Wormerine

So Sekiro folks. Let me know if I got it right, as I am running into DS counter issue - something doesn't work and I don't know if it shouldn't work or my timings are off:

Thanks to Covid I finally got around to watching Star Trek, ST:TNG, and ST:DS9 and I can proudly say:

Just one more week till my next much needed mini-dosage of Real-Time Tactics.

Mostly wrapped up my time with Deathloop. I might jump back for couple more games as Julianna, but overall I think I got all that I will get out of the game. It's very, very meh. It's three games in one: Immersive sim, time loop, multiplayer invasions, and those three don't work with each other. I liked invasions the most, as I didn't get a chance to use Dishonored skills against another player, though p2p connection and poor balancing made it an uneven experience.

Yes, crafting strong narratives, while making space for player expressions has been Obsidian's strong suit. If you have spare time (and money) I recommend diving more into Obsidian's library. While I think New Vegas is their finest game to date, they made bunch of interesting (even if often rushed and unfinished) titles. Here is hoping to having another classic with Avowed.

Picked up Sekiro on Steam sale. Absolutely loving it so far. I wasn't sure how it will feel to play, looking at the gameplay videos, but like Dark Souls it plays much smoother then it looks. Love the setting. I am a sucker for stuff like this.

In case some losers don’t check Deadfire sub forum:

I think you meant to say “If you thought blatant exclusivity was gonna stop at Playstation”. Epic isn’t even a comparison, as they don’t own the studios - they just buy exclusivity (aka. Pay for them to not release on other platforms). It’s closer to what Microsoft did in the past - paying for Tomb Raider to not release immediately on PS. Also unlike PS, (for now) Microsoft releases on PC, on multiple stores on day one, and probably on gamepass, making it such a good deal. I might even give Starfield and Elder Scrolls6 a go, if I will be able to play it through gamepass.

Also as rumoured Halo Infinite multiplayer is out.

I rewatched the video and he mentions Darksider3 specifically. Skillup is one of the few reviewers that I watched that thought Darksiders3 was alright.

I only played Darksiders 1&2 and those are not Dark Souls type games. I mean both titles draw inspiration from Zelda so there is some minimal overlap. Darksiders3, however, I am told draws quite a bit from Dark Souls - also people generally didn't like that one.

It does look great indeed. I thin my previous question of “what does open world adds to DS formula” was somewhat answered.

Huh. It's strange it's not there. Who owns rights to it. Beamdog?

Well, with Obsidian being owned by Microsoft it might not be entirely up to Obsidian. Microsoft does release on steam, so 3rd party platforms aren't out of discussion. We will have to see. Grounded is still in developement and it is constatly updating, multiplayer game - as I understand being curated platform GOG isn't the easiest store front to work with. I have seen game updates delayed by days or weeks due to verification process. Personally, I do hope Obsidian will keep releasing games through steam - Outer Words did come out on GOG, which is a good sign, though I am not sure if it is an example of things yet to come, considering OW was made mostly before Microsoft acquisition and with another publisher.

News must be slow. But as to two pages long conversation: how appropriate character design is depends on the game and world itself. Boob armor is stupid from practical perspective, and PoE, which treated itself very seriously is probably better off avoiding that nonesence. A game that proprizes style over any kind of believability or immersion - sure, do whatever you feel look best.

We will see how things will develop, but according to all the reports at this point Microsoft strategies is said to be: let developers do their own thing. Game Pass tends to pop up more often then XBOX itself - and as subscription service, I think it will benefit from both mainstream big titles, and various small curiosities. In case of Obsidian they do have big projects (Outer Worlds2, Avowed), so it is quite possible they would allow for a small personal project. With a team as small as John Sawyer project it is not going to be a God of War console seller anyway.

Matty is content creation, the guest as I understand it is a "leaker" with some inside knowledge. As I understand it is historical setting - no alternative fantasy stuff.

“Josh is still make the game he said was making“. sounds a bit like “The Name of the Rose: the RPG”

I would assume something Dark Souls like (I am pretty sure that's the game that invented it to begin with) - other player ghosts, bloodstains, left messages pointing to secrets or screwing with you. If I remember well Elden Ring will have traditional DS pvp as well - though the last time they mentioned it would be only online for those who play coop. Horse would be disabled. Kinda werid way of doing it - I though DS already had a pretty good system for opting in and out of multiplayer.

Open-world is this concept that sounds good but rarely turns out interesting. If you let players to do anything at any point and go anywhere it's difficult to create something worth doing or experiencing - story wise you can't create a good one, as you have little control over story progression - a good story has to have arcs and developement and how do you create that stuff, if everyplayer can experience story in a different order (see Deadfire)? Gameplay wise - it's all about building complexity. You can't do that if you have no control over content. There is a reason, I think, why open-world games tend to have a depth of a puddle. And if you have progression system: how do you make sure that no matter where player goes the content will be sufficiently easy/challenging? And as stunning as open-world can be for first couple hours the spell quickly wanes as we realise how static the world is, how repetitive activities are, and one just wishes he could get to interesting stuff quicker. For example I prefered Metroidvenia like, developing world of Arkham Asylum over either of it's "open world" sequels, which felt more artificial and more static to me. So I like games which make you FEEL like you can go anywhere, but generally not open world - in that regard first half Dark Souls1 was all that it needed to be. There are open world games that I did enjoy: Witcher3, Gothic1&2, New Vegas. I do feel that while set in the open world, those games are more linear in nature, with open world being "a stage" rather then game itself. And there are sandbox games like Mount&Blade, but I think their nature is a bit different then your ususal Open World. There are also Metroidvanias - I tend to like those. So in case of Elden Ring, I am asking myself: what positive thing will be added to Dark Souls formula by going open world? Nothing comes to mind as of now, but I was sceptical about WItcher3 and it turned out to be the best in the series.

So pwetty. I suppose I won't know how I feel about it until I try it. Looks good - like they are expanding pure dungeon crawling of Dark Souls into a more well rounded aRPG. Will it be better for it, though? We shall see.

Yes, mods, something I very rarely engage with, and definitely not in games I don't like to begin with. It is a must for Bethesda, but I tend to limit myself to stuff like properly designed UI etc. I remember watching Noah's usual overly long Neverwinter Nights critique, and he made an interesting argument that NWN1 campaign was intentionally crap - a showcase of what engine can do, but formulaic, bland and uninspired enough so players reaction will be: pfff, I can do that better! I am not convinced about intentional brilliance of NWN1 undercooked campaign, but it did make me think of my experiences with Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout3. I tried more mods with Fallout: New Vegas, but I found community made content was clearly of a lower quality then base game. Are Bethesda titles intentionally shoddy, so modding it feels natural? It's not like one can break things further.

I tried, and in true Bethesda game fashion I got bored. According to my steam I did sink over 32 hours into it though. I think those were two seperate attempts. I can't recall a single interesting thing from my time with that game. It's popularity truly confuses me.