Sheik is good tho

That fatigue will NOT exist or at least will not have an impact if the disease can easily kill anyone. People brushed off covid because many could afford to do so without being at risk personally. A selfish mindset but on an individual level they weren't wrong.

If a disease appears that kills young adults easily then trust me mask wearing won't even be an issue because you'll struggle to even get people outside their homes. The majority of the population being at risk of dying a painful death to a disease is probably an amazing deterrent to interacting with others tbh.

That's not to say this will make dealing with the disease easy but I don't believe the effort will be slowed down by any fatigue.

If we get another pandemic similar to covid in severity though? Yeah I 100% think it would be worse because more people would adopt the 'well it doesn't effect me so I don't care' mentality. I'd much rather that be our future than some super disease that can kill anyone with ease though.

I mean based on the trend of how many accusations are made to then how many convictions are made surely it isn't enough? That's not accounting the 'hidden' figures where victims may never bother reporting an incident because they believe it'll be pointless in the long run.

It's difficult because I do believe that the majority of cases aren't false accusations but we just can't convict someone of a crime without real evidence. Sure everyone may think it's likely someone committed a crime but without evidence surely we can't convict them of it? Maybe in the future a better system can be made for rape/SA cases but as it stands I just struggle to see what can be done.

Harsher punishments for rapists which we can prove have committed the crime and better education to discourage this sort of behaviour may help but if we do fall into a 'he said/she said' situation I'm not sure what can be done as it stands.

It's ok for people to enjoy the game but to normalise this standard of game for this pricepoint would be to play a dangerous game. I think thats what OP was getting at.

It literally never goes on sale too. The creators clearly know that berserk games are essentially non existent.

Disc versions aren't exactly cheap though from what I've seen so you aren't missing out on much. If you are willing to buy it at like 10-20% off then do it because that's the most it'll ever go on sale I imagine.

Just seen that IGN gave it a four? Yeah it must be awful then. I very rarely see IGN give below a six.

The dragonsplague wasn't a mechanic to begin with man it was pointless.

Also yes we do need an eternal ferrystone in the game. At the least add it in NG+. I've seen everything to see so why continue to restrict me?

The hybrids we got in JWE2 were so boring considering majority were also from JWE1. I mean seriously two hybrids that are mixed with spino? And no hybrid aquatic and/or aviary animals?

I'm not saying bringing those hybrids back was bad rather locking essentially the exact same thing behind a paywall again was a bit scummy. Especially when the one new hybrid was another mix with spino.

I feel like it was originally linked to the story and then they cut down the story.

The parts they cut down were parts of the story related to the dragonsplague but they liked the idea so they forced the concept into the game somehow.

If it was always linked to the online pawn system in concept then I can only think it was an attempt at bogging down the pawn system to add some "git gud' bullshit and they obviously failed at that as no one cares about the plague.

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I think its likely the game got caught in an unfortunate period.

It had around 5 years in development which is a normal time period these days but obviously the pandemic skewed things and capcom aren't going to keep flushing money and giving time to a project that may not even end up doing well. We can clearly see now that they should've kept faith but there's no way they could've known that it would have done well in retrospect. When your next title is monster hunter wilds you probably aren't majorally fussed about the one coming prior from an unproven IP.

I really don't believe capcom said to them they had the go ahead to make a massive game though. Its possible but personally I just can't see it. I think capcom are partially to blame but I also think someone tried to do something that was unachievable based on the circumstances. When you don't have enough tools to build something you don't try and mash things together with your bare hands.

No game has literally every single concept idea implemented. He said he wanted to do more but he felt this was enough essentially. For a sequel I think many believe it isn't enough. I even see newcomers say this is a game you should buy on sale.

If we are talking about bugs yeah sure no bugs but performance? Well that's a whole different story based on who you ask.

As much as I want to say it I really can't justify saying that this game is that "just enough". Maybe in his mind it is but based on the criticisms it seems many would disagree.

Sure though starting in battahl would add NG+ scaling/hard mode, fix a story that falls apart half way through, poor enemy variety and distribution, make dragonsplague something mediocre at best, fix performance issues and mend some poor quest design. Half of the issues aren't things where we needed new ideas we needed them to work on what was already there. Adding a boss fight on the moon wouldnt have fixed this.

For a title releasing at this price point it isn't satisfactory. Maybe itsuno thought capcom were releasing the game at £40 when he said what he said I guess? No I don't blame itsuno for everything nor do I scapegoat him but he said those words so people are justified in looking back and saying "what was this about then?".

Also he wanted to do more well yeah there was always gonna be a limit buddy. DD1 didn't exactly rival monster hunter in sales so capcom ain't gonna give you a massive budget where you can make the biggest game ever. As a result they needed to work with that rather than just try to do whatever they wanted irresponsibly (if this is how things went).

To truly and fairly blame anyone I'd need more info than what we actually have. I dont scapegoat itsuno but I do suspect he may be part of some of the issues. Was he actually given a script and told to read it word by word or something like that? If that was the case then literally no blame goes on him obviously.

If he was speaking without much interference then some blame will go on him. He said it with his own free will so that will also mean that people can hold you by your own words. He's an adult and this is how things work when you are an adult.

Yes he can't say "this game is dogshit lol fuck capcom" but if you say something during marketing for the purposes of hype consumers then get the right to hold you by your word. No he isn't Satan on earth for exaggerating or lying during marketing but if you, of your own free will, say something then you are accountable when someone fairly rebukes your statement.

It also depends on what happened behind the scenes during development as to whether anyone gets blamed though. For all we know this could be itsunos actual realised vision and to him a finished game. If it is sure he didn't lie or exaggerate from his own perspective but this is a pretty poor realised vision.

I've already said the way some scapegoat itsuno and put kinoshita on a pedestal is just purely irrational regardless. For all we know kinoshita may think DD2 is the best game ever lmao.

I acknowledged that it's marketing talk in my original comment but because he said it people now have the right to rebuke it. Surprise surprise when you say something people will hold you to your word.

He said its a finished game and many people think it's not a finished game. Obviously there's going to be a problem there. I'm not going to personally chase up every little thing he said like that but people will and fair enough. During marketing talk if you don't know what you are doing you essentially end up making a load of promises to your consumers. Don't deliver on said promises and some people will be pissed. Everyone knew DD1 had content cut so when you say this is a finished game you set expectations.

Thanks for repeating my point I guess? Didn't realise everyone gets their own personal bot parrots now

Itsuno said himself this is the game he wants to put out.

Could that easily be him just selling a product? For sure.

However he's said it so some people will take it literally and that's just how it is. He shouldn't have said it otherwise. It'd be silly to 100% believe everything he says but it was also dumb to say what he said in the first place because for one reason or another this doesn't feel like a finished game and certainly not like a proper sequel.

I think that this game is partly a result of being rushed but also somewhat the realisation of a person's vision of something rather than focusing on making the most enjoyable game possible. If we want the most enjoyable DD game possible maybe it's a DD game without itsuno as the lead.

I do think this notion that kinoshita can do no wrong and that he would've made a far better DD2 if he was the lead is stupid though. There's no reason to believe this guy could make a really good full game and its blatant scapegoating.

Is 5-6 years of actual development not the normal development time for games?

I see things where a game is in development for 8-10 years but that can't be them consistently working on it. FF15 supposedly had a 'development time' of 13 years from what I've seen.

Rather I'm curious as to if/how the pandemic impacted development if that's the actual time this game spent in development. 5 years seems acceptable to me personally albeit a little short but this game feels very unfinished so the only thing I can think of then is the impact of the pandemic on development.

Also please remember DD wasnt a proven IP before DD2. Capcom wasn't ever going to give them the world as a base during development. Why give loads of money/time to a unproven IP when you can guarantee a resident evil or monster hunter game will make loads of money?

This cannot be the final DLC lmao

I think your post, especially towards the end, perfectly nailed how DD2 is a 'good' game but a poor sequel. Everything good in DD2 was more or less taken from the first game and everything that needed improving was not improved here. Why make a sequel if not to seriously improve things?

There's a trend in gaming where sequels do more of the same rather than innovate or attempt to actually improve and its a pretty bad trend. How the sequel of a 12 year old game fell prey to this trend is just mind-boggling.

I lowkey think significant performance patches aren't coming tbh

Summoner would really be a vocation in itself but rather I think trickster should have been able to buff pawns and debuff enemies. Obviously I mean play into this more than just one skill which can buff pawns damage.

Genuinely what is the value of trickster once you get past the point where ogres flinging themselves off cliffs isn't funny anymore? I feel like it really did need a lot more skills especially when some of the current skills are so lackluster.

Isn't one of the skills to see where enemies are through walls? I mean why is that a thing when stealth is literally nonexistent? That's just a waste of a skill slot lmao

If you mean I'm underestimating how forced diversity can be bad I do agree that forced diversity is bad but its very rare and I'm definitely not concerned that a game set in a realistic depiction of medieval bohemia is going to set out to force diversity.

The first game sold well without this forced diversity and if anything I'd say the overall perception of forced diversity is bad so they definitely wouldn't force it now for sales.

KCD1 in itself was a game that wasn't trying to appeal to everyone, irrespective of if we look at it from a gameplay or diversity angle and that's how games should be made (though many games don't have the valid excuse for lack of diversity that KCD does). Forced diversity can only occur if you are trying to 'please' everyone when you have a warped perception as to what it takes to please people.

Again though we can agree that the majority just want good games and in this case a game that at least makes a good attempt at being historically accurate.

If the streets of the main city aren't lined with people from every walk of life we will definitely see someone crying just as how we'll see someone cry if there's one interaction in the game with one trader from the middle east.

Basically as you've noted a small vocal group will kick up a fuss regardless of how things go. I think someone out there would have an issue if there isn't an Australian aboriginal or native American dude in KCD2 lmao.

As with the first game people will complain about diversity in one way or another but it will blow over very quickly as the majority wouldn't subscribe to such senseless arguments. Unless the game itself is sending out a racist message (which it obviously won't) then there's genuinely no way the games performance will be impacted by such narratives.

Covid was a disease where many people could be blasé about it though unfortunately.

I know many were hit very hard by it but the truth is many fit young-middle aged people were not in direct danger due to covid. While it wasn't right many in society could afford to brush it off. Many people my age were in actual danger but as a young person I think a lot of people can relate to the feeling that I was concerned for my grandparents sure but I never once feared for my own health.

Say covid was able to consistently kill 25 year olds who didn't suffer from any auto immune diseases well public perception would have been far different. Even more so if young adults were fine but children were another group that were very vulnerable to the disease.

Millions more could die if a more dangerous strain of covid existed however you also wouldn't find people refusing to wear masks simply because they didn't want to or people skipping out on using hand sanitiser in public. You definitely wouldn't find many people meeting up with mates during lockdown if your mates could cough on you and that lead you to your deathbed.

The red looks way better than the white in my opinion.

I wish I could change the colours on mine but I'm not in a position where I can throw away £50 on new covers for my PS5 when that's nearly a whole new game. Never mind the fact I'd need a matching controller too lmao.