Culture Wars General - KiA Diet Coke Edition

[SiccDicc]

Tiddy Souls is out, no idea if it's good though.

I enjoy it. Story so far is pretty much Casshern Sins, but zombie vampires and the world while drab in a post-apocalyptic setting is expected since it's in a city. The parry system is metal, it's basically an instant backstab which is also bloody and brutal. The game focuses more on co-op than PvP since the latter is nonexistent which may be because Bandai Namco isn't exactly stellar when it comes to netcode and is a smart decision in my book for a new entry in the genre -- don't need to give them any more reason to ding it, reviewers already knock it for its aesthetic and the tiddies despite liking the game mechanically. The spells are buffs and attacks that you can take from any class when you've mastered them and use an ichor system instead of stamina or mana that's pretty much like ammunition; which you can refuel by parrying, backstabbing or just draining with your veil.

It's a pretty good entry point and all they need to do is refine some things and add some variance to weapons for its successors, maybe a few more veils or veil combos. Maybe a Bloodthirst Mode where you go crazy with your veil. I do appreciate them big ol' tiddies, though. I just wouldn't go into it expecting the refinement of Dark Souls or the novelty of it back when that was new, but it is a good game in its own right. 7.5/10 in my book. Maybe 8 or 9 depending where the story goes since I'm still early on and dicking around.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I enjoy it. Story so far is pretty much Casshern Sins, but zombie vampires and the world while drab in a post-apocalyptic setting is expected since it's in a city. The parry system is metal, it's basically an instant backstab which is also bloody and brutal. The game focuses more on co-op than PvP since the latter is nonexistent which may be because Bandai Namco isn't exactly stellar when it comes to netcode and is a smart decision in my book for a new entry in the genre -- don't need to give them any more reason to ding it, reviewers already knock it for its aesthetic and the tiddies despite liking the game mechanically. The spells are buffs and attacks that you can take from any class when you've mastered them and use an ichor system instead of stamina or mana that's pretty much like ammunition; which you can refuel by parrying, backstabbing or just draining with your veil.

It's a pretty good entry point and all they need to do is refine some things and add some variance to weapons for its successors, maybe a few more veils or veil combos. Maybe a Bloodthirst Mode where you go crazy with your veil. I do appreciate them big ol' tiddies, though. I just wouldn't go into it expecting the refinement of Dark Souls or the novelty of it back when that was new, but it is a good game in its own right. 7.5/10 in my book. Maybe 8 or 9 depending where the story goes since I'm still early on and dicking around.

I'm currently playing The Surge 2. But it sounds like it might be fun.

How's the difficulty and hit detection? Is it full of cheap shots and tracking enemies like Dark Souls 3?

 

[SiccDicc]

I'm currently playing The Surge 2. But it sounds like it might be fun.

How's the difficulty and hit detection? Is it full of cheap shots and tracking enemies like Dark Souls 3?

I haven't had much trouble, the AI companions are pretty reliable thus far and can revive you if you go down by expending a bit of their health. There's supposed to be multiple endings and you can do a newgame+ to reach them all if you like and keep your shit the next round. Even increase difficulty for each playthrough like Dark Souls. Classes decide your stats, you don't invest into them but you can buy various powers - passive or active - from each class and keep the abilities you like into the next if that class meets the requirement for some. You can swap these abilities out without having to visit a mistle -- the bonfire in the game.

I haven't seen much tracking, I can dodge pretty easily. However, I'm a terrible gauge for that. I'd watch some people fight a boss and see how that works, there's a demo for the game on the PS4/Xbox - I think it should still be there - where they have a dungeon called The Depths where you can fight some mini bosses and then a big boss. Should give you an idea of how they work if the videos are unreliable.

 

[Jaimas]

I'm currently playing The Surge 2. But it sounds like it might be fun.

How's the difficulty and hit detection? Is it full of cheap shots and tracking enemies like Dark Souls 3?

How is that? I was rather fond of the first one.

 

[Judge Dredd]

How is that? I was rather fond of the first one.

I like it so far. It's basically more The Surge. There's some small, but interesting changes. Like gear sets having a 3 piece bonus and the removal of weapon proficiency. There's stats now that you can upgrade, health, stamina, and battery. You can parry now. There are heavy attacks with plenty of reason to use them, usually breaking shields. The drones have ammo and are useful. Elements do things other than be a damage modifier, so electric can stuff, flame builds a damage over time effect, etc. There are many more changes, but I think it's improvement overall. I haven't tried the online yet.

There are a couple of negative points that I'm not sure of yet. I think the level design might be worse? I wouldn't call any of them bad, but there are a lot of winding overlapping mazes. Or it could be that I just don't know them very well yet. The game can look blurry and washed out in certain areas, I think this might be a problem with resolution scaling or texture streaming going into overdrive, but I really don't know. I haven't noticed it for a while so it's either fixed, or the areas I'm in don't have that problem. Deck 13 have been quick with the patches.

 

[EmpGulcasa]

Maps in Surge 2 are more like Dark Souls, and vice versa.

 

[NotoriousD]

I enjoy it. Story so far is pretty much Casshern Sins, but zombie vampires and the world while drab in a post-apocalyptic setting is expected since it's in a city. The parry system is metal, it's basically an instant backstab which is also bloody and brutal. The game focuses more on co-op than PvP since the latter is nonexistent which may be because Bandai Namco isn't exactly stellar when it comes to netcode and is a smart decision in my book for a new entry in the genre -- don't need to give them any more reason to ding it, reviewers already knock it for its aesthetic and the tiddies despite liking the game mechanically. The spells are buffs and attacks that you can take from any class when you've mastered them and use an ichor system instead of stamina or mana that's pretty much like ammunition; which you can refuel by parrying, backstabbing or just draining with your veil.

It's a pretty good entry point and all they need to do is refine some things and add some variance to weapons for its successors, maybe a few more veils or veil combos. Maybe a Bloodthirst Mode where you go crazy with your veil. I do appreciate them big ol' tiddies, though. I just wouldn't go into it expecting the refinement of Dark Souls or the novelty of it back when that was new, but it is a good game in its own right. 7.5/10 in my book. Maybe 8 or 9 depending where the story goes since I'm still early on and dicking around.

I haven't had much trouble, the AI companions are pretty reliable thus far and can revive you if you go down by expending a bit of their health. There's supposed to be multiple endings and you can do a newgame+ to reach them all if you like and keep your shit the next round. Even increase difficulty for each playthrough like Dark Souls. Classes decide your stats, you don't invest into them but you can buy various powers - passive or active - from each class and keep the abilities you like into the next if that class meets the requirement for some. You can swap these abilities out without having to visit a mistle -- the bonfire in the game.

I haven't seen much tracking, I can dodge pretty easily. However, I'm a terrible gauge for that. I'd watch some people fight a boss and see how that works, there's a demo for the game on the PS4/Xbox - I think it should still be there - where they have a dungeon called The Depths where you can fight some mini bosses and then a big boss. Should give you an idea of how they work if the videos are unreliable.

Thanks for the info. I was gonna grab it anyway eventually but I think I'll do it sooner rather than later between this and some friends talking about it. It looks really fun.

 

[Ineedahero]

Maps in Surge 2 are more like Dark Souls, and vice versa.

What do you mean and vice versa?

 

[EmpGulcasa]

What do you mean and vice versa?

Sorry, that was weirded strangely. I meant Surge maps are more like Dark Souls 2. As in, Surge 1 maps are more open and traditional while Surge 2 is a spiderweb of interconnected zones with multiple shortcuts you unlock as you go.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Sorry, that was weirded strangely. I meant Surge maps are more like Dark Souls 2. As in, Surge 1 maps are more open and traditional while Surge 2 is a spiderweb of interconnected zones with multiple shortcuts you unlock as you go.

The Surge 1 was interconnected to the point where there was only 1 ops per zone that you found shortcuts to. There are areas like that in 2 like Gideon's Rock, but the streets has multiple med bays. The nature of those loop backs are my problem though. Instead of being straight forward, it's a confusing maze. Some areas seem to be that way on purpose, but it could be me having a hard time memorizing the layouts since they loop vertically and horizontally, but The Surge 1 was mostly flat when it comes to overall navigation. There's also more one way drops that make it more difficult. That's why I'm not really sure if this is a fault with the game or with me.

 

[Cheetahman]

Didn't see anything about this in the past few pages, so here we go again!

Games professor accuses Kingdom of Loathing designer of abuse

A.M. Darke shares her story of physical, emotional abuse at the hands of ex-husband Zack Johnson

www.gamesindustry.biz

https://archive.li/YS51b

Cast of characters:
AM: accuser
Zack Johnson: ex-husband
Kevin Simmons: co-worker to Zack, lived in same house as them during their marriage

The Google doc is now private and their Twitter account is now deleted. Hmm.

Zack Johnson Is An Abuser – Zack Johnson Is An Abuser

archived 1 Oct 2019 13:56:37 UTC

archive.is

Someone seems to have duplicated the entire google doc (with added commentary at the top), which I then archived.
What a fiasco!

 

[rabo]

https://archive.li/C10A9

Someone seems to have duplicated the entire google doc (with added commentary at the top), which I then archived.
What a fiasco!

As soon as I hear somebody utter "suicide ideation" I have to roll my eyes.

Edit: Reading this was a slog. "I can't even finish these details." then proceeds to go into detail.

 

[INVCTS]

Thanks for the info. I was gonna grab it anyway eventually but I think I'll do it sooner rather than later between this and some friends talking about it. It looks really fun.

I just blitzed through Anime Souls and wanted to give my two cents. The gameplay is tight, with the general three styles of hit things hard, hit things fast, and magic explosion things. The few recommendations I'd give is to not ignore gifts and experiment with active powers and passive powers a fair bit. The other is to explore as much as possible, especially once the game starts branching out. A good 1/3 of the game is in technically optional areas. The game is certainly the easiest "souls-like" that I've played, at least with the AI companion active. There's very little to caution, complain about, or further detail as far as gameplay goes.

The main difference between Dark Souls and Code Vein, however, is in its approach to story, in that Code Vein tells its story like a general JRPG. The characters are somewhat interesting, if a bit one note, and there's plenty of good aesthetic choices. Just don't go into it expecting a Dark Souls or even Sekiro esque experience.

 

[Sir Wesley Tailpipe]

Does Shantae count?

Nothing WayForward makes qualifies as a good game.

 

[vertexwindi]

Nothing WayForward makes qualifies as a good game.

I've given Shantae games a few tries, but they're only good for the porn potential really.

 

[Pixy]

Not culture wars, but it fits under 'ethics in vidya journalism'

tldr: rando Journo from unknown website describes playing Death Stranding at PAX AUSTRALIA as "nightmare inducing", and her article blows up on the internet because it "describes" alleged gameplay. It turns out they can't verify whether she played the game or not, with the editor stepping in to state that they can't verify the validity of the article.

The problem was, the article was flawed from the start. Nobody reveals anything at PAX Australia, not even Australian indie devs, so it'd be extremely unlikely Kojima Productions would allow journos to play Death Stranding in PAX Aus, of all places.

Secondly, it wasn't a high-profile vidya journo like the former hosts of Good Game, who would be more likely to be picked to play through a demo due to their prominence in Australian journalism.

Thirdly, it was the day before (10th October) PAX Aus was slated to begin (11th October).

Death Stranding's environments are nightmare inducing | Sausage Roll

Death Stranding launches worldwide next month and everybody should be hyped, if my experience is anything to go by. It gave me nightmares.

www.sausageroll.com.au

Death Stranding's environments are nightmare inducing | Sausage Roll

archived 13 Oct 2019 15:04:35 UTC

archive.fo

The journo who wrote the article 'coincidentally' locked her twitter after this.

Erina Victoria Rose (@ErinaWins) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from Erina Victoria Rose (@ErinaWins). Gamer, film buff, TwitchTV addict, geek blogger at @_sausageroll❤. Melbourne, Victoria

twitter.com

Erina Victoria Rose (@ErinaWins) on Twitter

archived 13 Oct 2019 15:11:54 UTC

archive.fo

I'm just baffled at why she'd do this, aside from clickbait and attracting traffic etc. It was inevitably going to be debunked. I get that it was the day before PAX and all the juicy articles are put out within the first 2 days, but the cost of being exposed just doesn't seem worth it. Especially in Australia's shrinking youth-journalism industry.

Edit: Kojima Productions, not Konami

 

[AnOminous]

I'm just baffled at why she'd do this, aside from clickbait and attracting traffic etc. It was inevitably going to be debunked. I get that it was the day before PAX and all the juicy articles are put out within the first 2 days, but the cost of being exposed just doesn't seem worth it. Especially in Australia's shrinking youth-journalism industry.

Gamers are dumb and won't notice if you just blatantly lie, and even if they do, they're so docile and harmless they won't ever do something like attack games journalists for lying.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Not culture wars, but it fits under 'ethics in vidya journalism'

tldr: rando Journo from unknown website describes playing Death Stranding at PAX AUSTRALIA as "nightmare inducing", and her article blows up on the internet because it "describes" alleged gameplay. It turns out they can't verify whether she played the game or not, with the editor stepping in to state that they can't verify the validity of the article.

The problem was, the article was flawed from the start. Nobody reveals anything at PAX Australia, not even Australian indie devs, so it'd be extremely unlikely Konami would allow journos to play Death Stranding in PAX Aus, of all places.

Secondly, it wasn't a high-profile vidya journo like the former hosts of Good Game, who would be more likely to be picked to play through a demo due to their prominence in Australian journalism.

Thirdly, it was the day before (10th October) PAX Aus was slated to begin (11th October).

Death Stranding's environments are nightmare inducing | Sausage Roll

Death Stranding launches worldwide next month and everybody should be hyped, if my experience is anything to go by. It gave me nightmares.

www.sausageroll.com.au

Death Stranding's environments are nightmare inducing | Sausage Roll

archived 13 Oct 2019 15:04:35 UTC

archive.fo

The journo who wrote the article 'coincidentally' locked her twitter after this.

Erina Victoria Rose (@ErinaWins) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from Erina Victoria Rose (@ErinaWins). Gamer, film buff, TwitchTV addict, geek blogger at @_sausageroll❤. Melbourne, Victoria

twitter.com

Erina Victoria Rose (@ErinaWins) on Twitter

archived 13 Oct 2019 15:11:54 UTC

archive.fo

I'm just baffled at why she'd do this, aside from clickbait and attracting traffic etc. It was inevitably going to be debunked. I get that it was the day before PAX and all the juicy articles are put out within the first 2 days, but the cost of being exposed just doesn't seem worth it. Especially in Australia's shrinking youth-journalism industry.

Konami has nothing to do with Death Stranding, it's all Sony. Kojima's studio is part of Sony much like Naughty Dog and Insomniac are.

 

[Secret Asshole]

Gamers are dumb and won't notice if you just blatantly lie, and even if they do, they're so docile and harmless they won't ever do something like attack games journalists for lying.

Because nobody has a real identity anymore. You want to know why we get shit games? Because of people who identify themselves as 'gamers' and are loyal to these massive mega corporations looking to fuck you out of your last dollar.

Their brains are so rotted, they will defend their chosen mega corporation to the death, backing the corporate shills gaming press, especially when they call people entitled. You know what faggots, I'm ENTITLED to a good product. I am ENTITLED to get my money's worth. No shit I'm entitled you cocksucker. The fuck you think it means? It means I paid for something and I expect something of a certain quality. If its not met I will tell you what you did wrong to get more of my money. If you don't want to listen, fine by me. You can fuck off then. I have thousands of entertainment options. I don't need you or your fuck-face, 1.4 GPA English Majors telling me what I want or need.

 

[ZMOT]

I'm just baffled at why she'd do this, aside from clickbait and attracting traffic etc. It was inevitably going to be debunked. I get that it was the day before PAX and all the juicy articles are put out within the first 2 days, but the cost of being exposed just doesn't seem worth it. Especially in Australia's shrinking youth-journalism industry.

dunno about PAX, but at some events press etc. have an extra day before it opens to the public. and at least the editor would know about it since he signed off on it.

the biggest contradiction tho is that no one else claims to have played it or, if they did, is keeping their mouth shut due to embargo etc. everybody wants to know what DS actually plays like, bigger websites would be stupid to not run articles about it if they could, even if it's just shitty clickbait.