Starfield – “Early Access” Pre-order

Starfield early access pre-order shenanigans must be one of the more disgusting anti-consumer things that spawned from the depraved minds of the games industry of late. In my case, if you pay 99,99€ for the premium edition of the game on Steam, you get a five-day “early access” to it, compared to the peasant who can only shell out a measly 69,99€. Have we reached a new low perhaps? Pre-order bonuses were already pretty bad, but this is just a new level altogether. I hope to God this doesn’t become a new thing. Also, I think Bethesda might have shot themself in the foot with this one since you can already pirate the game. I imagine the ones waiting for a legit 70 euro release now must feel like a true sucker.

However, I can’t blame Bethesda single-handedly for this since it works. I read something that about 200-300k already play it on Steam, which indicates that there are a lot of people out there willing to pay big bucks for an earlier taste, even if it’s only five days.

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Legendary developers and Nostalgia

It has come to my attention that my love for the past often clouds my judgment of modern gaming. Often to such a degree that I will often blanket new games as something inferior. In some ways, it can be true since there was a lot less focus on identity politics and such, which is a real killer when it comes to entertainment. However, when listening to Tim Cain’s YouTube channel about his role when developing Fallout and Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, everything, and I mean almost everything came down to pure luck.

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A few issues I have with Baldur’s Gate 3

Another interesting game closing in for release, and unlike the years before, this year might actually turn out good for gamers! Like many others, I’m looking forward to Baldur’s Gate 3’s release, which will be on Aug 31, 2023, for PC users. However, from playing it (just a little), and reading about it, it does have some issues that I think might affect the general enjoyment. This is all highly subjective of course, what bothers me, might not bother you, yet, I think it could be worth an article.

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Concerns regarding Jagged Alliance 3

Jagged Alliance 3 is set to be released in 11 days from today (14 Jul, 2023), and I am of course excited since it seems the developer Haemimont Games wants to make a true sequel to Jagged Alliance 2. However, I do have some serious concerns with it.

My first issue is that burst fire will only do 50% of the normal damage. From what I understand, it was made like this because they couldn’t figure out a good balance for it. It was apparently too easy to just run up to enemies and unload on them. Now, that is worrisome by itself – are there no interruptions? Do the enemy NPCs don’t defend themself in any way? My main issue with this, though, is that it kinda tramples the whole simulation aspect into the dirt. There is absolutely no reason for a weapon to ever do less damage because you fire more bullets. It’s a very gamey thing, in something that wants to take the simulation approach. Or at least, we are told that it wants to do that.

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Just Bad Games

The number of games I play that don’t make the cut is depressingly high. Much is of course on me, and my taste, but I got to say – the standards seem to have fallen off a cliff lately. I have reviewed a few games that I didn’t complete fully, however, in those cases I figured I’ve played enough to give my opinion on it. If a game doesn’t catch my attention after playing half of it, it’s doubtful it ever will. And some games are just too darn hard for me to ever finish, destroying my integrity in the process. Usually, those titles start out okay, but then eventually turn into a masochistic experience of pure suffering. I believe a review can be worth it in both of these cases still, maybe to act as a warning or to just get something out of the wasted hours in front of the screen.

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