I’m convinced they had Cyberpunk win it because they don’t have a “Best DLC/Expansion” category (yet) and felt like Cyberpunk deserved to win something for the way 2.0 and Phantom Liberty revitalised it.
BG3 winning the GotY was something we all could see coming I think and even though it’s not my personal pick I’m hard pressed to argue. It’s a great game, it opened up many in the mainstream to a new genre and Larian is a great company with consumer-friendly policies. It’s hard to be mad.
I’m very glad Alan Wake 2 got a couple of awards, though. Hopefully this recognition means Remedy keeps pushing the boundaries and keeps going with their crazy mixed media and weirdness. We need someone doing innovation in the AAA space.
I am a little pissed they lost out on best music to FFXVI though.
When was the last major Rockstar release that came out simultaneously on consoles and PC? Max Payne 3 maybe? I assume it will be console exclusive and then PC a year later.
I don’t know, I think it’s more down to personal preference than that. I get that competitive FPS players want to push frame rates as high as possible, but for me personally I have the exact opposite opinion as you. I have no real need to chase hundreds of FPS, at a stable 60 games feel smooth enough (maybe my eyes are bad). On the other hand, several games have a dramatic improvement in presentation with Ray Tracing on, in my opinion, which I value a lot. Both Cyberpunk and Alan Wake 2 for example look notably better with RT on.
I forgot, you also probably want to get a modded timescale. I made my own custom one, but if you use vanilla you risk getting on the train at midnight and coming back home at sunrise. Here are some to choose from if you don’t want to set up your own.
I used the modded Metro System for my playthrough along with a mod that adds basic primary needs (hunger/thirst/sleep). Many of my favourite moments were realising it was late after doing a gig, hopping on the metro and watching the city as I rode back to the apartment for a night’s sleep.
Small things like that really help me with immersion, so I’m really happy they added this officially.
I’m not convinced by what I’ve seen just yet, but I’m happy we’re getting a game at all and I’m trying to be hopeful. Every fiber in my being is wishing for this to end up a GotY slamdunk after all the developers have been through.
I loved Shadow of Chernobyl and I probably have a couple hundred hours in Anomaly so I will buy it regardless, not least to show my support.
There are so many other games to play that I’m still probably on the plan to postpone my second playthrough until the Definitive Edition comes out (probably next summer), but this is a much needed patch.
The way Larian describes the new epilogue, I’m thinking this is them re-adding some of the “17 000 endings” they were talking about pre launch. In any case, more and better epilogues were sorely needed so this is great.
Hopefully they can keep salvaging cut content and polish up Act 3 until it reaches the same quality of the other two.
It brings up some valid points about how the PeopleMakeGames video frames the issues, as well as criticizes how they press the creator of the IP very hard while being extremely lenient in their interview with the corporate suit who did the takeover.
While the PMG video is very impressive (at least the first half of it), it derails toward the end in a way that sadly might influence the opinion of many viewers. Even if the allegations are all true and Robert Kurvitz actually was a terrible boss who was a bit of a jerk and created a toxic workplace environment, that does not mean he deserves to have his IP stolen from out under him.
It’s not just AAA gaming but all over Hollywood too, has been for a while. Nostalgia is a powerful force and churning out sequels or prequels or spinoffs off of recognizable IPs is just less risky an investment than trying to make something new.
It’s hard because it depends on the type of melancholy. I get what you mean about wistful melancholy and “good sad” if the stories are on the smaller scale. Human tragedy, personal failure, doomed relationships, lost love, that sort of stuff.
I have a harder time dealing with elaborations on an existential level: the ultimate end of all things, the futility of existence, the meaninglessness of life etc. I’m hesitant because I’ve gotten the impression this is the sphere Outer Wilds operates in.