Community MetaSteam | May 2020 - We May Or May Not Be Around In June!

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Nabs

Hyper˗Toxic Pro˗Consumer
Oct 23, 2018
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I used to crowdfund a decent number of games, but now I only do so for very small number of exceptions.
It has to be something that looks really great (and affordable), or from a developer who I have previous positive experiences with.
Because more frequently than not, all you get is pissed off by the nerve some of these developers exhibit.

I have yet another example.

With this game:

The developer, who also did the game Pinstripe, crowdfunded the game for PC (with a possible release for the Switch).
The game had an expected delivery of late 2018. Yeah, I now, they never release the games on time.

Anyway, somewhere in 2019, he posted the game was pretty much done.
Then, after a period of silence, he posted that the game was delayed, for reasons he couldn't explain, but it was good news. And, at the same time he revoked the keys for backer beta's on Steam.
People were expecting the game to now be an EGS exclusive.

After some time, he said no, the game will still launch on Steam, but they were delaying the game (which was done) to release simultaneously with console ports. To which platforms? Well, he couldn't say. o_O

After another period of silence, the game launched today... on the Apple Arcade.
You know why it isn't out on PC?

Read the below text (an excerpt of the update I'll link to), and laugh.
Spoilers: it's because the Steam version is still in certification, and these things take time, while Apple were faster, to certify an Apple Arcade version that... was never previously mentioned.

Here it goes:

«Hello beautiful backer. First, thanks for your patience and your amazing support. I'm thrilled to announce that Neversong (formerly Once Upon A Coma) is in the final stages of its port to several large platforms, including Steam and some consoles! The Steam launch is incoming! Be on the look-out for an update!

I can't disclose which console platforms we are launching on at the moment though!(Please note, backers receive Steam keys, unless you purchased the Switch add-on, which was a temporary sale event in 2018). We're in a process called "cert", which basically means you finalize various aspects of your game to ensure your game abides by the various rules of each platform. Fortunately, one platform, Apple, actually passed us already, so we launched with them today! Figured I'd let you all know so you can play on your iOS with a free trial! It's actually super fun on iOS, and it's because of you guys. I'm grateful we were able to launch on Apple, because it means your support has resulted in millions of mobile players across the world being able to share in our little adventure :)

As you all know, every platform is different, and sometimes devs stagger launches because of various schedules and variables associated with each platform. That said, if you'd like to play Neversong on Apple Arcade, you can play with a free trial. Thanks Apple! »


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/80348891/once-upon-a-coma-from-the-creator-of-pinstripe/posts/2825399
Thanks Apple!

That would send me up a wall.
 

Firewithin

MetaMember
Dec 19, 2018
791
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im about to finish FF7R and finished a playthrough of BL3 and am hitting a quarantine lull of not know what i want to play next
 

BO7AMMOOD

Lucas isn't sure what to do anymore
Apr 18, 2019
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If you're playing FFXII, don't forget to use the Struggle for Freedom mod. It's fantastic and fixed lots of balancing problem in the base game.
Would you recommend that mod for a first playthrough of the game?
 

texhnolyze

Child at heart
Oct 19, 2018
3,621
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Indonesia
Would you recommend that mod for a first playthrough of the game?
Yeah, probably. The problem with the vanilla game is that it's too easy, but with some broken enemies.

This mod fixes them by giving you constant challenges while smoothing up most of the encounters.
 

Nabs

Hyper˗Toxic Pro˗Consumer
Oct 23, 2018
3,860
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We played two minutes of Nazi Zombie whatever. Yeah, that game is not for me at all.
 
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fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
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We played two minutes of Nazi Zombie whatever. Yeah, that game is not for me at all.
I quit 15 min in or so. Feels a lot worse than Nazi Zombie 1 which I actually had fun with. The gameplay in 4 is just ugh.
 

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
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The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
Frontier got another project , hidden inside small press reelase
 

Stone Ocean

Proud Degenerate
Apr 17, 2019
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Nah like I said above I bought FF12 at retail for PS2, played the english patched International version on PCSX2. So Square and I, we're square.

But that is interesting, I was mostly just wondering if there is any real difference between good PCSX2 settings and the steam edition. I had forgotten that International Zodiac was not internationally released.
There's also the new features that got ported over to Steam from the Switch release such as being able to reset jobs.
 
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PC-tan

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I disagree with some of the stuff said in the Gamespot Animal Crossing article

Stuff like representation for say a game like Animal Crossing makes sense, seeing how people are playing the game and want their avatar to pretty much be them.


But how does that work for other characters in a game that doesn't not have character customization? Isn't that typically a feature that is only in Japanese games? Outside of games made by Bethesda I don't think there are many AAA titles that have stuff like CC.

Also in the case of Animal Crossing where does that series primarily sell the majority of it's content? It's a Japanese series and even with the way the game plays that still seems to be it's primary audience and Japan is mainly Japanese people (so their is not much diversity there to begin with, which is interesting because even though there is not much diversity, there is still an Interest in other people's cultures and some social groups in Japan adopt some of those culture to stand out.) Wasn't there also Animal Crossing stuff in the past that was Japan exclusive? So I would imagine that stuff like cultural representation is the last of their concerns. Even in the new game stuff like gender representation was different in the Japanese version from what I heard. In the Japanese version you were give the option of "boy or girl" but in the west it just said choose one of these two bodies or something like that. And seeing how the game was developed in Japan and how it released in Japan, is it weird to come to the conclusion that maybe in Japan they don't really care a lot about it? As for the racial inclusion in the end well that's good since that will make people happy and potentially enjoy the game more. Will people complain against said decision? I would hope not. It's there so it's there, the article mentioning about how Nintendo should not get praised for including representation. I sort of agree with this but not for the reasons that the article mentions. The article says that Nintendo should not get credit since this should have been a part of the game ages ago. I don't think Nintendo should get either praise or flack and that it should just be accepted as an option now that just exist.



Representation in other games are weird, especially because they don't have CC.



Talking about representation I remember when ACU got flack for not having female assassins in the online multiplayer part of the game. I think even Nintendo gave Ubisoft shade by mentioning how you could play as male and female Robin in Smash Bros Wii U. After that ACS had the twins so you would play as both a male and female duo protagonist. And in Assassin's Creed Odyssey you could play as either a male or female with full VA and all of that. And for some reason there were people that didn't like the ACO format and would have preferred it just be one (Ubisoft went of of their way and yet they could not make people happy despite how people felt about representation with ACU)



I feel like representation is a lot easier to do in CC games especially since a lot of the time in Japanese CC games, MC does does talk and is mute.


I'm Hispanic and as far as I'm aware the main type of representation that Hispanic people typically get in games are as soldiers in Call of Duty. Hello Diaz. And in GTA Hispanic people are cholos or something like that (I live in California so I can understand why that would be a thing) but at the end of the day it doesn't matter much to me, I don't care what race a character is or what their gender is so long as I can "believe" this character and the journey that they are going on. Some times it feels like people just want to make a character a certain color or gender without much extra thought out into the character.

My biggest complaint is that it feels like people want representation just for the sake of representation without much meaning behind it. Could someone that is of a minority create a character is also a minority and make them a believable character that people care about and want to see their journey to the end? Oh ya it's very possible but you also need talented people and not just some one that is a certain shade of color. I thought we didn't want to judge people based off the color of their skin and instead by their talent. Or are people okay with just being told that hey "we didn't hire you because of your talent, we only hired you to meet a racial quota type of thing/get brownie points with woke people that will likely not even buy our game.


As for them mentioning that one dudes Kickstarter, from what I saw at least visually I like the way it looks. If I was to back that game I would hope that I'm not just supporting it because of the color of the skin of the creator but rather by the merit of the game itself. Can a persons background affect their way of thinking and therefore their creative vision? Very much so and a persons skin tone can affect their social standing which would play a rule in them being able to do stuff like fund a game. But there still seems to be too much of a focus on representation just based off skin tone. Some one that is a certain color shade in one part of the world will likely be treated differently in other parts of the world and their cultural background might also be different. I grew up in Latin America up until I was 5 years old I can't recall much of it but if I grew up there vs the US even though I would still be the same shade of color would be different and that would also change my view points on stuff. For all I knew not being exposed to certain cultures could have made me think differently about them.


I don't have the link to the article but one of the most interesting articles that I read and I do agree with is not so much about video game characters being a certain color or gender, etc. But rather about racial divide in exports.

The other day some one showed a picture about the FGC and you could see people from Japan, Korea, Latin America, US and of course weebs. The article was written by an American American women about the lack of representation in sports for people of certain color. And this is true, if you look at say the big name Tier 1 esports you don't see much if anyone of color that is not either White or Asian. Tier 1 is where all of the money is at. If you look at Tier 3 which is where you will see more people of color they are not getting payed nearly as much for saying winning a grand final (so say what Sonic Fox makes by winning in MK vs what someone from OG made from winning TI9 is a very large pay out gap)

Part of the reason behind that has to do with cultural background. If you look at stuff like EVO it's a lot easier to get into compared to TI, the FGC has more of a grassroots background so it's more of just people gathering up locally and playing on consoles rather than on very expensive gaming PCs. Growing up in California as a Hispanic male playing stuff like CS on a gaming PC would not be something that I could have done, would something like say FGC stuff be easier for me to get into because of how much cheaper/accessible it is? Of course. Especially because I did not have a decent internet connection at my house until maybe 2011.


People want representation in games sure, I mean we can do that in video games just add a skin for the characters and some hair. In some cases it's just that easy to "fix". But what about IRL stuff? Is this the reason why if say you were of a poor background and wanted to play a FPS game competitive your only option be Call of Duty and even then it would be treated like a Tier 2 game at most despite how much Activision makes of the game? Only to then potentially get kicked out the next year when the new COD game comes out that has introduces very different maps and abilities that make you lose your competitive edge?




Sorry for wasting your time also is this the type of stuff that would get me banned from ERA and get me on the eratakes Twitter page?
 
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I've been eyeing Langrisser I & II, and I'm tempted to buy the Digital Limited Edition from the Humble Store.
I was waiting for a discount, and the current one + the subscriber discount soften the blow a bit.

Has anyone played it?
Any impressions?
 

PC-tan

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After finishing up Uncharted 3 I think I'm going to try to finish OG Persona 5.

Also guess what I'm finally debt free!!!!!!

In the words of Demoman from TF2.

Freedom!!!!!!!!

Also I think I remember meeting that Pinstrip dev at PSX 2017 since they were doing a thing with Armor games (their publisher, which I did talk to and I ended up buying Adventure Pals after trying out the demo at that PSX).

I'm not sure if something happened but when you look at the Pinstrip steam page it doesn't even mention the developer. Just the publisher.

Also ya I go to game events from time to time. I even have a poster form the MHW devs to show for it. Fun times. You do meet people but dang those things must be expensive to have your game on display
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
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I just wanna point out that I was a beta tester for the games I talk about in this post and received them for free. I don't think that has any effect on my opinion of the titles but just wanted to make it known.

I've been eyeing Langrisser I & II, and I'm tempted to buy the Digital Limited Edition from the Humble Store.
I was waiting for a discount, and the current one + the subscriber discount soften the blow a bit.

Has anyone played it?
Any impressions?
It's alright. The story and overall gameplay are pretty much the same as the original but it added some of the mechanics from the mobile game and is overall a lot easier but whether or not that's a good or bad thing is up for debate. I never played the original or the mobile game but I enjoyed it even though I definitely agree it was a bit easier than I would have liked. Most of the issues I had with the PC port was fixed post-launch and due to the recent patches, a lot of the negative reviews on Steam are inaccurate now.

The game also lets you change between the remake art and the new art (even though you can only use the remake battle sprites which a lot of people don't like) and you can swap between the original or remade soundtrack. (There's also a DLC that adds in the other soundtracks from later re-releases).

Honestly, it's really similar to Fire Emblem and If that's your kind of vibe id say watch some gameplay videos and see if the story/gameplay is for you. I dont know if I'd say the limited edition is worth it though unless you really like the soundtrack and want the alternate soundtrack DLC.

So any tips on FuRYu games?? (Crystar, Alliance Allive HD, Lost Dimension, Heroland or Caligula Effect)
Thinking of getting one or two during the animu sale, but not sure which one to pick
I've played Caligula and Alliance Alive so I can only comment on those really.

Alliance Alive is pretty fun but it has no KB/M support (controller only) and no dub in any language, so characters interact in complete silence. It's exactly the same as the 3DS version but it's in HD now so you can still tell it was originally a 3DS game. Despite this, I really enjoyed the combat, art, music, and story. It's probably my favorite of the FuRYu titles I played. Though I think the lack of dubbing really hurt the experience for me. But I still enjoyed it despite that.

Caligula Effect, I'm a bit more mixed over. I loved the concept and was super excited when they announced it was getting an HD remake for PC. Especially since I held off on the Vita version because it ran at a constant 10-15fps. But I was a bit disappointed in the overall game. The combat is fun and I absolutely love some of the songs in the OST. But the story was pretty predictable and the characters weren't really all that interesting. The world also felt pretty lifeless and graphics are pretty basic in terms of UE4 titles. It ran at a rock-solid 60fps on my PC though with no issues so its great in the port department.

I'm also not sure if this was just me but it was insanely easy. I wiped out several of the bosses before they even had a chance to attack lol. Overall I think id recommend it if you can grab it for like $20. But definitely not full price.

(also btw if you have an AMD GPU avoid Lost Dimension, it has really bad performance issues on AMD and there hasn't been a fix)
 
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Line

meh
Dec 21, 2018
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So any tips on FuRYu games?? (Crystar, Alliance Allive HD, Lost Dimension, Heroland or Caligula Effect)
Thinking of getting one or two during the animu sale, but not sure which one to pick
Lost Dimension is pretty crappy all around honestly.
Caligula Effect is interesting, but quickly becomes very repetitive and a bit boring. Not bad though, but eeeh.
Alliance Alive HD was surprisingly great, it feels like a nice old school JRPG with good combat and great gameplay systems, plus a meaningful world to explore for once (collectibles and towers are actually important and useful). It's veeery low budget though, the later parts feels very rushed, and that last boss is just the sticky cheese stuck to the box of an otherwise good pizza. But it doesn't overstay its welcome thanks to that...
Crystar I need to play more, it feels like a more accomplished game and it has personality, but it's kinda like bootleg Falcom gameplay. It's too bad that it isn't more fun to play, not unlike Oninaki it's the bare minimum to be enjoyable but a huge flaw after a while since it's just menial.
 

Amzin

No one beats me 17 times in a row!
Dec 5, 2018
1,001
2,110
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After a pretty annoying string of disappointing games (or ones that just were super not for me, even when I thought they would be), finally played a game I ended up really enjoying, Hellblade. I'd had it for a few months but never started it, and I really loved it. I mean.... it was a very rough, unsettling journey, but that's the point, and I really appreciated the representation and design of the game, although a couple of the "puzzles" were meh. The combat was simple but felt very visceral and satisfying. The intensity of Senua was outstanding. Obviously this isn't some little unknown game I need to rave about but yea, really great.

Also been playing some Atom RPG which Meta has raved about before, it is definitely a more modern, Russian, Fallout 2 which is nifty, although I'm having trouble really getting into it in some ways - I don't think the writing is as good, and not just because of translation, although it's interesting to see different takes certainly than you would expect from a traditional western dev. Also the combat seems a bit unpredictable and janky, like I never have any idea if I was supposed to win or lose a particular fight based on my level and gear etc., it just sort of happens. I also got perma stunned with no message in the combat log until I died once. It's still a very solid game so far, and the mechanics are there, it just doesn't quite have the polish to sweep me away for hours at a time of reading.
 
Dec 5, 2018
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Finished the the story of one character (Bal) in SaGa Scarlet Grace,
I really enjoyed the combat. But I'm not sure if i'll do the other characters, it seems like i can enable fast combat (so i might actually do it if it's fast enough).
 

Ruvon

Chaotic writer
May 15, 2019
707
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cabinetdechaologie.wordpress.com
Thank you and it only took me something like 3.5 years to pay off about $10K USD in medical bills. I am lucky that these did not happen all at once though otherwise I would have freaked out a lot. I still remember getting a medical bill for $2k USD and freaking out about it.
Damn. Glad you're out of it.

Can't believe how fucked up medical bills can be outside of France. I'll fight 'til the end against anyone trying to change our health system to something like USA have.
 

Deleted member 113

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I've been having a lot of problems finding the time to have longer playing sessions.
I've been playing mostly games split into stages or episodes, that I can complete in shorter gameplay sessions (1-2 hours).

It's been a while since I played an JRPG.
I own OCTOPATH TRAVELER (but I'm yet to play it), and I seem to recall the game, because of its portable origins, while long, is supposed to be split into characters/stories or whatever.

If anyone played it, how is the game split, in terms of content?

thank you. :)
 
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Panda Pedinte

Best Sig Maker on the board!
Sep 20, 2018
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I started playing The Messenger recently and it's pretty good, my first thoughts about it were how a solid Ninja Gaiden inspired game it was and then I finished the first part and the game blew my expectations.
 

Deleted member 113

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A heads-up, since many are unaware, but Japanese developer TRIANGLE SERVICE, besides the shmups they released through Degica, self-published a couple of games on Steam, that are currently on sale.

Like many smaller Japanese developers, they did such a poor job promoting these even I, someone interested in their games, only discovered they were released on Steam purely by accident, a month after they launched (back in 2018), while searching for news about new games from the company. :giggle:

Since the games are currently on sale, I thought I would let you guys know, in case anyone is interested.
The games are:


Arcade Love

A collection of 3 small arcade games, with multiplayer (up to 4 players), including a new entry in their "ZEAL" series of shmups, COMBATZEAL.




GyroShooter

A game that, besides the usual controls, features gyro-controls.





If you are missing their older shmups, Degica has a bundle with all of them (and they are also on sale individually):

 

PC-tan

Low Tier Weeb
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I've been having a lot of problems finding the time to have longer playing sessions.
I've been playing mostly games split into stages or episodes, that I can complete in shorter gameplay sessions (1-2 hours).

It's been a while since I played an JRPG.
I own OCTOPATH TRAVELER (but I'm yet to play it), and I seem to recall the game, because of its portable origins, while long, is supposed to be split into characters/stories or whatever.

If anyone played it, how is the game split, in terms of content?

thank you. :)
It's split into character chapters. Each character has multiple one (I don't recall the grand total).
So pick a person learn about them and then have them go to the town of other people and "learn" their back story. You have to reach a certain level in order to do the characters next chapter. I think you need to meet at least 3 charters before you can do character 1s part 2.

I think it's a really bad system. Because it does not feel engaging.


Damn. Glad you're out of it.

Can't believe how fucked up medical bills can be outside of France. I'll fight 'til the end against anyone trying to change our health system to something like USA have.
A vast majority of that was dental stuff.

I had my appendix removed and didn't have to pay because of State Medi-Cal. I did have to pay for anesthesia though and that cost $2k USD. I told the person in charge of that anesthesia cost that I didn't have insurance and they dropped it to $1k USD. I'm just lucky because I heard in some states not having insurance getting your appendix removed can be over $10k USD. Or something like that
 
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More and more, I have been finding some games with a cool visual style, who cause a good first impression, and then... I notice screenshots of highly graphical sex scenes. :unsure:
Gone are the days where pretty much all adult games, outside of Japanese Visual Novels, were some cheaply made shovelware. While browsing Steam, I've seen strategy games, RPGs (particularly dungeon crawlers), shmups, and metroidvania games, with an appealing visual style, but then feature adult content.

A game having sex in not a deal-breaker to me (heck, I'm European; we are not easily offended by sex and nudity like some of our American friends :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:), but it rubs me the wrong way, and I really don't see the point, of inserting graphical sex scenes in games where such a thing seems utterly pointless.
I mean, an arcade shmup? A metroidvania?
I would be fine with, say, an adventure/RPG featuring some sexual content, since many feature relationships. It makes some sense. But, some developers are inserting them on everything.

Once again, while browsing the shmups section, I came across a game called Aster, which I mentioned before as having some nice pixel art.
I mean, look at it:





Not bad for a 2€ game, right?
But then, I check the trailer, and there's scenes with shmup action mixed with random sex scenes.
To me, that turns me off the game.

The above game has a link to a cool looking metroidvania, inspired by Castlevania, called Castle in The Clouds.
I love Castlevania. I see the word Castlevania, and a game has my attention.

Once again, I open the page, and I see:





That looks pretty good.
It's a Japanese developer, and they appear to have captured the 8-bit style rather well.
Then, I check the trailer, and the first thing that appears: several quick cuts of sex scenes. :rolleyes:
The game looks good in motion, and besides the gratuitous sex content, it would be something that I would like to play (as you may know, I keep recommending metroidvanias, and games by developers with a "false" 8-bit style like INTI CREATES; it's a genre, and style, that I like).

But, once again, the presence of sexual content in a genre that doesn't warrant it, and displayed front and centre in the promotional materials, rubs me the wrong way.

I'm sure these developers see this as a way to sell their games, but for me, it's the opposite.
And again, I don't have a problem with sex in games. I own games with adult content.
My problem is with inserting graphical sex scenes in games that have pretty much no narrative, and where instead of complementing the content, it's just distracting.

---

I'm curious: what are your views on the presence of adult content in games?
Particularly in non-narrative genres, like the above two examples?
 

PC-tan

Low Tier Weeb
Jan 19, 2019
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I'm curious: what are your views on the presence of adult content in games?
Particularly in non-narrative genres, like the above two examples?
I backed Subverse if that says anything

Sexual content found in non narrative games is sort of weird. Because there are some games (like the one that you showed) that use the sex stuff as a form of "punishment" system.

So you failed and there for the enemy is going to have it's way with you (and from what I have seen this applies to both male and female protagonist in some games)



Without a narrative to push it forward it's sort of strange.

There is this one game called Femdom or something like that. I tried that game and well it didn't make much sense to me as a game. What was interesting was how it has a "meta element" (is that how you use that term) where it has stuff like DLC and there is a particular DLC for it that is a money dump....) I won't go to much into the details of the game but I guess that for people that are into that sort of a thing the game format makes sense.

I have played sim management adult games and those I found myself engaged in. They don't really have much story to them per say just a simple little thing of hey you are now in charge of this establishment type of thing. And the format makes sense (at least it makes way more sense to me compared to say a 2D platformer adult game). I like sim management type games (well the more slow paced ones anyway) and ya it just mixes well with adult content. It would be day one one second and before I knew it I had amounted a small fortune in a few in game days.
 
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Rando10123

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I'm curious: what are your views on the presence of adult content in games?
Particularly in non-narrative genres, like the above two examples?
I don't think people care about what genre it's in so long they like it since that's what they probably looking for. As for me I don't really mind it so long the gameplay or the story are good. One game in particular that caught my eye was Mahou Arms since I didn't expect it to have lewd content from the trailer I saw. It's looking to be a competent action game and the lewd content is just a bonus.
 

low-G

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Nov 1, 2018
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More and more, I have been finding some games with a cool visual style, who cause a good first impression, and then... I notice screenshots of highly graphical sex scenes. :unsure:
Gone are the days where pretty much all adult games, outside of Japanese Visual Novels, were some cheaply made shovelware. While browsing Steam, I've seen strategy games, RPGs (particularly dungeon crawlers), shmups, and metroidvania games, with an appealing visual style, but then feature adult content.

A game having sex in not a deal-breaker to me (heck, I'm European; we are not easily offended by sex and nudity like some of our American friends :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:), but it rubs me the wrong way, and I really don't see the point, of inserting graphical sex scenes in games where such a thing seems utterly pointless.
I mean, an arcade shmup? A metroidvania?
I would be fine with, say, an adventure/RPG featuring some sexual content, since many feature relationships. It makes some sense. But, some developers are inserting them on everything.

Once again, while browsing the shmups section, I came across a game called Aster, which I mentioned before as having some nice pixel art.
I mean, look at it:





Not bad for a 2€ game, right?
But then, I check the trailer, and there's scenes with shmup action mixed with random sex scenes.
To me, that turns me off the game.

The above game has a link to a cool looking metroidvania, inspired by Castlevania, called Castle in The Clouds.
I love Castlevania. I see the word Castlevania, and a game has my attention.

Once again, I open the page, and I see:





That looks pretty good.
It's a Japanese developer, and they appear to have captured the 8-bit style rather well.
Then, I check the trailer, and the first thing that appears: several quick cuts of sex scenes. :rolleyes:
The game looks good in motion, and besides the gratuitous sex content, it would be something that I would like to play (as you may know, I keep recommending metroidvanias, and games by developers with a "false" 8-bit style like INTI CREATES; it's a genre, and style, that I like).

But, once again, the presence of sexual content in a genre that doesn't warrant it, and displayed front and centre in the promotional materials, rubs me the wrong way.

I'm sure these developers see this as a way to sell their games, but for me, it's the opposite.
And again, I don't have a problem with sex in games. I own games with adult content.
My problem is with inserting graphical sex scenes in games that have pretty much no narrative, and where instead of complementing the content, it's just distracting.

---

I'm curious: what are your views on the presence of adult content in games?
Particularly in non-narrative genres, like the above two examples?
Sounds like you have problem with sex in games. I also think it's fantastic that sex games can move away from VN titles and 'build your girl now have sex' games.

On the other hand, I'd rather a game be a hard R than straight up porn like this, or ideally have a toggle for that.

Never heard of Aster so will buy that immediately. But I did see Castle in the Clouds. I just don't dig the SD (super deformed) style on the MC when it comes to the sexual content, so in that case it does drive me away.
 
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didamangi

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Most games don't incorporate it very well anyways. Then you got shitty games that have poorly executed sex scenes. Then you have games that just have sex for the sake of having it. Honestly, most games don't pull of sex very well.
I dunno, ride to hell retribution seems to pull it off very well. ;)
 

Madventure

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I'm starting to think of banning "roguelike" & "roguelite" tags altogether from my account. There's just too many of them.

"Open world survival craft" too.
I lean pretty much towards most people making games think if you have a mechanic where your character dies "Oh so my game is a roguelike"
 
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BlackRainbowFT

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More and more, I have been finding some games with a cool visual style, who cause a good first impression, and then... I notice screenshots of highly graphical sex scenes. :unsure:
Gone are the days where pretty much all adult games, outside of Japanese Visual Novels, were some cheaply made shovelware. While browsing Steam, I've seen strategy games, RPGs (particularly dungeon crawlers), shmups, and metroidvania games, with an appealing visual style, but then feature adult content.

A game having sex in not a deal-breaker to me (heck, I'm European; we are not easily offended by sex and nudity like some of our American friends :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:), but it rubs me the wrong way, and I really don't see the point, of inserting graphical sex scenes in games where such a thing seems utterly pointless.
I mean, an arcade shmup? A metroidvania?
I would be fine with, say, an adventure/RPG featuring some sexual content, since many feature relationships. It makes some sense. But, some developers are inserting them on everything.

Once again, while browsing the shmups section, I came across a game called Aster, which I mentioned before as having some nice pixel art.
I mean, look at it:





Not bad for a 2€ game, right?
But then, I check the trailer, and there's scenes with shmup action mixed with random sex scenes.
To me, that turns me off the game.

The above game has a link to a cool looking metroidvania, inspired by Castlevania, called Castle in The Clouds.
I love Castlevania. I see the word Castlevania, and a game has my attention.

Once again, I open the page, and I see:





That looks pretty good.
It's a Japanese developer, and they appear to have captured the 8-bit style rather well.
Then, I check the trailer, and the first thing that appears: several quick cuts of sex scenes. :rolleyes:
The game looks good in motion, and besides the gratuitous sex content, it would be something that I would like to play (as you may know, I keep recommending metroidvanias, and games by developers with a "false" 8-bit style like INTI CREATES; it's a genre, and style, that I like).

But, once again, the presence of sexual content in a genre that doesn't warrant it, and displayed front and centre in the promotional materials, rubs me the wrong way.

I'm sure these developers see this as a way to sell their games, but for me, it's the opposite.
And again, I don't have a problem with sex in games. I own games with adult content.
My problem is with inserting graphical sex scenes in games that have pretty much no narrative, and where instead of complementing the content, it's just distracting.

---

I'm curious: what are your views on the presence of adult content in games?
Particularly in non-narrative genres, like the above two examples?
It depends.

I mean, in TV Shows I usually hate sex scenes because they last way too long and they show too much (i.e., endless face-munching) without actually showing anything. Basically I'm almost always left wondering about the intention behind including such scenes. If you show sex because sex is part of being human, then what's the need to have lingering shots? This tells me that the intention was to actually titillate the audience... so, why not make an adult movie with an actual plot? That'd give you the freedom to achieve your intended goal...

Another parallel would be in advertising. I'm perfectly okay with half naked ladies when selling lingerie, but I hate it when they use sex to sell me mundane objects.

With games, it's the same thing. If the sex scenes are tacked on (i.e., only shown between missions, like your first example) then I really hate it. If sex is at the center of the game and has an influence on design / gameplay, then I really don't mind it (like your metroidvania example).

Edit: it's also one of the reasons why I stopped watching anime so long ago... too much fanservice in places where it doesn't belong.
 
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xxr

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More and more, I have been finding some games with a cool visual style, who cause a good first impression, and then... I notice screenshots of highly graphical sex scenes. :unsure:
Gone are the days where pretty much all adult games, outside of Japanese Visual Novels, were some cheaply made shovelware. While browsing Steam, I've seen strategy games, RPGs (particularly dungeon crawlers), shmups, and metroidvania games, with an appealing visual style, but then feature adult content.

A game having sex in not a deal-breaker to me (heck, I'm European; we are not easily offended by sex and nudity like some of our American friends :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:), but it rubs me the wrong way, and I really don't see the point, of inserting graphical sex scenes in games where such a thing seems utterly pointless.
I mean, an arcade shmup? A metroidvania?
I would be fine with, say, an adventure/RPG featuring some sexual content, since many feature relationships. It makes some sense. But, some developers are inserting them on everything.

Once again, while browsing the shmups section, I came across a game called Aster, which I mentioned before as having some nice pixel art.
I mean, look at it:





Not bad for a 2€ game, right?
But then, I check the trailer, and there's scenes with shmup action mixed with random sex scenes.
To me, that turns me off the game.

The above game has a link to a cool looking metroidvania, inspired by Castlevania, called Castle in The Clouds.
I love Castlevania. I see the word Castlevania, and a game has my attention.

Once again, I open the page, and I see:





That looks pretty good.
It's a Japanese developer, and they appear to have captured the 8-bit style rather well.
Then, I check the trailer, and the first thing that appears: several quick cuts of sex scenes. :rolleyes:
The game looks good in motion, and besides the gratuitous sex content, it would be something that I would like to play (as you may know, I keep recommending metroidvanias, and games by developers with a "false" 8-bit style like INTI CREATES; it's a genre, and style, that I like).

But, once again, the presence of sexual content in a genre that doesn't warrant it, and displayed front and centre in the promotional materials, rubs me the wrong way.

I'm sure these developers see this as a way to sell their games, but for me, it's the opposite.
And again, I don't have a problem with sex in games. I own games with adult content.
My problem is with inserting graphical sex scenes in games that have pretty much no narrative, and where instead of complementing the content, it's just distracting.

---

I'm curious: what are your views on the presence of adult content in games?
Particularly in non-narrative genres, like the above two examples?
Yes, I agree completely, it often feels shoe-horned in rather than not. I'm not necessarily opposed to it - it has the potential of conveying a lot of things, but most of the time it's just there to show some nudidty. I definitely wish there was more thought put into those sequences, but if not, instead just remove them altogether or just present a simple implication.

Apropos of meaningless mechanics in games, I do have a problem with games in which you can urinate and defecate. It's a complete dealbreaker. Maybe it's me being petty, but it's just silly, gross and utterly pointless and I'll absolutely judge the game and the game designer as a whole for it. :unamused-face:

Luckily it's a very rare sight, but it does happen once in a blue moon that a developer internally goes "you know what would be a really funny and really really cool, edgy feature?"
 
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