I liked to post in the Friday fun threads what video games I've been playing recently. Sometimes I recommend the games, and sometimes I ask for recommendations.
I've always enjoyed talking about video games. But themotte has made me picky over the years. Its not just talk that I want. It is thinking, understanding, and discussion of video games that interest me. Video games are mostly a mental activity for me, and so diving into a mental discussion about them often enhances my enjoyment.
I didn't post in the Friday fun thread about what I've been playing, so I'll post now. And I'd like to know what others are playing.
The post I would have written:
This week I've been hooked on factorio (again). I've done many playthroughs of this game. A few vanilla playthroughs (some multiplayer and some not). A krastorio 1 mod playthrough. A few different attempts at the bob's, angels, and seablock mods (never could get into them, too much work, and not enough reward). A krastorio II and space exploration playthrough.
This week though I have been playing with just the space exploration mod. There has been some hints in blogposts that factorio might have an expansion, and that the expansion might be related to the space exploration mod. I thought I'd try and wait for that expansion. But my patience has failed me.
Playing space exploration without the krastorio II mod has been surprisingly way more different than I would have expected. The major difference in my mind is that krastorio II makes the starting world gameplay last too long, and gives too many advantages. I never thought this would be a real problem, but I've never managed to truly beat a space exploration game before. And I realized part of the problem is that krastorio II ties you to the homeworld too strongly. While space exploration on its own forces you off planet just for the sake of some quality of life improvements. For example, you have to go to space in order to get the logistics network chests. The tech is not unlockable based on ground items alone. I don't remember if krastorio II mod combination forced me to go to space, but I do remember that the belt inserters made so many logists aspects so much simpler that the need for drone based logistics didn't seem as pressing. There were also special ground based fabricator buildings for Krastorio II that were larger and much faster (matching the space based ones). But with just the space exploration mod I'm realizing there is an intentional difference. Either you can choose land based production to get productivity bonuses. (and usually the first steps in refinement for special resources). Or you can choose space based production for speed bonuses.
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Notes -
I recently played through A Short Hike, originally just to see if it was appropriate for the kids (conclusion: "more reading than they're really ready for, but we'll see how they do" - Alex has gone absolutely wild for it), but then afterwards just because it's a good cozy game. Fun times.
I think next up is Monster Hunter.
It is neat that you have kids that you feel you can share the video games with. I think I really wanted that with my kids, but it just strikes me as unlikely as they get older and I get a sense of their personalities. I've got two girls so far, and the oldest one is very girly and I could see her enjoying something like the sims. The younger one seems like a potential extrovert/tomboy so I don't think she will ever be very interested in non-social video games.
I've had the mosnter hunter games on my wishlist for a while, and I've never quite felt in the right mood to buy them. They sort of seem up my alley. I'd like to know what you think of them when you get around to it.
It might just be an early-entry age thing. Alex is the old one and she's 4 years old; she loves unicorns and sparkles and bouncing and talking to literally everyone. She also likes video games because I kept showing her what I was playing ("see, these are bugs! they're trying to stop us from getting all the gold") and sitting her down with a controller until she started Getting It.
Cass is 2 years old and sometimes I can convince her to hit buttons on a controller, but that's where Alex was at 2 years old also.
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