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CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

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Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#571
post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something similar happened in NZ too under the "Hobbit Law" bought and paid for by Warner Brothers. Now everyone in the film and game industry is considered an independent contractor by default and aren't subject to the usual rights and legal protections afforded to company employees.

> bought and paid for by Warner Brothers Hang on I remember mass protests by the artists themselves in favour of that law?

Some of the people who showed up were colleagues. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a rent-a-mob but there was a lot of misinformation being spread on internal mailing lists leading up to the day.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#572
post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This essentially describes every ambitious, genre defining game for the last 35 years. This is news because the quoted statement is false. In fact, the opposite is true. Every genre defining game of the past 35 years has had a genre defining gold print. CP2077 is a dumpster fire. It will never be considered a great because of its launch.

I assume you’ve actually played the game on a console, and experienced game breaking bugs? Or maybe you subjectively consider the quality to not match your well thought out expectations previous to purchasing it? Can you please expand on your personal experiences with the game that led you to the dumpster fire conclusion? I’m also curious about your statement that every genre defining game has had a genre defining go…

I played 2 hours of cyberpunk on PC. I returned it when I saw just how buggy it was. I don’t have a documented list of bugs, because that’s not how I enjoy games. Documentation of 1.04 bugs are plenty of places. You can’t miss them. They get in the way of playing. The most annoying bugs are related to weapons and NPCs. CDPR’s known for their storytelling, but when the game makes the story difficult to consume, then it isn’t worth my money.

  Flawlessly launched genre defining games:
   - Quake (and its arena shooter successor: Halo)
   - Assassin’s Creed
   - Grand Theft Auto III
   - Super Mario 64
   - Your favorite fighting game
   - Your favorite racing game
   - Your favorite rhythm game
   - Your favorite JRPG
   - Deus Ex
Could you provide even one example of a genre defining game that had a bad launch?

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#573
post #85
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which I never understood: how is an actor supposed to suddenly carry the whole game? I mean, he's got those cool movies(where he plays the same guy over and over again), but he's no Jesus to be worshiped like that.

He's also, bluntly, not a very good actor

some actors are just pretty faces. Orlando Bloom also springs to mind.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#574

Wasn't it obvious to anyone who play-tested on last-gen consoles that the game is nearly unplayable and so will receive horrendous reviews? Presumably CDPR employees are not afraid to convey such bad news to the management. So why did the management still decide to go ahead with the release this year? After reading this transcript, I didn't find the answer to these questions. "Underestimated the scale and complexity…

Don't underestimate the ability for people to dilute the impact of bad-news as it moves up the chain. I'm sure people play-tested it and tried to raise alarms, but bad news regularly get's softened, maybe to accept less blame/responsibility?

If you are in management of a company that literally publishes one game, it would make some sense to actually play this game.

Probably they knew what is up: investors told them to publish, so they published.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#575
post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something similar happened in NZ too under the "Hobbit Law" bought and paid for by Warner Brothers. Now everyone in the film and game industry is considered an independent contractor by default and aren't subject to the usual rights and legal protections afforded to company employees.

> bought and paid for by Warner Brothers Hang on I remember mass protests by the artists themselves in favour of that law?

Peter Jackson played a blinder on that one.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any decent software employer in the US will have good insurance that basically guarantees your max out of pocket health expenses won’t exceed a few thousand dollars. That doesn’t really account for the difference.

>>your max out of pocket health expenses won’t exceed a few thousand dollars. Wait, that's meant to be good? What kind of insanity is this. Why do you have to pay anything out of your pocket at all??

There is typically some out of pocket component to prevent moral hazard. A good plan will still be covering something like 90% of your costs until you hit the max out of pocket, then it becomes 100%. It’s so you are at least a little conscientious in choosing doctors and pharmacies and such.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>your max out of pocket health expenses won’t exceed a few thousand dollars. Wait, that's meant to be good? What kind of insanity is this. Why do you have to pay anything out of your pocket at all??

There is typically some out of pocket component to prevent moral hazard. A good plan will still be covering something like 90% of your costs until you hit the max out of pocket, then it becomes 100%. It’s so you are at least a little conscientious in choosing doctors and pharmacies and such.

I'm sorry, but $7000/year is not about "preventing moral hazard". NHS charging a flat £9/per prescription is preventing moral hazard so you don't request medicine nilly willy. The out of pocket expenses that people quote in this thread are insane - having to suddenly pay few thousand dollars for treatment would cripple my finances, and I'm a software engineer.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#578

Wasn't it obvious to anyone who play-tested on last-gen consoles that the game is nearly unplayable and so will receive horrendous reviews? Presumably CDPR employees are not afraid to convey such bad news to the management. So why did the management still decide to go ahead with the release this year? After reading this transcript, I didn't find the answer to these questions. "Underestimated the scale and complexity…

I'm shocked nobody else has pointed out the responsibility of Microsoft and Sony here - the whole job of a console maker is to keep crap like this off their box so you never have to stress about whether it runs properly or not. It's supposed to be the whole advantage over having a PC.

It was their job to refuse certification and say "Nope, come back when the game runs properly" and they failed. That's part of what they get their money for when we pay more for console games than PC.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, this comes across as hipsterism. I know it's trendy to hate on the game right now, but c'mon. How much of the game have you played? The entire main quest is about transhumanism and corporate control. Cyberpsychosis and the Maelstrom are used as a means for examining the results of the overuse of body modification. Just like the Cyberpunk RPG, it was very heavily inspired by Gibson's work, and I mean that in a goo…

I think that cyber psychos are a really tired way to translate an old tabletop game mechanic into a story beat. What's more interesting -- amputees and disabled folks go BERSERK when they get treatment, or what if we escaped the bounds of the human form. Why does this game have such an extremely boring view of what humanity could be if you had access to mods. Gender, race, body type, even the configuration of limbs a…

I'm a HUGE fan of Gibson's books, but let's be honest: he's 72 years old, and might not be the best judge of modern video games. He was also involved in (and wrote the screenplay for) the Johnny Mnemonic movie, which was one of the blandest attempts at mainstreaming cyberpunk ever.

The Japanese stereotypes and Haitian gangs are lifted straight off the pages of Neuromancer and Count Zero. I dig the retrofuturist 80s vibe, but then I love retrofuturism in general so that's not surprising.

In the end, CP2077 is a AAA video game. It has to appeal to the general population, so yeah, it's probably not going to be the most experimental take on the genre. As mainstream cyberpunk attempts go, can we at least agree it's heads-and-shoulders better than Netflix's Altered Carbon? :)

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#580
post #371
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience on a mid range PC has been good in terms of performance and bugs. The game has some truly amazing aspects such as writing, characters, music, etc, but IMO it falls flat in terms of gameplay. Gunplay, stealth, hacking, open world mechanics, driving... it's all very mediocre even poor at times.

I felt the same but after spending more time, things are starting to click. Stealth for example is not nearly as good as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided or The Metal Gear Solid series. The tutorial seemed alright but when it came to real gameplay I felt like stealth just didn’t work and I just resorted to guns blazing. But after more effort and getting a better hang of quick hacking I have found stealth to be viable actuall…

This is the first game in which I rather drive a first person view motorcycle than a third person view car. I don't know why they spent so much time recording real motor sounds if your vehicle is unmanageable at mid speed.
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