Monthly Archives: March 2024

Review-Bombing on Steam

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is out today and has already received some considerably negative reviews on Steam. While the game seems to have some optimization issues right now, the primary reason for the review bombing is that Capcom, most likely on the publisher’s side, added micro-transactions to the game which allow players to purchase optional items (like fast travel) which make the often harsh gameplay more trivial.

While I am no fan of micro transactions myself, much less in a premium single-player RPG, much of the current review bombing on Steam is based on misinformation and not entirely fair. As veterans of the older title have pointed out, optional items were always a thing in Dragon’s Dogma and more importantly, the ingame world also offers opportunities to receive the much coveted items, albeit on more difficult terms. If you want to play DD2 the way its director of development, Hideaki Itsuno intended it, you will ignore the optional items and enjoy this RPG world for what it is. If you prefer shortcuts, you have to pay extra.

Much of this initial outrage seems fabricated or at least very knee-jerk to me and I feel a little sorry for the development team who likely had no say in the matter. I also wonder what some of the hot critics who are unfamiliar with the franchise will say once they discover all the other warts of this new title. Dragon’s Dogma has always been rough around the edges and decidedly less mainstream than Skyrim, for example. Newcomers should probably watch videos like this one by Gameranx first which very accurately describes what you’re in for, should you decide to give DD2 a go. I still look forward to playing it this coming weekend, anyway.

My top 3 QoL hardware upgrades for gaming

When I recently updated my blog’s About-section, I thought back on my earliest days of gaming in the mid-80ies. Many of us share gaming as a life long passion and even if I don’t spend 20 hours a week playing with other people anymore, it is and always will be an important part of my personal life. Love and friendships have been facilitated by this hobby of mine, even a few cool job opportunities back when I was a penniless student. Not to mention the decades of social engagement and fun that gaming has brought me, the education and creative boosts, the great talks and fond memories of which there are too many to ever count.

Yet a sedentary hobby such as ours also has its downsides. For some the impacts become noticeable much later in life but sitting at a desk for longer periods of time (when you may also have an office job) just isn’t ideal. I’ve talked about my own posture problems in the past and how raiding in WoW wrecked my back until I decided to give it up. It was one of the better decisions I have made.

Since becoming aware of the health impacts PC gaming has had on me personally, I started upgrading the most essential hardware items and peripherals that I use each time I sit down to play. It’s really made a world of difference towards my recovery in recent years and I would never go back. There are 3 items in particular that I wouldn’t trade for the world and can only recommend to anyone struggling with similar issues or just looking to make their game time more comfortable. While it’s true that some of them are not exactly cheap, it’s worth looking into a good setup for yourself and there’s always sales going on when you stay on the lookout. When it comes to my physical wellbeing and gaming, I’d rather save up on other things than skip these essentials. (This post is obviously not being sponsored by any of the named brands but I feel it makes no sense to not mention them here).

1. Custom cut-out desk

By far the greatest improvement towards my neck, shoulder and back problems has been the custom desk that my partner made for me some four years ago. Materials for this were in fact fairly cheap; you can look into any type of wood board, desk frame and color finish you prefer. The most important part is the cut-out area which enables you to slide closer to the keyboard while your arms rest comfortably on the table. No more stretching your arms out in weird angles and constantly carrying their weight with your shoulders – this was the number one killer for me and has been completely ameliorated since. If you regularly experience pain in your upper body after gaming sessions, I really recommend looking into a custom desk like this.

My custom gaming desk

2. Dedicated gaming chair

There are a couple of brands for dedicated gaming chairs out there and not all of them are great. While they often look shiny and colorful, you don’t want to skimp on quality because nothing goes to hell faster than a flimsy gaming chair. It’s just not worth it and you’ll end up paying twice, trust me I’ve been there.

I spent quite a lot of time comparing offers before getting an Omega chair by Secretlab and I can’t say I’ve regretted the decision. While the chairs can be on the more expensive side (depending also on the required size), Secretlab often run sales which is how I got my own chair several years ago. The materials are sturdy, the chair is comfortable and comes with many individual settings for your arms as well as upper and lower body. I can’t speak for everyone as my chair is within the regular bracket but my partner who is very tall and heavier uses the Titan version and is happy with it. There are different models for people of different height and bodyweight on their webpage.

3. Wireless headset

To say that my life has changed after getting the Arctis Pro Wireless 7 by Steelseries in 2019 would be an understatement. Everything about the way I sit at my desk has changed for me, including more frequent getting up, walking to the kitchen to get a drink etc. while still talking to someone on the other end. The change a wireless headset has brought to my lifelong habits was drastically unexpected and it took several weeks until it had sunk in that I am no longer tethered to the desk while gaming or socializing on Discord. It’s great for remote work too and all those unnecessary Teams-meetings as I can at least do other things in the house now while “listening”.

The best wireless headset for gaming

The headset really is worth every last dime; not only is it lighter than others I’ve used (I am prone to headaches from heavier headsets), the fabrication is top notch, the sound quality excellent, the setup is super easy and the twin-battery docking station just knocks it out of the park. At no time do you ever run out of juice because there’s always a second fully charged battery waiting for you to swap in. In fact I’ve perfected this process, it takes me less than 3 seconds to do these days – sign me up for the Olympics! I have recommended the Acrtis Pro to all of my friends of which many have gotten it since and never looked back. There’s a newer version out since last year (Arctis Nova Pro Wireless) that looks a bit different but has received similar raving reviews. The quality has its price but if I count all other headsets that have gone before, the Arctis Pro has already outdone them in terms of bang for the buck and longevity.

Getting the 2023 GOTY refunded on Steam

A recent humorous post over at Redbeard’s blog about “thirsty RPG memes” reminded me of my brief intermezzo with the much lauded Baldur’s Gate 3 last fall. I should have known that BG3 wasn’t going to be my cup of coffee but sometimes the glowing reviews by friends outreason all better judgement. It’s not even that I disliked the thirsty romance aspects of the game, which I absolutely would have tried to ignore as much as possible, I never actually got that far into BG3 for it to become a potential issue. I couldn’t stand the combat and controls of the game, not that I was oblivious upfront but I’ve never played any Baldur’s Gate titles and underestimated how much I would hate the RNG dice rolling of the round based combat, the constant clicking of things and general movement style and camera. I’m sure that BG3 has great world building and storytelling and whatnot once you get out of the intro stages of the game, it just isn’t for me personally.

Having spent 70$ on this misadventure, I was eager to get a refund. I was also still below the 2hr mark of playtime that’s part of Steam’s refund policy. Or so I thought because much to my surprise the title had logged over 10hrs of playtime in the Steam profile; this is due to me letting the startup launcher run during the longer install time and then forgetting about it in the background, as I was busy doing other things elsewhere that day. So while the ingame BG3 save file clearly indicated that I hadn’t played for more than 2hrs, the Steam log showed a difference of over 8hrs – just great. I opened a ticket anyway and took a screenshot of the ingame save time.

The first support ticket was squashed rather quickly by a Steam support agent telling me that I had played the game for much too long and so their refund policy didn’t apply. Every support ticket on Steam ends with the question of whether you’re happy with that and want to close the ticket which I promptly declined of course. I started pleading my case about the launcher’s runtime having been added to my effective playtime which was actually below the 2hr mark. The next support person (they change every time) completely ignored my argument and denied the request again. I remained persistent however, because why wouldn’t I – it’s not like I had anything to lose. At least two more times did I restate my issue, adding a bit more information every time as to why I wanted a refund and why the game, including its control scheme, was unplayable for me and therefore a complete loss.

Lo and behold, between the fourth or fifth attempt (I should have screenshotted this whole conversation) I was told they were going to make a “one-time exception” due to special circumstances. My 70$ were refunded and I was very happy with myself. So happy in fact, I spent the 70 bucks on Starfield right away which I haven’t played past the first few hours since.

The moral of this story: persistence is key whatever a policy states and you can always waste your money on the next big thing! It’s slightly comical when the official GOTY of the 2023 game awards is the only game you refunded that year but I still call this a win in my book.

DD2 Character Craze

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is only 5 days away and I mentioned briefly last week that the character creator has already hit Steam. Having spent a few hours on it myself over the weekend, I second that the customization options are pretty impressive. It still has its limitations in some departments though (height, hair, eyes, colors…) which is a deliberate choice to fit the overall world building and lore, I believe. To start off, the game lets you choose from 3 different races which are the humans, elves and beastren. You then get to create your main character, aka the Arisen, as well as your main companion, aka your Pawn. The game lets you have up to three of these AI companions which are essential to group combat in Dragons Dogma. The other two pawns will come through accessing the game’s online network called Riftstones and they will have been made by other players of Dragon’s Dogma 2 which is a really cool feature.

Booting up the client on Saturday, I meant to only have a quick look and erm, riiiight….you know how these things go! In the end I created an Arisen for myself and two more character models. The game lets you export these pre-made characters to official release, so at least it’s not like you’re wasting your time completely – and a lot of time it is! I spent around two hours learning different sliders and submenus for my Arisen after which I decided I was going to model my main pawn after the better half. This was a good laugh and I dare say he approved of the final result!

Raistlin from Dragonlance

Having browsed the Steam community page which is naturally overflowing with doppelgangers of famous actors and fictional characters, I also decided to give Raistlin from Dragonlance a go for a mage pawn. I got lucky that the customization options mostly agreed with me and other than lacking a wavier hairstyle as well as the option for golden skin and hourglass eyes, I dare say he turned out pretty alright. However, this now puts me in the difficult position of having to decide between the better half and Raistlin Majere, Master of the Past and Present, for my future main pawn – a real quandary I tell you!

The many problems of owning a house in FFXIV

Scrolling through my last few blog posts from two years ago, it occurred to me that I never talked about finally and I mean F-FINALLY getting a house in FFXIV. It happened on April 2nd 2022 in fact. I still know this because the momentous occasion warranted a tweet and big exclamation marks.

Now if you are at all acquainted with FFXIV, you will have heard about its notoriously deplorable housing system. Plots are very limited and before 2022 players would have to cycle through endless tabs of different housing zones in the game’s capitals just to learn if a plot was actually vacant. That was the easy part because then you would have to go and camp that specific plot for hours clicking its placard, together with another 20+ people, hoping the house would be released within an unknown multi-hour window and praying you’d be the timely clicker when it happens. It was truly humiliating.

For this reason many players gave up on housing in FFXIV before a somewhat useful change was rolled out in Endwalker. Instead of camping a placard, you could now enter the ‘lottery’ for your elected plot for a fee and then get notified if you actually won. It’s not a fix of all of FFXIV’s housing problems by a long shot but it solved one of its most egregious aspects. And so it happened that I too won a house after a new housing zone was rolled out in Endwalker. Only took me 8 years to beat the final boss in FFXIV!

And yet, new problems arise once you have your own house. Among them is the requirement to log back in frequent intervals, lest your hard-won abode be demolished by the ingame timer and returned to the lottery pool. 45 days doesn’t sound like much when you’re subscribed and actively playing but it’s short when you’re on hiatus. There’s also no real taking a break from the game and un-subbing for the summer. And I get it, inactive players sitting on land is irksome but that is just another issue the game is creating for the community through artificial housing scarcity.

Nobody in their right mind is going to give up a housing plot they waited 8 years to acquire. You bet am gonna log in every 44 days just to make sure I don’t lose my virtual real estate, even if I loathe the system. That is, until I’m fully fed up and done with the game anyway – a day I feel is slowly but surely approaching!

Two years, many games!

Two years is a long time to be absent from blogging but it’s never too late to return to a good thing.

Maybe I will write about everything that happened down the line some day. For now, I’m happy the blog is up and running (including the dreaded SSL) and I look forward to some more regular writing about games again! I’ve not been idle on that front, even if MMORPGs have taken a backseat in recent times. I tried Palia some months back and I’m currently signed up for the BitCraft Alpha in April for which you can join via my buddy link, just in case you’re interested.

Other than that, I’ve played many an indie game as well as some interesting titles from the open world survival crafting genre which doesn’t seem to lose its popularity. Enshrouded is a very promising game that’s taken notes from Valheim and that my partner and I are currently enjoying quite a bit. I imagine I will write more on this in the coming days.

The most exciting thing right now is no doubt Dragon’s Dogma 2 releasing on March 22nd. The first title having been a cult classic among high fantasy RPG fans forever, it’s only taken Capcom 12 years to release a sequel. I guess they too felt it’s never too late to return to a good thing. While we wait, the free character creator has already been unleashed on Steam and judging from all the player creations already out there, the game is very impressive in the visual customization department. For me, it will need to bring back the magic of the golden days of yore – the dust of long and dangerous roads to travel, the fear around the campfire at night, the sound of dragon wings up in the sky. That just never gets old, that said I’ll keep managing my expectations until I’ve been able to sink some hours into the game.

For now, a very warm /hello! to all of you out there who may chance upon this post and everyone still lurking or actively blogging in this old neighborhood of ours! It feels good to be back blogging.