Werthead Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 I think there was an uplift curve to Total War that made it naturally better over time: bigger maps, 3D maps, naval combat, multi-theatre maps, bigger cities, multi-level cities and castles, the campaign map dynamically generated battlemaps etc. But they have been fundamentally unable to address the biggest problem: shitty AI and the AI having to cheat to get around its limitations, which is just extremely frustrating and makes intelligent tactics and strategy a waste of time. What's even worse is that since Shogun 2 and especially Attila they have been removing features rather then improving them: full sieges are more or less gone (now you attack one wall and that's it), naval battles are gone, the campaign map is now disconnected from the battlemaps, the actual focus on real military tactics is mostly gone, since heroes and casters can win battles almost by themselves etc. The series is in creative decline and has been for a decade. I do think it can continue to sell: Middle-earth: Total War would shift a ton of copies, and there's some historical periods they could do which would be popular. But creatively I can't see the series ever peaking again simply because, to do so, they would need to increase complexity, reactivity and make better AI, none of which would appeal to the streamlined mass market Sega is now chasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted October 2, 2023 Author Share Posted October 2, 2023 (edited) I think it's worth pointing fingers at SEGA, too. They gutted Relic Entertainment after CoH 3 didn't do well. And now they're turning on CA because of lower profits. And I'm sure a lot of the recent poor releases of Total War games had to do with deadlines dictated by SEGA. Not unlike how EA has screwed over the studio under them. Edited October 2, 2023 by Corvinus85 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 The Warhammer games I think have pushed the idea that it's the battles that are the interesting part of the game rather than the campaign map, reducing much of the campaign complexity to the side so that the player doesn't have to make very many genuine decisions during their campaigns. Basically you win by fighting as much as possible, with rewards based on just how many fights you engage in. The battles themselves have become much more like an RTS clickfest, rather than any sort of strategy. If you ever watch multiplayer battles on Youtube you can see that the game is mostly won by quick reactions and knowing which stats beat which stats. Having said that, I'm not sure the game was ever really that complex, it's more that from a gameplay perspective they have seriously stagnated and are just reusing the same ideas over and over. The game isn't really all that different to Empire or Rome 2. Total war also never really was a good historical battle simulator, it was just easier to pretend it was in the past because it was slower and was less about monsters and magic. I do suspect historical Total War is maybe doomed forever.. or a long while. Pharaoh is probably dead on arrival, even if it turns out to be a decent game, it just doesn't have any buzz around it. Again it seems to be a poorly thought out CA decision designed to make money, the suspicion being they wanted to do an Immortal Empires style map with Troy and just create a new franchise they can keep connecting up. Jace, Extat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted October 4, 2023 Author Share Posted October 4, 2023 I still don't really know how to build a ship in Starfield, meanwhile this guy built a ludicrous large Star Destroyer. Argonath Diver 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proudfeet Posted October 4, 2023 Share Posted October 4, 2023 How much do new games cost nowadays? I'm looking at Disgaea 7, and while the base game costs a somewhat reasonable $50, the DLCs for the past protagonists adds up to the same price making it a hundred for the complete game. Haven't felt this ripped off since I bought the G Pro Superlight which is somehow worse than the original G Pro Wireless despite being significantly more expensive and didn't even come with USB C which they finally included in the Superlight 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted October 4, 2023 Share Posted October 4, 2023 55 minutes ago, Proudfeet said: How much do new games cost nowadays? I'm looking at Disgaea 7, and while the base game costs a somewhat reasonable $50, the DLCs for the past protagonists adds up to the same price making it a hundred for the complete game. The total for all expansions for Europa Universalis IV comes to like $500 lol admittedly they're on sale or bundled reasonably often as far as I can tell. I got them in a Humble Bundle for like 20 Euro or something. But yeah, DLC often punts the price right up like that. It's not usually available on release though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted October 4, 2023 Author Share Posted October 4, 2023 (edited) There is a difference between DLCs that add some kind of flavor and simply expand a game, and DLCs that essentially complete the game. For the former, I feel no problem dishing out cash for games I love, for the latter, it's annoying and definitely a ripoff. Edited October 4, 2023 by Corvinus85 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II Posted October 4, 2023 Share Posted October 4, 2023 I believe 70 USD has become standard now for AAA+ titles like Starfield due to the high costs of development, but most games have remained at 60 for almost 15 years now, which is remarkable looking at inflation. DLCs of course vary from developer to developer and also on the game. Ser Not Appearing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arakasi Posted October 4, 2023 Share Posted October 4, 2023 I paid 60-70 for Super Nintendo games when I was 12 in 1991. It’s surprising prices of games flatlined for so long. Not a surprise game companies have turned to DLCs and micro transactions. Rhom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted October 4, 2023 Share Posted October 4, 2023 What is Diablo 4 doing on Steam?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argonath Diver Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 I foolishly watched a bunch of their livestream about season 2. Hooray, now you appear inside the dungeon if you port there! The main dev said this was a "huge" change. My god. What an abysmal game. I refuse to call that company Blizzard. It's just Activision using the name. Meanwhile I'm still absolutely blasting in Project Diablo 2 - just had my first SoJ of the new season. It's like they took everything I ever wanted from D2, added it all, then also keep adding more and more QOL and content. With 60fps and 1080p graphics (of course not as crisp as D2R's, but it's just D2 and idgaf) it looks just fine. My only gripe is that the terrific online community (2.5k players online right now) are all ridiculously far behind my slow-gaming self and nothing I find will have value only 10 days into the season, so it's basically an SSF experience for me. I got an old college buddy of mine hooked this week and his last message to me was "My wife hates you." I haven't seen that guy in 20 years but I've made an enemy of a nice Kansas lady. IlyaP and Rhom 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arakasi Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 There is a wee bit more coming than just that. I mean sure okay D2 or an offshoot if you want. It’s just really hard to go back to the boring gameplay of D2 after PoE and D4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 37 minutes ago, Arakasi said: There is a wee bit more coming than just that. I mean sure okay D2 or an offshoot if you want. It’s just really hard to go back to the boring gameplay of D2 after PoE and D4. As in, what, Diablo 1-3 are also coming to Steam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Can someone succinctly sum up what happened with Diablo 4. When it was released I was seeing a lot of positive reaction, people were loving it. Now it seems like it’s almost universally hated. I’ve only been able to glean bits and pieces about patches and changes, but it sounds like such a big turnaround, I’m trying to understand what the beef against the game is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arakasi Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 (edited) They didn’t have QoL features or enough content at launch. Game plays very well, looks good and is fun to play. 1-50 is very good but 50 and on gets boring fast since there is not enough to do. Throw in weak itemization as well as a cherry on top. Edit: Season one was underwhelming as well. To me the issue is all content and progression. These games really live on farming loot and it’s clear the design team missed the boat on some of their choices. Like having drop rate on Shako at same odds as winning the lottery. Or not giving any control over farming uniques. Making item rerolls way too expensive. Too much stick not enough carrot. They are fixing all of this it looks like but should have been obvious to anyone who had played the genre that they were not going the right way. Throw in repetitive content and people just stalled between 60-100. Edited October 5, 2023 by Arakasi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proudfeet Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 14 hours ago, polishgenius said: But yeah, DLC often punts the price right up like that. It's not usually available on release though. True. Looking at it again, it was released in January for consoles and the release now is after localisation and porting to Steam. 14 hours ago, Corvinus85 said: There is a difference between DLCs that add some kind of flavor and simply expand a game, and DLCs that essentially complete the game. For the former, I feel no problem dishing out cash for games I love, for the latter, it's annoying and definitely a ripoff. Yeah, I'm getting it regardless, but the part I'm sore about is that its not really new content. The DLC is characters from previous or other games. Sure, there is work involved, but the first set of DLCs were released a week after release and the second set a fortnight after the first set. They were basically complete on release. Its not something that should equal the price of the base game. And taking a closer look at it, seems like they left out some of the previously added DLC characters too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryk Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 8 hours ago, Heartofice said: Can someone succinctly sum up what happened with Diablo 4. When it was released I was seeing a lot of positive reaction, people were loving it. Now it seems like it’s almost universally hated. I’ve only been able to glean bits and pieces about patches and changes, but it sounds like such a big turnaround, I’m trying to understand what the beef against the game is What Arakasi said plus people don't like having to make a new character for each season. For me personally, the Diablo endgame has never been a big issue, as it was always about the single-player experience and story for me. In that respect I found Diablo 4 to be the weakest of the franchise. The story was weak and there was only one cinematic. It's Blizzard tradition to have each Act end with a cinematic. The open-world actually worked against it too, I preferred travelling between lands in Diablo 2 as it felt like you were journeying to a different land far away and each land had its own distinct aesthetic. That said I probably enjoyed the gameplay for Diablo 4 more than the others. Rhom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryk Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 16 hours ago, IlyaP said: What is Diablo 4 doing on Steam?! Hmm, could this be something to do with the impending Microsoft purchase? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 14 minutes ago, Darryk said: Hmm, could this be something to do with the impending Microsoft purchase? Nope. It's just Blizzard/Activision. I really bounced hard off of D4, personally. The itemization was confusing and annoying, the graphics were very Quake like with almost everything being brown/grey, and the big thing was that there was so much fucking traveling everywhere. I didn't want an open-world game where I had to explore every nook and cranny for very small bonuses or to redo dungeons over and over. It felt like there was a lot of times where I was just...not killing demons. And for a game like Diablo that's not really what I want at all. I also didn't really enjoy their version of the skill trees, which were incredibly annoying to respec and felt like it didn't give a lot of choices. That you also only had the option for 6 total skills meant that dipping into skills for various utility wasn't that useful anyway. The paragon grid thing was just horrible - an unintuitive crazy mess of crap. But mostly it was just the open world, especially the open world before you get the horse. Rhom and Darryk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Beautiful. Durckad and dog-days 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts