Community MetaSteam | July 2022 - Stray(t) out of Kowloon.

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kafiend

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
549
1,628
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For various reasons I decided I needed a new long-term time-sink in gaming. So......

Setting a FFXIV account back up after quite some time away became an adventure thats been going on for a few days.
I've overcomplicated it by having two accounts for which I, according to Square. lost the passwords and also my mobile authenticator shit the bed. My password manager claims I last accessed both accounts about the same time as I setup the second account with Steam so not sure why my passwords were all wrong.
I eventually gave up on accessing my non-steam account because Square is a clusterfuck of logins/passwords/onetime passwords/authenticators. So secure I can't even access my own accounts :(
I only wanted to access both accounts to see what account had what expansion packs and where my characters actually were. I'm useless at remembering things like that.
So I went with Steam and just bought the latest Expansion etc.

But anyway, my biggest source of annoyance eventually is that the client through Steam will not even install FFXIV without having game-time added. That really REALLY pisses me off.
Its not the money because hey its just a bit of cash and I waste loads of it myself. Its the principle of only installing unless you currently paying and therefore wasting your play-time by installing. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I think this happened when I last played 2 expansion packs ago. I infuriated myself that much that by the time I got it up and running I couldn't face playing.
I circumvented that this time by buying six months of playtime. I may have calmed down by September and decide to play :p
 

thekeats1999

MetaMember
Dec 10, 2018
1,452
4,237
113
For various reasons I decided I needed a new long-term time-sink in gaming. So......

Setting a FFXIV account back up after quite some time away became an adventure thats been going on for a few days.
I've overcomplicated it by having two accounts for which I, according to Square. lost the passwords and also my mobile authenticator shit the bed. My password manager claims I last accessed both accounts about the same time as I setup the second account with Steam so not sure why my passwords were all wrong.
I eventually gave up on accessing my non-steam account because Square is a clusterfuck of logins/passwords/onetime passwords/authenticators. So secure I can't even access my own accounts :(
I only wanted to access both accounts to see what account had what expansion packs and where my characters actually were. I'm useless at remembering things like that.
So I went with Steam and just bought the latest Expansion etc.

But anyway, my biggest source of annoyance eventually is that the client through Steam will not even install FFXIV without having game-time added. That really REALLY pisses me off.
Its not the money because hey its just a bit of cash and I waste loads of it myself. Its the principle of only installing unless you currently paying and therefore wasting your play-time by installing. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I think this happened when I last played 2 expansion packs ago. I infuriated myself that much that by the time I got it up and running I couldn't face playing.
I circumvented that this time by buying six months of playtime. I may have calmed down by September and decide to play :p
Frankly the whole installation/account system on FFXIV is abysaml. When I started playing last year I almost quit before even starting.
 

Hektor

Autobahnraser
Nov 1, 2018
5,966
16,548
113
Frankly the whole installation/account system on FFXIV is abysaml. When I started playing last year I almost quit before even starting.
When i first played the game a few years ago i almost did the same, having to go through 3 different customer services websites just to reset the password of a square enix account i didn't even knew i had, some of which never left web 1.0 in their design.
 

Amzin

No one beats me 17 times in a row!
Dec 5, 2018
1,001
2,110
113
Hellpoint DLC is out. I enjoyed the base game enough to be excited for this. Also I barely remember how to play but pretty sure my wall of fire killed everything at the end so hopefully that still works

 

mastemas

truman doctrine (actual norwegian guy)
Apr 15, 2021
609
2,163
93
daily room update NOT

the room project is gonna be at a small break as i got demotivated by the failure of the pc photogrammetry projects, but also that i found a refound interest in p3 fes after a small break in that

so instead, this update will be all about me
  • i can't train at night anymore because my mom says i stink like an old man, prompted by the fact that after i lift, i can't go to the showers without everyone waking up, so i sleep in my training sweat; this will be fixed by not training at night, but instead attempting to train some time after dinner, like 6-7 pm preferably
  • p3 fes is pretty cool stuff
  • yeah nothing much interesting to be honest except for that, oh yeah another thing
  • i caught up with my one compadre who went to army duty instead of uni like me, he's done with the duty on friday so he'll come at the end of this month down here to be a day or two so we can like, actually meet and catch up like that; thankfully he's not gonna be some foot soldier and another pawn for the war industry, but i'm not allowed to be too political or else i'll sound like the fucking Unabomber
 

mastemas

truman doctrine (actual norwegian guy)
Apr 15, 2021
609
2,163
93
Due to space issues, I had get a laptop.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus / 15.6" QHD / Ryzen 9 / 16 GB / 3080 / 1TB SSD.
what compelled you to choose a laptop that looks so much like a stereotypical gaming laptop

also, if you chose the one with duo screens, i will actually torment you

- warm regards, acer swift x sfx14-41g user; a gaming laptop that doesnt look like it'd burn down your entire house
 

Guilty of Being

META MAN
Dec 5, 2018
1,607
3,971
113
Texas
what compelled you to choose a laptop that looks so much like a stereotypical gaming laptop

also, if you chose the one with duo screens, i will actually torment you

- warm regards, acer swift x sfx14-41g user; a gaming laptop that doesnt look like it'd burn down your entire house
No, I didn't get a duo screen. I've been without a PC for gaming for like two years for various reasons. I wanted some power without paying $3-5k on a 17" beast that's way overpriced. I have a bonus coming in August, so it was time.
 
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Madventure

The Angel of Deaf
Nov 17, 2018
1,666
5,745
113
Also the thing with "abandonware" is it's never really abandoned even when no ones done anything with it for like decades. That article kind of points out "There's no saber rattling lawyers or anything like that" I would imagine it's because none of those companies exist anymore to enforce anything or they just aren't sure if they even own the thing so why go through with the effort

Look at No One Lives Forever, people are constantly saying Re-Release it on GOG or do a remaster! People have no idea who actually owns the fucking thing. That's what takes some of the longest time with "older" games and getting them for sale again is the mess of untangling the spaghetti of who to actually reach out to and ask about that kind of stuff. I'd have to find the youtube video GOG put out a long time ago now where they did a sort of mini documentary going into detail about it once.


TL: DR=
Abandonware isn't really abandoned
 

PossiblyPudding

sometimes a doctor of rhythm
Apr 17, 2019
1,840
6,681
113
I thought BF2042 was all right at release but now it's even better. Played a couple of rounds yesterday with PossiblyPudding and had a blast (literally got blasted by a tank).
You really do seem to attract enemy tanks. :LOL:

And agreed! We've had a pretty good time with it since day one but whatever they've changed since we took a break from it has been a massive improvement. It's a far smoother experience now. It's pretty great having classic maps in the rotation too. Sucks our round at Noshahr Canals was so quick, it was nice seeing that map again.
 

pinson

Junior Member
Sep 6, 2021
141
444
63
Canada
I have to ask, who though it was a good idea to tie in-game collectibles with story? I'm playing Halo 5 right now and it pisses me off that I'm missing some lore just because I don't look in every nook and cranny of an FPS game were the goal is to move forward fast and shoot stuff. Even your AI partners start screaming at you when you stop progressing for like 1 whole minute.

I remember having the same issue with Alan Wake when I played it a few years back. You want to put useless collectibles in your game, fine, but please don't tie them to your plot. There must be a better way than this.
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,524
5,570
113
Toronto
Also the thing with "abandonware" is it's never really abandoned even when no ones done anything with it for like decades. That article kind of points out "There's no saber rattling lawyers or anything like that" I would imagine it's because none of those companies exist anymore to enforce anything or they just aren't sure if they even own the thing so why go through with the effort

Look at No One Lives Forever, people are constantly saying Re-Release it on GOG or do a remaster! People have no idea who actually owns the fucking thing. That's what takes some of the longest time with "older" games and getting them for sale again is the mess of untangling the spaghetti of who to actually reach out to and ask about that kind of stuff. I'd have to find the youtube video GOG put out a long time ago now where they did a sort of mini documentary going into detail about it once.


TL: DR=
Abandonware isn't really abandoned
If only any of us would be alive when most of the games we grew up with, let alone play now, were to enter the public domain. that'd be closest to abandonware.
Since Beavis and Butthead is getting revived with the new movie plus series, I hope they make a new point and click adventure or release updated versions of Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity.
That would be an interesting twist on them coming back.
 
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PC-tan

Low Tier Weeb
Jan 19, 2019
3,804
6,160
113
28
California
Any worth while mentioning deals on USB C hubs with Ethernet on Amazon? I'm likely going to get my Steam Deck next month and the official dock will likely still not be out.

I'm likely also going to by the Dbrand Skin and screen protector.
 
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MomoVideo

ķ͕͕̍̅͋ḭ̼͂̕lļ͓̞̙̀͗͆̊ ͉͛m͕̲̮̆̒̐̍͢e ͠
Apr 5, 2021
823
2,331
93
Due to space issues, I had get a laptop.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus / 15.6" QHD / Ryzen 9 / 16 GB / 3080 / 1TB SSD.
Nice, that's a beefy laptop. I have been using a laptop as my main gaming platform for the past 3 years. It got GTX 1060 and 8th gen i7, so it's getting old. I will upgrade it in a year or two but I'm torn between buying another laptop or getting a desktop because at one hand I'm super happy with this laptop and its portability aspect but on the other hand the streaming technology went so far ahead and all my friends and I got super good internet that I might as well stream my desktop to a Deck or a laptop when I'm out.
 

kafiend

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
549
1,628
93
I randomly noticed I have task bar & icon burn-in on my LG CX OLED last night when shutting down my PC. I'm usually leaving the room as I shut down the PC so no idea how long its been getting like it.
Maybe I should do the pixel-refresh thing the TV has.
I moved my task bar to the top of the screen which will be a fun usability experiment for me.
 

Joe Spangle

Playing....
Apr 17, 2019
2,460
8,330
113
I randomly noticed I have task bar & icon burn-in on my LG CX OLED last night when shutting down my PC. I'm usually leaving the room as I shut down the PC so no idea how long its been getting like it.
Maybe I should do the pixel-refresh thing the TV has.
I moved my task bar to the top of the screen which will be a fun usability experiment for me.
Once you get burn in its probably not going away, my TV has 3 burnt in taskbars at the bottom of the screen, probably from a combo of windows, 250+ hours of Rimworld and news/sport info bars. Also has some weird tear like images in the middle of the screen. I assume from a game but not sure which one. They only show up on redish backgrounds though so not too bad. Its all annoying though, Dont think ill buy another OLED.
 

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Oct 19, 2018
200
638
93
Ibis Island
Finally getting close to the end of Neon White (Going for 100% so have been getting all the Aces and Gifts while playing).

Steam Deck has really slapped me back into PC gaming more on the regular which is rather nice. The OS and customization just makes it easy to jump in and out of playing anything I've thrown at it thus far.
 

Parsnip

Riskbreaker
Sep 11, 2018
3,244
7,225
113
Finland
I once had a dark splotch on my OLED suspiciously shaped like slice of a morning sun that comes through if I open one of my windows. It only showed up on darker views so like discord gray and such. Running the manual refresh worked on it and it's gone, thank god.
Turns out having your tv in direct sunlight is not a good idea.

I'd definitely try running the manual refresh if you have burn in, it certainly can't get worse from that. The LG OLED's run a short refresh every time the tv has been on continuously for 4 hours or something, the manual refresh takes like an hour.
 

Aaron D.

MetaMember
Jul 10, 2019
1,014
4,718
113

Getting kinda hyped for the imminent Clanfolk drop.

I've taken a number of RimWorld-likes for a spin, but none have ever really stuck. Making me wonder why I should even try an imitator when I've got RimWorld sitting right there. (Though Cultivation Simulator provides a strong argument against this.)

What struck me though was a pinned dev post on Clanfolk's forum titled, What is the main difference from RimWorld?

Yes this will come up a lot for sure. Rimworld is obviously a huge inspiration and pretty much perfect at doing what it does, so the parts of Clanfolk that are like Rimworld are that way because that is the right way to do the thing.

But here are the main ways Clanfolk differs.

Family
The main difference is the tight focus on Clan family. I am trying to create a life simulator to draw the player into the day to day lives of these little people, whereas RImworld is a story generator for a colony.

The people in Clanfolk are born, live a long life under your care, and eventually die. You get to know these people over many hours as you raise them and tailor their lives. They also go through distinct phases of life baby, juvenile, adult, and senior.

The Clanfolk also have a much wider array of needs, more akin to the Sims. I want players to enjoy watching the Clanfolk live their daily lives in the community that you have planned for them. They actually have a proper hierarchy of needs where as they fulfill needs like food, and shelter, then they start to care about social interactions and having fun.

Focus on Day to Day Life
So Clanfolk is about planning vs nature, not random events or raids. Rimworld has a lot of focus on combat and making the perfect killbox. That is a lot of fun, but Clanfolk isn't about that. It is about preparation for winter using historically accurate means.

Each day, there will be a routine that you need to improve upon. The eels need to be collected from the traps, wood chopped for the fires, fields watered or fertilized, animal stalls scooped out, meals cooked. There are all these things you need to do to just live. Then you worry about expansion and preparation for winter.

World Sim
The main antagonist in Clanfolk is nature, not raiders. So you need to worry about things like wind chill, and being wet. People and animals have body heat that can be shared in small spaces. Everything has a flammability value that is effected by local moisture (so grass fires in summer, but not spring or fall) The more real that I can make the world, the more real the Clanfolk will feel and hopefully the more that you care about them.

Atmosphere
So, I want you to want to be there. I want players to just sip a coffee and watch the fish jump in the lakes, or listen when flocks or crows head home for the night. Watching the wind slowly weave through the grass is just nice, for me anyhow. I escape into the game.
So depending on what you are looking at, soundscapes form based on what is in the area and the time of day. If you are looking at a forest in the morning, the songbirds will be going nuts. A late at night, then the frogs start singing. Everything is meant to draw you in. There is also time to enjoy it. There is lots of time to think.

Setting
This one is probably obvious, but the setting is entirely different. This is a historically accurate life sim in the highlands of Scotland vs. Stranded survivors on an alien world. Rimworld's theme is very compelling and you can't go wrong with Firefly/Cowboys, but I am after Highlander and Braveheart (the peaceful bits in those movies anyhow)

Conclusion
I am hoping that people get something totally different out of Clanfolk. I want them to have memories of a home they built for a struggling little Clan that they cared for in a setting they enjoy.

I thought this was a refreshing take. The dev embraced the RimWorld inspiration and was very praising of the source material. Still they clearly sussed out the differences.

One of the big things that struck me was that the bread & butter raids & tower defense found in RimWorld were completely absent in Clanfolk. The latter being focused on survival vs. nature in period authentic medieval Scotland. This shift in focus to a more grounded setting is def. my jam. The nods to Sims-like family management sounds pretty ace too.

Think I'll reinstall the demo tonight and give it a more serious, critical pass.
 

toxicitizen

MetaMember
Oct 24, 2018
1,632
4,183
113
Less than a month until Spider-Man on PC. Where are specs, where is gameplay Sony?!
It somehow hadn't fully sunk in how close this one actually is. Crazy how fast the turnaround from announcement to release will have been compared to Uncharted lol. At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if we also got Returnal before Uncharted. :upside-down-face:

Which is fine by me. I'm definitely interested in buying Uncharted but it's at the bottom of the list for me as far as Sony ports go.
 
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