Hawke64

Finished Broken Roads and wrote a text wall of feedback for the devs. Also found a bug and a workaround for it for the Steam version (backup the remotecache.vdf file before uninstalling).

Found this gem (might be in a wrong order, but each screenshot should be self-contained; it is a single-player game):

Broken Roads. The game opens up after "just" 7 hours (if you use the Fast Mode and do not comb the locations for loot and XP, it should be faster). The combing part requires tapping the highlight key, while also hovering over everything with the cursor - the XP&loot gains are rather limited, but some interactive points are quest-related and are not possible to highlight with the key. The devs really liked the old adventure games and disliked accessibility, I suppose. The main quests are time-limited and the journal does not anyhow mention it. Nonetheless, I appreciate the opportunity to continue the playthrough, while being able to actually fail the quests (1 important NPC died, but I did not like him anyway). The combat UI seems to be console-focused - there is a wheel menu in combat and you can use the scroll mouse button to switch between the 8-item wheels. The quick item bar is such an obvious thing to have. Then again, so are the item highlights. Some NPCs the party shot repeatedly got up after the battle like it was nothing. Fortunately, most of the foes do remain dead. With the default builds, only 1-2 companions are effective in combat. My melee build is "situationally effective" - the ammo for the ranged weapons is not limited, though reloading is required, so I probably should have equipped everyone with rifles and aimed for the Intelligence + Awareness stats (so they can shoot reasonably accurately at least twice per turn). But too late now.

I've checked the Steam Community Hub for screenshots. There is some range of options, at least for the male characters.

Thymesia. It is certainly an interesting choice to put Genichiro as the first boss and the Bed of Chaos as the second (not counting the tutorial one). The hitboxes are a bit weird and the parries lack the feedback Sekiro provided, so "if no numbers above my head => the parry was successful". The difficulty gap between the regular foes and 1 mini-boss (the rest were tanky, but not challenging) and the main boss is rather large. The storytelling is fine, I suppose? The MC has amnesia and recalls the past while sitting in a remote cabin with a Firekeeper-like NPC, whose age I cannot quite determine. The recalling part is venturing into clearly separate levels and completing an objective there (to defeat a boss, find an item, or destroy something). So far there has been 1 tutorial level, 1 large main level (returned trice), and 1 boss room level (the Bed of Chaos). That is to say, there is no connection between the maps, despite them having shortcuts within themselves. The MC cannot jump up, though there is no falling damage and any dangerous fall is covered in the invisible walls. Update. The fourth boss regenerates. Not continuously, but in several timed (?) bursts throughout the battle. The third is fine. The variety of the regular enemies is humans with weapons and 1 levitating humanoid. Forgot to mention, the opponents have 2 health bars - one is the actual health, depleting which leads to the foe perishing, and the other one is called Wounds (Armour or Posture would be more appropriate). It regenerates after a delay up to the health level. The main weapon, a saber, causes a decent amount of damage to the Armour-Wounds, but very low to health, while the alternative weapons, including the always-available Claws, shred the health, but cannot pierce the Wounds (so, it definitely should have been called Armour). The alternative weapons can be set at the not-bonfires and summoned with a separate key or torn from the opponents. They also have linear upgrade paths that require defeating the foes wielding them for the upgrade materials. The controls are rebindable and reasonably responsive, and 5-button mice are supported. Dodge and sprint are separate keys. Update. 2. At the final boss and vaguely annoyed. There are 4 maps in total (the Royal Garden has 2, the greenhouse and the underground, and the tutorial is a part of the Hermes Fortress map) and the bosses' arenas. I have not encountered any major bugs. I am still confused about the order of events or why the MC had gone into those areas in the first place. Update. 3. Defeated the final boss with the power of farming (sort of) - I farmed the upgrade materials for the Bow (the free talent respec helped with quite a bit), stuck all consumable ingredients into the potion since there is nothing after the final boss, and was shooting the boss in the face with the bleeding-inducing arrows to break the armour and using the long claws to shred the health and recover my energy.

Finished Tunic. It is an excellent action and adventure-puzzle game, though I did look up the translation and some of the codes. Also got the elbow bursitis from playing (the irony is that gaming is one of my least physically-intensive hobbies). Almost gone now, though. Highly recommended (the game, not the injury). Started Broken Roads. 5 hours in and it strongly reminds me of Encased, but worse in every aspect - it is an isometric party-RPG in the post-apocalyptic setting, but the customisation options are fewer, very few non-alignment skill checks, very few interactions outside of dialogues, the highlighting does not quite work (so I miss the interactive objects unless I hover the cursor over the whole screen continiously), etc. And the last quest was to run between 2 NPCs, who were standing 10m from each other, and click on the only quest-related option available. Started Thymesia. I guess, I have played worse Souls-lites? The absence of the stamina limits is nice, the lack of customisation options is less nice.

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/dice-and-destiny £10 for Broken Roads and also includes PoE1&2, Disco Elysium, Citizen Sleeper, and Roadwarden. So, now I am happy to share the keys for the latter 2 and PoE if anyone wants them. I do not remember hearing about the particular charity before, but "a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty" sounds good.

It's Dragon Ruins. Not sure 1 or 2, though. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3293490/Dragon_Ruins_II/ --- Shadow of the Road I probably should have used Imgur, rather than Steam, but the quality (JPEG) is serviceable. Barely. Responding first as the MC1, then as the MC2. The small font and Japanese VA mix rather poorly. The red word means "foreigner". It is as straightforward and unambiguous as it gets and should have been translated. The same emperor that holds himself to be a direct descendant of Amaterasu and the Shinto high priest, I guess. It is rather odd, but could be worse. The GPU was running too hot, so I did not get to meet the ninjas in-game. Them jumping between trees and wearing black pajamas with the swords on their backs highlighted that it is a very much fantasy game. --- Tunic The game is absolutely delightful to play. Except the Quarry. Damned be the Quarry. The checkpoint was dead and so was I. After 4-5 attempts, it occurred to me that it might be not the best direction to explore.

Currently playing Tunic. The exploration is amazing (unironically) - I managed to enter a late-game area from the wrong side and spent an hour having my HP drained (I dropped the difficulty after 4 attempts due to the checkpoint in the area not working; it did not make it obvious for me that something was off). It was a rather interesting experience, nonetheless. I also love the manual-styled in-game manual. The map, fortunately, tracks the location, though even using the landmarks is easy. Tried the open alpha test of Shadow of the Road (published by Owlcat). It is a tactical game in the steampunk Japanese setting. The tutorial battle was as easy as it could be. The dialogues required responding as both pre-made party members (like in DOS1, if it had fixed characters) and had quite a few Japanese words untranslated, such as "foreigner" or "cup". There were some notifications, such as "MC1 was pushed towards X path" and "Relationship between MC1 and MC2 improved", but I am unsure what exactly it means in the long term (only the ending or some stat changes or quest availability). There also was a timed choice at the end. Given the checkpoint-based saving system, I found it rather unpleasant. In the second area, a forest with an estate, my GPU hit 86C and I closed the game with Alt+F4. There were no graphical settings, except the resolution, so nothing to drop (there was also some sort of dirt filter on the screen, which was not possible to disable). The cut-scenes were a mix of animated slides with in-engine scenes (think Rogue Trader). The VA is Japanese only, which was very unfortunate, considering the size of the text (not impossible to read, but uncomfortable). The story is closer to fantasy than anything too historical, thouth the god-descending emperor prosecuting the Shinto followers was somewhat odd to see. The tree-hopping ninjas in black pajamas with swords on their backs confirmed the high fantasy setting. I am unlikely to purchase, but the playtest is there and free to participate. Another consideration in regard to Owlcat:

I am not surprised, but still disappointed. With Microsoft as the publisher, Obsidian should have had enough resources to release an actually complete and reasonably bug-free title for once. Avowed is a single-player action-RPG, not a GaaS, so what's the point? Obsidian games have excellent writing and strong system design, so why was it not possible to use the funding for testing and optimisation? I guess, I should take it as an enocuragement to wait for all the patches and discounts. I will not post it on the Avowed forum, as the situation might be well out of the developers' hands, so such feedback might be unactionable, but it is still unpleasant. --- Finished El Paso, Elsewhere. It is an excellent third-person shooter with somewhat odd performance. I loved that the protagonist was noticing and commenting on things I, as a player, would have missed otherwise. Started Tunic. I like the journal and the exploration, with the controls being fully rebindable. Tried Jusant. The game thrown an error at launch ("Not all features are supported.."), which was probably related to the OS, rather than the GPU or its drivers, so I refunded. I've also tried the demo of Harmony (another DONTNOD game) and having mixed thoughts about it. I suppose, I like that the developers are trying to implement the concepts I find interesting, though the end results are mixed.

If anyone is playing on Steam Deck, how does Avowed run on it? I am actively avoiding spoilers and scrolling past the other game-related posts (going to wait for patches, discounts, and, hopefully, GOG). We also have a separate subforum for it, though it seems less active than this one.

Could anyone please share how Avowed runs on Steam Deck in terms of performance (FPS without frame-generation or upscaling) and the UI scaling (is it readable)? Dragon Age: The Veilguard was amazing in this respect (also cheaper), but it also did not use UE5, which provided horrible performance in all games I've tried on PC (arguably, not many).

Gamers have a frame of reference, while the people who are less familiar with the medium do not. And yes, mods can solve this issue, but an appropriate saving system (and some sort of Very Hard Single-Save mode) should be built-in by default from the start. Granted, I liked Lunacid despite its saving system (I had to mod in quick-saving, which also respawned all foes in the area), because the other aspects were good.

I would say that the saving system looks (have not played and unlikely to) more unpleasant than the combat. While for an action-adventure, like Zeno Clash (the only one first-person game with somewhat complex combat I can remember), relatively frequent checkpoints are fine, losing several hours in an action-RPG might be much more irritating. --- I have finished (and am replaying now) Sorry We're Closed and it was a most delightful experience - excellent writing, level design, gameplay, visual style and graphics, and music. The system requirements are most reasonable, the controls are rebindable, and there are some accessibility options (including infinite healing and aim-assist). There are several endings and I have managed to reach 2 of them (some are mutually exclusive, as I understand). There are also some side quests and collectibles, tied closely to the main story. 1 playthrough is around 10 hours. The genre is survival horror in an uncompromisingly queer British setting created by a small development team (2 people), while the story itself is about love (and not bringing a chainsaw to a shotgun fight). The game is heartwarming, engaging, and focused, and also DRM-, DLC-, and MTX-free. This is exactly the kind of art I want to see and support more. The only thing I could complain about are very few save slots (3), but Windows Explorer resolves it. Some GIF images from the Steam store page (because I did not take any screenshots in combat and would not want to spoil the story): The game is available on GOG and Itch.io as well.

Well said, though games are complex and the players' hardware and software configurations are diverse, so waiting for at least a month before playing might bring a more enjoyable experience. Still, I do believe that you will have a great time even if there are minor technical issues. I am looking forward to the game, though more accessible and environmentally-friendly system requirements would be most welcome and I shall resist the urge to pre-purchase and take a vacation.

Well said. These qualities, the player's agency with branching paths, choices, and their consequences, are what sets Obsidian's work apart and utilises the unique aspects of the interactive medium. Also the strong writing and characters, rich lore, and other engaging and well-designed gameplay systems. I am looking forward to Avowed, even if I am going to wait before purchasing (would like to have it on GOG and complete). There were Eothas and the faction leaders. I found myself quite enjoying cutting down Atsura and Hazanui Karu. They were reasonably grounded and understandable, while having the capacity to be compelling antagonists. The same can be said about the other factions, I suppose. The Vailian Trading Company was the least directly hostile to the party, but they absolutely could (did) murder random civilians. On the other hand, allying with a faction would provide a satisfying ending as well. Though, as it required compromising my ego and losing companions, I greatly appreciated the ability to finish the game without their support.

Well, after finishing the game twice, copying my Steam review: @kanisatha If you like the DA lore or the triple-A action-adventure games with RPG and arcade elements, the experience should be enjoyable. Though, I would suggest to customise the settings - disabling the waypoints and setting everything except the enemy health to the highest difficulty worked best for me. Additionally, the Grey Warden elven or dwarven warrior background might provide more options than the other ones (as far as I can tell, the Lords of Fortune have the least faction-specific options; some of them are automatic rather than chosen). There are fewer significant choices (mostly, at the end of Act 1, at the end of companion/important side quest chains, and at the end of the game when everything comes together), but they are present. The "soft" points of no-return are at the Grey Warden companion recruitment and the Fire and Ice quests. The last "hard" point of no-return is clearly marked as such. Regarding Taash, they are a brilliantly-written young dragon hunter who is also non-binary neurodivergent second generation immigrant (unsurprisingly, you can be all of these things at once). They are interested in and experienced in their field, know when to hunt and when not to hunt dragons, possess academic knowledge of the Qunari and Rivaini history and customs (the country is Rivain, not "Rivia"), empathetic in their own way, while struggling to process the weird and obscure neurotypical social cues, and see their faction in a very positive light. And if anyone sincerely has issues with the word "non-binary", I dread to imagine how these people would react to Alistair. As mentioned, I like that the party consists of the LGBTQ+ and ND persons (who are deliberately written as such by LGBTQ+ and ND writers) and it is quite immersive for a largely homophobia-free setting. Regarding the lore, https://www.eurogamer.net/bioware-knew-the-deepest-secrets-of-dragon-age-lore-20-years-ago-and-locked-it-away-in-an-uber-plot-doc .

I've claimed it and got a gift certificate that expires in February. Happy to send if anyone wants the game and missed the giveaway.

Sifu is free on EGS for the next 10 hours.

Finished Twin Mirror. It is a 3D point-and-click-style adventure. The story follows a freelance journalist whose friend died under mysterious circumstances. The puzzles are on the easier side and the number of retries is mostly unlimited, but the developers managed to implement pixel hunting in 3D - not only do you need to find the interaction point, you also need to position the main character at the right angle for the interaction prompt to appear. Some objects must be interacted with in a specific order, which occasionally leads to rather funny situations - at one point, the MC can run circles around the hostile locals before going to the objective (to look at a locked door from a distance), but once it is done, the locals try to physically assault the MC (not because of the door, because they actually did not see him 1 meter away before that). The main gameplay systems are the dialogues, with the helpful social imaginary friend commenting on the available options, general puzzles (e.g. finding a password to a computer), and the “Mind Palace”, the protagonist’s ability to recreate past events based on the uncovered evidence. They are mandatory to complete, the number of retries is unlimited, and there is only one correct solution. The only drawback is rewatching the cut-scene. Speaking of, the cut-scenes are unskippable, which makes replaying the game significantly less appealing. Other, less used, mechanics include a running and dodging sequence and some sort of quick-time events. There are also optional collectibles hidden around, but I did not look for them - walking around was very slow and quite boring, despite the locations being small. The graphics and sound are serviceable - nothing amazingly beautiful, nothing too horrible, good variety of character models, and a few original areas. The game would have been better in 2D pixel art style, but the developer seems to like 3D and unskippable cut-scenes. I played on Steam Deck, so cannot tell whether the controls are rebindable. The number of save slots is limited to 4 (it is possible to copy the saves between slots in-game) and the game auto-saves the progress, so Windows Explorer is still a better option. I have not encountered any bugs during my 7-hour-long playthrough. The aspects that elevate my opinion of the game are the endings and the not-terrible representation of the mental health issues (the MC mostly copes with it well and effectively shuts down during panic attacks; it is never explicitly stated what these issues are). The story branches close to the end and the choice affects the gameplay system used for the final confrontation and the epilogue. The differences are stark and playing through both endings was incredibly amusing. I also liked that the story was largely self-contained and the main conflicts were resolved satisfactorily. Overall, it was a positive experience and I would recommend to try it at least once, but when the game is heavily discounted (~75%-80%). I thank ShadySands for the key. --- As with D:OS, the player is expected to interact with the systems, i.e. cheese the fights* (stealth, barrels, talking, etc.). I found the animations to range from ridiculous to atrocious (especially the facial animations for the PC), but the immersive sim elements allowed to decrease the exposure to them* (the cut-scenes locking the characters in place were somewhat funny, but usually worked for the foes as well), which I greatly appreciate. Granted, the combat and the cut-scenes became harder to avoid from the end of Act 2 and onwards, excluding the spoiler below, but at least the latter were skippable. *a vague spoiler for Act 3:

Thank you for sharing. I suppose, "more action, more weapons, more graphics", and more padding are the exact opposite of what I wanted to see, but I can understand the desire to increase the production costs and tap into the AAA market. Still, the writing and the music in the trailer are very nice and I hope it goes well for Obsidian. Also the Steam store page description is much more promising* and if the DRM-free version with more reasonable system requirements (20-30GB to download, 2-4GB VRAM to run) is available, I would be happy to purchase it on release at full price and £10 on top for saving my bandwidth, storage space, and energy. *https://store.steampowered.com/app/1449110/The_Outer_Worlds_2/

Thank you for the insight. I suppose, if there is no GOG version in a few months, I am going to wait at least for a sale on Steam. Then again, I love Obsidian’s art and would rather prefer them to avoid the same fate as Arkane and Tango Gameworks. Complicated. Thank you very much for the link! I did not think that such a specific mod existed. Definitely will install for the next playthrough.

Is there any chance for Avowed to be available on GOG? Considering my previous experience when a patch significantly worsened the respective game (mostly, Pillars of Eternity II and the Blackwood Hull broken into logs to pad the playtime; to less extent, Tyranny and changing Tunon's reactions during the final trial), I would like to have more control over my purchase. Due to these flaws (and my lack of wisdom to request the code for GOG when I backed PoEII and patience to wait for the GOG version for The Outer Worlds), I have repurchased Obsidian games in the past, but the £60 price tag strongly discourages doing so now. On a related note, again, coming from the previous experience, when approximately the GOTY edition should be expected (so I know when the deadline to purchase without having to rollback the version)? EA recently managed to release an AAA action-RPG reasonably bug-free and content-complete (so no waiting for months or paying extra to get the full experience). I would like to believe that Obsidian can achieve the same feat, especially considering the higher price.

After looking at SteamDB, there are only 5 Steam regions where the price matches suggested by Valve (the US, Canada, South Asia, South Africa, the CIS countries); for Switzerland, it is -5%; for the rest, it is higher by variable amounts, from 2% to 128%; for the Russian Steam region the game is not available at all. I guess, I was hoping for $40 and the questionable honour of being a paying beta-tester (would have purchased at launch). The $70 price tag is a bit too much with the inevitable GOTY edition in a year, high system requirements, and Steam not playing nicely with updates (I still remember the last update for Deadfire significantly worsening the experience). I shall try to wait patiently for the GOG release, the Certainly Complete Definitive edition, and the price I can accept. Still, I hope the launch will be successful for Obsidian, regardless of the pricing issues.

The Veilguard is available on Steam with only one layer of DRM this time and EA App is a rather unpleasant piece of software, so, unless there is some gotcha, Steam might be the better option.