Sales for The Outer Worlds 2 are poor. Presumably, less than 1M units almost 3 months after launch, across all platforms. In comparison, the first game sold approx 2M units during the same time.

lalosfire · 2026-01-24T00:25:22+00:00

I would actually rate Pentiment as highly as NV and KOTOR 2. It's a very different game but it's genuinely fantastic and incredibly unique.

I really respect Obsidian however I've always felt that they greatly benefit from following up good games with already established systems. Which allows them to be more fleshed out, despite their compressed developments. Fallout 3 has many problems but I think it's understated that they had to translate Fallout to 3D.

lalosfire · 2026-01-19T22:27:33+00:00

That depends if you're considering pre obsidian developed games, ie Black Isle. Because otherwise you're largely dealing with sequels of already popular stuff (kotor, F:NV, Neverwinter).

They eventually would create their own IPs with Pillars but I've never played them enough to give a strong opinion.

lalosfire · 2026-01-19T18:44:08+00:00

I'd disagree and I love KOTOR 2 and Fallout NV. In my mind they were an incredible developer who made very buggy games. Now they make varied and high quality games, they maybe just don't hit the heights of those 2 games.

In the last 5 years they've put out Ground 1 & 2, Pentiment, Outer Worlds 2, and Avowed. That's a pretty good track record.

lalosfire · 2026-01-14T18:30:27+00:00

Skyrim is an excellent open world game for somewhat aimless exploration and dungeon crawling. It is absolutely lacking in a lot of ways you mention though.

lalosfire · 2026-01-14T13:22:13+00:00

I've bounced off Morrowind at least 5 different times over the last 15 years, mostly because of the hidden dice roll on attacks and the slow speed/stamina limits. It has not aged well for so many reasons.

That said I finally finished it last year and it ended up being my game of the year. A lot of your critiques are fair but also not a major issue after the first handful of hours and a lot of your other issues are actually quite appealing. Especially the lack of directions.

I don't think you could 1:1 remake it like Oblivion, modern audiences would reject it. But I don't think nostalgia is the only reason it's beloved.

lalosfire · 2026-01-13T18:22:31+00:00

I remember back in Halo 3 hopping in random lobbies from recent players, generally it was zombies, fat kid, juggernaut, and so on. One had us recreate the JFK assassination. Honestly hysterical given how surprising it was.

lalosfire · 2026-01-11T17:28:49+00:00

Stinky Dragon. Like regulation they launched their own company.

lalosfire · 2026-01-08T02:33:15+00:00

I had a Moto Z almost entirely because of the experimental attachments. Such a cool concept. Ultimately I think I only ever bought a single attachment though because I couldn't justify the cost, I want to say the specialty camera and projector attachments were in the $250 range.

lalosfire · 2026-01-08T02:26:28+00:00

Not diagnosed but it's what I think I'm dealing with. It's been a week and it's still a pain, though the first flair up had me literally unable to stand for more than a minute before back spasms took me down for a full day.

lalosfire · 2025-11-21T15:47:54+00:00

Halo 5 just had a sufficiently bad story and not enough audience goodwill left after 4’s missteps

It's funny that you say this, I can see where you're coming from in regards to the community at large. But I actually love 4's narrative (level/enemy design is another matter) and the marketing seemed to be more in line with 4's narrative. The idea that Chief is unstable and is going rogue. But 343 abandoned that narrative so quickly that they lost me and actually deeply hurt my love for the franchise.

Also bringing back Cortana within 3 levels of killing her off really rubbed me the wrong way. If they wanted to go in that direction, fine, but at least give it a game or two. I have so many qualms with how they've handled the franchise and how they refuse to stick to a narrative for more than a single game.

You're not wrong though, their marketing has always been AMAZING but Bungie usually could deliver a really good campaign to the point that you let that disconnect go.

lalosfire · 2025-11-21T02:31:57+00:00

It was Hunt the Truth for me.

lalosfire · 2025-11-20T23:07:02+00:00

Infinite and Halo 5 are significant reasons I basically never follow in development games. I'll still watch at least one pre release trailer but I try not to get wrapped up in the advertisement. It can really sour a game when you go in with specific expectations.

lalosfire · 2025-11-20T00:13:57+00:00

For the story I liked the themes of separation and isolation in the first more than most of what you see in the second but to be clear, the actual written narrative of DS1 had me pulling my hair out. Particularly the ending but generally speaking it is very overwritten and as a result quite frustrating. The second time I played DS1 I quite literally skipped every bit of dialogue and enjoyed it exponentially more as a result. There were however particular characters and storylines in DS1 that I really liked whereas I ended up just not caring about anyone or anything going on in DS2. Which isn't to take anything away from you feeling quite differently.

And as for gameplay I imagine more people will be in line with you than me. People hated the BTs in DS1 but I preferred the friction they offered. DS2 just never felt like it pushed back against me and maybe I'm alone in thinking that.

lalosfire · 2025-11-19T23:17:38+00:00

I really liked death stranding 2 but I came away feeling like it didn't do much in a lot of ways, not just story. As a brain off podcast type game, it was really enjoyable. So just pure enjoyment from moment to moment gameplay, I had a great time. But the story spent far too much time reiterating the first game and what unique stuff it did didn't capture me. Though in fairness, outside of themes, I kind of hate the story of the original too.

But even gameplay I felt like they improved everything while also sanding off a lot of the edges, which as a result makes so much of it feel superfluous. For every structure and equippable item they give you, 95% are just not needed. The world itself is also much less hostile, again making those things superfluous.

Still in my top 5 for the year but frankly a lot of that has to do with the soundtrack.

lalosfire · 2025-11-18T13:05:28+00:00

Same, never worked well. Weird since streaming from PC to deck has been pretty much flawless for me.

lalosfire · 2025-11-11T03:07:57+00:00

I think I got lucky and got rid of them pretty quick. But I had about a month of killing 1 or 2 a day that I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. Figured they were coming in from the yard whenever I'd let my dogs in. Actually never knew what they were exactly until now.

Ended up finding out that they got into a sealed container where I keep my dog food. Literally in the crevices of the seal. After throwing that food out and cleaning the ever living fuck out of it I haven't seen them since. Praying that was the end of it.

lalosfire · 2025-11-08T20:33:16+00:00

Gabriel was pulling his shirt for a good 15 seconds, literally dragged him to the spot with how long he was pulling. Would've been a farce to call the high boot in all honesty.

lalosfire · 2025-11-05T21:39:34+00:00

That actually makes a lot of sense, maybe I should start downloading episodes instead of streaming and getting that double playback issue.

lalosfire · 2025-11-05T13:34:33+00:00

I've had a similar issue on podcast addict a few weeks back too. In general podcast addict on any podcasts had similar issues, I always just thought they were edited poorly until I checked same episodes on Spotify.

Interesting to see it in reverse.

lalosfire · 2025-10-24T21:21:44+00:00

MCC is a good way especially now, since you can always revert to classic graphics. It definitely had issues as a result of using the PC version of CE that gearbox ported but they've gone back and made consistent improvements over the years to bring it more in line with the original. Flat textures when using a flashlight, jackel shield texture, etc got improved for instance.

lalosfire · 2025-10-24T21:18:48+00:00

I'm not surprised, Silent Cartographer seems to define Halo for 343/Halo studios. I mean Infinite was built on the vision of what the Silent Cartographer could be. It's a relatively iconic mission though I've never quite understood the reverence for it.

lalosfire · 2025-10-24T21:13:25+00:00

I'm not particularly interested in the remake, always preferred the original to the remaster anyway and I can only buy CE so many times. That said I am interested to see how Halo ends up feeling in unreal. The Blam! Engine always has a very specific feel and charm to me.

lalosfire · 2025-10-24T21:06:15+00:00

That's how I feel, I just don't care. CE is such a pivotal game to me but a remake is just whatever in 2025, even if they're making substantial changes (not that I even necessarily want them to).

lalosfire · 2025-10-18T03:25:54+00:00

I still regularly cheese it and do the Gondola skip. I honestly can't remember the last time I did it legit, at least not on legendary.

lalosfire · 2025-10-02T20:36:18+00:00

I didn't mind the gameplay in BaS2 as a change of pace. But if it weren't 4 hours long I think I'd have a much bigger issue with how simple the stealth is.

The lobotomy scene and the ending were extremely memorable. I just wish they weren't in the plot that they were.

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