Or Gasly and Ocon?

The SoD expansion was made by Beamdog some 15 years after BG1 was released. It’s admirable that they tried getting the original voice actors back, but otherwise the team behind BG 1&2 (and ToB) had nothing to do with it. I couldn’t get through it, and I have a hard time supporting the Enhanced Editions as is due to Beamdog inserting their fanfiction into them as well - though I recognise they’ve been instrumental in revamping the engine and bringing the games to a new generation of people.

“Popular guy” doesn’t quite tell the whole story. I personally don’t get the appeal, but for whatever reason Perez is incomprehensibly popular. I think he’s like the 2nd most famous athlete in Mexico, he sells the most merch out of anyone on the whole grid and has brought a slew of sponsors to Red Bull. This is in addition to any Carlos Slim money.

It is definitely an appealing financial package.

I watched some GT World Challenge races this year that were kinda great but its sort of awkward to watch. I find their YouTube confusing and they also post spoiler highlights almost instantly after races so fuck you if you’re not watching live, I guess. Lots of endurance races too which - while great - are less convenient a watch than a 2-3 hour race.

Incredible that a race with so many things happening somehow has been this shit.

It was certainly one of the races of all time.

If not for a bunch of McLaren blunders this season would have been an all-timer. Not sure what you were watching but the stretch between June and November was genuinely thrilling and Lando had a solid shot at clinching his first championship this year were either he and McLaren a bit better or Max and Red Bull a bit less perfect at extracting the maximum of every weekend.

The stretch of mid '22 through '23 was a low mark in terms of excitement I agree (though we had some awesome races last year if you discount who won), but after what we’ve seen this year I’m very hopeful next year will be an absolute thriller. There is a genuine chance we’ll have a 4 way title battle!

I think Red Bulls priorities have changed since the death of Mateschitz. He was more interested in sporting success itself, the current owners are more interested in finances. And for marketing purposes the WCC doesn’t actually matter much, it’s only the Driver’s Champion that people really care about, hence also what sponsors care about. Mercedes won the WCC in '21 but nobody cares or remembers. And the marketing upside Perez brings (at least so far) has been very enticing. I don’t really get why (might just be fiery nationalist pride) but Perez is unspeakably popular in Mexico - and even extended to Latin America in general. As far as I know he sells the most merch in the entire sport and brings in the most sponsors. He brings a huge amount of value for shareholders.

Dividing my time between playing STALKER 2 and modding it. There is a really great game underneath the surface - at least the potential of one - but it’s a shame it released in the state it did. The A-life offline simulation being turned off smells of console constraints and/or a forced release after they ran out of possibilities to delay further. I really hope they’ll be able to keep working on the game through patches because it has the potential to be truly fantastic.

Also still playing Deadlock, a game or two a day or so. It’s an often frustrating experience - as MOBAs tend to be - where matchmaking still has a huge impact on your fun, but the core gameplay is just so damn good. I just wish I was in a skill bracket where people are actually using mics and coordinating and communicating. Partly an EU problem though I’m sure.

A heathen I might be, but I still prefer BG2 over BG3. And Jon Irenicus might just be one of the best video game villains of all time.

No, but I would have if I had fewer hours played just to get a proper experience from the start and consequently less of an item stockpile etc. Grok’s less loot in stashes won’t apply retroactively for example.

They’re definitely not pushing the engine to its limits and it’s a shame. No Ray Reconstruction for example and no hardware ray tracing. I was wondering why shadows and reflections lacked clarity at first. This is apparently why.

It’s a weird one though because despite all the flaws I can’t stop playing the game. Maybe I just love STALKER that much. I also have a bunch of mods installed, granted.

I recommend going through what’s trending on Nexus and seeing what appeals to you. Apart from fixing the timescale I installed some rebalancing mods that make enemies less bullet spongy and combat more lethal, as well as a mod attempting to improve A-life and stealth. Also installed all of Grok’s mods. and this Medkit and Consumable rebalance.

As long as they’re not lying about the existence of A-life in the first place I’m hopeful. If the framework of it actually is there but not working I have hope they’ll fix it.

Otherwise yes, I’m still enjoying having more STALKER after all these years. I’ve installed maybe a dozen mods and am now having a lot of fun with the game, but even so there are a lot of things missing and/or lacking. Even stuff like factions. You can’t see the faction of corpses anymore when you loot them, and you can’t keep track of your relations in your PDA. Aren’t factions supposed to be important? Puzzling.

What makes the older STALKER games special is the way the zone lives its own life independent of the player. That’s what makes you feel small and insignificant, just wandering a hostile wasteland. As you’re heading to your mission you hear gunshots in the distance, NPC Stalkers are fighting bandits perhaps? As you head over you arrive as the fight is over and they’re looting the bodies, after which they start heading off towards the nearest encampment. Unscripted stuff like this is missing in the game right now.

The devs kinda have to put their money where their mouth is in terms of A-life. Most of the other issues are already being addressed via simple .cfg mods so they should be easily patched (though I have no idea how some of them ended up in the game, was it not QA tested at all?).

A-life is what makes the Zone feel alive in all the previous games. The devs have said it’s not working right, so now they actually have to prove that the framework is there at all and can be fixed.

Shows how insanely sensitive this track is in terms of tire temps. Getting them working right is everything here and can put an Alpine 3rd. Amazing qualy by Gasly.

I’m praying the successful sales gives the team the resources to fix the games many problems in coming patches. Unlike the author of this article I have a lot of issues with the current state of the game and find many design decisions to be not in the spirit of classic STALKER. Finally, the broken at best and absent at worst A-life (simulation of what NPCs and mutants are doing off screen for those unfamiliar) is a massive issue.

The bones of a great STALKER game are there, but it’s quite a ways away from it in its current state.

You know what, I agree. And I would love to see the look on Todd Howard’s face if Fallout: London wins GotY. It should be eligible for that reason alone.

That’s fair, it was completely unacceptable. And the game itself was so shallow and lacking that the hype for '23 never really got going, despite it actually being a significant improvement.