Cookie
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Posts posted by Cookie
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People moving to a different country because of welfare incentives is not a broken system? I am not talking about countries with a need for new workers we know from the present, but a country already in need to keep its lower class citizens from rioting by introducing UBI - just to attract more people to this place that will never find work and to create tensions? This is the definition of a broken system to me (just a different kind of broken, but at least not sustainable) - less jobs and more welfare is not going to end well (and this is not a question of fairness, but of common sense). Urbanisation and other regional movements are a different topic and not comparable.
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The are some things universal income would lead to:
- immigration into the social systems (why stay in Estonia for example if there is some money to get in Finland and no, I wouldn´t blame the people coming to a new country, a broken system is bound to be abused)
- increasing percentage of people who will be satisfied with the amount of money they get from the state - problem: its either enought to live from it (then they won´t work their whole life) or you still need a job (it´s almost pointless in this case)
- many very low paying jobs will be created (see 450€ model in Germany, but on 40 hours a week - why would companies pay more if the people got a financial foundation already and they know it?)
- inflation on a low, but asynchronous scale (especially on food/common goods - everyone wants a share of the cake)
Things to fix this:
- basic income on a VERY low scale (low amount of money, only for people in need), so that nobody will starve/freeze to death
- High amount of tax free earnings (think first 20.000 € earned per person per year completely tax free - to increase the motivation to work)
Other ideas to prepare for the future (not directly related):
- High investments for R&D (at least 5% of state budget per year), legislation to support companies that innovate
- huge amounts of cheap energy will be the key for the "country of the future", a european nation should aim to produce two or three times the amount of energy it needs today till the end of the century (4th generation nuclear power plants/dual fluid reactors/fusion power?) - reasons: supply automated factories, cheaper energy always positive, export?, energy is the limiting factor of almost all things imaginable (more food, more drinkable water, filtering CO2 - the possibilities are endless). This is a huge challenge considering climate change, but in the end, higher energy consumption is needed (from better sources).
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It is true that it broke with many things of the first five games, but in its heart, it intended to keep their strengths (failed to do so with the release) and things like atmosphere/soundtrack were greatly improved. If you think about it, there are not many big games that go for such a dark atmosphere in a sequel (parts of Thief: Deadly Shadows and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided excluded) and it has its merits.
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I played all Tomb Raider Games from 1 to Anniversary (which I didn't finish, twice) and for me it is Tomb Raider 3 closely followed by Angel of Darkness (which would be clear #1 if it didn't get rushed). Reasons for that: Variety of locations to visit, challenge to play it, nice soundtrack, and many other things. Overall, the first 4 games are very close in terms of quality/fun and it is up to personal preference, which one you might prefer. 5 brought the great level editor, but was released unfinished like 6 and the Crystal Dynamics games are just QTEs to the max and I just can't get myself to finish all of them. For me, this series main strengths used to be its level design and the different kinds of puzzles you had to finish. The levels were built for gameplay and not for visuals and logic. None of the modern games seem to mirror these aspects, sadly.
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This is actually really hard, considering many series had multiple great games.
1. Half-Life 2: Anyone who had the pleasure of experiencing this game in the release year will agree here. Stunning immersion, the beginning of modern (cinematic) gaming, a "dream game", the "Citizen Kane" of video gaming
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2. - 10. in no particular order (no series mentioned twice):
- GTA San Andreas (best GTA game regarding gameplay and replay value)
- Enderal (Elder Scrolls with a good story)
- The Dark Mod (Thief with superior content and presentation)
- Guild Wars 1 (Online gaming done right, PVE really enjoyable and PVP on another level)
- Path of Exile (Insert many hours of endless looting and theorycrafting builds here)
- Deus Ex 1 (Great game that did more things right than anyone could ever imagine when it was released)
- Age of Empires 2 (the pinnacle of RTS)
- Shadow Warrior 2013 (really my kind of game for some strange reason, it is just so much fun and the story surpassed my expectations)
- F.E.A.R. 1 (slow motion greatness for those epic moments you would otherwise miss in gaming, sound design, particles and AI still amaze today)
Honorable mentions:
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Underhell, Zelda: Ocarina of Time (yes, no PC game, otherwise clear #2), Bioshock Infinite, Thief 2, Settlers 3, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Nehrim (will still mention this game for obvious reasons), Mirrors Edge Catalyst, Metro Last Light, Assassins Creed Black Flag, Jedi Knight Jedi Outcast, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare and many more I just can´t remember at this moment...
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Personally, I think many TDM missions have already achieved experiences I have never gotten from any other games because of their unique design. And the mixture of "classic", "plot twist" and "supernatural" missions is actually fine.
There are many ways to design a "small" mission that make them feel great. Some examples:
- Ulysses: Genesis: From starting outnumbered, undergeared and fighting for every inch of progress to hunting down your foes - one of the best experiences in my gaming history
- Inn Business: Visiting the same place for more than one time with little twists - just great (and this idea could be extended even more)
- A night to remember: Again, a "normal" heist turning into a chase, but very different
Some ideas for the future, if anyone is interested:
- A very linear FM, where you break into a vault/heavily guarded building and every room is made of marble floor, filled with lights and guards and the player has only one option: Using small pieces of environment to progress (boxes, chandeliers and so on) and getting spotted is not an option
- A skyscraper with many floors, meaning it is not a very big mission horizontally, but still a long experience and easier for the mapper to create (copy paste of floors/rooms, but still easy to create good visuals by using a good skybox and catering to id tech 4´s strengths)
- Another mission on a boat, Dragofer did a good job with that once, but now on a bigger ship
- Expanding the idea of Inn Business by making the next day even more difficult if the player chooses to kill many guards by adding extra locks, security measures and so on (with a bigger ingame timespan to make that plausible)
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- Popular Post
- Popular Post
I am following this "mod" for over 10 years now, it got me to buy Doom 3 and all I can say is it surpassed all my expectations. A community from all over the planet, being passionate and skilled enough to create such a gem cannot be praised highly enough. From the "old" guard like Springheel to talents rising and disappearing again like Airship Ballet to newer contributors like Kingsal, many gifted people helped this project grow to this day.
And to keep it short:
Thank you. Thank you for your time and effort, you are capable of great things.
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Wow, this is a really good FM, your work is steadily improving on an already high level.
Pros:
- visuals
- level design
- readables
- intro
- voice acting
- resembling "life of the party"
Cons:- None
Questions:
- How long did it take you to implement the quest related stuff? Really impressive
- One of the flats on the first floor located near the players home only has a statue and some candles in it - did I miss some related stuff?-
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Great mission, kept the sewer idea and the windows with the water shaders from the original Accountant 1, but added a lot more depth and detail.
Pros:
- Intro (as always in your FMs)
- Audio design (best in a TDM mission so far, loved the dialogues)
- Good visual narrative (safe key -> attic mentioned -> looking around -> arrow to bring down the ladder -> safe -> success)
- Secrets
- The statue that moved after you steal a painting
Cons:
- None-
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If you really built that mission in such a small amount of time, there might still be hope for the TDM campaign
.Pros:
- Very Challenging
- Nice ambient music
- TDM FM
Cons:
- ?
There is a floating crate in one of the two storage rooms upstairs, but aside from that I found no signs of speedbuilding^^.
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This is a really unique FM and one of the most challenging ones I played regarding the AI - I really didn´t expect that after the slow start. It is a shame that there were no readables to explain the events in detail, but I guess you put that work into the open and unpredictable design of the map, which is also fine.
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Nice find!
I guess this is the moment where i will give some appreciation for the great skyboxes used in some TDM FMs - whoever made those deserves some praise. People tend to forget how much such "small" things can improve the visuals of a game (the thing i remember the most of COD: MW2 aside the cheaters and the disconnects - the great skybox in the map where you visit Brazil. And TDM is a close second place for me in that aspect).
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EDIT: I think it is this section in the ini (no "11" but that's it)
[bioDrv.BioRenderDevice]HighDetailActors=TrueSuperHighDetailActors=TrueUsePrecaching=TrueUseTrilinear=TrueAdapterNumber=-1ReduceMouseLag=TrueDoubleBufferMouseLag=TrueDesiredRefreshRate=60UseVSync=TrueLevelOfAnisotropy=16TesselationFactor=1.000000CheckForOverflow=FalseBatchRenderFlash=TrueUseShaderConstantChecking=FalseOverrideDesktopRefreshRate=FalseAvoidHitches=FalseUseHighDetailShadowMaps=TrueUseLinearSpace=TrueUse8bitBackBuffer=FalseUse8bitOpacity=FalseDid you already test if some of those are actually working? I was really looking forward to play this game again, but some things (glitched shadows, many crashes, deleted savegames) sound bad to me... Hopefully those issues will be patched soon, one of the best video games ever deserves better than this.
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Considering Cry of Fear is running on GoldSource, the graphics are really impressive. This game has an unique atmosphere, is quite stressful to play and overall a hit and miss experience (Some levels are outstanding, others are so terribly bad that you will be tempted to uninstall). Overall, it is one of the few "horror" games I enjoyed (NH2 is good, too), but there are some things that prevent it from reaching the level of other great fanprojects (horrible boss fights, especially the last one, so many crashes, backtracking), but if you like this genre, you should give it a try. I think a TDM mission catching the atmosphere of this game could work really well.
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As already mentioned, if you haven´t played Call of Juarez (especially the first 2 games) and you don´t hate western settings, play it.
If you want to try Just Cause, I can recommend the second one, its not as buggy as the third one and quite cheap.
I also know that you hate games with old graphics and so on, but i can really recommend Deus Ex 1 to you - I never got to play it when I was a child and even though I could never understand the hype some players gave to some older games (HL 1 and GTA 3 for example, which I both played too, btw), I gave Deus Ex a try and even though the graphics are abysmal by todays standards, the outstanding soundtrack, setting and gameplay really put that game in my personal top 10 when I first played it in 2015. You just have to give it a chance.
On the other side, some mod recommendations (again):
- Underhell is an awesome HL2 mod, graphics are mediocre, but the gameplay, soundtrack and atmosphere are AAA level (feels a bit like FEAR and Left4Dead gameplaywise - but you have to wait until chapter 1 really started, the prologue/beginning feels a little messy)
-> http://www.moddb.com/mods/underhell
-> gameplay:
- Enderal will get its English release within the next weeks, I played it already and it is a great game -> http://www.moddb.com/mods/enderal (link for later)
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I think the reason for this is that AAA-games have to appeal to a maximum of buyers, therefore have to cater to mass tastes, resulting in some averaged-out product.
Smaller, especially not-for-profit projects, can satisfy more specialized tastes and therefore are much more pleasing to those smaller groups.
McDonalds and CocaCola serve the most people, yet there sure are niche markets with much better (at least subjectively) food.
I agree with that.
I played about two hours so far and it is living up to the expectations. It is running well on maximum settings aside AA on my over five year old PC - very detailed world, great readables, only crashed once so far, only some minor bugs detected.
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Great news!
Nehrim is one of the best games I ever played and I hope this successor can reach the same level. Its fascinating that fan projects like this and TDM have a higher level of anticipation for me than 99% of the AAA games, I hope everyone here gives it a try.
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Style - Airship Ballet (interiors)/Goldwell (opening sequences - this could also be mentioned as "story")
Story - Moonbo (an author that can visualize his thoughts with a 3d engine - brilliant)
Gameplay - Sotha/Bikerdude (Ulysses 1,The Transaction, The Gatehouse and many more FMs... impossible to pick a favorite - both of you could make a living out of this)
There are so many talented people around here and with all the new ones joining, I really can´t wait for the next missions.
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Wow, so many amazing FMs in the last weeks.
Not too many things need to be said - outstanding mission. Many little details on top of the great visuals and atmosphere, many different paths the player can take, some really surprising moments (moving light in the tower, maid entering the bathroom, engineer doing the water temple move and checking the switch
). I could mention even more things I really liked in this mission, but you better spend your time playing than reading about it.PS: There was only one bug I experienced - on top of the tower, after opening the gate to reach the fire arrows, my character could not use any type of weapon anymore and I had to reload an older safegame - no idea how I managed to do that, though. I also wasn´t able to recreate this scenario. Maybe I was jumping around too much...
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Great mission, 5/5.
Especially the exteriors were very well made, didn´t know these kind of things could be achieved with the engine.
PS: I shot that rat with a fire arrow, is this supposed to change anything plotwise? -
I'm glad you enjoyed the mission up to a point. The latter points you made I don't agree with though.
Of course everyone is going to enjoy different elements due to play style tastes and difference's but this mission was planned and detailed thoroughly throughout the whole of it. It wasn't rushed in anyway shape or form.
The lord Edgar's bathhouse comment I don't quite understand as well because I took onboard all of the critiques from that and worked on the problems (not enough readables, not enough explained, the world needs to be larger, etc).
If you're unhappy with the plot I would recommend avoiding the rest of the accountant series as I doubt you will like the direction its headed in, especially if you strongly disliked the AC2 ending as you stated.
I have other missions coming out with more normal storylines so if you enjoy my mapping style and all that I'd recommend sticking to those.
Regarding the comment on the bathhouse FM: the biggest "flaw" of that one was not the quality of the mission itself - it was quite a good one, overall. It just felt that the ending of the mission wasn´t as satisfying for me as the beginning of it - which is the same situation for me with this FM now. Of course you cannot relate this comment to the overall design of AC2, which, as you said, improved on almost every aspect compared to the Bathhouse.
And to add something to the conversation - I also really liked the humor you put in this one, a drug-addicted priest named Gelo? Poor Moonbo
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Finished this FM today...
The intro: 5/5, amazing job as always, 100% Goldwell quality
The voice acting: 5/5, brilliant, surpassing many AAA titles
The FM (till sewers): 5/5, amazing level design, great readables, great characters, so many things to explore, top 5 TDM FM material
The FM (from sewers onwards): 1/5, to keep it short... WTF... low quality level design/mapping (feels like a Thief 1 FM graphic wise), weird plot twist, feels rushed ...
Overall: Still a great FM, but the last 15 minutes ... i don´t know about that, maybe Part 3 will make this turnaround acceptable plotwise, but the overall drop in quality after entering the sewers is huge... Well, i will still give it a 4/5, there are just too many things in this FM that are very well done, but like in your Lord Edgars Bathhouse FM, there are so many missed opportunities in the end. I still hope you keep it up and maybe i am all alone with my opinion of the ending and other people think more positive of it.EDIT: The style of music chosen and the "alien" secret are fine in my opinion, an author should always have the freedom to give his work its own touch, so I can´t agree with the critics on those parts.
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Nice idea for a mission, really great addition to the contest.
Not much to say here, I really liked the atmosphere and the overall mission concept. The ghost got a bit annoying from time to time, but other than that it was really well done.
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I have almost finished this one, but will already post my experiences with it:
The good:
Gorgeous graphics, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge city, vertical gameplay (Melan lead designer?
), so many places to explore, detailed readables, detailed interiors (and exteriors), the effort that was put into this one is easy to recognize and many more things I guessThe bad:
It is easy to get lost, the mission almost feels too long (if that is even possible), the same desk with the switch to open the hidden place behind the books is used like 5 times (really?), It feels like this whole project is way too ambitious and bound to never be finished
The ugly:
Some really nasty bugs, minor ones like the chair on the highest floor of the inn falling through the ground and big ones like the one mentioned by gnartsch located in the guards room of the big mansion, where a letter on one of the beds will deactivate all of your weapons and inventory as well as the ability to open the door again after trying to read it
The conclusion:
I hope this wont be misunderstood, this is a great mission with great design, 5/5 in all categories for me, but if you really want to design all missions of this campaign like the prologue, the whole thing might be released in 2050
Universal Basic Income
in Off-Topic
Posted · Edited by Cookie
You won´t pay every cent above that mark in taxes, as you also introduce an increasing tax rate based on income. Simple example: Person A: 20.000€ income Person B: 30.000€ income, Person C 50.000€ income
Person A is keeping 20.000€ without any taxes,
Person B is keeping 20.000€ without any taxes and is taxed lets say 25% on 10.000€ -> he overall keeps 27.500€
Person C is keeping 20.000€ without any taxes and is taxed 40% on 30.000€ -> he overall keeps 38.000€
This is a incentive for low played employees to get a bigger share and to prevent them from not taking a job. And no, this would not lead to a bankruptcy, current Germany could easily afford this for example, even without raising taxes. Other means of financing: Higher maximum tax for rich people (up to 55%, something between tough and reasonable), higher sales tax (like 25%, you spend more for spending more, huge source of income for the state). This is just an example, there are more ideas that are possible.
Edit: I agree with the second part, the lowest hanging fruit is often the highest motivation for many people.