Sven_

Biggest flaw of the first game. You have this premise -- and then you play it this safe and family friendly that quests basically solve themselves, perks are mostly fairly uninteresting (+10kg to carry weight, +20% to melee damage, wow), the capitalism=bad joke is fairly light and on repeat -- and one planet was basically Chinese MMO central (Monarch, with tons of fetch jobs and copypaste mobs of enemies, ADVICE: invest in running speed and just run past the ****ers, they're tedious). I chuckled at the board computer though, there's a few decent places and from the raw elements, it's 100% my type of game. The execution was just fairly vanilla overall by Obsi standards... Almost like a proof of concept. Still have to try the DLC admittedly, which are said to have improved a few things already. Still, Pentiment was the actually passion project that had been bubbling in the mind of someone for years. Whereas legend has it that for TOW Feargus tasked Tim with pitching game ideas -- and kept rejecting all of them until Tim called him to suggest what Feargus had been waiting for all along: "Fallout.. in space!" And the difference shows either way. Watching the full direct on TOW2 now, as with a sequel and more money, there's a chance it's all evolved beyond that.

80 bloody bucks for TOW2!!!!!!!!!1 The push for Game Pass gets harder still. 😄 edit: Just wanted to create an opportunity to bring in Tim Curry, mind. 😄 I think the price rages regarding games are pure first world luxury, as there's an abundance of offers and choices everywhere, every day of the week, month, year. Mount Everests Of Shame exist for reason, after all. Hooray for the capitalism... I guess. 😄

The two million (or hopefully 20) bucks question: Did they fix the camera? Or rather: cameras? 😄 Thief is also back... again. This time, it's VR. Thing is: VR would be actually one possible sensible evolution of Thief. Looking Glass tried to approach VR way back right with Ultima Underworld -- just not via clunky headgear of that time. But via the software. The minimalist HUD by the time of Thief. The zero cutscenes during gameplay policy. The incomplete in-universe maps Garrett would aquire from associates rather than blindly following markers gameloop. The mostly open sandbox type of levels, with AI and players able to roam. The quite advanced physics and sound for that era. And the movement, including being able to freely lean, to crouch, to jump, to swim -- that wasn't a mistake. That was by design. "We were trying to build the holodeck". https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/system-shock-the-oral-history-of-a-forward-thinking-pc-classic However, as the reboot missed literally *all* of that before, consider me doubtful for now. I'd be more confident if this gig went to Wolfeye Studios or Arkane -- studios that "get" the basics, as they're partly consisting of Looking Glass, Origin and Ion Storm alumni.

An opportunity to show that you can do all of this without being scared to show that you're actually still in the business of making RPGs. See also Warhorse and Bethesda more recent. Or BG3 and Veilguard. Will it be taken? In terms of studio size, Owlcat could do it... they're now consisting of hundreds of people all the same, even though their growth so far seems stemming from a favorable economical safe space (Eastern Europe is something else than Western California, say). And being a bit of a "quantity over quality" studio -- just take a look at how many releases they've pumped out since 2018, 2019... there's not been a year in this without anything new to ship to customers. Imagine they'd announce they'd nicked Chris Avellone and/or Brian Mitsoda as the narrative lead/s ... permanently. 😄

Interesting that there seems other stuff in the works apart from standard triple-A action adventure™ fare -- the direction to go to for decades, becuz: "If you press a button, something awesome has to happen!" A survival kind of thing set in The Realms? Sure, survival has been done to death... but in a way, the start of BG1 arguably was pretty close already, still making it kind of unique, at least upon first playing it. Think about it: You're dropped into forests with no gear, money or hitpoints to brag in front of the girls about. Your foster father has just been killed. There's wolves and bears able to one-shot you. True to the game's lore of iron and crisis, the joke of a weapon you hold in your hands can actually BREAK at ANY POINT. And you're on your own (that is, provided you gave that annoying lass the hard pass, as the game strongly encouraged you to do...) 😄 Will this signal the comeback of 1990s era D&D games? I mean you had Beat em Level Ups ! Horror Crawlers! And Command Faerun & Conquers!

Good idea, actually, hm..... currently replaying Torment for the first time in years, so thereafter, who knows. Thing is, I actually like combat. So it's not strictly that. It's that Owlcat's copypaste encounter design makes Icewind Dale II look like grandmaster chess. And they're so proud of it that it's EVERYWHERE. It's literally like: "Ok, here's two gargoyles. Now move two feet. Here's the same two gargoyles. Keep moving! Oh, hello you two again." Then comes the super mobs, and they only ever differ in armor class and buffs, like: "Cool, they switched that super mob with AC 50 for one with an AC of 80, now I'm gonna need to really buff up or else..." Kingmaker at least had the advantage of switching threats every chapter or so. But WOTR is naturally a crusade against demons... so horned beasts is all you're gonna get, start to finish, hour 1 to hour 250 or so. It's Demon Burnout Incarnate. It's not like they're receiving no feedback on that.... people start BEGGING on their Reddit knees. 😄

Dungeon Siege 4. And Uwe Boll is gonna direct the TV spots premiering during Superbowl TV piss break. ❤️

Well, I took a six to eight months timeout with Kingmaker. WOTR I bought upon release and had three time-outs total over the span of September 2021 to end of 2023... still not finished. Probably won't. I jokingly view it as this: Owlcat took the opposite lesson from Planescape:Torment and its development than the Disco Elysium boys did. Disco got rid of combat entirelly after experiencing Torment's copypaste trash encounters replacing quality content and questing in later areas such as Curst Prison (a result of crunch and rush). Owlcat based their entire business modell around that. I mean, these guys are about to release their fourth 150-200 hours longest CRPG ever opus in the span of like 7 years, plus DLCs plus Enhanced Editions... that's insane. It would have been insane in the 1990s, when production was simpler. Mind you, I'm more frustrated than anything. For one, their type of game is right up my alley. Then I also like the better parts. I just wish half of it wouldn't be such a filler slog.

Every single time (mind you, haven't yet tried Rogue Trader). You could cut like 40% of both Pathfinder games -- and they'd be improved 400%. 😄 Finished Kingdom Come 2 yesterday. Noticed a few Owlcats when the credits rolled. Seems they didn't leave a sour aftertaste on this one -- the latter chapters actually offer some of the highlights of the game. Not wanna spoil, but in every other AAAA RPG, "mundane" stuff that occurs here would have been a two minutes cutscene. And that would have been a loss, as turning it all into a bit of questing and interacting with characters makes the final all the more emotionally engaging.

Nintendo disagrees, they still don't quite as mindlessly let you follow markers for reason. However, KCD isn't actually like that. You have a map and you have some guidance (Hardcore Mode is a bit "trickier"). Additionally, simulation is awesome. It's what allows for emergent behavior and solutions rather than simply ticking off a list of tasks. The game even suggests you watch where NPCs are going should you feel the desire to rob them / break into their homes (crime is still too simple, mind). That said, you know what's actually like work? Game developers thinking you need a gaming nanny (or a control freak of a boss) guiding your every move as apparently you can't be trusted to even start the game. Where's the escapism in that? 😛 Like seriously: Push X to open door. Push Y to accept quest. Move precisely over here to talk to character Z. Now move to place A, then to B, activate your witcher senses, follow the yellow paint and DO IT DO IT NOW, WELL DONE GOOD BOY. I never got into World Of Warcraft by the way as that kind of loop alongside to MMO fetch and grind quests is the definition of completing a laundry list of "busywork" (markers or not). The poor sod who used to put the caps onto Cola bottles by hand actually had it good: His task wasn't near as mundane and he was left alone as his boss trusted he was capable of doing it all on his own. 😄 On topic: The Evil Within 2. Undecided if the first game or the second game had the better structures. The first tossed you into new scenarios every chapter, kind of like a best of Horror -- the second is more hub-based. I prefer them both over the original RE4 though, just a silly game after THAT start.

You're likely still in the part that back then disappointed me, as I was expecting something way different. You'll know when it's over -- let's just say that both KCDs have the longest introductions to any games out there. 😄

Avowed almost looks and sounds more like your typical Bioware move ("when you press a button..."), it even was CoOp prior to the reboot, too. In some ways, that's the least you'd expect of Obsidian. In other ways, well they started out by developing sequels to Bioware games (and Pillars was big time inspired by Bioware technology). I think I'm gonna spend some bucks on The White March now -- the one thing Pillars I haven't yet played. A New Vegas or Bloodlines-like in the Pillars-verse could be interesting. Maybe even something narrative-driven like Pentiment, a smaller scale production that has you playing as Thaos, with your actions shaping the world and characters around you during the course of centuries.

When you press a button, something awesome has to happen. Fantasy, for us, is a knight on horseback running around and killing things. We want Call Of Duty's audience. If you don't remember any of those genre classics, please google. As now there's another: Disco Elysium’s new mobile port is aimed ‘to captivate TikTok users’ | Polygon RPG making. RPG making never changes. 🤣

Risky, but if it works out, Intel opting out of TSMC may pay off. Intel relies on Xe3P graphics chips from its own production - a stroke of genius or a risky experiment? | igor´sLAB

I'm personally more interested in who's the first to decisively beat the raw rendering power of the 2020 3060 Ti -- but for 300 bucks (or lower). Back then, that was a 400 MSRP card. 2025, still nothing. You can genuinelly see this "entry level Ghetto" by now visually in PC Games Hardware's reviews of the more recent cards in their overall rankings.

I can't believe that so many RPGs are still mainly focused on "stuff you kill". Fallout, Torment and even some of Ultima are three decades old now... And I like "stuff you kill". If it's the main course though... 😄 Honestly have a typical industry playtest in front of my eyes, the kind of best industry practice that ensures nothing ever too special gets made. With half the testers going: "This is boring! Where's ma stuff to kill!" Well, go back to Call Of Duty. Not yer kind of game. It's a pity. As if combat, violence and death would be treated as something a bit more special, it may actually turn out to be something MEANINGFUL. Rather than just repetition / an awesome obstacle course that's in there so to pose a challenge. "Oh, another one down. Loot, loot, loot!" 😄 Then again, what am I complaining about? I've still got KCD2 on my disc for the time being.

The music was reused in the (lore) trailers. I found the unusual percussion combat music in Deadfire pretty refreshing. His PoE soundtracks were good overall, but that was pretty out there. Wonder how that was received. Usually the music in this type o' game is more your standard orchestral epic LOTR music fare (maybe mixed with a bit of Conan The Barbarian if the composer is REALLY going wild. 😄 ).

Now that Paradox has royally screwed it all up: Fampyr Bloodlines, make it happen.

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.