Quoting: 1xokIt makes me sad, because Artifact has become my absolute favourite game with more than 500h playing time.

I don't understand what Valve means by "deep-rooted issues with the game". Once you get deep into the game, it's probably the best online card game of all time. Only most don't get that far at all.

One of the things that makes Hearthstone such a force to be reckoned with is that it embodies the classic "easy to learn, hard to master" design philosophy. Artifact basically kicks that to the curb and replaces it with "hard to learn, hard to master" along with a business model that inherently put it behind the competition before it was even released. I think it only sold as well as it did initially because of Valve's reputation, but reputation only goes so far when a game simply doesn't deliver.

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We could see this failure coming from miles away, so it's curious that Valve couldn't. I think it's the sort of blindness that comes from being too close to your own creation.

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Quoting: BeamboomWhat do people use that overlay for, when gaming? For Steam chat? I just simply never enter that mode other than if someone happen to message me during a session...?

The internet browser is handy for looking up tips if you're stuck, and it's generally safer than ALT+TAB.

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Quoting: KohlyKohl

Quoting: Mountain Man

* A smart simulated ecology of species who fight each other over food and territory
* An engaging combat system that learns from your every move

Games have been promising this sort of thing for years. It was called "emergent gameplay" a decade ago. I also have yet to see any game fulfill any of the lofty "emergent gameplay" promises made by developers. I think the best we've seen is the NPCs in the Grand Theft Auto series reacting in unexpected but not particularly meaningful ways.

The NPCs in Shenmue would leave for work or go out into town and come back at night. That was awesome for 1999. Zelda: Breath of the Wild also added this and it really added to the feeling of the game.

I agree with you that in 20 years it hasn't been improved upon at all and that is disappointing. Hopefully this game can pull through and make a truly immersive world that is different for everyone.

NPCs in 1996's Daggerfall also had schedules. There was a hilarious bug where you could wait in a shop until the keeper locked up for the night and went home, and then you were free to loot the place without consequence, because there was nobody around to see you stealing!

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* A smart simulated ecology of species who fight each other over food and territory
* An engaging combat system that learns from your every move

Games have been promising this sort of thing for years. It was called "emergent gameplay" a decade ago. I also have yet to see any game fulfill any of the lofty "emergent gameplay" promises made by developers. I think the best we've seen is the NPCs in the Grand Theft Auto series reacting in unexpected but not particularly meaningful ways.

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Quoting: KimyrielleCompanies that base their business strategy around taking away consumer choice end up on my shit-list pretty quickly, no matter if they support Linux or not (not that they would).

The other problem is the sketchy way Epic is doing business. They're cutting backroom deals and offering big sums of money to publishers in order to secure an exclusive contract while the developers get the shaft. You see, the publishers don't care if a game sells fewer copies being an Epic Store exclusive because they have their money upfront. It's the developers who's paychecks depend on number of units sold who get screwed.

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It's like a Victorian Era take on "Papers, Please". Looks pretty cool, actually.

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Gee, that's great. Too bad they don't support Linux in their own games.

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"I hear you like launchers, so here's a launcher for your launchers!"

Has it really come to this?

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The only one I'm sort of interested in but don't have yet is Ashes of Singularity, but since it's not actually available for Linux yet, it's probably not worth it to buy this bundle.

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