Support NeoGAF

[Deitus]

I must be missing something very obvious here

That Blue 7 Hex close to the middle. From the look of it, there are 6 Blue hexes within the area. Then there is the 3 adjacent it that is already touching 2. So you know one of these two has to be a blue hex, and every other hex in the area of the 7 (looks like only 2 orange hexes) can be cleared.

Not sure if that will open up more useful clues, but its something at least.

 

[ExoSoul]

Ah yes, I'm with you on that. My mind just went racing at thinking of what you could be referring to. PC port of an existing game? New game in the series? I guess it hasn't been that long since the last one, but it feels like an eternity (probably because I didn't get into V, and I never played Victory Day).

We definitely need some Armored Core games on Steam. I'd say just port all of the old games, but due to using multiple different publishers, some of the 360/PS3 games might be tricky.

I believe they were always published by Namco (not sure about the PS1 era)
But goddam did Mokoi's post make my heart skip a beat.

 

[Turfster]

Why does using the steam overlay in Valkyria Chronicles minimize the game? This typically leads to a crash sometime later after a scene/mission.

Because Japanese port with bad keyboard code has bad keyboard code.

 

[PandaPedinte]

While I'm not sure where the areas overlap as I don't have the level in front of me, I suspect it has something to do with the 9 or 6 in the bottom left hand corner. The 3 empty spaces should make the 9 the first one to look at.

That Blue 7 Hex close to the middle. From the look of it, there are 6 Blue hexes within the area. Then there is the 3 adjacent it that is already touching 2. So you know one of these two has to be a blue hex, and every other hex in the area of the 7 (looks like only 2 orange hexes) can be cleared.

Not sure if that will open up more useful clues, but its something at least.

I'll look into it tomorrow, also Hexcells Plus should have an option to save where you stopped.

i'll tell u why if you want

perk every level is dumb cos the whole point of roleplaying is making sure you don't have everything and have to choose solutions tailored to the build you made. there's a lot of fun to be had in coming up with ways to solve situations that you've locked yourself into and with more perks or more skillpoints or whatever you can just always do the best thing and whatever. awful, awful

and new vegas bounties is like a good concept but pretty terrible execution with a lot of poorly scripted stuff and references to breaking bad and shit. i hate it

here's my list btw: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=153420617&postcount=1624

I like your list

 

[zkylon]

I like your list

tried to keep it simple and short cos tbh new vegas is such a good game it doesn't really need much fixing

also to avoid mod conflicts and other boring shit

 

[Deitus]

I believe they were always published by Namco (not sure about the PS1 era)
But goddam did Mokoi's post make my heart skip a beat.

Mine too.

But no, Namco hasn't been involved in the series until very recently. All of them have been published by From Software in Japan (except the most recent one I think), so there's no question about who owns the IP.

But in the US, the PS1 and PS2 games were published by Agetec, AC4 was published by SEGA, AC4A was published by Ubisoft, and V and Verdict Day were published by Namco. I'm not sure what the publishing agreements were like, but it's possible it might make it difficult to re-release them under a different publisher.

In the EU, I believe there was even more of a turnover when it comes to publishers.

I'll look into it tomorrow, also Hexcells Plus should have an option to save where you stopped.

Agreed. It was added in Hexcells Infinite at least, but it should have been in the earlier games too. It actually helped out a lot, because sometimes I would be completely stumped, so I'd quit the game, come back to it the next day (resuming my progress) and figure it out almost immediately. It would have taken a lot longer to beat Hexcells infinite if I had to start over every time I did that.

 

[someguyinahat]

i'll tell u why if you want

perk every level is dumb cos the whole point of roleplaying is making sure you don't have everything and have to choose solutions tailored to the build you made. there's a lot of fun to be had in coming up with ways to solve situations that you've locked yourself into and with more perks or more skillpoints or whatever you can just always do the best thing and whatever. awful, awful

Not to mention that by endgame you will already be pretty OP. You don't really need, what is it, ten extra perks? For what? If you seriously feel like you're under-perked by the end of New Vegas you're either playing it horribly wrong or you went with an intentionally shitty build (and if it's the latter, then you crippled yourself for a reason.)

 

[zkylon]

Not to mention that by endgame you will already be pretty OP. You don't really need, what is it, ten extra perks? For what? If you seriously feel like you're under-perked by the end of New Vegas you're either playing it horribly wrong or you went with an intentionally shitty build (and if it's the latter, then you crippled yourself for a reason.)

yeah, on top of that you'll be removing one aspect of roleplaying games

new vegas is not fallout 3 or skyrim

new vegas is an rpg

if you want to play a goofy walk-around-shooting-zombies-and-looting-shit game just play fallout 3

 

[Sarcasm]

So suddenly three hours later I can't play VC at all. It just crashes after loading my save.

 

[jshackles]

The problem with bot accounts is kinda worse than I originally thought.

For example, yesterday I posted about this bot that had 41,809 copies of itself out there. As of right now, there are 42,242 of them. Assuming none of them were removed by Valve (which is a pretty safe assumption) that means there are 433 copies of this particular bot that have gone live in the last 24 hours.

So far in my random sampling this is pretty typical of the 15 or so "names" I'm tracking. So there are literally thousands of new bot accounts created in a 24 hour period just of the ones I've decided to keep tabs on.

 

[wilflare]

need one last card to craft the badge for Feep's gameeee

 

[xBladeM6x]

The problem with bot accounts is kinda worse than I originally thought.

For example, yesterday I posted about this bot that had 41,809 copies of itself out there. As of right now, there are 42,242 of them. Assuming none of them were removed by Valve (which is a pretty safe assumption) that means there are 433 copies of this particular bot that have gone live in the last 24 hours.

So far in my random sampling this is pretty typical of the 15 or so "names" I'm tracking. So there are literally thousands of new bot accounts created in a 24 hour period just of the ones I've decided to keep tabs on.

Turns out the 8.5 million daily gamers online at a time, is really just 8.2 million bots.

 

[Atraveller]

i don't get it :/

are you guys messing with me?

:/

That gif was for Turfster.

 

[ExoSoul]

Mine too.

But no, Namco hasn't been involved in the series until very recently. All of them have been published by From Software in Japan (except the most recent one I think), so there's no question about who owns the IP.

But in the US, the PS1 and PS2 games were published by Agetec, AC4 was published by SEGA, AC4A was published by Ubisoft, and V and Verdict Day were published by Namco. I'm not sure what the publishing agreements were like, but it's possible it might make it difficult to re-release them under a different publisher.

In the EU, I believe there was even more of a turnover when it comes to publishers.

My mind is playing tricks on me, last two published by Namco + handhelds published by Namco and I just went "I guess Namco had the rights all along. I'll go check my covers (or, you know the webs xD)

 

[zkylon]

That gif was for Turfster.

ah ok we're friends again

 

[ExoSoul]

I'm a pacifist, and the game is just glorifying violence. No thank you.

The game (actual plot) is so much more than that...

Oh well it's not just hopeful wishing for good mecha game on steam.

So there is a game coming out?

 

[Shadownet]

ah ok we're friends again

what about me...

 

[jshackles]

Turns out the 8.5 million daily gamers online at a time, is really just 8.2 million bots.

If I had to take an educated guess, their 125 million "active" user accounts figure from yesterday is probably closer to 80-90 million if you exclude the bots. So assuming the same player distribution (that is - assuming that 28% of the active users are bots), that pencils out to about 6.1 million concurrent.

Of course these numbers could be wildly inaccurate, since Valve probably won't ever give us any real answers on the subject.

 

[wilflare]

If I had to take an educated guess, their 125 million "active" user accounts figure from yesterday is probably closer to 80-90 million if you exclude the bots. So assuming the same player distribution (that is - assuming that 28% of the active users are bots), that pencils out to about 6.1 million concurrent.

Of course these numbers could be wildly inaccurate, since Valve probably won't ever give us any real answers on the subject.

why do they not do anything about it?

Spoiler

volvo gonna volvo

 

[shira]

Modbot is stealing our games guys.

Stump

 

[jshackles]

why do they not do anything about it?

Spoiler

volvo gonna volvo

It's all about market share. In the last 16 months they've gone from 65 million active users to 125 million active users. Now pretend for a second that you don't know anything about the bot problem and how rampantly their being created which is thus artificially inflating the numbers. You're a game developer - and you're thinking about releasing your game on PC. You want to be damn sure your game can be distributed on Steam, otherwise you're losing out on 125 million potential customers*. So you put your game on Steam, and Valve takes 30%.

Additionally, if Valve did something now to curb the issue with bots, it would have some explaining to do when they don't reach 150 million users in the next few months like current projections indicate.

 

[Mokoi]

The game (actual plot) is so much more than that...

So there is a game coming out?

1. Fooled you. Hotline Miami was alright. Nothing great,but just alright.
2. Only in our dreams. Our sweet dreams.

Mine too.

But in the US, the PS1 and PS2 games were published by Agetec,.....

Yeah armored core 2 was agtec, and thats the only one I remember for sure who was the publisher. I really have a sweet spot for that game. I still play it every so often. Altough really it's about time my entitled ass gets more armored core!

 

[Shadownet]

Im trying to install Fallout Character Overhaul right now so I can install New Vegas Redesigned 3.

But before I can install Redesigned I need to install something called Archive Installation. idk what that is.

 

[Miguel81]

Man, the ending of Chris' campaign in RE6 has got me all emotional n' shit. From what I've played of Jake, I think I'll enjoy his more melee-oriented character. Edonia is my least favorite locale in the game.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

The nice thing about New Vegas is that you can get a very enjoyable game with very few mods.
And by very few I mean "a couple that fix stuttering and a few crashes" very few.

ALTHOUGH
Just for the sake of convenience I'd grab a mod that increases running speed.
Because running through Fort McCarren for the zillionth time is a snoozefest.

 

[Lomax]

It's all about market share. In the last 16 months they've gone from 65 million active users to 125 million active users. Now pretend for a second that you don't know anything about the bot problem and how rampantly their being created which is thus artificially inflating the numbers. You're a game developer - and you're thinking about releasing your game on PC. You want to be damn sure your game can be distributed on Steam, otherwise you're losing out on 125 million potential customers*. So you put your game on Steam, and Valve takes 30%.

Additionally, if Valve did something now to curb the issue with bots, it would have some explaining to do when they don't reach 150 million users in the next few months like current projections indicate.

At this point though, I'm surprised Kotaku or Polygon or some other game site hasn't run a clickbait article saying something like "50% of new Steam accounts are phishing bots" which even though it might not be true, would point out the situation.

 

[Easton Dark]

But before I can install Redesigned I need to install something called Archive Installation. idk what that is.

It's not something you install.

Whatever mod manager you are using probably has the archive invalidation function. What that means is it makes it so the game wont use its original texture files by default.

 

[zkylon]

i think my brain gave out on hexcells plus level 10 lol

super stuck

 

[DocSeuss]

At this point though, I'm surprised Kotaku or Polygon or some other game site hasn't run a clickbait article saying something like "50% of new Steam accounts are phishing bots" which even though it might not be true, would point out the situation.

This is actually something I was thinking as pitching, but I'm not sure why it would be a clickbait article. It's a situation worth discussing.

I'm being friended by spambots almost nonstop.

 

[jholmes]

Giveaway time!

Instructions for participants:
I am giving away 13 Steam keys -- that's right, a baker's dozen! To enter this giveaway, send a PM to ModBot with any subject line. In the body, copy and paste the entire line from the message below that corresponds to the game you want. (if you include more than one game, you will be blocked from entering). Confused? Watch this GIF tutorial or ask for help.

ModBot Basics:
- I really appreciate thank you messages, but please send them to me (jholmes, not ModBot!) via PM instead of in thread.
- Do not trade keys you win off-site to enrich yourself. Don't try to claim games you have no interest in collecting or playing. Don't claim games to give them to friends off-site.
- If the key is already taken you will not receive a reply. Replies may take a minute or two.

Rules for this Giveaway:
- This is a free for all! You can enter for multiple games on the list below. Send an individual PM for each game you'd like to win.
- This giveaway is a raffle. The winners will be selected by random draw 24 hours after the draw was created. Any games not claimed after that point will be given away first come first serve.



Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Videogame Act I -- MB-2B41107B33EFFEC6 - Taken by crazyrabbits. 17 entrants total.
Battlepaths -- MB-13668AB9254EE4A5 - Taken by Killer Yakuza B. 3 entrants total.
Star Wars Jedi Knight Dark Forces II -- MB-FB09DA98091EE048 - Taken by PunishedSnake. 8 entrants total.

Company of Heroes 2: The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West -- MB-38DFEE3F24C15D0B - Taken by nja. 2 entrants total.
Scourge: Outbreak -- MB-138CCFEB57A01B14 - Taken by Purkake4. 2 entrants total.
Star Wars: Dark Forces -- MB-2F01E9FFE251AA28 - Taken by Syphon Filter. 3 entrants total.
Bardbarian -- MB-3D149ED64FA30D26 - Taken by Lobogris. 7 entrants total.
Star Wars Empire At War: Gold Pack -- MB-09C0D86D8E9FF1D8 - Taken by Haunted. 10 entrants total.
Silence of the Sleep -- MB-7F4C4D71B4AB12B7 - Taken by xGreg. 12 entrants total.
A Bird Story -- MB-F8A68F3A3A82EDC7 - Taken by 73V3N. 23 entrants total.
Imagine Me -- MB-4A3CE54A2BD4DC71 - Taken by Diedac. 5 entrants total.
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast -- MB-5703C361C95D958B - Taken by Milamber. 14 entrants total.
Empire: Total War -- MB-792535BD57778A1F - Taken by Belgarion. 8 entrants total.

 

[TheMadMan007]

This is actually something I was thinking as pitching, but I'm not sure why it would be a clickbait article. It's a situation worth discussing.

I'm being friended by spambots almost nonstop.

Yeah, I'm getting friended and now getting spam and phishing comments every day now.

 

[Jiggaloboy]

First perfect game :/

Thanks for all the recs on Hexcells, looking forward to Plus and Infinite kicking my ass.

 

[ExoSoul]

Ok Outland is under popular new releases. Wtf Valve?! What are you doing?

 

[Turfster]

Rise of the Triad is 75% off for its 20th anniversary sale.

 

[jshackles]

This is actually something I was thinking as pitching, but I'm not sure why it would be a clickbait article. It's a situation worth discussing.

I'm being friended by spambots almost nonstop.

I've done a bit of research on the subject since I'm writing a invite spam filter program, so let me know if I can help in any way.

 

[MattyG]

So, I'm sure this gets asked constantly, but what's the news on an upgrade discount for Dark Souls 2 owners who buy Scholar of the First Sin? I can get a DS2 Collector's Edition for $40, but I'm not sure if I should if I'm just going to be forking over $60 for SotFS.

 

[baterism]

All these talks about spambot make me realize I haven't meet one for perhaps a month. Even before it wasn't that many, less than 1 per month. If I count it, I think the total is 5-6 bots. I always block rather than ignore though. What exactly did you guys do to get so much friend reqs from bot?

I wonder if country/region of origin has something to do.

 

[Servizio]

Anyone want an ACE: Arena - Cyber Evolution beta key? Comes with hats and boosters, I think.

Quote for key:

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

I was doing New Vegas vanilla, because I can't be bothered for mods. Well, maybe mtui, but that's it.

come at me

 

[xBladeM6x]

I was doing New Vegas vanilla, because I can't be bothered for mods. Well, maybe mtui, but that's it.

come at me

I play like that too. I usually do first time playthrough totally vanilla, and then when I feel like going a second time through, I'll mod it up.

 

[someguyinahat]

Quickly went through the visual novel Bionic Heart. Quick impressions:

The story: The year is 2099, but for some reason everyone refers to "the 21st century" as if they're not all still living in it. Apparently, climate change caused it to start continually raining all over the planet (the word "flood" was not mentioned once in any of the dialogue I saw.) The world's power generation is somehow now entirely solar with solar panels above the atmosphere (you know, because nuclear power is no longer a thing, and with rain falling everywhere forever, hydroelectricity just isn't feasible, because of reasons.) But that doesn't have anything to do with anything - just seems like a tacked-on environmental message. The real story begins when an escaped android/robot/bionic woman comes to the apartment of the protagonist, Luke Black...or does she? In an early ending, even that doesn't happen. So naturally, how you react to her, how you juggle her and your fiancee, and your workplace, are all up for grabs, and naturally some lead to faster endings than others. It's not without its plotholes, but it's adequately done.

The graphics: This is a Winter Wolves game. Their art is...inconsistent at best. A lot of the characters are reminiscent of Heileen 3, to give you any indication. The bionic woman is consistently praised for her beauty in the story, but all her face art shows a rather masculine woman with a jawline stronger than my own. Your fiancee, Helen, looks suitably feminine, however. Makes me wonder why Luke would ever choose to leave Helen for her.

The dialogue and voices: Whew. The written dialogue is littered with grammatical errors and unnatural turns of phrase that once again mark a developer whose first language isn't English but can't bother to get someone to proofread. The voice actors, bless them, try their best to fix the mistakes when speaking them. If only the voice acting wasn't so badly recorded. I'm by no means an audiophile - I'm content with listening to mp3s at 128 kbps - but when even I can hear the background audio hisses and bad equalization, you KNOW they done fucked it up. Some voice actors do well - the protagonist is alright, and the bionic woman is passable, but a lot of the others just sound uncomfortable reading their dialogue. I'd say "if you can't do voice acting well, don't do it" but in this case I'd say it still improves the dialogue, because at least the voices are grammatically correct.

The length: I didn't save the game until the end of Chapter 3 - there are 4 chapters plus a prologue - so after attempting just about every branch from that point I got 9 out of 24 endings. The entire process took me 2 hours. The website claims that they recorded over 4 hours of dialogue, so assuming you skip all the dialogue you've already read, that's likely how long it will take you to see all the endings.

The verdict: a resounding "meh." I know it just sounds like I cut it down, but it's not terrible. It's just not all that good, either. If you're between games, you've got a couple of hours to kill, and you got the game in a bundle, I'd say why not. I wouldn't recommend you go out of your way to acquire and play it, and it's certainly not worth the full asking price of ten bucks. I've heard the sequel is better, so if you were a visual novel fan who came across Bionic Heart 2, that might be a reason to get this game. Otherwise, I'd say pass on it.

 

[Tenrius]

So Homeworld is out and it runs surprisingly great on my infamous laptop. I've been worried, but it's very well-optimized.

 

[zkylon]

I was doing New Vegas vanilla, because I can't be bothered for mods. Well, maybe mtui, but that's it.

come at me

mtui is the only essential mod, literally all the other mods are optional

new vegas is a fantastic game on its own, it's 100% ok to play it with only mtui

 

[r3n4ud]

Ok Outland is under popular new releases. Wtf Valve?! What are you doing?

It's there because they released a Linux version.

 

[Shadownet]

So thanks to zkylon for helping me with the mods. and Hero Prinny too for his list.

But does anyone have any character customization mod? I know Fallout is mostly 1st person. But I still wanna have new hair options, and face. etc.

Edit: like new hair options for male.

 

[Echoplx]

It's not possible to get cheap copies of Dying Light through the 4 pack thingo any more is it?

 

[Oreoleo]

I know Fallout is mostly 1st person.

It's been a couple years but isn't there a 3rd person camera option?

I never used it cause the animations are terrible.

 

[LurkerPrime]

It's been a couple years but isn't there a 3rd person camera option?

I never used it cause the animations are terrible.

There is. However, like the Elder Scrolls games, you never want to actually use it for anything gameplay-related.

 

[Corpekata]

This is actually something I was thinking as pitching, but I'm not sure why it would be a clickbait article. It's a situation worth discussing.

I'm being friended by spambots almost nonstop.

It's a clickbait article if it's by Kotaku or Polygon by default for large swathes of GAF.

 

[Sajjaja]

There is. However, like the Elder Scrolls games, you never want to actually use it for anything gameplay-related.

Except to peek corners.