Cyberpunk 2077

Hopefully studios look at this as a reason to not grind their employees into dust in order to make an arbitrary release date.

That's a good lesson. Another lesson is maybe have realistic development goals and control feature creep so you can actually release a thing that works on the target platforms somewhere near your release date window.

Ah_Pook wrote: their stocks have dropped ~20%.

more now: from 443 PLN (4th december) to 264 PLN

My Cyberpunk 2077 got delivered yesterday. Installation was more complex than past games, because the game files are too big to fit on mere discs. So, first I go to a website and download the GOG Galaxy app, which is apparently a Steam competitor. Than I download Cyberpunk 2077, which took over two hours because it's 70 GB. During that time, I re-checked that my new/used computer meets minimum specs.
Memory 8 GB? Check.
64-bit? Check.
DirectX 12? Check.
Processor is Intel Core i5-3570K or AMD FX-8310? Uh-oh... my processor is Intel Core i5-3470.
Graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 470? No, it's some mediocre Intel graphics card.

I checked around and found that people are playing Cyberpunk 2077 with Intel Core i5-3470 and it's good enough. I even watched a youtube example, and it looked fine. But the graphics card is a dealbreaker. I hate when I can't play a game because of a graphics card issue. It's like buying a car and then discovering that you can't have any passengers unless you replace your transmission. This just means that I need to upgrade my graphics card, which is within my capabilities but outside my comfort zone. I checked around and found that graphics cards are expensive, so I went for the minimum and ordered a refurbished NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 3GB for $100 plus shipping. It weighs five pounds and has its own power source cord, which all seems very extra to me. So maybe I will get to start playing Cyberpunk 2077 sometime next week.

In the meantime, I can go back to Bloodlines and resume creeping around in a parking ramp populated by dozens of gun-toting thugs. Once I get past that, I look forward to a fun stealth run through a museum after hours.

Ah_Pook wrote: That's a good lesson. Another lesson is maybe have realistic development goals and control feature creep so you can actually release a thing that works on the target platforms somewhere near your release date window.

I don't know if Blizzard plays the game this way now, but back in the day, Blizz would sell no wine before its time. They knew that people would forgive you for being late, but wouldn't forgive you for being buggy.

And game development death marches are a whole 'nother thing. I know that the software developer side of things isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds. If working any 80+ hours a week that you want to sounds like a good time, then I'd recommend it as a career.

RobertB wrote: And game development death marches are a whole 'nother thing. I know that the software developer side of things isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds. If working any 80+ hours a week that you want to sounds like a good time, then I'd recommend it as a career.

I've read the book Masters of DOOM, which details the early days of id Software. It's a great read if you are a fan of DOOM, Wolfenstein, Quake, etc.

I would have loved being on the team in those early days; they were friends, had a ton of fun together, and got to make cool stuff that blew minds. They also made a ton of money as a reward for their efforts.

These days, that kind of devotion is insane, and is never worth it.

Microsoft offering no questions asked refunds now too

A good Reddit writeup of Cyberpunk 2077's tale of woe.

I think it was a mistake to try to make this graphics-intensive game backwards-compatible with previous generation consoles.

Still playing. Latest thoughts:

- If I said I was decent at driving the car, I might have lied. Still suck at it with mouse and keyboard. I'm not sure why I would buy more than the absolute cheapest car, but whatever.

- Still some bugs in the PC version. I had to restart to fix my sniper rifle, and had to reload an earlier save when I couldn't kill someone stuck in a wall. Some stuff just refuses to be picked up.

- CP2077 feels a lot like Borderlands 2/3 WRT weapons. You gather tons of junk weapons, all of them nearly identical. These days I just disenchant them unless they're purple or orange. Being able to improve them as you level up is cool, though.

- As for skill trees, there's a million perfectly cromulent skills. I haven't seen any must-have quests.

- I think Witcher 3's storyline is a lot better, but so far CP2077's is perfectly okay. I do like that the fixers wake up when you get close to your quests.

Shellhead wrote: I think it was a mistake to try to make this graphics-intensive game backwards-compatible with previous generation consoles.

Of course, as I understand it, the previous-gen consoles were the next-gen consoles when they started with the game. But yes. Time to cut bait at some point.

There's a bajillion-message thread on Defector (the old Deadspin writers) about how complicit most video game reviews were in this ongoing PS4 clusterfuck. I guess video gaming review readers are uber pissed that most of the reviews on the day of release forgot to mention that the game basically didn't work on a PS4 or XBox One. But reviewers never got a PS4 or XBox copy - they only saw and got to play the PC version. Writers were given the choice; follow our NDA, or go without your prerelease access.

I guess that's one of the downsides of the internet. One of the commenters on the above article mentioned the old Sierra game Outpost. Computer Gaming World was giving glowing previews of it, but at the time CGW was also saying that when they review it, it will be using a copy that they purchased at the local CompUSA. When Outpost came out, CGW pronounced the game, as published, total garbage. And CGW wasn't wrong - it was unplayable unless you had an absolute top of the line PC and even then it was mediocre.

Fast forward to now, and a publisher can't wait for a real copy off the shelves. Is that a bad thing? I guess not, if you trust a reviewer's review of a game that they never really played. "I only played it on a PC, but I'm sure the PS4 version will be fine, right? Right?"

My PS1 copy plays pretty poorly:

www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/...s1_copy_of_the_game/

Frohike wrote: My PS1 copy plays pretty poorly:

www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/...s1_copy_of_the_game/

bwuhahahhaha that is hilarious! Someone has way too much time on their hands

Was *this* close to completing a rather interesting side quest involving a murder investigation. After making a phone call to the person that hired me, they say "come by and let's talk." Then the map never highlights their location.

Oh Cyberpunk, you got me again!