Red Dead Redemption 2, a game renowned for its immersive Wild West narrative, also captivates players with its array of paranormal encounters and eerie side characters. These creepy characters and supernatural elements add a layer of mystery and intrigue, making the game a treasure trove for paranormal enthusiasts, explorers, and completionists.
Spoiler alert – we’ll delve into 15 weird or paranormal creatures and characters that you can encounter in the vast, mysterious world of Red Dead Redemption 2. Starting with…
The Strange Man
The Strange Man, an enigmatic figure appearing throughout Red Dead Redemption 2, offers cryptic messages and unsettling insights. His knowledge of the protagonist’s past actions and the vague predictions about the future add a layer of mystery and paranormal intrigue to the game. Players encounter him in various locations, where he imparts his enigmatic wisdom. The Strange Man’s presence leaves players questioning his true identity and purpose. Several references to the devil seem to surround him.
The Vampire of Saint Denis
In Saint Denis, players can uncover a vampire by following a series of clues. This paranormal encounter offers a unique and unsettling experience, adding a touch of gothic horror to Red Dead Redemption 2. The vampire’s existence reveals a narrative of an ancient evil lurking in the back streets of a modern city.
The Night Folk
In the eerie swamps of Bayou Nwa, players may encounter the Night Folk. These hostile figures, known for their disturbing rituals, add a chilling, supernatural element to the game’s atmosphere. Their silent, sudden ambushes and unsettling presence reveal a darker side of the already dangerous Bayou, hinting at a world beyond the living.
Francis Sinclair
Francis Sinclair is a man from another time that players encounter during a questline involving time travel and mysterious artifacts. He tasks players with finding rock carvings scattered across the game world. One of which seems to depict an atomic bomb. It leads to a mind-bending revelation about his true nature. Francis Sinclair’s narrative adds a connection to the future and a hidden message about the nature of time itself. He seems out of time and place and challenges players’ perception of reality within the game’s universe, especially when he shows up as a newborn baby at the end of the story. Some relate this character to “future” events in Grand Theft Auto V.
The Feral Man
Roanoke Ridge holds a secret – the Feral Man. This wild character is living in harmony with his pack of wolves. His presence reveals a narrative of isolation and a life far removed from civilization. Beware: he doesn’t take kindly to strangers lurking about his cave. Is he a werewolf, or just a loony?
The Robot
Meet Marko Dragic, the inventor, on a remote hill laboratory where he works on a secret, revolutionary project for the new century: a sentient piece of machinery. Not all goes well and eventually, Dragic is found dead and the robot escapes. A quest leads you to the robot high on the peak of a frozen mountain. Alone facing the far mountains he voices a sad “…Papa…”. The robot’s existence and its creator’s fate reveal a narrative of ambition, invention, and the blurred line between life and artificial life.
Bigfoot
Of course he is in Red Dead Redemption 2… a bit hard to find though… By examining various animals and following a trail of birds, players can uncover the hiding place of this legendary creature. Although Bigfoot remains elusive, mysterious piles of bones scattered throughout the game world suggest its presence.
The Ghost Train
Late at night, players may witness a ghost train haunting the tracks of New Hanover. This spectral locomotive adds a supernatural element to the game’s world, enhancing the paranormal atmosphere of Red Dead Redemption 2. The ghost train’s appearance reveals a narrative of a tragic accident and lingering spirits.
The Locked-Up Braithwaite Girl
In Rhodes, you can find a mentally ill locked-up girl in an outhouse, revealing a tragic and disfigured story. Her family decided to lock her up in an outhouse instead of sending her to a sanatorium. Gertrude screams constantly and repeatedly recites a mysterious number sequence that somehow relates to Grand Theft Auto V’s phone number for Madam Nazaar (a character that first appears in Red Dead Redemption).
The Mutant Creature
A creepy Frankenstein-like creature can be found in a house in West Horn, featuring a pig’s head, wings, and multiple limbs. The abomination can be found in a sort of biology laboratory in an abandoned mansion.
The Cave Devil
A hermit living alone in a cave in West Elizabeth claims to be the Devil himself. He wears gray hair styled to resemble the Devil’s horns. A glowing red pentagram can be found near him, indicating that if he isn’t the Devil, he might at least be in communion with demonic forces.
The Donkey Lady
In Cholla Springs, players can come across the corpse of a creature that appears to be a mix of a donkey and a woman. Since it’s not a living creature, it remains unknown if this was a supernatural being.
The UFOs
Aliens have invaded Red Dead Redemption 2, with UFO encounters scattered across the map. These extraterrestrial sightings provide an eerie, otherworldly experience, adding a sci-fi twist to the game’s narrative. The presence of UFOs reveals a narrative of hidden alien life and mankind’s quest for understanding.
Bray and Tammy Aberdeen
Pig farmers. Go visit them. They’ll invite you to dinner. Some of the most disturbing characters in the game, they’re an incestuous couple of brother and sister who might just be cannibals. The food tastes… different. After drugging you they’ll take your money and drop you in a shallow grave.
The Serial Killer
You’ll find several corpses grisly mutilated throughout the world. Follow the clues and you’ll meet the one responsible at his lair filled with newspaper clippings and several mutilated corpses in a truly horrifying scene. Oh, and he isn’t happy about you showing up.
The truth is out there
Red Dead Redemption 2 offers a captivating world filled with paranormal creatures, creepy side characters, and supernatural phenomena. Each character not only adds to the eerie atmosphere but also reveals a unique narrative, enriching the overall storyline. So, prepare to explore the unknown and uncover the secrets of these paranormal creatures in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion is one of the most highly anticipated releases in the gaming world right now, and for good reason. Cyberpunk 2077, while impressive in many ways, had a very rocky launch. It left many players disappointed and the initial reviews were terrible. Bugs and crashes were commonplace, and the overall experience was not as polished as it could have been.
Now, with the Phantom Liberty expansion, there is a chance for redemption. The developers have a significant budget to work with, and it is crucial that they use it wisely. Instead of simply adding more weapons and vehicles, the expansion needs to focus on delivering fresh and interesting new game mechanics that will keep players engaged.
It needs to bring new content that is creatively different from what we’ve seen before. The original game had a lot of great ideas, but it felt like it was relatively stuck in itself. The expansion needs to shake things up and give players something truly new to explore.
Night City grows
New gameplay mechanics in established games are always tricky. Alternative ways of interacting with the environment like different hacking, stealth or parkour could still fit the theme and add a bit more to explore in effective gameplay. This will add depth, and give players new ways to approach the game’s challenges.
Another crucial element is expanding the map significantly with new areas, quests, characters, vehicles, and weapons. The original game was an amazing initial canvas, but the map felt a bit small and restrictive. The expansion needs to open things up and give players more to discover. This could include new neighborhoods and districts, each with their own unique architecture, culture, peoples, attitudes and characters. Each area should have its own set of quests and stories. This gives players a reason to explore every inch of the new map. We crave plot twists and meaningful deaths!
We can expect the new expansion to add new clothing options, hairstyles, tattoos, and piercings, but also weapons and vehicles. But that only adds 5-second-worth-of-awe content.
One of the most important things that the expansion needs to focus on is the NPCs and their unique stories. The original game had a lot of interesting NPCs, but they were mostly static, with little to no interaction with the player. Their lives flowed in front of us and we were merely spectators to their short, meaningless lives.
The expansion could introduce more dynamic NPCs, with their own schedules, routines, and personalities. This would make the game world feel more alive, and give players a reason to explore and interact with the NPCs throughout Night City and beyond. Also, what’s going on in the rest of the world? Why not start the expansion somewhere else?
Phantom Liberty should introduce new vehicles and weapons, but it’s important that they are not just added for the sake of adding more stuff. Dear CDProjektRed developers, if you’re adding new weapons and vehicles, please be creative and add new ways to solve a new fight or a quest.
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty please draw us in!
Modding
It’s worth mentioning that expansions typically don’t open up the game for modding. This is where CD Projekt Red could take a page from Skyrim’s book. With a rich modding community, Skyrim was able to keep players engaged for years with new content and gameplay mechanics.
It’s also worth noting that it is likely that CD Projekt Red is working on a new Cyberpunk 2078 that is likely a bit more open to modding and expanding. Typically, the first attempt at a new franchise tends to be more closed. A controlled environment where they establish the world and characters without too much interference from mods. By making the new game more open to modding, CD Projekt Red could tap into the creativity of the community. Keeping players engaged for years to come.
Night City Dawns
Ultimately, the success of the Phantom Liberty expansion, and ultimately Cyberpunk 2077’s franchise, will depend on how well it addresses the issues that plagued the original launch. It needs to be lean, clean, and mean – lightweight, no game-critical bugs, and be fun, unique and truly engaging.
The developers have thrown a lot of money into this expansion. It’s important that they use it to deliver content that truly matters.
They should focus on making the game more stable, less bugs and less crashes. The original game had a lot of technical issues – some of which still persist – and it’s important that the expansion does not repeat those mistakes. Optimization is critical so that everyone gets to experience it without a hitch. Or two.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion has the potential to be a sought-after redemption for its launch and a solid launch pad for the franchise – but it needs to deliver new, fresh, and interesting content, expand the map, add new engaging characters, weapons, vehicles but keeping it bug-free. CDProjektRed should take inspiration from the modding community in Skyrim and other games, to keep players engaged for years with new content and gameplay mechanics. Let modders run wild. Modding is the main theme of the game anyway! Tap into the creativity of the community and keep players engaged for a long time. Fans are eagerly waiting to see what Cyberpunk’s new expansion has in store, and with the right approach, it could be the redemption that the franchise needs. It’s time for the developers to deliver and give the fans what they’ve been waiting for. Night City, please be remarkable.
The 7-year old game is apparently making a comeback. Why are people playing it again? What changed in The Sims 4 and how come that this dinosaur is not yet a fossil? What led to this resurgence of the stale-genre game? Who plays it and how?
The rise of an oldie
7-year-old games are considered old by videogame market standards.
A sequel was due for some time now, but it never came. Instead, Maxis and Electronic Arts opted to keep releasing mostly cosmetic but expensive DLCs.
The Sims is pretty much alone in its own market, there’s not much of a competition to worry about (until now with the upcoming Paralives). They’ve always controlled the Life Simulation genre they’ve created and aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.
Instead of releasing a new game every two years (like most AAA game sequels), they were keying on setting solid foundations with a solid base game and then update and add new content with expansive (and expensive) DLCs. EA has released 9 large expansions already, yet 12 are expected until the end of The Sims 4 lifecycle.
Even though this strategy keeps current users feeding them with each DLC, it doesn’t do much in the way of attracting new ones.
In March 2020, things were about to change – but not in the way they were expected to.
Trying times
Nowadays, every social media platform talks about The Sims, plays videos about The Sims, links to podcasts about The Sims, and, like me, people are blogging about The Sims. It almost feels like The Sims 4 had just been released. Also, Animal Crossing.
COVID-19 is the root-solution to our question. COVID-19, the coronavirus that won the game by putting the world on pause. No more lines at the Post Office, traffic jams, crowded malls, delayed flights, air pollution, noise pollution. Was it not for the sad side-effects of social distancing, this would sound more like a blessing.
However, this horrible virus had an unexpected super-power. It managed to lock most of us in our own homes, afraid to go outside – waiting for it to leave us alone and abandon our doorstep.
Influencer lockdown
Self-isolation caused a huge number of social influencers to stay indoors. It was fun for a while – plenty of exciting chitchat about the situation filled their blogs and vlogs. …But after a week or two, these fashion and travel influencers were still stuck at home with nothing new and exciting to report about their awesome way of life. No new clothes or makeup to show, no restaurants to try and no foreign places to explore. Their blogs and vlogs were running dry.
Some turned to cooking – but apparently, their cooking skills were not that great… or they just couldn’t make it captivating enough for their audience to enjoy.
Then they turned to gaming – a sensible marketing decision since gaming ranks high in social media projection. Even though these fashion vlogger’s streaming/gaming rigs were pretty much non-existant (as were their games list or gaming skills altogether), they still had their hordes of loyal fans thirsty for content and stuck at home with nothing to watch.
Some of these (mostly female) vloggers, in their early 30’s, went through their early years in an age where The Sims 1 and 2 were all the rage. So they naturally leaned towards The Sims 4.
The fact that it is a non-competitive sandbox game that features endless fashion and decoration customization options, that requires no skills at all and that supports a Mac version, and low computer specs certainly did help those fashion and lifestyle vloggers to take the leap.
The fact is that the stuff that made their Youtube channels popular was all there. In The Sims 4, there were new clothes to try, new makeup to show, new restaurants to experience and plenty of virtual foreign places to explore.
A cringy reality
I noticed some really sad streams, where the host used an uncomfortable wall shelf instead of a desk for gaming/streaming. Where they were unaware that their camera was on or that their microphone was off, that their lighting was terrible or their FPS were lame. Then some of them didn’t know how to handle the controls or built very large concrete boxes instead of real homes for their Sims. Naturally, none of them knew how to interact with the audience properly.
Even though this was a sad thing to watch, what truly frustrated me was the huge numbers of viewers watching. There are plenty of interesting, well-performed streams on Twitch, Mixer, or Youtube that don’t get half the views they deserve.
Some of these streams and videos drew quite a crowd and lead other vloggers to follow their example. Nowadays, Youtube is flooded every day with The Sims 4 videos by popular non-gamer influencers. This drives ads and posts on Twitter, Reddit and Youtube/Google results.
Nowadays, The Sims 4 seems to be everywhere.
The Sims 5 and sharp marketing pencils
In a typically sad EA move, they did once threaten The Sims fanbase by stating that The Sims 5 would never happen if The Sims 4 wasn’t successful. However, and even though it had a rough start with mediocre reviews, The Sims 4 turned out to be a very successful investment. But with 4 DLC expansions to go, EA isn’t going to stop milking its cow and replacing it with a new one anytime soon. The Sims 5 is, for now, just a marketing ploy.
When it comes to marketing, timing is critical …and EA has sharp pencils and minds. EA cashed-in on the coronavirus unexpected wave of new users and influencers by starting to drip some bits of info regarding The Sims 5, which seems to be in the early stages of development. In order to cause the most impact, they even started with one of the most anticipated and controversial features: Multiplayer.
There were several Twitter posts that caused some sensation. We’re likely to get more juicy info on The Sims 5 over the coming months.
How has the game changed and how are people playing it today?
Going back to playing The Sims 4 in 2020. I noticed that there’s a surprising amount of new content out there. Not just the official 32 downloadable content packs and expansions, but also the absurd amount of Custom Content created by users. These mods didn’t just grow in quantity. They also improved their quality significantly over the many years of updates that a stable build of the game provided for.
As a dedicated PC gamer, I love modding my games. More than adding customization options to my characters, I really enjoy adding new gameplay elements that make the game more realistic, immersive, or complex.
The Sims 4 is fertile ground for great Custom Content.
I’ve recently started a brand new The Sims 4 household. I’m trying to create a small neighborhood with multiple families living on the same lot (thank you Roommates mod). I’ve also got my own bakery business on the same lot (thank you Live in Business and ATMs). It’s just awesome seeing an empty lot turning into a small venue and meeting new Sims. My Sims have interesting personality traits and awesome jobs, there are gangs, drugs, and violence on my streets and I’ve got a ton of furniture to decorate my house with.
7 years past, the game is fresher and more polished than ever with many many new ways to explore.
The Sims 5 isn’t really around the corner. When it finally gets released, it will likely lack the depth and polish that The Sims 4 offers right now. The upcoming life simulation contender, Paralives, will be interesting to explore, given the type of customization it provides. But Paralives’s success will be limited by the lower amount of gameplay content provided by years of development and mods currently available in The Sims 4.
Give The Sims 4 a new try! There has never been a better time to explore this green gem of a game.
If instead, you’re looking to play something fun in multiplayer, check out the awesome Sea of Thieves.
6 months ago Rockstar surprised a lot of players by launching an update to Grand Theft Auto 5. It featured the eagerly awaited Diamond Casino Spa & Resort in Los Santos. Unfortunately, the seats at this casino’s tables were not available to everyone.
Many players were facing issues when attempting to use the casino’s chips, tables or slots. Rockstar did not release any information regarding this issue which made players think it was a bug of sorts. It appeared like there was a connection issue – but nothing mentioned that gambling was disabled for certain players.
Rockstar was blocking players from certain countries
The restrictions were unclear and apparently unreasonable. Some countries have strict legislation against gambling and were able to access Rockstar’s casino games. Now, I live in Portugal. We have a ton of casinos and gambling halls in our country. Plenty of online sports betting websites. Pokerstars and mobile gambling. There’s even state-endorsed gambling available and yet we’re unable to access the Diamond Casino games in Grand Theft Auto 5. Meanwhile, our friends over in Spain who have pretty much the same regulations as we do, have no issues playing at GTA V’s online casino.
It is kind of sad that some players get free items, free content to play with and all sorts of activities that many others are prevented from accessing altogether.
This is even more ridiculous if you consider the fact that you can’t even cash-out the money you earn. It’s all virtual. It isn’t really a gambling addiction problem, just a regulatory one. In GTA V you do have the option to buy GTA$, but you can’t convert it into real money. However, in RDR 2 Online, you can’t even buy $ – only gold, which is a very different currency.
Here’s a list of countries unable to gamble in GTA 5’s online casino, according to Reddit user SlapshotTommy:
Afghanistan Algeria American Samoa Argentina Azerbaijan Bahamas Bhutan Bosnia Herzg. Belarus Brunei Cambodia Cayman Islands China Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Ecuador Greece
Iceland Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Liechtenstein Luxembourg Maldives Mali Mauritania Malta Malaysia North Korea Oman
Paraguay Peru Poland Portugal Qatar Saudi Arabia Somalia South Africa South Korea Sri Lanka Sudan Syria Taiwan Thailand Tuvalu UAE Vietnam Venezuela
Red Dead Redemption 2 Poker? Same thing, different game
RDR 2 Online Poker Table
I like playing Poker. It’s fun and relaxing and a great way to socialize and meet new people.
One of the reasons why I bought RDR 2 was because Poker was a thing. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun to play against other players online. There aren’t that many 3D Poker games out there since PKR was terminated a few years ago, so I thought this would be great fun.
Apparently I was wrong. I was not going to be allowed to play Poker in Red Dead Redemption 2 Online. I’m guessing Blackjack won’t work either, even if you’re just playing against an NPC like in singleplayer…
Rockstar does not inform RDR 2 players properly
I’m a PC player. I missed the news that this was an issue back in May 2019, when it first came up to the PS4 and XBOX players.
In fact, I thought that this was not yet implemented. Until yesterday, when a random player approached me in role-playing style. He asked me if I would like to play poker with him. I laughed and said that I would love to – but that the only way to play Poker right now is the singleplayer game mode. Then he replied that he had been playing with his mates.
I was confused.
Rockstar did not release any info regarding this topic. There’s no contextual info or error message. Nothing. You can see the NPCs playing by themselves, but there’s no interaction button or error message.
The reality is that they’re hiding content to avoid complaints. In a way it kind of angers me more that they hide this content instead of informing players in-game that the content isn’t available for players in their specific region.
How to play Poker in RDR 2 if you’re excluded?
RDR 2 Online Poker Table
The answer is simple. Go live somewhere where your IP isn’t blocked by Rockstar… or get an IP from a different country instead.
VPN networks seem to have been working as a great workaround for players in GTA V wanting to play at the casino. This isn’t a cheat, this isn’t a mod. Now, the question is:
Will Rockstar ban you for using a VPN? Unlikely.
Is it possible they will? Sure.
Is it reasonable to do it? Nope.
Is Rockstar known for being reasonable at anything… ever? Nope.
Alternatively, play in singleplayer mode. Boring. I know.
Cashing out.
I can’t understand Rockstar’s criteria for picking certain countries, but not others. The lack of info regarding this topic as if it wasn’t an issue at all is ridiculous. I won’t accept that they would advertise something that really isn’t available at all.
Rockstar is weird when it comes to gambling. I sure will remember that the next time I avoid buying a game with that feature.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is now a winter wonderland!
There’s snow in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020! Microsoft has surprised us again with their brand new iteration for the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise.
Snow is now present in Microsoft Flight Simulator!
Their attitude towards this simulator has been very peculiar about this release since its announcement.
There was a 13-year gap between the last version (Microsoft Flight Simulator X) and the latest version announced at E3 2019. It features the most in-depth and accurate representation of the Earth in any digital media (except maybe Bing or Google Maps). However, their announcement seemed to lack enthusiasm. Or maybe they were just being humble – which would be surprising for a Microsoft release.
A Winter Wonderland!
At the preview event, they mentioned that they had access to the very detailed Bing maps satellite data. They developed a way to integrate that with a game engine, thus providing Microsoft’s Flight Simulator with very accurate satellite imagery for their sim. They said that lightly as if it wasn’t that much of a big deal. In reality, it provides VFR pilots like me an amazing reason to fly and explore the world. As I said in my previous post, I only fly VFR because I enjoy the views and the sense of exploring the world.
A few weeks after their preview event in one of their videos, they released a list of “highly requested features” by the users they had the chance of interacting with. In it, you would find stuff like seasons, ATC, Virtual Reality, etc.
To be honest I was actually displeasantly surprised at the lack of commitment shown when some of these features were first announced. Many of them were present 13 years ago. Most were now being considered as “possible features” to be developed still. The sad truth is that with most games, after their announcement, any additional significant changes either take years to develop or don’t get developed at all due to the complexity of adding new functionality to existing code.
Will we have vortex snow in the cockpit?
Apparently this is not the case with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, as they just unveiled a *VERY* short video where snow can be seen covering the sim’s very detailed landscape. This was one of the features that were still being considered but not guaranteed.
Seasons in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020?
While this doesn’t entirely remove “seasons” from the wishlist, it does tackle one of the most difficult things to achieve in a flight sim. Snow changes textures globally and locally. But it also adds a variable depth layer to trees and buildings that require some clever tricks to simulate geometry efficiently.
We’ll soon see whether they’re able to make it snow in just specific areas instead of the whole world, according to real-time weather patterns.
The difference between snow and seasons is that an autumn theme requires global texture changes. This is especially true in the forest or green areas of the world to make them look gold or brownish. This is especially difficult with satellite imagery. The precision of maps that sort what is a building or a road or a tree are critical to a believable color correction. You really don’t want a green building changing to brown during the autumn! Another aspect to consider is falling leaves on the sidewalks or trees without any leaf coverage. This would likely have to be affected by geometry changes which are typically very cumbersome to process.
Will the whole world be covered in snow?
We’ll have to wait and see how they figure out a way to do it. The fact that they’re pre-rendering everything on their servers means that their 2 petabytes of data might have to be slightly multiplied for each season. Not really a problem for the regular user. That is, unless they wish to download everything to their hard drive instead of streaming the geometry from their servers.
What’s your list of wanted features?
I have my very own list of “highly requested features”. Top of the list is Virtual Reality support. I only fly FSX or P3D using VR googles. It is the most immersive VR experience I ever had. I was really sad to learn that it wasn’t announced as featuring in the new Flight Simulator 2020. Instead, it’s listed as one of those features that might or might not be developed.
I’m an original backer since when it first was announced way back in 2012.
I wanted to distance myself from the game before posting on my blog since Star Citizen is (still) in development. Thoughts about the game’s development tend to be polarized and I did not want my fan enthusiasm to compromise my perception of the game.
Maybe now’s the time to clarify some misconceptions and point some concerns regarding Chris Robert’s massively crowdfunded project.
I won’t hide it.
I am biased in favor of Star Citizen. The skepticism of some people is understandable, and the wait isn’t for everyone. -Are you one of these people?
Hopefully, you’ll find out after reading this article.
I will try to analyze some of the frustrations, doubts, and expectations that the fans and the haters are experiencing or discussing – hopefully enlightening newcomers to the game.
The aim of this article is to clarify and avoid buyer regrets.
Star Citizen is hard to define, but let’s start by saying that it is one gigantic sandbox for many different types of emergent gameplay. Composed of two parts, it will feature a single-player campaign (Squadron 42) and an online Persistent Universe (MMOG-like).
They create the universe, you make the rules.
As with most 4X space games, FREEDOM is the keyword for the universe. Star Citizen allows you to become a space farmer, a miner, a bounty hunter, an explorer, a smuggler, a racer, a law enforcer and anything in-between.
The Star Citizen team is looking to develop a sandbox universe that provides a fertile ground for emergent gameplay. They are creating the tools for you to become whatever you want to be. As an example, for a while, I had fancy a ship called Constellation Phoenix, which I planned to rent out to factions interested in using it for important meetings. During their stay, I would provide them with drinks, entertainment, and security.
I eventually traded the Connie for the Endeavour – a sprawling modular ship that will allow me to cultivate plants and make drugs on the same ship (legal …or otherwise) – it even stars a hangar to allow willing traders to dock with my ship!
The game will feature unprecedented sci-fi realism and a ton of complex missions and mini-games that will require learning and skill to master.
Nothing is dull or simple in Star Citizen.
As an example, mining requires foreplanning and skill – unlike most space games, you actually have to learn how to mine and be very careful when doing it in order to avoid damage to your ship or even loss of life. Selling your minerals won’t be linear either. Prices fluctuate according to supply and demand in different parts of the Universe, influenced by real-time player and NPC interaction. This was also analyzed in my other post that discusses economics.
This sandbox gameplay leads to many venues of gameplay exploration. This freedom to do whatever you want is the core focus of Star Citizen.
I also expect this game to become a major social hub for me and my friends.
COMPLAINT #1 – The game has no objective.
Objective – Achieve fun (0/100)
There’s no denying it. It’s true. Is that REALLY a problem though?
Just like Grand Theft Auto online, or Red Dead Redemption 2 online. Star Citizen’s Persistent Universe won’t hold your hand or set you on a campaign path. You get to choose what to do, where to go, what to see and who to meet.
If you really think you need guidance, then why not set YOUR OWN goals? Why not set a personal goal to explore every single system? …or instead to amass wealth and spend it all on a luxury liner like the 890 Jump?
890 Jump
The ghost cruise ship of enjoyment
A long time ago, I used to play a game that had very much the same essence of Star Citizen – Freelancer, a game by the same head developer (Chris Roberts) that I mentioned in my previous post. When playing Freelancer online, you would find yourself cruising the star lanes for long periods of time on your way to make a trade. One day I was crossing a remote part of the game’s universe when I spotted a massive player ship that was constantly communicating in system chat. Oblivious to my presence, this was his message to his own imaginary crew of tourists:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have now arrived at the Tau-31 system. To our left, you will be able to spot the beautiful semi-desertic landscape of Planet Harris, one of the first terraforming efforts by Planetform, Inc. Please return to your seats. We will dock at the Holman Outpost in 5 minutes.”
To think that this player was investing his time roleplaying as a tourist cruise ship really blew my mind. That route was probably not even profitable – but he didn’t care – because having fun was his objective. And whatever he was doing was fun for him.
Oh, by the way, there’s no “endgame” in Star Citizen either. Sandbox.
If you can’t understand the concept of setting your own goals, then please stop reading now. This is NOT the game for you – Abandon ship!
COMPLAINT #2 – The game is pay-to-win.
As I discussed in one of my previous Youtube videos, the concept of Pay-to-Win is that you get an edge in a competitive environment by injecting real money into the game. Whoever pays the most has the most chances of “winning“.
Although it is true that you are able, through various means, to buy in-game credits or ships with real money, the real question is WHY would you do it when the game has no end-goal…
Star Citizen is not about genital length comparisons. There’s no point in spending money in this game except for two very honorable reasons:
To support the game development process if you believe in it
To unlock new gameplay layers without having to grind to get there
However, if grinding is made fun (which seems like it will be with so many different things to do), you will actually be LOSING content by skipping gameplay aspects that you would otherwise have to explore and experience to achieve your final objective.
That sense of progression
This is exactly the reason why I’ve considered giving away all my ships – so I could start with the smallest, cheapest one ever and see my own game story grow from there.
If you believe SC is still pay-to-win then embrace it this way – or Abandon ship!
Instead, think of the guy cruising his tourists for fun. -Does it really matter how he bought his ship? -How does his enjoyment affect you? -What are his goals?
Sure, there are ships that cost over 400$ and there are ship packages which include a ton of ships (which are actually at a bargain price when you consider each ship’s individual price). But those ships and packages are NOT intended for just one person or a newcomer. They require several people to play.
Think of the Banu Merchantman which has a crew capacity for 8 people and costs 430$. Divide 430$ by 8 people and you get the price of the cheapest game package. Go gather your friends and buy one!
Banu Merchantman
These massive ships are NOT intended for solo play.
People who buy large ships now are simply trying to support the game’s development.
Also: every ship will be available to purchase with in-game money. GTA V does this well. It gives people a reason to try to make in-game money. Something to strive for. An objective.
COMPLAINT #4 – The game will never be finished
Star Citizenhas been in development for 8 years now. The same amount of time as the sci-fi single-player game Cyberpunk 2077 by CD Projekt Red studios – which is expected to be delivered in 2020.
However, unlike Cyberpunk, Star Citizen is nowhere near completion. At the same time, and unlike Cyberpunk, it shares its progress with the community regularly, instead of working behind the scenes and ultimately presenting a finished game. The complexity of developing each game is also radically different.
Some claim that the game will never be finished because of the feature-creep-Cthulhu. Others say their plan is actually to never even deliver a finished game. Even more skeptic ones say that Chris Roberts has run away with the crowdfunded money to a tropical island in the Pacific.
Feature Creep
Drake Dragonfly – hover bike
If you’re one of the investors (a.k.a. players) who feels frustrated by the way that they seem to keep adding new features and delaying the final delivery – then consider accepting it as a requirement or, instead, by blaming it on the idealistic dreams of the community.
A couple of years into development Chris Roberts suggested he could deliver a simplified game in two or three years. One day a poll showed up on the Star Citizen website. The developer wanted to figure out whether the community would prefer to see a simplified version of Star Citizen within their initially planned timeframe or instead to deliver a more in-depth experience, one which would require a longer development stage.
As I somewhat expected, the community overwhelmingly (I believe almost 70%) asked for the later without knowing exactly what the real timeframe would be.
This meant that Chris Roberts could freely deliver his dream game. One he had been preparing for most of his career as a film director and game developer (Wing Commander, Privateer, Freelancer). Now he had big plans for Star Citizen and hiring the feature expansionist Tony Zuroveck (Ultima series) would only reinforce his interest in developing very in-depth and detailed game mechanics.
Innovation and delay
Even though many of these features or minigames are a gameplay delight, they take time to develop. A very long time for some. They also exponentially increase the number of bugs to tackle and problems to solve.
One of these features is the planetary tech they’ve developed. To render such massive planets and avoid loading screens sure was impressive – but it was also one of the reasons why the so-difficult 64-bit precision had to be accomplished in the engine.
Ships, in order to support the newly added features or concepts also have to be redesigned from scratch, like the Cutlass Red which serves as an ambulance and integrates with the health system, or the Carrack for the exploratory aspects of the game.
As a result, yes, feature creep is real and a real concern. It does divide the community between those who just want to play the game as is but in a more polished state and those who instead want the game to become better, with more content, features, and professions to explore.
Star Citizen will never be released!
We should consider that the initial team for Star Citizen was rather small (50 employees) and the company had to slowly grow. Now they employ approximately 500 people in 5 studios across the world. This meant that more people had to be introduced, and teams still had to learn to work together on core aspects of the game, which ultimately lead to a slow start.
To support the growing number of employees, the initial record sales of the game wouldn’t suffice.
Looking at their latest financial report, one would quickly realize that what’s keeping this game in active development aren’t the initial sales anymore, but rather the on-going ship purchases, upgrades and merchandising. These sales sustain the whole team throughout the year.
Some people claim that they’re only making ships and concepts for ships to make money.
Well… this is… true. They need to do so, in order to keep the project alive and proceed with development.
The reality is that the players are frequently buying paper ideas that aren’t yet realized in-game and are likely to change. Understandably, spending a lot of money on something that doesn’t yet exist seems difficult to accept for many outsiders.
Tic Tac Tic Tac
Adding to all this, as time goes by, age takes a toll on the game’s engine and assets, which has to be updated from time to time. Physics-Based Rendering (PBR) wasn’t a common feature in games back in 2012, but as time passes and technology evolves, it had to be introduced to avoid the pitfall of ending up with an already outdated game on release. This meant refactoring all ships once again.
The same happened when the components feature was introduced. Ship components are parts of the ship that can be handled, fixed or replaced. The ships weren’t prepared for that and had to be refactored one more time.
Due to the live development approach, CIG prefers to deliver functional updates to allow the players to access other features or content. These features are developed iteratively, being later on optimized, improved or further developed to add new innovations. The fact that they keep revamping the same features over and over is not a pre-planning issue but instead a requirement of the live development process.
Tumbril Ranger Bike
Drinking Mojitos
I don’t think Chris Roberts is on an island in the Pacific.
This is his dream work. His unique chance to build his masterpiece.
His previous games have revolved around this theme and now he’s finally got a chance to make his vision truly come to fruition on his terms without any form of corporate pressure. Why waste the opportunity?
This is what led me to back this project. I’m a huge fan of his sadly incomplete Freelancer and I really want to see Star Citizen succeed. I’m usually relaxed and I don’t excited about a game easily. Well maybe except for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2020!
My concern
The fact that the game development costs are just as high as their regular revenue is a concern as there’s a point when players stop investing in new ships and merchandise. They will constantly need to reach out to new players in order to keep development going. This could also be seen asfinancially and strategically sound to work as fast as they can with the assets they have access to.
Apparently, last month was one of the most profitable ones for Star Citizen with many new citizens joining the ranks.
I’m convinced by my peer’s attitudes towards this game that there is a significant amount of people who are actually interested in the game but still patiently waiting for it to release before buying it. Maybe still afraid of it being vaporware. If true, this should act as a life-saving device as they can “release” the game whenever they want and get a large influx of fresh new money to sustain development for a few more months or years. The truth is that the game is more than playable right now, even if it still lacks content.
Eclipsing thoughts
Star Citizen is said to be being developed to achieve a 10-year longevity goal. This is the main reason why they wish to build a solid core game engine that allows for improvements and extra content over time.
Game development tends to become faster and faster as more of the foundational game mechanics are set in place. We should see a LOT more content coming in 2020.
What are your thoughts on Star Citizen and this article? Do you share my view? What are your concerns?
Leave me a comment below, or check one of my other posts! If you liked this one, you might also like THIS one.
You should also check out my Star Citizen Ship Comparison Tool which is currently on standby waiting for some support from the community. Leave me a comment if you would like to see it shine again!
GTA Online – Your account does not have permission to complete this purchase.
This is the message that a bunch of players are seeing when they try buying chips from the cashier at the newly established GTA Online Diamond Casino Spa & Resort in bloody Los Santos.
The very anticipated Casino has just opened today – but gambling is not for everyone. Killing, stealing, trafficking is all well and good in GTA Online but DON’T YOU DARE GAMBLE!
Apparently, people from at least 50 countries, including Portugal, Hungary, Israel and Argentina have been prevented from trading in any chips.
These left-out players aren’t able to access the free daily bonuses at the cashier, or the wheel spin at all. It may also affect bonuses from the Penthouse, missions, world collectibles, and unique clothing and items.
Apparently, there’s a region lock to access the Casino’s features. This includes buying chips and playing with them – effectively limiting all gambling activity for some players.
We’re talking funny money here. In-game cash translates to the same amount of in-game casino chips which can only be refunded to in-game cash.
If there’s one thing Rockstar is used to deal with …is lawsuits.
Apparently, the reason for this region lock is that Rockstar does not want to register as a gambling entity (such as with other online gambling websites). Even if you now have to accept a new EULA, this effectively means that they’re not able to deliver this type of content to a large number of countries.
As far as I understand the law (and other games that do this), the real problem here is the fact that players are able to buy in-game currency with real money and then spend it all gambling (instead of buying new in-game cars). Well, if that’s the problem, then the already present chip currency could be used to *legally* buy stuff without having to convert it to the real-cash-connected GTA bucks – that wouldn’t be gambling and that would solve the legal conundrum. Think about it Rockstar!
Make sure you follow me on Twitch if you wish to stay up to date about when these things change or a legal alternative has been found!
Most countries have grey-area laws on online gambling. Most regulate physical gambling effectively but lack online regulation.
Here in the EU, only a few players in Germany seem to be able to access the Casino features. This has sparked a rush to VPN services. Players are trying to connect via VPN to get a German or American IP address in order to play at the Diamond Casino. Note: Some people argue that this practice may get your account banned for trying to bypass common online identity checks.
Rockstar support is inefficient
Rockstar support is completely inefficient at informing players why they’re unable to use the Casino. There’s not a single official reply to queries regarding this situation and the players were left to figure it out for themselves.
I’m hoping that they eventually revise their region-lock limitations or that, at the very least, they inform players that they won’t be able to access this content beforehand. Some people are complaining that they bought Twitch Prime to access the “free” content and Penthouse at the now pointless Casino.
Players will eventually find a way around this issue. They’ve done that before with private servers, hacks and the RP server boom in the past couple of years.
They will find a way to make it work – legally, or otherwise.
Nope. She ain’t givin’ you no moneys.
In any case, it feels lame that the largest GTA Online update in years is locked to so many players around the world.
And there I was. Looking at the shiny new slot machine. Press E to interact. ALERT: Your account does not have permission to complete this purchase. For further help, go to: www.rockstargames.com/support
So frustrating!
This update should never have been developed in the first place. Their energy should have been spent on new content that everyone would be able to enjoy. Besides the Casino and the Penthouse, the remaining content is just a couple of missions, a few new unremarkable vehicles, and a pair of easily-outdated cosmetics.
Heists is where GTA Online truly shines – co-op missions with cinematics and a story to play with your friends. Yet, no new heists have been released in a VERY long time. Instead, we’ve been stuck with mostly cosmetic updates that don’t effectively expand the story or the replayability of the game.
The truth is that the game is still fun.
Rockstar-outlawed private servers and RP have given it a boost recently. But the updates have mostly been delivering content that is both very expensive and insubstantial.
I live in Portugal. I’ve got a casino across the street from my home and I’m not able to play on GTA Online with funny money. *shrug*
A long, long time ago (back in 1982), Microsoft came up with the first iteration for Microsoft Flight Simulator. It looked amazing for that era and featured unrivaled 3D graphics! It was the start of a whole lineage of popular flight sims.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I did not get to experience the joy in flight sims until very recently. However, even if things look different nowadays, I’m 100% sure that the feeling of accomplishment for taking off the runway was the same as today’s.
Sure, the game grew over time. Immensely. Better graphics, more planes, more buildings, better flight mechanics, multiplayer.
But at its core, the fun of the hobbyist flight sim experience is definitely the sense of achievement you get for taking off, landing and the idea of freedom, movement, and control (or lack thereof).
I won’t lie. To me, that’s not enough to truly enjoy flight simming. I love the notion of purpose in a sim.
I decided to turn the sim into a game – by adding an objective!
Make it a game!
During my streams on Twitch and Youtube, I did a trip around the world using Microsoft Flight Simulator X and FSEconomy.
FSE allows you to rent planes and do cargo runs. What usually happened was that I would rent a plane and do short cargo runs from one place to another. I started back in Iceland with a small Cessna 172 hauling mail.
I ended up transporting tourists in Brazil, by going through the eastern coasts of Canada, the US, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Colombia, Venezuela and, finally, Brazil. My plan was to make the cross to Africa, but I couldn’t yet afford a plane large enough to cross the Atlantic. What an adventure!
FSEconomy changed the way I saw flight simulation forever.
Beauty matters.
Over time, graphics have improved drastically. They went from being an IFR flight mechanics simulation to becoming a true world representation simulator which featured accurate flight mechanics.
The new Microsoft Flight Simulator trailer seems to showcase just that.
I’m sure that there’s a lot more to the whole. But the graphics engine and the weather effects are the real stars in this E3 trailer.
I usually don’t fly large planes. I get excited by the beautiful landscape and the prospect of doing short hops towards a far-away destination. The detailed scenery is vital for VFR (low-altitude visual) flights.
Microsoft seems to have nailed this in the previous trailer, by showcasing VERY detailed scenery. The pyramids in Egipt, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco or the Seattle Space Needle are rendered in very high detail.
More than that, it features outstanding (and massive) cloud formations and weather effects. It also shows detailed traffic that is sure to melt CPUs and GPUs everywhere.
To me, however, it is the dynamic details that tease me the most. The pink flamingos flying over the coral area or the giraffes on the plateau demonstrate unprecedented attention to detail towards fauna and flora in different regions of the world.
I’m also expecting Virtual Reality and Multiplayer to be included by default. One can also hope for some degree of mod compatibility with previous releases.
The eternal wait
Microsoft took too long between Flight Simulator versions. The last one, Flight Simulator X was released back in 2006. It was effectively being laid as an improvement to its predecessor, Flight Simulator 2004.
This 13-year hiatus has led to Microsoft losing its unbeaten lead in the world of flight sims. Nowadays, X-Plane, P3D (a third-party updated FSX version) and AeroflyFS2 are major contenders for the title (Dovetail’s Flight Sim World now excluded!). In the past few years, combat flight sims have also resurged with games like DCS, War Thunder or World of Warplanes.
Nevertheless, the impact of FSX in the flight sim universe was huge – and any new version that Microsoft puts forward will be regarded with hope and expectation.
It will be a few more years until the mod community catches up to the new flight sim. But the prospect of having a brand new engine capable of doing new things is very enticing for every flight sim enthusiast.
Now that we finally have some serious competition from other contenders, it should also spark innovation in the coming years.
Looking forward to the future!
What are your thoughts on this? -How will Microsoft Flight Simulator succeed in the current Flight Simming scene? -Do you think that the focus on low-altitude visuals will affect the jetliner flight experience?
I will be sharing more details on this title as they become available. Subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitch or Twitter to be notified when a new post is published!
It flew under the radar – Microsoft Flight Simulator was “quietly” announced at E3 this year to be released in 2020. It reminded me of how I forced myself to learn to enjoy flight sims. Here’s a story for you:
In the beginning…
I didn’t enjoy flight sims until very recently. In fact, I couldn’t figure out why people would spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on hardware to be able to fly virtually.
This topic first came to me quite a few years ago. An old gentleman at the local electronics store prompted my colleague about his newly-bought computer hardware. He was unsure whether his graphics card was good enough when compared to whatever was out there on the market.
Now, I don’t really keep up to date with hardware parts and their specs – but my friend does – and he was baffled.
Apparently, he had bought THE most expensive graphics card at the time. That graphics card wasn’t even being sold in my country yet. He was asking my friend on how to “assemble” it. He clearly had no idea what he was doing. -But something drove that old man to spend that much money on a piece of hardware. We talked for a little longer and eventually found out he was a flight sim enthusiast. It all sounded very alien – and outrageous to us – poor Medal of Honor (1999) players. To spend that much and waste it on a flight sim? Pffft!
It hurts to look at… Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004
He certainly did not look like a gamer… But flight sims aren’t games… are they? How can you enjoy spending time on them? I’ll admit it, I had a certain prejudice and naivety towards flight sims. Back then flight sims looked ugly, boring, complex and geeky. I was young and unprepared.
But that encounter really stuck with me for quite a few more years and it gently brewed questions in my mind.
It triggered my need to understand flight sims and their appeal.
It took me on the most unexpected voyage in my whole gaming life. One that would consume a few thousand hours and a few hundred bucks.
Surprisingly, the real turning point was Star Citizen. And Freelancer (2003). And Freespace (1999).
When you can’t afford a passenger seat – X-Plane 11 + Orbx
I’ve talked about Freespace in this blog before. A space fighter game which truly opened my eyes to the beauty of sci-fi themes. Then Freelancer, another space sim, came along and it blew my mind with its unprecedented freedom of exploration and trading. One day I was casually going through Kickstarter titles and I noticed Star Citizen – a space sim from the creator of Freelancer. That description was all it took to get me hooked.
Star Citizen was the game that Chris Roberts dreamed of making all along. With the massive support from the fans, he now had the chance to make the “Best Damn Space Sim Ever“. His vision was so expansive and focused so much on immersion that it triggered in me a need to become one with the game. So… I bought a joystick! …A HOTAS actually (it has the thrust control)!
One day I was casually setting up my joystick to try out the WW2 flight simWar Thunder, (in “Realistic” mode). I was having some trouble figuring out how to take off from the runway… and then it clicked.
The large hunk of scrap slowly started to move. It made a lot of noise, the plane jiggled, the aluminum frame clanked… and then… I was flying.
War Thunder – Those trees are moving way too fast!
Fighting was awful with a joystick in War Thunder
…But the views were absurdly beautiful. The sunlight bouncing off the wings and the cockpit. The dials, knobs, and buttons begging to be read and squeezed. That’s when flight Simming started to make sense to me.
Sure, I had flown planes in the past: Grand Theft Auto, Battlefield, Arma. None had the unavoidable and demanding level of detail you’d find in War Thunder.
I accepted the challenge. If I was able to appreciate the non-combat aspects of War Thunder or World of Warplanes, maybe I was now able to put prejudice aside and try a real flight sim.
DCS
It was the 25th of January of 2015 and I had just bought the oldie Microsoft’s Flight Simulator: X (FSX, 2006).
That horrible AND EXTREMELY LOUD music played. The dark omen for all the pain and pleasure I would endure in the upcoming months.
It took me hours of reading tutorials on how to start a plane. You need to check the levels, man the radios, get the injectors flowing, magnetos, batteries, fuel, parking brakes… -> or instead just press Ctrl+E and it does all of that for you – and off you go!
WEEEEEEE! In a couple of minutes, I was flying over my small town. -It looked terrible.
But there was potential there!
So I decided to install a couple of free HD textures modsto update the old graphics engine.
I live in a very dense, steep-mountainous wine region. The birds-eye view of the Douro valley near Porto, in Portugal, was absurd.
A photo of the Douro Valley – I’ll take a screenie later on!
It felt great to be able to go anywhere in the world and see the landmarks, the rivers, the cities, and the mountain tops. Feeling the old C172 (small plane) engine growling to my command was awesome. Preparing to land is surprisingly tense – your attention levels skyrocket!
My perception of what flight simming was had changed dramatically.
Some people care about all the engineering parts of a plane or the technical aspects of flight – I don’t. What I love is that each trip feels like a long cargo run in Freelancer, where, if you’re not careful, you might lose your cargo, your plane, your life! I also only do low-altitude flights as I love watching the views in my tiny paper planes.
Over time I realized that flight simming represents freedom. Freedom to go anywhere and to decide what to do next.
X-Plane + Orbx
Flight simming is made of layers.
If you truly enjoy flight simulators, then you’ll be spending quite a lot of money on hardware and software. Here’s some of the stuff I bought (I get no commission!):
If you follow this blog or my Twitch stream, I’m sure you’ve noticed how I love management games. I found out that by using AirHauler you can turn flight sims into an amazing online management game. You’re able to build airports, buy planes, do cargo runs, manage other pilots, build a fleet!
By using Flyinside to add Virtual Reality to the simulation, you’ll be blown away by the realism you get – and the real fear of heights when you open the plane’s door mid-flight (I almost fell off my chair…).
If immersion is your thing, the Buttkicker bass shaker makes your chair rumble to the plane’s engine and the wind and rain effects on your plane! Hands-down the most surprising piece of hardware I ever bought!
Also check out the really cool custom button boxesout there!
Add to that the mandatory joystick and the processor and graphics card upgrades – and now your wallet cries.
It took me years to understand the hobby.
Flight Sims truly push the limits of your hardware in exchange for immersion and fun.
I can FINALLY relate to that old man, who spent that much money on a graphics card that he wasn’t even sure how to install.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
We’ll celebrate 14 years between Microsoft’s Flight Simulator: X (2006) and Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020). I will be reviewing this on my following post – next week! Subscribe to the blog and stay tuned!
Clear skies! -ViLa4480
Thank you DCS, X-Plane, War Thunder, Prepar3D, FSX, Microsoft Flight Simulator – and the amazing Pickinthatbanjo!
I’m trying to figure out what it is… Something feels different when playing Battlefield V.
As you might have noticed from my previous post on gender wars in Battlefield V, there’s a bunch of stuff in that game that feels out of place. Slightly strange and even awkward at times!
I know – it all sounds silly – and it is indeed hard to explain. Battlefield V is very similar to its predecessor, Battlefield 1 (again, EA has trouble with numbering systems), but somehow …its gameplay FEELS totally different. It isn’t easy to figure out what has changed – but something definitely did.
Overwhelming!
When playing on my first map ever someone was crying in chat:
-“This game has way too many animations!”
I thought that was laughable at first. I couldn’t figure out how that could be a bad thing.
The quantity and especially the quality of animations is one of the key factors in driving immersion in a game. Consider the effort that AAA games are putting into animation nowadays!
GTA V, Star Citizen, The Last of Us or L.A. Noire have amazing casts and technology to provide a truly credible cinematic experience.
Competitive multiplayer games have specific needs…
But I think I get it. He might even be right. There are so many things moving, running, burning, falling, firing, exploding… down to the micro animations that each character and weapon has!
Player characters are now even able to run while crouched or lay on their backs while firing and also roll around while waiting for a revive.
It does take some time before we’re able to get used to all of that. For a new player, it may indeed feel a bit overwhelming.
The truth is that maps are indeed ENORMOUS …and too small at the same time! It comes down to what maps are available in each game mode and how player respawns work. Indeed there are gigantic maps but most of the action is focused around one or two objectives and nothing else is going on on the rest of the map. This is not entirely bad. The problem is the map layout.
The way they built most of the maps as a narrow rectangle doesn’t really entice the enemy to flank and capture an objective behind enemy lines in the Conquest game mode. Which is a good thing as it prevents massive waves of enemies from spawning behind the player.
The problem seems to be the fact that it condenses the action around those two choke or capture points. It becomes a slaughterfest for both sides.
Add to that how easier it is now to spawn next to your squadmate in the middle of a thick battle.
Maps are also uncommonly detailed with plenty of open buildings, rocks and hills, where it is easy to hide for a whole match without the enemy ever seeing you. Yesterday I spent the whole match lying down inside a truck capping an objective and forcing the enemy to stay in that area not to lose it. They never found me. Summit1g also did that a few days ago. He just stood there while waves of enemies went by. Interestingly, at the same time, there are groves everywhere yet it is still terribly difficult for a sniper to get a good and clear vantage point. This pleases some and angers many.
This is actually a very light fog!
Add weather to the mix: wall-thick fog shows up quite often in larger maps.
Thick fog reduces visibility drastically and it forces players to go into close-quarters and melee combat.
Chaos ensues.
Busy bees
Then there’s the fact that there’s so much more to do now. Starting with the new ability to build fortifications. You are now able to build sandbag defenses, barbed wire, and anti-tank barriers. This is a cool new feature, but plenty of players die trying to build these often times ineffective defenses.
Imma build ma own fortification now!
Sure, medics are still healing and recons are still sniping. But you are now able to find new perk packs to picking a class that are probably ignored by most players. They certainly affect gameplay and may take some time for a new player to figure out.
As an example, Support is the only class able to build stationary turrets in specific maps but that isn’t clear to most players.
Every player is now also able to revive squad members – but medics do it faster and can even run faster IF they equip the Swift Effort perk AND tag a wounded soldier. We’re not just talking about class-based effects, but combat perk packs that affect how a class performs.
MEDIC!!! I mean.. Squadmates!!!
Having so many new perk options makes the game smarter. Not everyone appreciates these changes, however.
Personally, I don’t dislike them, but information is lacking when you first start to learn to play with these classes – there are many of them – and indeed they do feel very different to play with – starting with the weapons.
Bang bang!
Weapons feel incredibly differentfrom class to class. Many people complain that medics have water guns and that support isn’t able to use their LMGs to actually kill enemies – instead only able to lay down suppressive fire. I feel like that’s actually a good thing in disguise.
Even though it is frustrating to play as a medic and not be able to kill the enemy in front of you most of the times, it forces players to focus on their class abilities. In this case, healing and reviving players.
Laying down suppressive fire still feels pointless – and you won’t last long until a sniper gets to you. It only works well in choke points or bad weather where there’s too much going on before a sniper scope finds you.
All these factors only add to the complexity of learning the quirks of the game. It overwhelms new players and it justifies the frustration that many complain about.
Something Fishy…
There’s also something very strange going on with close-quarter combats.
My ping isn’t high, but it seems like I always lose very close quarters 1-on-1 gunfights. I’m not missing any shots – but somehow I never get to kill the enemy. As if their weapon fires more rounds in the same amount of time. Or if they started firing before me, even though their animation didn’t start before I shot.
Other players complained about this as well. I’m convinced that this has to do with packet delay management or lag compensation for large numbers of players. It feels unfair quite often.
Above all else, the game has a very different pace.
I’m pretty sure it comes down to the aiming system. In Battlefield V it seems to be harder to aim properly until you get used to the way it works.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a complex aiming options menu. You can actually go into detail by adjusting the aiming speed according to the zoom value of your weapon!
Aiming sensitivity options according to sight zoom levels
There are also other options that I’ve never seen before in other FPS franchises like “Soldier Aim Ratio” or “Uniform Soldier Aiming”. They include lengthy descriptions that only make it more cumbersome to understand.
The truth is that this only makes good players better and newbie players worse – as most new players don’t even know how to adjust these settings properly. This leads to newbies calling out good players as cheaters and a lot of bad vibes in chat and frustration to both sides.
Hide. Think. Act.
I REALLY like to have additional complexity in games. I like to feel that my skills and battle sense are progressing over time. But I think that, in the end, Battlefield V is not as newbie-friendly as other previous games.
Enjoy the countryside!
Last night I had a great run. I was determined to figuring out how to play Battlefield V properly. I decided to take a more relaxed, counterattacking stance. If someone fired at me I would… Hide. Think. Act.
I wasn’t going to run towards the enemy nor would I shoot as many bullets as possible at them. I realized that two shots to the head or three to the body were all it took for my weapon to kill. So I started being more mindful of my presence and taking aim before firing or revealing my position.
Aha! I became the top player in most rounds! I think I may have figured the key to succeeding in Battlefield V.
Something different, something new
In the end, it feels like there’s definitely some balance to do and a learning curvethat most players aren’t used to from previous games.
It is hard to understand exactly what to learn and how to progress… But, there’s light at the end of the tunnel if you manage to relax, learn and enjoy the game for what it is, without expecting it to be something else.
Instead of becoming frustrated, I’m actually enjoying the game now!
We live in a world where stamping labels on things and people is, sadly, mandatory. There’s no time to waste! The flow and amount of information to be processed and the need to clarify what something is, or is not, demands that we categorize everything and everyone as quickly as possible.
We have truly entered The Age of Labels.
It is part of who we are as humans. The Universe doesn’t care whether there’s light or shade, day or night, a half-full glass, a dead cat in a box or a tree falling in an unpopulated forest.
But we humans do care.
This is how our brains save disk storage space. We compress info into tiny boxes with labels.
Concepts are easier to access and we can figure them out quickly by simply reading the label on the box.
Unfortunately, this somewhat compromises our ability to think differently. To be innovative. To think out of the box – and to be appreciated and recognized for that.
Music that doesn’t belong to any genre in particular tends to be ignored by most people, as we tend to flock to our tried-and-true favorite genres. The same happens with movies and games.
With so much new content available to us each day, the most productive way for a developer to innovate nowadays is to mix genres. However, like with a nice cocktail, to mix it up properly requires real talent. These guys nailed it.
Luckily it isn’t a game that gets old with age! I managed to pick it up recently since it was free-to-play during the weekend and being sold at a discount.
I just tried it out and it really surprised me:
Amplitude delivered Dungeon of the Endlessback in 2014 – and it caused an issue for most gaming blogs. Why? Well… there was no easy way to categorize it!
It is NOT a strategy game, not a survival game, not a tower-defense game, not an RPG, not a MOBA, not a dungeon-crawler! It is all of those things at the same time… and yet, very different.
The point of the game is to exit an abandoned sci-fi ship with a team of heroes and a crystal (similar to Dungeon Keeper’s dungeon heart).
Unfortunately, the ship’s architects decided that it would be fun to build elevators that only take you to the next floor… and build them in different rooms on each floor. The type of insanity that GlaDOS would be proud of.
Unique.
Dungeon of the Endless is a unique game, yet very familiar. It delivers a real-time-turn-based game pace. Does that sound confusing enough?
The game presents a real-time game flow, but it grows and expands as you open up doors in an abandoned ship. So, in reality, it only advances when you unlock the next “turn” by opening up doors in real-time.
Over time (aka turns, aka doors opened), you will be gathering supplies and building resource miners or defensive turrets or evolving your heroes.
All these abilities will come in handy when little alien insects start to show up. Apparently, they HATE your beautiful crystal for some reason and will try to destroy it.
Luckily, with all the resources you managed to mine so far, you’ll also be able to unlock new weapons and abilities for your heroes and your temporary “base”.
The game is unlike any other, yet similar to many.
The very pixely graphics and constant smooth animations deliver an intense atmosphere to the game. The very bright colors, somehow akin to fire burning in the background, keep reminding you that you need to escape as quickly as possible from the alien-infested ship. However, some strategy is in order, as resources are limited – but alien attacks are not.
The very pixely graphics and constant smooth animations deliver an intense atmosphere to the game.
The very bright colors, somehow akin to fire burning in the background, keep reminding you that you need to escape as quickly as possible from the alien-infested ship.
However, some strategy is in order, as resources are limited – but alien attacks are not.
The crystal being attacked! Now’s the time to panic.
An endless dungeon
The gameplay is fast and fun, and the base-building aspect adds a lot of flavor to it. Unlocking new abilities, characters and weapons is definitely the main drive for the player. The superb audio and music also make it a very pleasant experience. I had some trouble with the controls. They’re not complex at all – just very uncommon. Sadly, there’s not much of a storyline to the game, except for a few less-than-funny jokes between heroes. Co-op is a plus, but not necessary since it truly shines as a great singleplayer game.
I really felt like this innovative game was a breath of fresh air. That freshness that started around 2010 with very popular indie titles like Braid, Minecraft or Spelunky seems to have faded with all the sequels and adaptations of those popular games (just think of how many games mirrored Minecraft’s gameplay mechanics!) and innovation started to take a toll.
Dungeon of the Endless proves that there are many unlikely game genre combos that haven’t yet been explored.
I’m looking forward to trying out Amplitude’s following success Endless Legend.
Popcorn Score:
I truly enjoyed this game. Even though it lacks a good storyline, it balances that with a fast and fun gameplay, beautiful graphics and a great ambiance. If you’re looking for something FRESH, this is the game you want to try.
Do you like my ramblings? Would you like to read some more? Check out my previous post on How Sci-fi changed my life! You may also want to subscribe to my blog by entering your e-mail on the form to the left or by following me on Twitter!
I would like to apologize in advance if this review offends you. If you feel offended, please send me a private message. My views are moderate but I may sound blunt sometimes – English isn’t my first language and this article features sensitive topics that can be easily misunderstood. Thank you for your understanding.
The saddest day of the year
So, apparently, today is the saddest day of the year. -“That’s ridiculous!” I thought to myself. Apparently, it relates to the fact that the holiday season has come and gone and what was new and exciting a couple of weeks ago is now uninspired and unsurprising. Enough time has passed and now you realize that all your New Year’s resolutions and attempts at becoming a better human have caved miserably – like in every previous year. All that is left is an indiscriminate number of uneventful work days until something happens that actually sparks your interest.
This past season was VERY intense for me. Personal investments, social interactions, and even a brand new blog distracted me… and the season flew by very quickly. The truth is, I got to skip a load of games and new releases. But yesterday I felt the need to play something new and something decent.
I was holding back on buying Battlefield V. The franchise features an over-the-top base price (+DLC content) – and prices tend to lower past the holiday season. So I decided to give it a go. After a painstakingly lengthy 53Gb download and installation (which I cleverly decided to sleep through it), I finally got to try it out.
This drew me to a very tense debate going on in-game.
Repeating History
Following the footsteps of its predecessor, Battlefield 1 (numbering systems are broken at EA btw), which included a negro-based squad that historically did fight bravely in WW1, Battlefield V surprised everyone when it showcased several female protagonists in a World War 2 setting.
When I first saw the trailer for Battlefield V I thought it was so awesome that they included female characters. At the same time players watching the trailer at the event were concerned on how that could impact the game experience.
Even though the role of women was determinant – and there were a LOT of women fighting throughout Europe – the proportion of battling women in this game is pretty much equal to that of men. This can be tricky when you’re attempting to be historically accurate in a game.
“My immersion is RUINED!!!” – someone cried on Twitter.
EA would likely have replied: Dear Bob, We are very sorry that your immersion is ruined. Our statistics show that at least 10% of our audience is female and they are not being accurately represented in our game. This is why we’ve made a game where 50% of our characters are female. Thank you for understanding.
The gravity and complexity of the situation was clear to me when I noticed 3 female characters dressed as German generals stabbing players in the heat of battle while they were using voicechat to scream “FEMINAZI BANZAI CHARGE!!!”
I felt like My trust in Humanity was gone for good. At the same time, my history-nerdy-brain proceeded to die a little.
A sad day for a sad society
The truth is, we live in a sad society where women are still being treated differently… and that is truly unnecessary. EA has taken a bold step to try and break that mold that society imposes on itself. But at what cost? Does it make sense for an entertainment media that takes pride on a certain degree of realism to bring a contemporary perspective to a historical reality through politicized fiction? Will that somehow affect our understanding of the past and blind us to the future? Even though it does spark debate, it mostly seems to anger a majority of their mostly male playerbase.
I am a true believer of diversity and equality, but politicized entertainment feels cringy at best. Are they going for the long run? Re-educating boys into accepting girls in games (when a kid spends 4h every day playing a game he does learn something…), or maybe trying to motivate girls to play in order to expand their female playerbase?
It might be commendable to a certain extent, but let me clarify why this affects me: I see human beings as human beings. If I ran a company, “race”, gender, sexual orientation or religion would be irrelevant to me – but being the nerdy type that I am, sacrificing historical accuracy – for what appears to be a business decision based on modern-day politic concerns – is …disappointing. Playing Battlefield V somehow feels like an advertisement that you paid to play.
Lost in Action
I would LOVE to see a game that focused on the resistance fighters or spies (many of which were women). I would love to see a dramatic aspect to the game that highlighted the effort that young widow mothers had to endure during the war. Women also kept the gun, ammo and canning industries running throughout the war – without that effort who knows how the war would have progressed! …But a game like this wouldn’t be Battlefield would it?
Battlefield V also fails to represent – and thus lacks respect – for the life and death of the men and women who perished in those fights. Instead it leads young players to believe that this was the true reality of war and even treat it more as a fun historic fact rather than an actual tragic event.
While I value the fact that they’ve actually thought about women and “minorities” and made real steps towards embracing them as equals, I feel like this isn’t the right game nor the right way to demonstrate that so profusely. It’s like making surgery with a butcher’s knife – and the player’s reaction might even backfire in the long run. Will EA make every game follow the same logic now? Should it?
It is understandable that Mass Effect does it.
Mass Effect is set in a fictionalized future in an alternate reality of mindset. …Should we be concerned about how to depict our past if we wish to learn from it?
Battlefield 1
…On a side note, they forgot to add women to Battlefield 1 until the last patch – and she had to be bald – were there no women before WW2?
So, yeah I do understand Bob who shouted that his immersion was ruined… but Bob must realize that even if clubfooted, messy and somewhat reprimandable, this was a step in the right direction.
The features they’ve included are all okay – just in the wrong proportions – and definitely the wrong battlefield.
It’s great that a player is able to pick a female character to play with. It is also great to see more variety in the game and even that women play a non-sexualized protagonist role – just do it in an alternate universe where factual history isn’t a problem.
…well I guess at least EA made sure their clothes weren’t camo bikinis in this game.
This is one of my favorite management games of all time.
Prison Architect is now 3 years old (since its final release), but it was first released as an alpha version 6 years ago after a very successful crowdfunding campaign.
Paradox Interactive has recently acquired the rights to the franchise from Introversion Software. How will that affect the game? Why are so many fans outraged? Why would Introversion do it?…
Introversion Software is a small team of developers known for creating small but deeply innovative games such as Multiwinia, Defcon, Darwinia or Uplink.
Prison Architect is their crown jewel.
In fact, the whole Prison Architect venture has been very successful throughout its crowdfunded open development cycle. The devs kept releasing regular updates with brand new content which maintained a healthy and engaged community over the past few years.
The latest update actually introduced an unexpected and seemingly inadequate feature for a game that has passed its maturity. They added multiplayer!
You might ask: oh really? Why is multiplayer such a surprise ViLa? Other games have it… -True. But besides the fact that you won’t find that many multiplayer management games, most of them haven’t been adapted from a single-player game to a multiplayer one. To have multiplayer in a game is as big as… deciding whether you’re building a 2D or a 3D game! You don’t just build a single-player game and then try to fit multiplayer into it. It doesn’t work that way! Not if you’re a sane developer that is!
However, we’re talking about Introversion Software here… and adding multiplayer to a singleplayer management game is pretty damn cool.
A new warden has arrived!
The hidden 3D game mode
This is why the news of Paradox buying the Prison Architect franchise hit the fans like a rock. They’re afraid that the garage-built feeling that they get from playing this amazing management game will fade in the hands of Paradox. Above all they fear that Paradox will do what it has done to all of their other games: DLC spam!
In the good old days before the internet, games would either have sequels or expansions. A sequel pretty much meantrecycling of previous game ideas and graphics updates.
Expansions or content packs, on the other hand, increased the depth of the current game. This kept the player base interested in the game – at a fraction of the price – until a sequel would be available. If the game was successful, more expansions would be available. This was as a good commercial compromise for a developer. Instead of building a whole new game they would use the tools that were already in place – this, in turn, saves time and money. Expansions were actually large when compared to the base game and relatively expensive as they had to justify the physical distribution costs. Nowadays, expansions are called DLCs and due to the fact that they are now downloaded, they tend to be cheaper and distributed in smaller chunks.
Paradox has become a master at releasing DLCs – Paradox’s Crusader Kings 2 has 30 DLCs. The reason why Paradox does this is because they specialize in creating niche games (high value to their niche players) that rely on very complex game engines that only they own.
Game engines are the core of a game.
They are the technical aspect of the game that takes the longest to build. It provides games with their core attributes – UI systems, Audio, 2D/3D Rendering, Multiplayer etc.
So instead of building a brand new engine for each game, most companies decide to make different games with the same engine. Europa Universalis, Victoria, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, Sengoku, and even Stellaris all use Paradox’s own Clauswitz Engine.
Paradox Interactive (the publisher) is often seen supporting innovative smaller developers such as Colossal Order (Cities in Motion, Cities: Skylines). They seem to be drawn towards developers who own solid custom engines that will be able to support great games in the long-run. Engines that lean towards having less sequels but more expansions. Paradox is also well known for allowing people to mod their games to exhaustion. Modding adds even more life and value to their games.
DLCspam!
The reason why Crusader Kings 2 has got 30 DLCs in its bag is because the game has been released in February 2012! …Think about it… the game is now 7 years old and it still gets brand new updates like Holy Fury which was released last November.
Most of the DLCs are cheap, most of them are cosmetic, many of their major expansions are VERY deep and have parts of it released for free and most of them are fully available for free when you’re playing in multiplayer if the other player owns them. The best part: Paradox’s games are deep and solid enough at launch to provide countless hours of gameplay without the need for DLCs.
The reality is… you don’t need to buy any DLCs if you don’t want to.
Now, I understand that my position regarding DLCs will surely anger most fans. And I must clarify that I completely disaprove the idea of launching DLCs when the game has just been released. That is simply ridiculous.
However, most people see DLCs as a money-grab opportunity – which it is… but… is it that bad really? DLCs represent optional content that you’re able to get if you REALLY like the game. It helps support the company so they are able to keep on updating the games you love with brand new content.
-No, Crusader Kings 3 isn’t coming out tomorrow. But an amazing Holy Fury expansion has just been released at a fraction of the cost – have you played it yet?
A Peace Treaty! Please!
Introversion made a good deal when selling their most-valued franchise when their sales after 3 years are surely gone. Let’s celebrate that! A small company making a ton of money that they can use to come up with brand new ideas!
They would not be making Prison Architect 2 anytime soon – it is not in their DNA to rehash games like that. They would likely need a new engine and many new ideas to pick it up again.
Paradox has likely bought the “Architect” franchise so they can make brand new games with the “Architect” title in them …not necessarily Prison Architect 2+50 DLCs!
Finally, some people are also loudly complaining about the fact that a crowdfunded game was sold to a publisher. Now that the game has been released for 3 years …does that REALLY matter anymore? Is it possible to be happy for having been able to make this game a reality and enjoy it as it is?
TLDR: This is how I see it:
Prison Architect isn’t going anywhere – It is still here. If you own it you’re still able to download and play it!
Introversion made some money – I’m happy for them. Can’t wait for more of their innovative game concepts!
Paradox bought a great franchise – a great publisher might start using the “Architect” theme in other games we’ll love!
DLCs – don’t buy them if you don’t want them!
Have you seen my recent post on How Steam broke my Valve? You might find it interesting! Go check it out!
Which games are you most looking forward to play in 2019?
This list will always be under construction! Let’s build The Best Upcoming Games 2019 list together!
Check it out below and share your suggestions!
Please note that this is an ever-evolving and ever-incomplete list of games based mostly on my own personal taste – but if you guys have any cool suggestions please drop a comment here or via Twitter! -ViLa4480
Would you like to buy games at a discount? Follow this referral link for discounted games at Kinguin. Go check it out if you would like to support this blog!
I’m not exactly sure how I came to discover Star Citizen. I guess it was a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
In the beginning…
I have to admit. I didn’t grow up with Star Wars, Star Trek, Conan or LOTR. My parents never really enjoyed sci-fi or anything that felt out of this world, unrealistic or fantastic. This meant there were no chewbaccas, elves, action men, or superhero comics during my childhood. I vividly remember getting two action figures for my birthday and I couldn’t figure out how to play with them.
It is understandable that you might feel an altruistic frustration when reading these lines… Don’t worry, I had a happy childhood. Instead, I turned to legos, puzzles, videogames, TV shows, history books andboardgames. It might sound strange but I honestly had a lot of fun reading dictionaries… Yeah… I guess I am weird that way. I was never one to go out and play on the street either… even if growing up in Portugal, the land of football (soccer).
This affected the videogames I played during my childhood. Actively avoiding sports games, first person shooter games and any other games that were set in space or fantasy related. I have to admit… I still do avoid some of these themes.
Something that I am now able to recognize is that the lack of high fiction themes actually made me crave those things.
Surviving childhood
I’m not exactly sure how I survived my fantasy-less childhood… I guess I was enlightened by certain events…
My parents would never buy games for me – they thought buying games was a waste of time and money when I should instead be reading books on Finance and the great classics of literature.
So I had to resort to other forms of getting to them games.
Back in the old cassette or diskette days, pirating games was easy… but not that easy when you don’t know someone who actually owns the game you want.
You have to understand that due to the fact that ads for videogames were pretty much non-existent here in Portugal, most of the times I didn’t even crave for a new game because I didn’t even know it existed in the first place.
One day my father started buying these computer magazines that often times brought diskettes or CDs with plenty of game demos. I would spend hours upon hours playing the same game demos over and over until the next diskette arrived…
I remember playing a demo version of Heroes of Might and Magic III which only allowed you to play for 16 turns! The amazing scenery was quite beautiful – and I often tried to speedrun as much as possible to reveal most of it before the 16 turns were over! …But I never got the chance to actually buy Heroes III.
16 turns to reveal the full map!
Demos make you smarter!
Thinking that I was playing all these game demos, now made me come to the conclusion that this did make me grow up not only as a player but also as a person. I just realized that I was playing rather complex games and I didn’t even speak the language nor did I understand advanced game mechanics at all.
Since I had no access to other games I was forced to play whatever showed up – and in the process, I had to figure out how they were meant to be played without tips or instructions. I was not just learning how to play many different game concepts, but also how to react to very different interface systems written in an unfamiliar language!
Kids need to exercise their brains as often as possible and, to be honest, I can’t think of a more intensive and multilayered activity than this.
The Age of the Internet
The Internet came to my door and it slowly became my world. I was too young and naïve back then to realize the impact it would have on everyone. My parents wouldn’t allow me to go online for a few years – and with that crazy modem screaming like it used to when connecting to the web, it really wasn’t easy going online without having other people noticing.
However, the first thing it allowed me to do was to read articles on newly released games and even to be able to order games online that I would otherwise never be able to get my hands on since there were no videogame shops or arcades near me.
I remember getting the game Descent: Freespace by Volition thinking it was a historical strategy game (how did that happen?!). Slightly disappointed since it was sci-fi themed, I reluctantly decided to play it.
I was hooked… That game broke my ice towards sci-fi games. For the sake of time I won’t go into too much detail but… It had such brilliant characters and story arc! It simply blew me away and I never saw that coming.
HOLY SHI…van
A couple of years later, with the dawn of DSL and unlimited timeplans, something else and something new was on the horizon. I decided to try Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory – a brand new and FREE ONLINE GAME! Reluctantly I decided to play it since it was an FPS game… but… well… at least it was free!
I was hooked… …and I was GOOD at that game!
Friends mean fun.
One day, while playing Wolfenstein, a bunch of strangers that I was playing with, asked me to go and play with them… “to join a clan” they said via in-game text chat. I had no idea what that meant but I said “Uh… sure…”. Butcher, Crisplover, Myrdraal were my teammates in that match – each from a different country.
I had a microphone and I installed Teamspeak to join them… but I was too scared to use my voice! At one point Myrdraal stepped on a mine and I rushed to him unaware that I was screaming “Don’t moooove!!” with my voice comms active.
Everyone on Teamspeak was surprised to hear my voice. …I was too.
They all laughed and greeted me and welcomed me to the clan. Later on, I understood that my careless split-second decision to join them that day had turned into something much much greater than I anticipated. I had made new friends.
“IT SPEAKS!!!”
Chewbacca with a lightsaber
I was 18 and I had never ever watched a Star Wars movie before and Freespace was the only sci-fi game I had played until then. Some of my ET friends used to play Star Wars: Jedi Academy when they weren’t playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. I didn’t expect much from a sci-fi game from a franchise that I knew nothing about. To validate my point, let me clarify that I picked a Sith Wookie as my character …I thought red sabers would go well with brown fur.
Needless to say that I was forced by my roleplaying clanmates to go and watch Star Wars before they allowed me to play with them. And grumpily I did. And it finally opened up my mental doors to sci-fi.
My brain still has trouble digesting weird space creatures or magic and I still don’t see the point in using most of that, but I finally understood… it’s not about the creatures… Sci-fi allows for greater-than-life characters and story arcs. In Stargate SG-1 you barely ever see alien-looking monsters – they’re most often humans with different clothing and earthly needs. But it is the setting that allows a great adventure to happen.
The exact same thing happens with fantasy-themed narratives. I don’t get thrilled by characters using magic… Mordor isn’t fun because of its architecture. It’s fun because it creates a problem that needs solving. The whole Lord of the Rings story is simply about Humanity fighting evil and racing against time – a theme harder to depict in a non-fiction environment.
Fantasy and Sci-fi are an escape from the predictable boring reality of everyday life. It took me some time to grow up and learn that …I dig that.
Growing up
Even if repressed during childhood, sci-fi and fantasy themes managed to crawl into my life and taught me an important lesson.
While writing this article I’m realizing that the stuff that I’m mostly drawn to… are actually sci-fi or fantasy themed! I really feel like I may have lost something during my childhood as I never got to experience those worlds when our imagination runs wild. But at the same time, I feel like this whole process has made me grow up to become a little bit more down-to-earth and pragmatic when it comes to learning and how to enjoy new things.
Today I feel that anything can be enjoyed or learned no matter how much of a lack of interest or mental or physical disadvantage you think you have.
You need to find the fun and motivation in all things. In my case, it was friendship that dragged me in and the exploratory will to pursue themes that I did not fully understand by playing a game I did not expect to enjoy. Then my own walls of reluctance caved in when I understood that learning is fun and that having fun while learning makes it easy and achievable.
A couple of years ago I just couldn’t understand why someone would enjoy flight simulators – they seem EXTREMELY boring. I decided to figure it out – it was hard to understand it at first – but then… I was blown away. The same happened with games like Europa Universalis or Democracy.
For years I thought I wasn’t able to draw. I lacked the mental ability and the physical coordination to do so. Last week I was stunned at my very first decent drawings.
As I mentioned in my previous post, Steam has let me down in the past few years, as I used to scroll its shop homepage on a regular basis… Steam then started showing very targeted results and my Steam shop started looking less and less interesting to me. It was showing the same results over and over again! Somehow this led me to Papers, Please: the short film.
I was bored yesterday.
So I decided to go see what’s new on Steam. But since my Steam shop homepage is kind lame nowadays I went on to figure out what were the best-rated games of all time on Steam.
I was surprised! The top result didn’t belong to a game… It was a movie! -A short film to be precise. But not just any film… Papers, Please: the short film!
I have to admit that my jaw dropped a bit and my finger trembled with excitement when I hovered my mouse over it. Was this possible? What kind of black magic is this?!
Glory to Arstotzka!
Papers, Please is one of my greatest heroes when it comes to games. As I understand it was mostly built by one guy (Lucas Pope) with the help of a small team of Arstotzkan loyal subjects.
The game is set in 1982 at the national border of a very closed soviet-like regime. You were one of the lucky picks of the October labour lottery as your name was pulled for immediate placement as a border admissions control officer. What an honour!
Your job is to allow or deny entry of people into the country – for the Glory of Arstotzka! to feed your family.
To me, games are about making choices.
…Making the right decisions that bring you the most benefit in order to “win” the game (even though winning something isn’t always required for a player to be entertained or to feel connected to a story).
However, the best games are the ones that make you think twice.
Papers, Please excels at this.
It presents you with tough choices over and over. To the point where you feel the misery of these immigrants and you still have to deny their entry into your country, knowing that they will die otherwise.
What an incredibly contemporary theme.
Corruption, bribery and even secret societies are also on the table as some people will try to do anything to get into Arstotzka …and you still have to feed your family.
The reason why I love this game is due to its gameplay simplicity in a cutthroat environment where each decision is critical to the migrant, the State and to your family. A bureaucracy simulator that is actually memorable. As usual, Lucas Pope turned what at first would appear to be a technical graphics limitation into a graphic style on its own. One that not only simplifies interactions and leverages the narrative, but also that glorifies that great retro ambiance that drives the player back in time to a period of cold walls and warm tensions.
How does this translate into a film?!
I don’t know. But they did it really well.
The film focuses on the usual role that the player performs. The Inspector sifts through all the data in the documents that he is provided by the migrants to look for info that’s missing or incorrect.
I won’t go into any further details as I don’t think it is necessary to spoil anything in a 10-minute long film.
However, I will say that I was impressed at how carefully well executed the scenario and the attention to detail was in this film. It really captures the essence of the game. The actors also do a great job at conveying that this is a life/death situation… and yet… just a job.
Summing-up, I would like to congratulate Lucas Pope and his team on being brave enough to make this great short film.
Art isn’t perfect, but this is a great 10-minute piece of art. It isn’t priceless either – but it is FREE on Steam and Youtube.
Check it out in 4K glory right now:
Regarding the film I will rate it 4/5 Pops – it is great, but it lacks a little bit more depth and desperation that the game is better at conveying …but hey, it is free…
I will rate the must-have-played game 5/5 Pops. No questions asked.
I love exploring Steam. I just used to go through all of their pages, looking at all the new games being released and all of the innovative game concepts that they bring to every genre – and, on occasion, I would buy a strange new game that caught my eye. Have I mentioned that I am a true multigamer?
I REALLY used to enjoy scrolling through their shop’s homepage. It was fun looking at all the different games – I felt like a kid in a toy shop!
Unfortunately, Steam has been “improving” certain features over the years.
A great idea.
In the past couple of years, however, they started to target audiences for their games. They started showing games that were similar to the types of games each player likes or plays. They even picked games that have just recently been released – or because they’re popular among my friends. What a great idea!…
While this was amazing for the first few months, I started to realize that the main store page on my girlfriend’s computer was so much more interesting than mine! I thought… well… this couldn’t be right. How could it be that I was having more fun looking at her targeted games rather than my own?!
Suddenly I realized that my Steam homepage was pretty much static most of the time. Even though games jump up and down the page, they’re mostly showing me the same games over and over.
My Steam shop homepage
The toy shop that only sells Pet Rocks
I can tell you with 100% certainty that if I open up my Steam homepage right now, Star Wars: Jedi Knight and Star Wars: Republic Commando, as well as every single Commandos game will show up at the top of all game suggestions.
The reason for this being that I’ve added Star Wars Battlefront to my wishlist (back in 2011) and I’ve added Commandos 2 to my wishlist (in 2012).
Now, I’m not saying these are bad games. They’re not. But I’ve seen them on my homepage every single day for several years now!
…and for some odd reason, after all these years, Steam still thinks that today is the day when ViLa4480 is going to buy all these games!
Ah… Bugger – maybe tomorrow
I can’t help but think that they have someone in their offices wearing a cap and deciding which games are going to show up on my homepage…
Cranking the levers up and down (Steam Powered!) with an eager smile as my mouse hovers over those games.
“…He never gets to buy them! Ah… Bugger – maybe tomorrow” – he says to himself.
Closing the shop
The truth is… I don’t enjoy going through the Steam homepage as much as I once did. I used to enjoy the variety of games that showed up. But now I find myself mostly looking at the “Popular Releases” and the “Most sold” tabs as those reflect a little bit more variety than the rest of my targeted homepage.
While looking for something different, I decided to check which games were the best ranked of all time on steam.
I was surprised. The first one… wasn’t even a game.
I’ve been thinking of making my own blog on videogames for quite some time now – as a true gamer this aspiration was always there but never really took off, not unlike many of my Kerbal Space Program “rockets”. … until now.
Now’s the time to create this new, fun, lighthearted view on videogames, news, reviews and gamedesign. Above all else, I’d love to create a hub for other Lemmings to join my realm, provide them with a shelter and some warm food for the mind.
I should introduce myself.
I am ViLa4480 Destroyer of Wo… erhm I mean, Content Director for PopcornGamer, Videogame enthusiast,Twitch streamer, Youtuber, Game Designer and a generally okay person.
…Don’t you hate it when people at job interviews ask you to name your favorite games? Because they always expect you to name games they know about like World of Warcraft, League of Legends or any other well-known triple word game.
I usually shy away from answering them but I reluctantly start with Prison Architect, Crusader Kings II, Payday 2, and by the time I get to my Flight Simulators list I totally lost them. And the job.
yeah…
My story begins…
Instead of numbering my age – which sounds incredibly abstract to me – let me say that I got to play on the ZX Spectrum when I was a baby, spent my childhood loving a 486 and my first graphics card was a Voodoo-2.
That’s not me. I have better hair.
Even though I started early but a long time ago, my best childhood gaming memories come from playing Worms, Mortal Kombat 3 and Heroes of Might and Magic III.
Wolfenstein and Doom gave me the creeps and I grew on to avoid FPS games entirely until… the earth shook and the internet age came along… but that’s a topic for another post.
I see myself as a multigamer…
To me, playing different games every day (several per day when possible) is a way of life. I love all of them (even boardgames), but I have a particular interest in decision-making games – strategy, management, city-building and indie games that actually tease your brain. When my brain is tired or my body energized, I tend to go blow off some steam by playing FPS shooters like Battlefield or Rainbow Six: Siege.
Oh, did I mention I create games myself?
Yeah that’s right! I’ll be posting my own progress in building my games. Over time you’ll get the chance to see me achieve heroic failures and small successes while building “the next WoW breaker”. Who knows… if this community grows, maybe I’ll even add you guys to my next great game! I’d love to hear your feedback on my progress as well.
Guess who! – one of the minigames I made for an english school.
Let’s make a game about blogging where you actually earn points by satisfying your readers with great articles! Gamification skills +1.
Anyways I’ll look forward to hearing from you guys. I’d love to get your comments on my posts and I hope you guys enjoy your stay!
