Quoting: Caldathras

Quoting: Jarmer^ agree. Absolutely loved them as a studio. Was a sad day when the closure announcement came along 😫

😲

This is the first I've heard of the closure. Apparently it happened quietly in June 2024. However, according to Wikipedia, two indie developers have spun out of the closure, founded by former employees of Piranha Bytes.

One of those has a demo out. Predictably, it's a rough experience:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4293720/Cralon_Demo/ [External Link]

Piranha failed to adapt - they just kept going as if the market wasn't ever going to change, and as if fans of their games pleaded undying loyalty to the studio itself regardless of whether the games that studio developed were any good. Sad to see them go, but after Gothic 2 there was a sharp decline in quality. At best, their output was uneven, and that's putting it very kindly. Riding out that Gothic 1-2 "fame" could've only taken them so far. I'm amazed they lasted that long, frankly.

On the controls: I tried the modern/modded gamepad controls and cannot fathom why someone would play the games that way. It's extremely, needlessly confusing. The original keyboard controls are idiosyncratic, but they do follow an internal logic. Once you get used to those controls it's all incredibly simple. You can control Gothic with one hand, no mouse required (which is a bizarre condition to design your ARPG control scheme around if compared to modern standards, but there you go). Not to be that guy, but... it's really not bad if you just invest a few minutes into it. Interact button plus direction, attacks have more then one direction available. That's it, that's all the alleged complexity. So, looting a corpse or picking something up is ctrl+forward. Opening a chest is standing in front of it and pressing ctrl+forward... twice to account for the chest opening motion. Which feels very cool as chests aren't that common in the game. It makes it into a thing, and these days it's increasingly common for games to utilise player input in exactly this way. Talking to people is also standing in front of them and pressing ctrl+forward while not in combat mode (weapon holstered). Attacking people is drawing your weapon... and then also pressing ctrl+forward while in range to hit them (also left & right that you can chain). Inventory button, draw/holster weapon button, jump button. Inventory management isn't terribly convenient, but in terms of controls if your inventory is on the left and you're selling or moving stuff to a vendor/container to the right... you press ctrl+right on the item you want to sell/move, ctrl+left on the item you want to buy/move. Use item in inventory? Ctrl+forward. Cook meat? Ctrl+forward. Drop item from inventory? This is where things get really tough: it's ctrl+back.

There's some additional nuance to switching weapons when drawn or moving more items faster.

I highly recommend just rolling with it. If nothing else you'll earn bragging rights for "mastering" those "ridiculous" Gothic controls. Aka ctrl+direction ;)

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Yes, I am well aware of Stenzek, including the PS2 emulation drama.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: cameronbosch

Just install Duckstation, problem solved.

I agree that DRM in such old games should be not recieved well after Resident Evil 4 had it replaced and now runs worse, but Duckstation might as well be dead, because the developer has become unstable and actively seems to be hindering it, after making it not FOSS anymore.

I'd probably look at a different PS1 emulator or look at an in-development fork of Duckstation pre closing source.

Swanstation through RetroArch, then. It's a shame, because Duckstation really is that good, but it is what it is.

Wouldn't be the same without the drama.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

DRM in fn Dino Crisis? Just install Duckstation, problem solved.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Gothic is very much the opposite of the design and ideals of something like Morrowind and especially Skyrim etc. In Bethesda games the world is your oyster, it revolves around you and grants you a power fantasy of your choosing. If you happen to choose all of them - enjoy all of them. Not so much the case with "pay for protection or enjoy a tasty knuckle sandwich" Gothic 1 or "get a job and become a respectable member of the community you're trying to embed yourself in" Gothic 2. Bethesda is very The Capitalist West. Piranha was closer to Working Class Reality Check.

Another point: these games seemed slightly archaic in some ways already back when they were released. Having played them again recently they pretty much haven't aged whatsoever. You still need to get used to all the things you'd have needed to get accustomed to back in the day anyway.

I also recommend reading up on the fine art inspirations behind the original Gothic's looks and playing that version as well. It's not just low fidelity resulting purely from technical limitations, it's a style. Nothing left of it in the remake, unfortunately.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: GuestI wouldn't be surprised that they would introduce some kind of hardware revision to justify price increase. Maybe not steam deck 2 but something like nintendo did with switch oled

Well, they already did that once.

Another reason would be to fill the gap between generations, if that is starting to look wide enough, but it still all depends on what AMD is/was able to supply.

I'm still on the LCD, and it fits my purposes, but if SD2 is likely to come much later than anticipated I'd consider a revised unit. With, say, a bigger battery and some revised hardware design to carry it even further.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

You'd probably need to emulate the Switch versions of D2R and D3 to play these offline at all.

Anyway, the price is a joke. No sprites, either - which, to me, is a subtle indicator of how much Blizzard really cares. I.e.: not a whole lot, gib money pls.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Y'know, I don't mind the art style, but I do think it's holding this game back a bit. Maybe more than a bit. On one hand, I recognise the author looking at it - and that's not a bad thing. On the other hand, I feel like the author has stopped developing. I do find it slightly unpleasant how large some of the UI is, same for the text boxes etc, and the same goes for the large-but-simple art. Doesn't feel great to look at it sitting in front of a monitor, and it ties into how the game doesn't feel satisfying to control with a mouse. That last part sometimes feel like an art that's bound to become a lost one. UI elements just don't click and clack like they used to (much more often) once. It's always been a pet peeve of mine.

Normally, I wouldn't lead with all of the above, but for a massive game like this... it is a problem if I feel all of it since minute one. It will only fester and grow.

So, yeah, there's stuff. I suppose this many games in I would've hoped for a bit more polish in places that are maybe not very obvious? The game overall is fun to play, though. Great core idea that's well developed, solid mechanics, a lot of personality... I just probably won't be joining the "GOAT!" crowd on this one.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Verify this, Discord etc.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Serious_Table

Quoting: Cyril

Quoting: Serious_Table

Quoting: CyrilWhat is "silly" is what they did to Overwatch (the first one). I think I will never understand that move.
And about Blizzard as a whole, where is Warcraft IV? WoW II? Starcraft III?

You won't be getting a Warcraft IV ever; that's what World of Warcraft was/is.

But... it's not, WoW isn't an RTS and never will. We can't reduce a game solely on its lore, it's bullshit.
Don't you think it's sad?

We shouldn't be able to just reduce a game to its lore, but as is, that's what Blizzard has done. World of Warcraft is doing better than any singular Warcraft game did, so they aren't incentivized to go and do another. And the Warcraft team is basically wholly focused on WoW (and occasionally Hearthstone, but that's firmly intrenched in the "tangentially related" category).

A Starcraft 3 is more likely as an RTS entry, in this day and age. Especially with Microsoft as their overlords and breathing down their necks.

Thinking about WarCraft... an RTS WC4 is probably a production liability for Blizzard. Would make less than some WoW tokens or WoW mount or whatever, would cost much, MUCH more to make, would throw a wrench into the WoW content dev cycle, such as it is. It can't be a sequel to WC3, we already got that and the years of slop that followed it, it can't exactly be slotted into the WoW story, and it wouldn't be fun if it were some side-thing that WoW mostly ignores so there's a path forward for a WC5 should they want to ever make that. It's, like, work, man.

Not to mention I no longer trust Blizzard to make a decent game. 6 years they've been trying to remake WC3 into what that game was at launch. And failing. Perhaps the best WarCraft 4 is no WarCraft 4.

View this comment - View article - View full comments