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

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I also think they're good, but Blaster Master Zero 2 really takes the cake (helps that it's all new content and it is good as Zero 1, if not better).
Yeah, from what I've seen of Blaster Master Zero 2, they really amped things. :)

It makes sense: Zero is a reboot/re-imagining of the original game.
With Zero 2, they had "carte blanche" to do their own thing.

I left both games unplayed since last year, and I really shouldn't have, since I'm having a lot of fun.
I was playing Streets of Rage 4, and I couldn't wait to finish it, to get back to Blaster Master Zero. :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:

The first game is really cool for those who are familiar with the original game. Lots of smart references to it.
For example, I remember years ago checking an article on the differences between the original Japanese version of the game (called MetaFight) and Blaster Master. They changed the story, intro, and so on (nothing surprising, considering that plenty of 8-bit and 16-bit titles were almost new games after they were localized). But one thing I remember was that the US team responsible for the localization strongly objected, and requested a change to one gameplay sequence, a jump, where you are supposed to grab a small ladder, after making a big jump (as you know, any jump from a decent height when you are outside the vehicle will result in your death, and this was a really big one).
I reached a certain point in Zero, and what did I see: a ridiculously long jump, where in order to proceed, I had to reach the small ladder in mid-air. Yep, it was a direct reference to that particular "leap of faith" jump. Zero makes things a bit easier, since to the left of the ladder you have water, so if you avoid the ground you won't die, but still, it was a nice tribute. And yeah, with my crappy controller, that sequence took me a few tries. 😊
 

Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
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Downunder.
bsky.app
I missed out on the Trails talk.

Also, yeah, it's notes not required for playing CS3 onwards.
Do you mean to say that Kondo-san was just trying to bullshite us when he proudly exclaimed that we can start with CS3? :dana_blanket:

Well, they hired Alexander O. Smith for a bunch of other games (FFT: WoTL and TO: LUCT), and he's still in the business, translated 428 last year.
To this day, Vagrant Story remained the best of his works. His later works remains consistent in terms of quality of course, but VS was something really special.

I'm just gonna wait til Crossbell series gets fan translated or localizaed before diving into post Trails in the Sky stuff at this point.

For that matter, ghragav remake/re-translation when?
I can't speak for Azure, but consider visiting my Zero OT for all the necessary info if you're interested in playing Zero. I highly recommend it. I played that game for 100 hours to finish (and still haven't seen the NG+ content yet) and I consider the localisation and port quality to be among the best fan projects out there. It definitely can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Scarlet Study's Gyakuten Kenji 2 localisation.

Finally, tackling the Gagharv trilogy is a tall order for any fan projects, sadly. For example, Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch is about 450K+ JP characters long. A little bit larger than the script size of Sky 3rd.
 
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yuraya

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May 4, 2019
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If CS:GO is moving to Source 2 on the 18th then we should probably be hearing about it by Thursday.
Is the csgo community expecting a big change if it does happen?

I figured it would be mostly work underneath the game like matchmaking and stuff like that. I don't think there would be any changes to visuals/animations.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
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Finished Horace yesterday, what an excellent ride. It's crazy how much content and variety this has. Story walks a fine line between silly and serious, but I think it succeeds.

So I'm finally putting Moonless Knight into the rotation, and first impressions are positive. It's clearly an evolution of Usurper in some ways (the combat system), but mostly different.

Also started Rice of Tom Braider (aka Laura Croft Injury Simulator) to get my flashy AAA bombastic setpiece fix. Somehow it amuses me more that it probably should that she raises her "language proficiencies" by just reading murals/documents in that language.
 

CommodoreKong

Mercenary in the Badlands
Jun 15, 2019
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Is the csgo community expecting a big change if it does happen?

I figured it would be mostly work underneath the game like matchmaking and stuff like that. I don't think there would be any changes to visuals/animations.
I imagine the biggest change is that Source 2 is designed to run on modern computers (when Source 1 was first designed we have single core processors and video cards weren't the beasts they are today). Valve has also talked about how Source 2 is designed to be easier and faster for them to work in.
 
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Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
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If CS:GO is moving to Source 2 on the 18th then we should probably be hearing about it by Thursday.
In fact, thurdays and tuesdays are the days that Valve use the most for the big news and blogs.

I imagine the biggest change is that Source 2 is designed to run on modern computers (when Source 1 was first designed we have single core processors and video cards weren't the beasts they are today). Valve has also talked about how Source 2 is designed to be easier and faster for them to work in.
Yeah, Source 2 will let them update way more quickly and design stuff for the actual computers, while they did an stunning job optimizing CSGO's BR mode in Source 1, it's also a pain in the ass, so yeah, it will be big for CSGO.
 

Myradeer

Rayon de Soleil
Apr 17, 2019
320
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I recently caught a playthrough of Ato and this is surprisingly decent metroidvania. There's definitely much better, well-known metroidvania titles out there but for someone who already played through them all, it might be something worthy of interest.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Saw ios nagging me to update my ipad. Thought about the fact that apple won't leave my balls alone until I update.
So I updated.
...
Now my ipad works approx. 5 minutes until it reboots by itself.

I'm half tempted to try to live without this piece of shit. One of the defining traits of the last few years to me is how user experience went down the drain for OS and browsers.

I love how all the help I get when googling this shit is either...
  • some apple help board with a dumb mofo explaining how to reboot your device
  • some thinly veiled attempt at scamming where some random web page lists every 'known' solutions but finish by telling you you should install some rotten software
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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I'm in a physical boardgame mood. Funny how my social anxiety destroyed my life but I miss people. Or not, I guess :anguished-face:
Still won't set foot in a store, vidyagames are costly, but boardgames are wallet death.
 
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Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
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But to go back to Zero, yeah, the characters are boring trash. Elie is just a Deux Ex machina to solve problems with her relationships, Randy does nothing (cause Lloyd is the real self insert, so the playboy has no game) but magically saves the groups when needed, and Lloyd... dude wants to be his brother, and it shows. May as well not exist. But he is needed to make his harem.
The mafia chapters are awful, the backtracking is out of this world... and ultimately, nothing interesting happens, except the poor crying cops that can't do what they can because politics and journalists are in the way.
I'll admit, it does feel very Japanese, if only all those pesky civies would just die we could end all the problems. Almost felt like one of those black trucks blaring propaganda.
I haven't finished it yet, and I can already tell that I really love the characters.
I don't mind the early chapters, backtracking isn't an issue to me, from Chapter 2 on you get fast travel to make it harmless.
And boy do I disagree with your interpretation. Yes they decry the politics, because Crossbell is literally a puppet state with no real authority on its own. Liberl is utopia compared to it. The journalists, so far, are never portrayed negatively, quite the opposite. (Unless you mean that the SSS themselves aren't super fans of Grace. And of course they are not thrilled by her, as they believe she just makes fun of them. It's clear, however, to anyone actually understanding the script, that Grace is ultimately a force for good in Crossbell) If anything the issue is that politics force them to censor all the truly fucked up shit happening, which makes them as much a victim as the police.
I really have a hard time understanding how someone can play this game and think it's a propaganda piece against civics.

I do agree that it's combat system is a step down from Sky, mostly due to less effective Crafts, honestly.
 
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Deleted member 113

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Leak of HIB 21?
  1. Beat Cop
  2. Dustforce DX
  3. Gato Roboto
  4. Hyper Light Drifter
  5. Hypnospace Outlaw
  6. Moonlighter
  7. Starbound
How? Where? And most of all: why? 😛

Yeah, if that's a real bundle, I own them all already. And most, if not all, were bundled several times already.
 
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Deleted member 113

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Green Man Gaming is having an anniversary sale.

I finally picked up Ghost Parade, since their current price is the lowest the title has reached so far.
I've been meaning to add it to the "collection", and was waiting for it to reach a more affordable price.




For those unfamiliar with it, it's this game:


 

Line

meh
Dec 21, 2018
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I haven't finished it yet, and I can already tell that I really love the characters.
I don't mind the early chapters, backtracking isn't an issue to me, from Chapter 2 on you get fast travel to make it harmless.
And boy do I disagree with your interpretation. Yes they decry the politics, because Crossbell is literally a puppet state with no real authority on its own. Liberl is utopia compared to it. The journalists, so far, are never portrayed negatively, quite the opposite. (Unless you mean that the SSS themselves aren't super fans of Grace. And of course they are not thrilled by her, as they believe she just makes fun of them. It's clear, however, to anyone actually understanding the script, that Grace is ultimately a force for good in Crossbell) If anything the issue is that politics force them to censor all the truly fucked up shit happening, which makes them as much a victim as the police.
I really have a hard time understanding how someone can play this game and think it's a propaganda piece against civics.

I do agree that it's combat system is a step down from Sky, mostly due to less effective Crafts, honestly.
The backtracking gets absolutely insane if you do the side quests... but beyond that, every single thing that you have to do in the game involves going back and forth in the same city, again and again and again. I liked the more open aspect early on, then hated it when it was yet again more going back to the HQ, then to the NPC in the zone that I've been to 20 times this chapter alone, then going back AGAIN to the same exit to get where I needed to go. Hell, even the bus animation takes ages.

And Grace is shown right from the start to be corrupt, bashing the SSS for no reason when they're useful, glorifying the Bracers instead.
Then she uses them... and they make use of her knowledge, it makes sense. And... she's not a force for good. She's part of the status quo, and actively works against it when it's convenient. Truth is of zero interest, justice only matters when it gets her where she needs to be.
Which is the point of the story: nothing works until you get outside the confine of the law, because everyone's corrupt and "shikata ga nai", can't do shit about it.
Except they could. But that won't be with good governance and democracy, that will be a rogue faction of the police with military assistance, a paramilitary guild named Bracers, and a bunch of super humans like Renee.

Where trails in the Sky talk about the political ramifications of every aspect of society, and the Queen is a great character, in Crossbell there's none of that.
Just complaining that foreign interests are tearing apart your country (and they are indeed), that you cannot act... except when ti's illegal.

Because for a game based on cops, all the story beats are blatant violations of the law, never EVER respecting the chain of command.
But they get results so it gets swept under the rug.
Yeah I got more than tired of the group of dumbasses complaining that criminals would get off scot-free when they decided to randomly interrogate people that they were ordered not to, enter places without a warrant (but it's ok, we've seen suspicious activity, maybe a foreigner or too while we're at it) or worse with the auction!
They just stumble on human trafficking, have a shoot out with the mafia, escape and... everything's fine, they keep the girl.
Totally not actions that would end up in massive prison sentences for blatant abuse of power and an absolute shit show for all the VIP that they threatened while in a gunfight! But it's ok, magic girl is acquired for the next game, more Deux Es Machinas.

They tried to make a game about the law and police officers, but they failed horribly at it.
At no point is it realistic (I do like Lloyd doing detective work, now that's actually good) in the main story bits, and it's always, always about insane crimes committed by a team that would be classified as terrorists in the last act.
Without even talking about their relationship with gangs and international crime, and the law that they never apply when it's needed for the plot to go forward.

Don't go for the virtuous cops saving our lives when they're just a bunch of thugs aided by criminals, shitting on the law at every point because the higher ups are corrupt, politicians are corrupt, people are too busy with their lives to make real change... so fuck them all, gun blazing with our international militia on the side, let's fix the country yee-haw!
Except, you know, the consequences should be the death penalty considering all they've done, the risks involved and the people they associate with.
If you don't want to be a puppet, maybe you shouldn't give your neighbors more than a reason to get involved.

Long gone are the days of Olivier and Cassius Bright. Dialogue and politics? Pfff, we're cops let's sneak in, we'll make it up along the way.
Fuck the SSS, fuck all those hypocrites and their bland ass characters.
 

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
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The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
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Coming later this month to early access:



Soldak Entertainment releases consistently good action RPGs, despite the small number of people working on these games.
Do consider checking them out, the next time they are on sale. They are usually very cheap during the big sales.
 

Joe Spangle

Playing....
Apr 17, 2019
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Anyone else on an RTS binge in preparation for the C&C remaster?

Ive been playing Company of Heroes 1+2. Both good fun games. I fancy giving Age of Empires 2 HD Edition a go as ive had it on Steam for a while and remember it being good. I also picked up Homeworld remastered edition recently so thats on the list. And maybe Dawn of War 2 as ive never played it but read that its good.
 

Deleted member 113

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I don't know if everyone noticed it, but this month, we have another month filled with cool new releases.
While we don't have many "big names", there's a lot of cool stuff releasing almost every day.

I have a list of 8 games that I marked as wanting to buy at launch. :)

Just this week, we have:




And, the last week of the month is crazy.

I mean, there's plenty of stuff for everyone:



Plus, Shantae and the Seven Sirens is coming out on May 28th, but still doesn't have a Steam store page:

 

EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
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I'm surrounded by children! :anguished-face:

All you lot playing games in I.T. class on PCs with Windows and shit. LUXURY!

I had to use a Research Machines Z80 Rack Mounted computer as my computer because there weren't enough BBC Micro to go around and only 3 BBC Master. It helped that i was one of the few in the class that could figure out how to use the RMZ80 but still.

We mainly played pirated copies of Time Pilot with some Mr Do, Exile or Elite now and then.



We also memorised or had pages at the back of our exercise books full of One-Line games like these.

 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
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I'll bookmark your post for now, as I want to answer to all your points, and haven't played far enough yet.
I'll post a summary of my thoughts on Zero later, once I finished it, and will address your points then with the entire game in my mind,
 
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Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
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I'm surrounded by children! :anguished-face:

All you lot playing games in I.T. class on PCs with Windows and shit. LUXURY!

I had to use a Research Machines Z80 Rack Mounted computer as my computer because there weren't enough BBC Micro to go around and only 3 BBC Master. It helped that i was one of the few in the class that could figure out how to use the RMZ80 but still.

We mainly played pirated copies of Time Pilot with some Mr Do, Exile or Elite now and then.



We also memorised or had pages at the back of our exercise books full of One-Line games like these.

Are you saying that in 2020 this is the hardware on hand in schools for children?

This is both depressing and kind of amazing considering that it would mean this stuff still works after decades being handled by children.
 

Deleted member 113

Guest
Ghost Parade for $16...hmm...
I don't know if there's any additional VIP discount, or one because it was already in my wishlist, but here in Europe it's slightly cheaper.
It's 60% off, and it's 13,60€.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Anyone else on an RTS binge in preparation for the C&C remaster?

Ive been playing Company of Heroes 1+2. Both good fun games. I fancy giving Age of Empires 2 HD Edition a go as ive had it on Steam for a while and remember it being good. I also picked up Homeworld remastered edition recently so thats on the list. And maybe Dawn of War 2 as ive never played it but read that its good.
No but I'm itching for a RTS right now. Are there good recent ones ?
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
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My gut: Satisfactory will release either on 19th may or 26th may. If Im right, thank my gut.
 
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lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
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