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Vidya Gaems General

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Comments

  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human


    According to MangaGamer, while they used to have DRM on their products, their entire store is DRM-free now.

    So if you're interested in DRM-free games, here's the list I've compiled so far:

    GamersGate - check the DRM information.
    GOG - all games are DRM-free.
    Humble Store - many games are available DRM-free (often with a Steam key); check for the DRM-free icon.
    itch.io - many games are DRM-free (sometimes with a Steam key); check what a purchase gives you.
    JAST USA - all games are DRM-free.
    MangaGamer - all games are DRM-free.
    Playism - most games are available DRM-free (often with a Steam key); check what a purchase gives you.
    Steam - some games are DRM-free but there isn't any great way to check.

    Company-specific web stores may also offer DRM-free game downloads. For example, some are offered through Fruitbat Factory's web store, for a subset of their products. (Though their (probably) most famous game, 100% Orange Juice, is an odd beast in this regard, as the DRM-free version is the old version while the new version is inextricably tied to Steam for its multiplayer features.)

    Please feel free to suggest corrections/additions to this list.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    There is a distributor website called GamersGate? It's like, I'm a bit afraid of entering a place that calls itself this way, if you know what I mean.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    They existed long before the "#gamergate" controversy was a thing.
  • What you're saying is that it's actually about distribution of video game products.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    What you're saying is that it's actually about distribution of video game products.
    Heh.

    Meanwhile:

    https://psyarxiv.com/a3kp2/
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I think it was cool for Square Enix to do a remake of Final Fantasy VII. However, they've completely Square Enix-ed the execution. Instead of releasing a solo game with a turn-based battle system, they've taken the modified FFXV action RPG engine and decided to release the game in 'Episodes'. According to what's been said so far, it's going to be more episodes than there were original discs on the PS. Episodes that will be few and far between, possibly lasting until after the PS5 generation.

    I mean, okay, print money SE! But this is a really seedy thing to do.
  • "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    Been playing Stellaris recently. It's a 4X game from Paradox, so you know what comes. Build your empire, explore the galaxy, develop your technology, welcome poor and downtrodden from every species into your borders, close your borders, turn them into slaves, genetically modify them to be obedient and tasty, and eat them.

    Played as humans.

    In case you wondered I didn't do that (for some reason I don't really enjoy playing as EEEVIL), but I find it kinda fascinating that they specifically include stuff like that in their games.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    Yeah that does seem really specific.
    close your borders, turn them into slaves, genetically modify them to be obedient and tasty, and eat them.

    This sounds like the 86 EIGHTY SIX light novel series (well, minus the eating).
  • edited 2019-06-14 15:16:00
    There is love everywhere, I already know
    I'm playing (deep breath) Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Hacker's Memory again. It's a complete game, but I mostly find myself obsessing over Digivolution, which is definitely not the right way to play this game considering how long it takes to properly get from one stage to the next.

    Like right now, I'm trying to get MegaGargomon but this means leveling my current Rapidmon up to max (99) and then De-Digivolving him to Gargomon so his ABI stat goes up then repeating the leveling and Digivolving necessary to get back to Rapidmon Lv99.

    On the bright side, at least this isn't a Digimon World style system.
  • edited 2019-06-15 05:00:53
    I've recently gotten into the world of emulating games on mobile devices. I should've started doing this earlier.

    I finished Fantasy Puppet Play (the Touhou x Pokémon Fire Red hack), my final team was:

    *Sanae (Shinto (one of the three Psychic equivalents, this one is for religious types)/Wind (an Electric equivalent), starter)
    *Koakuma (Reason (a Psychic equivalent for studious types))
    *Sunny (Fire/Nature (a Grass equivalent)
    *Luna (Wind/Nature)
    *Star (Water/Nature)
    *Whatever HM slave I need at the time

    (If you're curious, the third Psychic equivalent is Mind/Heart, for those who deal with thoughts, emotions, sanity, etc.)

    Normally I end up regretting choosing "themed" mons as at least one ends up being a burden, but in this case Sunny, Luna and Star all ended up being good, especially Sunny who was my most useful mon throughout, and Luna my second most useful near the end. Sanae was far from useless, but not what I would expect from a starter.

    Also I was a bit disappointed after finishing it. Normally I first beat it using items then try to beat it again without, but for some reason I thought Fire Red had a round-two Elite Four so from the get-go I repeatedly went through it leveling up little by little thinking there would be something after that besides mindless grinding but nope. Also I beat the rival in something like the second time around.

    Also I played Fire Emblem for the first time around (Blazing Sword). They are fun, but I have to wonder why there are turn-based strategy game battles in what's otherwise clearly a dating sim. Also I didn't know the games (or this one at least) had multiple stories in them. So I ended up helping my swords waifu and am now dating the dude that at first I thought was Roy but isn't. Also I'm resetting whenever one of my homies die, I wonder if I should.

    Finally, I'm playing Pokémon Diamond, it's the first time I play a Pokémon game past Gen III. As I always do the first time around, I chose the fire starter, and so far that's all I've done.

  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    but I have to wonder why there are turn-based strategy game battles in what's otherwise clearly a dating sim

    I'm guessing because the permadeath (do they still do that?) would be really pointless otherwise.

    I was going to replay Pokémon Y so I could eventually play Sun/Moon and maybe attempt some catch-up with the franchise, but my 2DS still had Disney Magical World 2 in it so I suck two hours into that instead.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    They get into fights to stay in shape. Those gorgeous bodies don't make themselves.
  • So many good Metroidvanias have been released on the Switch lately, I'm not even sure which one I should play next.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    So Pokémon Sword and Shield will not include all... 1000something Pokémon.

    Nobody, at all, can handle this, as if it is an actual problem.
  • edited 2019-06-22 01:59:29
    I was thinking about thatrecently, with the resources it takes to come up with sprites/model and pokedex entry at some point they'd have to "freeze" them or something, apparently the time is now and the solution is to do away with them, at least tempirarily. (I hadn't thought about updating moves and balance issues, but officially that's a big part of it.)



    Still though, it's a bummer.



    Also I'm grateful that I've managed to stay mostly unspoiled of post gen III stuff for however long it's been, it does feel like I'm playing a game I've never seen before.
  • edited 2019-06-22 06:36:31
    There is love everywhere, I already know
    I always actually thought it was odd to maintain the National Pokédex, but I'm a single player looking for a finite experience. My priorities differ significantly from more serious players.

    I understand that this may alter metagame in ways that will actually drive people up the wall, but metagamers need to adapt and change to new developments too lest they have the exact same fight/strategy over and over.

    Meanwhile, I think my meticulous Digivolution strategy is starting to annoy even me.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    I have gotten wind of %random_internet_people% %making_complaints% about Pokémon Sword & Shield.

    I haven't figured out what they're complaining about yet. Maybe something involving 3D models? And something about Pokémon selection I guess?
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    So Digimon Story Hacker's Memory Cyber Sleuth has... sort of lost it's mind? So, a girl calls you and asks you to go to your favourite cafe where there's a secret menu item that even you don't know about. As a regular, the owner allows you and her (he thinks she's your girlfriend) to sample the fancy coffee.

    After drinking said fancy coffee, you have such a religious experience with the stuff that you're knocked out and deposited on his server? (I mean, real life and the digital world are very much in flux so I guess this can happen)

    There, you fight his Mushroomon, which is meant to put you to sleep to extract your memory of drinking the coffee so they can sell said memory to rich old people who can't drink coffee for health reasons but want the experience of doing so?

    And you don't get to keep the memory because it's an "exclusive" experience (insert social commentary here). So you actually accept for him to do this because the coffee is like 10million Yen a cup and this way he allows normal people to experience it

    Of course, the girl you came with also had a weird time with the coffee since you came with her (as an experienced hacker his Mushroomon trick didn't work on you) but he had to basically remove the whole part of her personality that made her love coffee and makes her hate coffee instead, and now she loves orange juice?

    It was really weird.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I've been playing a lot of Hacker's Memory lately. You could even say an intense amount? It feels weird because I'd sworn off video games for about four months this year and now I'm just back in the swing of things.

    However, this probably means investing heavily in the next generation so I can continue to play, and I don't think I'm ready for that sort of spend when there's a bunch of other stuff I also want to spend on this year.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I finished Hacker's Memory on the exact same day that a pack that bundles it and the original Cyber Sleuth was announced for the Switch.

    I was pretty cold on the idea of getting a Switch, but today Nintendo announced a Switch Lite, which is everything I've been hoping for. I'm definitely going to get one as soon as it's out.

    I guess it's time to play all the Vita games I can before I officially migrate consoles. I wonder what this means for any other potential spending...
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    https://store.steampowered.com/app/226840/Age_of_Wonders_III/

    Free to keep, on Steam. Claim period 11-15 July. The reason is they're promoting the release of Age of Wonders: Planetfall, and if you own AOW 3 you get a discount on AOW:P.
  • I became the Sinnoh Pokemon champion! My final team was (checks English names):

    - Infernape

    - Luxray

    - Rosereid

    - Gastrodon (west)

    - Chimecho (load)

    - Bibadel (overpowered HM slave), replaced with Dialga for the Elite Four

    It wasn't my intention to use mons from previous generations but I didn't know what they would evolve into.

    The game seemed okay in terms of difficulty, but it got easy by the fourth gym so I started avoiding battles and it was still easy until the difficulty spike at Victory Road, at which point it got really hard, even with item spamming I had to grind beforehand to beat the Elite Four

    Also like I said, I did a good job not getting spoiled all these years, I only knew about 10 new pokes or so beforehand, including starters and Dialga/Pearl's Dialga. I did know who the champion was tho.

    Postgame now. I think I'll spend some time at it, beat the Elite Four without items, catch pokes and take a rest before playing gen 5.



  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I became the Sinnoh Pokemon champion!

    Congratulations! Sinnoh was one of my favorite regions and is actually the best region no questions please.
    at which point it got really hard

    I think one of the most inconvenient things about grinding in Pokémon is that wild Pokémon aren't meant to be a real challenge, so they don't provide as much EXP as trainers. However, trainers are a finite resource throughout most of the game.
    beat the Elite Four without items

    It's been A While since I've played Pokémon but I remember that there are limited ways to heal outside of items. I think a complete list is like two Grass moves, one Bug move and some very mon-specific Normal/Fairy moves, and all of these moves only heal one Pokémon at a time.

    I need to play everything after Black 2. I did start on X a few months ago but then I got the New Style Boutique games, which took up a lot of my time.
    Rosereid

    Roserade?

    Anyways I think if I do get back to this series I will pick teams entirely based on how cute they look so they can be harder. Like, try beating the Elite Four with a Chansey or something.
  • Roserade*

    And yeah, I'd have to do it with no healing besides Giga Drain, it's something I do as a replacement for difficulty levels: beat the Elite Four with no item restrictions, then (forgot about this one) beat it only using items between battles, then with no items at all.

    I tend to choose my team on whims, usually based on what they look like, so it's hit-and-miss as to whether it'll be a good team. The first time through Gen3 I managed to choose a team that was weak against mostly everything past the fifth gym.

    Sinnoh was fun. Johto will always be my favourite though.

    Also I wonder why one's offered Thunder and equivalent TMs for purchase so early in the game.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    Oh yeah I remember being warned a lot about Hoenn and type advantages. I quite liked Hoenn, especially the Surf Theme which is kind of iconic in my mind.
    it's something I do as a replacement for difficulty levels

    I remember somebody complaining about the lack of difficulty in the series recently, but I can't be sure since I always grind grind grind until everything just pales in comparison.

    I did start on X yesterday, albeit just a little since I have lots of other stuff to do right now. I picked the Grass starter because I find the Water starter aesthetically lacking, so now I'm going to have to figure out how to get someone to stick Surf on at some point. Might not play seriously for a while, but it's a start!
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Come to think of it, I just realized that HM moves are gonna be a pain for my quest to collect all 251 pokémon by way of constantly changing to different teams.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    That sounds like a lot of grinding. Especially in terms of getting useful moves.

    Not sure where this goes since it's a bit of both video game and music knowledge but I just learned that ZUN, famed Touhou composer aka Takahashi Ryo, is also Void_Chords, who has written at least three of my favorite songs recently. I don't recall how jazzy Touhou is, but his Void_Chords work is certainly jazzy.
  • I was confused until I learned that that person is a doujin artist known as ZEN, not the other guy known as ZUN.

    As for Hoenn, I liked it too, but I gotta agree with the meme about too much water.

    Also I noticed that gen4 seemed to have downgraded in terms of AI, several times a trainer who should've known better lost because they used a move that's very weak against my poke instead of the one that one-shots it.
  • There is love everywhere, I already know
    I was confused until I learned that that person is a doujin artist known as ZEN, not the other guy known as ZUN.

    Ah, my mistake~

    I started playing Gen 6 on and off. Mainly I think I've taken the leveling too far because I exited what is essentially the first route of the game with three Pokémon at lvl 10 each.

    Also, as much as I like getting a Pikachu this early on, I'm not a fan of most of the Pokémon being just Gen 1 or something I've seen before (Zigzagoon? Bidoof? The PanMonkey trio? Caterpie?). I mean, later somebody just hands you a Gen 1 starter too, as if they're just admitting they don't think this Gen is as good.

    By the way first Pokémon games ever were Gold/Silver, and so I have no nostalgia for the original starters. In fact, I think they kind of look odd and ill-fitting with the rest of the series' designs and most of their evolutions are just "bigger but the same".

    I think this might be one of the least liked Gens and I kind of know why now. I do like the pseudo-Italian/European setting though.
  • edited 2019-07-30 07:30:19
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Yeah, I was like, ZUN writes the music for his games but I would be rather astonished if he changed this much. His Touhou music tends to be kinda catchy but also kinda samey, with lots of use of piano plus a handful of other instruments, piano flourishes, strongly rhythmical writing, modal and triadic harmonies (rather than jazzy harmonies), long melodies that irregularly mix stepwise motion with instrumental flourishes, and a strong influence from presumably Japanese folk music and perhaps some classical music rather than from modern pop and hip-hop elements.
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