Wormerine

Huh. If you backed Solasta, the 1.0-ish version is available for you to play (Steam only). You should get an email with information on how to access it. I am generally, against giving backers special treatment, but I have been eager to check it out for a while. Last time I played it was kickstarter demo. I have been happy with everything I have seen and heard about it so far.

I would argue more among the lines: what's the point of full VO if your don't commit? The benefit of doing VO of protagonist is that you can define him more as a character. Then again, it is possible that Larian is going to do just that for BG3 - from some of their early comments it can be understood that the game will have full VO, protagonist included. That means full VO for all origins. It still seems to me unlikely, and misguided, but it would fit what BG3 is doing so far.

Josh Sawyer defined crunch as "Excessive Overtime: 60+ hours per week for more then 8 weeks. As I understand discussion regarding crunch isn't: "game devs should have a right to a more comfortable right and not be taken advantage by employers", but "game devs are being worked to the point that is unproductive, bad for their health, and drives talented people away from the industry". Baby steps I suppose.

Ehh. I think it is just more of a jRPG then I expected. It has basic but perfectly functional combat system, with a nice customisation through program pods, but heavily undermined by actual leveling system which just messes up the balance of combat. I also had expectations - I knew it was Platinum game and that it was great and had "great combat system" and you need to play it multiple times to get true ending - so In my naive mind I imagined Bayonetta/DMC style game where replayability is further enhanced with story changes. Didn't do much more research then that, thanks to "you should go into it blind" comments. What I got was just a whole lot of running and repetition to get what was not so good of a story. And I am enough of a Ghost in the Shell junkie, for it to not make a big impression on me.

Yeah, controller is a must. Even so, I still don't see why the people love the game so much. Finished Fallen Order. Mediocare action/adventure, great Star Wars game. After having a blast with Titanfall2, after putting it off for years, I jumped into Doom 2016. Not terribly impressed so far. Combat is getting better as weapons and enemytypes count increase, but so far it's been rather dull. "Atmosphere" just isn't my cup of tea, I guess - I can tell, because I don't care for the soundtrack, which is aparently amazing.

Outer Wilds, aka. the best game in recent memory that I really should complete one of these days, is getting a DLC! Allegedly.

I didn't play either of LoU, but I do find it to be a common issue. It is interesting to watch a character in the film make all the wrong decision, but it does feel forced when the game forces you to do something you know is wrong and then slaps your wrist for doing that. I think one game that managed to pull it off is Spec Ops the line - thinking about unavoidable scene. And I think it hits as hard, as it is usually the point when people go through the motion without thinking and then realise what kind of game they are really playing.

Honestly, I really appreciate not having a cutting edge PC growing up. If I had, I would never use DOSBox, nor discovered some real classics. I gave a try to UFO: Enemy Unknown, Pirates!, Another World, Flashback, Deus Ex, Thief1&2, Systemshock2, and much much more purely out of necessity.

All you have to do, then, is become a Microsoft executive.

In what way? Personally, I think the new Hitmans are the best in the series. There is some stuff I prefer in the originals (like tone and atmosphere, though here Hitman2 is my fav), but I think new Hitmans finally fully realise the appeal of the older titles. I am curious what Bond game will be. While it’s easy to point how Bondesque Paris level in Hitman2016 is, I also doubt they will just do Hitman but with Bond - not flashy enough.

On top of James Bond game IO Interactive seems to be working on an RPG in a medieval+dragons setting. I am interested to see how non-Hitman games by IO will look like, but that said last time they branched out we got Kane and Lynch 1&2, which, while I never played, have rather awful reputation. I assume, though, that by now it's a different staff for the most part anyway.

I played Automata just recently, and from my experience it is nowhere near to being playable with constant sub 60 FPS drops (even if modding that was supposed to fix my issues). And according to recent RPS article Replicant is even more padded then Automata was. I will wait for deep discount on that one.

So with Titanfall2 being on sale, and me hearing over and over that campaign is really good I decided to pick it up. And yeah, it's awesome. I never liked CoD, Battlefield and such, but I am having a blast with this one. Funny how much movement and not having to aim down sights adds. I also dipped into multiplayer and, to my shock, I am having a great time. I love the balance between on foot soldiers and titans. Still in learning stages, but enjoying myself nonetheless.

Meh, a game of Spy vs Spy with my brother would do. I wonder if it would make more sense now, when I am double digits old.

I really want to dig out old Comodore64 from my parents basement and see if it still works.

Duh! There was a fig campaign and everything... even though the game is backed by Gearbox and was fully funded to begin with.

Huh, I assumed 007 project would eat up all their resources, as well as ongoing Hitman3 support. Playing Hitman2 at the moment - still have a lot to explore in the "2nd season" - while waiting for H3 to come to Steam. Damn, if not the pointless always-online-DRM it would be 10/10.

Before I start I should probably explain what I thought of OW vanilla. It's a fine, tight adventure. I like the world, I like the humor. It reminds me more of early Bioware titles, then what Obsidian has been known for - while there are multiple ways of solving quests, I find morality of OW black and white. I think I would find it difficult to not go for Good endings. Why would I? My character doesn't benefit of seeing the world burn, and I don't enjoy playing psychos. As such I don't see much replayability in OW story wise. Gameplay wise OW is shallow - adding "perks" as skills are leveled up is neat, but said perks a dull outside early ones which unlock additional systems. Leveling up (be it character or weapon) results in better stats, which is a very dull if it is the only thing that happens in an action RPG - character 1 and character 36 plays for the most part the same way. But none of it is a problem because Outer Worlds is shortish - If I remember well it took me about 35 hours to beat the original campaign. Midway through Monarch I was feeling disengaged, and after that there is finale and rush toward the conclusion. Overall, the game left me satisfied, but not hungry for more. Very KOTOR/Jade Empire experience. What DLCs do, is add a lot more Outer Worlds in this moment of me betting bored: between Monarch and the finale. Those are good, content rich DLCs, don't get me wrong. But I don't think Outer Worlds has depth needed to carry for those extra 15 hours. Peril of Gorgon is mostly combat, which at this point is a snooze fest - it's a constant loop of repetitive combat engagements, and looting things you don't need. Murder on E faires better, as it mixes all systems Outer Worlds has on offer, plus new "investigation" mechanic. Still, none manage to make gameplay interesting again, and storywise, they are seperate, very silly stories, even more one sided and over-characterised then the vanilla game (really, continuing base game after MoE feels like we are being serious again). I also felt both DLCs kept going for a bit too long. About halfway through you can tell where the whole thing is going, and you just wish the game would hurry up getting there.

There are woolly cows in DLC2. Even drunk woolly cows.

DLC2 is tuned for level 36 just fine. Starting enemies were pushovers, but later areas seem to be tuned for you being at Max. There was even one encounter I had to retry couple times. I don't know if there is any rebalance for the endgame (ala. PoE1) when playing with DLCs. DLC1 was definitely a bit undertuned, plus I gained over 10 levels in it. Not ideal as it's very combat heavy.

It's an RPG - you are not supposed to be able to pass 150 point checks, perhaps aside from one or two. Overall, I agree that some rebalance for DLCs would be nice.

There is no Pillars-Of-Eternity-character-reputation mechanic. Persuade, Intimidate, Lie are usually superior options (you gert what you want) gated behind a stat. I don't think I have encountered an unexpected consequence for one. Stealing has no consequence as long as you are not caught.

Deep into my 2nd Outer Worlds playthrough. More or less same impression as my first playthrough. I like it, but not love it. Gaming comfort food. As far as gameplay goes: solid foundations, not much build on top. Tried to do 3 different ranged "builds" and all end up feeling the same with just different thing sticking out of hand. Ended up respecking to long guns, as in my first playthough: between shotguns, assault and sniper rifles I feel it offers the most variety. As far as story itself goes it has "Bioware" problem - sure, there are other ways I could solve quests, but I feel there is an optimal solution to each quests. I could be an asshat, or make morally questionable choice but why would I, if there is a better way out? Finished Peril on Gorgon yesterday. It's not very good. Not that there is much wrong with what is in there - all of it is quite good, and quite a lot of it. It's about what is not in there - characters to talk to, choices to make. It has very Systemshock/Bioshock vibe, with almost everyone being dead, and us fighting through local threats and discovering how things went so wrong. Story is told mostly through terminals and audiologs - which means, that for the vast majority of the adventure the only interaction with other beings is a bullet to the head. Could work, if the game would take a way 10,000 ammo I have at my disposal, and find a way to make combat tense or interesting. Lot's of unique items to find, and some potentialy interesting science weapons, but with combat that easy, and me becoming so overleveled it's difficult to care. At it's very best it was like being in Edgewater again, with things not dying from one shot... but throughout the DLC I gained over 10 levels and got even more OP. Now I am overleveled for DLC2. Just started Murder on E. so we will see how it will develop, but so far unlike PoG it seems to focus on what OW does well. Looking forward to playing more of it. Finished main story of Yakuza Kiwami2. Silly good stuff, but Yakuza0 still remains my fav by far. I just don't know, if it's because it is the best, or if it was my first one. After I am done with it, the dilemma will be - continue to Yakuza3 and aim to finish Kiryu's story, or skip straight to Like a Dragon. hmmmm...

Metro3, but then they announeced fancier edition with RTX, so I will wait. Horizon Zero Dawn. Will play it some day.