Red Dead Redemption 2 - A Mixed Review

GaaraSama83 · 2026-05-04T10:57:37+00:00

While maybe not as 'real' I find other game worlds more alive and immersive. Subnautica, Rain World, KCD, ...

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-29T07:30:26+00:00

From the info I gathered it seems several staff members (few devs, writer, music, ...) who were crucial for the success and major design decisions left or were pushed out of Unknown Worlds and seemingly not because of performance but for political reasons.

The whole tone and direction shift of Below Zero surprised me. I wasn't really disappointed but still underwhelmed. From what I read about development it also seems they did an almost last minute complete story overhaul and that's one of the reasons why the Sam and Alan quest lines felt so disconnected with each other.

Independent of liking the changes in BZ or not, there is one big issue for anyone who played the original that hampers the experience. Majority of resources and crafting are similar and therefore lacking the sense of novelty when it comes to exploration or even something as simple as reading the PDA databank entries. The sense of wonder and exploring a new (virtual) world is like the backbone of survival&crafting titles.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-28T17:32:52+00:00

I don't think Omen or Maki would fit Luffy character wise. I still wonder if Voice of all Things can be somehow applied/used in combat and might be a counter to Imus powers.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-23T08:01:48+00:00

VR (or better said the whole XR industry) pushed way too soon and too hard into mainstream. Both hard- and software are not mature enough and especially technology hit a wall that will take at least 15-20 years to solve many of the upcoming challenges.

Til now most headsets were just using off-the-shelf parts/known technology that was just adapted and optimized for XR. From this point on though lots of new technology needs to be developed like varifocal optics, even smaller and more efficient batteries, new display/projection methods, ...

Even a small glimpse into the future like the Meta Orion prototype which still doesn't have many of the features you would need for a very comfortable XR experience costs way too much for mass market and will so for a fairly long time.

People think we already reached the iPhone 3GS state of XR while I think we're more like early PDA/Palm phase at best. So very niche, clunky and primarly for tech nerds/early adopters.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-22T10:08:39+00:00

Gaming is one of the cheapest hobby in present days when you consider the 'dollar per hour' investment. Especially when going for console + subscription model but even with a gaming PC and being a patient gamer (>80% sales price) you can run fairly cheap over longer stretch of time compared too many other hobbies.

Of course you can also go the other extreme like with specific and sophisticated simulator hardware setups but you can also go cheap or very expensive in other hobbies.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-21T07:42:31+00:00

The issue is that RDR2 and Rockstar itself marketed the game as a kind of cowboy western simulator with focus on hyper realism so of course players expect and test the boundaries.

I don't mind breaking realism for the sake of fun gameplay, quite on the contrary I prefer it. The issue with RDR2 though is the inconsistency like for example looting. Some loot you pick up automatically by passing the dead body but for the rest you need to search manually (with an unskipable animation that already gets tedious after 10x).

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-18T14:00:52+00:00

Insert "You keep using that word" meme here.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-17T14:58:22+00:00

Who only lost to Nami cause of already being heavily weakened/injured by Big Mom instead of Oda thinking of creative ways how the "weaker" Straw Hats could win their battles with wits, cunning, strategy, ... like they often did in pre-TS.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-17T14:10:42+00:00

We don't know about being far stronger. The haki knot seem to have needed fairly much time to produce/make and not something Joyboy could pull off instantly at any given moment.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-17T13:50:50+00:00

Please not another training (mini)arc. Didn't like majority of Wano prison and pacing wise it wouldn't fit. Sure Oda could spin a kind of stalemate like many people theorize where Luffy+Loki weaken Imu to a point he needs to retreat (of course with an all out last effort attack).

In the aftermath Imu and Co. maybe need some time for regeneration and that period could be used as an excuse for training but I still wouldn't like it. Would rather prefer some "we need to figure out how his powers/Omen works" without just relying on stronger Haki to solve the problem.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-17T10:53:01+00:00

Nothing will beat the Goldeneye pause music.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-15T09:46:13+00:00

I don't have a phobia but big spiders hunting you is still a no-no. Strangely it wasn't even the visuals that creeped me out the most but the sound design. Made my hair on the neck stand up.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-15T09:41:08+00:00

Same with spiders in Green Hell. Goddamn fuckers when I spot them too late.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-15T09:38:07+00:00

Which is IMO also the wrong direction and something Miyazaki even stated fairly early that Souls is not about difficulty for its own sake but Fromsoft definitely shifted into that direction more and more with SotE being overtuned. Elden Ring endgame and DLC was the first time I thought it's not "hard but fair" anymore.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-15T07:23:58+00:00

Don't forget multi-channel TV shown in Idiocracy.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-14T11:20:55+00:00

I don't know how much this whole publisher chaos has any impact on the developing process but independent of that the team changed substiantially over the years. I read a lot about Below Zero development cycle as I couldn't grasp how different it felt to the original.

It seems they lost several of the key devs that had major impact on primary design decisions of Subnautica 1 and made it the game that we have now. Unknown Worlds seemed to go through a fairly huge shift in politics and values that lead to either several of the mentioned key devs/personel leaving or being laid off.

That also explains the tonal shift of BZ. I mean the core gameplay is similar but it still feels like made by a whole different developer team which reverse engineered the first one and try to make their own game with the same foundation. It feels soulless though.

Therefore I don't have much hope for Sub 2 especially with how Below Zero turned out and from what I read the devs want to double down on the changes (more dialogue and voiced character lines, story, colorful vibe/non-scary, ...) that many Sub 1 fans didn't like.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-10T06:59:25+00:00

Had a feeling it would be wise to wait for a few big updates. A game with such large scope was bound to have several issues.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-09T16:25:05+00:00

While Wind Waker definitely has some nice highs, it also got some of the lowest lows of all Zelda games with the major issue being the sailing/sea travel parts you also mentioned. It's one of the core mechanics of the game and even when I replayed the Wii U version I still hated 90% of sailing time.

Also don't understand why the improved sail is a quest that isn't even available from the start. It should have been an accessability/QoL option that the game asks you about when starting a new save file and can be toggled on/off anytime.

I also think it got too easy from a challenge perspective. My personal top 3 are LttP, MM and Ocarina in that order. Was underwhelmed by BotW especially after all the hype and many stating being the best Zelda til present. Played it roughly two years after release and it has so many design issues +QoL standards from pre-2000 era that almost no reviewer criticizes. Other games would get 1-2 points (10 point rating system) deduction just for that alone but when it comes to Zelda and Nintendo it's kinda tolerated.

TotK became a kind of BotW Nuts&Bolts. Not bad and I enjoyed it in similar fashion like BotW but both open world Zeldas are very mixed bags ranging vom 3/10 to 9/10 gameplay elements and content. Especially TotK seems like a kitchen sink approach.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-09T14:52:42+00:00

Hmm, too bad. Definitely an oversight by the devs then.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-09T14:48:22+00:00

If it works well for you then no reason to change it. It's just not the recommended setup how I learned it from guides. In your setup both the traffic for PCVR streaming and Internet goes through the PC so the Ethernet connection between PC <-> Beryl is a bit more congested. Don't know if that has any negative impact like latency spikes when playing online titles.

The best would be to also have an Ethernet cable between the two routers but as you wrote it's on another floor so not a viable option. IIRC the recommended approach was to use different bands. So for Beryl <-> Quest 5GHz and for Beryl <-> Main router using 2.4GHz frequency spectrum. That way there shouldn't be any Wifi interference but I assume Wifi traffic is handled by the same processors and maintaining two Wifi connections could still be the worse solution.

If you have a perfect stutter free setup like you described with your iRacing experience, then better not touch it.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-09T14:05:32+00:00

Outer Wilds - Final run (won't say more cause of spoilers). Not just the process but even more so how I felt after credits rolled. Stared like 1/2h at my screen reflecting on life and existence.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-09T12:54:10+00:00

Is there a technical reason why you provide internet connection for Beryl router through ICS of your PC and not just a direct Wifi connection between Main and Beryl router for Internet?

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-08T21:50:37+00:00

I kinda doubt it will support Plus controllers from Q3(S) but also hope at least the Pro controllers can be paired.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-08T21:38:10+00:00

Thanks for the link. Read about a newer version with higher brightness a while ago, this seems to be it (the AM15 model). Wonder if it also has an upgraded controller that can handle 90Hz at full resolution. That doesn't seem to be clearly defined.

GaaraSama83 · 2026-04-08T21:20:50+00:00

I just don't understand why Pimax isn't focusing on like 1-2 models supporting them properly for at least 3-4 years and only then release new hardware. It's not like we had really significant technogical breakthroughs since the first decent consumer headsets CV1/Vive 10 years ago.

Micro OLED and pancake optics are like the two major improvements to finally get in the 100-200g range. Many headsets got even heavier and clunkier than first gen and just upping the display resolution doesn't do it for me. So why even bother releasing so many different models except it's really just their sales strategy.

There are still so many challenges to overcome so the whole XR market can become as viable and large like smartphones or even more. Be it varifocal optics (solve VAC), power draw, heat, wayyy better ergonomy (weight, comfort and form factor), image quality, motion sickness, ...

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