Ouch

I fucking hate modern gaming

52

Don't buy AAA games at release, and instead try out popular indie titles. They're usually a quarter of the price and some of them have become my favourite games of all time. Indie games have small teams of passionate devs who have total creative control.

AAA games will typically release a "game of the year" edition a year or so after release with twice the amount of content the original game had for half the price.

51
- Don't buy AAA games
  
  SAY NO MORE! I'm on it, chief!
  
  17
- They also have 1/100th the bugs.
  
  5
Nowadays buying games at release is doing yourself a disservice. You pay way more for way less than someone 6+ months later who gets it on sale with fixes already done

36
- !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works
  
  19
- But then you'll miss out on the pre-order exclusives. How can you even play the game if you don't get that car with the special dickbutt livery? How will you defeat enemies if you don't get that special cabbage-shooting gun?
  
  7
- This exception to this rule seems to be Nintendo titles but the caveat is that they’re on outdated hardware (and their own thing).
  
  2
Don't buy at release, be a patient gamer. Comes with benefits too.

8
This seems pretty relevant

8
There are hundreds of awesome games available. If all you're doing is buying the few AAA bug ridden and money grabbing games that come out each year you're doing yourself a huge disservice.

7
- never did. newest game I own is doom eternal from 2020 edit:grammar
  
  4
Not playing Ubisoft games as a rule helps. Also works with EA, Activision Blizzard, and all mobile games.

4
- havent played a single mobile game since like 2019
  
  1
real (my passion for gaming has slowly atrophied from childhood as capitalism has taken hold, while passion for creating anything more than a busted cash-grab has long gone)

2

Plague of Unfinished Games: https://youtu.be/6PTnJ_iuVjQ?si=Dkecy5jeMBpN7FPm

Talks about MVPs and how execs are disincentivising over-delivery and stuff.

25

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/6PTnJ_iuVjQ?si=Dkecy5jeMBpN7FPm

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

11
"Stepping on a dollar to pickup a dime" is such a perfect description of what AAA publishers do.

6

Gaming saying this as if they didn't buy a poorly optimised shooter in the mids 2000's for "benchmarking"

15

Not to be that guy but the Far Cry games seem pretty damn complete and bug free on release.

13

Because they are releasing the same game multiple times with just a splash of paint.

26
- I hate to defend Ubisoft, but this isn't fair at all.
  
  That "splash of paint" is the world design of entirely unique locations, a full story, a cast of characters, and new arsenals of weapons.
  
  As an amateur dev I have a bit of insight into this. I can, and have, made an entire FPS system in less than a day. A play that can move, weapons to shoot, and enemies that can target, follow and shoot at the player with the same weapon system. That part is not where the work is.
  
  It took two weeks to build on that foundation to barely make one small level. And I didn't even manage to fit in any story.
  
  The point is, those mechanics that to you are "the game" take infinitely less time to make than everything "the game" takes place in.
  
  10
I'd also say, Immortals Fenix Rising was excellent, complete and bug free as far as I remember. It's too bad they dropped it right next to AC Valhalla and nobody played it.

3

I don't know. AC Valhalla doesn't have achievements on steam, so impossible to tell if I've 100% in it

12

Let's not and say we did

5

I can safely say that unless their design philosophy changes significantly I will never 100% an Ubisoft cookie cutter open world game because nothing they've produced is worth a hundred hours of boring repetitive gameplay.

6

It's crazy because they have all the tools to make a successful game. Their AI NPCs are cutting edge, their environment models are so good that it was used to restore that one chapel that burnt down, etc. They just choose to make the same game every time.

2

So, is that what carpet-bombing with nukes looks like?

4

Anno and Far Cry are usually in a very good state from the start. Assassin's creed isn't bad either. Unfinished games isn't that much of a ubisoft problem. There are much worse problems they have and other publishers have worse of the unfinished games problems.

1

I remember when I bought AC Unity on release it was in a sorry state. Littered with major bugs and the multiplayer was literally (and yes I do mean literally) unplayable for me. Probably the most broken game I've ever played on release!

Generally though I agree, they're not the worst for bugs. Ubisoft have plenty of other issues with their games but that's a whole different discussion.

4
- Ok, i haven't played ACs for a few years now...
  
  0

Uno Reverse!

1

Wouldn't be like that if we didn't have unrealistic expectations of what software development is. We expect perfect ever increasingly better graphics and zero bugs. That's just not realistic, especially as we ask for better graphics, dev time takes longer, and gets more expensive, and requires more moving parts.

And then we just jump online and complain about how the graphics aren't perfect.

-16

Really? Graphics are the big issue? Then why was redfall's basic gameplay loop worse than Skyrim's (a game that hasn't received a mayor update in 10-15 years)?

Like, I understand expectations can be batshit crazy, and often quite bad. You've got a point there. Graphics are only a minor part of what makes a good game, a good game though.

P.s. People nowadays tend to say that a game is incredibly buggy, or boring. Haven't heard complaints about looks in a long, long time. Only heard complaints that the game is shite, or just simply doesn't even work.

18
- Yes, people expect top notch graphics and a great story to go with it. There's only so much bandwidth in a team. We're lucky we get a coherent story at all most of the time considering how much we expect from games these days.
  
  -14
I work in software, so I get it. However I don't think it's graphics. There's a lot of bugs to do with other things. I probably don't hang out in the same game forums as you but a lot of complaints about unfinished games are about bugs or just incompleteness. Also, organisational challenges as well. I enjoyed FF15 but that game felt disjointed and when we look into why, it's obvious why it was a nightmare.

I think you have a good point that games can have unrealistic expectations now and there's only so much time and money.

I think the thing is that putting out an incomplete game at full price with microtransactions now feels like a slap in the face from the consumer point of view.

16
- Microtransactions are a scourge on gaming. But, I can see why they're drawn to it. Games are a huge financial investment upfront, and a big risk on release with no guaranteed return.
  
  That said, I do think expecting better and better graphics is a big part of why games end up being a mess, but certainly not the only reason. I also work in software, and work on games in my spare time, so while I'm not an expert or have any inside information from the gaming industry, I do know that graphics suck up a huge amount of time, and resources on a project.
  
  5
I don't really care about graphics.

If some modern game dev decided to tackle a modern idea of Ocarina of Time with dated graphics and pulled it off, I'd be there with my wallet open.

Gameplay.

Gameplay.

Gameplay. (Thanks, Ballmer for the memes)

7
- You're an exception unfortunately. I know gameplay loop is really important. But the sad reality is a lot of people won't even pick up a game if it doesn't have modern graphics.
  
  -4
Because studios hype up for specific release date and then rush to finish rather than delay

5
- That's because of our unrealistic expectations. Every new game IP is a risk for a studio, and as I said, our expectations are sky high.
  
  -7
It's not unreasonable to expect a game to be, to the publisher's knowledge, bug free. In fact, it's not just reasonable, as a programmer, it's fucking baseline.

Most game devs are a fucking embarrassment, and they deserve to be dragged.

3
- I think it's less game devs but the way their studios are made to operate. I feel like the majority of game devs would love to finish and polish their projects but tight deadlines and crunch culture prohibit them from. It.
  
  4
- If you're a developer then you know bugs in software are inevitable. You're either not a developer or so full of yourself, you think you've never made a mistake in your life. Either way, you don't know ow what you're talking about.
  
  -1