I feel like some journalist got high as fuck with a dev, wrote out a fucking fever dream of… drivel and then the editors were like fuck it, Tim Sweeney pays us to post some hit pieces against Valve and this is all we got this month so we’ll just run with this.

I bet they’re foreshadowing a large ban wave. Big scoop probably happening in the background. That’s how “it’s live” will be announced.

I’ve been running a pair of Sennhesiser PC 350’s for something like 10 years now? Not sure. I used to game a lot more than I do now and eventually the ear cushions started falling apart. I was dreading replacing them though, and ended up getting some replacement cushions from Amazon or something. Was super easy to replace and they’ve been like new for the last year now. I’m a hardwire all of the things type person, and generally a cheapass so yeah, overall happy with this purchase!

It is their prerogative. They (and Arrowhead) fucked up with Helldivers by removing and then retroactively requiring it. By the time I got the game though it was already required for new players again.

If it means we can cross play to their console I’m fine with it (a feature I wanted). For a single player game it’s annoying but as long as it costs nothing I don’t care anymore.

I do feel strongly that we need some consumer protections though - and this extends beyond games alone. Any server shutdown (authentication or gameplay affecting) should have a mandatory removal of the requirement or opening of the server to self host. But I digress…

The free version of the game still exists! The paid version literally only gets you the new tileset and music but is otherwise the exact same game and still updated! And if the ASCII tileset is a big turn off, people had made free tilesets years ago you could use instead (it was the only way I could play the game myself back in pre-steam days).

https://bay12games.com/dwarves/

I picked up DF to support the devs because as I mentioned in another post here, I played the free game off and on for years. Now it’s practically the only game I play because the steam version just added so many quality of life things.

I’d love to spread some democracy as well, but I’ve gotta invest in some PC upgrades to make that game run. :(

I’ve played DF off and on for years. The UI overhaul it had recently makes the game much easier to play, and get into and really enjoy. The learning curve is way softer. Previously, I’d load the game up once or twice a year, build a fort, get to the point where I’d be wiped out and be like, okay, that was fun and then not play it again for months, or years. With the updated UI… I’ve put in 700 hours since it came out.

It’s still a game where you basically have the wiki on alt-tab, and you still have to google some crap to learn how to do intricate stuff. That said, I also find youtube is much easier to follow along with the new graphics set, so that helps too. TwistedLogic gaming, Blind, and few others have great tutorials on youtube. If you want to watch some fun stories, Kruggsmash and Hoodie Hair put up some fantastic videos as well - and they’ve honestly kind of inspired how I approach playing DF sometimes.

It’s kind of nice to play, and it scratches the same itch for me that Cities: Skylines used to, wherein I can go “one more thing, need to do one more thing, one more thing, ooh a forgotten beast gotta deal with that, then one more thing” BUT if I have to, I can just hit pause and walk away for a bit, or, if my fort is in a good state with no monsters or armies running around, I can walk away with it running while the dorfs just do their thing for a bit.

About 8 months ago I finally started using DFHack, which despite the name is really just a collection of really awesome tools, while it has the potential to make the game very easy (and that’s fine too!) it does include many quality of life things if some process is just too tedious. I’d say it’s upped my enjoyment another notch because it’s just so well implemented. When I feel like easy mode, I turn on things like fastdwarf, and when I’m ready to just challenge myself I can turn it off.

DF is very much a game of play at your own pace. Even without DFHack, if you’re getting overrun by werewolves and goblin armies, just turn the settings for that stuff down or off. But the main thing to remember with this game: Losing is FUN!

Gotta remember, publishers are basically car salesmen. They didn’t build the car, they skim over the spec sheets and learn which trims give them the best cut of the profit. They’ll say whatever bullshit they want to make a sale - and in a financial report, their target isn’t gamers, it’s investors.