Subnautica should be called a horror game. This game is really unnerving,especially if you are using a headset.
My first sandwich maker circuit.
It's not the most efficient in either price or power consumption, but it worked first time 
- The first MC is in control of bread. It waits for keyboard input, plops down a bread, and then sends the inputted key to the next MC.
- The 2nd MC is in control of meat and cheese. It always plops down a meat, and then plops down cheese (but only if keyboard input wasn't 2: no cheese). It then sends the user input to the 3rd MC.
- The 3rd MC is mustard and the "I'm done" flag. It checks keyboard input for single or double mustard (3 is double mustard), puts down the appropriate amount, and then sends a signal to MC1 that it's time for the last bread. It then waits for MC1 to signal that the bread is done before raising the "I'm finished" flag for 3 ticks.
I would like to have cut the MC costs down by using a smaller one for MC1. I didn't need the whole 14 lines of programming space. But I did need 3 xbus outputs, and the smaller circuit only has 2.
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Is Subnautica good, would you say? I've been eyeing it for a while.
GasBandit
Staff member
You might give Path of Exile a try. It's free, so if it turns out to not run well, you haven't lost anything.
If PoE runs well enough, look into Grim Dawn. It's Diablo/TitanQuest in Fallout, basically.
Dave
Staff member
Grim Dawn, I said on the last page, is fucking awesome! Been playing a lot of it lately. It's like they took the best from Diablo & Titan Quest and threw out all the bad stuff. In fact, it resembles TQ almost more than Diablo. It has the same single/dual class skill progression, but this adds another thing called Devotions that are basically constellations that have varying powers that help you.
And there are decisions that you have to make that actually matter. I'll put one below that I'll put behind spoiler tags.
It's a good game and it is actually very light on resources. I'm running it at 250+ fps.
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/grim-dawn/12010
And there are decisions that you have to make that actually matter. I'll put one below that I'll put behind spoiler tags.
You meet a dying guy on the road and he tells you that his partner stabbed him in the back and left him to die. You agree to go after said partner, but when you meet him he paints a different story. He says that the guy he stabbed tried to rape his daughter. You then choose who to believe. If you kill the guy his daughter attacks you later and you get a cool ring. If you let him live, he and his daughter show up later as merchants who sell unique or hard to obtain items.
It's a good game and it is actually very light on resources. I'm running it at 250+ fps.
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/grim-dawn/12010
Get it on sale. At the beginning it is very much survival, and after around 10 hours it becomes more of a exploration game.
It will never get less unnerving though. Nighttime at 200m underwater is really fucking dark and then you hear the wail of some huge, unseen sea creature...
hope you are wearing diapers.
GasBandit
Staff member
How more people are not terrified of the crushing, infernal depths of the ocean where sunlight never shows and wretched abominations thrive in poisonous clusters, I will never fathom.
I have no qualms in stepping into the void of space...but deep water?
I see what you did there.
figmentPez
Staff member
Torchlight, Torchlight 2, and Titan Quest.
Diablo and Diablo 2
GasBandit
Staff member
So since it was on sale, I picked up Subnautica.
The premise is, you are the sole survivor of a jettisoned lifepod from a huge spaceship that crashes onto this ocean planet. Your lifepod is heavily damaged on landing, and you've gotta find a way to survive.
It takes some getting used to, but it's an engaging survival simulator I suppose. It especially helps that you are underpowered, and your crappy little diving knife can, at best, merely "coerce" the moderately sized predators to swim away from you... and is absolutely useless against the leviathan horrors of the deep.
For example... I finally managed to get some support going in the form of building a rudimentary underwater habitat with power, oxygen, a fabricator, and a communcations relay... and I immediately get a recorded, repeating distress call from another lifepod! It says they landed too close to the main ship wreckage and the radiation is too great for them to be able to leave the pod. They want anyone who receives to please bring them radiation suits. Well, I already have a radiation suit because I was planning on trying to explore the crash wreckage anyway (and the PDA advised me about the radiation), and I had the ingredients at hand to make another, so why not!
I whip up a second radiation suit, pull out my sea skimmer, and head for the signal source.
The closer I got, the more I felt something was really wrong....
Turns out, I find out after googling wtf is going on, is apparently the only thing the "lifepod 8" subplot does is lead you into the radiation zone and then drop a giant predator on you. I'd seen one of them earlier, when I was trying to explore the ship ruins somewhat further to the right, and my first sighting of these things (which are apparently called "Reapers") was rather unsettling.
So, anyway, the game is kinda neat, and I'll continue on with it I think, but it's also very Early Access/Alpha. The game frequently hangs for a few seconds to process new terrain, like minecraft used to back in the bad old days, and of course the whole "predators appearing out of thin water" thing is really irritating, but it's got real potential.
If anybody on the fence about it wants to see more gameplay footage, it's on my twitch, and will be for the next two weeks or so.
The premise is, you are the sole survivor of a jettisoned lifepod from a huge spaceship that crashes onto this ocean planet. Your lifepod is heavily damaged on landing, and you've gotta find a way to survive.
It takes some getting used to, but it's an engaging survival simulator I suppose. It especially helps that you are underpowered, and your crappy little diving knife can, at best, merely "coerce" the moderately sized predators to swim away from you... and is absolutely useless against the leviathan horrors of the deep.
For example... I finally managed to get some support going in the form of building a rudimentary underwater habitat with power, oxygen, a fabricator, and a communcations relay... and I immediately get a recorded, repeating distress call from another lifepod! It says they landed too close to the main ship wreckage and the radiation is too great for them to be able to leave the pod. They want anyone who receives to please bring them radiation suits. Well, I already have a radiation suit because I was planning on trying to explore the crash wreckage anyway (and the PDA advised me about the radiation), and I had the ingredients at hand to make another, so why not!
I whip up a second radiation suit, pull out my sea skimmer, and head for the signal source.
The closer I got, the more I felt something was really wrong....
Turns out, I find out after googling wtf is going on, is apparently the only thing the "lifepod 8" subplot does is lead you into the radiation zone and then drop a giant predator on you. I'd seen one of them earlier, when I was trying to explore the ship ruins somewhat further to the right, and my first sighting of these things (which are apparently called "Reapers") was rather unsettling.
So, anyway, the game is kinda neat, and I'll continue on with it I think, but it's also very Early Access/Alpha. The game frequently hangs for a few seconds to process new terrain, like minecraft used to back in the bad old days, and of course the whole "predators appearing out of thin water" thing is really irritating, but it's got real potential.
If anybody on the fence about it wants to see more gameplay footage, it's on my twitch, and will be for the next two weeks or so.
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I picked up Subnautica too, and my experience largely mirrors Gasbandit's, except I haven't visited that particular crashed pod yet. Instead, I went in the other direction and visited a different one, which was surrounded by predatory creatures very eager to take a bite out of me. I looked them up, and apparently they're called Sand Sharks. The pod was ripped open and there were no signs of survivors. I retreated back to the safety of my escape pod, but apparently one of the Sand Sharks followed me home, so now whenever I leave my base I have to watch out for that guy.
I also built a rudimentary underwater base, right beneath my floating escape pod, and so far it's going fairly well.
On the whole I'd say it's an engaging game, though there appear to be some rough edges that could do with some smoothing out. There's already a lot to enjoy though, and I look forward to what future updates will bring.
I also built a rudimentary underwater base, right beneath my floating escape pod, and so far it's going fairly well.
On the whole I'd say it's an engaging game, though there appear to be some rough edges that could do with some smoothing out. There's already a lot to enjoy though, and I look forward to what future updates will bring.
fade
Staff member
Gat out of Hell
I love the series, and this one is fun. But short. I only played it for a few hours the other day, and the save game was at 40% already. Sheesh. Some fun 4th wall breaking and genre saavy (Gat: "where do these guys go when I kill them?"). It's pretty much a re-skin of IV, but that's fine because I wanted more anyway. The only real problem with IV and Hell is that street-level stuff becomes irrelevant and nonthreatening.
I love the series, and this one is fun. But short. I only played it for a few hours the other day, and the save game was at 40% already. Sheesh. Some fun 4th wall breaking and genre saavy (Gat: "where do these guys go when I kill them?"). It's pretty much a re-skin of IV, but that's fine because I wanted more anyway. The only real problem with IV and Hell is that street-level stuff becomes irrelevant and nonthreatening.
I got a Steam link for $20, since it was on sale on Amazon as well as Steam, and it (theoretically) would be easier to use for games I like to sit in front of a TV with a controller for (games like Grandia, etc) instead of plugging my laptop into the TV. But now I can't get the sound on it to work regardless of how many different things I try that I see online, so I'm just going to sit here and be annoyed at it for a while before I try again.
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh I hate those little sandy assholes. I hate the "Stalkers" even more (the long nosed predators that hang out in kelp forests and steal metal, then bite you).
I got lucky though, I guess... two of the fart manatees (the scanner calls them Gasopods, heh, irony) apparently spawned right around my lifepod, so as long as I don't bother them, they are content to circle my pod, farting toxic spray at any predator that happens to come near.
Yeah, I liked Gat out of Hell, too (and the whole series from 2 forward), but yeah, it was short. I mean, 3 felt short after 2, then 4 was nice and long if you did all the side missions, and then this was super short. But very fun, especially if you play multiplayer with a friend. I like what they did for different powers, too. It was kind of a big question mark in my mind what the hell (heh) could follow up 4's superpowers, because once you've tasted flight, driving across town in traffic is torture... and welp, this works.
GasBandit
Staff member
Another little mean jab in Subnautica... when you get the communications system back online, you get an automated acknowledgement of your distress signal, assuring you rescue is on its way, and should arrive in "nine... nine... nine... nine... nine... hours."
99,999 hours.
Or 11 years and change. And that's just assuming the system isn't pegged out at some bizarre maxint, and is unable to communicate any measurement of time requiring more than 5 digits of hours.
HOPE YOU LIKE SEAFOOD.
99,999 hours.
Or 11 years and change. And that's just assuming the system isn't pegged out at some bizarre maxint, and is unable to communicate any measurement of time requiring more than 5 digits of hours.
HOPE YOU LIKE SEAFOOD.
figmentPez
Staff member
I'm not, is that good or bad?
figmentPez
Staff member
It's extra frustrating because I can stream from computer to computer just fine, but the Steam Link is being annoying. Will try opting in to beta.
GasBandit
Staff member
Subnautica:
Made really good progress! Even scanned some cyclops engine parts! Found an actual honest to god island! Learned all kinds of blueprints! Found lithium, uranium, great stuff! Game crashed! LOST IT ALL >_<
For the love of JIBBERS CRABST why does this game not have an autosave?!
Made really good progress! Even scanned some cyclops engine parts! Found an actual honest to god island! Learned all kinds of blueprints! Found lithium, uranium, great stuff! Game crashed! LOST IT ALL >_<
For the love of JIBBERS CRABST why does this game not have an autosave?!
I don't know why I'm sitting here soaking up achievements for Shovel Knight. I'm two stages from the end, but I'm struggling not to pick up money in a stage for a dumb trophy.
I also don't know why I bought this to play on the TV, yet I'm playing on Vita--oh right, because my wife is the Dovahkiin.
I also don't know why I bought this to play on the TV, yet I'm playing on Vita--oh right, because my wife is the Dovahkiin.
Fus Ro PWhipped?
GasBandit
Staff member
On an amusing note, however, I ran into a new kind of sea creature, called a Mesmer. Apparently it is an opportunistic carnivore that uses mind control to lure in and lull prey... and it even sort of works on humans. Well, you can actually shake the effect pretty easily by wresting your gaze away and swimming away, but it gets pretty irritating to be interrupted from whatever you're doing all the time. Even the humorous novelty of your suit computer's voice purring "It is your primary directive to swim closer to that beeeaauuutiful creature.... swim closer.... don't resist... it looks so friendly..." wears off after the 15th time.
So I finally decided to feed it my knife
So I finally decided to feed it my knife
Last weekend I dusted off my PSP after discovering that I might have access to some new games. This has led to me starting The Third Birthday. Having never gotten to play a Parasite Eve game (never owned a playstation other than the PSP), this is awesome.
Now I just have to find out every other good PSP game I missed.
Now I just have to find out every other good PSP game I missed.
The Third Birthday spits in the face of the Parasite Eve franchise, by being only tangentially related to the previous games and reducing the main character to eye candy. Even if the game is good, mechanically, by it's own right, it basically did to Parasite Eve what Other M did to Metroid.
Yeah I love the first two despite their mechanical flaws (and PE2 isn't even especially bad in that respect, it's like a cross between an RPG and Resident Evil) but what Third Birthday does to the series... "Gee, guess they only made 2 Parasite Eve games, huh? Well, that's Squeenix for you."
I never managed to get Armored Core: Formula Front but that looked like a blast. All the awesome mecha combat of Armored Core, none of the nihilistic world view.
Axiom Verge
Really cool game that's basically Metroid in all but name. Very clear inspirations.
Anyway, my 6-year-old niece watched me play (as she does sometimes). And she was incredibly helpful with two bosses. For the first one, I was too busy trying to dodge attacks and survive. I hadn't figured out how or where to hit it.
Suddenly, she says, "Hey, what are those yellow things on his back?" I shoot them and sure enough, boom! Damage!
Then later, I was in a big room where I had to create my own platforms but I couldn't figure out where (they were placed specifically). She noticed spaces in these vines and sure enough, that's exactly where the platforms were.
My niece is officially smarter than me. Or at least better at noticing little things like that.
Really cool game that's basically Metroid in all but name. Very clear inspirations.
Anyway, my 6-year-old niece watched me play (as she does sometimes). And she was incredibly helpful with two bosses. For the first one, I was too busy trying to dodge attacks and survive. I hadn't figured out how or where to hit it.
Suddenly, she says, "Hey, what are those yellow things on his back?" I shoot them and sure enough, boom! Damage!
Then later, I was in a big room where I had to create my own platforms but I couldn't figure out where (they were placed specifically). She noticed spaces in these vines and sure enough, that's exactly where the platforms were.
My niece is officially smarter than me. Or at least better at noticing little things like that.