Lurker > Sheep007

HanOfTheNekos posted...

To be clear, it's not a door that you unlock from the inside. It's a hole in the rocks that you can't easily see unless you're looking for it. But it drops you into an easy access point as long as you avoid ghost matter on your way in

Ohhh yeah, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the clarification!

HanOfTheNekos posted...

I do have a small bit of advice for that location if you want it:
there is a shortcut that you can find by exploring the exit to the Gravity Cannon. You can use it in the future instead of going the normal way to get to the city

Thank you! I just straight up didn't realise that carried over.

pyresword posted...

This is the issue for a lot of people I think. A lot of people view exploring without a goal as a waste of time, and the fact that the things they find don't necessarily make sense immediately means there's no immediate payoff either. For them the game lacks both incentive and reward for its gameplay. The game is really aimed at players for whom the act of exploration itself provides both.

I kinda agree - I'm usually intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated when it comes to games, but I don't think so much with adventure games? That said, I think Outer Wilds does a poorer job at making an interesting world from the off to make that discovery intriguing for my tastes. The lack of hook is where it lost me compared to similar-ish things like Tunic or Obra Dinn, which I've internally compared it to a couple times and which both kept me wanting more all the way through.

I think having the central mystery of "why is the sun blowing up" be something you make no visible progress towards for a long time (at least in my experience), is particularly rough. I feel like I'm a sizeable chunk through the game and have mostly been chasing seemingly unrelated and relatively less interesting questions for ten hours (though there's some great stuff I genuinely want to know more about, which got me to pick it back up today).

Also I just wanted to hear more of the soundtrack which I have absolutely adored so far. I enjoyed the couple hours I played today! But sorta fell into the same issue again of not knowing what to do next before putting it down for the day (I still didn't completely solve the only "there's more to find here" hint I had left after like half an hour of looking, and will probably come back and try to find something different to do next time because fuck the sunless city).

I seriously think that people who didn't find it aimless had a completely different experience to me and a lot of the rest of us who played it. First off is pretty aimless but that's chill, that's what you expect in an open world game (I am aware that me calling Outer Wilds an open world game may be irritating). Then you get some directionality and start heading places, but at a certain point I started running out of things to do and getting directed back to the same places (Dark Bramble and the Ember Twin which was filling with sand) where I was very lost on exactly where to go or how to execute the required solution. And there didn't seem to be many other leads remaining at that stage, I think I had maybe four !s remaining in rumour mode, with pretty much everything else having resolved itself? And about 30 minutes of feeling aimless and like I was running into a brick wall made me realise I just wasn't having that much fun.

The mechanics are fine enough, although the physical puzzles are mostly very uninteresting, the more information-related puzzles are neat I loved basically all of the quantum stuff, and the plot is alright with some really cool concepts and cute exposition, but it never made me care, or feel a strong emotional attachment past the start. On my first attempt at a playthrough I did try and get as far away from the sun as possible, and I think that was a really compelling thing for a game to drive me to do, but it never really pushed me beyond that. I didn't even really go "wow, I can't wait to get home and play Outer Wilds!" like games I consider genuinely great would. It felt more like sticking it out and hoping it would get good and that the great bits would make the crap bits melt away. I think some of it is a frustration thing but like, I've played far more frustrating games and not bounced off them. I finished fuckin Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy, feeling like I am making no progress isn't the thing which stopped me liking Outer Wilds.

I'll reinstall it and give it another try today, I think, because I do want to love it and I can understand why people love it so much. But I also think the people who have loved it have had a fundamentally different experience to those who don't on some level, because I genuinely never found that straightforward flow of information which kept me engaged despite playing 7-8 hours of the game through a couple different playthroughs. Like, I'm meant to be in an adventure/exploration game and it feels like I am fundamentally doing exploration and adventure wrong because I have missed an intended "adventuring correctly" path somewhere.

Apologies for the lengthy rant, this is probably the one video game I've played where I have the most conflicted opinions.

Rowlet/Toxtricity
Toedscruel/Mawile
Ribombee/Litwick
Scolipede/Wobbuffet

I think the controls are fine. The jankiness just kinda feels right, even if it takes a lot of getting used to. That said, the game absolutely failed to hook me. I just sorta gave up in what I think was the midgame when I realised I wasn't really having fun. Bashing my head into the same environments (that are on a timer) hoping and failing to discover something that would help me piece together what was happening just got kinda tedious after a while, and the mystery was cool but I wasn't really invested in any of it. I think it's one of those games where you either really love it or just don't get it at all.

Tranquill/Klefki
Sneasel/Camerupt
Passimian/Genesect
Mienshao/Rookidee

Inazuma Eleven was pretty cute. Not too complicated at all if you don't know much about soccer. Tons of collectable characters as progression as well as spells and an elemental matchup square, for some reason.

Damn, I caught the racialised aspect of the voodoo comment, but didn't even clock the other things which built up across the episode specifically towards the Doctor. She was clearly much more friendly towards Ruby but I sorta chalked that up to the difference in personality at the start, and I also kinda assumed some of the earlier stuff like "unsolicited request" thing was just exposition on how the world works. When you put it all together like that it's obvious that yeah, it's a racism thing in-universe as well.

It's cool that an episode with one very blunt social message has a more subtle and imo pretty well written message underneath. It's very welcome after how botched (as well as boring) most of the social issues episodes generally were in the Chibnall run.

I choose to believe Doctor Pee is real and I will not be convinced otherwise.

ChichiriMuyo posted...

I was, however, left asking what aspect of the The Doctor and Ruby they were scoffing at. Not addicted to social media, poor (from their perspective), or the race of the Doctor as every one of them was white... or maybe all of the above? Obviously the first is the most likely one given the content of the episode, there's just nothing that could actually be ruled out here. In fact, it seems like in this society they maybe automatically fall into group one because they are part of groups 2 and 3 so far as they see it.

Yeah, my first instinct was that in-universe, they were rejecting the offer because the Doctor wasn't rich and one of them. It pretty much just seemed like an ingroup-outgroup thing which is unsurprising given it was a social media themed episode. At the same time, it was very obviously a choice for the show to only have white cast members this episode given how diverse typical episodes of modern Who have been. It works as a race thing regardless of whether that's the explicit textual meaning and I think it's certainly intended as such.

On a non-sequiter, Doctor Pee, Ricky September and Gothic Paul are all icons and that was a shockingly funny episode at times. We can only pray for Doctor Pee's survival.

Ivysaur/Greninja
Doduo/Araquanid
Abomasnow/Wo-Chien
Cramorant/Snom

I actually really enjoyed that one. No major complaints and the final act especially kept me on my toes. Think it's my favourite of the season so far. It's nice to see how they played with the "doctor saves everyone" and "brave last girl who gets rescued at the end" tropes. The angle at the end very much felt like the Doctor from the best bits towards the end of Russel T's first run but with a slightly new twist.

I am entirely fine with skipping Talking Heads this cycle and coming back once more with Remain in Light (or a different album by them, if y'all would rather) next cycle? There's a lot of stuff this cycle I wanna cover but am less familiar with anyway, and it seems like there's a general concensus Speaking in Tongues isn't the one people want to cover.

1. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
2. Freezepop - Fantasizer
3. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
4. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
5. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

Vivillon/Pidgeot
Crustle/Gliscor
Flaaffy/Beautifly
Roaring Moon/Trapinch

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc

But political posts dissuade the porn ads from investing!

Sableye/Sandslash
Wattrel/Leafeon
Krokorok/Darmanitan
Nidoqueen/Corsola

1. De Todas las flores
2. El lugar correcto
3. Pasan los dias
4. Mi manera de querer
5. Pajarito colibri
6. Vine solita
7. Maria la Curandera
8. Llevame viento
9. Muerte
10. Que te vaya bonito Nicolas
11. Caminar bonito
12. Canta la arena

This is a gorgeous album, as with pretty much everything Natalia Lafourcade sings on. I first heard her by stumbling upon Soledad y el Mar and then an earlier album, Hasta la Raiz. Much of Hasta la Raiz particular has a bit more energy, and I think I generally prefer it, but this is still very solid, though a bit more lowkey. This album was hard to rank for me because of that relatively low energy combined with my very limited knowledge of Spanish, and a lot of the tracks don't really have a hook (at least for my ear), but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Hydreigon/Mareep
Magmar/Claydol
Duskull/Palossand
Tentacruel/Spiritomb

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Mario 64
Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2005)
Football Manager 21

Vanilluxe/Trumbeak
Shedinja/Meowscarada
Orbeetle/Oricorio
Axew/Arboliva

please please can we kill the latis already

Looks like 24/25 is Guardiola's last season at City. Thank fuck for that.

I was considering Remain In Light for the nomination and I think it might be my favourite, but honestly there's like four Talking Heads albums which would deserve a listen for almost anyone. Don't even think Burning Down the House is the best song on that album but it's probably the song which people are most familiar with? Interpol is also a phenomenal nomination, lots of stuff I love already nominated here.

Meow1000 posted...

Southamption back to the EPL where they get last by a lot and go right back down

If Kompany was naive I can't imagine what Martin will be classed as in the Prem. Possibly the most committed manager to possession football I've seen (often for worse rather than better). We had some brilliant memories under him and I think he's a great manager at hyping players up for big games (we won four derbies in a row under him, after never winning two in the same season in over a century). But he's a very streaky manager, and he might struggle to gain any momentum especially considering he'll be bringing one of the worse sides in the division.

Think they've got a chance, perhaps even the most of the promoted teams if McKenna leaves Ipswich given Leicester's finances are terrible. Going 25 games unbeaten in the Championship is absolutely nothing to scoff at and the Southampton squad is in alright shape, if overly reliant on a few players.

Totodile/Articuno
Fezandipiti/Ursaluna
Skarmory/Wailord
Crocalor/Geodude

Deserved winner tbh even if there were a lot of dodgy results throughout. Can't complain overall!

Nominate: Speaking in Tongues - Talking Heads

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgJ-hyzl6jg

Phenomenal band that I know quite a few people have wanted to cover. I think they're one of the more notable absent artists we still have. It was a tough choice between this and Remain in Light for what I wanted to nom.

I reckon platformer Mario could get away with being a poorly optimised 5e Echo Knight Fighter that's specced into unarmed combat, given his many lives. I also think being a Fighter fits for him being generally considered the boring one.

??? That upset is puzzling, especially given the margin. Do people hate Slowpoke or Wooloo, or are there just an inexplicable number of fans of Politoed? Or are we just getting people voting the underdog in a match without a heavy hitter? Corvisquire is pretty good but not that good.

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

Shroomish/Ledyba
Virizion/Kabuto
Noibat/Fletchling
Wooloo/Slowpoke

Garganacl :(

I was also mostly voting against Gen 1 (even in the fire/grass matchup! Gen 3 grass isn't great but it's not the worst!) but yeah, a bunch of mediocre lineups somehow crept through and I'd at least want two decent squads in the final. Gen 1 Flying is at least probably a top five roster in the series, but I don't have a clue how Gen 3 Psychic got chosen as the best of its type, let alone this far. I don't think it even breaks my top half. 7 lines I don't care about or actively dislike compared to 4 that are all or partially cool is a pretty dreadful ratio considering how many Pokemon I do like.

Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!
line!
Ijime, Dame, Zettai
Song 4 This might be the silliest song in a very silly collection. I think I admire it all the more for having a chorus which I almost exclusive associate with sports.
Megitsune
Gimme Chocolate!!
Onedari Daisakusen
Uki Uki Midnight
Akatsuki
Catch Me If You Can
Doki Doki Morning
Rondo Of Nightmare
Babymetal Death

It's (mostly) stereotypical cute and silly J-Pop vocals done well and mixed in with stereotypical heavy metal. Very gimmicky but sounds more than good enough to back it up. Plus, you really do have to give points for creativity here. I always find tonal dissonance in art interesting and this tickles a certain spot.

Isn't he also immune to the slowdown on your omega moves or am I imagining that?

Staraptor/Espeon
Bronzong/Chesnaught
Charjabug/Garganacl
Zoroark/Kadabra

Another pretty easy day. I think we precisely got my favourite eight against my least favourite eight here.

Game feels much better already than I think people are giving it credit for - I've only gotten to use the first two weapons but I enjoy them both, particularly the staff. Just had my sixth run ended and very nearly beat the first phase of Chronos with a burn/jolt build that got the duo crazy early, but I just didn't have enough HP to scrape through in all. Scylla feels like the Theseus/Asterius type wall here, which will probably cause a lot of problems to most players. The third boss is very straightforward but satisfying, and just beforehand I got the Chronos stage which was very fun. I'm happy with what there is so far even at this early stage. As long as there's a good heat system again, and even more content released later, I'll be delighted. Think I'll beat the final boss and then leave the rest until full release.

What I really wanna know is would I be modkilled if I said fuck

This was certainly one of the games of mafia I have spectated.

The Binding of Isaac
Hades
Slay the Spire
Spelunky

I don't even like Spelunky (or Slay the Spire, particularly) but it and Binding of Isaac are the two mandatory ones, to me. Spelunky was such a turning point in procedural generation for video games. A Mystery Dungeon game would also be up there if they made it big, barring the Pokemon ones, outside of Japan. Hades is just, the big, exceptionally well-made and mass appeal roguelike, and Slay the Spire is the best rep for the huge deckbuilding roguelike genre.

I agree that TotK is a bit too large and a bit too unfocused. Great game, might even beat out OoT as my favourite 3D Zelda, and I think its mechanics allow for creative puzzle solving like no other game. I just think narrowing the scope a tinyyy bit would make it more focused and ironically give it more longeivity. I did pretty much everything notable in BotW and wasn't even really tired of it by the end, but I felt like I left a lot of TotK unexplored because I simply didn't have the patience for the game to scour it top to bottom. Even making it half the size but less empty would probably make it a better game overall, for me.

Typhlosion/Meowth
Skeledirge/Starmie
Luxio/Nidoran
Chien-Pao/Quilava

Bioshock Infinite
Skyrim
Fallout 3
MGS4

Xbox womb launch only getting a single vote is an utter travesty. It's the only video game advert I actually remember.

Ah I'm being a bit of a prick on purpose with the Van Persie bit, but I do kinda agree. I've seen it in every fanbase for players who deserve it and who don't. Bemusing when it happens for those who aren't at all betraying the club and who gave 100% every game. I don't entirely get it with Rice especially given how professional he was and how he was promised a move, but I think moving to a club that's sorta a local rival (even if not a big one) makes it a bit more understandable.

A few months ago I was at a Swansea away game and the people around me were booing a player who was in our u21s for years before getting released for not being good enough. He got like 50 games max and was decent enough, never crapped on the club or anything but has no huge connection. Not exactly a proper mouthy fella either. Like, the panto villain aspect is the main reason for heckling a player, if he isn't willing to give as good as he gets then it's just a bit sad.

Don't a bunch of Arsenal fans still hate Van Persie and Fabregas?

Glimmet/Impidimp
Rapidash/Trevenant
Gligar/Farfetch'd
Durant/Electivire

Gatwa is great. Good third episode, felt a lot more grounded than the first two. I'll be more than happy if the quality stays around there and we get a classic "eight people locked in a room, three of them will live" before the end.

Charizard/Garchomp
Gallade/Absol
Pyroar/Shinx
Stufful/Muk

Very easy day.

Pidgey/Kleavor
Dewott/Yanmega
Ludicolo/Abra
Hydrapple/Drakloak

That last match is a horrible decision to have to make. Four great mons. Don't really care about anything else today except Dewott/Yanmega which has gotta be a top ten team for this round.

Sheep007 posted...

Unravel
Bachelorette
Joga
Hunter
Alarm Call
All Is Full of Love
5 Years
Immature
Pluto
All Neon Like

Thank you! I had it in my rankings with a comment but accidentally deleted the whole thing when removing the comment