Ah Sunday, that special day that's a calm before the storm of another week and a time for a community chat here on GOL. Today, it's our birthday! If you didn't see the post earlier this week, GamingOnLinux as of today has hit the big 11 years old! Oh how time sure flies by.
Onto the subject of gaming on Linux: honestly, the majority of my personal game time has been taken up by Into the Breach. It's so gorgeously streamlined, accessible, fun and it's also ridiculously complex at the same time. Tiny maps that require a huge amount of forward thinking, as you weigh up each movement decision against any possible downsides. It's like playing chess, only with big mecha fighting off aliens trying to take down buildings.
It's quite surprising how much room there is for coming up with a strategy, as the game continues surprising me many hours later with what's possible. Made by the same team behind FTL, Into the Breach reminds me of the same feeling I got when first discovering FTL and having that nagging need in the back of my mind calling me back to play more. Fantastic game.
I've also been quite disappointed in Crayta on Stadia, as it so far hasn't lived up to even my smallest expectations for the game maker. It just seems so half-baked, with poor/stiff animations and a lack of any meaningful content to start with. I'll be checking back on it in a few months but for now it's just not fun.
Over to you in the comments: what games have been taking up your time over the last week? Let us know what you've found to be particularly interesting.
Also recently 100% CGed Coming Out on Top, a very funny and surprisingly witty (and very adult) Visual Novel about a young (American) college senior who's just come out to his friends. It's English-speaker made, so there's no awkward dialogue, except where you'd expect it in a sitcom.
Still trying to wrap my brain around Cultist Simulator. I used to remember how to play to progress a little bit, but the logic and/or opportunities for progression are just too scarce without earning more money. Only established a cult twice, IIRC... I suck.
Also trying to finish the last Mission level of Startopia, which works perfectly with Proton 5.0. Hope I won't crash my machine doing it, though... it's potentially a very resource-heavy game despite being so old, if the entire space station is filled with buildings, animations and special effects, all rendering even out of view to a degree in your enemy's sections.
Hope everyone else is doing as well as they can, considering. :)
Last edited by namiko on 5 July 2020 at 4:59 pm UTC
Boundless - MMO + minecraft + rpg + stuff I haven't figured out yet. Works well through latest Proton with no tinkering on my part.
Townscaper - A whimsical city-scape designer. There isn't a game play loop, win condition, or obstacles. The purpose is to create interesting city designs. As the user adds objects they attach and morph the existing structure. Works well through latest Proton with no tinkering.
Outward - It's an open world RPG. I'm not far enough into to clearly describe it but so far it feels a bit like Gothic + RPG survival elements, only more solid. There are consequences to decisions including exploring without proper preparation. It seems very meaty in a satisfying well conceived manner. Runs well with latest Proton, but it doesn't exit well and I must kill the process afterwards.
Megaquarium - Aquarium sim builder/management. It's hard to describe but engaging, flexible, and deep come to mind. On the surface it is easy to play casually and the tutorial concepts are well integrated into the main campaign. The development studio is actively working on and improving the title fixing bugs and adding content. Megaquarium has a native game client that runs really well.
Last edited by randyl on 5 July 2020 at 5:32 pm UTC
2. Elite Dangerous (stunning game... just... stunning. And for a fiver?? Or another fiver if you want the planetside expansion)I've dived back into it myself lately, beginning to discover the exploration side and the engineers (after a year of playing it basically like the 1984 original, on and off). I didn't realise it was so cheap at the moment. It's a steal at that price.
Thanks to Steam discounts I'm playing with Assassin's Creed Black FlagHands down, without a shadow of a doubt, the best Assassin's Creed. Yaaaar, me lads! Haul the mainsail and splice the anchor! (Or something. Insert your own “poop deck” joke.)
I have Dark Souls III and Oddworld to play through.
Would like to complete RAGE and then get RAGE 2.
Just purchased OXygen Not Included, Wither 3, Shapez.io also to play.
With the latest Glorious Eggroll Proton release it now runs perfectly out of the box, with videos and all.
And man, it's the best space fleet strategy game I know!
Last edited by Shmerl on 5 July 2020 at 6:37 pm UTC
I've also been enjoying quite a bit of Star Citizen, which has been working relatively flawlessly on Proton (Lutris, but using a Proton Wine-version) for me, the only issues I've had so far can all be found reported by Windows users as well.
Awaiting the arrival of a new H.O.T.A.S. though, which has been delayed quite a bit because of the current situation.
Last edited by Ananace on 6 July 2020 at 4:24 am UTC
I've been playing on Warrior difficulty, on the Navezgane map, and I've found the map to be quite different to the Alpha 18 map. There are Traders in different positions, there are new buildings replacing older ones, and other changes. The improved graphics and other changes do make it very fresh and appealing to play.
As I'm used to playing on Alpha 18, here are some balance changes and things of note:
Loot progression is a lot slower on A19. Even with perk points allocated into the Lucky Looter skill, you almost always get primitive stone tools (in tool boxes), primitive stone weapons (in weapon boxes) until you have gained a decent amount of experience (game-stage 15 and beyond). This makes the early game tougher as you are less able to kill zombies, slower to harvest resources.
Another noticeable difference is the depletion rate of food and water. I'd say you need to eat and drink three times as much as you do in Alpha 18. This is somewhat punishing in the early game. It "encourages" you to spend points in the Iron Gut perk, which enables food and drink to provide better nutrition (and also makes you less prone to getting sick).
There are a selection of new (High Def) zombie models, which look better, help with game performance (frame rate), and seem to have better hit-boxes than the zombies in A18. However, it seems like your character gets tired and out of stamina quicker.
There are lots of other changes in the game - Zombies can now swim. The zombie A.I. pathing is a bit different. There are new items and furniture. A selection of new weapons. New books for learning additional skills. New candies in vending machines which provide time-limited boosts to abilities. If you get injured in game. there are new critical effects which can be nasty.
Overall I'm enjoying most of the changes. My biggest issue with it is that the game difficulty is set to follow the experience level of the player (rather than going up gradually with time). Following the player's experience level does mean that the zombies "keep up" with you, but it also means that you don't have a (survival) reason to train up your player to gain experience, because you are always behind the curve - The curve follows you. It makes the game into a sandbox experience, rather than a true survival campaign.
I'd like to see the option of these settings -
1. Campaign Mode (game stage goes up as a function of time)
2. Sandbox Mode (game stage follows player experience, i.e. what we have now)
My other issue is with the zombie path-finding. It is just too direct-able, which leads players to build zombie-cheesing bases. The developers had a go at addressing the cheesing "slippery slopes" base designs, but I've already seen youtubers have got around the developer fixes. I tended to prefer the stupid zombie A.I. of Alpha 15 (on horde night). I'm okay with the current path-finding for regular zombie appearances, but during horde night it can be exploited.
I like the fact that you are relatively susceptible to RNG during the early game of 7 Days To Die. You start with nothing, perform some basic harvesting and crafting, and have some very basic tools and weapons. From that point onwards, you come across items, e.g. a piece of armour, a schematic, and you need to work out the best way forward with the limited resources you have acquired up to that point.
Last edited by g000h on 5 July 2020 at 10:27 pm UTC
It runs perfect out of the box with Steamplay.
One of those few games I can say i have fallen in love with.
I miss Rocket League.. =(
OH, but Fort Triumph is a lot of fun. Playing that too.. oh, and Dead Cells! but also Wizard of Legend.. Jesus those games are so fun.. hmm, also Battletech.
I think that about covers it.
Chrono Trigger on the SNES. Still one of the best, if not simply THE best jRPG around. I like the PSX version as well with the Toyama cutscenes, but unfortunately it's not quite as nicely optimized.You're so right ! It's one of my favourite, close second to Xenogears, you should give it a try you hadn't already.
Yeah, Xenogears is great. It kind of reminds me of Legend of Legaia, but with better (as in, sprites rather than PSX 3D models) graphics and even moodier storytelling.
Currently played 10 hours straight , although it can get a bit tedious at time (training for big encounters)
Oh, and it's cheap and runs natively on Linux
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