Wormerine

That's interesting. My complain was how missing was very rare due to Larian's tinkering with values and abundant source of guaranteed damage. I do have major gripe with some UI choices, mainly hotbar which I found to be frustratingly maintenance heavy. I avoided having druids because of that, as doing wildshape would completely wreck my hotbar after switching back to human form. I will do another playthrough using hardest setting at some point, but just too many other things to play meantime. Speaking of which I got distracted from Outer Worlds2 by Alters. Gave it a go maybe two evening ago and it got my full attention now. Oh, finished Hades2. It's like the first one, with slightly better gameplay, much worse narrative, much more content, and even more grind. I didn't care for it.

Seeing melathi's post about Hogwarts Legacy I decided to give it ago before Outer Worlds2. Yeah, I liked it more then I expected. I thought they managed to capture the universe rather well. Definitely the amount of murdering player does feels rather odd. And while I mostly found story to be fairly alright, there were couple points I felt the inability to react to things felt really odd. Main character doesn't really have a personality but the game also doesn't allow players to express themselves in spite of conversation options. There were quite a few things, especially in the latter part of the game, were I feel characters just move on from some things that really asked to be brought up. Overall, better then I expected. As I enjoyed early Harry Potter books and films in primary school, HL managed to pull my nostalgia strings. Started Outer Worlds2 - looks promising so far. Opening mission promised reactivity that I missed in the original game had. Adding to it the overall buzz around the game, I think I will enjoy this one.

https://forums.obsidian.net/forum/191-the-outer-worlds-2-technical-support-spoiler-warning/

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/microsoft-pushing-for-profits-well-above-the-industry-average-is-reportedly-behind-xboxs-layoff-and-cancellation-misery

Can't get my controller to work on Gamepass, so might have to pass for now.

I played Rogue so, I don't think it was that. I just thought it was unenjoyable to interact with. Visually flashy but not very readable. Counter icons often disappearing in the noise of explosions. Stuff like that. In the end I don't think it was much different then any other DA combat - just spamming skills once they are out of cooldown, just with more generic slashing inbetween.

Dragon Age: Veilguard was added to GamePass so I played it while I wait for Outer Worlds2. I thought it was pretty alright. Easily my favourite of Dragon Age sequels though it is not a high bar to pass. Few complaints, sure. Tonally, it is a bit inconsistant - but that's something I would say about every Dragon Age game, but Origins. The game is probably quite a bit longer than it should have been (again, Dragon Age staple). Combat sucks and gets really boring - again nothing new to DA... though as it tries to pivit a bit more into action-RPG territory it hurts it by how clunky and unresponsive it feels. There is also artificiality around the quests and systems which I found really detracting from the narrative. I don't know if it's because game's origin as liveservice, or just current Bioware team sensibilities, but how game was structured, how quests were presented I felt really made it difficult to feel immersed in the narrative, and therefore care. But it is not all bad. Like Inquisition I think story has more potential than Veilguard takes advantage of - and I do feel they are playing loose with some established lore. But for a very casual and distanced DA player it felt like it actually paid off on many things that previous games were establishing. Companions were alright, and I quite enjoy some of their banter. Finale is pretty alright, if contrived at times. I don't think it is a great game, but frankly best I have seen from Bioware since Mass Effect2 (didnt' play Andromeda nor Anthem though). I enjoyed most of it, but it's overstayed it's welcome and I am glad it is over.

I didn't know there is a new Heroes of Might and Magic in works, and there is even an early demo to try out. It looks like it's being done on budget, but it is actually quite snappy, and seems like could be a nice entry to the series. As the series have been in limbo for a while, it is nice to see a return to form, though it might be a bit too conservative. HoM&M3 die hards might not be willing to move on at this point, and I am not sure how much new blood with a budget title like this one attract.

Pretty good conversation with a lawyer about the acquisition.

Huh, seems Capcom kept a lot of C.V. sauce from SF4. I would bet they would redesign and simplify her for SF6. I am really curious how she will fit he game. Probably too technical for me at the moment, but looks very cool.

Yes, something I didn’t like about FiraXCOM was how pod activation was the most important mechanic on the game. You can go through a mission and not get a single shot aimed at you, or you can make last move in your turn, unveil one or two extra tiles and have a new pod or two take a shot at your squad.

I mostly agree, with coveats. I don’t think PoE story is “better told”. Too much of it is uninteractive, too much of it is told through NPCs talking at you and books abd too little through quests. But I do think it is a better story. What PoE2 lacks to me is personal hook for our protagonist. I never found Eothas destroying Caed Nua compelling as without experiencing this event in the sequel we get a “cutscene” and it is just not enough to care. It’s as if Mass Effect destroyed Normandy in a hand drawn cutscene rather than open with it. Similarly, reuniting our soul and confronting Eothas - it’s all confusing and impersonal and unrelatable. In PoE1 we experience consequences of the awakening and as we progressed we better realised what it could mean for us. In PoE1 it’s just “oh yeah part of your soul in in Eothas so keep close”. PoE1 had more relatable stories and dilemmas of companions which I think helped ground the god thread and give it resonance. Without it it’s tricky to care about bickerings of fictional gods.

Interesting. I own it on Steam and it is still on sale here in UK. From what I can find the game was/is banned in Germany? Would buying the game from third party sites not work? https://isthereanydeal.com/game/max-payne/info/ Edit. Apparently not. GMG regions for Max Payne don't include Germany. So weird. Seems like early 2000 violent video game panic ban, than never got reversed. Rockstar should do something about it.

I assume you talk about Sam Lake, the face of Max Payne/Alex Casey? First Max Payne used a lot of friends and family for its character faces, and Sam Lake, the director and writer and remedy ended up playing Max Payne: James McCaffrey was the voice (RIP). In general, Remedy likes working with same people so there is a lot of intentional and intentional cross-casting in their titles. James McCaffrey voiced Max Payne/Alex Casey, Director Trench in Control, "Thomas Zane" in Alan Wake1. Matthew Porretta voiced Alan Wake, and portrayed Dr. Darling in Control (and Alan Wake 2 I suppose). Shawn Ashmore played the protagonist of Quantum Break as well as sherif Tim Breaker in AW2. Courtney Hope also starred in Quantum Break and was subsequently cast as the lead for Control. One of the DLCs has a whole bit about it. Lance Reddick was also supposed to be a potential link between Quantum Break and Alan Wake2, but his unfortunate passing required Mr. Door to be recast. AW2 being a story about writer and his creations coming to life has a lot of meta stuff to it, and most major Remedy games are being referenced. Alex Casey, possibly fictional hardboiled detective, looking very much like Remedy's fictional hardboiled detective is one of such callbacks. God I love Alan Wake2. I am now tempted to reinstall and give it another playthrough.

Yes. And Vanguard anti-cheat Riot thing. If it doesn't scare you and want to dip in, send me a message and I will send you the code. I have such fond memories of XCOM2012. Sequel was a bit improvement, but I like the vibe of the first one much more. If you like the first playthrough well enough, Long War mod is worth giving ago. It injects much life and strategic/tactical choice to the game, though actual full campaign can get mercilessly long (spoiler: never completed one).

What are we talking about? Sam Lake? James McCaffrey? Ilkka Villi? Matthew Porretta? Are the some news about MP remake casting, or is it just about Alan Wake2?

Anyone wants 2XKO beta key? I got an invite and have three additional keys to spare.

Yeah, Moorwing was the only thing so far to which I died more than couple of time. I think Team Cherry are working on nerfing him a bit, as well as some other early game bits. Still, I don’t see what the fuss is about. Most enemies build on the same archetypes. Late game is definitely harder, but skill set from early encounters carries over. Are you sure something just didn’t click for you as to how the game works?

it seems they are utilising at least some of Hitman’s system. Perhaps, closer to Absolution - a narrative, linear experience with some occasional small scale freeform stuff. It seems you can’t kill will you get licence to do it - I supposed it is a good enough way of preventing players from killing civies as Bond.

Your write up made me interested in the game for the first time.

Hmm, that reminds me. I was struggling a bit with original crest. I found the dive attack to be frustratingly difficult to land. I have been much more comfortable with the game once I found another crest, which gave me a more conventional down attack.

Honestly, it's been too long since I played Hollow Knight1, but it might check out - I don't recall it being too tricky until end game and DLC stuff. Personally, I didn't have much trouble with any of the bosses yet (did my first fight against Lace in first attempt), and usually what gets me are random mobs when I run out of healing. Than again I play a lot of tricky platformers. I like it a lot. Couple first impressions: Base movement and skillset seems more robust than HK. It seems more linear - I remember Hollow Knight really opening very early on, and so far my options to wonder around felt rather limited. I don't know if it is going to change soon (maybe they simply want to feed player more skills before letting them loose on the world map), but so far I have been getting new skills in more regular intervals, and my progression have been more firmly gated by it. I remember there being lengthy chunk of time in Hollow Knight when I was just wondering around before I actually started to unlock new traversal abilties beyond initial dash.

SILKSONG! Less than £17. Noice.