Crowfall 2.0, FFXIV Is King, New World's Decline | This Weeks PC Gaming News

00:00:00.000hey everyone welcome back to this week's

00:00:01.680pc gaming news recap big stories of the

00:00:04.480week include crowfall 2.0 that's not an

00:00:07.680official name however the game recently

00:00:09.760got some major funding a brand new

00:00:11.920studio and plans for an overhaul that'll

00:00:14.080be happening sometime next year we do

00:00:15.920have the ongoing crazy saga that has

00:00:18.000been final fantasy 14 its continued

00:00:20.560success and growth spurred on further by

00:00:22.800the recent expansion continues to cause

00:00:24.720problems for anyone looking to play and

00:00:26.560then ashes of creation got a big update

00:00:28.800moving to unreal engine 5 which beyond

00:00:31.039visual improvements is set to help make

00:00:33.200development easier besides these stories

00:00:35.120we've got some daybreak games news i

00:00:37.280want to recap what's been going on with

00:00:38.960new world pantheon has announced some

00:00:40.879big plans and as i'm sure you've heard

00:00:43.040nfts are making their way into gaming

00:00:45.440like it or not and there's a few more

00:00:46.879things including some recent game

00:00:48.399reveals and what's newly playable and

00:00:51.440with that let's go ahead and jump into

00:00:53.360this week's top stories in last week's

00:00:55.680episode we covered the rumors going

00:00:57.199around that the recently released mmo

00:00:59.280crowfall might be nearing an end the

00:01:01.440gist of it being that the game had

00:01:03.039performed poorly and unless things

00:01:04.720turned around would either move into

00:01:06.320maintenance or just shut down completely

00:01:08.720well there's been a new major

00:01:10.000development ensuring that neither of

00:01:11.520these things are going to happen

00:01:13.040crowfall developer and publisher

00:01:14.720artcraft entertainment has sold the game

00:01:17.119off to monumental a studio who intends

00:01:19.840to bring this floundering pvp focused

00:01:22.159mmo back to life according to the press

00:01:24.560release this was an acquisition of the

00:01:27.040game itself and not of the developer art

00:01:30.159craft so monumental will be providing a

00:01:32.960huge influx of funding they will be

00:01:35.119hiring the crowfall team looking to add

00:01:37.840on top of that seamlessly without

00:01:40.159impacting the game's current state and

00:01:42.720development plans apparently

00:01:44.240monumental's ceo monty kerr was an early

00:01:47.600backer and avid crowfall player who just

00:01:50.159really wants to see the game succeed

00:01:52.240which is actually what led to this

00:01:54.159acquisition but who are monumental well

00:01:56.799according to their website they're an

00:01:58.240independent self-funded studio based out

00:02:00.479of austin texas their most notable game

00:02:03.119myth guard is this fantasy cyberpunk ccg

00:02:06.479which has fairly good ratings but a

00:02:08.879relatively small player base interesting

00:02:11.039note though they also didn't make that

00:02:13.680game instead they purchased it a few

00:02:16.000months ago with the intent of preventing

00:02:18.400it from entering maintenance mode sound

00:02:20.400familiar yeah that's right that's

00:02:21.920basically exactly the same situation as

00:02:24.480what's going on right now with crowfall

00:02:26.560so how did that go well it's kind of

00:02:28.480hard to say myth guard's original

00:02:30.560developer rhino games announced it would

00:02:32.640be entering maintenance back in july and

00:02:35.280then come mid-october they revealed that

00:02:37.280the game was sold off to monumental now

00:02:39.360since that sale myth guard has seen a 36

00:02:42.800uptick in average monthly players but

00:02:45.280percentages can be misleading because

00:02:47.280that increase was from a 12 average

00:02:50.480player peak count in october to 17 peak

00:02:54.000player count in november so yeah there's

00:02:56.400more people playing but it's five more

00:02:58.560people

00:02:59.519and that could amount to uh the people

00:03:01.519who work at monumental who are now

00:03:03.200spending time on this game like who

00:03:04.640knows point being whether or not

00:03:06.480monumental can be successful in bringing

00:03:09.200crowfall back from the brink we have no

00:03:11.760idea uh the track record with their

00:03:13.599previous attempt is it's just not long

00:03:15.840enough for us to clearly judge like

00:03:17.519maybe they will turn around myth guard

00:03:19.280but as of now it's still a relatively

00:03:21.840small game just keep in mind though that

00:03:24.080the current crowfall team is still going

00:03:26.239to be working on the game according to

00:03:27.840artcraft's creative director j todd

00:03:30.159coleman the studio is being split down

00:03:32.159the middle so gordon blair and the

00:03:34.239entire crowfall team will be moving on

00:03:36.640to join monumental while the other half

00:03:39.120of art craft will be staying to work on

00:03:41.200their new game bottom line is crowfall

00:03:43.519is currently in a much better position

00:03:45.440to succeed than it was just a few weeks

00:03:47.920ago they have a new influx of cash they

00:03:50.640have new leadership and they're still

00:03:52.400maintaining much of the team that

00:03:54.159created the game originally so they're

00:03:55.920familiar with the ins and outs of it but

00:03:58.080maybe with this new direction they can

00:04:00.080have the game in a better place now

00:04:01.920monumental has said that a long-term

00:04:04.159development roadmap is in the works

00:04:06.239right now and they plan to reveal that

00:04:08.640sometime next year so we will keep an

00:04:10.799eye out for that i think this whole

00:04:12.319story is exciting simply because it adds

00:04:14.799an unknown crowfall's future seemed

00:04:17.519pretty predictable it was likely to

00:04:19.759either enter maintenance mode or shut

00:04:21.600down completely just from everything

00:04:23.120that we've had that investor report

00:04:24.800aside we knew that the game wasn't

00:04:26.639particularly successful and wasn't doing

00:04:28.560particularly well at the very least this

00:04:30.800adds a random element you know we've got

00:04:34.000interest in the game we've got new

00:04:35.759people working on it and a bunch of new

00:04:37.680funding maybe this means that a new

00:04:40.479version of crowfall is gonna happen in

00:04:42.7202022 2023 or beyond um but the game's

00:04:46.639not going into maintenance mode at the

00:04:48.400very least that much is clear final

00:04:50.160fantasy 14 is so popular right now that

00:04:53.120square enix has had to literally stop

00:04:56.080selling the game as i've covered in

00:04:58.160prior episodes the end walker expansion

00:05:00.400as much as people enjoy the content has

00:05:03.199been causing some massive issues

00:05:05.120specifically there are just way too many

00:05:06.720people trying to play and not enough

00:05:09.039server space to let everyone in the

00:05:10.960result of this being super long queue

00:05:12.800times and disconnection issues across

00:05:15.120the board now initially to make up for

00:05:16.880these problems they gave away seven free

00:05:18.960days of subscription time however the

00:05:21.360issues continued to persist and they

00:05:23.840decided to add 14 more free days

00:05:26.639bringing the total to 21 and they

00:05:29.039suspended all sales of the game on top

00:05:32.240of that they also stopped advertising

00:05:34.240the recent expansion so that people

00:05:36.000aren't like learning about it and trying

00:05:37.440to go out and buy it while it is not

00:05:39.360currently available for purchase i don't

00:05:41.039think i've ever heard of something like

00:05:42.960this happening well except for earlier

00:05:45.199this year when final fantasy 14 had to

00:05:47.520stop selling the game so now now in

00:05:50.160twice in one year they've had to stop

00:05:52.240selling this game because it's too

00:05:53.759popular

00:05:55.120like what is this

00:05:56.639clearly this is not an ideal situation

00:05:59.120for square enix they would love to keep

00:06:01.440selling the expansion and keep raking in

00:06:03.600monthly subs but in order to rein things

00:06:05.680in and to just improve the experience

00:06:07.360for their existing players they're

00:06:08.960willing to take a hit to their bottom

00:06:10.880line this is just such an amazing thing

00:06:12.639to see they're literally like hey we

00:06:14.080will lose money because we just the

00:06:15.840people who already are bought into this

00:06:18.000game we want to make sure that they can

00:06:19.680actually get in and play and that things

00:06:21.440stabilize a bit now the global chip

00:06:23.520shortage is reportedly one of the main

00:06:25.520culprits here when it comes to adding

00:06:27.199more server capacity to the game because

00:06:29.919of that shortage they've had difficulty

00:06:31.840i did read somewhere that they're

00:06:33.199currently offering above market price

00:06:35.680square enix is willing to pay more than

00:06:37.520most people but they still can't get

00:06:39.360what they need to fix this fix this

00:06:41.199issue now of course things will

00:06:42.880eventually get better we just don't

00:06:44.880really know when we don't know when they

00:06:47.039will be able to spin up more servers or

00:06:48.800when demand will drop off as people uh

00:06:51.280stop all trying to log in at the same

00:06:53.199time it's just kind of a waiting game at

00:06:55.120this point and you know what's so funny

00:06:56.560this whole story is just it gets even

00:06:58.560crazier just when you remember the fact

00:07:00.240that when final fantasy first launched

00:07:02.240in 2010 it was an utter disaster the

00:07:04.880game was so bad and universally panned

00:07:07.360that they they closed the game and then

00:07:09.440brought it back into development here we

00:07:11.280are 10 years later this thing is

00:07:13.039massively successful it appears to be

00:07:14.880continuously growing and it could very

00:07:16.880well be the largest mmo in the western

00:07:19.120market right now i mean in terms of buzz

00:07:21.360that it gets in the press this is

00:07:22.720certainly the one that's talked about

00:07:24.080the most currently it's hard to say for

00:07:25.840sure though like we don't have exact

00:07:28.000numbers for most games in the genre but

00:07:30.639yes anecdotally this sure does seem like

00:07:33.039it's the it seems like this is the game

00:07:35.360and has surpassed wow at this point

00:07:37.120almost without question regardless i'll

00:07:39.280just say this congratulations to final

00:07:41.120fantasy 14

00:07:42.5602022 this has to be the year that i play

00:07:44.800the game right

00:07:46.240yeah it's gonna happen i'm sure ashes of

00:07:48.080creation just got a major facelift it is

00:07:50.319now being developed in unreal engine 5.

00:07:52.879this news came just before the holiday

00:07:54.720as part of a reveal event evidently they

00:07:56.960started the move back in october merging

00:07:58.960the game's custom code base over to ue5

00:08:01.759and they now feel comfortable showing

00:08:03.520some of that off and we got about a 20

00:08:05.680minute video showcasing some of how the

00:08:07.599game looks in the current iteration so

00:08:10.160for starters yeah everything looks a

00:08:11.919whole lot better thanks to some of the

00:08:13.680built-in engine features uh first

00:08:15.759there's lumen this dynamic lighting

00:08:17.680system that just makes all of the

00:08:19.280lighting look a lot more realistic

00:08:21.039nanite is a system that helps with

00:08:23.599rendering high poly count objects with

00:08:25.599minimal impact to performance that from

00:08:27.520what i understand basically it kind of

00:08:29.360phases in how much of something it

00:08:31.280renders as you get closer to it and then

00:08:33.760there's also this animation variable

00:08:35.519feature that i was reading about that

00:08:37.039will automatically make subtle changes

00:08:38.800to character animations based on the

00:08:40.479surrounding environment which just helps

00:08:42.320to make everything like feel more

00:08:43.919naturalistic all of this is pretty cool

00:08:45.839stuff and will aid in making the game

00:08:48.320more visually appealing now the roughly

00:08:50.32020 minute video that we saw also

00:08:52.320highlighted some of the non-engine

00:08:54.320specific game improvements that have

00:08:56.080happened like the dynamic weather system

00:08:58.320the addition of footprints mantling and

00:09:00.399crouching i thought this massive cave

00:09:02.800that was explored in this video was also

00:09:04.880pretty cool looking there were some

00:09:06.160really neat set pieces and i do have to

00:09:08.160say this is a common complaint but i

00:09:09.920kind of like how oversized everything

00:09:12.080appears in this game i don't know it's

00:09:13.920just something about it i enjoy now long

00:09:16.000term the move to unreal engine 5 will

00:09:18.080certainly be positive for the game

00:09:20.080especially considering we are likely two

00:09:22.000three possibly even four years away from

00:09:24.240launch had they continued running on an

00:09:26.320older version of the engine it would

00:09:27.760have dated the game even more especially

00:09:30.160since they're going for a more realistic

00:09:31.839look over a stylized look as of now you

00:09:34.880know i'll say it everything still looks

00:09:36.560pretty unfinished but of course that

00:09:37.839makes sense because they are technically

00:09:39.440still in alpha or pre-alpha or something

00:09:42.160and you know i won't say anything that i

00:09:43.760saw in this video blew me away aside

00:09:45.920from the lighting and that's a built-in

00:09:48.160unreal engine 5 feature and yeah it does

00:09:50.560look really darn good as with everything

00:09:52.720ash is related i can definitely see the

00:09:54.880potential and that's really what we're

00:09:56.320banking on here so i'm looking forward

00:09:58.080to watching it as a continues

00:09:59.680development and here's looking forward

00:10:01.120to playing the game again at some point

00:10:02.560in 2022 i do know that they have an

00:10:05.040alpha 2 test planned um i'm sure it's

00:10:07.839going to be still one of those like high

00:10:09.839backers like you got to spend like 250

00:10:11.600or 500

00:10:12.800or get a key in order to play but you

00:10:15.440know they're not going to send this out

00:10:16.640to the masses until it's really close to

00:10:18.320finish and yeah it's several it's

00:10:20.240probably two three or four years away

00:10:22.079from release like it's not coming out

00:10:24.000this year that's for sure so here's a

00:10:25.600sentence i never expected to say out

00:10:27.760loud daybreak games has entered a

00:10:30.240long-term agreement with wizards of the

00:10:32.399coast to develop provide live service

00:10:35.040for and publish magic the gathering

00:10:38.160online yes the same magic the gathering

00:10:40.320online that are released in 2002 and the

00:10:43.680same game that has more or less been

00:10:45.680replaced by magic the gathering arena

00:10:48.240this is an odd but also somewhat

00:10:50.399exciting story for me um not because

00:10:52.480daybreak is taking over what seems to be

00:10:54.560the discarded digital version of magic

00:10:56.959the gathering but just the fact that

00:10:58.399daybreak is making any moves at all has

00:11:01.279me really hopeful remember this is the

00:11:03.920same company that was once known as soe

00:11:06.480sony online entertainment and then in an

00:11:08.720acquisition they turned into daybreak

00:11:10.560games and then daybreak splintered off

00:11:12.560into three sub studios each focused on

00:11:15.040their various ips now most recently they

00:11:17.839were purchased in 2020 by the swedish

00:11:20.320games company enad global 7 and now

00:11:23.360apparently with this recent acquisition

00:11:25.279they're actually doing stuff but the big

00:11:27.279thing here is daybreak currently also

00:11:29.600owns everquest lord of the rings online

00:11:32.160dungeons and dragons online dc universe

00:11:34.399online and planetside 2. those are ips

00:11:36.720that i am definitely interested in

00:11:38.399seeing more of and seeing things happen

00:11:40.240truthfully though all of this is just a

00:11:42.079long-winded way of me saying maybe

00:11:44.160everquest next could still be a thing

00:11:46.320like i realize the answer to this is

00:11:47.76099.9 repeated percent chance no no it is

00:11:51.440not going to happen but in my like cold

00:11:53.360shriveled mmo fanboy heart somewhere in

00:11:55.920the deepest recesses there's a glimmer

00:11:58.160of hope a light just peeking through

00:12:00.160like everquest next are you still there

00:12:02.639or is there like a white board somewhere

00:12:04.560with development plans to revive the

00:12:06.720game a design dock

00:12:08.800is there anything

00:12:11.440probably not every week brings with it a

00:12:14.000slew of updates for new worlds and this

00:12:16.320past week was no different first off

00:12:18.560let's talk a bit about player count

00:12:20.320there's been a lot of focus on this

00:12:21.680recently and i think for good reason

00:12:24.000since the game peaked on september 30th

00:12:26.720which was two days after it officially

00:12:28.480launched it's seen roughly a 90 decrease

00:12:31.440in concurrent players going from a

00:12:33.440height of 913 000 to around roughly a

00:12:37.600hundred thousand peak daily that is a

00:12:39.839significant drop and certainly not the

00:12:41.760direction amazon hoped it would be

00:12:43.600heading they would love to see this line

00:12:45.519trending upward but i guess the question

00:12:47.440is how typical is it i would say that

00:12:49.920the general impression seems to be that

00:12:52.160this is more or less normal for an mmo

00:12:54.480we expect player count to be at the

00:12:56.880highest at the very start of a brand new

00:12:59.120game's launch or of a game's expansion

00:13:01.519and then we expect it to taper off with

00:13:03.760time this is experienced directly as

00:13:06.240players through server queue times

00:13:07.839they're always the worst at launch and

00:13:09.680then they clear up after a few days or a

00:13:12.160few weeks however even though a drop-off

00:13:14.480is expected um a 90 drop-off is huge and

00:13:18.880no doubt this is the result of a

00:13:20.480combination of the game's various issues

00:13:22.959from bugs and exploits down to simple

00:13:25.360design decisions now with that said the

00:13:27.519game is still doing okay in the grand

00:13:29.600scheme of things keep in mind it is

00:13:31.519still comfortably sitting in steam's top

00:13:33.68010 most played games every day and that

00:13:36.720is no small feat steam is after all the

00:13:39.519biggest digital platform for all of pc

00:13:41.920gaming so being in the top 10 every day

00:13:44.399since launch means that comparatively

00:13:46.480there are a ton of people playing new

00:13:48.639worlds but for the players themselves

00:13:50.560this doesn't necessarily translate we

00:13:52.800can't forget the new world

00:13:54.639went with a shard style system instead

00:13:57.279of like mega surfers when the game's

00:13:59.360thriving this can be awesome because it

00:14:01.440gives your server a sense of community

00:14:03.519you will know the various players and

00:14:05.360guilds and there will be this these

00:14:07.279dramas and storylines that unfold when

00:14:09.600you have a relatively static group of

00:14:11.760people playing together day in and day

00:14:13.920out however as the player counts drop

00:14:17.680some servers will be hit harder than

00:14:19.360others and can quickly move from feeling

00:14:21.440populated to feeling completely empty

00:14:23.920and this does appear to be what's

00:14:25.680happening with new world of course

00:14:27.680server mergers are a thing and amazon

00:14:30.240has been doing them but they're far from

00:14:32.000perfect and cause all sorts of their own

00:14:34.160issues in the process it's just

00:14:36.079unfortunately one of the drawbacks of

00:14:37.760going with like a shard system where you

00:14:39.600have these unique servers where a

00:14:41.519character is tied to that server it's

00:14:43.839cool when it's thriving it sucks when

00:14:46.399the game is dying and i hesitate to use

00:14:48.800that word because like i said even with

00:14:50.639a 90 drop off the game is still doing

00:14:53.120incredibly well compared to all of the

00:14:55.279other games on steam it's still in the

00:14:57.279top 10 every single day so there are

00:14:59.839people playing new world it's not a dead

00:15:02.000game but it's certainly not a growing

00:15:04.320game pretty much see every single day

00:15:06.800the peak count is just a little bit

00:15:08.720lower than it was the day before and if

00:15:10.880amazon hopes to reverse this trend they

00:15:12.880are going to have to make some pretty

00:15:14.079big moves in order to bring people back

00:15:16.160and we'll see what happens we'll see

00:15:17.519what 2022 holds for them that they do

00:15:19.440have some big plans as revealed in this

00:15:21.680hour and a half developer roundtable

00:15:23.440posted to youtube recently in it they

00:15:25.519cover some of the content features and

00:15:27.360improvements that are in the works these

00:15:29.279include fixes for existing bugs new

00:15:31.759methods for spotting and banning anyone

00:15:34.480who's botting uh they're gonna be new

00:15:36.160features like the mutators which are

00:15:37.920gonna augment enemies and expeditions

00:15:40.240changing how they function they've also

00:15:42.000talked about weapon balance and tuning

00:15:43.920some new upcoming weapons and making

00:15:46.160changes to late game progression now on

00:15:48.880top of all this though there was the

00:15:50.320recent dilemma with that copyright

00:15:52.399strike so a youtuber who was documenting

00:15:54.639and reporting a bug received a copyright

00:15:57.040claim from amazon on his video this was

00:16:00.160of course immediately considered an

00:16:02.160abuse of the system they're not striking

00:16:04.560all coverage of the game they're just

00:16:06.160striking things that seemingly make them

00:16:07.759look bad this story picked up a ton of

00:16:09.759traction really quickly and then after a

00:16:11.759few days amazon came out and said whoops

00:16:14.079sorry guys we made a mistake we meant to

00:16:16.160report a gold seller ad that was running

00:16:18.800on the video and not the video itself

00:16:21.040just forget the fact that reporting an

00:16:23.199ad is an entirely different process from

00:16:25.600reporting a video

00:16:27.440so i don't know who is in charge of

00:16:28.880doing this but if it was truly a mistake

00:16:31.199that's a big it's like you literally go

00:16:32.959through different

00:16:34.000venues avenues you go through different

00:16:35.839avenues to report an ad versus a video

00:16:39.440you're not even clicking in the same

00:16:40.800area of the anyways whatever it was a

00:16:43.519mistake i honestly think it's possible

00:16:45.839it was a mistake or more likely or and

00:16:48.320or to put it more clearly that whoever

00:16:50.320did this just had no idea what they were

00:16:52.240doing and not so much them trying to

00:16:54.240like silence dissent or hide any

00:16:57.120negative coverage is because this is so

00:16:59.279inconsequential compared to like all of

00:17:01.360the other negative press that new world

00:17:03.040has been getting for months and months

00:17:04.640there are so many things that cast new

00:17:06.640world in a much worse light that if they

00:17:08.959were really trying to abuse the

00:17:10.400copyright system they would have focused

00:17:12.799their attention there rather than one

00:17:14.720innocuous bug among a sea of bugs that

00:17:17.600have been reported and posted on youtube

00:17:19.919in the past few months uh whether or not

00:17:22.400it was intentional or malicious on a

00:17:24.640single person's part or on amazon's part

00:17:27.199as a like company-wide decision i guess

00:17:29.360at this point at least it's uh it's

00:17:31.200cleared up and you know just in general

00:17:33.200copyright abuse is a problem on youtube

00:17:35.440it continues to be a problem on youtube

00:17:37.120i have dealt with it recently this might

00:17:38.960not be the biggest story but we did get

00:17:40.559confirmation recently that riot's

00:17:42.320upcoming runeterra mmo is going to have

00:17:44.960pvp over on twitter he said that the

00:17:47.200challenge is even if i say we will have

00:17:49.600pvp and we will that can mean so many

00:17:52.240different things from ganking to epic

00:17:54.320battles to looting to dueling to arenas

00:17:56.559to even esports so still probably not

00:17:59.760for everyone that last part there is

00:18:01.600referencing the fact that it has been

00:18:03.200said many times that the runeterra mmo

00:18:05.440will not be to everyone's liking and

00:18:07.440will focus on delivering a very

00:18:09.200particular type of experience so now we

00:18:11.919at the very least know that the game

00:18:13.280will have some form of pvp it's not

00:18:15.360exactly the biggest news story but

00:18:17.440anytime we get any news on riot's mmo i

00:18:19.679feel like talking about it because

00:18:21.039there's just so much anticipation for

00:18:23.039this game and i know it's a game that we

00:18:24.720don't have a name for yet uh we haven't

00:18:26.799even really seen much concept art for it

00:18:28.960and it is likely three four or five

00:18:30.960years away but the anticipation comes

00:18:33.360for a few reasons beyond any specifics

00:18:36.400that we know because we don't know any

00:18:38.000the first thing is mmo fans are just

00:18:39.840dying for more big budget high quality

00:18:42.080games to be added to the genre for as

00:18:44.160busy of a year as 2021 was in terms of

00:18:47.120new mmo releases few if any of them look

00:18:49.840like they're gonna thrive in the long

00:18:51.840term but then the second way thing is

00:18:53.600just that riot is no slouch as a

00:18:55.919developer whatever you might personally

00:18:57.679feel or think about their games pretty

00:18:59.520much everything that they've released

00:19:00.720has been successful to one degree or

00:19:02.480another so far of course the league of

00:19:04.240legends is one of the largest games in

00:19:06.000the world and continues to be very

00:19:07.679popular but even their more recent

00:19:09.520titles like valorant team fight tactics

00:19:12.000and legends of runeterra have all been

00:19:14.160fairly well received and have their own

00:19:16.240decently sized player bases as well and

00:19:18.720i think it's those two things combined

00:19:20.880people really wanting a big budget high

00:19:22.880quality mmo and riot seeming like they

00:19:25.120could be the company to do it that has

00:19:27.520just so much anticipation behind this

00:19:29.440runeterra mmo but you know we still

00:19:31.919don't even have an official name world

00:19:33.760of runterra maybe is that two on the

00:19:35.840nils i don't know the old school

00:19:37.840inspired mmo pantheon rise of the fallen

00:19:40.320is full steam ahead with development

00:19:42.000going into the new year in a recent

00:19:43.760newsletter they recapped the events of

00:19:45.6002021 while also laying up plans for the

00:19:48.320future so last january they received a

00:19:50.640huge seven figure investment and that

00:19:52.799has really what's fueled a lot of these

00:19:55.200new developments this let them bring in

00:19:56.880new staff they were able to strengthen a

00:19:58.880lot of their back end systems and then

00:20:00.559they began their push towards alpha

00:20:02.480january was also when they released

00:20:04.240fortress deviera which is a this

00:20:06.320vertical slice of the game that they

00:20:07.840used for demo purposes i know there's

00:20:10.000quite a few videos on youtube showing

00:20:11.679that off in march they brought about

00:20:13.760their first alpha road map they also

00:20:15.840held a pre-alpha session in both april

00:20:18.480and july july is also when they added

00:20:20.799the monk class a new trait system

00:20:22.799hundreds of new abilities and some class

00:20:24.960evolutions in september they announced

00:20:27.200that they were making the decision to

00:20:28.720change pantheon from an instance zone

00:20:31.039based game into one seamless open world

00:20:33.679they also added gathering nodes and

00:20:35.600began the crafting system and then

00:20:37.520finally towards the end of the year they

00:20:38.960made the move to hdrp a new high

00:20:41.919definition rendering pipeline now as for

00:20:44.240the coming year they've said that they

00:20:45.840will continue to move towards alpha in

00:20:47.8402022 they're gonna add more team members

00:20:50.320and make some rather significant

00:20:51.919announcements they told us to expect

00:20:53.919more streams bigger streams more events

00:20:56.799and more pre-alpha sessions now their

00:20:58.960currently updated roadmap notes that

00:21:00.960class development gathering crafting and

00:21:03.039a network overhaul are all in progress

00:21:05.600with their to-do list including pets

00:21:07.840ability loadouts perception system

00:21:10.159factions climbing swimming acclimation

00:21:12.480banks guild system and an lfg tool you

00:21:15.200know i hadn't really checked up on

00:21:16.640pantheon in quite some time but i am

00:21:18.559happy to see that they appear to be

00:21:20.240making significant progress likely the

00:21:22.320most interesting bit from all of this

00:21:24.320news is that they do plan to begin alpha

00:21:26.720testing in 2022 this will be official

00:21:29.039meaning that we should finally get some

00:21:30.559real hands on time with the game it does

00:21:32.799still very much look like a crowdfunded

00:21:35.039mmo if you know what i mean that said it

00:21:37.520is clearly making strides towards a

00:21:39.520finished product and looks a lot better

00:21:41.360than it has in the past perfect world

00:21:43.440entertainment and in turn cryptic

00:21:45.440studios has been acquired by gearbox's

00:21:47.760embracer group which can i just say

00:21:49.600that's one of the creepiest names for an

00:21:51.360organization that's been purchasing

00:21:52.960studios left and right recently embracer

00:21:55.440group it just sounds like this dystopian

00:21:57.919future mega corp just like sucking up

00:22:00.320everything in its pat anyway pwe and

00:22:02.880cryptic have a number of well-known ips

00:22:05.200under their umbrella including

00:22:06.559neverwinter torchlight star trek online

00:22:09.120and remnant from the ashes they also

00:22:11.120happen to be the ones behind the

00:22:12.480recently canceled magic legends i'm sure

00:22:14.640you guys remember that disaster now of

00:22:17.120the acquisition it has been said that

00:22:18.720operations for all games will continue

00:22:20.880unchanged i guess the big point with

00:22:22.799this story though is that if you're

00:22:24.640boycotting anything associated with

00:22:26.559gearbox it looks like there's now a few

00:22:28.960more games added to the list nfts are

00:22:32.080making a strong push into gaming

00:22:33.919seemingly whether we like it or not you

00:22:36.240know i almost didn't include this topic

00:22:38.159simply because i feel like i need to do

00:22:39.760a lot more research on nfts i really

00:22:42.080only have a surface level understanding

00:22:44.159of these things like i get the concept

00:22:45.840of scarcity that people can purchase

00:22:48.000these certified versions of digital

00:22:49.919assets and that all this is tied into

00:22:51.840the blockchain and from what i gather

00:22:53.520because of this there's been a pushback

00:22:55.600on nfts due to the ecological impact

00:22:59.039that this whole process has and the fact

00:23:01.120that you know what they don't really

00:23:02.240bring any value to the gameplay

00:23:03.840experience like nfts coming into games

00:23:06.240isn't making games more fun or making

00:23:08.400them better or more interesting it's

00:23:10.080just adding a new way for us to spend

00:23:11.840money the conversations i've seen online

00:23:14.159concerning nfts have been overwhelmingly

00:23:16.640negative it seems many people are

00:23:18.559against them it is a topic though that i

00:23:20.400feel i need to learn a lot more about

00:23:22.559especially since it seems clear that it

00:23:24.400is coming into our games so some of the

00:23:26.720big stories around this include the fact

00:23:28.799that ubisoft revealed courts just a few

00:23:31.360weeks back which let players purchase

00:23:33.440nfts and ghost recon break point and

00:23:35.440this is what really kicked off the

00:23:36.720recent wave of backlash strong criticism

00:23:39.039from players and even the french trade

00:23:41.279union although apparently this first

00:23:43.120attempt got off to a very poor start

00:23:45.120with only a few hundred dollars worth of

00:23:46.880nfts being sold in the game but then we

00:23:49.120had the stalker two devs they came out

00:23:51.039and announced that they were gonna add

00:23:52.320nfts only to back out a single like one

00:23:55.279day later due to the community uproar

00:23:57.440and then outside of that we just are

00:23:58.960seeing tons and tons of crowdfunded

00:24:01.120games announce their own plans to offer

00:24:03.440nfts as an alternative way to raise

00:24:05.679money i expect what we've seen here to

00:24:08.559be only the beginning in this particular

00:24:10.880corner of the market now as i said i

00:24:13.120claim ignorance here i really just don't

00:24:15.200feel like i know enough to have an

00:24:16.720educated take on the matter outside of

00:24:18.960regurgitating some of what i've heard

00:24:20.640other people say but regardless of how

00:24:22.559much or little i understand about nfts

00:24:24.799the bottom line is it just seems like

00:24:26.320it's another way for game companies to

00:24:28.000try to make more money it all began with

00:24:29.679the horse armor and then these in-game

00:24:31.679shops and micro transactions and then we

00:24:34.000had loot boxes and then season passes

00:24:36.559and now we're just adding nfts to the

00:24:38.799growing lists of things we can spend

00:24:40.720money on in games

00:24:42.799great great stuff lastly in this week's

00:24:45.120stories i wanted to just mention that

00:24:46.640the steam winter sale is happening from

00:24:48.960now until january 5th as always this is

00:24:51.360a good chance to get your hands on some

00:24:52.880games at a deep discount if you've had

00:24:55.200anything on your wish list now is the

00:24:56.880time to check it out and see if you can

00:24:58.320get it for cheap although it's so funny

00:24:59.919because anytime there are sales now i

00:25:01.600feel like i need to go about and like

00:25:03.760have this chart where i can

00:25:05.039cross-reference it against any of the

00:25:06.799existing subscription services like game

00:25:09.039pass or humble choice or ea play or

00:25:11.120uplay plus i find myself constantly

00:25:13.200surprised at the games available on

00:25:14.880these services especially game pass like

00:25:16.799it's crazy i could play the halo

00:25:18.480infinite campaign for one dollar

00:25:21.039it's like what

00:25:23.039get the subscription cancel the

00:25:24.480subscription i got a month to play the

00:25:26.240game for a single bucket buck it's

00:25:27.760pretty nice but anyways if you feel like

00:25:30.240uh owning any of your digital purchases

00:25:33.200the steam sale is happening right now

00:25:34.960now on to some recent game reveals first

00:25:37.440we've got tainted grail the fall of

00:25:39.440avalon this is a first person open

00:25:40.960open-world rpg and a follow-up to

00:25:43.279tainted grail conquest the game is said

00:25:45.200to be full of complex quests in which

00:25:47.120your decisions matter and the game is

00:25:49.039set in a world full of monsters fallen

00:25:51.039heroes and exciting places to discover

00:25:53.279there's about a 30 second gameplay

00:25:54.880trailer that they released and a few

00:25:56.480screenshots um i think it looks cool

00:25:58.559honestly it looks like probably like a

00:26:00.000solid b-tier game which is pretty much

00:26:02.000what their last title was i also really

00:26:03.760like the spooky vibe like the ambience

00:26:06.000and the setting of this universe is

00:26:07.679pretty cool it is scheduled to enter

00:26:09.360into steam early access in quarter 4

00:26:11.5202022 straight blade is an action rpg

00:26:14.559where you play a rogue adventure

00:26:16.559exploring an ancient valley with your

00:26:18.720companion the game is said to offer full

00:26:20.880combat control with this

00:26:22.080hyper-responsive combat system that

00:26:24.000allows for quick reactions and precise

00:26:26.240attacks there'll be epic boss fights

00:26:28.080against god kings progression via talent

00:26:30.559trees for both you and your companion

00:26:32.559and we'll be exploring through the lost

00:26:34.320valley this colorful world containing

00:26:36.320overgrown city ruins frozen caves

00:26:38.720winding canyons as we fight our way

00:26:40.720through groups of enemies bosses while

00:26:42.559discovering treasures rare materials

00:26:44.640recipes and weapons this one is coming

00:26:46.559at some point in 2022 also there is a

00:26:49.279system shock remake coming to steam at

00:26:51.760some point in 2022 i thought that was

00:26:53.600worth a note um and there was a reveal

00:26:55.279for this game torchlight infinite which

00:26:56.960i was going to include but uh turns out

00:26:58.559this is a mobile only torchlight game so

00:27:01.200kind of whatever doesn't that's not what

00:27:02.960this show's about

00:27:04.159we're focused on pc games okay and then

00:27:06.480we got a couple of new things playable

00:27:07.919recently that you can play right now uh

00:27:10.240balder's gate dark alliance the game

00:27:12.080that originally released in 2001 is now

00:27:14.400available on steam this was like a

00:27:16.240diablo for consoles it's kind of a cool

00:27:18.720nostalgic game if you like baldur's gate

00:27:21.039worth checking this thing out pray for

00:27:22.799the gods is another recent release this

00:27:24.880is a boss climbing open world adventure

00:27:27.200game kind of like shadow of the colossus

00:27:29.440style so what's interesting here is it's

00:27:31.360got a very positive rating on steam but

00:27:33.760it's just been getting gutted by like

00:27:35.760official reviewers i think i'm seeing

00:27:37.360averages of 4 to 5 out of 10. i am not

00:27:40.159really sure what's going on with this

00:27:41.360one i kind of want to dive in just out

00:27:43.120of morbid curiosity and then another big

00:27:45.679reveal and release that came out

00:27:47.039recently was ready or not it entered

00:27:49.039steam's early access this is called an

00:27:51.120intense tactical fps that's focused on

00:27:53.440realism and has you playing as part of a

00:27:55.520swat team called in to hostile

00:27:57.840situations people really like this thing

00:28:00.399it's currently got over 13 000

00:28:02.640overwhelmingly positive steam reviews if

00:28:04.799you like tactical fps this thing's

00:28:06.720getting a lot of praise uh and then i

00:28:09.200just wanted to wrap up by letting you

00:28:10.320guys know a bit of what i've been doing

00:28:12.000recently so these past few weeks i've

00:28:13.840been spending a lot of time with

00:28:15.039outriders there's a video in the works

00:28:17.279um it's just taking a little longer than

00:28:18.960expected to put together but that'll be

00:28:20.559coming out sometime in the next week or

00:28:22.240two i believe outside of that i'm not

00:28:24.080sure what i'm gonna focus on next i know

00:28:25.840lost ark is launching very soon i have

00:28:27.919been considering jumping into the

00:28:29.520russian version of the game just to get

00:28:31.120acquainted with it and maybe prepare to

00:28:32.720make some videos and then also just in

00:28:34.480general for the start of 2022 i do plan

00:28:36.720on re revisiting games like i'm doing

00:28:38.960with outriders to kind of give some

00:28:40.799updated impressions on them but yeah

00:28:42.640that pretty much does it for this video

00:28:44.240thank you guys as always so much for

00:28:45.600watching hope you enjoy the content and

00:28:47.440i'll see in the next one right take it

00:28:49.120easy