCs, you generally have a wheel of multiple dialogue options, similar to the one in Fallout 4, but with less ambiguity as to the meaning of each message. Your character will occasionally ramble on about things that are not necessarily reflected in the description of your dialogue choice, which is irritating, but you are still given a decent amount of freedom with what you say. One augmentation upgrade even gives you a chance to catch the personality traits of each character based on their dialogue, which can make persuasions more feasible.

I found that the plot became increasingly compelling as it advanced, perhaps because it became somewhat darker in tone near the end. As it became more complex, I felt truly immersed in the game world. The game has multiple endings, and the concluding quests required some major decisions which left me thinking for some time afterwards. I felt that the pacing was appropriate and consistent, and I never felt rushed: with some timed exceptions, you really are capable of completing most quests at exactly your own speed.

The art direction is great, and the graphics are nice enough, if somewhat plain. The only technical issue I had with the game were the cutscenes. While they are fortunately not overused and are skippable, they all seem to be recorded in something like 720p, so they come out very grainy on a higher-resolution display; the transition from gameplay to cutscene is a little jarring. Furthermore, some of the dialogue cutscenes have a bit of echo in the background, but this may have been an intentional choice to increase the realism of certain rooms. The voice acting is pretty good, although the dialogue animations of NPCs are amusingly fidgety.

In conclusion, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a whole lot of fun. If you're looking for an action-stealth game with a good plot, this is the game for you: the gameplay is polished, the story is fantastic, and the characters are well-developed. The default price is $20, which is pretty reasonable: I got just over 40 hours in one playthrough. For that amount of gameplay, the sale price is even better. Barring the few issues I mentioned above, I really enjoyed this game, and am happy to recommend it to anyone reading this review.


'jellsprout' said:
As a kid I always thought tennisballs looked delicious and I liked biting them. I still remember the feel of the fuzz on my teeth and tongue.
aych bee
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Saturday, November 11 2017, 10:50 pm EST
when i am king

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^ two types of people in the world ^


Spoiler:
Isa
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Monday, November 13 2017, 9:51 am EST
No. I'm an octopus.

Age: 31
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i love deus ex human revolution. i have over 150 hours in it which is quite solid for a 1p game thats not a sandbox game.
Yaya
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Thursday, December 28 2017, 2:36 am EST

Age: 28
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I recently played Polyball. A ball rolling (Super Monkey Ball esque) Steam game that finally left early access this month. I casually followed its development, because Steam is pretty lacking in ball rolling games. Most of them are either too short, are too janky, or are just trash, and Polyball seemed like a promising, high effort title.

After putting about 6 hours into the game, I can say that it's probably the most well made ball rolling game on Steam. The problem is, the devs forgot to make it fun. More often than not, it's just either hard or frustrating. That's not to say Super Monkey Ball is never hard or frustrating, but there's something to that game that makes it easy to just continue trying to beat a level over and over without getting too annoyed. Polyball doesn't have that quality.

I think the game has around 60 levels. You start out with 1 world of 10 levels unlocked, and unlock further 10 level worlds by beating maps in under various par times. I was only able to unlock up to world 3. I beat every world 1 level (eventually), and beat like 4 world 2 levels, I think. I couldn't beat a single world 3 level. All in 6 hours of playtime-- it's just kinda frustrating. Especially the focus of the worlds. World 1 is a grab bag that just shows off various types of levels. World 2 mainly deals with environmental hazards... cuz that's fun? Then world 3 primarily features jumping, and rolling across narrow platforms... basically the worst aspects of the game. I almost don't wanna know what the later worlds are like.

I don't really feel like writing a Steam review, cuz I'm pretty sure my lack of skill would ultimately influence my opinion too much, and the devs are super nice from the interactions I've had with them, so I'd feel bad ragging on the game. I just wanted to vent



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
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shos
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Saturday, January 6 2018, 3:24 pm EST
~Jack of all trades~

Age: 31
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So here's a long term game for you all who like stuff like warcraft.

Anyone familiar with Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth Is?

It's a good game, fun and all. The good part though is the "War of the Ring" mode. You can play along with 2 brutal Allie's against 3 brutal enemies.

When you are good enough to win, you can add yourself a penalty - say -5%.
When you win, give -5% to yourself AND your Allie's.

Then 10%. 15. 20. 25. 40. 50. 60.

Eventually it becomes amazingly hard. And long.

Since about 2005 I have been doing that on and off. I had a good strategy which worked all the way to -40%. Then it failed. I had to find a new one, and then a new one...

Last time I played, I succeeded in going through the, holy shi, -75%>>>>oh yeah.

That took 47 hours of gameplay, spread over about two months. 47 hours neto.

Once I finish my M.Sc., I am intending to try -80%. I doubt it is possible.


atvelonis
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Monday, January 8 2018, 11:29 pm EST
Apocryphal Ruminator

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Location: An antique land
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I got through Ori and the Blind Forest the other day. I'm really impressed with pretty much every aspect of it. The controls are smooth, the gameplay is fun, the atmosphere is fascinating, and the art direction is incredible. Here's my review:

Ori and the Blind Forest is an atmospheric Metroidvania platformer set in a fantastical, colorful, and exciting world full of mysterious creatures and beautiful scenery. As the premise of the story, your character, Ori, sets upon a dangerous endeavor to restore the spiritiual energy of the decaying forest of Nibel. While there is a good amount of narration to faciliate this, the game is also able to convey a lot of emotion nonverbally. Cutscenes are used sparingly, and are each captivating, leading you on expactantly through the plot. The ending in particular is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

The gameplay mechanics are exceptionally fluid: there are a pretty wide variety of moves once you begin to unlock more abilities, but they never become clunky. Moon Studios clearly put quite a bit of thought into the level design to encourage the player to explore every nook and cranny to find hidden items and landmarks. The size of the map keeps the content fresh, and a basic fast travel system connects your discovered areas. My one criticism is that accessing some of the more obscure places can still be time-consuming: a few more fast travel points wouldn't have hurt. Regardless, though, the gameplay is very strong.

Additionally, the game's art direction is simply gorgeous: see for yourself in its trailers. Environments are vibrant and distinctive, and all of the hand-crafted regions in the map are loaded with bizarre yet oddly charming enemies the whole way through, each with their own unique attacks and characteristics. The soundtrack complements the art perfectly and gives a special flavor to each of the different areas. The game is fairly short, perhaps taking around 15 hours in a normal playthrough, but every moment I spent playing Ori and the Blind Forest was highly enjoyable.


'jellsprout' said:
As a kid I always thought tennisballs looked delicious and I liked biting them. I still remember the feel of the fuzz on my teeth and tongue.
Yaya
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Saturday, January 27 2018, 11:46 pm EST

Age: 28
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Location: Ohio (US)
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Unsettling cult classic Yume Nikki has recently become available on Steam. It's been freeware since it was released 14 years ago, but I know that sadly I am often too lazy to play games via any other method than Steam these days. It is a Japanese game (title translates to Dream Diary), but it's not animesque or anything, so I think anyone looking for a weird experience could enjoy it.

I haven't finished it yet, keeping in mind that it's not really a game that can be "finished", but it sure is strange.



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
aych bee
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Saturday, January 27 2018, 11:51 pm EST
when i am king

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Lol I attempted to play Yume Nikki once, it was so boring that I got bored of it and gave up. i hate video games.

edit: That is not correct, I enjoy Chip's Challenge and Sokoban. But literally NOTHING else.


Spoiler:
Yaya
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Sunday, January 28 2018, 12:13 am EST

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Can't say I'm surpris-- I mean um, yeah it's a bit slower paced than most games, and it's more about exploring rather than a specific goal. But I like exploring in video games, whether it be getting lost in the bowels of Minecraft, jumping up a mountain in Skyrim, or just trying the reach the boundaries of an area in any game.

Anyone looking for a weird experience could enjoy it, but it's not for everyone



COMING SOON: A giant meteor. Please.
Give me +karma. Give me +karma.
Isa
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Sunday, January 28 2018, 12:01 pm EST
No. I'm an octopus.

Age: 31
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chip's challenge is a great game so i commend that
DroidFreak36
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Thursday, May 10 2018, 4:15 am EST
HATPC Reborn Dev

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I just realized I haven't posted in here for a while. So here's a threefer:

Jan 8, 2018 - I got They Are Billions, an excellent survival RTS somewhat reminiscent of the Creeper World series. I played it for about 45 hours, mostly while at work, and I can definitely recommend it. During this time I was also still playing Paragon, although it was beginning to fall into disrepair already. In late January, Epic officially announced that Paragon was shutting down. While the servers stayed up for a few months, I completely stopped playing Paragon at that point. IDK if they officially mentioned this but everyone knows that the reason why is that Epic pulled all of Paragon's developers to work on Fortnite Battle Royale, which was proving to be far more profitable.

Feb 6, 2018 - A friend of mine suggested that I try out Elite - Dangerous and I tried out the free trial, then decided to buy the game since I enjoyed the core gameplay. Over the next almost two months or so I clocked 609 (!) hours in Elite... although a bit of that time was me accidentally leaving the launcher open since Steam counts the launcher as part of the game. Still, I don't doubt I spent over 400 hours in game. Elite is addictive and the core gameplay is a great, but I have a few disclaimers:
(1) It's a flight sim at its core, so if you don't have a good control setup it will be hard to do anything. Whatever you do, don't try to play this game on a xbox/playstation controller. Not only do controllers not have enough axis to properly control the game (it has 6 flight axis), but tiny joysticks with large dead zones don't do it justice. Get yourself a real joystick, or failing that use a mouse for pitch & yaw and keyboard for the other controls.
(2) The in-game economy is wildly unbalanced. The main currency is credits, or more correctly thousands of credits since the last 3 digits in your credit account are completely worthless and might as well be ignored. The game has many ways to get credits, but they're balanced (or rather, unbalanced) in such a way that the only worthwhile way to earn credits is through missions and the mission payouts are also unbalanced so that many missions are worthless and some are OP. Periodically, money making methods in excess of 50 million per hour will be discovered (always involving unbalanced mission payouts) and the community will latch onto them in a "gold rush" until the devs nerf them. In one such gold rush shortly before I stopped playing I became a billionaire. Meanwhile, non-mission activities will only earn you a few million per hour if that. Basically, the devs need to massively overhaul the payouts from various activities to balance them.
(3) The late game content (as well as some of the early game content) depends too heavily on the mechanic of "Unidentified Signal Sources" (or USS's) which are randomly generated in front of you as you fly around. There's no gameplay to this mechanic, you literally just wait around until a USS of the right type spawns in. This is really what drove me away from the game... not being able to play the game because I had to just wait around for USS's to spawn in. There's rumors that this MIGHT be changing in the Q4 update later this year, and if it does I will probably return to Elite, but until then I can't be bothered to try to progress when it requires so much waiting for RNG.

March 30, 2018 - I'm browsing Steam when I come across Paladins. I'd heard of it before, but I'd never tried it out, and considering I was burned out on Elite and increasingly frustrated with Overwatch's mechanics, so I decided to try out the free-to-play Overwatch alternative that a few YouTubers said was actually better than Overwatch... and I totally agree. Ok, so Paladins is a little buggy. Maybe more than a little. Maybe a lot. But the core gameplay is way more fun than Overwatch in my opinion. I used to enjoy Overwatch quite a bit, but somewhere along the line it became not fun to me. Maybe it was the slow pace of development. Maybe it was the direction of the development. Or maybe it was just that having played a real MOBA in Paragon, the MOBA-like elements of Overwatch made me frustrated with the ways it fell short of living up to the MOBA genre. Paladins, on the other hand, is a lot more MOBA-like where it counts and has a faster pace of development, as well as a much more balanced hero roster with better defined roles. It has a longer time to kill, no hero swapping, item-building with in-match currency, regenerating health when out of combat, and a much more balanced cast of characters (whereas in OW the heroes are designed specifically to be rife with rock-paper-scisors mechanics to encourage hero swapping). It feels way less frustrating to play than Overwatch and there's no doubt in my mind that Paladins is more fun for me. I've clocked 201 hours in it on steam so far and am still playing it. Also, unlike most modern games it can actually run on fairly low-end hardware, meaning a particular friend of mine who has a potato laptop can play it with me.

Although I should probably mention that Paladins's recent "release" from beta is a farce. It's still quite buggy and the release patch literally removed the "beta" tag from the in game logo and almost nothing else. In fact, the version number is still 0.70 despite the official "1.0 release". Word in the community is that the devs are trying to release it on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo won't accept beta games so they had to officially release the game just to get Nintendo to look at it. They've said they'll work on squashing those bugs quickly, but who knows if that'll really happen. Still, if you ignore the game-breaking bugs Paladins is a great game. XD




Quote:
Rictory for Ralkyon!

HATPC Reborn home page
jellsprout
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Thursday, May 10 2018, 6:14 am EST
Lord of Sprout Tower

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Right now I'm mostly playing Okami on PC. Trying to go for the 100%.
Also on mobile I'm playing Fire Emblem Heroes. Basically like other Fire Emblem games, except gacha and the battles are much smaller.

I also occasionally play Ark, Kerbal Space Program and Terraria, and I recently got a Wii U so I'm also sometimes playing Mario Maker.


Spoiler:
Rocketguy2
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Thursday, May 10 2018, 12:22 pm EST
God wishes he was me

Age: 21
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Location: Clinging to the last whispers of life in my decaying body
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Celeste is some good stuff, and I'd recommend it to anyone on the interguild, due to it's similarities to HATPC

I think Krotomo has the game, but I'm not sure


Can you feel your heart burning?
Can you feel the struggle within?
The fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make, you cannot kill me in a way that matters
krotomo
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Thursday, May 10 2018, 3:35 pm EST
The Shepherd

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Yep, Celeste is an awesome game with amazing platforming and a good OST. Would definitely recommend.
aych bee
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Thursday, May 10 2018, 3:37 pm EST
when i am king

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if you are too poor to spend the $20 USD required to purchase celeste then may i suggest GIRP, a free flash game which appears to be based on the same concept


Spoiler:
Rocketguy2
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Saturday, May 12 2018, 1:16 pm EST
God wishes he was me

Age: 21
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Location: Clinging to the last whispers of life in my decaying body
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How far through Celeste are you Kro? I'm currently 2/3 of the way through 7C


Can you feel your heart burning?
Can you feel the struggle within?
The fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make, you cannot kill me in a way that matters
Isa
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Saturday, May 12 2018, 1:45 pm EST
No. I'm an octopus.

Age: 31
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Location: Uppsala, Sweden - GMT +1
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im playing lots and lots of gwent, specifically arena mode. it's very fun. the economy is super healthy too, i've spent ~7 euro total on the game in 2½ months and have 70% of the total card collection
krotomo
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Sunday, May 13 2018, 12:39 am EST
The Shepherd

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@rocketguy I 100%'d the game a couple months ago, except for those goshdarn golden strawberries
Rocketguy2
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Sunday, May 13 2018, 4:50 am EST
God wishes he was me

Age: 21
Karma: 38
Posts: 850
Location: Clinging to the last whispers of life in my decaying body
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nice, I'm never getting the goldens, two are enough for me...


Can you feel your heart burning?
Can you feel the struggle within?
The fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make, you cannot kill me in a way that matters
jellsprout
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Sunday, May 13 2018, 1:58 pm EST
Lord of Sprout Tower

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Completed my 100% playthrough of Okami. Was fun enough. I was planning to do Super Mario 3D World next, but to be honest I'm now really in the mood for Majora's Mask. That always happens after I play a Zelda-like game. I want to see if I can finally do a 3-cycle 100% playthrough.


Spoiler:
atvelonis
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Wednesday, May 23 2018, 12:09 am EST
Apocryphal Ruminator

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Finished Tomb Raider (1996) today. I had gotten like halfway through it a year or two ago but lost my progress when my hard drive decided to commit suicide. The game's graphics definitely don't hold a candle to the reboot's, but they aren't bad. Games from that era still have a certain visual charm, and Tomb Raider's art direction is perfectly good. Unfortunately, the DOS-era controls don't help with the experience any; while the keyboard buttons are remappable, you can't use the mouse at all. It takes a couple levels to get used to that.

Regardless, I found the levels quite satisfying to explore and the puzzles appropriately difficult all throughout. I appreciate that instead of setting up a gigantic, sprawling mess in every level, the developers kept each one relatively dense. See a platform up above in a cavern early on? Chances are you're headed there soon enough. There's not really any filler. Everything gets used, and the design felt pretty fluid in general. It bothers me that the Steam version doesn't come with the score, only atmospheric sounds, but I found a tutorial on how to get it working here.

So I would definitely recommend Tomb Raider if it looks like your kind of game, but only if you can get over the controls and the graphics.


'jellsprout' said:
As a kid I always thought tennisballs looked delicious and I liked biting them. I still remember the feel of the fuzz on my teeth and tongue.
DroidFreak36
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Wednesday, May 23 2018, 7:54 am EST
HATPC Reborn Dev

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So I did some searching around Steam and I found Faeria... which is kinda like Scrolls except it's free-to-play and it hasn't been shut down (RIP). You build a deck out of collectible cards (like MTG or Hearthstone) but then you duel using those cards on a hex-based arena in a TBS style. As a huge fan of both deck building games and hex-based TBS games, I absolutely love that style of game, and it's awesome that one still exiats after Scrolls died.




Quote:
Rictory for Ralkyon!

HATPC Reborn home page
jellsprout
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Saturday, June 30 2018, 3:53 pm EST
Lord of Sprout Tower

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Quote:
Celeste is some good stuff, and I'd recommend it to anyone on the interguild, due to it's similarities to HATPC

I think Krotomo has the game, but I'm not sure


I got the game on the Steam sale and I beat it today. Really good platformer. Now to get all the collectibles and complete all the B-sides


Spoiler:
atvelonis
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Thursday, August 2 2018, 6:25 pm EST
Apocryphal Ruminator

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The other day I finally finished The Witness, a quiet and contemplative yet challenging puzzle game with a particular focus on self-led gameplay. The game's setting, a remote island, is comprised of various distinct environments—a stately castle, an autumnal forest, a quaint town, a vibrant jungle, and so on—each with their own unique puzzle mechanic.

The fundamental objective of every puzzle in The Witness is to draw a line from point A to point B in a small, gridded panel. The mechanics of each type of puzzle will unfold naturally as you recognize visual patterns in their layout through quick trial and error. Like all puzzle games, it asks the player to pick up on how mechanics function themselves, then subsequently apply that knowledge to more complicated designs. However, The Witness does not bother with writing out explanations for the player. The purpose is to figure everything out on your own, which ends up feeling very rewarding. Puzzles hidden in environmental features throughout the map offer an additional challenge to players looking to truly master each area. These are fun to look for, but the game is not pushy about making you solve every single one.

This approach can be really intellectually fascinating, although it is perhaps not as engaging as physically moving around crates and redirecting laser beams as you would in Portal 2 or The Talos Principle. The Witness is most certainly a slow-paced game in comparison, so people who are looking for something to blast through quickly are probably not going to be interested by it. This feeling is exacerbated by the game's limited presence of music; it's mostly atmospheric noises. I was initially turned off by this, but I realized after a short while that it helped me become a lot more immersed in the game world and the puzzles themselves.

Regardless, the map is complex enough that one can spend many hours exploring every nook and cranny, but not too big as to become boring or empty. Its entire design is very purposeful, with each structure and environmental feature placed very deliberately to enhance the puzzle-solving experience. My only real gripe with the overall layout is that it is sometimes a bit annoying to get to certain areas, even if they are within sight. There is no jumping mechanic, so it can take a while to figure out your route; oftentimes, the only way to unlock more convenient paths is by finishing puzzle sets. However, this design choice also gives the developers a tremendous amount of control over your actions in puzzles and makes it very difficult for you to exploit small level design oversights. There are a number of secrets hidden in the game world which you can find if you have a good attention to detail, ranging from short philosophical tapes to entire new puzzle areas.

The Witness is also what I would call a highly aesthetic game. Not just visually, although the art direction is quite good—I mean this in a more conceptual way. It seems to me that Jonathan Blow's thesis with The Witness is a rejection of modern video game design philosophy; that the developers must constantly give players some sort of tangible encouragement to keep them going. His goal, which becomes very clear if you pay attention to the design of the world, is to keep players entertained by offering genuinely compelling gameplay. There is no scoring system for completing puzzles quickly, no trophies that players would only search for to get their completion counter up, just gameplay and an interesting world to explore. I think this criticism of the industry's practices is well-needed, and its implementation in The Witness provides a more fulfilling experience than I usually get in a video game.

The Witness is a truly thought-provoking work, and there is more to it than you might expect. It has its issues, but I think there is a lot more meaning in it than there is in most other games I've played. Of course, the puzzles are really fun in their own right; it's a great way to relax! If that sounds at all interesting to you, I would definitely give the game a try.


'jellsprout' said:
As a kid I always thought tennisballs looked delicious and I liked biting them. I still remember the feel of the fuzz on my teeth and tongue.

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