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It's been a long time since I've seen someone so aggressively out of touch. So let me get this straight: companies keep feeding us terrible, unfinished, underdeveloped games, they keep focusing on monetization instead of making good games, they keep trying to squeeze every single cent out of us, they keep injecting their personal politics into games for no reason or benefit, and then when we dont buy those games, it's our fault?! Lady, are you insane?! Of course we are cynical... BECAUSE THEY MADE US CYNICAL, for crying out loud. And of course we criticize them, because that's what you are supposed to do! Do you suggest we say nothing when another crap game comes out?! Should we just accept that?! You think that will solve things?! My god... this video is nothing but one long tirade of ignorance...

I participated in a gamejam where I had to create a game in a week - I did so with a friend. Having a background in web-development (a degree from like 2010, the gamejam was in 2022) and my friend doing hobby-based programming for fun, we ended up with a decent game. Our first game. It gave me perspective on the game-dev problems the industry is plagued with, because a lot of our instability in the product came from the timeframe we had to work with. But we also sat down quickly and went "what can we REALISTICALLY make?" very early in the process. With that in mind, I've started looking at games with another perspective, and it has allowed me to praise systems where relevant, but also be so extra critical of choices made within the games. Especially when it comes to anti-consumer implementations, which include time-sinks. When you know it's literally as simple as removing or adding a 0 to a cost or reward from a vendor or quest respectively, you also start burning out of said type of content faster (at least I do). It has completely shattered the illusion of "the grind" for me. It's why I've been frustrated with Veilguard's combat/rep/companion grind, because it's implemented in a way that I, an ameteur, could've done it and be like "yea that seems ok, not good, but doable", although admittedly I'd need more time than they probably spent on it haha. But on the other hand, it also makes me feel so much more frustrated on behalf of developers who care deeply for their product, because someone in management made a decision they have to live with, and we (customers) have to suffer through.

Hey thanks alot! This was much easier to follow than the other one I found. I just ran into one problem, the first chest spawn also some other items than I choose. I probably made some mistake so gonna try again tomorrow! I'm gonna check out your other tutorials on the REDkit, I've recently got into some modding with Dragon Age Inq and Mass Effect Andromeda. It's nice to have some official modding-tools now! 😁 btw awesome accent you got!

Video games, like every other art form, must eventually be judged. It's the final step in the creative process & is essential to the growth of both the medium & the artists that created it. Yet that process has become increasingly volatile when it comes to video games & there is a good reason for this. All other forms of artistic expression, literature, music, painting, sculpture & movies are experienced passively. We read, listen, observe & watch as an audience, detached from the work itself. Video games demand our active participation, & the skill & dedication of that participation has a direct effect on our experience with the games themselves. It's what makes games more immersive than any other medium & it's what makes them such a frustrating dissappointment when they fail. Our time is part of the price of admission & when some self-important creator or greedy publisher bait & switches us into wasting hours upon hours of that time anger is a natural (& necessary) reaction. The money we spent can be re-aquired, but our time is gone forever. It's a painful loss & anger is the best painkiller I know. It's also, like most painkillers, incredibly addictive. It might well be our responsibility to break that cycle, but as long as the industry percieves us as mere consumers I don't see that happening. Active participation makes gamers the final part of the creative process & until that is acknowledged, our shared responsibility will continue to elude us.

I wish it was as simple as you want it to be. I think that the issue is that the troubles in gaming are merely a reflection of an even greater tumor that exists in society, mainly in the US. (but not only) Once you reach a kind of "critical mass" as far as the gap between one side of the political spectrum and the other, when people regularly talk about committing violence and wishing ill - at that point the gap becomes almost impossible to bridge, and you simply sort of have to wait for the furor to die out, for the fire to burn itself out. Certain game developers are not interested in making games that entertain as many people as possible, respect establish lore, and tell good stories. Rather they want to make games that serve as a loudspeaker for their political opinions. They aren't interested in compromise or discussion, and aren't amenable to making peaceful gestures towards those they see as their political enemies. Of course, corporate side doesn't really care as long as they get their bag of cash. (which lately they failed to get a few times due to these mistakes and others) On the other hand, it can't be denied that some vocal voices on the gamer side are simply unreasonable, and just as extreme politically - only in the other direction. These people also aren't likely to agree to sit around a fire with their political rivals and sing songs of friendship. There are some signs that corporate is starting to see the merit in not consigning gaming to the hands of extreme political ideologues, that perhaps it would be better if such roles were more reflective of society and specifically the people who actually buy these products, but it is too early to say. Regardless, with every high-profile gaming flop, the panic of corporate grows and eventually change will become inevitable. Maybe such change will bring on its wings a new golden age for gaming. I certainly hope so.

For what it's worth, Chris Crawford has been saying similar things since the mid-'80s : )

I certainly hope it isn’t dying. We’d all have to look into new hobbies really quickly if that’s the case! 😜 I do blame shareholders. I also blame corporate bigwigs who couldn’t find their posteriors with both hands. As for the fans? It’s difficult to tell fans from haters sometimes. My solution (if I didn’t have one I’m just griefing 😁)? Retro games are always good. For new experiences, I prefer to wait until I can see some player feedback before I look at a new game. Case in point: I waited three months before I looked into Metaphor: Refantazio to see if I’d enjoy it. I am, but I don’t regret that decision (family and Christmas are wonderful things!). We have a saying here in the States: Vote with your wallet. I can only hope that the industry wakes up and treats us all like customers, not wallets on legs.

Nah, I don't think gaming industry is dying, it actually one of the most fast growing segments of entertainment market. And grass was not greener in the past. There always were good games we still remember till this day and trash with questionable messaging (like half naked gals with gravity defying boobs jumping around for example) no one thinks about anymore in ratio of 1 to 25. Just like now for every exeptional BG3 and Elden Ring we have two dozens of AC, Fifa clones, Veilguards, Starfields and other mediocrities. There always were audacious punks swoping in with hot new things to take place of old companies already past their creative prime. Like CDPR eaten alive juggernauts of a studios like Piranha Bytes in Europe with their Witcher series, Bioware pushed away Origins games back in nineties only to be eaten now by Larian and probably their own offsprings like Archetype Entertainment (they making exodus). None of this is new. Only difference is now everything is visible, loud and in your face. You don't just play the game and discuss it with your close friends or put it away, you go online to listen thousand diffrent people yealing their opinions through various social media trashing or praising every game to high heavens, dissecting every success and failure in excruciating detail, because discourse is a buisness of it's own. All we can do is consume it all in moderation in order to not burn out. Game industry will be fine 😌

I love the "polite indifference" line, I wish we saw more of it. Not rage-spitting long threads and hours long videos chewing on the same problems until engaging drops

I think this is something that extends beyond gaming. I'm only in my late 20s, but it feels like several aspects of life in general have been commercialised compared to past years due to advancements in technology. AI, algorithms and efficiency-based cost structures/marketing have pushed this commercialisation to be psychologically invasive. High budget video games, movies, dating apps, TV, mainstream news and even some ideological concepts have been heavily impacted by this. For example, me and my friend were talking about how bad dating apps are yesterday, and suddenly his phone and laptop started giving him dating app adverts because his phone permissions allowed google and several apps to access his microphone. Algorithms, AI and efficiency metrics seem to have become a staple in life that drives our purpose, our subconscious and our habits. Our brains and increasinly being wired and influenced by corporations that solely see our existence as potential revenue. Dating apps back in the day started out as intended for people to find partners and love. But now they're designed to encourage superficial values in what's important in a partner to keep people on those apps as long as possible to increase the % of a paid subscription or monetary purchase. It's commercialised beyond repair and people my age that have more wholesome values often look elsewhere, or they get stuck on the dating apps long enough for their values to become twisted over time for superficial short term success, feeding into this irreparable cycle that generates monetary profit. The AAA gaming business, marketing and gameplay have been treating consumers in the same way recently, using AI and predatory psychological means to manipulate people into becoming addicted to their game instead of enjoying it. The purpose of the game then steers away from enjoyment and more towards profit at any consequence. Cost efficiency in the gaming business has led to an increased reliance on AI, large layoffs of talented creative developers and manipulative marketing at the cost of care for the actual product itself. Splitscreen co-op doesnt exist much to encourage more sales. Everything is becoming dependent on internet connection & subscription services to prevent people sharing games/borrowing games from each other. Fortunately there is a market of lower budget games that don't do this, but theyre not at the forefront of what is marketed to the wider public. Funnily enough, consumers can treat games in a similar fashion. I recently played Path of Exile 2 and really enjoyed the creative gameplay, artstyle, maps and armosphere and didn't rush the process of leveling up during the games main storyline. I could feel the developers intent to create an enjoyable satisfying gaming experience. However when my housemate played it on the TV, they would research the most efficient, quick way to reach the end of the games story to play the endgame content, skipping all dialogue, looking on their phone during cutscenes, researching the most powerful "build" and letting an online guide/ChatGPT answers dictate their playstyle. Each to their own, but it was definitely sad for me to see them play the game like that and operating off of efficiency. It felt like a core human instict to enjoy and be creative got replaced by AI efficiency. There is a quote that is along the lines of "your emotional response to an event is more damaging than the event that created it". This is a quote I think of a lot to maintain healthy relationships and make good decisions at work and in my personal life. But with many aspects of life being commercialised (including gaming), it feels like the "bad event" is AI-based marking/efficiency metrics and the "emotional response" is addiction and bad habits. Humans are so reliant on techology in all aspects of life nowadays, and to constantly engage with technology, AI/algorithms whilst trying to not develop bad life habits is exhausting and stressful. I personally believe that most poeple in general are stressed out by this without even realising it, hence their frustration manifests in genuine hatred/bitterness at many things that would ordinarily be easy to dismiss as not much of a bother. I think many AAA and mobile video games are examples of "bad events" that should not warrant a significant emotional response that blows things out of proportion. But people are human and care about the enjoyment from little things in life. I love Dragon Age Origins and was very upset with Dragon Age Veilguard. I probably have more important things to be upset about, but I belive these little things matter and are what makes us human. Businesses know this and that creates resentment in people that crave such things. To end on a positive note, it should be remembered that our current generation is the first in history to be exposed to such advanced psychological technology and AI in several aspects of personal life, career and business. Whenever my internet dies or when I take a detox break from techology, I feel much happier and satisfied with so many little simple things in life like cooking, going on walks, sports, board games with family, downtime with partner and more. Video games made with bad intentions are easier to spot and dismiss when you stay away from the noise for a while. Likewise, games made with good intentions and care for player enjoyment are easier to spot too.

Gamers are not killing gaming, gaming is not dying, good games are selling in numbers and making huge profit. Small indie games with good gameplay are still the best, they come out, get gamer appreciation and makes profit. Good corporate games sell 10s of millions copies and make huge profit. It is the bad games that are dying, bad developers that are losing their jobs, bad companies losing market profit because of bad decision. Note that I said good games, a good game also comes with good business decision, for example releasing on as many platform and countries as possible at the same time. Companies that are doing PS5 exclusive and releasing games on PC after a year or releasing only in a select few countries, are not making good business decisions, so they are not good games and they fail like they should.

Well Goose, I'd say immersion is the key word here. We want to enter a world unlike our daily boring lives and experience a great adventure of characters that touch our moral and rational values in ways we question ourselves and emerge greater inside than before we played. This means that we don't want to get bombarded by political messaging about what is right or wrong according to devs much less receive a story that doesn't align with what we know historically of human behaviour from the past even if it's a fantasy analogy of it. For example, Battlefield has been on decline since 2018 because they have been delivering half baked games but from the immersion perspective what bothers me is the inclusion of women (and some men) in fancy clothing that reflects nothing what a military conflict historical or futuristic/fictional would have. Battlefield V feels like a parody with the plethora of dumb characters you can use in customization while Battlefield 2042 (which I refuse to play) brought pseudo super hero specialists who have nothing to do with a supposed military simulation. Battlefield 1 on the other hand even with historical innacuracies such as Askari warriors on the european theater feels amazing because of how devastating and oppressive the atmosphere feels and every match gives the impression of history being made. Long story short when you engage in a shooter that isn't an e-sport you want it to reflect the meaningful reality of a nobody soldier sent to kill or die in a massive conflict and breaking immersion with cosplaying characters ruins the experience.

I don't disagree with your point. However, I don't believe this is all the developer's fault. For some companies, it's not even the developer's choice, it's the share-holders. They make the decisions for the product thinking of nothing but numbers and profit. Developers are obligated to apply these decisions breaking their spirits and creativity. This industry, like many other industries today, are all in the power of rich snobs who care only for money. Forcing companies/studios to pump out soulless trash.

I will have to disagree here, the era of meeting most of these modern devs half way is long gone, personally i don't participate in these feuds as i already know it won't lead anywhere, but when you have devs on social media wishing you "dé@d" if you don't align with their views is where i personally check out and it's not in any case my fault that the biggest video game developers hire radical activists to agitate and insult their own customers.

I agree with a lot of what you say here and my view is that this is an inevitable cycle to some degree. A game development studio will start up with people who are passionate about telling a story and making a good game, and then they will get bigger and are pressured to make more money and creativity becomes stifled. I think that if you are making a game for any other reason than to tell a good story and/or make an enjoyable game, be that money, message, demand from parent company/stockholders or anything else, it is likely that it will be a mediocre game at best and probably a bad game. However, a lot of those creative people are getting fed up with this, leaving their former studios and starting up their own studios that are now at the beginning of the cycle. So I think that there is definitely hope for the industry. I do appreciate you bringing up the problem with criticism of games. I heard an adage once that 'nothing is ever as good or as bad as people say on the Internet' because I think it has become to some degree the nature of social media to oversimplify and then inflate a value judgment to stimulate emotions and increase engagement. And on that note, I very much appreciate you making a conscious effort to keep your content and community a place of analytical thought and constructive criticism.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, for sure. I think both sides of the relationship have really taken a negative turn, but I do think some parties hold more responsibility than others. I think that the upper management that provides th emoney for a lot of game developers are a real root cause here. They treat the players like revenue streams, absolutely. But they also treat the devs below them in much the same way. Forcing them to accomodate unreasonable demands, work to painful deadlines and unmeetable expectations, then getting rid of them when they inevitably fail. Or in certain cases, getting rid of them even if they actually succeed. I'm not going to claim every game would suddenly become a masterpiece otherwise (that's not reasonable to want or expect) but I think that it would help. For our part as fans, I think a lot of the community takes bad games too personally. No dev ever wants to make a bad game, and making any game, even a bad one, is hard. But I see so many gamers treat a disappointing game like it's some kind of insult, and assume a degree of incompetence to the people involved, if not outright malice at times. And there's a glee people seem to take in a game's failure that I find really upsetting. Unless a game is espousing some kind of hateful philosophy or being made by someone who does, I never want a game to fail. Even when people are saying a game looks bad, I hope that it turns out good and that people enjoy it. But the stance a lot of other people take is less "I think this game will fail and here's why" and more "I think this game is going to fail and I can't wait to be right." It's like you said, people seem more excited to tear down games, and when a game comes along that they do think is good, it often feels like the first instinct is to use it as a cudgel against games that failed, as yet another way to tear down games they feel didn't measure up, when the devs behind the game probably wouldn't want that, and usually when we see different dev teams talk about each other, they're wishing each other only the best. I also think that there's a weird thing among gamers where somehow, only the best is acceptable and anyone who accepts less than the best is implicitly... less, somehow. And this plays into another issue where I feel like it's more acceptable to dislike a popular thing than it is to like an unppular thing. I'll speak from my experience. I absolutely loved Veilguard. I thought it was a great game. I've played every game in the series from origins and Veilguard is actually my favorite in the series now. I've liked each game more and Veilguard continued that trend. I wouldn't bring that up in most gaming communities for fear of being called stupid, and I just avoid discussion of it because I constantly see people casually insulting the idea that people could like it. Meanwhile, I kind of hate BG3. I've genuinely never been more disappointed by a game. It made me go back and play the first two games for the first time, and I loved those and came away thinking "wow, if I'd played these first, I'd have been even MORE disappointed in BG3." But I feel way more comfortable expressing that online because people seem more willing to engage peacibly. Not everyone, but in general I can expect less hostility and dismissiveness. Sorry that got so long-winded, this just happened to be a cross-section of a lot of thoughts I've had on this topic.

Was there an era where Gamers have "good" feedback? Are we talking about the era where you would read about games in a magazine. :D

I Agree with you completely; Games are about fun adventure and curiosity all together. It should never cater to a certain type of ideology. I have very fond memories of Assassins Creed 2, played a lot of hours exploring the world of Renaissance Italy, Meeting Leonardo as crafter, world was ripe I had fun playing for hours. playing the character Ezio entire journey was sublime. Soundtrack of Assassin creed 2 was my jam still i hear the music if get time same with Dragon age. Dragon Age Origins is similar it made me go through various emotions and experience a medieval fantasy before I ever knew there is a thing called Dark fantasy. The mature world where every worst situation boldly displayed with no handholding gave me the inspiration to write a story on my own and how the characters should be written. Games are all about coming together, making new friends exploring the world and mostly learning new things that are unknown. i do wish i would go back to good old days playing these once again.

Dear Important Goose, thats why i spend more time to my hobbi, what is the writing ( not in english ). And i started that fantasy world building story what is what as the Dragon age should have been in some setting (actually inspired by "how could it be perfected"). For two months now, I've only been building the world setting. Secrets, ancient origins, 16 countries, with world map, political map, coats of arms. Chronolog, ancient civilizations, civilizations before the cataclysm, and the civilization beyond the sea and its creatures, etc. It will be a series of ten books. No game can provide the same excitement and sense of achievement as discoveries, investigations, language creation, world creation, the history of relics, the origin and role of magic. Gods who are not gods, etc. Fortunately, since 2009, they have already taught how to build a world, and the chronological concept of dragon age spices it up and adds to it ( it is the least what i deserve from the game). I think it will take another month before everything is ready for writing. It's interesting, I wrote the draft of the first book 2 years ago. Based on which I continued to build the world. What has changed is that I need a separate, huge cork board to see the ancient secrets. I'm happy about the event because I'm finally spending time and energy on what I need. To create value. And to tell stories, to share, and maybe i dont waste my time with it. I will be 35 this year. And I want to leave my masterpiece behind for the next generation. I'm already moved by this. I have played my old favorite games 10-30 times. But it is a same old story, and now it is boring, and i don't care about the new ones. So for that I am grateful. I share this with you as a sign of respect. I wish you success and happiness.

Culture war, censorships, corporate interests, political divisions, etc. happened. For example, seasoned developers like Bioware have many mature and strict fans. Our demands and expectations have also matured and increased. Many of us respect our precious time and money in any release from them. We have plenty of games already. So if game developers want our money, they gotta earn it, not try to resort to the same old2 shady corporate tactics to fool teens that we have seen for almost 2 decades now. So yeah, i am glad Bioware did the purges. Perhaps something good would come out of it.

With respect. Pleasing shareholders, lack of management accountability. The goodwill has dried up from gamers not because we don't give good feedback. It is the arrogance of management that thinks it has a hit on it's hand, regardless of feedback, within and outside of the company. I cannot appreciate Starwars Outlaws or any other mediocre experience.

Nope, I haven't said a bad word about any game that didn't deserve it. It's not my job to create cozy, positive enviroment for let's say... Bioware writers. I also don't have to point out any redeeming qualities of a game if I don't like even one aspect of it. I can just express what my issue is, and if it's easily summed up in a punchline? That's fine too.

Wasnt Mesopotamian one of the first Countrys ever? Or at least very important?

Starving writer here. I didn't play DAV because I knew I'd bounce off of the marvel/expositional banter. I remember playing Origins in 2009 and wistfully imagining what sort of stories could be told as technology became more and more able to keep up with writing ambition: more to show in the "show don't tell." Now I know.

well this didn’t age well

Cat videos have better writing than this videogame. Or last [put your favourite franchise here] movie. Even commercials treat me as an idiot... my point being: put more cats in commercials, job's done.

SPOILERS In the light of Veilguard, we find out Solas was involved with Mythal and Andruil with Ghilan’nain. So while of course all the Evanuris had some bonds, the romantic aspect is determined here in between these two couples.

Another species in the game “uriash” (I guess) means giant both in Romanian and Hungarian (óriás) (I have no proof which was earlier)

yes

I mean, it's the novel dracula that is to blame for that.

Yes they are, the very name "vampire/вампир" is of Slavic origin and it was first recorded in Serbia. You can find throughout history creatures that resemble vampires but non are actually vampires, most of the tropes you know about vampires come from Slavic folklore. The book that you mentioned is full of inaccuracies.

Thr problem with modern media portraying vampires bram stoker way is that they forget dracula was powerful even before being a vampire, the book says he was a warrior and a necromancer A scholar of alchemy and magic, the other vampires in the novel are more ghosts stalking around their burial places than anything else.

There’s only one person Varric ever called “Kid” and that was Cole. Solas should have known that.

it saddens me that she has to say im sorry if this knowledge offends you goes to show how fragile the world has become