Wormerine

It's a played out joke but a well told one.

Please, share if you find more

And day one on GamePass:

From makers of Subnautica - digital, turn based minature game. Looks cool

I finished a run of Final Fantasy VII Remastered with it's DLC. I retro played the original around 2008, so it was already heavily dated by then, so while I am not too nostalgic toward the it, it was my first jRPG. I really don't know how I feel about this one - mostly because without seeing the rest of the trilogy (?) I really have no clue where the series will go, and if it will be any good. When it comes to actually remaking the original, I thought they did a great job - the new combat system pays homage to the original and new action element makes boring jRPG combat at least enjoyable to interact with. Most of the extended content I liked - it is great to spend more time with members of Avalanche and Aerith. Some of the later sections, especially doing finale after point of no retun feel like straight up padding though. What I am not sold on are... the divergences. I kinda like the idea, but it was handled rather crudely. I am also not sure how well FFVIIRe will work for someone not familiar with the original - devs use a lot of shortcuts using scenes and imagery for an effect without any context, which I imagine will leave new players rather confused. The very main boss of the game, got so little introduction in this title. I personally experienced confusion with content relating to FFVII companion pieces with which I am unfamiliar with - showing off stuff that just meant nothing to me, and clearly expecting a reaction.

In general I found "Party vs party" encounters in BG1 to be very challenging. I really liked that - a nice balance of fairly straightforward moster slaying, and real test when you face a party of hostile adventurers like yourself. I completed BG1 on "core rules" many times. I definitely cheesed couple of times - abusing AI luring enemies one by one couple of times. If I remember correctly, Sarevok's fight got buffed if you own Tales of the Sword Coast to compensate, but I never played without it so I am not sure. It's definitely a fight in which one has to pull all stops. I much prefer that, to underwhelming BG2 finale. It's sacrilegious but honestly not that bad - could have been much worse. I didn't hate it, but am unlikely to ever boot it again, or include it in my BG Saga playthroughs. I thought it did a poor job connecting BG1&2, which it claimed to be it's purpose and like Beamdogs addition to BG1, it feels very modern in design. Not in a good way - it just felt very off to me. Its stakes are also strangely high for a game set before BG2. In a way it reminded me a lot of Throne of Bhaal - an original piece of content that I mostly dislike. If ToB is Return of the Jedi, being mostly bad but wrapping up the saga nice, then Dragonspear is... Han Solo? Disposable, forgettable, and cringy from time to time, explaining things that didn't need an explanation, but not entirely unpleasant.

I won't be raising my hopes, as while the screenshot tickles my nostalgia hard, the engine, look or gamefeel of Fallout1&2 isn't something I have ever been fond of, in the way I was fond of lets say: Infinity Engine games. Still something to be keeping an eye on.

Mood wise it definitely looks more promising that the awful demo they released a while ago. I hope they took the harsh feedback and aren’t trying to make a quippy action game anymore. I don’t think I am interested in a Gothic remake - I just can’t think of a surefire way of bringing the title into current gen without loosing what made the original worth playing.

It's from Die Hard3 where Bruce Willis' character was forced to walk with the sign into a black neighbourhood. aka. mouthing CA on this forum is asking for trouble.

Considering bad rep IWD2 seems to have I was surprised how much I enjoyed it when I was finally able to play it thx to GOG fixes. That said it's is hardly surprising as it feels like Josh designes games just for me. I can't understand how PoE1&2 don't trump every other cRPG on the market. I do like that, the same way I like FromSoftware design. Allowing people to find and run into enemies they are not able to beat early on, helps to highlight their raise to powers, while RPGs that keep experience smooth kinda make progression irrelevant. There is balance to me made - Kingmaker IMO went the other way, making it at times difficult to find content you can complete and with timer threatning to punish you for wasting time I found that game to be just a misarable experience throughout. In BG2 it was just - oh, wow, I am not ready for it. [Reload a save from before entering the room] Will be back later. It also helps that those encouters were memorable, so one would remember where to return, unlike the kingmaker full of samey combat arenas on the minimap.

So the question would be: how much, if any, overlap there is between the staff. Are they working off the same engine with needs of one game being prioritised over the other? Unfortunately, I have no clue.

Generally I am in favour of letting go suboptimal employees rather then killing them. Eh, everytime I play BG1 I end up running the cannonical party, so Khalid was always in my party. I stick tower shield on him, as he is as good at getting swing at, as any other. I just suspect he isn't an optimal choice, though I never personally cared for such thing, with BGs being mostly forgiving.

I always thought Khalid was seen as ****, as a fighter with 15 STR.

You quickly switched from looking a way to get rid of Khalid to romance her, to killing her off to make space in the team without getting rid of her chubby.

Ok. So what’s up with this game? How does one buy into it? Is it for backers only? I feel I have been waiting for forever for some kind of Early Access to be released. I remember people gushing over Xen2 during Phoenix Point early builds, and now it’s 2 years after PP completion.

Obsidian is definitely doing a lot of things at the same time. They have already worked on PoE2 and OW1 at the same time, so it’s more or less the same as before acquisition albeit with potentially bigger projects + two very small passion projects and some stuff that’s unannounced. Personally, I wouldn’t read too much into the trailers - they both have been vague CGI, meaning: we are not ready to show anything. Microsoft did a lot of purchasing and until this year had little to show for - so they filled their shows with announcements of projects their studios are working on for future release. I believe they showed Avowed and OW2 to bolster Microsoft brand (look at the cool titles you can expect from us on gamepass!) not because those titles were ready for official announcement (though for PoE fans it’s nice to know that Eora isn’t abandoned). I was greatly disappointed to not see Avowed on this years E3 like, but then again with focus on upcoming year we really haven’t seen any of Microsoft heavy hitters (well there was Starfield, but it’s pre-acquisition project). That said, by now I would like to know more - not release date but just what Avowed is supposed to be. I do think some worry is warranted at this point.

Just so you know OW1 (80 staff?) was a bigger project then PoE2 (40 staff?), and both Avowed and OuterWorlds2 are bigger then OW1 (Avowed cenrtainly, not sure about OW2). 3D RPG will always be far more ambitious then retro isometric one. Obsidian has gained a lot of new staff after the acquisition, and have Microsoft backing to afford contractors if they need to. This of course might be a challenge in itself, but it is anyones guess how Obsidian is handling things. What makes you feel they give more priority to OW2? All we got for either of the project is a CGI trailer screaming "we have nothing to show", quite literally in case of OW2. Granted, being a sequel OW2 should have an easier start as it has a baseline to build upon. All until recently rumours about Avowed progress have been positive. Of course, that changed recently with no announcement being made, and Schreier's worrying tweet. Even so, it is not uncommon - unlike PoE1&2 Obsidian probably doesn't know exactly what they are making with Avowed so exploration, reboots etc. are to be expected. Some of the better game released had birthing pains, reboots and changes in direction. Change of directors is more worrying to me, as it means that something wasn't quite working out. Let's be honest, after PoE2 underselling this is Obsidian's chance to continue the IP they have created - they better get it right, even if it takes time to do it.

Depends what you mean by AAA. Neither Avowed nor Outer Worlds are humongous project by AAA standards. Last time I heard, Avowed had about 100 people working on it, which from what I understand is about Bethesda studio size, but well under something like Ubo project or Baldur's Gate3. If they indeed aim for AAA rather then something of Outer Worlds scale, then it is hardly surprising it takes that long. Look at Bethesda and how often they release new games. Both Avowed and Outer Worlds2 got CGI trailers with no details and nothing to show. As far as I am concerned OW2 isn't that much farther in development then Avowed was when it was announced. I see no reason to believe that OW2 will release ahead of Avowed, unless the latter truly is in major troubles.

Hard West2 demo - I am impressed. Much, much higher production value. Opening is quite a set piece. Combat seems rather similar to what I remember of HW1, but it’s fast paced now, heavily rewarding aggressive play and chaining moves through “Bravado” system (restoring all action points upon killing an enemy). Some pleasantly surprising storybook moments and world map.

She was. You can run across her very early as she is chased by Flaming Fist. She calls out to you for help in BG2 because she knows you.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/actor-david-warner-baldurs-gate-2s-antagonist-jon-irenicus-has-died-aged-80 David Warner, voice of Jon Irenicus from BG2 has passes away.

There are no romances in BG1. in BG2

Into the Breach on my iPad. The wait was worth it, as it is again an excellent port. I guess I will keep my Netflix subscription for a while.

Good riddance - the DLCs were incredibly overpriced, and the BioWare points were a pain in the arse. Too bad I bought them all couple years back.