Wormerine

The game went a long way since launch. To me system redesigns (2.0) were far more meaningful plus additions to the open world made it feel less like a tech demo and more like a game. I will have to give it another go at some point. Unlike everyone else the expansion left me completely cold, but I will admit I simply wasn't in a mood for that type of game when I played it.

Oh, I knew there was something big I I forgot - Kingdom Come games.

BG3 definitely, I just thought the story was a mess 🤣 (on my 2nd playthrough now.. currently frozen in act2…). I don’t think they are much of “RPGs” but Witcher3 and Cyberpunk have strong narrative component with choices. With even less on “choice” side, Expedition33 was really pleasant jRPG style title. I also wouldn’t discount - FromSoft titles. I personally find worldbuilding and small story bits to be very important aspects of those titles. Cutscene watching isn’t my preferred way of delivering narrative these days anyway. edit. More on Beth/Obs: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/bethesda-say-new-underlings-obsidian-will-retain-their-distinct-creative-identity-despite-no-longer-being-as-free-to-work-on-their-own-creatively-distinct-series

I might have sold better, but would surely lead to massive backlash. When Obsidian Fallout was announced I expressed a concern that unless they cooperate with Bethesda and use their Creation Engine I don't think they have capabilities of delivering a Fallout game fans of the IP expect, modding and all. Now, I get that Asha is all for milking strong IPs, but will Obsidian just form Call of Duty-style studio pumping out games within Bethesda IP, in-between main entries? Maybe, but Bethesda publishers has a good track record in shepherding more creative projects as well. I really struggle to guess "good or bad" news from this announcement, as from my perspective it really could be either. All depends on direction and role envisioned for Obsidian. Maybe they will do Fallout and maybe they will continue as a more separate entity supported by Bethesda, the way ID supported Machine Games. Or maybe they will be tasked with ungrateful task of patching holes in Bethesda's RPG release schedule. And who is to say that I can't enjoy and Elder Scroll game if it's done by Obsidian rather then Beth. What I am curious is: It's probably too much to hope that Avowed2 will be allowed to be finished? From one of JS videos on XBOX cuts

I was about to write that. Now, while I haven't been a fan of Bethesda Game Studios open world RPGs, they did seem to care well for studios at Bethesda Softworks. ID Software, Machine Games, Arcane all produced fantastic titles. The question, is, of course what is the mandate now with Microsoft new leadership. Obviously ID was rather ruthlessly gutted. The worst case scenario is that Obsidian becomes delegated to support studio to BGS output. Thought, what it means for now, I think, that Obsidian's Fallout game might aim to be a "proper" modern Fallout title. Creation Engine it is, then?

uu Silksong! The question to me is why Blizzard made this trailer. I agree that addition of the date is unusual but its goal might simply to make it clear that we won’t be seeing more about the game anytime soon. Very early trailers (too early) aren’t that uncommon - more like statement of intent then actual advertisement for the product. It could be for players, it could be for investors and brand it could be to boost the recruitment and attract right candidates. Maybe Blizzard is just experimenting with releasing trailers and giving an estimate of when we can except, rather then previous track record of XBOX trailers for games we still are waiting for. (Oh Fable - that was first revealed in 2020). Speaking of XBOX maybe they are trying to distract everyone from mass layoffs by buying Kojima and announcing bunch of new games in well liked IPs that are a long way off.

Sure, but then again at what stage of development is Starcraft2030 at.

Virtua Fighter6, Pragmata, Avowed, Elder Scrolls6.

I must say, I don't love ZCOM as much as others so far (16 hours in, just recruited Jedi and Bounty Hunter). Lack of strategy layer really drags the game for me - lack of goals, decision making, barebone upgrade system, the game just lack context to make what is fairly simply and repetitive combat rewarding. XCOMs always thrived on this constant loop of tactical combat and strategy layer, and I don't think ZCOM changed design enough for the combat alone to carry the experience. That said I like it. It's alright. It feels authentically Star Wars which is not something one can take for granted these days. They translated familiar units into tactical combat very well. Characters are well defined, even if the plot haven't gone anywhere just yet. I watched a bit of Clone Wars way back, but I didn't care for it, and don't know what Bad Batch is so maybe I am also missing some connection there. To completely bury my reputation I also thought Republic Commando was pretty mid 😅 edit. haven’t vibed with a Yahtzee review so well in a long time.

I was wondering about it. I thought Diablo4 did fairly well. The question was: was it too live-servicey, or not live-servicey enough?

I honestly have no clue what it is. All I can find is "open-word shooter". Is it singleplayer? Planetside-like? Do I even care, if it is not RTS? I don't, at least until I see something I would actually want to play. That they call it simply "Starcraft" is more worrying to me. I didn't expect Blizzard to actually make Starcraft3, but if they reboot the franchise using it's original branding, that means to me they don't even foresee an RTS sequel as a very distant possibility. Or maybe the game is in such early stages that they don't even know what to call it yet.

This is not starcraft3. It’s a shooter.

From what I understand they argument is "it won't affect many players as barely anyone uses it". Which begs a question why create universally bad PR by limiting their play time 🫠. It seems to me like XBOX's leadership is scrambling for a way to squeeze extra $ out of the service. Aggressive price hike didn't work out, now they try different avenues. steamDB is a database, tracking price changes, concurrent players, updates etc. https://steamdb.info/

Yeah, ended up rebuying the game. Enjoying it so far. With some tweaks I managed to squeeze 60FPS+ performance. Still looks great. I don't have high hopes for ZCOMs future. If staff was furloughed that means they don't have stuff to work on - that to me indicates no next project, be it further work on ZCOM, or something else. Unless the game did well enough to change EA's mind, but I suspect at this point it is one and done deal. As to what happened at Firaxis - Midnight Suns under performed but it was still a really solid title. ZCOM reminds me more of it, than XCOM (albeit with far, far better writing). I suppose 2k just didn't want to fund another project like that. What happened with JA3?

Star Wars: Zero Company successful launch is a bit marred by behind the scenes troubles: Eurogamer.net"Most" of the developers behind critically acclaimed Star...Legal documents reveal that developers behind Star Wars Zero Company were furloughed ahead of the game's successful launch.Allegedly 80% of stuff were furloughed shortly before game's launch, though that is not what shocks me. It is a newly founded studio, I doubt they have much of a war chest. It seems to me that the game went over budget and run out of funding shortly before launch - would also explain some of it's troubles. Hopefully, game did well enough for money to flow into the studio and the stuff be paid. The reports of disagreement and lawsuit between the owners is a bit more worrying to me.