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And they abandoned the IP to focus on Saints Row 😥
FS2 was the first game that really ‘caught’ my attention. Other game were fun sure and had bigger budgets or larger market appeal, but FS maintained that narrative tone of a existential struggle to survive in a cold and uncaring universe, humanity ignorantly plodding the galaxy and awakening xenophobic forces beyond our comprehension.
FS1 is also excellent, but it’s a rare event when the sequel is hands down the better game in almost all aspects, while respecting the source material and keeping the story moving while being faithful to that original tone
- Mirror’s Edge: wholly unique, meh story but fun gameplay. More accessible than Kreedzmod but similar vibe of first person platforming and emphasis on ‘flow’ like you’d perform irl in parkour. Get it on sale, under $10/€10 it’s worth it
- Knights of the Old Republic: D20 based RPG set in pre-BBY Star Wars universe. Excellent story and characterization, great gameplay and progression - I’ve replayed it at least six times. If you like Mass Effect at all you should enjoy this. The sequel is worthy but not the same gem that moved the genre, but a worthy title
- Deus Ex 1: Unmissable. Accept the inventory management jank, it’s a product of its time. Absolutely worth buying
- Fallout 1 (and 2): Revolutionized the top down RPGs of the time, but will feel dated in retrospect. Make sure you save manually and make choices carefully, you can dead-end your play through or loose hours of progress because there’s no auto save
- STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl: Diceroll on this title, you’ll either hate it or love it if you enjoyed Fallout 3, 4, NV, etc. Great mood and atmosphere, solid progression once you get out of the starter areas, and understand the monster’s behavior. Dont you dare join Duty tho
- Freespace 2: Personal recommendation but nieche. “Flight sim space combat” is too simplistic yet accurate, but has excellent gameplay and story tone. Technically Descent 1 & 2 were the revolutionary games, but those have zero plot beyond arcade shooter ‘kill aliens for highscore’. Went open source years ago, and has a dedicated mod team keeping it alive and adding features.
- Command and Conquer Red Alert: The daddy of almost all RTS games, but you’ll have more fun with Red Alert 2 imo. Story is meh, but if you go online be ready to get smurfed hard by veterans.
100% yes on Talos principle, and I will openly simp for Antichamber. I have never had my brain so full of fuck as that game, simply sublime progression and variety of puzzles👌
The answer is money, but it’s not material cost that’s driving these crappy thermal interface pads, but labor expenses (and I’d guess consistency too). Pick-and-place is absurdly fast at putting components onto a PCB, and if they can put the pre-cut pads onto the board that’s huge for a manufacturer.
It’s the difference between slapping a post-it note, or the dot/line/X/cross/etc method with grease. No contest that TIM pads win for them, any fallouts get handled via warranty.
Okay, if they want to bug test, there’s DECADES of accepted practice. Paid/intern bug hunters or playtesters, with an airtight NDA. They’re there to stress tests and find issues, there needn’t be a public facing element.
Marvel want free bug testers, and to get the hype train moving - but don’t want to pay for actual testers who work quietly, and want only positive commentary. Marvel want an astroturf campaign to push preorders, not actual genuine discussion or bug testing.
I’ve been part of public alpha releases, and generally they don’t allow streaming or public commentary, outside of the invite-only forum/discord channels - BECAUSE THEY WANT THE FEEDBACK TO FIX ISSUES.
Look at the games Remedy have been making since splitting from Rockstar.
I really enjoyed Control and the Alan Wakes for the plot and narrative decisions. That’s who Remedy have become, story focused with emphasis on world building. MoCap actors, FMV segments, parallel world building via audio logs and journals, etc while keeping the lessons learned from the Max Payne series for the gameplay combat loops.
All the Max Payne games are mechanics centric; tight gunplay and bullet-time combat. They also have decent-to-solid plots, but I didn’t replay MP2 dozens of times because I wanted the Mona-Max arc’s dopamine hit, nor pathfinding through NYC apartment mazes. Nimble combat against formidable and fair AI is the core part of that series.
It wouldn’t be what you want it to be, and that’s okay that it’s in the past. Remedy have worked an EU and are leaning into that instead, and have done well consistently.
It’s a naked dog whistle, and I’m not sure why the corpo press didn’t see right through it. It’s not the 1950s with ‘obscenity’ trials, the speech that is controversial nowadays is hate speech.
The state of Twitter nowadays confirms exactly the kind of people Musk was thinking about when he said that.
The end game armor you unlock is good… but it is walled off until the very end game when you’re otherwise super geared up, so it’s not the ‘epic purple loot’ it seems like
The Flying Dutchman fight is hella bullshit though, I swear that thing was midair and turned 180 on the spot multiple times. Made lining up broadsides annoying af when a man-o-war is nimble and tough
If you’re not enjoying your time at sea, on the ship itself, I’d recommend powering through the quest line, possibly the legendary ship battles and leave it there.
I stopped trying to 100% after AC2, and sped through the ‘housekeeping’ pre-assassination missions. Follow this guy, loot this chest, pick her pocket, etc gets real old quick
The pearl clutching “think of the CHILDREN” in the media was ridiculous, like you said it is a thoroughly violent and gory game. It was a legitimate legal issue for Take2, Rockstar, and the ERSB however. The ESRB is a voluntary ratings organization like the MPAA, who work with publishers and retailers to provide consumers with accurate info.
Rockstar lied on the ESRB paperwork and shipped the CD with content that wasn’t disclosed. Irregardless if it required a crack or not, that is what was delivered, and that was a big deal. Huge breach of contract by Rockstar and/or Take2, and loss of trust from retailers towards ESRB ratings.
Yes, but it’s not really common knowledge. People may recognize that if you’re talking about egg prices last year for instance, but then don’t bat at $400 concert tickets, or TV shows that spin plotlines to increase ad time, or the state of higher education as sports franchises first and foremost to sell merchandise
Weight based encumbrance with slots, but you’ll generally cap out weight before slots. Depending on your wold seed and/or base building tolerance level, it’s either a constant struggle or not bad to deal with - juggling stamina and food is the bigger grind imo.
Tbh as a busy adult, there’s a select few quality of life mods that make it less tedious but still keeps the reward:challenge payoff. Some of the much more useful items can’t be taken through portals, and I’d highly recommend modding that OUT for sanity/time sink reasons.