Oh. At least I didn't have any problems launching the game. But then again, people are reporting weirdest problems on different systems. We will wait patches I guess...

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Quoting: ShmerlJust got the game from GOG. Is it compiling shaders for this long on every startup?? That's just insane.

And something is seriously wrong with such design. I can understand first time compilation, but if there was no underlying hardware / graphics driver change, there is zero reason to recompile any shaders again unless the game doesn't cache stuff.

First launch compilation is the longest, it will be much quicker later. But yes, it will compile shaders every time. People are speculating that on subsequent launches the game only validates the cash instead of recompiling it, but it's not confirmed. (And honestly the question why the game needs to do it every time still stands).

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Played the game for a bit and so far I want to agree with some things I read in other reviews - "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a very good game... When it works" and "Stalker 2 is a great game under the bugs.". I spend 109 euros on it and hiving fun, but yes, the game is in dire need of patches. And optimizations...

Still, if you ask me for a recommendation for an average/non-fan player I will probably exercise caution and recommend to just wishlist and follow the game for now. And wait for patches. Hopefully for a month or two. Unhopefully - maybe till the first DLC. We will see.

By the way - the developers just announced that Stalker 2 sold over 1 million copies [External Link] already. Great result for just two days, through I'm not sure, that number might include people trying the game through Game Pass.

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Quoting: DavidePorterBridgesI don’t appreciate being mandatory for everyone of course. But as long as they give you the option of not buying their games. I don’t see the issue.

Cheers.

One of the issues that are heavily discussed here is that PSN is not available in 121 countries around the world [External Link] (including even some european countries like Lithuania, Estonia, North Macedonia, Monaco and so on). They have access to Steam, but not PSN. And now Sony blocks Steam sales for them also.

So for many people it's not "the option of not buying their games", it's simply no option to buy those games.

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Quoting: Philadelphus

Voyager: Improve linguistic skills

Having played CK II but not III, what does this mean?

Cultures are more complex now. Each culture has "Cultural pillars" that distinct them from each other and language is one of them (others are Heritage, Aesthetics, Martial Custom and Ethos). Cultures can divergent/split and become hybrid, so different cultures can share the same language.

There is also a thing called "Court language" (language of nobles/ruling class) which can be different from the languages in your realm if you are a conqueror or specifically decided to change your court language (sharing CL with more powerful country will help in diplomacy and can also increase your "Court Grandeur" which is a... complex separate thing).

Knowing someone else language will, I think, reduce opinion penalty for being of different culture.

Any character can [try to] learn a language or a few in addition to his culture language through his life. This will be a "personal scheme" with it's own success chance and the new "Voyager" lifestyle should improve that chance.

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Took them long enough, but finally it's here. And looks like the game also improved since release. Will buy it next sale. :).

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It's sometimes very interesting (and frightening) to read through some logs. Like, look at Liam's first picture. If my notebook reported something like "[ 3.318673] ? __die_body.cold+..." I would sure be frightened... :).

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Quoting: ToddLI was going to ask about if it was worth it to get the first Men of War but after reading these comments about Men of War 2, I'm going to avoid it.

I don't know how well they aged, but first Men of War [External Link] (and the actual first two games in the series - Soldiers: Heroes of World War II [External Link] and Faces of War [External Link]) where quite good in their time.

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While I'm not that hyped about new types of machine empires, I must say their new Cosmogenesis "become Crisis" path sounds cool. I mean, you literally embark your entire civilization on a gigantic ship and jump into a black hole in hopes to create a whole new and better universe for your people...

Feels like a proper "science victory" for me. :).

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Oh, I remember this game.

The game features like real-time terraforming and completely alterable landscapes where quite unique back in 2004. And honestly, they are still unique in 2024...

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