It still has some kinks that need ironing out, and it could for sure use a bigger roster, but they’re cooking with this one. The MOBA core and superb movement mechanics just complement each other so nicely, and with both powerful easy to use active items and ability-based heroes available it’s possible to perform even if you’re not an aim god.

I know the fan mod project for FF8 is jokingly named Demaster in protest of the official remaster, but I never thought a large company would release an honest to god demake of a game - and charge you for it!

Neat, sounds useful!

Whatever helps you sleep at night, Lando.

In general I tend to differentiate between creator and publisher in all art. It would have been a more shocking inclusion had it been a movie made by Disney themselves - at least to me. I’m open to being wrong about how much Disney meddled in Pixar stories pre 2006 purchase though. I can’t say it’s a subject I’ve studied at length. I know there is a book about Pixar but I haven’t read it. Do you have any sources?

This article is a great rundown of Pixar and Disney, but while the latter did publish Pixar’s movies through the nineties and early naughties they had very little creative influence over them - especially compared to what would come post acquisition. Even the four “transitional” films (that had already begun production in 2006) are clearly more Pixar than Disney.

I hadn’t seen it before so my first thought was “uhhh… Superman?”

I mean were those buildings even evacuated? He probably killed a fair few innocent bystanders there 😂

Brilliant! I love seeing examples of corvid cleverness, blows my mind how smart they are.

I have a pretty extensive Dota background behind me, but I quit years ago because I noticed I wasn’t really having a good return in terms of fun/hour. This is really the first MOBA I’ve played since then - though I’ve kept watching Dota esports.

I played FPS multiplayer years ago (Unreal Tournament '99, TF2 and Planetside 2 primarily) but I have definitely not kept it up, sticking mostly to single player and story heavy games as I’ve gotten older. This is the first competitive game I’ve played in years, so between skill atrophy and getting older, twitch aim is definitely my number one weakness in Deadlock. I hope I’ll be able to either get better at it or at least perform well enough to be good enough to feel like I can have fun playing it, as the movement and mechanics of the game are addicting as hell.

I too have yet to adjust to the years we lost during the pandemic, but Dota closed beta started 14 years ago. A decade ago it had been released for a year following its much-memed three year beta. Time flies eh?

I’m exactly like you though, so I’m happy to find a kindred spirit. Played a shit ton of Dota 1, went onto playing Dota 2 starting from closed beta up to about 2017. I love the game, but I hated playing it - it mostly made me miserable. Very happy to have quit, but still watch TI every year, along with a couple other major tournaments perhaps. I think it’s great fun to watch.

I agree that MOBA macro and gamesense are very important, but they are also easier to pick up than movement and aim, so I find after the initial week or two of an adjustment period it’s mostly the FPS gods who dominate. I know I am primarily held back by my aim at the moment, for example.

It’s very speculative I would say, as the article itself highlights the Vikings themselves having the capacity to hunt for this walrus ivory themselves rather than trade for it. Interesting read nonetheless!

Gonna have to wait until a legal pro weighs in on this. Sounds like it could potentially be a pretty impactful ruling.

I haven’t played it (yet, it’s in my extensive backlog) and I don’t think it’s exactly the same, but have you checked out Slay the Princess?

God I hope the game turns out amazing.

I’ve never actually played through AW1 on Nightmare as I was afraid the challenge would be unfun, but maybe I will in the future based on your testimony. Though I find it increasingly hard to go back and replay games these days with the size of my backlog…

How much of AW2 do you remember? I strongly suggest starting over so you have everything fresh in your forebrain - it’s a game that wants you to pay attention to detail. Same reason I advocated for playing only it in the other thread and not both in parallel. Though you seem to have an impressive capacity for keeping track of multiple story-games at once (something I can’t even begin to relate to) so your mileage may vary.

Thank fuck, that’s definitely one of the game’s more detrimental flaws. I hope they also work on varying their quest design more, as well as mixing up the tone of the writing and acting more frequently.

I enjoyed the beautiful locations, solid combat and often great boss fights, but the game in general was too monotone for me to be truly captivated by it. Towards the end I felt worn out by it, having to mentally steel myself to even finish it. I get that the serious samurai trope is what they’re going for, but while that might work in a 2-hour movie it becomes incredibly one-note over a 50-hour game. Kenji alone is not enough to break up the flow with some variety. Especially with the gameplay being very repetitive too - so many missions are simple walk-and-talk, ride-horse-and-talk and go-to-spot-kill-mongols.

They all must go. You wouldn’t even believe the loss of revenue Nintendo suffers from the mere existence of SNES emulators. Money is being stolen right out of their pockets. Experts say they might never financially recover. ^[1]

I’ll echo this, and I’ll also say that for me personally the story of AW2 kind of demands focus and I myself would not be able to take it in properly if I was splitting attention - particularly splitting it with its predecessor and having to keep track of what happens in each timeline separately.

It’s just a bug.