marelooke

I doubt there was any corporate sabotage. EA offered to let BioWare push back the release date six months, but they declined. More than anything, I see this as combination of recognizing that ME:A was a stinker and distancing themselves from it as quickly as possible, and just wanting to reallocate personnel to work on Anthem. (Remember, BioWare Montreal was originally EA Montreal, and EA loaned the staff out to BioWare to make (under BioWare supervision) ME:A.) We don't know the terms attached to "pushing the release date back six months", they might very well have been deemed unacceptable.

Once you start exploring from there, not once you arrive there, seemed to me that after that point the story pace picked up, as did the enemy variety and I finally started feeling like I could adequately deal with enemies. Going either full Human or Typhon is an achievement, for one (full human is kinda promoted by January as well, which was the main reason I went that way first time around, only found out about the achievement after). The other reason is kind of related to the game's ending: I'm curious what will happen if you go full Typhon. (fwiw, there's only one room I couldn't get in as "full human" that I might have cared for (can't know if it was really interesting since I, you know, couldn't get in ), it was one in the Crew Quarters, the room of , all the others were just storage or medical rooms and I was kinda drowning in most things by the end of the game anyway. Only things I remember really crafting because I had a use for them were Neuromods and Gloo ammo)

Not sure how far in you are but for me the game only really started once I started exploring around the Arboretum. Also the lack of inventory space in my Typhon-power-only playthrough is rather annoying. Not sure why that needed to be a "human" skill (or a skill at all, really. I'm well past the age at which I even vaguely considered inventory management fun). So far I must say that my human-only playthrough actually seemed easier too (I just got through Psychotronics, now entering the G.U.T.S.) but of course haven't really met any of the truly OP aliens yet to nab their powers. I must say it does give a whole new dimension to the game and I would almost be tempted to advice people to stick to one or the other (Human or Typhon) it's pretty interesting to see how getting around changes just based solely on that choice (eg. not being able to repair anything is a much bigger deal than I would have thought, at least early on. Lack of hacking is also...interesting, not sure if there is a Typhon way of dealing with that actually). Tbh I kinda fear just grabbing stuff from both bags would make the game trivial in short order. (that said, if you care about reading as much backstory as possible going human-only seems to be the better option of the two, since you have to forego access to repair and hacking without human powers, it seems as Typhon-only there are much more and much bigger areas you cannot get to)

Fired up D:OS for the first time in a while. Found out that I quit at one of those annoying bossfights and decided to just install the EE instead. And then I found out they removed *all* backer content (or even mention of KS) from the EE. Errr, ok, that's...not very classy?

The little I played from the second game gave me a much better impression than the first game, especially dialogue wise (well, other-things-wise as well). But I didn't want to spoil too much for myself before the release so haven't played all that much. I found the first game tried too hard to be funny too much of the time, the pacing (and just writing in general) seemed much better in what I played of the second game. I should probably warn you all that I more or less grew up in the city where Larian's main studio is located, so yeah, I might suffer from a Belgian/Flemish sense of humour. (so you can now all make a note to never take advice about comic relief from me, assuming you hadn't already, that is )

Finished Prey, the ending(s) was/were interesting... Massive spoilers follow (obviously):

Feels like I'm nearing the end of Prey and it's starting to show. By which I mean that the extreme attention to detail of the first part of the game seems to be gone, I an into some, imho, terrible design choices (if not outright bugs). Pretty big spoilers: By now I've maxed most of my weapons, maxed most of my "human" abilities (remember, not using any "powers" in this playthrough) and enemies aren't much of a threat anymore (except Telepaths in zero gravity, bastards). I also noticed most "do everything" achievements don't actually require you to do so, eg. got the achievement for finding everyone aboard Talos I but there's still a few I'm missing (not counting those you apparently can't get to depending on your choices). Oh yeah, I also killed you-know-who instead of hiding out, two clips of the golden pistol took care of that. Anyway, think now it's just wrapping up the sidequests I still have and getting to the finale, barring any surprises the game might still throw at me.

Sooo, I returned to prey and just barely avoided seeing the sun come up again. Getting past the little slump was really worth it. Especially now that enemies generally aren't really much of a threat anymore (as long as I don't get caught off guard, of course. Oh, and I've not tried fighting you-know-who, preferring hiding it out instead, boring as that is) and I've maxed out most human abilities so the station is wide open for exploration (think the only area I've not been now would be the Bridge) I can imagine going through the game again, this time with powers. I think using powers and then going back to avoiding them would be harder as you'd have been able to get to everything the first time around.

Heh, I didn't really feel the game needed a remaster. Now a sequel, that's another matter entirely... Then again, if I can import my save I might actually get the last few achievements done, assuming it's reasonably priced.

Wait? What? In what way do they become "more aggressive"? Aren't they always hostile anyway? Well, enemies don't usually respawn in the "regular" sense, appears to be based on your actions (eg. pushing the plot forward is a surefire way to have a bunch of new enemies waiting...everywhere), so murdering everything gives some measure of peace, for a while. Some locations do seem too have enemies spawn regularly on entering though (workshop, I think?)

I've heard Metro increases everyone's DPS on higher difficulty levels. Same for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fwiw.

Mostly Guild Wars 2 lately, Prey's going a bit slower currently. Been wondering what set GW2 apart from other MMOs that it has been able to keep my attention and then I stumbled upon this video by Kungen (of Ensidia fame): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MNFWhCw8dg He makes some really good points imho (we disagree about Black Desert Online though). Raiding has turned into such a singular focus that "the rest" of what constituted a MMORPG has pretty much disappeared from most MMOs. In GW2 Raids are just one of the things you can do when you hit max level and the loot you get from them isn't any better than things you can get elsewhere either. And "elsewhere" includes crafting. Moreover they're committed to leaving the level cap alone, meaning that all "old" content stays relevant. Net result being that they need to be more creative to keep players playing which imho can only be a good thing (ofc, not everything they tried worked out so great, but hey, win some, lose some). Here's to hoping they can keep their identity even after a bunch of their major developers left. Guess we'll know when the next expansion hits (somewhere near the end of the year, I think)

Sounds like "Pillars of Scrolls" would be a great title...

It's only really at night, in dungeons without light or very early morning, which I prefer to be dark and foreboding, as I'm also playing with some hardcore survival mods. It always bugged me that you could see things with perfect clarity 200m underground with no lightsources. I always play as a Vampire so that solves that issue from a RP perspective (doesn't deal with everybody else seeing perfectly in the dark though )

Remember that Prey isn't trying to be a horror game, just survival. And yes, the combat got on my nerves too. It's a lot better on my second playthrough when I started properly using environmental hazards, but that took getting used to. Question, how are you guys playing? I only got a few mods to help me with combat by upgrading my weapons, but then again I did pre order so I had a nice shotgun from the beginning. Even so, I still stealthed through some sections to avoid being killed. All moot once I got my alien mods. I've avoided the alien mods so far. I tend to just kill the enemies as much as possible (using canisters, turrets and flaming pipes where possible) if only so I can hear ones that I didn't know where there coming more easily. But I've avoided dealing with the big ones so far (like the technology corrupting jerk) Not sure whether respawns just happen or they are triggered by certain events, so far at least the Lobby seems to have been free of spontaneous respawns as has the Neuromod research area. Oh yeah, and I think I'll avoid hacking as much as possible, some horrible minigame that is. EDIT: found a mod that "fixes" the hacking minigame, yay \o/

Grabbed Prey during the Steam sale and playing that currently. So far it's been...OK, I guess. Combat ranges from "meh" to "annoying". Enemy spawns are generally predictable (you just completed an objective so we've filled the rooms you came in through with a bunch of enemies again. You're welcome.) and I find myself dreading having to fight them more than fearing them. Though I'll admit that some "new" enemy types did raise my heart rate... Story so far's been fairly predictable overall, though I expect there to be some twists down the road (fwiw, trying to get the main elevators working now). Not sure how "common" Neuromods are (eg. whether spreading out skills is going to bite me later) Maybe the Ishimura just broke space station/ship scares for me (and sue me, but yeah that's the game I had to think of when I started playing Prey) but the tense atmosphere is mostly not there for me. (also: I tried throwing something through the "blocked" balcony door at the very beginning, guess it suddenly got less sturdy later )

Seriuosly... you call Assetto Corsa horrible racer? OMG... I really have to question your sanity... it's the most realistic car similation, that was ever made for home entertainment systems and you call it horrible... Playing FH2 compared to it, feels like playing a games for toddlers... *facepalm* In all fairness, AC is, as I understand, supposed to be more on the simulation end of the spectrum. Forza Horizon edges more to the arcade (and FH3 has gone full ret...I mean, arcade, with the Hot Wheels idiocy). A comparison with the likes of Forza Motorsport 6 and Project Cars seems more appropriate. (FWIW I like Forza Horizon because the cars at least handle somewhat realistically (I mean, other entries in this genre are games like The Crew...where all cars handle pretty much the same) *and* I can drive them on the open road. Though as far as I'm concerned even FH3 is nowhere near the first TDU (except for looks), way too little road to actually drive on and the drivatars aren't known as "drivatards" for no reason. Man, such a bummer TDU2 was such a disaster...)

It introduced a new system which is basically not Steam Workshop and it will eventually introduce paid mods which is not good in my opinion. Steam Workshop was never ideal for Skyrim mods, so why would it be great for Fallout 4? Nexus was and still is the better option and is still available. The in-game mod management is awkward, I will admit, but you're not required to use it. As far as paid mods go, they're optional. Not playing them won't harm your game experience. I doubt most mods will have prices attached. I mean I don't like them either, but I don't have to touch them. Here's Bethesda's creation club page. The problem was that they disabled achievements and that you had to use hacky stuff to make that go away. Given how these games (Bethesda's ES/FO games) are usually so broken as almost require unofficial patch the entire thing was seriously bad manners, to put it mildly. Anyway. Games that excite me: - Metro! - Forza Motorsport 7 (because it's the first "real" Forza for the PC, and yes, I'm ignoring the tech demo that was Apex on purpose) With some luck the XCOM2 expansion will make the game less of a chore to play, but I'll be awaiting reviews before I bother with that as I haven't even managed to struggle through the original yet. Also haven't played the new Dishonored yet so bit premature to get get excite about an expansion as far as I'm concerned Now i can go back to dreaming about a new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game...

Sure, but the animations "suddenly" got worse with DA:I, coincidentally the first Frostbite game by BioWare (not to mention that the performance, for me at least, was lacking, especially as far as loading times were concerned, I imagine the large maps were pushing the limits of the engine already)

Still slogging through XCOM 2, can't put my finger on it but the game just feels worse than the previous one. Assuming I make it to the end I doubt I'll ever replay this one. They also need to talk to the Mordheim devs about their Random Number Generator, it's seems to suffer from the same issues they fixed in Mordheim (basically: it's not nearly random enough)

Well that confirms my suspicions about Frostbite. But basically it all boils down to massive mismanagement...

I'd rather have a new game with the old graphics, but I'll take that. As long as they manage to hold back on "improving" the actual gameplay I'm down for this as changing the gameplay of a classic is always risky and more likey than not controversial. That said I'd love, love, love a "fixed version" of KotOR2 with improved graphics (as in, with the cut content put back in so the ending at least makes some semblance of sense).

Oh my! Jazz Jackrabbit! Me and my sister burned so many hours on the first one...

I guess I'm the only one having loading time issues in the new engine, because recreating New Vegas in the "new" engine isn't really something I'd look forward to (haven't touched the "enhanced" Skyrim either for that reason, well that, and having to re-mod the game)

Went back to XCOM 2, got rid of the last alien ruler so here's to hoping I can start avoiding having most of my A-team in the infirmary most of the time. *If* I ever do a replay that's one DLC I'm going to avoid to be sure (or at least leave until much later in the game). Now I seem to be low on Intel, not really sure how to fix that besides hoping a mission that gives me Intel shows up.