Western RPGs have fallen, again

[Tyranicon]

This is the sequel to my last shitpost thread: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...-greatest-fall-in-the-history-of-rpgs.150473/

Let's look at the current status of some of our contestants.

Dragon Age Veilguard - The fate of the studio is uncertain, sales don't appear to be good (which is possibly an understatement), the director is leaving and writes insane stuff like

"I did what I set out to do at BioWare. That is to come in and help right the ship."

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 - chronically delayed game once again delayed to "first half of 2025," so not even a concrete date. Thinks that releasing crap like this will excite its audience:

Avowed - currently still radio silent on alleged racist hiring practices, apparently nuked their steam forums somehow, and a month away from release.

Their ranking on the best-selling list is... worrying.

Fable - nobody gives a shit, including their marketing guys.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 - Surprise contestant! Currently undergoing culture war drama. Well-timed "leaks" have robbed this game of some thunder, but will it be vindicated by context and sales? We shall see.

Is it literally impossible for western RPG devs not to self-sabotage their own games?

Modern games are bad, but the popcorn is top-tier.

 

[Yuggoth]

I can easily spend the rest of my life playing only stuff that came out between 1995-2015 and have a blast. Not to mention how much greatness lies still undiscovered.

The current-day game industry can burn down to the ground, no exceptions (no, Japan and the rest of Asia ain't immune to cuckoldry and degeneracy either).

 

[Gandalf]

And who own those studios?

Dragon Age Veilguard

EA.

Avowed

Microsoft.

Fable

Microsoft.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

THQ Nordic.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2

I don't have a clue.

 

[Gregz]

It's been over for several years now. Games/RPGs are a medium for injecting the worst pozzed demoralization propaganda straight into the unsuspecting and hapless gamer-consoomer soul.

There are a few exceptions (Jupiter Hell, Heads Will Roll, etc.) and there are the old games, but otherwise yeah, it's over.

 

[Tyranicon]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2

I don't have a clue.

Paradox.

 

[NecroLord]

This is the sequel to my last shitpost thread: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...-greatest-fall-in-the-history-of-rpgs.150473/

Let's look at the current status of some of our contestants.

Dragon Age Veilguard - The fate of the studio is uncertain, sales don't appear to be good, the director is leaving and writes insane shit like

I did what I set out to do at BioWare. That is to come in and help right the ship.

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 - chronically delayed game once again delayed to "first half of 2025," so not even a concrete date. Thinks that releasing shit like this will excite its audience:

View attachment 60361
View attachment 60362

Avowed - currently still radio silent on alleged racist hiring practices, apparently nuked their steam forums somehow, and a month away from release.

Their ranking on the best-selling list is... worrying.

View attachment 60363

Fable - nobody gives a shit, including their marketing guys.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 - Surprise contestant! Currently undergoing culture war drama. Well-timed "leaks" have robbed this game of some thunder, but will it be vindicated by context and sales? We shall see.

Is it literally impossible for western RPG devs not to self-sabotage their own games?

Modern games are bad, but the popcorn is top-tier.

Let's just see for how long will the culture war go on.
How much more slop they plan on releasing...

 

[Tehdagah]

Play the masterpiece Baldur's Gate 3.

 

[frajaq]

Play Chinese and Japanese games instead

Arknights Endfield is coming soon

 

[NecroLord]

Play Chinese and Japanese games instead

Arknights Endfield is coming soon

Chinkoid bugman shit games vs Jap Anime coomer shit.

Nah, thanks, I'm good.

 

[kangaxx]

Maybe it's better to say big budget Western RPGs have fallen.

 

[Sergio]

Play Chinese and Japanese games instead

Arknights Endfield is coming soon

Modern JRPGs get consistently ruined by lolcalization that creates literal fanfiction instead of translating, and inserts its own brainwashing agendas into dialogue, going as far as changing the character's personalities, or removing words they don't like (eg. "gender" or "race"). Censorship included. You think this is only a western RPG problem? Fuck no. You either know japanese and can play the originals, or you're swimming in the same shit as everyone else.

 

[Tyranicon]

Maybe it's better to say big budget Western RPGs have fallen.

Small indies will always be a different species, even if individuals share some of the same tendencies. Corporate slop is in a whole 'nother league.

Seeing how last year's RPGOTY is probably going to be between two different pixel art games made by 3 or less people, yeah indie will continue to be the future of gaming.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

I find it funny how the only thing KCD2 had to do was play it safe and avoid dumb shit like LGBTQ and POC in Bohemia and they would have reaped the rewards and laurels, especially with the tide turning and people becoming very sensitive and having zero tolerance even for a whiff of wokeism.

Also hiring some asian woke grifter to police their forums with a CoC, what the fuck man.... (technically its Plaion, but whatever).

I bet my left nut a lot of preorders were and still are getting cancelled and soon enough their forum will look exactly the same as Avowed.

 

[JarlFrank]

There are a few exceptions (Jupiter Hell, Heads Will Roll, etc.) and there are the old games, but otherwise yeah, it's over.

There's more of those, they're all made by solo devs or tiny teams.

People just have to abandon the AAA cult and be willing to dig up hidden gems more.

 

[Nos]

Central/Eastern Europe isn't immune to wokeism it's just 10-15 years behind the curve...
America's ideological toxic waste exports seem to be as popular in its European vassal states as at home.

Why?
It's not some big mystery, there's a tidal wave of propaganda from government and US funded NGOs, Media, universities to turn creative national cultures into globo-garbage.
The culture of the 'NGO-academic-spook complex' as Michael Lind put it. With lavish funding from everyone's favorite filthy-rich minority of course.

The bright side is that once the military/economic basis of US power cracks its ideology may be discredited as well.

Until then, we can look forwards to lots of gay/tranny/negroid/stronk woman/etc... RPG masterpieces...

 

[Abu Antar]

AAA rpgs will be like this until political agendas aren't pushed into games.

Play lower budget rpgs, and be happy.

I recently played the EA of Archaelund, and it was straightforward adventuring with no bullshit. The same goes for some other "smaller" rpgs. There are also some Chinese/Korean games that have good gameplay like Troubleshooter, Hero's Adventure, and most Heluo Studio games. Some of the latter ones would be up the alley of some of you guys, despite their art style.

 

[ferratilis]

You will replay Arcanum and Underrail every year until you die, and you will be happy.

 

[Abu Antar]

You will replay Arcanum and Underrail every year until you die, and you will be happy.

I used to play Arcanum every year, now I haven't made a full run for two years.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

I find it funny how the only thing KCD2 had to do was play it safe and avoid dumb shit like LGBTQ and POC in Bohemia and they would have reaped the rewards and laurels, especially with the tide turning and people becoming very sensitive and having zero tolerance even for a whiff of wokeism.

Yeah I was just thinking this. The tide has already turned. Wokeism is about as relevant as wearing a facemask in 2024. It fell pretty damn quick and continues to plummet by the day.

Very poor timing, and worse perception. I mean if this were 2023 or even mid 2024 I could appreciate the rationale but now...it seems like very poor judgement. Maybe he got turned, or maybe hes acting under orders, a bit of both. Maybe its just egotistical trolling.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

AAA rpgs will be like this until political agendas aren't pushed into games.

Play lower budget rpgs, and be happy.

I recently played the EA of Archaelund, and it was straightforward adventuring with no bullshit. The same goes for some other "smaller" rpgs. There are also some Chinese/Korean games that have good gameplay like Troubleshooter, Hero's Adventure, and most Heluo Studio games. Some of the latter ones would be up the alley of some of you guys, despite their art style.

We have a lot to look forward too. I don't really play AAA or AAAA. My computer can't handle them anyways.

Kenshi 2.
Underrail 2.

I have a dozen others I'm keeping my eye on.

 

[Infinitron]

This is the sequel to my last shitpost thread: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...-greatest-fall-in-the-history-of-rpgs.150473/

Let's look at the current status of some of our contestants.

Dragon Age Veilguard - It's not turn-based

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 - It's not turn-based

Avowed - It's not turn-based

Fable - It's not turn-based

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 - It's not turn-based

 

[The people of Duckburg]

Play Chinese and Japanese games instead

Arknights Endfield is coming soon

Modern JRPGs get consistently ruined by lolcalization that creates literal fanfiction instead of translating, and inserts its own brainwashing agendas into dialogue, going as far as changing the character's personalities, or removing words they don't like (eg. "gender" or "race"). Censorship included. You think this is only a western RPG problem? Fuck no. You either know japanese and can play the originals, or you're swimming in the same shit as everyone else.

"Just learn Japanese" isn't working anymore. Japan isn't immune to this stuff, and localization studios are explicitly working with Japanese developers to get them to censor at the source. Running from the problem doesn't work for long.

 

[mondblut]

This is the sequel to my last shitpost thread: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...-greatest-fall-in-the-history-of-rpgs.150473/

Let's look at the current status of some of our contestants.

Dragon Age Veilguard - The fate of the studio is uncertain, sales don't appear to be good (which is possibly an understatement), the director is leaving and writes insane stuff like

"I did what I set out to do at BioWare. That is to come in and help right the ship."

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 - chronically delayed game once again delayed to "first half of 2025," so not even a concrete date. Thinks that releasing crap like this will excite its audience:

View attachment 60361
View attachment 60362

Avowed - currently still radio silent on alleged racist hiring practices, apparently nuked their steam forums somehow, and a month away from release.

Their ranking on the best-selling list is... worrying.

View attachment 60363

Fable - nobody gives a shit, including their marketing guys.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 - Surprise contestant! Currently undergoing culture war drama. Well-timed "leaks" have robbed this game of some thunder, but will it be vindicated by context and sales? We shall see.

Is it literally impossible for western RPG devs not to self-sabotage their own games?

Modern games are bad, but the popcorn is top-tier.

What do "western RPGs" have to do with this action slop?

 

[Lord_Potato]

Games from 2024 I played so far: Felvidek, Thaumaturge, Broken Roads, Corpus Edax.

Playing right now: Drova: Forsaken Kin

Planning to before the GOTY vote: VED, Skald: Against the Black Priory.

Western big RPGs may have fallen, but indie and AA sectors are still going strong.

 

[Tyranicon]

What do "western RPGs" have to do with this action slop?

You must have really refined tastes, but for everyone else:

VtMB2 -> successor to RPGcodex #6(?) rated RPG of all time.
BioWare -> responsible for I dunno, multiple titles on the same list probably
KCD2 -> sequel to RPGcodex #16(?) rated RPG of all time.
Obsidian -> responsible for a bunch too (deadfire is on the list, wtf?)
Fable -> like I said, nobody gives a shit.

Despair, westerners.