I mean, it’s not like that at all though? Even setting aside the popularisation of the free-to-play model and its monetisation - which has defined mobile games (an industry dwarfing all other types of games in revenue by the way), FarmVille was the first innovator in terms of really invasive big data analysis of customer behaviour to maximise profit and retention. The way Zynga did player data analysis (back in 2009 I might add) literally set the tone for all modern internet. There are plenty of articles about the influence of FarmVille, here’s one.. There is another one here.
Not really, though I can understand your point of view. I went into STALKER 2 fully aware that it wasn’t Anomaly, and I was able to enjoy it for what it is (despite needing to use console commands on three separate occasions to progress past hard-locking bugs). I finished it probably a month after release so don’t know its current state.
I was sufficiently engaged in the story and the presentation to definitely want to finish the game, and I enjoyed the new map and the blend of new and familiar locations. After spending so much time with the originals and the Anomaly map it was great to get a fix of more new content with the same vibe - some of the underground lab locations managed to hit classic STALKER vibes for me and kept me going to the end.
If I were to boot up some STALKER right now I might go for Anomaly over another run of S2 though, and that will probably continue to be the case until the DLC drops.
Oh, you know what happened? I just realized, I hadn’t even read the introductory material and realized it was from a public survey. It’s a “first past the post” problem.
First past the post is remarkably shit isn’t it. I think your analysis is completely right.
I enjoyed the early mythos of M:tG, but I already started losing interest when they went all Marvel with their whole Gatewatch thing.
Even though individual sets (like LOTR) have been well made and successful, the whole Universes Beyond thing just further dilutes the identity of Magic too much for me. I’m sick of endless exploitation of existing IPs from all over the entertainment business. I understand why they do it from a financial perspective, but it doesn’t appeal to me at all.
Add to that the endless garbage of Secret Lair drops like goddamn Spider-Man and SpongeBob and I think MTG just isn’t for me anymore.
I’ve almost completely stopped keeping up with M:TG these days. I used to be into it but it just feels like it’s completely jumped the shark these days.
Enjoy it! BG2 is still my favourite in the series, even having played BG3. Savour ever line David Warner utters as Irenicus, there have been few performances so perfect in a video game even all these years later.
I played BG3 straight after Cyberpunk and that really stood out to me as well. The immersion and emotional impact of voiced protagonist lines really got me invested in Cyberpunk in a way I missed in BG3.
System Shock 2. I’m basically also holding off on playing the SS1 remake until I hear official confirmation that the sequel is getting the same treatment.
BG3 is great and all but there are other games with at least equal voice acting quality. For all its qualities I never felt like “wow, I’ve never seen voice acting like this in a game!” when I played BG3. It’s really good and really consistent but nothing earth shattering.
I know I bring up Disco Elysium a lot, but that is one game where I got repeatedly shocked at the quality and diversity of the voice acting. With the exception of one single character I think it’s acted to absolute perfection.
I also didn’t really feel the same about Alan Wake 2 like, at all. I thought it had superb acting (both voice and full video segments) and probably hold the quality of its acting above BG3 personally. Alan Wake 1 less so.