What games are you playing right now? Anything you'd recommend?

[Jumpin]

Sea of Stars multiplayer.

I sincerely do not recommend this at all. The multiplayer actually feels broken (and I mean broken in the real sense of the word, in that it doesn’t function properly).

You can assign characters to control on the map, but not combat. Instead the game randomly assigns players to control different characters and randomly switches them up through the battle. It’s jarring and makes no fucking sense. It’s particularly annoying because you basically have to tell the other player what you want them to do when the game assigns your character to them in battle. It’s less fun than just single player and letting the others watch.

How could they fuck up something to basic? Secret of Mana got this correct 30+ years ago. Dragon Quest 9 improved on it 15 years ago. When playing multiplayer RPGs, additional players should only control who they’re assigned to control.

Equally annoying is how the game occasionally assigns dialogue control to player 2 (and exclusively so). I’m sure this works fine when your player 2 isn’t your kid who either forgets they’re controlling the dialogue, so even after you read it aloud, you have to remind them to continue… until they get frustrated and skip through the rest of the dialogue so you don’t get to read any of it. This is dumb as fuck - it’s obvious player 1 should always be able to control the dialogue.

More or less, the multiplayer in this game blows. It makes what should be a simple and fun existence into something jarring, annoying, and feeling out of my control.

I’m generally a peaceful guy, but their UX designer needs a swift backhand to the face. 🧤🧤

Last edited by Jumpin - on 05 January 2025