I could see the writing on the wall last week, but after about 20 hours I've dropped Dragon's Dogma 2. Exploration felt just like a chore to me, and combat was super boring. This is definitely one of those games, where I absolutely don't see what reviewers saw in it to give out such high scores and maybe even call it GotY. From what I've read, the online discourse has shifted a little as well, and not just because of the bad performance or microtransactions.
I tried switching over to Horizon Forbidden West, and was going through the first small zone, when the game started crashing constantly with no error or hint on what the problem could be. It was weird, because it ran smoothly for almost 10 hours, and then it became basically unplayable. Crashes every 1–5 minutes. I tried a lot of things, but nothing helped, and was close to giving up. Then one or two days ago I had a breakthrough and I think I found the cause, something with the textures or my GPU memory. First, I reduced the memory OC of my GPU, which I haven't changed in almost 2 years, although it still crashed after an hour, which was definitely an improvement. Then I turned down the Texture Quality setting from Very High to High, I was finally able to play with no issues again. Today I'll check with my normal overclock again, if it's just the in-game setting or both.
As for the game itself, I like it, it's basically Assassin's Creed Valhalla or something, just that controlling Aloy doesn't feel like you're moving through molasses. I don't play these open world RPGs where you're basically checking off markers on the map too often, but I do enjoy them from time to time. Because of all the problems I had with the game, I just made it out of the prologue / introduction or whatever (before you get to the titular Forbidden West), so I can't say too much about it yet, however I gotta say it does look fantastic, probably the best looking game (on a technical level) that I've played.
I also played the new stuff, that was released in the first big patch of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. The new zone is really neat and I had a good time.
Then I tried Halls of Torment, another Vampire Survivors-type game. I love the look and vibe while playing, but it feels like you have to grind the early levels somewhat for upgrades and stuff until you're ready for the later stages, which I'm not really a fan of. For now, I've shelved it, but will definitely check it out again later.
I gave Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors another chance as well, this time on my desktop PC, since I didn't have a great time on my Steam Deck before. The game just loves throwing ranged enemies at you, so your screen is constantly filled with projectiles, which is just not fun, and the bigger screen only helps a tiny bit. It also seems super grindy, since there is sooooo much stuff to unlock and upgrade, although basically everything are just tiny passive improvements. Not really sure how I feel about it yet, but it's another game, which I'll check out again at a later time.
Playing on my Oldschool Runescape ironman. I’m currently grinding out cooking so I can cook my own sharks. Other than that it’s a bunch of stupid farm runs. >:(
Path of Exile! I began with a minion sacrifice build, and while it’s good and I’ve killed all the major basic bosses sustain is hurting so I swapped into a BAMA build, and let me tell you haters of the Maw build, it clears faster than Bama because ignite is broken in Poe.
Also playing Necropolis league of Path of Exile. Started with an explosive arrow totem build but it wasn't great for levelling, so rerolled an exploding minions witch. Much much smoother so far, and should scale right through maps for currency farming. Will see how invested I stay, as I'm waiting patiently for S4 of D4 to hit consoles, some really nice updates, and basically its more approachable than PoE.
The whole thing is a storm in a teacup. I’m level 40 in the game and have not once felt the need to even LOOK at the MTX store. The game is complete; the MTX are there if you’re too lazy to be bothered using the in-game travel mechanics. Simple as that.
This is another layer of “horse armor MTX”, now with selling pay-to-win features in AAA single-player games. In this case, the first (early?) time it’s been done, it’s “mild”, but it’s a step in the wrong direction.
I don’t like “slippery slope” arguments, in general, but it doesn’t cost me anything to boycott this game for having P2W MTX in a full-priced single-player game. If enough people agree, that might send the message to the industry that nickel and diming their customers isn’t a good business model.
Edit: Also, not including the MTX in review copies is egregiously sleazy since they were hiding it. Customers couldn’t make an informed decision (and their review scores are inflated).
In this case, the first (early?) time it’s been done, it’s “mild”, but it’s a step in the wrong direction.
It’s certainly not the first time, capcom did this. I remember them in DMC 4 and 5 and they were in DD1 as well but so inconsequential that everyone has forgotten. I think capcom just requires their devs to add them but the devs only do malicious compliance. I dislike capcom for it as it preys on uninformed people but like the devs for not making them actually required or designing the game around them.
I was also confused at first by the controversy, because I’d been playing for like 20+ hours and I was like “What microtransactions?” Then I checked the main menu and sure enough there’s an “online store” option, which I guess I had just thought was for upgrading to the deluxe edition or buying expansions or whatever. I guess they’re selling rift crystals or ferry stones or something? IDK I still haven’t bothered opening it.
DD1 didn’t have any MTX right? I think I expected it to since “rift crystals” absolutely sound like some kind of premium currency bullshit, but I don’t remember any actual way to buy them. That’s about the only thing I think makes the outrage make sense, it sucks for corporations to start adding shit like that to a series that didn’t have it before and I’d be worried about DD3 in the future being even more upfront with them.
I’m less upset by what the MTX is or that it’s there in a seventy dollar single player game, than I am that they did not disclose it would even have MTX until the day it launched.
If it has been known before hand, I wouldn’t have really cared too much. RE4 has the same kind of MTX, it does not affect the game, but it was also known before launch that it would have it.
Tbf this kind of bullshit useless mtx has been in probably every capcom game for a while now so it was expected on my end. I hate that capcom forces the devs to include them but every game I’ve played that had them they were useless and the devs were only doing malicious compliance.
the consensus I’ve gotten is that the MTXs are largely meaningless because they’re so easy to get in-game
I would push back on this a bit. Some of these items are easy to acquire small quantities of, but are not available in infinite amounts, such as (as far as I know) the fast travel tokens. I am 20-ish hours in, and I think I have 8 fast travel tokens, which means that I really just don’t use them, and hoard them for emergencies.
Convenience is addictive, and people absolutely will have trouble not pouring tens or hundreds of dollars into MTX once they get a taste of the convenience it offers. Ask ESO users how many don’t have ESO Plus; it’s incredibly common to have, because it gives you free fast travel and a dedicated, infinite inventory for crafting materials. It’s weaponized convenience.
Other items in DD2 I’ve used CheatEngine to dupe, but I think most people (and obviously, no one on console) aren’t going to be able to figure out hex editors, and shouldn’t have to.
So there’s fast travel tokens but you can get to most places by Oxcart for very cheap. The ferrystones also get more common as you go and I’ve never had a lack of them. I just finished the game yesterday and have not felt the game design being influenced by micro transactions.
Slice and dice on android is pretty good. It’s turn based fighting hame with a group of 5 different members that you can level 3 times through the missions into a ton of different classes. It’s pretty tough but super fun and addictive and bound to piss you off sometimes due to heavy rng when you die on a boss
You can play the demo for free and the full game is a few dollars, well worth the hours I’ve put in at least.
Hate it hate it. This game is so good, and it’s like I’m playing my old favorite again. The fact that they marred my baby with MTX like this is just gross. DD1 should be more popular, and what they did to DD2 may keep it from being the powerhouse it could because people will see the “mixed” ratings and second guess. Or they’ll open the store page and see a wall of MTX and get the wrong idea.
But that’s just part of it of course. If this works for them, it’ll explode. And it will work for them. And everyone will get these fucking MTX in their full priced AAA games. And then once sales on MTX aren’t up to snuff – or if they are up to snuff, but in a few quarters when sales are merely consistent rather than continuing to grow – they’ll start pushing it. Just like they did with Shadow of Mordor where the gameplay gave you a nasty grind and a quick “buy your way past it” option.
I’ll never buy the “it doesn’t effect you in a single player game” argument. It will, because the market incentives a worse experience for those less willing to buy in.
Here’s someone corroborating you, but it’s impossible to Google at the moment for obvious reasons. I have 0 recollection of any MTX, though. FWIW, it wouldn’t be any less bad if they did it before too.
To be clear though, it didn’t ruin it. I said it “marred” the game. It is a mark that affects how the game is perceived and I hate that. The game itself is fun, and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.
Dark Arisen just gave you most of the MTX content for free. When you start the game and pull an Eternal Ferrystone out of your bank along with all the starter armor that sells for 500k gold - yeah, that was all MTX gear.
As with DD1, DD2 is fun and I don’t mean to say it isn’t. The MTX just provides a barrier to entry for folks turned off by it, and I wish it wasn’t there.
People won’t enjoy a game unless they learn the basic features.
It’s a fine line for devs between teaching the player what they need to know in order to even have a chance at enjoying the game, and jamming it down their throats.
The classic example is the game Portal. It’s a perfect tutorial. The player doesn’t even realize it’s the tutorial.
I am frustrated with Cities Skylines 2, lately. Text-based tutorial with optional progress checks which is okay, but they pop up as soon as you look at a newly unlocked feature, not necessarily when you are ready to build the feature.
I am against MTX because they have put parents in debt when their children have racked up huge MTX bills and it’s very difficult/impossible to get refunds. Yes, parents can protect themselves against this but many parents are not particularly tech savvy and games companies will see these as potentially huge revenue streams and abuse the hell out of them… like EPIC did.
Also, gaming addicts should also be considered and potential routes to indebtedness avoided.
Knowing a game has MTX just makes me less likely to buy it. Price the game correctly in the first place, and offer DLCs if you want some extra revenue.
It’s the same type of microtransactions that they had in Resident Evil 4 Remake, so it’s probably not so much a test as a limit they found where backlash is small enough that it still makes sense. But there are 2 big differences with Dragon’s Dogma 2.
They fucked up the PC port.
They increased the base game price.
Anyone that tries to justify microtransactions in a paid game is a moron. They were literally introduced in free to play games to finance the game development. In paid game, it’s just pure greed.
I mean also it just seems like a case of normalization. You start out with slow meaningless MTX then you move it more and more. Hell its a bit odd since I'm glad there was some outrage over the MTX in this game but as you said its most likely due to the increase to $70 usd which is a slap in the face to deal with MTX in a fucking single player game but Capcom is one of the shittiest companies when it comes to dumb/pointless MTX.
Monster Hunter, Devil may cry, Dead Rising, and Resident Evil all have this kind of shit with very little peeps about it. So you basically hit the nail on the head on this on why there was such a big outrage this time around. Also I'm really surprised fucking Street Fighter doesn't, the literal poster child of pointless/odd additions which in a funny way has actually only gotten better in the digital age. I'm not a big fighting game fan but season passes have sort of solved having so many fucking editions of a single game. Like holy shit there were 5 fucking versions of Street Fighter 2 in a span of 3 years. 3 versions of SF3 in 3 years.
Edit: marked by bold, I was tired when writing this comment and seems I just forgot to finish my full thought before posting.
I've had Kenshi on my wishlist for a long time, and I haven't pulled the trigger. What's your favorite part about it? Most of what I know is that it's punishing and has deep roleplaying opportunities, but I don't know a lot of the specifics.
I love that its brutal when you start out. Everything can kill you. From bandits, to creatures, hell even certain regions are hazardous. First time playing and exploring the biomes I was walking on egg shells constantly, really enjoyed that. Overtime you get attached to your npc as they continuously get into fights and try to not lose a limb (seriously). Lore wise (if you are into that like I am) you start shifting through bits of relics from the past on your travels. You can buy maps or just randomly discover landmarks as you roam. There’s also politics and you’ll learn with time who is in charge of what. Is it safe to enter here or stay there? You are free to be whatever you want; Have a storefront and sell your crafts for cash (cats), explore and make bank with old artifacts you find, become a thief and run mock stealing, grow drugs and profit from that, you can build a base or not. Choose to make a large squad or keep is small. Watch as they fight & work together. Each play through is always different and if you love mods then you can go crazy with added customization. If that sounds good than you can totally wait for it to go on sale if anything. Kenshi 2 is in the works now so will definitely look forward to that one ☺️
bin.pol.social
Aktywne