tiredofsametab
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I resolved to stop paying full price for anything Pitchford and his touch based on a number of factors. I did buy the latest BL game when it was on a big sale and thoroughly hated the main story and various plotholes (seemingly from cuts made by the company/directors rather than the writers). I bought Tiny Tina (again, on sale for over half off) and it was a game with all kinds of bugs that just never got fixed – it’s the first game I didn’t immediately roll a new character to replay after beating it. At this point, I’m not sure I would buy anything else they put out.
One was a military base and entering one part of a big open yard would open several doors with zombies aggro’d to the player. Another was the tier 5 prison that had several spawn triggers. However, before the trigger, no zombies were spawned in so they couldn’t just be picked off. I never saw a visible trigger anywhere in my playthroughs.
I had tons of hours in it. In either a19 or a20, they added these dumb triggers that just spawn an entire world of zombies or open a set of doors with the zombies aggro’d to the player already effectively killing stealth. Worse, there’s no way to know about any of this until you’re in the POI and getting obliterated. I haven’t touched the game since them and was quite angry.
They don’t always do definitive editions, so should I just wait forever and never get it?
This is not a binary. “If they do not release a definitive edition, I can never buy it” is not a true statement. Show the company that you’re not going to get it right away and convince others to do the same.
they just view that as people not being interested in the game at all, so they quit making anything.
I have never seen this happen with a popular IP. People complaining on social media would also probably be a decent enough way for someone at the company to know as around release, companies will definitely be checking.
I specifically noted that I did not think they did preorders. Secondly, you could also not buy it when it first comes out, which is what I was getting at. If you know they are going to do this, either wait to buy the “full version” or buy it later on sale or not at all. Basically, buying it when it comes out is still telling the company that, even for an incomplete product, you’re still willing to shell out full price for it.
That is a statement I definitely can agree with in some ways. I think some of it is cultural difference and expectation being different between many western consumers versus Japanese. I think Japanese are far more used to certain practices and won’t push back as much and, generally, also make up most of the companies’ income. Not that I think that means something doesn’t need to or shouldn’t be fixed, but what I see from being here.
I ran into a number of bugs in that game and got frustrated (I can’t recall what exactly, anymore). It’s the only one where I didn’t roll another character to play though again in a different playstyle. It’s great they did it mostly remotely during covid, but that they couldn’t be arsed to fix the bugs left a bad taste in my mouth.
Nothing has really caught my eye so far. I have a handful of wishlisted games, some of which are on sale, but I just don’t feel compelled to get them. I’m actually considering trying to dig up my old SSI gold-box titles and see if I can get DOSBox or a VM working instead (though housework and farming generally eat up my non-main-job time at the moment).
So the biggest problem, particularly with the currency and economy, is that Japan lacks a lot of resources so a ton of things are imported. This means that a ton of things used by normal people are going up in price, especially since corona opened the floodgates on that (Japanese makers were really resistant to changing prices but corona gave an excuse and momentum came in). For most Japanese, that’s just going to impact goods and services. For most foreigners, they want to go home to see their family sometimes and their wages mean much less and flight prices get higher. Overseas vacations in general are an issue here. If there’s an emergency, it’s even worse.
Two types of long-release ADHD medication are currently allowed for adult ADHD in Japan. Instant release and other varieties are very illegal. Concerta was the only option until fairly recently, but now another one is allowed (though English documentation is probably behind).
A company can sponsor an IT worker quite easily. The recipient needs to have a degree or 10 years of experience (though degree is strongly preferred due to paperwork) and can’t have a criminal record (to simplify a bit).
They (employee being hired) should be prepared to make 1/4 to about 1/2 what they would make in the US, almost certainly have full in-person office time, and the exchange rate to USD is the worst it’s been in over 30 years with no sign of recovery (my salary converted to USD is worse now than when I made far less gross salary), etc.
In the case of Americans, the added bonus that the Japanese versions of retirement accounts (iDECO and NISA) are basically off-limits because the IRS taxes them punitively. Several investments are off limits for the same reason (PFICs). They can’t contribute to a 401k unless they have US taxable income which would mean double taxation. If they make over the IRS’s minimum (which is hard with a Japanese salary and exchange rate at the moment outside of FANG and certain fintech), they do get the pleasure of being double-taxed. Either way, they still have to file US taxes every year and likely FBAR as well.
Oh, and if they want to work for any of the major game studios, they will need to read, write, and speak a certain degree of Japanese.
Few banks, medical institutions, etc. have much if any English support (though it is getting better).
If they like weed or anything, it’s still super illegal here and will result in detention for up to 23 days before charging, serving a jail sentence, and being banned for anywhere from 5 years to life from Japan. This could also happen if their family/doctor in the US happens to send them a medication they can’t get here (for example, many types of ADHD drugs are fully illegal here).
Edit: another one! If they want to keep voting, they may need to pay state taxes as well enough if they do not live there and will not set foot there again; it depends upon the state how that is handled.
Edit2: I’m a software engineer (and, as of recently, small-scale farmer) originally from the US and living in Japan for nearly a decade now.
Except there are many things that can be done without groups and more games add functionality to accomplish this (comparing FFXI at launch and today, for instance). Multiplayer could also simply refer to the fact that multiple people are playing this game at the same time, which would fit better with the first statement.
If a game wanted to force multiplayer, they should do it from the start and just not allow doing things solo. Then, you’re right, I simply wouldn’t play that game.
I, on the other hand, much prefer being able to play an MMO solo and grouping with people when I decide to be social. Locking content behind grouping is just plain annoying. As with all games, I’m there to explore the world and the story and the less I have other humans involved in that, the better in most cases.
Assuming they are all 正社員 (seishain) which are a class of full-time employee, the bar for dismissal is high. In fact, it’s common to basically pay employees to go away rather than to actually try to fire them or something. A company can, in actual financial hardship, lay people off. I don’t know what the bar for that is or if there are any criteria as to whom or in which order they must dismiss.
My biggest issue with wonderlands was numerous, frustrating bugs. Sure, you made this game during Corona and lockdown, at least in part, and did great for everyone being remote. Why the fuck did you not fix the bugs when you got back? Time to release a DLC and such? Sure. Bugs? Nah. I forget what they were at this point, but remember being super frustrated a number of times.
I re-installed (I have about 500 hours total) and joined for a game for the first time in years (so I’m level 0, whatever that means; I guess that was added after I quit) and had a blast. Not sure if it’s only in the higher levels or because of region (I’m based in Japan). Only had time for one game on a quick work break, so not enough sample size .
I never played n64 (except maybe a couple rounds of Mario kart, but that may have been gamecube). I tried to play ZOoT, goldeneye, etc. and found the controls and camera awful. With no nostalgia for it, I was out in about 30 minutes (I think less on goldeneye be cause of that abomination of a controller).
Scope creep: this time we’re sure it won’t be a disaster at all.
Really neat if they could pull it off and have it not ruin anything else in the game, though I think I’d want any social stuff to be optionally enabled rather than always on.