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Finally decided to give Life is Strange 2 a go. Bought it back in the days but then never played it, because somehow lost the motivation. Finished episode 1 now. All in all it was better than I expected, but IMO a bit too slow, with really long cutscenes. It's like, if I am breaking down the gameplay segments from the cutscenes, there's really only very little content. You're basically just walking around interacting with hotspots, then pick up some stuff and let's go to the next cutscene. The first game felt a lot more balanced in that area. Also I now remember all the people crying about the game being woke or whatever, because it features a racist character who is very clearly a trumper-type. Didn't felt too off to me. What was a little more weird was the savior dude who was into nudism. That was a bit... not sure what to make of it. Started episode 2 now. Will see how it continues.

Arcadia Fallen. Got one of the rarest achievements by asking a child why he was following the party, then telling him that I was going to murder his brother. The game is funny. While the story was as exciting as watching paint dry (small towns are good for burning down in the prologue, but not so much for having the whole story centred on them*), the UI is excellent - the short reply options alongside the intonations and explicitly marked story-affecting choices help greatly. The plot did get somehow jollier by the end of Chapter 4 (out of 7), though I still was not able throw a grenade at a certain NPC. *the main character is an alchemist apprentice, and at the end of the prologue the local farmers/miners try to destroy their shop (and again at the end of Chapter 4). There is also a little demon army under the town, so the protagonist just has to save the town, because reasons. Instead of packing the bags and leaving for a better and larger city. The main mini-game (rotating 3 circles to form a certain pattern) is enjoyable enough and it is nice that there is something tangible. Though, the PC does have some personality stats attached and some of the decisions are tracked.

The question of recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism has been opened at US senate again, after Putin’s lovey dovey with Kim. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/06/21/7461906/

And a first Giveaway of the Summer Sale: https://www.gog.com/en/game/shadows_awakening

All of Dragon age 90% off, in fact.

Arcadia Fallen There were occasionally unavoidably unwise options and somewhat odd, though well-meaning, social commentary. The game was rather nice overall. Some story paths do not offer choices. This part of the main quest always felt off - why does the PC have to save the locals who clearly want to be left alone (technically, exploited by another local who was digging magical fossil fuels)? I strongly suspect that the mages were the stand-in for immigrants and/or LGBTQ+ persons (including the conversion therapy subplot), which is not unusual, but does not quite work when the story needs the PC motivated, instead of saying "Lol, good riddance" and riding into the subset with the party. Adding a likeable NPC or two who are neither party members nor wizards could have helped. There are options to choose how the PC feels about things and they are clearly communicated. But no option to lie to the person in power who threatening you. The PC is unavoidably honest. The florist mage is very nice and trying to integrate. One should always use password managers and memorable, but not guessable, passwords for them. The alchemist should have thrown acid at the attackers or at least a smoke bomb, but there was no option to do so, only to run or to fight. To be fair, the world being destroyed can threaten one's research. Ironically, he was right. I was honest with a child and the child disapproved. But I got an achievement for it. That particular quest lacked any tough moral choices, though. And the PC lacked the perception to find the McGuffin before the quest. The alchemy mini-game. The challenges are on the right. It is rather fun. It gets a bit spoilery from here and onwards. Seems to be only one additional costume and it's a flower crown. Technically accurate. Arcadia Fallen II (Demo) The game did not trust the players to be completionists and befriend all possible NPC. Disappointing. The scene was slightly animated (the carriage was moving), so I did not notice the painting in the background being so stylistically different.

Nah, I want to read, not watch videos.

I tend to think that in Roleplaying games act of choosing is gameplay, not individual systems. It is where Outer Worlds was weaker for me than many of previous Obsidian titles - I didn't care how I solve the problem presented to me, rather than having an issue with individuals systems. On the other hand, all 3 of my characters in PoE1 infiltrated Raedtrick's fortress a bit differently for roleplaying reasons. Naturally, it would be better if individual systems were somewhat satisfying in their own right, but in an RPG I am more interested in them being used to build a narratively interesting scenario.

I'm not sure there is an Obsidian game where the gameplay (mostly thinking about combat here, although that's obviously not true for Pentiment) is strong enough to stand on its own. Closest might be South Park of all things. Hopefully Avowed has a more fleshed out stealth system than Outer Worlds. If it does it'd probably become my favourite Obsidian title mechanically as is. Not necessarily asking for Looking Glass level implementation, though something like Cyberpunk would be appreciated. But I'll settle for a marginal improvement over Skyrim.

Should just link to Tim directly.

With games like Crow Country being successful, I hope we get to see more old-school survival horror games. Post Trauma looks ok.

Donald Sutherland