Wormerine

In lieu of E3 indie developers banded together for their own presentation in form of Guerrilla Collective on June 6th-8th. Larian will be there and so will... ZA/UM. Curious. They did say to keep those Disco Elysium saves.

Oh, that's a good one. I wouldn't reach for pitchfork, but there is a good chance I would like it less. In theory, I have nothing against using class-less system, though judging by previous titles I generally prefer class-system in team based games, and classless system in single character games (such as Fallout or Arcanum). One thing I definitedly attatched to are static attributes. I dislike constantly raising attributes (like in D:OS2 or Dragon Age: Origins) - I feel they are neither interesting mechanically, and make little sense "immersion" wise.

I will be the devils advocate, and say it’s far too early to judge that. Oh boy, believe me, I have my doubts about BG3, but it still be a nice surprise. EDIT: Larian has not expressed a desire to make RT roleplaying game. They expressed an opinion that RT combat using DnD was chasing trends at the time (Diablo), was messy and not a good match for the system. Not to mention, that introducing RT would create problems in their multiplayer oriented RPG design. As to market... there is this big elephant in the room, and that's Larian works brutally outsell PoEs. It's not like people didn't give it a try. PoE1 sold well, PoE2 didn't. As far as the engine goes D:OS2 is pretty fantastic. Just wrapped up my playthrough today, and I can confirm that I didn't love the content but if Obsidian were still independed I would wish for them to be hired to make a sequel in that engine, like in old good KOTOR2/F:NV/NWN2 times. I think they could really killed it with D:OS2 engine at their fingertips.

I go with Turn-Based. To be honest, I am fine with either, but as Josh prefers turn-based, I would rather have him work on PoE that he believes is best it can be, rather then try to second guess what people who like RTwP would want to play. On top of that, I looked through his table top design long long time age, there was this mechanic where units with lowest initiative would commit to actions first, and go up from there which seems like a really cool concept.

So, in the comment section of the Josh' talk about Reputation Systems in western RPGs one can find comments by Marat Sar - dev of half-amazing Disco Elysium. He drop this interesting tidbit about BG3 when discussing games which might be taking inspiration from their work: It would explain the weird past tense being used for the PCs conversation choices (which I still don't like, if it continues through the game and isn't just a brief flashback or something) but could also hint at some interesting character defining in BG3.

I must say, until Josh pointed it out I didn't realize how great is Disco's mechanic of adding modifiers to stat checks depending on our previous action and choices... this is such a neat way of implimenting reactivity. Let's take something as underwhelming as convincing Saren to commit suicide, and instead of flat checks if you maxed out renedage/peragon add modifiers based on our interactions with him throughout the game, making such ending only possible if we made actions throughout the game that would support our argument there at the end, plus a high paragon/renegade check

Yessss Josh. Analyse Disco Elysium and them give us PoE3

For better?

When I picked up Yakuza:0 on deep deep sale, I never expected to fall in love with the series so much.

Haha. I just went through a phase of having to deal with getting bald. The same haircut I have been rocking for the last 20 years just wouldn't cut it. Going full Agent 47 didn't quite work for me, though I did settled with something akin to Picard - just a really short buzzcut, where I still have hair. I think it's inoffensive enough to last. As to what I do these days (aside finally wrapping up D:OS2 playthrough). This is essencially my life nowadays:

Yakuza: Like a Dragon seems to be coming to PC.

Pretty much as @AeonsLegend said. Reputations represent how others perceive you, not how you perceive yourself. However, it happens often that when games tries to box various choices into boxes (be it moral stances, or ideological stances, or behaviour describers) every once in a while we will run into something that is questionable. I feel PoEs did a fairly good job in that regard - I play with those icons off, and reputations I gain to tend to represent the character I envisioned. And if everyonce in a while they end up doing something that others might perceive as "cruel" or "shady", then that's fine I think. One might do those things, even if they don't intend to.

Gothics, Dark Souls, KOTORs, Dragon Ages, Jade Empire, Witcher1&2.

That's far more indepth analysis then I am capable of. To be honest, I had trouble recalling which name goes with which character. I didn't catch more depth in them then "snake-lady", "medic-lady", "shield-guy", "My Palladin Pal Pallegina", "sectoid dude" etc. I see very little reflection of their backstories in their banter. If you would say to me that they recorded VO without a character in mind, I would buy it. A decision to use normal human VO for aliens is just weird to me. I can't match the normal human voice, to the jaw, fangs and forked tongue of a snake.

That's something I strongly disagree, but again - it's preferance. Deadfire item system is my gold standard of item design in an RPG like that - having such a wide range of weapons to choose from and compliment your character build from mechanical and roleplaying reason is a superb thing for me. I found BG1s breaking weapons and rare magical weapons somewhat appealing but not a right fit for the game's structure.

Meh, I thought PoEs struck an pretty good balance. I dislike when too many active abilities are introduced to combat, mostly because I feel those games encourage focusing on single character, rather then a party. I felt PoE1 issues stemmed from frequency and encounter variety, rather then combat itself. I am someone, however, who is more interested in getting involved in encounter, rather then doing automated builds. PoE2 custom AI system, I hope delivered a lot of automation for those who desire it.

It's super unlikely to happen. It was for a while, but it is especially now when Obsidian isn't an independent company. Assuming Bethesda would be willing to do something like that, they would not be hiring Obsidian - they would have to come to some agreement with Microsoft. And Microsoft has no incentive to work on someone elses IP and share profits, while they can have Obsidian work on their own stuff - like TheOuterWorlds2 for example.

Yeah, while neat on paper, I do feel this system did more harm then good. When it works, it's great, but usually it's weird - like characters missing relevant content, or expressing reaction inappropriate for the situation (my fav. ever is Xoti clapping and laughing when burning bodies of her fellow Dawnstars - this might got patched since release. In 1.0 this system had massive issues). Even in my 5.0 third playthrough I encountered some dodgy things, like random drops in reputation when entering the Gullet etc. Focusing purely on pre-designed interactions I think would be more effective overall.

Yeah, one would think I would have learned my lesson after XCOM2. I am not sure, if I have means to do that - but perhaps there will be a way to restart or abandon the mission. For now just sent the save over to 2k.

So.... My playthrough might have reached a premature end, at least for now. I am doing a mission, and I was told to hold off against 3 enemy waves. Those waves never came. IRONMAN!

I don't know, I found Black Flag to be extremely frustrating. The lack of meaningful conequences - pirate hunters where so underwhelming, and being able to easily lower wanted level by ploudering the ship but not murdering the crew was mindboggling. It certainly looked like something that could be a fantastic pirate game. Is Skull&Bones even happening? It feels like ages since I heard of it. That's assuming they won't butcher it with some greedy monatization.

I finished the psions, and moves to hybrids with chrysalids

I am not sure about it. It was just really shallow copy DnD, which makes sense as their previous major titles were DnD based games but with StarWars they needed something accessible. I don’t think Bioware landed on their feet gameplay wise, until ME2 - all games between NWN-ME2 is an attempt to infuse their BG2 story content into more mainstream package - starting with KOTOR, which simply hammered out all the tricky and interesting parts, through Jade Empire which gameplay wise was very very awkward, to ME1 which was a hybrid not excelling in neither RPG nor action part.

Just started second investigation. I like quite a few things about it, though I think it could have been really special with a bit more depth and better characterisation.

Breach is the weird thing. It is the most interesting addition to the game, but I feel I have to little info to make informed decisions. It's difficult to make a smart tactical decision, while having no idea as to enemy placement and room layout. Even breaching itself, while it looks cool, it makes it really tricky to evaluate the situation, outside who poses immediate danger.