Submitted 1 week ago by squid_slime@lemm.ee to gaming@beehaw.org
Just to gauge what lemmys saying. I’ve had my head buried in Stalker 2 forum thread. Its polarising with one side saying “its a blast” the other “its a fucking dumpster fire”.
Anyway I think stalker 2 will get GoTY. I don’t think Stalker 2 is GoTY tho…
Since they count DLC in the mix, it’ll probably be Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
They’re doing DLC? Then it’s got to be Factorio Space Age.
Balatro
I was thinking of getting it, what’s up with Stalker 2?
I don’t know about the GoTY thing, this year has not been that great with games.
I’d go with either Satisfactory or Slay the Princess, despite neither of them being real 2024 releases, they both got their most recent edition released this year.
I haven’t played Stalker 2 so I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but it’s very politically charged and has Russian state sponsored disinformation campaigns running against it. I’m not sure that you can get a truly accurate read of it online.
The developers are Ukrainian, and development had to be paused because their office literally turned into a warzone. The fact that the game came out at all is extremely based, and that certainly adds to the mythology around the game. But again, I haven’t played it, and gameplay-wise that doesn’t actually indicate anything about the game.
I want the game to succeed because of the developers’ existential struggle. The people causing that existential struggle want the game to fail. Neither of us have actually played the game, so again, there’s all this bias around it and we haven’t even looked at gameplay yet.
Be skeptical of anything you read online
This is the actual propaganda. Play the victim card for sympathy votes…
I was thinking of getting it, what’s up with Stalker 2?
It’s very buggy and an absolute mess from a technological perspective. The NPC simulation has been restricted to a tiny radius around the player, so you can for example see snipers spawn in when you get close to their towers. Even with that limited distance, the game is very CPU bound and performance takes a huge hit in populated areas. In general the NPC AI is pretty braindead and much worse than previous Stalker games. I’ve had to reload earlier saves a couple of times due to NPCs randomly getting hostile, the conversation UI staying permanently on screen and other progression stoppers. The graphics completely rely on TAA or DLSS and look like a checkerboarded mess without them. Despite all that though, I think it’s a pretty fun game and a remarkable achievement given the circumstances of its development.
I’m not into or even a fan of the PC vs console war, but watching a franchise I hold at such high regard release with missing complex features like A-Life, and simplified AI in general, going for an 80meter spawn radius with messy cool down timers which spawn enemy AI on a loop.
Other things like the over use of lip service through iconic mutants turning up way too often also using the same spawn loop system which repopulates every few minutes.
Loot balance, in the original med kits were very necessary but where in short supply meaning when going out the player would do everything to avoid damage making for an even tenser atmosphere, stalker 2 however the player will find medkits, bandages, a sausage and a bottle of vodka every 10 metres. Things like body armours and weapons are thrown at the player through out the main story negating any sense of achievement.
Difficulty, in the original trilogy the game loop was cautious but in combat act fast, moving from cover to cover as the enemy was unpredictable, they would retreat and push as well as flank, now in stalker 2 enemies always know the players location but no fear as the player is a walking pharmacy and combat has turned into shoot get hit use meds and repeat, essentially its very hard to die in stalker 2 while also having laser accuracy for AI but its no issue as the abundance of meds negate that issue.
Then there’s the bugs, its alpha build. Bugs that block main quests, bugs which put random items in inventory, and bugs that make anomalies invisible.
Its also missing little touches that I have come to expect, no AI companions for quests, no mutant parts making hunting and even fighting mutants a thankless task, the flash light sucks, no NVGs, no roaming NPCs, blind dogs don’t retreat when one is injured, bloodsuckers are missing their glowing eyes, unkillable enemy AI with snipers to stop the player from progressing, factions feel like a gimmick whereas they were the bread and butter in the original trilogy, no tiredness out side of the debuff effect from certain enemy’s, limited NPC dialogue, lack of consumable variation, no buff debuff icon/timers apart from bleeding. and so on.
Most of the people who enjoy the game seem talk about it as a predecessor to fallouts franchise or measure it against other major AAA games open world games, which tbh its in that realm now, I wouldn’t call it a stalker game but maybe in a year after modding tools are releases it will be a successor to one of my favourite franchises. Currently though its locked down by console hardware and made by a studio thats lost teach.
Anyway I have played 120 hours and I think for any one new to the franchise they should wait another 6 months so they can get a better idea of the zone. For old timers give it a go to scratch the itch but don’t expect to be blown away.
I just finished The Pristine Cut of Slay the Princess, and I fully agree that it should be the GOTY.
It’s amazing how different it feels when you play a really excellent game. With most games I regularly pause and tab out, to browse the web. With Slay the Princess I did not. It completely absorbed me, even though it was my second play-through.
Elden Ring DLC
It should be Balatro
Fallout London.
Personally I’d pick Palworld.
pretty unique concept (putting the best from dozens of games together as your base and continuing to expand from there)
very fun (I don’t seem to be alone with that opinion given how quickly it grew)
awarding a DLC (elden ring erdtree) of a game that has already been GotY is lame (and just awarding a DLC in general)
over 2.1 million simultaneous players
high flexibility, even for a sandbox game (ever wanted to attach a rocket launcher to your dinosaurs? to build a full fortress that basically can’t be taken? or do you prefer a cozy cabin? want to explore to get better? prefer to minmax your base instead? become a master of breeding? just grind money? etc)
Hell I might vote palworld. Never played but if it won Nintendo would blow a gasket!
Try it, it’s pretty good
Personally I’d also advocate for going in blindly and only looking up guides when you need them (for example when you seriously get into breeding) but do whatever you want.
(If you don’t play it blindly the first time, you’ll never get to play it blindly.)
(If you don’t have much time and are only playing locally or on your own server you also can boost xp gain, that helped me a bit for the later levels since I just didn’t have time for grinding.)
havent seen Metaphor Rephantazio mentioned
GotY usually has pretty mass appeal. Metaphor is a pretty niche game, so I would be surprised if it got GotY most places
Ballatro or Path of Exile 2 I think.
Having been waiting what feels like forever for stalker 2; I would be happy if it gets it. I know there still work to do but fuck if I am not having a blast playing it. Dwarf fortress would be a nice one too even if its been around for nearly 2 decades.
Metro
It was released 5 years ago, but it’s still the best game I’ve played this (and every) year lol
in that case I’m nominating doom haha
I just finished metro exodus and it’s DLC for the first time a week ago. Fantastically beautiful game.
I’m in my 4th playthrough, 3rd on ranger hardcore, currently in LL. Still beautiful.
I ruined the game for myself, played the raytraced version which made everything so bright and lost its grittiness, throughout the play through I thought it was normal 😢
I recently replaced my 1070 with a 7800 XT, and wanted to play the EE, which led to me replaying 2033 and LL first. The little bit I played with the EE version seemed pretty normal to me tbh.
I think it will be Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
I think it should be Astro Bot or UFO 50.
I haven’t even played it, and I know it should be Balatro. That game has taken the gaming world by STORM.
The only game I played that was released this year was the eldin ring dlc. Give me a couple years and I can tell you what the GOTY for 2024 was lol
Marvel Rivals, because it just came out so it’s fresh in people’s minds, it’s a free to play game with a popular IP and it does a good job as the game it wants to be.
Mostly kidding, that just seems to be the state of games these days lol. Whatever games release at the beginning of the year seem to falter to recency bias of games released later in the year.
Balatro will win.
Vampire Survivors should win.
apotheotic@beehaw.org 1 week ago
I think its likely that goty will go to Helldivers 2 or Black Myth: Wukong, both of which I think are aggressively “OK”. Goty awards are largely a popularity contest, after all.
Dettweiler42@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
Considering I’ve been playing HD2 all year and I’m still loving it, my vote is for HD2. They did a fantastic job on the recent balance overhaul (dubbed “the great Buffening”).
Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
i’ll have to start playing it again after christmas break