The Round Stable

Oh my god you guys. Play Butterfly Soup:

https://brianna-lei.itch.io/butterfly-soup

Need convincing? Adorable awkward queer girls, and baseball.



It's free and awesome and I can't believe it flew under my radar since it came out last year. Play it so you can agree with me that Akarsha is clearly the best.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/5/17/17363 ... accessible

Microsoft announced a new accessible controller, and it's really rad - it's designed to work with existing accessible gaming devices using 3.5mm jacks rather than requiring brand new ones, it's easy to reconfigure it on the fly, and it's supported in a way that current hacked together accessible controllers might not be.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/0 ... eal-trash/



there's a really amazing that's being worked on, where you and some friends basically go into random gmod/source engine levels on the steam workshop and attempt to literally steal everything in the map that is not nailed down before calling in a cosmic bus to crash into the level and take you away to another map

it's still in development but from what's been shown so far (check out the vod in the article), it looks like an absolute hoot

Got SA on The Chef Elusive Target. Pretty by-the-numbers mission, even though I missed the obvious opportunity and took him out with a chandelier.

Makes up for me blowing it on the Ex-Dictator the other week.

No SA for me on the Chef. I used an exploding duck.

(The stream is later today, the tweet is just old )

Head’s up for Bloodstained backers: if you chose a console or handheld platform for Curse of the Moon, those codes have all been delayed by IntiCreates. Only the Steam version is available. However, they have a stopgap solution. If you check your backer survey link, you’ll find a temporary Steam key, which is good through the 8th of June. Presumably things will be straightened out by then.

SlateSlabrock wrote: ↑

Fri May 25, 2018 9:27 pm

... Yeah, that's a fair cop.

Curse of the Moon is *really* good, but I wish I could play it on my switch. It's really nice that they gave out steam codes in the meantime, and It's great, but still,

Aria Genisi wrote: ↑

Fri May 25, 2018 10:34 pm

Curse of the Moon is *really* good, but I wish I could play it on my switch. It's really nice that they gave out steam codes in the meantime, and It's great, but still,

Did you get the to the stage 4 boss yet? Because holy shit, I was not prepared for that.

Also: (gameplay spoilers) It was also when I figured out that you can combo character abilities, purely by accident. I cast Alfred’s shield, but switched to Gebel fast to dodge an attack, and lo and behold, the shield stayed on. I’m not sure if this was intentional, or a bug. I’m on version 1.1.1 right now. Looking forward to experimenting with this some more later.

I've beaten the main game and Nightmare mode so far. I still need to unlock the remaining 3rd mode though. I can see myself just picking this up and playing it for the fun of it every once in a while since it's fairly short (but real good)

Agreed, it’s a great game. It feels like a mashup of CVIII, Rondo, and Bloodlines, in the best way, but with new tricks. I’m going to wait until I get my code to replay it, though. But I could see myself replaying it a lot in the future.

I'm finally getting around to playing Subnautica.



It's very pretty.



[whale songs intensify]



"Surprise!"



I keep getting distracted building bases, though.



And gardening.



I just dropped a base down beneath the Blood Kelp Trench so I could try out the thermal generator for the first time.



This was a very good idea.

Finished MGSV.

Overall good game gameplay wise. Lot of fun, but I see the issues people have with the plot.

Still, enjoyed it.

SlateSlabrock wrote: ↑

Mon May 28, 2018 1:09 am

There are a bunch of things I've never built in Subnautica because IME not everything is equally useful. Vertical tubes are a thing I've never messed with. When I make a multi-story base I just stack multipurpose rooms on top of each other.

But the way *you* do it looks really cool, so next time I'm gonna try.

I've tried building rooms on top of each other, but I can't figure it out.

It seems like different types of rooms don't like linking together very well. I only saw people stacking multipurpose rooms on top of each other recently, so I'll give it a try sometime.

Vertical connectors worked out in this particular case because the thermal vents get pretty toasty, and the rock face doesn't leave much room to build on foundations.

SlateSlabrock wrote: ↑

Thu May 31, 2018 1:32 pm

I've tried building rooms on top of each other, but I can't figure it out.

Building Rooms on Top of Each Other: A Quick Demonstration




STEP 1: Plop a room directly on top of another, like so. Add windows to taste.



STEP 2: Say to yourself "That looks mighty fine, I should connect them with ladders".



STEP 3: Ladder positioning. In multipurpose rooms, ladders can go in any of five places. The center of the room --



-- or against the wall in the 4 cardinal directions. Run your cursor along the ceiling (or floor, I suppose, if you're building down) until the green blueprint snaps into place.



STEP 4: Climb into your new attic and enjoy!

Did they ever patch the ladders to be less annoying? As recently as the post-Early Access release, you just clicked them to instantly teleport to the next floor up or down, and if you stacked more than two floors on top of each other, specifically aiming for the Climb Up or Climb Down trigger was super annoying.

Bloodstained North American backer peeps: If you chose Switch as your platform, check your backer survey for Curse of the Moon codes. I just got mine about 5 minutes ago.

I’ve finally got 4 Crystal Hearts in Celeste, and now I can challenge the Core.

Kick butt!

I didn't realize you couldn't enter the core before that, I'd gotten 4 crystal hearts before unlocking that level since I was vaguely trying to 100% the levels before that.

I skipped a lot of strawberries in my first plays because I was focusing on learning the game, and I only found one heart (the Mario 3 inspired one) on my first play. I’m bad at finding secrets without a guide, though.

I was too busy doing care taking stuff to play today but hopefully tomorrow or Monday I’ll be able to play the level.

Madeline wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 03, 2018 5:17 am

I skipped a lot of strawberries in my first plays because I was focusing on learning the game, and I only found one heart (the Mario 3 inspired one) on my first play. I’m bad at finding secrets without a guide, though.

I was too busy doing care taking stuff to play today but hopefully tomorrow or Monday I’ll be able to play the level.

I think most people who played mario 3 found that heart since I found it first try too

Gloomy Rube wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 03, 2018 1:06 pm

I think most people who played mario 3 found that heart since I found it first try too

It’s a Pavlovian thing once you see that white box

Also, NA Bloodstained backers, PS4 codes are now going out for Curse of the Moon.

This not really a Europa Universalis 4 post but more of a post about my approach to strategy, since I got an interesting peek into my own brain while playing as France.

Namely, I have a bit of a mental block in games whose base narrative I already know, like actual history or books I've read previously.



So here's me as France, and as you can see I've acquired some English territory.

This happened because Great Britain had something of a perfect storm of vulnerability: they had no strong allies, they had a rebel problem, their navy was mostly weak transports, they were behind in land tech, and their army was off freezing to death in Norway. There was really no reason not to invade, so I did. My army ran roughshod all over England, and I ended up with all of Wessex and a vassalized Wales for basically no loss and no risk.

What's interesting is that I had to force myself into it, a little.

While I was planning the invasion, there was a little voice in my head that was saying, "France can't conquer England in the 1500s, that's not how history goes. What would that even look like? You're doing it wrong." I overcame that misgiving, of course, but the fact that I had it at all was interesting. I never get a feeling like that when I'm playing Stellaris, or other games set in original settings, where there's no sense of how things "should" go, just of what's possible. History games like EU seem to make me want to stay inside the lines and not diverge too much. I wonder how many great opportunities I've passed up, or not even noticed, because they struck my brain as too ahistorical or "just not done".

No point here, really. Just a moment of self-reflection.

And we've got the first instance of Sony/MS/Nintendo leaking an E3 reveal via their online store this year: an icon for Fortnite has been discovered in the Switch eShop's files. It could just be for an info page, or they could be planning a "will be available after this presentation".

I will be honest, I have still yet to play Fortnite at all

EU4 update: the Religious League Wars began in the 1560s and ended in the 1570s with a Protestant victory -- thanks to the help of France.

Some prelude: Austria had lost the Imperial crown to Bohemia not long before, somehow.

The main Catholic kingdoms at the time were Austria, Spain, Bohemia, and Brandenburg. France (me) is technically Catholic but sided with the Protestants because fuck Spain and Austria. Also I'd finished the Humanism idea group. Also also, the Pope had been under Spanish control for most of the last century, and nearly every French monarch has been excommunicated for political reasons; so I figured by this point France, while nominally Catholic, didn't have much loyalty to the church anymore. But mainly, fuck Spain and Austria.

Baden led the Protestant league. Joined by France, Russia and the Ottomans, it was pretty much always going to be a win for the Protestants, although it took a decade and everyone was exhausted by the time it was over.

I gained Franche-Comte, Cambrai, Brittany and Navarra, which shortens my bucket list considerably.



And so now the HRE is Protestant and the first Emperor of this new era is Britain, who didn't participate in the League War at all. They haven't had time to choose a new crop of electors.

Between all this and a random New World, the future seems crazy unpredictable. This is more fun than I've had in a long time.



Above: devastation. Europe is pretty torn up after the Twelve Years' War.

Everspace is really, really good.

It's a roguelike/space shooter combo and I'm having a blast with it. You fight in asteroid fields, upgrade your ship and explore till you die and start over. It does the FTL thing where there's enemies chasing you and you have to jump to the next system before they catch up.

You get to spend your money in between runs to unlock new ships and gain perks, so there's always some progress even if you get killed.

It's great and super pretty

I absolutely love Everspace - even in early access it was fun. If you're a fan of roguelikes, definitely check it out. The story they've put in to explain the whole "live die repeat" premise that all roguelikes have is pretty decent too.

I’m kind of disappointed in Axiom Verge. I’m not interested in the story or the main character, which would be fine if the game is more fun to play. But while it’s fun to experiment with the weapons, I’m just not enjoying wandering around the map for whatever reason. It’s not a frustrating or bad game. It doesn’t engage me any more and I’m not sure why. It’s the sort of thing that should be right up my alley.

Tanked Pazuzu and got my upgrade. Also all of Deltascape and Sigmascape.

Kef owned.

Grats to you.

The original Donkey Kong arcade game is on the Switch eShop now. That seems like a big deal, because I thought Nintendo didn’t own the code for the arcade version, and that’s why every other reissue of it was either based on the NES port, or built from scratch. Maybe Hamster or Nintendo made a deal or maybe it’s been cleared up. It’s still neat to see Nintendo digging into their arcade heritage.

Wasn't the full arcade version in Donkey Kong 64?

Highbrow Dash wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 14, 2018 5:29 pm

Wasn't the full arcade version in Donkey Kong 64?

This thread on the Donkey Kong Forums argues that the one in DK 64 is closely based on, but not identical to, the Japanese arcade ROM. So it could be a port or a rebuild, rather than straight-up emulation. I don’t know the game well enough to spot the differences.

I wish those arcade re-releases were going to be part of the subscription package once the Switch switches to paid online later this year.