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JokeDeity, do games w CD Projekt Spent Roughly $125 Million Turning Cyberpunk 2077 Around Post-Launch

Well it must have worked. All I heard for months when it came out was how bad everything about it was, then I finally got it myself and it quickly became one of the top favorite games of my life. Sorry for everyone who had a bad experience because I loved it so much.

flipht,

I played initially on PC - occasional glitches but overall fine for a game at launch.

I think console players had a lot more issues.

Veraxus,
@Veraxus@kbin.social avatar

I thought it was okay. It fizzled out pretty quickly for me as it felt half-baked and overly "gamey", which kept breaking the immersion illusion for me. I never did finish it. But I started over when Phantom Liberty dropped last week and it feels soooo much better. The immersion doesn't feel like it's being killed by a thousand cuts... everything feels more natural and believable now. It still has it's gamey moments, but they are a lot less obvious now.

For me it went from a 6/10 to 9/10.

RampantParanoia2365,

I’m playing for the first time, amd my only real gripe is I wish the gorgeous cyberpunk world were more like Yakuza, with a million random minigames. Other than that, it’s been a blast.

Wahots,

The main story was pretty good, especially the Panam ending, which should have been the successor to Fallout: NV imo. Easily could have been it’s own game, excellent, 8/10.

I picked it back up in the post game after the skill tree rebalance and tried to get the highest heat level possible with the cars with guns on them, but the police kept getting lost, which decreased my heat level. Max tac couldn’t find me in a big intersection. I dejectedly uninstalled the game and decided to play something else. The red engine just can’t handle hazard level 5 interactions that well :/

I also played a quest, but it was just a “find a dead body” radiant quest for which I got about $2,500. I want more main storyline and less paper mache missions. The art direction and main storyline(s) are strong, but everything else feels really mushy to me. Witcher 3 was pretty solid all the way through.

echodot,

Have they fixed the broken AI yet?

When the game first came out you could walk around the corner to hide from the police. And none of the NPCs knew where any of the roads were, so they were just scrape along the side of building for no reason at all.

Veraxus,
@Veraxus@kbin.social avatar

Yes and no. The AI is significantly better… but it’s still not great. Case in point: cops will chase you now, but it doesn’t take long to get a feel for how to fudge their pathing and lose them.

Vent,

I played it on PC at launch and thoroughly enjoyed it. They’ve completely redone the skill tree system and reworked a ton of the weapons/clothing/cyber gear. It’s different now, but the story and core gameplay are still very much the same. I’m replaying it for the DLC and having a great time.

JokeDeity,

I’m in a situation where I don’t have money to spend, but I can’t wait to play the DLC someday.

bouh,

The game was far from the disaster media made it look like. Ratings on steam are not so bad even at launch for example.

The game had problems on outdated hardware, which was many consoles that I now think these players to be the audience for most video game media.

Most people had no or few problems to play the game, and the game was great right from the start.

SRo,

Thing is, on pc the game was always good to great. It was only a shitshow on the old consoles apparently (don’t play on consoles since the N64 days).

JokeDeity,

I haven’t either since about GameCube era.

Distance, do games w EA's Skate Gets Microtransactions Before Its Release Date

The game is free to play. If cosmetics are the only micro transaction, that’s actually good.

spankmonkey,
@spankmonkey@lemmy.world avatar

Depends on the implementation.

If the promotion of mtx.is jarring or overwhelming then even limiting to cosmetics sucks. If something ends and there are multiple click through screens encouraging players to by mtx and other ads within the game to buy the mtx it can become a chore to ignore. Even if gameplay itself is not impacted, the things that happen outside of gameplay can deag down the whole experience.

An example would be those stupid unskippable season pass screens where the bar goes up slowly and it reminds you of what you didn’t get becsuse tou didn’t buy the season pass. A few seconds each time, sure, but it adds up and is clearly trying to goad you into spending money. That shit sucks even if it limited to cosmetics.

Distance,

I would rather pay $60 to own and be able to fully play the game. However, my response came from my perception of surprise and doom-and-gloom by the community when we already knew it would be free-to-play.

spankmonkey,
@spankmonkey@lemmy.world avatar

If a game is going to have mtx, they shouldn’t be charging for it during a prerelease. They have multiple ethical ways to handle it that would garner better feedback.

  1. Leave it out entirely and focus on the gameplay. That is what should be selling the game anyway.
  2. Have the mtx but without a way to pay real money. Give the players the option to ‘purchase’ in game currency and give them a running total.

The latter would be reset at release, but would gather feedback on what people want to spend and if the promo process is well implemented.

Both would run counter to the actual purpose of the vast majority of mtx which is fleecing whales and this is EA.

The most ethical implementation of mtx that I know of is actually for a paid game, Helldivers 2. The in game promo stuff is minimal and does not negatively impact the menus or interacting with the ship. The option to buy stuff doesn’t use dark patterns, but it is easily available. When they did set prices too high for a collaboration thing they apologized due to feedback and gave the other half of the stuff that would have been for sale to every single player. It is basically the exact opposite of Call of Duty’s mtx.

Distance,

I’m not counting on EA to be ethical.

If I can fully play the game - all areas, skateable features, tricks - without involvement in MTX, I will be both satisfied and surprised.

Lootboblin,
@Lootboblin@lemmy.world avatar

My guess is that there is only one skate park and simple character creation that is free for everyone. Everything else is behind paywall. Want pink shorts and green hair? want to skate around the city or in new park? want a new deck? open the wallet.

MrFappy, do games w Ubisoft launches NFT game with figures costing up to $63K

A bit late to the party for this particular grift id say.

Mereo, do games w Dragon’s Dogma 2 Title Update 1.050 Adds ‘Start New game’, Max 30fps Option, More

It is nice to be a patient gamer. I recently bought Cyberpunk and I’m enjoying it. I will get Dragon Dogma’s 2 when it comes out of beta.

CraigeryTheKid,

That’s what I’m doing for starfield, and even a game like BG3. Wait until it’s been a year of patches, etc.

Cethin,

I’m not saying don’t try it, because some people do like it, but I don’t think Starfield will ever be worth the time it takes to play, let alone having to pay for it too. It absolutely does not respect the player’s time, and there’s no content in it that I saw that’s worth playing. I didn’t see anything when I played, but I think I’ve seen just about everything after watching a stupid number of videos discussing the game. None of it is particularly interesting (in fact, I think most of it is fundamentally uninteresting because they weren’t willing to ask how their universe could be different from our own).

BG3 though is absolutely worth playing whenever you decide to play it. I don’t think it’s getting a DLC because Larian said they’re working on something new and unrelated now, but it’ll probably still see some patches and the price will come down, as well as more mods being available.

femtech,

I liked it for one playthrough. After the end game I couldn’t bring myself to start again.

sunbytes,

There were some great levels.

The abandoned ice prison was great.

And uhhhh… well no other ones are currently in my memory. That can’t be a bad sign, can it?

Man that zero-g casino could have been so cool. But it was just… nothing-y.

d3Xt3r,

I recently bought the OG Dragon’s Dogma for $6. There are a ton of QoL and fun mods that improve gameplay, no DRM crap, and the game performs really well overall. Zero reasons IMO to buy DD2 right now and put up with an inferior experience and Denuvo.

Chozo, do games w The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remake Will Reportedly Be Revealed Soon, and Released Not Long After That
@Chozo@fedia.io avatar

Anything to avoid discussing TES6.

Sabin10,

What, the announcement trailer from 2018 isn’t enough to hold you over until it launches in 2029?

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@pawb.social avatar

I kinda wonder if they even have any good ideas left after Starfield was such a disappointment in the creativity department.

overload,

It’s still going to sell really well even if it’s just pretty Skyrim.

lockhart, do games w Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team Disbanded After Critically Lauded Platformer Fails to Meet Expectations - Report

and executives expressed concerns that a sequel would cannibalize long-term sales of the first game

This is legit the most ridiculous take I’ve ever seen

Gerudo,

Right? Like there are 48 Assasins Creed games, sequels are their bread and butter.

HawlSera,

Don’t sequels actually cause new audiences to show up, who then go back and play the first game?

dditty,

Exactly this; for a video game developer to claim otherwise is incomprehensible, and likely is just doublespeak to mask something

HawlSera,

Or they’re morons who are only familiar with the Games As Service model and completely forgot that’s not the only type of game they sell.

chloyster, do gaming w Resident Evil 4 Mobile Will Cost $60

I mean personally I wouldn’t want to game like that on my phone, as it will almost certainly kill the battery and I need my phone for… well phone things.

But I don’t really see why it being $60 is at all weird. It’s a $60 AAA game everywhere else too. Same game as it is there.

Edit: and it also unlocks the game on m1 or newer iPads and macOS devices… really not seeing why this is so egregious. It’s $60 on steam too

Krauerking,

Yeah honestly the idea that a port should cost less because it’s a worse experience is stupid. As long as effort was put in and the game is still playable and as enjoyable an experience as other platforms whoever made it has any right to charge what they see fit for that platform.

Now should people buy it? Probably not and if it doesn’t run as well you can absolutely raise the argument of it was a pointless cash grab anyways but…

Being upset that a developer wants to get paid for a game no matter what platform they put it on… not a big deal

DigitalPaperTrail, (edited )

you gotta take into account that the conceptual design phase has been completely eliminated from the process. And lots of the core logic would've been ported over wholesale. one example you can find is searching about the code in the katamari ports, where there's parts of the code left behind that don't do anything, and point to ps2 libraries that don't exist in Unity.

while there's nothing revealed here on how much is just copy/pasted over, I'm sure they'd be motivated to bring over as much as they can when they were initially estimating the work needed for the project, and then test the hell out of it. A majority of the graphics engine would probably have to be remade if they didn't aim to emulate it, and would be one of the major challenges in a mobile port of a higher-end console/pc game, but the assets/resources would be copied over and no work on that beyond ensuring it looks fine on the target resolution and framerate; maybe even with the use of automated AI upscaling/downscaling to reduce that workload even further. I find it safe to assume a straight port doesn't usually require the same or more amount of work as the original

Krauerking,

Yup the switch mortal Kombat 1 port likely used a tool to just downgrade and straight port the game over and this it didn’t actually run particularly well and was a stupid and low effort port… but someone still made that game before that was done.

So if they want to shoot themselves in the foot and cripple their own launch and game with bad performance that’s their own issue and one that is a separate conversation to them charging what they think is appropriate for their brand new game.

DigitalPaperTrail,

that's kinda the crux of my spiel though, what they charge communicates what they believe the work is worth, and they're either saying the previous work is worth less now, or this lesser amount of work is worth more

I agree, they have the right to charge what they want, but what they communicate with the price feels like spitting in the face of their playerbase, which, again, they have the right to do

and yeah, MK1 on switch is rough, and feels like they just ported over as much of the graphics engine as they could, and completely turned off all the fancier effects. Then they downscaled all the assets on top of that to make it super oof

NuPNuA,

Exactly, people have been buying worse switch ports for higher prices than the PS/XB versions for the portability for years now, phones shouldn’t be different if it’s a playable port optimised for them.

qwertyqwertyqwerty,

I understand your perspective, but the way I see it, it’s like renting a movie at home versus seeing it in a theater. For some people, the extra money to go to a theater is worth it. I’m not paying $20+ to see a movie once at home though, and especially not to see it on my phone. Discounted price for a discounted experience. If they want to charge $20 for the mobile version, and $40 for MacOS, then I’d be way more likely to try a triple-A game on a phone.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

But you get it with no compromises on MacOS, so why would they discount the price there? This is buy once, play "anywhere" (anywhere that's good for Apple). You don't pay less for a game you only play on a Steam Deck either.

qwertyqwertyqwerty,

Sure, then $20 for the mobile app, and $60 for MacOS (which should include a mobile copy). That would work for me too. I don’t have a Steam Deck, but I for sure would not pay full price for a game just to play on the Steam Deck.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

I think the Switch and the Steam Deck have shown that portable games are worth every bit as much as non-portable, but in both of these cases, they output easily to the larger experience at home. I think Apple is providing that too. $60 still makes sense to me, since you're always buying the MacOS version which includes a mobile copy, which you said was acceptable.

qwertyqwertyqwerty,

What if you don’t have a Mac though, the MacOS copy is going to waste. I think Nintendo games are far too expensive as well. I own some, but I’m not happy with the price of the games (my kids love them though).

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

It's not a Mac OS copy and an iOS copy any more than I have a Steam Deck copy of a game and a desktop copy of a game. From what I can tell, it's the same thing. Obviously this is beneficial for Apple keeping you in their ecosystem, but this serves the same function. Quite frankly, I'm not sure why you'd have an iPhone if you don't have a Mac, but I know plenty of people do.

qwertyqwertyqwerty,

I’m not sure why you’d have an iPhone if you don’t have a Mac

iPhones outsell MacBooks something like 10:1. The majority of people with iPhones, if they are playing games not on their phone, are using consoles and/or PC’s.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

Oh yeah, I'm aware. But the value proposition of an iPhone doesn't make sense to me if you don't also have a Mac.

qwertyqwertyqwerty,

I guess that depends. A lot of flagship phones are reaching $1k+ these days, and I rely on my phone for a TON of things. I need the support, battery life, and I enjoy the Apple ecosystem (not just my MacBook, but the watch and AirPods too). I’ve found it made sense for me. I guess the value of things really depends on the buyer’s perspective.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

Wait, so you do have a Macbook. Maybe it's not M1, but if you enjoy that part of the ecosystem, you'll probably upgrade to one at some point. At which point, that gives you a "Mac copy" of the game too.

qwertyqwertyqwerty,

Oh, yeah. Sorry if I didn’t mention that. I have an M1 Pro. I still wouldn’t play the game on my MacBook. I have an ultra wide screen and there’s no way my Mac would run the game well. I have a gaming desktop that is much more suitable for desktop gaming.

ampersandrew,
@ampersandrew@kbin.social avatar

Heh, honestly, this is the problem with Apple's value proposition when it comes to gaming. You'll see elsewhere in this thread that I don't think Apple has shown they know how to really make a solid gaming offering, and this is a large part of why.

Erdrick,

Yeah, the confusion by everyone around this pricing is really counterintuitive.
The product is exactly the same as its console / PC counterpart.
How well it runs on Apple products remains to be seen.
I for sure would not opt for it since I have a high end gaming PC.
Also, especially considering how Apple pulls products from their stores w/o refund…

I do hope that this sells somewhat well and opens the door for more developers to release their games on iOS / Mac.
I still think that Apple could build a proper gaming rig / console, but are in the chicken / egg situation still.

ObiGynKenobi,

Apple is no doubt considering moving more heavily into the gaming space. They’re looking for more revenue streams to keep feeding the corporate fantasy of perpetual growth, and there are only so many sweat shop laborers they can exploit. Wouldn’t surprise me at all for them to buy a publisher like EA and create some steam competitor (or just leverage the Mac app store).

NuPNuA,

This is what MS are gearing up to fight with their acquisitions and infrastructure. If you can buy a game on iTunes and it works across your Mac, AppleTV, iPhone, etc, then they need to have the same in the Xbox brand across console, PC, cloud, etc. Sony are only now putting games on PC years late and that business model is looking tired already, multi device is the future.

ObiGynKenobi,

It’s a compelling proposition, and not one Microsoft can compete with. At least not in the mobile/tablet space. Cloud gaming is all well and good, but native hardware will always be superior. Microsoft is crazy not to be considering a 1st party handheld like the steam deck. Or at least a gaming-centric UI for small screen devices. Even just integrating something like the Xbox UI would be an improvement.

NuPNuA,

I think they’re banking on the handheld PC market picking up for that. Obviously Steamdeck was a non-starter for native as it uses Linux, but they threw their weight behind the ROG Ally and packaged that with several months of Gamepass.

NuPNuA,

That’s pretty good. Play anywhere across an ecosystem is always the right move. Sony expecting people to double dip on PS5/PC releases is going to look pretty old pretty soon.

Aielman15, do games w PS5 Homescreen Now Replaces Unique Video Game Art With Annoying Ads You Can’t Turn Off
@Aielman15@lemmy.world avatar

Sony looking at the rotting corpse of Xbox and taking notes. But only the wrong ones.

BenReilly97,

At least Microsoft hasn’t announced a marginally improved $700 pro console that doesn’t even come with the disk drive.

Yet.

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

I wonder if anybody remembers when it leaked Microsoft had a concept of a plan about restrictions on Xbox discs (used/shared), everyone gasped, Sony mocked them in a video about “sharing discs” on PS4 and became a turning point in the console wars…

Even a decade later: Remove discs at your peril! Half the reason I’ve even bought consoles is for Blu-ray movies (still unbeatable AV quality). Sony won both the console and disc drive wars FFS! Still not enough. “Line must go up more!”

I hope MS is at least mocking them back right now, for giggles. Before announcing a very similar thing next year…

nickwitha_k,

Generally, I find that the discs often little more than licenses and require the actual have to be downloaded.

med,

Yeah, but how long until it doesn’t come with a power brick, and you have to supply your own?

nickwitha_k,

I mean, if it has USB PD, that could be a not so unreasonable thing. That is, supposing USB PD supplies as outlets become common.

med,

I was interested to know if that could work, supply wise.

According to these articles, the series x and the 5 pro aim to draw around 200W in-game.

USB-PD 3.1 (honestly, fuck the USB naming standard, seriously.) can allow for 240W draw.

So, kinda yeah?

nickwitha_k,

Yeah. It’s crazy to think that USB can now handle 240W. And yes, the naming conventions are terribad but, at least the standards are actually open, unlike VESA’s.

med,

Amen!

slaacaa, (edited )

They are doing this because a rotten corpse doesn’t force them to compete, they can do whatever they want. If MS didn’t shit the bed with the Series X/S, Sony would be trying harder to please customers, or at least not actively screwing them (see also: 800 EUR PS5 Pro without disc drive or vertical stand).

Empricorn, do games w Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date May Have Just Accidentally Been Revealed by...Gameshark

Can I get a bigger headline that reads “GameShark still exists!” Because that is bigger news.

SnotFlickerman,

Next you’ll tell me Game Genie is still around!

son_named_bort,

I have bad news…

magic_lobster_party,

That the Game Genie IP now belongs to EA?

f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4,

A la carte

0 through 8: $0.99 each

9 through D: $1.29 each

E & F: $1.99 each

Individual codes: $4.99

Bundles

Master code (per game): $9.99

All available codes (per game): $49.99

Extras

Ability to quick enable/disable codes: $19.99

H_Interlinked,

Wiki says they’re under ownership by Mad Catz, which made me think “Mad Catz still exists?”

PotentialProblem,

Apparently it’s called AI Shark now! Because it uses AI to cheat!

CerineArkweaver,

“GameShark… Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a looong time… a long time…”

PrinzKasper, do games w Creator of Bloodborne 60fps Patch Says Sony Has Sent Him a DMCA Takedown — but Why Now?
@PrinzKasper@feddit.org avatar

Sony would rather flush hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain that was Concord than give fans one of the easiest layups imaginable by putting Bloodborne on PS5 and PC

MarcomachtKuchen, do games w Smash Bros. Creator Masahiro Sakurai Quits YouTube With Final Video Teasing Mystery New Game

Silksong confirmed.

VaultBoyNewVegas, do games w World of Warcraft Subscription Numbers Are Higher Now Than at Expansion Launch in a Franchise First

First time I played WoW I liked that you were given a guided tour of your races homeland as it explained the world. The last time I played WoW I had to to a tutorial island that explained nothing about the world and then dumped me in an expansion with characters I had no fucking idea who they were and why I should care about them. Even ESO doesn’t prevent new players from playing the base storyline and FFXIV still requires you to complete ARR before moving to the first expansion. I dropped WoW pretty quickly again because I felt too lost.

lorty,
@lorty@lemmy.ml avatar

It’s not a game for people that care about story or even the setting past the visuals and superficial vibes.

Trashboat, (edited )

I started playing recently ish having never played WoW before, and good god the intro feels practically designed to drive new players away. The tutorial was so tedious and boring and taught me so little about how to actually play that I’m still not even entirely sure what I’m really supposed to do or how to even begin to understand the story/timeline. The game as a whole just feels so needlessly difficult and obtuse, I’ve ended up really just logging on every once in awhile for events to grab any cute pets or whatever mounts the game will graciously allow me to get without buying a sub

Anticorp,

Wait, they just give you mounts now? You used to have to wait until level 20 to buy a mount. Level 20 took forever, and then you could only buy the slow mount for your race. You didn’t get a fast mount until level 40, which took a very long time. Then you had to grind reputation for different factions to buy their expensive mounts. Some rare mounts could be found through seasonal events or in raids. I ran Tempest Keep every week for 2.5 years before I finally got Ashes of Al’ar to drop for me.

Aganim, (edited )

You used to have to wait until level 20 to buy a mount. Level 20 took forever, and then you could only buy the slow mount for your race. You didn’t get a fast mount until level 40, which took a very long time.

Ha, rookie numbers. In my time you had to wait for level 40 to buy your slow mount. Fast mounts were bound to level 60 I believe and were insanely expensive (I sold so much stuff in the auction house to get the money together in those days). Around level 20 or 30 Hunters got an aspect which increased their running speed and druids could shapeshift to travel form.

Anticorp,

Yeah, I started playing at the beginning of Lich King. I started with a mage, but my first level capped player was a hunter.

Aradina,
@Aradina@lemmy.ml avatar

Holidays and events have mounts available as rewards and have for quite a long time. The headless horseman mount for example.

therealjcdenton,

Correction: final fantasy xiv requires you to play ALL of the story to get to the rest of the playerbase, which is, and I’m not exaggerating, probably 700 hours

snugglesthefalse,

Oh yeah it’s a slog, the great divider that everyone has to overcome. They need to do another pass on reducing the amount of stuff and one of the problems is that buried in the trivial ARR stuff is some important information for later. It’s sadly in a state of “just wait, it gets good after the first season”.

VaultBoyNewVegas,

I know. It’s the only MMO I stay actively subscribed too. I pre-ordered endwalker digital collectors edition and will be doing the same for dawntrail. It’s one of my favorite games.

asmoranomar,

You are exaggerating. You can complete the entire MSQ up to EW in less than 3 days in-game playtime. Source: You can find raiders with alts that have sprout icons, and I’ve done it myself twice.

But I get it, you need to know exactly what to do and skip cutscenes. You also can’t do any side questing and once you leave an area, never look back. Which most would rightly criticize me for suggesting. The story is good.

Honestly, if the concern is anything other than the story, it’s probably not the game for you anyways.

I’d also like to point out that most content is built to be relevant, so you’ll be doing content with the rest of the player base in just a few hours of playtime. We have the opposite queue problem in contrast to other games: You aren’t waiting for other new players to show up to complete content; you are waiting for the servers to fit you into a party that hundreds of other players of various levels want to also do.

therealjcdenton,

I’m not because it took me that long to compete the msq

rimjob_rainer,

You are exaggerating, I played it all and it took somewhere between 200 and 300 hours (including side content and most raids at least once).

therealjcdenton,

Did you skip the cutscenes? Some of them are 15-30 minutes

rimjob_rainer, (edited )

No

Edit: sorry I just found where I can view my playtime on PlayStation, it was 413 hours without endwalker

rimjob_rainer,

Same for me, I wanted to introduce someone into WoW during COVID and for nostalgia reasons, only to see that they took away the adventure and exploration and transformed it into a soulless husk. I dropped it immediately.

Cybersteel,
@Cybersteel@lemmy.world avatar

You seem to be knowledgeable about FF so I ask, is it a good time to start playing? I feel like there’s a lot to get through before I can get current in time for the new expansion. Is there something I can boost like in wow to get current. Without that then while I can afford it, it still feels bad to pay a sub for old content ya know.

VaultBoyNewVegas,

No. No way to skip the story as far as I’m aware and it’d be a bad idea honestly as the story continues right from ARR to all the expansions, endwalker has a lot of callbacks to everything before it as it’s a swansong of something like 8 years. Dawntrail is the first new major story arc since FFXIV’s release. Leveling isn’t so bad currently because it’s boosted to get as many people to 90 as much as possible but there’s no max level item either as far as I’m aware as you pick a class then that class becomes a specialisation so you’re constantly getting new abilities to learn for your rotation. It would defeat the point of learning your specialisation if you skipped the leveling and quests of it to max level and had everything unlocked.

ArtVandelay,
@ArtVandelay@lemmy.world avatar

You can definitely skip the story and reach level cap instantly. na.finalfantasyxiv.com/tales_of_adventure/

However, you will have no idea how mechanics work, and you will frustrate both yourself and team mates. This could even get you reported as trolling in extreme cases.

Edit: it also only skips one expansion at a time, and at $11 USD per expansion, that’s $44 and you STILL only get to Endwalker. No skip for that yet, although I bet there will be when Dawntrail drops. Still, why pay $55 to skip the game? That’s insane.

helenslunch, do games w The Epic Games Store Officially Launches on Mobile Devices
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I hate Epic and won’t buy any of their games but I respect that they’ve taken Apple, Google, and Samsung to the cleaners over this shit.

partial_accumen,

Nothing prevented Epic from opening their own Appstore on Android. Heck, Amazon runs their own you can load on your Android phone if you want.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

None of that means Google wasn’t exploiting anticompetitive measures to ensure everyone has to pay their exorbitant 30% tax in their app store. At least, that’s what the State of California determined when Epic took them to court.

partial_accumen,

I’m pointing out that what the article is showing (Epic opening their own app store) was always an option for them. The court ruling on Google’s app store didn’t enable that. It was always an option. This isn’t true on the Apple side, though. A non-Apple app store on iOS would be a significant change.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I know all of that. I’m not sure why you replied to me though.

partial_accumen,

Your comment was:

they’ve taken Apple, Google, and Samsung to the cleaners over this shit.

The article is talking about a new app store. A new app store wasn’t part of “this shit”. Yes, Epic sued and got changes to Google’s app store pricing, but that has nothing to do with this article’s topic. I’m not that invested in this conversation, but you asked why I responded and that’s why. I hope you have a fantastic day!

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Months after the initial announcement, the prolific game and technology company announced today that the Epic Games Store is now available for iOS and Android devices.

Read better.

partial_accumen,

Read better.

Oh my, this is embarrassing for you. Look at my very first line in my quote:

"Nothing prevented Epic from opening their own Appstore on Android. "

So is this where I tell you to “read better”?

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Oh my, this is embarrassing for you. Look at your previous comment:

The article is talking about a new app store. A new app store wasn’t part of “this shit”.

It very clearly is. Read better.

partial_accumen,

My whole thread was specifically about Android. You know what? You’re looking to salvage a victory out of this based upon pedantry. If you’re that bad off that you need that, go ahead and take the win if you can call it that. I hope your circumstances get better in the future.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

This isn’t your thread, it’s mine. You replied to me. My comment was clearly about Apple (among others). The OP was about Apple. There’s nothing I need to “salvage”. Have a nice day.

Nibodhika,

The iOS version also has nothing to do with their lawsuit of Apple, they lost that one. It’s due to an unrelated law in the EU, which is why this is only available in the EU.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

There’s absolutely no way it is a coincidence and unrelated. Epic drew attention to it. EU followed through.

rowdyrockets,

So your source is just a gut feeling? Back it up

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

My source is basic logic and reason, what’s yours?

rowdyrockets,

Someone already sent you the link to DMA and you responded with “coincidence”. Your logic has failed you

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I don’t need a link to the DMA. I’ve known about it since before it existed. If you think it is coincidence that it was created shortly after the Epic v Apple lawsuit while addressing the exact same problem, your logic has failed you. Still waiting on your source.

rowdyrockets,

No that’s the point, it’s not a coincidence. Epic games had nothing to do with the rulings of a foreign government. I’m glad we can agree.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

I don’t think you understand the meaning of “coincidence”.

rowdyrockets,

A bit hypocritical given you’ve been the one using “coincidence” as a source. What I’m trying to tell you is there is not any documented proof for what you are saying - fuck, maybe you’re right. But you can’t go around spouting “facts” because you find the timing too coincidental. There has been no mention of Epic Games in any court documentation regarding Apple’s violation of DMA.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

A bit hypocritical given you’ve been the one using “coincidence” as a source.

I don’t think you understand the meaning of “hypocritical”.

you can’t go around spouting “facts” because you find the timing too coincidental.

I never said it was a “fact”. Just an incredibly obvious observation.

there is not any documented proof for what you are saying

Nor is there any for what you’re saying. Proof for either doesn’t exist but only an irrational person is going to look at the correlation staring you in the face and say it’s a coincidence (which is in fact what you’re doing, BTW).

rowdyrockets,

Ah it’s clear you can’t be communicated with. See you in another life!

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Glad we had this little chat!

Nibodhika,

The EU has had digital legislations since long before that lawsuit. Or do you think Epic is also responsible for GDPR?.

So you think that the European commission saw a lawsuit in a different country and decided “We need that” then rushed to write the entirety of DMA in less than 4 months. If you think DMA and Epic lawsuits are related the most possible order of events is that Epic saw what was going to be passed in the EU and decided to suit Apple and Google to get the same in the USA

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

…are you not aware that GDPR and DMA are not the same thing?

Nibodhika,

Never claimed they were, I pointed out that DMA is not in a void, EU has multiple laws in that direction, DMA is an extension of GDPR.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Never claimed they were

I think it’s pretty clear you were implying they were somehow related when they’re clearly not.

DMA is an extension of GDPR.

No it is not.

Nibodhika,

Somehow related is pretty far away from claiming they are the same thing.

First of all they’re both consumer protection laws related to IT, which was my point that EU already has a track of enforcing these kinds of law, and it has nothing to do with one irrelevant lawsuit in the US.

But also GDPR is a law to protect customers data, after it was enforced and people saw the big companies were not untouchable other laws started to be discussed to further regulate them. Parallel to this the DSM was being enforced, part of which has the P2B Regulations, which regulates unfair contracts and trading practices. After both of these came into effect a new law, which is essentially the child of these two, started being discussed which would regulate how large companies corner the market and other abusive practices. To think that this law has nothing to do with GDPR but instead is because of a random lawsuit some random company lost in some random country is ridiculous.

Zorque,

You mean the same fee every store under the sun charges? Epic is the only one that doesn’t, and they pretty much just do it for marketing.

They are not the good guys. They’re Elon Musk before he took the mask off, though it slips through now and then.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

You mean the same fee every store under the sun charges?

Yes, that one.

They are not the good guys.

Didn’t say they were.

They’re Elon Musk before he took the mask off

Don’t know what mask you speak of. Timmy has never had one.

Zorque,

So you just repeat his talking points because you believe in him?

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

…huh?

Zorque,

None of that means Google wasn’t exploiting anticompetitive measures to ensure everyone has to pay their exorbitant 30% tax in their app store.

Something he repeats ad nauseum.

I find it hard to believe someone so invested in this outcome knows nothing about it.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Something he repeats ad nauseum.

Just because he says it doesn’t instantly make it false…It’s absolutely true.

I find it hard to believe someone so invested in this outcome knows nothing about it.

I don’t know who or what this sentence is supposed to be referencing. No one doesn’t know anything about this. We all seem to understand what the problem is except you.

Nibodhika,

The state of California also determined that 30% tax was okay for Apple to charge, so they’re not very objective with their determinations.

Rose,

One was a jury trial and the other wasn’t. Google had plenty of records of their internal communications but Apple had a different practice. This article by The Verge does a decent job at highlighting the differences.

trolololol,

Yep it’s so true that they did it many years ago. This journo must be on drugs.

ColeSloth,

Yeah. I’ve had Amazon’s for a very long time. There was never anything preventing epic from making their own store. Epic was trying to make Google play store host the download for the epic game store.

Stovetop,

It’s a bit more than that, though. Epic lost their lawsuit against Apple but they won theirs against Google.

Google was colluding with OEMs to stifle competition on Android, and that practice was determined to be anticompetitive. Sure you could always jump through the Google-mandated hoops and install a third-party store, but then you could also always install other browsers on Windows even when Internet Explorer was the default, and that was also determined to be anticompetitive.

ColeSloth,

Which is silly, since Apple has gone beyond colluding, and simply blocks everything they can within their walled garden. You’ve never even had the option to install other app stores or sideload apps on an iPhone. Meanwhile, you’ve always been able to on Android. For the past several years it will even hold your hand and highlight/show you what options you need to allow to do it within the OS.

Stovetop,

I agree, but that’s what the courts decided. IANAL but I’m assuming it hinges on the pretense that Android is supposed to be an open ecosystem where partners and OEMs are given fair treatment, while iOS is a top-to-bottom “product” controlled by a single company that makes their own business arrangements.

In short, Apple deciding to block Epic from having their own app store, fine. Google bribing/coercing Android OEMs to prioritize the Play Store and not pre-install or facilitate the Epic Store, not fine.

I don’t think the courts would have cared if Google locked down their own Pixel phones to block out Epic, but it’s the act of throwing their weight around as the OS provider to their business partners (the OEMs) that they took issue with.

cordlesslamp,

The only good thing came out of Fortnite is the money to fund those lawsuits.

Nibodhika,

But they didn’t. Let’s look at the facts:

  1. There are alternative stores on Android since forever.
  2. From 1, Opening a secondary store on Android was always an option.
  3. 30% they claim is abusive is the industry standard, i.e. no one is taking advantage of their monopoly to enforce that, because even in markets without a monopoly that’s the amount charged.
  4. Epic lost their lawsuit against Apple, which was the only company he was suing that actually enforced a monopoly in their platform.
  5. Secondary stores are allowed on Apple in the EU as a result of DMA which has nothing to do with Epic.
  6. From 5, Opening a secondary store on Apple is now an option regardless of what Epic did.

So you have one company that sued two others to be able to launch their store there, one of the companies wasn’t preventing them from doing so, and they lost their lawsuit against the other one. Completely unrelated to that, the EU forced that second company to allow third-party stores. Conclusion, Epic’s lawsuit has nothing to do with this announcement.

helenslunch,
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

Let’s look at the facts

Yes, lets.

There are alternative stores on Android since forever.

I’ve already addressed this in other replies below. This goes beyond the existence of app store and into the abusive nature of them. Here’s some light reading for you.

Opening a secondary store on Android was always an option.

You’re just repeating yourself. Number go up, I guess?

30% they claim is abusive is the industry standard

Your parents should have taught you when you were 5 that just because other people are doing it doesn’t make it okay.

Epic lost their lawsuit against Apple

Well the EU picked up where the US failed. That’s why they have an app store. But Epic continues the fight regardless. As mentioned elsewhere, they won their lawsuit against Google with the state of California stating Google’s app store is indeed a monopoly. Epic is responsible for both.

as a result of DMA which has nothing to do with Epic.

Highly doubt that that is a coincidence. It has everything to do with Epic.

Apple is now an option regardless of what Epic did.

You’re repeating yourself again.

Conclusion, Epic’s lawsuit has nothing to do with this announcement.

Conclusion, you are wrong.

Nibodhika,

I’ve already addressed this in other replies below. This goes beyond the existence of app store and into the abusive nature of them. Here’s some light reading for you.

Irrelevant, the news from OP is that secondary stores are now allowed on Android and iOS. Not defending Google or anything, but whatever abuse they did is irrelevant to this point. The fact remains, other stores exist on Android.

You’re just repeating yourself. Number go up, I guess?

No, 2 is a conclusion from 1. You didn’t even got through 1 properly trying to bring whatever bad things Google might do with their power, fact 1 is there are other stores on Android, fact 2, which is a conclusion derived from fact 1 is that Epic could have released their own store there regardless of the lawsuit. This takes Android off the picture from the remaining of the discussion.

Your parents should have taught you when you were 5 that just because other people are doing it doesn’t make it okay.

That’s not the point, if someone claims that a company is using their monopoly power to force a high tax on developers, but the tax is the same on every other store regardless of being monopoly or not then their argument is bullshit. Why do you think developers pay 30% to Steam? If they thought Steam didn’t provided value they would just not release there. But they do, therefore 30% is not abusive, it’s what developers are willing to pay for the service.

Well the EU picked up where the US failed. That’s why they have an app store. But Epic continues the fight regardless. As mentioned elsewhere, they won their lawsuit against Google with the state of California stating Google’s app store is indeed a monopoly. Epic is responsible for both.

No they didn’t, DMA is an extension of GDPR and P2B Regulations, it has nothing to do with Epic.

Highly doubt that that is a coincidence. It has everything to do with Epic.

Like I told you in your other reply, laws as complex as DMA don’t get written in a short amount of time, it’s impossible for these to be related.

You’re repeating yourself again.

Again, I’m drawing a conclusion from a point before. From 1 you have 2 which means the lawsuit has nothing to do with Android, and from 5 you have 6 which means their lawsuit had nothing to do with iOS either, since those are the two platforms being discussed we have the overall conclusion that the lawsuits and this announcement are unrelated.

You haven’t disproven any of the propositions, nor found any logical error with the conclusion from those propositions (in fact both times you thought the conclusion was just a repetition of the proposition before). Just claiming I’m wrong is not gonna cut it, unless you have any facts that counter anything I said my conclusion stands.

bungle_in_the_jungle, do games w Bungie CEO Claims Layoffs Were Due to Destiny 2 Underperformance - IGN

Man, how about you rather try to not make the game an insufferable grind fest. I love the gameplay so much, but each time I decide to log back in and give it another go it doesn’t take long before that fun layer is peeled back and I see the grind lurking underneath.

echo64,

the grind keeps attach rate though, it’s no good for them if you log in, have fun, do the stuff and log out again for six months

this is what all these GaaS are based around, I gotta grind this magical stick, I gotta grind Diamond, I gotta grind this battlepass or I’m losing money!

probablyaCat,

Honestly if I could play all of the game without having to grind like a fucking mad man, I'd probably regularly buy expansions and pay for a season pass.

I love the coop. I love the gunplay. I love most of the game except the grind.But I have kids and real life shit to do. I tried getting back into it during witch queen, but the amount of time I had to spend daily on it made it damn near impossible to play the dungeons and stuff. I had a little extra free time when I did that too. By the time I managed to hit the cap, I realized I was not having any fun doing it. So I quit. Had a clan I liked chatting and playing with. It was cool. But I'm just not going to keep paying for and playing a game that just feels like a tedious as fuck job.

echo64,

sure, so here’s the reality check.

you aren’t profitable to these GaaS companies, you have kids and real life shit to do. you aren’t gonna bring them in money.

The people bringing in the money do the grind. it’s what all these GaaS games are. I too would enjoy if these studios made traditional games that are made to be enjoyable rather than made to keep attach rates up. but that’s not what they set out to make.

probablyaCat,

I mean I was purchasing the expansions and the season pass. And on games that I feel I'll stick with for a while I even get some cosmetic stuff at times.

I doubt it is even a matter of them measuring the profit. I imagine that a lot of it is they (and many other gaas games that aren't pay to win) are trying to be the only game a person plays. To make them feel devoted to it. Like they would have wasted so much of they give up (sunk cost fallacy) and that by switching games they'll get behind in their main game. Because of they aren't profitable with a repeatedly paid game and season pass off of a person then they have some real bad management. In fact, me paying for a season pass and the expansions and using the server less should make me more profitable than most players except for the whales that buy all the cosmetics too. Especially when Fortnite and Warframe are f2p and profitable.

echo64,

except for the whales that buy all the cosmetics too. Especially when Fortnite and Warframe are f2p and profitable.

🔔 🔔 🔔

people paying for the cosmetics, and the battlepasses are the profit generators for GaaS games. Destiny just keeps their expansion setup because it’s even more extra money

think about it. Fortnite is free to play, and it’s funded epic games basically singlehandedly since, all the aquasitions, unreal engine, their store. it’s all fortnite money, it’s all battlepass and microtransactions

c0mbatbag3l,
@c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world avatar

That’s because they’re only making games for the whales who grew up thinking they have to be constantly unlocking a battle pass to have fun.

The game used to just be fun.

Now we only gave the indies making new ideas.

echo64,

Fun fact this isn’t true! You can play games outside of gaas without relying only on indies.

I’m playing alan wake 2, and it’s fantastic and full of new ideas. Are you?

Callie,
@Callie@pawb.social avatar

Also not gatekeeping modes and content I already paid for if I can’t afford the newest expansion, and just straight up removing content that was paid for

wccrawford,

I hate grind, but I used to enjoy just playing D2 weekly, way beyond the weekly content.

Then they decided that literally everything needed to be a slog, and that being overpowered was bad, and they ruined my fun. I went from 80 hr weeks (I know this isn’t healthy) to 1 hour weeks over the course of a couple seasons. I still spent a lot of time after the launch of the latest DLC, but after that was done, and they upped the base difficulty by removing the effect of levels on almost all base content, I struggled to stay engaged. This season, I just gave up. I’ve got like 15 levels, when I usually have 200-300 in the battle pass.

I’m not saying they don’t have a grind problem, too, but it wasn’t what killed it for me.

simple, do games w 'Xbox Hardware Is Dead,' Says Founding Team Member, 'It Looks Like Xbox Has No Desire — Or Literally Can't — Ship Hardware Anymore' - IGN
@simple@piefed.social avatar

"And here's the thing — maybe it will work," she added. "Xbox has a deep portfolio. [Oblivion Remastered] was obviously a huge success, and they can continue to outsource that work to external companies and make a lot of money releasing their older games — older games from an era when Xbox knew how to build them."

Shots fired. Despite Microsoft constantly claiming Xbox is here to stay and they're working on the next console, it's very clear they're trying to transition off hardware back into Windows so they don't lose that too since Linux is dominating the handheld market. Even if they do make a new console, theyll put as much effort into it as the Xbox One.

Derpenheim,

the xbone was the last console I bought. Soured the pot so bad on what I enjoyed about console gaming. I already had a PC, but still enjoyed the couch casual sessions that seemingly don’t exist, and haven’t for over a decade

otacon239,

I’ve just had my gaming PC hooked up to my living room TV for the last several years. I have a lower power desktop on my room for anything that isn’t gaming. I can’t imagine buying one of the modern consoles just for their limitations alone.

Plus I just wait a few years and 95% of the explained make their way to PC anyway.

riskable,
@riskable@programming.dev avatar

Microsoft is trying to make Xbox into Windows: Where 3rd parties make the hardware and then license the platform from Microsoft. It’s a vastly more profitable model. Especially if they get all those end users signed up for a subscription service.

The problem is that the world thinks of “Xbox” as a console (and a specific kind of controller). To pull this off Microsoft is going to have to re-brand Xbox entirely by making people think of it more like a game-specific app store that runs on Windows and special handheld hardware. It won’t be easy.

There’s a bigger problem with this plan though: No real coordination with the Windows OS team. Windows on handhelds sucks. The past twenty fucking years of Windows development has been almost entirely focused on improving enterprise features with very little attention paid to end users or gaming.

Growth in Windows gaming has come despite Microsoft’s investments. Not because of them. In fact, I’d argue that if it weren’t for Steam, Windows—as a gaming platform—would be a fraction of what it is today.

Don’t get me wrong, though! I love this new Xbox roadmap! Windows gaming has been holding back Linux desktop adoption for far too long. The latest benchmarks that show games on SteamOS vastly outperforming the new Xbox-branded handhelds pretty clearly demonstrates all that bashing of Windows by Linux nerds was deeply accurate.

It turns out that Linux on the desktop really is superior! 🤣

Psythik, (edited )

So basically they’re trying to do what Trip Hawkins did with the 3DO in 1993. In order for that to work, you’re going to have to convince people to pay PC hardware prices first. Two issues:

  1. Third party manufacturers aren’t going to sell at a loss,
  2. Sony will continue to sell their consoles at a loss, which means everyone will just buy their consoles instead.
Baggie,

Funnily enough though they’re also potentially losing desktop users to Linux.

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