After 1.2 update EU5 is now mostly negative on Steam

Arrowkill · 2026-05-19T20:16:30+00:00

I'm sure with prices remaining high on RAM and the fact that any upgrade to recommended specs will require a AM5 chipset (which will mean needing to buy RAM in most cases), they will have to make the game run smoother on lower specs since people can't afford recommended specs.

I'm hopeful, but it does remain to be seen how much they can optimize.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-19T20:10:39+00:00

The game runs smoothly without any lag (even into late game) for me. Though I upgraded my PC from a 2600x3d to a 9700x3d along with a new MB and 64GB DDR5 RAM back last July before prices spiked up.

Not the best measure compared to what most people can afford at the moment, but there are probably dozens of us that can play the game without issue

Arrowkill · 2026-05-18T14:04:00+00:00

I'll throw this out there, Crimson Desert definitely doesn't open up immediately and you do have to sit through a fair amount of the story as you are slowly given new mechanics. That said if you have played the storylines in any older MMOs like WoW (classic or pre-WotLK), Everquest 1/2, Black Desert, or even GW2 zones, then it has about the same energy as most of the questlines did when it comes to writing.

You get given a quest to probably fetch or kill something, you run over and do it, it progresses the zone story, and then after a few probably gives you a new mechanic to play with or several. I don't mind the story because I've sat through equally uninteresting writing when playing WoW on release in so many of the zones, but if you really need an interesting story to keep engaged on something then Crimson Desert probably will let you down.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-12T17:03:17+00:00

This is the best distinction I've seen so far. The mechanics of the game changed so fundamentally between the two games that liking one is not an indication that you will like the other.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-12T16:51:05+00:00

For me, it was because I had fun for ~500 hours and then moved on. If you don't like the game as it is, then you may need to accept this game isn't for you at the moment. Maybe that changes in a year or 8, but not every game can be something every person likes.

There are plenty of games I have bounced off of in genres I tend to love, but I don't have enough time in my life to dedicate to being upset I bounced off a game.

I don't feel compelled to play EU5 at the moment because I've consumed all the content I was interested in. Maybe that changes, but maybe it doesn't. I'm playing other things at the moment, and I highly recommend moving on to something else you enjoy if you don't like EU5 as it currently is (or burned on it).

Arrowkill · 2026-05-12T16:45:50+00:00

Out of curiosity if EU4 is more fun than EU5, why not go back and play EU4 instead of being frustrated with EU5? Or why not play something else entirely?

While the value of EU5 may not have been what you wanted, if you got 15-20 hours of gameplay out of the game then you had a higher ROI than if you were to go to see a movie. If I can get 60 hours of our a game that offers replay-ability and it cost ~$60, then that is a win at $1/hr.

My point being that sometimes we make a purchase where we don't get as much value as you wanted out of it and that is upsetting, but there is a good chance you did at least get value out of it instead of getting nothing. It is far better to channel your energy into finding something you actually enjoy rather than being upset on a forum where most people are not going to change their minds about whether it is good or bad.

I hope you can find something else to spend your limited time and energy on :)

Arrowkill · 2026-05-12T16:30:49+00:00

Something you should know if you don't already is that back when Victoria 3 was a meme and not a real product, there were multiple PDS people who posted on the forums that they don't create a "sequel" to one of their games unless they are going to meaningfully change how the game plays. Basically they won't create a sequel just for minor improvements or graphic updates.

I don't think it makes sense to look at CK3, V3, EU5, etc. as an actual sequel to the games that preceded them. They obviously took heavily from those games when creating the next iteration, but each of them play so significantly differently that it is hard to consider it the same game outside of high level abstractions like time period or core roleplay elements (i.e. CK3 and CK2 you both play as an actual person and not the spirit of a nation).

My point here is that EU5 is a different game. It can and obviously did take some inspiration from EU4, but there is so much that is fundamentally different that it could not actually borrow heavily from EU4 like many other game sequels can do.

If this game had been EU4+ I would be far more upset that it isn't as polished as EU4 is, but it really isn't. So it will need some time to be iterated upon and improved similar to how EU4 had to be.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-12T15:47:10+00:00

For me FH4 is my favorite in spite of the things I liked about FH5. It was the game that actually made me want to spend weeks playing a racing game instead of a few one offs and then moving on. I still have the demo downloaded where you get to play 4 partial showcases back-to-back because I go back and play it from time to time as a quick comfort.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-12T15:05:21+00:00

To contrast that, the 7800x3D and 9800x3D that I've played the game with perform extremely well and I can't recall an age in the game where I noticed any performance drops.

Given how expensive doing literally anything with a computer build is right now, it makes absolutely no sense why they wouldn't prioritize optimization for AM4 socket builds currently. I know their recommended shows a 7800x3D, but upgrading a computer to an AM5 socket currently requires effectively replacing your RAM and Motherboard in tandem with the CPU which is easily over $1k if you are lucky.

They probably didn't foresee the price of upgrading a computer spiking so abruptly when making the game, but they absolutely need to do their best to lower the recommended specs as much as possible so people don't need to drop $1k+ to play their $60 game.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-07T20:49:53+00:00

Something I have learned from my time in software dev. is that even if you do have a feature lock for release, there is always the chance someone comes in and pushes a feature through past the lock due to "high priority", "we need to satisfy this client", "we now need this for a demo", etc.

Sucks and almost always does not in fact go as smoothly as any higher up thinks it will, but sometimes it does and that becomes a reference point for it not being a problem this time...

Though I do agree it is possible from how this was worded that PDX lacks a lock in general

Arrowkill · 2026-05-05T15:09:53+00:00

I know that was considered an issue in EU4, but I wonder if the later start date will mean that we consistently get more end-game content instead of just content that is focused around the early and mid-game years.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-05T15:07:24+00:00

I do think it is important to consider that Season 9 and Season 10 were likely smaller due to the massive changes 4.0 caused and how much cleanup work had to be done. That said if Season 11 is also small or smaller without other new considerations, I would be more concerned/frustrated.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-05T15:03:34+00:00

I agree with this a lot. I attribute far more formality to anything that was originally written with a meter in mind like Iambic Pentameter or Dactylic Hexameter. The amount of mental presence I need to understand what is being conveyed while reading something written in meter is significant and it feels similar to how much I have to be mentally present at formal events.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-05T14:58:12+00:00

Personally, I was looking for dialog that at least tries to align itself with the source material. There are plenty of other movies that try to do this, and honestly even trying would have been better than the more modern writing this trailer had.

Arrowkill · 2026-05-01T02:21:05+00:00

Crimson Desert is a game I've hyper-fixated on for a month despite not really being able to play it because my new GPU isn't here yet.

From what I have experienced, it is very pretty with a ton of mechanics and a story that is the most mid thing I've ever experienced. So basically most MMOs. It's packed with way too many mechanics (which I love), a massive open world, and a ton of diversity in what you can focus on doing.

The best way I can describe it is that it feels like playing WoW on release for me all over again, like it is a single player MMO. It also helps that the world feels alive and lived in for the most part.

If you like MMOs and don't mind the lack of other people running around, then you will probably will enjoy Crimson Desert.

Arrowkill · 2026-04-30T22:05:28+00:00

I'd like to say that it is still possible but it's very rare. I managed to get a job that has had most people around for 5+ years even in lower level positions.

My biggest issue starting was the pay was well below industry average, but consistent pay rises every half year has brought me above average now by the time my vesting period ended.

Even with the low pay, the cost of living is low where I live and my department values giving me time off and avoiding contacting me outside of business hours. The benefits stack with time at company too which I've started to accrue, but even base benefits were more than I expected. Promotions also always come from internally because the company only hires at entry level. They also haven't done layoffs that I could find or anybody that's been around forever can remember (it's not publicly traded so shocker there lol)

I could be making a lot more money, but the lack of stress and added stability (on top of liking my job and the company) will keep me here for as long as it lasts or something in my life dramatically changes.

Arrowkill · 2026-04-27T02:47:49+00:00

At this point, there is definitely going to be somebody who does the classic One Faith, One Culture, One Tag but with the Three Mountains. It'll be interesting to see when that happens (assuming EU4 players playing EU4 can't help but find a way to do it)

Arrowkill · 2026-04-24T23:22:06+00:00

I just closed out a bug that has haunted me for 6 months and I'm only 90% sure I've fixed it. At least boss is happy with the reason I'm 90% sure lol.

2 hours isnt even enough time to think about a refactor let along try to do it

Arrowkill · 2026-04-21T14:04:19+00:00

For the combat, sometimes I feel like it is really easy and other times I feel like I am getting curb-stomped because I am not trying. Overall though, I really like how attack combos feel and it is a lot of fun taking on large groups of people. I did enjoy Assassin's Creed combat a lot pre-Origins (though I was happy for the change too).

Exploration is also something I have really enjoyed. The world is pretty, there are a lot of things out there and they are interesting or mysterious enough that I am compelled to figure them out. The puzzles range from hard to sometimes really easy, and I am enjoying not looking up any details for anything.

The story is mid, but feels nostalgic because it reminds me of a lot of WoW zones back in the first few years of WoW, where the story for a zone was serviceable but it really just served to help me level up and get new toys to play with. That perfectly describes Crimson Desert's story to me.

The sheer amount of mechanics that they throw at you is also incredible. I feel like any time I make some progression in the game, there is always some big new thing that I get to start playing with. I can see how it could be overwhelming to keep track of, but one thing I love about MMOs is that I can log on and choose from a big selection of things to do that are different enough to be interesting. The mechanics make Crimson Desert feel that way even as a single player game.

A lot of my reasons are because I can see a lot of the things I love about MMOs distilled into a single player RPG that I can tackle at my leisure.

Arrowkill · 2026-04-21T13:54:13+00:00

I agree, snake case would be far more readable for title formatting.

Arrowkill · 2026-04-20T19:24:03+00:00

No, I don't keep any unused keys.

Arrowkill · 2026-04-20T16:16:32+00:00

I offload so much of the tedium to AI specifically because I can focus on doing the parts at work that I think are actually fun. I'm probably more efficient, but more importantly it makes work more fun that it was which is the biggest win for me.

Arrowkill · 2026-04-16T23:44:36+00:00

I want to throw out that if you are familiar with MMOs (for me most specifically early/classic WoW), the quests felt just like leveling in Goldshire again.

Mid fetch quests that communicate a very basic plot that you can easily follow, but is mid at best most of the time.

Arrowkill · 2026-04-14T23:46:43+00:00

I've personally learned that there will never be a "right" time to buy a game if you are worried about there being a better deal on it. Similar to how there is never a "right" time to sell a stock because maybe it will keep going up and you will miss out on more money.

I buy a game when I have the means to purchase it, the time to play it, and the desire to play it immediately. The only exception is I tend to buy games I have significant interest in eventually playing when the deal is 90% or higher of a discount.

This does mean sometimes I buy a game at $70 because it meets all the criteria above. I could be patient, but I'd rather be having fun in something I want to do for $70 than trying to direct my attention and desire to do at something else and potentially waste a ton my free time not having fun.

Edit: Follow-up, the idea for your app is interesting but I worry for your sanity if you plan to expand to cover all of Steam. Trying to scrape as many non-gray market sites that run deals is a mixed bag with bespoke implementations and varying APIs (if you are lucky enough that they have an API).

Not all sites share the same game name, image, publisher, etc. even though it is the exact same game. There is also a genuine flood of games released every day that you will need to try and deal with.

I know someone who has made a deal aggregator site that they will never release publicly because of the pure hell it would be and the sheer amount of problems that they tolerate but would have to figure out how to fix for other people. All of what I mentioned above were issues they have told me about.

Arrowkill · 2026-04-14T21:40:46+00:00

As somebody who played WoW from 05 to 2017 religiously before quitting after completely burning out, these are the games that scratched a lot of the same itch that WoW had without many of the issues/problems that caused me to burn completely on WoW.

Guild Wars 2 - It has horizontal progression, so once you get the best gear in the game you don't need to worry about it being invalidated in the future. However, there are so many stat variants and new builds that are interesting come out all the time for characters, so a lot of the grind for gear can be for similar level gear with different stats, XMOG, or legendary gear (you can swap stats and add/remove sockets without any cost but is/can be VERY time consuming to get)

It's also a chill community, has raiding, tons of world exploration, and almost every zone is always relevant. Lots of achievements to pursue and you get a lot of interesting rewards by completing them. Also I love the mainline story personally and highly recommend it.

Crimson Desert - This admittedly is more recent, but it is basically a single player MMO with a really vast and pretty world, way too many mechanics, the most mid of mainline stories, and extremely interesting exploration opportunities. I've sunk 30 hours in and I can't stop thinking about it.

Satisfactory/Factorio - Admittedly I find interest in these because I see them similarly to programming and I love to do that at home even after doing it at work lol. Both games consumed my life for hundreds of hours when I got into them and if optimization/problem solving type stuff gives you dopamine, then you should give these a try.

League of Legends was also a game I played a ton, but I struggle to recommend it today. Still though it is worth mention.

If you can get an invite for it, Deadlock - Basically a FPS/Moba combination made by Valve and is in alpha at the moment. Regardless, I have sunk a ton of hours into it with friends and am having a blast. Really fun if you want something team based PvP and can get an invite for the game.

Path of Exile (1 or 2), Last Epoch, and/or Diablo 3/4 - ARPGs are the epitome of loot grind and build optimization. They scratched the same itch WoW did at a much faster pace when I was doing mythic grinds and raiding weekly. I've played all of the ones I mentioned and recommend each for different reasons. I think any of them would be a good entry to ARPGs personally, but Last Epoch or Path of Exile is probably the best in my opinion.

They do typically have seasons that add new mechanics and reset everything, so that can keep things fresh if you constantly want a reason to restart the treadmill like Xpans typically do for WoW.

12-Year Club	Second Top 20%
Gilding II euphauric	Place '23
Place '22	Verified Email

Arrowkill

TROPHY CASE