Wormerine

Never played older entries but Wizardry8 was a fantastic dungeon crawler.

i definitely run into it in my university days (so that would be specifically around 2012-2014). I didn’t have internet in my flat so I would play games on steam in offline mode. I had to bring my laptop to Uni and connect Steam to internet every couple weeks otherwise games wouldn’t launch anymore. But yeah, I don’t know what is Steam, what is optional DRM through steam, and what is third party drm.

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era. Seems like a very solid, if budget HoM&M installment. I enjoyed the demo they released a while back, and this already feels stronger. Only spent a bit time in a custom match, and I am a very casual HoM&M player - very little multiplayer experience. Still, I really like it so far, especially for £25. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Not many details, but I like the pitch. I am glad they are returning to Metro setting. While I enjoyed Exodus, and I think a shake up was needed at the time, I did felt it lost quite a bit of identity in the process.

cough, Witcher TV show, cough. I think it is obvious after IP being successful, but I don't find it too difficult to imagine a suit claiming it's too unfamiliar for mass market to be a safe bet - not that Witcher1 was a mainstream pleaser anyway.

Disagree.

Or levaraging unique backgrounds. Sandfall doubled down on their fenchness to their benefit. CDPR did well meaning into easter european flavours with Witcher.

Well, as a professionally trained and working classical musician I tend to contemplate those things more then is normal :-). Yeah, don't mean it as a honest criticism of E33 soundtrack, just finding it curious how well received it is and if it will have impact on OST expectations going forward. Seems people still respond rather well to good tunes, and those are difficult to pull off if you OST is set up to transition from one bit to another at any moment. As to classical bit - it's pretty well defined and pretty flexible as it is. I just think due to streaming services some folks treat "classical" as anything with acoustic instruments in them... or something old. Potentially an existential issue from my perspective, but what can you do.

I have thoughts on the subject, which I might as well use this as an excuse to express them. I mean obviously the OST is pretty darn good. But I keep thinking whenever it is a good "video game soundtrack". I think it's greatest strength is that it is being in a way very "old school". There is no reactivity here, no dynamic soundtrack, no smooth transitions from one bit to another based on players actions. That gives E33 OST an advantage, which a lot of older games had - you can write more traditional music (with full phrases and direction) and not worry about awkward transitions if, for example, player engages in combat halfway through it. I think it very much makes it a better music to listen then a lot of video games OST, but does it make it a better video game OST? I suppose I feel about a soundtrack the same way I feel about E33 story - it's good, enjoyable stuff, but I will always have more respect for soundtrack and story that supports interactive nature of the medium. Still, considering the uninteractive tradition if jRPGs I can't really fault it for being conservative. (though I am also a bit bitter by headlines calling E33 OST #1 on Classical Music Charts.... it ain't classical music. Like none of it).

Enhanced....?! WTF. No, I played E33 through gamepass before the update. I was planning to pick it up on GOG at some point and give it another playthrough at some point, but now I am straight up scared😅

My enthusiasm is cooling down for Ghost of Tsushima. It is a very, very good Ubisoft-style open world game, but it is a Ubisoft-style open world game nonetheless. Great "filler" for tired evenings, but not a main dish. Too repetitive and shallow for that. So I am leaving it for evenings when I can't be bothered to do anything more demanding, and am returning to Kingdom Come2 which I a bit abandoned as I focused of testing my new GPU. Good game that one.

I am not particularly strong in abusing character building systems, so I powered through him with parries. Yes, you can parry/jump everything. Party switch for phase3 really messed me up, as I barely used Sciel and Monoco throughout the game.

Well, yes. Even not as a long time Sc fan (played through it directly before Sc2), I did find mostly change in tone somewhat disappointing. I still like Wings of Liberty story stuff the most, and I think that's why I liked it best. I really disliked Swarm, and was completely checked out narrative wise for the Void. Still, pretty darn fun RTS campaign gameplay wise. I always meant to start playing Sc2 online at some point - never got around to it. ☹️