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Matsuda, on TR "failed" launch period of 3,9m copies, 4 years ago: 🙄

The last 3 TR games have sold more than 38m copies and the last two Deus Ex more than 12m. I'd say "consistently underperforming" is way off the mark.

Nah, hyperbole would be "its probably the most stunning achievement ever".

I think he named some heroes and from them the bosses were created?

Fair point, but the generic NPCs in open worlds are there to enhance the atmosphere, nothing more. An inhabited open world like W3 or RDR2 would look silly with no NPCs. I personally still remember the first time I saw Beauclair or Skellige Islands, so the W3 has plenty of moments like that as well. For an open world it doesn't lack awe, although ER has a greater effect because the imagination in the art has practically no limits, unlike in the more traditional open world games which usually need to follow a cultural or historical theme.

And he didn't even need Martin to do anything. 😜

I never compared W3 and Elden Ring directly as games, I just compared their open worlds. Maybe you missed some of my posts?

I am trying to shit on a game that I have already said its a stunning achievement and I am having a good time playing it? It is prettly clear who is obsessively against any view that doesn't support ER as the second coming.

Fair point, but I already said it is a stunning world, but not the most stunning we have ever seen in open worlds.

I totally disagree but we are talking about the open worlds specifically anyway. Sure, the combat in Elden Ring is on another level but that makes sense because it is its main thing. I don't think its a fair comparison to use it to compare it to other games though. It would be like saying "Elden Ring sucks compared to the W3 because the latter has an incredible story while the former doesn't".

Yes, but that works exactly because it is not built as a proper inhabited open world but as a playground. Games like RDR2 and W3 are way more complex and use of landmarks would not be enough to find all the little villages and other places because nature would get in the way, as it does in real life. You would actually need a real map or spend so much time in them as to learn the land as a proper living person there. 😅 I do agree though that if Elden Rings brings something new to the table and open world games is the less hand holding. We do not need as much or we should certainly have the options to tailor the experience as we would like. But that is not a simple matter of settings, design would have to support that. That is why I was looking at my screen in disbelief when an AC designer said that you can turn everything off in AC games as well. Sure, but then you wouldn't be able to play the game because it is not designed to be played like this.

Maybe it does apply, but I believe because these games have been built to offer an inhabited open world which is more unified and where everything feels part of the land and connected, it would do the games a huge disservice if you had loading screens. But technically it could apply to them as well. In Elden Ring I wouldn't mind loading screens so much. I would mind it though if there was a "please wait for loading" in the middle of Novigrad. Maybe I am off topic because I haven't given up on Elden Ring, I am having a great time even though I am quite shit at it. 😅

I have read plenty about how it changes open world games. I am suprised that you haven't. It is a stunning game world but not the most stunning game world ever created. RDR2 or W3 are more impressive in my opinion. Also, it depends on what you mean as well. Elden Ring doesn't have to follow any rules that make sense in an inhabited open world. It doesn't have to include cities, NPCs and NPCs behaviour, random animal behaviours, extended quest lines, interaction with other NPCs, etc. It is just a playground where every place tries to outdo the previous one. If all the areas were just different lands seperated by a load screen there wouldn't be much difference. As I said, trully impressive game, but other than its world beating art, its open world is really nothing special as an achievement.

If there is something that is making me question this game more than other from software titles is this kind of hyperbole. Good game, I am having a fun time with it, but nowhere near as revolutionary for open world games as people would like to think imo.

This will probably be a prequel, taking place when the cat school actually existed. A chance also to meet a younger Geralt as NPC. It’s clear why they chose the cat school: it was the school which allowed women to take the trial of the grasses, hence players can create a female Witcher if they want. Also, their main base was actually a caravan, so a perfect choice for moving around the land doing contracts etc.

I certainly hope so.

How did I forget that? Let me log on to my console mod store account. 😛

It’s not the same though, is it? Elden Ring is designed to be like this, it’s entire system is created based on exploring and experimenting. In Cyberpunk it’s just a logistics issue, you don’t need to do any exploring, everything is right there on the map for you.

For all the amazing stuff in this game, I would never let anyone designing this UI or the entire crafting system near a PC again. Not only that, everything is designed to make your life difficult. There’s no way to know which vendor sells what. Where did you find that legendary mod? How can you locate a mod for your glasses? Where can you find crafting recipes? It’s not like they are hidden, but there’s so many places and so different items sold by different vendors that trying to do crafting becomes such a chore. You literally need pen and paper. There’s not even a way to make map bookmarks ffs. What am I missing here?

The problem is I have no text or a new mission in my journal. The quest has totally disappeared. I will do some more side quests and see. The whole game I literally had no bugs at all - just a couple of graphical glitches in 60+ hours. I Hope cyberfate is not out to get me now. 🤔

Closing in on the point of no return and hit two game breaking bugs - thankfully an earlier save solved the issue. But now I’m getting anxious again because it seems another one has hit - or simply is taking too long for the event to be triggered? It involves the Judy quest line and when A little help would be appreciated because I’m afraid to Google in case of spoilers.

Yeah, but almost all Japanese games are like that (and rll is way too reactionary anyway), so if you can’t take their dodgy outfits and sexual innuendos you are excluding yourself from some of the best games. In most cases, Japanese dodgy stuff are superficial and the games are never about them, as usually female characters are at least as strong and independent as male ones, but of course I get it if someone can’t easily stomach their sexism when it pops up.

Actually I have found VC4 to be the best in the series by quite a margin. There are missteps, sure, but all in all it has the best cast imo and some great moments. Gameplay is easily improved as well.

The more I play this the more I am in awe of the sheer complexity, beauty and ambition, both in narrative and world building. I am now fifty hours in and still in Act 2. I really like how CDPR helps the player enjoy the side quests and exploration by giving us a moment to breathe. They have provided small stops in both the main and side quests by concluding small arcs and have the NPCs “be in touch when they know more to proceed”. I also love how they use world building to tie in with some quests. In the early game I remember watching on TV a case of a serial killer and the death of an important figure and wishing I had the chance to figure out what happened. Well, after 30 hours and coming in touch with the right people I got my side quests wish - and what great side quests they are, even if one I had to stop to take a break because of how disturbing it was. There are no better writers in the RPG genre than CDPR (and are easily amongst the best in the industry). The writing also goes hand in hand with the world building and exposition. CDPR are masters of taking their time to explore and build characters, develop the world. They have the characters talk about themselves and the city in organic ways like eating and drinking with V, quest details are discussed and not simply narrated or read. This goes a long way to make the world and the story feel present, alive. The gameplay has now opened up and it has been a joy using stealth and controlling the environment. So many options to approach things, so many different elements combined. I just hope one day we can actually have a better AI for when using stealth, because it’s not much different from the rest of games. The actual shooting is fun and coming up against bosses can really mix things up, but all in all this feels more like the W2 combat - it’s almost good. Johnny is excellently written and such an asshole. 😆 Even one line from him gives color to the most mundane tasks. Last but not least, some of the main missions are incredible. One specific springs to mind that I played yesterday with Takemura. The atmosphere, the rhythm, the tension and so, so beautiful (Series X, RT - pic probably looks like shit, upload from the phone and don’t know how to do it proper):

There so many little things that can be so annoying regarding the UI, from inventory to trading to crafting (or other things like journal not keeping track of what has happened before). But nothing gets me more than auto centering camera when driving. It’s beyond belief that this day and age a developer can’t give us full freedom on controlling the camera. 🤬 Other than the above, this is like living in another world, such is the detail and atmosphere of everything, from main to side quests. I am literally properly driving or walking everywhere. 😜