Lol, instead of addressing what argument? Your argument is entirely “nuh-uh, you are frustrated. I know you are because my argument would fall apart if you weren’t, so you are. It’s just that you like being frustrated.”

It’s just not the case. There are rare good ones out there, and if that frustrates you into claiming I’m some masochist and therefore my enjoyment is somehow invalid, that’s your own whole subscription of issues.

So I’ve heard

You’re writing all live service games as being based on frustration when that absolutely isn’t the case, so I have to think you have too many preconceived notions on this subject to actually be open to a conversation about it.

Oh well. No game is for everyone and sometimes the pay content is worth it just because it’s damn awesome.

While absolutely too many things are charged for in gaming today (exp boosts? skip potions? cheat armor that was already fully developed at launch? all ways to get your company on my high seas list)… in the specific case where (1) new content is continuously being developed AND (2) the game is not asking for mandatory spending to continue playing (e.g. no expansion pack to purchase, no subscription fees), I don’t think the concept of charging for in-game content at all is abusive.

If I buy once and then a year later some optional paid cosmetics or other goodies are added, I think that’s permissible. And if I’m in a free to play live service game, I recognize the ongoing dev costs need to get covered somewhere.

I do vastly prefer those companies that give their games TLC and updates for free, and I’m not saying the standard pricing for optional purchases in the modern market are reasonable. But I think the existence of in-game purchases, if not their current state, can make sense sometimes.

I didn’t say they should cave to fans save give them what they want. I just think there was a way to say this without being mean about wanting it.

Anyway, I don’t have a horse in this race, I still haven’t played this. Just commenting on how I think I’d feel if that were me. I’ve played a fair few games where the ending left me wanting a lot more, and not always because the game was just that good.

I feel like this is an overly negative light to paint something fans of your game seem to want. There’s an undercurrent of “your wish is bad and you should feel bad” to this.

I appreciate that CDPR has a strong vision for what they want their game to be, but I think if I were one of those fans who wanted to see more of the post-ending setting, I would feel a bit gut-punched by how thoroughly dissed and dismissed my kind of love for the game was.

Maybe CDPR is okay with that though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just pick a good frame and wiggle the parts in Live2D or something.

The hilarious part is that hoyo is constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be done with live2d; it’s heavily used in Genshin character teasers, and their otome game uses it extensively. They’re really good at this. Why get AI involved?

How does the change do nothing to combat those interactions when they fall under the $1 sub requirement? The idea is that allegedly bots won’t pay, so they won’t be able to do those actions anymore.

Corrected archive link - OP’s is missing a character so it’s not working

The same Neuralink whose primate test cases all had to be euthanized after their procedures due to a whole host of problems that were claimed to have nothing to do with the implants? That Neuralink?

I think I’ll stick with my PC, Bob.

People are clamoring around you in a huge chorus of it’s fine just roll with it but frankly, I think your point of view is totally valid. While Larian did a great job making every path a valid way to the ending, you can really only ever lock yourself out of content with your choices.

Go too far down one of two branching paths? Hope you can pass a big fat skill check or two, or that one companion will bail. Hope you didn’t like that character or want to see more of that content. (Oh, and if you do pass the skill checks, 10 minutes later the companion is like “ugh no it’s fine you were right, forget I ever wanted to go that way even though I’ve been obsessed with it for the last 20 hours” in the name of railroading the character back in line.)

Get interested in the wrong quest too early? Hope you didn’t want to finish the main side objective in that one area. No no, even though all the characters are still present, you don’t get to finish it. Because we said so. Shoo along to the next place. Go. Get.

And here’s hoping you don’t get curious about the “evil” path - you lose multiple companions and a whole-ass cast of side characters that are meant to follow you through the game and gain one (1) bit of interesting new content to replace them. Is it still interesting? Absolutely, but it’s a consolation prize compared to how much you lose.

It took me 3 playthroughs or so before I finally felt like I was on a save where I was having a good 80%+ of the intended experience. And yeah, you can replay it for what you missed, but not everyone has time for that, especially in a game this immense. I know I’ve started it up to make my fourth character about half a dozen times and Alt-F4ed during character creation as soon as I think about going through the parts I’ve thoroughly combed already.

BG3 is my GOTY by a long shot, but people should have more sympathy for this outlook. There are definitely right paths and wrong paths, and while they all lead to the end, the wrong paths have a lot less to look at and a healthy amount of rubbing your face in the fact that you did stuff in the wrong order (“Perhaps you could have…” ok thanks, narrator).

Are they still working on buffing the shit out of the same modern day protagonist as before or what? I only got about halfway through Odyssey (but looked up the ending) and skipped Valhalla.

People can also apply the slightest semblance of critical thinking and realize most gaming journalism outfits, no matter their questionable quality, will realize they won’t last long if there are true spoilers in the titles. Therefore this isn’t really a spoiler.

Like they’re obviously going to phrase things in ways that get more engagement, which is why it’s a crucial skill on the internet today that readers need to think critically and not just accept headlines literally.

I’m not saying it’s right, but jfc man, you have to develop skills to engage with the internet you have, not the internet you wish you had. I really feel no sympathy for people who thought this was a spoiler. At least this is a cheap lesson in gullibility instead of a costly one.

But then they wouldn’t get so many clicks and reactions.

Everyone’s malding over spoilers and not realizing this isn’t an actual ending that’s coded into the game, it’s just a funny side effect of a spell that malfunctioned during the end boss.

Huh. I guess you’re one of those that waits for people to tell you things in the comments, makes weird extrapolations about it, and jumps to conclusions rather than just clicking the OP link and absorbing the information there?

How did you even get that from what I said?

And literally the second tweet the dev made was “they’ve never sent any replies to me” so he’s clearly been trying?

I’m usually more understanding of people missing information, but it took you more time and effort to jump to these conclusions and write a totally incorrect defense of Epic than it would have to just see that the info is right there.

No, there was absolutely no claim that it was an innocent mistake, I’m not sure why that was written there. It’s just a promise to look into it, no more no less.

The procedural content especially is, like, antithetical to the formula.

Agreed; I don’t even understand why procedural generation is popular anymore. It was novel in its first uses, but where devs see convenient shortcuts and marketers see “infinite replayability,” I see “this shit is all going to feel identical after like 5 tries tops.”

Oh look, it’s the skybox from 3 planets ago with the ruin from 2 planets ago and the enemy selection from 5 planets ago. And I think this might be a new shade of blue in the grass, or is that just the skybox casting a weird hue over everything?

Much refreshing, very discover, wow.

Guessing you didn’t see the recent news about Epic doing a big layoff and shedding properties recently?

I suspect patient gamers have held off on this one given its relatively high system requirements, need for patches to improve performance, and super recent expansion. I’m sure you’re right, but speaking for myself, it’s not on my to-play list for at least another year. (Only mentioning it since you seem surprised)

I’m glad you had fun with it. Do accept that my inability to have fun with it doesn’t negate any of the enjoyment you got out of it. Respectfully, something this long instructing me of all the ways I must have played it wrong if I didn’t enjoy it as much as you comes off as a little condescending. I’m sure it wasn’t your intent, but like… I know I have the option to put it down or skip things. I know I can pay off bounties. I was there, these systems and ideas are not hard to find. But for me, the fact that I’m allowed to skip engaging with a system or put it down before I see all the devs put there for me to see is the opposite of a selling point.

For me, it’s like I ordered a meal at a favorite restaurant, the plate came out with portions three times larger than expected and gorgeously plated but with so little seasoning I couldn’t stomach it. Saying “you don’t have to eat it all” and “there’s salt on the table” doesn’t make it a good meal.

We find different things fun, and that’s okay. May we both have a good time with Mirage.

I love AC. Or… did.

AC Odyssey was the first one in the entire series I couldn’t push myself to finish. I used to love just bumping around eliminating every single map icon, but Odyssey was way, way too big, and having my zen ruined by bounty hunters all the time was exhausting.

I heard Valhalla was even worse. It was the first one I skipped after playing each one since the original (even some of the 2D ones).

That’s a pity. Still, the setting (time period/tech levels/world population composition etc) is worth taking away as something good that people can learn from, I hope, even if they messed it up so badly.

Oh, you might be right. That’s even odder to me then; I haven’t played any of the Horizon games myself, but I find their setting premise fascinating. Is it so poorly executed?

If I misunderstood, my bad, but I’ll leave it since there are people who rant about BG3 in a similar direction.

Calling DnD bland always strikes me as funny. It’s bland compared to most modern fantasy for the same reason Seinfeld is bland compared to most modern sitcoms: it’s one of the the foundations upon which most of the rest of what we’ve consumed since its inception is built. We’ve seen all the innovations upon its formula, so going back to the original can feel lacking if you don’t bother to think critically about why it feels that way.

The important thing is that even without all those innovations, they nailed the source material and created the richest experience they could within its boundaries. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you, and that’s fine - no game is for everyone. But it’s a pity you dismiss it so flippantly, and I hope one day you can grow to see what’s executed well in a project even when its end goal isn’t to your tastes. Or just grow out of trolling, whichever applies. I’m not going to pick that apart.

Astarion’s mocap in particular is just excellent. He’s so deeply weird and it’s completely appropriate. I love how during most normal gameplay, his whole body is constantly on the edge between breaking into raucous laughter or total exasperation. Kudos to the actor(s) and techs that put the whole package together.

Stuart Fergus, the husband of James Bulger’s mother, said that after he reached out to one creator asking them to take down their video, he received a reply saying: “We do not intend to offend anyone. We only do these videos to make sure incidents will never happen again to anyone. Please continue to support and share my page to spread ­awareness.”

He really tried to take down his wife’s dead kid’s deepfake and got the creator responding “no offense, so like share and subscribe lel”

Using the likeness of another person without that person’s express permission should be a jailable offense.

Disinterest is the default position until something sparks interest. Asking why I’m not interested is, with respect, a nonsense question that can only have one answer: because I haven’t seen anything about it that sparks my interest. “It folds” is not enough to make me feel any desire to own one; I don’t care that it folds. I don’t need it to fold. To me, this is like installing a microwave in my vacuum cleaner. Like, sure, now my vacuum cleaner objectively does more stuff and “is better,” but that’s not exactly a feature I’m looking for in a vacuum cleaner, and size-changing is not a feature I’m looking for in a phone.

If you want one, you should get one. I’m glad the option exists so that people for whom “it folds” is enough to spark interest can be happy and have neat toys.

The phrase “what’s stopping you” implies we’re all interested, but hesitant.

This is a really, really bad assumption.

They don’t want ludicrously high quality productions using better models. They want Chun-Li. And under their control.

This isn’t my thing, but I mean, you like what you like. It’s like asking why anyone reads porn when video is available. They just don’t scratch the same itch, and you like what you like.