Wormerine

Allegedly we could get an announcement for a new Divinity title by Larian. Icon on teased Game Awards statue seems to align pretty well with recently discovered Divinity trademark. Which sounds like soon, with it would line up if they want to do Early Access again within the next year or so. https://mp1st.com/news/report-tga-statue-mystery-solved-new-divinity-trademark-uncovered-as-new-icon-matches-statue

Well, allegedly they are revamping the engine. I see it as an ambition and promise more than anything else. We will see how it will actually turn out. Maybe I will finally give a Shogun2 and Warhammer a proper go meantime.

Sure, but also look at Bloodlines2. Publishers love taking advantage of existing IP for marketing purposes. Usually brings more eyeballs to the project. I am curious what project was compelling enough for TC to move back to work at Obsidian. I hope I will like it.

Would make sense. Tim prefers making new IP. As much as I would love Arcanum2, I somewhat doubt it would be what would bring him back from half retirement. Maybe he is turning his space sim toy into a game?

Finally a sequel to the best Total War game: I try to not get too excited. To be frank, most of the time I spent in Medieval II was with mods (mostly Stainless Steel), and no other Total War experience managed to scratch an itch that heavily modded Rome and Medieval II could. I was hyped for Shogun2, but never managed to get into it, and none of later TW caught my attention - I tried Warhammer for a bit, but felt rather simplistic (I mean to give it another go now when I have a PC that could enjoy the looks better). Anyway, classic Total Wars got GOG release. Picked up Medieval2 and might give it another go at some point. We will see if nostalgia googles hold up. edit. Oh, and Empire. I have a weak spot for it. Such a messy game, but also somewhat inspiring. I loved the setting, and innovation and I just wish it would be a more polished release.

I am thinking of replaying Pentiment as well. I was a lovely little game. I don't love everything about it, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

Well, I didn't enjoy my experience, though to be fair I did consciously refuse to initially engage with what was clearly a rather important choice. From my perspective my gripes would be that: 1) initial choice felt rather sudden and arbitrary and didn't provide enough context to commit to such decision (I do wonder why they didn't go with more traditional route of NPCs petitioning you to do something, and you fulfilling their request meant supporting their cause) 2) and coming from that not fulfilling that person's request (or even doing the complete opposite) seemed to have no effect whatsoever on either of parties involved. It's as if they cared more about me saying I side with them, rather then actually helping. Anyway, I think it is safe to say I have abandoned my playthrough as I feel no desire to go back, especially as it seems the first bit I already experienced haven't presented the game from it's best side. Will give it another go on a later date once I am more in the mood.

I would probably give Ben Star for Verso, Lorien Testard for OST, maybe best narrative, though if it is any good I would always pick something like Kingdom Come2 over it, due to linearity and uninteractivity of E33 story content. Probably best Independent game and best indie debiut. I would definitely not give it best Roleplaying game, on account of it not having roleplaying in it. Maybe best direction, probably GOTY.

I always thought GameAwards RPG category was a mess, but Fighting Games easily win the most nonsensical nominees. 2XKO - limited early access build, the game isn't even in 1.0. (and not first time they did it. Multiversus was nominated two years in the row, once for it's early release, and once for it's 1.0 launch ) Capcom Fighting Collection 2 - a rerelease of 20+ years old games Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection - another rerelease of 20-30 years old games. Virtua Fighter 5 REVO World Stage - newest rerelase, visual uplift and balance patch to 15 years old release of 20 years old game. Fatal Fury City of the Wolves - the only 2025 full release and as such IMO the only game from the list which should be eligible. (2XKO might make it before the end of the year, but who knows).

15hours into it, finished first planet and I am really struggling with it. I don't disagree with anything you have written, I think system wise it's a really smartly designed, streamlined RPG, I just really struggle to connect with anything story wise. I found main area's first quest to be a bit of a mess:

Yeah, I feel there could be more done with choice and consequence gameplay wise, and there is definitely some smoke and mirrors going on when it comes to story and Alters. Two mandatory alters get easily the most narrative stuff, and out of other optional one one opened some major story opportunities and others seemed rather modest in content. Looking back at potential story choices and their outcomes there seem to be mostly better and worse options - which I think would be far less compelling on 2nd playthrough.

For whatever it is worth, I tend to not care for jRPGs, but I enjoyed CO:E33 gameplay anyway. It's jRPG systems are actually rather overshadowed by dodge/parry mechanic which makes it closer to baby's first Sekiro. One optional boss in particular felt very FromSoftware. That however, I think is also a weakness as while the game does have variety of characters with their own gimmicks, and neat character building system, it does just dictates how much dodging/parrying one will have to do per-encounter. That said, story is the selling point.

And limited unit selection, especially if playing zerg. So good. Endgame content and balancing is easily my biggest gripe with the game, but not enough to spoil the experience. But really, what we needed is a game about expedition 60

Yayy, I hope you will like it too.

Oh, that's a shame. I bought the whole package. It's next in line after Outer Worlds2. Did you feel the same about the KCD1? Finished Alters. I really liked it, though I felt the game started to run a bit out of steam at the end. They tried to shake things up in unexpected ways, and while it did have some narrative impact, it did greatly undermine gameplay making the final zone a bit dull. Not a brilliant game quite original, and quite enjoyable. It's a kind of a game where individual elements aren't that spectacular, but as a whole it's quite neat. Recommended at a right price point.

Well, it can be a valid criticism if a sequel fails to bring much new to the table, but I think both D:OS2 and OW2 are a major step forward from first installments and not just more of the same. In case of OW2 I would chuck those comments as "it is not New Vegas". And it is not. It is still very streamlined RPG with very silly premise. OW2 is very much a sequel to OW1. And I think it is pretty good, even if some aspects of it still don't grab me.

A bit too early for me to have my Outer Worlds2 thought, but this seems to align pretty well m with my impressions so far:

Yeah, came here to report it. Mine is missing left leg. Something off with leg prostetic replacemenent? (which I don't have.)

Yeah, now that you mention it is rather odd, and at least for now feels unnecessary. I am getting annoyed by the "corporate" jargon. I didn't mind it it OW1 as the whole concept was "What if Corporations started the colony". And I know this is very much an arm of the same movement, but just feels odd to me here and out of place.

Probably played a bit less then yourself but not by much. Eh, I do struggle to get into the world and story so far, but otherwise it seems like a substantial upgrade. Hopefully it will click for me soon.

https://eternity.obsidian.net/eternity/news/eternity/public-beta-for-turn-based-mode No GOG beta though?

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.