Fistoh

Seems like a studio with some extremely talented development staff but extremely exploitative management, PR, and marketers.

Hey folks, one of my problems playing this year's game is the pretty awful performance I've had on my PC on all kinds of settings. I'm playing on a 2070S with 32GB of RAM on 1080p, with ray tracing on the game is borderline unplayable and I've had to bump everything down quite a bit to get even a consistent 60+. Especially notable given how smoothly MW runs with ray tracing on and everything but textures maxed. Any other PC players have a similar experience?

I see a scrying mirror in the trailer. This game looks rad as hell, definitely going to give it a whirl

Yikes I just looked it up for myself and you're right about the Astraea music, what a colossal disappointment that is for what is what is such a beautiful haunting track.

I'm a huge fan of the original Demon's Souls and I'm speaking from a very limited perspective here as I've only seen various screen shots and bits of Boletaria. Frankly I don't agree with the aesthetic direction Bluepoint decided to take in the context of that original game. The original game felt austere, it felt like you were roaming the remains of lands that fell so far from grace but are still clinging to their legacy. The atmosphere is eerie, almost ethereal. That being said, the remake seems to tend toward more dark fantasy bombast which works fine but just doesn't evoke the same atmosphere that I felt was a core part of the first game.

The first thing that struck me was the castle architecture being in a completely different architectural style than it was in the original game, going from a very utilitarian medieval style with flat stone walls to a more overstated gothic style which I just don't think fits the unique mood that the original game had. Some of the changed boss designs don't sit right with me either.

Having dug a bit deeper, I am deeply disappointed by the direction they took the soundtrack. The soundtrack in Demon's Souls is incredibly unique, the instrumentation is sparse which contributes to these moody pieces that emphasize that feeling of trying to grasp at some grandiosity that doesn't exist anymore, but they elected to re-record the whole OST with a full symphonic orchestra.

The first song I wanted to here the remake of was the Adjudicator's theme, which in the original uses brass instruments brilliantly to create a murky contrast with the strings accentuating the eerie fairy-tale atmosphere in that area of the game. Now the song just kinda sounds like a standard symphonic piece. Then go to the Tower Knight theme, where we've gone from what sounds like no more than 4 or 5 people chanting to a full choir going nuts.

None of these things are bad per se, but they are significant changes that significantly alter the overall mood of the game. It's what separated Demon's Souls from Dark Souls to me, where Dark Souls is more epic in scope Demon's Souls felt smaller and sadder. I don't know, it's hard for me to be too critical without having played the game myself; and I doubt I'll be able to afford a PS5 anytime soon so unless it comes to PC I won't be playing it.

Some phenomenal games over the years, I felt the consoles at launch were extremely lackluster and the half step consoles were and are a of confusing mess. Frankly it's pretty ridiculous that those consoles came out in the state they did, having worked at a store that did repairs I can't count how many people ended up with launch PS4s with busted HDMI ports that we couldn't replace and Sony charged like $100 to fix, and that launch XB1 is a joke.

That being said I love the steps Microsoft took over the generation to sweep the Mattrick years under the rug and start incorporating more consumer friendly features and policies. The PS4 eventually grew into itself with a great library of games but for the duration of the generation the platform felt woefully underpowered to me. That being said, the ease of development for the new consoles really helped usher in this indie renaissance we're in, and that I am certainly thankful for.

A lot of what has been suggested already is fantastic; in addition to those I'm going to recommend Bohnanza. It's a card matching game where the order of your hand matters (i.e. you can't rearrange your hand). It's a pretty simple ruleset and a ton of fun

I'm really sad to see Abby go! She's been fantastic throughout the years, and I dearly hope she finds success wherever she goes next.

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I've loved this game so far, I played quite a bit of CK2 and have been playing Paradox games for quite a while. Where this game distinguishes itself even from CK2 is it feels like to me they've leaned a lot more into the role-playing aspect of CK, it already feels like the events that happen are far more dynamic, and they give you more insight into the character you're playing which enables me as a player to feel a lot more confident that I can make decisions as this person would if they were in the same situation.

I wish the strategic elements were a bit more fully formed, not being able to properly influence what your allies' armies do has been at times frustrating when they act in a way you don't expect which could cause you to lose an important battle or somesuch. It also feels like you're more at the whim of the simulation throwing something your way you just can't handle.

I did a simple Ireland game to get into the swing of things and get that achievement for creating the kingdom thereof, and after I united the isle the bubonic plague started sweeping through, killing both of my heir's children and a whole lot of my family, councilors, bunch of members of my court. When my son first contracted it I had my monarch demand a radical treatment that went poorly and left him permanently scarred. I had been preparing him to be a powerful ruler but he ended up reduced to a sickly mask-wearing bitter old man who only ruled for a couple years before he kicked the bucket and left the kingdom to one of the only nephews that managed to survive.

Also been running a game starting as the Chief of Greater Poland in 867, working to form the Kingdom of Poland and hopefully eventually uniting the west Slavs. Where I left the game off was me being invaded by an orthodox kingdom to the south of me being supported by the Byzantine empire, and this is just as my previous ruler died near the end of the conquest of Lesser Poland; so my alliances were nullifed and at this point no one wants to support me in my defense... I left the game there. There is very little chance I can win that war, but maybe I can play as a vassal of whoever is invading (I forget the belligerent's name) and eventually work my way out of there, possibly after being forced into the orthodoxy.

All that being said I'm having a very good time with it so far!

Man, I was super excited for this and I'm not sure how I could be any more disappointed. I read the limited run as a lack of confidence in the product and a way to create artificial scarcity and a false sense of value.

If this thing wasn't a full $60 I wouldn't be as disgusted; I don't think I would pay any more than $30 for this.