I was thinking of getting it, what’s up with Stalker 2?
I don’t know about the GoTY thing, this year has not been that great with games.
I’d go with either Satisfactory or Slay the Princess, despite neither of them being real 2024 releases, they both got their most recent actually complete edition released this year, and they are better than anything else I’ve seen that was actually released this year.
Maybe MSFS 2024, but it’s niche and also, fuck MSFT.
Best game I bought myself this year is Hearts of Iron 4.
I was thinking of getting it, what’s up with Stalker 2?
It’s very buggy and an absolute mess from a technological perspective. The NPC simulation has been restricted to a tiny radius around the player, so you can for example see snipers spawn in when you get close to their towers. Even with that limited distance, the game is very CPU bound and performance takes a huge hit in populated areas. In general the NPC AI is pretty braindead and much worse than previous Stalker games. I’ve had to reload earlier saves a couple of times due to NPCs randomly getting hostile, the conversation UI staying permanently on screen and other progression stoppers. The graphics completely rely on TAA or DLSS and look like a checkerboarded mess without them. Despite all that though, I think it’s a pretty fun game and a remarkable achievement given the circumstances of its development.
I haven’t played Stalker 2 so I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but it’s very politically charged and has Russian state sponsored disinformation campaigns running against it. I’m not sure that you can get a truly accurate read of it online.
The developers are Ukrainian, and development had to be paused because their office literally turned into a warzone. The fact that the game came out at all is extremely based, and that certainly adds to the mythology around the game. But again, I haven’t played it, and gameplay-wise that doesn’t actually indicate anything about the game.
I want the game to succeed because of the developers’ existential struggle. The people causing that existential struggle want the game to fail. Neither of us have actually played the game, so again, there’s all this bias around it and we haven’t even looked at gameplay yet.
Well of course the victim is going to play the victim. That’s just good marketing - and what is marketing if not propaganda?
Your comment reads as though the invading state’s actions aren’t propaganda. This is the whole reason why I came here to warn people to be skeptical of what they read online.
Again, you should be skeptical of what you read online. In a vacuum, I’m inclined to believe the victim of invasion. In reality, I know that the situation is more nuanced - although the credibility of the aggressor is extremely suspect.
For what it’s worth, my impression on the game is that it’s yet another over-hyped game that couldn’t possibly live up to its expectations. The developers are financially incentivized to deflect that criticism through any means available to them. But that doesn’t mean I don’t acknowledge that malicious actors are also trying to discredit the game.
I’ll buy the game in a year when most game breaking bugs have been corrected. I’m a fan of GSC and own the three prior games. My favorite is Call of Pripyat, it was so revolutionary that I was able to identify pripyat in film. I love these games. That said, that whole “Russian campaign” to discredit S2 is complete and utter BS. As soon as you start digging there’s literally no credible source for that info. It was a clever marketing ploy, good on them. It still doesn’t make the bugs not exist and the fact they sold their souls to MS and had to release a broken game because Ms likely refused to concede any further extensions is the real news there, but, of course, the marketing machine had to redirect from the fact MS is to blame for the state the game released in. The head of GSC tweeted the could not further delay the game. Anyone can read between the lines. Fuck MS.
I’m not into or even a fan of the PC vs console war, but watching a franchise I hold at such high regard release with missing complex features like A-Life, and simplified AI in general, going for an 80meter spawn radius with messy cool down timers which spawn enemy AI on a loop.
Other things like the over use of lip service through iconic mutants turning up way too often also using the same spawn loop system which repopulates every few minutes.
Loot balance, in the original medkits were very necessary but were in short supply meaning when going out the player would do everything to avoid damage making for an even tenser atmosphere, stalker 2 however the player will find medkits, bandages, a sausage and a bottle of vodka every 10 metres. Things like body armours and weapons are thrown at the player through out the main story negating any sense of achievement.
Difficulty, in the original trilogy the game loop was cautious but in combat act fast, moving from cover to cover as the enemy was unpredictable, they would retreat and push as well as flank, now in stalker 2 enemies always know the players location but no fear as the player is a walking pharmacy and combat has turned into shoot get hit use meds and repeat, essentially its very hard to die in stalker 2 while also having laser accuracy for AI but its no issue as the abundance of meds negate that issue.
Then there’s the bugs, its alpha build. Bugs that block main quests, bugs which put random items in inventory, and bugs that make anomalies invisible.
Its also missing little touches that I have come to expect, no AI companions for quests, no mutant parts making hunting and even fighting mutants a thankless task, the flash light sucks, no NVGs, no roaming NPCs, blind dogs don’t retreat when one is injured, bloodsuckers are missing their glowing eyes, unkillable enemy AI with snipers to stop the player from progressing, factions feel like a gimmick whereas they were the bread and butter in the original trilogy, no tiredness out side of the debuff effect from certain enemy’s, limited NPC dialogue, lack of consumable variation, no buff debuff icon/timers apart from bleeding. and so on.
Most of the people who enjoy the game seem talk about it as a predecessor to fallouts franchise or measure it against other major AAA games open world games, which tbh its in that realm now, I wouldn’t call it a stalker game but maybe in a year after modding tools are releases it will be a successor to one of my favourite franchises. Currently though its locked down by console hardware and made by a studio thats lost teach.
Anyway I have played 120 hours and I think for any one new to the franchise they should wait another 6 months so they can get a better idea of the zone. For old timers give it a go to scratch the itch but don’t expect to be blown away.
I just finished The Pristine Cut of Slay the Princess, and I fully agree that it should be the GOTY.
It’s amazing how different it feels when you play a really excellent game. With most games I regularly pause and tab out, to browse the web. With Slay the Princess I did not. It completely absorbed me, even though it was my second play-through.
I ruined the game for myself, played the raytraced version which made everything so bright and lost its grittiness, throughout the play through I thought it was normal 😢
I recently replaced my 1070 with a 7800 XT, and wanted to play the EE, which led to me replaying 2033 and LL first. The little bit I played with the EE version seemed pretty normal to me tbh.
Having been waiting what feels like forever for stalker 2; I would be happy if it gets it. I know there still work to do but fuck if I am not having a blast playing it. Dwarf fortress would be a nice one too even if its been around for nearly 2 decades.
I think its likely that goty will go to Helldivers 2 or Black Myth: Wukong, both of which I think are aggressively “OK”. Goty awards are largely a popularity contest, after all.
Considering I’ve been playing HD2 all year and I’m still loving it, my vote is for HD2. They did a fantastic job on the recent balance overhaul (dubbed “the great Buffening”).
pretty unique concept (putting the best from dozens of games together as your base and continuing to expand from there)
very fun (I don’t seem to be alone with that opinion given how quickly it grew)
awarding a DLC (elden ring erdtree) of a game that has already been GotY is lame (and just awarding a DLC in general)
over 2.1 million simultaneous players
high flexibility, even for a sandbox game (ever wanted to attach a rocket launcher to your dinosaurs? to build a full fortress that basically can’t be taken? or do you prefer a cozy cabin? want to explore to get better? prefer to minmax your base instead? become a master of breeding? just grind money? etc)
I’d also advocate for going in blindly and only looking up guides when you need them (for example when you seriously get into breeding) but do whatever you want.
(If you don’t play it blindly the first time, you’ll never get to play it blindly.)
(If you don’t have much time and are only playing locally or on your own server you also can boost xp gain, that helped me a bit for the later levels since I just didn’t have time for grinding.)
My partner and I have been playing some of the board games from the recent humble bundle and having a lot of fun! Cats and Quilts of Calico is a nice little strategy game where you place colored tiles and get points for their adjacency, plus it has a cat creator. Terraforming Mars is like the board game but waaaaaay easier because you don’t have to track your little cubes and all your actions manually.
Hoping to try out the new Pavlov update tonight, even if it is a little disappointing (ported maps and paid skins 🥲)
Circling back and confirming it’s a lot of fun! The digital version is a little buggy but we played it a few hours last night and will probably play a few more rounds tonight
I was almost done with it last week, but I finished Baldur’s Gate - Siege of Dragonspear DLC. It’s terrible. The story is trash, especially the second half, and all characters, your party included, lose the ability to put two and two together. I haven’t played BG2 and don’t know if I ever will, but I can’t imagine this DLC is adding anything to the overall story.
Then I played through Final Fantasy VII Remake again. I definitely thought the game was shorter, mainly because I forgot about all the terrible moments. I still like the game, but there are a bunch of bosses and sequences that are cancer, and the game would be better if they were removed completely or at least much shorter. Hopefully it doesn’t take too much longer for Rebirth to make it to the PC.
Finally, I re-subbed to World of Warcraft for a month. For the 20th Anniversary, there’s a huge 3-month event going on. It’s running until early January, and you can get a bunch of old or removed stuff again. I’ll just do some quests once or twice a week, so I can buy the stuff that I want.
Someone previously shared this site (darkpatterns.games) that reviews and filters games based on whether they have predatory ads or gameplay mechanics. Useful resource.
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