#serious bugs that hinder gameplay or design

[kapanbenernya]

Fuck it, this is a blog now

Yep, I didn’t really have anymore games or things to review or talk about anymore these days. Ever since I started this tumblr, I’ve been having less and less free time that I can allocate to dumb shit like this. I’ve been getting more and more serious responsibilities at work and I intend to take them seriously. This is how some people might say “real life happened” kind of thing.

You see, my father had a family business and I am currently next in line to inherit it. It’s not a bad business but let’s just say the systems in place are still manual and I have problems replacing it with newer systems. I can just solve half my problem by hiring an IT guy to make a software for me and it’ll knock hours off my workload, but currently it costs more than I am ready to pay. It’s not that hard work, mind you, it just takes a lot of time due to it being manual.

Meanwhile on the video games side of things, I think my will to play just dried out. The list of games I’m hyped or even just looking forward to playing has been steadily decreasing with the years. Is it the quality of newer games and how they’re just live service grind-a-thon games designed as a vacuum that sucks up your time and money? Is it how the price of games have been through the roof recently and how $70 - $90 games are now the normal price? Is it because that I have less free time and now prefer spending it on other hobbies or just hanging out with friends? Believe me, I wish I could stop pondering and give you a definite answer instead of going “all of the above” but this is just how it is.

I feel like all of these seemingly disconnected happenings just converged into one event and made me have less interest in video games overall. I mean I still play them, it’s just that I no longer play them like I used to.

Speaking of games that I still play, currently it's: Persona 5, Back 4 Blood, Fate GO, and Arknights. And these are the only games which I think I can talk about, and will touch briefly on this post.

Persona 5 was an old fave of course, I played it back in my PS4 days. Cleared it once, tried the new game plus for a few weeks and suddenly never touched it again. I'm currently on the same streak with Persona 5 Royal which came to XGP/PC a few months back. I've finished the base game plus the DLC contents, and is currently stuck on NG+ because I couldn't be bothered to continue. How quaint.

Back 4 Blood was a surprise for me. When I first heard of B4B, I thought of it as just "L4D with ADS" which I think could hinder the gameplay since L4D's "rush from point A to point B" gameplay doesn't mix well with the rather slow and deliberate approach of ADS. Plus there was the rocky launch, bugs, lack of new content during the first year, not to mention this video which pretty much slammed B4B for 26 straight minutes. The video completely addressed everything that is wrong with B4B, although I am still hesitant to use the word "wrong" with B4B. I personally don't think the game is "bad", I believe B4B's only one true sin is that it wasn't L4D levels of polish. Despite every problem mentioned above, me and my friends are still having an absolute blast with this game and I have warmed up to it because of that.

As for Arknights and FGO... well, they're rather different from all the games I've talked about on this blog. For a start, they're what's called a gacha game. For those of you that don't know, gacha game is basically a game that involves using currency (real money or in-game currency) to receive a random in-game items, depending on the game systems. For Arknights you get operators, and for FGO you get servants. Same shit, different names. I promise I'll talk about all the different gacha games I've played over the years now. They won't get their own post since they have a lot of similarities though.

Anyway, that's it, that's about all that you can expect to see in the future. Those, and any random topics I wanna talk about but can't find any ears to which I will burden with stories.

[madebycoffee]

I just keep thinking about how much a rip off cats and dogs was. I never particularly wanted a pets type pack for TS4 because I don’t play with them (because I start crying like a baby when they die. Plus cats and dogs came out a year after my baby Winston died) But I’m just thinking about gameplay because that’s where I feel TS4 lacks the most. I’ve been disappointed this year with the two things I actually wanted (Island Paradise for 4 and Witches. Those are the two things from TS3 that I love the most) Making Silence + her family makes me more inclined to play with witches but... not excited to. 

But on this note, I’m curious if you’re someone who was DYING for pets in TS4 and specifically if you loved them in TS3 how Cats and Dogs felt to you. Because just comparing them one to one, we got substantially less for 10$ more. TS3 Expansion packs were 30$. TS4 ones are now 40$. 

In TS3 you got 3 playable big pets. Horses, Cats, and Dogs. Each of them had a good amount of items specific to them. Dog houses could be used for cats and dogs. You could make little barns to put the horse stables in. You could ride them around. But the big thing was that you also could play them. You could switch to them and control them. Past this the households were set up so your big pets were in a different list than the main household. Which meant you could have 8 sims and 8 pets (i assume. i never got to the point of a full household lol) 

Then on top of that you had 5 terrariums with 5 different small animal types. Lizards, Birds, Turtles, Snakes, and Rodents. My favorite are the snakes and turtles. They each had their own terrarium, and birds had two options. For small birds there was the birdcage, for big birds there was the bird tree which meant they were free to fly around the room. Past all of this you also got a full kitchen, bathroom, and living room set. I think also a bedroom set AND some horse themed furniture for kids. All that for 30$. 

The Sims 4 Cats and Dogs you get two unplayable pets. They count toward your main household. They are the only things to have a color wheel??? The world is nice and so is build/buy, but there’s no complete kitchen set. In fact Parenthood really is the kitchen set that goes with C+D. Sure you can train dogs and cats to hunt, dogs to do tricks... But when you aren’t allowed to control them and see their whims (even tho that system is suuuuuch a joke) it’s not much better than babies in ts4. 

And EA you’re then shocked by how angry people got when a few months later, for 10 dollars more you were to include rodents? Just rodents? To get half the amount of animals that TS3 had you need to pay almost twice as much. Can you blame the community at this point for being so frustrated with you? Yeah. The game looks nice. But if there is no substance what’s the point. 

And if you’re like well then stop buying things from them you are really missing the point. For one, I haven’t bought the last two stuff packs BECAUSE I felt like they weren’t worth it. And like I said, this year two of the things that I genuinely wanted were released. So I bought them. If I had to I might not buy ROM again. I wouldn’t buy Strangerville again. And EA/TS4 knows how to cut a good trailer. So I was hopeful. At this point I’ve spent over 500$ on this game. And for 500$ you’d think that this game wouldn’t have this many inherent problems. And, for 500$ I sure as shit am allowed to have critiques on it. 

Anyway. The more I think about it the more genuinely disappointed I am. I love the sims. I know the sims really has an opportunity to be incredible. But unfortunately I think that they have grown too comfortable being the only game of their type. I hope that Paralives will bring the competition that they need to get their asses into gear. Or maybe it’s time for The Sims to end. 

tl;dr: sims 4 makes me sad and I can’t wait for paralives to come out.

[aion-rsa]

Every Cyberpunk 2077 Controversy So Far

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Cyberpunk 2077 may be the most anticipated game of 2020 but its long road to release can be measured by numerous controversies that have often attracted the wrong kind of attention.

From delays to questionable tweets, Cyberpunk 2077 can easily be considered one of the most controversial games in recent memory, and it hasn’t even been released yet. While time will tell if Cyberpunk 2077 can “usurp” The Last of Us Part 2 and become 2020’s most divisive game, the project is already at the center of several heated debates that are causing fans to take sides.

If you’re wondering where you stand on the game’s most contested topics, here’s a rundown of every notable Cyberpunk 2077 controversy (so far):

The Numerous Delays and Long Development Time

Believe it or not, there have only been three official Cyberpunk 2077 delays so far and all of them have happened in 2020.

Cyberpunk 2077‘s first official release date was April 16, 2020. While developer CD Projekt Red noted early in the year that the game was “complete and playable,” the studio delayed the game to September 17 as part of an effort to better optimize its performance.

On June 18, the Cyberpunk 2077 team announced via Twitter that the game’s release had been delayed again and was now (at least at that time) scheduled to be released on November 19. Again, CD Projekt Red cited a “huge number of things to iron out” as the reason for the delay.

Finally, on October 27, CD Projekt Red announced that Cyberpunk 2077‘s final release date had been rescheduled for December 10. This time, the team cited not just bug fixes and optimization as the reason for the delay but the challenges presented by their desire to release the game across so many platforms.

Before we dive into some of the other delay related controversies, we should point out that much of the fan frustration regarding Cyberpunk 2077‘s delays are closely related to the fact the game was revealed via a teaser trailer released in 2013. While we don’t know what the status of the game was at that time, the popular perception is that Cyberpunk 2077 has been in development for seven years. That means that each one of the game’s 2020 delays has stung some fans harder than they otherwise may have.

The Crunch Schedule

You can’t talk about Cyberpunk 2077‘s delays without talking about the game’s controversial crunch development schedule.

We’ve covered this topic before in greater detail (you can read our full report on this subject here), but the gist of the situation is that developer CD Projekt Red had previously stated that they would not force the Cyberpunk 2077 team to work through a crunch schedule. In September, though, CD Projekt Red boss Adam Badowski confirmed reports that the studio asked employees to begin working additional hours. In exchange for the extra work, they would be compensated with overtime pay and additional funds offered by the company’s profit-sharing program.

That information triggered two additional debates. The first saw those who opposed the company’s crunch schedule battle those who claimed the company’s employees were being fairly compensated for their extra work. While it was generally agreed the company was compensating its employees for overtime more than other game developers have done in the past (and that some employees anonymously stated they were fine with the schedule), many argued that crunch development is an industry problem which needs to be addressed whenever it appears.

Finally, there’s the matter of the game’s delays. The latest Cyberpunk 2077 delay was confirmed after the report of the company’s crunch schedule had broke. If the insinuation was that the crunch schedule was implemented as a desperate measure intended to ensure the game was released on time, then could CD Projekt Red have skipped the crunch schedule and just delayed the game a little longer?

The PS4/Xbox One Controversy

When news broke that the most recent Cyberpunk 2077 delay was partially attributed to the struggles of launching the game across so many platforms, it didn’t take long for some fans to worry about the PS4 and Xbox One editions of the game.

Why? Well, some people expressed their concern that the previous-gen versions of Cyberpunk 2077 may hinder the day one quality of the next-gen editions. CD Projekt Red has stated that the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of Cyberpunk 2077 will benefit from day one upgrades, but the “full” next-gen versions of each title will not be available until a later date.

Others had the opposite concern and worried that the next-gen editions of Cyberpunk 2077 would be the “real” versions of the game and that the PS4 and Xbox One versions would suffer from serious performance downgrades. There’s currently no evidence which strongly supports that claim, but it does ring loud at a time when it’s nearly impossible to find a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S.

The Gender Tweet

One of the earlier Cyberpunk 2077 controversies involved this now-deleted tweet from the Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account:

The tweet itself was sent in the midst of a greater debate over the use of that term and whether or not it had become a way to mock transgender people or those who sympathize with the struggles of transgender people. Basically, there was some concern that the Cyberpunk 2077 team’s use of that term was meant as an insult

CD Projekt Red deleted the tweet and issued the following statement regarding it:

“Sorry to all those offended by one of the responses sent out from our account earlier. Harming anyone was never our intention.”

As some noted at the time, this controversy was amplified by another incident in which GOG (a digital store owned by CD Projekt Red) tweeted a GIF of a Postal character urinating on a tombstone that read “Games Journalism” and “August 28th, 2014.” That date is believed to be a reference to GamerGate.

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The Transgender Poster

Arguably the most infamous Cyberpunk 2077 controversy involved this in-game poster:

The poster showcases a transgender model advertising a soda with slogans could be interpreted as references to transgender people. Given that this poster was circulated shortly after the aforementioned tweets, some felt that this was another example of CD Projekt Red using transgender people as a punchline.

In an interview with Polygon, the CD Projekt Red artist who designed this poster, Kasia Redesiuk, explained her thought process behind it.

“Personally, for me, this person is sexy,” Redesiuk said. “I like how this person looks. However, this model is used — their beautiful body is used — for corporate reasons. They are displayed there just as a thing, and that’s the terrible part of it.”

Redesiuk also stated that she had no intentions of directly offending people but did note that she was aware the image was inherently provocative.

“I would say it was never the intention to offend anyone,” Redesiuk said. “However, with this image of an oversexualized person, we did want to show how over-sexualization of people is bad. And that’s it.

The Gender Choice Character Creator

Cyberpunk 2077 would once again find itself at the center of a gender-related controversy, but this one was a bit different than the others.

In an interview with Metro, Cyberpunk 2077 artist Marthe Jonkers explained that the game would not offer simple male and female gender options during the character creation process.

“You don’t choose, ‘I want to be a female or male character’ you now choose a body type,” Jonkers explained. “So you choose your body type and we have two voices, one that’s male sounding, one is female sounding. You can mix and match. You can just connect them any way you want. And then we have a lot of extra skin tones and tattoos and hairstyles. So we really want to give people the freedom to make their own character and play the way they want to play.”

While some felt that this was the company’s attempt to cover up for their previous actions, much of the blowback in this instance came from fans who saw this as an example of the Cyberpunk 2077 team “pandering” to critics. There is currently no information available that suggests the game’s character creation process was drastically altered in response to any such criticisms.

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The Animals and Voodoo Boys

The reveal of Cyberpunk 2077‘s gangs caused some to question whether or not the game was relying on racial stereotypes.

This debate focused on two gangs: The Animals and Voodoo Boys. Some fans felt that the “Animals” name was intended as an insult directed towards a gang that appeared to largely be comprised of people of color. As for the Voodoo Boys, there were concerns that the gang’s name, design, and background were designed to exploit racial and cultural stereotypes.

CD Projekt Red later stated that The Animals is actually a multi-racial gang and that that the initial portrayal of them as a gang that consisted entirely of people of color was based on the specific scenario of the gameplay demo they were showcased in. Cyberpunk 2020‘s creator also offered this response in regards to these controversies:

“As for the Animals–the WHOLE FREAKING POINT is that they think of themselves as POWERFUL, DANGEROUS, WILD ANIMALS. You’d have thought the Lady named ‘Sasquatch’ would have given them a clue…The original Voodoo Boys were a scathing commentary on cultural appropriation. I LOVE the idea that real practitioners of Voudon moved in and took back their turf. And they even got the Creole right…Who the (bleep) do YOU think you are to tell ME whether or not MY creation was done right or not?”

The Microtransactions

Earlier this year, CD Projekt Red’s Adam Kicinski caused a stir by implying that Cyberpunk 2077 would have microtransactions despite previous implications that the game would not.

“We’re never aggressive towards our fans!” Kicinski said during an earnings call. “We treat them fairly and we’re friendly. So of course not – we won’t be aggressive ��� but you can expect great things to be bought. The goal is to design monetization in a way that makes people happy to spend money. I’m not trying to be cynical or hide something; it’s about creating a feeling of value.”

The Cyberpunk team later clarified that statement somewhat with the following tweet:

Nothing changed. Cyberpunk 2077 is a single player game with zero microtransactions. One single purchase. No tricks. Don't believe the clickbait. https://t.co/qX0iZwsAf2

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) September 7, 2020

The issue of microtransactions is typically controversial in and of itself, but the debate was amplified in this instance by CD Project Red’s apparent “anti-microtransaction” culture and outward consumer-friendly image. Furthermore, Cyberpunk 2077‘s multiplayer has been its own source of controversy due to the mysterious nature of the concept and concerns its development has further delayed the release of the Cyberpunk 2077 campaign.

The First-Person Controversy

It feels so quaint now, but one of the earlier Cyberpunk 2077 controversies involved the game’s first-person perspective.

In 2019, the Cyberpunk 2077 team confirmed the game would largely take place in first-person with third-person angles being used for certain cutscenes and driving sequences. This upset some fans who were not only led to believe the game would be third-person based on early footage (and The Witcher 3) but were concerned by the implications of a first-person game. Namely, they worried that the game would end up being a first-person shooter and that first-person cutscenes would not be nearly as “immersive” as the third-person storytelling featured in The Witcher 3.

Some fans also felt that a first-person perspective would limit the impact of the game’s character customization options, but CD Projekt Red later clarified that you’ll be able to see your character in mirrors and on the inventory screen.

The post Every Cyberpunk 2077 Controversy So Far appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[undeadimpulsereviews]

Assassin’s Creed Unity

This review was a long time coming, and I’m sorry for the wait; however I’m running out of reviews on here and have been focusing on getting things done. Again sorry for the delay in review, hopefully I can get the schedule in order in the near future.

Assassin’s Creed has been a long running series from developer Ubisoft; it has had its fair share of ups and downs, but ultimately it has survived the times. Yet no Assassin’s Creed is as infamous for its problems as Assassin’s Creed Unity. The game had a rough launch all due to it’s countless bugs and glitches. I don’t know everything that went wrong with the game, but if you’re curious for whatever reason they aren’t hard to find. Now the game has been out for almost three years now and Ubisoft has had the time to fix what went wrong; as for me I played the game earlier this year, well after the game was patched. Now just because I didn’t have as many problems as those at launch, I still have to address the issue; though will get to those issues later. After playing through the game and getting every trophy I can say that not only did I enjoy my time with the game, but it is actually one of my favorite games in the series as of writing this. The story is fantastic, the characters are lovable and really well done; all in all the game gave me something I wasn’t expecting. Maybe because I entered with a level head; I didn’t go into the game expecting to much due to the issues it presented early in its life. I actually have some interest in the series after playing this title. The review isn’t meant to forgive Ubisoft for poorly handling the game at launch, but yet the game does deserve some credit and I aim to do just that.

Assassin’s Creed Unity takes place in France; you’ll start the game in Versailles, but most of the game will be in Paris. The year is 1789, and the French revolution is upon us. We find ourselves in control of a man named Arno Dorian. After Arno’s father was murdered by a templar named Shay Cormac, Arno was taken in by a man named François de la Serre, who just so happened to be the grand master of the Templar order in France. It was a normal life for Arno, and he knew nothing of his Assassin lineage; yet one day de la Serre was murdered, and Arno blames himself for it. Arno sets out to find the men behind this and by doing so he joins the brotherhood and becomes an assassin’s. So help Arno find and kill these men, and once again fight for freedom from the templar order. The brotherhood needs you, for the world is in grave danger.

The basic story of the game still hasn’t changed much; you are an assassin and you are sent to find and kill templars to either find a piece of eden, or a sage. For Unity it’s a sage; the artifact is still important, but it take somewhat of a backseat in this tale. Now what really makes this story what it is is our main character Arno. Arno loses his real father at a young age, but he is old enough to remember a lot about him and hold an impression of what he was like. Though most of Arno’s life is with his adoptive father; this results in a powerful dynamic. Given that both fathers come from different factions, each at war with each other, it drives Arno in specific ways. He’s still an assassin in the end, but having these ties makes him question his actions, and the actions of others. The templars are still the villains in all this, but both sides have their fair share of views and beliefs that don’t sit well with Arno. There are pros and cons from both sides, and thanks to such things Arno grows from a frivolous thrill seeker to a man of action. My only real problem with the game is that the modern day world hardly feels important; it’s still apparent that you are doing this for the present day, but you see little to nothing of the world outside the animus, or in this case Helix. You get a scene in the beginning and then moments in the story where you hear the voices of those helping you, but never truly leave the memory of Arno. I loved the story of Arno, but ever since the first moments with Desmond Miles in the original games, I’ve always wanted to see more of present day. Otherwise the story is paced really well; it doesn’t take to long to get into key moments. Though honestly speaking I think the game and it’s story thrive because of it’s characters.

The cast of Unity is both interesting and enjoyable; Arno especially is a great character. He starts out doing things like getting into fights, or crashing parties; though after the death of de la Serre he slowly turns into a capable and serious character. He knows what’s important to him and where he stands in the world. His development alongside other people in the story is really well done. One of my favorite characters is a man named Bellec

Bellec is the first assassin, other than your father, that you meet in the game. He’s like your right hand man, and possibly the third father figure to Arno. He’ there to train Arno in the way of the brotherhood. He’s comedic, but one of the most serious characters in the game. He’s one of the driving points for Arno as he makes his way through the story. Bellec is your average assassin, and he believes that the current state of the brotherhood isn’t what it used to be; back during the days of Altaïr. He’s one of the most interesting characters in the game in my opinion. Then of course you also have the historical people brought into the game; so who would you find in this day and age? Why people like Napoleon Bonaparte

The saddest part about these characters is that you won’t be getting to much time with them; Napoleon especially, he only gets a couple scenes with Arno unlike past characters like Da Vinci in Assassin’s Creed 2. Though what scenes you get are pretty great nonetheless, and it’s always fun to see historical figures portrayed in some fashion. When it comes down to it; Unity had one of my favorite cast of characters. I want to go deeper into them, but a lot of the cast is spoiler heavy into the game and I don’t wish to ruin the story or it’s character. They develop really well and each have a enjoyable personality to them that helps drive the game in a positive direction. This was a breathe of fresh air for me because this was a problem I had with Assassin’s Creed 3. Gameplay comes before everything; yet given how story driven these games are, a bad story and cast of character can make or break the game. Though at the same time, one of the big things that broke this game was actually it’s visuals and audio.

Now lets get this out of the way first; again I played the game well after it’s release, and a lot of the bugs have been fixed. Yet if I don’t address them then I feel that’s me giving Ubisoft a pass for bad practice. When Unity was released the game was riddled with bug and glitches; if you’re curious about them all you can no doubt find a list of all the problems the game had. For me I this was around the time I decided to take a break from the series. I wasn’t a fan of 3 and I found games like Black Flag alright, but not my cup of tea. So when I heard the next game in the series was struggling I pushed myself farther away; though not before catching a glimpse of what was going on.

If you played near the launch of the game you might be familiar with this; the game had many problems; yet the ones I know well are cutting audio, missing assets like the heads above, or things like messed up physics like with a characters hair. Most of these were all visual like the one above; though I know their were more game breaking bugs that further hindered the game. No game is without it’s bugs, but to have this level of problems and release the game anyway is not okay. That being said, as the game stands now; it’s what it should have been at launch. In my experience with the game I had no visual glitches; in fact my game was short on bugs and glitches, save for an audio glitch here or there. The biggest one for me was an audio de-sync right at the very ending of the game; which put a damp on the game a little bit for me, because the ending is this amazing scene; yet with the glitch I got it really took me out of the moment. Though past it all the set pieces, and other visuals in the game are stunning; seeing Paris during the revolution is awesome to say the least

Plus, now with the fixes the game has, the characters as well have some great designs to them; Arno, Bellec, and all the random white wigged nobles of France. Though my favorite moments of the game come from things called anomalies; during moments in the game you’ll have to run from Abstergo in the Helix. To do this the brotherhood will open anomalies in the system to hide you for a moment. Now below will be a video of the first anomaly you venture through; if you want to see it then by all mean. Though this is one of the best parts of the game in my opinion, and I feel it’s better playing it yourself and getting that experience; rather than watching someone else.

As for the music; it’s been a while since I’ve touched the game and I can’t honestly remember when what music plays. I went back and listened to a decent amount of the OST and it’s really well done. I don’t know how much of it you’ll be hearing throughout the game, but for what it’s worth it’s definitely well done. The music is all orchestrated so I feel it really fits the time and place really well; there are a lot of great pieces to that fill you with that sense of dread depending on the scene taking place, and there are some emotional scenes in this game. Here are a few to get you started.

Now that Unity had been out for a while the game looks and feel a lot better off than it did; though I still have some issues that need to be addressed, and for that we go to gameplay.

Unity is not a game you want to go back into after a break from the series; it’s not hard, but if you still know how the originals controlled you’re in for a rude awakening. Unless I’m mistaken, Unity slightly changed the combat; for me Unity felt a lot slower and heavy; Swinging the sword felt like it took a lot longer in Unity, and taking on groups of enemies could prove challenging. Maybe I’m wrong and I’m just a bit rusty to the series, but it just didn’t feel normal to me. Here’s a video to show off that combat; you don’t need to watch it all, but I felt this best captures how you might fight a bigger group of people.

Other than this the game operates pretty normally; but the big question is how is the multiplayer. In Unity, Ubisoft introduce a new co-op style of play where you and three other people would take on missions in the game. Now these aren’t story missions, but optional random missions that you can take part in; these don’t pertain to Arno’s story at all, they are mostly there to train you and give you a challenge. They can be fun, and they aren’t bad; however, there is a certain level of cooperation that is needed to play these. Coordination is the key to being successful in these missions, and if you have a random team of people who don’t talk with one another then it’s bad for everyone. Lastly is collecting; again if you are a person who likes to get one hundred percent of everything in a game then this game will be taxing and unfair. Collectibles in the game are poorly done; first off you don’t need to do everything to get every trophy or achievement in the game. I ended the game thinking you did, but found out midway through that most of the collectables in the game aren’t needed. However, most of the collectable are hard to find because of how Ubisoft did things; with Unity they wanted you to utilize their mobile app. With this app you can use certain tools to mark things on the map; so getting the vantage point no longer shows every collectable on the map. Instead you get a fraction of them to appear and then you must use this app to reveal the rest. You don’t need the app, but unless you use a guide like me and pull up a map, you’re going to be going blind. Some of the things you need are in the anomalies, and they have specific spawns to them; so you could start an anomaly and get one to spawn; then finish and restart and either get the next one to spawn, or get none to spawn. This make the task longer and more aggravating to say the least; never put collectables in missions unless you can easily go back and retrieve them later without countless attempts. Forcing a collectable to spawn is the worst thing you can ever do. Yet when it comes down to it; the gameplay is fun, sure it has it’s problems here and there, but it works. It’s not impossible and doesn’t break the game. It’s all in all a fun experience.

Overall I give Assassin’s Creed Unity an 8 out of 10. This is after all the fixes of course; If I played the game at launch the game would have scored much lower. It’s not perfect and I’m not giving the developers a pass by any means; yet the game is great for what it’s worth. I highly recommend playing it now more than ever. The story, it’s characters, the gameplay, you name it; the game is fun and I’m glad I played it; it’s sparked an interest in the series once again for me. Though at the same time I remain vigilant, because Ubisoft has made mistakes countless times, not just with this series.

This weekend I’ll be posting the next review; I’ll aim for Saturday, but I am busy this weekend with stuff like work, so maybe Sunday. The review will be D.Gray-man. Until then, have a great rest of your week and I’ll see ya next time.

[aion-rsa]

Cyberpunk 2077 Bugs: The Biggest Performance Issues So Far

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Cyberpunk 2077‘s early reviews suggest that the most anticipated game of 2020 is quite good. Yet, there is a worrying takeaway from those initial impressions, too. The game appears to be very buggy.

While we anticipated that Cyberpunk 2077 would ship with plenty of bugs, which honestly wasn’t all that difficult to predict given the game’s turbulent year, those who have played the full version of Cyberpunk 2077 have confirmed that the game isn’t just burdened by the usual array of open-world performance issues but a truly worrisome collection of game-breaking glitches that could severely impact the title’s launch.

Based on the early Cyberpunk 2077 reviews and other impressions of the full game, here are some of the more notable Cyberpunk 2077 bugs you need to know:

Cyberpunk 2077’s Visual Bugs

It probably won’t come as a surprise that the vast majority of reported Cyberpunk 2077 bugs are what you could typically classify as “visual bugs.” That is to say that they’re the kinds of bugs that result in some kind of unintended visual effect. Here are just some of the more notable visual bugs that have been reported in Cyberpunk 2077 so far:

Some items will simply not show up when you’re looking at your character screen.

Pieces of clothing and other equipment will randomly disappear from NPCs.

Lootable items will randomly float in the air from time to time. It seems you’re still able to loot those items most of the time, but some players have reported that these bugs make them inaccessible.

Your character screen will show that certain items have “zero” stats. Initial reports indicate that this seems to be just a visual bug as the performance of those items doesn’t appear to be affected.

Characters often break their animation cycles and randomly strike “T” poses.

NPCs will clip through random objects. This appears to be especially common in cutscenes, but there are reports of it happening during open-world gameplay segments, too.

Specific NPCs are repeated throughout the world. While you’d almost expect some basic character models to appear in different parts of the city, it sounds like very specific character models seemingly designed for one location will sometimes be repeated.

Cyberpunk 2077 seems to have quite a few audiovisual bugs that seem to boil down to the wrong objects producing the wrong audio cues. For instance, it sounds like there are times when a character running away will trigger the sound of a screeching car.

Various additional animation bugs see characters protrude from cars, turn around randomly, or generally behave erratically.

We could certainly go on, but the general idea is that Cyberpunk 2077 is loaded with those Skyrim-esque visual bugs that often lead to hilarious moments rather than game-breaking occurrences.

However, many reviewers have pointed out that these bugs are frequent enough to break the “immersion” of Cyberpunk 2077. Given how much of the game’s appeal is tied to being able to dive into the world of Night City, the prevalence of these bugs could certainly make them more impactful than they necessarily would be in other games.

Cyberpunk 2077’s Performance Bugs

We know that Cyberpunk 2077 suffers from a variety of visual bugs but how many of the game’s glitches affect the title’s performance?

That’s an interesting question which honestly hasn’t been satisfyingly answered based on the information that’s currently available. Many reviewers noted that they were playing the game on high-end PCs with GPUs capable of producing ray-tracing effects. While the PC Gamer reviewer noted that enabling ray tracing and other high-end effects did result in frame rate drops, it doesn’t sound like the game is an optimization nightmare along the lines of the early PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight. However, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not PC users who end up playing the game on lower-end systems report significant performance issues.

The bigger question at the moment is how Cyberpunk 2077 will run on consoles. All of the Cyberpunk 2077 reviews so far reflect the PC version of the game, and we haven’t heard a detailed report from anyone who has spent a significant amount of time with any of the console versions.

This is why the expectation at this time is that the console versions of Cyberpunk 2077 will underperform at launch. Some fans are worried that the PS4/Xbox One editions of Cyberpunk 2077 could be especially rough if not nearly unplayable. CD Projekt Red has said that an early console patch has fixed most of the early notable performance problems on those platforms, but serious questions remain about the game’s console launch.

Cyberpunk 2077’s Cutscene Bugs

While Cyberpunk 2077‘s cutscene bugs would typically be considered visual glitches, early reports indicate that they’re prominent enough to be worthy of their own category. Here’s a sampling of the most notable reported cutscene bugs so far:

NPCs play out multiple conversations at once. This can actually result in gameplay issues, but it seems that most of these moments just caused multiple audio tracks to play over each other.

There were multiple reports of V’s voice changing randomly during cutscene sequences. As you might imagine, it’s both annoying and genuinely confusing to hear a random voice change from an unseen character during a cutscene.

The game’s advanced lip-synching technology will sometimes completely fail during story sequences. Reports of these occurrences seem to be rare, but these moments do tend to be pretty dramatic when they do happen.

Multiple outlets have reported problems with the game’s final cutscene. While they obviously couldn’t dive into details, it sounds like there may be a problem with the scripting of the game’s final sequence that can be escalated by the appearance of multiple other bugs.

Based on what we’ve heard so far, it sounds like the problems with Cyberpunk 2077‘s cutscenes are specific and prevalent enough to likely merit some kind of targeted fix in the near future. While there may be too many general bugs for CD Project Red to address all at once, these cutscene bugs will likely be at the top of the list given their prevalence.

Cyberpunk 2077’s Game Breaking Bugs

The most disappointing of Cyberpunk 2077‘s early bugs are the glitches which several reviewers noted broke the game in some way:

Enemies can sometimes see you through walls during stealth sequences.

Invisible walls seemingly prevent you from being able to access necessary areas.

Certain doors won’t open when they should. This problem seems to be especially common during “scripted” gameplay sequences and key missions.

Certain objects can’t be climbed, even when they’re necessary for progression.

Players can get trapped in the world at random points.

Killing certain characters will result in a delay that allows them to trigger alarms or other nearby enemies.

NPCs will sometimes spawn in places that prevent you from being able to complete missions.

A couple of reviewers noted that bosses, including one of the final ones, would freeze in the middle of a fight. While it was sometimes possible to simply defeat them without any resistance, this can force you to restart the game.

Some quests will never start properly.

It’s apparently possible to trigger an invulnerability bug after death that makes your character invincible. Sadly, it’s apparently not possible to progress through the game at that point as you’re considered to be dead.

Incorrect dialogue choices will occasionally appear which can either hinder progress or otherwise make it impossible to build your character a certain way.

Any one of these bugs would be worrisome in their own right, but what’s really troubling is that many (we would say “most”) reviewers noted that they had to restart their game at some point due to some kind of bug. While we haven’t heard any stories of a bug so bad that it required the player to start over from scratch, it’s disheartening that these issues are as common as they seem to be.

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Cyberpunk 2077’s Day One Patch

At this point, you may be wondering whether or not all of these problems will be addressed in Cyberpunk 2077‘s day one patch. The answer to that question is frustratingly vague.

While PC Gamer noted that they received a “Day 0” patch that CD Projekt Red says is the “Day One” patch with just a few missing fixes, other outlets seem to have not received that patch — or otherwise did not specify that they were playing the game with that patch installed. Furthermore, CD Projekt Red has still not detailed what’s in the Day One patch beyond general performance improvements. To make matters even more frustrating, it’s been reported that review copies of Cyberpunk 2077 were sent out with some level of DRM protection enabled that will not be enabled in the retail edition of the game. Many DRM systems can cause performance problems, so it’s entirely possible those safeguards resulted in additional issues.

Once again, the biggest unanswered questions involve the console versions of Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red informed IGN that the Cyberpunk 2077′s Day One console patch makes it a “different game,” but we haven’t heard any reports of anyone playing the game with that patch installed and CD Projekt Red has not detailed the fixes it contains.

Generally speaking, it sounds like those who play Cyberpunk 2077 on PC when it is released will experience a more optimized version of the game than the one most reviewers had access to. However, it’s highly unlikely that even the majority of the game’s reported bugs will be addressed in that patch. Furthermore, we still have no idea what shape the console versions of the game will ship in.

More on Cyberpunk 2077 as we learn it!

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