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Well, to generate uproar about some product, there must be a demand for said product, and from what I've noticed, the current demand for Stadia is as big as demand for cold beer in Mekka during Hadjdj

You hit the nail right on the head. Below is a link to a thorough mathematical study conducted in the movie business. The bottom line is: just as William Goldman once said, no one knows anything. Success is entirely unpredictable, and box office revenues diverge over all scales. This almost certainly applies to games as well, as well as many other consumer products. A quote from the article: We conclude: (1) The studio model of risk management lacks a foundation in theory or evidence and revenue forecasts have zero precision. In other words, "Anything can happen." (2) Movies are complex products and the cascade of information among film-goers during the course of a film's run can evolve along so many paths that it is impossible to attribute the success of a movie to individual causal factors. In other words, "No one knows anything." http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.521.7885&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Behold, my God-tier GIMP skillz:

Vote here: https://thegameawards.com/nominees And here: https://www.google.com/search?q=TGA+vote

I was also attracted by the tone, and the beginning of the game was, and is, superb, although it is admittedly very dark. But I also admit that there's some evidence for the game being something of a "semi-dud", as @IndiraLightfoot said above. I was never able to get into the faction idea, I felt it was superfluous; Caed Nua was a great idea but felt half-baked in the end, because I felt there were more filler levels than proper levels; some of the stronghold stuff was very poor (especially the prison, and the attacks you could auto-resolve or manually resolve); and because I reached level cap so early, I was never able to become interested in Twin Elms -- there was nothing to gain anymore, so why bother? Also, I thought the "gods are not real" stuff that you got to at Twin Elms was articulated fairly poorly. There was some dodgy writing there, which may have had something to do with being able to choose such dialogue options that things remained quite vague -- does anyone share this experience? But, it was a good game. No question.

What drew me into PoE1 was the tone. It felt a lot more mature than most RPGish titles at that time. After understanding most of the mechanics after half a playthrough I started again and finished. After that I played a ton more because if you already understood all the poorly documented mechanics you really had to put that to use, else all the effort would have been for nothing, right? But honestly what keeps me playing PoE and Deadfire the most is this forum. Believe it or not.

Greetings employees of Halcyon, The Board is beyond pleased to share with you the The Outer Worlds has been nominated for FOUR Game Awards. This is amazing, and we are very glad to have all of you here with us to share in this momentous occasion. Nominated Categories: Best Narrative Best Performance - Ashly Burch Best RPG Game of the Year As a productive member of the Halcyon Colony, it is now your duty to head out and show your loyalty by voting for The Outer Worlds. The Video Game Awards happen on December 12th, so you will need to make sure to cast your vote before then! 🗳Vote now: http://thegameawards.com/nominees And on Google: http://goo.gle/TGAVOTE

These are so ridiculous, I love 'em.

Agreed. I played Deadfire a lot, but I put twice the hours into PoE despite Deadfire's multiclassing which would suggest that you'd have more motivation to tinker around (which I like doing). Maybe it's the (more) open world approach that does this. I don't like that too much and I think it's a totally overrated concept in CRPGs. You often feel kind of lost and I get demotivated to push forward.

You are soooo close to entering the Tower of Wisdom. You are knocking on the front door even now! All you have to do is say the password: "What cannot be trusted should not be empowered". Come on in Hurlshot.... there is beer in the fridge!

I think it's pretty hard to pinpoint why a game does badly in terms of sales, and I'm not entirely sure it's particularly helpful to speculate in it unless you're in the business of... selling games to as many people as you can. I think a large part of why games, or any other media, do good or bad sales-wise is just the way the strange winds of consumerism is blowing. It's not always possible to pinpoint. Sometimes a game is just a dud. It may be a great game, it may be a well known game but... for some reason it's just a dud. Now, my personal views on Deadfire is that it's a great game overall. However, for me it also feels like it's a game of compromise where the devs from the first game desperately tried to identify the parts of the game that were not well-received and tried to mold the second game into something that was more "appealing" and less offensive in terms of game mechanics to more people. While of course, staying true to the fans of the original. It's been done a million times before. It feels like "we should try and make this, admittedly sort of niche game, appealing to as many as we can" instead of "this is the game we're excited to make, this is the game we're going to make, screw the rest." To me it took a lot of the feedback about PoE1 and fixed it in the wrong way. Even though Deadfire is by all means more exotic and "out there" when compared to PoE1, it still feels... less inspired to me, more bland in a way, less spice to it all, more safe. And if you look at the individual bits, it should not. But it just does. Still a fantastic game for me, but not as memorable as I would've liked it. Not as memorable at all. But in terms of sales and all of that stuff, who knows? I think PoE came with the kickstarter craze, the promise of the IE games reborn, all of that stuff. There was hype about it, and I think even people who didn't play the IE games at all, or not much, got caught up in that. Hell yeah, old school is coming back in a new form, woooooo, screw the publishers! With Deadfire, I think all of that had died down a lot. And I guess the direct sequel may be a hard sell as well, I don't know. But who knows?

In Deadfire we had bare-naked Mirke. If that didn't draw enough horny players in I don't know what would have...

The quest for Felix is still botched for me when I start it.. I’m playing on normal, this is a bummer as it’s the last quest I need for the doing all companion quest achievement on Xbox. I’ve been holding out for this patch.

Started Narcos. It looks like an XCOM clone at first but has some major differences: 1) Alternate Activations: You activate a unit, the AI activates a unit. You could activate the same unit again or a different one. 2) Counteracts - Real Time Overwatch: Your troops gain counteract points for kills and/or for unused actions. If a unit has a full counteract (you get half a point for unused actions) and an opponent runs into your LoS, you can shoot them in real time by mousing the targeting reticule over them and firing. It does mean you may miss the opportunity because you weren't paying attention, but it also means that if you don't want to waste a shot or wait a bit for the enemy to move completely out of cover, you can. 3) Killshots - Real Time Crits: Crits too are done in real time. You get to shoot again, executing the opponent with a kill shot. A bit gimicky, but it works so far. 4) Rest: Everyone has a rest action, which allows them to restore 1 health. I am a bit skeptical about this; it remains to be seen if/how that slows down the missions.

I feel like literally a lot of the enemy assets were recycled with minor technical upgrades for Deadfire. And yes, all the PCs look much better in Deadfire - before they were all basically what happens if you crank Red Dead Redemption into potato mode. And I wouldn't spend too much debating @Archaven, it's clear that they're arguing in bad faith. As for them, jesus, just go look at some porn. How can someone be so hard up that they spend so much time analyzing whether or not a spirit known more in fantasy and mythology for dooming people with its wails is adequately sexy or not.

Or maybe just get attacked because of the blatant sexism contained therein? It's one thing to say "I find the women in this game to be more sexually-appealing/attractively-rendered than the ones in its sequel", it's another entirely to say "this female looks like/was made into a male" when she very obviously wasn't, or calling Ydwin trans based on her appearance and assuming a disconnect when her "voice actress voice is beautiful". One doesn't have to be a BLM supporter to decry obvious racism and one certainly doesn't have to be a feminist to see how utterly misogynist some of your remarks are. No, I don't. Here's a random female PC on Pillars: Here's a random female PC on Deadfire: Granted, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but I honestly don't see how the latter isn't more appealing than the former already by virtue of not looking like a low-poly potatohead straight out of the 00s. And I certainly don't see how the latter is any less distinguishably female. But, you do you. Mind that like the others I'm not entirely in disagreement that the lack of sex appeal could've factored into the franchise's declining popularity, but the assumptions you make from game to game - and ffs, the way you express them - are very far off the mark. Personally I think the lack of sexualization in the Eoran setting was already evident in the first game: contrary to how you portray her the banshee *wasn't* an attractive lady in the first game, and even normally "attractive" mythical creatures like their take on the dryads were much more monstrous, what with their skin covered in thick bark and their limbs and hair resembling roots and branches, than other settings' green-skinned naked ladies and whatnot; or the lack of a succubus variant in the setting, or fampyrs not really exploiting the "sexual predator" parallel so prevalent in vampires and so on. In this sense Deadfire is no different, and if anything I'd argue it's a step *towards* a more sexually appealing franchise, what with the models being more detailed and giving clear predominance to traditionally attractive options and so on, and what with companion romance finally being a thing as well. The whole thing for me ties back to the streaming/media issue we spoke about a while back. Much like streaming and gaming channels have become another huge part of game consumption and promotion in the present day, so has fanart and cosplay for example, and it's no secret that the characters that tend to inspire most of these (or at least the most popular and widely-consumed products within these) are either very specific "mascot"-type characters (in Pillars' case, Edér and the space pig had a bit of love in this mold, but likewise other franchises have the likes of Minsc and Boo or Vault Boy) or, indeed, attractive female characters. Even entirely secondary characters like twi'leks in Star Wars can inspire art and cosplay beyond what even the male protagonists of these series have. After all, sex sells. Though much like some of the previous points I've mentioned, much like some decisions can overly alienate the audience or be too niche or in the sake of art, some can also harm the series as an artistic product. I wouldn't want to play a Pillars game that followed a heroic monomyth that's all about beating a big bad behind an army of minions and becoming a god simply because it's what sells, because there's way more interesting things being explored in this setting and games, all in a far more interesting and involving manner. I wouldn't want Pillars to be more like The Witcher or Dragon Age: Origins any more than I'd like Joon-ho Bong to be more like Michael Bay, and in the particular mood and setting they've established with the Pillars universe it would feel plain jarring to introduce overtly sexualized characters, creature types or scenarios all of a sudden. Regardless, all of this sure as hell isn't due to some completely imagined push away from sexual appeal from the first Pillars to Deadfire the way you're assuming above.

It's a bad sign for games this year that a remake is on the list for game of the year. Disco is weird... I don't regret buying it because I like supporting smaller developers and they tried to do something different. I totally regret buying death stranding... I only have myself to blame though... I knew what it was... I guess I just hate having money

I enjoyed RE1 in 1997 and enjoyed the remake in 2002. I enjoyed RE2 in 1998 and enjoyed the remake in 2019. there's my take...

I already called out Resident Evil 2 and The Outer Worlds before this list. Never played the others, as they fall out of my spectrum of interest. Disco looks interesting at first glance but something about it just doesn't sit well with me. My instinct tells me to ignore it and wait for the next similarity.

ya, you are probably right and im being a tad dramatic, lol however, disco is its own thing and i do not compare it to the great rpgs of all-time im playing, literally, right now, battle chasers: absolutely great game, but, i dont compare it to disco, lol, or new vegas TOW should be compared to mass effect: and i despise mass effects horrid adolescent writing and “good/bad” for example: mass effect 2 was BARELY a rpg; dark souls is NOT a rpg it is a fighting game you get to level up fighting skills (might as well play return of the king)

The issue is that Obsidian/Microsoft don't have the license for DnD, so even if they wanted to make an Icewind Dale 3 or Neverwinter Nights 3 the ability to do so wouldn't really be up to them. Personally I'm fine with them developing their new setting to create similar but more personal experiences the way they have with Eora - it's pretty evident that there's a lot of Josh in this setting what with the heavy emphasis on replicating historical/cultural trends and placing heavy attention on such details, and likewise it's given them the freedom to essentially mold and adopt the setting's history to their own desired themes and the likes. There's plenty of meat from a themes/ideas perspective that they've been sinking their teeth into that would probably have been much harder to do with an established IP the way DnD is (though they were certainly capable of much in the past, as evidenced with Mask of the Betrayer and Planescape: Torment). What I'm sadder about is that they didn't retain the rights to a few of their other original IPs like Alpha Protocol or Tyranny, as much of interest could've been done with either franchise/setting.

I liked PoE2 much more than PoE1, so I'm a bit perplexed as to why it did worse than PoE1. But personally I really wish Obsidian would go back to making DnD-based games, like Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights. The world of Pillars is alright, but I personally don't find it as compelling as the setting of those past titles. Also I like the mechanics of DnD and the feel of Forgotten Realms, as well as the plethora of monsters, races, faiths, factions and locales (both material plane and beyond) to play around with. With Baldur's Gate 3 being made by Larian, it seems like such a ripe opportunity for Obsidian to make an Icewind Dale 3 (that is at least before WotC potentially hires another studio to do that) or some other Forgotten Realms title. That would truly be nostalgic, in my opinion at least. After all the hopes of many of us fans who helped kickstart these PoE games were for them to make a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate I-II and Icewind Dale I-II. What if we could get literal sequels instead of figurative ones?

Disco Elysium isn't even nominated for GOTY. And I really don't see how it's any less a videogame than plenty of other narrative-focused games out there. There's plenty of interactivity in it which is deeply essential to the experience, there's interesting systems at play, all in all it's certainly a game. Might not be your cup of tea, but I see no reason to assume otherwise.

That's true, but it's a strategy used by relatively few players. We've already established that not that many players have completed the game even once. And there is the group of players (like me) who have completed the game and are not interested in meta-gaming in the way you describe, because they want the world to be new -- and once it isn't anymore, it stops being interesting. But note that this is not to deny the benefit you describe; it certainly is there. But it's a niche phenomenon, for a small subgroup of players.

I for one would have liked even more awards/nominations for Disco Elysium and The Outer Worlds both. Both deserve at least a nod in the art direction/direction departments too. But I'm also glad for the attention they're getting.

I'm curious what games you do like? I'm pretty sure all your posts are disliking games. Could be wrong. Nevermind I think I'm mistaking you for someone else whoops

Don't get selected! I've found that erratic behavior usually does the trick. Conversations with invisible friends never fails.

Yep, looks good on my end.

Aaaand Celestian Tales: Old North – Howl of the Ravager, DLC prequel to the original game, is finished. The gameplay is the same, but you play as one of the young lords of Old North, introduced in the base game. It's little bit shorter, but last two areas were for me tedious, which little bit worsened my impressions. The next one will be either another run of Tales of Symphonia (I want to get the crazy Gung Ho! title for Lloyd) or finally Pillars of Eternity. Or something completely different, maybe another Paradox game... I don't know My backlog is thankfully little bit stale at the moment, stopped to grow, but sometimes I am to indecisive to pick what to play next *rolls eyes* .

Of all the games I've played in 2019 I'd have to agree about TOW being nominated for those categories and I wouldn't have a problem with it winning. I'm almost done with the main story and its so damn good.

Mastermind Hideo Kojima condensing the experience of living in 40 seconds:

I bought this game on release day after holding back on pre-ordering because I wasn't sure how good it would be. Once I saw the reviews I dived in and got it. Having completed my first play-through in an unhurried 43 hours I do find people's comments on how short the game is a bit strange. I'm now having a second go with a slightly different character build and I've already found locations and quests that I missed the first time through. You really have to read everything, look at every terminal and chat to any named NPC. I also find the chat between different pairings of companions very entertaining, as is the dialogue from the NPCs. I can only assume that anyone getting through the game very quickly is missing out a lot of the content. I've played RPGs for many years, starting with Morrowind, and I'm finding TOW very entertaining. It's not a classic, but if you take it on it's own merits (I'm tired of all the comparisons to Fallout) then it's certainly worth the money. I've already got ideas for a different character for my next play, and I'm quite a way from finishing the current one.

Honestly, I thought there were more than enough evil options in the game - and I didn't even choose to be evil or cruel most of the time. Maybe a bit sassy and sarcastic, but not too much evil. Without going too much into detail, if you are looking to be evil just 'for evil sake' - meaning being evil for absolutely no reason - just kill everybody then. Nothing is stopping you really, just your ability to kill everyone.

Hi everyone! Today during the Inside Xbox Showcase during X019 we announced our brand new game, Grounded. A passion game being worked on by a small team hear at Obsidian. The world of Grounded is a vast, beautiful, and dangerous place, especially when you have been shrunken to the size of an ant. Explore, build, and survive together in this first person, multiplayer, survival-rpg. Can you thrive alongside the hordes of giant insects, fighting to endure the hardships of the backyard? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4B5iOh1mB8 To help give you more information on Grounded, we wanted to share articles that have been written about a game from press who were able to come to the studio and see it prior to the unveiling at X0. This is a game that we're looking forward to building with your input when we come first to the Xbox Insider program and then later to Game Preview and Game Pass early next year. Now on to the articles! Destructoid https://www.destructoid.com/following-the-fantastic-outer-worlds-obsidian-s-next-game-is-grounded-572419.phtml Eurogamer https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-11-13-obsidians-first-microsoft-owned-game-is-basically-honey-i-shrunk-the-kids Game Informer https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/11/14/obsidian-announces-microscale-survival-game-grounded GamesRadar+ https://www.gamesradar.com/obsidian-grounded-new-xbox-one-exclusive-interview/ Gamespot https://www.gamespot.com/articles/obsidians-grounded-is-honey-i-shrunk-the-kids-meet/1100-6471448/ IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/11/14/obsidians-grounded-preview-reveal-early-access-first-look https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/14/obsidians-grounded-first-impressions Kotaku https://kotaku.com/obsidian-s-next-game-is-a-survival-adventure-where-your-1839858401 Metro.uk https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/14/hands-xbox-one-exclusive-grounded-unveiled-outer-worlds-dev-obsidian-x019-11148003/ MMORPG https://www.mmorpg.com/interviews/grounded-an-interview-with-obsidians-senior-programmer-roby-atadero-1000014116 PC Gamer https://www.pcgamer.com/au/in-grounded-an-adorable-survival-game-from-obsidian-youre-a-shrunken-kid-in-a-giant-backyard/ https://www.pcgamer.com/how-rpg-studio-obsidian-ended-up-making-a-survival-game/ PCGamesN https://www.pcgamesn.com/grounded/x019-announced?amp Polygon https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/14/20964726/obsidian-entertainment-grounded-announcement-release-date-xbox-one-x019 RPG Site https://www.rpgsite.net/interview/9171-grounded-preview-and-interview-with-senior-programmer-roby-atadero USGamer https://www.usgamer.net/articles/grounded-preview-impressions-obsidian?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter The Verge https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/14/20964550/obsidian-grounded-survival-game-microsoft-xbox-xo19 But that's not all! We just put up our new Grounded website. Over the next few months, make sure to check this site out for blog posts from the team and get insight into how Grounded is going to be built. Congrats to the Grounded team for their big announcement today!

Good to hear

Absolutely amazing and well deserved, voted earlier today.

Please DO NOT listen to anything OP is saying. First and foremost, Supernova mode is the actual normal as described here: Permadeath on companions is ABSOLUTELY necessary for the baseline mode. Immortal companions should only stay on easier difficulties such beginner modes. Users playing the actual design of the game should not be able to exploit immortal companions. Such as sending them in as sacrificial lamb meat shields while sitting back sniping. Due to knowing they will survive anyway. This can only be prevented if companions have permanent death. Thereby, requiring users to actually play wisely. Including with companions. As is what a baseline difficulty is meant for. Saves, sleeping, and fast travel are three mechanics that are fine in Supernova for the most part. There only needs to be a few minor adjustments to improve. Firstly, it's well known that Botanical Labs choice is underdeveloped (this definitely needs to be reworked). You end up having to land at Edgewater even if you choose Botanical Labs. The only real advantage to Botanical Labs is cosmetic because you have access to the hat shop. Certain spots in the game should allow all three mechanics in Supernova - Sleep, Fast Travel, Manual Save. For example, if choosing Botanical Labs or Edgewater. Whichever choice should reward users with a permanent spot to do all three of those things exactly like your ship. The same goes for getting your own housing. The only other thing would be temporary paid inn solely for sleeping. So a user can go to an inn, pay a fee to sleep there, and it autosaves. Nothing more is required. The only thing for companions that I can say might need a bit of tweaking is lack of congruence with NPC stats for difficulty level. Seems they still use the same stats from normal difficulty despite Supernova/Hard difficulty using higher stats for NPCs/hostiles. Companion stats should be adjusted according to the difficulty setting. But this isn't even that much of a big deal. For the most part, as long as you're using your companions properly, there will never be a problem in Supernova using them effectively. Nothing really more needs to be altered for Supernova.

My only concerns are with the only sleep and save on the ship, I can widly guess the philosophy behind this, but still, if there is a bed you should be able to sleep in it, or in any case rent a bed Same thing with the saves, I think a save on sleep will probably fix it

I played Supernova for my first play-through. I didn't mind sleeping only in the ship. Early on, I really enjoyed the challenge of knowing that I had to manage my exploration time carefully. What killed me was concussions dropping my temperament and causing my healing to stop. A number of times I had full food, water and sleep and came too close to a mine - boom! No damage but, instant concussion. I wish there was a consumable or a medical skill level that allowed you to 'cure' a concussion without sleep. There needs to be some Supernova perks and bonuses. Perma-death for companions was awesome. I set them to range and always told them where to stand. It helps to use sneak and sniper rifles early on. I can see where it would be more challenging if you let them melee. When I started my 2nd run (dumb-thug character) I kept it with Supernova so than I can have a couple companions die to see how it affects the story.

It's amazing how psilocybin mushrooms can change one's perspective...

Which may be the long-rumored AAA open world RPG project, which some have associated with Parker but maybe not so. Hmmm. Very interesting. Grounded being "Maine" threw me off as well, though yes I also think it's likely this game came together as a real project very suddenly at the last minute. And as a side-note, thanks a lot for sharing this kind of information because I for one love playing around with these puzzles in my head.

I don’t see an issue with this one: there has been no sign of intelligent alien life, beside humans. In OW aliens meddling in human affairs is just as far fetched as it is currently in ours. The reason why the concept of alien is far fetched, isn’t that they are from outer space, but that there is no recorded evidence of other intelligent life forms.

"FTL" is a funny way to spell "Cities: Skylines"

Thank you all for continuing to post here and on these forums. We are hard at work evaluating everything that is coming in. Once I have a better understanding on the actions we be taking I will share them. I am sorry to see that some of these issues have been preventing you from enjoying the game, but we will continue to investigate these reports as they come in.

Please remove the time restriction for edits! Please extend the login time! Please reintroduce BBCode mode! Why is nothing done about it? No comment or answer either. I can't edit the char build lists anymore. Others can't edit their sticky posts with tipps & tricks. It can't be too hard to do that stuff can it? What's the point of this thread then? Ks ks ks...