Wormerine

Cool! Thanks for sharing. Oh come on, I haven't done a fanction-less runthrough so far. I thought those were really well done - so far I didn't have a character who wouldn't naturally lean toward one side. It would be nice to see the UI - it is difficulty to say at the moment how exactly it will work. There are skilltrees (which remix skills from PoEs to some extend), so yes, it does seem that abilities are seperate from the equipment. I didn't play the Andromeda, but I have rough ideas how it worked. I am not sure, if it would work well, if for example someone wants to go heavy into spellcasting, but I still struggle to figure out how the game plays (is there any stamina meter? are skills on cooldowns? etc.) The presentation from the DD, makes distinction between abilities and special attacks - not sure what is the exact distinction between the two. It being a singleplayer action game, opposed to class based tactical RPGs, I don't have issue with them changing things around, and will need to see more before voicing any concerns. At this point, I just have questions. Companions do seem rather inconsequential. It would be cool, if they could be called to use their abilities to aid you in what you are doing - maybe something similar to original Mass Effects. On a positive side, I was intrigued with all that was told about world and the story. Outside the presence of an archmage, it nothing unexpected, but still feels like a genuine Eora adventure.

Yes! That’s sound ideal.

Pffffff... Those are rookie numbers. BTW, it's been 3 years and still wait for Witcher3 video. At this point it will end up being a week long conference. Edit. I do think JA could be more concise. He tends to make interesting points, but overexplain and overargue them, likely in preparation for upcoming backlash. Noah, however, I think tends to put our quite interesting and thoughtful stuff. edit2. Though while not purely game oriented I tend to check out whatever hbomberguy and Folding Ideas put out.

The AAA Pillars of Eternity 3, obviously.

Finished Uncharted4 Stand Alone DLC Lost Legacy. After being rather lukewarm about the Thief's End I was rather surprised that I ended up enjoying the DLC rather a lot. Story is still good, though far more simple, but it makes up for it, by being a better game. Far better paced, and making far better use of it's gameplay systems. Finally, some fun puzzles, combat encounters are less linears (dropping difficulty to normal, and maxing aim assist I am sure helped as well). The big car chapter is so much more fun, than more linear sequences of T'sE. Even bombastic setpieces worked for me this time around, probably as they were well integrated into the story, rather than being the thing happening between story bits, like it felt like in the base game. I started Resident Evil2 Remake through gamepass. Eh, we will see. Gameplay wise it seems quite interesting, but I am really not enjoying the gore. I hope the title will soon stop trying to shock me with lavishly produced innards, and focus on the gameplay experience. Otherwise, I might nope-out in a session or two.

I dunno. It got some graphical uplift, but nothing groundbreaking. Either it is not remaster, or remastering 3 years old game is stupid. Pick whatever you prefer.

I think if done well, visually simple conversations can work. For example, Outer Words I thought worked really, really well. There were some neat stalistic choices there, that leaned into the artifice of the conversation system, and made it work, IMO. What was showed in Avowed, however, looked rather plain and unappealing. What you describe would take a lot of production - mocap, syncing animations with the enviroment etc. Would definitely be welcome, but I definitely see it as luxury, rather than expectation or necessity.

From what I understand, more or less yes. I would assume that’s why it’s $10 for existing owners, rather than new purchase like LoU1 was. The biggest addition seems to be procedurally generated rogue like.

Yeah… I think it might be what makes me cautious about Avowed. Even very combat driven titles (like Messiah of Might&Magic) had a bit more scope than what Avowed showed so far. My impression so far, may it be right or wrong, is: “we don’t have much to show”. There is a lot of talk, but relatively little shown. I still don’t know what the game really is, and at this point I am getting doubtful if devs know what Avowed really is. And with release meant for this year - I feel like the game has a lot of ground to cover before the release hits.

Yup. That said I learned not to judge the game by how it looks - I will be more interested in hand on previews. Quite often games that look great in trailers, play like crap, and games that don’t look that appealing in trailers, play pretty good. Combat seems to have a bit of “Skyrim” quality, but there is enough feedback from enemies getting hit, that I choose to stay optimistic.

Which is sad, as up to 2010 they were a publisher who would reliably put out fun and interesting titles. Than AssCreed/Farcry craze came, and their output became progressively more narrow and stale. Still, when Ubi allow itself to do something smaller, it usually ends up being great. It is just their bigger game that seem to be marketing/business driven.

Making sully blown cinematics for conversation is no doubt a big investment of resources. Personally, I tend to tolerate those basic ones better, than something like Baldur's Gate3 - I will probably get used to awkwardness of Avowed conversations and treat as I would a game like Pillars. BG3 for me, though, hit the awkward spot of sometimes having decent cinematics, and sometimes being awkward. I am still in wait and see camp (I mean I gonna play it on account of it being on gamepass and Eora). It could be good, but they are not really selling it to me.

Avowed out in fall 2024. Head to Avowed subforum to complain and argue.

Almost as authentic, as the one from the opening of the recent movie . Trailer confuses me. It's first person, but with third person bits (ala newer Deus ex?). The game seems a bit sluggish. But I played the crap of out of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, so I am clearly not too picky when it comes to my Indie experiences.

I am still somewhat disappointed, that main focus seems to be on combat. It seems like it is going to be a much more action centric experience. Combat doesn't look bad, but I am also doubtful how much depth it will have. RPG nature of the game still seems to be mostly sidelined, at least as far as talking point go. One branching quest is shown, but it didn't fire up my imagination. The logo looks cool, though.

Fall 2024 according to Microsoft Direct.

Ha! Those are tough cookies to try. Would take more than 6 buttons.

Now, if I came up with that during Uni, I might have been less torn between gaming and practicing violin https://www.thestrad.com/news/a-video-gamer-is-beating-elden-ring-with-a-violin/17486.article

In case you missed it there will be XBOX's Developer Direct in couple of hours: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/01/09/xbox-developer-direct-2024/ We should finally get some info on the Indiana Jones game, and a deeper look into Avowed (finally! Please, don't disappoint...). On a less confirmed note: Elden Ring DLC news might be coming, or even shadowdropping. A while ago there was Elden Ring controller leak that suggested possible February 2024 Shadow of Erdtree release. Recent Elden Ring steam update made such possibility a little bit more likely: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/elden-ring-dlc-update-on-steams-backend-hints-that-shadow-of-the-erdtrees-release-could-be-very-very-close There is also some rumbling about Silksong and February - though from what I gathered, it is just wishful thinking at this point.

They are rather overpriced IMO. Worth picking up on deep discount. You get 4 new playable characters each of them with 3 story missions, and two bosses. They introduce new enemy types that are quite interesting, though their gimmick does get a bit old by the end of the campaigns. I started Uncharted4 DLC. I struggle to take seriously - due to my RPG background I find cast behind two lead ladies (Morrigan and Xoti) to be rather distracting.

Hmmm, aside of horrid music choices I thought that much was clear since the game was revealed. but yes it is a metroidvania - drawing inspirations from all the greatest hits - like Hollow Knight like charm system. Platforming and combat are very responsive with a good potential to grow. It seems fresh while paying homage to both original Pop and its later sands of time reboot. There is demo if you want to see for yourself.

I played through Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown demo. It looks quite excellent. it is also first time I noticed that Ubisoft games are missing from Steam - I suppose it shows how much I care for the usual Ubi releases. Last game I bought and played was from the very same studio - Rayman Legends. Hard to believe it's been 10 years already.