https://i.redd.it/xbx1i78clo3z.jpg

#thefeels

I don't think he was holding back tears because he was proud of what he was made (even though he probably was), bur rather because Miyamotowas praising him directly for creating such a great game. I am damn sure I would be holding back tears too if Miyamoto was praising a game I spent a significant time making.That is like Nikolai Tesla himself praising an electrical engineer, Isaac Newton praising a physicist, Mozart praising a composer, Michael Jordan praising a basketball player, and so on... I don't see how one cannot break down when the one of the greatest of all time people in your field is directly praising you.

So, Star Trek Bridge Crew.

https://i1.wp.com/www.vrjive.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Crew_Interaction_Screenshot_255096.jpg

I finally completed every mission in the game (exception being all the random missions) so I think I'll write a review. The game requires either a HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or PSVR to play. I only have a HTC Vive, so this review is for that platform.

Star Trek Bridge Crew is a VR game where you take command of one of four bridge officers on the original starship Enterprise, or the Aegis (basically a slight redesign of the Enterprise in the new Star Trek movies). The original enterprise is 100% accurate to the TV version, and the Aegis almost has the same level of accuracy to the new Enterprise in the new movies. The only difference I have noticed from the Ageis and the movie Enterprise is the position of some of the screens in the background, and the removal of the station to the right of the captain’s seat to make room for an engineering station. Other than that, these bridges are so accurate that you would think they were created by fans, which is something Star Trek fans will enjoy.

Since this is VR the controls are very intuitive. The Vive's controllers are your hands, and you use your hands to touch stuff on the screens in front of you. Doesn't get simpler than that, which I think is what VR is all about. You can press the grip buttons on the side to curl all your fingers except for your index finger (you perform this same action in real life to press the side button on the controller). The trigger on the back is used to control the curl of the index finger. These simple controls are enough to allow the player to display complex emotions, which leads to a lot of hilarious moments on the bridge. When I first discovered I could control my index finger with the trigger I started using it to rub my nipples. I was just doing that to test out the hand movements, but everyone else on the bridge saw me do this and just broke out in laughter. There are also the natural hand emotions that you use when talking to the crew. In VR you naturally face the person you are talking to and emote accordingly. First time I was captain I involuntarily pointed to the main screen and said “engage” to signal helms to enter warp. Completely involuntary and if the tactical officer didn’t comment on how great it was I said “engage” I would not even had noticed. I think everyone was looking at me because I was fucking around on my screens while helms was waiting for my order to enter warp. You can play with a regular Xbox One controller, but I would imagine using a controller would be a lot more clunky since there is so much you can do with your hands. You also lose all ability to emote.

The game allows you to take on the position of Captain, Engineering, Helm, or Tactical. All positions are extremely easy to learn, but only really shine with experience. If you are playing single player, you are forced to play as captain and give a limited number of commands to your AI crew. You can also take over the stations manually if the AI isn't good enough. This is extremely clunky and frustrating, though. You will want to go multiplayer for some of the harder missions, which is where the game really shines.

You are dealing with real people online, so your experience is extremely dependent on your personality. Most of my experiences online have been extremely enjoyable. I don't know if it is because of the high price of VR right now or what, but the randos I played with were all adults who played the game somewhat seriously. I think I should also give the game credit for forcing players into this behavior, because there is always enough going on at each position to keep the player busy. It far is easier to obey the orders from the captain instead of randomly doing your own thing. My worst game experience was when I was captain and I had a helmsman who was extremely drunk. There was a point where we needed to warp out of the system or die from the exploding star, but the dude was too drunk to properly align the ship up for warp. Thankfully, the captain can kick whoever he desires from the bridge so you can relieve any player of his duties if needed. If you have a short temper, you most definitely do not want to play as Captain unless you have a group of friends that you can play with. The only indicator you get of your crew's skill is their rank, and often you will be put into a group with people who have no idea how to do their job. If you have the patience, this can lead to hilarious gameplay (plenty of chances for you to interject your own puns), but if you have a short temper you will likely just ragequit.

One of my major gripes with this game is that the servers are horrible. In the current iteration of the game there is a bug where you can get stuck in infinite warp and are forced to quit the game. I assume this is a problem with client sync. I also experienced issues with having the game load forever when transitioning to the briefing room to the bridge, the bridge to the briefing room, or when trying to find a new game. I think these are client sync issues since they are always fixed when the problem player leaves the game, or restarts their client. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future patch.

Another thing I do not enjoy about the game is how short it is. I only have about 17 hours in the game (4 of which was probably me struggling with server issues), and I finished all the missions in the main campaign. I am also very close to achieving the rank of Captain, which is the highest rank one can achieve right now. This game seriously needs to be expanded. PvP mode, the ability to own a ship and upgrade it, and extra ships + races are needed to extend this game's longevity. An expansion of the rank system to admiral, and allow you to issue orders to player captains in your fleet will be amazing. I really want to play more of the game, but I am finding it hard to jump in the game when all I can do are random missions that I may or may not have done before.

This game has a lot of potential and playing online is an absolute blast, but the game needs a lot more. In its current iteration, it doesn’t not feel like a complete game, and sure as hell isn't worth its $59.99 price point. I would be fine with spending that much for the game if it had a PvP mode and like 10 more campaign missions, but really this game is just too simple to justify anything more than $20. I understand that VR is in its early stages and developers do not want to commit too much time to a VR game that is an experiment, but this game is solid VR gold and deserves to be expanded into a full game. Also PLEASE allow us to walk around the ship.

Overall, I will give this game a 7.5/10.

EDIT: I think I should include my most Star Trek like experience in this post. It was on the final campaign mission where we had to beam a weapon onboard and transport it out of the system. A the final part of the mission the ship was extremely damaged (I chose to help some friendly ships in the area, which was an optional objective, but it left our ship in bad condition) and we didn't stand any chance in combat. I said to engineering "Give us all power to engines, I don't give a damn what you do or what damage the ship takes, get us out of here as quickly as possible." Engineering responded with "I am giving as much power to the engines that I can!" (he appropriately got the "I'm giving her all she got!" achievement from that). Told tactical to scan and disrupt the weapons of as many ships as possible while we got out the nebula. Helm was busy doing evasive maneuvers to dodge all torpedos fired at us while trying to get to edge of the nebula so we could warp. We ended up warping out with like 4% hull with everyone's butthole ultra puckered. At a certain point I could do nothing but trust the crew while just staring at the status of the ship's shield and hull. No forced RP, we just was trying to finish that mission and everyone was trying their hardest. That shit was so intense that it caused me to sweat in real life. That is the type of experience you can expect from this game, which is why I think it is a flagship VR game. Most satisfying experience I ever had in a video game.

I fell that I must also add that about like 40% of my time is spent as captain since I typically take the pos that no one ever wants to take, and apparently that is usually captain. I have no idea, personally, how it is to be experienced in any other position other than helm and captain.

I am very disheartened by Bluecast's very important topic being locked. Peanut M&Ms are clearly superior. Must've been locked by a pleb who enjoys plain M&Ms

There is a bit of a CNN shitstorm occurring on the internet today. Apparently some guy made a simple gif, showing Trump bodyslammign CNN, which the president tweeted on his personal twitter account, and the official @POTUS account:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/881503147168071680

CNN is extremely butthurt over this, trying to claim that this is the president enticing violence against them. They found out who created the gif (which wasn't hard since the dude posted on the_donald subbredit about how excited he was that President Trump tweeted something he created.

Earlier today he posted an apology saying he regrets making the gif and he wished he considered the consequences of releasing that gif. Anyone who spends any time on the internet would immediately mark this apology as bullshit. CNN then publishes this article , which further sheds light on what really was going on. The most important part of the article is this section:

CNN is not publishing "HanA**holeSolo's" name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.

CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.

It is likely CNN talked to the dude, saying that they would release his real name, which will destroy his life because of racist posts that were found on his reddit account. The guy really didn't want this to happen so he obliged and wrote up an apology. This apology was removed from the_donald, bt the way, so the only proof of it ever existing is through that CNN article.

At any rate, this reeks of criminal coercion and should be taken to court. Problem is that the reddit user has to reveal his identity if this is taken to court, which is typically the problem with cases involving coercion. I am not a lawyer so I don't know if there is any way that this guy can remain anonymous in court, but since this is something that involves the actions of a president who is also a very wealthy businessman, it is not a simple case of a big news company going after a little guy. This guy potentially has the backing of the president and his legal team. Can be yuge.

If I was the guy I would try to milk this shit for all it is worth. He could get a real nice settlement out of this, a settlement that would help mitigate any damage that may be done to his character if he chooses to come forward with it.

You think that a foreign country influencing our election isn't important? Don't make this a partisan issue. Everyone is affected here.

The issue is that there's no evidence of anything of that sort happening, yet the media outlets drone on about it 7 days a week because it's great for their ratings. They do not care about the truth or real journalism.

Exactly. There is also the obvious bias that ignores other problems that have been proven, such as the DNC deliberately manipulating their own election while trying to maintain the impression that it is a fair contest. This whole unsubstantiated Russia nonsense only exists because the DNC wanted to divert the attention from the e-mail leaks.

@KiBa: VR porn already exists. It even has its own category on Pornhub.


I tried VR porn. My profession also grants me the knowledge to make my own VR porn game and I would be lying if I said I didn't dabble in such development during my free time. Problem with pre-recorded VR porn is that there is zero interaction, which is what VR is all about. Without interaction, you just have a shitty 3D movie, which is what we have been able to experience for nearly a century. While you can look around with current "VR" porn, it really isn't any different than traditional porn so the format in it's current iteration will never take off.

In my tests, tactile feedback isn't necessary, but individual finger control is. There are controls in development that allow this level of control, so maybe the ideal VR porn experience will be available in the near future. I sure as shit won't be that developer, though. I am too modest to make anything that lewd public.

Star Wars is terrible. Episodes 4-6 are ok if you consider the time they were made, but they really do not deserve the acclaim that it has accrued during the years. There were far better fantasy movies at the time, such as the never ending story. Episodes 1-3 are pure trash. Episode 3 is the best, but it is a shit movie that only is decent because it is packed with highly dramatic events.

Rogue One and Episode 7 are the best movies, I think, but even then those movies weren't great.

I hate parks and recreation. I hate most "cringe humor" in general.

Better Call Saul is terribly boring. Two episode's worth of content is basically stretched out to an entire season.

Shenmue 3 will probably suck.

Edited because I am not a time traveler.

The rift is fairly cheap now. RIght now amazon is selling it with the controllers for $400 , and a $100 amazon gift card.

I would still recommend for everyone to wait for the next gen of VR devices, though. Especially if price is an issue for you. The screens are pretty crap, and there really aren't that many VR games out there that you will enjoy playing for more than 30 minutes.

Believing in God and reaping the potential infinite benefits of doing so is the most pragmatic solution, but belief in itself is irrational. One can convince themselves to believe in irrational things, though. I have yet to find a way to convince myself to believe in that irrational thing.

If you take this question seriously then I would suggest looking into philosophy since the existence of God has been discussed constantly for thousands of years in the area. I'll probably talk more about this later. Until then I'll attach these videos from PBS's crashcourse Philosophy videos which I completely haven't even watched and only scrubbed through. I am assuming are decent introductions to the subject, since I think some of their other videos on other subjects I know a but more about are pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmTsS5xFA6k&index=9&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMybYIHKR

I think they talk about religion from #9 to #15. Also, shoutout to my favorite barrel living, public masturbatin', emperor dissin' philosopher, Diogenes.

http://www.harkavagrant.com/history/diogenessm.png

I've worked with UE4 a bit. I think most developers hate the engine when they first deal with it because it is pretty much a pain to do anything as a newbie. Variables don't really have intuitive names, so one really needs to know the engine to get what they want. The blueprint system they use is an absolute abomination for anyone who knows how to program (something that would take up about 10 lines of code takes up your entire screen in the blueprint), but the blueprints were designed for people who don't know how to program so no surprise there. Even then, programmers and artists will need to spend significant time to figure out how to do anything in the engine. There are a lot of inter-workign parts to allow for global ease of use that is hard to trace if you are trying to figure out how things work (it took me forever to figure out how AI and other entities used nav-meshes because the engine automatically associates existing nav-meshes and sorta hides how it does it from the user... unless you are willing to go into the UE4 source code). This initial difficulty is probably what Yu Suzuki was talking about when he said it was "difficult to use."

But, once you take the time to learn things, development is a breeze. The epic team pretty much thought of everything when it comes to game development, and any idea you have you can typically prototype within a day. It is also extremely easy to create gorgeous environments since they made so many complex shaders and post processing effects easily available to the developer. I can guarantee you that anything Shenmue I & II did, UE4 can do, and more. If Shenmue I was made in UE4, there wouldn't be any need for a loading screen when transitioning from an outdoor environment to an indoor one due to the level streaming feature.

UE4 was designed as a general purpose game engine from day 1, and to say that it is only suited for specific popular games that used it is unfair. Yes, the unreal engine got it's start in FPS games, but Epic Games had enough experience in licensing the different versions of their engines, that they have a very good idea on what tools game developers need to create whatever they want. This shows in the variety of games that use unreal's engines. FPS, MMOs, racers, platformers, VR... every type of game you can imagine probably exists as an unreal engine game. I don't think there will be any problem with Yu Suzuki and his team creating what they want in UE4.

You can go here if you want to see a list of games that currently use UE4.

^Character is mute, but it is implied you say things from time to time.

I dunno how the game is at the higher levels, but the game is ok for a casual player since there doesn't really appear to be a rush to get the best items. You definitely can experience the world on your own, though. The game has tough boss battles but they are never anything you can't do on your own. Even mini bosses in the FATES (random world events) you can tackle on your own, but it'll take a while.

Aren't people singing its story's praises all the time because it's a good story for an MMO, when, in fact, we can get much better by sticking to single-player RPGs? Or is the story really that good, amongst the best in the entire FF series?

Its good for a MMO. By that I mean it presents you with stories that you can kinda care about. In most MMOs I just take quests and ignore what NPCs have to say, but in this game I often find myself reading the text because every area has its own thing going on. The main story gives you a reason for you to be in the locations you are in, while most MMOs just allow you to travel to other locations and then feed you a half-assed story when you get there. The story is nowhere near as good as a single player game, though.

Also, despite being an MMO, just how Final Fantasy is it? And does it have wonderful music, as expected from FF?

The music is classic final fantasy music. As soon as you star the game you are greeted with that classic final fantasy menu music, and you will continue to hear familiar sounds throughout the game. You will hear more ambient sounds than music outside of cities, though.

Do we have to pay real-life money to have cool stuff, like cool mounts and armors and outifts and such? Or can they be obtained by fair means, in-game? And, if so, does that require hundreds of hours of grinding?

There is a cash shop, but it is only for cosmetic stuff. Havent really looked much into it, though, since I am still on the trial. You do have to pay a monthly fee for the game, though.

How's the community, overall, towards a guy like me, starting the game only in late 2017 and with very little MMO experience? Are they all elitist cunts, or a generally friendly bunch?

I literally only talked to two people in game. First one being a dude who was following me around because he thought I was a bot, and another one who kept sending me tells but I couldn't respond since that is disabled on the trial. They do have a mentor/mentee system where an experienced player can guide you through a dungeon, and from what I read, the mentors generally try to be helpful.


The storytelling is way better than KOTOR
Way better than KOTOR? Or way better than SWTOR?

Jesus if the story is better than KOTOR/KOTOR 2 than FF 14 has a more compelling story than Tactics. :shock:

Oops, meant SWTOR. I say it is better because in SWTOR you were thrusted to super special ultra demi-god status pretty quickly. In FFXIV you still feel like a trainee for a while. Then when your teachers start saying you are good around level 30, you become a bitch again when you have to learn your new job.

Moving onto super special chosen one demi-god status quickly is cool and all in a single player game, but it just doesn't feel right in a MMO where everyone else is doing the same thing.

Recently got Sonic Mania. Love the game, takes everything I liked from the old Sonic Games and adds a few new, welcome things. I absolutely love how open the levels are, and how fast paced the game is. Even though the levels seem bigger, they are never actually overwhelming because everything is so streamlined.

Currently in the Hydrocity Zone and this shit is what made me ragequit Sonic 3. Absolutely hate Sonic water levels. Can't go fast and death by drowning is always just around the corner.

I just got an invite into the sea of thieves alpha. Finally all those weeks of receiving those insider emails paid off.

The game is very much unfinished, but I do like the concept. The game as it is right now is pretty much what you see in this trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbE8BnO6oug

And that trailer is exactly how it looks like in game, the UI is super clean.

The game is all about exploring a world with other people, which is literally all I ever wanted in a MMO game. Screw grinding, screw the constant individual rewards, just allow me to explore and I'm happy. I like it but I don't see myself playing this game for more than a week or so, though. There just isn't enough content in the alpha. You can experience pretty much all the game has to offer in one 2 hour session of gamepaly.

Still playing a lot of sea of thieves. Despite me saying that there is little content in the game, it is still fun due to the teamplay involved. The game is ridiculously simple, but the lack of any real structure makes it a true sandbox with a shitton of replay value. I mean, hell, just the other night I decided to randomly commandeer an enemy ship and start a fleet. There is no in game system for this, it just started from me saying "You know what... I really want to take their ship." Long story short, I managed to convince an enemy crew to join us through the proximity chat. I sailed up to my old ship with the newly commandeered while yelling "DON'T FUCKING SHOOT ITS ME!" I was greeted to the entire old crew laughing their asses off at the fact that my retarded idea worked. We ended up swapping crew and I took the helm of the new ship wile an old crewmate took the helm of another. It was glorious seeing our two ships sail next to each other in the open sea.

So we ended up with a fleet of two different captains (These roles aren't even coded into the game like it is in Star Trek: Bridge Crew, but they naturally pop up due to the way the game is structured. People are really good at quickly developing a command structure in this game. Even with randos people immediately take on roles such as captain, navigator, lookout, etc... also the players tend to naturally switch stations when needed), who coordinated to take down every other ship we found on the server and steal their loot. There was even a point where we used improvised morse code to communicate with each other at a distance (every ship has lanterns you can turn on and off, and you can see them from quite a long ways off). The two crews were also able to help each other to find buried treasure since the game allows you to show your treasure maps and riddles to anyone you please (they show you this feature in the video I posted @ 3:38, you can hold the map up for anyone to see). With all the treasure we managed to steal and find, I ended up getting $20k after that play session (average haul is about $4k per voyage). If you ever wanted to RP as a pirate, this is the game for you. If you are an idiot like me who always ends up being like Captain Jack Sparrow where people follow your lead just because it ends up in hilarious situations then this game is perfect for you.

The only shit thing about commandeering enemy ships is that treasure isn't shared properly so we just split the treasure chests among ships. There is discussion on the forums about this so maybe official support will be added. I'll be fine with a system that allows someone to divide a treasure chest into two chests.

I would love to upload some of my recordings but the game is under NDA and your username appears at random spots on the screen during gameplay. I am too lazy to edit out my username and I don't wanna lose my alpha access. :(

To be serious, I am trying to find a new job, but it seems like I am stuck on one career track.

I wish I forgot about the bitcoins I mined in the early days so I wouldn't have to work again.

And especially if they leave the gameplay exactly as is where you can grind kite 50 mobs at once. Sick pleasure.

Yes, I remember that was one of my main motivations to speccing into frost mage. Rounding up 50 mobs and then killing them with blizzard was like the ultimate power trip.

The constant focus on grinding wasn't really that fun to me, though. I would log on with the intention to gain a level or two and log off. I didn't care about the story and I just went to new areas simply to get quests and level. It wasn't fun, it just felt like a job. Interactions with other players were pretty neat, but by the time I joined the game, the leveling areas was basically empty so I was by myself, grinding mobs 80% of the time.

I don't know how anyone would want Net Neutrality dead Republican supporter or not. This is so anti-American which was the core of free expression and democratic principles.

If by anti-american you mean "limitation of freedom", enforcing "net neutrality" is actually the exact opposite. It is a government regulation that prevents ISPs from doing whatever they want. I put "net neutrality" in quotes because it is a loaded phrase that makes everyone who is against it sound like a loon. This is really about classifying the internet as a Title I (unregulated) or Title II (common carrier) service. Under Title II the internet is classified as a common carrier and the FCC gets to dictate what these ISPs can and cannot do with the infrastructure they laid down. If you take this to the extreme, this means that the FCC can decide that you will need to provide porn providers with photo IDs before they are able to send their data to you over the network. Yes, data cannot not be discriminated under common carrier laws, but the government can still decide what data gets to get on the network to begin with. This is the type of control that the republicans hate, and which is why many are against it. Airplanes are a common carrier, but the government does actively decide who can and cannot board them every day. But yea, I do agree with you that no one should be against "net neutrality", but for a different reason.

These common carrier laws were put into place to prevent monopolies and keep the market free. The internet grew so fast because data was subject to the common carrier laws, which allowed new ISPs to enter the market and provide customers with good service at a decent price (hell towards the end of the century you could literally get free internet). Then broadband cable internet came along in the early 2000s, which forced the FCC to take another look at internet classification. This time the FCC said "You know what, lets reclassify the internet as a Title I service and let the ISPs do whatever they want." This forced any newcomer to the ISP market to pay for their own infrastructure if they wanted to provide customers with broadband internet. The only ISPs that came out on top were the ones who benefited from the common carrier kickbacks they got from their other services (cable TV and telephone). These big guys also gobbled up all of the other little guys, snuffing out all the competition. To add salt to the wound they also lobbied for ridiculous local regulations that made sure new ISPs couldn't compete. This is how we ended up with this bullshit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSnkrw1ao_U

The whole issue of "net neutrality" was just icing on an already terrible cake. These guys were already on top of the world but decided to get more greedy and try to control the internet traffic. This mess was fixed in 2015 by reclassifying the internet as a Title II service.

The big ISPs are trying to strip this again because the house and senate have a republican majority and republicans get a hardon whenever they hear deregulation. However, this deregulation will ensure that ISPs will create a monopoly on the market (like they basically already have).

The Leia thing doesn't make sense because no human being can live in space without breathing, etc.

That tells me that:

- The Force makes you invincible in space
- The Force takes over when you cannot breathe
- The Force stops the beyond freezing temperature of space, from instantly turning you into an icicle (or whatever)

I think that's the problem most fans have with that scene; if anyone can cheat death, then why did Yoda die, Obi-Wan allow himself to get killed, etc.?

From my POV, it contradicts a whole bunch of the rest of the series...
But that's just me.

Carry on.

Yoda didn't die in space. The force is what exists in all living beings and I would assume if a living being dies from natural causes then they will not be able to harness the force to live longer.

But yea, I thought that scene was stupid too.

ANywho, I liked TLJ. Less than I liked VII, but it wasn't a bad movie.

As mentioned, I'm not a die-hard, but I don't ever recall Yoda being in Space; when was that?

I think I meant Luke when I said Yoda. I remember reading about him using the force to stay conscious in the vacuum of space.

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When it comes to politics in the US, polarization is the name of the game. People will label each other to the extreme sides of the aisle because the media has taught us to do so. Politics is a spectrum, but due to our voting system, we are forced to take sides. It is fucking stupid but the people in power know what they are doing.

I really hope that the US adopts a different voting system that more accurately reflects the will of the people. The first past the post system we use just encourages this bipartisan garbage. Literally any other voting system is better than what we use.

I wouldn't say that the graphics are cartoony, the graphics were always a bit cartoonish, it is just bad for the current year.

One of the reasons I got into Shenmue was because I was always a computer nerd and I liked how much the game pushed hardware to its limits. Shenmue III has the graphics of your typical korean MMO or phone game. It isn't impressive, and sure as shit isn't hardware pushing. A good example of a modern stylized (actually more of an idealized reality) asian game would be FFXV. I was actually genuinely amazed when I realized that his opening cutsence was being rendered in real time:

https://youtu.be/Cwc6TyCTjEM?t=1m43s

That is what I am expecting of Shenmue III. The current graphics that they shown to the public is very disappointing, to say the least.