Oh, bother.
Yeah, in gambling the house at least loses money on occasion.
It's honestly pathetic. EA clearly did not prepare their mouthpieces for this.
Edited by M84 on Jun 25th 2019 at 12:33:52 AM
Disgusted, but not surprised
That all you got?
Hopefully this will push those anti-loot box bills further even more.
In other news, the uncut version of the E3 gameplay has been released.
Edited by theLibrarian on Jun 25th 2019 at 11:23:29 AM
That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.
Would that it were so simple.
This looks like Uncharted, and I dig it.
On the other, lootboxes-that-aren't-called-lootboxes ("Ltacl", the Aztec god of microtransactions) will probably sink this game and be a wonderful disaster. EA is going to find a way to set up its usual profit stream for this game, even if it isn't shouted from the rooftops for being what it is.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Jun 25th 2019 at 1:00:21 PM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Got the Game Informer issue with Fallen Order details, and though about half of it is just recapping what we already know about Kashykk, there's a bit more on top of it.
Saw appears to be more of an Arc Hero, and Kashykk a dot in the story's chain. The main storyline involves Cal blowing his cover (as we see in the earliest looks/trailer) and then being rescued by a Jedi Master (named Cere) who galvanizes him into her daring plan to restore the Jedi Order.
Genre Savvy tells me she'll probably end up being antagonistic in some way, especially as the article implies somewhat that she's not among Cal's immediate team but more distant as a mentor figure, but then there's an equal chance Cal ends up turning dark instead. Or both.
Speaking of mentoring, one of the cooler things the article says is pretty small, but apparently there's no loading screens (but also no fast travel between major regions). Instead, when loading the travel between systems on their Cool Spaceship (the Stinger Mantis) the player will travel about the ship and accomplish secondary objectives (including somehow helping Cere with her rebuilding of the Order in between other missions) and the like while being able to leave at their leisure. Basically, the periphery stuff you'd do on an average return the ship in mass effect happens simultaneously to the travel.
Also, according to the article the combat isn't as easy as the gameplay footage made it seem. Supposedly enemies get harder and more relentless, allowing less ability to just wreck encounters however you want like we see in the gameplay, and describes the secondary mook types (like the flame trooper) as becoming more of an issue over time. The description aslmot makes it sound like Spider-Man PS 4's challenge in fighting, but at this point I'll believe it when I see it.
I think my favorite thing is the description of the Stinger Mantis' pilot as being a mix of John C. Reilly and Mr. Furley from Three's Company with four arms and a bat face.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Jul 10th 2019 at 8:41:14 AM
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.
Not that I know what's going on behind the scenes but this sounds like some weak after the fact justification, shoulda just stayed silent.
You see, because when there's a female protagonist you need to balance her out, or something.
It's been fun.
Gotta maintain that 50:1 ration remember. Or else things aren't properly balanced.
Yeah the whole "We want the audience to identify more" works better than that. If anything, a female protag in the films makes MORE sense for one to appear in the games - as it's more relevant and easily associative for the audience.
Mr. Clueless
Personally, I would've been fine with an explanation like, "The main character is male because that's what we wanted to do".
De Romanīs, lingua Latina gloriosa non fuī.
That all you got?
Yeah, but these days people are looking for deeper meanings in everything.
Plus companies have previously come up with shitty reasons for why they do things like exclude aliens or women. Remember EA not putting character customization in Battlefront 2 despite putting it in Battlefront 1 because they thought people would "break canon" with it? Or Ubisoft saying that they couldn't put female Assassins in Assassin's Creed Unity because it would be more work when it wouldn't?
That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.
So, Fallen Order is about a week from release. Around this time with Battlefront 2, that's when EA unveiled its mercenary monetization practices and started the whole debacle/controversy there (they would've been in even more trouble if they hadn't made it clear before release, mind), so I'm kind of on the lookout for this one.
Nothing's on my radar yet, but anyone catch wind of anything particularly skeevy like hiding the ending of the story behind a paywall or anything like that? It actually seems like EA is letting this one stand on its own so far.
I am, however, finding from early reviews and gameplay responses that the more actionized impression from E3 (and potentially a lot of the problems with it I ranted about before) was actually due to EA specifically trying to present the game to look more like a standard action game than it actually is. Supposedly the game really is a Dark Souls-y Metroidvania (like they said it was going to be, before E3). And apparently, way better than it looks.
Which... yeah. Sounds about right. EA has no faith in long-form single player gameplay.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Nov 10th 2019 at 2:44:34 AM
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.
Guess we'll see if Respawn will become Despawn with this one. 
That all you got?
I haven’t seen anything personally, but you never know with EA.
That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.
Review embargo is up. Apparently, it’s good! Worst I’m seeing from reviewers and users so far is “flawed, but worth it.”
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.
I was really skeptical with this one, since it was made by EA. However, I have yet to hear of EA doing anything to screw the game up, and it even seems to be really good.
In seriousness, my real guess is that the game is simply a fluke, but a genuine one. Similar to how even the best creators can make awful works, at some point the stars are going to align just right for EA and they'd not screw up almost by accident.
"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"
The only negative I've heard so far is the lack of fast travel, but I don't know how much of a hindrance that will be until I play today.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Apparently EA was less involved directly in this one than they seemed, which might account for the lack of apparent catches.
It would also explain the minor kerfluffle of EA’s presentation at E3 catching some criticism for not being a good representation of the game.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Nov 15th 2019 at 12:56:31 PM
"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.
EA's specific form of Executive Meddling has always been attempting to shove square talents into round holes. "We've acquired a company known for immersive, story-heavy single-player games. Make us something with multiplayer and microtransactions." So while a hands-off approach isn't a guaranteed win (see Anthem), it's got a pretty good chance of working.
I'm seeing a lot of positive comparisons to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I haven't played Sekiro yet, but I've heard it's very parry-heavy, requiring memorizing enemy attack patterns. Is that what's going on here?
Edited by Discar on Nov 15th 2019 at 1:16:55 AM
That all you got?
Anthem's position wasn't helped by the fact that they demanded Bio Ware use Frostbite, then refused to give them any technical support even though Frostbite is a broken piece of shit.
That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.
I'm 2 hours in, and the mechanics have a heavy Souls influence. Parry and Riposte system, a similar mechanic for bonfires, and even losing your exp to whatever killed you last.
The Head of the Hydra
Huh so this is the Dark Souls of Star Wars games.
...wasn't that the primary selling point from the start? I mean, I know we're in such a drought of Star Wars games that anything is going to at least get people interested (if not excited due to the string of duds), but I was under the impression that it was being billed as "Dark Souls, but Star Wars."
That has definitely been the driving force behind the resurgence of interest after the main character reveal deflated hype for a little while.
I was answering your question from earlier, Discar.
They already have all those ideas. Those are things EA has already done.
Anyway, they're apparently getting reamed at the hearings. I'm not watching them, but I'm told the whole thing is a classic case of Digging Yourself Deeper. "Our surprise mechanics are not gambling because in gambling, you have a chance to win money."