Valorian Endymion

More or less, depend much on which edition of Warhammer Fantasy could be. Anyway, in Warhammer Fantasy, conflict is more, let say, much more internal: how Chaos could corrupt you (the constant fear of chaos everywhere, witch-hunts, inquisitions, paranoia, even what would be external forces are more internal, see as main chaos forces are in fact humans), how everything was at the very brink of destruction. while at least in my perception WoW was more about the external conflict and threats (the orcs, burning legion, undead). While Warhammer 40K was more about how each faction fanatisicm is driving them toward their own ruin. Like it was said, I got to agree that lore might require engaging, that might also explain why it work so well for dark souls, since the it´s own intentional gaps helped to encourage players to try to fill it, and so made them debate about it. Meanwhile information which the players have not much to wonder, engage, or debate might got forgotten very fast.

I too got I'm interested in joining a team, I have some skill in drawing (manga style, digital/traditional art), ren´py, 3d studio (most modelling).

Me too, but I am most certain that my gt 430 won´t work for this one (unless it was crazily well ported, like MG Ground Zeros, which works fine for me. But I do also confess start to fear a little about the game performance once they said the system requirements).

The thing about lore is the both the overall text itself and how is show and integrated in the game. On the text the problem often lays in the "more is better" that sometimes does not prove true. See how Darksouls with so little lore can still be meaningful and cool and how even now Bloodborne resurrect the whole "there is a secret here we haven´t find" kind of discussion with the whole debate about the so called "beast mode", while other games can have dozens of books worth of text but none of it is really good. Another pitfall is, specially in fantasy (and certain types of sci-fi) is the "make everything pseudo-realistic" that cause writers to often don´t allow their own histories to be really fantastic or fantasy, instead you got a list of peoples and dates with some pseudo political stuff where everyone is jerk (because that often how the whole shades of gray turn) by least you can simple have convoluted history (somewhat happens to FF13, a game which I like, and while to can see it´s long corridors, I don´t think if it was more open would made it better better, because have more side quests only make even hard to keep track of the whole plot) or weak (I did felt a bit of this with Gothic 2).. Execution part is very important too, even the old narration done by booming voice can be a great way to show something and make the player enter on the immersion state, one example is faction intros done by the guys behind Endless Space and Endless Legend. Age of Wonders does wonderfully play with classic fantasy tropes, but does it so well that in thr end begin more good that other games that try too hard to be different (and often fell flat, like most of the alien races in Master of Orion 3), at least for now (before the new edition) Warhammer Fantasy too was all about classic tropes, but how they did pretty much hold the whole thing (at least for a while). Sean complained about the excessive wall of text which lore is often dropped ingame (the info dump problem), What happen, I think, is information begin thrown in the same "channel" where crucial info (thing you need to know to go on) and supporting info (extra things that aren´t crucial, but help the world to feel more alive and put more light in the crucial info)along with not important stuff get to jammed in a single space. Some games solved this by splitting the info in different channels, in Elder Scrolls the whole "support info" is on books, while on Mass Effect it one the codex and so on, while Souls series, use position and description on gear to tell it´s story, but the crucial info is delivered direct via dialog/text. That way, this game can support different playstyles, if you wish to just go on you can do it, but if you wish to know more, them feel free to pick some books/entries. By least you have the tying part, because even the best lore can go to waste if not tied well. In Endless Legend you have the Broken Lords, which once where knights that seeing the imminent danger, changed their bodies and became creatures locked inside their armors that feed on "dust", in game they only need "dust" which is the only way they heal themselves or even grown in numbers. The Horatio on Endless Space, are a civilization, all made of the clone of the same person, which believe himself to be the most beautiful thing in the universe. Ingame they have ability to clone heroes and are all about culture and growth. Meanwhile in Master of Orion, you have begins which live inside of gas giants, sound cool? not so much they play exactly as everyone else, only have some small modifiers which you won´t notice and some restrictions on habitable planets, also they had some living stone-crystal begins, which again play exactly like everyone else, which often cause more questions that anything (how I can board a ship made by begin which live inside a gas giant? or why they even have or need a ship? how and why crystal begins can form troops and use power armor? if the insect race is all about hivemind, why do I get events about corruption?)

While Pillars of Eternity look so good, I still have some other old school rpgs in my backlog which I decided to revisit: Drakensang: I say this, it is a good game. However, Drakensang rule system isn´t very good, I mean, I can see it working in tabletop, but in the game you often you never really knows if you are spending your xp correctly or even if you character is getting strong or if this or that skill is useful (but it is way better that Realms of Arkania, an older pc rpg, based in the same system, where you had gazillions of skills and spells, half that don´t work at all or are useless, while a handful of spell/skills are really needed, good luck figuring that out. tip: despite having a riding skill, there was no horse in the game). But as long you are facing slight lower level enemies or a few higher level encounters, even this isn´t much a issue. Problem is when you too much higer level encounters with too many enemies, because not only you can easily die but this bring the game pacing to halt. Also, side quest often get very bloated, I mean: too many, too long, too large often even harder that the main quest, but never interessing or really good. I swear, you once get a quest where you go to dungeon face some rats, looks easy? No! for unknown reason this quest is ridiculous long as the dungeon have I think something absurd like 5 levels full of powerful rats and a strong rat boss. Which make this quest almost impossible to finish it when you get because simple you aren´t strong enough, but no one tell you that. Now I was finishing some side quest which the two first where quite easy or simple, which I find good, since quickly I would return to the main quest. Until the third one: go to a cript and find a couple which was doing meetings there. I was thought, that given the city wasn´t very large, this would not take long, but no, somehow it´s a fair large cript full of skeletons which spam a annoying attack which make your characters fall on the ground, taking several hits which kill them very fast. Baldur´s Gate 2: I was replaying, now using the mods which merge BG 1 and BG2, I still love the game, but I don´t know if I am simple not on the mood to play it much...or if I had some burn out after playing the whole BG1 or something else. Still if anyone is curious, I found out that with the merged version, BG1 is slight easier that I remembered, maybe because Kits make you a bit more powerful, so some heavy combat moments (I think around the 3 or 4 act? the one which you face several mercenary groups) is easier, but small warning: Also I had a rather large bug which almost ruined the save, but can´t remember what I did or how managed to continue.

Also on the overall narrative design in Souls games, its curious how there very cleaver how while they show you a "doomed" world (like in many other games) they also focus a lot on the downfall process, as step by step you go uncovering what happened and how each step relate directly or not (as Bjorn said, the nihilism aspect often lead characters in downspires that make everything even worst) to what lead the situation to its current form (while in other games is often a single step - zombies/demons/whatever invaded -> place doomed), but it´s almost like archeology, as you might miss pieces and this leads you to a wrong theory or find something that shed a new light. One the visual design it appear to me, that they put a lot of effort on making equipment reflect cultures or indivudal characters, this often reinforce the archeology aspect, I remember(I could be wrong) once seeing a video about lore where the person pointed how you find the same enemies of other areas in a certain place, the catch was when he noticed that following the lore, several knights from several places all tried make the to a fortress, but they failed, that area was far as they could go.

I am really suspect to talk about, because I do really like their games. But right now I found it to be very good. Here is some random thoughts: Eldorado: - Playing with the Aztecs and their neighbors is actually very fun and hard, the whole Doom system keep you in check and the small area mean quickly that two blocks of alliances might spawn and wrong timing in your actions can result in disaster. - Playing with Inca gives a more less frenetic experience, but still good. - In my current game, as Mali, I found that Westernization isn´t over complicated as used to be, but still not exactly easy. Now you must have enough points which came from you powers, but several events might help or hinder. But to get new goverment types you need the decision to reform the goverment, which gives you a -5 stability and drains your power (if memory right now, don´t fail me). In fact, my Mali game is right now is very fun, managed to westernize (but not change goverment), once was a protectorate of Portugal (New option, which make you somewhat a Vassal, but you have to struggle with the Liberty Desire, but this give you some room to survive), and somehow I managed to survive a war against Portugal and now I have colonies around the world. - Only issue so far: I haven´t figured how the gold fleets really work. - Colonial Nations form themselves after a certain number of provinces are colonized, they act as vassals and do have a Liberty Desire, which your actions can make strong or weaker. I liked that, since you now longer have to build gazillions of Fortress or Temples everywhere. - In my current game, Portugal and Spain (right followed by Britain) while did manage to build colonial empires, they haven´t take over everything as they used to be. Most of the kingdoms around Mali still alive and many have westernized (some even managed to get the goverment change). - I did once used the Support rebel to put islamic rebels in power in another kingdom. Art of War - I am saying this based in a experience close to release, might have changed. Once the war itself start was quite armageddon, I mean it was a imense alliance of catholics vs protestants, with huge armies clashing over.

Also I could be wrong, but this one was easier to find and play that other VNs (which used to require fan translations, know where to find them), even before steam. Also someone tweet this (attention, spoilers!)

I give it a copy to a friend who is not familiar with VN and she loved it, so I think yeah, even if you are not familiar you still might enjoy it as the humor and the overall text I think, avoid the direct reference.

Believe me it is worth (maybe not play all routes at the same exact time, playing once in a while is a good pace). Hatoful Boyfriend is a brilliant VN, not just because the characters are all pigeons, but how it play on many vn tropes begin same time both a celebration and a parody.

Yeah, specially since only the RTS ones are avaliable on GoG (I could swear that they had the originals I don´t know why). Also, know what? I never ever imagined that Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords was in the same universe, my jaw fell to the floor when I check out, I thought it was a japanese title because of some images.

While first two games and their expansions (expect Soulstorm) where really good games (and some of best warhammer 40k you could find) when I replayed the Retribution I found a single problem - while the campaign with different factions where a nice idea, the problem is that nothing react to you like in Dawn of War I (which had amazing, in warh40k level, dialogues), does not matter if you play as Tyranid or Imperial Guard, dialogues where the same. That can be a bit strange, specially when you play as the Tyranids, as no one even freak out when you show up. Also the fact that Tyranids have a single hero and you control more standard units, does not work really well. Much of the fun in Dawn of War II was micro manage you four heroes, without it kind fell like a normal rts, since you won´t use much over as the Tyranids nor have much control over them, also you don´t control enough units to feel like a swarm. Know what? I am really enjoying Attila, its not perfect, but its no Rome II at lauch (right now Rome II is quite good, however the ui still bad), performance is good, much better interface/UI and many new elements which I am enjoying it a lot.

Ops my mystake, anyway, I just wish to mean more in quality level that actual file type, but good call. But in terms of "fuck you" of 1996 in Daggerfall, there was that kid npc on Wayrest castle, that if you try to talk to him there was no dialog, but just the sound of a moan like the one did by ghost and specters if am not wrong.

Yeah, I too know a few people, outside the franchise normal fans, how played and loved Heroes II. Yup, my mistake! To also add a few more things about Heroes VI, the studio behind the original game had closed door and another one take over and made the expansions, I have the first two but didn´t play it much. The campaign story also suffered from the "we a trying to look serious and Game of Thrones like" with all name drops and pseudo realism/intrigue. The only thing that really surprised me was the Faceless, that was quite new, not very good, but new in terms of design, almost anime like. Good call on the message feature, got to agree, that was useless. The next Heroes will be done I think by the same people behind Might & Magic X, which does include some old fans and the game was fine (despite some difficult spikes) so I am curious on what they will show us, but no high hopes. Thankfully between Age of Wonders III and Endless Legend there have been good high fantasy strategy games. About games which we start and then stop at some point: I have to confess that I have this issue with Diablo II, I mean, once I got almost at the end, but I lost the save, later when try I end up giving up by time of act III or II. Just a few curious things about HOMM and MM: - I remember playing King´s Bounty when young with my brother and we both start to wonder, why wolves need payment? XD because unlike other titlers the original King´s Bounty you had to pay for the units which could desert you or go out of control if you lack enough Leadership. - By the way, the whole thing about finding a chest and either give it to the poor or take for yourself started at King´s Bounty, there you either could gain more gold or more leadership. - In King´s Bounty ghosts where really overpower, they turn killed enemies in even more ghosts (like Vampires in later games, but in ridiculous numbers) which can quickly grow too large or if you had the bad luck of begin the "week of the peasant" all ghosts turn to peasants (don´t ask me). - Also Demons (and maybe djinns) have the ridiculous ability to "halve" a enemy stack, in other words, with luck they can kill half of the enemy stack no matter what. - HOMM is the only game, where 12 archers firing each one firing a arrow (for a total of 12) can kill lots of peasants, as long they their leader is really strong XD - Kreegans first show up in MM6, but they where more like insects, with a hivemind and even a queen on the next game (HOMM3) they became "demons" and on next (MM7) they return to begin insect like again. There is a lot of holes in the overall plot and lore of the franchise. - There once was the infamous "Forge Town" which was base for a expansions for Heroes III, the idea was bring back the whole sci-fi part, using as a base the evil ending of MM7, due bad design and maybe fan base getting confused there was a backslash, which caused the whole idea to forgotten. - Names of the original heroes in Heroes I and II and their portraits are all from the previous MM 3-5 games, but is not certain if they are the same people. King´s Bounty before that, also reused a few names, like Murray the Miser (npc in MM2) but here is very clear it´s not the same people.

Amazing episode! I am a big fan of the franchise, but more of the original rpgs titles, anyway just add a few things to reinforce some things you guys saids on the show: - About Combat, Numbers, Magic: Here is how in general, at least till Heroes IV the system used to work: Each type of unit have a individual HP, in this exemple let´s use the Pikeman from Heroes 2, which is 15 HP, the individual HP multiplied by the number of soldiers determines the total HP of the unit, so 10x Pikemen, would have in total 150 HP. everytime they suffer enough damage equal to their individual HP one soldier in the unit dies. Therefore, if this 10 Pikemens, take something like 40 of damage, that mean that two of them will day, while one will still have left 5 HP. Damage was calculated by the individual unit damage range multiplied by the number of soldiers, again Pikemen cause between 3-4 of damage multiplied by their numbers, which would mean 3-4 x 10, the difference between Heroes Attack and Defense would modifiy the damage. That why Rob said that numbers can weight a lot. After a point you units have can have such high numbers, that unless you match them you have no hope at all, because there is no thing in game like a rout or retreat (I mean a way to win without killing everything, unless the other players flees). If the enemy have 300 Knights (3000 HP and damage around 5-10 x 300) and you have nothing near, it over. While this look normal, problem is that in Heroes what you do most is gather more and more troops and in some scenarios which put you against several enemy this can get out of control forcing you to restart the map. Thankfully most maps where very well balanced so this does not happen very often. But also one thing Rob said is about how direct spells don´t cause much damage: That is because spell damage is based against your Spell Power multiplied by the spell damage, so I think Lighting (in Heroes 2) is something like 25x your spell power, problem is that unless (and even if) you play with one the magic based heroes, Spell Power never rised so much to meet the late units HP and numbers, even with 20 of Spell Power (which is really high) you only do 500 of damage, which against 90 Titans (300x90=18000HP and 20-30x90 of damage) don´t help much. But again, like Rob said, the real "magic" lies in all buffs spell which don´t require Spell Power, majority of them where based on Knowledge which only extend their time. That formula still almost the same even in later game, even if some words or calculations change. - What happened to the franchise: At some point after Might and Magic II and King´s Bounty, New World Computing was bought by 3DO. For while things worked fine, until after Heroes III, which NWC start to suffer a lot with 3DO mismanagement, which caused lot of people begin fired, begin forced to produce a lot of games in short time due contract (they also produce two console titles, Crusader of Might and Magic and Warriors of Might and Magic), by time of the production of Heroes VI, most people from NWC, even the founder, Jon von Canegham no longer work there, the game suffered several delays, shortage of funds and other problems but still was released. Later on, 3DO, which by this time had closed NWC still forced what was left to release MIght and Magic IX in what can be hardly even call a "alpha" stage, it was a disaster. Karma soon caught 3DO, which was in dire situation, despite that they still tried to play "smart" and refused some attempts by Ubisoft to sell the franchise, because they expect to get a better offer, but in the end they had to sell it anyway because of backrupcy (I think for even less they imagined). - On the later games: Ok, that is my humble opinion: Heroes IV (3DO): It was a ok game, for the terrible condition it was made. It´s problem begin with the fact they destroyed the original setting of the previous games (which upset a lot of fans) and there was a lot of bugs and balance problems. A fun thing it was that mInotaurs had a ability which allow them a 50% of chance of parry any attack, guess what happened when two minotaurs groups clashed? parry after parry. In this game Heroes became units on the field, begin very weak early one and too strong later. Heroes V (Ubisoft): The initial launch wasn´t good, but after several expansions and patch it was a solid game that also bring colors back to the franchise. Also here, the magic system finally catch up with the damage and HP problem, but maybe got even slight ahead, spell could cause way to much damage. Heroes VI (Ubisoft): I liked, much like Rowan said, the game have that "heroes feeling" but the campaign, which abuses from script which generate a random overpowered armies against you, drive me crazy. Also many maps require you to not play slow like in other titles, but peform rushs which is annoying.

Talking about manuals: Daggerfall manual was very detailed, but at the same time it was very innacurate, maybe because it was written before the whole game was finished. The result was that half of the time mention stuff which does not exist in game (like Adult Dragons or healing bandages) or forget to mention stuff that exist ingame - like Witches Covens or simple mention them very superficial way, so you won´t believe its real: like Vampirism and Lycanthropy. In fact I have a small fun story about this: After a while seeking the adult dragon you soon figure is not real and you stop believe the manual. So one day I was playing after a mission inside huge dungeon full of Werewolves, I didn´t noticed but my character had contracted lycanthropy, keep in mind, that some diseases ingame take several days to show effect. A few days later I choose to rest and the screen fade to black, I start to hear a really bad quality midi speech that I simple could not figure what hell it mean and soon the game screen now show the picture of naked men crying tears of blood, the screen fade to black to fade again to the game and now my character had became a werewolf. I simple jump from the chair and without even thinking I hit the load button toward a save before that. Slight later I checked the internet and figure that was a feature they forget to tell. Note: the Vampirism was similar, but slight more creepy, you have a dream, but its a woman (I don´t remember if naked or not) also crying tears of blood (? I could be wrong) all narrated by a really bad midi speech, the difference is that your character will wake up after several days inside a graveyard, kicked out of all guilds (since you died) and one more note: graveyeard exist ingame as a place you could visit, but serve to absolute nothing, so wake up inside one of the was really wierd.

I too have mixed feeling with this whole thing: While I don´t support Peter actions or how is handling the whole affair... I not sure if that over agressive tone was needed, sure the questions need to be made, but better results maybe could be achieved. Kickstart is a relative new thing while gaming development is often shrouded in mistery, a better tone might helped to shed some light on why and how things get off control. Now while we can make jokes all day about Duke Nukem Forever or failed Kickstarters we might not really know well why this happen and because of that, the same problems and issues could repeat themselves over and over again. There is very few talks about that. Keep in mind: overpromise? anyone can commit that mistake, failure to make a proper budget? again anyone can commit that too, specially new small indie devs that lack budget and experience (which is not Peter case, but could happen to someone else).... turning Peter in to a simbol of something, can lead to misleading idea of "Godus failed only because or Peter(which might not be wrong, but is also not 100% correct), since I am not him, this would never happen to me!" which can lead to even more disasters. By last, what also worries me about the RPS interview is that kind of really agressive tone became "popular", because this could really dangerous stuff that also people will use do dogpile someone else... Anyway here is a piece I found about the interview on Gamasutra - http://gamasutra.com/blogs/TylerGlaiel/20150213/236471/Game_development_is_fing_difficult_my_thoughts_on_that_Peter_Molyneux_interview.php

So Moviebob was fired from the Escapist... his videos where pretty much the only reasons I still visit the Escapist...

I think, I and maybe already said this here, I can´t remember for sure - but the main issue with the combat cames from the fact that Bioware isn´t sure how exactly deal with that part of its fan base want one thing (more traditional approach to rpgs) and the other part want something different (focus on narrative and relationships), to be fair Bioware itself doesn´t appear very sure of how much focus on combat (and other mechanics) or narrative. Since ME 2 they have been trying around with please everybody (remember the difficult settings for me2?). The combat system in Origins was ok, but much depend of how much combat you face (I am looking at you Deep Roads) and how enemies are balanced (because the last part you do face lots and lots of enemies, but their leves are much lower so you just mow them and its quite fun, at least for me, which upon this part was quite tired, this made the last push toward the end a lot better). I haven´t played DA2, only the demo, so I can´t say anything. DAI is at a normal level a ok system, nothing amazing but does the job and overall pace: number of enemies, overall HP ect... is good, however the tactical mode is useless, I never needed it so far. Now while the Rifts are slowly getting tiresome, they are way far from Oblivion Gates (I really dislike navigate in Oblivion planes) or Skyrim Dragons (and their power to ruin your attempts to do a screenshot) in terms of how annoying it could be.

I agree with Danielle that the best achievements are the ones which inspire you to do something different, because for a lot of people, they often will play the game the same exact way, however, with that kind of achivement, they might try something new. This does not mean that it could backfire, at least I know a few people that due the fact they will complete every single one, they might hurt the playing experience for themselves. Overall I don´t look much after achievements, at best I give a quick look that the list, see what might be doable or could be cool and without much troubles before I start play something. Now a fun thing: with Dragon Age Inquisition, I did had to use Origins after a very long time, but at least for a while, whenever you gain a achievements, the origins overlay will play what could be best described as "hellish sound" that freak me out, I had just upgrade my computer, so I freeze for a couple seconds worried that might something go wrong with the motherboard, until I noticed I had gained a achievements. Later I did turn off the sound and the overlay. Also maybe because I have no friends in Origins and almost no games there, I could care less about achievements there, on Steam is another story, but I again I don´t mind it very much.

I think they even put Voldo in the SCV ads... Anyway about Wartune if anyone is curious how it truth look like - just look at the screenshots and a review here - http://mmohuts.com/review/wartune don´t worry all safe , because this game have no adult content at all at one point ESRB asked Wartune to stop claiming it was one, which make the thing even more ridicule... Not related, but I won´t be surprise if there is fakes ads which are just keylogger or virus baits. But back on the sucession history, know what? the whole thing could work as Code Geass/Death Note/Slice-of-Life anime, just the daily life of a woman in Germany until she got hands in some power which allow her to take over England, it could a a really good twist, first episode is just your slice of life and them suddenly the whole thing take a turn at Code Geass/Death Note, no wait, forget that. Lets go to fighting tournament anime with her challenging all those guys, it could be long as One Piece...

About those games with crazy ads and titles, like Game of War: Fire Age Never forget Wartune, which ads are even more crazy (and shameless) that Evony. Because whatever who is behind, have no qualm about using anything in the ads, from fan art (even from stuff that have nothing do with the game, like K-on, Bleach and even Pokemon), bad draw art and in Facebook they often use image of other games - like The Witcher 3, Assassins Creed and even a Forza game! and by least, Wartune often tries to self proclaim itself as adult game, except that is not one, nor was rated as adult. By the way, don´t Wartune sound like a title for a new Call of Duty/Battlefield game? and in case if someone is wondering, Wartune is you generic fantasy strategy(?) browser mmo.... Then also you have League of Angels, which by much surprise, from what I read in MMOHut, does actually have the said angels, but unlikely anything the ads might suggest, they are just different bonus you could choose for you character and the game appear to be a generic fantasy rpg browser mmo... Another thing about this kind of game and a couple of other small mmos I could notice, again while reading MMOHut, which have huge lists of mmos, its the tendency they have no explantion at all - I mean, instead of have its ads pointing you towards the offical site, they instead point you to a site which is just a image (and in case of the games mentioned here, you can guess what the art often look like) with just a field to subscribe, nothing else. No screenshots, no description, nothing. Not even a link to the official site! I kind wonder they expect this to work, I mean who many people the hope to full to subscribe and them will continue playing after? One more think that make me puzzled, some of this games manage to have some competent artists, as parts of its game art assests are often at such different level that everything in point of breaking the game as the different is just too high. Please I don´t mean that the average art used in this games is good, I just mean it is on another level compared to other game assets or that some aspects of it, might be good, while other like anatomy falls apart. I know the idea is just catch attention, but I am dubious of how much people remain after they find out, which don´t take long. Would not be better using those artists to produce art which reflect the game? how much is rip-off and tracing ? because I once find (and still have in my computer) a old wallpaper for a now death mmo, which one character there was a trace over a Luis Ryou art (if I am not mistaken the author, but I too have the original image which was traced). On authoral games: Maybe the first game I start to noticed the company or there was a author behind, from me was the Might & Magic franchise, since Jon von Canegham name (which was hte leader of New World Computing) was often in the game and this was my first franchise game I started to play beginning with Might & Magic II and King´s Bounty for Sega Genesis and Might & Magic VI & VII and Heroes of Might and Magic for pc. After, with gog I catch the remaining ones.

I was reading gamasutra post on the subject and it shed some light on whats going on: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/235432/Shakeup_at_Sega_sees_up_to_300_jobs_cut_and_an_office_shuttered.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+News%29 Sega Press release (yeah, I got curious and did read this too). http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/20150130_segareform_e_final.pdf From the gamasutra post: Silly question, but just to confirm, by packaged did they mean physical versions? because the press release also mention "packaged", so I guess it really won´t affect digital games. also, from the press release Wait, Resort Business?! XD great now I kind expect a thematic hotel with either Aliens, Total War, Sonic or Space Marines XD (they clean the your room of heresy with fire, with you still inside).

I am quite worried about this...but some reports suggest that this whole thing is "part of the plan" from a long time (at least something since 2014), because if they are going to focus on pc (which isn´t clear if just online or they meant digital as whole) and mobile, you kind get the signals - lately - for very unknown reasons Sega for the pc, have been investing in strategy, first with Creative Assembly, later Relic and even they bring Valkyria Chronicles to pc. Somehow, either CA or Sega (or both) even got hands on the Warhammer Fantasy IP. You also got this new Total War online game too (also I just remind that they are appear to bring more obscure japanese games to the west on consoles, from what I heard today).... Let´s see how things will unfold, this year they got Persona 5. One other sad news, Joystiq confirmed that will close.

Its ok, I too have more found memories of the second game, specially the music and colorful designs - and I even still keep the original box, along with all stuff that was inside. 3 was fine too and it still a great game, but I didn´t like much the more colorless designs and how they change or retcon some stuff.