It sounds like both parties parted ways amicably. Seems that way at least.
I don't think there was any fire here. I believe that she just wasn't the right fit for Valve. I'm sure she's very talented, hard-working, and passionate about what she does. It wasn't what Valve was looking for. This happens all the time. Maybe they need to redesign their hiring process so they don't waste the company's resources in the future.
I wouldn't say all their games are mediocre. Ubisoft is getting a bad reputation now for milking Assassin's Creed. It is their money-maker and it allows them to acquire more capital to produce more games. In such cases, they are developing new IPs.
I can commend Ubisoft for doing just that--making new IPs. Watch_Dogs, The Division, and Child of Light to name a few.
Child of Light is fantastic by the way. My personal Game of the Year pick (so far).
My point is, being bias toward a developer isn't a good mindset to have. I feel you need to give some developers a chance. Sometimes a second chance.
I am not proclaiming that this will fix your problems but, turn down your shadows one notch (if you have it at max) and use SMAA (not 2xMSAA or 4xMSAA). The difference is negligible to the point where you cannot even tell the difference. But, if you want to be OCD about that, then you will suffer from framerate issues.
Everything else maxed out. I am running it at 60 frames per second with these settings.
I stopped at AC2. Huge improvement over AC1 in every way. Then, the series just got stale. I felt like I was playing the same game over and over. It wasn't until AC3 when I decided to give the series another chance. While the combat in AC3 was great, the rest of the game was mediocre.
But I do agree with you. A new IP is a new IP. I welcome new IPs any day of the week.
I remember when Mafia 2 did not have shooting from inside the vehicle. That was sorely disappointing, especially for a Mafia video game. Kinda defeats the whole purpose doesn't it.
No need to upgrade unless you are one of those graphics-junkies that need to slap on Supersampling and 4xMSAA (or more) at 1080p and up resolutions. That is just overkill and the difference in visuals is negligible.
I am still running on a GTX 670 Signature 2 edition and it's still going very strong. The bottom line is, the transition from last-gen to this "new-gen" is represented by a small marginal difference.
Although I expect about a year from now for demanding games to be released like The Witcher 3 that will make a mid-top tier GPU second guess itself.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying video games like Child of Light. Visually stunning and it runs on just about anything. :)
As a collector, I would never put the DVDs in those folder cases! Original box and artwork please! :) :P
Cool video. I share your view about not wanting some of my favorite video games to end. One game that comes to mind is Red Dead Redemption. I did not complete it until nearly a year after its release. As a matter of fact, I played the series' standalone zombie spin-off, Undead Nightmare before I completed Red Dead Redemption.
Same goes for Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas. In Skyrim, I am at the final part of the main story with over 80 hours clocked into it.
I'd argue Skyrim and the Fallout series are the exceptions. With other video games, even hefty and lengthy open-world that are a bit more linear than Bethesda's work; should be finished accordingly.
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