Final Fantasy 1. It's rough, it's broken, but it also has mystery and adventure to a degree that we haven't seen again until maybe Demon/Dark Souls? You really feel like you're exploring and learning about the world in FF1, you definitely feel like there's more to it than there actually is, and the game pulls off its freeroam approach remarkably well for the time. I never felt completely lost, the limited guidance it provided was just right, and the simple plot hit the sweet spot it needed to hit. I had motivation, but I wasn't drowning in stuff to do for arbitrary reasons (looking at your, Dragon Quest), and could instead enjoy discovering that this one bit of land is a fantastic, if also slightly deadly, spot to (over)grind. Lovely spritework.

These days, I'd probably want my classes to actually work, though, so I'd say romhacks are recommended for anyone who wants to dive in ;)

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Here's some recent numbers that perhaps help to put things in perspective:
https://www.cdprojekt.com/pl/wp-content/uploads-pl/2025/03/cd-projekt-group-presentation-fy-2024-2.pdf [External Link]

GOG isn't operating at a loss, technically, but I wouldn't exactly call this profit, either.

This definitely adds up to CDP separating their CDPR servers etc from GOG some time back (yeah, that happened), and all the other GOG stuff we've been seeing basically around the same time or after.

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Well, here's the other shoe dropping on that inane marketing: they're not making enough, and they can't increase their cut or pricing with Steam just over there selling most of the same games (even when acknowledging some of them are packaged in a more sloppy fashion vs GOG).

I mean... sure, if this approach works out for them. Time to start planning some backups, I guess.

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Yeah, it's really weird to frame the post as a passing of the torch when it really is a business deal. It's the owner's right to sell, sure, but what I don't get is the spin attempt. I get the need for it seeing who the new owner is, just not sure why it's the now-previous owner doing it.

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This explanation doesn't explain anything.

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Yeah, not a fan of those civ swaps. What I am a big fan of is playing Civ as "a" civ that is also my civ, and 7 seems to be designed to completely ignore that type of approach. From this point of view, what Firaxis turned Civ into is just a disjointed mess of stuff to click through for bonuses and according to your chosen meta.

Or: Gimme back my Civ2, and get off my lawn!

One more thought: back in the day you'd play games for the fun of it, and that would extend to people reviewing games in the media. They'd play their share, it'd maybe come across in the publication that everyone is crazy about playing X at the moment etc, but once they were done - that was it. Some sleep lost over a cool new thing, but all relatively healthy still. These days The Algorithm pretty much dictates that THE way to run your YouTube channel is to laser-focus on a single game, make that your brand and very identity, build your life around it. And your income is on the line if you do that and rock the boat in any way. I'll skip the payola and how unhealthy these influencer-publisher relationships are, but I will say that if I spent half a decade playing Civ full time or near full time I'd be happy for any shake-up as well, the more radical the better, in fact, and I wouldn't care what it turns Civ into, or what constitutes the core of the identity of the game that is Civ. Does it have civs? Then whatever. After all, I'm looking at a decade of my life, right? The one and only thing that is a real objective problem in this context is... the interface. Which may sound familiar.

My take on the reception of Civ7.

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What I hear is that Civ7 seems to be designed with competitive play in mind more so then past Civs, so it's no longer just a game to be enjoyed. In that context the... questionable decision to uncouple leaders from civs starts making (cynical) sense, i.e. Firaxis wants their skinnable CoD operators very, very, VERY badly. They've toyed with this before, but here they crossed a line.

Anyhow, most of these issues aren't fixable, unless by "fixable" we mean re-designing the entire game from the ground up, and the ones that are (such as the leaders) just won't be fixed. Look at that dlc list. When did this game come out again?

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Wouldn't be S.T.A.L.K.E.R. without a disastrous (or at the very least messy) launch. On point for the brand.

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Bit late, but I when mentioned the... let's call it intel that's been leaking from the company/group there was more than just the money angle that got widely reported. Locally, we heard complaints regarding the current (inexperienced since promoted way too fast, possibly incompetent and otherwise unpleasant to some) leadership. Yeah, they laid people off, scaled back, and started turning a profit eventually, but at least for a while another story that was making the rounds was that GOG just wasn't a nice or stable place to work at or just plain be at, and that it felt largely directionless to the people inside. That last part we could see from the outside for a number of years, IMO.

So, Alpha Protocol and Croc are basically the first clear signs of any kind of legitimate vision after those financial woes and assorted unpleasantness reports. The marketing is probably also intended as that, but I dislike it too much to call it "vision". If they want to reaffirm their mission statement (from before pulling a KFC with their brand name), this is a terrible way to approach that problem as what they're doing advertises precisely the opposite of what they think they're advertising. I won't budge on this, call me cranky all you want :)

As to the other points: I wish I had your optimism, and I hope you're right :)

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I'm sorry, but have you followed the 'project Ceasar' dev dairies? I think not.
They are realeasing those for over 1 year. And they are getting a lot of feedback from those dev dairies.
A lot of that feedback is actually used to improve the game, or correct historical errors inside the game.

EU5 won't be a shitshow like victoria3 was.
The only danger EU5 faces, that is it far to complicated for 'casuals'.
Its so detailed, really awesome, but also insane hard to master...

How are the EU5 dev diaries different from the Victoria 3 dev diaries, or any other PDX diaries for that matter? Until we see the final game and actually play it I really don't care about forum posts, no matter how nice they seem.

Nothing would make me happier than a properly finished Paradox game ready to play launch day. Well, a lot of things would make me happier, but I'd still be very happy about it (and utterly flabbergasted).

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