Leaderboard

Unpacking is pure existential dread and terror, do not play if you're weak of heart.

(Looking through my Steam library for RPG games with a party in any setting). If action-RPGs (little player's agency) count, then: Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen. Dungeon Siege III has quite a lot of combat, but technically there is a party (of 2) and some decent decisions>consequences. I also have it in my Steam inventory if anyone is interested. There is also Ember, which was fine (amusing, but, again, quite light on dialogue options). Any of Spiders' games - they all (except Steelrising) were party-based action-RPGs of variable quality. Sword Coast Legends was fine (?). Not sure if it is still available for purchase. There are several quite good party-based RPGs, though the combat is turn-based. Expeditions: Viking was good, with several outcomes and paths to victory (the PC's village not dying out). The sequel was prettier and the combat was better, but it also had more grind (may the conquest battles and random encounters be damned) and felt more shallow. In either game, the PCs' societies were not exactly pleasant, though it somehow depends on the roleplay. The above-mentioned Encased, Wasteland 3, and Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Hong Kong were excellent. Torment: Tides of Numenera.

Saints Row is an interesting juxtaposition of a coming of age story with the usual Power of Friendship and cartoonish violence, gang violence, and the very modern job market. I found it particularly touching after almost 4 months on LinkedIn. It is also a stark contrast to SR2, at the same time being a logical evolution of the series, with the previous entries How the Saints Saved the Christmas and Gat Out of Hell. But ultimately, it is a story about imperfect people in an imperfect world doing their best (through violence)*. So, while the party is not investing in education or researching renewable energy or creating legal job opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, one of the companions donates toys to orphans and there is an actual cat who is unharmed. The graphics and visual style are fine and I found them more appealing with the visual accessibility settings and some filters. As is, they seemed a little too detailed yet some animations were occasionally too minimalistic, but as mentioned, it fit the general style. The controls are comfortable and rebindable, though the aim assist felt a bit too strong by default. The combat felt simple but functional (when compared to Devil May Cry, which might be an unusual example), though I have not used the special abilities. Same for movement and driving, but there are flying suits, which are more grounded than the superhero abilities from SRIV. The range of customisation options is excellent and includes body sliders, layered clothing, and several voices. On the negative side, the missions have been linear so far, and I am 50% in**. The side missions and collectibles are nice, though I would have preferred them being available from the start. As is, their availability is bound to the main story. The number of the save slots is limited to ~16 (not sure, but not enough to save every other main mission). Disabling the online DRM requires adding a launch parameter to the executable. Overall, I would recommend it with the right expectations. *just finished the game. It was about the Power of Friendship. The final mission was very touching and well-made. **one choice for the main story. --- Nioh 2 is an exploration-light (mission-based) Souls-like with a linear story, a quite (for the lack of a better word) shiny (visual-effects-heavy) combat system, and absolutely horrible inventory and loot. Aragami 2 is a decent stealth game. You also can jump there, unlike Aragami 1. It was sad that the developer closed about a year ago. Soultice (EGS) didn't run. Haven't played the rest. --- I am curious about Citizen Sleeper, though I might dislike it. There is no Light: Enhanced Edition looks visually appealing. So, if no one else is interested, the key for either would be appreciated.

I just want to say that I appreciate you all describing and reviewing the games that you've played

Dwarven city managerial game available for free on GOG https://www.gog.com/en/game/hammerting

One thing I've read regarding polling is that younger voters tend not to have landlines and don't answer unknown cold calls, which has been speculated to skewing any phone based poll in weird ways when trying to extrapolate data to the population.

Made hot cross buns that are not immediately fatal, so that's a plus.

@sadysands I would take NIOH and two point campus out of your hands if they are still up for grab

In case over 2hour long podcast/interview is too much here is a bit more concise Judas pre-preview impression.

Sheeana was the only good character in the latter books

In school, when I was writing my own RPG setting (as one does as a 16 year old), I had a kingdom where they let the military bureaucracy run everything, and the first thing they did was rename all villages for efficiency. They would have approved of Checkpoint Rest Town.

Because chaos HARDSPACE: SHIPBREAKER WWE 2K23 UNPACKING FRIENDS VS FRIENDS PRODEUS THE LEGEND OF TIANDING SCP: SECRET FILES SOULDIERS

Got to let he die once, find out who her father is, then turn him against Halbeck for his daughter's death. I never find that dossier though.

I romance and save Madison every time

I'll give people some time. Of some things are still left over after that, I'll grab a key of something.

Alpha Protocol. Did Rome and Taipei, then read that you get Veteran background when you specifically finish Recruit and not just any background, so started again with that. Yes, to get Veteran asap and totally not to stall the Brayko fight. I did get better with the game since ...what...14 years?... (okay lets not think about that), partially because I'm not playing it on a potato this time, but also because Dishonored and Prey taught me some patience and sneakiness I think. I still suck at shooting, and Marburg shanked me a couple of times before I learned how to properly mess with his pathfinding, but I didn't mind repeating this fight because dressing down Mikey gives to Marburg is still after all these years I try not to think about.

WARHAMMER AGE OF SIGMAR: REALMS OF RUIN – ULTIMATE EDITION SAINTS ROW BLACK SKYLANDS SOULSTICE AFTERIMAGE DESTROYER: THE U-BOAT HUNTER MARVEL'S MIDNIGHT SUNS DIGITAL+ EDITION MIDNIGHT SUNS - DOCTOR STRANGE DEFENDERS SKIN ARAGAMI 2 ROGUEBOOK THE RED LANTERN HELL PIE TWIN MIRROR LIFE IS STRANGE: TRUE COLORS SCORN DESTROY ALL HUMANS 2! REPROBED BEACON PINES CHILDREN OF SILENTOWN OAKEN SNOWTOPIA: SKI RESORT BUILDER

Our new stuff released: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/107410/view/4133814330212415053 So far so good. The negative reviews are as expected. Just a bit weird that the majority is in cyrillic. But oh well, so far so good.

Florida braces for lawsuits over law banning kids from social media | Ars Technica Part of me is aghast because I consider FL to be populated with a bunch of rednecks that are regressing our society, another part of me thinks they got this one right. Social media is a cancer, especially to young children.

I'm using keyboard and mouse. Honestly, it's like they collected data on my hotkeys for DD:DA 'cause the weapon skill hold button is the thumb buttons on the mouse.

Patron, city builder - Don't take the following wrong, I still find it some fun, but there are gripes, because I'm a cranky old woman. ----Started a new Sandbox-play map (not interested in having questie objectives added to sandbox). Remembered what I liked about it. Then about 12-15 game-years in, I remember the thing that actually annoyed me the most. The never ending population increase forcing you to build ever more houses, quite rapidly. eg, you have zero ability to control the pace of *when* you want to expand a lot. Not even a little. I suppose one could build just six-eight houses and nothing else but Shelters after (they don't procreate if living in Shelters), hm, maybe that'd work. ----I saw a "Map Editor, On/Off" setting, but there is no map editor, at least not in-game? ----the available maps are still not extensive, but at least there's a few more ----The tech tree wasn't too bad at release, now it's become kind of a nightmare regarding being forced to research/take tons of stuff I don't care about just to reach certain housing upgrades. And not being able to click on more than one at a time, argh. ----The main difficulty of Patron is the very start of a map. The first winter or couple of yeras could be a struggle depending on map and choices. but...even after all the patches... ----apparently, in general, the "make 5-10 tobacco farms (plus some food farms ofc) and a few Docks as early as you can" still works. You can just sell tobacco in huge lots for 100k+ before too long, and buy almost everything vs. create it yourself. ----Also, outside of city-scaping and personal goals, there's no real reason to build/use 80% of the stuff in the tech tree. You could make a thriving giant townscape with 98-100 in all scores, with nothing but peasants and wheat/fish, forever.

I was 100% sure you have been talking about Darkest Dungeons 2 until other people started to post again about Dragon's Dogma 2

PC and controller. The game does have some technical issues. I got lucky and it was smooth sailing for me for the first 5 hours, then I started getting graphical glitches here and there and had it CTD once. For the last few hours I've been on a good streak again and it's ran smoothly. /knocks on wood The game could certainly stand to be better optimized, in the outdoors the frame rate, while it could be better, is acceptable, but in cities the frame rate tanks. I'm on a fairly high-end PC so I can still get OK FPS in cities just via brute power, but the drop is noticeable. Still, I'm willing to put up with the issues because the game is incredible. This is the most an action combat system has clicked with me since... Maybe ever. Bayonetta is the only other game I can think of where the combat felt this good, very different combat system in Bayonetta but it succeeds in making you feel like a total badass which is something Dragon's Dogma 2 also does really well. I mean, I jumped off a cliff onto a dragon then hung on for dear life while it took off flying. That particular adventure didn't go well for me (I've fought a dragon twice in this game so far, three if you count the cutscene at the beginning of the game, but have yet to defeat or even survive a dragon) but it was super thrilling nonetheless.

"After roughly 10 hours of Dragon's Dogma 2 I can easily proclaim it the new standard." I prefer games with New Game button

I think, I might drop few words about my experience with the Obsidian games, now that this "pandora's box" has been open KOTOR2: Awesome sequel to awesome game. I have mostly enjoyed it and tried to go the most "lighty" way possible. Unfortunately, at some point, I have completely lost myself in Pazzaak, and completely lost track of the story, so I have never finished this game up until the end, and up to this day, I am trying to avoid any spoilers on this board. Unfortunately sometimes with no success NWN2: Again awesome sequel to awesome game. I loved the game even more, than KOTOR2, and thankfully, without crack-like minigame, I was able to finish it . Twice. Once with Vanilla updates only, and once with both Expansion installed to try out some interesting Prestige Class gameplay. Of course, I have also played the expansions. MotB was very interesting and I loved where the story went. Unfortunately, my high level builds have been not optimal, so I struggled a lot with enemy immunities, which was the primary cause, why I have never finished it. SoZ on the other hand, was everything, what I wanted from 3.5E game, and breezed through it up until final dungeon in no time. For me, this is the best DnD game ever released, despite some of the flaws it had. Lastly Mysteries of Westgate, I know it was Ossian, but it would be shame to miss out on golden opportunity to complain again , how due to the stupid DRM decision Atari killed off not only all interest in this expansion, but also all chances to see more NWN2 expansions Alpha Protocol: My oh my. I have never thought, that I would be able to love a modern era RPG, and even in first person. IMHO, this game has shown, how it should be done. Unfortunately, very few studios have taken example out of it, which is sad Fallout NV: Not played it yet, due to being a long time Steam exclusive. Of course I already own it on GOG, but yeah... my backlog Dungeon Siege III: Same as above. With the difference, that I still do not own it, as it is not fully my cup of tea, but I promise, that if my backlog shrinks a little bit, I will definitely play it South Park TSoT: I want to play it, ... a lot. But no deal, until Ubi put's it DRM free on GOG. PoE1: Kickstarted it, played it a little bit, ended up under the Gallows Tree, and then waited until the final patch was released, started it over and finished the game with both expansions "in one breath". It was worth every single penny, I put into the Collector's Edition. The only downside were the backer NPC dialogues, which also stopped my playthrough the first time, as my OCD has taken control over me, and I just had to click on any dialogue Skyforge: Not my cup of tea. Pathfinder Adventures: I loved this one. It was my goto game during my business trips. I spent probably more hours on it, than on PoE1 and NWN2 combined. Unfortunately, it looked like it was not commercially successful project, as the game stopped being developed, despite Paizo releasing new tabletop adventures, which were never added to the iOS game Armored Warfare: Not my cup of tea. Tyranny: Not played it yet, as it took some time, before it was released by Paradox on GOG. I grabbed Gold Edition already, but as with Fallout, my backlog hurts PoE2: "Kickstarted" it, as soon as Paypal option have been opened. Got Collector's Edition and all DLCs as well. But I have decided as before to wait for the final patch to play it, and after that, whenever I pick a new game to play from my backlog, I pick something different, as Pirates are not my cup of tea, which makes it always a little bit lower priority than the other competitors. And yes, I know, it is a brilliant game, that's why I have the Collector's Edition Just be a little bit more patient, kay? The Outer Worlds: I always knew, I would love this game, but I wanted to wait for complete edition before buying it. Shortly, after it was released, before I was able to push the BUY button, I have received by lucky coincidence a Steam gift key, but with my Steam "hatred" I think, it would be just a waste of a useful code to activate it there, so I am humbly waiting for a person, who would be willing to barter it for a GOG key. Grounded and Pentiment: Unfortunately no GOG release yet, so I am playing a game of patience. I do not know if Grounded would be my cup of tea, but seeing some info about Pentiment, I already know, that I would enjoy it. So pretty please, with a cherry on top, dear good Microsoft and Obsidian guys, make GOG release happen. You would make one Slovak guy happy

I own all the BG EE's but havent played any of them. Even though its my favorite RPG of all time (like another poster mentioned, I could never get my head around D&D 3.5) Ive only ever played it once. I save scum and click through all the dialog options in the first playthrough, so theres never a time I replay them for a different outcome. I guess Im just a game collector now lol.

It is being patched. There are still numerous minor bugs (like rumours not clearing out of quest log) but overall it is playable and enjoyable. There seems to be at least at times importance to the order in which you do things. You are given options on how to do things. The system works, but some class choices seem complicated for the sake of being complicated. Some things have been hit with the nerf bat. I think the current verdict is, if you have waited this long, might as well wait another month for the big patch. Writing wise? Jae is annoying as feth. Don't feth up and get even near her fething romance. It doesn't fething belong in 40k. Fething Jae should Not be in 40k. If we wanted annoying as feth smuggling scoundrels we'd watch star wars. Though what sort of war dat sposed ter be? A propa waaaaagh is not just wun, too, tree lettarz. A propa waaaaaagh has lotz of lettaz. Lotz of Boyz and lotz of dakka. Neva enuff dakka. Star Waaaaagh would be a good name.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/228280/Baldurs_Gate_Enhanced_Edition/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/257350/Baldurs_Gate_II_Enhanced_Edition/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/385970/Baldurs_Gate_Siege_of_Dragonspear/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/321800/Icewind_Dale_Enhanced_Edition/ All have been updated for modern PC's.

Atom RPG, Atom: Trudograd and Encased came to my mind as first picks.

Unfortunately, from what I know of @kanisatha he is particular enough, that finding something that would fit right into his preferences is tricky. I think Fallout: New Vegas is one of the better RPGs in recent memory so I would recommend it. It is based on Bethesda engine so you can play in third person, and you do have companions but like in Skyrim, you can't control them. Wasteland 2&3 are good, but they are turn based and combat heavy, and I don't think k. will like that (even I was a bit bored by frequency of combat encounters in W3: I played W2 too long ago to remember). Fallout1&2 are classics and must be recommended. I wish they would get a nice remaster to make UI less horrific, and add some quality of life features. Again, like New Vegas it is a single character control and turn-based, and quite clunky at times. How is Owlcat's new Warhammer RPG? I didnt play it, and didn't see much discussion about it.

No, never. Given the dirth of quality fantasy RPGs to play nowadays, I've slowly become open to the idea of trying some post-apocalyptic RPGs. But for me to be willing to try them, they'd need to at least satisfy me with respect to my other major game preferences: be party-based; no first-person perspective; melee combat just as viable and effective as shooting from afar. Oh, and I'm probably not going to try a super-old game. I'm not one for wanting fancy graphics, but even I have my limits. Recommendations?

hot take: well done RTWP is miles above the best turn-based system, because it's happening on a computer, and we don't need every game to be a "tabletop-like". the computer can calculate everything very fast and just show me how the state changed, and it can do it continuously. I don't need to wait for the "enemy" to take its turn. it's a user experience issue rather than a fundamental combat design issue.

Owlcat's writing improved a LOT in Rogue Trader. Goes to show what a comprehensive setting with a detailed lore bible can do. Owlcat is doing a better job at it than a lot of Games Workshop's own Black Library authors. Which is not much praise, come to think of it, taking into account my opinion of those authors.

The main thing I like about Obsidian is the writing quality. Gameplay can be hit or miss with me, but I know when I buy an Obsidian title, it will be well written. I'm pretty sure I've played them all, except that Pathfinder card game and the tank game they helped with. There are a lot of other developers that can't pull off the writing Obsidian does. Bethesda. Owlcat. Larian. The list goes on. Obsidian can write circles around them.

Alright, here we go: KOTOR2 - Overall, I think it is a bit overrated - partially, because it is a sequel to an overrated game - system-wise KOTOR is just so very dull. It's a dumb down D&D, and unfortunately by doing it it stipped any remotely interesting things about D&D. Still, I like it a lot. I am not a fan of KOTOR1 vs. KOTOR2 conversation, as I think they complement each other rather well. Pacing of KOTOR2 is rather off, and its critique of established SW mythology is pulled of rather well for the most part. The whole of it could use more time and a hell lot of polish. Even with restored content KOTOR2 is more of a story of "what could have been", rather than what it actually is... but capturing imagination is sometimes all the game needs to do, and Obsidian is pretty good at that. Neverwinder Nights2 - I don't like it nearly as much as other folks. I like it much more than NWN1, but as NWN1 was less of a game, and more of a toolbox it's also unfair comparison. I find base campaign charming, but when I played it back in a day I found rather trite. Coming from BG2, I found it disappointing to see so many recurring elements - as far as I knew, unfamiliar with D&D lore and all, they took a sidequest from BG2 and tried to make a whole game out of it. Playing NWN2 I always wish I was just playing BG1&2 instead... or BG3. I really didn't enjoy my time with D&D 3rd edition. Personally, I find the system a bit too detailed to work well for a party RPG, but UI doesn't help. Whenever it is leveling up, exploring or combat NWN2 UI is clunky, uninformative and just unpleasant to use. I also didn't like 4 character party limit - I just find it to not be enough in a D&D game. That said, I do like both DLCs to NWN2 a lot. Alpha Protocol - Real, hate-love relationship with it. I was constantly frustrated while playing it, loved it when credits rolled, and am very reluctant to give it a 2nd playthrough. Another Obsidian game that really captures imagination, with some compelling ideas, and great reactivity. A lot of good, a lot of bad, and a lot of potential. Fallout: New Vegas - easily, the best and most complete game Obsidian has made. It made me do 360 and turned me into Obsidian fan, and made me angry at Bethesda that after playing Fallout3 it took me years before I decided to give NV a go. Great world, great reactivity to the character, and the best implementation of Obsidian style faction system. It's a game where you can create a character and there will probably be an interesting path for your character to take. Probably, the only downside for me, is Ceasar's Legion being a bit too evil. I think they are a great faction, but it's tricky for me to create a character who would see them as a valid option. Still, even so, three other endings one can pursue, allowing for variety of smaller decisions. While later games (like PoE2) did factions better, NV manages to offer both pretty free-style open world, while still managing to offer a coherent and compelling story. A brilliant balance of narratively dense game, and player agency. Pillars of Eternity 1&2 - In my opinion, a brilliant throwback to Infinity Games, keeping stuff I liked about those and changing things I didn't care that much for. Still my favourite modern cRPG system. PoE1 has a stronger narrative direction, and more consistant tone, but it feels like it is stretched thin, with too little content spread accross too much game. While story is great, too much of it is delivered through walls of text, rather than interactive quests. PoE2 addresses every single criticism for PoE1 I had, but tone feels more inconsistant, and narrative isn't as tight. Still, probably my 2nd favourite Obsidian game after Fallout: New Vegas. DLCs for both games are brilliant, with While March still being my favourite PoE pieces of content. Tyranny - 4 party limit, cooldown based combat, focusing on spamming same abilities over and over, rather than decisionmaking. And a lot of combat, with little enemy variation. Major reactivity favouring fewer more impactful decisions, over regular decisionmaking. All that I don't like. Still, pulpy, more approachable world than PoEs, but with some cool, edgy ideas. I wish we would get more of it, and in true Obsidian fasion, some really imagination capturing concepts - initial prologue setting the world state, custom spell creator. Fun game, worth a playthrough, even if not subsequent playthroughs. Unlike other titles, I found DLC for this one rather underbaked and forgettable. I struggle to recall what was it about. Outer Worlds - similar to Tyranny, I think it is a fun game to playthrough once, even if it lacks depth to warrant subsequent playthroughs. Not much roleplaying to do in this one, but it's a fairly tight, lighthearted adventure, with enough choice to keep me engaged. Combat got a bit old by the time the credits rolled, and it strongly overstayed it's welcome after DLCs were added. Grounded - played a bit of it. Installed on my PC for a while now. Survival games aren't my thing. Pentiment - great artstyle, unusual story for a game. It is a narrative adventure so it is, what it is, but I did find gameplay loop of running around the city and talking to everyone before progressing time to be tedious. Some activities pass time, so I felt pressured to find all there is to find before progressing time, and it just wasn't very fun to do. Edit. Hmm, there is a narrative going, that Obsidian isn't what it used to be, and while it is somewhat true, I am not sure if it's a bad thing. Overall, I think their output starting with New Vegas and going forward consists of the stronger output, with earlier games being interesting, but not well executed. I think biggest criticism for post New Vegas Obisidan, is that they started to be a bit more formulaic. They found a way to do factions, open world and companions into which they lean into, while it's been a bit more dynamic in the past. For that reason, I am somewhat excited to see Obsidian trying different types of games. Hopefully, they will find the spark of creativity that fueled their earlier, more one of a kind titles. Still, while one can draw pretty clear parallels between New Vegas and Deadfire, it's not like Deadfire didn't try new things as well. Unfortuantely, those new things (like companion reputation system) didn't work too well.

As much as I'm a fan of Obsidian, I've only ever played three of their games: NwN2, PoE, and PoE2. This is mainly because I have not been willing, in the past, to go outside of fantasy setting based RPGs for my games. And for me, all three of these games were fantastic!

So what didn't I play? Grounded (not on gog + ewwww multiplayer), Pentiment (not on gog), Dungeon Siege 3 (started it, but dropped and all I remember was a long linear corridor of bashing dudes. The older I get the more necessary the story is for me to not get bored with a game) and South Park (I have it on EA storefront and one day I'll muster courage to deal with EA storefront, real soon now ). KOTOR 2. First game of Obs I played. Also first game I went to whine about on social network because I was so angry about the ending, it was my etalon for horrible, terrible, no good disappointing endings until along came "Lost" and dropped the bar into deep deep abyss. It really stood out because everything up to it was so, so good. Helped me to figure out my own love/hate relationship with Star Wars. Neverwinter Nights 2. An example of how people who know how to write can elevate even the most derivative cookie-cutter setting. This is also the game that taught me RPG systems are fun. Before it, I countered all my problems by dropping difficulty. Didn't work on that red dragon. Had to read about how to beat her and -- "Oh hey, there's the whole system in it?! " I think I played every class there except fighters and barbarians because those are boring. And then there's Mask of the Betrayer which is Alpha Protocol. I don't know how many playthroughs of it I did. Something between 10 and 20, and that's only because I really sucked at it, if I were any good I prolly wouldn't have stopped playing it. Anyway, none of those playthroughs were like the other. I remember how I tried to goad Konrad into fighting me, but because I was on "Biiiitch. As$hole!" relationship with Madison he deduced Mikey wasn't genuine and bolted. And how it took like hours to down Brayko on a SMG run. SIE best girl. Fallout New Vegas. That's my videogame home, the place where I feel well, at home. I got the "I'm home..." feeling instantly as I left Doc's house. Then the game promptly crashed. Anyway, my PC was too weak for it and I haven't tried to play it for quite some time. Which was for the best given it's buggy launch infamy. Still haven't done a Legion run, there's something too realistically reprehensible about their brand of evil. Tyranny. All I knew was "You play a bad guy" so it was extremely pleasant surprise to find so detailed, rich world and lore. Also the art, the music, the magic system, the almost Alpha-Protocol levels of variables, it's all so I don't much care the ending was kinda eh. I don't have a clear favorite Obsidian game, rather a crowded little plateau on a peak where games constantly fight for a title. Tyranny is the most frequent winner there. Pillars of Eternity. Kickstarted it as by then I knew chances were high I'll love it. Then it sat in my game reserve of "If all games from now on gonna be rubbish I'll still have this". Didn't get into it from the start because it looked like yet another bog-standard vaguely medievalish fantasy with dorfs and elfs, yawnorama, but in the second attempt I reached the hanging tree and got hooked. Somewhen mid-game I found out there's a sequel and that was the first time I've heard of it. Insta-bought. Deadfire. It could be my second home because it's so pretty and music is great, and characters are alive, and I want to make separate build for every interesting weapon, and the amount of hours I sunk into it is in quadruple digits, if not for the fact it fried my video card once, keeps attempting to do so again and I remember these things. Still, another frequent champion of the plateau. Like, everything in it just clicks with me. The Outer Worlds. ... ... I don't know what happened. Like, I liked all the separate parts. Art. Music. Setting. Environment. "Corporations are the devil" schtick. First two companions are really good. Dialogs are witty. Weapons are nice. But the sum of all parts somehow turns into perfect representation of "Meh".

I always find this argument slightly peculiar, if indeed the only complaint is size. If someone is a reader of books or a player of games, it doesn't seem relevant to me to worry about length / size, if you're going to spend that time reading / playing anyway. If the books or the games are bad then by all means toss them aside, that's what I also do, but if not, where's the problem? Btw, I'm not sure about this but isn't BG2, for instance, bigger than Deadfire? I bring it up because you mention DD, so you're likely to have played that.

I played Kotor 2 completely once, but unlike many I did not enjoy it as much as the original. I felt it was trying too hard to be edgy and moral grey. I finished FO:NV once. I played quite a lot, but again, Obsidian's way of writing "moral dilemmas" I find meh. Obviously, humanity has proven time and time again, that Obsidian has a better understanding of humans than I have. People really do believe that between state funded healthcare and Caesar's Legion, the raping mass murderers are the lesser evil. PoE1 I played. I enjoyed the beginning. It got so tedious, I could not see myself to complete it, and it killed my interest in the story. NVN2 I enjoyed and found one of the better written RPGs. I also think that it fell into the post- Planescape Torment trap of every NPC having to be this unique out of the ordinary, breaking conventions of NPCs attempt, which made me long for plain boring party members. Which Outer World had and which made the game so refreshing. I think I finished Dungeon Siege 3 twice...

I have no idea who this "Dan" is they all keep mentioning ( ), but great/fun video for VA fans.

BBC - Louis Gosset Jr at age 87

It's perfectly fine to not like certain mechanic, but your post suggests that RTWP and turn-based are one and the same. "Turns" is a ruleset and has an impact on gameplay decisionmaking. Chess wouldn't be "better" if everyone moved at the same time - it would be fundamentally broken as the game is build around players taking turns with one move at the time. I think the issue with RPGs is that they don't have particularly great combat loop to begin with - so speeding through encounters tends to be more desirable. In general, though, I do find turn-based RPGs to have better designed combat - not every turn based game, but outside Pillars of Eternity, I can think of only turn-based RPGs in which combat does suck (ignoring action-RPGs systems, like Dark Souls). But yeah, if combat requires little decisionmaking, and it is resolved based on your character build, that it would be desirable for combat to be over as soon as possible - or not be there in the first place.

This reminds me I never did a playthrough where Mike pisses Mads off into leaving and then chooses her over the other people anyway. I wonder what Marburg would say.

Midnight Suns was amazing and you should just play it. I resisted for a long time too, but I was hooked after the first mission.

So, the moral of the story: both Raithe and I ignore Wormy

Well, there are. Seems the game runs fine, aside from the city, and issues there seem mostly be related to CPU. A powerhouse of a CPU seems to be able to pump out about 60FPS with dips, but frametimes are all over the place. Edit. Soo, with all this talk about Dragon's Dogma, I booted up DD1. As PC port is crap and can't even display prompts correctly, I guessed wrong and attacked NPC instead of talking to him. Now I am in jail....

Character actor M. Emmet Walsh