What’s your complaint? It’s a UE5 game
I’m not them, but I dislike Epic Online Servies, too. Last time I read the terms document, it granted permission for way too much data collection, and I’m not a fan of spyware.
This version of the patch notes has spoiler tags:
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=948592
For Linux, I recommend the DualShock 4 (PS4) and DualSense (PS5) controllers. They have native support built into the kernel, so you don’t need to install drivers. They’re great in Steam, emulators, Wine, and most native linux games. They work in both USB and bluetooth mode. Motion controls work. Touchpad works. Rubmle works. Dead zones are nice and small.
The only features I’m not sure about are the DualSense haptics and adaptive trigger feedback. There was work happening on those when I last looked a couple years ago; I haven’t checked recently.
A few people have reported lag with certain bluetooth adapters. I haven’t seen it with any of the hardware I’ve used, but if you encounter it, you can always get a different bluetooth adapter or exchange the controller for some other model.
Make your cut scene compelling, or at least interesting, and people will slow down and experience it willingly. Once.
Force players to slog through your cut scene whether they enjoy it or not, and you’re just being self-indulgent, ignoring the fundamental purpose of a game (entertainment) in favor of your own ego. If you want to do that, make a movie, not a game.
Forcing them to do it again after they’ve already watched it (during a subsequent play-through, or after your game crashed during the mission, or because they made a mistake and want to retry) is well beyond game designer arrogance; it’s just plain bad software design. How would you feel if you had to read and click through time-consuming new user help screens whenever you launched an app, and not just the first time you used it, but every single time?
Red Dead Redemption 2 is particularly bad in this area, as it has cut scenes as long as ten minutes, and not only forces them down the player’s throat, but also makes it impossible to save the game just afterward, so fully restarting a mission requires slogging through the cut scene again.
Note that the emphasis here is on unskippable. Cut scenes on their own are fine. Even slow ones.
I consider any mission that starts with an unskippable cut scene, especially one that lasts several minutes, to be bad. Needlessly wasting the player’s time is unforgivable.
I consider any mission that instantly fails if you step outside an invisible and unstated boundary, especially in an open world game, to be bad. Punishing the player for creative thinking is unforgivable.
I consider any mission that presents a challenge, and then cheats to force failure when a skilled player is about to succeed, to be bad. Breaking the physics of the game world in order to artificially cancel excellent play is perhaps (barely) forgivable, but terrible game design.
So I guess I don’t get to be in your gang. But I’m glad you had a good time!
(P.S. The game world was beautiful, at least. Props to the folks at Rockstar who did that.)
In my experience, it can handle most games that expect the Steam client/libraries to be present, so long as DRM is not involved. Some games might require special configuration, like generating an interfaces file, which is documented. So… pretty reliable?
I have also used the experimental build to block internet access for a game that was trying to collect data from my system and phone home, without breaking LAN multiplayer features. Not foolproof (I don’t think it blocks DNS) but good enough for what I needed.
In case anyone here doesn’t know already, many (most?) Steam games can be run without Steam, using a tool like this one:
https://gitlab.com/Mr_Goldberg/goldberg_emulator
If you’re concerned about what might happen to your game library if Steam disappears or changes drastically, make backups. There’s a good chance you would still be able to play them.
Good point. Denuvo is why I didn’t buy Civ 6.
If I were to be granted a single wish for a new Civ edition, it would be game AI that scaled well across the difficulty range without cheating.
Why can’t I lead my civilization through into a new era unscathed? Why is that disallowed?
Seems like a simple config option making disasters optional would solve that.
Different civs would hit those at different times and you would strategize around hitting your new era at the right time. Crises are also totally valid: if your civ is too large and there’s too much corruption you could have a civil war.
I like those ideas. Have you suggested them to the developers?
If they’re not in at release time, maybe the usual expansion/rework DLC will add them. :P
Crises will strike towards the end of each Age, and players can react to these in different ways. Make the most of the chaos, and you can find yourself with bonuses going into the next Age or shifting your entire civilization into something else entirely.
This reminds me of Sim City disasters, but with a potential reward depending on how you handle them, which seems more appealing. I don’t hate that idea. :)
If the accelerometer is running, it’s drawing power, but perhaps that can be done efficiently on some devices.
One of the things I hated about Pokemon Go was how taxing it was on the battery. It burned through my phone’s ability to hold a charge in less than a year. If your game is constantly tracking steps, I expect it’s constantly running. How does it manage power draw?
I love the concept. Thanks for sharing!
If I am incorrect about downvotes being inconsequential account-wide, say so and it might be possible to work out a different system.
Wouldn’t “upvote if you have never heard of it” accomplish the same thing?
I guess it would depend on people reading and following the instructions, instead of just upvoting games they like. Maybe that’s a bit much to ask. :P
Alpha is about what I would expect at this stage. They’ll probably be experimenting with game mechanics for a while yet, and they state right up front that much of the art is temporary.
Has anything stood out for you so far as particularly interesting or fun?
Concerned about the era resets.
What resets? The impression they gave was that you keep what you’ve already accomplished when moving to a new era. (It’s always possible that I misinterpreted something, though. I guess we’ll see.)
TIL some people play Civ games for the art style, assume that others who notice think it’s snobbery, and go on to nitpick nomenclature.
Uh-oh. That’s the sort of thing that would lead me not to buy it.
Seems unlikely that all these would have fallen here.
I wonder what sort of creature would go around collecting them, only to leave them out where they would reflect light and attract the attention of anyone passing by. It’s almost as if…
What was that sound?