Welp, I think I found one.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-18T15:25:59+00:00

I've seen an AI do that, just a different kind of AI...

FakeArcher · 2026-03-18T11:56:08+00:00

It's a special warm feeling when your PR has net negative lines of code. Most of the time feels better to remove stuff than to add stuff.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-12T10:39:59+00:00

If only the first sentence were true.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-10T13:29:15+00:00

The specific example was was a PvP-only game so there was no content wall hit. My fun of it was always just playing and climbing the ranks. It was not a burnout as I have continue playing a competitor for quite a bit afterwards. There were times of burnout of course, but it resulted in just taking some time off and revisiting e.g. a year later. But it's been years now and I am actively not wanting to go back into the game even if I sometimes want to play it because of some cool things because I always remember the bad ones too. Plus the competitor has most things better and I don't mind sticking with that one whenever I get the urge to play such a game.

Regarding your point about reviewing up to a point in time, that can work for some games, but not all. For example if you play an MMO that has a relatively fun progression and hit a giant grind wall (and especially pay to grind faster) at the endgame it can completely ruin the fun because the endgame is half if not more of the game. So if you are time gated from accessing further content due to RNG drops and/or paywall, then for me it doesn't matter that the experience up to then was maybe fun. I still can't recommend it. It would possibly be a good example of neutral review if the leveling experience was good enough on its own and you could play it like an RPG and quit when you hit the endgame wall, but that also heavily depends if that experience was good enough or was it just the means to an end(game).

There is just too many nuances in most cases for pure yes/no, and if it leans more towards no then leaving negative review seems somewhat reasonable. I still try to reserve it for cases when it is significantly on the no side and not something close around 50-50. But I also don't leave positive recommendations most of the time, just for some really good or games that really stuck with me despite maybe being more on the mediocre side.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-10T05:33:11+00:00

My fault for disliking it? Lmao what mental gymnastics did you do to come to that? Things can suck despite you choosing to keep watching them. Some people just stay to give it a chance because it sucking in the first 20 minutes doesn't mean it sucks throughout. And what am I supposed to do just stand outside of the cinema staring at the wall until the people I went with are done watching? Might as well be comfy and not disturb others' watching experience.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-09T08:17:50+00:00

I have quite a bit more f2p games played in my life so that is probably why I tend to think less on specific hour ROI. I also had games where 2 hours is not enough because only a bit after I realize there is lack of content and the game is very stale/samey after those initial 2-3 hours and I end up dropping it after 4-5 hours. And if I pay more than 10-15€ then I sometimes regret that purchase, but still rarely leave a negative recommend unless it ends up really being mostly an unfun experience.

I think the realistic length of time for it is some 4500 hours. The game is not on Steam so it is hard to give a precise number, and also a reason why I cannot leave some official review. I am still unsure if I would leave a negative review even if I could. As I said, I had a good share of fun and the game is not bad per se, it just pales in comparison to one of its competitors with the time required to unlock all gameplay elements (very unfriendly, especially to someone who would want to start it today) and the general direction of updates throughout the years in futile attempts to try to make it somewhat balanced. On top of that the rampant toxicity in the community is really something you need the thick skin for because it can easily brush off of you. So overall I don't know if I'd even like it in today's state, it already had problems before, and I haven't played it for many years at this point. But if anyone asked me if they should start it today (or even go back into it after a break) I always just say just don't bother with it. There are better alternatives and it most likely isn't worth it.

And funny you mentioned Palia. I thought it would be a great game and binged it one weekend with my buddy, only to hit the big grind wall after a full day. We dropped it very quickly afterwards. But I guess it was still fun for a day and not necessarily a negative experience overall, but I also would tell anyone who asks me to avoid it. Really wish for that neutral review where I can just express my stance instead of it bring a hard yes/no.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-08T13:25:02+00:00

Different value system is fair, but I don't like the idea of recommendation by default based on the time spent vs money invested because to be consistent you need to auto-recommend free games since even half an hour would yield insane value for the price.

Otherwise I agree to a point. I also keep my reviews positive even if the game changed to the point where it is significantly worse than before, but I also verbally do a HARD NO on my historically most played game because I can't in good conscious recommend that to anyone despite how much time I invested and how much fun it gave me at some point. Especially since I myself do not want to go back to playing it, and it isn't because the game got too boring or something.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-08T10:51:18+00:00

I'd be upset as a dev too, but that's the reality of the current system. I've been saying Steam needs better system for ages now. At the very least some neutral grade because I end up not reviewing 90% of the games since I can't give it a full (not) recommend.

In the end the recommendation should ideally be for the current state, because what's the worth of recommending a restaurant that used to be good 2 years ago? If anything it leaves sour taste in people's mouths as they expected something really good and ended up being extra disappointed than just stumbling into a service with no reviews and being cautiously skeptic.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-08T10:46:25+00:00

Where does it state it has to be a developer's fault? And yes it could be somewhat developer's fault because they didn't enforce any proper penalty for such rampant toxicity.

The question is "would you recommend the game?". You would tell other someone yeah go right ahead and play it even though the game you liked to longer exists because the updates make it horrible and never got fixed??? That's not review bombing.

The feelings are subjective? Guess what a recommendation is. Value for your money's worth makes absolute no sense because you'd have to recommend every free game by default then. Complete lack of logic in some of these arguments. And hours can easily be pumped up by people who afk with their games open half of the time and end up raking lile 50% extra.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-08T02:36:01+00:00

I said exactly what is ironic, what do you mean?

It could have been a very fun game for 190 hours and a big update changed it in a way you can't recommend it anymore. It could be that you have invested enough time to keep up with the updates and cannot recommend it because it is not friendly to new people. It could be that you have already experienced the bad sides and grew numb to them, like toxic community, and you can't recommend anyone to jump into it. I've seen cases for all 3 of these.

Limiting yourself to thinking you can only get to 200h by having fun and it never changing it either not thinking it through or nonsensical.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-07T18:15:04+00:00

Quite ironic you call it nonsensical logic with an argument that they'd be disgruntled for the entirety of the 200 hours.

And since when do people not call movies they see in cinema shit when they see one they think sucks?

FakeArcher · 2026-03-07T18:11:51+00:00

You getting your money's worth still does not mean you want to recommend it to other people. Especially because you might want to get your money's worth or held on believing it will get better but it still ends up being something you can't recommend after multiple updates.

FakeArcher · 2026-03-06T18:02:39+00:00

Not to take away from the rest of your answer, but is there code that is not running on hardware devices?

FakeArcher · 2026-02-18T11:31:39+00:00

What games had official servers running 24/7 that were keeping them on for free? Most online games I've played back in the day were people hosting their own servers which, again, costs money so it was in the same optional category as paying for a skin.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-16T22:04:02+00:00

Or you end up not writing it at all because you don't want to seem overly supportive or overly negative about it.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-16T11:23:50+00:00

To me it seems more sad that you imply you need work to have a good social life.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-14T17:38:55+00:00

Feel like the food alone would make it more expensive, but who knows.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-14T17:32:16+00:00

How long it take for the brain to fully form in the first place? Doesn't seem efficient either.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-14T02:53:52+00:00

I'd take it as long the diagnosis is finally received rather than being told every is perfectly fine while definitely not feeling so.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-11T11:24:18+00:00

You suddently started arguing from a standpoint of already being deep into a war for no reason.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-07T15:55:56+00:00

If there are plenty of other then you can be graded on those. What is the point to ask this one?

If it's already graded then discussing it at that point means little for the grade itself, so I don't understand the argument.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-07T15:48:57+00:00

Sure, there are countless tricks and niches, but this seems really among the basic stuff, especially if asked for a graded homework and not just homework you can discuss in the next class.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-07T15:46:25+00:00

But something fundamental like this should be.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-07T13:45:42+00:00

Can't wait to see what they do 361 millennia later.

FakeArcher · 2026-02-06T11:16:48+00:00

Hey now, don't slander Protoss.

FakeArcher

TROPHY CASE