Technobabylon is some good shit.
It started out as some real good shit. The story is terrific. I just didnāt like how some parts of it ended up being classic nonsense logic point + click adventure. I ended up just googling for the solutions.
Yeah after one round of āclick on everything with everything elseā I was hitting up Google too.
I managed to buy a PS5 around the end of December so Iāve been playing a bunch of games on that.
Astroās Playroom may just be a glorified tech demo for the PS5 new haptic controllers, but it was 10 hours of truly revolutionary and amazing platforming gameplay. The way you use the controllers and the way they respond with the feedback in the game is unlike anything I have ever experienced before.
Ratchet and Clank: A Rift In Time was a sublime platforming experience. For years, the R&C games have been somewhat underappreciated, but if these games had come out on Nintendo systems, people would be talking about them the way we do about Mario.
While not quite as revolutionary as Astroās Playroom, A Rift In Time was one of the best platforming experiences Iāve ever encountered. Everything just feels right. The way the characters move, the weapons, how you play through each level, it was just a joy. Also, the humor and story were excellent as well. Plus, the whole use of ārifts,ā interdimensional tears in the fabric of reality, were really cool, where you would literally travel from one environment to another, with absolutely no loading times or stuttering, thanks to the PS5ās hardware. This set up some amazing set-pieces where youāre traveling from rift to rift to rift, in rapid succession, and the game handles it so smooth.
R&C is the first game Iāve ever played where I felt like I was playing a Pixar movie. The game looks that good from start to finish with no slowdown or anything. The environments are packed with funny and interesting details and I was shocked that there was no pop-ups or draw distance.
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So a little while back, my friend wanted to try out Wingspan which I heard about from one of Rym and Scottās tabletop panels. We got the Steam version for a group of us and we played. After an incredibly detailed and long tutorial, we went through 30 minutes of one game being utterly confused until all of a sudden, everything just clicked. I saw the strings of the universe and defeated my friends.
I now have 100+ hours in the game. I plan to play in tournaments when I have more time. This is one of the best tabletop games I have ever played in my life.
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This was such a bastard to solve. There are clearly more efficient ways of doing this, but I was getting stuck with making the pattern repeat without moving the chain around.
Ended up saving on area at the cost of cycles.
Scaling this gif down to fit under the 4mb upload limit in photoshop was interesting too. Messed around with the dithering patterns, colours, lossy %, dimensions. This is this the best I could do lol
If anyone thinks they can do better, I can DM you the original via discord or whatever.
You can upload to imgur and then paste the imgur link here to avoid the limit.
Let me know what level it was and I can load up the game and see what my solution was.
Also, I thought we already had a thread where Opus Magnum solutions were shared, but I canāt find it.
EDIT: Found it.
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Here is my solution, I think itās pretty solid.
I have to say, I think opus magnum is probably my favorite zachtronics game. I think Spacechem had a better moment for me (I wasnāt really paying attention to what I was punching the clock for, until Quororque, the Space Alchemist rolled up on my base and I figured out Iād probably missed a few things), but overall I think the story is rock solid
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Agree, Opus Magnum is definitely my favorite. They took Codex of Alchemical Engineering and polished the heck out of it. It really benefits from being the second time they made the game. I bet if they made direct sequels to some of their other games that level of polish would really make them shine. Would love to see something like TIS-200.
I feel like they already did make a sequel(s) with Shenzen IO and Exapunks (all three I played but got stuck at, or making a solution seemed like way too much work 
)
Played some Wii Sports Bowling today for the first time in 10+ years. Took me 3 games to remember how to throw a consistent strike. Still only threw 4 or 5.
Itās still fun.
Also, my Mii had hair T_T I had to edit it.
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They way Wii Sports Boxing has evolved into Arms, could other sports get the same treatment?
Iām looking forward to playing Badminton! Even the football looks like good times.
I have Mario Striker on the Wii, wasnāt to impressed by the gameplay and of course the online was trash.
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Journey was just so great. A perfect little hour and a half barely-a-game game. The visuals alone are worth the ride.
The Heavenās Vault people must have cribbed from this. The music, the stylings, the vibes in general.
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Iām blown away by Elden Ring. I forgot that videogames could make me feel these feelings. Just an utterly bold experience in packing so much game into one game. I felt like a kid again when videogames were magic and you believed there was an entire actual world packed into the TV. I am approaching 200 hours across three playthroughs and still have not found everything hiding in the Lands Between.
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As someone who owns DS1-3 but has never finished any of them (I usually get 20ish hours in and then stall out from an annoying area I donāt feel like playing with) Elden Ring seems like it would hold a lot of appeal to be able to just go somewhere else and come back when Iām higher leveled or have better gear or a different build.
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Yeah, for single player games the model of making everything beatable with a combination of skill and/or time works really well especially if youāre trying to get the largest audience possible. I certainly prefer it to the JRPG model where grinding is the only way through. Though I think there is still a place in the world for the Ninja Gaiden (NES) model where skill and practice are the only way through.
Show me an jrpg made in last 15 years where that is true. Heck, Iād say that Elden Ring has way more of situations where average player will hit a wall and be forced to go elsewhere to get stronger. While most jrpgs are very linear, storyfocused things making the challenges appropriate on the point of game they happen.
Any mainline pokemon game. You canāt beat the elite 4 with level 1 pokemon no matter how much skill you have. I presume a professional elite gamer can beat the final boss of Elden Ring without any levels or equipment.
Here we come to the question about definition of the word grinding, because for me, playing the game doesnāt count. You canāt beat elite 4 with level 1 pokemons, but you also canāt challenge them without beating all the gyms and other mandatory battles in the way, all which give exp. Not to mention mandatory patches of long grass. And again, playing the game aināt grinding for me, so battling wild pokemons you come across when going through the game isnāt grinding.
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I think though that going somewhere else in Elden Ring is VERY different from just grinding out extra levels in a JRPG or even in another fromsoft game like DS1-3 where Iāve hit walls with boss fights or annoying poison swamp areas and its like I guess I either need to A/B test my way through or go back and kill a bunch of mooks to get some levels in a few stats and try again.
As I understand it from videos Iāve watched you can basically go anywhere and have DS style combat with cool exploration, so if you donāt like an area you can essentially still enjoy the primary experience with another part of the game (obviously there are blockers/locked areas you have to find a thing or beat a guy to get to) but that engenders a lot more freedom in the experience.