What are you playing?

UFOs, lost socks, discuss whatever you like here.

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Cybernetic pig
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Cybernetic pig »

DDL wrote:it does not need (in my opinion, obviously) people deciding for themselves what other players can and cannot do
Of course it does. Every action possible in the game is the result of someone deciding the player can do it, with two exceptions: exploits and emergent gameplay.
All I've prevented the player from doing is using these exploits, which shouldn't have been there in the first place as they were not intended by the developers.
The developers created rules (lock needs x amount of tools to bypass in this case), all I've done is enforce those rules or there is no point in them existing to begin with.
DX is not a contest. It does not need a regulating body.
It has a regulating body already, that being all it's game rules that already exist. You can only break these rules with exploits (not intended by the devs) and console commands (a tool that exists primarily for testing).
All I've done in regards to this is enforce the vanilla rules of the game and add some new optional rules (hardcore mode). These shouldn't be dismissed so readily because games are very much about their rules.

"Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction".
I don't think I've ever used the multitool bug in an actual playthrough, but I like knowing it's an option (especially when I'm testing stuff).
Testing should not be considered by a designer in regards to the final product though. The final product should be free of all traces of testing in-game.
Not all options are good also. As an extreme example, if there was an option to fuck a pig for the lolz & completely out of context then this game would have a serious social stigma and a significant loss of artistic credibility, even if in a true simulation you would be able to fuck a pig.
I accept that this is all wholly personal viewpoints, but I've always felt like DX is a sort of....educational playground: if you just want to run around shooting people in the head, then you can do that, and...it'll be pretty easy. And that's fine. It doesn't need "head shooting" made harder, because the fact that shooting people in the head is a really easy way to achieve your goal is a part of the DX message. Followed by the corollary of "but is it a good way to achieve your goal?".
Head shooting is still the quick & dirty option. However, teaching players that running around military bases headshotting everyone is easy seems counter educational because you'll get put down quickly unless you are highly skilled and make smart use of your tools and environment. That said, I know what you really mean is "easy in comparison to going pacifist and sparing everyone", but this is still the case in GMDX.
Going around starting shootouts with trained military types really isn't easy at all IRL. It was in DX and this seems counter simulational and educational. Being sneaky and silent headshotting everyone is definitely the easiest route in real life and in DX and in GDMX. The playstyles remain the same in this regard, all are just intended to be more realistic, challenging, balanced (in regards to their specialization tools, not completely balanced with eachother) & fun.

I agree with the educational playground descriptor, but even playgrounds have rules ;)

Trust me. As the reviews say, it's all still Deus Ex. Nothing detracts from the experience, just expands upon, refines, improves. This is the intention. Little content is removed and if it is it is for the greater good, such as the removal of rebreathers which negated the purposes of swimming skill and aqualung, or indeed the removal of balance ruining immersion breaking exploits that the devs did not intend.

I know people are sceptical whenever someone touches a much revered formula, the best formula known in DX's case ;) but it wasn't perfect, and still isn't, but it is better now. Play it. Disagree with a large portion of the design decisions made and I'll delete the mod from existence, but you won't disagree if you love and understand DX. ;) It's the greatest game of all time made even better, deeper. more polished, especially in combination with the lovely graphics mods. This wasn't the case up until v5, where it is finally a cohesive whole, but more can be done for it with support.

I'm reaching out to the community for support because I believe more great things can come for DX, but there is no one even here besides a couple of core members apparently :(
shadowblade34
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by shadowblade34 »

Ehhhhh.

On the final set of high school exams. Just came home from an economics one. So, that's the game I'm playing - studying. It's not much fun.

I'm not playing many games, just a bit of Liberal Crime Squad occasionally - it's a really great game if you can handle purely text based games.

I did start replaying Grim Fandango today, which has been the cause of many laughs. I don't know if it can be said enough that the writing of that game is truly superb.

Anyway, when my exams are finished at around early June, I'm going to get started on finishing Dark Souls and I'll buy Dark Souls 2. I'm quite a bit behind on games due to my exams now.
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Jaedar
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Jaedar »

shadowblade34 wrote: I'm quite a bit behind on games due to my exams now.
Happens to the best of us :)
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Hassat Hunter
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Hassat Hunter »

I am Waaaaaaaay behind on games even without Exams... :lol:
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Oh wait, I already got one...
Elias79
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Elias79 »

Currently playing:

Deus Ex :lol:
Day-z standalone alpha
Rust alpha
Spring Rts "mega annihilation"

Played in 2014

Eleusis
Miasmata
Shadow warrior classic redux

2 years ago

Minecraft "vanilla"
Minecraft "heavily modded"

4 years ago

Age of conan

9 years ago:

Guild Wars "the original"

15 years ago

Unreal "the original"
Unreal Tournament
Quake 3

17 years ago

Dungeon Keeper "the original"
Duke Nukem 3D
GoldenEye 007
Total annihilation

18 years ago

Tekken "the original"
Wipeout 2097

21 years ago

Street fighter 2
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Jaedar
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Jaedar »

Xenonauts(essentially released as of today, but not officially for another few weeks. Get it 5 bucks cheaper while you can). Now this is how you make a sequel to something. That something of course being the original x-com: ufo defense.

It is so good. So very good. They made it a bit easier to get into, lots of ui improvements. More weapons more gear, less tedious inventory management, same turn based goodness.
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YeomanTheCastle
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by YeomanTheCastle »

Speaking of X-COM (will need to give Xenonauts a spin sometime, it sounds quite promising), OpenXcom 1.0 was released the other day. It's an open source version of the first X-COM; it runs on modern computers, has some gameplay improvements and enhancements and is easy to mod. There's actually a website dedicated to mods made for OpenXcom (http://www.openxcom.com/). I've played it for a bit and I think it's great. Definitely recommend it to anyone who's into X-COM.

Check it out: http://openxcom.org/
shadowblade34
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by shadowblade34 »

Finished my exams last week on Tuesday. Now I'm just sitting back, relaxing and doing nothing useful as I wait for my results and find out if I get to go to university.

I completed Middle Aged White Man Depopulates Brazil Max Payne 3 the other day. It's another crappy cover shooter, but one of the most polished of the bunch, I think.

Struggling through Dark Souls, defeated Ornstein and Smough on my third try, and now I'm just trying to figure out where to go next. Not really doing much after that, think I'm going to try clearing my backlog. Every time I look at my Steam library in the category "Must Complete" there's just so much choice I don't know what to play first.
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bobby 55
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by bobby 55 »

After completing my PDX run of TNM I, on a whim, decided to revisit Tamriel. I went with a Breton trying to build a battle-mage. I'm only at level 5 and so far it's been predominantly battle and very little mage. :P

I'll do all The Companions quests this time and try being a werewolf for a bit.
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Jonas
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Jonas »

I quite enjoyed werewolfing in Skyrim, though sadly I came to find I was substantially harder as a human. If only stealth were available in wolf form, I might have never changed back.
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bobby 55
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by bobby 55 »

If I want to become a kickass battlemage I'll have to turn back since magic type stuff can only be performed in human form. I seem to recall you guys discussing either a quest or person who could remove the "curse", and I only want to try it out for a bit of fun. I'd like to play as an assassin skilled in stealth who kills only with poisons/poisoned tip weapons and magic some day as well.
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Jonas
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Jonas »

I quite enjoyed being a super stealthy thief/assassin archer in Skyrim. The game plays extremely slowly that way, but almost every encounter is a one-hit kill, which is quite satisfying, and beats the game's IMO rather flaily melee combat. Skyrim's stealth system is very simple of course, but it holds up surprisingly well.
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Cybernetic pig
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Cybernetic pig »

Been playing modded Morrowind and have just given up, boots of blinding speed pushed me too far, so overpowered. The game is a huge grind so I cannot be bothered with it any more. Still the best ES game though, before the massive decline of Oblivion and then further in Skyrim.
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Jaedar
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Jaedar »

Cybernetic pig wrote:Been playing modded Morrowind and have just given up, boots of blinding speed pushed me too far, so overpowered. The game is a huge grind so I cannot be bothered with it any more. Still the best ES game though, before the massive decline of Oblivion and then further in Skyrim.
Objection! Skyrim is better than oblivion. Still not a good game though, imo.
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Cybernetic pig
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Re: What are you playing?

Post by Cybernetic pig »

Jaedar wrote:
Cybernetic pig wrote:Been playing modded Morrowind and have just given up, boots of blinding speed pushed me too far, so overpowered. The game is a huge grind so I cannot be bothered with it any more. Still the best ES game though, before the massive decline of Oblivion and then further in Skyrim.
Objection! Skyrim is better than oblivion. Still not a good game though, imo.
This is going to be a half-assed argument because I remember neither games too well because there is only so many game worlds one can store in the memory bank and it's been some time. Well, I do remember them well enough.

Oblivion has that Pie-rim does not:

Weapon degradation.
Acrobatics Skill.
Non-linear dungeons that DON'T feature puzzles designed for pre-preschoolers.
Some quests that are not absolute mind-numbing shit
Attributes.
A not so shitty UI/inventory.

Pedantry: Arrows had weight, didn't cut to third person so often blah blah.

Now, Oblivion is still a piece of garbage but Skyrim they pacified too far.

Linear dungeons was the worst part. :evil:
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