Dunno if I’d call it a stinker, but my excitement for Starfield waned very quickly as I played. 20 hours in, it was still fun. 30-40 hours, I’m like, eh. Past about 60 hours I was completely disillusioned with it. The perk system is a nightmare, leveling up gets really difficult really quickly. Making money (especially after they hid all the vendor chests), getting materials, etc. is a tedious slog. The UI/UX for ship building and settlement building is painful. Settlement building in general is a pointless waste of time and takes way too long to get the perks enough to make it even remotely worthwhile.
It also doesn’t help that there’s not a native version for the Xbox One, and Cloud Play is miserable. Constant disconnects, jitters, long load times, long wait times.
SPOILER BITS
The main quest is completely pointless. It has no effect on anything. Outside of Constellation and the other Starborn, no one even knows anything is happening. Your choices don’t have any impact on anything. Side with the Hunter? Side with the Emissary? Outside of the number of dupes you fight at the end, it literally doesn’t matter. And getting to the end does absolutely nothing. Now you have to start over with a shittier ship you can’t upgrade, some armor that’s mostly fine, and literally nothing else. Nothing’s different. Sure, after enough times through, silly things start happening at Constellation. But what else? It’s not worth it.
The faction quests are fun, but then again, have basically no bearing on anything.
The companions are disappointing: ostensibly you have two lovable rogues, a religious zealot, and the most Lawful Good character who will judge you for even the slightest non-Squeaky Clean choices you make, though they all end up being basically the same.
Otherwise, you just keep running the treadmill: get all 10 upgrades to your Space Shouts, ship, and armor? And then what? Just keep going. Do it again. And again. And you still don’t have enough perk points.
On second thought, maybe I would call it a stinker. So fucking disappointing. It had so much potential.
Starfield, Diablo 4, and Tears of the Kingdom for me.
Starfield was a hard pass at 30FPS on my Series X. But also, the gameplay and story just didn’t interest me at all.
Diablo 4 was monotonous. Grinding for hours to get a percentage of a percentage increase on gear was not fun. I’ve played every other Diablo game along with numerous other action RPGs of that style, but D4 is a snorefest. It’s frustrating being chain stunned by all the crowd control, it’s frustrating that a lot of enemies have a lot of health for no reason, and it’s bland when you face the same few bosses over and over again. It wasn’t so bad in the other Diablo games because you could just nuke the bosses, but in D4 each one is a straight up chore to kill.
Tears of the Kingdom… it’s a fun action adventure game, but if it has The Legend of Zelda on it, it needs to be held to The Legend of Zelda standards. And it, just like Breath of the Wild, is an awful Zelda game. If it didn’t have LoZ on it, I’d probably rate it much higher.
Z całą sympatią, ale Al Jazira nie jest wiarygodnym źródłem informacji z bliskiego wschodu. Bardzo dobra do wiadomości ze świata gdzie Katar nie ma większych interesów, ale w temacie Izraela wiarygodność jest na poziomie Bejamina Netanjahu. Są jakieś inne źródła?
Dla mnie to złożone, bo o ile mają oczywiste preferencje, to często są też jedynymi, którzy chociaż próbują raportować. I też w związku z tym ich dziennikarze padają ofiarą bezpośrednio wymierzonych ataków ze strony IDF, co w dość okrutny sposób potwierdza ich znaczenie. Ale tu jest jak to bywa z informacjami z instagrama; na samej stronie AJ jest tylko wzmianka;
Exclusive video and images obtained by Al Jazeera show bodies piled up inside the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in al-Faluja area, west of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Ale nie jestem w stanie znaleźć tego materiału w streamie, a to co jest na Insta ciężko ocenić. Nie wykluczam, ale wątpię, żeby IDF urządził masowe rozstrzelanie wszystkich obecnych w szkole, po czym jeszcze po prostu zostawił dowody takiej zbrodni. Po samych zwłokach, bez chociaż, nie wiem - sprawdzenia typów obrażeń, amunicji ciężko ustalić kto i jak zabił tych ludzi. Bez jakichkolwiek bezpośrednich dowodów ciężko będzie to ocenić, a na bazie samego video w ogóle powiedzieć cokolwiek, bo widzę głównie pikselozę.
Pewien punkt odniesienia w raportowaniu AJ na temat tego konfliktu, to materiał o zalewanym obozie uchodźczym w którym widzę raczej lekki deszcz i po prostu kałuże. Nie ujmuje to dramatowi ludzi, który stracili wszystko i żyją w potwornych warunkach, ale na powódź, czy nawet zalanie, jak materiał jest opisany to nie wygląda.
Dla mnie byli kompletnie skreśleni po tym jak cisnęli temat bombardowania szpitala Al-Ahli Arab i setek zabitych. Robili to długo po tym kiedy okazało się, że rakieta była Hamasu / Palestyńskiego Dżihadu, nie spadła na szpital, a parking obok, zostawiła krater o średnicy 20cm. Nakręcili tym chyba największe rozruchy w pobliskich krajach od długiego czasu i nigdy tego nie sprostowali.
Liczba ofiar nie została nigdy niezależnie zweryfikowana, bo nie ma jak, ale wystarczy zobaczyć zdjęcia, żeby zobaczyć, że ludzi tam by trzeba było piętrowo układać, żeby ich tam tyle zmieścić.
Głównie analityczne konta na Twitterze, które miałem okazję zweryfikować przy śledzeniu wojny w Ukrainie. Niewielka cześć przestała być obiektywna i zaczęła powielać fejki, ale 95% trzyma się faktów.
Szczerze mówiąc oglądanie szczegółów wojny w tamtej części świata mnie aż tak nie interesuje (mimo, że uważam Izrael ślizgające się na granicy faszyzmu nawet bez kwestii Palestyny), ale jako że piszą o wszystkim, to mimowolnie jestem na względnie bieżąco (ostatnio mniej).
Do tego dochodzą tradycyjne źródła, które nie spieszą się i weryfikują doniesienia - BBC, DW, El Pais.
Civilians sheltering inside a Gaza school killed execution-style
“They were all killed, executed at gunpoint.” In exclusive testimonies obtained by Al Jazeera, witnesses describe the horrific sights they encountered inside a school in northern Gaza following an Israeli attack.
I teraz tak, specjalistą nie jestem, ale w ostatnich latach naoglądałem się znacznie więcej takich materiałów niż bym chciał i okazjonalnie prowadziłem analizę, żeby ustalić co raportować albo przekazywać dziennikarzom, a co może być propagandą, czasami nawet grup, z którymi sympatyzowałem.
Opis sugeruje, że żadne z nich nie było świadkami wydarzenia, tylko odkryli później. W jednej relacji jest to jasne, w drugiej opis nie jest jasny czy jest perspektywą na to co się zdarzyło, czy był widziany na żywo.
Z relacji kobiety wynika, że ofiar było 11 do 12 - jedna rodzina, w tym 8mioro dzieci i nieokreślony starszy człowiek. Mówi, że zostali zabici przez IDF. Występujący mężczyzna podkreśla, że nie było tam bombardowania, nie było rakiet, że to była egzekucja, ale za nim w tle ewidentnie widać ślady walk na podwórzu szkoły; dziury po kulach i ślady po pożarach w pomieszczeniach (0:32) i na samym dziedzińcu (0:01). - być może od granatów ogłuszających, bo po odłamkowych byłoby więcej nieregularnych dziur w ścianach. Rozstrzał na kolumnie za mówiącym typem jest dość duży i na kolumnie pomiędzy oknami, więc to wygląda bardziej, jakby strzelano w ich stronę, niż kogoś przed nią rozstrzeliwano (byłyby smugi krwi). 1:04 zaczyna się materiał z pomieszczenia z płaczącą kobietą - nie widzę ani ciał, ani krwi, ani dziur w ścianach. 1:30 jest ujęcie łusek. Biorąc pod uwagę, że jest ich na prawdę dużo w jednym miejscu i jest tam chyba taśma amunicyjna(?) to mógłby być Negev NG-5 - lekki karabin maszynowy używany przez IDF, łuski są standardowe, natowskie https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5.56_x_45mm_NATO_bullet_casings-ar_5to4-fs_PNr%C2%B00273.jpg. Ale nie ma żadnego kadru pozwalającego stwierdzić, że to to samo miejsce, albo gdzie jest względem ofiar. Wygląda i brzmi raczej jak zewnętrze, chociaż nie wiem, czy dźwięk jest oryginalny.
Sumując, wygląda to dla mnie bardziej jak miejsce starcia, niż egzekucji. Wierzę, że zginęli tam ludzie, absolutnie jestem gotów uwierzyć, że zabiło ich IDF, może podczas starcia z Hamasem w tym miejscu, może nie, ale w materiale nie widzę na to żadnych jasnych dowodów na razie.
**Cyberpunk 2077 (1.6)**My first open world AAA game, I really enjoyed it and even though I was a total noob the gunplay and missions were very doable. The lore in everything made the immersion so deep too. Great soundtrack too!
Slay The PrincessI really liked the writing and art. It really feels like a full experience, the voice acting is on point too (I loved The Voice Of The Smitten!!)
**Deltarune (chapter 2)**I loved Chapter 1 and Undertale, and this new chapter did not disappoint either. Didn’t had the time to play it yet until now
Worst:
Warzone 2.0Made me realise those more realistic shooters weren’t for me at all. Had only played more cartoonish shooters before (Fortnite, Valorant etc)
Hitman 3Hitman is on its own really fun, but I just couldn’t seem to find the solutions. I got stuck at the Bangkok mission.
The Long Dark for me. No zombies, kannibals or other horror elements. Just surviving nature, wild animals and the cold on a Canadian island. I play a new playthrough when it gets cold outside every winter. I might pick up the DLC this time.
A butelki bezzwrotne ma na pewno Staropramen, tylko jest niedobry. xD Można też natknąć się na budwar z Budziejowic, sprzedawany obecnie jako Budweiser Budvar w marketach, on też zawsze był bezzwrotny. Bezzwrotna jest też Holba i niektóre Litovele, ale zabij bo nie pamiętam które.
Na pewno Bernard, Zlatý Bažant, Primator (wszystkie rodzaje), Kozel itp. mają butelki zwrotne.
You know, I’m thinking I’m either not playing enough games, or getting “too old” because most of the stuff I remember playing is either old or, ahem, adults only.
This year was the year I finally fully played Star Wars Dark Forces. Would’ve been a great game at the time, playing nowadays would be just for curiosity, really.
I played Fallout 4 a bunch, especially once I discovered how to get infinite enemies/gear/money by building settlement traps to catch Gunners. Silly loop, but I had lots of fun coming up with new ways to blow them up shortly after stepping out of the traps.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate is still the best fighting game I’ve played this year.
Phantasy Star 1 for the Sega Master System is the worst I’ve played this year. I don’t think it’d be much fun even back in 1989, because it mixes typical jrpg with first person dungeon crawling and the latter is awful. Feels like the purpose of the game was selling strategy guides and/or magazines with walkthroughs.
Apart from Subnautica, which only is tedious regarding food/drink in the very beginning, I enjoyed Unreal World a lot. It is turn based, so there isn’t any real-time time constraint imposed by in-game hunger/thirst. It also tries to feel realistic in a lot of aspects, including the amount of food/water your character needs. While at game start you of course need to focus on immediate survival (though, that depends a bit on the scenario you play), that focus shifts rather quickly to preparing for the winter, as in stocking up supplies (think: smoking/curing meat/fish, gathering fire wood,…), and building a shelter that you can heat, so you don’t freeze when it gets cold outside. Since the game is set in fantasy iron age Finland, you probably also want to build a sauna 😉.
Stranded Deep scratched an itch for me, the limited options available made it easier to focus on a podcast versus other games which have an overwhelming number of crafting items and quests.
Best game i played this year was Alan Wake 2, though I can imagine it’s probably not for everyone. The Marvelesque “homework” you’re recommended to do before playing to catch all the references and understand the interconnected lore might seem daunting, but the world and narrative Remedy has built continues to impress me. A lot has been said already about how Remedy has been pushing innovation and mixed media, but I’ll also add how impressed I am with the level of writing in general. Not only is the narrative mind bending, but all the characters are compelling and distinctive and all the different styles employed are nailed perfectly and mesh surprisingly well, from the Noir-caricature Alex Casey monologues to the goofy Koskela brothers TV ads.
The worst game I played this year was Ghost of Tsushima. Okay hear me out. The game is beautiful, well optimised and the combat is solid and satisfying. The game is just roughly twice as long as it should be considering what it is. The story is only okay at best, but suffers from a consistently dour and overly serious tone which really starts to drag as time goes on. The only bit of comic relief is Kenji, and he is barely around. On top of this the quest design is 90% “talk to person, move to area, kill the enemies there, go back and talk again”. Main story missions overly rely on walk-and-talk and/or ride-horse-and-talk. There are a handful of missions with more to it than that and those are good, but there just isn’t enough variation to sustain interest over the playtime (especially if you’re attempting to do everything and thus have to chase down the Ubisoft level open world stuff). After about 10h playtime I was loving the game, but by the third act I was thoroughly worn out and bored.
Unfortunately I had to drop Alan Wake after the prologue. The game is probably great, but I think my PC has finally hit a AAA game it just cannot handle. Perhaps I’ll give it another shot once I upgrade.
I absolutely get your criticisms with Ghost of Tsushima. While I personally loved the game when I played it, I do recall commenting that it had the same gameplay loop as I criticize Skyrim for i.e. go here, kill things, repeat, but for me the core combat mechanics were good enough that I didn’t mind. A shame that you weren’t able to enjoy them to the same extent, but very fair critique
Elden Ring and Stardew Valley ate a decent chunk of 2023 for me. And are both amazing games in their own right. Totally different, though.
I didn’t play anything really bad this past year, but I did bounce off Crosscode pretty hard after expecting to love it given I’m a sucker for early JRPGs and the 8 and 16 bit eras in general. It’s a well made game, just overlong and featuring some tedious and frustrating mechanics.
Street Fighter 6 - Really really good fighting game, definitely a recommend if you want to play one.
Baldurs Gate 3 - It is BG3, what more needs to be said?
Octopath Traveler 2 - It is more of the first, but more refined and better at tying the characters together.
Dead Space Remake - If you like the original, you should really play this, it is incredible.
Remnant 2 - Great game, a good refinement of the first remnant, and fantastic in co-op.
Last Epoch - I really like the leveling systems(Character and also Skills). Not perfect, but fun and chaotic.
Crab Champions - Crab goes BRRR. Not many games I go out of my way to 100% but this games feels incredible to play.
Spiderman & Miles Morales - Finally pick up on the cheap, if you enjoy the Batman Arkham formula, these two are fantastic. Miles Morales definitely feels like a large DLC though.
Driftwood - Longboarding Sloth, super chilled out and relaxing. Just enjoy carving down the hills on sticks of butter.
Lumines - The best game on the PSP, and still love it(picked up for cheap with Tetris, but prefer Lumines)
The not so good.
Ghost Runner 2 - I want to like this more, I loved the first game, but the wide open levels and bike traversal just don’t feel good or fun.
Diablo 4 - Play Last Epoch instead, D4 feels boring and bland and uninspired after finishing the story.
Blasphemous - Didnt click with me, the combat felt good and the movement was good, but never stuck with it, will probably try again at some point.
Hyper Light Drifter - I have tried a few times, and I keep bouncing off it.
Ori and the Blind Forest - I also want to like this game, but bounced off it again.
While Street Fighter 6 is my Favourite game of the the year, Baldurs Gate 3 is definitely the GOTY. I would strongly recommend any game from the favourites list. I haven’t played any really bad games this year, Diablo 4 is probably the worst I have played, do not recommend it. Unlike the other games which I would be tempted to suggest under certain circumstances.
On Ori and the Blind Forest - if you generally enjoy platformers, I would encourage you to give the sequel a shot, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I played BF years ago and like you, I bounced off it. Then a couple of years back I tried WotW and loved it.
I subsequently went back and retried BF, and I realized that every issue I had with the gameplay had been fixed in the sequel.
The story of the first game only factors into the second game in minor ways, so you’ll be fine if you skip it.
I will give it a try, pretty sure it is in the steam library, but probably be a couple months til I get round to it now (Granblue is being an absolute blast).
Only ever cared for the OG, Minecraft, because it was new and innovative. Mostly why I don’t really like the genre is that most of them are “me too” games that don’t do a lot more than the first game that spawned the genre to begin with. More of the same with different aesthetics or balance. But not really different enough that I can even decide which is better than another; they all get homogenized into a single bland blend where if you’ve played one, you’ve played them all situation.
Unless roguelikes such as Nethack could count as “survival” games. That would be a much bigger list.
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