We also expect much more from sequels these days. Most old games’ sequels are just more content on the same engine with minimal new features. Spyro 2 was Spyro 1 with swimming, ice, and powerups. I don’t remember Crash Bandicoot 2 changing anything but the hub world. Did Guitar Hero make any major changes between 1, 2, or 3? Nowadays, Elder Scrolls gets significant engine upgrades between each game, as does Halo, as did Horizon. Totk’s biggest critique is “its just DLC cuz it’s in the same engine”, even though there have been some substantial, non-graphical, physics based upgrades.
I mean, Dragon Age Dreadwolf has been in development for a full decade now at this point.
I’m ok with games taking longer to come out if it means they’re actually finished when they come out. The problem is games are taking longer to come out, but when they do, they’re generally a buggy mess.
The major franchises are, by and large, sponsored by the platform holders and major publishers at this point. They can actually spend a few years working on a game. More time means less crunch
And as a consumer? I already got way too many games to play. Right now I have Baldurs Gate 3 (!), Armored Core 6 (???), Alan Wake 2 (… I have to have died and somehow got put in The Good Place, right?), and LAD Gaiden (that actually is sane) in the next few months. Let alone whatever I managed to forget because this shit is so insanely stacked.
But also? it doesn’t really matter i I play a game at launch. Last of Us 2 and God of War 2 were some of the bigger games ever with massive twists that EVERYONE cared about. And… because I ignored threads about it, I was pleasantly surprised (well, mostly bored but…) when I finally got around to them a year or three later.
And… for as big as these new games are? I still got Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld and Warframe to check in on way too often.
So yeah. I am perfectly happy with the big sequels getting more time in between games.
Kenshi is fun but always feels like too much of a time investment to get to the fun parts. Sort of like a roguelike where the first hour is always the same but you still will probably die. Caves of Qud is VERY different, but has a similar “let’s do some weird stuff in a weird world” but is “fun” from the first few minutes.
Starsector I could just never get on with, but keep trying every year or two. I think the problem is that I “grew up” in the peak of the elite game genre and with stuff like EV Nova. And now that Cosmoteer is out, that is more of what I want from that style of game. Just a shame the quests are so weak and there are no mini-narratives… yet.
That’s a fair critique of Kenshi, yeah 😂 I have a soft spot for it because I started following it back in, like, 2011, when Chris was the sole dev and didn’t even want to do a Kickstarter for it. It’s up there with Grim Dawn amongst the greatest success stories of games I’ve backed (it’s quite a short list lol).
Star Sector is indeed a bit tough to get into, and I still don’t like actively piloting ships. This might be attributable to inputs: I’ve got a Kinesis Advantage II ergo keyboard, which is stupid comfortable for 14-hour stretches of typing, but means I have to remap every single key in every single game I want to start playing. What keeps me playing is the sheer amount of community-made content available, which adds a lot of replayability in the form of new ships, weapons, factions, and questlines. Also Nexerelin, which adds a lot of 4X elements, changes the gameplay significantly.
I was looking at Cosmoteer just recently, funnily enough! I was thinking about buying it, but my brain actually used the meme on me:
We have Cosmoteer at home
I’ve just pulled up the store page again, will probably watch some more recent Let’s Plays to get a better idea of the experience.
How about Avorion? I like what I’ve played, I just suck at building and haven’t put in the time to learn it any better, but it has heaps of good reviews.
and that’s perfectly fine? As a Zelda fan, the wait for TOTK was absofuckinglutely worth it
I swear to god, I don’t know how anyone could be impatient about this. Have you played every other video game that’s been released during the ~50 yr history of video games? No? Ok, go play one of those or touch some goddamn grass
I mean there’s definitely a limit right? Like if you take too long you’ll need to scrap some tech to keep up to date. Or you get into dev hell. Look at Duke Nukem and other crazy long sequels
I’m 36 now and we’re still at least 6, probably 8, years from Elder Scrolls 6. If there’s going to be an Elder Scrolls 7 I probably won’t live to see it.
The definition of “good” can be adjusted, depending on how desperate you are.
That said, I m against sacrificing my standards when it comes to paid things, I want to get what I paid for, and definitely back the people praising BG3 and want games of that caliber now that Larian has shown everybody that it’s possible.
What’s your jank tolerance like? If “moderate to high”, Mount & Blade or Outward might scratch the itch for you. If you’re up for post apocalyptic ronin shenanigans with more of a strategy feel, Kenshi might be enjoyable. Technically, Noita is an open-world fantasy game. It’s really hard (I’m really bad), but I love it nonetheless.
Going more mainstream there’s shedloads of mods for classics like Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim to update graphics, mechanics, or just new content. Witcher 3 is still really good, too.
By the time I get to playing a series usually several games in that series have come out. I usually play games that are 5+ years old, I don’t have time to keep up with current releases and that’s more expensive anyway. Playing on a multi-year delay keeps me away from over-hype of game releases and by the time I play them they’re patched, have all dlc, whatever else is applicable. I don’t do it for every game obviously but it’s my typical way of buying games
Add comment