Stalker 2 coming out. Heralding a douchebag move by the company to blanket bully fans, by stating everything after 2009, put together by fans, belongs to the company. Because they say so "...or else....". Then the benevolent hand allows a few to be given the right to the stuff they crafted.

Imagine buying a car and for 14 years the company that sold it to you was gone and didnt matter. You customize everything and even swap out the engine. Now after all those years some douche knocks at your door and says yer fly ride isnt yours, as is the custom work you added to it. But if you comply with their demands, you can have the privilege of driving it....until they say you cant.

ps- its an analogy. No shit its not about cars.

Could you please give a source for that claim. I'm unable to find anything about that.

....bruh, its literally on the official website.....

Which official website? For S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy or GSC Game World?

Google had it in 2nd link, but whatever man....

https://www.gsc-game.com/guidelines/

So many over the last 18 months. From the most recent working backwards:

1. Dragon Age the Veilguard. Diabolical writing, terrible characters, abandoning core game mechanics from the originals. I'm pretty sure the reason why the performance of the GoG version of Origins tanking is that the game is dying of shame about what's happening to the franchise. Might be time for EA to do what EA always does to its studios and "Westwood" Bioware.

2. Suicide Squad. I was hopeful for another Arkham style game. Watched some youtube reviews. Didn't even pick it up for free when Amazon offered it.

3. Alan Wake II. Probably competent, but why on earth did they have to MCU all the Remedy Games? I'm okay with the odd Easter Egg, but chucking all the games into a single continuity. No thanks.


At this point, I'm more surprised when something decent arrives from an established studio than when they release something that basically is going to sink without trace.

As much as it pains me to say it, probably Divinity Original Sin 2.

On paper it seemed like it would be a perfect fit for my tastes and while I did broadly enjoy the story up to the point where I stopped I found the combat to be a bit hit and miss at times along with really disliking the way the areas are maps are level gated.

It just felt restrictive in that I couldn't explore in a particular direction because the enemies were suddenly a tiny bit higher level and the fight either becomes a chore or a steamroll for the enemy. To overcome this it seemed like you then had to meticulously scour through an area that is at your level making sure you do everything to ensure that you actually get enough experience to move into the next area of the map then rinse and repeat. In the end it just felt tiring and inorganic to me. I'm not saying that some areas shouldn't have stronger enemies etc just that perhaps some amount of scaling wouldn't hurt in allowing a bit more freedom.

Maybe one day I'll try it again, perhaps at a lower difficulty and see if that helps, but for now I have dropped it and not looked back.

Ive been going through older games that I didnt play earlier, basically games that are considered the GOATs of gaming.

GTA San Andreas is incredibly mid. Combat system is very medicore and having played later entries (RDR2, GTA5), its clear Rockstar saw auto-aim + flick up is good enough and hasnt evolved the system ever since. San Andreas is also the start of implementing "RPG mechanics" to add more busy work into the game where you need to repeat actions to get "better" at them. I wont fault the graphics (its PS2 era) or the controls too much but the controls for aerial vehicles were terrible and I preferred to just never travel by air. Not a good look for a game that prides itself on using a wide variety of vehicles.

Maybe Im missing something but playing other open world games (Like a Dragon series, Sleeping Dogs, Watch Dogs), the basic combat loop is so much better and I dont understand how GTA continues to sell like hotcakes every release.

My biggest gaming disappointment in recent years is the perpetual oversimplification of modern games, in general, no matter if I'm directly interested in the game or not.

Reminds me of Hollywood's strange conflated notion that being strong is the same as being abusive, flat and perfect.

And now for the list of games I saved my money from buying and playing:

Alan Wake II - In short, should've been named "The Anderson Journey - Expect no charm and fun." AW1 had interesting characters with personality. The music was actually the best (only?) part that was excellent.
Starfield - It's been said to death but one thing is that in my opinion an exploration game should be about... exactly that, in more ways than a cool ship builder tool. And speaking of personality of a log...
WarCraft 1,2,3 - It's fine, but cheaply made remaster.
Stalker 2 - So, how about those "guidelines"?!? Same goes for Rockstar, Blizzard and many other companies with such "guidelines" and treating fans and the community like they're some bad dog that needs to be put down.
Diablo IV - It's over. PoE 2 will most likely dominate that segment.
Satisfactory - 1.0 was pretty anticlimactic.

To say that I've more or less have quit buying newer games is an understatement (at least at full price), unless some indie dev releases a wholesome game, like the next game from ConcernedApe most likely will be.

Other than that, older games are the best, unless we get access to more quality Asian games, that is. ;)

Thanks.

Mass Effect will decide that. If it performs similarly to Veilguard, it's all but guaranteed. About time too, they've been a hollow husk for a long time now, being puppeted around just for the name.

No such thing on my side.

Starts with me not expecting anything - therefore I can't get disappointed. ;)

Well I guess Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 ?

Though its not really out yet. So maybe its good after all ?

I agree with your point about the level gating. I've played D:OS1 (not 2) and it's so heavily level-gated that it may as well be linear, because you're forced to do things in a very strict order. It's effectively not much less linear than Icewind Dale.

I didn't think it was disappointing though. Overall, I thought it was a good game. It's just that it's been over-hyped and it didn't leave me with a burning desire to go out and play the sequel any time soon.

Sony and Sega forgetting about GOG so soon after they had a handful-to-bunch of great releases here.

I'm disappointed I can't play Infinite Wealth or Forbidden West+Burning Shores.