From what I've seen, I think I want them to go back to the drawing board. Scrap the Andromeda idea altogether, no Andromeda 2, just try again with a NEW new story before you kill the franchise (if that damage isn't already done).
They threw the baby out with the bath water in trying to put some space between them and ME3.
I, for one, have finally learned not to buy games until the word is out. I always recognized that as good advice, but I still found myself getting swept up in the occasional exciting-seeming game and thinking, "Yeah, but this one will be good..."
Do not preorder games. Do not put money down sight unseen.
A "bonus" palette swap costume or "exclusive" item that is obsolete after the first hour is cold comfort if the game is not fun. Even if the bona fide press is shorted on review copies, odds are that some streamer will at least put up some video. You can still get in on launch day/week if the game looks good to you, and you can spare yourself the butt pain of remorse if it isn't.
A game environment that wears itself out after about an hour, leaving you to fill in the blanks with depressing philosophizing if you choose to keep going. Wee.
Yes, I'm being somewhat facetious. And I don't intend to take anything away from Alex's excellent (Alexcellent?) review, either. But I'll be quite surprised if No Man's Sky doesn't take the gold, or at least silver, this year for Biggest Disappointment.
It would take quite a dink of a person to label any part of this as "self absorbed Peter-Panning."
I don't know how much of my love for games stems from playing Super Nintendo as a boy with my beloved uncle, whom we lost when he was still in his 20s. But I know the feeling I get every time I hear music from A Link to the Past. I doubt I'll ever be a "lapsed gamer," and it's partly because of thinking about how much we might have enjoyed playing today's games together.
I support this anti-crunch stuff. It is almost on the level of a no-true Scotsman as well that whole "true software engineers ______" picture in its absurdity. As someone who loves software engineering, you can love to do it, but it doesn't mean I want to spend every moment of my life doing it. Not to mention this ignores the fact that if someone loves programming, they would want to do it in their free time doing what THEY want in their own projects. That whole picture assumes that if you are not at work you cannot be coding, and that you would only want to do coding that involves what your company wishes you to do.
Seems to me that some corporations, managers, et cetera are determined to try to duplicate circumstances without understanding them.
Wow, that passion project game made by a self-employed team of inspired artists has good reviews and a supportive fanbase? Make an announcement to the cubicle farm right away: work like it's your true love or you're fired, you lazy bums! Or in other words, the beatings will continue until morale improves.
I like Far Cry 2 warts and all, as they say. The atmosphere grabbed my imagination. I wish they could take another crack at the setting and themes with the lessons and improvements from 3 and 4.
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