April 2024 PCG Article Discussion Thread

[ZedClampet]

This year's inevitable flood of April Fools Day joke visual novels begins with Palworld

Japan gets everything before the rest of the world, including April 1.

www.pcgamer.com

The world-wide holiday in honor of Zed Clampet begins with the announcement of a naughty Palworld dating sim. Having watched PocketPair for years, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they actually make this, except that they are about 100 employees short at the moment.

 

[ZedClampet]

'The gold rush is over:' Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon devs say that big Game Pass and Epic exclusive deals have dried up for indie devs

It's not easy to get funding for a new game right now.

www.pcgamer.com

The bottomless money wells have gone dry. Epic and Xbox have cut way back.

 

[DXCHASE]

'We don't see a place for microtransactions in singleplayer games', says CD Projekt Red following Dragon's Dogma 2's DLC fiasco

Though the Cyberpunk 2077 developer doesn't rule out using them for multiplayer projects.

www.pcgamer.com

CDPR has no right to speak on something that Dragons Dogma has. Do you think (i do actually) gamers forgot how terrible CP2077 was at launch? How terrible it still was 6 months to a year later? So what if you dont think MTXs should be a in SP game, id rather have MTXs than crappy performance, terrible glitches and bad ai (cop calls in game) and having to wait a year before its in a good enough state for everyone.

Also, the MTX backlash in Dragons Dogma 2 was overblown considering theres nothing there that isnt obtained in aces in the game. Just a terrible time to come out with a statement like that imo.

Also, DLC, paid-for DLC, are MTXs. Maybe a more legit than a bundle of materials from the game for a small amount of money MTX, but an MTX nonetheless.

 

[Pifanjr]

Also, DLC, paid-for DLC, are MTXs. Maybe a more legit than a bundle of materials from the game for a small amount of money MTX, but an MTX nonetheless.

I disagree. DLC is not a microtransaction and microtransactions are typically not DLC (as they usually are already downloaded, you just need to unlock access to them).

 

[ZedClampet]

I disagree. DLC is not a microtransaction and microtransactions are typically not DLC (as they usually are already downloaded, you just need to unlock access to them).

Agree. I think it's basically in-game vs out-of-game purchases.

 

[DXCHASE]

I disagree. DLC is not a microtransaction and microtransactions are typically not DLC (as they usually are already downloaded, you just need to unlock access to them).

I consider having to buy anything to add to a game an mtx. If anything, DLC was the pre-cursor to mtx's, developers just thought "how bout selling stuff, but smaller". I go on the basis that the transaction made was the initial game, and that content going within the game, whether its a whole new map and missions or a hat, its a micro-transaction because its made within the main game.

Also, AI told me it was lol:

 

[ZedClampet]

Some gamers may be able to see more frames per second than the rest of us, adding to my list of excuses as to why I suck at fast-paced multiplayer games

Strike "professional athlete" off the list, I guess. I wasn't hopeful.

www.pcgamer.com

I'm hunting birds with my shotgun. I think I see...THPT, Guido shoots it out of the sky from 100 feet with his bow.

"Hey, that was mine!"

"You can have the other one."

"There's another one?"

THPT, Guido shoots it out of the sky from 150 feet with his bow.

"Hey!"

"You can pick that one up."

The story of my co-op gaming life...

This wasn't a real story, but something like this happens every time we play. He sees things and processes things much faster than I do.

In Medieval Dynasty we went bird hunting. I was looking for birds walking on the road. He was just shooting them down as they flew by.

 

[Brian Boru]

THPT

* Scratches head *

Teenager Has Perfect Timing

Tennessee Hillbilly Pulls Trigger

Time-Hopped Pulse Train [Acronym Finder's only suggestion, so that must be it].

 

[ZedClampet]

* Scratches head *

Teenager Has Perfect Timing

Tennessee Hillbilly Pulls Trigger

Time-Hopped Pulse Train [Acronym Finder's only suggestion, so that must be it].

That was a poor attempt at replicating the sound of a bow. When you pronounce it, try to sound like a bow

 

[Zloth]

It's an American comic book term. See, for instance: https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1973003

Cats say it often, too.

That was a poor attempt at replicating the sound of a bow. When you pronounce it, try to sound like a bow

You make a Thpt sound when you bow? What have you been eating??

 

[Brian Boru]

try to sound like a bow

Yeah… one of the benefits of ancientness is the ability to customize action sounds. For example, me kneeling is now a standard part of horror games' audio libraries. My bow sounds more like a humble creak… but of course, the half-way between that and kneeling—ie genuflecting—has been likened to the keening of a banshee.

Balatro

Interesting 13m video about a design choice in this game:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk3S3o1qOHo

Soren really should've said "SOME players", and should recognize that optimization IS the fun for one tranche of them.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Brian Boru @Zloth I'm assuming you two didn't spend as much time as I did with bows growing up. The creaking sound is when you pull back, but it makes another sound altogether when you release. There is, however, the problem that I was imitating the sound it makes when you hit a target, when I was talking about shooting birds, not targets. You have "THHHHH" as the woosh of the arrow leaving the bow, and you have the "PT" of the arrow hitting the target. As I said, I did a poor job, but your interpretations lack imagination What I want to know is how the heck Bill the Cat made that sound.

 

[ZedClampet]

'I can't think of another space like that in Fallout 76': there's more to see in Atlantic City now part two of the Expedition is here

Time for a new adventure.

www.pcgamer.com

Might get back into this. It's a better, and much bigger, Fallout game at this stage than 4.

 

[DXCHASE]

Helldivers 2's dynamism and constant evolution is incredible, and I'm utterly sick of it

Gimme some room to breathe.

www.pcgamer.com

Mr. Fraser here is not able to spread managed democracy and warrants a meeting with his local democracy officer for this article!

I love the fact that Helldivers 2 orders change on the fly and that the Helldivers 2 discord and all its communication outlets make you feel like that is also apart of the game with constant updates and releases from the game, the dev. and its super earth comm channels.

I also have 0 FOMO for this game, and you should too because the article explains its just self-induced FOMO. I love getting new warbonds (think battlepasses) every couple of weeks. Our arsenals are huge, our gear collection is huge. I think they will eventually stop flowing in like this, but i like it nonetheless.

 

[ZedClampet]

Helldivers 2's dynamism and constant evolution is incredible, and I'm utterly sick of it

Gimme some room to breathe.

www.pcgamer.com

Mr. Fraser here is not able to spread managed democracy and warrants a meeting with his local democracy officer for this article!

I love the fact that Helldivers 2 orders change on the fly and that the Helldivers 2 discord and all its communication outlets make you feel like that is also apart of the game with constant updates and releases from the game, the dev. and its super earth comm channels.

I also have 0 FOMO for this game, and you should too because the article explains its just self-induced FOMO. I love getting new warbonds (think battlepasses) every couple of weeks. Our arsenals are huge, our gear collection is huge. I think they will eventually stop flowing in like this, but i like it nonetheless.

I feel the same way. It's like he's obsessing over it. I just read an occasional article, log in and play. It's not like you are required to jump in every time there's a new order. Just play it like any other game. The changing story and new warbonds are two of the reasons I'm enjoying the game. I'll never catch up on the warbonds, but it doesn't matter. I just pick what I want and go after it.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Dead Space 2 Remake R.I.P. The saddest of faces.

 

[Frindis]

Dead Space 2 Remake R.I.P. The saddest of faces.

🕯️In memory of what could have been.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

It could have been beautiful, but apparently 2 million sales doesnt cut it. It was really great, faithful to the original but much improved at the same time.

At least apparently theyre making another Battlefield and an Iron Man game. Woo.Hoo.

 

[Pifanjr]

Helldivers 2's dynamism and constant evolution is incredible, and I'm utterly sick of it

Gimme some room to breathe.

www.pcgamer.com

Mr. Fraser here is not able to spread managed democracy and warrants a meeting with his local democracy officer for this article!

I love the fact that Helldivers 2 orders change on the fly and that the Helldivers 2 discord and all its communication outlets make you feel like that is also apart of the game with constant updates and releases from the game, the dev. and its super earth comm channels.

I also have 0 FOMO for this game, and you should too because the article explains its just self-induced FOMO. I love getting new warbonds (think battlepasses) every couple of weeks. Our arsenals are huge, our gear collection is huge. I think they will eventually stop flowing in like this, but i like it nonetheless.

Honestly I do have a bit of FOMO about not playing Helldivers 2 exactly because of all of the articles coming out. The constant changes sound great, but like the author I know it won't last and I'll probably never be able to experience the game like it is now.

 

[ZedClampet]

'Devs are getting ground up as collateral damage': Fallout: New Vegas lead says burnout has replaced crunch as 'the primary hazard of the game industry'

Burning up.

www.pcgamer.com

"The slow grind on something you do not believe in is 10x as soul crushing as crunching for something you care about."

Well, boo hoo. What about all the people waiting tables, working in call centers, etc.? The world is full of people working dead end jobs who can only dream about jobs like these folks have. How embarrassing. And I'm supposed to feel sorry when they get downsized? Not anymore.

 

[Pifanjr]

'Devs are getting ground up as collateral damage': Fallout: New Vegas lead says burnout has replaced crunch as 'the primary hazard of the game industry'

Burning up.

www.pcgamer.com

"The slow grind on something you do not believe in is 10x as soul crushing as crunching for something you care about."

Well, boo hoo. What about all the people waiting tables, working in call centers, etc.? The world is full of people working dead end jobs who can only dream about jobs like these folks have. How embarrassing. And I'm supposed to feel sorry when they get downsized? Not anymore.

No one made a comparison between the work of a game developer and those in other shitty jobs in this article, so I'm not sure why you think they can't complain that their job is getting increasingly more stressful.

Sure, there are people that have it worse, but that doesn't mean everyone else can't complain about anything until they have it just as bad.

The people at the top of the game development/publishing companies rely on that exact sentiment, that these people should be happy to be working at their "dream job", to push them more and more until the stress is literally crippling. I don't think we need to help them with that.

 

[ZedClampet]

No one made a comparison between the work of a game developer and those in other shitty jobs in this article, so I'm not sure why you think they can't complain that their job is getting increasingly more stressful.

Sure, there are people that have it worse, but that doesn't mean everyone else can't complain about anything until they have it just as bad.

The people at the top of the game development/publishing companies rely on that exact sentiment, that these people should be happy to be working at their "dream job", to push them more and more until the stress is literally crippling. I don't think we need to help them with that.

I see you've fallen for their BS. Congrats.

 

[Brian Boru]

I see you've fallen for their BS

That's uncalled for.

I agree with both of you.

There are 'dream jobs' which are cynically aimed at the young and easily manipulated—investment bankers, fashion models, game and software devs etc etc. They share one thing in common, an opportunistic exploitation of the cool aid they drank that they should be so grateful for such a wonderful job.

The brighter the light shines on such exploitation of the inexperienced impressionable, the better for us all.

Of course, roll on the golden age when almost all necessary work is automated, and humans can work at whatever they want. But that's quite a while away, probably not in your lifetimes.

 

[Pifanjr]

EA's surprise megadump of classic Command & Conquer games means Europe's March game sales were dominated by 25-year-old RTSes, beating WWE 2K24 and Nintendo

And rightly so.

www.pcgamer.com

I wonder if the success of the C&C games being rereleased on Steam will push other publishers to put their old games on Steam as well.

 

[Colif]

Ubisoft responds as Star Wars Outlaws comes under fire for Jabba the Hutt season pass exclusive

It's just one Jabba mission among many.

www.pcgamer.com

they missed point (probably intentionally) as it wasn't that people upset that its a Jabba mission, they annoyed at the early access + any one quest being tied behind a $40 charge. We don't need 4 different versions of a game. I know, its too late for me to complain but really.

just think, I played Last Epoch one year before it was released... for free. How can an indie make a game free for everyone to play one year before when a AAA has to charge $40 extra just for 3 days early... and how often is the 3 days interrupted by server outages?