I think their main problem was that it was again reliant on the same ramp up that is typical for Pre-Patch events.
The lack of communication in that left people assuming that the current speed of acquisition was all there was, when most likely there was no worry about missing out even if you joined in the last week. People with alts also had a massive advantage.
Could have all been solved with more communication. While you can’t make two first impressions, it still seems like a fun enough event and the rewards are neat. Not enough to play the game just for the event, but I doubt that that’s ever the intent behind these. They’re just there to set the mood a bit for the upcoming release.
This really does not sound healthy. The game is released, for a certain amount of money. If people don’t like what they get for their money, they simply should not buy it....
I just had flashbacks to Dead State. It was a AA title written by one of the guys from Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines so I was watching it closely during development.
Suddenly, it went from EA to full release. I was surprised, but picked it up without reading many reviews.
I enjoyed the game and put maybe 15 hours into it, but then I had to move and had to pack up my PC for a few weeks. By the time I got settled and booted it up, it had gotten a massive patch which fixed a ton of bugs, filled in missing content like item descriptions and a bunch of other polish that would typically be done during pre-launch.
Meanwhile, one of the devs had gotten into a high profile pissing match with the community over accusations they had rushed it out the door. I normally try to sympathize with devs over a reactive community, but I couldn’t help feel like I got punished for buying the game at launch and experiencing those relatively non-replayable opening hours in a non-optimal (Dead) state.
Investing a bunch of time into Erdtree. I think some of the bosses probably need a bit of tweaking, in particular Rellana seems to be a spot where lots of folks are struggling. I wonder if someone will figure out the Scaudtree fragment mitigation/dmg boost, but there’s definitely a lack of pre-Rellana fragments or just a general struggle with this boss based on how quickly you can get summoned and how quickly people seem to just straight up die when fighting this boss lmao. Took a lot of tries to down him the first time myself but I also haven’t touched this game since release and I played through it pretty quick.
Tips for Rellana if you're strugglingA lot of his attacks won’t drain a ton of stamina, bring a shield and start to learn his move set. In general rolling into him, especially to the right or left is useful for many attacks. Many of Rellana’s moves are also parryable, bring a shield with golden parry or carrian retaliation. Be sure you’re running a heavy fire and heavy magic reduction talisman. Two big points to watch for. When he enters second phase, the animation is good for a solid punish. If you punish him he’ll almost always do the flame pillar move, so punish and roll back a few times. When he jumps in the air with two blue orbs, get ready to jump 3 times or have a good shield and full stamina. You might want to run a bit away from him to make timing the jumps easier.
I’m just generally pretty skeptical of DLC; I feel like sure, there are some good examples of actual “expansions” but that a lot of DLC is just cynical nickle-and-diming pushed by publishers.
I’m even more skeptical of season passes, which feels like pre-ordering DLC. I don’t pre-order anything, and barely keep up with modern gaming, because it feels like disappointment after disappointment.
I also feel a little negative about a developer releasing something and even months before launch having one eye on DLC. I understand it probably works that way in terms of development timelines, and I understand that it can be a good way to keep employees working on something productive, but I can’t help but feel like I’m not getting as full a game as I could have.
It’s just my opinion tho, and I’m definitely not saying everyone has to agree!
Budokai Tenkaichi 3 on Wii is my favourite DBZ game of all time, so I hope this lives up to it. That game had a massive roster, with the ability to transform and fuse characters mid-match, so I hope that’s still a feature.
I’m just worried that they’ll chop up the characters and release them piecemeal as DLC. Seeing Gogeta and Broly as pre-order bonuses makes me think this’ll be the case, but they’re just “early-unlock” so maybe they’re in the game anyway but the pre-order just gives you access to them from the start.
It looks like that takes care of the worst of the initial bugs, at least those that I experienced. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this game develops from here, especially now that the developer is unexpectedly rich after just the first day of sales. It sounds like he already had a great track record of listening to his community during the pre-release alpha testing, so that’s encouraging.
That one’s Indiana Jones and the staff of kings, which has nothing to do with this title. This one was in pre-production in 2021, announced the same year, and revealed in early 2024 to be released later the same year.
What is the timeframe in the contract? The quotes only show a tiny excerpt of the whole contract.
I don’t see anything unreasonable about this if the terms expire when the game releases or the review embargo lifts. Reviewers can’t review pre-release copies of games until the embargo lifts.
If the non disparagement clause remains in effect after release, that’s very bad. Impossible to tell which it is from the tiny excerpt provided.
I’m on publisher QA side. Every so often, around this time of year, my company does closed internal playtests for games that are on the pre-alpha release candidate (usually it’s the ones they expect to be blockbusters). Generally when a pre-alpha RC is selected for this, a very small subsection of the game is highly polished to give Users an honest preview of what the devs expect the launch game to be. Obviously since it’s in alpha a lot of things will be changed and there are a lot of game breaking bugs to be found still, but the general experience should still be up for discussion if it was bad. I know it’s possible to imagine a game in alpha as released, because part of my job is to give professional feedback to the producers without ever mentioning unfinished or bugged aspects of the game.
Alpha testing is, by definition, testing on unreleased code. Even though they are offering the testing to some select group of people, it’s still considered un-released.
The only reason you’d make someone sign a legally binding document saying “you’re not allowed to say bad things” is because you know there are bad things to say.
False dichotomy. There is also the possibility that you realize, from experience, that when you start introducing users, unexpected shit happens.
They could do the alpha testing completely internally, or they could give some super fans pre-access with more restrictions on what they are allowed to say. Would I prefer they be able to speak their mind? Of course. But I get why the company would do this and it’s really a complete non-issue.
Sure, they could do an NDA, or they could also get free publicity. It’s reasonable for them to choose the latter, and if you don’t like it, it’s reasonable for you to wait for release.
Preventing people from talking about the bad things won’t magically get rid of the bad things.
Yeah, that’s pretty clearly not the point. They presumably want to fix the bugs without them counting against them in the court of public opinion.
I actually looked into the game because I didn’t know anything about it and figured I should inform myself a bit.
What makes this whole overreacting raging we are seeing here even more funny and ridiculous is that the game is going to be FTP. So basically, once released, anyone can go and try it out, for free, to see whether or not it’s worth any investment by them.
So, yeah, if someone is offering you to pre-order this game, I definitely suggest you not buy it because they are trying to scam you.
Yeah this seems to be something people are missing. These tests sometimes prohibit all reviewing and commenting in their NDAs (including positive ones). It’s a playtest, not a beta, review copy or pre-release.
Cassette Beasts kicks the ever loving shit out of Pokemon across the board, modern or retro.
Retro games weren’t better than modern games as a “full-stop” statement. They tended to be bug-ridden messes, but there was still a heart and soul behind them that tends to be missing in the AAA industry. Continuing on the Pokemon example Red/Blue were an absolute mess. I mean, moves and items that were supposed to massively increase critical hit rate massively decreased them instead. Stat calculations were all over the place. Hell, the ghost-psychic interaction just straight didn’t function as intended. It was a mess, and yet for some reason, it’s touted as “better” than the modern Pokemon games.
Plus, not all big studio games are soulless cash grabs of releases, either. Hi-Fi Rush is my favorite game of 2023 by a huge margin, and was a Bethesda published game. Sure, the dev studio was “smaller” compared to Ubisoft or Activison, but I wouldn’t call the game indie - it was AAA in polish and scale. I’m currently really enjoying Unicorn Overlord, getting major Ogre Battle 64 vibes from it, and playing a lot of Monster Hunter Rise thanks to a Steam sale. These games slap, and have all the depth and passion of games of old without alI of the horrible jank we dealt with in the pre-internet “no such thing as a post-release patch” world.
It’s easy to see the yearly Call of Duty, Pokemon, generic EA sports, and obligatory Ubisoft open world games release and think “man, AAA gaming sucks”, but they’re honestly a very tiny portion of the conversation.
EDIT: I take everything back, Bethesda just closed the studio that made Hi-Fi Rush. AAA gaming is a cancer that needs to be surgically extracted.
I bought it last night and only have a few hours in. So far it’s pretty great though. I look forward to seeing it continue to develop, and according to reviews posted by pre-release testers the developer is very open to community feedback.
It’s definitely not a fully complete game yet, but I expect I’ll get at least a couple weekend binges out of it before I shelve it and wait for more content.
Also, it’s working perfectly in Linux (through Proton) so extra points there.
Meanwhile, FIFA players: “when can I pre-order the next edition of my game, and could I just pay for the cards in advance, or do I have to wait until release?”
Sadly, bamboozling players, dark patterns and nickle-and-diming work, and work VERY well at that - if they didn’t, people would stop doing it a long time ago…
I have memories of FO3 being amazing, but when I try to start a second playthrough, it just feels like a slog and it doesn't pull me back into the groove....
This sounds like average Bethesda experience. I always get hyped by their pre-releases, but I find the actual games to be tedious and boring slogs.
I know it’s down to personal taste, but I think I enjoy a bit more rail-roading and bit less sandbox. Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 are “just right” for me, the story is tight. Bethesda games a bit loosey-goosey (ha!) with their storytelling.
The angry customers and the state of the game are problems.
it's hard to feel sorry for people who pre-ordered because they got exactly what they paid for - a game of unknown quality and quantity of content
it's hard to feel sorry for people who bought post-release because they also got exactly what they paid for - a game where reviews detailed poor quality and quantity of content
customers being disappointed and/or wanting a refund is perfectly reasonable
people wanting the game to be better is also reasonable
people abusing the devs is not reasonable
I'm not going to defend the poor quality of the game because it's obviously bad (from what I gather, anyway - I've not played it myself) and should be improved. But I do think gamers could learn to be a little more responsible with their purchases and inform themselves before buying a game.
I'm pretty over the whole cycle of games coming out and not meeting expectations, people buying them anyway (through pre-orders or day-one purchases), people being unnecessarily rude/hostile/sending death threats to developers as if they were forced to buy the game as gunpoint. Yes, developers should try to do better, yes publishers should often give developers more time to polish up games rather than announcing the release date two years in advance and refusing to delay, but also consumers could really take some responsibility for what they decide to give money to.
I agree it shouldn’t be the ESA’s responsibility. However as it says in the article:
In 2023, the Video Game History Foundation revealed 87 percent of games released pre-2010 were currently not preserved in any capacity. Attempts previously made by the Library of Congress were halted by the ESA, which said it’d rely on publishers to take care of those efforts themselves.
So the ESA have made themselves the problem by halting such attempts
Not sure what you are referring to. The refund policy on Steam is the same for any games, early access or not. The game’s version number or finished state makes no difference.
Maybe you are thinking of the pre-purchase situation, where you can refund up to 14 days after the game’s release, instead of the date of purchase.
World of Warcraft: The War Within's pre-patch event has been fixed, removing 90-minute wait times and turning its weekly quests into account-wide dailies (freedomproject.pages.dev) angielski
Elden Ring is "the limit" for From Software project scale, says Miyazaki - multiple, "smaller" games may be the "next stage" (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
Buy 7 Days to Die at your own risk (lemmy.world) angielski
TL:DR...
Devs should not be "forced to run on a treadmill until their mental or physical health breaks", says publisher of Manor Lords, citing how gamers seem to be trained to expect endless content work now (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
This really does not sound healthy. The game is released, for a certain amount of money. If people don’t like what they get for their money, they simply should not buy it....
Patch 7.0 Notes (Preliminary) (na.finalfantasyxiv.com) angielski
Pre-order access is scheduled to go live at 09:00 UTC on the 28th with the full release following at ~09:00 UTC on the 2nd.
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of June 23rd
Whatcha all playing?...
The First Borderlands Movie Clip Looks Like An SNL Skit (kotaku.com) angielski
Today, during IGN Live, we got our first real look at the Borderlands movie, and folks, I’m not sure this is going to be very good....
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Saints and Sinners Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO - Release Date Announcement (www.youtube.com) angielski
Manor Lords First Major Patch Available Now (www.ign.com) angielski
Avowed and Indiana Jones Previews Are Coming After Xbox Games Showcase (insider-gaming.com) angielski
Marvel Rivals: Content Creators Asked to Sign Contract That Prohibits Saying Anything Negative to Gain Access to Playtest (mp1st.com) angielski
Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest (files.catbox.moe) angielski
On today’s episode of “This shouldn’t be legal”…...
Am I the only person that feels that retro games are better?
Less DRM, smaller filesizes, no stupid anticheat, and no always online bs. Anyone agree with me?
Manor Lords is off to a flying start on Steam, just hours after its early access release (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
'Marketing's dead, and I can back this s**t up': Larian's publishing director says players 'just want to be spoken to, and they don't want to be bamboozled' (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Were all playing Fallout games again. Does the franchise have a "starting the game" problem? (kbin.social) angielski
I have memories of FO3 being amazing, but when I try to start a second playthrough, it just feels like a slog and it doesn't pull me back into the groove....
Cities Skylines 2: "Beach properties assets are all gone and my city is screwed. Thanks a lot." (forum.paradoxplaza.com) angielski
It doesn’t stop. It just never stops.
ESA says members won’t support any plan for libraries to preserve games online (www.gamedeveloper.com)
No Rest For The Wicked's first hotfix addresses durability and repair cost complaints (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski