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Took a small detour from my Lich game in WotR to try out two of the DLC's I completed "Through the Ashes". It was fun. A bit like low level Baldurs Gate 1 play (I know, nothing even comparable in scope, but the feeling was similar, scrounging for real weapons instead of the rotten rags and sham theater props you start out with). I decided to try something I was unfamiliar with and picked a Primal Druid with a Smilodon pet. Accepted the "default" crew of odd ball party members. Ended up at level 5 and continued with the last save game into "Lord of Nothing" The cut scenes in the latter are absolutely top notch imho. I am currently level 7 and can now ride my Smilodon. I don't think it was particularly wise, but I decided to hoard the ice shards myself for the time being. Also, that Numerian bard was a nice addition. Got a party slot immediately 😄 edit: Nevermind, I just cant read backgrounds properly... wondering why she had no charisma worth writing home about edit2: Some memorable moments from the wizards tower... finding a wand of cure hangovers, fighting a fermented beer elemental and last but not least, the wizard getting beaten by a dead horse 🤣

BioWare did good business. They've been chasing trends though since day #1. (See MMO/RTS/RPG Battleground Infinity, course corrected at that fateful Interplay pitch). After, they applied their "Bioware romance/companion" formula influenced by Final Fantasy/JRPGs to whatever was hot at the time.(Mass Effect? Gears Of War. DA3? Skyrim. And naturally, The Old Republic was meant to be yet another WOW killer. ) Also the days of their commercial heights artistically were the lowest of this industry as far as I'm concerned. It was the peak era of the traditional gatekeepers: Very few publishers ruled the show, backed by physical retail and shelf space made available for safe formulas primarily -- and then exploding production budgets with the Xbox 360 HD era did the "rest". With several established franchises all over the industry starting to chase the "Call Of Duty / Gears Of War" crowd. Including Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, etc. etc. Several genres saw the axe outright (only to re-appear and flourish again in the Digital Era after). Luckily, that era is over -- and it's even cannibalizing itself. If every game starts to become a little samey, nothing sticks out (plus physical retail at Walmart et all can't gatekeep anymore what's available to a mass audience). Final Fantasy ain't Final anymore? I'll just play Claire Obscur, Persona or get good ol' FF6 in a digital store of my choice. Dragon Age ain't Dragon Age anymore? Let's play BG3, WOTR, Pillars etc. Capcom pivoted back with Resident Evil after 6 -- probably as they realized that going that direction was a dead end. (Why play Resident Evil if you've already got Call Of Duty anyway). Square Enix though? Still learning this the hard way. And whilst I'm not "glad" that Bioware is gone -- they did some good games regardless and it's actual people losing jobs here -- I'm glad that what they stood for as a company is changing. TL;DR: Bioware: We want Call Of Duty's audience. BioWare's Muzyka: Line Between RPGs, Shooters Blurring | WIRED Warhorse: "We just wanna make a damn great RPG." (And we don't give a damn if Call Of Duty players don't like us -- those who like us are going to be hit hard and tell all their friends about it, unlike Corporate Checklist Compromise 27582 swallowed by the algorithm and same same fatigue outright.

RIP. He was a great actor but also seemed like pretty good guy.

I just finished Omen Exitio: Hunger after about 15 hours Its a gamebook about a journalist investigating a child's disappearance and murder. It has several adult themes that include the dark occult, child murders, cannibalism and other similar things. It is another game that is based on a Cthulhu theme It has some very scary moments and events and its definitely worth using a headset for maximum horror. Its a worthwhile game and gets a 65\100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system " Now Im playing Torment: Tides of Numenera. I heard that this game was suppose to be the spiritual successor of Planescape Torment but it disappointed some people I am really enjoying it. I know nothing about the Numenera TT game so the lore and mechanics was confusing in the beginning but after 8 hours and some occasional research its all making sense. The main city, Sagus Cliffs, does remind me of Sigil with all the strange creatures and idiosyncratic events that you encounter. The developers have done a really good job at creating interest in the world for you to explore I like my party members and there different bizarre personalities and the combat system grows on you. The quests are varied and interesting. Its very similar to Planescape where combat can and should be avoided unless necessary and dialogue options are very important Im very interested in the main narrative around the Changing God and his Castoffs so its been an excellent experience so far 💫

@BruceVC, Solasta I is on sale in Steam. Base game 75% off. Bundle with all DLCs 53% off.

Just started playing Zoria: Age of Shattering. It's a game whose crowdfunding I supported years ago, but am getting around to playing it only now. For a game made by just three people, it is pretty impressive so far. There are no bells and whistles. The aesthetics are very minimal, including character creation. But I am completely okay with all that. Still have to find out about the mechanics of the game, though. The one thing I've already learned about the game: there is a TON of loot to be picked up. And there is a lot of crafting and enchanting you can do right from the beginning of the game. If any of you has played the game, please share any beginner tips you may have.

ea can be blamed for a lot certainly not switch dai to that engine that couldn't run rpg at all chasing widest audience and highest graphic quality almost always end in disaster

Not sure I'd actually blame EA that much. May not be a popular take, but IMO Bioware's terminal issues started before them. The trajectory was correctable, but the trend clear. Jade Empire was a flop that cost its main financer (MS) a lot of money. Largely due to people buying loss leading xboxs just to play one game, which is on MS, but all the later story problems were evident there. The characters and writing were still fresh enough for the Anoarth Sky(den, post ME1) jokes and observations of recycled plot to mostly be affectionate, and the sub Whedon banter hadn't completely outstayed its welcome. Dragon Age Origins may not have been a dev hell game by modern standards, but for the time took ages (heh) to develop and obviously went through multiple cycles and iterations. "Enslave nations with necromancy" anyone? And again, recycled characters and plot, whedonesque bants etc. Same with ME1. The trouble with that though is that eventually, it does get stale. Easy to blame the last games in the sequence for that, but they produced 4 games with essentially the same plot and essentially the same characters; that set everything after up for its staleness. And yes, ME2 failed utterly to progress the trilogies plot, except for the last dlc (and with it being dlc how many people actually played it vs the base game?), which put 3 into an impossible situation of trying to fit two games worth of plot in. There was also a fairly healthy dollop of games Just Moving On from the Bioware model, and Bioware taking so long to make the games- not unique to them of course- that where they tried to iterate they ended up being years behind the market and still feeling stale (both Veilguard and Anthem). That's certainly due to poor leadership from EA as well but EA were damned if they did, damned if they didn't there. Interfere with Bioware and get bad games --> EA's fault; don't interfere and bad games --> also EA's fault.

I once used Aloth as SC Wizard as a tank with a large shield (Cadhu Scalth with maxed Athletics and Metaphysics), dropping lots of illusion self buffs and use the Essential Phantom with Concelhaut's Draining Touch as an additional tanky body). That worked pretty well - but later game enemies who throw around Arcane Dampener every chance they get can be annoying. Still, he can be a good frontliner. He even works well enough for me in the froint line with just a quarterstaff (+modal). The recovery malus only applies to attacks he's doing with the staff, so for casting without accuracy malus yet good (melee) deflection that's a nice setup. However, the Phantom cannot use the modal so it's a lot tankier if you use a shield. You could switch to a shueld, summon the phantom and switch back to a staff - but I find that to be a tedium after some fights. I also use Xoti as SC Priest in the front line frequently with her lantern and sickle. She can hold the line as well - as long as she's not the only one. I'm sure Konstanten could hold off some enemies in the front line, too. This might be the best place for him anyway because of his low INT and therefore short invocation ranges. As a Skald he could use a dagger setup with modal (bonus deflection) and become super fast. His melee damage would suffer a bit from the modal, but he would be study in melee and generate a lot of attack rolls and therefore a lot of crits for his already cheap offensive invocations. Something like Ben Fidel's stuff should work nicely for the Bloody Parry: no hard CC that prevents attacks completely, but frightened enemies cannot use offensive abilities and spells then which limites them to auto-attacks mostly - great for the Bloody Parry to only receive standard attacks. I think if you combine two of them with the Bloody Parry build (who can be in the middle and be the "main" tank without having to tank every melee enemy) it can work very well. What I mostly meant when I was saying that it doesn't work too well as a main tank was that it will struggle to be the main and only tank(ish) character out there. If you have some two decent offtank support characters it should be good. Those also prevent enemies from just running past the central tanky guy left and right. Anything that lowers enemies' accuracy is great for the Bloody Parry build: PER-afflictions (Wizard, Rogue - e.G. Blinding Strikes with AoE weapons such as mortars or rods with Blast, Smoke Bomb), Accuracy malus (Priest's Desponent Blows is great here) and such. And in additon to that_ anything that raises deflection and stacks with the Bloody Parry's own deflection buffs (RES Inspirations and Circle of Protection for example). So Wizard (or Wizard/Rogue), Rogue and Priest are great, Chanter is good, too. Cipher would also be great.

I am trying this build at the moment. What do you recommend as a party composition? On re-reading I see you say this cannot be the primary tank which makes sense since he cannot engage enemies until later levels. I am already level 7, but can mod things myself. Currently running Xoti as a SC Priest I modded Konstanten to be a Devoted/Skald, not sure if he could tank (Also not sure if he should go for for flail devoted for Sun and Moon instead of Sabre for Sasha's Singing Scimitar) I want to take Aloth with me, thinking of either SC Mage or Rogue/Wizard My last party member is Maia as Rogue/Ranger. I feel like Chanter and Priest is very good for this build. Thinking a Cipher might also help. Not sure you my Aloth and Maia Advice appreciated!

Nah, keep it within the USA, so Greenland

Yes, that's why I said Larian went much further than Bioware ever did. They both took the 'big on presentation and production value' route, but Larian went much further than that.

Hopefully its not widely known. A confused debonaire with Squid's Grasp(Certain Mutiny) can charm companions, that's 3 tier 3 inspirations in one action and also leave it open for future Mohora Tanga shenanigans. Calmo's Curse can greatly help landing the charm , dont remove it. Also, the Perplexing Sap is excellent source of confusion for a sc debonaire, cheap and reliable~just sap an enemy that's targeting you Or, sap your companions and let them spread the confusion, so your priest can use withdraw enemies without having to MC a Berserker or Tactician Pity that BPM modified Perplexing Sap🤨🤨.

No this is not an hostile effect, and the stunning effect have not duration but depend of the damage shield. The stunning effect work on might immune ennemies and VS boss, it is really efficient to debuff and apply statue effects. It is possible to prolonge this thing with Salavtion of Time while confused, of course.

Sadly I never finished it. Loved the beta or early access or what it was, but then it took so long for the final game to release that I was kinda over it and never wanted to try again. This game also made me realize that lots of text doesn't make a good RPG. There's so much dialog that could be trimmed down... I really don't want to slog through that again. Sometimes less is more. I've read some of the first short stories as well. The ones I've read were pretty cool. Then I started the next one and... it felt bad and again I lost motivation to continue. Never read the remaining stories.

Tides of Numenera gave me the most perplexing dreams of my life.

GOG is now old enough to vote

Gadi Eisenkot doesn't appear to support an all-out war on Iran, preferring economic pressure and targeted strikes against Iran's nuclear program. If he takes office, that may hinder Stinky's attacks on Iran. (Yay!) Ref.: Israeli PM Netanyahu and challenger Gadi Eisenkot have very different views on how to end the Iran war Israel Election 2026: What does Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar stand for?

I am really enjoying it and especially the lore and how inXile has implemented it. Initially when the game started I was " mmm....Im not sure about this, is this sci-fi or fantasy" but its a very believable and engaging combination of both I love how you meet these random and weird creatures or structures. And the quests are really interesting and varied. For example I just completed " Eyes of the Adversary" and the background and lore was fascinating Then I love how death works around the Calm and the different portals I have created in the Labyrinth I am also very disappointed they not making a sequel because this is a great world and IP

Set the way back machine... It's old enough to be in a Fallout game.

IsThereAnyDealSolasta: Crown of the Magister - Lightbringers Edition Well, it was £3 cheaper at the beginning of the month..... 😁

So in general, I think in the past I would agree with sentiments express by yourself and Sarex. Baldur's Gate1&2 were the titles that introduced me to cRPG and captured my imagination. BG2 was the first one, and it opened my imagination to what this game could be if expanded further - more reactivity, more choices, more nuanced morality system. However, Bioware never went in the direction I wanted. Tim Cain did with Fallout and Arcanum. Obsidian did with KOTOR2, New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. In a hindsight, I don't think Bioware strength and objective was in making complex "ambitious" RPGs. It was in taking an RPG and infusing it with an approachable, blockbuster presentation. Success of BG2 didn't lie in being the most sophisticated RPG to date - it was being flashy and approachable enough, that 14 years old me with no D&D familiarity could pick the game up and had a blast going through adventures they crafted. I think Bioware's power always lied in making cRPGs mainstream. I do think at some point they went too far - to me Mass Effect3 was the point where the choices were limited and simplified to the point where they stopped being engaging - the game moved from being RPG-lite/action hybrid to being just a mediocre action game, but again - I suspect production pressures, more than intent. Honestly, I just think at some point Bioware stopped being able to keep up in a genre they started. Narrative action RPGs in various forms became a thing outside Bioware - and something like CDPR set a new standard. I don't think Bioware could compete with something like Witcher3 or Horizon or God of War, and backpedaling and trying to reestablish themselves in a AA RPG niche just wasn't an option.

Thanks. I will buy it Thats a good a deal as reasonably possible 👍

Either way the new goverment will need the active support of the people to make any headway in changing anything that matters. Vucic was able to integrate in every level of power that exists in the country and even though he lost the people still remain in those positions of power. Ministers will be changed but that won't matter much if they can't control the institutions they are in charge of. I predict a lot of chaos in the short term, but am still cautiously optimistic that there will be some change.

Hmm. Skeptical there. A decade or so ago, for sure. But the west was largely working fine with Vucic- eg he was selling them weaponry/ ammo to send to Ukraine. Given the state of things now though, I'd question whether the collective west wants a populist challenge to anyone nearby. Too much potential for contagion in distinctly pro west Albania. Or France. Or Spain. Gotta protect that neolib status quo; Euro Forbid we end up with Le Pen in France or even worse, Mélenchon instead of some slimy photogenic vacuum like Macron. Ironic though, all the assurances and assertions that Vucic and Orban were quasi dictators who'd do anything to hold onto power and... well. Both gone, quietly. Pretty much sums up the current state of media.

In every regard. I think you can compare it point for point with DA:O and it's simpler in every aspect. Combat and all aspects of it were far more MMOish and optimized for consoles, quests were simpler and lower quality, story was a downgrade. The only upside were the graphics. DA:O was as much of a stepdown from BG2, but it didn't try to cater to everyone.

The data centers are having real and substantial effects on energy costs and water usage in the U.S. and Europe. Those have significant impacts on communities and their economics. It would be good to have realistic and complete data on their actual impact, but there have been efforts to cover all that up and conceal it with misinformation. That makes it suspect and so subject to scapegoating.

Warhorse is easily the one I am looking forward to seeing more off. As to Obsidian - the parallel did come to my mind as well but I don’t think it is similar at all. Obsidian, regardless of their talent, were never a calibre of the studio BioWare was - BioWare set trends, set new bars for western cRPG production value over and over again, and created few, widely beloved strong IPs. Their work in existing IPs still stand as some of their best to date. Then they got acquired by EA they growed, spread thin and release shaky game after shaky game. BioWare’s issue wasn’t that they became too mainstream - it’s was that they stopped releasing widely liked games. Obsidian has been surviving pumping out rushed sequels to other people games, with just few original IPs that became “cult classics”, and frankly they seem to me to be doing actually pretty well under Microsoft’s acquisition. They did seem to have internal discipline to keep projects focused and on track and not grow too complacent under a guaranteed pay check. Avowed was troubled, but not without merit, but other than that they have been doing good work. Now that doesn’t keep them save unfortunately - Microsoft didnt shy from slashing down studios regardless of how good their output has been (Tango, ID). And we will see what fate awaits Obsidian under new Bethesda umbrella.

Yeah. I mean Rogue is a class with limited resources so it's a good combo for sure. Also with Toxic Strike because Brilliant gives +5 INT which works nicely with AoE sizes and durations. Tactician/Trickster should be plenty tanky and have some great versatility with the added spells in a party. Tactician/Debonaire could charm kith enemies who are not flanked and make them allies, achieving Brillant that way (alternative to flanking every enemy somehow). Tactician/Assassin solo is very good, too (search for the "Glimmer Man" build from Kaylon in this forum for an example and an explanation why, if you are interested). For party play the most impactful multiclass with a Tactician is Tactician/Priest I think. Brilliant + Salvation of Time is a combination that's really hard to beat and rel. early and rel. easy to achieve.

"Toxic Strike with the mortar applies the poison DoT to every enemy in the AoE, too. Pretty damn powerful." Whoa!! Didn't think of that! Thank you! "If you get Clear Out you can put Hand Mortar in the main hand and a melee weapon in the offhand (to unlock the use of Clear Out which is melee only). Clear Out will still be executed with the mortar though and every enemy in the cone of Clear Out will trigger an AoE shot of the mortar which then will trigger a disorienting cone with every crit." Ok! Never saw that! Good to know the fighter is able to trigger Brilliant Tactician themselves "Picking a second class that profits most from replenishing resources means picking a class with otherwise limited resources" Ok, I think I will still take Rogue, but if you think there is a really powerful combo for party play please do let me know! Thanks for all the input!

The long ruling party in Serbia lost the elections convincingly. No one expected it to be that much of a difference. Now we see how and if our foreign policies change.

And this is exactly what I fear about Obsidian (under Xbox's yoke).

Enshrouded 1.0 (a few small patches later) - ok, I got further into the new biome. A couple of the new dungeons are kinda fun. Especially when I can just pickaxe my way around traps or locked doors. HA. I didn't end up ever liking most of the trap/puzzles in Enshrouded, outside of the simplest/less dangerous ones. Just my dislike for anything too 3d platform-y. I may be over-played out myself, but I can see 1.0 being a good start for a new player, assuming they end up liking it at all, ofc. It is a game that kinda needs 6-10 hours to get past all the initial intro/learning curves. Best QoL they did - outside of more altars allowed - was these plate blocks you craft (you can make/use more than one), which you can then click once to teleport all things in backpack to any (magical) chests within radius that already have some of a thing in them. Not sure how well it'd work with armor/gear (I don't put those in magic chests) but all the resources, foods, non-eternal spells, etc. Saves a lot of time. Edit: also, a kitchen workstation to craft most meals, that you can place anywhere/any base, instead of having to run to the food-making npc all the time.

Matter of debate. Also: My heart-felt condolences to people now losing their jobs. I'm 100% convinced though that there's a parallel universe out there in which Feargus Urquhart slipped in the shower, broke his ankle and called in sick that fateful day. In that universe Bioware isn't mourned as some former king and savior of the Western RPG (that only later imploded when chasing the Live-Service and Shooting trends). Over in this universe, Bioware is vaguely remembered as a small boutique studio first doing a Mech sim and then chasing 1990s multiplayer/RTS trends already -- all for finite gains in a crowded market until imploding early (like Cavedog, say). "Bioware magic"? It's a myth! And made by chance. 😁 Developer BioWare – now itself a titan of the RPG genre, responsible in Mass Effect and Dragon Age for two of the biggest modern roleplaying franchises – had already worked with Interplay on its debut game, the mech shooter Shattered Steel. The devs then pitched Urquhart their next title: a real-time strategy game called Battleground: Infinity. “I couldn’t get my head around why they thought it was going to be so amazing,” Urquhart explains, admitting that he actually rejected the first pitch. It was only when they came back claiming to be about to sign with a rival publisher (“I don’t know how true that was”) that he took a second look, and inspiration struck. “I looked at it [and said:] ‘I don’t know that this is the game we’d wanna make. What about making it a D&D game?’” 🤑 Feargus Urquhart is doing what he does best

The biggest problem Bioware had, in my opinion, was chasing the profit dragon. They wanted mass market appeal and were willing to sacrifice more and more at that altar. Focusing on consoles when their core audience were PC gamers also did not help. Obsidian also suffers from this to a lesser degree.

Damn, should have got it on that discount...

They are more similar than you'd expect based on the initial look and design. On its surface, JA looks much more up close and personal, with each colorful merc moving across a small sector looking for cover and utilizing a wide variety of weapons. Menace looks more like a traditional wargame, with squads and armor on a very square map. But it is also utilizing colorful mercs moving across a small sector utilizing a wide variety of weapons. Instead of a single soldier with hit points, you have a squad with soldiers. As you lose soldiers, you become less effective. You still need to find cover, use elevation, and understand weapon range. So combat wise, I'd say they end up playing very similar despite the very different look and perspective. In terms of mission and structure, Menace is a lot more random and replayable. That is where it shares its Battle Brothers roots. They are both great and menacing.

You are, in my humble opinion, being rather generous there... Mass Effect 3 felt like like a rush of, often very disappointing, bullet points they just had to hit to finish up the trilogy, the only part that felt properly fleshed out was the whole Tuchanka section (which, to be fair, was fantastic). One of the causes, at least in my mind is that I believe Mass Effect 2 did not move the overarching story forward enough for BioWare to be able to stick to the series being a trilogy (a promise they made somewhere early on and probably should have broken), and it really showed. There also was the issue that the writers left, I think, at least there were some really jarring continuity issues that popped up in the third game (the whole Quarian/Geth conclusion was...disappointing after all the build-up). Andromeda was just "meh" (I'll finish it one of these days, maybe). It actually started off pretty promising with the whole alien thing, but the pivot to colonist drama kinda killed my interest in the story, especially given all the other jank the game came with. Not sure which other games they made were any more than "decent". Dragon Age just went from identity crisis to identity crisis after Origins (which itself was a bit of a technical mess). Anthem was...well, Anthem. They arguably botched SWToR, the Star Wars MMO, as well with the endgame being a disaster area for months and months after launch driving away a huge percentage of the initial playerbase. The game is still going, at least, but hard to say how much of a success it is now, but if there ever was a game that had an actual shot at "dethroning" World of Warcraft, that was the one. Alas, it was not meant to be. It always sucks when a studio that used to be great goes under, but let's face it "old" BioWare has been dead for a very, very long time already and it's honestly amazing they didn't get Westwood-ed earlier. I hope all the talented developers working there get to quickly move on to other, and better, endeavours now that they've been freed of EA's yoke.

At night, the game is much less enjoyable to play because you cannot see anything, i put my gamma on max and equipped torch and it's still so dark. I know its supposed to be dark and encourage the player to sleep but it's almost unplayable for me. I want an option to make the screen have a blue tint or something instead of pure darkness. Also wolf spider doesn't look like grounded art style too much hair and I don't like talon things but good game grounded

I think It would be more interesting if we had different spider types rather than the same two from grounded 1, could be as simple as different skins like the black widow from grounded 1 but would be better if we had mechanically different spiders like a trapdoor spider or daddy long legs/cellar spiders or something like that to ambush the player adding a fear factor. Just more variance would be good I think.

Have you ever heard of a Black Library Alpha Reader? Nope? Ever wondered why? Now you know.

And here I thought it was the price point that kept people out of 40k, but I guess getting killed by a book will cut down on potential players.

Since all chaos marines are immortal, all those crusaders are the same anyway. Bad guys in 40K have such plot armour, if they were to get shot in the eye point blank, they would blink in the very last micro-second, the bullet would ricochet off the eyelid, out of the book and kill the reader.

Crazy studio by the way. At this pace, in 48 months from now they're gonna be finished with Starfinder 2 and Ravenloft 3 (heh, I wish). 2018 Kingmaker 2021 Wrath 2023 Rogue Trader Plus multiple DLC, Enhanceds and of course fixes in between. In that same time, Electronic Arts have held two major emergency meetings. Topic: What should we be doing with EA RPG (aka Bioware) next exactly. 😄

I made a few attempts to play Tides of Numenera, but every time I get to Sagus Cliffs I lack the energy to put up with a whole city.

Patrick Stewart seemed to be a positively happy guy. He just seemed to relish everything in life. He'll be missed.

Man I thought he was going to live to 100. Sad. RIP

RIP captain

Patrick Stewart

But those studios you mention are exactly what don't give me much hope. Larian has returned to its Divinity IP, which I can't stand, and especially if their next game is a horror RPG, a genre I won't touch. Owlcat is now entirely about the WH40K IP, which again I won't touch. And CDPR's games, which I will at last try, are also not quite my thing because they're very much action RPGs. Fantasy genre non-action RPGs are now very few and far between, and being made almost entirely only by extremely small indie developers with just pennies for a budget.