Couchpotato's Random RPG News

Originally Posted by lostforever
So he is just like the corporations then? Out to make money off people?

I agree that hating corporations for making is "silly" but its also "silly" for hating the Jim guy as well since lets face it, he is also out to make money

Full disclosure, I have only seen 1 or 2 Jim videos as I can't stand him

I don't hate anyone.

But I can tell when YT videos are contributing or not according to their own presentation - or whether people are who they claim to be, within that context.

Jim spreads misinformation, and is obviously self-serving. You don't have to be a genius to figure out why he's making so many videos - when one-tenth would suffice.

He's catering to people who embrace this myth of how things are black and white - and microtransactions are malicous or deceitfully "encouraged" in all cases.

I already caught him lying in several cases - including with AC:Odyssey which was perfectly playable and most certainly didn't require XP boosts to feel like a naturally progressing game. That was flat-out bullshit, and I know - because I'm extremely opposed to that kind of grinding.

Is that unusual? To be a schmuck? Not at all - but it's also my perception, and I'm explaining why I think he's worthless and catering.

Originally Posted by BriefDArt
You're certainly just the kind of audience he profits from

No. It's vice versa - I profit from him because I don't have to say/write/film things myself thus I can concentrate on fun stuff. Like… "Trolling teh forums" Sims 4 ingame activity I always max first.

Sterling gets paid through Patreon and I'm not registered there. His streams are without ads. I am also not subscribed to his yt channel. And I don't watch absolutely everything he uploads.

Originally Posted by BriefDArt
I don't hate anyone.

But I can tell when YT videos are contributing or not according to their own presentation - or whether people are who they claim to be, within that context.

Jim spreads misinformation, and is obviously self-serving. You don't have to be a genius to figure out why he's making so many videos - when one-tenth would suffice.

He's catering to people who embrace this myth of how things are black and white - and microtransactions are malicous or "encouraged" in all cases.

Is that unusual? Not at all - but it's also my perception, and I'm explaining why I think he's worthless and catering.

Yes "hate" is strong word so my mistake for using it

I don't know if he spreads misinformation or not but isn't all you tube channels self serving? They all want clicks and likes and all the ad money? I don't find anything wrong with that.

Originally Posted by joxer
No. It's vice versa - I profit from him because I don't have to say/write/film things myself thus I can concentrate on fun stuff. Like… "Trolling teh forums" Sims 4 ingame activity I always max first.

Sterling gets paid through Patreon and I'm not registered there. His streams are without ads. I am also not subscribed to his yt channel. And I don't watch absolutely everything he uploads.

He's profiting from your perception - and your willingness to spread your own ignorance as gospel.

Not that I mind

If you want to tell yourself he's doing you a favor by encouraging your ignorance, that's all good.

Originally Posted by lostforever
Yes "hate" is strong word so my mistake for using it

I don't know if he spreads misinformation or not but isn't all you tube channels self serving? They all want clicks and likes and all the ad money? I don't find anything wrong with that.

I don't invest in whether someone is self-serving or not. I do tend to notice when people present themselves as something other than self-serving, and then proceed to be almost entirely self-serving.

As for your opinion of that kind of thing, that's cool.

Personally, I'm a fan of honesty and serious attempts to bring people correct and reasonably objective information. At least, much more so than the opposite.

I don't watch most of Sterling's videos. I do watch his reviews, "Jimpressions" as they're called, when it's a game I'm interested in. I agree that he hammers the same points over and over much of the time. I just find that my tastes and ideas about games often match his opinions.

Oh, he does have many good points. As I said, I found him more interesting in the beginning.

The problem is that he's using his own bad experience in the industry - and paints absolutely everything that even remotely smells of a cash-grab, as malicious and deceitful - exaggerating every chance he gets.

In fact, one of the reasons I feel he's not worth watching - is that I actually trusted him a few times in the past - which kept me away from certain games. This includes Odyssey - where I ended up buying it with some trepidation, only to discover that his claims about that game were false.

That kind of thing made me pay more attention - and it only became ever more apparent that this is basically a witch-hunt.

I'm sure he thinks he's doing the "right thing" - and I'm sure the way he's turned it into this self-serving hate-train business is some kind of holy crusade, from his own point of view.

To me, though, it's incredibly destructive - and only serves to increase the problems within the industry - by punishing those publishers and developers who're genuinely trying to make great games.

We need a balanced discussion to combat overt greed and microtransactions that actually hurt game designs - as opposed to the inevitable need to get a return on a big investment.

As long as the monetary system is in place - there's absolutely no way we could ever reasonably expect the people holding the cash to sacrifice their own profit in every conceivable way - and just give us everything we want for a low, low price.

Art and money is a terrible combination - but it's a compromise we're going to have to live with for the time being.

Originally Posted by BriefDArt
We need a balanced discussion to combat overt greed and microtransactions that actually hurt game designs - as opposed to the inevitable need to get a return on a big investment.

No we don't. We're not CEOs (at least most of us) and brainstorming on how to avoid laws and taxes, about how to manipulate and scam people, is not we, customers, need to discuss. We're also not politicians nor work for government comittees (most of us) to discuss regulating the practice that hurts citizens of a country and that country's annual tax.

We just need to stop being sheep giving wool away just because won the voted worst company vote said: "surprise mechanics".

Originally Posted by joxer
No we don't. We're not CEOs (at least most of us) and brainstorming on how to avoid laws and taxes, about how to manipulate and scam people, is not we, customers, need to discuss. We're also not politicians nor work for government comittees (most of us) to discuss regulating the practice that hurts citizens of a country and that country's annual tax.

We just need to stop being sheep giving wool away just because won the voted worst company vote said: "surprise mechanics".

You don't want balance? Surprise

That's certainly an opinion

I want to see scammers incarcerated for life. Today.
Don't care about any balance, balance ruined (certain) videogames.

Why not the death penalty? All of them!

Can we please remember this thread is Couchpotatos random rpg news and take your discussion elsewhere.

Originally Posted by BriefDArt
Why not the death penalty? All of them!

No. That punishment is practiced only in barbaric countries and historically always abused by similar2CEOs psychopaths to gain more wealth or as scapegoat no questions asked later.

You're too lenient joxer!

Age of Wonders: Planetfall Revelations Interview - WCCFTech

At PDXCON 2019 I had the chance to speak to Lennart Sas, the game director for Planetfall, and asked him why the studio has moved away from the fantasy setting, what they think of the science fiction, and what they’re plans for the future are. If you haven’t had a chance to see the new trailer for Revelations yet, you can see it right here.

Corven - Feature Video 1 - Movable Objects

In this first feature video I quickly show how you can move objects around in the world, just like you might be used to from Ultima. By double clicking the object you can move it directly. If you single click it you will get a context menu with everything you can do with this object.

System Shock Remastered Edition - Update #62

Welcome back to another monthly System Shock update! We have quite a variety of things to show you this month, hackers. Let's start with some in-engine views of the levels.

The Surge 2 - Public Enemy Weapon Pack Released - Steam

Expand your The Surge 2 experience with the Public Enemy Weapon Pack and get access to 13 brand new weapons. From pillaged CREO equipment to nanite-infected staves and recycled rotor blades, find the enemies that equip them, cut them off and equip them for yourself in your fight for Jericho City!

Hmm, first I heard of Corven. I'll keep an Eye out!

Pillars of Eternity - A Potential Sequel? - Josh's Blog

Will there be a Pillars 3?

That is not something that I get to decide, but I do think that the relatively low sales of Deadfire mean that if we consider making another Pillars game in this style, we’re going to have to re-examine the entire format of the game.

It is difficult to know exactly why a sequel sells worse than its predecessor if both games review relatively well. Is it because the first game satisfied the existing need and the audience just wasn’t interested in the second? Is it because awareness was lower for the sequel? Is it because despite the strong reviews and the strong sales for the first game, people didn’t “really” like it? Maybe it’s a combination of all of these things.

Seems he thinks good reviews should translate to copies sold.

These games have a small audience compared to, say, Outer Worlds - which is very heavily inspired by a game that had a dozen million copies shipped within 24 hours.

Can that audience grow? I'm sure it could - but I'd say there's a pretty rigid cap that is extremely hard to exceed if you make throwback games.

The audience for Eternity cannot grow much, there is always a limit to growth of something (and thus "below expectations" statements from gaming industry scammers occur).

What could have happened is getting more audience for Eternity2. It failed because:
- the game used same NPCs from the prequel and not in a good way (reset to level 1)
- the story used the giant statue from the first game to the extreme level making it confusing to a newcommer
- the game looked and played as the first game with only one additional feature (ships) that after a few fights became a chore
- paladins are boring

Former Black Isle staff knows from their own history that FO2 multiplied the audience because the sequel had just a few references on the first game but was a standalone story without caring about the prequel and was improved in every possible way.

I have no idea why this staff, instead of doing the same thing with Eternity2, simply cloned it and made practically a standalone expansion.

If Eternity3 will be again same shit different wrapping, well, good luck with it's audience growth.

Call of Saregnar SGC 2019 Trailer


Romancing SaGa 3 was released - Steam

The celebrated RPG classic comes west for the first time! Developed by industry veterans including the legendary developer Akitoshi Kawazu, Romancing SaGa™ 3 was originally released in Japan in 1995. This HD remaster of the legendary RPG masterpiece introduces optimized graphics, a new dungeon to explore, new scenarios and a new game+ function. Select one of the 8 unique protagonists and embark on an epic adventure defined by your own choices!

Is Pixel Art ‘Retro’ or is it a Timeless Artform? - Exclusively Games

The ongoing popularity of the indie scene, at least on the PC, has over the course of the last decade bestowed upon us the gift (or curse) of hundreds upon hundreds, if not thousands of pixel art games. For some it’s a cheap way to make a game out without having to have any talent in graphics design; for some it’s a conscious design choice, and for others still pixel art is the best thing since sliced bread. More often than not, games that utilize this style get labelled or self-label as ‘retro.’ Is that really fair?

Catnip Games Acquires Shroud of the Avatar - Shroud of the Avatar Forums

As of October 2019 Austin-based production studio Catnip Games has acquired the operating assets of Portalarium, Inc. primary of which is Shroud of the Avatar.

Commenting about the acquisition, Richard Garriott noted “We’re immensely grateful to the community who has built this game with us. The community’s support and participation remains strong and growing, and Starr and I plan to continue being involved in the community and within the game.”

Starr Long, the executive producer of Shroud of the Avatar, also commented on the acquisition; noting that “Chris has successfully led the design and the team for many years, he is an all-star A player.”

Chris Spears added that “The development team remains with the project, and we plan to continue with the established patterns of regular releases, frequent live broadcasts, community events, release parties, and a development cadence focused on both constantly improving the core game, while also working towards Episode 2.”