(By game size he means scope of the game and huge open world maps, not game install size)

  • ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    Here’s hoping! Not only has it ruined a lot of once-smaller games, but it’s also largely responsible for ballooning development budgets, so let’s get that down to something sustainable.

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
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      12 days ago

      One of the most egregious cases for me was Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. There was stuff for 40 hours aplenty, yet I spent most of those 40 hours killing the same goons over and over but with a different number over their heads, which meant I needed to spent more time in doing so.

      If they had just aimed at making a memorable 30 or so hours, it would have been way better. This experience made me stop playing any Assassin’s whatever games.

      Opposite to this, there was “Still Wakes the Deep”, which is a rather short but plentiful game.

      • ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        I haven’t played Still Wakes the Deep, but Indika was that smaller game for me this year, and I’d highly recommend it.

        • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
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          12 days ago

          “Indika, a nun looking to adjust to a monastic life. The twist in the tale comes in the form of her companion: she has a connection with the Devil himself”

          Oh wow, with that summary count me in!

          • ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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            12 days ago

            You have no idea. The opening moments of that game are surprising, even with that blurb and my recommendation, lol.

      • zante@slrpnk.net
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        12 days ago

        Well, the clue is in the name I guess !

        That said, I never got bored of odyssey. It was was just a beautiful place to hang out. The game engine was amazing. With NPCs going about their business etc.

        I wish someone would just use that engine for more stuff .

        • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
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          12 days ago

          I meant it that I really enjoyed the setting, the characters and some game mechanisms. I just hated this need of making the game seemingly endless by repetition, and I wished I didn’t have to be level X to be able to do Y, because the only way to level up was churning (for me that’s a no bueno).

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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      12 days ago

      God of war and Jedi have done great jobs of finally showing AAA they can make a smaller game and still have a great following. I’m so sick of giant Ubisoft worlds that have nothing to do in them. They’re boring.

      • ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        I haven’t played the Jedi games, but it’s crazy that the new God of War games are somehow a demonstration of restraint, as that one from 2018 is probably twice as long as I would have liked, and Ragnarok is longer still, according to How Long to Beat.

      • ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        I know this is a cynical critique of capitalism, but even so, capitalists love lowering budgets and charging the same amount. Quite frankly, I’d happily pay the same or more to get a game with less bloat in a lot of cases.