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Latest Comments by Nezchan
Stardew Valley 1.6 bigger than expected - now in bug-fixing and polishing stage
30 January 2024 at 4:05 pm UTC Likes: 5

Definitely jumping in with a new save the moment 1.6 drops, are you kidding me? I'm eager to see what Barone has cooked up.

Build a powerful character in Into the Necrovale a new Action RPG
30 January 2024 at 3:53 pm UTC

Oh, I remember the demo for that in last summer's NextFest. Looks like it's expanded quite a lot.

At the time there were only a couple of enemy types, and not a lot of NPC interaction. Glad to see it's turning into something really good.

Never Grave from the Palworld developer looks a lot like Hollow Knight
30 January 2024 at 2:58 pm UTC

Quoting: EagleDelta
Quoting: Nezchan
Quoting: LacSlyer
Quoting: EhvisI don't really see a lot of the Hollow Knight specific art style in this game. This looks more like a traditional cartoony style. And while some of the mechanics look similar to Hollow Knight, the gameplay as a whole looks quite different. I mean, ladders? :) Crownsworn definitely looks closer.

If you can't see some of the screenshots on their store page that look like a blatant rip off of Hollow Knight then you either have no idea how Hollow Knight looks or you didn't actually look at the images. The art style isn't exactly the same, it's a bit more cartoony, but some of the shots make the environment look like they literally copy pasted from HK.

Keep in mind, the developer posted these shots to sell the game. When a handful of those images they posted can raise questions like this it's enough to be suspicious at the very least.

I think this is what people are missing here. This isn't about how the game actually plays. It's not about iteration on an existing set of ideas. It's about marketing, and using "looks a lot like" as a strategy, even though the game isn't like the thing it looks a lot like.

Craftopia didn't iterate on Breath of the Wild. Palworld doesn't really do much with Pokémon mechanics aside from capturing in the same way. And this seems to use none of the innovations Hollow Knight brought to the Metroidvania genre. But boy do they want people who know those games to look at screenshots and go "hey, that looks familiar!"

Which is something they have likely needed in the past. If you read the translated interview on the dev's site, you'll see that nearly every publisher he approached passed on the game because it didn't play it safe with a popular, trendy game format and genre. It doesn't have MTX, isn't a battle royale/FPS/Action RPG, so publishers passed. So, instead, they created their own marketing by using the art style to get ppl interested and in the door, then use the gameplay to try and get them hooked.

Even with the boatloads of money they've earned on Palworld, they are still nowhere near the resources that a AAA studio/publisher has available to spend on Engineers or Marketing (two of the most expensive parts of Tech/Gaming companies)

So...they were actually forced to use, and continue to use, a cynical marketing scheme where they rode the coattails of more popular games and mislead players about what their game was like.

Cool, I guess.

Never Grave from the Palworld developer looks a lot like Hollow Knight
29 January 2024 at 10:06 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: LacSlyer
Quoting: EhvisI don't really see a lot of the Hollow Knight specific art style in this game. This looks more like a traditional cartoony style. And while some of the mechanics look similar to Hollow Knight, the gameplay as a whole looks quite different. I mean, ladders? :) Crownsworn definitely looks closer.

If you can't see some of the screenshots on their store page that look like a blatant rip off of Hollow Knight then you either have no idea how Hollow Knight looks or you didn't actually look at the images. The art style isn't exactly the same, it's a bit more cartoony, but some of the shots make the environment look like they literally copy pasted from HK.

Keep in mind, the developer posted these shots to sell the game. When a handful of those images they posted can raise questions like this it's enough to be suspicious at the very least.

I think this is what people are missing here. This isn't about how the game actually plays. It's not about iteration on an existing set of ideas. It's about marketing, and using "looks a lot like" as a strategy, even though the game isn't like the thing it looks a lot like.

Craftopia didn't iterate on Breath of the Wild. Palworld doesn't really do much with Pokémon mechanics aside from capturing in the same way. And this seems to use none of the innovations Hollow Knight brought to the Metroidvania genre. But boy do they want people who know those games to look at screenshots and go "hey, that looks familiar!"

Never Grave from the Palworld developer looks a lot like Hollow Knight
29 January 2024 at 2:01 pm UTC Likes: 3

This developer specializes in "looks a lot like". Their previous effort, Craftworld, was marketed using "looks a lot like" Breath of the Wild, even though the mechanics were very different, and we all know about Palworld. They've learned that "looks a lot like" sells, so they've been leaning into it.

Expect more, for sure.

Former dev on Stardew Valley reveals their life-sim Sunkissed City
26 January 2024 at 7:30 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: redneckdrowWait a darn minute, I thought ConcernedApe was a one-man show?

I highly doubt this guy has any right to use these assets. They've barely been modified.

ConcernedApe hired staff a couple of years ago and has been working with them since. Much of what they've been doing is stuff for Stardew updates while he works on Haunted Chocolatier.

EDIT: Five years, in fact. He started hiring in early 2019, presumably getting ready for the big 1.5 update at the end of 2020.

Enshrouded is the latest open-world hit on Steam - how it runs on Steam Deck / Linux
25 January 2024 at 7:37 pm UTC Likes: 2

Watched a stream of this earlier today, and there's quite a lot of room for optimization. A number of bugs too, but nothing game-breaking that I saw.

That said, it seems pretty good so far. It's got good bones and a pretty satisfying gameplay loop. The fog mechanic is interesting and it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. Worth keeping an eye on, for sure.

Palworld overtakes Counter-Strike 2 for most players on Steam and hits 5 million sales
22 January 2024 at 10:08 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: SoulprayerIs it more like Valheim or like PUBG?
First game i like very much, last game is not my type of tea.

As I understand it, it's more like Ark, but without dinosaurs and somewhat better optimized.

Ubisoft think gamers need to get comfortable with not owning games
17 January 2024 at 12:19 am UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: finaldestRemember this conspiracy, You will "OWN NOTHING" and "BE HAPPY"


The funny part is, she (Ida Auken) wasn't talking about what she wanted, she was describing where she thought corporations were headed anyway. And she was right.

The original quote went on to say "What you want you’ll rent, and it’ll be delivered by drone".

Palworld is Pokémon with guns, farming, survival and building - I'm quite excited
10 January 2024 at 2:39 pm UTC Likes: 3

We'll see if it's a playable game. From what I've heard, their previous attempts have been janky attempts to cash in on other games' popularity, like replicating a lot of Breath of the Wild stuff (and even the splash screen) in Craftopia.

I expect this will be popular with streamers thanks to the edgy bits, at least.