Horror 2.0 Rant (SFW)

[notbryun]

Sometimes I get very in my head about things and this is my first time typing it all out. I've played this game since launch in VR and desktop. I loved this game, I used to rip off my VR headset anytime I heard a noise or when lights flickered. Even on desktop I'd have the giggles running away from a TV that just blew my ear drums out. Alone, with friends, whatever, I was playing this game at least every day for a loooong time. Fast forward about a year and as much as I love the game, it starts to get a little dull. Running around a table while I count how many times it blinks a second to guess the ghost type becomes meta for EXP gain, they've reset all my progress and the new progression is SOOOO SLOOOOW for someone that played every day at one point, and I told myself I'd take a break for a while until Horror 2.0 comes out so that I can feel the same suspense I felt when I originally played the game.

Fast forward to today, the month we're owed Horror 2.0, just to find out it's been delayed... for the 4th year... guys, I understand you're a "small" dev team (with a massive profit that could employ more manpower), but this delay is just a slap in the face for long time consumers of Phasmo. I patiently waited years, had my progress wiped (thanks for the legacy badge ig), have been frustratingly overloaded with information learning the MILLIONS of new ghost types, and I can't even ♥♥♥♥ my pants during any of it???

And I wanna know why on earth we're giving maps COMPLETE facelifts/reworks when horror 2.0 isn't even established yet. It makes infinitely more sense to create Horror 2.0 FIRST so you can design and balance the reworks for the maps AROUND the new jumpscares/events/etc. This decision makes me fearful that I'm never actually gonna get horror 2.0 and the thought of that makes me feel sad and betrayed. Even then, after all this time I've spent waiting for it, what if it just doesn't live up to what we all expect? Are we just supposed to be okay with waiting 4 years for a potentially disappointing horror rework?!? All in all, maybe I've outgrown this game, but the decision making process of this small yet EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL dev team is confusing me and frustrating me. I love this game but would love to see it become the terrifying, skidmark inducing ghost hunting game I've always wanted it to be. Thank for you reading into my abrasive thoughts this far.


TL;DR, WHY PUSH HORROR 2.0 BACK AGAIN IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS :(

[Mixed Herbs]

Yea at this point Horror 2.0 should be the main focus.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by notbryun:

And I wanna know why on earth we're giving maps COMPLETE facelifts/reworks when horror 2.0 isn't even established yet. It makes infinitely more sense to create Horror 2.0 FIRST so you can design and balance the reworks for the maps AROUND the new jumpscares/events/etc.

A. They've been planning on redoing the maps for some time now, as they want to get rid of the stock store assets and provide their own. This was announced long before we saw Sunny Meadows. I would be very surprised to see the Level and Asset designer being the one coding Horror 2.0, instead of working on redoing the maps.

B. Having the maps set allows a scope of what they can have the Ghost do, instead of needing to redo the remade maps they've already done to fit them into the scope of the Ghost. This would delay Horror 2.0 by a significant margin, which is kind of anti-theoretical to complaining Horror 2.0 isn't out yet.

Also the roadmap that was released 2 days ago doesn't say anything about dates or expectations of when anything in there will be released. The only things we can assume is the events will be out around the expected holidays.

[Annamatopoeia]

Mismanagement possibly. I mean have you heard about the absolute trash fire with their QA testers? It was quite the scandal.

DK is likely the only one actually doing anything, which is why (1) content is so slow to materialize; (2) the concept of the game is so frenetic; and (3) aspects of the gameplay are so bizarre. The rest on the team are akin to administrative staff, or that's how they are treated.

It's a one-man show. DK doesn't want to relinquish any control over the process.

I've said this before. The game has a focus group feel to it. It's tightly wound to the point of being bizarre (e.g. watching videos in a book). Like either no one felt comfortable saying that was a dumb idea or they said it, but no one cared.

Same goes for the prestige system and the shop UI. Someone had to have looked at those things and signed off on them. It seems like, behind the scenes, it's a total mess.

Former QA testers came out on Twitter and YouTube about their experience working on the team. It sounds as if good ideas are just left on the table to die (and despite having made millions, they don't pay certain contributors very well).

Either that or they're literally in La La Land. Like seriously detached, because they have more money than god. Like they might actually love the direction of things and truly believe gamers are rabid for these strange additions to the game, including community events.

At the end of the day, it's just so sad to see a venture with so much potential be gutted from the inside out. It's a crying shame. It's just a money printing machine, right now.

I wonder if people will stick around to see how it all pans out in 2027 or 2028. That's being generous. Will probably be longer.

[Mixed Herbs]

Originally posted by Annamatopoeia:

Mismanagement possibly. I mean have you heard about the absolute trash fire with their QA testers? It was quite the scandal.

DK is likely the only one actually doing anything, which is why (1) content is so slow to materialize; (2) the concept of the game is so frenetic; and (3) aspects of the gameplay are so bizarre. The rest on the team are akin to administrative staff, or that's how they are treated.

It's a one-man show. DK doesn't want to relinquish any control over the process.

I've said this before. The game has a focus group feel to it. It's tightly wound to the point of being bizarre (e.g. watching videos in a book). Like either no one felt comfortable saying that was a dumb idea or they said it, but no one cared.

Same goes for the prestige system and the shop UI. Someone had to have looked at those things and signed off on them. It seems like, behind the scenes, it's a total mess.

Former QA testers came out on Twitter and YouTube about their experience working on the team. It sounds as if good ideas are just left on the table to die (and despite having made millions, they don't pay certain contributors very well).

Either that or they're literally in La La Land. Like seriously detached, because they have more money than god. Like they might actually love the direction of things and truly believe gamers are rabid for these strange additions to the game, including community events.

At the end of the day, it's just so sad to see a venture with so much potential be gutted from the inside out. It's a crying shame. It's just a money printing machine, right now.

I wonder if people will stick around to see how it all pans out in 2027 or 2028. That's being generous. Will probably be longer.

what happened with the QA?

[Myth Alric]

Every time they delay it, it is because they expanded the game. Would you really be happy if they had horror 2.0 right now, but we only get half the maps and less ghosts?

[Ocelotking122]

Originally posted by Myth Alric:

Every time they delay it, it is because they expanded the game. Would you really be happy if they had horror 2.0 right now, but we only get half the maps and less ghosts?

A bit like Dark Deception then huh. They will keep adding things to the heap until they can't deliver to the customer due to being overwhelmed.

[Blendy]

I fear the changes will be more physical then cosmetic, even to the maps that make up 90% of the play time across the board. I hear Tanglewood rework and it is horrifying to me more then any ghost to think ho bad the map can be destroyed. God knows how many bugs are gonna come with this "big update" we been talking about, given already existing issue that have flown under the radar for months. Member how long it took the Yurei to actually do something? I wanna believe it will be good, i just wish a good map didn't have to be a guinea pig in the process.

[Doctor Xa Xứ]

You explain this matter better than i do in my topic dude, the main focus should be the ghost and horror, and they keep dodging it.

- level wipe update (why?)
- equipment update (kinda nice)
- radio respond voice change (why?)
- lighting update (some place kinda suck but overall ok)
- 2 times changing the store UI (it still suck even more confuse and buggy than the old one)
- 1 new map
- 0 new ghost
- 0 major improvement on game performance (yes the game run quite costly for the gharphic it have)

[Myth Alric]

How does it make sense to focus on the ghost's visuals first, when you might not even see the ghost during a game, instead of the equipment, level reworks, voice chat and stuff, which literally impact everything all the time?

[Annamatopoeia]

Originally posted by Mixed Herbs:

Originally posted by Annamatopoeia:

Mismanagement possibly. I mean have you heard about the absolute trash fire with their QA testers? It was quite the scandal.

DK is likely the only one actually doing anything, which is why (1) content is so slow to materialize; (2) the concept of the game is so frenetic; and (3) aspects of the gameplay are so bizarre. The rest on the team are akin to administrative staff, or that's how they are treated.

It's a one-man show. DK doesn't want to relinquish any control over the process.

I've said this before. The game has a focus group feel to it. It's tightly wound to the point of being bizarre (e.g. watching videos in a book). Like either no one felt comfortable saying that was a dumb idea or they said it, but no one cared.

Same goes for the prestige system and the shop UI. Someone had to have looked at those things and signed off on them. It seems like, behind the scenes, it's a total mess.

Former QA testers came out on Twitter and YouTube about their experience working on the team. It sounds as if good ideas are just left on the table to die (and despite having made millions, they don't pay certain contributors very well).

Either that or they're literally in La La Land. Like seriously detached, because they have more money than god. Like they might actually love the direction of things and truly believe gamers are rabid for these strange additions to the game, including community events.

At the end of the day, it's just so sad to see a venture with so much potential be gutted from the inside out. It's a crying shame. It's just a money printing machine, right now.

I wonder if people will stick around to see how it all pans out in 2027 or 2028. That's being generous. Will probably be longer.

what happened with the QA?

The QA debacle is just one of a few PR scandals that got swept under the rug. You can read about it on the Phasmo Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PhasmophobiaGame/comments/1ght5k2/comment/lv25kty/

Then there was the content creator favouritism mess which Bearded Baron talked about on YT:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/739630/discussions/0/4132682727128011615/

And of course the main reason why I never watch any streams with Insym featuring CJ:

https://kotaku.com/phasmophobia-discord-harassment-banned-co-op-horror-1849611127

I believe Insym is actually a stand up guy and decent person. His association with CJ hurts him tremendously. Dude straight up allowed an abuser and racist to flourish in the Discord and only did anything about it when a victim posted screenshots on Twitter. Guy is trash.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by Annamatopoeia:

I believe Insym is actually a stand up guy and decent person. His association with CJ hurts him tremendously. Dude straight up allowed an abuser and racist to flourish in the Discord and only did anything about it when a victim posted screenshots on Twitter. Guy is trash.

Reminder that Insym is a streamer, and his whole shtick is being buddy buddy with CJ for the views. The second that dries up, he'll drop Phasmo and move onto the next Developer that will be "buddy buddy" with him and repeat the process.

He's a streamer first and foremost. He follows the clicks, nothing more, nothing less. It's delusional to believe he's doing it for anything more then money and clot.

[Myth Alric]

Bearded Baron got banned from their discord for being obnoxious and spamming the discord channels, which is exactly what you would expect to happen if you spam nonstop after being asked to stop. Those things are not real controversies, they are discord drama.

[Annamatopoeia]

Originally posted by Myth Alric:

Bearded Baron got banned from their discord for being obnoxious and spamming the discord channels, which is exactly what you would expect to happen if you spam nonstop after being asked to stop. Those things are not real controversies, they are discord drama.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, pal.

[Myth Alric]

Originally posted by Annamatopoeia:

Whatever helps you sleep at night, pal.

You literally posted a link to a thread about it, with a video of him admitting to spamming the channel.

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by Annamatopoeia:

I believe Insym is actually a stand up guy and decent person. His association with CJ hurts him tremendously.

I feel like you're heavily overestimating the influence a few peoples absence have on a streamer with 4k consecutive viewers on twitch (and whatever YT adds on top of that), not to mention the like 50-100k+ viewers per video on his main channel with daily uploads.

Also feel free to take a look into the CJ+Psycho playlist, they're more often than not doing better than the average on his channel.

Originally posted by Jimmy Hunter:

Reminder that Insym is a streamer, and his whole shtick is being buddy buddy with CJ for the views. The second that dries up, he'll drop Phasmo and move onto the next Developer that will be "buddy buddy" with him and repeat the process.

He's a streamer first and foremost. He follows the clicks, nothing more, nothing less. It's delusional to believe he's doing it for anything more then money and clot.

Wild take, but you can be a streamer and still like what you're playing and that's especially important when you're streaming every single day for like 4 years. My personal limit is 4 days a week for 3-5 hours per stream while loving the games i play, but feel free to test a 7 day week with games you're only playing for the clicks.

Also which other devs does he try to befriend? The screen time of CJ is already drastically reduced compared to like 1-2 years ago, but i don't see them being less friends so far, nor did Insym take any steps to reduce the Phasmo-Content.