Coelacanth
@Coelacanth@feddit.nu
- Comment on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | Review Thread 6 hours ago:
Mods are already out to fix it, but it’s not unlikely they tied a bunch of functions to timescale so that longer days screw up AI/Emissions/Quests etc.
- Comment on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | Review Thread 18 hours ago:
The keybinds are absolutely atrocious and I was staggered that so many were unable to be re-bound. Quick Melee is “V” and you can’t change it??
The beefy mutants are absolutely a problem and made me actually switch from Veteran to Stalker difficulty simply because those bullet sponges are not fun gameplay. Otherwise in the long sequence of inane design decisions the absurdly fast timescale (24h in game in a single real life hour!!!) is pulling me out of immersion a lot as well. I hope it can be modded without breaking everything because I just want to be able to savour these beautiful areas and weathers for a bit while exploring without weather changing and night falling every 5 minutes!
Lastly, and I haven’t gotten far enough to see much of it yet, but most importantly will be the A-life implementation and how much of it is actually fixable with patches. That was what made the other STALKER games feel alive, and the devs have at least acknowledged that it’s not working at the moment. Hopefully that means the engine for it is actually there though and can be patched. Unless they’re lying to save face, I suppose.
- Comment on Fallout London is a better game than Fallout 4 1 day ago:
You know what, I agree. And I would love to see the look on Todd Howard’s face if Fallout: London wins GotY. It should be eligible for that reason alone.
- Comment on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | Review Thread 1 day ago:
I have a 7800X3D and a 4070TI, running the game at 3413x1920 with DLDSR on my 1440p monitor with everything on Epic and DLSS on Balanced. For the most part, I’m sitting at 65-85 FPS. However both frame drops and stutters are pretty bad, and performance tanks in the populated first town area (forgetting its name), regularly hitting 45-55 FPS. To note also, frame gen doesn’t seem to work for me. It works for a couple of minutes, then it starts behaving like a memory leak: getting me down to sub 10 FPS until it crashes or I reboot the game. This doesn’t happen with frame gen off.
On that subject though, I’m getting frequent crashes anyway. The first two hours yesterday were fine, but I’ve had 4 fatal error CTDs today. Very disappointing.
- Comment on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | Review Thread 2 days ago:
It breaks my heart to read about all the bugs and performance issues. Not that they were entirely unexpected - especially since it’s a STALKER game - but I was hoping for a miracle. I really, really want this game to succeed and the game itself sounds like they hit it out the park. I just hope launching in this state doesn’t ruin the game’s reputation and sales.
- Comment on For me, Cyberpunk 2077 was uninteractive and has low replayablility value. 3 days ago:
Could be, could be. I think your suggestion would make for a better game with less conflict between what the main story is saying and what the game is presenting in the open world. Having the story emphasize how fast V is dying, only for the player to then fuck around with car races and random merc contracts and whatnot really doesn’t work all that well as far as immersion goes.
Jackie’s death would have also been much more impactful if we’d have spent all that time with him playing through those six months.
- Comment on For me, Cyberpunk 2077 was uninteractive and has low replayablility value. 3 days ago:
I always felt like the game was originally never meant to be an open-world game, it’s as if they were going for a mission-to-mission corridor kind of game and wrapped up a world around it to walk around in at a later phase.
That’s my take on it too. The story they wanted to tell does not mesh well with an open world game, but since the people loudly wanted something like “RDR 2 but Cyberpunk” they felt obliged to attempt to shoehorn it in.
The whole cutscene thing with Jackie after the intro feels like it was supposed to be actual gameplay, but was just cut out and changed to a cutscene to skip time.
Completely agree. I think having you play through that part would have made a huge impact on how you connect with Jackie. Maybe they felt it would have pushed the Keanu introduction too deep into the game?
I’ve been trying to get back in the game a couple of times, but it often just feels so lifeless and lacks any depth.
They’ve added some touches to the open world, but I think it was too fundamentally broken to be easily patched. The new skill tree from 2.0 is actually good though and I think the combat is pretty fun in its current state, even without going to mods.
- Comment on STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Potentially Banned in Russia Due To Potential 'Justifying Terrorism' 5 days ago:
It’s inspirational what they’ve done. I really hope the launch goes well.
- Comment on STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Potentially Banned in Russia Due To Potential 'Justifying Terrorism' 5 days ago:
Are you working on the STALKER 2 team?
- Comment on STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Potentially Banned in Russia Due To Potential 'Justifying Terrorism' 5 days ago:
Already pre-ordered the Ultimate edition. Goes against my usual principles but I don’t care in this instance. I hope the game is a massive, GotY contending success.
- Comment on 'My personal failure was being stumped': Gabe Newell says finishing Half-Life 2: Episode 3 just to conclude the story would've been 'copping out of [Valve's] obligation to gamers' 5 days ago:
Unity is flawed, but somewhat of an underrated gem. It’s such a shame that it released in the state it did and got the reception it did because that’s pretty much what caused Ubisoft to pivot into the style of the Origins and onwards style games.
Imagine what could have been if they built on what they had in Unity? The free run up/down system had so much potential and - while janky - the Unity parkour can produce some of the most pleasing, slick and stylish sequences. Just look at the stuff people are pulling off!
Also, revolutionary Paris is the best realised city they’ve ever made for an Assassin’s Creed game.
- Comment on Disco Elysium Successor Dev Says He Is Being Sued By The Others 6 days ago:
There is also Red Info which is Robert Kurvitz, Alex Rostov, Helen Hindpere and Martin Luiga. They are apparently working on something and will probably make an announcement next year (according to Martin Luiga on his recent Human Can Opener podcast appearance).
- Comment on Tom Hardy's Splinter Cell Movie Is Officially Dead 6 days ago:
All I want is a final proper send-off Splinter Cell before he dies. Sam Fisher’s final job type vibe. I think there is some cool potential there - not that I trust Ubisoft to pull it off, mind.
- Comment on Half-Life 2 RTX | Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Tribute Video 1 week ago:
Same. It depends on the game though, obviously. If I’m playing Deadlock or something similar (fast paced and competitive) I’m not going to go for graphics fidelity. But anything single player? 60 FPS is perfectly fine and ray traced lighting can make a huge visual impact - especially on something dark and atmospheric. Both Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk looked great with RT and well worth forgoing 100+ FPS.
- Comment on Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 10th 1 week ago:
The only real qualm I have is the lack of Ukrainian and Russian accents on the English dub. I don’t really understand the thought process as I felt like it added a lot of character and immersion to both the originals and to the Metro games.
Otherwise I’m optimistic, I think the game looks good and they’ve been saying all the right things. Game journalists who have played it also report things that make me feel very hopeful, both in terms of micro gameplay (atmosphere, tension and isolation without reliance on jump scares) and macro gameplay (decisions mattering, branching stories and factions).
I pre-ordered the ultimate edition regardless to support the studio after the horrors they’ve survived over the war, including losing colleagues to the frontline.
- Comment on Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 10th 1 week ago:
I’m in a bit of a down period as STALKER 2 is coming out soon so I don’t want to pick up a new story campaign from my backlog in the meantime (Metro: Exodus, Bioshock Infinite and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided are on the socket) in case I’m not finished in time for release day.
Still playing lots of Deadlock, but for a single player story game I’ve gone back to some bits of RDR 2 when I’m not in the competitive mood. I started it earlier this year but abandoned it as I burnt out on it a bit. Coming back to it has been a very mixed experience, there is still so much about it I love - but also some very deep frustrations. And absence hasn’t really made the heart grow fonder in that regard. I don’t really like the mission structure. I know it’s been brought up by others, but I too seem to be among those who are bothered by it. I also find the sheer body count forced on you through main story missions to be so ludicrous as to regularly ruin my immersion. I’m not even that far in and I’ve already basically committed genocide levels of murder! And then the mission is over and nobody is talking about the massacre of hundreds of lawmen?
- Comment on Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl - Smoking Barrels Gameplay Trailer 2 weeks ago:
I think that was supposed to be an attempt at an accent?
- Comment on Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl - Smoking Barrels Gameplay Trailer 2 weeks ago:
For sure, STALKER is just not the same without Cheeki Breeki!
- Comment on Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl - Smoking Barrels Gameplay Trailer 2 weeks ago:
I still can’t get over how “wrong” it sounds and feels to have native English speaking accents for the voice work instead of the heavy Ukrainian and Russian accents. This is one to play with Ukrainian VA and English subtitles for sure.
- Comment on Random Screenshots of my Games #44 - Pacific Drive 2 weeks ago:
Love this game. Ever since trying the VR mod though I’ve been dying for official support. Imagine using the proper VR controls to pop handbrake and steer the car, would be the most immersive thing!
Still, even with that said if you like the game and have access to a VR headset It’s still worth giving it a go, it really fits the game I think.
- Comment on Day 107 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I’ve been playing until I forget to post Screenshots 2 weeks ago:
Totally. And between stuff like the stage fight in AW1, the Ashtray Maze in Control and We Sing in AW2 Remedy has gotten so damn good at integrating music and gameplay too.
I personally was blown away by POE - This Road as well. The track is mesmerising and every time a new variation on it played after an Alan chapter I had almost goosebumps. I still regularly go back and listen to the whole 9 minute track on YouTube.
- Comment on Playdate Season 2 drops in 2025, but firm release details, price, and games all still to be finalised 2 weeks ago:
I love Lucas Pope and would like to one day play Mars After Midnight, but I’m not paying over 200 bucks for one of these anytime soon.
- Comment on Remedy Has Recouped 'Most' of the Development and Marketing Expenses for Alan Wake 2 2 weeks ago:
I think going by overall mainstream appeal and zeitgeist it’s correct. Everybody was talking about BG3 that year, even people who are usually not fans of the genre. So in that sense I agree that 2023 was the year of BG3.
On the games’ merit alone as standalone pieces of art abstracted from context I think Alan Wake 2 puts up a good fight.
- Comment on Remedy Has Recouped 'Most' of the Development and Marketing Expenses for Alan Wake 2 3 weeks ago:
I was referring to The Game Awards and their claim on crowning the “Game of the Year”.
- Comment on Remedy Has Recouped 'Most' of the Development and Marketing Expenses for Alan Wake 2 3 weeks ago:
BG3 got GotY, though there are debates to be had I suppose over the legitimacy of an “official” game of the year.
- Comment on Remedy Has Recouped 'Most' of the Development and Marketing Expenses for Alan Wake 2 3 weeks ago:
Good shout, I did fumble my word order.
- Comment on Remedy Has Recouped 'Most' of the Development and Marketing Expenses for Alan Wake 2 3 weeks ago:
I really really hope they don’t get discouraged. They would have done so much better had it only been on Steam, please Remedy don’t change your ways.
Also it should have been GotY last year, fight me.
- Comment on Playdate is getting a second season of games in 2025 3 weeks ago:
Still feels a bit pricey but I’m happy to hear about another season. Some day I might get one just to play the Lucas Pope game.
- Comment on Day 107 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I’ve been playing until I forget to post Screenshots 3 weeks ago:
One thing I forgot to ask last post was the music, in particular the between-chapter songs. They were all written specifically for the game by various artists based on poems about the story Sam Lake gave them. I’ve seen lots of streamers just immediately skip and go to the next chapter, but I really recommend listening through each song. They’re all amazing, and it kind of makes me sad it didn’t get the award for best music.
- Comment on Day 106 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I’ve been playing until I forget to post Screenshots 3 weeks ago:
It’s become one of my favourite games of all time, I think it’s a masterpiece. I love the Remedy connected universe, and as someone who played and loved Max Payne back in the day I got a huge nostalgia kick from the cameos in AW2. When you first see Casey in the Max Payne 1 outfit I squealed.
I also think Alice’s actress is absolutely killing it and am surprised she didn’t get more recognition.