Quoting: ExpandingManThe game is spectacularly broken for me as of this patch, if not earlier. According to the forums there has been an ongoing issue where the crash reporter pops up. Fortunately the game is still playable, but it's very annoying. Unfortunately I ran into a quagmire of issues trying to resolve this. I tried forcing it to run in proton, but for some reason it can't find it's graphical assets when running the windows version. Then, switching back, sometimes the launcher is unable to talk to steam and the game won't launch. Steam now seems confused about whether I want to run the linux or windows version, and it tries to do some 200 MB update every time I try to run it. I can consistently get it to run by clicking and unclicking "force compatibility mode" but it loves doing that 200 MB update. Completely uninstalling the game and removing all its assets and reinstalling seems to lead the same issues.

What a mess. I love this game but paradox is unbelievably bad at fixing bugs. Whatever is happening here is clearly a critical issue experienced by a lot of people, and according to the forums some version of it has been going on for more than a month. This is hardly unprecedented since some more minor bugs persisted in the game for *years* (that were hardly linux specific). I'm so fond of stellaris, and so happy with the game content of a lot of their updates, that for this particular game I don't mind supporting its development via overpriced DLC's, but that indulgence is contingent on the game actually goddamn working. Please paradox, slow down on the DLC's and game tweaks and get your act together.

There's currently some issues with their launcher - Star Trek Infinite was having trouble with dlc ownership at its launch a month ago (and not registering the numerous dlc correctly if you owned them rendering the content unavailable), Victoria 3 is having the same issues now with the most recent dlc, and I saw people running into the same issue for Astral Planes as well.

PDX is more than happy to take your preorder money, but not terribly inclined to fix an issue preventing you from accessing what you bought. Doesn't help their reputation, and it certainly doesn't seem they care that much.

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Makes buying that season pass thing make slightly more sense with how long it's going to take for the proper expansion to release. Good P12 boost tactic, PDX accountants. Hopefully the devs matched your prowess.

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Quoting: Philadelphus

Quoting: suchMy excuse is that I'm a few dlc behind.

Relatable! I'm almost always one DLC behind in my playthroughs (a new DLC comes out, I get it, and think "I should try out the mechanics from the last one which I didn't try out when it released because I was trying out the mechanics from the previous one," etc., etc. :grin:).

Reading up on what I'm missing I'm not sure there will be a discount deep enough for First Contact.

Sometimes I need to keep reminding myself extra hard this is how they keep those (free) updates rolling...

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Quoting: Philadelphus

Quoting: suchIt looks like they're shifting focus away from adding mechanics which might be evidence something is in the works.

What? The most recent Galactic Paragons expansion had plenty of mechanics changes. This is a story pack* rather than a full expansion so it'll be focused on events rather than sweeping mechanical changes** (although it obviously must have some new mechanics for the titular Astral Rifts themselves), but that says nothing about what the next expansion will be.

*Which I didn't realize until I saw it in a PC Gamer article – this article says "a narrative-focused expansion".

**So more like Distant Stars.

I stand corrected.

My excuse is that I'm a few dlc behind.

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Quoting: robertosf92

Quoting: such

Quoting: robertosf92I kinda wish they stopped releasing this expansions, I play the game sporadically, and enjoy it enormously, but every time I want to play, there's something more I want to experience and for which I have to pay.

Please Paradox, release Stellaris 2

It looks like they're shifting focus away from adding mechanics which might be evidence something is in the works. Same for EU4.

Mind you, I wonder if Paradox is feeling the extended development cycles, because EU4 is over a decade old and has dlc in the pipe for at least the entirety of 2024, it looks like - and going by age EU5 is the next one in line.

They might leave HoI alone for a bit longer as 4 is selling like hotcakes, but with how long we're waiting for a new EU... it does seem like the wait is far from over.

And then those barren dlc-dispensers will need to get fixed and populated, so... EU5 first actually playable release in 2028, Stellaris 2 sometime around 2030? Will we even live to see an EU6?

Yeah, I'm not positive Stellaris 2 will come out in the near future, your timeline seems correct, seeing how they relased CK3 in 2020 and V3 in 2022 with no announcment of a new EU yet, it might come out at the earliest in 2025-2026 a whole 13 years after EU4, so maybe Stellaris 2 in 2030 is not that much of a bet

2030 takes into account a couple of years of patches and dlc - "actually playable" ;)

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Quoting: robertosf92I kinda wish they stopped releasing this expansions, I play the game sporadically, and enjoy it enormously, but every time I want to play, there's something more I want to experience and for which I have to pay.

Please Paradox, release Stellaris 2

It looks like they're shifting focus away from adding mechanics which might be evidence something is in the works. Same for EU4.

Mind you, I wonder if Paradox is feeling the extended development cycles, because EU4 is over a decade old and has dlc in the pipe for at least the entirety of 2024, it looks like - and going by age EU5 is the next one in line.

They might leave HoI alone for a bit longer as 4 is selling like hotcakes, but with how long we're waiting for a new EU... it does seem like the wait is far from over.

And then those barren dlc-dispensers will need to get fixed and populated, so... EU5 first actually playable release in 2028, Stellaris 2 sometime around 2030? Will we even live to see an EU6?

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Quoting: eldarion

Quoting: scaine

Quoting: JarmerFunny enough, it was Paradox's predatory scam dlc behavior

What what? Predatory how? A scam??

Paradox are one of the few publisher's with a well established, regular, value add DLC regime. They support their games YEARS after release. Stellaris, for example, released over 7 years ago, but some of the DLC modules released are just £9 yet add swathes of content.

I wish other publishers would take note instead of trying monetise micro-transactions.

I'll take properly thought out DLC any day over cosmetic shite, Battle passes and "Seasons".

Depends on the game. Remember their flagship, GalCiv? They are constantly remaking the same game, but releasing the next iteration with a skeleton of the features of the previous game and then releasing DLC after DLC to catch up feature wise with the last game. Don't pretend that it's not to earn more money.

That sounds like you're talking about Stardock, not Paradox.

I wouldn't exactly praise Paradox dlc, though. The most recent one for EU4 was a rework of a bunch of stuff from previous dlcs (so you're paying at least twice here), and 30 minutes of music tied into preorder-exclusive dlc for this dlc (yes, dlc for dlc). I'd rather have them work on EU4 for a good long time rather than release EU4-8 in that same timespan, sure, but there are issues with their business model (hard not to notice when they've gone public as a company, for one thing).

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Those new graphics don't work nearly as well as the original lo-fi look.

As an aside, I remember the 5th anniversary of Quake 1 and how that felt like eons have passed. In that timeframe we got Q2, Q3, the many Quake expansions, Dooom 3 was in the works, the many games based on idTech in general, Wolfenstein got a revival after the eternity that was... 8-9 years etc.

And they're saying Dusk didn't release just last month? Time is terrifying.

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Quoting: lejimsterI'm conflicted here, because I love the Starcraft and Diablo series and so have all but D4 on Battle.net (I was waiting for the price to drop). Because of OCD it would trigger me to have only one of their games on Steam, but it would be so much more convenient from a compatibility and ease of install point of view.

I just wish Blizzard had released a native Linux launcher, they could easily support all their games through Proton. It's a shame to hear negative reviews of D4 on here, I certainly hope it's not that bad.

I used to love Blizzard games, played Diablo starting with D1. Massive nostalgia, made me buy D4 even after the disappointment that was D3 (even post expansion).

I find it amusing how the design of D4 renders it perfect at circumventing Steam's refund policy as the initial couple of hours are the most (possibly only) fun you'll have with it - it's the time before you get kicked in the teeth by the level scaling, the realization that the concept of leveling *up* is no longer a thing no matter what certain numbers are saying, or by how thoughtlessly abysmal the itemization really is. And a bunch of other issues.

It's just that the more you play D4, the worse it gets - that's *terrible* for this type of game, and especially for one intended to be an endless (until unplugged) service. It is an example of truly bad design, and I think the best they could do in terms of salvage... is to get it patched up to the level of quality or fun and maybe mechanical cohesion of D3 - another lacking affair in my view. And from the looks of the patch notes it's what they might be going for. And even that is liable to be a huge undertaking with this foundation.

Maybe get it on a *deep* discount for the campaign, but be prepared there's basically nothing to do once you're done with it, that it's bordering on bloated, so doing it all straight will probably break you (and doesn't seem the intended way of playing), and that it's not really a complete story despite that. Yet. The writing does not match D2 (not to mention D1), but is a bit better than in D3? The sidequest bloat kind of works if you spread out those sidequests throughout the endgame, do a quest inbetween some activities or while grinding, but the game currently has nothing interesting going on in when it comes to its endgame. Just mindless grind built atop of several self-defeating systems. Beyond the betas and some playing around I got a single character as high as lvl 70, and that was... 15 tedious levels of me not having any fun? I just gave up at some point.

All that said, I generally liked the art and absolutely adore the music - easily the single best part of the game for me.

So... be careful with D4, is all I'm saying.

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