There is no more phone. There is no more world. There is only Balatro now.

It’s pretty great, but also very much a product of the time. Kinda like Dirty Pair but far more grounded.

Not too surprising, I imagine removing the PSN login was real close to just cracking the game entirely. Honestly not sure why people would buy the game and then use a third party tool to bypass the PSN requirement as opposed to just pirating the game to begin with.

The Coke flavored Oreos are the more demonic side of this coin. Who the hell thought Aspartame was a good flavor for a cookie?

It’s a shame that I’m a quivering pussy, because I think the combat against the replicants in FEAR fucking rules. The shooting feels awesome, slow-mo karate is awesome, the game feels awesome to play.

…and then the game goes quiet after the shooting stops, and it delivers some of the spookiest atmosphere I’ve experienced even after two decades of age. A single light fixture moves suddenly, showing the shadow of something just behind me, and I jump out of my skin and have to take a break from playing.

Their implementation of it just feels like they don’t actually want you to buy the microtransactions. In Dragon’s Dogma 2 for example, one of the most useful things you could buy is a Port Crystal, since it lets you setup a location to fast travel to and they’re reasonably rare to find. However, you can only buy one maximum, and you don’t really need them at all in the early game. By the time you would need one, you’ll have collected like 3-4, and getting an extra one would be honestly pointless. You would think that they’d change gameplay in some fashion to encourage you to spend money, but after finishing the game I had tons of all the stuff they were trying to sell.

It’s not really much of an argument, it’s just stating facts. I’m not for the microtransactions, I think it’s confusing that they would add such a thing at all, but they’ve consistently been doing it for all of their published games for nearly half a decade now. I’ve just chalked it up to a cultural difference since Capcom is an Eastern publisher, and on the sliding scale of scummy microtransactions it’s pretty close to the bottom.

This is a real valid issue. I’ve heard they finally put out a performance fix, but have not personally tried it out myself to confirm. It’s definitely the kinda game where you’ll need cutting edge tech to make it look beautiful, and it can look incredible, but that doesn’t excuse the abysmal performance on lower end hardware.

I mean, that’s just every Capcom release now. It has nothing to do with their confidence or anything, they just add pointless microtransactions because some suit at the company thinks it’s a good idea. It’s the same shit with Devil May Cry 5, all the recent Resident Evil games, literally everything they published. If that’s honestly the only thing keeping you from playing Dragon’s Dogma 2, you’re making a mistake.

I’m interested in knowing what your issues with it are. As someone who never played the first, I found it a pretty incredible and innovative RPG. Probably the biggest disappointment is just that I wish there were more monsters to fight, which I understand was a criticism of the first game until it’s Dark Arisen expansion.

The kids are not alright. They’re starting to trade sex, drugs and rock and roll for anxiety, depression and crushing expectations.

I think it’s actually a reference to Hatsune Miku?

Now this is shitposting!

I’d say the bigger problem is just that the Bethesda RPG model is completely outdated. It feels like something you’d play a decade ago, but what used to be it’s contemporaries have absolutely eclipsed it by this point. If I wanted to play just a fun easy fantasy romp, I’d go for Dragon’s Dogma 2. If I wanted an actual RPG with bones that could offer me a challenge, I’d play Elden Ring. If I’m just looking for a well-written story, I’d go play something by CD Project Red.

Bethesda’s games aren’t well written, aren’t that interesting to play, and basically cannot offer any real challenge. The only real saving grace for Skyrim has been the modding community, which has been able to continually breathe life into what would otherwise be very tired game design.

why the hate towards a tool that nobody forces you to use?

Right here is the problem, because many companies like Adobe and Microsoft have made obtrusive AI that I would really like to not interact with, but don’t have a choice at my job. I’d really like to not have to deal with AI chatbots when I need support, or find AI written articles when I’m looking for a how-to guide, but companies do not offer that as an option.

I think the record still goes to Amazon’s Crucible, which was cancelled before release after a closed-beta that nobody played.

I mean, yeah duh? What, you think that conservative right-wing movement was fully homegrown? Some of them are flying the Confederate flag in Alberta! Hatred is America’s export now.

There’s a couple. One of them actually went dark suddenly and recently, which is a little concerning but it’s probably just DDOS attacks.

Unfortunately I don’t know if any of them are using lemmings in their banner, though I’m suddenly very disappointed in my own instance for choosing a hyena.

I mean you can find recipes in this very thread, it doesn’t have to be a mystery to you.

Maybe the real Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was the friends we bit along the way.