Lemming42
Arcane
The game is fascinating and I can't stop examining it. It's almost surreal, you can actually see the unfolding fractal of fuckups and bad ideas and mid-development course changes that led to the game being what it is.
- The art direction which clearly began as one thing ("NASApunk") and then was considered boring midway through so they suddenly started sprinkling any old shit in (cyberpunk, western) without bothering to make it make sense.
- The procgen which they must have started off with and then given up on very early on, leaving an entire universe of empty planets.
- The utter failure of a single person at Bethesda to comprehend anything about what people enjoyed in their previous games, despite every review for the past twenty years clearly detailing that people like exploring interesting hand-crafted overworlds, diving into lengthy dungeons, and simulation aspects (NPC routines, crime system, etc). The result: an uninteresting setting with absolutely no handcrafted overworld exploration, few dungeons, and the total loss of simulation aspects.
- The writing which seems to have undergone a similar mid-development whiplash-inducing shift to the art style: it's a post-apocalyptic game where Earth has been destroyed but it's also 70s-themed "NASApunk" but it's also about the aftermath of a war with genetic engineering but it's also about the clash between order and freedom but it's also a high-concept thing about "Starborn" and the hunt for supernatural treasure.
Again it's like they didn't want to create another "Bethesda game" and just wanted to make and FPS or something - which would have been fine and would have served the game far better - but instead of cutting down on their usual open world stuff, they instead inflated it to a comically absurd degree while also stripping it of appeal entirely via the procgen shit. I like the game and even I can't understand how it's such a trainwreck.
With a budget that high, a development time that long, and a team that big, there is no explanation as to some of the decisions made here.
- The art direction which clearly began as one thing ("NASApunk") and then was considered boring midway through so they suddenly started sprinkling any old shit in (cyberpunk, western) without bothering to make it make sense.
- The procgen which they must have started off with and then given up on very early on, leaving an entire universe of empty planets.
- The utter failure of a single person at Bethesda to comprehend anything about what people enjoyed in their previous games, despite every review for the past twenty years clearly detailing that people like exploring interesting hand-crafted overworlds, diving into lengthy dungeons, and simulation aspects (NPC routines, crime system, etc). The result: an uninteresting setting with absolutely no handcrafted overworld exploration, few dungeons, and the total loss of simulation aspects.
- The writing which seems to have undergone a similar mid-development whiplash-inducing shift to the art style: it's a post-apocalyptic game where Earth has been destroyed but it's also 70s-themed "NASApunk" but it's also about the aftermath of a war with genetic engineering but it's also about the clash between order and freedom but it's also a high-concept thing about "Starborn" and the hunt for supernatural treasure.
Again it's like they didn't want to create another "Bethesda game" and just wanted to make and FPS or something - which would have been fine and would have served the game far better - but instead of cutting down on their usual open world stuff, they instead inflated it to a comically absurd degree while also stripping it of appeal entirely via the procgen shit. I like the game and even I can't understand how it's such a trainwreck.
With a budget that high, a development time that long, and a team that big, there is no explanation as to some of the decisions made here.
