Community MetaSteam | August 2021 - Openness Is Its Superpower

[Wok]

They are also only being investigated when there is a reason.

I have not followed the news much, but reading about it at TechCrunch, there was much thought to ensure people aren't investigated without a reason.

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[prudis]

KB/M

on PC is just matter of preference i guess ,
iirc the remasters of 2 and infinite have some weirdass issues that are OK in the original , due to the remasters being aimed mostly on consoles i guess

as in random crashes, audio being bugged for some , worse performance without much of a graphics jump and mouse smoothing buggy

not sure if they patched it in time , but quickchecking on steamforums they didnt

 

[Wok]

Tempting, but what if it is in the next Choice bundle?

Buy There Is No Game : Wrong Dimension from the Humble Store

"There is no game: Wrong dimension" is a Point&Click comedy adventure (and Point&Click only!) that will take you on a journey you never asked to go on, through silly and unexpected video game universes.Will you be able to play along with the "Game" to find your way home?We sincerely think NOT. A...

www.humblebundle.com

Deals — 2 filters selected

GG.deals helps you find the best deals on digital game downloads. Join our giveaways, track new sales, synchronize your Steam collection.

gg.deals

 

[ISee]

I have not followed the news much, but reading about it at TechCrunch, there was much thought to ensure people aren't investigated without a reason.

Again, depends on your perspective,

I'd say the investigation starts when the scan is being applied and that scanning action is being done preemptively. Every upload, from everybody is being treated as potentially bad. Everybody is under general suspicion.

At least that's how I see this.

 

[fantomena]

Tempting, but what if it is in the next Choice bundle?

Buy There Is No Game : Wrong Dimension from the Humble Store

"There is no game: Wrong dimension" is a Point&Click comedy adventure (and Point&Click only!) that will take you on a journey you never asked to go on, through silly and unexpected video game universes.Will you be able to play along with the "Game" to find your way home?We sincerely think NOT. A...

www.humblebundle.com

Deals — 2 filters selected

GG.deals helps you find the best deals on digital game downloads. Join our giveaways, track new sales, synchronize your Steam collection.

gg.deals

I have stopped caring about what the next Choice may contain or not, I just bought the game on Steam actually. If a choice bundle have a lot of games Im interested in that I don't own, cool, otherwise, no biggie, Im just gonna pause.

 

[lashman]

Again, depends on your perspective,

I'd say the investigation starts when the scan is being applied and that scanning action is being done preemptively. Every upload, from everybody is being treated as potentially bad. Everybody is under general suspicion.

At least that's how I see this.

guilty until proven innocent

 

[Nabs]

My upload speeds are so bad right now... I'm talking .16Mbps. I can't even upload a picture to imgur... ripriprip.

Anyway, I figured out that Dodgeball Academia has a way to force Ultrawide support just like Carto. Just play it in Windowed Mode and use a borderless window program like Borderless Gaming to extend it. Pretty sweet.

edit: we back!

 

[Le Pertti]

I thought the news and controversy was about apple doing the scan on device basis? Most online storage already do scan on content so it wouldn’t be strange for apple to do it also.

 

[Mor]

they're just anime fans

ANIME WINS!

 

[ISee]

I thought the news and controversy was about apple doing the scan on device basis? Most online storage already do scan on content so it wouldn’t be strange for apple to do it also.

As far as I get it, the scan is being done on the device so they can flag the file as suspicious before it is being uploaded and "fully" encrypted.
If you do not switch to iOS 15 or do not sub to iCloud you files will never be scanned. Which is a problem on iOS as it is centered around Apple services working together.

In some form, Apple is trying to find a middle ground with their approach, where most data is still encrypted and even they can't access it, while flagging suspicious files for potential, deeper investigation. Apple will be able to decode files flagged as suspicious, but not other files. Then an employee will look at it and report it to the police, if need be.

Most online services do scan and some even have full access to your files, all of the time. The difference is Apple branding themselves as THE big privacy company: "Come to us, because we do not collect your data and respect your privacy."

A middle ground approach can work for some things. But you either respect privacy, or you don't. Going blindfolded into somebody's Appartement and only looking when you find sharp objects is still going into somebody's Appartement in the first place. There is no middle ground here, at least not in my opinion.

 

[Wok]

Apple will be able to decode files flagged as suspicious

Only if a threshold of a number of flagged files is reached. This is why the chance of investigating unencrypted files for a false-positive user is so low.

 

[ISee]

Only if a threshold of a number of flagged files is reached. This is why the chance of investigating a false positive user is so low.

True, also because the hashes being used are meant to be bullet proof in the first place.
Doesn't change the fact that every file is being treated as bad until proven otherwise.

 

[Swenhir]

Imo, it's not a private companies duty to do criminal investigations and to treat everybody as suspicious.
Yes, Apple's intend is honorable and seems like a good idea. But once this front door (hard to call their plan a back door) is implemented, it will stay open no matter what.

Completely agreed with everything you said, but this in particular. This nuance is something Apple clearly grasped 6 years ago when refusing to unlock that phone so this regression in awareness of consequences is all but disingenuous to me. I don't know what's going on nor what the three letter agencies have been up to with Apple but this seems like they forfeited their image of resisting governments and of providing fairly robust security.

I also want to add that this being about child abuse is an ever so transparent attempt at tugging at people's heartstrings. "Think of the children" is something that's designed to appeal to an instinctive, hardwired part of people to push otherwise unacceptable changes. I think people wouldn't have anywhere near as tolerant a response if this was about, say, scanning for photos of larceny or people commiting tax fraud on a saturday. I don't know.

 

[fantomena]

My upload speeds are so bad right now... I'm talking .16Mbps. I can't even upload a picture to imgur... ripriprip.

Anyway, I figured out that Dodgeball Academia has a way to force Ultrawide support just like Carto. Just play it in Windowed Mode and use a borderless window program like Borderless Gaming to extend it. Pretty sweet.

edit: we back!

Using 3rd party software to get a PC game working the way you want feels very backwards in 2021.

 

[Nabs]

Using 3rd party software to get a PC game working the way you want feels very backwards in 2021.

Jesus christ what did I just write. Bless Steam.

Hmm? That's the beauty of PC gaming. Being able to fix, or play games how you want. ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[fantomena]

Hmm? That's the beauty of PC gaming. Being able to fix, or play games how you want. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Ultrawide should be baked into the game or being done by the game client (like Steams controller support).

Third party software is not the same as going into game config and editing 2 lines.

I guess I just have spoiled by Valve doing the majority of things for me.

 

[Nabs]

Ultrawide should be baked into the game or being done by the game client (like Steams controller support).

Third party software is not the same as going into game config and editing 2 lines.

I can't expect every developer (esp. small ones) to spend the time to test their games against every possible niche aspect ratio. Especially when they probably don't even own a monitor with that resolution. Now, if you make it so your game stretches (poorly) to every possible res, we'll have a problem (looking at you, hotshot racing).

The thing here is the game engine does support ultrawide. So I'm very happy. I'm not doing anything extra beyond using a program I already use on boot.

(and a game client is 3rd party software)

--------

btw talking about modding and 3rd party software, I'm still very proud of myself for figuring out how to mod Yakuza 0. I wanted Xbox prompts with my DS4, and didn't want to use DS4Windows along with Steam to trick it. The benefit is that I got better icons in the dancing minigame

 

[fantomena]

I can't expect every developer (esp. small ones) to spend the time to test their games against every possible niche aspect ratio. Especially when they probably don't even own a monitor with that resolution. Now, if you make it so your game stretches (poorly) to every possible res, we'll have a problem (looking at you, hotshot racing).

The thing here is the game engine does support ultrawide. So I'm very happy. I'm not doing anything extra beyond using a program I already use on boot.

My apologies, you are right.

 

[prudis]

 

[Le Pertti]

I figured out the worst part of summer, all the delicious fruits that are in season that make me gain so much weight! Cant stop eating!

 

[Cacher]

I feel that this news should be of interest to Gizmo and Arulan

 

[prudis]

I feel that this news should be of interest to Gizmo and Arulan

looks kinky

 

[Wok]

https://steamdb.info/tech/

 

[prudis]

oh how i did miss new dork souls

 

[Mor]

Well, I'm back from my trip

 

[Yoshi]

Weekend PC Deals (credit to Neowin)

Bundles
Humble Choice for August 2021
Humble's Remarkable Roguelikes
Fanatical All Stars 14
Fanatical Guardian Bundle 3

Free Events
Far Cry 5
Crossroads Inn Anniversary Edition
Dungeon Defenders: Awakened

Deals

Everspace 2 - Early Access – $31.99 on Steam
It Takes Two – $29.99 on Steam
XCOM 2 Collection – $24.91 on Steam
Marvel's Avengers – $23.99 on Steam
The Yakuza Remastered Collection – $22.50 on Fanatical
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series – $19.49 on Fanatical
DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT – $18.99 on IndieGala
Dreamscaper – $18.74 on Steam
Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions – $17.99 on IndieGala
Need for Speed Heat Deluxe Edition – $17.49 on Steam
Assetto Corsa Competizione – $15.99 on Steam
Call of Duty: World at War – $14.99 on Steam
Street Fighter - 30th Anniversary – $14.99 on Steam
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection – $14.96 on Steam
Just Cause 4 Complete Edition – $13.63 on Steam
Megaquarium – $12.49 on Steam
Unravel Yarny Bundle – $11.23 on Steam
The Deus Ex Collection – $10.6 on Steam
UnderMine - $9.99 on Steam ($7.99 for Humble Choice subscribers) - Thanks Tomasety!
Forza Motorsport 7 – $9.99 on Microsoft Store
Sea of Solitude – $9.99 on Steam
Knockout City – $9.99 on Steam
XCOM: Chimera Squad – $9.99 on Steam
Oxygen Not Included – $9.99 on Steam
Watch Dogs 2 – $9.49 on Fanatical
A Way Out – $8.99 on Steam
Arma 3 Apex Edition – $8.49 on Steam
Street Fighter V – $7.99 on Steam
Far Cry 5 – $7.92 on GreenManGaming
Arma 3 – $7.49 on Steam
Biped – $7.49 on Fanatical
ELDERBORN – $7.49 on Humble Store
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – $7.49 on Steam
Supreme Commander Collection – $6.76 on Steam
Worms W.M.D – $5.99 on Steam
Slime Rancher – $5.99 on Steam
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration – $5.99 on Steam
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition – $5.99 on Steam
Tricky Towers – $5.09 on Steam
Fe – $4.99 on Steam
Serious Sam 3: BFE – $3.99 on Steam
Unheard – $3.14 on Steam
Dungeon Siege Collection – $2.99 on Steam
Stories Untold – $2.49 on Steam
Tomb Raider – $2.24 on Steam
Minit – $0 on Epic Store
A Plague Tale: Innocence – $0 on Epic Store

GOG Deals

Kingdom Come: Deliverance - $10.19 on GOG
Project Zomboid - $10.04 on GOG
Stellaris - $9.99 on GOG
Frostpunk - $9.89 on GOG
Stardew Valley - $8.99 on GOG
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - $8.99 on GOG
SPORE Collection - $7.49 on GOG
Age of Wonders 3 - $7.49 on GOG
Grim Dawn - $6.24 on GOG
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat - $5.99 on GOG
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - $5.99 on GOG
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - $4.99 on GOG
Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition - $4.99 on GOG
Batman: Arkham City - GOTY Edition - $4.99 on GOG
Mad Max - $4.99 on GOG
Mount & Blade: Warband - $4.99 on GOG
Lost Horizon - $2.49 on GOG
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus - $2.03 on GOG
Homeworld: Emergence - $0.99 on GOG
Syndicate Plus - $0 on GOG
Ultima Underworld 1+2 - $0 on GOG
Syndicate Wars - $0 on GOG

If there's anything missing, feel free to suggest and I'll add it to the list

 

[manchego obfuscator]

Finished Omno on Game Pass last night. Overall, a pretty impressive effort, especially for a single developer. It's not as much like Journey et al. as I had expected (there's very limited storytelling, environmental or otherwise, and much more of an emphasis on gameplay), and there's some frustrating difficulty spikes in some of the platforming in later stages, with overly finicky collision detection in spots and some overly precise timing demanded, which doesn't fit with the relaxing vibe of the game particularly well. I still recommend it and look forward to what Studio Inkyfox does next.

 

[Ascheroth]

Alright, that mostly wraps up Ys IX

Overall very much enjoyed my time with it. In most aspects it's basically Ys VIII with some refinements. That's not necessarily a bad thing since Ys VIII was great, but I also wish it would have been more different in some aspects. All of the systems in Ys VIII feel like a natural consequence of its setting (shipwrecked on a mysterious deserted island) and cohesive as a whole. Wheras in IX it kinda feels more like "alright, we had these things in VIII, lets just put them in here as well" and as a result some things feel somewhat arbitrary and shoehorned in.
I'm also not too big of a fan of the setting, mainly aesthetically. Obviously IX is technically superior but most of its locations are just very unremarkable. Lots of grey and brown.
Story was enjoyable, characters were great as well. Probably overall my favorite cast in terms of combat and character design among the party Ys games. Bonus points for having no embarassing "anime" moments as well, and I do appreciate that it's shorter than Ys VIII by a good amount.
Difficulty felt pretty much perfect on Nightmare, challenging but at least to me it never felt frustrating.
Only missing the Time Attack achievements now, I think I'll try grabbing them, they seem pretty doable and then I'm really done.

Definitely recemmended, but I also cannot wait for them to finally move away from the current gameplay style and try something fresh again.

 

[BlueOdin]

You know what’s cool? Wanting to play something on your laptop and then noticing you forgot your charging cable

 

[Ascheroth]

There we go

 

[fantomena]

Gonna give a lot of kudos and respect to the way Linus and his team approached the 1 and a half hour they had with the Steam Deck at Valve and how they made the video. Way better than those other tech sites. He seemed genuinely excited about the Deck and the Valve guy seems to like his feedback. I mean for fucks sake PC gamer and others, you were at Valve for over 1 hour and couldn't master much at all in their videos, PC gamer was like 3 min, wtf.

Linus came prepared, the others "plays games nice, feels nice, goody good".

 

[toxicitizen]

Alright, that mostly wraps up Ys IX

Overall very much enjoyed my time with it. In most aspects it's basically Ys VIII with some refinements. That's not necessarily a bad thing since Ys VIII was great, but I also wish it would have been more different in some aspects. All of the systems in Ys VIII feel like a natural consequence of its setting (shipwrecked on a mysterious deserted island) and cohesive as a whole. Wheras in IX it kinda feels more like "alright, we had these things in VIII, lets just put them in here as well" and as a result some things feel somewhat arbitrary and shoehorned in.
I'm also not too big of a fan of the setting, mainly aesthetically. Obviously IX is technically superior but most of its locations are just very unremarkable. Lots of grey and brown.
Story was enjoyable, characters were great as well. Probably overall my favorite cast in terms of combat and character design among the party Ys games. Bonus points for having no embarassing "anime" moments as well, and I do appreciate that it's shorter than Ys VIII by a good amount.
Difficulty felt pretty much perfect on Nightmare, challenging but at least to me it never felt frustrating.
Only missing the Time Attack achievements now, I think I'll try grabbing them, they seem pretty doable and then I'm really done.

Definitely recemmended, but I also cannot wait for them to finally move away from the current gameplay style and try something fresh again.

Pretty much agreed on all points. The whole Cursed City thing and giving Adol anime superpowers seemed like a cool departure for the series at first but it quickly became clear just how much of the design from Ys VIII was actually recycled. Which, like you said, not necessarily a bad thing. Ys VIII was fantastic!

So Nightmare is pretty manageable, uh? I kinda regret playing on hard because it was honestly way too easy with only some of the very late-game bosses posing even a mild challenge. I was intimidated by it but I guess these new games have nothing on the old ones difficulty-wise. Ys I & II on Nightmare was painful at times, especially the Dark Fact fight.

Oh and Time Attack is pretty doable, yeah. Takes like 20-30mins to do all the achievements if you do it on easy.

 

[Ascheroth]

Pretty much agreed on all points. The whole Cursed City thing and giving Adol anime superpowers seemed like a cool departure for the series at first but it quickly became clear just how much of the design from Ys VIII was actually recycled. Which, like you said, not necessarily a bad thing. Ys VIII was fantastic!

So Nightmare is pretty manageable, uh? I kinda regret playing on hard because it was honestly way too easy with only some of the very late-game bosses posing even a mild challenge. I was intimidated by it but I guess these new games have nothing on the old ones difficulty-wise. Ys I & II on Nightmare was painful at times, especially the Dark Fact fight.

Oh and Time Attack is pretty doable, yeah. Takes like 20-30mins to do all the achievements if you do it on easy.

There are some difficulty spikes (mainly early on actually), but overall it was pretty doable. A lot easier than the single character Ys games for sure.
There's nothing remotely comparable to Nightmare Dark Fact. I did the final boss fight a 2nd time actually because I missed 1 monster in the journal and I turned it hilariously easy: I got White Cat to 82, then used all 17 of my Level up medicine to get her to 99 for the achievement and fed her all my HP, Attack and Defense potions, gave her the Holy Sword Hilt accessory (2.5x skill damage + 30% crit) and proceeded to more or less curbstomp the optional boss. Then put the accessory you get as a reward on her as well (all damage types + Lifesteal lmao) and did the final boss again, he was almost pitiful.

 

[Alexandros]

Gonna give a lot of kudos and respect to the way Linus and his team approached the 1 and a half hour they had with the Steam Deck at Valve and how they made the video. Way better than those other tech sites. He seemed genuinely excited about the Deck and the Valve guy seems to like his feedback. I mean for fucks sake PC gamer and others, you were at Valve for over and hour and couldn't master much at all in their videos, PC gamer was like 3 min, wtf.

Linus came prepared, the others "plays games nice, feels nice, goody good".

Fully agreed. Linus had the best PC-style coverage and Giant Bomb the best casual coverage.

 

[Digoman]

Gonna give a lot of kudos and respect to the way Linus and his team approached the 1 and a half hour they had with the Steam Deck at Valve and how they made the video. Way better than those other tech sites. He seemed genuinely excited about the Deck and the Valve guy seems to like his feedback. I mean for fucks sake PC gamer and others, you were at Valve for over and hour and couldn't master much at all in their videos, PC gamer was like 3 min, wtf.

Linus came prepared, the others "plays games nice, feels nice, goody good".

His video was by far the most informative one from what I watched. I mean.. he brought a fricking thermal camera to compare with the Aya Neo(?).

I can only imagine the face of the Valve guys when they arrived with all their equipment

 

[fantomena]

Fully agreed. Linus had the best PC-style coverage and Giant Bomb the best casual coverage.

For me:

1) LTT
2)
3) Giant Bomb and Tested

Everyone else was terrible.

 

[toxicitizen]

There are some difficulty spikes (mainly early on actually), but overall it was pretty doable. A lot easier than the single character Ys games for sure.
There's nothing remotely comparable to Nightmare Dark Fact. I did the final boss fight a 2nd time actually because I missed 1 monster in the journal and I turned it hilariously easy: I got White Cat to 82, then used all 17 of my Level up medicine to get her to 99 for the achievement and fed her all my HP, Attack and Defense potions, gave her the Holy Sword Hilt accessory (2.5x skill damage + 30% crit) and proceeded to more or less curbstomp the optional boss. Then put the accessory you get as a reward on her as well (all damage types + Lifesteal lmao) and did the final boss again, he was almost pitiful.

Well, when I get around to my Nightmare run it'll be a New Game Plus run, so hopefully that will give me a similar edge hahaha.

 

[prudis]

anyone tried this?

 

[Nabs]

Steam Store

Steam is the ultimate destination for playing, discussing, and creating games.

store.steampowered.com

Basically a bunch of great games by small teams.

 

[Tomasety]

Weekend PC Deals (credit to Neowin)

Thanks for the deals and for bringing awareness to that site which I hadn't known otherwise. I must say I felt really happy seeing a website posting an impressive amount of deals as a weekly summary without adding affiliate links everywhere.

They have got my respects on that.

Also, since this is a new deal, another historical lowest price on Steam and Humble Store. If you are a Choice subscriber Humble is the best deal of the two.

Buy UnderMine from the Humble Store

Delve deep into the UnderMine and discover its secrets, one peasant at a time! UnderMine is an action-adventure roguelike that blends combat and dungeon crawling with rpg-like progression. Mine gold, die, upgrade yourself, and try again! Discover hundreds of items including relics, potions...

www.humblebundle.com

 

[Prodigy]

anyone tried this?

I was eyeing it on GOG, I thought it was an older game that I had somehow missed all these years, reminds me of a top down S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

 

[Routa]

It's amazing how far technology has progressed.

I have my phone camera set up to stare at my monitor while playing Lost Heroes, and it's basically translating the game in real time. Obviously the translation is not perfect, but it's better than nothing and good enough to understand the basic plot points.

I feel that this news should be of interest to Gizmo and Arulan

Yes blobbers

$60 though

 

[prudis]

reminds me of a top down S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

yeah , thats pretty much hy i am asking

 

[CommodoreKong]

I continue to be more and more impressed by how all in Valve seems to be on SteamDeck. Hoping it's a big success for them and really increases the popularity of this form factor on PC.

 

[manchego obfuscator]

I refunded Forgotten City because of the EOS shit. Now I am eyeing Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 as some of you mentioned it a few pages ago. I know nothing about cars but car flipping looks pretty fun.

sorry, what EOS shit? not sure what this means

 

[Cacher]

looks kinky

Must be the sibiling of this chonky boi from Ultraseven

sorry, what EOS shit? not sure what this means

Games that supports Epic Online Service. Here's the list:

Community - MetaSteam | August 2021 - Openness Is Its Superpower

Aaron D. hey buddy, pretty sure I seen you play the demo… what did you think of it? Sucker comes out the 10th and then CMS the following day :sweaty-blob:

metacouncil.com

 

[Dragon1893]

Like all the other Cold Steel games, IV is just too long and I'm once again forcing myself to finish it. If I werent so invested in Kiseki as a whole I doubt I would see it through to the end.
Even then it's only because of turbo mode, otherwise there's no way I'd sit through this. They are decent games but there's so much filler and the writing is such a downgrade from the other arcs. This has been repeated ad nauseam but this arc is such a tremendous time investment and when I look at what I get in return in terms of plot it doesn't feel worth it. I can only justify it because it's part of the overall Kiseki plot.
I also still haven't figured out why Elliot exists which is impressive after more than 200 hours.

 

[Aaron D.]

Continuing to tool around with the Car Mechanic Sim 21 demo and hot damn does it look sexy.

I guess a 4 year gap between releases really does bump the presentation values.

 

[lashman]

Continuing to tool around with the Car Mechanic Sim 21 demo and hot damn does it look sexy.

I guess a 4 year gap between releases really does bump the presentation values.

wow, that's actually super-impressive visually

welp, guess i'll have to buy it now ... DAMN YOU!!!

 

[Digoman]

Decided to (re)play the Ghostbusters (remaster?) game that for some reason I got in the Summer sale. It has slightly better quality cutscenes and.... that's it. They didn't even bother to fix the very aggressive negative mouse acceleration that was in the original release.

Also didn't realize that I recently played three ex-epic exclusives: this one, Observation and Saint's Row The Third Remastered.

All of them had various degrees of technical issues that you think would have been addressed by now, but also with almost no alternative solution that can be found in the usual places.

It's almost as if giving a minimum sales guarantee with no user reviews or official place to complain it's not always a good idea in regards to game quality.... almost