Sven_

Monster Hunter Wilds is the next game to break through the 1,000,000 concurrent player mark on Steam. Every major publisher currently be like: Nonstop action+monsters is clearly THE way to go. "Guys, please make this project more like Diablo, er, MH Wilds, or else no funds!" Warhorse+Larian+Owlcat like this.

Since Prey et all were mentioned, I'm really curious what Wolfeye's game is gonnna look like. Because that sounds like my "perfect" game: Fallout mixed with more Colantonio-styled Immersive Sim. But that's off-topic now. To balance it out, it's not just YouTubers. And this is a more positive take on Avowed vs Skyrim: Avowed Does Skyrim Combat Better.

Yeah, wasn't meant to say otherwise. Just wanted to point out that Obsidian may have set up themselves for some of the (sandbox/simulation) expectations that Avowed doesn't fulfill. Their initial idea was to make a "Skyrim-Like" set in Eora -- and they let the world and the press know about it early. Like REAL early, note the dates on all of these. This was no doubt influenced by how hot Skyrim was at the time. Obsidian's Bold Future: Eternity Meets Skyrim, A Second KS | Rock Paper Shotgun Obsidian CEO: “I’d love to turn Eternity into more like a Skyrim product” | PC Gamer And what Avowed actually was gonna be like, was kept rather ambiguous for long. Consequently (?), this is another "Skyrim article" that just came out yesterday.. Avowed's inert cities remind me just how good we had it in Skyrim and Oblivion | PC Game Of course it's silly to expect every game to have that level of simulation (though Ultima 7 is still worth investigating for a lot of devs 'til today...) And Obsidian have been never known for it (nor Black Isle before them). This bit to me seems a valid point to make though.

I'm genuinelly asking how this stuff actually sells units. This is product that's not even needed. For years. If companies would have discovered thirty years ago that they can just milk it, PC gaming would be an absolutely tiny niche by now, moreso than it ever used to be in the 1980s. And Commodore were probably still around, offering the affordable multimedia/graphics machines for the masses. Back when 3d cards first appeared, 3dfx started with the mission to bring affordable Silicon Graphics quality to home PCs. Given that this is barely about gaming product anymore anyway... maybe that's the answer to my question.

This they'd probably brought upon themselves. And it all started early... (Imagine a picture of Feargus having a bunch of Dollar signs flying over his head -- like back at Interplay, when he sold the idea to Bioware that they should turn Battleground Infinity, the demo they pitched to him, into a D&D game). Given that even Obsidian regulars (including me) had no robust idea what the game was gonna be like until like it actually released, some of that Skyrim still sticks. It's even still mentioned in numerous press reviews. Even after the reported reboot way back, at which point it was all apparently scaled back. And made more similar to The Outer Worlds (in terms of world structure, either way). At one point early on Avowed was going to be a co-op game as well. Compare that to Pillars, where there was zero doubt about what the game was gonna be from day #1. Both for the devs as well as the public. A part of marketing and PR is setting expectations. Bethesda may have failed to do that as to Starfield themselves. Lots of people clearly expected there to be an actual space simulation in there, like actual travel. However, similar type of games or features are always going to be compared. See also Cyberpunk 2077, where people compared it unfavourably to the open world sandbox of GTA 5. The same to some extent had happened to the Mafia games before as well, which were more focused on a narrative in an open world-ish setting, as opposed to a sandbox. However, Cyberpunk was hyped up to be the biggest, most immersive, most real thing ever. So real you'd forget you'd play a game... that's the impression you got from all the buzz either way. People would have always put that to the test. And the ACTUAL next GTA better live up to it all, or else...

How's performance for you? Considering that I'm on a 270 bucks RTX 3060, initially I was fairly thrilled when I could pick the high preset and not have any drop. Then I discovered that the game has upscaling enabled on any preset except the absolutely highest (which prompts a warning that it'd be only for the bestest of best rigs). And without upscaling being enabled, I get a few drops in the waterfall sequence even with everything to low (still playable mind). But then this is my first ever Unreal Engine 5 experience -- only ever upgraded to the 3060 in December. And people argue with UE5 tech, upscaling tends to be mandatory. Indy (based on id Tech) and obviously KCD 2 (heavily modified CryEngine) are pretty damn fine. But UE's lumen stuff = GPU killer. But then the original Gothic was capped to a whopping 25 fps... and don't get anybody started on Khorinis and its harbor in Gothic 2.

Yeah, that'd be a different kind of experience. I think the first Pillars in particular had quite a bit of combat though, moreso before the first patches that tried to get rid of the Owlcat-style filler trash. Unlike Owlcat, Obsidian took the criticism they got serious for their next game. I find it amazing that so many RPGs are this focused on combat in general. That's nothing against combat, still love Icewind Dale and the like. But... at times you get the impression an extra amount of it is only inserted as the notion is that else people with shorter attention spans would switch off. Warhorse too argued it would be a major risk to have this little (mandatory) combat in Kingdom Come -- lots of quests build around "mundane" activities in general, including learning how to read. This singular focus on violence else is really fascinating though. It makes projects such as KCD or Disco Elysium stick out from the crowd as soon as they hit the market. Bit of a stereotype, but with game/RPG development being less dominated by males, and game audiences also becoming older and broader, it's interesting that violence is still such a huge part of most RPGs. That's in parts why the original Fallout was such a revelation. A game allowing you to flee from a lot of (random) encounters, not even engage with them, and being able to convince the BIG BAD at the end of the game to reconsider his plans. And even the Realms Of Arkania trilogy (based on the German Dark Eye / Das Schwarze Auge Pen&Paper) had less combat than contemporary D&D games at that time. Mind you, there was still a good number of it, including traditional dungeon romps. But it also had sort of CYOA text adventure sections / choices way before Pillars did them -- some of which allowed you to sneak around a few encounters if the following skill check went through. Speaking of which, these text sections don't cost the world and could also bolster a possible Pillars tactics game without making the budget skyrocket. Even Owlcat went with them.

There's hunger at Obsidian for a Pillars of Eternity Tactics game after Avowed, says studio design director Josh Sawyer, but it doesn't sound like it'd get that Baldur's Gate 3-size budget he was fantasizing about | PC Gamer Fallout, er, Pillars Tactics. I actually think this could work though. Does anybody remember Blackguards? This wasn't "just" a string of tactical battles. There was narrative and sort of (simple) exploration in between the tactical bits too. Would be no Pillars 3 per se, naturally.

Gothic remake demo coming out today. I think game remakes are mostly kinda dumb these days, unless it's remakes of games from ancient times (System Shock). In particular considering that games take forever to make, when it was but a year back in the day (see Gothic 2). That's lifetimes spent by some talented people on something you already know... Gonna try the demo out anyway.

The night sky in KC:D : r/kingdomcome Then again, there's at least one or two Operation Flashpoint veterans at Warhorse, one of the most immersive games I've ever played (back in 2001 it was mind blowing). That had a mission where you were deep behind enemy lines, hunted, and had nothing but the night sky as orientation as well. I wish I'd played KCD1 on hardcore back in the day. After completing it once, you naturally know all the locations. Btw. , I think this is also one of the parts where they made KCD2 more accessible without compromising the core experience (really, devs "dumbing down" their games should take a closer look at this in general.) The first region has Trosky Castle reigning strong. You can see it from almost everywhere. (It also looks so damn pretty). Trosky meanwhile is just North of your starting position into the open world, where there's vendors, a place to make camp and rest, etc. Without mods, your position so far is shown on the map anyway, as hardcore mode is only offered with a later patch. But as to orientation, visual landmarks are KEY.

Re: Solasta II. I have the bluriness too (1080p), putting the rendering scale slider to 100% was the first thing I did. Otherwise, it controls and plays pretty nicely already. I wish the UI stuff would be smaller or you could turn it off (you can't, can you?) The log alone takes a big amount of screen space. Then there's quest objectives always on display, taking screen space as well.. Performance-wise, it's pre alpha. With everything on low I'm getting maybe 60fps average with a Ryzen 5600 / 3060. On medium it isn't much lower however... and everything on Epic is down to ~40, so it all scales by 50%ish. Now Solasta feels very responsive even at lower fps (and isn't an action game anyway). But the official minimum is a Ryzen 1600 and a GTX 1060, and the GTX 1060 is roughly half the card. I played Solasta 1 with a 1050Ti, not much above the minimum requirements, and had a good deal more than just 30fps -- even at settings above low. As said though, pre-alpha still. See also kanisatha's post!

Mine as well. Well, the action was nice too mind. But the pacing was far better than in GTA et all where you're just going from one action setpiece to the next. Still remember the mission where you took that girl out for a walk. Nothing initially happened, just you walking down the streets with her, chatting. Only then would the mob show up and the action start... KCD has many similar moments. Only that the "action" MAY never start -- or may turn out to be you "just" getting absolutely drunk with a priest. People used to sensory action overload in your typical video game may even find it boring (which Warhorse were well aware of). But in KCD2 too, there was an (optional) side quest where I just went picking flowers with a girl... Also, these are my save stats from 60 hours now... A dozen bad guys I only (stealth) killed because I wanted revenge for something (didn't have to). 3 were from the intro. The first game has an achievement for finishing the game's main quest without killing anyone but one mandatory bad guy (not sure if the 2nd has -- lots of situations already solved by my sneak and conversation skills... plus my Henry can run from em bandits. And fast. ). How big's that Solasta demo (file size)? Gotta try it.

Mind you, Mafia has a lot more violence. And guns. Meanwhile, my last quest in KCD had me investigating the biggest pile of literally sh*t I'd ever seen in a game... Whilst the locals weren't amused by Henry's stench thereafter, they didn't take out tommy guns or anything. Not even pitchforks. And the first game tasks you with learning how to read. The pen can be mightier than the gun, after all. If that's what you're after. Or aren't.

If it were about first person, there wouldn't have been a Bloodlines 2 by now. But a Bloodlines 6 -- take that, GTA!

The life of a true medieval adventurer isn't always about winning epic battles, saving damsels in distress and forging your own destiny. Sometimes it's about fumbling for corpses in a pile of sh*t behind the Bylany tavern at 7 AM. #kcd2

Still Kingdom Come obviousy. There is one idea (that was in the first game already) I'd like to get explored far further. And by more games. It's about clothes. And that CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN (so does armor). In your typical RPG-Like, gear and cloth is at best a combat buff/debuff (armor class!). Aside of that, it's typically a cosmetical thing. And at worst offered in in-game shops to make you depart with some more money. This hasn't much evolved ever since way back on your Commodore 16 / 64. Kingdom Come isn't content with recycling 1980s mechanics though. This heavy gear and armor? Doesn't only bolster your defensive armor stats. It also makes people react accordingly to your presence -- and also makes it more likely to succeed in certain speech skill checks. This fine cloth you have just robbed from a noble, er, bought in a shop? Doesn't only nerf your defensive armor stats and boost your charisma. It also makes people react accordingly to your presence -- and also makes it more likely to suceed in certain speech skill checks. This fine pair of underpants you're running around with after you lost it all in the game of dice last evening at Troskovice tavern? Don't expect to be respected. By anyone. Full-stop, sorry. There's more to it, like darker cloth making you less visible, each cloth making different levels of noise, etc. But you may get the idea. #FinallyAProperRPG

The game was certainly sold on nostalgia first. That happened right with the first Kickstarter trailer and all its callbacks to BG, IWD, PS:T et all. However, in terms of reception, it's not as clear-cut. Both Pillars games see better press reviews as well as user recommendations (Metacritic, Open Critic, Steam...) than any Owlcat Game, for instance. Yet, all of 'em Owlcat games did well. So well that it allowed them to massively grow and now they're even self-publishing games, all the whilte reportedly working on multiple projects at once. However, Owlcat Games have another thing going for them, rather than just aping Infinity Engine game aesthetics and controls: They're based on popular tabletops that hadn't yet seen a proper RPG video gaming adaptation yet. And the Pathfinder adapatations are based on some of the most popular adventure paths of the Pathfinder tabletop. In other words, a D&D licensed game telling another standard fantasy yarn may have hold a bit more of an appeal. I mean, people voiced their distaste for the naval setting of Deadfire too. Which also makes RPGs the only genre left standing in which even a game set in WW2 or the zombie apocalypse would be seen as a radical and completely risky idea -- dwarves, elves and dragons first!

Re lore/info dumps: I found it intriguing that one of the most common criticisms re: PoE were about the lore dump kind of dialogue. And then recently they'd turned lore dumping into an entire series of trailers...

Oh yeah, definitely a lack of skill games way back. By the way, I don't consider KCD as such. Warhorse claimed they attracted totally non-gamers with the first game already. And those adapted far better to the unusual design decisions than the gamers: E.g. the saving system, eating, drinking, sleeping, fighting... It's all about conditioning. I mean, back in the day, we used to play games without markers, auto-maps and with actual puzzles when we were kids. And had no problem whatsoever with that. Every game was kinda like that. But since a large part of it is simply conditioning: There's market opportunity for (almost) anything. With so many games in that space playing increasingly alike, perhaps moreso than ever. It needs to be packaged properly, naturally... Plus, if you're not fully committing to something, you risk making completely bland product that may try hard to please everyone, but doesn't really wow anybody. Eventually, you're going to alienate a few people anyhow no matter what you're doing. For all the talk about how much of a hardcore sim KCD would be, at the core it's actually quite a cinematic Hollywood type of affair full of drama and even genuine laughs -- the survival/sim elements are fairly light. Think Mafia, Vavra's first gig as a writer / director. There's quite a lot of that in there still. I was actually underwhelmed initially when I went into the first game kinda blind back then. I expected something way different. Only when I'd finished the long prologue and the game opened up, did I start to really warm up to it.

Given how conservative Obsidian have become, it'd probably take a fully explanation (and a fix) as to why Deadfire initially underperformed so much. (Pentiment and Grounded don't count -- the first was a passion project Josh Sawyer had to fight for, the latter started as a small experimental kinda thing). Personally, I'd take a "Watcher trilogy" ending proper even if it wasn't an isometric party game. After Paradox' colossal f*ck*p, make it the Bloodlines II proper for all I care -- Pillars Of Eternity III: Fampyres Rising. Avowed seems pretty action, combat, parcours and looting heavy and light on RPG, at least by Obsidian trademark standards. Then again, there was a time where they commited to making another sequel to Uwe Boll's favorite screen saver. Tactical party-based isometric RPGs may largely be a niche. However, the action RPG-like space is also crowded as hell. Even Ubisoft want some of that looting and leveling juice in their games. Will be interesting how that pans out... for now.

That's two million in two weeks. Even Ubisoft would have been pretty happy with that on some of their more recent underperformers. Doubly so if they had the comparably modest budget of KCD II... Embracer aren't minors either, after all. As said, to me this only confirms what's been happening for the past+ decade. The model of ever infusing more simple action into RPGs and simplifying RPG elements down has been pushed to its limits -- the Bioware/Bethesda school, basically. By now these games are competing with all the action/adventure type of games that have been including RPG-lite elements since The Witcher 3 hit it big. That doesn't mean similar projects are destined to underperform. That only means you need an absolutely stellar game and/or a wholly unique take on the form to still stand out from the crowd. Bluntly put, Veilguard would have had it even harder had it neither had a Bioware nor a Dragon Age logo attached. Meanwhile, studios such as FromSoft, Larian or Warhorse first thrived in their own niches. The games they started making were considered too risky for any of the industry players. "We're an industry about instant gratification", they would have told FromSoftware. "Well there's dungeons, kinda. But where are the dragons?" That's what they would have asked Warhorse. "Turn-based tactical combat? Table-top simulations? In the 2000s? Go make this more like Diablo", they'd actually told Larian since their early days. "All of you guys don't fit in, sorry." Then all of these grew, both in studio size and target audiences. In parts because there's far more people playing video games now than ever, which also means a broader range in taste. And then they all could offer experiences that, on their levels of production, see no direct competition whatsoever. (Well, Soulslikes are a thing, mind you. But From are still considered the "Originals". And what better promotion is it to have an entire genre tag named after your own product? Jackpot, baby!)

If only they'd made a live service game. Or a Diablo / God Of War / Whatever Action's Currently Hot clone. Or a buggy mess that tanks even the most expensive gaming rigs out there. ANYTHING but a proper RPG, optimized for RPG'ing. They'd have totally smashed it for sure. Silly Czech mates!* *Beware, internet. There be irony.

The only good 3D one.

Outside of bad ports: If you have a decent one, it should last until the PS6 generation (and the first exclusive games for it, which considering modern dev cycles takes another couple years). Consoles are running the show. And since AMD are behind in terms of GPU power, it will be interesting how those PS6 generations and their APUs are gonna look like... There's people still running Pascal series GPUs to this day. Wouldn't surprise me if Ada L. + Blackwell are gonna last even longer. That is, for those who don't need to be on the cutting edge of hardware. After all, Nvidia is also promoting those shiny new 1,000 Hz screens for probably reason. A thousand FPS, lol! UltimaIX-StartSave_1024x768x16bpp.png (660×871)

Thief was always minimalist on purpose. These guys approached VR from a software perspective -- including rudimentary physics, (guard) AI states communicated entirelly by audio alone etc. (Maybe somebody remembers the ill-fated Jurassic Park Trespasser, where Looking Glass alumni took it all a step further, including no ammo or health bars to speak of). Btw, it's funny how graphics are getting ever more realistic -- and then a thousand blinking arrows are there to remind you that you're just playing a damn game either way.