What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

Bored for days, wasn't up for strategy in Stellaris.

Gulp. So I started a new game of Dark Souls 3, this time with a checklist next to me to get a 100% first run and get a platinum trophy. I doubt I'll finish it, but still... this time I'm doing a beefy armor strength dude, which is a very different experience.

I played a weekend of Cities Skylines. I'm almost done with the Simcity/RCI style city builders. Fuck these games. I like 'em, but they don't seem to like me.

The core of the problem is the lack of feedback. Getting stats is hard. You never know why suddenly all three RCI indicators flattened out. And then, they're trying to do simulations. Really, with stupid AI and crappy pathfinding it's more like a clusterfack than a simulator. This gets really bad once they start trying to really simulate every movement, with vehicles going back and fro, and services affected by them. And then getting people in the right spot?

In my case, I have a city with 40% uneducated, 40% educated and 20% highly educated. Lots of my high level commercial zones (which require at least educated) are complaining from lack of worker while my lumber industry is stuffed with over-educated employees. My garbage tracks are collecting trash bins from the other end of the city while ignoring the block next to it.

They have a system so tight that shops must be staffed by people with certain education level and shopped by people with certain wealth, and then fucked it up with poor simulation. And I haven't talked about public transport at all!

Seriously, be done with it and go back with simpler system.

Aaaand my personal pet peeve. It's so hard to get money rolling in unless you leave your computer on for hours and leave it be. The income/expense is so tight that you are assisted by totally unrealistic milestone bonuses... (reaching certain population level grants you dough around 10-20 times your current income and unlocks certain buildings).

At some point post-SC2000 it was decided that what these games needed were even more fine detail. I don't want to play any game where I feel like I should be getting a salary and 401(k) for playing it. I want a SimCity type game with a broad view that I can pick up and put down at my leisure, not something where the whole thing will come crashing down if the gradient on my sidewalk ramps is too steep or my traffic lights aren't perfectly synced.

I love the simulated agents approach to city managers but they still haven't gotten it right yet because it's so hard to do. Adding agents actually sort of simplifies the game, because (potentially) they'd make a lot of boring busywork decisions that you'd make. Putting working rudimentary AI markets into games has the potential to be pretty cool as a way of offloading work for the player.

Gary Sax wrote: I love the simulated agents approach to city managers but they still haven't gotten it right yet because it's so hard to do. Adding agents actually sort of simplifies the game, because (potentially) they'd make a lot of boring busywork decisions that you'd make. Putting working rudimentary AI markets into games has the potential to be pretty cool as a way of offloading work for the player.

Actually they have. At least modders have. The thing is this agent simulation thingy takes a lot of computing power. That's why the original game programmers just leave the AI as is. I've tried these mods, and while they works, they begin to crash my laptop at 30k population, while I've had over 70k in the normal game. And it was just the traffic!

I want a SimCity type game with a broad view that I can pick up and put down at my leisure, not something where the whole thing will come crashing down if the gradient on my sidewalk ramps is too steep or my traffic lights aren't perfectly synced.

Exactly! I don't need to know which type of road combinations will spawn a traffic light or arrange where U turns are available for services to change direction...

Overcooked. Yo, don't buy this if it is literally just you. But if you have a spouse or other family member or friend who would play together, BUY IT. It is SO fun. 3 button game, a blast. And if you have 3+ who play couch coop, god help you if this isn't one of the best couch coop of all time.

Same with Tumblestone. Awful single player but 4 way multi player on the couch is incredible. The amount of trash talking hit levels not seen since Mario Kart Double Dash.

Also, We Happy Few is awful. It's like they tried to splice Bioshock and Fallout 3 with a survival game and the result is a really snoozy snoozer

I am ultra hyped for Titanfall 2. I loved the first one a huge amount, which is quite unusual for me given it's a competitive multiplayer shooter. What a great game.

So I know that there is no shortage of 8-bit sidescrollers coming out of indie Dev's these days, but Odallus: The Dark Call is going to the head of the class for me. Very reminiscent of the NES Castlevania games. It does have areas you can't access until you collect certain items later in the game like a Metroidvania, but it's still broken up into stages and you can back later. Its challenging, but always fair and learning enemy patterns is very doable and satisfying. I played it damn near all day yesterday. It's on sale on Steam right now, not sure how much longer it will be, but worth the $7 or so. I like this way more than I liked Shovel Knight.

My son and I are playing the mess out of Shovel Knight right now. Such a great game.

I'll look into Odallus.

Still chipping away at Shadow Warrior and a couple of hours into Undertale.
Undertale is interesting. The characters are goofy, and most puzzles have unique aspects to them. The game itself is easy and isn't meant to be a challenge, more of an experience. It has great music.

Mr. White wrote: My son and I are playing the mess out of Shovel Knight right now. Such a great game.

I'll look into Odallus.

Yeah, I don't mean to slight Shovel Knight at all, I love that game, too.

Black Barney wrote: Also, We Happy Few is awful. It's like they tried to splice Bioshock and Fallout 3 with a survival game and the result is a really snoozy snoozer

You just saved me a chunk of money. I can't stand Bioshock, any Fallout game past 2, or survival games. Yay!

PSA free Titanfall 2 multiplayer demo out for this weekend!

OVERWATCH SUCKS

My wife and I have been perfecting our Overcooked skills. And yelling at each other. LOL