Putting this here for no particular reason... 1.0 is out.
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562420/FOREWARNED/
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562420/FOREWARNED/
Ars Co-op Gaming Night Revival - Saturdays @ 9pm EST
- Thread starter Jebus H Cripes
- Start date
I'm not even sure at this point if I will be around or not. Won't know more until it's almost gametime. But I will install Forewarned just in case.
Edit to add: Wow, they added a lot to that game. A lot, a lot. It's going to be like an entirely different experience.
Edit to add: Wow, they added a lot to that game. A lot, a lot. It's going to be like an entirely different experience.
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Yeah, I just watched the trailers and there was a lot of stuff there I hadn't seen before. Looks like they've put some work into it.
We played Fallout 76, or more precisely beebs played FO76 for a while while @theevilsharpie and I installed it (113GB), then we played it.
Noting this stuff here, since the FO76 thread has been dead for 1.5 years now.
The good:
Noting this stuff here, since the FO76 thread has been dead for 1.5 years now.
The good:
- PC is cross-platform, i.e. Steam and Game Pass can play together.
- It's Bethesda Fallout. It feels very much like FO4 but with a few other people.
- It's Bethesda's janky fork of the janky Gamebryo engine, which they've been using since Morrowind, but now with netcode bolted on.
- It's a Bethesda Standard Game. If you've played FO4, there doesn't seem to be much new other than the new map and other people.
- It's as buggy as expected. Notable stuff so far:
- If you have a high refresh rate monitor, VSync is broken and locks your framerate to an integer divisor of the refresh, usually something abysmally low like 15fps. To fix this, you have to manually edit a config file to turn off VSync, since that option isn't exposed in-game.
- @theevilsharpie ran into a case where he used a workstation, but the workstation UI never loaded and he couldn't do anything or leave the workstation. Needed a game restart to fix.
- In a very early main quest, if you skip through dialog (e.g. if you can read faster than the VAs talk, and don't want to sit through Bethesda's really bland VA work) with a specific NPC, he becomes invincible when he attacks you. Again, the only fix is an exit and reload.
- The perk UI is opaque and never explained. As far as I can tell, you must use the keyboard to select and equip perk cards, but you can use the mouse to unequip perk cards. WTF?
- It carries over the FO4 design flaw of adding a crafting system, so there's a gameplay reason to pick up all the near infinite amounts of junk lying around (it can all be broken down into parts that you use to craft things), but you're still stuck with a pretty restrictive carry limit. Oh, and stim packs (health kits, basically) weigh one unit each, when in FO4 they weighed either zero or 0.1 (survival mode only), and the total carry weight limits are pretty much unchanged.
- Some stuff is level scaled, some stuff isn't, and the transition can be very abrupt and without any forewarning. I was exploring a pharma lab ruin relatively near the starting Vault, and everything was scaled to my level (9). I cleared out all 4 or 5 floors that are on the main map, then clicked on an elevator expecting it to be an alternative to the stairs, but instead it took me to an instanced basement. A level 30 instanced basement, which I only discovered when a couple level 30 bots walked into the room a couple seconds after I got out of the elevator.
- Speaking of level scaling, after beebs logged off on Saturday, I went to a bandit camp near the Vault (didn't know it was a bandit camp ahead of time, I just saw the cabin icon on the map). I was level 4 or 5 at the time, so the bandits were as well. Well, except one level 4 bandit had a rocket launcher. I finally kill all the bandits with some help from @theevilsharpie, and the rocket launcher bandit? It actually dropped the rocket launcher (yay verisimilitude), except it was a rocket launcher with a level 20 minimum requirement (goodbye verisimilitude).
Not wrong at all, though, to be fair, my totally average potato setup had none of the display jank that either you or Sharpie encountered.
My biggest "gripe," such as it is, with FO76 is that even though you can create a group to do things as, there's nothing to "funnel" you in a direction. So Cog was off over there, Sharpie was kind of with me, kind of not, and then it's all "do the basic stuff to get you acquainted with the game, only we won't force you into it, so go ahead off and do whatever if you want." Which is what happened.
It's got potential for co-op if everyone's the same level/geared up, and if you have a goal in mind. Otherwise, it's not even a good base-builder while some go out and do stuff. That said, I'm enjoying playing it and I'm not going to stop, but I'm certainly not going to push for it for co-op night (though I would play it if that was the choice).
To add on to the points that @cogwheel mentioned:
Still, I was having fun, and it's a nice change of pace from the usual "survival crafting" game that seemingly make up the bulk of the 5+ player multiplayer market.
- @cogwheel was unable to trigger a quest near the starting point that required listening to a radio station. While he could hear the expected radio message, listening to it didn't advance to the next quest stage. On the other hand, the quest worked fine for me.
- Both of us suddenly got disconnected from the server instance we were on. Upon rejoining, we had to restart our quest from scratch.
Still, I was having fun, and it's a nice change of pace from the usual "survival crafting" game that seemingly make up the bulk of the 5+ player multiplayer market.
This is entirely true, but as someone who has played every Bethesda Standard Game since Morrowind, it's also exactly what I expected. BSGs are very freeform, and put almost nothing in your way if you want to completely ignore the (usually quite bland) main questlines and just go exploring for dozens of hours.
You bring up a very good point, though. FO76 appears to be lacking in lower level "intended for groups" content, and when @theevilsharpie and I tried to do a quest together, it bugged out on me as he mentioned above. Probably not because we were grouped, but it still didn't help.
At least the level scaling is per person, so yesterday when we were raiding that super mutant base built around that transmission tower next to the crashed airliner, you saw the mutants as level 13 while I saw them as level 7.
You're right, I forgot about that one. Somehow, the radius for having listening to the radio station count towards quest progression was drastically offset for me. Interestingly, the radius that the game was using for me drew properly on the map even though it was unintended (the actual radio station location ended up being on the very edge of my radius instead of right in the middle), so once I got to where the map said it should be, it started working again.
Yes, there's an end where you find... well, I'm not spoilering it. But you eventually build a radio receiver, home in on a base, and more.
I see FOREWARNED was mentioned. I picked it up and haven't tried it yet, would like an excuse to do so.
I will likely NOT be around this Saturday, as it's Mother's Day Eve and there are obligations that go with that. 
I will likely NOT be around this Saturday, as it's Mother's Day Eve and there are obligations that go with that.
That's looking more likely here as well.
Advance notice for this Saturday, May 18: I will not be in attendance. A good friend and I have back-to-back birthdays and I pretty much expect to spend Friday evening through into Sunday morning completely incoherent.
Turns out I may, in fact, be available. Friend isn't feeling well and so there's a break in the shenanigans.
I mean, I liked it fine once I started to remember how to play, haha. Not a dedicated server game last night, so I'm considering either setting one up or just plunking down a little $ to rent one for a month or two. Not that we got super-far last night but I'm not sure I really want to start over, either...
Speaking of dedicated servers, how's everyone feeling about Sons of the Forest? If there's still interest in finishing the "story" out or just building stuff (or breeding armies of rabbits) I don't mind keeping it up, but if it's just collecting dust it might be time to let it go. Could also convert it to a V: Rising server if there's interest.
I think you can just let it go.
I have a hosted V Rising server ready to go; I'm at work right now but when I'm done for the day I will happily post the address and get a move on. It has a shortened "day" cycle, like the Saturday night game, and it's PvE-only. Got a coupon for $6 for the first month, and then it's $11/mo. I can certainly foot that for a couple months.
Cool. I've gone ahead an requested the cancellation, it'll be up until June 1st. Backed up the save file just in case an amazing update comes out or something like that.
We went back to Raft last night, on the save we started a few weeks ago. We finally made some actual progress: we expanded the raft enough vertically to get the receiver working, and visited the first story location (the construct that looks kind of like a mini favela built on a seamount) and picked up the first non-starter character. We also acquired a llama, goat, and chicken. We added a couple engines and finally started armoring the edge of the raft against Bruce.
Those who left earlier last night should be happy to know that we didn't do anything significant after they left - we gathered resources at a couple generic islands, and did make it to the next story island, but stopped for the night moored at the entrance to that story island and did not start exploring it.
Those who left earlier last night should be happy to know that we didn't do anything significant after they left - we gathered resources at a couple generic islands, and did make it to the next story island, but stopped for the night moored at the entrance to that story island and did not start exploring it.
Hi guys, I'm still alive and hopefully will join up this Sat night for some Raft shenanigans.
I was going through my unused keys from bundles and the like and saw 2 that have been played in the past on Saturday, 7 Days to Die and Zombie Army Trilogy (ZAT), so ping me if you're interested in either (or both).
Speaking of 7DtD, it will shortly be coming out of early access after (checks notes) almost 10 years. Might be worth revisiting when it does.
I was going through my unused keys from bundles and the like and saw 2 that have been played in the past on Saturday, 7 Days to Die and Zombie Army Trilogy (ZAT), so ping me if you're interested in either (or both).
Speaking of 7DtD, it will shortly be coming out of early access after (checks notes) almost 10 years. Might be worth revisiting when it does.
At this point, I am unsure if I will be attending the shenanigans on Saturday. I hope to, but don't know yet.
Yeah, I'm curious about the bears that we need to beware of.
Another game to add to the stack of 4 player co-op games is Moving Out 2. I haven't played it yet, but it's on Game Pass now, and it supports crossplay. It's sort of similar to Overcooked, but with the focus entirely on moving things around in a larger space, with some stuff requiring more than one person to move.
As expected, we rafted again.
Bear island (the one we stopped at last time) had a lot of bears (obviously), bees, three towers with parts at the top, and a ranger's cabin. After we explored a bit and found the machete and got the coordinates for the next stop, momma bear spawned and proceeded to one shot me. Twice. @Lt_Storm distracted her by filling her bucket with berries, which let us climb the final part of the island and get a lightbulb that lead to nothing but an achievement.
We visited a couple generic islands, one with a new theme (desert), to try to find more metal.
We finally got to the next story island, explored its many trailers, climbed many ladders, shot down a bird, found the three zipline parts, and the recipe for the metal detector and battery charger. Storm went off with a metal detector and found a couple titanium, which let us research a few things, but titanium is going to be the next material bottleneck. We finished up by finishing the armor on the raft, adding a second beehive, and doing some other crafting/maintenance.
I also found a top hat.
Bear island (the one we stopped at last time) had a lot of bears (obviously), bees, three towers with parts at the top, and a ranger's cabin. After we explored a bit and found the machete and got the coordinates for the next stop, momma bear spawned and proceeded to one shot me. Twice. @Lt_Storm distracted her by filling her bucket with berries, which let us climb the final part of the island and get a lightbulb that lead to nothing but an achievement.
We visited a couple generic islands, one with a new theme (desert), to try to find more metal.
We finally got to the next story island, explored its many trailers, climbed many ladders, shot down a bird, found the three zipline parts, and the recipe for the metal detector and battery charger. Storm went off with a metal detector and found a couple titanium, which let us research a few things, but titanium is going to be the next material bottleneck. We finished up by finishing the armor on the raft, adding a second beehive, and doing some other crafting/maintenance.
I also found a top hat.
Just putting it out there now that I will be MIA for the next 3 Saturdays in a row. So... y'all finish up Raft, okay?
Yeah, I missed this past round. Thanks to the storms up around Dallas a bunch of planes, including one a friend was on, got redirected to ABI (Austin airport) and he ended up not being able to get a connecting flight to his destination until the morning. Never seen ABI that crazy.
Anyway, barring any further "acts of god," the next couple of weeks should be pretty clear for me.
Anyway, barring any further "acts of god," the next couple of weeks should be pretty clear for me.
Well, looks like I'll be out again this weekend due to a friend's birthday.
Would like to throw out one more co-op game to put on the radar, Abiotic Factor:
Don't know if anyone else has tried this yet. It is a survival crafting game, but instead of being stuck on an island or fighting off zombies in a wasteland, imagine instead being stuck in Half Life 1's Black Mesa complex. That's very much what this looks and feels like.
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/427410/Abiotic_Factor/
It is early access, but looks like it should be worth at least keeping an eye on.
Would like to throw out one more co-op game to put on the radar, Abiotic Factor:
Don't know if anyone else has tried this yet. It is a survival crafting game, but instead of being stuck on an island or fighting off zombies in a wasteland, imagine instead being stuck in Half Life 1's Black Mesa complex. That's very much what this looks and feels like.
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/427410/Abiotic_Factor/
It is early access, but looks like it should be worth at least keeping an eye on.