On Sun, 05 Feb 2023 06:10:12 -0600, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>On Sat, 04 Feb 2023 21:44:33 -0700, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, PW
>wrote:

>>I stopped playing it because of the "vector" artwork. Not sure if I
>>can get used to it.

>Yeah, it's pretty bad. I'm in it for the humor and story, so I just
>switched that part of my brain off.

>I'm sure there's some nagging, unconscious struggle going on underneath
>the surface that will require therapy. ;^)

It's almost scientific in its awfulness. "How bad can we make the
visuals before people will ignore all the good things about game
(gameplay/puzzles, story, characters, etc)?"

On the one hand, I have to wonder at the decision; sales of the game
definitely have suffered because of the developers' choice of visual
style. Had they gone with a more traditional appearance they would
certainly have made more money. On the other hand, I can't help but
admire their decision to put artistic integrity over money. They knew
they weren't going to reap the sort of success they had with other MI
games using those visuals, and went forward anyway.

It's just a shame it's such UGLY integrity ;-)

>Stardew Valley.

rms <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:
> Games like this or I guess minecraft? that have you create your own
>environment I just look at and think I could never do that.

Stardew Valley is nothing like Minecraft. Your effect on the environment
is limited to clearing a field and planting crops in it.

>I've always
>enjoyed being given a gameworld others have created and being surprised by
>what is presented, basically interactive movies.

This would be a better description of Stardew Valley. It's like a
village in an RPG, with NPCs you can interact with and get to know.

You can even look at game like Minecraft this way if you wanted.
The world is randomly created, but it's there for you to explore and be
surprised by. You don't need to build elaborate structures, just what
you need to survive and progress.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

> How 'bout you? What have you been playing... IN JANUARY 2023?

Deliver us the Moon, mostly. It was on sale or maybe a freebie due to
the upcoming release of a sequel, Deliver us Mars. I think RPS's
reviewer like Deliver as Mars so I figured to give the Moon part a try.

It's mostly a walking sim with light puzzles, some of them time limited and
longish which makes things hectic and not much fun if you have to redo
over and over. Really not too hard though.

Some things felt rather contrived, like having a space suit with a max
of 2 mins of air and filler bottles conveniently breadcrumbed around
that contain 30 s of air each. And of course you die instantly if you
run out.

The story isn't much and doesn't seem to make much sense. You just have
this single goal of fixing this lunar microwave power transmitter but
it's not clear why that would be important. Basically the Earth is in a
catastrophical state and sending a little extra energy doesn't seem like
it'd help much.

Visually, in some parts it's pure reflection porn with an RTX card. A
big part of the game happens on a Lunar station where most surfaces are
shiny. Too bad some of the reflections are buggy, mostly railings and
shiny strips on floors have this weird haze around them. Made me think
of Alan Wake and Control but the railings weren't infested with anything
supernatural. Might've made the game more interesting though.