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That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
OK OK, so I jumped the gun on Outer Wilds. It's still weird, but now that I'm off my home world, I can see the allure. I put in another three attempts last night. In my first effort, I passed through what I THOUGHT was a ring-shaped planet. Actually, that was just the entrance to a hollow interior (I think). Inside, I was swallowed by a giant space fish. My second attempt I fell victim to the local star's gravity while reading my map. I ASSUMED the game paused while I was reading things. I guess not the map screen! During my third and final attempt for the night, I managed to land on the nearby moon and hop around on foot. I found a small puzzle and an entrance to a lower living space with markings to translate. These markings provided clues to my next destination which I was then able to track and target via my map. I discovered autopilot after trying to chase one planet around its orbit. That helped, BUT!!! While trying to determine my relative north and south, I apparently got sideswiped by that planet's orbiting.... fireball moon? I'm not sure, but I exploded again.

The game becomes much more interesting after leaving the home world, and I've experienced enough variety to have me wondering what else there is to find. So I expect to stick with it for a bit, now. My comments on the controls in my initial post were based on the remote control toy you come across on the home world. Once out into space, the controls and your position are much clearer and feel better. The antigravity training cave felt good but I was too distracted by the mission and somewhat close quarters within the cave's walls.

Whatever.

The game is opening up now and the translated messages are more interesting to read through. My next goal is to find the Southern Pole of "rock planet X that I can't remember the name of." I think, now, that I got ahead of myself in my space exploration by landing on that first planet over the weekend. I think that might be for later.
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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

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there's a frog in my snake oil
The game is opening up now and the translated messages are more interesting to read through. My next goal is to find the Southern Pole of "rock planet X that I can't remember the name of."
Now you're pulling on some of those alien story strings

And the best thing is, you might complete your objective, or you might get distracted by something else crashing into you, or flying past intriguingly on the horizon. But there's always an objective to start the next session with . Sounds like it's getting the right hooks into you now

(PS I'd ponder about putting some of the planetary details in spoilers from now on maybe? I dunno, a lot of the fun of the game is stumbling across these things for the first time. Wouldn't wanna spoil too many treats for others )
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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Now you're pulling on some of those alien story strings

And the best thing is, you might complete your objective, or you might get distracted by something else crashing into you, or flying past intriguingly on the horizon. But there's always an objective to start the next session with . Sounds like it's getting the right hooks into you now

(PS I'd ponder about putting some of the planetary details in spoilers from now on maybe? I dunno, a lot of the fun of the game is stumbling across these things for the first time. Wouldn't wanna spoil too many treats for others )
All good. I'm well enough behind that I doubt I'd make any connections



You ready? You look ready.
All these space games making me miss Freelancer
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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Now you're pulling on some of those alien story strings

And the best thing is, you might complete your objective, or you might get distracted by something else crashing into you, or flying past intriguingly on the horizon. But there's always an objective to start the next session with . Sounds like it's getting the right hooks into you now

(PS I'd ponder about putting some of the planetary details in spoilers from now on maybe? I dunno, a lot of the fun of the game is stumbling across these things for the first time. Wouldn't wanna spoil too many treats for others )

I found Riebeck and Solanum's shuttle. Man, I don't know how you play this in VR. I nearly vomit from vertigo just floating around lol.



there's a frog in my snake oil
I found Riebeck and Solanum's shuttle. Man, I don't know how you play this in VR. I nearly vomit from vertigo just floating around lol.
Haha, I love it

Gotta admit the more mobile smaller bodies are pretty intense though yeah. And some of the more surprising gravity interactions

It's definitely not a good fit for someone fresh to VR, but for someone with a year+ under their belt, looking for a crazy experience, I'd be hard pressed to think of a better one

(I've been hanging out on the Twins a lot recently. The Twins are nuts. You'll see )



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Journey! Outer Wilds
Strange game. It starts very small with a few goofy conversations, the remote control toy, and MAYBE the anti-gravity cave if you think to go in. Oh, and that hide-and-go-seek game? But once you get into space it kind of goes nuts. For as small as the solar system is, I've so far come across at least 20 different event/areas that none seem connected to each other (yet). Like, those blue transport "tunnels" in Brittle Hollow. Some just carry you out into an area and suddenly end. I fell (again) into the black hole unsure where else I was supposed to fall/jet-pack to. That's not a complaint btw, just an observation on how open everything seems to be relative to the home world starter area. It's almost overwhelming now. Still not a complaint! I kind of enjoy reading the translated messages now. That's an interesting way to present information. Translating the alien markings, I mean. I just don't yet know how anything connects to anything.

I do see what could be seeds for future puzzles though.

WARNING: "reasons" spoilers below
For example: I found the gravity cannon and shuttle that you can recall or send out. I've fallen into the black hole a few times and once I found part of some structure that I could manipulate to warp back to Brittle Hollow (I think it was Brittle Hollow). I THINK that at some point I will need to send that ship somewhere to be available later in the game when I have to warp or fall into the black hole for "reasons." I just don't know yet. I found Riebeck but if I'm honest, probably couldn't find again on purpose as I just literally fell and happened to land where he was camped. Funny to read his story of doing the exact same thing to end up there. I'm pretty sure this loop has something to do with whatever is exploding in orbit above me when I wake for each expedition just because it's always there and right at the start of the game. Kinda makes sense that it would look back around to the beginning like that some how.

I suppose my next goal is to wander around the Brittle Hollow interior to find that alien hanging city Riebeck mentioned. It only just clicked AFTER closing the game last night that the messages I've been reading and the escape pods are ancient alien notes and tech. I THOUGHT that was all remnants of the home world scientists that left to visit the southern pole of Brittle Hollow. woops.


Interesting game though. I've put 2-3 efforts in so far each night. Two of which I die from that blue "event" after falling through a black hole. Weird stuff, but good weird.



I thought about starting to play League of Legends since I now have a fiber internet connection. People advice me not to. They say the game is very toxic, it's not new user friendly because the new levels are just old players creating new accounts. I was watching YouTube on television last night and one video recommendation popped up about the game in Korea, how toxic it was over there, more than anywhere else. I looked at Minecraft instead but it seems is overpopulated with very young people, with their drama and shrieks, also I don't understand how it can be played multiplayer, seems is just to build stuff to show other players, I'd much prefer a survival mode with other people, helping each other, and not helping each other. I liked the game since it came out, it seemed very simple and had a beautiful scenery in his own way, I played survival single player for one afternoon. My laptop is old, there ain't much I can play in it, I'd like to play something like EVE Online, but I can't run it. I might buy a PS4 because it's cheaper than buying a new laptop, but I don't know what games and how it is viable to play online, I always thought of consoles has something to be played mainly single-player, and that's not a problem with me, but I like to fraternize and also compete a little bit with other people. Looking for options...



"How tall is King Kong ?"
I also wish the gameplay was used for a more jamesbondish spy caper instead of assassinations. I've always regretted that James Bond videogames were simply shooters (well, the movies were becoming this at the same time), and Hitman represents pretty well what they could have been instead.
Hey. Amusingly, the devs behind these new Hitman games are now working on a James Bond videogame.

https://007.ioi.dk

They must be reading this forum.
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Get working on your custom lists, people !



there's a frog in my snake oil
I looked at Minecraft instead but it seems is overpopulated with very young people, with their drama and shrieks, also I don't understand how it can be played multiplayer, seems is just to build stuff to show other players, I'd much prefer a survival mode with other people, helping each other, and not helping each other. I liked the game since it came out, it seemed very simple and had a beautiful scenery in his own way, I played survival single player for one afternoon.
Minecraft has a pretty broad demographic. If you search for public servers I’d imagine you’d find plenty of adult only ones. Some are just survival mode ones where you play the vanilla game in a shared space. (The aim = to not die to the mobs that spawn at night, while accruing increasingly good gear, eventually killing the dragon in 'The End' realm as a target. It’s harder, and more involved, than it sounds ). Other servers will have custom mods and PvP game modes and such. (Variants on Hunger Games etc were popular last time I checked, but that was years ago )



"How tall is King Kong ?"
Some videogames' levels take a huge amount of time to complete because they are vast, and feature a lot of elements, and require a lot of moves and manipulations, to complete lengthy tasks.

Some videogames' levels take a huge amount of time to complete because... bbbecause... my brain cogs are slow.

Baba is me.



Minecraft has a pretty broad demographic. If you search for public servers I’d imagine you’d find plenty of adult only ones. Some are just survival mode ones where you play the vanilla game in a shared space. (The aim = to not die to the mobs that spawn at night, while accruing increasingly good gear, eventually killing the dragon in 'The End' realm as a target. It’s harder, and more involved, than it sounds ). Other servers will have custom mods and PvP game modes and such. (Variants on Hunger Games etc were popular last time I checked, but that was years ago )
Seems interesting. And those servers last for how long? They keep resetting them, no?



there's a frog in my snake oil
Seems interesting. And those servers last for how long? They keep resetting them, no?
Ones I tried back in the day were normally all about persistence if they were for playing the vanilla game. They wanted to retain the buildings you'd made / the kit you'd accrued. They normally had warnings if any kind of reset was due, or back up possible etc.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
FINE.
I guess I'm playing Outer Wilds regularly now.


>=\

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I'll append this post. I'm actually enjoying this weirdly mysterious game. I do have my criticisms, but all in all it is a fun experience outside of the home world tutorial area. Flight is still a PITA, as planets are so danged small. You almost need surgical patience to get to, visually survey, and then land (safely) on a planet's moving surface. Gravity seems to vary pretty widely (don't get me started on navigating around that comet... no, ok I'm started), especially with that friggin comet lol. It's so TINY!!!! Autopilot will usually just shoot you a few thousand kilometers past it. The gravity of that thing barely exists, so landing will require a lot of bouncing around. That is unless the comet's orbit is close to the central star of this solar system. in that case, the star's gravity starts to screw up everything. I've nearly died from bouncing around inside of my ship as we pass the star's gravitational pull. I have LOST my ship twice while exploring the comet's surface on foot. Thing just literally bounced off and away! I didn't realize in the moment until my oxygen was running low and then saw that my ship was like 27Km away. Or whatever the in-game unit of measurement is.

That all probably reads as complaints. It's not, really. Annoyances some, but it all keeps things interesting. I've learned that there are trajectory arrows that appear when you select a planetary object as a target. They seem to be guides to use to fly toward the directions they point rather than directly to the object itself. Fly to where the object will be, not to where it is kind of thing. That has helped, but I still find myself yelling profanities at the screen when I overshoot the orbit to spend the next 3-5 minutes correcting and catching up. That matters when you have a 22-minute play loop.

Now about that loop. That's an interesting mechanic, but I would love another 8 minutes or so as I get lost quite often exploring interior bits of a few planets. One of these planet's interior is like an ever changing maze too, so I always take it slower than I probably should. There are several alien messages left behind from the ancient civilization that moves much of the story forward, so it's hard to pass them up when I see them. I think if those messages could be a different color so that I know I've already read them upon my next loop return, that would help with wasting time knowing what I have and have not yet explored. It's not like there's a LOT of it, but in the timeline of the game I get anxious rereading things because I'm unable to remember the exact path made during my last exploration.

It's all very interesting though. In spite of my earlier frustrations, I believe I could confidently recommend this game, but who I recommend this too would be limited to those that I believe would enjoy mysteries and small scale puzzles. While, technically, the game is open world and you can mostly explore anything within range of your ship, you do have a time limit. I don't know if this is a spoiler or not, but I think I would have enjoyed my first few efforts more had I known this in advance. So fair warning: you only get maybe 22 minutes to do anything before the game sort of resets. You do retain all "clues" in your ships computer through each iteration of the game. The only real frustration there is that it takes time to figure things out (like the previously mentioned flight and landing on planetary bodies). Then you explore. Then you reset. Granted, practice makes perfect and I am much more efficient at flight and landing now, it just gets frustrating when you're right there on the edge of a new discovery only to be taken back to the start, hoping you can remember the specific path through the next time having already been through this part of the game at least five times. Each time through a different path because you had no idea what you were doing yet.

To balance, there are a LOT of mysteries!!! I found myself drifting in a planet's interior and watched as the exploration scout that I launched ahead of me eventually caught up to me from BEHIND and then passed me. Wut? Trippy concepts here, and I like that.

The alien messages found are easy to connect with as they act as journals of individuals rather than historical "data" of a civilization. I find myself empathizing with their experiences, loss, and excitement noted during their explorations long ago. I almost got tearful from one or two. Everything is pretty simple and has a childlike innocence throughout. Nothing in this game is heady or very intellectual aside from a few words like "quantum moon" and such. One shouldn't need to be a fan of science fiction really to enjoy this game, though it would be good to at least have interest in floating around space and flying a simple space ship. Otherwise, it's mostly just a mystery to slowly unravel the more you explore. It just happens to be set in space. I mean, your ship's launch pad is made of wood and you can patch up your suit with tape if you puncture it on space cacti.

I totally get Golgot's fascination here. I don't have VR options on my PS4, nor would I have the ability to get a VR mod for this game I think. Still, that's probably for the best as this game world can be very disorienting!!! I imagine I would constantly vomit in my space helmet with every turn if I experienced this in VR. To be so simple of a game (design-wise), it really does a number on the senses. Another positive.



new teaser trailer of call of duty vanguard i hope its good since cod ww2 even tho im more battlefield player . i love old school cod. hate the new ones. i always prefer battlefield better than cod



"How tall is King Kong ?"
The gravity of that thing barely exists, so landing will require a lot of bouncing around.
That's why, in real life, we use harpoons and downwards thrusters - and even so, it doesn't always work. Space is bouncy.

Try landing on an asteroid in KSP...



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
So this is mainly about the VR stuff, but figure it's a flat game, it can go here

er... no quotes within quotes (me = forgot)
ANYWAY

I wanted to comment on your VR clip "learning to fly" with the remote control ship on the Timber Hearth world. See? I'm leaning. It appears in the video that you can freely look around as you control the ship. Is that true? If so, that's pretty cool as my view seems to be locked on the top ship as it flies around. As such, it's hard to look ahead at your trajectory to see what's coming that might knock you around. There's a trophy for landing that thing on the orbiting moon, but I can't really look for the coming rock to better prepare and aim the thing! I still can't imagine hopping around within Brittle Hollow like that though. My lunch is already churning just thinking about that! But free look would help in a few areas I would think.

Have you already finished this game?
WARNING: "Not really spoilers, but possible frustrations if you've not done this." spoilers below
I'm still liking the game btw. I've KIND OF hit a plateau though. I'm clodding around Ember Twin but accidentally end up where I've already been. By the time I realize it's too late to retrace my steps from the sand. FRUSTRATING!!!! I've explored two (maybe three) areas of the Hanging City within Brittle Hollow but that place is nearly overwhelming too with all that's going on around. I keep retracing where I've been, reading notes I've already read. Maddening. But, as you said in your post that I attempted to quote, it is all rather charming. So I'm still hooked. I would feel accomplished if I could find a way into that cave with the giant, dead space fish. I can't sort if there's a path I've just not found it yet, or if I'm restricted to the obstructed cave from where I can only see the fish. I was able to launch my drone, but no clue what to look for.... yet.



there's a frog in my snake oil
It appears in the video that you can freely look around as you control the ship. Is that true?
Yeah the VR mod works like that. Everything from the character view with headlook at all times.

I still can't imagine hopping around within Brittle Hollow like that though.
It is insane, in all the best ways

WARNING: spoilers below
There really is something to be said for giant planetary sections falling past you, bearing your own ship . And the vertigo is something else. VR is very good at vertigo and communicating relative distance generally. But accidentally spacewalking around a black hole inside a hollow planet takes it to a whole new level. It’s a rush


Have you already finished this game?

WARNING: spoilers below
I would feel accomplished if I could find a way into that cave with the giant, dead space fish. I can't sort if there's a path I've just not found it yet, or if I'm restricted to the obstructed cave from where I can only see the fish. I was able to launch my drone, but no clue what to look for.... yet.
I’ve still got a few final mysteries to crack, but I’m close.

On that bit I’d just say:

WARNING: spoilers below
Firing the drone is the right thing to do. Check the info panel in your ship on the 4 things the drone is useful for. One of those will play a part



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Journey!
Well, it's been just over a week since last playing Journey! That means 100% trophies having logged in again last night

Not sure what to do in game now though. I'm not really interested in playing through to the end unless I'm assisting another player. The last two other wanderers I've encountered seemed to already know where everything is, so that's not as fun but still is nice to get through those last two or three levels with someone else.

I spent last night in my white robe trying to reach the top of the underground tower without activating the level water stages (or whatever you'd describe that as). Turned out I needed the two runes to extend my scarf to do so, but stopped after leaping up to a platform that I thought had a recessed space to land on. No. That was just a shadow, and I was out of juice to flutter anywhere close by so ended up sinking to the base of the tower. I'm confident it's doable though.

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Outer Wilds
Re: Outer Wilds, I died getting crushed by sand in some random cave. That is a FAST level to have to get to and through. Sorry if I'm not making sense if you haven't played it. There is an area that fi.....eh. You know, it's just too weird to explain. Still a very charming game though (nice description, Golgot). I'm now glad that the dialogue is text only as I can hear the narration as I want in all happy innocence that I imagine these characters would sound. Too, it gives the regular voices in my head something else to do.

This game seemed very small when I started, but it just keeps expanding!

A Plague Tale: Innocence
I downloaded this a month or so back on a PSN sale. I got through the introduction stage but haven't returned yet. The camera controls feel off compared to recent games I've played. It probably didn't help that I was coming off a Ghost of Tsushima binge either. Not many games can live up to that standard, IMO. I believe this game will offer a lot, if I can adjust to the controls and camera speed but with my current distraction of Outer Wilds, it may be a few months before making another effort.

Has anyone started this game?

The Sinking City
Another title picked up on sale, I think at the same time I got A Plague Tale: Innocence. This is an interesting game that I quickly fell into. The controls are also fairly clunky, but the game environment is just so interesting, and the different states of control are as weirdly ...weird(?) that I found it hard to put down out of sheer spite and curiosity.

Interesting. Doing a quick search to remember the particular "power" you have to see spiritual clues I stumbled on this letter. Legal drama between Frogwares and their distributor and the delisting of the title from stores. Crazy stuff!

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Anyway. Back to work before someone from the Song for August thread yells at me for stalling the game writing this, instead.




"How tall is King Kong ?"
I used to be so good at Cold Waters. I became so bad at Cold Waters.

Always doing the same noob mistake, but... it's a strategy that used to work so well. Getting ridiculously close to a sub, launching a torpedo at point blank range, and running towards the incoming torpedoes to pass them before they get armed. Yes, doing a Ramius, in a way. But now, all enemy subs tend to do a Tupolev in response, and arm their torpedoes super early. The game hasn't been patched for ages (the devs have split to work separately on War On The Sea and Sea Power) so it can't be a change on the soft's part. Maybe back then, I used to approach the enemy subs more carefully, firing from their baffles or otherwise preventing them from estimating my distance and letting them fire at default range estimations.

Anyway, I keep dying in the most ridicule ways. Not to mention that, at such proximity, if your torpedo misses, you've got 50% chances to have it come back to you (there's a reason why you don't arm torpedoes next to your ship). So, all the wrong maneuvers in hope for a cheap exploit. Serves me right.

On the plus side, dancing with a enemy sub hunted by the same three torpedoes as you is immensely fun, no matter the outcome.