Wormerine

Those are fundamentally opposed concepts.

Well, no, it is not isometric team based tactical RPG. GTA1&2 and Fallouts were single character games so jump into third/First-person is more natural fit. We really don't know much about Avowed outside the announcement trailer so it is difficult to say. Some claim that it is an attempt to salvage IP by moving to a different RPG subgenre after Deadfire flopped, but I don't buy it - Feargus Urquhart (Obsidian CEO) was talking about "Skyrim-like" project in PoE universe long long before Deadfire underperformed, so I find it likely that it was always intended to happen. By not using "Pillars of Eterntity" IP Avowed clearly sperates itself from it's isometric cousins. As such the game can tie as much or as little to PoEs games as it wants. I think the message it is sending is rather clear - it is its own thing, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some bones thrown to the fans of PoE series. While some might claim that Avowed is not using PoE IP to not humper it sales, I am not sure if I buy it. While clearly not that many people care deeply for PoE IP, I don't think it is widely hated either. Companies always pick existing IPs over new ones, so it seems to me like an artistic statement more then anything. According to Windows Central preview the game seems to be using more elements from PoE series then I expected. Hopefully, we are not too far from a gameplay reveal at this point. At any rate at this moment for us, fans of PoE1&2, Avowed is the only new installement in that universe that we can look forward to.

That's not a review, it's an advertisement posted on publisher's channel.

I always despised games with M&K that relied on autolock. It just never sit well with me. Any game where striking direction is different then camera direction is a gamepad game for me. But yeah, I am sure M&K control could be better then it is. FromSoft is a Japanese developer and idea of playing on PC seems to be foreign to them. They are incapable of creating a very good PC port, so I wouldn't hold my breath for a polished mouse control. I will join a choir of others encouraging you to get a pad. I didn't own pad until few years ago, and I discovered a new love for certain types of games. There really are title which simply play better with pad, even if they are perfectly playable with M&K.

Yup. That's a big no-no for all FromSoftware games.

I am surprised how much I enjoy the Guardians considering how little gameplay it has. Someone in Eidos Montreal must have a thing for Lamas - first Shadow of Tomb Raider now this. I wonder if that's why they dropped Deus Ex - it's a no-Lamas-allowed universe.

I finally picked the base game - won't be playing it right away, but looking forward to what Josh was so enthusiastic about. Gave a brief go to Guardians of the Galaxy as it dropped on GamePass. So far so good. Pretty much AAA affair with more spectacle then substance they they seem to imitate GotG movies pretty well - and if there is knock-off Marvel series property I would spend some time in, it's Guardians. Looking forward to playing more of it.

That's where I am planning to go next.... and they said everyones playthrough of Elden RIng will be different, pffff.

Ah yes. Infinite FP magic spam. I am playing melee character mainly with some magic on side - so far I found range magic rather useless, I struggle to hit small targets. If I want to cheese I found manual aimed arrows to be a better approach. As far as magic users I managed to rush them and kill them without much issue - I was able to kill them in two hits though, I can imagine it being lethal and annoying if you don't do that much DPS.

Yes the mechanical soldiers can be annoying once they enter the spasm phase. Double iron maiden fight tested my patience as well… ended up using summons to get over it. Didn’t encounter hands yet, nor later missles.

Honestly I don't think that is that surprising. In my case that is the first decent complete new armor set I run accross. I am pretty happy to dualwied to katanas though - one physical and one magical. So far it worringly melts through enemies HPs.

It's not quite fashion souls, but it's.... something

Yeah, I really struggle to find good armor sets or weapons I could use. I finally managed to branch out of my starting katana, and I kinda changed armors just for a sake of it - but it's nowhere near DS3 levels where I was torn about what to equip. For a massive world like that, useful drops are far and few between. Most boses reward you with ashes, which is blaaah. I try to not use the anyway, and if I feel like using it I have a pretty good one already all leveled up and ready to go.

Ufff, so that was trickier to pull off then anything that FromSoftware has ever produced (Bayonetta):

Did you really create an account on Obsidian's forum to ask about random game made by a minor polish studio? xD Google is your friend.

BRING BLOODBORNE TO PC! And Bayo2. Seriously Nintendo, Sony up.

3 is good. 2 is not.

Interesting. Personally I don't really think of Soulslike as RPG as such - or rather is the ideal implementation of what I consider valuable in RPG combat. RPGness serves defining your characters, but I don't find progression itself to be compelling or to be a point in itself. At a core I treat it as an action game with flexible playstyle. To me every SoulsLike has been about exploring cool dungeons and fighting cool bosses - to me best content in all of the three games are DLCs as characters are fully developed by that point and FromSoft can go ham with bosses in terms of complexity and difficulty. I suppose that's why I didn't mind Sekiro at all, though I suppose it has far less replayibility... which doesn't mean much as I usually end up playing similar melee character build in DS games in the end. I would say it's mostly true, but there are bull**** moments, and bosses and encounters. I do remember Anor Londo rooftops getting infuriating... I wonder how I would respond to them after many Soulsbornes later - would it be a cakewalk, or just bad design as you mention. DS1 has a lot of jank especially in the latter half which feels unfinished unfortunately. I did think that Dark Souls3 was rather well put together from the beginning to the end.

I can't say if it's your cup of tea, but considering how influencial Dark Souls was I would say yes.

Agree, but there is cohesion to their worlds. I really didn't get much of the "story" of DS1 but uncovering each layer of city build upon city, delving deeper and deeper into hellscape and arriving into deceptively pristine city of Anor Londo were unforgettable. Creepy, sad little NPC stories. I never felt DS needed anything more then that. Not so sure about Elden Ring just yet. It feels static and dead in the way previous games never did, even though they are mechanically identical. Edit. I find FromSoftware games thematically rich - more like an arthouse film, rather then traditional plot and action driven entertainment.

I must say that so far ER doesn't click with me DS1&3 and Sekiro clicked with me. Overwhelming similarity to DS makes it a bit awkward, and tone and gameplay isn't as tonally tight as they were in DS. Vagueness was part of the charm in DS, in here with brighter to tone, bigger guidance and lesser difficulty - I feel like I could have used something more concrete ala. Sekiro. I am just dipping outside opening green areas and exploring some cooler environments. Finally enemies are catching up with my power level. Last couple hours were a snooze fest.

I mean combat and exploration, definitely. World building - yes. Story and characters in true FromSoftware fashion is barely there. Apples to Oranges

Yeah, soon after release they released a small patch that made things better. I do get occasional stutters, though honestly the only place I had an issue that would affect gameplay was Sentinel right at the start of the game. I would get stutters if I fought him at the base of the hill, but not if I fought him around the church. I started as Samurai and rolled without the shield for a while. Turns out it's really helpful, more so then in DS3 I believe. Guard Counter is really powerful (heavy attack right after blocking).

Yup. Top down immersive sim from ex-Arcane devs. Coming to GamePass on day one.