The first Tuesdays of the month are rapidly becoming my favorite days.
Sure, HumbleChoice games are rarely great, but they often are /good
enough/, and there's enough variety to make it worth it. And 8 games
for $12 USD... it feels like such a bargain! How can I not be gleeful
at the opportunity to clutter up my video-game library when the price
is so cheap?!

So, what has Humble got for us this month?

* Yakuza: Like A Dragon
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1235140/Yakuza_Like_a_Dragon/
I've such mixed feelings about the Yakuza games. On the one
hand, their gameplay mechanics aren't too exciting to me, and
their odd mix of styles falls into a genre I've classified
as "Japanese weird" that rarely leaves me satisfied. On the
other hand... there's something quite appealing about the
detailed worlds, the well-designed mechanics, and the
strangely compelling storylines. I'm not sure I actually
/like/ the Yakuza games... but they're also games I don't
want to miss a chance at playing either.

* Hi-Fi Rush
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1817230/HiFi_RUSH/
A very stylish action/adventure/beat-em-up. Its twist:
your attacks are more effective if you smack the bad-guys
to the beat of the soundtrack. I'd love this game more if
I had any natural rhythm. Sadly, I'm musically disinclined
so these mechanics are always more chore than fun for me.

* Steel Rising
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1283400/Steelrising/
In essence: Dark Souls in revolutionary France with a
bit of steampunk thrown in. Beautiful map design; somewhat
shoddy gameplay mechanics and pacing. Still, there's
something oddly appealing about this one. I think I need to
give it a chance.

* Loddlenaut
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1644940/Loddlenaut/
Take the role of an astronaut cleaning up a polluted planet.
Sort of an odd cross between "Viscera Cleanup Detail" and
"No Man's Sky". Honestly, a bit too cutesy in its visual
for my liking, and I can't say its gameplay looks all
that exciting. Not a bad game, I don't think, but not
necessarily something I would enjoy.

* King of the Castle
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839880/King_Of_The_Castle/
A 'party game' where you try to politic yourself to
the throne. It's sort of like a simplistic version of
"Victoriana" except you play against other people instead
of AI. Supposedly only one person needs to buy the game and
others can play free through a browser app. There doesn't
seem to be a lot to see or do in the game, though, and I'm
pretty sure I won't be able to find enough people interested
in the game to make it worth it for me.

* Bravery and Greed
https://store.steampowered.com/app/943370/Bravery_and_Greed/
A colorful, vaguely retro-styled brawler that has you
going through a dungeon looking for loot. Its visual style
is appealing, and it has a robust combat system to boot, but
that's counterbalanced by it's 'rogue-like' mechanics,
which implies a lot of repetition. It looks interesting
to me, sure, but it's not a must-play.

* Amanda the Adventurer
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2166060/Amanda_the_Adventurer/
A first-person horror game. I think it's a knock-off of games
like "Poppy Playtime"; the antagonist is a cutesy kid-
friendly mascot turned villainous. In and of itself, not a
bad concept, just a bit overdone. It's not entirely clear
what the gameplay itself is either; survival horror?
Adventure-style logic games? Well, maybe it's worth a look,
but I'm not expecting much.

* Mediterranea Inferno
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2103680/Mediterranea_Inferno/
A visual-novel style game, with a focus on young-adults to
boot. I've no opinion on the game itself, but the subject matter
and genre are so out of my area of interest that I'm just
going to ignore this one without even bothering to learn
any more about it.

A very mixed bag this month. "Yakuza" and "Steelrising" are both
welcome additions to my library; "Hi-fi Rush", "Bravery and Greed" and
"Amanda the Adventurer" all deserve at least a look. But "Loddlenaut",
"King of the Castle" and (especially) "Mediterranea Inferno" are all
pretty much wasted, as far as I'm concerned.

Well, that's the way it is with HumbleChoice sometimes, and the Yakuza
game alone makes it worth the cost of entry. And spending a mere $12
USD to see The Number go up by 8 is always a pleasure. First Tuesday
of the Month, you're still a welcome day 'round here!

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 18:24 this Tuesday (GMT):
>
> The first Tuesdays of the month are rapidly becoming my favorite days.
> Sure, HumbleChoice games are rarely great, but they often are /good
> enough/, and there's enough variety to make it worth it. And 8 games
> for $12 USD... it feels like such a bargain! How can I not be gleeful
> at the opportunity to clutter up my video-game library when the price
> is so cheap?!
>
> So, what has Humble got for us this month?
>
>
> * Yakuza: Like A Dragon
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1235140/Yakuza_Like_a_Dragon/
> I've such mixed feelings about the Yakuza games. On the one
> hand, their gameplay mechanics aren't too exciting to me, and
> their odd mix of styles falls into a genre I've classified
> as "Japanese weird" that rarely leaves me satisfied. On the
> other hand... there's something quite appealing about the
> detailed worlds, the well-designed mechanics, and the
> strangely compelling storylines. I'm not sure I actually
> /like/ the Yakuza games... but they're also games I don't
> want to miss a chance at playing either.

Yakuza isn't for me but the memes are funny.

> * Hi-Fi Rush
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1817230/HiFi_RUSH/
> A very stylish action/adventure/beat-em-up. Its twist:
> your attacks are more effective if you smack the bad-guys
> to the beat of the soundtrack. I'd love this game more if
> I had any natural rhythm. Sadly, I'm musically disinclined
> so these mechanics are always more chore than fun for me.

Oh, cool! I remember when this was an exclusive ~~though they totally
stole that music mechanic from mother3~~. If my computer was better I'd love
to play it

> * Steel Rising
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1283400/Steelrising/
> In essence: Dark Souls in revolutionary France with a
> bit of steampunk thrown in. Beautiful map design; somewhat
> shoddy gameplay mechanics and pacing. Still, there's
> something oddly appealing about this one. I think I need to
> give it a chance.

As I've said before, I hate hyper-difficult games. Pass.

> * Loddlenaut
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1644940/Loddlenaut/
> Take the role of an astronaut cleaning up a polluted planet.
> Sort of an odd cross between "Viscera Cleanup Detail" and
> "No Man's Sky". Honestly, a bit too cutesy in its visual
> for my liking, and I can't say its gameplay looks all
> that exciting. Not a bad game, I don't think, but not
> necessarily something I would enjoy.

I'll look at it later, seems interesting.

> * King of the Castle
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839880/King_Of_The_Castle/
> A 'party game' where you try to politic yourself to
> the throne. It's sort of like a simplistic version of
> "Victoriana" except you play against other people instead
> of AI. Supposedly only one person needs to buy the game and
> others can play free through a browser app. There doesn't
> seem to be a lot to see or do in the game, though, and I'm
> pretty sure I won't be able to find enough people interested
> in the game to make it worth it for me.

I've got Jackbox (3-9 :)) thanks

> * Bravery and Greed
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/943370/Bravery_and_Greed/
> A colorful, vaguely retro-styled brawler that has you
> going through a dungeon looking for loot. Its visual style
> is appealing, and it has a robust combat system to boot, but
> that's counterbalanced by it's 'rogue-like' mechanics,
> which implies a lot of repetition. It looks interesting
> to me, sure, but it's not a must-play.

Eh, retro brawlers ain't my thing.

> * Amanda the Adventurer
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/2166060/Amanda_the_Adventurer/
> A first-person horror game. I think it's a knock-off of games
> like "Poppy Playtime"; the antagonist is a cutesy kid-
> friendly mascot turned villainous. In and of itself, not a
> bad concept, just a bit overdone. It's not entirely clear
> what the gameplay itself is either; survival horror?
> Adventure-style logic games? Well, maybe it's worth a look,
> but I'm not expecting much.

Oh, I /LOVED/ watching this game! However, it definitely falls into the
"you can just watch someone else play and get the same experience" kinda
game with Stanley Parable and Phoenix Wright (tho i still bought the
trilogy twice ^^)

also i was a fan of this game when it was in early access :)

> * Mediterranea Inferno
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/2103680/Mediterranea_Inferno/
> A visual-novel style game, with a focus on young-adults to
> boot. I've no opinion on the game itself, but the subject matter
> and genre are so out of my area of interest that I'm just
> going to ignore this one without even bothering to learn
> any more about it.

I do /not/ like VisNovels, with the exception of Phoenix Wright.

> A very mixed bag this month. "Yakuza" and "Steelrising" are both
> welcome additions to my library; "Hi-fi Rush", "Bravery and Greed" and
> "Amanda the Adventurer" all deserve at least a look. But "Loddlenaut",
> "King of the Castle" and (especially) "Mediterranea Inferno" are all
> pretty much wasted, as far as I'm concerned.
>
> Well, that's the way it is with HumbleChoice sometimes, and the Yakuza
> game alone makes it worth the cost of entry. And spending a mere $12
> USD to see The Number go up by 8 is always a pleasure. First Tuesday
> of the Month, you're still a welcome day 'round here!

numberthenumberthenumberthenumber
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On 5/7/2024 11:24 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> The first Tuesdays of the month are rapidly becoming my favorite days.
> Sure, HumbleChoice games are rarely great, but they often are /good
> enough/, and there's enough variety to make it worth it. And 8 games
> for $12 USD... it feels like such a bargain! How can I not be gleeful
> at the opportunity to clutter up my video-game library when the price
> is so cheap?! any more about it.
>

> A very mixed bag this month. "Yakuza" and "Steelrising" are both
> welcome additions to my library;

Well 1 I'm interested in

I've still never gotten around to any of the Yakuza games though they
sound right up my alley. I think I've seen some of them on sale for
less though, so I'll skip it.

Steelrising is tempting, but French Revolution turns me off a bit, and
while I love Souls, I'm something like 0/5 on souls-likes, so I put it
as low likely-hood of enjoying.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

Am 07.05.24 um 20:24 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1235140/Yakuza_Like_a_Dragon/
> I've such mixed feelings about the Yakuza games. On the one
> hand, their gameplay mechanics aren't too exciting to me, and
> their odd mix of styles falls into a genre I've classified
> as "Japanese weird" that rarely leaves me satisfied. On the
> other hand... there's something quite appealing about the
> detailed worlds, the well-designed mechanics, and the
> strangely compelling storylines. I'm not sure I actually
> /like/ the Yakuza games... but they're also games I don't
> want to miss a chance at playing either.
Like a dragon is completely different, first the main protagonist is not
a downtrodden serious as hell ex yakuza, secondly the game does not have
live action fights anymore but I think it has a turn based jrpg system.
The game justifies it that the main protagonist is a heavy rpg fan and
so the battles happen in his mind more or less with average things
suddenly becoming wands and weapons...
The game was well received after the initial criticism of not being
faithful to the yakuza family anymore and it seems to become its own IP
now with the sequels not being called yakuza anymore but like a dragon...

Anyway a game I always wanted tu buy but never came around it so I am
quite happy that it is this months AAA title!

Am 07.05.24 um 23:09 schrieb Justisaur:
> I've still never gotten around to any of the Yakuza games though they
> sound right up my alley.  I think I've seen some of them on sale for
> less though, so I'll skip it.
Like a dragon is completely and I mean really completely different than
the rest of the series, it also is not an action brawler anymore but a JRPG!

On 5/7/2024 8:24 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>
> * Steel Rising
> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1283400/Steelrising/
> In essence: Dark Souls in revolutionary France with a
> bit of steampunk thrown in. Beautiful map design; somewhat
> shoddy gameplay mechanics and pacing. Still, there's
> something oddly appealing about this one. I think I need to
> give it a chance.

I was actually looking quite forward to sampling this one, it seemed
like a nice kind of game in an interesting setting.
I have now installed it.
It's playable.
But Jesus Christ why is this game 60gb? There is no reason why a game
like that should take that amount of storage space. In my opinion this
looks worse than e.g. Assassin's Creed 2 from 15 years ago. And I don't
mean the resolution, the whole design looks artificial and lazy in parts.
Frankly it looks like a game from the mid-2000s for which someone just
upscaled the graphics.

Also it doesn't even seem to have any other voice acting besides
English, which sounds like a lost opportunity for a game set in France.
And the dialogue keeps dropping in French words to show that yes, we are
in France, just to translate them right afterwards anyway.

In other words: not impressed so far.

On Thu, 6 Jun 2024 09:13:22 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 5/7/2024 8:24 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
>>
>> * Steel Rising
>> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1283400/Steelrising/
>> In essence: Dark Souls in revolutionary France with a
>> bit of steampunk thrown in. Beautiful map design; somewhat
>> shoddy gameplay mechanics and pacing. Still, there's
>> something oddly appealing about this one. I think I need to
>> give it a chance.
>
>I was actually looking quite forward to sampling this one, it seemed
>like a nice kind of game in an interesting setting.
>I have now installed it.
>It's playable.
>But Jesus Christ why is this game 60gb? There is no reason why a game
>like that should take that amount of storage space. In my opinion this
>looks worse than e.g. Assassin's Creed 2 from 15 years ago. And I don't
>mean the resolution, the whole design looks artificial and lazy in parts.
>Frankly it looks like a game from the mid-2000s for which someone just
>upscaled the graphics.
>
>Also it doesn't even seem to have any other voice acting besides
>English, which sounds like a lost opportunity for a game set in France.
>And the dialogue keeps dropping in French words to show that yes, we are
>in France, just to translate them right afterwards anyway.
>
>In other words: not impressed so far.
>
I can't speak specifically for Steel Rising, but in general publishers
have gotten sloppy when it comes to the size of their games. Multiple
language versions are installed, even after if you specify your chosen
language. Textures are uncompressed. Videos are huge.

Twenty years ago, corporations had incentive to cut back on how much
data was shoved into a game; after all, not only did they have to pay
for the delivery medium (floppy disks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc.) but
console manufacturers put hard limits on how much storage space was
available. And even when the platform had a hard-drive, storage costs
were so high that games with too-big a data footprint wouldn't sell.
"Ultima VII", released in 1992, was lambasted for requiring 20+MB of
disk-space (it was only because it was otherwise such a stellar game
from such a renowned franchise that it sold anyway)!

But these days, it's the consumer who pays for the transport medium
(bandwidth) and disks are so cheap, why not expect them to dedicate
100GB+ to a single-game? What, they can't just buy a 2TB drive? What
sort of gamer are they?!? Anyway, optimization is costly, and if a
customer has to download a separate language pack if they decide to
switch languages, surely you can't expect the publishers to pay for
the customer support that might cause? So just dump everything onto
the user's hard-drive. It's not like gamers won't keep buying new
games.

On Tue, 11 Jun 2024, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

> On Thu, 6 Jun 2024 09:13:22 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 5/7/2024 8:24 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> * Steel Rising
>>> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1283400/Steelrising/
>>> In essence: Dark Souls in revolutionary France with a
>>> bit of steampunk thrown in. Beautiful map design; somewhat
>>> shoddy gameplay mechanics and pacing. Still, there's
>>> something oddly appealing about this one. I think I need to
>>> give it a chance.
>>
>> I was actually looking quite forward to sampling this one, it seemed
>> like a nice kind of game in an interesting setting.
>> I have now installed it.
>> It's playable.
>> But Jesus Christ why is this game 60gb? There is no reason why a game
>> like that should take that amount of storage space. In my opinion this
>> looks worse than e.g. Assassin's Creed 2 from 15 years ago. And I don't
>> mean the resolution, the whole design looks artificial and lazy in parts.
>> Frankly it looks like a game from the mid-2000s for which someone just
>> upscaled the graphics.
>>
>> Also it doesn't even seem to have any other voice acting besides
>> English, which sounds like a lost opportunity for a game set in France.
>> And the dialogue keeps dropping in French words to show that yes, we are
>> in France, just to translate them right afterwards anyway.
>>
>> In other words: not impressed so far.
>>
> I can't speak specifically for Steel Rising, but in general publishers
> have gotten sloppy when it comes to the size of their games. Multiple
> language versions are installed, even after if you specify your chosen
> language. Textures are uncompressed. Videos are huge.
>
> Twenty years ago, corporations had incentive to cut back on how much
> data was shoved into a game; after all, not only did they have to pay
> for the delivery medium (floppy disks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc.) but
> console manufacturers put hard limits on how much storage space was
> available. And even when the platform had a hard-drive, storage costs
> were so high that games with too-big a data footprint wouldn't sell.
> "Ultima VII", released in 1992, was lambasted for requiring 20+MB of
> disk-space (it was only because it was otherwise such a stellar game
> from such a renowned franchise that it sold anyway)!
>
> But these days, it's the consumer who pays for the transport medium
> (bandwidth) and disks are so cheap, why not expect them to dedicate
> 100GB+ to a single-game? What, they can't just buy a 2TB drive? What
> sort of gamer are they?!? Anyway, optimization is costly, and if a
> customer has to download a separate language pack if they decide to
> switch languages, surely you can't expect the publishers to pay for
> the customer support that might cause? So just dump everything onto
> the user's hard-drive. It's not like gamers won't keep buying new
> games.
>
>
>

Optimization is costly, but I am a bit tired of having to install what
used to be more than my HD would be (in fact my first HD was 300mb) just
to play a mediocre game that plain could have been done better.

By the way, my machine is rather new, but it has only half the HD space my
previous garbage can of a system had. Because we are all switching to SSD
now...