Travis profile | Cheerful Ghost

Battleborn Enters Its Twilight Period, Soon To Be In Maintenance Mode

https://cdn-enterprise.discourse.org/gearbox/uploads/default/original/4X/c/3/6/c36622954298a5290d31a9d7128d317ab616d9b8.jpg

After the upcoming Fall Update, there will be no new content for Battleborn, Gearbox's somewhat ill-fated team shooter.

The game had lukewarm reviews at launch, and the timing was all wrong. Competing with Blizzard is almost always a bad idea. After an attempt to bring in new players with a free-to-play option failed to generate new interest, Gearbox has decided to cease active development and enter maintenance mode.

The game isn't shutting down, but it's entering it's last days, with a skeleton crew remaining to keep things working properly.

As a thank you to the players, Gearbox is giving out the skin pictured above with this SHiFT code:
ZKK33-FT59R-KCK3S-XCR33-B56HB

Full announcement: https://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/t/a-message-from-randy-varnell/1637649

Humble Bundle Has Reached a Major Milestone: Over $100,000,000 in Charity Donations

Humble Bundle (or as I like to call it, "the reason my Steam library has more games than I'll ever play") launched in 2010 with a simple mission: supporting charities by giving gamers the opportunity to pay what they want for awesome games. Since then, there have been countless bundles, including new categories of bundles like books, music, movies, mobile games, and a monthly subscription bundle. Plus, they've expanded to a full game store where you can get DRM-free and Steam games while still supporting charities.

And they've reached a major milestone: over $100,000,000 in charity donations. They've helped provide water to those who need it, protected people's civil liberties, fought cancer, helped gamers with disabilities, and much more.

This is a huge accomplishment. I bet back with the first Humble Bundle these folks never imagined where they'd end up.

Watch Nine Minutes of Cuphead

Game Informer has posted some demo footage of Cuphead, the upcoming indie platformer styled after 1930s cartoons. The art style is amazing-- as someone who grew up watching all the Looney Tunes and older cartoons I could get my hands on, this looks like tight, difficult, and satisfying gameplay wrapped up in charming bit of nostalgia.

The game is coming in a few weeks on September 29 to Xbox One and PC.

No Man's Sky Review, One Year Later: It's All About Depth

(This review does not contain spoilers past what the release announcement discusses. If you want to go in totally blind about new features, please consider skipping this one.)

After the third major update, Atlas Rises, No Man's Sky is what it was meant to be.

A common criticism of the game was that it's as wide as the ocean and as deep as a puddle. I never thought it was that dire, but the depth has improved dramatically. A game with "Mostly Negative" reviews on Steam has achieved "Very Positive" recent reviews for the first time.

So what makes things different now?

First, there's a new main story, separate from the Atlas Path (which has also been tweaked). The fourth race is revealed, and you learn more about the mystery of the simulation you're in. Interestingly, there's a story reason for why multiplayer is appearing now (more on that later), and why it's only "glitches" of other players. The ends of the Atlas Path and actually traveling to the center of the galaxy still do the same things they did before, but you now have another option for how to proceed.

Second, there's just more variety in everything. There are more plant and animal types (including those giant animals from the E3 trailer), and more planet biomes. Many more blueprints to have focused and varied builds for your ship and multitool. Each ship type (including the new, rare exotic ship type) handles differently now, and comes with a set of bonuses for different types of gameplay. Different star systems have a conflict rating and economy rating to determine the danger and trade in that system.

Portals now allow you to easily share coordinates to anywhere in the galaxy and go check out other people's amazing creations or interesting planets.

Mission boards in space stations let you build up faction standing and get rewards for doing things you'd probably already be doing anyway.

Crashed freighters on planets add to the landscape and offer a way to get some loot. Mostly, for me, they make the galaxy feel more alive.

And yes, multiplayer has been added, in a limited fashion. You can see other players as a glowing orb, and you can hear voice chat within a certain radius. There's no other interaction possible, with the exception of making a lasting monument that you and this other player met. Imagine Journey with voice. The plot reason for this (as explained in the release announcement) is that the simulation is experiencing issues, so other subjects in the same area are starting to bleed through. I took a trip to the former Galactic Hub, a project started by players even before the portals were activated, on the day the hub was moving to a new location (the new update significantly changed some planets, leaving the Galactic Hub capital a bit on the cold side). There was a party in the old capital to celebrate the move, and there were tons of orbs in a cacophony at first. But after a few minutes I saw what this limited multiplayer could offer: emergent gameplay. Someone set up an exocraft race, and I watched what may have been the first real-time exocraft race.

Yes, there are other new features. Redesigned UI, tech and cargo inventory slots, lower flight capability, crafting improvements, and so on. Those are nice quality of life improvements, but for me, it's all about depth. The game now has deeper gameplay, deeper story, deeper mystery. No Man's Sky, even at launch, scratched an itch I never knew I had. But the magic did eventually wear off. Even with base building and freighters and exocraft, there was only so much you could do before it got a little boring. Those beautiful planets that were pieced together procedurally used the same set of components, and once you'd seen them all, the newness wore off a bit. Now it's so much better in every imaginable way, and the replay value has skyrocketed.

If you were interested in this game before, but were holding off to see if there were any massive improvements, this is what you were waiting for.

Image credit: Noderpsy on reddit

GregoPeck wrote on 09/05/2017 at 12:52am

I often remembered that depth quote as I played the game, it felt too fitting. However, just as you say, the game got deeper. I liked it to begin with, but some things got old, like trying to scan every fauna on a planet. I don't worry about those scans as much. I like that now there is plenty to do and reasons behind many of them.

I recently deleted the game that I had going and created a new one, mostly because of your warning regarding Atlas Rises and old saved games. I'm ok with it and I think it's a great time to start over from the beginning. I'd still like to be able to use freighters to transport my exocraft to different planets instead of having to build an exobay on planets I want to ride around on. I'd also like to see Nanite Clusters not take up a space in the inventory. Other than that, I can't think of much more I want from this game. I'm not too concerned with multiplayer, but it does sound interesting. Thanks for reporting on that.

In the end, the game has grown quite well in the last year. I think it's a better game now.

Travis wrote on 09/05/2017 at 02:40am

> I'd also like to see Nanite Clusters not take up a space in the inventory.

Oh man, you and me both. There's still plenty of interface tweaks they could make to make things more comfortable to use, and that's on the top of my list.

GregoPeck wrote on 09/12/2017 at 03:53am

I should try to remember my minor current complaints about the game. I had a bug upon trying to exit my Nomad, I was placed some distance away. I did establish a base, but wasn't happy with the planet, due to the weather and lack of land mass. Luckily, I found a much better planet and moved.

I previously had an issue, when I first tried out the Missions Board. I accepted multiple missions and had trouble finding where I was supposed to go for of them.There was no icon for it on my map. I created a new save since then and decided to accept missions one at a time and haven't run into the issue again.

I have progressed a bit into the story and I can see how deep the game got. It's like they released a somewhat incomplete game. This year they have made a lot of progress in adding some of the finishing touches, especially the story. Really, I think things are a lot more "polished" now.

The game has crashed on me at two or three times recently. Otherwise, it's pretty stable.

GeForce Experience optimizes my AA settings to Ultra-SSAA x4, but the game seems to often change it to something else. I don't even see that setting in-game, the AA options don't include that one. I guess it doesn't matter too much, I'm not sure if I've seen a difference.

Travis wrote on 09/12/2017 at 01:10pm

Don't use GeForce experience for this one (or like... most games). With NMS they are using old settings. It'll try to "optimize" your game to settings that don't exist.

GregoPeck wrote on 09/12/2017 at 05:24pm

Yeah, that seems to be what it's doing.

I progressed even more into the story. I know the significance of "16" or what it means. I made it to the point where you decide which path to take; Atlas, center, or free exploration. So, I feel like I've gone through the major changes of Atlas Rises and am now back to the game as it was before. I know my old save was about a year old and even after multiple trips through black holes, I don't think I was even close to the center. How about you? Have you made it to the center?

I don't like the new terrain manipulator. I prefer the old one. I tried the new one out, but wasn't successful at it, maybe I need to get more serious with it and figure it out.

I really do like a lot of what they've done to the game in the last year. I might not be able to think of them all at the moment. I do feel like I'm spending a lot less time switching to new ships. After my first ship, I found a really big class B ship and I've had it since. It has a lot of slots, even if I haven't repaired all of them, which is another new feature I like.

Travis wrote on 09/12/2017 at 08:18pm

What do you mean new terrain manipulator? It was brand new with 1.3. Before that you could chuck grenades to blow up the ground (you still can). Unless I'm not sure what you mean. But I don't love the terrain manipulator. Its charge runs out so fast and it's faster to grenade things to remove ground, and adding ground is tedious.

And yeah I made a mad dash for the center once I felt like I was basically done with 1.0. So you finished the Artemis path, you got the choice at the end. I won't spoil what happens at the center but I will say it's similar to that.

GregoPeck wrote on 09/12/2017 at 11:26pm

Yeah, I miss the grenades and yeah I finished the Artemis path.

Travis wrote on 09/13/2017 at 02:22am

You still have grenades!

Travis wrote on 09/13/2017 at 03:17am

To clarify, you may not have them if you've replaced your multitool and didn't install them in the new one. I *think* my first few multi-tools back in the day had them already built but I could be making that up.

But every time I switch I forget to install stuff until I really need it.

GregoPeck wrote on 09/13/2017 at 05:21am

Cool, thanks. I probably just haven't found that tech yet.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 09/13/2017 at 04:12pm

I miss the grenades as well! Now that Nanites are a thing, it's take a lot longer to find new tech. It used to be almost every waypoint with buildings had some blueprint in it. It's probably better balanced now, but was much easier before :)

Travis wrote on 09/13/2017 at 04:13pm

I'd be shocked if you haven't, they have those plans weighted so that you get the tech for the base components early. But, if you've been focusing on Artemis and haven't done a lot of exploring and found those buildings that give you the tech, that could be why.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 09/13/2017 at 05:44pm

I'm pretty sure I've not found a grenade blueprint yet (I restarted my game after the newest update). I believe back in the day, you could simply find blueprints everywhere, but now where I used to find blueprints, I'm finding Nanite Clusters, and I don't think to trade them in at the trade stations often, but that seems to be the main source of blueprints now.

Travis wrote on 09/13/2017 at 07:14pm

Mm yes. It seems like a lot of times those in the space station don't have the basic ones when you need them. "Those buildings that give you tech" should have been more specific: the buildings with NPCs that give you tech.

The outposts and things with NPCs that do a speech check give you the blueprints like they used to. Sometimes you'll only get standing, sometimes credits, but it seems it's the same rotation of blueprints for the ones that do. I got a lot of blueprints that way.

And Nada and Polo still give them to you as well.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 4: Castlevania Special

Netflix dropped a new show based on the classic Castlevania series and in this episode we break it down for you to easily digest. Does Castlevania elevate the spate of terrible video game shows and movies or is it something else? The show contains some mild show spoilers so we recommend you watch it before listening. Don't worry the show is only four episodes and well worth watching!

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 3: Luke Skywalker's Cane

In this episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio we discuss Jon’s recent disappointment in losing his Super Nintendo Classic pre-order and all the games we are looking forward to playing this year. We round things off by talking about Luke Skywalker's Cane and our theories about Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As always, we start the show talking about what we are playing and watching and we’re interested in what you are playing too, so let us know in the comments!

No Man's Sky 1.3 (Atlas Rises) is out on PC and PS4

Just look at that beautiful video! I got about 20 minutes with it earlier and even in that small window, it feels like a very different game now. It reminds me (fittingly) of Terraria 1.3 with how much the game has changed.

Here's a brief rundown:

A new story. the lore of Atlas continues and the path has been reworked some. The NPCs you could have in your home have changed dialogue to fit the new story. Apparently, there's 30 hours worth of story content here. The long-rumored fourth race is here!

The galaxy has been redone again. Your home planet may look completely different now. The variety has been significantly increased.

They've added economy, wealth, and conflict ratings to each system, and those ratings affect what you can find.

You can now find crashed freighters on planets and loot them.

You can manipulate terrain with a multitool upgrade.

There's a mission board in every galaxy with procedural missions.

The amount of items you can craft and find have increased dramatically.

The visor looks very different, and scanning can help you find rare items.

The menu UI has been overhauled, to accommodate a new ship inventory system (you now have separate areas for equipment and cargo) and a more in-depth reputation system.

Portals are now functional! You can input the coordinates of planets to transport to them. Which helps with...

Multiplayer! In a sense. "Glitches in the simulation" are causing fragments of other participants to show through, and voip works within a certain radius. Basically, it's the Fable 2 take on multiplayer where everyone else is a floating orb. BUT it's the start of more to come, and still neat.

You now have the ability to fly low to the ground instead of hitting an invisible barrier far above the surface.

There are new ship models, some of which are only available in high-wealth systems.

Tons, tons more. But those are the big ones.

Full patch notes with screenshots here: http://nomanssky.com/atlas-rises-update/

And just a reminder, No Man's Sky is $25 on PSN, GOG, Steam, and Humble right now so if you don't have it, now's a good time to get it!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/11/2017 at 08:53pm

I might have to check this out this weekend...

GregoPeck wrote on 08/11/2017 at 11:09pm

Sweet!

jdodson wrote on 08/12/2017 at 02:37am

Awesome news. I DEMAND MORE THOUGHTS AFTER YOU PLAY IT MORE!

Travis wrote on 08/12/2017 at 05:21am

OK after a couple hours, it's immense. Before it felt like there was little to do aside from explore, but now it feels like TOO much.

A significant chunk of that is due to the fact that save files from previous versions are a bit bugged. You lose all your NPCs at your base and when you get them back (by rehiring them) they are at the end of their quest line, but in this new update they teach you new blueprints... which you can't get because they won't give you any quests... but you need those blueprints for other quests.

So my plan for now is to let it sit for a while and maybe 1.3.1 will work out some bugs. They've been good in the past about the first round of fixes coming out soon after release. I just feel certain that if they tested 1.3 with a 1.2 save file they would have seen this already-- it seems to be universal.

BUT for people starting fresh it seems to be a good experience all around. Well-balanced, nice progression. It may be time to start over, but ships are expensive!

Travis wrote on 08/12/2017 at 05:22am

But on the plus side, the new stuff is great. The lore-building quests are intriguing and handled well.

GregoPeck wrote on 08/12/2017 at 05:51am

That sucks about the NPC issue. But, yeah, there were things with this update that made me think that it might be a good time to restart. I don't think I spent much time playing the previous update. I was disappointed that you can only use vehicles on one planet. I thought they should have made it so you could take them with you to other planets, perhaps by freighter. I imagined landing a freighter and then being able to roll out your vehicle. That's something I'd like to see.

Travis wrote on 08/12/2017 at 02:10pm

> I was disappointed that you can only use vehicles on one planet. I thought they should have made it so you could take them with you to other planets

1.2.something addressed that. You can make them anywhere now

GregoPeck wrote on 08/12/2017 at 07:51pm

Yeah, you can make them whereever, but that requires you gather the necessary materials on each planet you want to use it. I like the idea of building one and taking it with you. Even if a freighter doesn't land, it'd be cool to get it some distance above the surface and just ride out of it with your vehicle and land on the surface. That would be fun.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/12/2017 at 09:38pm

It had been so long since I played, I decided to sttart a new game. I have to say, compared to when this game first came out, it looks beautiful! And it started out beautiful, so it's even better now.
I started on a planet that doesn't have many resouces, so I spent an hour or so just trying to repair all my equipment. I am just wandering around the planet now and haven't flown my ship once. There definitely is more on a planet, I think I'm going to like it again.

GregoPeck wrote on 08/12/2017 at 10:13pm

@Adam did you make it to the center of the galaxy in your old save? I'm tempted to start a new one, too, now especially since Travis brought that issue to our attention. It's been so long, I can't even seem to remember what starting out was like.

I'm glad you say the game looks beautiful. That's a part of it I definitely want to check out!

GregoPeck wrote on 08/12/2017 at 11:22pm

I started a new save, after backing up my old one. The only issue I've run into so far (after a few minutes or so) was that a question mark still appears on a waypoint after I've discovered it. I tried to get a screenshot in time to show this bug. http://steamcommunity.com/id/gregopeck/screenshot/848219940810532147

*Update* Reloading the game seems to have resolved this.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/12/2017 at 11:36pm

I never did make it to the center. I never really followed that path, and when I wanted to, it was super difficult to get back on track lol

Travis wrote on 08/13/2017 at 04:15am

Greg, I'd say the reason they didn't make the exocraft platforms work that way is because they want there to be some effort involved so you couldn't just spam them everywhere. BUT, it's as simple as destroying the platform (to get all your materials back) and then rebuilding it on a new planet.

There are some workarounds for the various problems people are having with old saves and quest progress. Hopefully they'll fix those soon.

And, there's already a 1.3.1 to address some of the worst game crashing bugs! Some were getting hard crashes to desktop under certain conditions.

GregoPeck wrote on 08/13/2017 at 04:45am

Yeah, I agree with your reasoning regarding exocraft. I thought destroying the platform only gave a fraction of the materials needed. If it gives all, then that's cool.

I like starting out fresh, because of the new stuff like missions. I'm having trouble locating a "secret depot" where I'm supposed to deliver some resources. I think it may be because I don't have a signal booster. I need to look into it.

GregoPeck wrote on 08/13/2017 at 08:27pm

I found this to be a good list of current issues and bugs people are having. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to locate a secret depot for a secondary mission I'm on. I've collected enough Heridium and the map points me in the current system, but otherwise I have no other navigational guidance. I've already completed a few similar secondary missions, but "A Cog in the Machine" doesn't seem to be letting me complete it. I may be missing some tech.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/6t5bys/atlas_rises_helpbugsqa_feedback_no_mans_sky/

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/14/2017 at 09:39pm

Has the day/night cycle always been part of the game? I don't remember it ever being so dark lol

GregoPeck wrote on 08/15/2017 at 12:10am

@Adam I seem to think I recall an issue about the game being too dark and there was some kind of video setting for it. I did a quick Google search, check it out and see if any of it helps.

https://www.google.com/search?q=no+man%27s+sky+too+dark&oq=no+man%27s+sky+too+dark&aqs=chrome..69i57.5887j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/15/2017 at 12:45am

The whole game isn't too dark, it's just really dark at night lol. Hopefully there's a light upgrade to my exosuit or flashlight upgrade to my multi-tool. I just don't remember a day/night cycle at all :)

Travis wrote on 08/15/2017 at 02:44am

There was always a day/night cycle but they darkened the nights to make things more immersive. The flashlight is now useful! (and you already have one-- press T!)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/15/2017 at 03:15pm

Oh! Lol, awesome. Thanks!

GregoPeck wrote on 08/23/2017 at 06:48am

We have some new patch notes! I'm still reading to see if the issue I had was resolved. I did try starting a new game (again), take things slower, and not have more than one active side mission at the same time. I haven't played in a while, so I'll just have to play more to see if my issue is resolved.

https://www.nomanssky.com/2017/08/5442/

Travis wrote on 08/23/2017 at 09:58pm

Read back for 1.31 and 1.32 as well, those might have fixed your issue.

Or today's experimental 1.34 if you're on the experimental branch (I recommend it)
https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/1471967615872925676/

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

No Man Sky's Waking Titan is Over, and Some New Details About 1.3 (Atlas Rises) Emerge (UPDATED)

The ARG Hello Games organized for No Man's Sky is over, and we ended up with some hints and somewhat cryptic information about the lore of the game. It appears we're playing a simulation started by a rogue AI, which was a common theory. We also got some 1.3 screenshots!

The one above shows a portal-- a structure present in the game already, but one that had no apparent use. Apparently that's going to change soon! The control panel thing pictured isn't currently in the game, so it looks like we're getting some interactivity.

In addition, this beauty dropped showing a new ship class! It's parked next to an observatory, so those may be an important part of the update, or maybe just a neat thing to put in a picture.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.wakingtitan.com/loop16/a8af5654-879c-4cea-a476-77c2fd54dfee.jpg

A few places have No Man's Sky for around $25 right now, possibly in preparation for an update. If you're interested, now's a good time to grab it for cheap!

UPDATED: The man himself, Sean Murray, sent out an email today with more information about the update. It's called Atlas Rises (which I hope is a reference to a Metallica song) and will focus on new lore and making portals do fun things. The full text of the email follows:

Hello Citizen Scientists,

It’s been a year since No Man’s Sky first released, and it’s been an exciting, intense and emotional year for us at Hello Games. We have been quiet, but we have been listening intently.

We've spent that year working hard on free updates for this game our team cares about so much.

Update 1.3 will release this week and will be available for free to all No Man’s Sky players. We're calling it Atlas Rises. It focuses on improving the central story of No Man’s Sky and adds the ability to quick travel between locations using portals. Patch notes will be made available shortly before the update goes live.

What we do is much more important than what we say, but since launch we have sometimes focused too much on that.

We wanted to reach out and celebrate the devoted community that means so much to us. We launched Waking Titan to try to do that.

When we posted those cassettes we didn't know what to expect. In the last eight weeks a quarter of a million players from across the globe (174 countries, to be precise!) have come together - united by a shared love of mystery and science fiction - to form the Citizen Science Division. You’ve travelled great distances both real and virtual, undertaken complex tasks, and explored the depths of simulation theory. New friendships have been forged, and a tight-knit community has been created. Most importantly a cute hamster has a new home.

You've become part of the No Man's Sky origin story.

It's been an honour to watch, but this is just the beginning. Whether you’ve followed Waking Titan or not, we welcome anyone to sign up to the Citizen Science Division, and to join us on the official CSD forums.

Our journey continues.

Thank you for this year. We hope you enjoy what comes next.

Sean

The No Man's Sky Hype Train Is Back In Service

There's a new ARG/Viral marketing thing going on for No Man's Sky, and unless you've been following from the beginning it's easy to be confused like me. It started with cassettes being sent to some people involved in No Man's Sky subreddits that, when the waveform was analyzed and decrypted, had a secret message: portal.

Since then, the Waking Titan project site has launched, with the promise of 10,000 random entrants receiving a physical Atlas Pass v4, a questionnaire, a secret decoder wheel to get you into a website with Titan commands, PDFs with what may be coordinates to planets in-game, and other strange things.

I do worry that this is building hype for something that may not deliver what people expect, but I'm having fun tuning in to see what's new. I'm hoping for that shiny Atlas pass too.

Gamespot has a good breakdown of what's happening:
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mysterious-no-mans-sky-website-goes-live-as-part-o/1100-6451908/#comments-block-33399448

And the NMS subreddit has some more history:
https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/6orsy9/waking_titan_megathread_phase_2_begins_edition/

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 2: Alien Covenant Special

We are back with Cheerful Ghost Radio with a special extra episode about Ridley Scott's latest horror extravaganza Alien Covenant! In this episode, we discuss our thoughts on Prometheus and expectations we had for the next installment, and then Jon and Travis discuss and review Alien Covenant itself. If you haven't seen it yet, we warn you before we go into spoiler territory.

Nintendo announces the New Nintendo 2DS XL

The mouthful that is the New Nintendo 2DS XL, will be released on July 28 for $149.99.

If you've been waiting to get into the 3DS/2DS scene, now might be the time!

This is the first new product in the 3DS family since 2014/2015's release of the New Nintento 3DS and the XL version. The NN2DSXL (which is totally not an official initialization, but I'm going to make it a thing) comes on the heels of the Switch launch, the news of the NES Classic being canceled, and rumors of the SNES Classic coming later in the year.

jdodson wrote on 04/28/2017 at 08:53pm

Yeah I saw this and think this is a good idea. The catalog of the DS/3DS is huge and this isn't a very powerful system so I imagine it can be made for cheap. I've been happy with my New 3DS and think the 3D is cool but isn't a deal breaker. I like the look of this new system too. The blue buttons are sharp.

scrypt wrote on 04/29/2017 at 03:24pm

So much for Nintendo merging handheld and console. Also, this is a ridiculous piece of marketing voodoo. The original DS had a hinge, and since this new machine isn't flat (which is what made the 2DS 2D...) why not just call this a DS XL? Nintendo, be more like Apple and less like Microsoft!

Travis wrote on 04/29/2017 at 11:52pm

What made the 2DS 2D was the fact that it lacked 3D capability. But then that also made it sound like a previous version. DS -> 2DS -> 3DS.

So then you have the DS, DS Lite, DSi, 3DS, and 2DS. Plus the NEW 3DS and now the New 2DS. And the XL variants of some but not all of the 3DS generation. I pity parents who know nothing about which ones are newest.

Honestly, Nintendo's whole naming game is weird.

As for Nintendo merging handheld and console, that's still not out of the question. It's not super-common but it's not UNcommon for a final revision of a last-gen system to come out after the release of the next one. I imagine this is the last of the *DS line released for people who want to play the whole shebang of older games without shelling out a full $200 for the New 3DS XL.

WhiteboySlim wrote on 04/29/2017 at 11:54pm

Nintendo really needs to work on their naming conventions.

I think the 2DS was called that because it lacked the 3D feature, not because the unit itself was flat. It could play all the 3DS games just without the 3D effect. This is the 2D version of the New Nintendo 3DS.

Does that help clear things up? :P

Will_Ball wrote on 04/30/2017 at 01:31am

I think Nintendo is hedging their bets by still not confirming a merge of handhold and console. They did a similar thing when the DS was released. They called it the third pillar, with the other two being the gameboy and the console of the time, but they were quick to kill off the gameboy when the DS did well from a sales standpoint.

scrypt wrote on 04/30/2017 at 02:58am

The DS was 2D, which came first. The 3DS added 3D, thus the naming distinction. The 2DS is a DS with no hinge, the board itself being "two dimensional", if you will. They should have added a suffix instead, like they did with the DSi, instead of a redundant prefix, especially since they are going back to the old form factor (but not so old that it requires marketing reinvention). As you say, pity the parents. /endpettyrant (sorry!!)

scrypt wrote on 04/30/2017 at 03:02am

The last half of that rant was meant to reference the new naming of the 2DS XL. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I'm typing on my phone and I only see a few lines and forget to scroll back before posting sometime 😬.

Travis wrote on 04/30/2017 at 04:55am

> The 2DS is a DS with no hinge

The 2DS is way more than that. A DS with no hinges would only be able to play DS games. This can play the 3DS series too.

The 3DS is a new handheld platform altogether with much better processor/ram/graphics. The 2DS just removed that 3D capability to make it cheaper. You can't play 3DS game on a DS, but you can on a 2DS.

Compare that to the DSi, for which there are only five games that are DSi exclusive. That was just a minor hardware iteration last gen. The 2DS whether it has a hinge or not is still firmly in this generation. Calling it the DS XL or something else that just adds a suffix to 'DS' would imply that it can't play 3DS/2DS games.

The fact that it has no hinges didn't factor into the naming I don't think. I could be totally wrong but all the marketing I saw was just about it playing 3DS games in 2D. And if the naming *was* in part because of the form factor, that's just kinda weird marketing on their part.

The 2DS was marketed for a younger audience since the 3D tech was apparently bad for kids' eyes. The removal of the hinges was because kids break those.

Travis wrote on 04/30/2017 at 05:16am

None of that helps the confusing naming choices though. I think the best choice would have been to call the 3DS something that didn't have "DS" in it.

But at this point people expect a 3DS that only plays in 2D to be called a 2DS and calling it something else would be even worse.

scrypt wrote on 04/30/2017 at 03:10pm

You're right about the compatibility of the 2DS. I guess I was thinking primarily of the concept (the DS already played 2D games), and the idea of going backwards (or in circles) to go forwards. Nintendo has a good thing with their handheld systems. Adding distracting titles to the naming of them is my biggest issue. I appreciate the consistency of Sony's PlayStation iterations, or Apple's mostly consistent iMac line and OS naming convention. Is it true that Nintendo has two 3DS XL systems on the market? Maybe Nintendo doesn't see the confusion, only the idea of "options." To them it doesn't matter as much, as long as people buy something.

Travis wrote on 04/30/2017 at 03:25pm

There's the 3DS XL which is no longer in production, and the New 3DS XL.

Yes really. Adding 'New' to the title of something is not a good way to distinguish them since it's an adjective used to describe anything new.

Will_Ball wrote on 04/30/2017 at 09:08pm

Just look at what happened to New Coke. :)

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Star Wars Episode IX Release Date: May 24, 2019

Disney and Lucasfilm have announced the release date for the conclusion to the sequel trilogy: May 24, 2019.

This means a bit less waiting than if they'd kept the holiday release schedule, but I have to admit, after the past two movies December just feels like Star Wars season to me, and I'll miss that a little.

Not enough to make me wish it was coming out 7 months later, though :D

In addition, the fifth Indiana Jones movie will be coming out July 10, 2020. Here's hoping the new Indy movies get the same treatment as Star Wars.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/25/media/star-wars-episode-ix-release-date/

Will_Ball wrote on 04/30/2017 at 01:31am

I liked the holiday release dates.

jdodson wrote on 04/30/2017 at 04:05pm

I did too but at least we now get new Star Wars faster?

Will_Ball wrote on 04/30/2017 at 11:07pm

Is that a good thing? Will it become oversaturated? As long as the stories are good, it is a good thing.

jdodson wrote on 05/01/2017 at 02:27am

Marvel keeps putting out movies people want to see I think LucasFilm can do similarly but they keep trying to mine past films with the anthology movies.

jdodson wrote on 05/01/2017 at 02:40am

I guess my point with the anthology films like Rogue One and the upcoming Han Solo movie is that those films are based on the original trilogy. The OT is incredible but I wonder how much longer we can keep mining the OT? I guess if the movies are good then it might not be a problem but I hope the new Force Awakens, Last Jedi and SW9 can create a larger universe with characters that go in different directions.

Travis wrote on 05/01/2017 at 03:26am

I don't think it's a problem (at least until I see the Han Solo movie) because I'm not sure if I'd call the Han Solo movie "based on" the OT. At least not necessarily. It's a character's origin who originated in the OT, but at the same time the prequels were based on the OT because it was Anakin's and Obi Wan's origin. Everything expands the same universe and it seems like we're getting some decent gaps filled.

Rogue One leads straight into Episode IV, so your point definitely stands on that one, but the Han movie doesn't seem (from what we know now) to tie into it that closely. It seems like it'll help bridge the gap between the two complete trilogies we have so far.

The third one was rumored to be about Boba Fett which would bridge the PT and OT (though I can't see that being interesting enough to warrant that movie-- I'd still watch it and probably love it). The one people are clamoring for is an Obi Wan movie that would bridge the PT and OT. That's what I love about these anthology films-- they're filling in gaps of story.

With the Sequel Trilogy still incomplete I doubt we get anything filling the gaps between Jedi and TFA for a while, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting some when they come.

And what I'm kinda hoping is that we don't get a core series movie for a while after episode IX. Let it stew for at least 7 or 8 years. Because at that point, with three complete trilogies and an overall arch that we don't entirely get yet, there will be some amazing things to branch off from.

Travis wrote on 05/01/2017 at 03:51am

To make that clearer-- they're obviously based on the OT, but not based on them in the sense that they would have to be limited by them in any way. Rogue One was *heavily* based on the OT and had an equation it had to solve. Or rather, it had the solution and had to write the equation. There were bits that had to end a certain way. But these other one don't need to. It's a big-ass galaxy!

If there's one thing the abandoned Extended Universe of Star Wars has taught us, it's that there's basically an unlimited amount of content that can tie into the OT. As long as it doesn't feel derivative or stale we'll be solid, and with Kathleen and Pablo I doubt that's a concern.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Re-Logic Shares Terraria: Otherworld Woes and Plans for the Future

As many surmised and/or feared, it looks like the silence on updates *was* a result of issues with development. Re-Logic has announced today that they were unhappy with the development from Engine Software, and are bringing in Pipeworks Studios to continue development.

"Our team had a clear vision for this game – one that we shared with all of you with much shared excitement – and, as much as we hate to say it (and in spite of all of the reforms we tried last year) - the current state of the game is still equal parts far from that vision and well behind schedule.

As a result, we have made the decision to move on from having Engine Software continue development of Terraria: Otherworld.
...
The great news is that we already have a dedicated and passionate team ready to pick up the torch and continue the Otherworld journey! Based upon their really impressive work to-date with the Terraria re-write on Console/Mobile, coupled with an amazingly on-point proposal for completing Otherworld (after a thorough review of the game on their end), we have made the decision to bring Pipeworks on board as our new development partner for Terraria: Otherworld!

We know that the "radio silence" and all of the shifting development work aimed at continuing the journey for Terraria: Otherworld has been frustrating for a lot of you.
...
The length of the silence was purely driven by "these things take time to occur and then set up" coupled with our desire to have an actual solution/path forward before just sharing the news about Engine."

This is good news, really. We now understand the long gaps between updates, and we know that Re-Logic is moving forward with a new team. The bad news would be if they had just pushed on. I'm more optimistic now, knowing that Re-Logic is taking care of things and bringing in some fresh eyes.

Full statement on the forums: https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/changing-of-the-guard-an-update-from-otherworld.56207/

GregoPeck wrote on 04/05/2017 at 05:26am

I'm glad the silence has been temporarily broken after so long. Initially I feel optimistic about it and can wait for a really good game, at least that's my hope of the product. I look forward to seeing more news ahead. Thanks for sharing!

GregoPeck wrote on 04/06/2017 at 02:14am

Reading more into the replies on that post is interesting. The developer perspective is obviously real and most often invisible to gamers. In recent years, since playing Terraria and Ark, I've been paying more attention to game development news, particularly with these two games ("Terraria" includes Otherworld). It's fascinating what I've learned and experienced over the years and yet I obviously can only see a small fraction of what's going on.

We mentioned before that we're not too impatient for Otherworld, although we eagerly eat up anything Terraria. It was exciting to first find out about it and have that hope of seeing it "soon" two years ago.

I'm glad when developers fill us in on what's going on "behind the scenes." I was disappointed for the "radio silence," but I didn't get frustrated. Although we now don't have a timetable for the game's release, we at least know that Re-logic is working hard to make sure this game meets what seems to be extremely high standards, which should produce a very good game. So, I'm hopeful and optimistic, maybe even more so now that I know what's been going on and it's not a dead project.

I haven't really played many tower defense games. I remember that quest at Fort Condor (I think that's it's name) in Final Fantasy VII. I wasn't too fond of it. Later, I found a Final Fantasy game on the Wii that was a tower defense game (I don't recall it's name). It was free or a demo, but I didn't spend much time with it nor did I find it too interesting.

So, I'm a bit reluctant regarding the tower defense aspect of Otherworld, however, I think Re-logic could perhaps do something amazing with it. That kind of mechanic does seem to fit well into Terraria as you're trying to protect your NPCs from the Blood Moon and such. In Terraria, we build arenas for this, so the tower defense aspect is already there.

Hopefully we'll see more development news in the next few months, though it doesn't look like we'll see the game this year (and I'm ok with that).

GregoPeck wrote on 04/07/2017 at 01:47am

TOW's budget is apparently over $4 million. Check out ChippyGaming's new video: https://youtu.be/8MupkdeRlK0

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Mass Effect: Andromeda - Review in Progress (the first 10-ish hours)

I've been playing Mass Effect: Andromeda in basically all my free time over the past couple days. EA has a program called Origin Access (or EA Access on consoles) where you pay $5 a month and you get access to a ton of games. It's like Netflix only for EA games. In addition, you get a 10% discount on any purchase. I had just gotten a new PC and wanted to try some games that I'd missed so I paid for a month.

Little did I know, however, that it also included timed game trials before release. In Mass Effect: Andromeda's case, I was able to play the game for up to 10 hours and up to a certain point in the story. I only got to about the 8:30 mark before I ran out of stuff to do, and I had been really taking my time. And now I have to wait until Tuesday, when it actually releases, to continue. And I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas.

In short: there are issues, but it's great overall... so far. The following are first impressions that may change over the course of the game, and I'm keeping things spoiler-free.

The bad
First, lets get the bad stuff out of the way:

The facial animations. Oooooooooohhhh boy, those facial animations. At best they're as bad as the previous entries. Bioware has a bad track record for those. But with the new shiny graphics, the bad facial animations are more pronounced. At worst, they're really distracting and jarring. These have been getting a lot of ridicule and it's clear why. The odd thing is, the aliens have perfectly fine animations, it's the humans who have weird thousand-yard stares and creepy smiles. Bioware/EA has said that there's a bug involved and that it wouldn't be fixed by day 1, so we may get some improvements.

The writing for character dialogue is inconsistent. One character can go from seeming real to seeming cliché in two lines. While it isn't bad overall, the bad parts bring it down a bit. Thankfully it seems like only a few characters are affected. Perhaps they just didn't have a solid idea of who these characters should be? I'm hoping this improves as the story moves on.

Planet scanning seems to have less of a point. Almost no planets have anything to scan. And while the on-planet vehicle makes a return, at least at this point in the game the only planets you can land on are the ones involved in the main story.

Getting around in the galaxy is slower. You have a really pretty cutscene every time you switch from one planet/system to another. It's nice the first few times, not the 20th.

The omni-tool scanner slows you down and I felt compelled to pull it out often to make sure I wasn't missing something.

The first planet you visit (after the intro planet) isn't a good one to show off for the demo. Or, alternatively, the demo ends just too soon. You can barely go anywhere until you do something (which I won't give away in case people are really wary of spoilers) but the trial stops right before you get to do that thing. So even when you get to the end of where the plot will take you in the demo, you've probably exhausted what you can explore too.

There are some sidequests that feel identical to ones I've done before in Mass Effect and other games. It's not something unique to this game, but a couple of times I thought, "Oh THIS again. OK." Not a huge thing, but there are some tropes.

I don't care about the enemies. At this point, they're just violent and nothing else. I wish that, by this point in the game, we had learned about them a bit more.

This is more nebulous but worth mentioning. I like the characters but none of them seem as memorable as the wonderful cast of characters from the first three games. I could be wrong, there's a lot of game left.

Sometimes the new on-planet vehicle is an asshole. I see what they were trying to do with the new controls for it, but it may be overcomplicated at times. And it doesn't have any weapons!

The good

The graphics, facial animations aside, are wonderful. I can't say much more about them than that. It's really good stuff.

The world-building is fantastic. Er... galaxy building? Andromeda feels alien. Even more than the planets you visit in the previous Mass Effect games. The structures built by the Milky Way crew look like modernized architecture from the previous games. It feels very Mass Effect, and yet separate from the Mass Effect trilogy that came before it.

The more open design helps make the worlds feel real. I wouldn't call it open-world, but it benefits from being more open. The addition of jump jets let you explore more of the space, and it feels less restricted.

Combat is much improved, largely because of the more open design and the jump jets, but everything just has more weight to it now. Enemies seem smarter, and will actively flank you. You have to pay attention.

Aside from the tropey quests mentioned above, the quests and sidequests are great. Even in the intro, when you first get control of your character, you can see things happening around you that you can jump into or not. When you first find a certain place (again, being careful of spoilers) you can start a murder mystery that takes you to multiple systems to solve.

Even if the lips don't match all the time, the voice acting is solid. I got used to FemShep, so in my mind Mass Effect has female protagonists and I chose Sara Ryder. Her voice actor is no Jennifer Hale, but she does well, and the supporting cast does as well.

There are callbacks to the old games. So far, they've been minor ones but it helps to tie the series together.

Omni-tool scanning, while not perfect (see above) is fun. I felt like I was in No Man's Sky, running around scanning animals, rocks, plants, and tech. I hope the folks at Hello Games play this and modify the scanner in No Man's Sky a bit, honestly.

(This isn't really a spoiler unless you've literally avoided everything about this game, so if you're here I assume you at least know the premise.) You aren't saving the galaxy this time, I don't think. I say "I don't think" because the plot has a long way to go and could significantly change. In the previous games there was a massive threat that needed to be stopped. In this game, it's all about making a new home. The new goal and focus are refreshing.

Multiplayer is pretty solid but I suck at it.

The Tempest isn't the Normandy but it's pretty sweet. It's that same familiar ship design from the SR-1 and SR-2, but modernized and shinier.

The characters are good. I'm pessimistic about them achieving the character development from the first three games, but they are good. I care about them. Natalie Dormer's Lexi T'Perro is a fantastic Asari doctor (who totally isn't into women, a fact I discovered accidentally), Vetra is a Turian who would make Garrus proud, and so on. The characters retain the traits of their races, while also having unique personalities.

The on-planet vehicle is much improved over the Mako. Yeah I know I complained about it up top, but in general it's far better. GTA it ain't, but it serves its purpose better than the Mako.

Bottom line
When I was looking for a screenshot to include up top, I found a screenshot from Shepard's apartment in Mass Effect 3, when she throws the party and they take a group photo. That felt like seeing a picture of my absolute best friends that I haven't seen in years. While Mass Effect 3 was a downgrade for the most part, I seriously felt regret and loss at seeing that screenshot. That's how much I loved the original trilogy. The question for many won't just be "Is Mass Effect: Andromeda a good game?" It will be "Does Mass Effect: Andromeda achieve what the previous games did?" And that's not really even something we can answer until there's a trilogy, because the strength of each new game builds because of the history.

For now, I can say Andromeda is really good so far. I'm simultaneously optimistic and hyper-critical because of loving the first trilogy. I have problems with Andromeda, some of which may get fixed, some of them are there for good, and some are my own brain telling me "BUT IT'S NOT SHEPARD!" But the problems don't make it bad, not at all. The facial animations are the biggest issue but, while they're distracting, I'm not playing the game for how people's faces look when they talk.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the game. There's a lot of promise here, and I just want to sleep until Tuesday so I don't have to wait to keep playing.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/19/2017 at 03:40am

Looks like this month (and maybe next) we're both playing Bioware games. I'm working my way through the Dragon Age series. I intend to get the Mass Effect series eventually since it comes with a lot of strong recommendations (from friends). I'll probably wait for a sale though.

Travis wrote on 03/19/2017 at 03:43am

They go on sale often. In fact, you just missed a huge Origin sale where they were way cheap. I recommend getting them on Origin because the DLC is way easier to deal with there.

Travis wrote on 03/19/2017 at 03:44am

(But if you have them on Steam already you can *usually* activate them on Origin with the CD key, at least until those keys expire)

GregoPeck wrote on 03/19/2017 at 03:46am

That sucks that I missed it. I do intend to buy them on Origin, since Steam's ME collection is limited. Steam doesn't even have ME3.

scrypt wrote on 03/19/2017 at 05:32pm

Nice review, Travis. Seems more fair and balanced than others I've read. Andromeda was high on my anticipated games list for this year. While I haven't played yet, I did watch gameplay of the first hour, after reading some reviews, and decided I should probably rent this first. I'm at 57% completion on Horizon Zero Dawn, and the complaints I see about Andromeda are handled with absolute style and grace in Horizon. I've heard other reviewers complain mostly about the writing in Andromeda, and from what little I've watched, I can see what they mean. Bioware games are typically synonymous with rich story. The beginning of Andromeda is more like cheap fiction. More Starship Troopers than Star Trek. Which is okay, I guess, if that's what you're looking for. To be fair, though, I'll give it a rent and see what else is there.

Travis wrote on 03/19/2017 at 08:52pm

The story does seem to get better. I'm not super far into it or anything but I can kinda feel things building toward something. That something could be good or bad.

Travis wrote on 03/19/2017 at 09:16pm

But yeah still. None of the same writers from previous games worked on this one. We're in uncharted waters, story-wise.

scrypt wrote on 03/22/2017 at 08:21pm

Okay, I'm a little over 10 hours into Andromeda now. All of the complaints seem justified, or at the very least understandable, from what I've played. Animations are not what you would expect from AAA studios in 2017, but for a Mass Effect game, they aren't awful, which isn't a great thing. It would be like saying the Wii U was amazing for implementing HD graphics, when everyone else had been doing it for a decade. It's progress for them, but a slow train moving for the industry. Voice acting in Andromeda is decent, mostly. What those voices say, however, can be cringe inducing at times. It's less horrible than some have made it out to be, but it's indeed jarring. The combination of poor dialog segments attached to unpolished facial animations is where I find the game most disappointing. These are the vessels that are telling the story. It's hard to take them seriously when they all look like they had their eyelids removed before cryo-sleep.

Shepherd's saga left large shoes to fill, and, smartly, Bioware has thrown them away altogether and are trying something mostly fresh, but safely familiar. Its a good idea, but I find the execution so far is boring. Rather than explore options in this new galaxy, you're immediately presented with ad nauseam justifications, from almost every speaking character, as to why this game had to have combat mechanics. I get that the story is about immature explorers making bold choices and finding their way, but that doesn't mean the story itself has to be immature. The overall design of story, levels, and characters feels sloppy. This could be something that improves as the game progresses, but it needs to be there at the beginning, and certainly within the first 10 hours.

UI is painful. Combat is painful (AI especially. Again, maybe better for ME, but way below average). Environment scanning is painful as well (I know you like it, Travis, but it takes me out of the game. I'll take NMS existing scanner any day. An improvement would have been to make an omni visor, or something so it could actually be a vision mode, ala the Arkham games, especially being a 3rd person game. As it is, you're constantly pulling out the scanner, because you don't want to miss anything. At least in NMS, when you do scan, it seems out of purpose rather than paranoia.). In fact, that's what I keep coming back to with my game play: an unnecessarily painful experience. And I'm super bummed about that.

The best thing I saw, so far, happened in the first 20 min or so: The "cinematic" when your shuttle is en route to Habitat 7. For a moment, it felt like a Mass Effect game. The rest of the time if felt more like "Uncharted Jr. in Space" Effect. I want to say that I'd come back to it at some point, to see how it plays out (maybe the real meat is at the 20 hour mark! I've heard that Final Fantasy XIII is like that.), but I don't see anything in there that would pull me back in.

Travis wrote on 03/22/2017 at 09:00pm

I haven't had any UI issues and I love the combat, but I totally get what you mean about the scanner. It's not for everyone.

I don't know how far you got in that 10 hours, but if you haven't left Eos, the galaxy has yet to open up. Very shortly after Eos, it starts to really feel like Mass Effect. I'll avoid spoilers but send me a text/chat/something if you want more details about what I'm talking about.

Travis wrote on 03/22/2017 at 09:45pm

But you're absolutely right that this is a problem in and of itself. I kinda wonder if the start of the game was written around that 10 hour trial so that you don't get stuck in something important. Eos's main plot should have ended way earlier (exploration later notwithstanding) so that the next chapter could have come by at least hour 6ish? The pacing of the beginning is way bad.

Travis wrote on 03/22/2017 at 10:31pm

An aside, but how freakin' annoying is the sudoku you have to do for some of the hacking? Talk about taking you out of the game.

scrypt wrote on 03/23/2017 at 03:00am

Total sudoku! I mean it's nice to see an attempt at fresh puzzle mechanics, but it's literally sudoku with glyphs.

Travis wrote on 03/23/2017 at 03:05am

It changes up a bit on the more difficult ones but the basics are still the same.

But jeez that's just what I want in the middle of my exploration, right? Stop playing a video game and play sudoku instead!

scrypt wrote on 03/23/2017 at 03:15am

I think you might be on to something with the pacing of the 10 hour demo. It's so - and I hate to keep using this word, but it fits so well - painful. The pacing of the combat is intended to be flinchingly fast, and they've done well in that regard. But everything outside of that slows to a crawl, to the point where I feel like I need to take a day just to figure out the mod/inventory system. There is a reason that Call of Duty doesn't have 10 layers of character modification and nuanced weapon crafting. I don't know. I feel like you should pick one or the other, or simmer the whole thing down to a happy medium. Does the happy medium come after 10 hours?

Travis wrote on 03/23/2017 at 03:41am

It gets better at least, yes. I can't say whether the happy medium comes because that's going to be a moving target. I'm on hour 22 and it's better now than it was at hour 15, which was better than hour 10.

What's odd-- and I'm not just getting used to it, I watched some videos to confirm-- the facial animations get better. I kinda wonder if EA said "We need 10 hours to give early" and the whole Eos arc was a rush job. OR if they tried to pad it to make the cut-off point (right before you head into the SPOILER that changes the SPOILER and lets you SPOILER) close to that 10-hour mark.

Anyway, yes, everything gets better. The plot opens up significantly, you feel like your actions are leading to something story-wise, the sidequests seem less grindy and more things you can do while on your way to other things (while I liked them before, you had to travel way off the beaten path on Eos which was a grind all on its own). It seems like the pace averages so that you aren't just driving for 5 minutes with nothing to do.

The most important thing, character banter and the interplay of your squad gets better. It's like they figured out the characters and started writing them better. OR they padded the intro and had to write shoddy plot/dialogue to fill it in. Either way, once you have everyone, it feels like that same kind of Mass Effect character interplay.

Better and better. Still loads of problems and plenty to complain about, but I still want to stay up all night playing.

Travis wrote on 03/23/2017 at 01:21pm

An important thing to stress here is that it's the same gameplay, just paced better. If you don't like the combat or the nomad, you won't like them after Eos either.

As for the inventory/mod system, it seems to work about as well as it did in the other games, but they needlessly change it every game so you have to get used to it. One option you have is just ignoring it for the most part. Just switch to new guns/armor you find and don't worry about crafting. Since they took out the ability to customize your squadmates' gear it's less of an issue.

This article from Forbes is great for where you seem to be scrypt: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/03/21/ten-things-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-started-mass-effect-andromeda/#3ff712be5e68

Travis wrote on 03/23/2017 at 01:22pm

The one thing about this article though-- he mentions the first two planets being Eos and Havarld but you don't have to do it that way. I went Eos -> Voeld and based on that article, I'm glad.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

No Man's Sky Pathfinder Update (Version 1.2) Released

Hooooo boy. This is a doozy of an update.

This is a Terraria-level update. I don't know how to prioritize things, so here's a quick overview of the new hotness in the order in which Hello Games presented them.

First up, the graphics have been significantly overhauled, with better textures and lighting effects. The PS4 Pro can take advantage of new features and shinies.

Other players' bases can now be found and explored, and Steam Workshop will let you find them more easily.

YOU CAN NOW OWN MULTIPLE SHIPS OMG THANK YOU HELLO GAMES

Speaking of ships, each ship type has a clear specialization for combat, hauling freight, and exploration.

Multi-tools also have specializations, for mining, combat, and scanning.

Ships and weapons now have classes: A, B, C, or a rare S-Class.

You can now build ground vehicles called Exocraft for getting around on-planet. There are three classes of these for speed, hauling loot, or somewhere in the middle.

You can make Exocraft races and challenge others to beat your time!

There are new traders in space stations, some of which sell blueprints that you can buy with a new currency: nanite clusters.

Base-building now has way more options so you can pimp out your house in style!

Multi-tool and ship weapons have far more variety now, for close-, mid-, and long-range combat.

There's a new game mode: permadeath. If you were ever playing NMS and thought "I wish I could lose all this when I die," then this mode is for you.

There are five new trophies for claiming a base or freighter, building an exocraft, visiting another player's base, and reaching the center of the galaxy in Survival and Permadeath mode. Those last two should take a while.

There's now a dedicated photo mode so you can stop time and line up the perfect shot! You can choose the time of day and lighting effects and add photo filters.

The Discovery menu has gotten some significant updates; it's actually useful! You can find yourself and set waypoints to previous systems.

65daysofstatic has created 8 new soundscapes for that awesome procedurally generated soundtrack.

You can name your ships now.

You can skip those annoying black bar cutscenes.

NPCs are faster at getting to the point when you talk to them.

And various other improvements.

For the full list, check this post from Hello Games: http://no-mans-sky.com/pathfinder-update/

Travis wrote on 03/09/2017 at 02:07am

OK so, early impressions:

1. I had like a week after upgrading my PC where I could max this out. :D

2. This is really pretty. On planet everything just looks all-around better.

3. The sounds seem better, not just the music. That could be the new PC. Newer Realtek stuff, etc.

4. It's... kinda buggy. I've crashed a few times in the past 30 minutes or so. They have some kinks yet to work out.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/09/2017 at 02:08am

I read last night that it was coming out this week, but with little details other than the vehicle. I'm looking forward to having a vehicle, finally. I'm still on my way to the center and have some more crafting to do. I enjoyed the last update very much, so I'm looking forward to checking this one out.

Travis wrote on 03/09/2017 at 02:13am

Oh, and 5. The melee boost-jump still works!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/09/2017 at 02:15am

Wow, this all sounds great! I don't know when I'll get back to NMS, but when I do, it sounds like it'll be awesome :)

Travis wrote on 03/09/2017 at 04:06am

After a couple hours, this is solid so far. One annoying "bug" that may not be a bug is still present-- a new NPC sends you on quests like the ones from the Foundation update, and you have to go to a specific kind of landmark. You need multiples, so you'll be scanning for them multiple times. All too often, it keeps sending you to the same one, which is basically useless since you've already retrieved the items you're after.

The exocraft controls surprisingly well, but you can't turn when backing up for some reason (at least with KB/M).

The chromatic abberation (the distortion from your "visor" at the top of the screen) still gives me some motion sickness and the mod that removes it doesn't work with this version yet. Ughh... worth it though.

I'm digging the new quests. I see that "Class C" on my ship now and I really want to upgrade it. I feel like adding ship/multitool specializations AND classes to them will make replayability much higher. That might be the big highlight for me, and I haven't really even dug into it yet.

Travis wrote on 03/09/2017 at 04:08am

Oh also! The bug that this mod fixed has finally been officially fixed: https://nomansskymods.com/mods/polo-warp-reactor-theta-fix/

I was wary of using a mod to do something that central to the progression so I just waited for an official fix.

Travis wrote on 03/09/2017 at 04:13am

And one last comment of things I keep forgetting. I should make a list.

It seems everyone has had framerate dips on PC. Hopefully that gets back to smooth sailing in a patch.

And this one is important: YOUR EXOCRAFT CAN GO UNDERWATER. You can actually explore the depths without fear of drowning.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/09/2017 at 06:01am

I'm excited for the exocraft. I've spent way too much time walking along the surface of planets I visit. I've been wanting a vehicle. If it works underwater, that's even better! I hate swimming, movement is much too slow. I'm looking forward to getting an exocraft.

Travis wrote on 03/09/2017 at 05:33pm

You can still preserve your momentum from the melee speed boost in water by submerging briefly and then re-emerging with a full jet pack but it seems it now diminishes over time if you have a big lake you're trying to get across.

But yeah, I am no fan of swimming

GregoPeck wrote on 03/11/2017 at 01:00am

@Travis, what kind of new hardware did you get (that you mentioned in your post here)? Also, I recommend sending crash reports to Hello Games, I think they've done well with that. I sent them at least one, I'm sure.

Maybe Hello Games will give us a submersible for those big lakes and oceans we sometimes run into. Even a little handheld device, like the one in Subnautica, would be a vast improvement to swimming.

Travis wrote on 03/11/2017 at 03:24am

If you go back and read the post I made about Mass Effect Andromeda recently, the new PC is detailed there.

And a sub would be awesome. The buggies don't handle well underwater and you can't really control the z-axis much. You have to trust that you can drive your way out.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/11/2017 at 03:54am

Sorry I missed it, thanks for pointing me to it. Nice GPU, I'm kind of jealous, although my 980Ti Classified has satisfied me greatly in the last year. I'm glad you've upgraded (now you can check out Ark)!

Subnautica is almost entirely underwater and in the beginning you can craft something you hold with both hands and it moves you forward. Something like that would be excellent for NMS. Although something bigger, like a one person sub, would be great for those planets covered almost completely in water.

Travis wrote on 03/11/2017 at 04:18am

Your card is still more powerful than mine, and I still have no interest in Ark :D

Travis wrote on 03/11/2017 at 04:21am

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-980-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB/3439vs3639

Much more powerful! Mine is a generation newer but yours was the top of last year's line.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/11/2017 at 04:26am

Wow, really?! I think it's close to Titan power, but probably not quite there. I thought your's would be better than a Titan. That's just an uneducated assumption. I don't know how the 1060 compares to anything. Now I'm seeing that a 1080Ti is out or coming. You said you ordered your new PC, is that correct? If so, what brand is it?

No interest in Ark?! I have no idea what I'd have been doing since our last Terraria server if it wasn't for Ark. I suggest single player mode for many reasons, including mods. You get to tame, raise, and use dinosaurs and other kinds of awesome creatures! You can build your own base/house/nearly anything. I think it's amazing!

GregoPeck wrote on 03/11/2017 at 04:29am

Holy crap. Well that just tells you I know next to nothing about most GPUs. I should have looked that up before making my incorrect statement, but thanks for correcting me and showing me a benchmark comparison. I could have done all that myself, but I've been gaming.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/12/2017 at 10:55pm

The game seems to look different, but I've been away from it for a while. What's what my first thought was, but then I looked at the before and after images for this update. I think it does look like the "after" image, yet still kind of dark. I wonder if it could just be the lighting of my locations. I spawned on my freighter, flew to the outpost, and warped to my base. Maybe if I spend more time my eyes will adjust or it'll get brighter by sun/day light. I did check to see if it was optimized by Geforce Experience and there was one setting that it wanted to change. It think it was one of the AA settings.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/12/2017 at 11:24pm

Daylight looks better, I guess I just need to put up more lighting inside my base. Still, even the outposts are darker than usual. I may have to take some screenshots to compare.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 12:27am

The game is stable for me, but still seems too dark. I'll upload my screenshots soon. One other thing that "bugs" me is that it seems the base building quest is still active, even though I already have a base with every station that I can think of (I'm currently working on the exocraft station pieces). I've created another corridor, room, and terminal (after deleting the previous one). Once I place a new construction terminal, an NPC instantly spawns at it. I can go to a station and hire someone, but then the mission goes back to repeating the first step.

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 02:01am

I had that same issue with the base building quest, but after I hired a new construction NPC it went away.

But now I have a permanent quest item for building the last exocraft upgrade even though I've built it in every one of them.

And I noticed that it's darker too, in the dark. It seems like the lighting has changed so that day is about the same, but it gets really dark at night. I'm ok with that, it actually gives you a reason to use the torch and feels more atmospheric.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 02:38am

The quest isn't in my log when I'm not on my home planet. I've tried deleting and rebuilding, but it gets stuck repeating. I don't know if maybe it would clear if I moved to another home planet. I watched a YouTube video about a similar bug with a quest and the solution was to move the NPC to the freighter while on a different planet, then activate quest.

I forgot about the "quick menu." I thought my exocraft upgrade quest was bugged. I was supposed to find a depot, but the log said I had to build the cannon, but it repeated after I did that, even after I did it again. Then I realized the "quick menu" (x I think) and switched to the exocraft signal booster (q and e) and use (f). Now, I need to find another one because I need more for the next upgrade.

I'm glad you noticed the dark darkness, too. I never use the torch, I guess I should try it more. The lights I put in each NPC room don't help. I thought adding windows and glass ceilings could help at least with day time lighting.

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 03:06am

> I thought adding windows and glass ceilings could help at least with day time lighting.

OK then maybe you have something else going on. I was talking about outside, I didn't realize you had issues inside. The default room lighting, without adding anything extra, is plenty for inside. In my base everything looks to be the same level of lighting as before the update.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 03:16am

Check out my screenshots. http://steamcommunity.com/id/gregopeck/screenshots/

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 03:35am

That does look way dark. Huh.

jdodson wrote on 03/13/2017 at 03:51am

Yeah Greg, that seems like a bug.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 04:46am

Reported bug, then found solution. I had to change the AA from Ultra to TAA+FXAA. http://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/135511294067811214/

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 04:50am

Looks better!! http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/169288467318159581/0ED92BE8ABB912B840AC7B0780972F5ECEE2C841/

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 01:03pm

Yeah it looks like all those inside lights weren't actually lighting anything. I guess their AA options are still problematic.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 07:23pm

New patch. Now we can build geobays (for exocraft) on any planet!
http://www.pcgamer.com/no-mans-sky-patch-lets-you-summon-your-new-vehicles-on-any-planet-you-want/

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 07:35pm

I'm willing to bet that was just because of player feedback, not a "bug" fix. The announcement even mentioned you couldn't build them on different planets.

But I'm SUPER glad they did that. The exocraft only have limited use on your home planet. They're super-useful elsewhere!

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 07:36pm

Actually reading the patch notes here, that's more obvious. The notes for the experimental patch a couple days ago were more vague. So it may seem like I'm being obvious above :D

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 07:57pm

I was thinking of a ship big enough to carry an exocraft, so that you could take them with you to other planets. I didn't pay much attention to the fact that you couldn't originally take them off your home planet. Although when I found out about the exocraft, I thought I'd be done with walking all over a planet. So, I initially imagined them not being limited to home planets. So, yeah I'm glad that they made this feature available. The game gets dull after walking around on a planet for quite some time looking for flora, fauna, and waypoints. So, the exocraft was definitely something the game needed, especially for use on other planets. Now, I did see that one of them actually traverses the surface of water, but as we said we could use something for underwater as well.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 09:43pm

I really do like the exocraft. Right now I just have the Roamer with signal booster and cannon. The cannon seems to auto aim, or so it seemed when I tried it after installing it. The exocraft is kind of loud, not abnormally, but kind of drowns out the background music (which I have at 100). It's not bad though. I'm currently working on getting the speed boost, which is what I really want right now.

I do not like that when you press ESC, it goes straight to the menu that allows you to quit the game. I'd rather it open on the page I closed. Most often I use the ESC key to upload my discoveries. This is in the patch notes.

I don't know yet how to own multiple ships, but I know how to find out. I ran into some discussion of that in the Steam forums while looking to see if anyone else was experiencing "the darkening of NMS" as I was. I only looked into my issue so I didn't read into what I don't know. I also don't know if you can transfer inventory between ships or the exocraft. My guess for ships is that you have to put things in your own inventory or the freighters, because I assume you can only access one ship's inventory at a time. I'm not sure how to transfer inventory to or from the exocraft. It would be cool to have a nice all-in-one place where you could manage the inventories of your freighter(s), ships, and exocraft. Some way to select which inventory to transfer to would be nice. How many freighters and exocraft can you own at once?

This one (from the website's listed patch notes) also confuses me: "Prevent all docking points in stations, freighters and outposts being taken by AI ships." I thought this meant that AI ships wouldn't land at outposts, but I see them doing this at the landing pad I have at my base. So, I think I'm missing something here that's causing my confusion.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 09:55pm

Oh the speed boost is terrible! I was hoping for a lot more!

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 09:57pm

I think "Prevent all docking points..." just means that it prevents ALL of them from being taken up. So there's always at least one available for you to land in.

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 09:58pm

Also if you want speed, you'll like the Nomad. It's pretty speedy and can even speed over water. JESUS BUGGY.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 10:21pm

That makes sense, although they're still landing on my one platform. I expected my ship to be there when I spawn, but it's on the ground. I can land it on my dock with a bypass chip, so long as an NPC isn't docked there.

I'm surprised I made it to the transmission tower in time (for the mining laser bp quest). I had almost half a minute to spare. Luckily my home planet is rather bare, but it still has canyons/valleys, and caves, which cost me some time along the way. Sometimes the terrain can be difficult to traverse. I saw where people had trouble with this quest because they lived on watery planets. I also saw someone say they just took their ship and flew there, which sounds brilliant to me.

Although the Roamer's speed boost is short lived and disappointing, it can be very helpful and fun. There were times when I've gotten stuck on terrain and was able to do the boost and get myself out. I also liked using it to run up the sides of terrain, such as out of an valley. The boost gives you some air time and it can be fun. Gravity is truly the Roamer's speed boost.

Travis wrote on 03/13/2017 at 10:34pm

I guess since your ship is already grounded it doesn't count? That's weird.

So, for those timed missions, I just jumped in my ship and flew there. :D The first one I knew there was no chance I was getting there because I just had the Roamer and my planet is like 60% water if not more. It's kinda cheating I guess but hey, it worked!

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 11:02pm

Yeah my ship is grounded and not even near the landing pad. I'll try moving it around and see if it changes.

I'm thinking about sending in a bug report about the Log, like the repetition and incompletion of quest objectives despite actually having completed them (even multiple times for testing). I hope that's something they look into.I can ignore it, which is all I can seem to do about it for now, but it's still kind of annoying. The Log also tells me what my NPCs want and for the Constructor and Armorer it says to see them, but then they tell me they can't teach me anything further. So, yeah I think the Log needs some work.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 11:22pm

The game specifically says X is to "transfer elements from your exosuit to your starship," which seems to work if you that way if you hold X. However, pressing X shows you materials in all inventories and you can select what you want and place them easily enough.

I'm happier with the Roamer now that I have the mining laser. Now I'm working on building a Nomad Geobay. "I feel the need for speed!"

Oh and even at one less than "Ultra" AA setting, the game definitely looks different and better. I like it!

GregoPeck wrote on 03/13/2017 at 11:50pm

And now I feel the need for exocraft grenades so I can modify the terrain as I'm driving, instead of getting stuck and having to use a grenade to get my exocraft out.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/14/2017 at 03:23am

Instead of letting us build geobays on other planets, I wish they would have given us a way to carry or teleport exocraft. It'd be even cooler to be able to build a geobay in a freighter, enter your exocraft, and fall onto the planet. That would be fun! But, by the time I'm even close to gathering enough materials to build a geobay, I've already obtained what I need to warp. So, there's really not much need to build a geobay on another planet unless there's something there I really need. It's still a bit too much work for a simple vehicle to get around whatever planet you're on.

Travis wrote on 03/14/2017 at 03:56am

I guess the idea is to temper the ease of use with construction requirements so that it's not just free to use anywhere. But it's super cheap to build for the most part, luckily.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/15/2017 at 12:12am

Ugh, I feel like all those people who've complained about NMS since launch. I guess it's because I'm running into issues that are kind of annoying. Even after completing a step in a quest, the game will tell you to do it. The NPCs are usually good about knowing whether or not you did what was needed. However, after getting the third speed boost upgrade for my exocraft, the NPC told me to go to an observation place and shut down the terminal. I did, but when I went back to him he sent me to do the same thing again at the same place, which I did yet again. I tried a 3rd time and he wants me to still do it, so it seems like an endless quest loop.

The Colossus is big, kind of too big, or at least I think that the camera should be a little better. I can't hardly see the ground I'm driving on because the Colossus takes up too much space on the lower part of the screen.

I also thought I'd try to warp as far as I could, but progressing through the galaxy map can be difficult. Lines are hard to see, the selection piece doesn't always stay firmly where you put it.

Travis wrote on 03/15/2017 at 12:55am

The repeating quest is a feature-- you can keep doing it for money. Think Skyrim radiant quests.

Travis wrote on 03/15/2017 at 12:59am

If you read the text that comes up your inner monologue tells you about him being content to continue doing this.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/15/2017 at 01:37am

I realized it could be repeated for money. I don't think I read the monologue, I think I just tried to get it done and didn't pay attention to that. Thanks for pointing that out for me.

GregoPeck wrote on 03/17/2017 at 08:26pm

New patch fixed the darkness caused but Ultra AA, among other things. http://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=275850

Travis wrote on 03/18/2017 at 04:52am

That's a lot o' bug fixes!

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Travis

371 Posts

Battleborn Enters Its Twilight Period, Soon To Be In Maintenance Mode

Humble Bundle Has Reached a Major Milestone: Over $100,000,000 in Charity Donations

Watch Nine Minutes of Cuphead

No Man's Sky Review, One Year Later: It's All About Depth

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 4: Castlevania Special

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 3: Luke Skywalker's Cane

No Man's Sky 1.3 (Atlas Rises) is out on PC and PS4

No Man Sky's Waking Titan is Over, and Some New Details About 1.3 (Atlas Rises) Emerge (UPDATED)

The No Man's Sky Hype Train Is Back In Service

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 2: Alien Covenant Special

Nintendo announces the New Nintendo 2DS XL

Star Wars Episode IX Release Date: May 24, 2019

Re-Logic Shares Terraria: Otherworld Woes and Plans for the Future

Mass Effect: Andromeda - Review in Progress (the first 10-ish hours)

No Man's Sky Pathfinder Update (Version 1.2) Released

Recent Activity...

Destiny 2 PC Next Month

Destiny 2 PC Next Month

Destiny 2 PC Next Month

You Need To Play This Classic Game Reborn: Win Shadow Warrior Special Edition!

You Need To Play This Classic Game Reborn: Win Shadow Warrior Special Edition!

New Guild Wars 2 Expansion Path of Fire Drops September 22nd