Community MetaSteam | December 2023 - Every game you ever wanted on Steam is coming in 2024, promise!

[Amzin]

There's an actual thread for the Israel/Palestinian conflict now, and I post my expanded response there: Discussion - The Israel/Palestine conflict

I know this is the Steam thread, and big derails for other topics are discouraged (I agree) even though it's "the" thread here, but I want to echo what I say in my longer post about how it's pretty fucking discouraging to see the only people jumping on my complaints about the VGA echoing propaganda at acting as is 16,000-20,000 civilian casualties in 2 months, in a region of the world heavily dehumanized by popular games, isn't worth even a milquetoast protest against. I really don't think I have anything to say to people that think that's in any way justifiable, because it objectively isn't. I'm not lumping everyone who didn't say anything in with those who did, just saying it really kinda heart my feelings, but I understand there are a variety of reasons someone might not say anything.

I know that post is long but I hope some of you go through it. It was hard to put together. I left out a lot of worse stuff because I didn't want to directly expose anyone who didn't want to see it. I'm sorry for posting this here because I know I said my previous one would be the last post on it, and I don't like backtracking on my promises, but I did want to link that since this is, again, THE thread. But don't read it if you think you aren't in a place to handle that despairing of a situation, also. I myself have had to back off following the situation there, and in the Congo, this week (which is another reason that was hard put together but I feel better after having done it I guess).

 

[fantomena]

There's an actual thread for the Israel/Palestinian conflict now, and I post my expanded response there: Discussion - The Israel/Palestine conflict

I know this is the Steam thread, and big derails for other topics are discouraged (I agree) even though it's "the" thread here, but I want to echo what I say in my longer post about how it's pretty fucking discouraging to see the only people jumping on my complaints about the VGA echoing propaganda at acting as is 16,000-20,000 civilian casualties in 2 months, in a region of the world heavily dehumanized by popular games, isn't worth even a milquetoast protest against. I really don't think I have anything to say to people that think that's in any way justifiable, because it objectively isn't. I'm not lumping everyone who didn't say anything in with those who did, just saying it really kinda heart my feelings, but I understand there are a variety of reasons someone might not say anything.

I know that post is long but I hope some of you go through it. It was hard to put together. I left out a lot of worse stuff because I didn't want to directly expose anyone who didn't want to see it. I'm sorry for posting this here because I know I said my previous one would be the last post on it, and I don't like backtracking on my promises, but I did want to link that since this is, again, THE thread. But don't read it if you think you aren't in a place to handle that despairing of a situation, also. I myself have had to back off following the situation there, and in the Congo, this week (which is another reason that was hard put together but I feel better after having done it I guess).

Good on you for using that thread.

Anyways, The Finals is still pretty fun.

 

[Sobatronix]

A good Robocop and Avatar game in 2023 was not on my bingo card.

Man, I bought a new processor on Newegg and got the Avatar game as a free gift. But snake ass Ubisoft won't let me activate it. It's probably a region lock thing, they need to give away Global keys FFS

 

[Dragon1893]

What a coincidence, I just started it yesterday! Fantastic atmosphere so far.
I really, really, really dislike the save system though. Tying saves to a limited consumable on top of already having limited save spots anyway is just fucking garbage design and I don't care that it's something the old games this one is inspired by did as well, it should have been left in the past.
Only saving grace is that there's a hidden debug menu where you can give yourself as many of those save-items as you want to bypass that bullshit.

They are generous with the amount of save items but if you're using a cheat I guess it doesn't matter

 

[yuraya]

Exodus could be so much more but it looks like they're doing knock-off Mass Effect instead. The last time I enjoyed space-induced time dilation as a story point was Gunbuster from Gainax in 1989.

They're really just taking the most boring and "safe" path, in the hopes of what? Catching the original Mass Effect feels? Good luck i guess...

Its been so long since the Mass Effect trilogy tho. It would be great if Exodus pulls off something similar.

All the other big budget space rpgs like Outer Worlds and Starfield didn't really scratch that BioWare itch. Really Baldurs Gate 3 has been the first game in 10 years to deliver a legit BioWare experience for me. But its still different type of game at its core.

BioWare games are really unique and seeing how long it takes them to release the new Dragon Age it means the new Mass Effect is very far off.

Exodus is in a good position. A bunch of the team is former Bioware, NaughtyDog and 343 so the talent is there. The art/character/cutscene/gameplay design looked solid in that trailer. If they nail the time story and rpg/dialogue elements it can be really fun.

 

[「Echo」]

Its been so long since the Mass Effect trilogy tho. It would be great if Exodus pulls off something similar.

All the other big budget space rpgs like Outer Worlds and Starfield didn't really scratch that BioWare itch. Really Baldurs Gate 3 has been the first game in 10 years to deliver a legit BioWare experience for me. But its still different type of game at its core.

BioWare games are really unique and seeing how long it takes them to release the new Dragon Age it means the new Mass Effect is very far off.

Exodus is in a good position. A bunch of the team is former Bioware, NaughtyDog and 343 so the talent is there. The art/character/cutscene/gameplay design looked solid in that trailer. If they nail the time story and rpg/dialogue elements it can be really fun.

I'm certainly willing to let it cook. As you say it does have an impressive staff list behind it. I guess I just really can't help but notice how much it riffs on ME and I think that is effecting how I see it as "generic."

Humanity = Underdogs of the Galaxy again
"Traveler" = Shepard
"Impossible Choices" = Flashbacks to ME3
"Celestials" = Reapers


Don't think they covered it in the trailer but we probably end up with some Normandy equivalent. They already outlined the Mass Effect style squad mates with romance paths, etc... On one hand, if they nail it I'm sure it will be great. On the other hand, those are some big boots to fill and they'll be competing against the rose-tinted glasses of Nostalgia for many.

Good luck to them i say. Let's see what they cook.

 

[Mivey]

I'm certainly willing to let it cook. As you say it does have an impressive staff list behind it. I guess I just really can't help but notice how much it riffs on ME and I think that is effecting how I see it as "generic."

Humanity = Underdogs of the Galaxy again
"Traveler" = Shepard
"Impossible Choices" = Flashbacks to ME3
"Celestials" = Reapers


Don't think they covered it in the trailer but we probably end up with some Normandy equivalent. They already outlined the Mass Effect style squad mates with romance paths, etc... On one hand, if they nail it I'm sure it will be great. On the other hand, those are some big boots to fill and they'll be competing against the rose-tinted glasses of Nostalgia for many.

Good luck to them i say. Let's see what they cook.

The Celestials seems like an actual group that you get to interact with, whereas the Reapers felt too much like faceless monsters to be overly interesting. They tried to counteract that Sovereign, but even he was barely fleshed out as a character. Of course, that wasn't a bad idea, the Reapers weren't meant to be something you could understand and grasp, but from the trailer the Celestials seem far more like an actual civilisation with their own interests, beyond just destroying stuff.

Given how the game is likely many years out, and we haven't seen anything that resembles gameplay, it's way to early to be excited, but it would be amazing if it could capture some of that Mass Effect 1 spirit of exploration. That's what I missed in the later Mass Effect games, it just became focused on spectacle and action set-pieces.

 

[Le Pertti]

You all know what you need to do!

Community - MetaCouncil's Games of the Year Awards 2023

 

[Knurek]

You all know what you need to do!

Community - MetaCouncil's Games of the Year Awards 2023

Don't vote because we all haven't played any games made in 2023?

 

[Stevey]

Hype

 

[Le Pertti]

Don't vote because we all haven't played any games made in 2023?

Can still vote for the category "Best Old Game" !

 

[Knurek]

Can still vote for the category "Best Old Game" !

Do fan translations released in 2023 for older games are valid for GOTY vote?

 

[Le Pertti]

Do fan translations released in 2023 for older games are valid for GOTY vote?

Sure, any game you played in 2023 is elligle for the best old game award! There’s even ongoing game award.

 

[Dragon1893]

It's been a long time since I played Half-Life so I didn't remember this, but there's this issue of the jump not being high enough to clear certain obstacles so you need to press the crouch button while jumping to gain suffcient height?
Man, I wasted time thinking I wasn't seeing the correct way to progress because I couldn't jump over a crate. This is why these days and quicker to look up solutions on the net. Sometimes you don't know if you're wasting time looking for a solution that isn't there because you've run into a bug or some weird quirk like in this case.

 

[Knurek]

Sure, any game you played in 2023 is elligle for the best old game award! There’s even ongoing game award.

I'm talking about the main GOTY award.
Not an official release, but a release in 2023 nevertheless.
You mention translations into English in the rules, but don't specify whether fanTL count, that's why I'm asking.

 

[Le Pertti]

I'm talking about the main GOTY award.
Not an official release, but a release in 2023 nevertheless.

Ah, hmh wouldn't count an unofficial release as eligible. But if it was officially released on your platform of choice it would be. Like for example ex EGS game releasing on steam can be voted on.

 

[Gelf]

What a coincidence, I just started it yesterday! Fantastic atmosphere so far.
I really, really, really dislike the save system though. Tying saves to a limited consumable on top of already having limited save spots anyway is just fucking garbage design and I don't care that it's something the old games this one is inspired by did as well, it should have been left in the past.
Only saving grace is that there's a hidden debug menu where you can give yourself as many of those save-items as you want to bypass that bullshit.

I don't mind consumable saves but they are weirdly balanced in Tormented Souls. Early game I was really struggling for them and was thankful I was playing on the Deck so I could just suspend and resume. Late game it gives you a lot more and I finished the game with many in reserve, possibly double figures.

Finished Tormented Souls. Can easily recommend it to fans of old survival horror games. If you're worried about tank controls, the game has 2 control schemes and it actually defaults to the modern controls. Be warned that some puzzles are pretty obtuse, I had to look up a few of them on the net.

I like that it simultaneously has stick for camera relative controls and dpad for tank, much like the Resident Evil remasters. There are times I find I prefer either depending on the situation.

And yeah I had to look up some of the puzzles but I actually prefer the risk of that sometimes happening rather than solutions just being so obvious you wonder why even include them.

 

[Hektor]

The amount of people online mad that Baldurs gate 3 won GOTY (Because it is turned based) gives me life

I'm certainly willing to let it cook. As you say it does have an impressive staff list behind it. I guess I just really can't help but notice how much it riffs on ME and I think that is effecting how I see it as "generic."

Humanity = Underdogs of the Galaxy again
"Traveler" = Shepard
"Impossible Choices" = Flashbacks to ME3
"Celestials" = Reapers


Don't think they covered it in the trailer but we probably end up with some Normandy equivalent. They already outlined the Mass Effect style squad mates with romance paths, etc... On one hand, if they nail it I'm sure it will be great. On the other hand, those are some big boots to fill and they'll be competing against the rose-tinted glasses of Nostalgia for many.

Good luck to them i say. Let's see what they cook.

I think those are all fairly generic Videogame Sci-Fi tropes (Unlike other mediums were mankind is usually a topdog).
That and the fact that the trailer just lacked any sort of personality whatsoever just has me have 0 excitement for it.

 

[Alexandros]

So what are people's thoughts on remasters and remakes in game of the year discussions? I was watching Giant Bomb's video where they pick the top 20 games of the year and some great games were left out in favor of remakes and collections like Super Mario RPG, RE4 and Hitman. I don't know, I feel like games that already got their due when they were originally released should be left out of such lists in favor of entirely new releases. Thoughts?

 

[Hektor]

So what are people's thoughts on remasters and remakes in game of the year discussions? I was watching Giant Bomb's video where they pick the top 20 games of the year and some great games were left out in favor of remakes and collections like Super Mario RPG, RE4 and Hitman. I don't know, I feel like games that already got their due when they were originally released should be left out of such lists in favor of entirely new releases. Thoughts?

In videogames the defnitions between ports and remasters, remasters and remakes, remakes and new games all can be very fluid.

The Resident Evil Remakes or Final Fantasy 7 Remake are very much new games.
The only thing those have in common with the originals is them (roughly) telling the same story.

 

[Mivey]

It's been a long time since I played Half-Life so I didn't remember this, but there's this issue of the jump not being high enough to clear certain obstacles so you need to press the crouch button while jumping to gain suffcient height?
Man, I wasted time thinking I wasn't seeing the correct way to progress because I couldn't jump over a crate. This is why these days and quicker to look up solutions on the net. Sometimes you don't know if you're wasting time looking for a solution that isn't there because you've run into a bug or some weird quirk like in this case.

You should have played the tutorial, it's pretty short and fun and explains crouch jumping, as well as power jumping in detail. These days you would integrate the tutorial into the main game, but having the two separate was pretty common in the late 90s and early 00s. Deus Ex for example also has a tutorial that you absolutely need to play to have any chance of surviving the first level.

 

[Le Pertti]

So what are people's thoughts on remasters and remakes in game of the year discussions? I was watching Giant Bomb's video where they pick the top 20 games of the year and some great games were left out in favor of remakes and collections like Super Mario RPG, RE4 and Hitman. I don't know, I feel like games that already got their due when they were originally released should be left out of such lists in favor of entirely new releases. Thoughts?

I agree with Hektor , games that are from the ground up built as a new improved game, like RE4 I count as a new game.

 

[Cacher]

Discussion - What are you currently playing? (Week 50 of 2023)

New week, new thread! What are you playing? Marvel's Midnight Suns: Work was busy last week so my progress is slow. Just finished the Deadpool introductory mission and recruited him today. Really fun fourth-wall-breaking dialogues. Professor Layton and the Curious Village: Started playing...

metacouncil.com

 

[CommodoreKong]

You should have played the tutorial, it's pretty short and fun and explains crouch jumping, as well as power jumping in detail. These days you would integrate the tutorial into the main game, but having the two separate was pretty common in the late 90s and early 00s. Deus Ex for example also has a tutorial that you absolutely need to play to have any chance of surviving the first level.

To be fair crouch jumping is a weird mechanic and you should really jump at maximum height just by hitting spacebar.
At this point it's something I'm very used to because of my thousands of hours in Team Fortress 2 but yeah I get why it trips people up.

 

[Mivey]

To be fair crouch jumping is a weird mechanic and you should really jump at maximum height just by hitting spacebar.
At this point it's something I'm very used to because of my thousands of hours in Team Fortress 2 but yeah I get why it trips people up.

Valve clearly agrees with you, as it's gone in Half Life 2. I think it's important to keep in mind how old Half Life 1 is, it came out in at a time when the FPS genre was still relatively young. Some quirkiness is to be expected, and overall I'm surprised how well the first Half Life game still holds up, even with its rough corners.

 

[Stevey]

Valve clearly agrees with you, as it's gone in Half Life 2.

It isn't.

 

[Mivey]

It isn't.

Oh, damn. Been a time that I last played it, but I don't remember ever needing it there, as you do in many places in Half Life 1.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I agree with Hektor , games that are from the ground up built as a new improved game, like RE4 I count as a new game.

This

A ground up remake like RE4 or Mario RPG should absolutely be counted

 

[CommodoreKong]

Yeah it's been a long time since I've played Half Life 2 but while it's still there I think there's fewer or maybe even no places you need to use crouch jumping.

But yeah the reason crouch jumping is in Team Fortress 2 is because Team Fortress 2 is basically a "mod" of Half Life 2 (for example if you look at task manager when playing TF2 the process name is hl2.exe). Of course Valve made crouch jumping a bigger part of TF2 than Half Life 2, since you need to do it to get more distance when you sticky or rocket jump.

 

[kio]

So what are people's thoughts on remasters and remakes in game of the year discussions? I was watching Giant Bomb's video where they pick the top 20 games of the year and some great games were left out in favor of remakes and collections like Super Mario RPG, RE4 and Hitman. I don't know, I feel like games that already got their due when they were originally released should be left out of such lists in favor of entirely new releases. Thoughts?

I know I'm in the minority but, as a general rule of thumb, I don't think neither should be part of the "best of" talk.
The only exception I'm able to consider is remakes of very old games, 20+ years, or games that aren't really playable in their original state. For instance, I would consider System Shock remake to be a contender because the original is ancient at this point and it plays like ass. By this logic I don't think RE4 remake should be a contender because the game isn't that old, already had some remasters even, and it's still perfectly playable.

 

[Stevey]

Oh, damn. Been a time that I last played it, but I don't remember ever needing it there, as you do in many places in Half Life 1.

Yeah to be fair, you dont need it really, but you can still do it.

 

[lashman]

 

[Dragon1893]

So what are people's thoughts on remasters and remakes in game of the year discussions? I was watching Giant Bomb's video where they pick the top 20 games of the year and some great games were left out in favor of remakes and collections like Super Mario RPG, RE4 and Hitman. I don't know, I feel like games that already got their due when they were originally released should be left out of such lists in favor of entirely new releases. Thoughts?

It's tough because where do you draw the line? Would it be fair to leave FF7R out of the goty discussion? Rebirth definitely looks like a strong candidate for next year. Is it fair to discount it because it's a remake of a game that is 26 years old? At this point what do they even have in common aside from the characters and setting? The gameplay is completely different. They are 4 console generations apart.
TLOU on the other hand is just a visual update of a game that wasn't even a decade old when the remake came out. Everything else is 1:1 with the original. I think it's fair to leave it out and free that slot for a new game.
And FF7R does feel like a new game. It's a completely different experience from the original.

But then you have the RE remakes. What I said about FF7 applies to RE2&3, but what about RE4? It's 18 years old and came out just 1 generation after RE2&3 but the leap in tech was so massive back then that the original feels closer to current games than to the PS1 entries. I'm going to consider it for my list but I'm not sure where I'm drawing the line between it and Dead Space, a game I'm hesitating to include.

You should have played the tutorial, it's pretty short and fun and explains crouch jumping, as well as power jumping in detail. These days you would integrate the tutorial into the main game, but having the two separate was pretty common in the late 90s and early 00s. Deus Ex for example also has a tutorial that you absolutely need to play to have any chance of surviving the first level.

I honestly didn't think the tutorial had anything I didn't already know. Lesson learned lol.

 

[Derrick01]

So what are people's thoughts on remasters and remakes in game of the year discussions? I was watching Giant Bomb's video where they pick the top 20 games of the year and some great games were left out in favor of remakes and collections like Super Mario RPG, RE4 and Hitman. I don't know, I feel like games that already got their due when they were originally released should be left out of such lists in favor of entirely new releases. Thoughts?

I don't think remasters should be involved in these discussions but remakes? I don't see why not. It should be a case by case basis but we have the ability to look at a remake like tlou part 1 and RE4R and see the differences between them that would make RE4 eligible for goty (meaning not just graphical changes).

Games like FF7R and RE2/4 remakes have changed the narrative on what we used to think about remakes. It seems silly to disregard them because they're remaking an old game when there's a bunch of old fans who complain that these games weren't just 1:1 graphical remakes lol. But like I said it should be a case by case basis. I don't think dead space should be nominated for example as I don't feel it did enough to set itself apart from the original. It did have some new things added but when you look at FF7 or RE4 those are on a whole other level.

Personally speaking FF7R changed my entire perspective on what I want with remakes. I used to be a 1:1 ride or die person but now I realize how much more potential there is in changing things up. The original is always still there if things go badly.

 

[xxr]

So what are people's thoughts on remasters and remakes in game of the year discussions? I was watching Giant Bomb's video where they pick the top 20 games of the year and some great games were left out in favor of remakes and collections like Super Mario RPG, RE4 and Hitman. I don't know, I feel like games that already got their due when they were originally released should be left out of such lists in favor of entirely new releases. Thoughts?

But then you have the RE remakes. What I said about FF7 applies to RE2&3, but what about RE4? It's 18 years old and came out just 1 generation after RE2&3 but the leap in tech was so massive back then that the original feels closer to current games than to the PS1 entries. I'm going to consider it for my list but I'm not sure where I'm drawing the line between it and Dead Space, a game I'm hesitating to include.

Yeah, I think there's a reason we haven't seen much talk about Dead Space, Demon's Souls or even Shadow of the Colossus in regards to game of the year in their respective years. It's certainly not that they're bad--they're great even--but they aren't necessarily offering anything new when compared to their original games. And there's nothing wrong with offering that but I think people would rather feature something new rather than something old with new graphics.

So I personally don't think there's any reason to exclude remakes in these conversations because they're so few and far in between, and you can easily spot whether they're worthy of being featured among other games. People clearly liked RE4 enough for it to be something special over the original; maybe even better than the original at the end of the day.

They're free to do so as they wish for their own GOTY discussion, of course, but it does seem like a needless restriction to me.

 

[Li Kao]

In an unbelievable turn of event on the Internet, most people are in agreement

 

[Censored]

whatever is a remake or a remaster the original version should be included when they are released. This would be a great extra.

 

[Paul]

Abload.de is dying

Is there some similarly good alternative?

 

[ZKenir]

You mention translations into English in the rules, but don't specify whether fanTL count, that's why I'm asking.

irrelevant, CCC is always the correct choice regardless

screenshot is from FGO though since that's Melt, Lip and BB's epilogue

 

[lashman]

 

[Lashley]

This was fun to see at Midnight last night.

Not even the first time it's happened, different drive too. Could possibly be the RAM, but yeah, fucking annoying.


Thankfully had backups of most things, but still annoying thinking there's stuff I've forgotten.

 

[yuraya]

The gaming industry is so creatively bankrupt that I'm not even mad at all the remasters/remakes anymore. Keep it all going and give remakes all the recognition too why the fuck not lol.

Rewatching the game awards n seeing so many big/small streamers and content creators not even knowing what Brothers a Tale of Two Sons was kind of crazy for me. So many never played a great game like that so you can't blame indie devs to remake even 10 year old games. There is a lot of zoomers and genz gamers who never played any games before 2010 at this point so let them experience some classics one way or another. It also shows how difficult the discovery issues have gotten when great games like that get lost in the shuffle of all the thousands that get released every year.

 

[fantomena]

Only have a few other games to finish before playing BG3. I stopped 3 hours into BG3 and decided that I wanted to finish a bunch of shorter games I really wanted to play before continuing on with BG3 due to how long BG3 is.

 

[dex3108]

Guess who managed to drop down the stairs this morning xD I am fine I only have minor finger injurie (similar one you get when for example basketball hits you wrong way).

But that is not what I want to talk about. I am more interested to talk about how Ubisoft dropped AAA famous IP game 4 days ago and there is basically 0 talk about it. That company didn't have huge release in basically 2-3 years if not more. And their next 2 releases are PoP game that nobody asked for and Skull &Bones, pirate game that nobody asked for XD

I really need to invest some money in that company and then go and send question for their financial call asking why they do think that they are doing better without Steam when companies far bigger than them couldn't. They are literally losing money for those investors.

 

[lashman]

 

[MegaApple]

People already found clues in Kojima's OD trailer

 

[Arc]

This is the rumored Neon Prime appID.

 

[C-Dub]

Do we have any idea what Neon Prime even is?

 

[Mivey]

Do we have any idea what Neon Prime even is?

There was apparently a leak of some kind half a year ago:

All information provided by Tyler McVicker on his most recent Letting off Steam:

• Stylized artstyle.
• Mix of Overwatch, TF2, Dota 2, Teardown.
• Third-person.
• Some base building.
• External closed beta going on right now - announcement likely this year.
• Map is huge, to traverse the map you ride trains.
• PvP and PvE.
• Class-based (like Team Fortress 2)
• Classes have a lot of personality, just like Team Fortress 2 and the characters from Left 4 Dead.
• Game has vague connections to the Half-Life universe, same way as Portal
• There's TF2 Brotherhood of Arms DNA in the game, there's a commander class: "The Commander was to be the most important class in the game. He would be able to see through team members' eyes and Engineers' cameras, as well as see entire map, issue orders on the fly and control squads and groups." This is the description of the commander class from TF2 Brotherhood of Arms.
• Valve wants to push the competitive game landscape forward with this title.

Of course, hard to say how much one can rely on this

 

[Paul]

But that is not what I want to talk about. I am more interested to talk about how Ubisoft dropped AAA famous IP game 4 days ago and there is basically 0 talk about it.

Ok, I will talk about Avatar.

I rented it via Ubisoft plus.

I played it, don't know for how long since Ubisoft connect does not track playtime on it. But sizeable chunk, main menu save game shows 30% of main story.

I can't take it anymore. I regret spending the money. It is graphically nice (during daytime, night looks horrible), but creatively bankrupt game with subpar writing and rotten (like 5 days peeled banana rotten) game design. None of the quests have been in any way interesting. None of the dialogue made me smile, or feel anything other than cringe.

I am really fed up with Ubisoft's lack of quality game making.