marelooke

Still hopping between Fallout 4 (or rather, tinkering with Fallout 4 mods), Warframe and the occasional Guild Wars 2 raid. Got my Bard's Tale 4 box and it came with a Steam key (despite having picked Gog), which, if it works, might mean I can escape inXile's unwillingness to properly support Gog and resulting continuous stream of 18 Gigabyte "patches"... So might be looking into playing that some more if the major kinks have been worked out.

Then again, people can only focus properly for like 7hours/day or so (or was it 5?), maximum (most humans don't even reach that), so pulling long hours and then not being able to rest properly might not be doing anyone any favours in the long run. But you sure as hell look dedicated.

I want the game to fail (for reasons I already outlined), not the studio (not sure what brought you to the conclusion that I wanted Bethesda bankrupt). I highly doubt that F76 failing would bancrupt Bethesda Game Studios, it would just send a strong signal that always online multiplayer is not the way to go for these games, which is exactly what I want. There was a lot wrong with Fallout 4, but it's still a great platform for modders. Any online games will by necessity restrict what modders can do, something Bethesda (the publisher) would love to be able to get away with since that means they can sell more DLC. Currently the problem they face is that many of the "paid mods" on the creation club do something that a free mod already does better, so unless you bought F4 on a console (and are, as such, tied to the CC) there's very little reason to get anything from it.

Hoping Fallout 76 is going to tank, but Bethesda has apparently been very busy trying to, errr, persuade the press, or at least Youtubers (tho I'd very much doubt they would stop there), of how great the game is... Now I wouldn't generally care for a game to tank, even one I expect to be trash, but if F76 does well chances of another offline Fallout game go straight out the window (and they might just give TES the same treatment). I need my modding sandbox, damnit!

I felt the video never actually got to the point of, you know, making a point. He throws a bunch of theses out there but doesn't actually follow up on them. Hell, he doesn't even see the need of breaking down what addiction is when making a video about...addiction. I'd say it is rather important to know what someone considers to be addiction when you want to have a conversation about it... Oh and someone suffering from anxiety and mood disorders that plays a lot of videogames (bordering on "every waking minute") isn't necessarily anywhere close to addicted and it doesn't need to be a "coping mechanism" either. Many games are so grindy and require so little energy to play that they're a perfect time waster when one's energy levels are near zero and one's emotions have flatlined. The other option in that case is often just laying in bed and staring at the ceiling for the same amount of time. Games in such a case, especially when they're MMOs or the like, allow one to cling to some modicum of social interaction.

D4 will have 4 billion melee weapons and all of them will suck. D4 will have loot boxes. Except in my country, *cough* On that note, on the FIFA lootboxes:

Man, they really botched Gog stupport. No achievements (for those who care) but also they're using the outdated patch system so each patch is humongous and has to go through Gog instead of them uploading it themselves. Downloading the entire game with each patch is like...no, just no... I'll just sit back and wait until they're "patched-out".

Tybalt may be my favourite, but the other two mentors (VIgil and Priory) weren't bad either. I think though, the runner up for me as NPC is Taimi. The progeny got attitude ...and then she had you help her coordinate some big lenses so the team could fry all the bugs in the chamber I loved Tybalt (my first character, a Thief, of course, went with the Order of Whispers ) But overall I feel Sieran is the best one out of the faction mentors as she is the perfect embodiment of her race (blunt, brash, innocent, no fear of death since no familiarity with the concept due to very few (only one?) Sylvari ever having died up to that point etc.). I feel that despite the Sylvari being described as such the game does a very bad job of communicating it, especially when not a Sylvari yourself or avoiding The Grove and missing out on the, sometimes hilarious, ambient conversations. In any case all of them are a bit underplayed, alas. The newer "companions" are imho hit and miss, the problem I see is that once the writers figure out a trait about a companion is liked and they then go full caricature on them (eg. Canach and Rytlock, but Taimi got some of that going as well). Oh, and they botched Braham to an extent I don't think the damage is fixable, at least for me (I hear they're trying though, but I have to play through the last two LS episodes still so can't comment on that yet) EDIT: I think at that point two Sylvari had died, though both went "missing" (and are/can be found by the player depending on your choices) so their fate was unknown to the rest of the race. Two named Sylvari maybe, there's plenty that died in all the fights.Braham is yeeeaaaah I don't know what they were trying to achieve but it was wasted effort. A few more were murdered by Asura upon first discovering the Sylvari, though most of the race wasn't exposed to that (there's a flashback in iirc LS2 about that). Note that quests happen chronologically in GW2 (each map is frozen in time) so at the point of the battle of Lion's Arch there are very few Sylvari that have bitten the dust and even fewer to have observed those fates (Zhaitan isn't so keen on leaving survivors to tell the tale ). I'm sure plenty died during the Zhaitan campaign, but that happens after the Battle for Claw Island.

Actually, it just says "Diablo", and what's next for the world of Sanctuary. Could this be Diablo 4 getting announced? Oops, sorry meant Diablo. So accustomed to writing 3 it just flowed on. That is what everyone is being hyped over, it will end up being a clip of the TV show and a remaster of D2:LoD They were hiring staff for a new Diablo game earlier I think. Of course, they could just turn it into a plain WoW-style MMO or something

Tybalt may be my favourite, but the other two mentors (VIgil and Priory) weren't bad either. I think though, the runner up for me as NPC is Taimi. The progeny got attitude ...and then she had you help her coordinate some big lenses so the team could fry all the bugs in the chamber I loved Tybalt (my first character, a Thief, of course, went with the Order of Whispers ) But overall I feel Sieran is the best one out of the faction mentors as she is the perfect embodiment of her race (blunt, brash, innocent, no fear of death since no familiarity with the concept due to very few (only one?) Sylvari ever having died up to that point etc.). I feel that despite the Sylvari being described as such the game does a very bad job of communicating it, especially when not a Sylvari yourself or avoiding The Grove and missing out on the, sometimes hilarious, ambient conversations. In any case all of them are a bit underplayed, alas. The newer "companions" are imho hit and miss, the problem I see is that once the writers figure out a trait about a companion is liked and they then go full caricature on them (eg. Canach and Rytlock, but Taimi got some of that going as well). Oh, and they botched Braham to an extent I don't think the damage is fixable, at least for me (I hear they're trying though, but I have to play through the last two LS episodes still so can't comment on that yet) EDIT: I think at that point two Sylvari had died, though both went "missing" (and are/can be found by the player depending on your choices) so their fate was unknown to the rest of the race.

Actually it wasn't EA (not directly anyway), but the EFL, which is one of the football leagues. Apparently they claim any and all footage of the clubs in their league is theirs and theirs alone...

Now is the perfect time to poach talent from Carbine Studios! How many MMOs are even still going? That were started years ago? Define "going" (and "years ago", come to think of it ), there's quite a few old ones that are still around, looked this up when someone claimed WoW was the oldest still running MMO (Haha. No.). Many are on life support though, or are being horribly mismanaged (everything that used to be run by SOE, for example). Some MMOs are older than you'd think as well. "Relevant" (as in: the ones I expect to ring bells with at least some people) ones that are still going and started up to 10 years ago: Ultima Online: 1997 EverQuest: 1999 PlaneShift: 2000 Anarchy Online: 2001 RuneScape: 2001 Final Fantasy XI: 2002 Ragnarok Online: 2002 EVE Online: 2003 Lineage 2: 2003 MapleStory: 2003 EverQuest 2: 2004 Vendetta Online: 2004 World of Warcraft: 2004 Guild Wars: 2005 (servers still up, no more updates though) Silkroad Online: 2005 Dungeons & Dragons Online: 2006 The Lord of the Rings Online: 2007 Age of Conan: Hyborean Adventures: 2008 Full list here. I don't think it's 100% up-to-date as some of the websites of the older lesser known ones (like Terra, which is not to be confused with Tera) seem dead which, presumably, means the game is as well.

Well, haven't gotten to that stage yet, but I've always played Fire mage (for the first time ever levelling was such a chore I switched to Frost for that) and from what I'm reading the same fate awaits. Something to look forward to...

Well, a Guild Wars 2 guildie got me back into WoW (oh, the irony) and wow, do I not like what I see. Judging by the praise Legion got I must've managed to "give WoW another chance" each time Blizzard releases one of their worst expansions ever (last time I gave up during Warlords of Draenor...). The start of the latest expansion almost required a paper bag (Really, Garrosh 2.0? Good grief, can we get some nuance for the Horde players for a change?), the quest writing in general has been decent though (enjoy traipsing around Zandalar), but that's about where the positives end. Class specializations have been gutted and might as well not exist anymore given how cross specialization skills have pretty much been axed (which hit some specializations really really hard: see fire mage). Add to that that mobs are back to being huge damage sponges (like in Warlords of Draenor, Legion was way way better in that regard fwiw) and leveling as a Fire mage is just masochism. The "skill" "tree" is just stupid. They just removed base class skills to create the illusion of choice and when everything's said and done everyone just uses the same build anyway. There's a lot of negative feedback about the Azerite gear, haven't got to max level yet so don't really have an opinion there but the one thing I can say about it is that there's exactly 0 explanation about it in the game and that most of the guides about it are incomplete as well. As someone who stopped playing before the entire "Mythic dungeons" were a thing this is my conclusion so far comparing to TBC dungeons (based on running legion heroics while levelling): Normal = Easy Heroic = Normal Mythic = Heroic Well, I'll get to max level and do some LFR stuff to see how the raids are. Given the huge amount of negatives I can't really justify trying to get into a guild to try higher tier raids. Unless Blizzard makes some massive changes I doubt my sub will last longer than 2 months.

Gave it a shot as well, mostly because the supposedly good housing system. Didn't much mind the graphics but the story was so cringeworthy (even by MMO standards) that I really couldn't find any motivation to trod on. The game that saw content removed from Guild Wars 2. Good riddance. Wait what? What content and how? NCSoft afaiu only "publishes" GW2, but ArenaNet is pretty independent otherwise. Oh, related news: GW2 also pulled their "lootboxes" in Belgium (hell, Belgian players couldn't even buy "premium currency" for a while). Guess those things weren't as innocent as they always claimed In Divinities Reach the Western Section of the city was supposed to be where refugees from the Asian inspired Cantha were stationed. At launch it was just a sinkhole and was later turned into what it is now during the Queens Jubilee Living Story Season 1. It was removed because NcSoft believed it would take away from their upcoming MMO Wildstar, which had Asian Themes. No idea where you heard that nonsense, they had negative feedback from Asians because of the melting pot nature of the district and that's why it was cut. As for - I assume - the black lion chests, I'd pull them too if I felt like they might get me in trouble, regardless of whether they're, uh "healthy" for customers or not. It just makes sense I think. Yups, that's also what I heard about that Cantha district. As for the lootboxes, the Mount Licenses are affected. Hope they find another, less predatory way, to make money as GW2 is like the only MMO I can still enjoy. (if I don't count Warframe as a MMO)

Gave it a shot as well, mostly because the supposedly good housing system. Didn't much mind the graphics but the story was so cringeworthy (even by MMO standards) that I really couldn't find any motivation to trod on. The game that saw content removed from Guild Wars 2. Good riddance. Wait what? What content and how? NCSoft afaiu only "publishes" GW2, but ArenaNet is pretty independent otherwise. Oh, related news: GW2 also pulled their "lootboxes" in Belgium (hell, Belgian players couldn't even buy "premium currency" for a while). Guess those things weren't as innocent as they always claimed

Got mine a few days ago as well, looks real nice. Guess I am now finally allowed to play the game!

Oooh, ouch. So conclusion: either lootboxes induce gambling, or, alternatively, they prey on the weak. If one needed any more evidence that these companies are just downright evil then here you go. I wonder what the effects of this are going to be in Australia? How likely is the government to act on this, and to what extent? I know Australia is already...famous...for its censorship so I guess this might be really bad news for EA and ilk? I also wonder whether knowingly exploiting people's vices is something that these companies (and the people involved) could get prosecuted for? I mean, these people reserved their tickets to hell when they sold their souls (or whatever the equivalent is in their respective religions), so that ain't something we gotta worry about "up here", but stopping them from doing further harm in this life would definitely be nice.

I thought he was going to retire? At this point I'd just consider that a regular launch, given how the general attitude in the industry seems to be "release now, patch later". A studio would need a very good track record for me to even consider playing on day one (and that even goes for expansions in most MMOs as far as I'm concerned. Eg. I lately have only been playing the previous Living World episode in GW2 when the latest one is released) Which actually makes me wonder how many people just don't pre-order because they assume the game will be a broken mess at launch and not just out of opposition to the pre-order incentive circus...

How it will end up being handled will depend on how the (mainstream) press handles it, if they bring this, and keep this, in the spotlight then lootboxes in their current form are done for. This is clearly affecting children, especially in Belgium (like in most of Europe, I imagine) where FIFA is enormously popular as football ("soccer" for you US-ies) is easily the most popular sport (on that note: this explains why 2K isn't quite as up-in-arms, basketball isn't even remotely as popular over here). What happens (in BE, at least) will depend on how it will be classified, if it ends up tossed in with casino games then that means there is an age restriction of 21+, which, combined with how FIFA is enormously popular with the youth would, I imagine, be a very big cut out of EA sales. How the EU will handle it is anyone's guess, but all this noise definitely will put it on the radar of politicians and the general public, a combination that doesn't generally bode well for companies utilizing business practices they rather not have scrutinized... If nothing else I'd bet on tighter regulation and more public awareness. Best case is of course a plain ban on these practices, but that might be a bit optimistic.

Reminds me of Deep Down, with some Dragon's Dogma and Dark Souls mixed in. Edit: Throw in some Monster Hunter too. The graphics immediately gave me a really big Dragon's Dogma vibe. Here's to hoping the combat is closer to Dragon's Dogma than to Dark Souls.

Guess the gambling commission doesn't know what gambling is. I'm not quite sure what they think they will achieve (aside from damaging whatever was left of their reputation). If they lose, they lose. If they win, they lose because the law will just get changed to close whatever messed up interpretation loophole they come up with given how our Minister of Justice has already spoken out against lootboxes. And back-pedalling on things that affect children. Yeah, not a good career move as a politician, not even in an otherwise apathetic country like Belgium. If they manage to tick off the minister enough this might just be the spark we need to get this put front-center on the agenda in the EU and then hopefully explicitly banned across the EU. Heh, one can dream.

I liked how the Elf factions basically re-lived their memories over and over. Despite that they weren't particularly interesting, unfortunately. The other factions (insofar I remember them) were generic as hell, unfortunately.

Boss design, unfortunately, isn't one of ArenaNet's strong suits... The final bosses of each Episode/expansion are usually...terrible. As an added bonus most of the bosses in Path of Fire in general are just terrible...

Heh, GameSpot gave the DOS2 console version a 10/10, that's pretty neat given how it's basically a niche game and I always had my doubts about bringing these kinds of games to consoles. I mean, I heard the DOS console port was pretty good, but it's still nice to see this kind of enthusiasm from a mainstream review site. I also liked Kingdoms of Amalur, though I have yet to finish it. Another one of the (rather long by now) list of games I started but never finished. Afaik 38Studios was also working on a rather promising MMO project (which iiuc is what bankrupted the studio), so maybe we'll be seeing something there as well? I definitely wouldn't mind a new MMORPG that focuses on those last three letters and doesn't shy away from some systems complexity.