Upcoming videochat + minor news

[Ross Scott]

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here »

 

I forgot to mention in the last videochat the date of the next one. In general I'm doing it on the first Sunday of each month, so the next will be in about a week on May 1st, at 4pm EST at twitch.tv/rossbroadcast. You can leave additional questions or topics you'd like me to try to cover here in the comments below. I plan on discussing the Nostalrius server incident some in the beginning also.

 

In other news, the Planetside 2 recruitment video is getting close to being finished, I'm guessing 2 days maximum. I was hoping to have it done by now, but the tutorial got more involved than I planned and I wanted to make sure people won't be lost. After that, my time will be split multiple ways between catching up on emails, getting other projects slowly prepared, working on the movie, and VERY slowly working on the next Game Dungeon. I'm staying busy one way or another!

 

COMMENTS

[Heliocentrical]

Hey Ross here are my questions.

 

What's your opinion on Korn? When you said said you like metal with a tune to it Korn was the first band that came to my mind.

 

In your RGD for Revenant you mentioned that you played Fallout 1 to completion. How the hell did you do it? I thought you would absolutely hate Fallout 1 for it's abysmal combat systems. You only get to control one character, can only make 1 action per turn or a glamorous 2 if you take the fast shot trait, are usually up against 15-20 guys at once and you have to watch them take their turn one by one until you get to take your turn again. It's like Chinese water bucket torture if the water was boiling acid. What's worst of all is there are no mods to fix these main issues or to turn it into a decent combat system. I really wanted to play through Fallout 1 to see what all the fuss was about with the story and the lore. But not if it means trudging through one of the worst combat systems ever IMO.

 

What's your opinion on mods? I just recently had a radical shift in opinion on mods. I previously thought that mods were just to add to experience. But I now feel they have the potential to save entire games for people. Case in point is a mod for Deus Ex called GMDX which vastly improves on it. I felt that most of Deus Ex's systems were so poorly implemented to a point where I wasn't having any fun playing the game. Then I installed GMDX and it felt like I was playing an entirely different game even though on the surface it still was the same game. Except I was actually having fun and GMDX saved Deus Ex for me.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Guest (see edit history)

[Mico Selva]

Hey, Ross.

 

This is more a suggestion than a question, but I hope you will be able to answer.

 

have you considered going into lockdown mode with the movie, and focusing on it 100%, leaving only the monthly chats to keep interactions with the fans (since that is their whole point)?

Explanation (mostly for other forums members, you can skip this): having been a part of a few creative projects, I know how absorbing and time-consuming they can be, especially when quality is involved. Constantly moving between different stuff slows everything down, and the long term project (in this case the movie) ends up suffering the most. I can only speak for myself, but I hope other fans at least partially share my point of view: while I love Game Dungeons (seriously, that is currently my favourite Youtube series), rants and other short stuff, I really, really would like to see that movie, and I would not mind if you put other stuff on hold and moved to making the movie 100%. Otherwise, we might have to wait years - and I do not mean one or two years, more like five, before the movie appears (if every). Monthly chats will still allow us to hear your opinions and reassure us you have not died from bean poisoning.

 

Ok, maybe make that Deus Ex Game Dungeon first. That would be cool to see.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RE Heliocentrical:

 

While Fallout's combat system could use many improvements, this part is false:

You (...) can only make 1 action per turn or a glamorous 2 if you take the fast shot trait, are usually up against 15-20 guys at once

1. Your number of actions (I assume you mean attack actions) depends on your Action Points (the higher Agility you have, the more AP you get), and the cost of one attack depends on your weapon and attack type (single shot/burst/aimed with automatic weapons, trust/swing with knives, etc.). With some understanding of the system, you can get multiple attacks per turn pretty easily, especially with smaller weapons.

2. Very rarely you fight against so many opponents. Actually I only recall a few such large encounters (and indeed they were a pain - Shady Sands Raiders, Necropolis ghouls, maybe a couple more). Most of the time you are against a single enemy or several enemies.

 

By the way, you can get party memebers in Fallout 1, although you cannot control them. They are more like NPCs who follow you around and fight on your side (just like in Fallout 3/4 and Skyrim).

 

Just wanted to clarify these. If you want to continue this discussion, I suggest we make a thread in another part of the forums, as not to muddy this one.

[Major_Why]

Ross, if you weren't working on any videos or other creative projects, as in, you had finished Freeman's Mind and just halted your output there indefinitely, is there any one game that you think you would be putting 12 hours in to each day? Do you sometimes think "Man, I wish I wasn't so busy with creating things, because then I could play this awesome game all night long!" ?

 

Also, this is a subject that I'm surprised doesn't get a lot of attention and I was wondering if you had any thoughts surrounding it. Fewer and fewer AAA games are being released with mod tools available, and these days it seems rare for games using proprietary engines to include any sources or assets that allow players to create things like maps, model replacements, and other clientside changes. Despite the popularity of the Steam Workshop and dedicated modding sites, developers like DICE and Infinity Ward have long since pulled the plug on both server and clientside mods, under guises such as "The engine's workflow is too advanced for users to ever learn" and "Custom content users would gain an unfair advantage". These are valid, but it's been widely speculated that the three main reasons for this shift in to vanilla lockdown are:

 

1: It extends the life of any release, making it less likely for custom content users to purchase the next release in the series.

2: It would be unfair to those who own the game on a console, as they would be missing out on any custom content, so the developers would instead pander to nobody instead of just PC users.

3: It would allow people to take DLC content and repackage it in to a mod format, giving people access to DLC maps without actually purchasing the DLC.

 

Which are all valid from a business standpoint. In short, have you ever been disappointed to hear that a series of games that you've enjoyed the user-made content of will no longer support these types of mods for future releases?

 

Also, I recall you mentioning something along the lines of setting up an organized petition against games being killed off. have you considered http://gamercongress.com/ ? It seems to have been made for this sort of thing. A petition revolving around games being killed off by EA has even been brought up already and since met its mark (And the resulting cries and calls were ignored by EA of course)

 

http://gamercongress.com/opinion/save-crysis-multiplayer-support

[Vin Wolfstein]

I have a question for Ross. Best I can tell in addition to enjoying Metal and Punk Rock, you also appear to enjoy electronic music (DnB, electro, etc.) Assuming this is the case, what are your favorite electronic artists and songs?

[GolfClubNinja]

Questions for Overlord Ross:

1. what improvements are being made to the website

2. Do you accept fan-art for t-shirts (if a fan makes a good design, would you make it into a shirt in your shop, with their permission of course.)

[matai]

Hi Ross

 

I've been trying to contact you but I understand that it can take more than a year for you to reply to an e-mail, so I hope this way you get the message in time. I will visit Poland in July. Now I don't know where you live exactly, but as a fan I would like to visit you for a beer or something if it is possible.

 

If you see this message, please respond to it. And keep up the good work with your videos!

 

 

Máté

[Zelpa]

i posted this question in the previous videochat thread but i'll post it here too

 

Have you ever thought of uploading your videos in a better format on a site other than Youtube? Having H.256 / HEVC versions of your videos available to download would be pretty awesome. And if you don't want to bother with file hosting you can always use BitTorrent.

[TheGameIntersect]

Hi Ross,I am not sure if this question was asked before but here it goes.

What is your style when playing games?Do you play very slowly and try to take everything in,do you rush,sneak...?

[RobStar]

Ross, do you accept fanart? I'd love to draw up some of my favorite moments from CP or freeman's mind.

[AP_Pastor]

Dunno if someone asked this but....

 

Would Super Metroid be something worthy of a Game Dungeon review if Nintendo weren't so trigger-happy with taking down videos?

 

EDIT: A friend of mine wanted to ask what server and faction will you be in Planetside 2?

Edited April 24, 2016 by Guest (see edit history)

[Presence]

Ross, Diane Reitz once told me about a procedurally generated game she almost got published called Multiverse. It basically used a random number grid to produce infinite playspace, on the C64. She recently put up a detailed look at the game on her website, with lots of screenshots.

 

You've GOT to take a look at it, it's right up your alley.

 

I don't know if it would have been good or bad, but I do know it looks amazing. Also, she has GOT to get that prototype disk copied.

[TheGameIntersect]

Can you name couple of games you spent most hours playing?

[Presence]

Can you name couple of games you spent most hours playing?

 

I think there may be one he's spent half his life playing.

[HLPrincess]

Can you name couple of games you spent most hours playing?

 

I think there may be one he's spent half his life playing.

Oh, what a funny, funny man you are!

[Jeb_CC]

Can you name couple of games you spent most hours playing?

 

I think there may be one he's spent half his life playing.

 

Get out. XD

[Selfsurprise]

I have a couple questions if you'll be so kind as to indulge me.

 

1) In your RGD episode about the game Eternam, you cited the French Revolution as a period in history that was underused in gaming. As a big history nerd myself, I was just wondering what other periods or aspects of history could make for an excellent computer game theme or setting. At the moment I'm seriously into the Cynic philosophers, 10th century Arabian diplomacy, early encounters with exotic animals in Britain and the general history of the Ukraine. Any thoughts on these or some of your own favourite historical themes? Would they make for interesting content in a game? Whether set in "real life" or some fantasy world?

2) In the last videochat you talked a little about HP Lovecraft. As a big fan myself I was pleased to note you seemingly liked The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and The Colour Out of Space. My personal favourite is At The Mountains Of Madness. Have you read this particular story? If so, what genre of game (presuming a "horror" prefix) would suit an adaptation of the novella best? Point n' click, first-person walking simulator, third-person survival horror, etc?

 

Can you name couple of games you spent most hours playing?

 

I think there may be one he's spent half his life playing.

I hope Ross mentions this in the next videochat.

[jukematerful]

Hey Ross, love your stuff. I just had a simple question regarding your idea of cheapness towards gaming. I remember in one of your Game Dungeons you made a statement that you are sticking to a five year lag because then many patches and updates fix a lot of bugs and games also become really cheap. I was wondering how cheaply you buy games at. For example, The Secret World. I bought it for 11.99 on sale (I bought it because you recommended the story, thanks it's fun). I was wondering if you bought the game at that price or waited for it to be even cheaper. I was also wondering if you had any of your own tips of how to buy games on the cheap that aren't really mainstream such as Steam sales or Humble Bundle. I do apologize if this is personal for you, I would just like to know your thoughts because you seem to have your gaming budget be barely anything while others are buying games brand new the first day for 60 dollars and still you seem to be having triple the fun compared to them. Thank you.

[Presence]

I was also wondering if you had any of your own tips of how to buy games on the cheap that aren't really mainstream such as Steam sales or Humble Bundle..

 

I'll field this one.

 

https://isthereanydeal.com/

 

It monitors game sales across lots of sites and keeps histories for bundles games have been in and "regular" sale price charts. You can look up games individually, or have it email you when games are in bundles, are on sale, are below a particular price, or only when a game is at its lowest price ever. It can sync with your steam or gog wishlist, or you can create a waitlist on the site manually. You're welcome.

[Ross Scott]

Hi Ross

 

I've been trying to contact you but I understand that it can take more than a year for you to reply to an e-mail, so I hope this way you get the message in time. I will visit Poland in July. Now I don't know where you live exactly, but as a fan I would like to visit you for a beer or something if it is possible.

 

If you see this message, please respond to it. And keep up the good work with your videos!

 

 

Máté

If it's taken me a year to respond, something has gone wrong. Go ahead and send me another email if that's the case.