Browsing Tag

Mods

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty expansion

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty – What to expect, what to demand

Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion is one of the most highly anticipated releases in the gaming world right now, and for good reason. Cyberpunk 2077, while impressive in many ways, had a very rocky launch. It left many players disappointed and the initial reviews were terrible. Bugs and crashes were commonplace, and the overall experience was not as polished as it could have been.

Now, with the Phantom Liberty expansion, there is a chance for redemption. The developers have a significant budget to work with, and it is crucial that they use it wisely. Instead of simply adding more weapons and vehicles, the expansion needs to focus on delivering fresh and interesting new game mechanics that will keep players engaged.

It needs to bring new content that is creatively different from what we’ve seen before. The original game had a lot of great ideas, but it felt like it was relatively stuck in itself. The expansion needs to shake things up and give players something truly new to explore. 

Night City grows

New gameplay mechanics in established games are always tricky. Alternative ways of interacting with the environment like different hacking, stealth or parkour could still fit the theme and add a bit more to explore in effective gameplay. This will add depth, and give players new ways to approach the game’s challenges.

Another crucial element is expanding the map significantly with new areas, quests, characters, vehicles, and weapons. The original game was an amazing initial canvas, but the map felt a bit small and restrictive. The expansion needs to open things up and give players more to discover. This could include new neighborhoods and districts, each with their own unique architecture, culture, peoples, attitudes and characters. Each area should have its own set of quests and stories. This gives players a reason to explore every inch of the new map. We crave plot twists and meaningful deaths!

We can expect the new expansion to add new clothing options, hairstyles, tattoos, and piercings, but also weapons and vehicles. But that only adds 5-second-worth-of-awe content.

One of the most important things that the expansion needs to focus on is the NPCs and their unique stories. The original game had a lot of interesting NPCs, but they were mostly static, with little to no interaction with the player. Their lives flowed in front of us and we were merely spectators to their short, meaningless lives.

The expansion could introduce more dynamic NPCs, with their own schedules, routines, and personalities. This would make the game world feel more alive, and give players a reason to explore and interact with the NPCs throughout Night City and beyond. Also, what’s going on in the rest of the world? Why not start the expansion somewhere else?

Phantom Liberty should introduce new vehicles and weapons, but it’s important that they are not just added for the sake of adding more stuff. Dear CDProjektRed developers, if you’re adding new weapons and vehicles, please be creative and add new ways to solve a new fight or a quest.

cyberpunk-2077-phantom-liberty
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty please draw us in!

Modding

It’s worth mentioning that expansions typically don’t open up the game for modding. This is where CD Projekt Red could take a page from Skyrim’s book. With a rich modding community, Skyrim was able to keep players engaged for years with new content and gameplay mechanics.

It’s also worth noting that it is likely that CD Projekt Red is working on a new Cyberpunk 2078 that is likely a bit more open to modding and expanding. Typically, the first attempt at a new franchise tends to be more closed. A controlled environment where they establish the world and characters without too much interference from mods. By making the new game more open to modding, CD Projekt Red could tap into the creativity of the community. Keeping players engaged for years to come.

Night City Dawns

Ultimately, the success of the Phantom Liberty expansion, and ultimately Cyberpunk 2077’s franchise, will depend on how well it addresses the issues that plagued the original launch. It needs to be lean, clean, and mean – lightweight, no game-critical bugs, and be fun, unique and truly engaging.

The developers have thrown a lot of money into this expansion. It’s important that they use it to deliver content that truly matters.

They should focus on making the game more stable, less bugs and less crashes. The original game had a lot of technical issues – some of which still persist – and it’s important that the expansion does not repeat those mistakes. Optimization is critical so that everyone gets to experience it without a hitch. Or two.

Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion has the potential to be a sought-after redemption for its launch and a solid launch pad for the franchise – but it needs to deliver new, fresh, and interesting content, expand the map, add new engaging characters, weapons, vehicles but keeping it bug-free. CDProjektRed should take inspiration from the modding community in Skyrim and other games, to keep players engaged for years with new content and gameplay mechanics. Let modders run wild. Modding is the main theme of the game anyway! Tap into the creativity of the community and keep players engaged for a long time. Fans are eagerly waiting to see what Cyberpunk’s new expansion has in store, and with the right approach, it could be the redemption that the franchise needs. It’s time for the developers to deliver and give the fans what they’ve been waiting for.
Night City, please be remarkable.

The Sims 4

COVID-19’s new symptom: Playing The Sims 4

The 7-year old game is apparently making a comeback. Why are people playing it again? What changed in The Sims 4 and how come that this dinosaur is not yet a fossil? What led to this resurgence of the stale-genre game? Who plays it and how?

The rise of an oldie

7-year-old games are considered old by videogame market standards.

A sequel was due for some time now, but it never came. Instead, Maxis and Electronic Arts opted to keep releasing mostly cosmetic but expensive DLCs.

The Sims is pretty much alone in its own market, there’s not much of a competition to worry about (until now with the upcoming Paralives). They’ve always controlled the Life Simulation genre they’ve created and aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

Instead of releasing a new game every two years (like most AAA game sequels), they were keying on setting solid foundations with a solid base game and then update and add new content with expansive (and expensive) DLCs. EA has released 9 large expansions already, yet 12 are expected until the end of The Sims 4 lifecycle.

Even though this strategy keeps current users feeding them with each DLC, it doesn’t do much in the way of attracting new ones.

In March 2020, things were about to change – but not in the way they were expected to.

Trying times

The Sims 4

Nowadays, every social media platform talks about The Sims, plays videos about The Sims, links to podcasts about The Sims, and, like me, people are blogging about The Sims. It almost feels like The Sims 4 had just been released. Also, Animal Crossing.

COVID-19 is the root-solution to our question.
COVID-19, the coronavirus that won the game by putting the world on pause. No more lines at the Post Office, traffic jams, crowded malls, delayed flights, air pollution, noise pollution. Was it not for the sad side-effects of social distancing, this would sound more like a blessing.

However, this horrible virus had an unexpected super-power. It managed to lock most of us in our own homes, afraid to go outside – waiting for it to leave us alone and abandon our doorstep.

Influencer lockdown

Self-isolation caused a huge number of social influencers to stay indoors. It was fun for a while – plenty of exciting chitchat about the situation filled their blogs and vlogs.
…But after a week or two, these fashion and travel influencers were still stuck at home with nothing new and exciting to report about their awesome way of life. No new clothes or makeup to show, no restaurants to try and no foreign places to explore. Their blogs and vlogs were running dry.

Some turned to cooking – but apparently, their cooking skills were not that great… or they just couldn’t make it captivating enough for their audience to enjoy.

Then they turned to gaming – a sensible marketing decision since gaming ranks high in social media projection. Even though these fashion vlogger’s streaming/gaming rigs were pretty much non-existant (as were their games list or gaming skills altogether), they still had their hordes of loyal fans thirsty for content and stuck at home with nothing to watch.

Some of these (mostly female) vloggers, in their early 30’s, went through their early years in an age where The Sims 1 and 2 were all the rage. So they naturally leaned towards The Sims 4.

The fact that it is a non-competitive sandbox game that features endless fashion and decoration customization options, that requires no skills at all and that supports a Mac version, and low computer specs certainly did help those fashion and lifestyle vloggers to take the leap.

The fact is that the stuff that made their Youtube channels popular was all there. In The Sims 4, there were new clothes to try, new makeup to show, new restaurants to experience and plenty of virtual foreign places to explore.

A cringy reality

I noticed some really sad streams, where the host used an uncomfortable wall shelf instead of a desk for gaming/streaming. Where they were unaware that their camera was on or that their microphone was off, that their lighting was terrible or their FPS were lame. Then some of them didn’t know how to handle the controls or built very large concrete boxes instead of real homes for their Sims. Naturally, none of them knew how to interact with the audience properly.

Even though this was a sad thing to watch, what truly frustrated me was the huge numbers of viewers watching. There are plenty of interesting, well-performed streams on Twitch, Mixer, or Youtube that don’t get half the views they deserve.

Some of these streams and videos drew quite a crowd and lead other vloggers to follow their example. Nowadays, Youtube is flooded every day with The Sims 4 videos by popular non-gamer influencers. This drives ads and posts on Twitter, Reddit and Youtube/Google results.

Nowadays, The Sims 4 seems to be everywhere.

The Sims 5 and sharp marketing pencils

In a typically sad EA move, they did once threaten The Sims fanbase by stating that The Sims 5 would never happen if The Sims 4 wasn’t successful. However, and even though it had a rough start with mediocre reviews, The Sims 4 turned out to be a very successful investment. But with 4 DLC expansions to go, EA isn’t going to stop milking its cow and replacing it with a new one anytime soon. The Sims 5 is, for now, just a marketing ploy.

When it comes to marketing, timing is critical …and EA has sharp pencils and minds.
EA cashed-in on the coronavirus unexpected wave of new users and influencers by starting to drip some bits of info regarding The Sims 5, which seems to be in the early stages of development.
In order to cause the most impact, they even started with one of the most anticipated and controversial features: Multiplayer.

There were several Twitter posts that caused some sensation. We’re likely to get more juicy info on The Sims 5 over the coming months.

How has the game changed and how are people playing it today?

Going back to playing The Sims 4 in 2020. I noticed that there’s a surprising amount of new content out there. Not just the official 32 downloadable content packs and expansions, but also the absurd amount of Custom Content created by users.
These mods didn’t just grow in quantity. They also improved their quality significantly over the many years of updates that a stable build of the game provided for.

As a dedicated PC gamer, I love modding my games.
More than adding customization options to my characters, I really enjoy adding new gameplay elements that make the game more realistic, immersive, or complex.

The Sims 4 is fertile ground for great Custom Content.

Some of the best Custom Content like Slice of Life, Meaningful Stories, Live in Business, or even Wicked Whims (18+), truly add a host of new features and allow you to explore multiple new ways of playing the base game.

A new look

I’ve recently started a brand new The Sims 4 household. I’m trying to create a small neighborhood with multiple families living on the same lot (thank you Roommates mod). I’ve also got my own bakery business on the same lot (thank you Live in Business and ATMs). It’s just awesome seeing an empty lot turning into a small venue and meeting new Sims. My Sims have interesting personality traits and awesome jobs, there are gangs, drugs, and violence on my streets and I’ve got a ton of furniture to decorate my house with.

7 years past, the game is fresher and more polished than ever with many many new ways to explore.

The Sims 5 isn’t really around the corner. When it finally gets released, it will likely lack the depth and polish that The Sims 4 offers right now.
The upcoming life simulation contender, Paralives, will be interesting to explore, given the type of customization it provides. But Paralives’s success will be limited by the lower amount of gameplay content provided by years of development and mods currently available in The Sims 4.

Give The Sims 4 a new try!
There has never been a better time to explore this green gem of a game.

If instead, you’re looking to play something fun in multiplayer, check out the awesome Sea of Thieves.

See you in San Myshuno,
-ViLa4480