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Latest Comments by scaine
Caves of Qud Science Fantasy Roguelike Now In Early Access For Linux, Some Thoughts
16 Jul 2015 at 6:21 pm UTC

Yikes, this like like a terminal/retro version of Tales of Maj'Eyal. But having played ToME for over a hundred hours already, I can't see any attraction to stepping back through a time warp to play this. Try ToME for free from their website and if you're into rogue-likes, you'll no doubt end up sinking £5 for the expansion / full game.

Looks as deep as ToME though and a similarly long development story, so good luck to the developer.

New Trailer Released For Gravity Platformer Airscape, Coming In August
15 Jul 2015 at 8:59 pm UTC Likes: 1

This looks absolutely incredible. Like a modern day Mario Galaxy. Insta-buy from me.

Catacomb Kids Is A Delightful Platformer Roguelike Where You Die A Lot, I Bloody Love It
15 Jul 2015 at 12:27 pm UTC

Quoting: ripperThe trailer looks fun, but why do they make the games so damn pixelated nowadays? I have troubles seeing things, it's just a mess of big pixels. It reminds me a bit on Unepic, though, which I quite enjoyed.
Yeah, it's a shame. I think the whole pixel/retro thing is being overdone hugely. I'd prefer most of these games to have a more defined look, mario-style. I guess it's a lot more work.

The worst game I played like this was Teleglitch. Great game, great concept, smooth execution but a pixellated pile of mess. Apparently there were differences in the smudges you "killed", but it's pretty much impossible to tell, since everything was made of about 6 gigantic pixels. Even the text was hard to read - like someone had zoomed in on an old calculator.

I can't bring myself to buy Crawl for the same pixelly mess reason.

Thoughts On The Final Steam Controller
10 Jul 2015 at 5:47 pm UTC

Quoting: Speedster
Quoting: scaineAs for the controller, I'm nearly sold, but games like Hero Siege really require twin sticks and I worry that the single-stick design will trip up a lot of the experience. I wonder if anyone has tried Geometry Wars (or Hero Siege itself) with this design?
I've never tried to play a hack'n'slash with a controller. How do you make use of twin sticks on Hero Siege?
Hero Siege is currently my new favourite game. It's a weird mix of Diablo-mechanics (looting, powerups) and twin-stick shooter. You move with the left stick and shoot (or swing) with the right stick, which means that you can be moving left, but swinging left/right/up or down.

Fantastic game, ridiculously, cheap. Well, you know me, Speedster. You know how I get hooked on stuff. If it's not Killing Floor or Tales of Maj'Eyal, then it's Hero Siege... :D

Thoughts On The Final Steam Controller
10 Jul 2015 at 3:24 pm UTC

I think the scaling issue will only get worse with HiDPI screens too. I was playing "Choice of Robots" the other day and the text is unreadable. You have to edit a CSS file in the game's directory to fix it!

As for the controller, I'm nearly sold, but games like Hero Siege really require twin sticks and I worry that the single-stick design will trip up a lot of the experience. I wonder if anyone has tried Geometry Wars (or Hero Siege itself) with this design?

An Update On The Open Source Project 'Xoreos' Concerning Dragon Age
10 Jul 2015 at 3:10 pm UTC Likes: 1

Man, that's absolutely fascinating. I take it that no-one at Bioware or who was involved in the coding is willing to share even definitions with you? Or even if they could, would you be able to accept without compromising your white-room approach?

Project Zomboid Build 32 Is Live, Steam Integration Coming Soon
5 Jul 2015 at 12:32 pm UTC

Really looking forward to playing this. Gutted that it appears to be in eternal EA. Have they announced a release date yet?

Portal Stories: Mel, A Free Standalone Portal 2 Mod Released On Steam
30 Jun 2015 at 12:24 am UTC Likes: 2

Someone doesn't like Portal 2. So that's a thing? Okay.

If you didn't like the new mechanics in Portal 2, ElectricPrism, you might as well not play Mel. It's fantastic, but it's clearly not for you.

Unlike you, though, I like variety in my gameplay. Simple things are fine, but the interplay of diverse, surprising, interlocking puzzles - that's a beautiful thing. Oh - and stay away from the Talos Principle. That's also not for you.

Tabletop Simulator Review - My Thoughts On Rolling Digital Dice
29 Jun 2015 at 11:12 pm UTC Likes: 2

I'm impressed by how often they update this and how cool the updates are, even after exit from Early Access (one of the few EA titles I bought with no regrets).

It desperately needs some better DLC. I'd love to see games like Zombicide or Descent done properly. Those games have significant map set up times - imagine being able to load the mod, hit a chapter set up button and be ready to play. That would be superb, but I suspect there's a way to go before they can offer that kind of per-game customisation.

Right now, they'd have to offer multiple load-points for each chapter, which would get pretty cluttered. Although, I'm sure they're working on something like that. As I say, the developers cram loads into each new fortnightly release.

Portal Stories: Mel, A Free Standalone Portal 2 Mod Released On Steam
29 Jun 2015 at 11:02 pm UTC Likes: 1

Not just hard - nails. In fact, the only problem with the game is the slow pace, forced by frankly shockingly difficult puzzles every step of the way. I had to sleep on a puzzle last night, got it tonight, and now I'm stuck again.

I agree that it's great they've managed such difficulty, but EVERY... SINGLE... CORRIDOR... is a challenge and it's beginning to hurt the experience. I'm spending an hour or longer on a single room, which is ultimately becoming a bit frustrating.

Very high quality though and some great new content, like water, switches for emancipation grids and killer emancipation grids.

Really impressive. And free! Huge congratulations to the team.