Professional sports leagues are another example. Put a shit product on the field, you’re going to get shit back from the fans. Every now and then a young star player comes up (especially in American football) that received adulation for years at the college level and suddenly gets faced with jeers. They react like Colossal Order does here and–eventually–learn that they are picking a fight against collective emotional response that they are never going to win.
CO is learning that lesson now. While they can and should take actions against those that cross the line (death threats, etc.), there’s not much in the way of effective corrective action here. It’s all on them. They can a) put out a better product, b) hire community managers with thicker skin that can better assuage their fans, or c) withdraw from community interaction. Most that can’t handle it pick the third option.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m perfectly happy with seeing a creatively bankrupt game if it also eventually means genuine competition in a genre that’s been thin for decades.
Sure, and the amount of lost PBS footage alone due to draconian copyright restrictions borders on criminal.
The point isn’t on the quality of the distribution method. Even if it was, preservation efforts for games that qualify for the concept of game ownership are far more advanced. The point is that when an entertainment industry gets this big, it takes the deaths of multiple generations for the market to dry up.
I always tell people concerned about this sort of thing to look at how cable TV still exists long after obsolescence. The content delivery system won’t dry up before the content you want does (at least not in your lifetime).
Just started Lost Odyssey. I’d heard it was like a Final Fantasy game but I don’t think I was prepared for just how much Final Fantasy X DNA is in the game. Mostly enjoying so far.
I find games that have genuine path branching to be most satisfying for me in the “choices matter” department. Some games that come to mind for this are Tactics Ogre Reborn (or the PSP version), The Witcher 2, Triangle Strategy, and Baldur’s Gate 3.
There are others that have interesting decisions (especially ending/late-game ones) like Deus Ex, The Witcher 3, and Life is Strange, but I’m not sure if those quite have the scope you’re looking for.
While that’s true, specifically avoiding the zeitgeist (read: hype) is the stated goal for patient gaming communities (at least the ones on Reddit and here on Lemmy at !patientgamers). It’s why people pay too much for games that are released unfinished in the first place. And there’s always a popular game out or right around the corner.
Owning physical editions of games can be a problem for patient gamers. As digital distribution continues to expand (even in previously resistant markets such as Japan), we’re again getting to a point where pre-orders may be necessary if you want a physical copy for small releases.
NIS America has also increased prices on their games, although, unlike Factorio, they have sales. Also unlike Factorio, they don’t spout nonsense like “inflation” for the increase. That doesn’t track on a game that already has virtually zero marginal cost and sunk development costs now that development has moved to a paid expansion. Dude would have been better off just announcing the increase and keeping his mouth shut on the rest.
Just finished Alan Wake 2. I’ve never liked survival horror gameplay much so I wasn’t big on that most of the time, but everything else about it was great. I’ve never seen a game use music more effectively.
I think I’ll be heading back to Atelier Meruru this week. Might also give Dave the Diver another shot; I’m a little bummed that I’m not enjoying it as much as everyone else seemed to.
Parasite Eve and Persona 2: EP were always a bit striking to me in this regard especially because they are in modern-day settings. Also, they both don’t have a young child joining the party at any point, which is a thing in a lot of the games in this list.
I’m absolutely smitten with Cobalt Core. It’s been called “FTL meets Slay the Spire,” but I’d say it’s more the former than the latter (which works for me, I liked FTL a lot more). There’s also a dash of Hades-style storytelling. This won’t have the legs StS can have for the deckbuilding nerds, but I’m having a blast with it.
The writing cracks me up, the soundtrack is phenomenal, and the strategy is keeping me engaged. Also, must protect Riggs at all costs. 💜