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That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
@Golgot
I love this game, Everspace. I imagine VR would be epic. As is, it's pretty immersive on my PS4. I've put at least an hour a night to it with some later runs going longer because 1) I'm getting better, and 2) higher levels are getting interesting! Not to say that I'm at a high level. The best I've accomplished is making it to Sector 4 or 5 and finding an Ancient Ruin, then I was promptly sucked into a blackhole thinking it was a new warp option. Derr...

I've recorded several plays but the danged PS4 is crap for video for all its skipping around. I can't believe that never got fixed!!!! So here's a random YT clip from some German dude playing in FIRST person. Lovely game, IMO.



The game didn't make much sense during my first few runs as the in-game instructions aren't very clear and seem to give you hints in the middle of combat when there's no time to read it. Still, playing through it over and over has taught me a lot. Basically, you start in Sector 1 which may have 2-3 linear paths through the sector via your star map thingy. Each path may have 2-4 check points that you jump to to explore. Once you jump forward, you can't go back and you cannot jump from one path to another unless they intersect a jump or two ahead. You can see it all through the map view though to plan. There's not much need to plan anything yet as you have to earn skills to see the threat levels. For at least the first few hours, it's just a guess on where to go, but every path will eventually land you on the final jump gate to the next sector. Think Sector as a level, I suppose, with each Sector jump point as a stage within each level. You can fight, explore, or just use the jump as soon as you enter the stage and move on to the next. Some stages may have hidden suppressors that prevent you from locating your jump point. In those cases, you need to explore to find the device and disable it by approaching it and hacking it (automatic once within range). Once hacked, your jump coordinates appear. If you linger too long in any stage, a wave of "bad guys" appear and will likely kill you. The game does warning you of that with enough time usually to drop what you're doing and run.

Anyway. You jump stage to stage, sector to sector until you complete the game or die. Each run earns you credits depending on your accomplishments and random drops from kills. Credits buy you upgrades and stat improvements whenever you die and return to the hanger. While playing the game, you can pick up new weapons, upgrades, or even build your own in-ship if you have the parts to do so and the blueprint required to assemble it. That's pretty cool and took me several plays to realize that. You start each game with a preset of weapons and equipment, but you can upgrade on the fly depending on what you loot. Run out of missiles? No problem. Explore for materials and make more for yourself. Find an upgrade? Cool. Switch it out for the stronger option. Want a third gun? Buy the upgrade for a third slot next time you're in the hanger. At some point, you will die and you're sent back to the hanger in Sector 1 to start over. While your weapons, equipment and such are stripped back to the base model you started with, you KEEP all the skills you've earned. So, for example, if you upgraded your ship last run to have a third gun slot, then that slot is still available. You just don't keep the actual gun that you looted during the last run. You'll have to loot another in game.

Random stuff: I ran into a solar flare that nearly killed me. That was awesome and beautiful. You need to lead your target! But there's a reticule icon to assist with that. It feels like a subtle auto-aim is in play. You can blow things up that you're not suppose to and really anger the neutral alliance and it may take a few jumps to regain neutrality, but boy is it fun to shoot at a few fuel pods to watch all 12 of them chain-react in explosions! Just you better bolt it to the jump point right after.

So yeah, there is a lot of repeat play but in my case, that was necessary to learn this interface, timing, and how to manage my equipment. It's really great stuff and throws me back to my old Atari Star Raiders game and how exciting that used to be.



(I haven't abandoned Outer Wilds, btw. Just taking a break!)
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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

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there's a frog in my snake oil
@Golgot
I love this game, Everspace. I imagine VR would be epic.
Yeah I probably should snag it next time its on sale. Just got a backlog going, and something about the 'rogue levels' and flight model isn't calling me. Not sure what. (Might be because the serious clank and vibe of Elite is always installed on my machine, and handy when I fancy some VR space pew and that).

@Golgot
(I haven't abandoned Outer Wilds, btw. Just taking a break!)
Yeah stay on it, it is grand

Although I have found the end puzzles a bit of a trial, for less-good reasons. Just the sheer time it takes to experiment/fail/succeed is really upped. Having put it down over the Summer hols can't quite get the momentum up to finish it.

The middle ground discoveries are grand on the whole though. You've got plenty more to poke around there
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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
so uh.... I randomly picked up the free download of Starcraft II last night. It still had my progress from like 2011. I then ended up overwriting my campaign progress by starting over. Oh well. No way could I jump back into where I left off.

This game still looks and plays very well. Even the menu, though dated and heavy compared to today's games, still feels right (mostly). The only oddity so far is the mission ending pre-animated sequences. I could all but wipe the Zerg off the map, but once the mission ends my base appears to be completely overrun. Kinda disconnecting, but whatever. I miss RTS click games and this has soothed an itch.



Hey everybody, short note that I'll be part of a Super Mario Maker 2 speedrun event for charity this Sunday:



As of right now I should be casting from 4:00 to 5:00 PM ET, and then again at 6:30 PM. It's for a great cause, the Urban Arts Partnership, which teaches middle and high school students the art and science of video game development.

I'll post a reminder here the day of and all that.



You ready? You look ready.
I’m hoping the new Halo doesn’t stutter too bad on my One S. I don’t mind the lower texture maps, but if it stutters I am looking at an expensive Christmas season. If I can find a Series S/X that is.

@ynwtf: I was always a big fan of Age of Mythology. But I suck so bad at RTS games. I always get my ass handed to me.



The Adventure Starts Here!
Hey everybody, short note that I'll be part of a Super Mario Maker 2 speedrun event for charity this Sunday:



As of right now I should be casting from 4:00 to 5:00 PM ET, and then again at 6:30 PM. It's for a great cause, the Urban Arts Partnership, which teaches middle and high school students the art and science of video game development.

I'll post a reminder here the day of and all that.
Awww... this is terrific. My little Yoda--who first played Nintendo at age 4 when we rented the original gray box from the local grocery store to try it out--is continuing his love of all things (or most things) Nintendo! Are you WarningTrack there or something else?



Yeah I'll be WarningTrack on the broadcast.

Oh, we rented the NES? That makes sense. I remember we were pretty poor and I was always confused about how we were able to play that so long ago. It all makes sense now.



You ready? You look ready.
Yeah I'll be WarningTrack on the broadcast.

Oh, we rented the NES? That makes sense. I remember we were pretty poor and I was always confused about how we were able to play that so long ago. It all makes sense now.
At least y'all were fortunate enough to rent one. I remember the envy in my eyes watching families walk out of Blockbuster with that hard cased Sega.
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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
Wow. I remember those days. We rented one of those briefcase NES sets with Mario and Zelda. I miss that old console t.v.!! I think we rented a VCR in those early days but I might be mixing memories from some random bday sleepover.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Okay, well...it's not a competition.

Except for the speedrunning thing. That is definitely a competition.

How does that thing work for spectators? Speak to me as though I were a child, Captain Taggart.



You ready? You look ready.
Okay, well...it's not a competition.

Except for the speedrunning thing. That is definitely a competition.
Nah, I didn't mean it as a competition thing. Just reminded me of those Blockbuster days. But I see how that post seems more boo hoo me than yahoo you. I meant it as the latter.

There is a common thread between our childhoods was all I really meant.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Blockbuster was crazy expensive too, though. Pretty sure we rented from the corner gas station that did a side business renting stuff at the time.



How does that thing work for spectators? Speak to me as though I were a child, Captain Taggart.
People just...watch? Unless you're asking about scoring. It's number of clears within the time limit. Every stage you clear is a point, and they have a certain number of "skips" if they think a level is too tough. Knowing when to use those is part of the strategy.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
People just...watch? Unless you're asking about scoring. It's number of clears within the time limit. Every stage you clear is a point, and they have a certain number of "skips" if they think a level is too tough. Knowing when to use those is part of the strategy.

Oh. I thought but was a charity donation thing or sponsorship like x dollars for y time played.



Oh, nah. It's asking for donations but just for having put the competition on. The competitors are some of the biggest in the Super Mario Maker 2 scene.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
I see. I misread the whole thing then. Charity, arts, programming, future, DONATE! I just assumed.



Yeah, donate to keep the stream alive definitely a common thing. That's more of an individual thing though, this is the Global Speedrunning Assocation, so at that level you put on events.

Even the charity stream I did wasn't really timed, though: just had prizes and community goals for different amounts and stuff.