Henroid

EA canceled the Madden release for the WiiU, and it's one of two things going on. Either it's another casualty of the console not selling well, or it's EA continuing its dumb fight with Nintendo. EA has been really obsessed with controlling its own servers and I don't imagine Nintendo is allowing any publisher or developer to really do that over the WiiU. Normally that'd be a dumb thing on Nintendo's part, but when it comes to EA their only interest in it is power. They want content control and regulation, not actual benefit to the consumer. This sounds real dumb and tinfoil hatty, but honestly look at EA's operations since Origin became a thing, how it got all picky about distribution partners online and how it further empowers EA's ability to shut down servers and promote the newer software in your face. They're interested in having a digital platform for all the wrong reasons. God I hope Microsoft and Sony tell EA to shove it when it comes to having a separate-but-equal space next to Live and the PSN.

I just now remembered that years ago when the first Neptune's Pride Telltale game happened, Sean talked about getting a player (Bonnie, I still remember the name) (aka Princess Meatflaps apparently) involved in his schemes when she was down to a single star but had a big fleet amassed. But getting a player in that position involved in the game again is way different than just prodding them to make a single action you alone can take advantage of.

It's kinda funny how chaotic the game feels at first, especially with its presentation layer. And even knowing all of this stuff about what to look for and how to specifically dodge trouble or get out of it, the later levels really hammer you down (but not in a bullshit impossible way - it just means trying again). I've beaten a couple of levels in singleplayer by getting killed as one character, doing everything I can along the way, and then picking up where I left off with the next character (you have like four lives total per stage). I dunno how mutliplayer works when it comes to everyone dying - does the whole stage reset, or does everyone pick another character and try again where you left off?

An idea Jake and Sean brought up during the Monaco discussion was learning how to perceive the game, and that's absolutely a thing you have to learn to really get a handle on the game. I was having some frustration with the game, but once I learned what visual cues to watch for everything started to sail more smoothly. The first thing you should get a handle of is ? marks above NPC's heads. If it appears, they definitely see you but aren't alerted yet. Get familiar with the countdown timer to when it turns a pale red, which is when the NPC moves to investigate. Then there's a bunch of interaction that can happen at this point. Continuing to see you as they draw closer will solidify the red, and then just trigger a ! alert to your last known location. But before it all goes red, you can break their field of vision and let it 'cooldown.' Second thing to get a handle on is laser grids. Thin red lines that are stationary tend to blink out for a second. It's timed on a loop that you can figure out. If the red laser is thicker, it will never flicker out. Rotating / panning lasers are the most straight forward. In any case of these, when you trip a laser, a ! alert will place where it happened; as long as guards or civilians don't see you run or sneak from it, they will respond to that location, they don't zero in on you no matter what, like Oblivion's awful stealth system. Third thing (by the way these aren't things to learn in this precise order) is reading the 'map' view when you don't have line of sight on anything. I've run by plenty of places, turned around a wall, and then notice that there was a safe icon or whatever else to go back for. This is something the Lookout can really help with in multiplayer. Especially in cases where tokens / coins (whatever you want to call them) are underneath stationary NPCs. And I apologize to Jake, I didn't mean to sound all snappy or anything about it. I just wanna try and get people into this game. I feel compelled to because 1) it's fun and 2) the maker gave it to me randomly for free.

Precisely this. At some point in the conversation the idea of quitting the mission and restarting came up. Edit - As a reaction to being spotted by guards that is.

Wow okay, so you guys talking about Monaco, you got the wrong impression I think. Yes it is a stealthy game but not purely. As you go later into the game, getting spotted on purpose is part of the strategy. The game is built to support stealth and brazen gameplay. You have to rely on both interchangeably. If you guys give up because you get busted once, you're missing out on the spirit of things and it doesn't mean you've failed or have less change for success.

I'm listening right now but I need something clarified - your guys' NP2 game ended because a cheater was discovered?

Until I learn a better term for what I'm talking about that thread title will remain, temporarily. Basically what I'm after is games that have incremental ability unlocks, like Deus Ex or Prototype. It's a mechanic I like a lot, but I'm not aware of a whole lot of games that make use of such a thing. I'd even include games like Gradius in this, though I'd much prefer something more long-term and in-depth. So here I am asking the Idle Thumbs community what games (new or old) you all know of that fit this criteria. It doesn't have to fit a specific theme (like cyberpunk), it's just the mechanic I'm after. Edit - After some of the initial posts here I should clarify things more. First, I should've noted that I'm after choice-driven things rather than a linear experience. Though don't get me wrong, I love a good Metroid game as good as anyone. Second, games where your movement and momentum are paramount to the gameplay are also what I'm after. I understand that games like Diablo give you choice in skills, but it's far from what I'm seeking, notably because you're not really given options to be sneaky or pop in and out of and around cover during combat.

Sadly I don't. But keep in mind, the completion times in that game aren't real world time. The clock stops running for all sortsa stuff. Mostly screen transitions and item pickups. But it adds up, a lot.

38 minutes is my best 100% speedrun time.

Well, Super Metroid (even though it's my absolute favorite game ever) isn't choice-driven.

No, not quite that. I know that games like Deus Ex used experience systems, but I don't mean "reach level 20, now you have fire 3" type stuff. I mean reaching a certain threshold of XP and then having a choice of abilities or permanent benefits. Diablo isn't quite what I'm talking about, because that's more of a spell driven system, rather than stuff like jumping higher, or better social skills, gaining the ability to glide in a movement-oriented game, etc. Sno's example of the Perk system from Fallout makes more sense, and again, Deus Ex's augmentation system and Prototype's upgrades / abilities are more of what I'm after.

I love the locksmith. He can break into safes faster than anyone.

That said, 100% accurate:

Andy Schatz himself gave me the game because I was the first person to post in the thread for Penny Arcade's comic about it. Also because I had no clue what the game was at the time. So my opinion of him as a developer starts super-elevated. I think I've got a handle on things now, I mean so far as recognizing what icons are when things are out of your FoV (but you've cleared out the fog of war). I just now cleaned out the museum level, which was a big pain in the ass. I need to work on mixing up my brute-force with stealthing better. Which is a point a peer of mine elsewhere and I talked about briefly. This game does a pretty amazing job at not just incorporating a mixed style of brazeness and stealth, but it actually encourages it fairly frequently. That feels rare to me, though I never played Hotline Miami. Though, it kinda forces you to be a murderer and is a nudge away from what I'm talking about. In Monaco you can be brazen insofar as getting spotted and just booking it.

I asked Nick about the commercials they talked about from this episode and he provided me this link to NeoGAF, which pretty much contains these three commercials. The Thumbs crew weren't exaggerating.

Yeah, this all plays on my political sensitivity of executive pay being outrageous and not some god-given right. It's the modern day monarchy system. Ask anyone who defends it and they eventually wind down to "because" as the answer.

Someone was nice enough to give me the game for free. It's pretty danged rad, and it's nice to have a good ol' fashioned high-score incentive game for once.

King of the Hill was pretty great. If it was in some way a cultural staple it's gonna get internet'd in some fashion or another.

I have discovered something in my current game. Being somewhere in the middle of the galaxy is the most harrowing thing ever. I think two of my neighbors aren't playing anymore, but I know one other is playing highly defensively and a fourth neighbor (that borders me and the defensive guy) is launching a goddamn campaign against me.

Poor guy is held hostage by a hamburger.

Hey so, there's a rumor right now that EA Partners is on the chopping block. This seems like a really bad idea. Via RPS:

Oh gosh, speaking of Nintendo being into "different," they're apparently not doing a conference this year at E3. I'm not sure how I feel about that because, on the one hand, while I do care about E3 I don't care about E3. On the other hand, that's a big point of exposure and Nintendo is like, "Nope, we don't need that."

I think this is the best episode of this podcast ever, oh my goodness. Jake should know that I actually had to hand out the name "Jake Rodkin" to one of the participants in a NP2 game here as their anonymous name. So good job everyone for that.

So my first game of Neptune's Pride 2 is reaching its point of critical mass. Or rather, the pre-emptive wave before the actual shocking blast or quake, whatever metaphor you want to use. We're just a couple days in but the galaxy is almost filled with peaceful star grabs. I branched out fast and have been holding 2nd place consistently. Another player has been holding 1st in the same manner. 3rd has been juggling. Now, 1st place is starting to push on me and my neighbor (who I tried to ally with and they either abandoned the game or wanted to be stubborn and fly solo). My neighbor is being devoured. I'm starting to push my defense in place against the bigger player. But what I'm really waiting for is the other shoe to drop, because on the other side of the galaxy two guys are growing pretty exponentially. I am in absolute terror of what the next cycle will bring.