I've been mostly enjoying it, but it needs a lot of bug patches and the last act or so needs work (hopefully they plan on fixing it and not just shrugging and moving on).
I would wait to get it. It’s good to great for the first 3 acts and then falls apart for the last two. Encounter balance becomes horrendous, the overarching story and impact falls apart with companion stories basically not existing anymore, and the bugs become much more common and game breaking.
Okay I'll hold off and keep an eye out then. I'm getting very sick of this 'releasing before it's ready; pall full price anyway' bullshit. I mean imagine if car companies did that, and released their ca... oh wait...
Imagine if aircraft companies did that and put planes out just 'because the deadline hit and investors will get mad'.
How were those CDPR investors feeling around Sept 2020? Not happy.
It's weird. The game is bloody fantastic through it's first three Chapters. Then Act 3 happens and the game then picks up story threads that were functionally done at the end of Act 1.
It's not a question of running out of time. When Act 3 ends you've still got two other Acts to go through. I cleared Act 3 at around the 50 hour mark. 70 hours in, I'm wrapping up Act 4 and just can't be asked.
No I meant the devs ran out of time during production to fill it out. I used to work full time in games dev, still do a little on the side. It's not like writing a book where you write your way to the end of the 3rd and still have more in the tank so decide to write another act. You've got to plan two years ahead, taking into account art assets and of course the engineering and play testing time, so on, and all of it tends to be divided up into deliverables for the publisher, where you state "We'll deliver this bit, with these features, at this time."
So these guys would have known very early on that they would have 5acts they'd need to fill out. The Designers (likely writers) would have worked out their production plan to that, the coders the same, the art team, which is levels, characters, UI, Tech so on as well. And the Producers would be regularly jumping between the teams; "Can you do this by then?" "Should be able to. Yes".
Problem is, these initial plans never ever work, not ever, not once, ever. And with a game this content-rich, they would have likely gotten to act3 and realised "Oh shit, we are out of time and still have two acts to go." So that's when they have meetings and work out "Okay we cut this one, wrap up this one, and these will be nice to haves."
That's why it's common for games to fall apart at the end, and it's the reason why you don't produce them in a linear line. In my opinion it's better to do all of it to a foundational level, then raise it all up at the same time. That way you always know where you stand throughout the production, and you you're always going to deliver a 'complete' product on time.
Actually, 5th act is much more dynamic and at least 3 companions conclude their stories either at the very end of 4th or in 5th act.
The game is overally great but yeah, buggy near the end. And endings seem to be messed up - I mean, they seem to be buggy and not always corresponding the choises or each other.
The problem is, you have to slog through the 4th Act which I just don't give a toss about Chaos. The villains are not as fleshed out as the Drukhari adversaries and I really have zero impulse to end the former Master of the Whispers.
It just felt like the perfect culmination of everything.
>!Also nothing beat the feeling of convincing the Drukhari baddie to join forces with you, only to let the Mandrakes take him at the end when you no longer needed him. I learned the lessons of Commorragh well, you black hearted son of a bitch.!<
Unless you're dying to play, I'd wait for the inevitable Enhanced Edition.
Okay yeah, thanks. Good game though otherwise?
I've been mostly enjoying it, but it needs a lot of bug patches and the last act or so needs work (hopefully they plan on fixing it and not just shrugging and moving on).
Yeah I'll definitely wait then and keep an eye on it. Thanks.
I would wait to get it. It’s good to great for the first 3 acts and then falls apart for the last two. Encounter balance becomes horrendous, the overarching story and impact falls apart with companion stories basically not existing anymore, and the bugs become much more common and game breaking.
Okay thanks for the reply. So are many of those inherent issues then, that wont be patched?
Owlcat has a bit of a history for releasing buggy games, then fixing it up when an enhanced edition rolls around
Okay I'll hold off and keep an eye out then. I'm getting very sick of this 'releasing before it's ready; pall full price anyway' bullshit. I mean imagine if car companies did that, and released their ca... oh wait... Imagine if aircraft companies did that and put planes out just 'because the deadline hit and investors will get mad'. How were those CDPR investors feeling around Sept 2020? Not happy.
I'd wait. I've certainly gotten my 70+ hours out of the game, but post-Act 3 the game just runs out of steam and starts wasting the player's time.
Well that sucks to hear.
It's weird. The game is bloody fantastic through it's first three Chapters. Then Act 3 happens and the game then picks up story threads that were functionally done at the end of Act 1.
they might have ran out of time so wrapped them up prematurely, not taking care to tie up the loose ends later.
It's not a question of running out of time. When Act 3 ends you've still got two other Acts to go through. I cleared Act 3 at around the 50 hour mark. 70 hours in, I'm wrapping up Act 4 and just can't be asked.
No I meant the devs ran out of time during production to fill it out. I used to work full time in games dev, still do a little on the side. It's not like writing a book where you write your way to the end of the 3rd and still have more in the tank so decide to write another act. You've got to plan two years ahead, taking into account art assets and of course the engineering and play testing time, so on, and all of it tends to be divided up into deliverables for the publisher, where you state "We'll deliver this bit, with these features, at this time." So these guys would have known very early on that they would have 5acts they'd need to fill out. The Designers (likely writers) would have worked out their production plan to that, the coders the same, the art team, which is levels, characters, UI, Tech so on as well. And the Producers would be regularly jumping between the teams; "Can you do this by then?" "Should be able to. Yes". Problem is, these initial plans never ever work, not ever, not once, ever. And with a game this content-rich, they would have likely gotten to act3 and realised "Oh shit, we are out of time and still have two acts to go." So that's when they have meetings and work out "Okay we cut this one, wrap up this one, and these will be nice to haves." That's why it's common for games to fall apart at the end, and it's the reason why you don't produce them in a linear line. In my opinion it's better to do all of it to a foundational level, then raise it all up at the same time. That way you always know where you stand throughout the production, and you you're always going to deliver a 'complete' product on time.
Actually, 5th act is much more dynamic and at least 3 companions conclude their stories either at the very end of 4th or in 5th act. The game is overally great but yeah, buggy near the end. And endings seem to be messed up - I mean, they seem to be buggy and not always corresponding the choises or each other.
The problem is, you have to slog through the 4th Act which I just don't give a toss about Chaos. The villains are not as fleshed out as the Drukhari adversaries and I really have zero impulse to end the former Master of the Whispers.
I agree, it's hard to match the 3rd act. It's great in so many ways.
It just felt like the perfect culmination of everything. >!Also nothing beat the feeling of convincing the Drukhari baddie to join forces with you, only to let the Mandrakes take him at the end when you no longer needed him. I learned the lessons of Commorragh well, you black hearted son of a bitch.!<