LadyCrimson

I definitely noticed dem checks, and they're quite frequent. The cute animated dice roll is cute, but yeah ... most people I saw either failed them or reloaded a few times. I know if I was playing I'd likely be save-scumming like mad during a 1st playthru. Another early-ish fight I saw has you encountering an event where before you're allowed to fight, the camera kept swinging rapidly/violently between this bunch here to this bunch up there, as they either fought or battle-cried, to some guy jumping off a wall to an enemy etc. It was all whiplash inducing, that camera.

^ I've never seen/looked under a console before. Wait, I didn't see it, where's the gpu? ...oh. Miniaturization is a beautiful thing. When can we have PC gpu's that are still PC powerful but get at least a bit smaller instead of bigger and bigger and bigger ....

Since playing is very different from watching, I'm curious what exactly you didn't like. As I watched more and more, the combat stood out to me the most. It looked like it would get fairly tedious, and I don't mean just because I'm not fond of turn-based. But overly long in some cases and the camera stuff. And the UI when there are many in the fight is overly cluttered imo (easily reworked probably). Like here, at around the 5:05 minute mark:

It wasn't Panda Express (still have never tried them specifically, they're not common where I am) but years ago there was this local big-mall place with a similar setup - tiny spot with the trays of food you pick from. They made the best BBQ pork. Y'know, the kind that's all reddish tinged but in chunks with no bones. 6.99 (2 dishes + rice) for this huge huge serving. Also made a great jalapeno chicken and I often got the two together. Their basic fried rice wasn't bad either. Would it beat some gourmet version you could find if you try. Nope. But great flavorful "comfort" food and honestly in that sense better than some "BBQ spareribs" I've gotten from more traditional "cheap Chinese food" spots. I think it just depends on the dish. I'd typically go for marinated or heavily sauced meat and or vegie dishes but not deep fried/battered at such places. Edit: darn you, now I desperately want some BBQ Pork (like in the pic below). But there's nowhere near our house that has it like that.

Been saving the world for decades and it's so dull/predictable now. I'm just having a mid-life crisis.

Ah, sorry, I thought you were talking from an "in the US' pov. I know regional pricing sucks for some areas. Although I've never completely understood whether it's from taxes, exchange rates (is the US dollar even "strong" right now?), pure greed, etc. Maybe all of it at the same time. Some PS5 launch titles are going to go up to $70 I think. I wonder if PC prices will follow eventually. Gaming in general etc.

It's 59.99 on both GoG and Steam (USD), not 65. Not that that's going to change anyone's mind who thinks it's too pricey. (I'm neutral on that/don't really care/am not likely to purchase it any time soon anyway) I think they're aware. They have their excuses reasons tho. https://www.keengamer.com/articles/news/larian-explains-why-early-access-for-baldurs-gate-3-is-full-price/ “It’s better to think of Early Access as a playable preorder,” he said. “Though of course, it isn’t exactly that. Its function is entirely to make the game better through pooling feedback and testing ideas, iterating directly with our audience.” Frankly I think that (Steam) early-access is going to move more and more in that direction anyway, vs. how it all started/what long-timers expect. Which is not me saying whether such is "right" or "wrong." Only that it will, especially for "bigger" or more anticipated/ambitious titles.

Yeah, Overlord was fun but not really evil enough. It's just that these days, every time the "baddie" is introduced in some big/epic rpg game, my thought is always "I want to play/be THEM."

Wait, what? Eddie? He's not that old? Oh, cancer. F. cancer.

DLSS 2.1 definitely has uses below 8k. And it's tons better than early DLSS was. Doesn't oversharpen excessively, for example. I might even use it occasionally for 4k down the road, when I start feeling like newer games are getting too under 60fps for my personal settings/liking etc, before the 40xx series arrives.

After watching a couple streams for over an hour I'd say it's visually stunning most of the time - if you can play it on a large-ish 4k screen it's going to rock graphically. A few animations felt awkward and I don't like the zoom level used during many chr. dialogues because face close ups can get kind of odd in some cases. For one thing they sometimes cut off the top of the head and as a photographer-mindset that just feels weird most of the time. For turn based I like its free-movement (not grid/hex) but I still don't like it that much as a combat system. I know many love it for strategic and thinking time but eh not my thing. RT w/P works better for me but whatever, many will love it. Anyway, so far my from-watching only: 98% visually gorgeous, the voice acting is largely very well done so far, the music is pretty good, and definitely a lot of thought was put into small things and design so far. But outside of it being a potentially ok to pretty good cRPG, I'm not sure about the Baldur's Gate aspect. I'm probably having more fun watching someone play it then I would if i was playing it myself.

Well, at least they got the most important thing right - how long it can take to create the perfect character. Cohh's been at it for 15 minutes now. ^ I would've picked similar, too, lol. And of course starting ability point distribution. Looks like some stats 17 is max (vs 18) you can put, but dunno if that's a race or other limit. And a starting question? The close ups of chr. creation screen faces are very nice. Edit: opening cinematic is pretty cool. Not that = gameplay, but it's a very nice cutscene.

Today's the early access release on Steam. So all the streamers will be...streaming. Going to watch CohhCarnage on Twitch for a bit. The gameplay videos of it I saw on YouTube didn't impress me much - I'm curious if it's changed much.

Not so patiently waiting.

You know how in most rpg's you're trying to save the town, planet, or the world, or something? Are there any where you're the evil guy destroying them instead and you have to thwart the goodies? And not in the "your chr. can make Evil path choices". Like Dungeon Keeper/Evil Genius but more rpg or something.

^ We have our own small compost pile in the backyard, we (mostly) filter tapwater in a giant metal coffeepot-looking thing vs. bottled, we (mostly) recycle, I use almost zero gasoline, we didn't have any children. I don't wantonly "consume" just for fashion or social trends. I'm doing my part. Wait, what's that you say? *hides all the energy-sucking electronic gear full of plastics and metals* Humor aside, it's indeed sad and has been for decades. I wanted to save the tigers (and planet) in the 70's when I was a wee kid. It's not about saving our planet per se, it's about saving ourselves and as the years went by, I'm not very convinced mass humanity has the future-thinking brain to achieve it in time - we're too much creatures of our own immediate personal concerns. But I'll still compost and recycle and try not to be wasteful etc. Who knows what'll happen. Chances are I won't be around to see the true start of ultimate success or failure tho.

I had no idea Ryan Reynolds was the new comedic advertising/YouTube account king, or something. Bookmarked.

Or if you want a live creature:

I'm thinking I might like Trump a little better with a muzzle, I mean, mask.

So what resolution and size monitor are you guys using to play Majesty? I set it to 1024x768 and on my 1440 27" monitor this is representative of what I see, scale wise: Can you see the guards and heroes? Yeah, me either. Or at least, just barely. I couldn't play that way, I can barely click on them to bring up their chr menu on the side. On the 4k TV it's better simply because the screen is 43" so everything is "magnified" in that sense but ... if I drop it to 800x600 (the lowest) it's a little better on the 1440, but then the ui block on the left side (not pictured) takes up more than half the screen and looks visibly stretched ... there's no middle ground.

Also in my old files: Cultists in loincloths Charming the lasses Adepts holding contests To see who is fastest Berserking monks with their Feet spurred by wings These are a few of my favorite things. Gnomes hi-de-ho-ing And warm melting mages Rogues in the library Who think they are sages Warriors who run From a ratman who stings These are a few of my favorite things. A group of young Healers armed only with daggers Discarding peace to see what's the matter Barbarians meting out Krolms mighty sting These are a few of my favorite things. When the goblins come When the vampires sing When Yetis smash my town I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so down! ...yeah I really liked this game back then.

Is the image still clear, clean and in focus? Then you're not too close. Reorganized my tiny closest. Tossed a lot of clothes. Next: the large cabinet in this room and the bookshelves in the living room. I've even been tossing old books (if I haven't touched/read it in 10 years, it's gone) and other such things. By the time I'm 60 (eight years from now), outside of the tech toys (pffft) I should/might be down to bare essentials.

Oh, oh, oh! My old saves work with Steam's Majesty Gold HD version! But sadly none of them has more than 1 protection ring, game must update the saves. I think they could still pick up 1 of each after patches without the Expansion added, but not repeatedly. Not sure what the Steam w/Expansion built in does. Also: I like how "4k" resolution shows up in the menu but isn't select-able. Booo. Although probably best, sprites would be so small/almost invisible anyway, lol.

I do have a copy of both 98 and XP but not the PC that can run them (hardware compat. issues I guess). Hubby might be able to cobble something together out of old parts/pcs but not sure it's worth the trouble. And yeah...one game I had a Monk who was always in the right place right time, see an artifact left and stroll over, go "Ahhh!" and siphon them up. Multiple protection rings and even a teleport one. He was nigh invulnerable. (edit: observing a teleporting Monk is probably how I noticed it was possible).