Hawke64

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/shadow-gambit-studio-mimimi-are-closing-down-to-prioritize-our-well-being It was unexpected.

Thorm probably has about as much screen time as most non-companions.

Larian's D&D Game. Continued my second playthrough. Haven't updated the game, so some of the things might have been fixed with the patch. I discovered that my Str Sorcerer can break most of the doors and walls, thus I got a rogue much later. The PC's facial animations are still ridiculous and it would have been better if the camera was pointing where the PC was looking at and shown only their back and shoulders. I also was able to recruit Minthara, went with her to the Goblin Camp (to get the explosives), and told the guard that we were there to see Minthara (there was no additional Minthara). Somehow, I doubt that we were supposed to return to the area. Act 2 spoiler: The Dark Urge Origin spoilers for Act 1. The final boss of the act was defeated with the help of the explosives and fire arrows and the party reached the third act at level 4 (Minthara at 6) in 4 hours. I found out the "intended" use of the Chest of the Mundane when looking through the patch notes, so the Chest was most helpful.

Ketheric Thorm is the main antagonist of the second act (3 acts in total), so it could be said that he is present, though my interactions with the character consisted mostly of Skip, Skip, Skip, Combat, Loot. The trailer: --- Continued my second playthrough. Haven't updated the game, so some of the things might have been fixed with the patch. I discovered that my Str Sorcerer can break most of the doors and walls, thus I got a rogue much later. I also was able to recruit Minthara, went with her to the Goblin Camp (to get the explosives), and told the guard that we were there to see Minthara (there was no additional Minthara). Somehow, I doubt that we were supposed to return to the area. The PC's facial animations are still ridiculous and it would have been better if the camera was pointing where the PC was looking at and shown only their back and shoulders. Also, now the party consists mostly of hirelings and it feels somehow jollier (no one threatens the PC). At some point the Dark Urge Butler (I forgot the name) appeared where the other party members could reach him and initiated a dialogue with the PC. The party got 10XP and the next dialogue with the Butler was just Dark Urgency standing and talking to himself with the Butler's voice. The final boss of the act was defeated with the help of the explosives and fire arrows and the party reached the third act at level 4 (Minthara at 6). Edit. Dark Urgency discovered his love for music and decided to learn to play violin (I wanted to get the expertise in Persuasion and something more melee-focused, like the College of Swords subclass, because, considering the play style, a Paladin Oath would not last long). The newly-hired wizard covered the casting aspect.

Larian's D&D game. Spoilers for Act 3 (main story) The final battle: Romance: Side quests:

Agreed. The two things in the context of Larian's game specifically are the immersive sim elements (you can build a little tower out of the random items you find and it will mechanically affect the environment and progression) and the lack of options to disable it (or any other optional systems, unlike Solasta). And it was rather uncomfortable that some important interactive objects were not highlighted. The puzzle leading to the Underdark and the illithid regenerative things, in particular. I guess, if the ending at least told the outcomes for the major NPCs and areas (1 2D picture with 1 sentence of text per NPC/area), it would have been more acceptable. I am unsure why the connection with the original series was pursued in the manner Larian used. Granted, some of it I've read about on the forums (and not experienced myself), but even the parts unavoidably encountered on the critical path were odd. The player usually cares about their NPC companions to some extent, while humans in general are less likely to purposefully seek conflict in a limited social circle due to the social contract. So, unless there is a critical plot point where someone's values actively oppose each other, the companions not fighting seems realistic enough. And there is companions' personal emotional connection to the player's character, which supports not stabbing other companions in the face (unless asked to). Also, I prefer when games consider friendships to be as valuable as romances.

Finished Stray Gods. It is an interesting musical/visual novel and a decent murder mystery (providing that the player can guess the murderer, but not the motive or the weapon, quite quickly, the MC is basically a bard, there is no typical evidence analysis). The romance subplot was connected to the main one without overshadowing it. There are some plot holes, but nothing critical, though the lack of fail states (accusing a wrong suspect or failing to obtain evidence or dying) or early endings (finding the murderer through unconventional options) are somehow disappointing. The visual design is excellent, from character art to location design to the minimalistic animations. The sound and VA are good overall and the branching songs are very impressive, though there are issues with different volume for different lines even within the same dialogue. The manual saving via Windows Explorer was rather annoying and could have been implemented in-game. Edit. The second personality trait (out of 3) can be chosen at the beginning of Act 3.

If you mean "good" as an alignment, then, mostly, yes. With a certain disguise it is possible to avoid confrontations with the goblins in Act 1 and the only companion quest (that I remember) that has combat at that point is to defeat 3 devils. Helping the refugees, on the other hand, requires either to rescue the archdruid or to "encourage" his replacement to assist. Not sure about saving the gnomes in Grymforge (I murdered the duergar), but it might be possible. In Act 2, In Act 3, I had also forgotten about the tutorial fight against 3 imps and the encounter at the helm (though, one just has to cross the area and interact with the "wheel" there).

I am not sure if the previous attempt, Baldur's Gate Reloaded (based on the NWN2 tools), has succeeded. This kind of projects seems to be too ambitious to be completed by volunteers in a reasonable amount of time. Though, Skyblivion might be close to the full release.

Just in case, the combat is avoidable up to the middle of Act 2*. But yes, it is occasionally uncomfortable, even more so when there is any sort of verticality (the camera does not go up or down). *though, the skill checks or stealth might be just as uncomfortable, considering how quick saving and D20 system usually interact and there is no pause (companions can and will step onto discovered traps).

Each companion has 1-2 quests in each act + long rest scenes. Though, some have more than others. Structurally, it felt similar to D:OS2 - introduction => development* => conclusion (branching). The approach is technically correct in terms of pacing, narrative, and interactivity, but it never felt good or engaging for me in any Larian game (that is to say, the issue is not with the structure). In the D&D game in particular, it might be because of the bugs with the closure/camp scenes - the companions cannot wait for 5 minutes and have to schedule their dialogue at a separate Long Rest, which might be hours after their quest. It was especially ridiculous with having Wyll and Karlach together in the camp within clear lines of sight before their scene triggered. *in the D&D game some branching for a certain companion is available at that point. Judging by the rumours about cut or altered content and the previous Enhanced/Definitive/Developer's Cut Editions, this is a very reasonable prediction.

I think, if you've finished the Grove/Goblins storyline before reaching the approval thresholds, the romance events don't happen. At least, it was the first thing I did and then had those scenes only in Act 3 from a new companion and the Dream Guardian.

The Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer subclass - the scales are customisable and depend on the bloodline chosen, though can be removed.

Started Stray Gods. It is semi-interactive musical, though I would not call it "Roleplaying". The VA is actually good, the lyrics vary from "There is no inertia in the ocean" to decent. The graphics and visual style consist of mostly 2D images with light animations, but it is expressive and readable. The main personality trait seems to be locked in the first song, which was not obvious and is not convenient. The game uses auto-saving into a single slot (3 slots in total).

I think, it is the only instance where the PC auto-talks with a cinematic camera. The Dark Urge Origin: Act 2, end: Act 2 (some spoilers for locations and side quests):

Tried to start another playthrough as a wood elf (higher speed) sorcerer (Enhanced Leap and Misty Step) named Dark Urgency with 17 Str (couldn't get to 18) and 8 Int (don't need it anyway). The playthrough went reasonably well until I got into a battle against a certain lvl 11 boss and his skeleton friends. The NPC ally did what she could but not enough to win. It is the only necessary combat encounter to reach Act 3, because otherwise the army of the Absolute is blocking the road and walking into them results in being thrown into the corpse pile in the Tower (even after the departure cut-scene). Not sure if the character's class affects it, but I strongly doubt it. An a positive note, I saved the tiefling bard with some help from Shadowheart. In the morning, the bard stood in a red circle for some reason and did not take the party to the Grove, but we still got a follower. On a related note, if the PC is dead when Raphael visits the camp during Long Rest and the party does not have any resurrection scrolls, it soft-locks the game - the devil does not want to talk to a companion. The butler (?) did not appear yet. I probably will try to roll back a bit or try the same with a bard. Thank you for the information (wasn't familiar with the class' implementation in the previous editions) and I agree that the ridiculousness is one of the main points of Larian's design.

Elden Ring. Finally killed Malenia. Lord of Blood's Exultation (the power-up on bleed talisman), Morgott's Curved Sword, and the mimic tear ash were the most important aspects of it. Somehow, the mimic and I were able to stagger the boss relatively reliably. The final battle was very impressive in terms of visual and audio design, though the boss' moveset in the second phase was rather annoying - I spent most of the time chasing the boss. Overall, I did not dislike Elden Ring as I did Sekiro or Mortal Shell, but it was less enjoyable than Dark Souls (1, 2, SotFS, 3, Remaster) due to the open world structure and the speed of the game combined with the controls. Though, the visual and audio design are excellent.

I guess, there is some emotional investment in the studio and the game, so criticising it might be taken as a personal offence, especially on Larian's own forums. It is somehow disheartening that releasing an almost-complete MTX- and DRM-free AAA without DLC plans is seen as exceptional, instead of the bare minimum. Also, I am unsure how many people have reached the last act and the ending or whether other reviewers took into account the future patches. --- Checked what would happen if Shadowheart is not recruited by the end of the first act - she catches up at the area transition and offers to team up. If still refused, the artifact teleports to the PC during the long rest between acts. Also, I watched a speedrun with the mid-game ending (which I had achieved on my own). Most of the path was familiar, except breaking into the final area of Act 2. The whole run took about 10 minutes and was mostly glitch-free. Should try it myself, though I don't think that it would be possible to reach the "normal" ending quickly, considering the few unavoidable (?) boss battles.

The review probably aligns most closely with my experience. On a related note, the companion arcs in Act 1 go a little weird if one does not rest enough and in Act 3 the final battle(s)

Larian's D&D game still does some things well (non-combat application of spells, traversal abilities, and quest lines going throughout the whole game), fails miserably at others (encounter design post-Act 1, the implementation of multiclassing, the reactivity post-Act 1, the limited support of non-combat non-evil options in late-game, writing, animations and VA**), but certainly does not have MTX and DRM (Steam updates is another thing and I've been playing on Steam through Family Sharing). Though, it will be in a better state after a year or two (using players as testers after EA is a common practice, but not a welcome one). Also, the third act is more stable than the second act in The Waylanders (a game I somehow liked, but it is not a high bar). **the PC is almost always smiling slightly (helmets solve it outside of the camp), occasionally spouts OOC environmental comments, and there are no voices for older, orcish or dwarven PCs. --- Ironically, the guardian was my favourite character. (Act 3 spoilers):

From my experience, playing a "good" character usually leads to various levels of slaughter, which is more noticeable when a random goblin has a name and can be interacted with prior to that. On the other hand, I've got (Act 2 ending spoilers) Also, the tiefling refugees throughout the game. While I haven't played the Dark Urge Origin specifically, I suspect that most of the unavoidable evil-aligned choices are bound to it. I might try to see whether anything changes from using the tadpoles at the end. Edit. Agreed, though they are somehow avoidable and it could be worse - there could be survival elements or equipment durability.

To elaborate the previous point (the questionable design decisions), in several cases, the NPCs told me to find them Baldur's Gate without telling where exactly ("the house on the left from the bridge") and without any quest markers. In Act 3, a boss And the end-game made me appreciate Ukaizo with its 2 optional combat encounters even more: About the combat becoming more integral for the good-aligned characters: Additionally, the time limits were not clear, while the semi-open world structure did not work well with locations being in "temporal bubbles" with limited number of possible entrances and the camera being tethered to the active party member.

The last part of a side quest: This was very odd - the door looked wooden, thus it was reasonable for it to be either destructible or possible to lock-pick. On the other hand, I was following a guide for this quest (wouldn't have found the door otherwise and, as far as I know, there was no other way to progress the main quest). The ending of the most important quest in the game (heavy spoilers): I am not sure why, but I wanted to kill this guy. But I also was in a bit of a hurry story-wise, so just proceeded to the exit and never saw him again.

There are 2 more narrative pushes - (a significant) one at the end of Act 2/beginning of Act 3 (you get your objective for the rest of the game), another The companions have some development in Act 2-3, though I liked my party in Solasta more. I cannot find explicit faults with Larian's D&D game's narrative structure (the PC is interested in the main plot, the plot goes from personal to spoiler, there are twists, the side quests are related to the main objective, etc.) but it was as engaging as Solasta. I suppose, my specific play style (stealth, persuasion) does not align well with what the developer was going for, but I do appreciate that they at least tried to support it. There is no XP for picking locks or completely avoiding encounters or finding side paths, though all of them are present. There is reactivity in the immersive sim-like design approach, but to some extent it could have been done as dialogue options in choose-your-own-adventure games (it also falls apart in Act 3 with the boss you threw off the arena, climbing back up for the post-battle cut-scene*). Additionally, I agree that classes should have been more distinct with more unique interactions (e.g. some investment in Sleight of Hand was required to pick locks). I suppose, though there is no day/night cycle (NPC schedules) or more destructible environment. On the other hand, I like that it is possible to ignore quite a lot of content. Agreed, my RP is defined by the choices I make as much as the options I skip, which I cannot do if there are no such options. Regarding the stat distribution, I had thought that I would be able to fix them by level 3-4. I was mistaken and the lack of the level progression screen was most unpleasant at that point. I generally don't like to fail because of RNG instead of my (poor or not) choices and I would strongly prefer static skill checks or the Take20 option. There is a difference between failing because of conscious roleplay decisions (none of the party members can do X) and rolling a 1. The former is an interesting story point, the latter is reloading. For me, watching a reliable and well-researched plan with transparent logic and its implementation is more interesting than dumb luck. ---- Finished the game. In the final parts, combat becomes more integral for the good-aligned characters, which was a problem (solved by dropping the difficulty). Also, the game failed to recognise several "creative" solutions to boss battles. Though, it was most satisfying to skip the boss' monologue (with its fancy mo-capped cut-scenes and VA) and just throw the b... oss of the platform with telekinesis (I tried the explosives first, but the corpse-to-become had Uncanny Dodge). Also, getting a closed helmet or a masked hood resolved the weird facial expressions in the "field" cut-scenes (the ones in the camp still had it). Overall, the game often felt like fighting questionable design decisions, despite the generally high reactivity, interactivity, and being able to ignore a lot of the content. It was nowhere close to Pillars of Eternity or Tyranny and somehow worse than Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (despite the long and slow dungeon crawls; on a positive note Larian's D&D game was shorter, ~40 hours vs ~120**) or Encased. I will try to replay it at some point, but probably just to check how far I will be able to get with some specific builds. Also, one screenshot for the final cut-scene (an HDD-related bug, no spoilers): *I would post screenshots, but not sure that I should, considering the spoilers. Though, the foe in question was shown in several trailers. **On the other hand, I never wanted to complete all quests and was trying to stick to the critical path and RP, while in PF I wanted to see and do everything (and the RP supported it).

Spoiler-free screenshots: I actually would not have noticed otherwise. Edit. Also, the mask resolves the issue with weird facial expressions almost perfectly ("almost" - can't wear it during rest). Sent the hand to pickpocket and explore. Discovered 2 things - the hand cannot pickpocket, but can initiate a dialogue. Couldn't jump there myself, so decided not to spend a spell slot. Spoilers for a companion quest: