StarTopic Nintendo General Discussion Thread |ST11 Aug 2022| Everybody's 11-12 Discussion Thread

[jnWake]

Still going with my Xenoblade 2, been loving the game but there's a few things that have been bothering me lately about it:

• Odds of getting Rare Blades are too low. Yesterday I spent a lot of time summoning and only got regular blades and it was quite disappointing. I don't have gacha mechanics per se but I'd prefer if the odds were lower and we instead got less Cores than the current system.
• Tiger Tiger really needs a retry button. It's actually a little fun even but it's so slow to retry that it becomes a bother.

Anyway, it's still a good game but those things have annoyed me a bit.

 

[Barely Able]

Rogue One is the best SW movie. I hope RW deniers have a bad day. Cheers!

Thank you! I’m of this thought as well

 

[Dragoncaine]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power getting strong reviews, you love to see it

 

[hologram]

(I didn't see the last one however)

The last one was easily the worst one so your point largely stands

EDIT: Oh yeah Rogue One was pretty good though

 

[Deleted member 2551]

Still going with my Xenoblade 2, been loving the game but there's a few things that have been bothering me lately about it:

• Odds of getting Rare Blades are too low. Yesterday I spent a lot of time summoning and only got regular blades and it was quite disappointing. I don't have gacha mechanics per se but I'd prefer if the odds were lower and we instead got less Cores than the current system.
• Tiger Tiger really needs a retry button. It's actually a little fun even but it's so slow to retry that it becomes a bother.

Anyway, it's still a good game but those things have annoyed me a bit.

For the first point make sure to equip all the luck accessories and chips for the weapons you can. They do increase the chances of pulling rare blades and they do stack up.

 

[Skittzo]

Created an ability that makes a dimensional door in any wall in the game, at the risk of angering nearby interdimensional beings with super cool distortion effects who are immune to physical damage.

 

[Nabbit]

I'm behind on the latest timeframes and patterns, is a Direct this week now off the table?

 

[famicorpse]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power getting strong reviews, you love to see it

I'm watching the LOTR movies in prep for this series and I'm having a good time. Just saw Two Towers last night, and besides the shield surfing scene and the weird CGI of Legolas getting on the horse, it was a fun watch. Will watch the last one before Rings of Power.

 

[Xaltmas]

Oh man Sony is sure showing Nintendo now it’s done when it comes to rolling out classic games with hits like Syphon Filter 2 and checks notes the PSP version of Toy Story 3.

 

[Skittzo]

Yeah this once again turned out WAYYYY cooler than I expected!!



EDIT: Weird, is the thumbnail not showing up for everyone else or just me?

 

[Suswave]

Warning: long development related post which is more or less just me talking something out with myself to figure out the best way to do something.

So my game has a first person world map. The map has everything at exaggerated sizes like old jrpg maps tend to do. Like, you move one tile in game but in the world that's supposed to be 5 miles or something, you get the idea.

Something I'm having trouble figuring out is how to deal with enemies on the world map/overworld. In individual levels it's easy, I'll place probably no more than 60-70 enemies total and they'll be fairly easy to load since there will be only a few enemy types per level.

But the world map is supposed to have lots of discrete regions and should have enemies more or less sprinkled all throughout it since that will be one of the main impediments to traversal and exploration. The world map is a 64x64 grid, while each dungeon is either 10x10 or 15x15 (though some have multiple floors).

Basically the issue is, if I want to have enough enemies to make the world map interesting it'll probably have to be several hundred, maybe even up to 500. And more importantly there will have to be lots of different enemy types to reflect a diverse world. Probably close to 75, maybe even much more.

Both of these numbers present unique problems:

1) Amount of total enemies:

Many of my functions, especially in combat, use a node called "get all actors of class" where the class is enemybase. Meaning, I'm constantly asking the engine to find every enemy object in the level I'm in. For most dungeons where there are no more than 70 that is instantaneous and shouldn't bother the CPU too much, but on an overworld with 400-500+ objects, calling that function every turn of combat, sometimes multiple times per turn, would very likely be a huge CPU drain.

2) Amount of enemy types

The game needs to load each enemy's data every time I load a new level. Again with dungeons where you've got maybe 5-10 enemy types this isn't a big issue. That's like, maybe 30 to 60 textures and models needed at the most. With 75+ discrete enemy types I'm now looking at 450+ unique textures, many of which are very high resolution. So this would be a huge drain on the RAM and probably GPU too.

Basically, I feel like for the scope of the game I'm making (and the dinky ass laptop I'm making it on) placing every enemy in the worldmap seems unfeasible. But then what are the alternatives?



A) Random encounters
Everybody hates these. But they can be done in less offensive ways, like I can make a visible "wandering blob" type entity which moves around the worldmap and once you get close enough it spawns a group of random enemies. This way I only have a few enemies and enemy types in the level at once, much more manageable. But is it fun? Is it a pain to know you might encounter an enemy but have no idea what enemy?

B) Separate worldspace
This is one that I really don't want to do. One of the main reasons I love WRPGs is that everything takes place in the same worldspace- exploration, combat, dialogue, shopping... it's the biggest difference IMO between WRPGs and JRPGs. I'm making a WRPG, despite the fact that everything else about it feels more like a JRPG.

C) Regional spawns
This feels like the best solution at the moment, But I'm having trouble figuring out how to go about it. Basically the idea is, I still have one single worldmap level but I will divide it into regions using invisible box triggers, and when you move from one box trigger to the next you will spawn all of the enemies that will go in that region. I can place a ton of specific spawn points tied to specific enemies, or some can be randomly placed or have random enemies. The problem in my mind is what happens when you move from one region to the next? Do all of the enemies from the previous region disappear? How would that work if you're in combat and moving across these region lines? I can see that being extremely finnicky in situations like this.




I'm pretty sure I convinced myself to thoroughly test and explore option C but if anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them.



EDIT: cursed by the bottom of the page

caveat: as usual, I may think I’m being clever but could be talking about completely different concepts. if so, I’m sorry!

how far is visible distance? you could attach a wide radius to you player / camera as well as the region tiles to not overload your current sitch

also, your regions could have a time-delay offload — like, once you’re in a new region, if you get far enough from the border and don’t turn around for a minute, you can shunk off the old lands

for an enemy actively in pursuit, is there a way to hold the current instance as “active” and therefore “do not unload cranky assailant”?

you could also have it so that enemies that aren’t engaged within regions deactivate when you’re not looking at them — but that might be a little intense and also cost more to load and unload all the time

you could always have a “hold state” where the enemy’s info is held in a variable but there’s no rendering / logic until you’re back in sight

or make more environmental masking — hide spawn points behind trees and shit so that they only start existing when you’re close enough

wacky variation: spawn points behind trees that read your angle from the tree and moves the spawn point so it’s ALWAYS behind the tree

there’s also the OOT strategy of having enemies pop out of the ground or teleport, where it makes sense

or, go extreme and have a huge “load” radius on your spawn point so that as long as you’re five miles from a “ratopus” or something, ratopus is loaded and ready. then it’s completely region-agnostic

 

[Suswave]

Yeah this once again turned out WAYYYY cooler than I expected!!

now you’re thinking with phase doors

 

[Suswave]

I said I was going to try and do something cool today, so her was my attempt. I made a blackberry martini. The garnish was a fruit leather I made from the left over crushed fruit I used to make the syrup. Been into sustainable bartending videos recently and found this idea on Kevin Kos Clover Club video. Turned out pretty tasty. Need to get a fine mesh strainer to strain out the small ice chips.

v nice

had a moment where I thought it was all meat

 

[chocolate_supra]

now you’re thinking with phase doors

stole my damn line lol

 

[Dragoncaine]

I'm watching the LOTR movies in prep for this series and I'm having a good time. Just saw Two Towers last night, and besides the shield surfing scene and the weird CGI of Legolas getting on the horse, it was a fun watch. Will watch the last one before Rings of Power.

My favorite trilogy of all time, glad you're enjoying them! Theatrical or Extended?

I only just saw Fellowship extended on Monday for the first time, still have to watch the other two. But I've seen the theatricals too many times to count.

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

Immortals Fenyx Rising is so aggressively unfunny you’d think they were intentionally going for it.

 

[Seven]

NIS is going to have a presentation on Sept 7th with 4 announcements. Hopefully the announce GrimGrimoire for the west. Now if Utawarerumono Zan 2 is not announced here I can really consider the dream is dead

GrimGrimoire OnceMore has to be announced here; I will be frustrated if it winds up being a Falcom-fest.

 

[Mandos]

Since next week is likely a direct I wonder if we’ll get genesis NSO update this week

 

[Derachi]

Since next week is likely a direct I wonder if we’ll get genesis NSO update this week

We ARE overdue for an update on that front!

 

[Skittzo]

I'll see if I can do an itemized response:

caveat: as usual, I may think I’m being clever but could be talking about completely different concepts. if so, I’m sorry!

Never apologize, I appreciate that you even read my shpiel!

how far is visible distance? you could attach a wide radius to you player / camera as well as the region tiles to not overload your current sitch

I do not actually know how to change draw distance. Part of the reason my original worldmap concept didn't work (still 64x64 tiles but much smaller) was that you could see the edge pretty easily from just about anywhere. I had to increase each tile's size by 5x to make it look decent.

That's probably something I'll have to look into one day, culling stuff outside of the draw distance.

also, your regions could have a time-delay offload — like, once you’re in a new region, if you get far enough from the border and don’t turn around for a minute, you can shunk off the old lands

This makes a ton of sense, and is a good idea. Not sure if I can exactly check if the player turns around, but yeah if they go back and forth a lot it would make more sense to keep everyone there rather than load and unload them constantly.

for an enemy actively in pursuit, is there a way to hold the current instance as “active” and therefore “do not unload cranky assailant”?

Oh yeah, I have an "in battle" bool that I can easily check for any enemy who's actively fighting or pursuing the player. That's an easy one, thanks.

you could also have it so that enemies that aren’t engaged within regions deactivate when you’re not looking at them — but that might be a little intense and also cost more to load and unload all the time

Yeah that would once again require me to call all enemy objects in the level.

you could always have a “hold state” where the enemy’s info is held in a variable but there’s no rendering / logic until you’re back in sight

Hmmm, so right now the only information about enemies that my game instance class holds onto is whether they're dead or not. I'm trying to keep that function as small and clean as possible so adding a bunch more (like position/health/buffs, etc) might be tough.

or make more environmental masking — hide spawn points behind trees and shit so that they only start existing when you’re close enough

That's not a bad idea, I can do that in combination with the regional spawning idea too.

wacky variation: spawn points behind trees that read your angle from the tree and moves the spawn point so it’s ALWAYS behind the tree

This is actually not as hard as you'd think, there's a "get look at rotation" function which can tell me the angle needed to turn an object to face the player. I can literally just have the tree move and always have the spawn point in the direction opposite to the tree's face. Basically make an object class that has a tree (or other obstacle like rock/mountain/structure) with a hidden-in-game arrow component facing forward and a spawn point behind it, then just tell it to rotate towards the player before spawning.

The trees are alive!

there’s also the OOT strategy of having enemies pop out of the ground or teleport, where it makes sense

Hmmm yeah, very JRPG though. It feels like a random encounter, just one that makes conceptual sense in-game. Still has the same inconvenience factor as normal random encounters though.

or, go extreme and have a huge “load” radius on your spawn point so that as long as you’re five miles from a “ratopus” or something, ratopus is loaded and ready. then it’s completely region-agnostic

Oh....

Oh...

Wait....

Damn that's probably the best idea of the bunch. Super easy to implement too. Just make a class that's an invisible spawn point with a large collision circle outside of it. Super, duper easy.

Edit: the major issue with all of these "spawn enemies" ideas is that once the enemy is dead the spawn point is still there. I don't want them to be, the goal here is to be able to be wipe out every monster on the planet if you so choose.

I guess I'll have to add a callback function to the enemy base class to tell its spawner (if one exists) not to produce more monsters next time you load the map.


Also god damn you Sus now you know I have to make a ratopus and will never rest until it's done.

 

[Plum]

EDIT: Deleted post

 

[jirou]

Immortals Fenyx Rising is so aggressively unfunny you’d think they were intentionally going for it.

I was very happy when I heard they were doing a Chinese dlc but then I played the demo and went nah ubisoft you're not getting me with this lmaooo

 

[famicorpse]

My favorite trilogy of all time, glad you're enjoying them! Theatrical or Extended?

I only just saw Fellowship extended on Monday for the first time, still have to watch the other two. But I've seen the theatricals too many times to count.

Theatrical. I am reading the books so I will watch Extended as I read them

 

[hologram]

My favorite trilogy of all time, glad you're enjoying them! Theatrical or Extended?

I only just saw Fellowship extended on Monday for the first time, still have to watch the other two. But I've seen the theatricals too many times to count.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the Extended cuts almost ruin the movies

Like, takes them from 9/10 to 6/10

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

I was very happy when I heard they were doing a Chinese dlc but then I played the demo and went nah ubisoft you're not getting me with this lmaooo

I thought I'd try again with the full version on Game Pass but it's relentless. Definitely not for me.

 

[chocolate_supra]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the Extended cuts almost ruin the movies

Like, takes them from 9/10 to 6/10

I personally love the EE but I've seen a lot of people say they ruin the pacing, so you're definitely not alone.

 

[hologram]

I personally love the EE but I've seen a lot of people say they ruin the pacing, so you're definitely not alone.

Are we still friends

 

[9-Volt]

Immortals Fenyx Rising is so aggressively unfunny you’d think they were intentionally going for it.

Devs said they were inspired by saturday morning cartoons and that's true, it's as funny as Mr. T Adventures.

 

[Magic-Man]

I actually love the humor in Immortals? * shrugs *

 

[Deleted member 2258]

Yeah this once again turned out WAYYYY cooler than I expected!!



EDIT: Weird, is the thumbnail not showing up for everyone else or just me?

The phase guardian looks really awesome! Well done.

 

[Donnie]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the Extended cuts almost ruin the movies

Like, takes them from 9/10 to 6/10

But....

 

[hologram]

Are we still friends

@chocolate_supra The lack of response to this question is all the response I need

 

[Skittzo]

The phase guardian looks really awesome! Well done.

Thanks! I'm still trying to balance out that distortion effect, I'm worried it's too big and intense as is. But if I make it too much smaller it doesn't even encompass his body.

 

[chocolate_supra]

Are we still friends

 

[Mandos]

Well I think I’m going to the 12:20 showing of dragon ball Super (dub) at my movie theater Saturday for the $3 movie day. Boy this would be my first one since I saw the MHA island one with my cousin years ago. I’ll wait till Friday to decide if I’m paying the extra 2 bucks to reserve a seat online. But if it’s still basically not booked I’ll take my chances day of. I’ll do the $3 popcorn too, tho need to decide what candy to pick up to sneak in XD

 

[Brofield]

I will go full coober and regret nothing.

Also, not content to let everyone else have fun without me, I tested positive for covid this morning It really is all the rage as the youth say

 

[chocolate_supra]

I’ll do the $3 popcorn too, tho need to decide what candy to pick up to sneak in XD

Plain chocolate M&Ms, then mix them with the popcorn. Trust me.

 

[TheQuietone]

Imagine thinking the version that cuts out the Boromir and Faramir flashbacks is the better version.

 

[merp]

Oh nice. Reddit will be angry with this one.




Anyway, I've talked with my Chinese friends on the Mainland and while they have played video games, it's not as prevalent there as it is here.

From what I can tell:

Population-wise, they have more video gamers than, say, America, obviously, but percentage-wise, it's not a big thing.

And even then: it's not really a big thing for my Chinese friends that do play video games.

That does seem to be slowly changing though from people I've talked to, but frankly: I hope it doesn't.

I hope the government puts more restrictions on video gaming in China, but I doubt they will go much beyond what they've already done, unfortunately.

 

[Red Monster]

I hope the government puts more restrictions on video gaming in China,

What do you mean by this? You want the Chinese government exerts more control over gamers? Game companies? Tencent?

 

[Mandos]

Plain chocolate M&Ms, then mix them with the popcorn. Trust me.

But what if I want to use cookie m&m s instead? Or caramel. Also I usually use the cheese powder

 

[merp]

What do you mean by this? You want the Chinese government exerts more control over gamers? Game companies? Tencent?

Game companies and the content in games as well as the websites that allow people to play games.

I think video-gaming or, rather, obsession with video games is... not good.

And I think it would be unfortunate (as various Chinese friends say) that it can lead to cases of addiction and obsessiveness.

Now, China and other Third World nations have a good chance here: they can nip video game and social media addiction in the bud by having strict regulation on such things, preferably those targeting minors and young people.

This is what they've told me and, after a while, I agree with this point-of-view.

I think we have to listen to what the Chinese people say and they say that video games should be regulated and that they, being based in Western nations, can be a vehicle to Westernize Chinese society.

And that's what they want to avoid.

I agree with it.

But... I also know that this may not be a popular point-of-view on a gaming forum.

However: I know people that have lived up to age 30 and have not had a stable job and realized that they were playing too much video games or doing too much social media. Even I've had this problem for a time.

I think... It is best to trust that the Chinese people and the National People's Congress and the neighborhood committees and the various organizing councils should implement a system of oversight on video games.

Because I get it: Third World nations or non-Western nations have looked at video games with unease. People that I've talked to, unless they are in the vicinity of Westerners, have looked at video games with unease.

And, in my (perhaps) unpopular opinion: they should take effort to make sure that the problems with: 1) obsessive behaviors, 2) compulsive behaviors, and 3) addictive behaviors, and so on and so forth, are mitigated and not replicated.

As someone that is neurodivergent and has struggled with addictive or stimulating behavior: I can see where they are coming from and I feel that there is an element of racism and white supremacy that assumes that non-Western or Third World peoples shouldn't exercise a measure of control over video games.

So I get that.

And now that many Western companies are blatantly taking advantage of addictive behavior (companies like EA and Ubisoft and others): I think that many nations, not just China, have a right to be skeptical.

And they should be skeptical.

Sorry if this post as overwrought; I hope that you were able to get what I'm saying and I understand that the topic has a bit of nuance to it.

 

[Hoagmaster]

Had no idea there was new stuff being made for this game, but I'm in!

 

[DistractedByPixels]

Playing the Cowabunga Collection, which is fantastic, I would love to see a Power Rangers collection based on the 16-bit games, which were generally pretty good and of which at least one (MMPR: The Movie on SNES) was genuinely a top-level beat-em-up.

• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (SNES)
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (Gen)
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (GB)
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie (SNES)
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition (SNES)
• Power Rangers Zeo: Battle Racers (SNES)

I guess you can throw in the shitty SEGA CD Power Rangers game that was a Dragon's Lair knockoff that allowed you to play through an episode (the first one?) of the show.

I didn't watch Power Rangers, but I did play the games. They were solid. Give us a collection, whoever owns the rights to all this stuff.

 

[Dragoncaine]

Imagine thinking the version that cuts out the Boromir and Faramir flashbacks is the better version.

Is this Two Towers extended? Can't wait to watch. I bought the 4K HDR Extended Editions with the remastered color correction that Peter Jackson personally oversaw, so I'm digging in soon. Saw Fellowship Extended in a premium format in theaters as part of Regal's hype machine for Rings of Power.

 

[SirArthur]

GrimGrimoire OnceMore has to be announced here; I will be frustrated if it winds up being a Falcom-fest.

This presentation sadly leak. Not gonna post it here.

 

[Legion of Primes]

Who was doing the next thread again?

 

[TheQuietone]

Is this Two Towers extended? Can't wait to watch. I bought the 4K HDR Extended Editions with the remastered color correction that Peter Jackson personally oversaw, so I'm digging in soon. Saw Fellowship Extended in a premium format in theaters as part of Regal's hype machine for Rings of Power.

Yep, Two Towers. If you didn't feel bad for Boromir before you'll definitely feel bad for him after seeing the Extended edition.

 

[hologram]

Who was doing the next thread again?

@xghost777. Do you know what time you'll post?

By the way, thanks @Legion of Primes for the great ST!

 

[Red Monster]

Game companies and the content in games as well as the websites that allow people to play games.

I think video-gaming or, rather, obsession with video games is... not good.

And I think it would be unfortunate (as various Chinese friends say) that it can lead to cases of addiction and obsessiveness.

Now, China and other Third World nations have a good chance here: they can nip video game and social media addiction in the bud by having strict regulation on such things, preferably those targeting minors and young people.

This is what they've told me and, after a while, I agree with this point-of-view.

I think we have to listen to what the Chinese people say and they say that video games should be regulated and that they, being based in Western nations, can be a vehicle to Westernize Chinese society.

And that's what they want to avoid.

I agree with it.

But... I also know that this may not be a popular point-of-view on a gaming forum.

However: I know people that have lived up to age 30 and have not had a stable job and realized that they were playing too much video games or doing too much social media. Even I've had this problem for a time.

I think... It is best to trust that the Chinese people and the National People's Congress and the neighborhood committees and the various organizing councils should implement a system of oversight on video games.

Because I get it: Third World nations or non-Western nations have looked at video games with unease. People that I've talked to, unless they are in the vicinity of Westerners, have looked at video games with unease.

And, in my (perhaps) unpopular opinion: they should take effort to make sure that the problems with: 1) obsessive behaviors, 2) compulsive behaviors, and 3) addictive behaviors, and so on and so forth, are mitigated and not replicated.

As someone that is neurodivergent and has struggled with addictive or stimulating behavior: I can see where they are coming from and I feel that there is an element of racism and white supremacy that assumes that non-Western or Third World peoples shouldn't exercise a measure of control over video games.

So I get that.

And now that many Western companies are blatantly taking advantage of addictive behavior (companies like EA and Ubisoft and others): I think that many nations, not just China, have a right to be skeptical.

And they should be skeptical.

Sorry if this post as overwrought; I hope that you were able to get what I'm saying and I understand that the topic has a bit of nuance to it.

Thanks for the explanation! I was just a little confused by what you meant earlier, but I think I get it now.

By the way, the term "third-world" is a bit outdated and has some negative connotations. I'm not criticizing you or anything, just letting you know.