It is bad enough that they changed the stance towards developer bonuses. Initially they were going to do bonuses if they hit a 90 score on the reviews. They are now doing all bonuses regardless, and the execs are publicly taking full responsibility for rushing the delivery.
And all reports say that they have already made a shit ton of profit. Totally covered all dev and marketing costs.
Games are so weird in this regard because consumers can't really return them, and with such a hotly anticipated game like this one, the sales will outstrip the effect of early reviews. Steam's 2h of play policy essentially covers character creation for a lot of people, maybe the tutorial. So, basically all of the sales are revenues that aren't going to go away. Physical consumer products have much better protections for the consumer, particularly if you buy through retailers.
Moral of the story: don't buy through pre-order/early release. Wait +- 6 months first so that some of the bugs can get sorted out.
On one hand I agree, but CDPR isn’t some boutique developer. A few issues is one thing, but game-breaking bugs and releasing it for a platform where it’s completely unplayable on that platform is bullshit. If they are going to allow it be overhyped to hell, they better be releasing an industry-defining title like Rockstar and Valve do.
I totally agree with you but Bethesda routinely gets away with it, so CDPR (and other developers) will take their chance with doing the same thing and people pre-ordered en masse, so, financially, it paid off for them and they are likely to do the same thing again. Even Rockstar make screw-ups in this area, e.g. RDR2 and the numerous game-breaking bugs that game had on PC. The only way nonsense like game-raking bugs will get fixed by devs is for publishers to ban pre-purchase and that isn't happening because they are greedy fuckers.
I get it, but I’m not sure Bethesda is getting away with it anymore. Fallout 76 was a disaster and was almost their Diablo Immortal moment.
With Bethesda games the jank is part of their charm. Something on the scale of Skyrim, you just know there's gonna be wild bugs and you almost look forward to finding them. Or at least that was the case when Skyrim was released back in the Industrial Revolution. Today people are much more demanding.
Got my PS5 Wednesday. I honestly could not tell you how many background downloads and updates are still ongoing.
Anyone else pick up Valheim? For a 5 person dev team, this is game is pretty awesome. I feel like its a throw-back to what games used to be like. No micro-transactions or DLCs (at least not yet), just peaceful immersion.
It is so much fun. Co-op PVE is great. No stress, no getting griefed. I just came from Escape From Tarkov and i can't go to sleep after playing that because of how much my heart races. And Valheim has set a lot of records on steam.
I finished up the final quest line for Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. The ending felt a lot nicer than the base game, which dumped you in this depressing hole in the middle of nowhere after the storyline ended. I'm a freak so now I'm getting rid of all those pesky question marks on my maps.... Skellige is going to be a pain.
Ive only beaten the first boss, but it’s one of the least stressful games I’ve played in a while. I haven’t even played with someone else yet.
Some seeds are way better then others. If you know the seed number you can create your own. One i was messing around with had besides had mountains,swamp and plains. But you had to walk really far to find it. The one i am on now my buddy happened across it. Without having to swim across a stream there is mountains and swamp. I will post the seed number when i get home if you want to take a look at it.
AZxCXQ3F2H, it is nice just to the north west there is a little clearing which makes it great place for you main home. A little north west of there there is a black forest where you can get your pine trees for your fine wood.
I’ll add it to my list. My main now has about 8 guys that are playing off and on. We are forging iron and roaming around the swamp. We bought a dedicated server so people can jump in and out whenever.
Doing a search of this topic, I'm shocked no one has mentioned Hollow Knight, one of the most influential games of the 2010's, which revolutionized and reinvigorated Metroidvanias and indie games alike. It takes place underground, with every character being a bug of some kind, and the title character's weapon a tiny nail. I had a friend rave about it to me, and honestly, playing through the beginning area, Forgotten Crossroads, I thought it was pretty good but nothing special. Just a standard Metroidvania with a quirky art style. Lots of long corridors leading to dead ends, which is one of my few criticisms of the title. Then, I got to the second area, Greenpath, and thought "hey, this game is actually excellent!" I was loving the enemy variety, slightly elevated challenge, and how damn colorful it was, in contrast to the drab greys of the original area. My opinion stayed largely the same as I went through the third area, the Fungal Wastes, and encountered the first truly challenging part of the game, fighting The Mantis Lords with the default nail, no HP upgrades, and no beneficial charms. And then, I got to The City of Tears, probably the main hub, from where the game really opens up. I was just stunned. The level of beauty and perfection here, especially within the context of the game's pacing and progression, was mind-numbing. I've rarely, if ever experienced this among the thousands of games I've played. For fuck's sake, even the soft, lilting, nostalgic music becomes louder and ADDS ADDITIONAL BARS based on your proximity to the Hollow Knight statue at the center of the town square. I've never seen such insane attention to detail before, and it's all done perfectly. I realized at that point I was indeed playing a masterpiece of the highest order. Did I mention there are also 4 free expansions to the game? Or that getting the first true ending to the game for the first time is easily an action-packed 50+ hours and getting 112% is 100+ hours? While completing the final Pantheon of Hallownest and Path of Pain, both optional challenges, can easily suck 50+ hours by themselves, if one can complete them at all? The only people I can imagine disliking this superlative game are dipshit gaming journalists who complain it's too difficult, amusingly before getting to any of the actual hard parts. There are a fair number of those, but for the rest of us, this is required playing.
Diablo Immortal has dropped for Android in Alpha. Been having a run today and it's pretty good, graphics are decent and it ties into the world nicely.