bin.pol.social

Renacles, do games w Just an observation on game engines

Game engines are basically like a set of tools, they don’t fit every single case.

Carighan,
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

Just remember how plasticky and stiff the characters in Dragon Age Inquisition looked because of the mandate to use the Frostbite 3 engine for ~everything, no matter how unsuited it was to a high fantasy world.

Renacles,

Exactly, engines can be as good as they get and still be the wrong fit for a game.

Creation gets a lot of criticism but it’s the whole reason why Bethesda games have that unique feel to them and are as moddable as they are.

Katana314, do games w Lara Croft is a Sociopath

The unfortunate fact is, the conceit of most action games relies on some pretty dumb ideas.

  1. Every opponent is committed to ending your life, even to the point of fighting on when 80% of their unit is dead.
  2. Your hero is skilled enough at combat to win hundreds of fights without any permanent injuries
  3. The “light, casual” quests you’re put on like retrieving a child’s missing doll are important enough to for enemies to relentlessly guard with their life.

People have pointed this out for everyone from Mario to Nathan Drake, etc. Some games even try to base a “moment of introspection” around it, and it sort of falls flat.

JesusChristLover420,

In Halo, you can kill an elite squad commander and the grunts will run and cower. Halo wins once again.

Zahille7,

And it’s still fun to go hunt those little bastards down.

lime,
@lime@feddit.nu avatar

uncharted is the worst for this because the fights add basically nothing. the games are great humourous adventure serials occasionally broken up by obligatory murderous rampages. after my first playthrough of uncharted 2 it showed that i had done over 200 headshots alone. friend of mine had something like 1500.

cdf12345,

Didn’t someone get a comment from a dev or read in a manual that Nathan never dies. He just runs out of “luck” or something?

lime,
@lime@feddit.nu avatar

i think so. i don’t really have a problem with that. as the narrator says in the stanley parable, what kind of story has the main character die halfway through

NuXCOM_90Percent,

Yes

Looks like it was on twitter so here is a blogspam article instead, but Jonathan Cooper and Amy Hennig both effectively confirmed this

screenrant.com/uncharted-game-nathan-drake-luck-m…

Basically the idea is that only the last shot matters. Nathan isn’t actually getting shot by a full magazine from a FAL. He is getting grazed and shitting himself. And when you finally die? THAT is the bullet that hit. Which actually makes a lot more sense since the damage indicators (aside from Nate face tanking a 50 BMG…) tend to line up more with how video games portray suppression and the like. And it is why a single pistol shot to the leg in a cutscene leads to 20 minutes of slow walking and a time skip.

tobz619,

In Uncharted 4 there’s an achievement called “Ludonarrative Dissonance” which is awarded after killing a number of enemies lol.

lime,
@lime@feddit.nu avatar

don’t make me tap the sign

pointing out that you’re doing a thing does not qualify as parody of that thing

SolSerkonos,

Not parody, but still amusing.

lime,
@lime@feddit.nu avatar

the game would have been better if they took the combat out entirely, save for some one-on-one fights. it’s a shame that they’re done with the series, it was finally approaching “playable indy film” territory.

the achievement means they knew, and put the monster closet shit in anyway.

lemonuri,

I think it’s pretty cool this issue is actually addressed in the witcher (action rpg). At the very end you get confronted by Death (personified). He blames you for all the pain and suffering you caused and that he has to follow your footsteps wherever you go and asks you to give up as the world would be a better place without you. You can decide to give in or to fight him, if I remember correctly. It’s really one of my favourite moments in video games history and really worth considering the good you as the witcher have done vs the pain you caused. If you think it’s moral to measure life vs life you can definitely share Deaths opinion.

The witcher still holds up today and I think is worth playing if you haven’t yet.

fading_person,

In metal gear solid snake eater there’s a scene where we cross a river seeing every enemy we killed.

DreamlandLividity,

Trepang2 still has you killing guards like a blender, but adds a fear mechanic to the enemies. Makes you really realize you are a monster.

PalmTreeIsBestTree, do games w The recent Steam censorship debacle actually sort of opened me up to adult games.

I never paid attention to adult games until all this controversy happened. The Streisand effect must be doing its thing on people.

Aielman15, do games w PlayStation 6 Console And New PS6 Handheld ‘Canis’ Specs Leak, It’s Claimed - Insider Gaming
@Aielman15@lemmy.world avatar

Are we already talking about next gen leaks? Damn, this generation passed by and I barely noticed it.

tane69,

That’s because there are barely any fucking games this gen it feels like

rustydrd,
@rustydrd@sh.itjust.works avatar

What are you talking about? There’s a new remake or remaster every other day!

chewables,
@chewables@piefed.social avatar

if you're not really there for it then sure, but i got a ps5 for ff7 remake, kh3 and ff16 and i personally think I got my money's worth. loved every goddamn second.

it helped that I got p5r and expedition 33 as well, what a beaut of a bonus they were

vividspecter,

They might mean exclusives, of which none of those apply. But I personally don’t think exclusives are a good thing anyway.

dormedas,

FF7 Remake, Rebirth and FF16 were timed exclusives, though both have since left and Square Enix said “never again, it wasn’t profitable enough.”

MrScottyTay,

Them being told they’re timed exclusives isn’t really the problem being discussed though. Seems weird to invalidate a console having a game just because it’s available elsewhere. If you don’t already have a PC, a PS5 for it’s performance is way cheaper than getting the PC equivalent.

dormedas,

I’m just adding historical context that those games were exclusives. If them being exclusive meant “the ps5 has games” then timed exclusivity didnt really help in this case.

chewables,
@chewables@piefed.social avatar

this isn't really totally relevant anymore because I'm late in replying (as usual) but they were games that I was excited to play as soon as they came out because I knew that I would enjoy them and I knew I didn't want them to be spoiled for me by the internet, which it's become very good at doing

...so for me, at the time, they were exclusives, even though they aren't anymore

MrScottyTay,

Fair

Nikls94,

I have played the exact same games as you have, but add AstroBot.

Flamekebab,
@Flamekebab@piefed.social avatar

Yeah, I've been watching from the sidelines and still haven't seen anything that moves the needle sufficiently.

Where are the games?!

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

They all take seven years to make, so there aren’t as many of them.

llii,

Yeah. The PS2 got three GTAs, GTA V got three consoles.

zaphod,

I take this as a comparison sometimes. Also the PS2 got five GTAs, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories were released on PS2 too. The PS3 and Xbox 360 got two GTAs, and everything after got remasters. PS5 will probably get GTA 6, so GTA skipped the PS4/Xbox One generation.

Flamekebab,
@Flamekebab@piefed.social avatar

Unfortunately they're not significantly more fun despite that.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

There have been some great games with development times that long. But for crying out loud, if you’re not making a surefire success, make a smaller game so it’s less risky.

Flamekebab,
@Flamekebab@piefed.social avatar

There have been some great games with development times that long.

Can you name some? I don't mean to be derisive, I just literally can't think of any right now.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@lemmy.world avatar

I’m playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance II right now, and it’s excellent. Baldur’s Gate 3 took 6 years, though they attribute a good portion of that to an Eastern European war and a pandemic. Given other side projects, it’s a bit nebulous exactly how long Indiana Jones and Great Circle took that team to make, but it was somewhere between 5 and 7 years, and I loved it. I’m not exactly a fan of Nintendo lately, but people sure do love Donkey Kong Bananza, and that team had been working on that game more or less since Mario Odyssey’s release in 2017.

Mad__vegan,

My psvr2 backlog would like a word with you…

tane69,

My god he does exist

JigglySackles,

I wanted to get a psvr2 to use on my pc.

Mad__vegan,

I hear amazing things but wife says I already play enough lol

JigglySackles,

Ahh, that’s a bummer. Hopefully she’s not too onerous about it. Some people don’t understand games as a hobby or down time activity but then are fine with tv/movies/books.

Mad__vegan,

Nah. She’s right lol. Last month my PlayStation stats said I played 12 titles for 39 hours. So plenty of gaming to be had. The issue is that I’m addicted to humble bundles and have over 100 games there I’ve never played…

JigglySackles,

Lol humble bundles are a fantastic way to build up a backlog. I have a pretty thick collection waiting to be played as well.

Fredselfish,
@Fredselfish@lemmy.world avatar

They just ported all the PS4 games and slap PS5 on them. I bought a PS5 and not single game I have on it you can’t also buy a 4 version. Except for Dead Island 2, and it was meh. I have not used my PS5 in over a year it just collects dust. With PC games I get all I need and more. But I have looked at new games for it and not impressed with the lineup.

tane69,

It really does feel like this. And most of the new “ps5” games they also make for 4! Off the top of my head I can think of demons souls, ff16, ff7r part 2, and death stranding 2 were ps5 only and 3 of those are only timed exclusives

Stovetop,

I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though. It’s not like I’d be bothered if someone with a GPU 5 years older than mine is able to play the same game on PC.

This is what consoles just should be. No longer locking games to specific generations, letting newer hardware run older titles better, and letting developers continue developing for lower hardware targets to include more people.

cannon_annon88,

It’s because half the player base still only has the PS4, like myself. I just could never justify spending that much money on a console that can only hold like 8 games Anyways without paying a crazy amount for extra storage, when I can still play the same games on the console I already have. I was more than happy to spend twice the money building a decent desktop where I can play just about anything I want with way more freedom.

telllos,

Yeah, my ps5 is a netflix machine, and my son plays apex on it. I barely bought any games.

Squiddork,

Oh shit PS5 has no games?

Fredselfish,
@Fredselfish@lemmy.world avatar

Well they do just very few, and the ones they have inclusive aren’t all that great.

Nikls94,

I bought mine for my girlfriend to play Hogwarts Legacy. I myself have played FF7, FF16, AstroBot and Expedition33. That’s twice as much games as I have played on the Switch2. And AstroBot is the only one of them you can’t play on a PC

AdamBomb,

So many resources wasted on live service projects that got canceled or flopped, that’s why

EvilEdgelord,
@EvilEdgelord@sh.itjust.works avatar

Become a PC gamer and you don’t experience “generations” anymore.

Aielman15,
@Aielman15@lemmy.world avatar

I am. I grew up with the PS1 and I really liked the simplicity, ease of use, affordability and reliability of older gens, but the newer ones seem to have all the cons of consoles and none of the benefits.

EvilEdgelord,
@EvilEdgelord@sh.itjust.works avatar

I grew up with cartridges, so this is hilarious to me. With PS1, you had to put in a disc, close the lid, press the power button, wait for the logo startup sequence, then your game would start (assuming there’s not some kind of problem that kicks you back to the disc/memory card screen). Don’t even get me started on disc damage 😂

Now I’m a PC gamer with a humongous digital collection. Nothing gets damaged, and I get to keep all my games.

One double-click, and I’m gaming.

JigglySackles,

So long as gaben is there at least. I hate to think how badly valve will fall once he’s no longer there.

troed,
@troed@fedia.io avatar

Same here, although even earlier. As a family of five Sony's horribly bad game sharing within the family if you have more than one PS5 (we do) has sealed the deal for us. I've just built up two Bazzite-based Steamboxes and that's going to be our couchgaming from now on.

No PS6.

AdamBomb,

The disappointment of the PS5 plus the surprise of the Steam Deck turned me, personally

MrScottyTay,

Instead you see GPUs release for the same price as, or more than, a current gen console every two years.

EvilEdgelord,
@EvilEdgelord@sh.itjust.works avatar

Never paid for a GPU on its own, I just buy a new gaming laptop every 5 years.

Shit, maybe I am going through generations 😂

zaphod,

Same. At least for me part of the problem is that I got a PS5 two years after release because I couldn’t get one, I’m not going to pay scalpers.

NuXCOM_90Percent,

Part of the “problem” is that the current gen launched basically at the height of COVID. People were distracted when it came out and studios took a huge productivity hit at a time when they would be pushing to get those games out.

But it is coming up on 5 years and console generations tend to be 6-8 years if memory serves. Considering how much work goes into prepping the hardware, it makes sense to see “leaks” now for what will likely hit shelves in the fall of 2027 or 2028.

But I think the bigger issue is that we kind of all know these are “just” computers and most games are multiplatform. Combine that with backwards compatibility and there really aren’t that many distinguishing games of a generation. Which is why it is a common refrain that this is probably the last “console generation” with the future being closer to PCs where you just have new hardware every few years and upgrade when a game you want needs it or you get bored.

Vipsu,
@Vipsu@lemmy.world avatar

Many still play on Playstation 4 and suprising amount of games still get released for both.

Its also funny that in Fighting game locals most games are still played on PS4 with Tekken 8 being pretty much the only one requiring PS5.

commander, (edited ) do games w I'm a console gamer so, Why the hate on the Epic Games Store?

It’s been I think about 7 years and it’s not feature competitive for end users with 2011 Steam even though they definitely make more money than 2004-2011 Valve and by 2018 had 14 years of history to look at and feature target based off what competition offered

The CEO was regularly on Twitter complaining about Windows but refused to help grow Linux adoption. Valve has been doing that since like 2012. He constantly talks about standing with small developers but then in the Apple court case admits they would have been quiet if Apple gave them a special revenue split deal. He complains about Steam and mobile store cuts but doesn’t complain about consoles having the same.

Exclusive deals in lieu of providing a better experience for the end user. Talked up so much about being superior because they’re developer focused; didn’t have self publishing tools until the end of 2023 - 5 years after EGS launched. It’s been 7 years. They haven’t made PC gaming any better. They made it worse for a time when they were throwing cash at exclusives rather than store platform feature development

Recent example of how bad they are with pushing minimal viable products. EGS mobile store was launched the beginning of this year with no library view. You just scroll up and down, side to side looking for games you own mixed among games you don’t own. Their concept of minimal viable product is insanely mediocre for how vocal the CEO is and how much money they make and their turnaround time on improving these stores is awful.

There are numerous Android storefronts that don’t have Unreal Engine and Fortnite money keeping the companies funded and somehow Epic comes out the gate mediocre again where its marketing is free games but it’s mobile games so what’s available is way less headline worthy. They learned nothing from 2018 about the difference between what they consider a minimal viable product and what the market would consider a market competitive minimal viable product

Years ago Epic put out a kanban board to display a public feature development tracker to assure people they were working on improving the store. They abandoned that quick and I’m pretty sure what few they had on that, most still haven’t been implemented

Their support for handheld is at the level of GOG which barely markets itself and is pretty low revenue as it rarely gets any games that aren’t years old. Whether Windows or Linux, Epic for all their billions haven’t created a gamepad/TV centric interface. EGS is about at the level of GOG Galaxy which because of its DRM free policy will probably never be a big money maker. That’s just insane to me how badly managed EGS is to have so much more money backing it and so little to show for it in the product

The CEO is a regular blowhard virtue signalling about liberty/freedom on Twitter but can’t be bothered to try and pioneer anything for users as a storefront. Since 2018 EGS has been so stagnant while Valve has been expanding Steam as a platform, that EGS is less relevant to me today than when they were throwing out major free games every month. I have no faith in the platform to integrate WINE/Proton, put together a TV/gamepad interface, do something like Steam curators, comparable user review system, crowd sourced game tags - a lot of useless stuff makes it in those but I find them regularly useful at a glance as it’s usually pretty obvious which are probably jokes and which are probably legit, user gamepad mapping repository, I’ve used the guides before. Steam forums are not a place to browse, they’re a place to find when you Google a question and the answer is in a Steam forum thread Google/other shows you

I’d be happy with a suitable competitor. It’s just EGS has been terrible at it. I was sad that GameStop did nothing with Impulse. I had higher expectations for EA Origin. Ubisoft/UPlay was always garbage from day one AC2 always online DRM nonsense. I was hyped on GFWL before I learned they were charging for online multiplayer until that failed, also the install limits GFWL had where you had to call support when you reinstalled the game too many times. I was even excited for Windows 8 store until it was eating up peoples storage only reclaimable with a reformat of the drive

Only GOG exists with a unique selling point, DRM free. Every other competitor has existed just to try and have exclusives to make more money rather than try to attract users with a good service. In the end it turns out there’s so many solid to great games released every year that exclusives aren’t such a great point anymore. There’s not enough of them and exclusives not varied enough to make a storefront platform better than the total Steam package

Monomate,

I find EGS launcher to be incredibly slow, so I don’t even bother claiming their free games using it. I use the browser instead. The annoying part is EGS launcher will prompt my 2FA if I don’t open it at least monthly, which is also too much of a bother.

Romkslrqusz,

To my knowledge you still can’t easily discover / reuse existing game files, the launcher usually redownloads them anyways.

Even the Xbox app supports this (for most games)

commander,

I’m pretty sure Steam has been able to do that since launch, though I do remember the legendary loading bar that would progress then regress then progress and regress all with the same text message there so it wasn’t perfect in 2003. Roller coaster early on but by like 2007 it was pretty solid

I’m pretty sure EA Origin was able to do that day one or within a year of release. Origin was OK from what I remember just that it took stayed stagnant and I’m guessing onboarding games to the platform being a terrible process considering how sparse releases were on there

Steam is a mature platform. It doesn’t roll out new user facing features often. Yet somehow I think the gap has widened since 2018 vs EGS

Chronographs,

Iirc the epic store didn’t even launch with a cart

Romkslrqusz,

And Epic has had a lot more financial resources available when they launched their store. Estimated valuation of $15 billion in 2018, Valve’s was half that in 2022.

I don’t really see an excuse for Epic to have ever had missing features, they entered the market with plenty of templates for what does and doesn’t work

Trainguyrom,

I just went through this yesterday! I did a big upgrade on my wife’s computer, fresh install of Windows on a 2TB NVMe drive replacing the aging 120GB SSD that somehow didn’t completely fill up, etc. Etc. really loved pointing epic at the installs on the secondary drive and it just ignoring them and instead spending 3 hours downloading Fortnite after we just spent 1 hour applying the last update yesterday (and another hour on a different update the day before too!) on the drive that’s RIGHT THERE IN THE COMPUTER!

random_character_a, do games w Longtime buddy of mine just got a gaming PC. What games would make up a good "welcome to PC" care package?
@random_character_a@lemmy.world avatar

Deep Rock Galactic

He can get used to mouse and keyboad, while you cover him.

As mentioned before, gift cards are good way to go.

stom,

Rock and stone!

WILSOOON,

ROAK AND STOOOUNEEH!

SpruceBringsteen,

Helldivers 2 for similar reasons.

Bahnd,
@Bahnd@lemmy.world avatar

DRG is a fantastic place to start with moving from a controller to mouse/keyboard.

I would personally T-up some classics like portal and Half-life 2 for solo “history lessons” after that. Only then would I make some harder recomendations like long RPGs, MOBAs, 4X, and would shy away from MMOs unless you have an organized group to introduce them to.

KillerTofu,

Portal 2 has coop 👍

hungprocess, do games w Would "suggest price" be a positive option for steam?
@hungprocess@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

I don’t know how well known it is, but this sort of information is visible already on isthereanydeal.com.

Click on a game and look for “Waitlist Price Distribution” under the “Stats” tab: https://lemmy.sdf.org/pictrs/image/86e7f25a-b514-474c-a255-57bc1d2e4873.png

AnExerciseInFalling,

Thank you, I didn’t know this existed!

GhiLA, do games w Is it time to start a campaign against kernel-level anticheat?
@GhiLA@sh.itjust.works avatar

I usually solve this issue by… just playing something else.

It sounds hard, but I assure you, nothing is impossible.

boonhet,

There’s about 5 games a decade that are exciting anymore even, unfortunately. I might just have to give up gaming then.

darkstar,

You’re obviously looking in the wrong place for games then…

iamdefinitelyoverthirteen,

False.

Amir,
@Amir@lemmy.ml avatar

Baldurs Gate 3

boonhet,

That’s one yeah

zalgotext,

I encourage you to explore the wonderful world of indie games, and free yourself from the shackles and shitty anti-cheat implementations of the AAA/AAAA gaming industry

Nibodhika,

I can cite way more than 5 excellent games from this decade from the top of my head, We’re almost in 2025, so I’ll limit to games released in or after 2015:

  • Factorio
  • RimWorld
  • Stellaris
  • Fallout 4
  • Overcooked 2 (and all you can eat)
  • Life is Strange
  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Before your eyes
  • Dead Cells
  • Shadow Tactics
  • Cities Skylines
  • The outer worlds
  • Two point hospital

I can keep going, but this is just from the top of my head, there are always good games getting released, and very rarely they’re AAA.

ipkpjersi,

There are tons of good games always coming out even recently, unless you only like multi-player games.

xavier666,

If you spend a little time on the dark alleyways of Steam, you will occasionally come up with hidden gems. The indies scene is currently thriving.

Katana314, do games w Starfield's first DLC is one of the worst Bethesda DLCs of all time

Remember, folks: Microsoft kept these people, and fired the ones who made Hi-Fi Rush.

That, alone, was my signal the entire console was going to slowly burn down.

Buttflapper,

Microsoft is a fucking ghoulish, evil company. The only reason they bought Bethesda was to own their IP. They have Elder scrolls, Fallout, and Doom Because of ID games. That alone is going to bring them so much money, if they ever want to sell any of those franchises in the future, they can sell them for a fortune. That’s probably the reason why they acquired Bethesda to begin with. Laying off Hi-Fi Rush after they delivered an excellent product was just pure evil.

kbal, do gaming w I hate the term "Boomer Shooter"
@kbal@fedia.io avatar

You seem like an intelligent and discerning person, so I'm sure you'll appreciate that the only possible response to this is "ok boomer"

onlooker,
@onlooker@lemmy.ml avatar

Dammit! Upvoted with great begrudgement.

odium, do games w Games that force you to make hard choices

The 3 series is the best at this.

The first game in the series is Mass Effect 3, which is followed by Witcher 3 and the sequel to that is Baldur’s Gate 3.

julianh,

Can’t wait for the next one, I hear it’s gonna be called Half-Life 3.

ConstipatedWatson,

Wait, what did you just say? So Half Life 3 is confirmed! Yay!

hiddengoat, do gaming w Well, Cities: Skylines 2 is here, and it's another broken game release.

Yeah, my thought is that this is a game they'll be supporting for 8-9 years so what the fuck does it matter if it runs like dogshit on day one? Don't fucking buy it until the performance increases and the problems you mentioned are ironed out.

It really is that simple.

Anyone that expected this game to be perfect on launch was clearly not around whenever Cities: Skylines launched. The performance was godawful to the point that I refunded it. A couple of months and a couple of patches later shit was cleared up and I repurchased it. Didn't have an issue after that.

So yeah, the whole "Why doesn't this brand new game not have the same performance and features as a nine year old game with numerous DLCs and mods?" thing is getting fucking tiresome.

Rolder,

I don’t think it’s crazy to expect games to have playable performance levels when they release. Not to mention it’s a sequel so you’d think they would learn some things after fixing the first one.

PupBiru,
@PupBiru@kbin.social avatar

i’m sure they learned plenty of things about the old game engine they built

and now they have a new one… which was the whole point

1simpletailer, (edited )
@1simpletailer@startrek.website avatar

Yeah the fucks up with all the Paradox apologia in this thread? I also remember Cities: Skylines on release It ran fine and my rig was shitty back then. It was a perfectly functional little city builder. People loved it and it was called the new Sim City! “Just wait two years and put down another $50 on dlc bro. Ur dumb for expecting it to be good now.” Nah this shits unacceptable. If a game needs to be supported for years before its considered good then an honest developer would call it an early access game. Ya know, those games that get years of support, updates, and features for free.

nix,

Colossal Order is the dev, Paradox is just the publisher. Paradox deserves crap for their many mistakes, but this one isn’t theirs.

canis_majoris,
@canis_majoris@lemmy.ca avatar

Yeah but it’s Paradox as the publisher who is the one setting the parameters of them having to build a game that is designed to support 10 years of DLC like all of their other products because that’s their monetization strategy.

1simpletailer,
@1simpletailer@startrek.website avatar

Publishers still have a lot of power in a games development. They can set deadlines and dictate the direction they want a games development to take. Seeing as this is a recurring problem with games Paradox both develops and publishes, its easy to see who is to blame here.

bermuda,

DLC part pisses me off also. I know this game isn’t developed by Paradox but it seems to be a trend in Paradox games where you need to spend the base price + an absurd amount of extra money to get the developer’s “true vision” or whatever. It’s really annoying.

To get most of the base game features that are currently present in Crusader Kings III, you would’ve had to spend a sizeable chunk of cash on DLC for Crusader Kings II.

CoderKat,

I completely agree. I think the point of the commenter you’re replying to is that this is the kind of game that will fix these eventually. It’s still disappointing for a launch, but eventually it will probably become better than CS1.

twistedtxb,
@twistedtxb@lemmy.ca avatar

Its not good for the general aura surrounding the release. I don’t follow the game actively but all I hear is negativity.

Sivick314,
@Sivick314@universeodon.com avatar

@hiddengoat @theangriestbird How did we get to the point where paying money for a broken, unfinished product was acceptable?

jonne,

It’s not, don’t buy games on day one. Let the other suckers pay to beta test it. Once it’s fixed in a few years, you can buy it for a discount.

nix,

I just bought Fallout 4 GOTY for $5 the other day. Look forward to doing the same in a few years when Cyberpunk 2077 has a final release with everything fixed and polished. There’s so many good old games, why buy anything brand new.

And this doesn’t forgive devs for buggy initial releases either, because I’m not throwing money at something until it’s actually done.

entropicdrift,
!deleted5697 avatar

The base game of 2077 is pretty good now that 2.0 is out. My biggest issie with it at launch was the lack of cyberspace for hacker player characters. Felt like the game was funneling me towards standard FPS gameplay, even if there are a lot of options within that realm

jonne,

Exactly this. No man’s Sky is apparently decent nowadays too.

Part of the issue is that publishers make studies sign contracts with fixed release dates, with heavy penalties for delays (even though basically any software project ends up going over time).

But yeah, just go through the backlog of older games, this way you also don’t need the latest PC either to play on max settings.

jarfil, (edited )

Preorders. It used to be that you had to preorder the LOTR special edition on DVD with figurines to make sure the shop had existences… then Kickstarter bastardized it into “pay to maybe get something”… and Steam jumped onto the bandvagon of “pay hoping it might work some day”.

lud,

Not sure how the point about Kickstarter is relevant but it’s not Steams fault devs are releasing unfinished games.

And I wouldn’t say it went straight to bad digital preorders. I feel like that is a more recent phenomenon and digital preorders were better years ago.

jarfil,

Not wanting to make you feel old, but… No Man’s Sky botched preorder release was 7 years ago (2016).

I mentioned Kickstarter (est. 2009) as a stepping stone in getting people used to pay for not-yet-existing stuff.

saigot,

I’d much rather play the game in its current state than waiting 3 or 4 months, i have a pretty beefy system and i dont mind low framerates in a strategy game. If you don’t feel the same then don’t pick it up, wait the 3 or 4 months and enjoy it then.

Sivick314,
@Sivick314@universeodon.com avatar

@saigot is much rather they release a complete project that works on day 1.

saigot,

It does work I’ve been playing it all day!

shrugal,

The problem is that they don’t communicate this and still ask for the full price.

Imagine I’m a gamer who wants to buy and play a working game today, not in half a year. Nothing on their store page indicates that the game isn’t in a playable state yet, so I’d pay full price for a game I can’t actually play. That’s misleading at best, and a downright fraud at worst.

They could easily fix this by delaying the game or launching it as early access for people who don’t mind playtesting a half-finished game, but they didn’t.

tocopherol,
@tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

It’s kind of baffling how we accept this as pretty much the standard for major releases these days. Why would we be okay buying anything else like this? If I bought a pair of shoes and they had issues that made them unwearable until I got them repaired I would be irritated as fuck, and obviously this would be unacceptable for a store to sell them like that.

Contend6248,

They did communicate: pcgamer.com/cities-skylines-2-devs-warn-players-o…

These guys are the exception.

ReversalHatchery,

Did they do so on the store page, or the news section connected to it? Or was it only announced on news sites no one reads?

Contend6248,

If you wouldn’t be so lazy you could find it out yourself.

SugarApplePie,
@SugarApplePie@beehaw.org avatar

I doubt the average player looks up whether the devs came out to warn players their game runs like shit before buying it, I think they just buy it. Similar to how people probably don’t check to see if a movie director has mentioned how bad the sound mixing and lighting is in a movie before going to watch it. Might be a crazy take but imo the onus isn’t on the person buying the game to make sure the game is finished, let alone looking up articles on the game to make sure the devs didn’t admit that it runs like ass and isn’t finished. Though with how often it happens and how often there’s people that excuse it maybe that’s where we’re at now, you reap what you sow and whatnot lol

Contend6248,

Anyone buying a full price title without looking it up with a quick Google search or reading reviews on Steam is far gone from my compassion.

You can even refund it so easy it’s not even worth the outcry and i don’t even pretend to care about anyone pre-ordering digital downloads.

It’s shitty that these devs have to put the games out too early, but it would save everybody’s money and nerves if you just start to see releases today as early access because that’s what they all are. There are many companies out there which don’t say a peep and i won’t wreck anyone who at least tries to give a heads-up !pre! which anyone who cares could get easily for free.

shrugal,

This is not what I’m talking about, because the vast majority of people buying the game won’t have seen this. It’s not enough that the info is somewhere on the internet, it needs to be front and center when buying the game.

aivoton,

We didn’t have god damn tunnels in CS1 when it was released and people were raging about the city being limited to 9 tiles.

If company admitted performance issues before release is the hill that these people are willing to die on, well go ahead then. Back then the alternative was either cities platinum series or the abomination sim city became and neither of those was any good. At least now you have something more modern than sim city 4 to fall back on if CS2 disappoints.

ReversalHatchery,

The problem is, this sets a precedence in the gaming industry (and in the consumer’s minds too) that it’s fine to consume 16 GB of RAM, not on a late game megacity but on a new save.

saigot,

Games like this are also pretty palatable at low framerates imo, certainly much better than an fps or something. If the gameplay is solid I’ll definitely pick it up. I like to have it as a second monitor game.

JohnnyCanuck, do gaming w The gaming industry needs to become more like holywood
@JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca avatar

I’m sorry, but your reasoning is absolute nonsense. Maybe game developers should unionize, but suggesting that it should work like Hollywood is pretty ridiculous.

The huge studios would function just like in Hollywood.

Okay, so fuck the developers at big studios just like how most of the people working on movies get fucked now? You think because a deal was reached by the union that the big studios aren’t still just running to the bank with their loads of cash? The recent strike (and most strikes in Hollywood) were mostly about residuals. You know why? Because people who aren’t above the line in the credits get shit pay. At least in the games industry most people are employees, get paid up front, have a salary, and whether the game succeeds or flops they get their money. And most people don’t get laid off between games. You’re getting paid your salary even while there is downtime. In Hollywood, if the movie flops(*), you’re shit outta luck, my friend. Hope you’re happy with whatever you made during production and you’re able to find your next gig quick. Because you’re not an employee of the studio, you were working for a production company on this one movie and now you gotta fend for yourself because the movie’s done and so is this LLC.

(*) which brings us to the big fucking asterisk in how Hollywood “works”. Movies don’t make money. Not on paper anyway. It’s so bad, it even has its own name: Hollywood Accounting. The gist of it is that they use creative accounting techniques so that profit sharing agreements (like the residuals that were just fought so hard for by the unions) pay as little as possible.

And yeah they would want to pump out those blockbusters, but nothing would stop indie developers from developing.

What stops indie developers from developing now? Indie game developers have it way better than indie movie makers. They have better platforms for distribution, a larger audience, and much lower cost to entry.

I would allow for consistent and fair discussions for the unions and studios as to how pay will be done.

Yeah, because that’s what Hollywood is known for…

It will also put in safeties for crunch and other abuses.

Crunch (and other abuse) still happens in Hollywood production, so… Nope, sorry.

I’m just saying [the Hollywood model] makes way more sense as a model for how modern AAA games are made.

No fucking way. As someone who was a salaried employee for 15 years in the A to AAA game industry over 7 projects, some of which failed but I still got paid, with bonuses and stock awards and job security, please fucking no. I’m glad I didn’t have to fight for a new gig every couple of years and hope for residuals.

frog,

Very well said. I think there is an argument that the gaming industry would benefit from more unionisation (there are very few sectors that wouldn’t benefit from it!), but emulating Hollywood doesn’t seem like the answer.

greenskye,

I think it’s fair to say they’re are some significant similarities between the two industries. They both focus on large, multi year creative projects with unknown returns. I’m not sure emulating Hollywood is the answer, but they can at least look at how existing Hollywood unions have approached addressing any similar problems

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

Indie game developers have it way better than indie movie makers. They have better platforms for distribution...

It kills me that there's no Steam or GOG for TV and movies. My options are either Blu Rays, when they exist, or streaming, even if I buy the movie outright.

teawrecks,

You mean delivering an actual file/media that you can watch without streaming? I know Netflix has the ability to download stuff to watch offline later. I assume other platforms support something similar. That’s pretty close to steam or gog where you don’t own a copy of the game, you own a license to use their copy.

Edit: But yes, I do sometimes wish I could pay per title and not have to worry about subscriptions to maintain access to certain things.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

It's not close enough if I want to run it from a PC or Steam Deck. They only allow it on mobile where they can enforce their DRM. Then those downloads are only good for a few days before they need to be renewed and they run into all sorts of technical problems trying to enforce the DRM.

JangoF76, do gaming w I don't want to "Press any key to continue" to the main menu

Of all the things to complain about. You must have a very stress free life.

Lowbird,

Dude. It’s called a pet peeve. They’re allowed, and even people who have very stressful lives have them. It’s definitely better than shit-talking random people on the internet - just skip the thread if you don’t care about it.

EssentialCoffee,

My group calls them first world problems.

SpiderShoeCult,

I’d say that they’re more of an issue for people under a lot of stress. It just adds an extra stress point. In fact if OP was not stressed, they probably wouldn’t mind it enough to post a rant about it.

Misconduct,

They spent their time sharing a relatable gripe that sparked some jokes and discussion. You spent yours doing this.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod, do gaming w Elite Dangerous
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

Kerbal Space Program

Civilization

Factorio

Inucune,

The factory must grow

Xanthrax, (edited )
@Xanthrax@lemmy.world avatar

Runescaaaaape, you casual.

Coelacanth,
@Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

Football Manager.

beneeney,

I would love to get into Football Manager or OOTP Baseball but I hate the yearly-purchase monetization scheme. I wish there was a good indie alternative, or something that scratches a similar itch.

Coelacanth,
@Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

An upside of SI tending to have very minor year-on-year upgrades between FM editions is that most people don’t buy it every year. It’s common to buy every two or three years, unless a momentous change is implemented. The sortitoutsi.net site has squad updates among its mods that let you play older games for longer.

Not that I want to be encouraging you to take it up, the game is literally like crack and I don’t let myself play it anymore.

ivanafterall,
@ivanafterall@lemmy.world avatar

Ever tried SmokePatch Football Life for ePES? So good. Also totally free.

Coelacanth,
@Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

I have not. How does it compare to FM?

ivanafterall,
@ivanafterall@lemmy.world avatar

It’s closer to FIFA (but way better). It started as a beloved mod for ePES/Pro Evolution. Then the developer(s) took the manager mode and built it into a standalone, free title that still works with other mods. It’s crazy deep even without extra mods, but you can add in (amazing) team-and-player-and-country-specific chants, stadiums, player faces, balls, shoes, teams, fields, new announcers, it’s fucking wild. I love that you can take a rookie, use him well, and it actually reflects in his stats. Then you trade him on a few years later for huge bucks. So addictive. If you get it all going, it is the most-fun, most-immersive soccer experience I’ve had. It’s here, another updated version apparently incoming soon.

Coelacanth,
@Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

I’ll take a look at it, but like I said above I don’t let myself play FM anymore and this sounds equally dangerous. Do you need a PES install to play or is it fully standalone?

ivanafterall,
@ivanafterall@lemmy.world avatar

Oh, it is dangerous. Fully standalone and free. When PES went Free-to-Play, the developers spun the single-player/management component out into its own thing.

Hexagon,

Minecraft

Cethin,

I would disagree about KSP, at least for the first hundred hours or so probably. You’re actively learning and adventuring, and discovering new things. After that, once you’re figuring out how far you can push things or installing RP-1, you’re right.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod, (edited )
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

I once spent 40 hours testing a Duna lander

Agent641,

I had a thing for system-dominating single-launch ships.

These would have 10-12 probes on it, hanging from beams like bats. I would have massive stageable fuel tanks, and I would slingshot it past each planet and it’s moons, drop a probe and try to get the probe into orbit or on the surface (often failing due to lack of ∆V), all in one launch, with the ships core functioning as a science outpost to collect science and relay or bring it back to Kerbin.

I never quite dialled it in and touched or orbited every body with a probe, but some of these missions would last like 30-40 realtime hours,and I flew dozens of them.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve been in the design and planning stage for a Jool 5 mission for months now.

I don’t even need the science. I just have to do it.

Zombie,

Just… One… More… Turn…

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