Is it even possible to “play” that game anymore? Last I tried, it took 30 minutes of clicking through inane dialog before I could move, only to trigger more dialog.

Logitech has gone from one of the best tech brands to essentially garbage. The hardware might still be ok, but their software is crap, and those comments about selling a mouse subscription…

I’ve been enjoying the game and seem to be close to the end. I actually like that it is not overly complicated. Makes it easier to pick up for an hour or two and just play.

My problem is the inconsistencies. At times it acts like it wants to be a deeper game and at times it is just mindless action. Feels like they cut a lot of planned content and just smoothed it over. For example, both unique weapons and armor can be upgraded with materials you find and purchase, but only weapons allow upgrading the unique stat itself, and its only a single choice between two options. It seems almost pointless. They should have just dropped that system entirely or expanded it to be more meaningful.

Late in the game are two choices that feel meaningful and appear to influence the map and story. Great, except, where was this for the entire first half of the game? So many choices just seem to be for flavor that when one actually has consequences it is jarring.

Then there is stealth. The game has a stealth mechanic and skills to buff stealth attacks. However, the moment you attack from stealth, every enemy in range is aggro’d to your location and stealth is no longer possible. Stealth is effectively just a first hit damage bonus. Again, it seems like they planned to make stealth a thing, then either cut it or could not make it work, but left parts of it in the game.

Illusions… The game has several, fairly trivial elemental obstacles. Most can be dealt with in several ways. Tangled vines can be burned with fire skills, certain throwables, or a companion ability. Same for electric switches, freezable bars (to shatter them), etc. All except illusions. Those can only be cleared by a specific companion ability, which means late in the game you are either forced to use that companion or give up on anything behind illusions. There is even a spot in the throwables UI that looks like it could be for an extra item type, but I’ve yet to find something to fill it. Maybe in the last area…

Overall I do like the game, but no way is it worth $70.

I’ve only watched the first one. Visually it was great, but the scenes over shadowed the plot to such a degree that, even having read the source, it was still hard to follow.

I would not call it a bad movie, but I’d file it with Avatar and the fountain as being more about the experience than the story.

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Pure conjecture on my part but I think…

When these first came out, Google approached them in full venture capital mode with the idea of building a market first, then monetizing it. So they threw money and people at it, and it worked fairly well.

They tried making it part of a home automation plaform, but after squandering the good will and market position of acquisitions like Nest and Dropcam, they failed to integrate these products into a coherent platform and needed another approach.

So they turned to media and entertainment only to lose the sonos lawsuit.

After that the product appears to have moved to maintenance mode where people and server resources are constantly being cut, forcing the remaining team to downsize and simply the tech.

Now they are trying to plug it into their AI platform, but in effort to compete with openai and microsoft, they are likely rushing that platform to market far before it is ready.

A third term implies the constitution is still in place and don’t see them passing an amendment without doing something ridiculous like creating a bunch of extra states.

Far easier to just never end the second term. Claim a national emergency and suspend elections/the constitution.

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I misread that as TikTok banning looming and spent far too much time wondering what looming is. Some sort of viral textile meme …

It looked wrong when I first clicked it, but then sort of restarted and corrected itself, almost like it started with the wrong data cached.

Then they briefly acknowledge you before returning to whatever uninteresting topic they were already discussing and tighten the circle so that you could not join in even if you wanted to…

You look around the room and everyone is in tight circles, making mostly small talk, with a few people in each circle dominating the conversations. At best, all you can do is stand outside a circle, essentially eavesdropping, but that’s creepy.

So you just wander the room admiring the art and architecture, look out the windows, etc., before either finding a way to leave or finding a quiet corner and pulling out your phone.

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Almost makes me wonder if this is a mechanical turk situation.

It is also the origin of the anime “wow” sound effect. https://soundeffects.fandom.com/wiki/Anime_Wow_Sound

Same here only it was 20 years ago. UML professor was convinced it would replace programming.

It it it

I’m not sure I even made it 1/10 of the way. I want to like the game but there was just nothing compelling me to continue or to pick it back up. The combat was especially disappointing. They captured the monotony of an rpg button masher without the ability to just zone out or multitask while playing. Also seems way to reliant on the moonerang.

Master of Orion I loved I and II. The third apparently bombed and reboots have failed.

Sim City I mean the real Sim city as Maxis would have made it. Not a cash grab, not a mobile game, not a “city painter” where any simulation takes a back seat to decorating with DLC assets.

Super Mario RPG no those other, spiritual successors do not count. They are fine games on their own but not the same.

Lost in Blue not the fanciest games, but I enjoyed them. There are plenty of modern games in the genre, but I haven’t found one that quite fits…

Locomotion was the official “spiritual” sequel, but I remember that game being horribly disappointing.

Settings itself has been around in one form or another since at least Win95. 29 years…