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[Annubis]

So, I started playing Aveyond: Lord of WhyDoesMyCharacterWalkSoSlowOnPrettyBigMapsArrrgh

- You walk slowly
- There's tons of obstacles everywhere to disallow walking a straight path
- NPCs are considered 'in the next cell' after 1 step instead of midway point or when they actually reach the next cell. Talking to a walking NPC is frustrating.

One of the most frustrating walking I've seen in an RPG.

Play time: 1:22:44
Walk time: 1:12:44

 

[zkylon]

I thought that spider part was going to be longer than it was when I was first reading impressions. It felt like there really weren't that many.

It helps that they weren't hairy spiders...or bigger, then I probably would have freaked out more, haha.

yea it helped that how they walked was also pretty goofy all twitching all over the place and bouncing off walls like idiots but still could only see like spiders when i closed my eyes and only slept two hours so not that big of a help i'm afraid

i commend from for being kind enough to warn me at least

bug ahead indeed

I guess I feel like Dark Souls 2 was made for someone like me, who bought Demon's Souls and Dark Souls (twice!), made very honest efforts to get into them, but ultimately hating both games vehemently. I don't know if Dark Souls 2 has been dumbed down, but it's certainly more accessible (fast travel and all those life gems are godsends) in a way that finally lets me understand how this series is supposed to be played and giving me a reason to go back to the first two installments--and hopefully actually get them--once I'm finished with this one.

that's pretty cool, actually

Forget all the hate in taste, ITS CINCO DE MAYO!



Another excuse for me to make more Mojitos.

damn dude you just made me want to open up my 7 year old cuban rum

too bad people at plant stores or whatever can't know hierba buena for shit and i ain't drinking no mojitos with fucking lime

 

[Nzyme32]

My thought of the morning: Valve isn't big enough to "open the floodgates" like this to developers / publishers.

For example, the "game" Air Control. Not only does it look terrible, but it also violates copyright. The main song used in the trailer and game is "Faidherbe Square" from a band called "ProleteR", and it was used without permission or the proper attribution.

The band's record label has filed a complaint with Valve, but the trailer can still be viewed.

The game also uses the Lufthansa logos without permission.

If you don't put a lot of effort into curating the games that show up on the platform like you used to, get ready to hire a whole team of people that can deal with this sort of issue - because I assure you that once you completely remove the barrier of entry, things like this will be much more common.

And record labels don't mess around - the legal liability for a company like Valve could potentially be quite significant if they don't take any efforts to take things like this down immediately when reported.

So that's my thought of the day - if Valve opens the proverbial floodgates, they need to have a team at the ready that can handle things like copyright complaints from content creators.

EDIT: this post is kind of a "JaseC alert" in case it's actually released.

Interesting thought. Since your a guy in the know, I have a rather vague question.

If valve are intending to "open the flood gates" as they move to user generated stores / self publishing, and assuming they want as much of the processes involved to be as automated as possible, that would imply a creation of some kind of reporting system or voting system for such violations of copyright, spam, inappropriate content etc.

Is there any way to create and test such as system/set of tools without opening the flood gates earlier to test these tools on such dubious store content and see if they can correctly identify and weight cases accurately?

 

[aku:jiki]

Speaking of bundles, I wonder if Gala manages to post a bundle on time or even at all today...

 

[jshackles]

Not sure if this was already posted, but several of you emailed me a link to this article from Kotaku:

Steam's Store is a Hot Mess

Valve, you know it's bad when the gaming press is pushing you to redesign your site

Spoiler

hire me

Interesting thought. Since your a guy in the know, I have a rather vague question.

If valve are intending to "open the flood gates" as they move to user generated stores / self publishing, and assuming they want as much of the processes involved to be as automated as possible, that would imply a creation of some kind of reporting system or voting system for such violations of copyright, spam, inappropriate content etc.

Is there any way to create and test such as system/set of tools without opening the flood gates earlier to test these tools on such dubious store content and see if they can correctly identify and weight cases accurately?

Normally, I would presume that's what the "Report this item" button is for.

But it doesn't seem like (from the outside) that they're actually doing anything with this data - hard to say. It's obviously not working.

 

[Turfster]

Interesting thought. Since your a guy in the know, I have a rather vague question.

If valve are intending to "open the flood gates" as they move to user generated stores / self publishing, and assuming they want as much of the processes involved to be as automated as possible, that would imply a creation of some kind of reporting system or voting system for such violations of copyright, spam, inappropriate content etc.

Is there any way to create and test such as system/set of tools without opening the flood gates earlier to test these tools on such dubious store content and see if they can correctly identify and weight cases accurately?

That already exists. ^
It's one of the reasons we knew they'd be opening the floodgates.

 

[Arthea]

Speaking of bundles, I wonder if Gala manages to post a bundle on time or even at all today...

they had Friday bundle recently, so maybe they'll skip Monday one on that account!

When Kotaku says your layout is a mess you know you got problems.

I find it ironic, highly (><)

 

[Dr Dogg]

When Kotaku says your layout is a mess you know you got problems.

 

[Tizoc]

Just beat Gunhound EX. all things considered, the game CAN be finished without dieing once. Sadly to get the highest possible score, you gotta play 1 single playthrough without quitting the game, or continuing since the latter resets your score @_@.

Fun game and THANKFULLY there was only 1 section where the Zero G was used (or was that 2? either way...).

Overall a kickass game, but man did my fingers hurt from holding R1+R2 when I need to aim lock lol.

 

[ashecitism]

Not sure if this was already posted, but several of you emailed me a link to this article from Kotaku:

Steam's Store is a Hot Mess

Valve, you know it's bad when the gaming press is pushing you to redesign your site

Spoiler

hire me

If not even developers or Steam customers can push Valve to do that, not sure how the press will. But it's about time the press step up. Valve, how about you start listening to people already.

 

[zkylon]

valve is probably "working on it" in their trademark slow and inefficient as fuck way

right now i'm half expecting someone to come out with a chrome extension that filters all the garbage games

 

[JaseC]

It's immensely frustrating that the badge page link is broken when I'm logged in but functions just fine when I'm logged out.

 

[bobnowhere]

Speaking of bundles, I wonder if Gala manages to post a bundle on time or even at all today...

A post in their Steam group suggests the Monday #6 starts today when the last one ends.

 

[RionaaM]

It is hurting the sales of good indie games that come out.

For these smaller releases, their marketing and exposure comes down to the length of time on the front page. Either through new releases, top sellers, or some form of daily deal.

Length of time on the front page directly correlates to more sales and has been key to marketing lesser-known indie titles.

With the flood of garbage that Valve has allowed onto the store, legitimately good releases are being pushed off the new releases list in a matter of hours, rather than days. This is directly impacting their sales potential.

It's less of an issue for us, as we spend time discussing these things on GAF and have become increasingly well informed. The average consumer, is not so well informed.

It's still not Valve's fault, I believe. It provides those devs with a storefront from where customers can buy their games, but it has no obligation to market them (as far as I know; I haven't read any contract so I may be mistaken). That's the dev/publisher responsibility. Don't forget that this is an extremely competitive market, so trying to take away some of the competition to make these games more visible isn't a valid practice in my book.

That said, I still think Valve should have some kind of quality control regarding the stuff it lets on the Steam store, but not due to some charity or anything towards small devs, but to keep a healthy and curated store without the overabundance of crap that plagues Google Play. I know, one man's trash is another man's treasure, but at the end of the day trash is still trash.

You mean, people aside from the laugh track? O_O

Yup. I used to have to suck it up whenever I had dinner with my family (which was pretty much every night sans some weekends), but fortunately my dad hasn't been watching the show lately. If I say I laughed twice in all that time, I think I'd be exaggerating. The jokes are simply not fun, and the references are there just for the sake of dropping names that the general public may consider geeky/nerdy ("What are you doing?", "Oh nothing, I'm just playing Halo on my new Xbox 360", *cue laugh track*). And each and every single character is either an insufferable asshole, an unlikable fool, or a mix of both.

 

[zkylon]

i dunno dude i wouldn't care fair competition that this

and hotline miami 2 will get about the same storefront exposure

 

[Turfster]

Wow, the DLH Enclave key giveaway is still active.
I guess "christmas" never ends?

 

[zkylon]

besides as someone that depends on gaming for a lot of my happiness in life i don't like the idea of potentially missing out on very important games to me like the void or analogue: a hate story just so jasec can have a higher game count

i guess adding an in-store official garbage filter is kind of demeaning to the games it filters so at least just do some curating and refuse them outright

competition be damned, i want opening steam to be a happy thing, always on the look out of the next big thing, not a dumpster for shovelware

 

[RionaaM]

What I find more surprising in that thread were some members saying TR2013 being the best entry in the series, I haven't played it but the from the majority of SteamGAF opinion paint it like an uninspired Uncharted clone without many puzzles.

You don't want to hear the truth? Here's another objective truthfact (my opinion is my own truth, of course): Angel of Darkness is a great game and my second favorite in the franchise

 

[Dr Dogg]

I know I've only played about 10 mins of each, save for The Force Unleashed and really only for the PlayFire moniezz but man are these old Star Wars games still fun. Starfighter might have some really old resolution issues but at 60fps isn't too bad at all. I don't think I need to say anything about Outcast or Academy that hasn't been said this weekend already but still feel fresh and fluid to me.

Granted I'm in the process of downloading Republic Heroes so that about to all go to shit.

 

[Knurek]

i dunno dude i wouldn't care fair competition that air control and hotline miami 2 will get about the same storefront exposure

You guys, what if Air Control is secretly Frog Fractions 2? The devs mentioned they will release it under a false name during their Kickstarter.

 

[Wok]

I guess I feel like Dark Souls 2 was made for someone like me, who bought Demon's Souls and Dark Souls (twice!), made very honest efforts to get into them, but ultimately hating both games vehemently. I don't know if Dark Souls 2 has been dumbed down, but it's certainly more accessible (fast travel and all those life gems are godsends) in a way that finally lets me understand how this series is supposed to be played and giving me a reason to go back to the first two installments--and hopefully actually get them--once I'm finished with this one.

My feeling as well.

 

[PandaPedinte]

You don't want to hear the truth? Here's another objective truthfact (my opinion is my own truth, of course): Angel of Darkness is a great game and my second favorite in the franchise

Can you say what you liked in Angel of Darkness, even my neighbor who was a crazy TR who could consume anything related and to Lara Croft and like hated it.

 

[MUnited83]

i dunno dude i wouldn't care fair competition that this



and hotline miami 2 will get about the same storefront exposure

They will not though. Hotline Miami 2 will easily be on "featured" page, both on preorder and release. It will be onthe top sellers list, and it will show on those pop-ups you get after closing a game And of course, it will be in the new releases list.


Air control though? It will show up on the new releases list. Thats it.

 

[AScotAbroad]

You guys, what if Air Control is secretly Frog Fractions 2? The devs mentioned they will release it under a false name during their Kickstarter.

It was in a bundle a while ago though, I think the game is already out and playable

 

[zkylon]

They will not though. Hotline Miami 2 will easily be on "featured" page, both on preorder and release. It will be onthe top sellers list, and it will show on those pop-ups you get after closing a game And of course, it will be in the new releases list.


Air control though? It will show up on the new releases list. Thats it.

k hotline miami is a bad example, it having a publisher and all

but the ones i mentioned before like analogue?

 

[StAidan]

I spent 30 minutes with Volgarr the Viking this morning, and so far have failed to reach the end of the first level (although I feel like I made it pretty far). I'm really liking the precise, deliberate controls. The closest comparison I can think to make is that it has a similar control feel to Batman (NES). And even though I can tell it's a tough game, it doesn't feel unfair at all.

 

[jshackles]

besides as someone that depends on gaming for a lot of my happiness in life i don't like the idea of potentially missing out on very important games to me like the void or analogue: a hate story just so jasec can have a higher game count

i guess adding an in-store official garbage filter is kind of demeaning to the games it filters so at least just do some curating and refuse them outright

competition be damned, i want opening steam to be a happy thing, always on the look out of the next big thing, not a dumpster for shovelware

One of the things I've really tried to push to Valve is that people want a "unique" store experience. Steam, as an entertainment platform, should get to know you: it should know your gaming habits, the types of genres you enjoy, and what your friends are playing.

It should take all of this data, and make a home page that is uniquely your own. Sure, they might continue to have the large "curated" carousel of games at the top, but the rest of the page should be uniquely tailored to you and your preferences.

Do you normally spend Friday night playing MMOs? When you visit Steam on a Friday night, it should perhaps have more MMOs being advertised than it usually would. Are you likely to buy Dark Souls II since all of your friends are playing it? Have a section on the homepage like "43 of your friends played Dark Souls II today - want to join them?" Things like this are basic sales principles that work great for other big web-based stores.

That way, they can continue to provide a storefront where every game has an equal chance of being released on the platform, while at the same time isn't cluttered with things you're uninterested in. You can still find games like The Void or Analogue: A Hate Story, even though I myself don't personally enjoy those games.

It's just my opinion, but if I could offer one suggestion (and only one) to make Steam better for everyone, this would be it.

 

[RionaaM]

i dunno dude i wouldn't care fair competition that this

and hotline miami 2 will get about the same storefront exposure

This wouldn't be a problem with a curated store, where the former isn't allowed to be sold. Otherwise yeah, I see no reason why a particular game should be marketed more than any other. That's for Valve to decide, and they are no charity nor owe anybody any favors.

besides as someone that depends on gaming for a lot of my happiness in life i don't like the idea of potentially missing out on very important games to me like the void or analogue: a hate story just so jasec can have a higher game count

i guess adding an in-store official garbage filter is kind of demeaning to the games it filters so at least just do some curating and refuse them outright

competition be damned, i want opening steam to be a happy thing, always on the look out of the next big thing, not a dumpster for shovelware

This is exactly what I am saying. Let's agree to agree!

 

[Khronico]

I totally forgot to mention this yesterday, but I played(read?) Narcissu Friday night. Really touching visual novel that got a me more than a little choked up in the end. I highly recommend playing through it if you have 2-3 hours to spare. It's also free so there's no barrier to entry.

 

[RionaaM]

Can you say what you liked in Angel of Darkness, even my neighbor who was a crazy TR who could consume anything related and to Lara Croft and like hated it.

Not really, it's been quite a long time since I played it (never finished it). I probably liked the Paris setting and the controls. Of course, I have little experience with the franchise, having only played the demo of The Last Revelation, almost all of Chronicles on PS1 and a bit of one of the Wii games (plus 2013 which is my favorite).

 

[Pakkidis]

One of the things I've really tried to push to Valve is that people want a "unique" store experience. Steam, as an entertainment platform, should get to know you: it should know your gaming habits, the types of genres you enjoy, and what your friends are playing.

It should take all of this data, and make a home page that is uniquely your own. Sure, they might continue to have the large "curated" carousel of games at the top, but the rest of the page should be uniquely tailored to you and your preferences.

Do you normally spend Friday night playing MMOs? When you visit Steam on a Friday night, it should perhaps have more MMOs being advertised than it usually would. Are you likely to buy Dark Souls II since all of your friends are playing it? Have a section on the homepage like "43 of your friends played Dark Souls II today - want to join them?" Things like this are basic sales principles that work great for other big web-based stores.

That way, they can continue to provide a storefront where every game has an equal chance of being released on the platform, while at the same time isn't cluttered with things you're uninterested in. You can still find games like The Void or Analogue: A Hate Story, even though I myself don't personally enjoy those games.

It's just my opinion, but if I could offer one suggestion (and only one) to make Steam better for everyone, this would be it.

Ok, and their response was?

Steam desperatly needs an overhaul, I would also like to see something done to the library. Adding tags to the games you own makes basic sense, and allowing you to search games based on those tags as well.

 

[jshackles]

Ok, and their response was?

Steam desperatly needs an overhaul, I would also like to see something done to the library. Adding tags to the games you own makes basic sense, and allowing you to search games based on those tags as well.

So far, their response has always been nice, but basically "Don't worry, we know what we're doing." And then nothing changes.

 

[Last Baron]

Shovelware >> usability

 

[Nzyme32]

So far, their response has always been nice, but basically "Don't worry, we know what we're doing." And then nothing changes.

I guess all we can do now then is wait for them to publicly change things or wait for them to publicly announce you as a new hire. or both.

 

[MUnited83]

k hotline miami is a bad example, it having a publisher and all

but the ones i mentioned before like analogue?

Pretty sure the sequel to analog was on te featured page and even onthe top seling list for a bit.

 

[Knurek]

So far, their response has always been nice, but basically "Don't worry, we know what we're doing." And then nothing changes.

Well, as they say, money talks - the current course must still be bringing enough cash to not go into panic mode.

 

[rtcn63]

So far, their response has always been nice, but basically "Don't worry, we know what we're doing." And then nothing changes.

"That's what I love about these high school girls Steam, man. I get older, they it stay(s) the same age."

 

[textonly]

New IndieGala Monday Bundle is live
https://www.indiegala.com/

• Collateral (Desura) (Greenlight)
• Ignite (Steam)
• Metal Drift (Steam)
• LocoCycle (Steam)
• Zero Gear (Steam)
• RACE Injection - CONTAINS 6 ITEMS (Steam)

 

[Tizoc]

So atm only 2 Star Wars games aren't working for me because I need Keys for them:
Battlefront 2
Empire at War (Gold)

I just gotta wait til Steam updates my games with Keys in this case I take it?

 

[_hekk05]

"That's what I love about these high school girls Steam, man. I get older, they it stay(s) the same age."

Have you seen high school girls Steam lately? They're so different and so open now. Baring their wares for all to see. Its a different age, I tell you.

 

[Khronico]

So atm only 2 Star Wars games aren't working for me because I need Keys for them:
Battlefront 2
Empire at War (Gold)

I just gotta wait til Steam updates my games with Keys in this case I take it?

I was able to run Empire at War just fine without using a key... What do you need it for?

 

[Pachimari]

I just impulsively bought Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1. Hopefully it's still a good game online?

 

[PandaPedinte]

Not really, it's been quite a long time since I played it (never finished it). I probably liked the Paris setting and the controls. Of course, I have little experience with the franchise, having only played the demo of The Last Revelation, almost all of Chronicles on PS1 and a bit of one of the Wii games (plus 2013 which is my favorite).

I see, I only played 2, 3, the Last Revelations and Chronicles and also a bit of Anniversary. My favorite entry is the third game I know a lot of fans don't like it too much but for some reason it is my favorite and I finished it many times, but TR2 has the best level I've played in the series, the Maria Doria.

 

[Last Baron]

Huh, Steam cloud kept my Space Marine save after all. How do I check which servo skulls I'm missing? I'm real close to that sweet Playfire dosh.

 

[atomsk]

New IndieGala Monday Bundle is live
https://www.indiegala.com/

• Collateral (Desura) (Greenlight)
• Ignite (Steam)
• Metal Drift (Steam)
• LocoCycle (Steam)
• Zero Gear (Steam)
• RACE Injection - CONTAINS 6 ITEMS (Steam)

Wow, LocoCycle bombed really hard. I kinda feel bad for Twisted Pixel.

 

[Stumpokapow]

$1.99 for Lococycle!

 

[BruteUA]

I spent 30 minutes with Volgarr the Viking this morning, and so far have failed to reach the end of the first level (although I feel like I made it pretty far). I'm really liking the precise, deliberate controls. The closest comparison I can think to make is that it has a similar control feel to Batman (NES). And even though I can tell it's a tough game, it doesn't feel unfair at all.

Do you shout out loud like you're a Viking warrior-god while you play? I credit that with helping me get halfway through the second level.

 

[Knurek]

$1.99 for Lococycle!

IG having ties with Mafia confirmed?

 

[zkylon]

tbh i feel like more than a redesign, steam needs the site to just fucking work better. it's slow and clunky as hell and takes like a billion clicks to go anywhere. like give me the next ten releases button sometimes takes forever to load for some reason and so does the search bar.

can't valve just like go to gog, hit f12, copy paste all the code and like grab the css and turn it black?

isn't that how web programming works

One of the things I've really tried to push to Valve is that people want a "unique" store experience. Steam, as an entertainment platform, should get to know you: it should know your gaming habits, the types of genres you enjoy, and what your friends are playing.

It should take all of this data, and make a home page that is uniquely your own. Sure, they might continue to have the large "curated" carousel of games at the top, but the rest of the page should be uniquely tailored to you and your preferences.

Do you normally spend Friday night playing MMOs? When you visit Steam on a Friday night, it should perhaps have more MMOs being advertised than it usually would. Are you likely to buy Dark Souls II since all of your friends are playing it? Have a section on the homepage like "43 of your friends played Dark Souls II today - want to join them?" Things like this are basic sales principles that work great for other big web-based stores.

That way, they can continue to provide a storefront where every game has an equal chance of being released on the platform, while at the same time isn't cluttered with things you're uninterested in. You can still find games like The Void or Analogue: A Hate Story, even though I myself don't personally enjoy those games.

It's just my opinion, but if I could offer one suggestion (and only one) to make Steam better for everyone, this would be it.

i dunno so much about this, all the I KNOW WHAT YOU LIKE direction the internets has gone kind of freaks me out every time it happens

i mean steam already does it in their recommended games section but it's done so lazily it's hilarious

HEY REMEMBER THIS GAME THAT WAS ON YOUR WISHLIST 6 MONTHS AGO!? IT STILL IS!!!

OR COULD I TEMPT YOU WITH SOME....... OMG CS:GO!!!

but like i really don't want steam to tell me what to buy, i just want to be able to find it myself and not have to browse through tons of garbage to find it.

you know, like before valve fucked it up :3

This wouldn't be a problem with a curated store, where the former isn't allowed to be sold. Otherwise yeah, I see no reason why a particular game should be marketed more than any other. That's for Valve to decide, and they are no charity nor owe anybody any favors.


This is exactly what I am saying. Let's agree to agree!

so what yer saying is i was right all along!

Pretty sure the sequel to analog was on te featured page and even onthe top seling list for a bit.

ok f u dude you example killer douche lol

ok you may be right, so to turn that around i'll just say i don't use the featured games thing, it's slow, i have to browse through games i already have one at a time and sometimes breaks and doesn't load. new releases is right there 10 new games for me to be excited about

maybe not for everyone but i'd love that not to be cluttered with old shit and to miss out on something in the mix

and since this is just my personal wants with steam (say as opposed to jasec's delightful smaug-like collecting of crap), having a pretty and clean new releases page matters to me

 

[Acccent]

It's just my opinion, but if I could offer one suggestion (and only one) to make Steam better for everyone, this would be it.

If if was just your opinion, their response would be fine. Thing is, it's more than that: it's 'online store 101'. I really hope for Valve that Amazon stays dormant for a little while longer, because as soon as they decide to fuck things up and grab an actual share of the market, the only thing Steam will have going for it is blind loyalty.