If you can’t make the decision for yourself, especially such a inconsequential one, probably just rolle the dice or something. It can even be fun when you define multiple criteria and roll of each, ending up doing something that you already might have anyway, because it’s in your pool, but there’s still kind of discovery here, like you stumble upon something from your own collection.
I’d prefer to leave the ambiguity completely out of the equation here!
I was thinking of the pressure difference and a spacesuit that allowed enough dexterity to do combat.
And again, with Xenonite, shooting it even in the right spot is kinda too tricky for the terrans.
There actually might be no war at all, because some things make warfare between these two species that much more difficult.
Behind the spoiler are details from Project Hail Mary, so if you’re planning on reading/watching it yourself, best not to look there.
Either side’s troops seem so fragile in the enemy condition and so unconquerable on their own turf.
Honestly, Earth and Erid could make formidable allies more than anything, because a war between the two would be very stalemate-y attrition-type deal.
Gotta be so careful with what your mat says…
Sugar free drinks are taxed at 20c/l
Does that include artificial sweeteners? I have some sort of prejudice against them that I couldn’t substantiate with research, but one thing is certain: none of them felt good to me.
I am much happier with drinking less sweet beverages overall, but made with regular sugar. Actually tend to spend less that way, even if I pay more for less - I just happen to be buying that much less frequently that way.
I feel like this comment covers this pretty well: https://lemmy.world/comment/25336159
Every time I read something like this I realize just how little people understand how these things work.
The tiniest LLMs you can run on your machine are 1B, those take around 10TB of unrepeatable and well varied text to train. Let me put this into perspective, if you downloaded the whole Wikipedia, you would get 1% of the amount of data needed to train the tiniest LLM you can run. Do you think you can ethically source the remaining 99%?
What kind of game size should we expect then? Or have another “reason” to let a single-player game connect to the internet all the time so it can make API calls to remote datacenters? Isn’t it hot enough? Aren’t we in a bad enough point in time in this planet’s climate and economy?
Not to mention that having such NPCs would become the perfect excuse for the executives to expand the initiative, gradually onto the more regular and crucial NPCs and story bits, because to them, the more they can replace with AI, maybe the more KPI they get to meet and grow even fatter wallets, which is really all they care about - that will likely be coupled with increased pressure on the remaining writers, what with the beloved downsizing and all, rapidly leading to poorer quality. I don’t see how AI slop dialogue lines that definitely won’t be as instant as it is now, because whether it’s a local model or an API call, you’re subject to waiting for the lines to generate and make it to you.
There’s just no angle where even this case of only having AI take over backdrop NPCs is justifiable. The little fun that is poses is only appealing because of its novelty, but it won’t lead to a revolution in engagement and rich worldbuilding or interaction that would make the resources wasted make any sense.
There are already comments, even here, saying that it’s okay for filler NPCs and non-crucial interactions. And with the executives, this might be the perfect start, an Overton window that they slowly (if that) push open further and further, replacing more and more of the human in the art process in the name of profit.
The latter is especially disappointing, not because these people don’t care or understand art, but because the profit here is illusory, almost entirely upstream, lies in pure speculation, and kills the planet and economies at a pace that’s practically unseen. They only do it because they think everybody else is doing it and they can’t be left behind, lest the line doesn’t up and they don’t talk about the current trend on another bullshit meeting.
The corporate world is such a mistake.
The difference is real life has immeasurably more entropy and variance and randomness. Fiction is created, with intention, and good open world game design is one that leads and pushes and hints at things, preferably without being explicit - unless this explicitness is itself (mis)leading you somewhere or is just the McGuffin of the story.
Fiction without intention, even in its smaller, seemingly random encounters and details, is just messy and disrespects your time.
I love Remedy games, but Alan Wake 2 makes me think they’re not that into performance and optimization. Control mostly did okay in this regard probably thanks to being developed before such a heavy reliance on upscaling and ray tracing.
I think we have reasons to suspect that Control Resonant is going to both be a fantastic action game with some great worldbuilding, and run pretty terribly.
Stuff like this makes me think that upgrading my GPU is actually not as daunting, because how powerful the upgrade will be is going to be heavily negated by some games’ architecture.
That actually makes me wonder how come there’s relatively few such universes and stories arouns, given that suits and highly-secretive special forces are actually pretty popular in fiction. Maybe I’m overestimating the interest in such fiction.
I would like more stuff like Control and Men in Black, especially in gaming, with deep and explorable lore and world. But I think such stories basically happen as a response to something, like the SCP and the likes being a phenomenon rather than somethin (easily) reproducible, and Men in Black being a metaphor for migration and assimilation more than anything. At some point, there’s just nothing else to say about a thing from a given angle, and instead of feeling fresh and welcome and exciting, a new entry to a theme feels stale and meaningless, completely lacking anything interesting or captivating.
Which, I think, is what Control Resonant seems to try and do right by going outside The Oldest House and turning to a different kind of gameplay and worldbuilding. I think we’ll still be able to uncover stuff through reading and optional dialogue, but I doubt it will have the same form or extent as the first game.
Speaking of Control Resonant - are you even interested in it given this shift? Please be careful with plot details, as I haven’t finished the first game yet.
I was really into SCP when it came out, and it was such a gift. Probably my favorite third-person shooter, both for its atmosphere and combat. I especially like the amount of stuff to just read and get absorbed in the lore, wonder at how the place used to look like under non-crisis circumstances.
Great screenshots! Really capture the enigmatic feel that invites you to explore the world.
Any people waiting for the sequel here, how do you feel about combat in the upcoming game? Seems like it’s going to be more melee-focused, which isn’t my thing, but I like and respect that they’re trying to do something different as opposed to making more of the same thing. That’s the same reason I love the DOOM series - that variety helps each entry have its place instead of feeling like a DLC essentially.
And him saying switching to Linux is like moving to another country instead of addressing the issues at home lol
That’s after years of talking smack against Valve and Newell, too. Which will not cease, I’m sure, but I bet he’s either real angry now or doing a lot of mental gymnastics to tell his narcissistic ass he’s not being proven wrong.
Hard disagree.
There’s some debate to have here about neuroplasticity and whether cursive handwriting (or the process of learning something involving both the cognitive resources and some rather fine hand, wrist, fingers, a bit of an arm movement), but one thing is certain: it’s a faster way to write stuff down.
I have tried journaling and other writing both in printed and cursive, and the former makes me not write at all, because there’s not enough time in this world for me to be my verbose self on paper when trying to write legible printed letters.
Cursive is just that fast. Faster if you learn to write shorter forms of the same words. Even faster if you learn some special systems, but that’s a different rabbit hole.
But I will admit that learning to be concise with one’s words without losing meaning and gravity is also beneficial, even if only for trying to push Alzheimer’s and others further into the future.
Absolutely not, I hope.
The impact on the minds and the constant push for the thing for all the wrong reasons are enough for me to keep hating it.
Same. This file has been going for years, on and off. No other game does this to me.
Same time, same game 10 years from now?
The senile presidents, ministers, MPs and other officials are salivating so hard right now.
The many that don’t realize either actually do realize and play the game because they don’t see or believe in another way, or they’re also ghouls. Temporarily embarrassed millionaires and all that.
If Devolver Digital actually goes back to being private and uses the money they claim it will save well, that’ll be a good story of choosing lasting value and client relationship over short-term monetary gains, which is rare and and hopeful, but especially awesome with these guys, because I love the games they publish.
But you’re so right - I, too, wish the rest of the world would do the same. Maybe that’d lead to a more stable world that wouldn’t seem impossible to thrive in without excessive hoarding and hostility to anyone else.
Very much this.
I remember being so excited for cloud gaming as a kid, before the term was coined or the concept was widely there - I just kept thinking to myself how cool it would be to be able to play any games I want on my less-than-capable PC. Couldn’t even imagine the tech actually arriving one day.
And by the time it did, I’ve become so disenchanted with technology that reaches mainstream, because you’re just so right: it becomes a very aggressive money-making machine that treats you without any respect and only wants more.
I would rather pay more for less thanks to the rampocalypse, play with stutters and terrible FPS on lowest settings, than let a Take-Two CEO and others have us rent games and computing power.
Steam Deck.
The Talos Principle. It’s actually my first time playing the game despite having learned about it near launch and having seen some footage and just wondering at this mysterious puzzle-solving adventure set in such beautiful locations… And it’s every bit wonderful, much more than I had expected. And there’s so much reading, too! I actually love that part and how it’s executed, because it allows me to choose whether to go lore-learning, puzzle-solving or secrets-hunting. The latter is especially amazing here: I love spending days on trying to get to something only to learn that the solution lies in a different direction and turns out to be much simpler. I wonder if that’s intended or it’s just me.
Half-Life. A while ago I tried playing THE FINALS with gyro only and quickly found out that I gravitate towards the dual-trackpad control scheme, allowing me to achieve more and do less. However, a fast-paced online shooter that is also as demanding wasn’t the perfect choice for every time I grabbed the deck, so I tried finally beating Half-Life on Hard - and got humbled. I had thought I was kinda good with gyro, but apparently not. All the better, as it led to me mixing mouse input on the right trackpad combined with gyro as opposed to committing to gyro entirely, the latter doesn’t being that much comfortable or precise on a Steam Deck, essentially rotating your controller with your screen.
I will probably pick up THE FINALS on the Steam Deck again, too, with S11 introducing bot matches. Could be a great and fun way to practice or warm up before joining someone’s team and contributing a fraction of a fraction of what I can with mouse and keyboard at least semi-predictably.