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I completely agree. Andrzej Sapkowski wrote a brilliant book series, but that doesn't mean he isn't a high and mighty prick. He has no respect for video games as a medium and that's why he done himself bad in the original deal. It was his own damb fault. So much of the interest in the books was generated because CD Project Red's games, especially internationally, and thus generated a lot of sales for the books, so he already got a massive payday that he himself said he wouldn't because of arrogance and disrespect for the medium. Not to mention there is no way he would have been able to earn that licence fee from Netflix for the new TV series if the games hadn't been successful. Like @Crazycrabsaid, they settled out of court, but I will always believe CD Project Red owed him nothing.

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We seem to be pretty harmonious in agreement on this thread that there really isn't anywhere to "go" with "innovation" right now in consoles. We basically can only get two things out of new consoles right now: new games, and quality of life improvements. We seem to be pretty harmonious in agreement on this thread that there really isn't anywhere to "go" with "innovation" right now in consoles. We basically can only get two things out of new consoles right now: new games, and quality of life improvements. So, what quality of life improvements do you want the most for whatever console you play? To me, what we’ve been hearing about sounds pretty good—no more load screens, faster and more effective loading of levels, etc. The biggest quality of life improvement I want though has nothing to do with the console—it has to do with the controller. DualShock 3 controllers have done nothing but die on me, and I can’t afford to replace them with anything but crappy aftermarket ones. I wish that the next controller will be a bit sturdier and less finicky, with a longer lifespan. That by itself would thrill me. Obviously I also want backwards compatibility that goes all the way back to the original PlayStation, but we all know how unlikely that is. @The Blackangel, @Crazycrab, @skyfire, @kingpotato

@kingpotato just mentioned he would like to see a climbing skill incorporated into the next Elder Scrolls game, an idea that I like as well. The funny thing about Skyrim though is that you can climb up almost anything if you are determined enough. One of my favorite things to do when I am bored is see if I can get to remote high spots on the map that I likely was never meant to get to. There are some cool little secrets too—like a rooftop in Solitude that has a free health potion that respawns that is hard to climb to. At the same time, it is pretty unrealistic. I have to admit that while I get irritated at the fact that Fallout: New Vegas will not let you climb up things that you are not meant to get up and over, it is more believable. I like the idea of a climbing system where you start out more like you are in NV, and then as you keep climbing stuff, you are able to handle steeper slopes and move toward more Skyrim-like freedom. Another game where I love to climb is Unreal Tournament 2004. There too, you can get up to remote, unlikely places in the map, especially if you have quad jump activated. Not like it gives you a tactical advantage if you have bots playing against you—they are pretty much omniscient. But getting to the highest point gives me a feeling of deep satisfaction. Who here likes to climb in games? Which games are best for climbing? How could climbing be improved in your favorite games?

The current DualShock 4 is already a significant improvement in ergonomics and quality over it's predecessor... except for 2 things: Micro USB: I frigging HATE micro USB! Always have! They're fidgity, fall out all the time and are far to easy to break. We already know that the next gen systems are switching over to USB Type-C (like on newer smartphones and the Nintendo Switch) and thank mercyfull Zues for that! Battery life: I'm not sure if it's the light bar or the motor's for the rumble but the batteries on the DS4 seemed to drain much faster than they did before on the DS3. So I'm hoping Sony addresses this. Other than that I'm expecting (and hoping) that the DualShock 5 won't be much different from the DualShock 4. Microsoft have aready announced that the new XBox is fully backwards compatible and that's great. Granted it isn't as straight forward Sony to do this with the PS5 since the architecture of the PS2 and PS3 in particular are so different from the x86 PC architecture that we see in the consoles now. I know from experience that it takes a fairly powefull PC to emulate PS2 games properly, let alone PS3. It is unlikely but I'm hoping the really beefy AND ZEN 2 based CPU's combined with the commercial pressure from Microsoft's backwards compabilty promises they will make the PS5 fully backwards compatible but we will have to wait and see.

Yep, it is a classic meme...

Like I said in the other thread, it wasn't stupid mistake, it was error in judgment brought on by sheer arrogance. Video games and the people who play them are beneath Andrzej Sapkowski and his art, according to him. I believe CDPR offered a sales stake at first, but he just took the modest cash sum instead because gamers wouldn't by it. I'm repeating a lot of what I said in the other thread, but the game made him a fortune through raising awareness of the book. Looking into the history of the publication, the literature wasn't even published in English until around the time the first game came out and that can't be a coincidence. That man owes so much the success of his books to the game, especially outside of Poland, and for him to say because he underestimated the gaming community, insulted their intelligence and didn't have faith in CD Project Red to make it a success he deserves a bigger cut of that success is just, that word again, arrogant. Sadly, because of Polish law he had a strong legal case, and it would be just like CD Project Red to "be the bigger man" and just settle with him. I won't deny the man his due, he's a great writer and novelist, but if this is anything to go by he's an archaic, arrogant, stuck-up, snobby turd of a man.

Maybe they don’t have a one way digestive system. Maybe when they eat their body holds on to every single part of the food and saves it until it needs it.

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I'll post done now. Today being the winter solstice, I've not had a huge amount of time, I'll get it now.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

I understand that from a capitalist standpoint, the company did nothing "wrong." I just know that if I made the kind of money they did with a game like that, I'd think back to the guy I persuaded to part with the rights for 10 grand and throw him a larger slice of profit of my own volition. I have a hard time believing it'd have inconvenienced them in a major way to pay him more than they originally did. I'm glad they settled though, and on the plus side, I expect he has made a lot more money through the trickle down through people outside of Poland finally realizing he exists =D

I've been playing Shovel Knight as well for the first time, I just finished the boss fight with Spectre Knight.

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows Decided to pick up on my New Game+ save, since I haven't beaten it yet like I did with Shovel of Hope back when it was still just Shovel Knight. I... forgot how difficult it was to control Plague Knight. 😂 Oh dear.

When it comes to gaming 9 times out of 10 the term "innovation" is a by word for experimental gimmick that barely friggin works. By now I think we have a pretty solid formula for what works and a controller or mouse and keyboard and a screen. Going back to the early days when companies would "innovate" with crap like the power glove, light guns, motion controls or more recently the Kniect and PlayStation move is the absolute last thing I wanna see. So aside from accessories that makes games more accessible for people with disabilities like the XBox Adaptive Controller (vid below) all I want is for my hardware to work.

I agree with you there. But the sad thing is that there are people that have to have the current generation of whatever it is, whether it's any improvement or not is irrelevant. They have to have the current iPhone, they have to have the newest Xbox, they have to have this years car, and on and on and on. I don't get it myself. I used an iPhone 5 until around September of this year when it completely crapped out on me. Why? Because it still worked and did everything I wanted it to do. What am I using now? An iPhone 6S. I don't need the newest shit. Old shit works just fine for me as long as it does what I'm wanting it to do. It's part of why I'm almost exclusively a classic gamer. I love the old cartridge games. They entertained me more than 99% of the games since the Game Cube era. I wasn't big on PS2 either. Granted there are several PS3 games I enjoy the hell out of, and a couple series I'm a fan of. God Of War for example. But so many of the games you guys talk about, I only know that they're not the type of game I would enjoy playing myself. I've watched videos on YouTube of people playing many of the games, and I know it's not my thing. So unless we get a machine that is literally a Ready Player One type of setup, I highly doubt I'll be buying anything from the next 5 generations.

I would like to see a climbing skill, I dont expect Assassins creed level of climbing but being able to climb mountains, houses or threes would be nice. It would make thief and archer combat more realistic. As well I would like to see a better Bounty hunting or beast slaying system like on Red Dead Redemption and Witcher 3, the companions can give you small quests like that but they tend to be boring, I want to be able to go to a town a look and grab a bounty from the quest board, actually I would like to see that as well a literal Quest board xD

All I want for the future is good games, honestly when it comes to performance of consoles I'm pretty comfortable. Personally I'm not looking or expecting any innovating stuff but at the same time I feel that releasing a new console is pointless because there will be nothing "new" just improvements on what already exists, so the only thing I hope for the future is better games since for me thats what makes a console good.

I simply vote with my wallet, I flat out refuse to buy any game with lootboxes, insidious microtransactions or from really unethical companies. To tell the truth, I don't really feel like I've missed on anything that I really wanted to play, by avoiding these things you avoid the vast majority of the garbage. That is debatable, if you ask me the whole debacle was entirely his own fault! The author of the books Andrzej Sapkowski by the admission of his own ignorance made a mistake by taking a cash sum in exchange for the rights instead of a % share in the profits that they offered him in the first place. He didn't think the games would make a dime because he didn't know anything about video games. Honestly in my opinion, he's been a bit of a knob chasing CD Projekt Red for royalties just because the games became a success. It doesn't matter now anyway, they settled out of court just recently so can buy any of the Witcher games with a clear conscience. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-12-21-cd-projekt-and-the-witcher-author-andrzej-sapkowski-ink-new-ip-rights-deal