Upcoming games you nitpicky ****bags look forward to ***** about in the future.

[Arvenski]

So I happened to see this trailer earlier:


My overwhelming impression was that this was Generic Video Game: The Video Game. Like, maybe I'm just in a cynical mood today, but it feels like the developers of this game have practically no imagination. The overall idea for the gameplay might be a bit different from what we see everywhere else, with two teams of four using stealth to outplay the AI and each other while trying to capture the flag loot, but the actual gameplay and the UI both look like I-don't-even-know how many other games.

And that was before I even saw the classes. It'd be one thing if you could create your own character, but no, that'd require imagination. And could the characters look realistic, or at least believeable? No, they have to look like painfully generic fantasy characters with all the tropes. We have to have The Ranger, with his Devastating Longbow. The Hunter, with his Burstfire Crossbow (wrist-mounted, of course!). Invisibility and smoke grenades! The Brawler, aka The Big Guy with the Big Sledgehammer. "When he activates his Wrath Ability, he becomes a melee powerhouse." The Mystic, who can Detect Nearby Enemies, and has Healing Abilities. Oh, and you can use your rewards to "develop your hideout", too! Jesus. I wonder how many people have pre-ordered it already...

 

[Do not look here]

Yup, even her tone of voice is just monotone "every single gameplay narration for last ten years". This may be alcohol levels in my blood, but I'm pretty sure if I ever stumble upon this trailer again I'll have no recollection of previously seeing it.

 

[Mad Vader]

Congratulations Arvenski, you've reached the final human form: grumpy adulthood. Things suck and you are fully aware of it.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

Actually modern video games just suck. We've reached the horrible critical mass where all AAA games are focus tested shovelware made by intern spam, but there is also an oversaturation of smaller studios and "indies" just attempting to do the same thing. Instead of being crowded out by 40 big budget games per year, indie developers now face literal hundreds of genre chasing clones from medium studios chasing the money.

Back in 2015 or so when these medium studios started popping up there was lots of hope that they'd be the new innovators, but it's clear now that they have the exact same ethos as AAA studios and just want to replicate trends forever, they're just a lot worse at doing it. Just look at bannerlord :^)

This isn't just nostalgia either, there are games I've enjoyed consistently without uninstalling for like 25 years, while nothing in the last 5 or so years has made me want to play more than a few minutes.

 

[Count Delinard]

Who knows... Maybe Manor lords will change your mind

the funny thing is that people will see IC as a manor lords clone, unfair as it’ll be

 

[Krik]

Actually modern video games just suck.

This is pretty spot on. There are a few games in the last 5 years I've enjoyed, but they've all basically just been 10-15 year old games with a facelift. I liked Red Dead 2, but it's basically GTA San Andreas with better graphics. I enjoy the newest Forza Horizon game, but it's exactly the same game as the first one was, just with horrible lootbox **** shoehorned into it. The release I'm looking forward to most right now is the steam version of Dwarf Fortress, which is literally going to be a easier to use version of a game I've already been playing for over a decade.

 

[Captured Joe]

Victoria III

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

looks like trash

They probably had this in the works for a while but prematurely announced it to make people forget leviathan.

 

[Scuba Steve]

looks like trash

They probably had this in the works for a while but prematurely announced it to make people forget leviathan.

Nothing is even shown, how can it look like trash? Also has no mana, which is a good thing. Stupid mechanic.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

I'm trolling but there is a lot about it that just screams nuParadox to me.

Look at this for example. Incremental 2-10% increases to the efficiency of mechanics should be banned. I hate this kind of thing, I think it's worse than the mana in my opinion.

 

[Mad Vader]

It's frugal Protestant design, you can't appreciate this if you were not raised as such.

 

[Ser Jon]

It's not coming out this year I think, but has anyone else seen this game yet? I've been watching it since it was on the backer site, and the progress looks really good. It's made by the people who made The Messenger, and it's major inspiration is Chrono Trigger.

Sea of Stars | A retro-inspired turn-based RPG

Sea of Stars is an upcoming turn-based RPG for PC and console. A prequel story set in The Messenger’s universe, it tells the story of two Children of the Solstice who will combine the powers of the sun and moon to perform Eclipse Magic, the only force capable of fending off the monstrous...

seaofstarsgame.co

Sea of Stars on Steam

Sea of Stars is a turn-based RPG inspired by the classics. It tells the story of two Children of the Solstice who will combine the powers of the sun and moon to perform Eclipse Magic, the only force capable of fending off the monstrous creations of the evil alchemist known as The Fleshmancer.

store.steampowered.com

The pixel and artwork of the game is very beautiful.

 

[BenKenobi]

Look at this for example. Incremental 2-10% increases to the efficiency of mechanics should be banned. I hate this kind of thing, I think it's worse than the mana in my opinion.

Why though? Considering small advantages can have very disproportionate consequences (look what difference a +1 armor can make in AoE2) and that they can stack on top of each other, what other solution can you have? Also, it allows to actually do builds, as evidenced by my RTW2 DeI Athenian hoplites that receive quite ridiculous combat bonuses despite no individual bonus going over 3 percent, I think. The only trouble is that the knowledge of the game demanded of the player tends to rise quite a lot.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

The reason I dislike percentage changes is that when they're small they are imperceptible, but by the time they're bigger (up to 40% melee attack (i think) like in Rome 2) they just get boring. Stacking bonuses to be OP can be silly fun on its own, but it's never enjoyable in the long term to just become permanently better at something just because you click a button or research a tech.

I think there are far better ways to do progression or playthrough variance than just buffing stats. For example Rome 2's unit balance (I can't speak for DEI) is built around highly situational specialist units that can vastly overperform or underperform depending on how you use them. A Seleucid army full of expensive meme units can be smashed by the cheapest celtic spearmen if you play it right. The problem with the military techs however is that when you research all of them, your units just melt the enemy like butter and there is no need for combined arms or strategy or anything. Same goes for the upkeep % reduction or income % buffs, eventually you can spam elite units and the game becomes stupidly easy. Not that Rome 2 is a hardcore game, but I really don't like the idea of endgame cheap archers having 40 ammo and 50 missile damage even though functionally nothing has changed.

The best tech / policy / govt options in games imo is when instead of just buffing a mechanic they alter it in some way. Civilisation 4 doesn't have any percentage bonuses in techs at all, they unlock new things or obsolete old ones. Instead of just buffing mechanics they open up the possibility for new ones. Seeing a tech that gives me new units is way, way more satisfying and encourages me to play a lot more than the +5% construction speed in HOI4 which I honestly wish wasn't even there.

 

[dijiTurk]

Can we share modes here?

Monthly update May news

The Old World is a fan made mod project for the game Mount & Blade: Bannerlord. This project is 100% unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop. We do not accept donations nor do we receive any money from this project.

www.moddb.com

 

[Vermillion_Hawk]

I think that's something of an indictment on the industry in general.

 

[Nega-Brutus]

Is Jacob still malding about every game post RTW?

 

[Vermillion_Hawk]

I can't personally think of much coming out these days that is particularly fresh or innovative. The last truly great new game I played was probably Kenshi. There are a lot of average to mediocre releases, games like Iron Harvest, for example, and terrible ones, like Bannerlord. Not many good or interesting ones, and I think this thread is testament to that.

 

[Mad Vader]

But what about that Total War franchise and how they are torturing Jacob. It's something.
When people complain that "there are no good X anymore (like in my youth)", you know it has more to do with aging and diminishing interest in X.
Great innovative indie games keep coming, so we are spoiled for choice. In the mid-late 90s most new games were RTS cash grabs.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

When people complain that "there are no good X anymore (like in my youth)", you know it has more to do with aging and diminishing interest in X.

As a proportion of all games being made? The amount of crappy shovelware now is truly insane, and unlike what everyone thought in 2015, indie developers are now just replicating the same boring trends that made most big games in the late 2000s so derivative. Just look at that game the brytenwalda team is putting out, I almost can't believe how profoundly generic it is given how small their team is and what their background is.

This isn't to say that I don't like any new games, in fact my favorite Total War game is Rome 2, but to me it seems like the sheer amount of manpower and money being thrown at video games now is detrimental. Truly interesting and innovative games need some kind of unhinged madman at the helm, something which is extremely unlikely in the broad hierarchical structure of modern development studios.