Gaming

By which I mean, how incomplete is it? I usually wait for games to be fully released, but I'm going to have a lot of my free time disappearing later this year, and I might need to break my rule with this one if it's pretty complete.

Link to article for more info

It occurred to me that I don't know any FOSS e-sport games off the top of my head and I don't know why. I looked it up and it doesn't seem like there are many tournaments around and I got to thinking about what would make a good FOSS e-sport and I don't know that I have a really clear idea of it. It's been on my mind a lot though so I wanted to see what you all think about it.

What FOSS e-sports do you like? What do you wish existed that doesn't? Do you think there should be FOSS e-sports? Do you think they'll never work, never be sustainable, or not be good? Does the concept of monetized tournaments go against the very ethos of free software?

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/shit/p/1084411/this-man-is-watching-a-lore-video-about-a-franchise-he-has-not-played

I finally decided to return to Grimstone after a huge pause. I built a new team mainly because I wanted to play all the characters my GF didn’t see on her playthrough (as she’s watching my playthrough).

In an hour I managed to regain my progress and am already more confident with this setup than I was in my first try. Having 1 nearly useless character isn’t as bad as having two such characters.

I also got creative with the names this time although none can stand alongside my GF’s Anrse.

Luna is still my favorite character.

Caution: Massive spoilers for the game. This one goes deep...

Next step: cross-platform marriage

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/shit/p/1070381/when-you-finally-play-a-game-beloved-by-most-gamers-but-you-don-t-enjoy-it-at-all

(DCSS = Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup)

Morgue file for those who can read it

While winning in DCSS is fun, what I find even more enjoyable is to win in a sub-optimal (but fun) way. This run is a great example of what I mean:

• I have sacrificed my hand, my courage and my armor to get my deity's powers earlier. No shield, no armor, and I suffer a debuff every serious battle.
• I am a shapeshifter, in a form that can't use weapons and any armor. Except for my form's innate resistances, I have only a bit that I could get from my amulet and one ring (as you can only wear ring per hand).
• I am a spellcaster with 7 innate Intelligence. Yes, I sacrificed some of my brain matter too. Brain mattern't.

And I am a god-slaying tempest that no one can defeat. Even under heavy debuffs from my cowardice, I kill everything in one-three shots. With 74 evasion, nothing can hope to hit me. And I move to my next victim in a moment. How come?

Storm talisman. Make Shapeshifting a focus of your whole run and you can kill even the Pandemonium lords in three hits. Or die a miserable death to a spell you couldn't dodge.

This run had a good progression of talismans: first, Rimehorn that turns the early game into a peaceful walk; then, Serpent that's... kind of similar to Rimehorn honestly. Really strong, plenty defense, enjoy your strong midgame (though, to be fair, I did struggle with it a bit in Vaults). Now that Serpent can wear two helmets, it has some endgame potential too.

I admired this potential for a bit longer than I expected to... my two potential upgrades were Granite talisman that I'm not fond of and Riddle talisman. I tried to make the latter work but, no matter what, it gave me less defense than Serpent so I stuck with being a snake. To give myself some advantage for my slithering endgame I started training summoning magic. At first, it wasn't very impressive but once I got Mana Viper and Forest online, my XP investment started to pay off.

Then, right after getting the third rune and preparing myself for the final showdown at the Realm of Zot, I found it - Storm talisman! And you know the rest.

Can't wait to learn which of the Hell branches will kill this character!

It seems like the following is indeed interesting, yet I've never ever experienced Arc Raiders myself! Have you? ^^

But often, players are just talking. A YouTube video called The Humans of Arc Raiders, inspired by the photographer who interviews strangers in New York City, includes conversations with randomly encountered players. They talk about family struggles, work lives, depression, autism and, in one case, a lung collapse. In one conversation, a heavily armed player in green armour named Poopy candidly asks another raider: "What’s it like having kids, dude?”

When I first jumped into Arc Raiders, I found a dichotomy on the topside, where birds sing and plants thrive among the carcasses of downed machines. The more I wandered around this 1970s-style retro-future setting, the more I bumped into other humans, many of whom offered help, such as medical supplies. Mostly we snuck around and battled robots together. It was tense at times, sometimes scary, but often relaxing.

In one session, I encountered another player with a British accent who was also new to the game. "Have you been killed by another person yet?” he asked me, as we explored a burst concrete dam complex. "Because every person I’ve met has been friendly,” he added. "No one kills each other."

Source [web-archive]

Cross-Posted, via ShitPost Community.

(DCSS = Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup)

Morgue file for those who can read it.

Reasons

Vine stalkers spread any damage they take between their health and their mana. Losing mana from big damage spikes is horrible on most gods as you need mana to cast your "save me" abilities. Some of the gods don't care about mana at all but they also give you no incentive to train skills that will raise your mana in the first place.

And then there's Makhleb. Their abilities cost health instead of mana (and their costs take a percentage of your maximum health so frail Vine stalkers are on discount!) and they love high Invocations skill that will bring your mana to respectable levels. To add to this, Vine stalkers have a naturally fast health regeneration so they can spam Makhleb's abilities more often.

How it went

So, after brainstorming this build, I wanted to win with it. And, after 3 unsuccessful attempts, I did exactly that.

This build has two central points: Unleash Destruction and Antimagic Bite.

Unleash Destruction is Makhleb's ability that costs a fraction of your health and... nothing more! It's completely spammable - as long as you can survive spamming it of course. And oh just how spammable it is on Vine stalkers! Why fight enemies one by one when you can destroy them with your burning/freezing/draining/corroding hatred? Get your ~~enemies~~ victims in a hallway and shoot your hellish lasers or whatever!

As it is a full range penetrating beam, it can manage summoners and the shining eyes very well too. So, while it's usefulness caps at Shoals and Swamp, it will still be useful all the way to Zot.

Antimagic Bite is a Vine stalker's special. You hit an orc wizard with a swift but weak dagger and they lose half their health and their voice can't cast the spells anymore for some reason. This is the reason Vine stalkers rule. Naturally, you want to maximize bite's damage potential by triggering it more - thus the need for a fast weapon. I started this run with an assumption that I will go with short swords and rapiers but the game had its own plans...

Demon whip is no joke. While it's not as fast as a quick blade it has a higher base damage and it scales with strength which is exactly what we need. Also no "20 skill to reach mindelay" nonsense lmao.

And this is a big deal as Vine stalker's aptitudes aren't great... take a look at our main skills:

• Fighting (-1) and Evocations (-1)
• Armour and Dodging (-2), Shields (-1)
• Invocations (0)
• Maces&Flails or Short blades (-1)

Sure, it's not Mummy-level bad but still quite meh. What do you mean "you have 10 Dodging in Crystal armor"?? That's.... that was very important....

So anyway, some other stuff this build has or should get online:

• Infernal Servant: Makhleb's second ability and a glorious "meh whatever" from me. Demonic friends are nice early on but they don't scale well into late-game. Wow, a green death?? Well thank you it's poison will surely help deal with liches and orbs of fire! I HAVE MAX INVO MAKH YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE!!! ...If you see a mark that replaces Infernal Servant don't hesitate you won't miss it.

• Marks: while we're at it, let's talk marks. Makhleb gives you a choice of three marks once you reach their final rank. Marks can never be rerolled so you're stuck with what you're given for the entire run. Here's my thoughts on the four marks I've gained on my attempts:

  • Mark of Atrocity: the obvious. Makes Unleash Destruction extremely strong... and extremely costy. The moment you get it, you must stop spamming it. It proved to be too hard to manage for me so I splattered because of it.
  • Mark of Execution: as if your bite wasn't enough. You were already great at melee but now you're a beast. The mark has no downsides too so you can pick it if you're afraid of others' costs.
  • Mark of Annihilation: no more demonic friends. And now you have Orb of Destruction with explosions! Pretty nice I'd say. Highly situational as it doesn't do well with hallways but it can deal with crowds just fine.
  • Mark of Celebrant: what enables the stupid (me) to win. The closest you get to a panic button on Makhleb. If it activates you are in trouble and must figure out how to survive. I won with this one.

• Lupine talisman: this build rests on two tenets: spend health and hit really fast. Being a werewolf makes you regain your health quickly and stack up a fixed bonus to each of your attacks. C'mon 50 damage per whip's swing, you don't wanna? You aren't even risking much with your Will already being so high. Footwear is overrated anyway...

I still hate guardian spirit btw :)