Vidya Games Thread

[PleaseCheckYourReceipts]

People that were never going to pay you and were determined to pirate won't suddenly pay now because of Denuvo, they'll just wait for the crack. Some of your legal customers will skip over your game because it has Denuvo. Meanwhile Denuvo is going to tank your game's performance and those performance issues could become a main talking point about your game. So now you're now losing money to the contract, people skipping the game because of Denuvo, and people skipping because of performance issues

So these companies are hoping the money they lost from all this is offset by the people that were going to buy it but will now pirate it on release because it doesn't have Denuvo. That sounds hopeful until you realize that Steam's entire existence and their infinite money printer shows that the piracy that matters (potential legal customers pirating the game) is a matter of convenience and you're actively inconveniencing them with Denuvo, which you're paying for. It's basically a scam. It's why some companies only pay for it for 1 month to try to ensure people will buy it out of FOMO instead of pirating. Then they drop Denuvo because it isn't worth it and they can pretend like they improved the performance issues, hopefully gaining good rep with the audience.

1 month of an anti-piracy mechanic has always made the most sense. Though I think the longest a game took to get cracked was almost 9 months, you're primary word of mouth window is that first month and that's what matters. Also, given it's a modern game, by the time you get out your 2nd performance patch, you'll be able to hide any previous penalty in the performance.

But here I thought Denuvo had no performance issues, because the redditors kept saying it didn't, and that I shouldn't trust my lying eyes!

Also yeah, you can't quantify "lost piracy sales" because most of the people who pirate wouldn't buy your shit anyways, especially not for full price, and anyone who says otherwise, or gives some "uhm akshually I'm fighting the big corporation" spiel is purely virtue signalling.

Well, the one dirty little secret is the performance hit is mostly on the Devs. How the Denuvo is handled should have a minimal impact, but it tends to cause a lot of microstutters when it's going through its decode process. It won't really show up on most testing, but we've had the issue since the Windows 10 Display Driver controller. You can induce Monitor-based Desyncs that don't show up in FPS counting because the frame is dropped on the DisplayOutput part of the sequence. This issue was first really noticed when the Zen1 CPUs from AMD came out. Everyone in the testing space spent months trying to figure out why the lower FPS CPU had a physically smoother visual presentation when it shouldn't work that well. That was actually an Nvidia driver issue, but it wasn't handling a bunch of what Windows 10's display driver was doing quite properly.

Yeah, most of them are screaming about it because they hate pirates, but every single time a denuvo thread popped up on r/games or wherever, you'd have droves of bugmen screaming that you can't prove Denuvo degrades performance and that any video that says otherwise is faked, then saying that you shouldn't even care that Denuvo takes off some frames because it's not too bad, then saying that Denuvo having a chance to utterly brick games like Sonic Mania (I think) and DMC5 is rare so you shouldn't care, etc., etc..

Because Denuvo pays for positive posts on Social Media. All major Subreddits are controlled by Marketing Agencies and there's very, very few companies that don't have actual control of their own Subreddit via 3rd parties.

I've seen the start of Skynet - my computer refuses to run Civilization V and I can't figure out how to fix it.

To fill the Civilization V-shaped hole in my heart, I'm after similar game suggestions:

• 4X strategy game with multiple paths to victory besides killing the enemy
• Turn-based is a must.
• I don't want to play a fantasy or sci-fi setting. I'd love a game with the historical scope of Civ, but will take a more narrowly-focused setting if required
• Would prefer lots of factions to choose from, although this isn't required
• Some nice graphics wouldn't go astray

I'm not interested in recommendations for other Civ games, obviously. So, what games are best to scratch that Civilization itch?

I'm not sure exactly what to suggest.

Maybe EUIV? That space isn't my jam these days, but the non-SciFi/Fantasy limits the options a lot.

 

[RestlessRain]

 

[John Vtuber👁️]

Despite the game crashing or having a DirectX error every 5-30 minutes of playing, Black Ops 6 is fun - and a direct follow up to Cold War, starting from Adler stealing the show from step one. Which is fantastic, because he's a great character, but I'll save my Cold War sperging for another day, when the time comes to dive into Cold War alt-history settings.

That being said, I am now fully invested in seeing any one of the HoloLive members stream the game and dance around the in-your-face 'murican political propaganda, especially with:

Spoiler: Trigger Warning: Bill Clinton

There is a fully-modeled and animated Bill Clinton in a level where you stealth around one of his campaign rallies while evading/taking down his guards, and if he's not playable as a character in Zombies, what is even the point. I need to know how chuubas are going to hold their tongue during this mission, or if they go full ass-to-mouth, it's content either way.



This mission is actually immaculately designed, you're given three different ways to get what you need and complete the mission, with a bonus reward for completing all three. It's like a peek into an alternate timeline when these developers weren't relegated into the COD mines, but were instead making first-person RPGs. Bobby Kotick will one day regret his words and deeds.

 

[Abomination]

I've seen the start of Skynet - my computer refuses to run Civilization V and I can't figure out how to fix it.

To fill the Civilization V-shaped hole in my heart, I'm after similar game suggestions:

• 4X strategy game with multiple paths to victory besides killing the enemy
• Turn-based is a must.
• I don't want to play a fantasy or sci-fi setting. I'd love a game with the historical scope of Civ, but will take a more narrowly-focused setting if required
• Would prefer lots of factions to choose from, although this isn't required
• Some nice graphics wouldn't go astray

I'm not interested in recommendations for other Civ games, obviously. So, what games are best to scratch that Civilization itch?

It skirts a few of your requests, but I've really been enjoying Old World.

Most people describe it as a mix between Civ and Crusader Kings. I haven't gotten around to playing CK myself, but Old World does have an emphasis on actually playing as the leader by making different decisions, responding to random events, maintaining relationships inside and outside of your empire, and completing objectives on top of the classic 4X style of game. There are some differences in how it plays to Civ regarding the 4X aspects, but it doesn't take much to figure out.

As the name suggests, the scope of the game's setting is pretty narrow, only taking place in an old world setting without any era changes, and as of right now, there are nine factions. The game is still being updated with newer content at times, and they do release DLCs, so I'm sure we'll see more as time goes on.

It's probably not for everyone, but I enjoy it quite a bit. I'm pretty sure there's a demo for it on Steam, so I would recommend giving it a try.

 

[ogey_rrat]

I've seen the start of Skynet - my computer refuses to run Civilization V and I can't figure out how to fix it.

To fill the Civilization V-shaped hole in my heart, I'm after similar game suggestions:

• 4X strategy game with multiple paths to victory besides killing the enemy
• Turn-based is a must.
• I don't want to play a fantasy or sci-fi setting. I'd love a game with the historical scope of Civ, but will take a more narrowly-focused setting if required
• Would prefer lots of factions to choose from, although this isn't required
• Some nice graphics wouldn't go astray

I'm not interested in recommendations for other Civ games, obviously. So, what games are best to scratch that Civilization itch?

Been posted in this thread before, the lead designer of Civ IV (Soren Johnson) is also the lead designer for Old World, it's not just a Civ clone though and does play a little differently. It also recently went on sale, but there will probably be another Steam sale in the near future (or you could grab a key from a reseller instead).

I don't know if that new Ara 4X Game is any good, but it might be worth taking a look at as well. As far as I'm aware Humankind still isn't worth buying, although modders may have been able to fix the game to some degree so it may be worth picking up during a sale. Paradox's Millennia however is ass and will either be abandoned or slowly patched over time through tons of DLC.

 

[CalciumAnimal]

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ah yes the Tolkien argument but applied outside of it's shortsighted context.


Are orcs black? please tell me how you feel.(fuck twitter)

 

[Abomination]

Are orcs black? please tell me how you feel.(fuck twitter)

Thank you Extra Credits for being so retarded and anti-racist that you've created one of the most racist pieces of art I've seen in a while.

 

[TKN_Lurker]

Thank you Extra Credits for being so retarded and anti-racist that you've created one of the most racist pieces of art I've seen in a while.

Where's the resemblance even? That Orc has some cracking tits while the other looks flat as a washboard.

 

[CalciumAnimal]

Where's the resemblance even? That Orc has some cracking tits while the other looks flat as a washboard.

Green Skin = Black. Racism Against Orcs (who are generally always evil) somehow = Racism against black people

Reminder they (extra credits and their ass puppets) were legitimately trying to say the Tribal Ravagers Murderers and Rapists are definitely black coded.

 

[Punished Anime Discusser]

Black Ops 6 is probably the best COD campaign since Infinite Warfare, and it's not even close. The sheer variety of levels and gimmicks is crazy. Only part I didn't really like is that the free roam level felt kinda like filler, and that they bring up a lot of interesting shit about the MC's backstory then kinda go nowhere with it. Also that they'll continue the story not in Black Ops 7, but in fucking Warzone season trailers, like they always do.

 

[MrProcessor]

Green Skin = Black. Racism Against Orcs (who are generally always evil) somehow = Racism against black people

Reminder they (extra credits and their ass puppets) were legitimately trying to say the Tribal Ravagers Murderers and Rapists are definitely black coded.

These are the kinds of people in charge of both Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering over at the Hasbro subdivision Wizards of the Coast now. Unfortunately, that means this argument tends to come up a lot in the fantasy role playing game space these days, which is why you see these oh so original takes everywhere.

 

[shipmate_F]

I forgot if this was discussed before but I bring great news. Denuvo is facing the possibility of getting killed off.


Edit: Attached the wrong link but the previous one is still relevant anyways.


Creator was exposed as a creep and suddenly game companies now drop support of it for "performance issues". Totally, *cough*. *cough*.

Listen, I know I'm not Pippa so my support is close to none, but if pedophilia was necessary to end Denuvo... I'm just saying...
its joke guys

Yeah, most of them are screaming about it because they hate pirates, but every single time a denuvo thread popped up on r/games or wherever, you'd have droves of bugmen screaming that you can't prove Denuvo degrades performance and that any video that says otherwise is faked, then saying that you shouldn't even care that Denuvo takes off some frames because it's not too bad, then saying that Denuvo having a chance to utterly brick games like Sonic Mania (I think) and DMC5 is rare so you shouldn't care, etc., etc..

I can prove on both games. Literally same machine, Sonic Mania stuttered and DMC5 struggled with frametimes. Got the pirate version of both, suddenly my CPU wasn't screaming and the games weren't stuttering anymore. Sonic Mania had a 150mb .exe and the pirate version was just short of 20mb, it shows how bloated that shit is.
CAPCOM leaking DRM-less versions of the executables in the demos that could be used to the release just showed how dogshit awful it is to be a paying customer nowadays. You literally pay to get fucked while pirates got an infinite library and can wait for the best experience with a game down the line.

 

[MrProcessor]

Listen, I know I'm not Pippa so my support is close to none, but if pedophilia was necessary to end Denuvo... I'm just saying...
its joke guys

I can prove on both games. Literally same machine, Sonic Mania stuttered and DMC5 struggled with frametimes. Got the pirate version of both, suddenly my CPU wasn't screaming and the games weren't stuttering anymore. Sonic Mania had a 150mb .exe and the pirate version was just short of 20mb, it shows how bloated that shit is.
CAPCOM leaking DRM-less versions of the executables in the demos that could be used to the release just showed how dogshit awful it is to be a paying customer nowadays. You literally pay to get fucked while pirates got an infinite library and can wait for the best experience with a game down the line.

"CAPCOM leaking DRM-less versions of the executables in the demos that could be used to the release just showed how dogshit awful it is to be a paying customer nowadays. You literally pay to get fucked while pirates got an infinite library and can wait for the best experience with a game down the line."

Most of the time, if you pay attention to corporate behavior, you find them seeming to say, "No, we don't want you as a paying customer, we prefer you pirate all of your games." It's different than what they say, but if you just interpret their behavior that's how they act.

 

[Topo Chico]

Black op 6 multiplayer fucking sucks. Hitreg, SBMM, aim assist, and spawns are doo doo ca ca as usual. Oh and I packet burst non stop with <30ms to server 100+mbdown/25+up consistently with no fucky shit on my end. I'm averaging 99% 120+ fps which is nice. Need to go play the campaign on the hardest difficulty and see how that is. Haven't touched zombies yet, hear it's pretty good. I liked the open world zombies shit actually from previously. Want larger maps, don't care if ground war or otherwise. Will camp nuketown 24/7 playlist when that drops. Don't care how the BR shakes out. Just want good core gameplay and it's lacking atm. No hope on them fixing it at all, just want them to make it tolerable for a decent braindead shooter.

 

[Punished Anime Discusser]

Black op 6 multiplayer fucking sucks. Hitreg, SBMM, aim assist, and spawns are doo doo ca ca as usual. Oh and I packet burst non stop with <30ms to server 100+mbdown/25+up consistently with no fucky shit on my end. I'm averaging 99% 120+ fps which is nice. Need to go play the campaign on the hardest difficulty and see how that is. Haven't touched zombies yet, hear it's pretty good. I liked the open world zombies shit actually from previously. Want larger maps, don't care if ground war or otherwise. Will camp nuketown 24/7 playlist when that drops. Don't care how the BR shakes out. Just want good core gameplay and it's lacking atm. No hope on them fixing it at all, just want them to make it tolerable for a decent braindead shooter.

Yeah, I haven't given it a try yet, but I played a good amount of the beta (it's the same fucking thing) and I absolutely hated it. Which is weird, because I really liked MW3 (2) (2023) due to how fast the movement was, combined with the slightly slower TTK, good gun variety and actually good maps. Then Blops6 announces omnishmoovement and I play the beta, and your character is unbelievably slow and feels like he's moving through butter until you hit the Max Payne button and go flying at 900 km/h. The beta maps were also awful, and even though the game is back down to 100 hp instead of 150 it felt like I was putting 6-7 hitmarkers on every guy I killed, even at point blank. Also not a huge fan of the simplified weapon customization, because I really liked the balancing act of making your gun look as good as possible without bombing your stats in MW3.

I dunno, I'll probably give the full thing a try later today, but I'm not super optimistic.

 

[John Vtuber👁️]

I'm just here for BLOPS campaign and Zombies, both of which more than fulfil the need for my brain chemicals to ignite.

In other news, retvrn to tradition with an OSRS and Ultima Online inspired RPG, with social multiplayer (view and chat with other players in-game)



Will big-name developers, or even Jagex themselves, recognize the primal human craving for RuneScape? Probably not, so please look forward to the continued small-dev efforts to recapture playing RuneScape for the first time all over again.

 

[UberSoldat]

Matt McMuscles examines the history of a lesser known horror game from 2004

 

[CalciumAnimal]

I'm just here for BLOPS campaign and Zombies, both of which more than fulfil the need for my brain chemicals to ignite.

In other news, retvrn to tradition with an OSRS and Ultima Online inspired RPG, with social multiplayer (view and chat with other players in-game)



Will big-name developers, or even Jagex themselves, recognize the primal human craving for RuneScape? Probably not, so please look forward to the continued small-dev efforts to recapture playing RuneScape for the first time all over again.

geezuz that really is OSRS

 

[reinigen]

Reviews starting to come out for Dragon Age. Doesn't look good if even super lefty reviewer SkillUp is saying "Every interaction feels like HR is in the room" and "A bigger disappointment then Anthem was."

 

[El Rrata]

I just want Bioware to die at this point, to be honest. Their carcass isn't even smelly or rotting, it has completely decayed.