Video game spotlight thread
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@blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:
I was like 75% sure the original Xbox had binary face buttons and only the 360 made them analog but I could be wrong.
Definitely the opposite. The original Xbox had analog face buttons (similar to the PS2), which were used for a few games (Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball and Metal Gear Solid 2 Subsistence are two I know of).
@blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:
The original Xbox
Dukecontrollers also had Black/White buttonsFTFY, and they were likely "replaced" with LB/RB on the 360 controllers (which was likely for the better). As far as I can find, the original Xbox did support clicking in the sticks.
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@blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:
@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
Good luck at driving games if your triggers behave like buttons.
You missed my point entirely.
Since driving games don't use them as buttons, the 50% deadzone would just drastically reduce the "pull" of the throttle and make the game way harder to control.
If you're talking about games with digital throttle, then yes, I did miss your point, but then why are driving games using digital throttle in 21st century? And if you're talking about games with analog throttle, then it's you who missed my point.
@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
Probably because XInput API doesn't allow you to use them that way. I bet there would be games utilizing it if they were allowed to.
Do Xbox games use that?
No, because they aren't allowed to either. Both Windows and Xbox use the same XInput API.
@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
D-pad, right-thumb buttons, L1, R1, Select - that's 11 usable digital buttons. 13 with triggers.
I count:
Face buttons: 4
Oh, so that's what they're called. Yep, 4 of them.
Back/Menu buttons (these were Black/White on original Xbox and positioned differently): 2
Menu button isn't usable. Or it is, but must be bound to pause (or something else must be, but why use anything other than Menu?)
D-Pad: 8
No, D-Pad is only 4 buttons. Or two axes. You can't realistically bind distinct actions to diagonals without fucking the player over all the time.
Upper triggers: 2
Yes. Although I find issue with calling digital buttons "triggers".
Lower triggers: 2
Yes, except they're a little awkward to use as digital buttons. But then, they're in the perfect position for the default action even if it's analog action.
Analog stick buttons: 2
Technically usable, but if someone actually uses it for anything substantial, it's usually the main source of complaints. And rightfully so.
not to mention your game can do things like a circle menu mapped to any of those buttons which temporarily turns one of the analog sticks into a selector between 8-12 values.
Or they can do combos. Or they can overload bindings. Or they can do hundred other things that will either be prone to mistakes, or slow to use, or both. Or the console designers could add a few more buttons and make most problems go away.
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@PleegWat said in Video game spotlight thread:
And in your PC port, can you please not triple-overload functions on the same buttons and use extra binds instead? I've got over a hundred.
Speak of the controls debate, if MechWarrior can map almost all of its functionality (MechWarrior!) than Xbox controllers are fine. This is a game that has a button specifically for "open/close claw" on Crab mechs:
(... to be fair though it doubles as "open missile doors" on mechs with missile doors, which is definitely a thing it makes sense to do manually a lot of the time. Maybe... 15% of all mechs even have missile doors, though.)
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@blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:
(The original Xbox Duke controller also had Black/White buttons, but I think they were replaced by the analog stick buttons? I can't remember if it had clickable analog sticks all these years later. They were weirdly placed and hard to press anyway.)
IIRC there were no bumpers on the original XBox, so the black and white buttons were replaced by those and mapped to them in backwards-compatible Xbox games.
e:
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@hungrier Ah. I knew they didn't remove any buttons and just moved Black/White into some other place, I just forgot where.
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@blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:
@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
In Skyrim, you can't dodge, zoom or secondary-attack.
No (well the sprint key does a dodge-roll while sneaking if you have the right perk), yes (again with the right perk)
Yeah, I haven't played in a long time. And never picked useless perks like the entire lockpicking tree or bow zoom (why zoom if your arrow won't reach that far anyway?)
yes.
You must think of the attack, which is performed by holding regular attack key. Dark Souls has two separate keys for each of two weapons you're carrying, and you can change attacks on many weapons by holding the key or combining it with movement.
You can also cast and switch camera, which frees up a couple buttons for Dark Souls to recycle.
Cast, as in camera, or spells? I don't remember the former, and the latter is in Dark Souls too. It also has buttons for fast weapon swap, for switching to two-hand hold, enemy lock-on and a couple other things I don't remember at the moment.
@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
Dark Souls was released before Skyrim. If anything, it should be Bethesda to match their controls with other games.
I said Skyrim but those controls were in place on console for Morrowind in 2002.
Morrowind has sufficiently different combat mechanics (most notably no dual wielding, auto-shield and separate weapon/spell stances) to say that the controls scheme is incomparable to Skyrim.
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@mott555 said in Video game spotlight thread:
@PleegWat said in Video game spotlight thread:
And in your PC port, can you please not triple-overload functions on the same buttons and use extra binds instead? I've got over a hundred.
Double-tapping the movement keys to sprint/roll/evade always gets me. I think one of the newer Unreal Tournaments did this. I sometimes unconsciously do a form of PWM to move slower than the standard movement speed, like near cliffs or ledges and such, but the keybinds end up hurling me to my death instead of allowing me to creep up.
The double-tap dashes were there from at least UT2003. Unless this is what you call "newer".
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@ChaosTheEternal said in Video game spotlight thread:
As far as I can find, the original Xbox did support clicking in the sticks.
Even funnier is that the original PSX DualShock pad also supported stick buttons - but almost no game took advantage of that, since they wanted to remain 100% compatible with the old analog-less one. Also the reason why D-pad and right stick are useless in most of them.
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@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
UT2003. Unless this is what you call "newer".
Most of the games that have any replay value to me are from the 90's, so, yes.
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@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
Morrowind has sufficiently different combat mechanics (most notably no dual wielding, auto-shield and separate weapon/spell stances) to say that the controls scheme is incomparable to Skyrim.
For reference, here is the Morrowind controls for Xbox:
Oblivion kept only 5 of those controls, and while Skyrim did keep more of the Oblivion controls (as best I can tell), the bumpers and triggers definitely all changed.
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@mott555 said in Video game spotlight thread:
@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
UT2003. Unless this is what you call "newer".
Most of the games that have any replay value to me are from the 90's, so, yes.
It was 2nd in the series. Not what people usually mean by "one of the newer".
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@Gąska You made me look it up. I have Unreal Tournament 3, from 2007. It is the only Unreal game I have ever played.
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@mott555 The engine demo?
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@Gribnit everything is an engine demo if you're Epic.
Except Fortnite. It's not engine demo, it's an easy cash grab.
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@Gąska Fortnite wasn't a cash grab, just the battle royale mode they added to Fortnite. Not that I know of anyone who's played the actual game.
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I have! Though not for a couple of months now. I basically hit a point where it was going to be prohibitively time- and resource-consuming to continue progressing solo, and I knew nobody else playing it.
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@blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:
Did you know in the Xbox 360 controller, the face buttons are ANALOG?
IIRC PS2 buttons were also pressure-sensitive. Still seems like a dumb idea
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@e4tmyl33t I may try it eventually. I just never felt like buying early access for it.
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@e4tmyl33t said in Video game spotlight thread:
I have! Though not for a couple of months now. I basically hit a point where it was going to be prohibitively time- and resource-consuming to continue progressing solo, and I knew nobody else playing it.
It's like this joke about annual Delphi convention: they called it off this year because one Delphi programmer got sick and the other said he's not going to drink alone.
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@e4tmyl33t said in Video game spotlight thread:
Wow am I bad at this.
No, you're not. I posted in the Status thread that I finally beat the game for the first time - after 247 deaths. The game is just really hard.
@e4tmyl33t said in Video game spotlight thread:
The "right stick to aim and RB to shoot" combo is...actually kind of annoying. I get that it's easier to quick-fire using the shoulder buttons than it is using the triggers, but I may swap RB and RT since my index fingers naturally rest on the triggers to make it easier.
Do that. Also remap dodge roll to LT and set blank to right stick click instead of both sticks click.
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@e4tmyl33t said in Video game spotlight thread:
I've so far found a couple of guns have a special effect on firing the last bullet in the magazine and once you're empty, hitting the Fire button again reloads anyway...)
And some, like the Wind-up Gun, get less effective as the magazine goes away. You definitely want to keep that reload button.
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@e4tmyl33t said in Video game spotlight thread:
I've gotten shit RNG from the treasure chests
As you get better at the game, you'll need the chests less. At that point it's good to remember item quality - a certain color of chest will only drop a certain color of item. Unless you're starving for guns, a brown or blue chest generally isn't worth your key.
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@Magus I picked it up a while back because I wanted something different to play and the builder-shooter-against-waves-of-zombies thing seemed neat enough. Some of the guns are pretty fun as well (like the sniper rifle that fires fireworks that embed themselves in what they hit, spin for 2 seconds, then explode), but trying to constantly increase your equipment/people/character ratings and levels (yes, those are separate things!) starts requiring more and more annoying resources that it's hard to find without paying for some of them.
You can get by well enough with a team where I am, but I always just played solo because I hate PUG groups (likely due to contamination from WoW).
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@pie_flavor Isn't LT used for whatever your "usable" item is? Where do you normally bind that then?
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@e4tmyl33t For me, LT is dodge roll, LB map, RT shoot, RB active item.
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Update to my Maplestory 2 post: I've probably stopped playing it until release. It's great: an awesome game. But I don't really want to progress solo anymore. I can, I just don't really want to. Looking forward to playing it properly. Also: Hair in that game looks super good for some reason.
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@pie_flavor Hm. I'll remap to that config and see if it makes it any more controllable.
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@Magus I played the "Save the World" mode. I got to, roughly, the end of the second world and ran into two problems:
- The friend who had gotten me into it was burned out and no longer playing.
- I was on the final base defense mission, and those completely suck solo unless you invest a ton of time making it into a trap filled maze, which I hate.
Though if you are interested, I have one spare "founders" key that gives access to that mode. Had to do a 8.36GB update to verify that I had only one key, as the only way to see the keys (or get them) is in game.
EDIT: Updated since I got in game to verify details.
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@e4tmyl33t @pie_flavor That layout does seem to work better. Made it to Floor 3 once!
The LB button on that controller is starting to annoy me though. Half the time it either doesn't register, or registers for half a second and then goes away, unless I'm pressing either extreme end of the button, which seems to bump it up to about 85%.
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@e4tmyl33t why it's always shoulder buttons that stop working first?
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@e4tmyl33t said in Video game spotlight thread:
Made it to Floor 3 once!
Man, fuck you. Floor 3 took me a week to get to. And if dodge roll is LT then you have a free button on B, unless I'm missing something.
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@pie_flavor said in Video game spotlight thread:
@e4tmyl33t said in Video game spotlight thread:
Made it to Floor 3 once!
Man, fuck you. Floor 3 took me a week to get to. And if dodge roll is LT then you have a free button on B, unless I'm missing something.
I bound that to "Use Blank"
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@gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
@e4tmyl33t why it's always shoulder buttons that stop working first?
For me it's Y. Always Y.
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@e4tmyl33t You don't want to have to move your finger when you need a blank. I prefer it on clicking the right stick.
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@blakeyrat For me it's none of them. This controller has lasted thirteen years.
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@e4tmyl33t said in Video game spotlight thread:
The LB button on that controller is starting to annoy me though
I'd like to apologize on behalf of my people.
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@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
Probably because XInput API doesn't allow you to use them that way. I bet there would be games utilizing it if they were allowed to.
I remember using a tool that emulated a controller at some point and every button on the controller was actually just an axis.
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@mott555 said in Video game spotlight thread:
@PleegWat said in Video game spotlight thread:
And in your PC port, can you please not triple-overload functions on the same buttons and use extra binds instead? I've got over a hundred.
Double-tapping the movement keys to sprint/roll/evade always gets me. I think one of the newer Unreal Tournaments did this. I sometimes unconsciously do a form of PWM to move slower than the standard movement speed, like near cliffs or ledges and such, but the keybinds end up hurling me to my death instead of allowing me to creep up.
Double-press to dodge is there in all versions of Unreal Tournament. I turned it off when I was first learning UT99 because I'd hit it by accident and fall off the map. :(
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@Gąska said in Video game spotlight thread:
@e4tmyl33t why it's always shoulder buttons that stop working first?
I'd like to know too. I tried to fix the ones on my Nintendo DS Lite but just made things worse. :/
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Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker's Memory
This is a sequel to Cyber Sleuth, a game where you play as a cyberpunk detective's assistant. They have great artwork and music, and I love the setting. It's also Digimon, so I automatically like it. This game so far doesn't seem to add much to the previous one, which I think is mechanically less good than the DS games, but it's still a fun JRPG. Also you can get a Togemon:
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Chasm
Available on [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/312200/) and [PS4](https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP2151-CUSA01273_00-000CHASM00000PS4)/[Vita](https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP2151-PCSE01031_00-CHASM0000000SIEA) as Cross-Buy, and currently 10% off on both stores until August 6th (for just about 23 more hours from the time of this post).The TL;DR of my review is it's like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night but with a "randomized" world. I currently give it a .
Specifically, what makes it SotN-like is:
- The control scheme: You have two "attack" buttons on Square and Circle that you equip different items to, jump on Cross, and you have a back dash button on Triangle, same as SotN. Menu (where you equip, use items, etc.) on Start and map on Select. Similaries end there, as the shoulder/triggers are different. R1 brings up the map like Select, but doesn't dismiss it. L1 switches between spells you have without having to go into the menu. L2 and R2 likely won’t do anything (since the Vita doesn’t have those triggers). You can also opt to have it show Playstation buttons on the PC copy.
- Big map and backtracking: I'm certain there is be backtracking, as I've hit a number of points I couldn’t reach initially but later could as I acquired new abilities (clinging to ledges) or freed townsfolk who gave quests and something for it (like a shovel). People have said things like wall jumping exists, but I haven't yet gotten to that point.
- Control "stiffness" and tricks: Maybe SotN did it a bit better, but like SotN, when you hit to attack, you wait out the animation before you get a chance to move or swing again, meaning if you whiff a swing at an enemy coming at you, your next swing won't come until after they hit you. But, a trick that existed in SotN is recreated here, where if you swing just before landing a jump, you reset your animation and can immediately swing again.
- Other items: Save rooms scattered around and explicitly placed right before boss chambers. Warp points to get back to other areas without long backtracking. Dying sends you back to the title screen, so you have to reload that save and redo what you did.
But some differences:
- No corny voice acting. I'll be honest, corny as it was, I still liked the voice acting in the original SotN.
- Magic and forms: Since you're not a vampire, I doubt you get the ability to transform into a wolf, bat, or mist, and you also don't seem to have spells that you trigger by a button combination. Instead:
- Sub-weapons like the throwing knife, holy water, etc. come back as separate "magic" attacks you have to buy. Which isn't bad, because instead of having to find a sub-weapon and hold onto it, once you acquire one, you can switch to and from it as you want. The way you do that? These spells are equipped to the Circle attack slot (which spells are exclusive to, so no equipping two different weapons nor "two handed" weapons).
- Shield: Haven't seen one. Closest I see is a spell for a shield, which is just rotating orbs. No options to block damage except avoiding.
- Beating a boss without taking a hit apparently gives you equipment specific to the boss. At least they pop a save room right before each boss, then. Though from what I can see people saying, most of the gear you get like that is only stronger for a bit before you would normally upgrade anyways.
- The map is random. When you create your save, you see (or can set) a seed which determines how the map is laid out, and where some items may be found (or if some equipment can be found at all).
- Your quest is to free the townsfolk, which will help as that's how you unlock the ability to buy magic and equipment. Unlocking the blacksmith gives you a weapon and armor vendor, and doing his quest enables you to provide supplies to make new gear.
Negatives, so far:
- Can't rebind controller: You can rebind keyboard controls direct in game, but if you play on controller, you have to use Steam's Big Picture controller setup to "rebind". The dev has said they want to do controller rebinding natively.
- If your controller is wireless and shuts off, the game may not pick it back up when you turn it back on. The first time I idled long enough for my controller to shut off, the game was out of focus and I turned the controller back on before giving it focus and it worked fine. Second time, I gave the game focus before turning the controller on and it didn't pick it up, so I had to quit (thankfully, I'd just saved).
- Doesn't seem to save Full Screen settings. I tried having it set to play in Windowed mode (and use Borderless Gaming to make it "borderless fullscreen") but it keeps starting up as actual Full Screen, and says as such in the options.
In all, I've only played for a couple hours so far (stopped after 75 minutes because I wanted to start writing this sorta review), but I'm really enjoying it. Again, I currently say it's worth it, despite it currently being "Mixed" reviews on Steam, especially if you are used to SotN style control.
A disclosure, I did back this game on Kickstarter and even paid the extra for a PS4/Vita key. While you may want to see that as a "well, you're just shilling for a game you backed" I will note I also backed Mighty No. 9 and have no problem calling that game a terrible load of crap.
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If you craft the turban for your pet cat ("palico") in Monster Hunter World, it comes with a free fake mustache.
Therefore, best game ever.
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I may have mentioned this before, but since it's finally released:
CrossCode
A truly great game, halfway between Diablo and Zelda, with a great story and buttery-smooth gameplay, somehow written in js, apparently. Also, the puzzles are great.
One of the best games I've played in years. And I thought it was great before the story was all in - now I'd classify it as a must buy.
CrossCode on Steam
A retro-inspired 2D Action RPG set in the distant future. CrossCode combines 16-bit SNES-style graphics with butter-smooth physics, a fast-paced combat system, and engaging puzzle mechanics, served with a gripping sci-fi story.
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@Magus would you say that this is a game that requires audio?
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@pie_flavor No, but it has a nice soundtrack.
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@JazzyJosh said in Video game spotlight thread:
@Magus said in Video game spotlight thread:
written in js
ree
It's so good I don't even care. Which even I myself am amazed by.
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@Magus said in Video game spotlight thread:
written in js
holy shit could you repeat that
when they said 'buttery smooth' I didn't expect this
and it's WRITTEN IN JAVASCRIPT?
I saw the HTML5 logo at the start, I just thought they were trolling.
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@pie_flavor said in Video game spotlight thread:
@Magus said in Video game spotlight thread:
written in js
holy shit could you repeat that
when they said 'buttery smooth' I didn't expect this
and it's WRITTEN IN JAVASCRIPT?
I saw the HTML5 logo at the start, I just thought they were trolling.Yep. All of that.
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@pie_flavor Yeah it turns out you can write a Super Nintendo-quality game in JS and make it smooth if you put enough effort into it. That's hardly praise of JS. You could probably do the same in Excel and VBA.
