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My regret: I couldn't find a nice old set of scales to put the gargoyle's quest cartridge on one side and chocolate on the other.

Great blog. A very interesting and fun read!! And your gaming interests very closely mirror my own! After RPGs, it's strategy games and builder/management games for me as well.

Well said, though games are complex and the players' hardware and software configurations are diverse, so waiting for at least a month before playing might bring a more enjoyable experience. Still, I do believe that you will have a great time even if there are minor technical issues. I am looking forward to the game, though more accessible and environmentally-friendly system requirements would be most welcome and I shall resist the urge to pre-purchase and take a vacation.

Great story Melkie, I really enjoyed it The eternal and industrious entrepreneurial gamer spirit never dies !!!!

I knew my expectations were justified! Awesome read @melkathi Yeah, some things haven't changed the last 40 years when it comes to how games are marketed. The games don't always match the box art (said the guy who stared at curvy women box art painted by Boris Vallejo on the old SSI and 3Do games in the 80's) Hope those cat forks pays your next games!

Tl;dr; 20 years is a life time I still think back to those days in 1983, when fighting my mum over access to the TV. I swear, she never cared watching TV before, until I got that Commodore 64 and didn't have my own screen (yet) It was the fight of the titans, seeing who was the most stubborn In the end, I made enough money to buy a 12" black and white TV to put up in my own room. Peace settled over the land and everyone could back to worry about total nuclear war (the real thing, not the later video game) But it's been a long journey, technologies come and go, concepts come and go, target audiences come and go. VHS won out over Beta MAX, but nobody today knows what the heck either of them are. Tapes were the original medium video games were sold on for home computers, whether they be Acorn BBC model B or Sinclair ZX Spectrums. Floppy disks followed and less floppy, floppy (3.5") followed and eventually cd roms. Even those eventually died out and everyone gets their fix from the internet. Scratching my head and wondering what replaces the current internet some day? All of that in 2x20 years.

Heya BruceVC - I appreciate the nuance that cRPG are not intrinsically narrative driven. That has been my experience and I have found, though I love a good RPG, if it is not essentially story-driven I quickly loose interest. I think that is why SIMs interest me but tend not to hold my attention for very long!

Thanks, Hawke64. Yes the ability to branch with choices that feel real and have consequences has always been a strength. I think it is interesting the evolution since the original FO (1 & 2) and how ambiguity continues to be a strong component of the realism: if that makes sense?

Great read, its not a surprise that the common thread in most of the blogs is the appreciation and love of the strength of Obsidians story telling and world building Someone might say " but every RPG has to have good story telling " but thats not necessarily true. You can find entertaining RPG that are strong on combat mechanics or quest choices that you enjoy but the overarching narrative is not fantastic A grand and compelling narrative that is truly thought provoking is an art that Obsidian delivers on. And I gauge that on when I literally have to stop the game and think for 15-20 minutes about what choice I need to make and the consequence around that choice Like with PoE2 and with F: NV and who I should support around who ends up controlling NV

Well said. These qualities, the player's agency with branching paths, choices, and their consequences, are what sets Obsidian's work apart and utilises the unique aspects of the interactive medium. Also the strong writing and characters, rich lore, and other engaging and well-designed gameplay systems. I am looking forward to Avowed, even if I am going to wait before purchasing (would like to have it on GOG and complete). There were Eothas and the faction leaders. I found myself quite enjoying cutting down Atsura and Hazanui Karu. They were reasonably grounded and understandable, while having the capacity to be compelling antagonists. The same can be said about the other factions, I suppose. The Vailian Trading Company was the least directly hostile to the party, but they absolutely could (did) murder random civilians. On the other hand, allying with a faction would provide a satisfying ending as well. Though, as it required compromising my ego and losing companions, I greatly appreciated the ability to finish the game without their support.

Thaos is a great villain. He is menacing and mysterious, and he has a personal connection to the player character. It's the sort of nemesis that Deadfire is missing a bit. I guess Deadfire went for a bit less traditional storytelling, but I don't really remember any antagonist from Deadfire that quite has the same impact as Thaos. Not even Nemnok. Sorry, little fellow.