LinuxGameCast Weekly EP181 – Xenohorse

XCOM 2 is HERE! Mad Max show signs of life, Truck Simulator visits Merica, and WB kills the Goddamn Batman. Then XCOM: Enemy Unknown faces the CHAIRQUISITION! All this, plus your hate mail.

Steam nopes Curse of Raven’s Cry! Tomb Raider shows signs of life, Mighty No. 9 gets delayed again, and AMD open sauces some of the things. Then Starward Rogue faces the CHAIRQUISITION! All this, plus your hate mail.

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Steam

News

Review

http://store.steampowered.com/app/200510/

Hate Mail

Special thanks to our patreons:

David S

Steam News:

Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

XCOM 2 goes native
http://steamcommunity.com/games/353370/announcements/detail/913471708586959741

I’m genuinely curious about the steam controller integration. Will definitely be sharing my thoughts on it for Next Week’s review
They’re doing a rocket league style discount as well. But you can actually play this one under linux.

Speaking of
http://store.steampowered.com/app/268500/

Before we get started we need and note this game runs like ARSE on the Windows.
It nopes with the 358 non-beta drivers.
Works /w the 361.18 …poorly (BTW can’t use that because handbrake)
~~After the 600MB Fri patch it started once /w the 358… once.~~
- Alright, after the patch the FKR works if you nope the overlay.
  - Alright alright, it works sometimes
  - Alright alright alright, it’s reverted to not starting.
  - Ended up reverting to 355.11
    - No issues running on 361.16
P.S. WTH is this?
- I mean, it’s preferable to not giving you the option and taking a wild guess, potentially fucking up your monitor setup
- Although this is becoming the feral version of the unity nope screen. All this stuff can be moved to the in game settings
Sooo do you travel to drop points in real time, or does this thing load from FK mothering Mordor?

They killed the the Goddamn Batman
https://steamcommunity.com/app/208650/discussions/0/405690850600936914/

I wonder if WB was all “we’re not updating this thing anymore” and Feral was all “FK”
- I get the sense that this was the case as well. Especially with Feral spending a lot of time dealing with the shitty code base
Again kids, moral of the story, never pre-order.
I wouldn’t want that game on my CV if it was worse than the Windows port.
That said, I was hoping they would deliver a superior version.
When Rocksteady said some of the bugs of the PC version were unfixable, that pretty much nailed the coffin shut for me on this game.

I want to believe
https://steamdb.info/app/234140/history/?changeid=1731217

But who is porting it?
Seriously, it’s 2016 and this “oh guess what games we’re porting” bullshit needs to DIAF.
This another for the “I hope it’s not VP” bag.
Mostly because we kinda need this game on Linux. Personally speaking, anyway.
This is built on the Just Cause 2 Engine. I would be so stoked if this was a proper engine port, because JC2 and JC2MP were fucking amazing and need to be on linux.

2 trucks 2 states
http://store.steampowered.com/app/270880

Clarkson.gif
From the same folks that brought you Euro Fuck Simulator
Only two states means that they have at least 48 DLC releases to go.
SCS doesn’t seem to want to send us keys.

Are expensive you know
http://store.steampowered.com/app/353130/

Well, the description is certainly better than Dagron the game.
So it’s Dragon with back mounted lasers dogfighter?
For the first few hours @ launch it only supported Russian lingo.
- …Comrade

3 Pillars
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/02/04/pillars-of-eternity-update-3-00

A game I really wish I had the time to learn the system for. Part of what made BG/PT/NWN/KOTOR so engaging for me was the familiarity I had with the rules
They’re adding a story mode, so you can skip the brutal combats and experience the story
Also prepatch stuff for the Expansion, the Racist March
Quite a lot of bug fixes and balance improvements as well

Hammer time
https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/43edee/how_i_got_3000_hackers_vac_banned/

5,500 less L33T Windows haxors for us to deal with.
Doin’ Glob’s work son.
It’s actually much rarer to see an actual cheater in CS:GO than it used to be in Source.
Still, I did run into one last week during a ranked match.
- It took 2 whole rounds before he was finally nuked.

News:

Enthusiast APU?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10008/amd-launches-65w-kaveri-apus-a10-7860k-a6-7470k-wraith

Gotta love the tagline for the FX chips in that post though
- “The most cores and highest clocks you can get for a windows PC processor”
- Let’s just drop all the pretense. FUCK LINUX. Windows only
In short, the GPU is still staying an R7, the CPU is getting a bit more beef and better TDP
Good for low power or budget systems, not fantastic if you want to game on it. Believe you me
Whatever did happen to that 6 core APU?
So… currently, if you’re going for budget the 860K Athlon is still what you want.
AMD is stuck in 2005.
At this point they are putting fins and racing stripes on shite and hoping people buy it.

Epic
http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/04/unreal-engine-create-in-vr/

This is pretty fucking cool. Opens the door for a lot of non technical people to start working with modelling and game dev.
But we all know the first thing people are going to do with this kind of tech.
- Dicks. So many dicks
  - Nope, no sir. Not the first thing I thought about doing yes it was.

LLAP
http://www.croteam.com/talos-principle-will-support-vulkan-first-screenshot-released/

As we mentioned a couple of weeks back, Talos will support Vulkan the moment it’s publicly available, SS3 will have it at some point in the future and, hope is, SS4 will have it from inception.

TopWare/ZuxxeZ has filed bankruptcy
http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/vendetta-curse-of-ravens-cry/news/topware_interactive,53003,3267337.html

~~Haben Sie nicht erwarten dass~~ Didn’t expect that.
Next step is to annex the sudetenland!
I hope they sell off their IPs.
I’d like to see a modern day sequel to Enclave on Linux.
- Aspyr! Get on it!
  - I’d like to see them take a crack at Two worlds, though old PS2/Xbox games seem to be more up Asspyre’s alley these days.
Notice how their Steam forums went silent after the news (I’m talking about the paid shills defending the game)

Blackjack and Hookers
http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/01/ant-simulator-canceled-after-kickstarter-money-spent-on-liquor-and-strippers/

Something something Breach of Good Faith something something Breach of Fiduciary Duty #getalawyer
Welp, after reading his YT comment he doesn’t want to lawyer up.
- Yeah, he might want to have a lawyer go over that contract.
- I would have gone scorched earth on those fuckers though. Release their names and all.
Still, it’s an interesting situation, where the situation we often joke about becomes the reality.
Alright, It was only $4,400 (small claims)
- So what, a few hundred cheap beers and three high class strippers?
This was an unremarkable failure from the start.
Meanwhile, Chris Roberts is frittering away millions…

De-Vis
http://cheesetalks.net/humble/

I remember when Humble was relevant.
- But…if you pay us $10 a month, you can get free games that you already own!
If you pick all the Humble Indie bundles from the list, Linux has paid considerably more money than MacOS.
- But we all knew that already…
Still bugs me that they never had a front and center graph for the indie bundles.

Slice
http://gunmetalarcadia.com/wordpress/in-dev-build-vertical-slice/

The NERD for Mac & Linux engine works pretty well.
I don’t know if it’s the CRT filter but it looks and plays like a proper SNES game.

RPCS3 progress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsuKQfsu-zk
https://github.com/RPCS3/rpcs3

This is pretty damn impressive for such a short amount of time.
Mind you, this is using DX12 for 3D acceleration. I’m not sure the openGL profile will be as performant
Also not sure if this dude’ll switch over to vulkan when that gets released.
I guess I won’t get to play guns of the patriots under linux any time soon
Now, I am going to need to see some GTA V and The Last of Us working.

CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope

– Not sure if want

– Check it out

– Shutupandtakemymonies

Game: XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Webzone: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200510/
Devel: Firaxis Games (2012) / Feral Interactive (2014)
Engine: Unreal Engine 3
Price: 19.99 base game, 29.99 complete pack

Wazzat: XCOM: Enemy Unknown places you in control of a secret paramilitary organization called XCOM. As the XCOM commander, you will defend against a terrifying global alien invasion by managing resources, advancing technologies, and overseeing combat strategies and individual unit tactics.

US Disclosure: Feral gave us keys.

Makes with the working

V-

Holds a steady 60 +/- 10 @ 1080.

J-

P-

I played this game, top to bottom, on the Calculator using the Open sauce drivers!

Total-

Shiny / Sounds

V-

For a game that was released in 2012 it holds up well enough.
Character models are not only well done they are also hella customizable.
This is an important feature that will save you from cycling through your squad looking for that one FKR with the Ark zappy thinggie.
The transition from faux isometric to 3rd person shooter looks neat and gives you good look at the surprisingly detailed environments.
Said environments vary from dark cities, to dark deserts, all the way to the ever elusive dark interior of building X.
Voice acting is top notch and completely sells the experience.
The only background music I noticed was the bog standard “baddies are around” track.

J-

It’s a AAA game, so you get the standard gorgeous AAA cinematics
And the voice acting done by *gasp* actual actors!
The alien designs are far from original, but that is kind of the point
Like Venn Said, the maps can be lacking at times.

P-

The characters all look like they fell face first into the uncanny valley!
- They do seem to be trying to climb back out from it, but they didn’t get very far up by the time the game came out.
- They all look like they’re related, too. Thankfully you’re not really worried about when you’re quite literally being munched on by Chrysalids.
The sounds are alright. But by the end I had to mute all of the voices because 37 hours of Dr. Vahlen shouting at me for using explosives… That’s quite enough!
The background music is very subtle.
Like Venn’s already hinted at, you only ever notice it when you’re slowly creeping up the map. There’s more I can say about this, but you’ll have to stick around for the fun.

Total-

Control

V-

Picking a nit here but I don’t like the 4-step camera rotation.
The real issue is the camera flipping the hell out while aiming rockets/grenades

J-

The camera bit can get a wee annoying, but it doesn’t really detract from the game too much
Everything else is sanely done

P-

You click things and things react as though they were clicked on.
You can also use the board of keys to facilitate some of the clicking.

Total-

FUN?

V-

After the first hour I already felt like a commander… surrounded by a bunch of needy bitches.
You spend the majority of the first hour watching cinematics and playing the occasional on-rails tutorial.
During which you learn the turn-based bits then dive into the world of construction, research, and resource management.
On top of all this you also need to keep an eye on each country’s bitch-o-meter.
They nope when panicked and that takes away shekels.
Alright, let’s talk about the turn-based strategy because boy do I love me some turn-based strategy. I’m also a huge fan of the movie Spice world, organized religion, and steak.
Welp, if X is, in fact, going to give it to me the maximum amount I would request would be 2.
Combat is relatively straightforward with an emphasis on duck-and-cover A.K.A. the blue shield of false hope.
You have your standard classes that do the standard things.
Overwatch and suppression help mix things up.
At the end of the day I rather liked it. Hell, 6hrs in and I’m about to unlock fk mothering robots!
That, and it brought out my inner sociopath by allowing me to build up my team, care for them, and use them like the meat shields they were.
The only thing I’m dinging it a chair for is the amount of time spent waiting for the AI to sort the next move.
- P.S.
- Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh HTH do you keep missing 99% shots!?11!

J-

Good ol tactical turn based squad shooter
One of the things that makes this game better than, say, massive chalice is that your doods don’t grow old and die. As long as you keep them alive, they keep getting stronger
And dear lord do you get attached to them. I gave fancy hats to all my top ranking dudes
Build all the satellites
Hours melt away while playing it and that’s a good thing
And holy moley, this is a timesink. Don’t start playing this game unless you have a few hours to spare

P-

I like this game, a lot!
It’s really hard to keep countries from leaving the XCOM project. It makes no damn sense either. Why are you pulling support from the one chance you have against technologically superior alien race?
If you’re just picking up on the game, I highly recommend you play Enemy Within.
There’s a few more mechanics when compared to the regular version. Including genetic and cyborg modifications for your soldiers.
In this current run I’m doing (chances are you are seeing it in the video), I have a big mechwarrior type guy which has an absurd amount of HP for the start game.
- It’s biggest weakness is that it can’t go into any sort of cover.
One gripe I do have with the gameplay is that, for a tactical turn-based action game, Stealth is not a thing.
The moment you move into view from a group of enemies immediately run into cover and you’re immediately on the defensive.
- That’s something they fixed on XCOM 2, but we’ll talk about that next week.
My biggest complaint is that Feral never went back and added cross platform multiplayer.

Total-

Final –

Hate Mail:

tjpld – Dod Sno
http://pastebin.com/ZCMzeKst

Todd M – Gaming Lappy
http://pastebin.com/vGFaKxbX