Hawke64

Pentiment. I am in the middle of the third and, as I understand, the last act. The time limit was removed - all objectives could be accomplished without pressure. But the objectives were different as well - instead of hunting down the potential murderer, the MC was gathering information on the history of the town. The "puzzles" and "exploration" became more ridiculous, such as finding X pieces of a plate in 2 empty rooms and a corridor, then rotating them to form an image. So far I have the impression that just using Ren'Py, the engine for visual novels specifically, would have solved most of the gameplay issues. Puzzles and travelling are already boring and could have been removed without losing anything, the saving system and dialogue log are lacking and would have been improved.

PoE and PoEII were excellent CRPG with good balance of combat encounters, exploration, and dialogues, while all of them worked together and the player's agency was acknowledged. It was not necessary to minmax in order to complete the game and most things were logical. The opening areas allowed to create the character and to understand the atmosphere of the setting. Though, I do dislike the "Ultimate" update and bloating the critical path of PoEII - it was perfect and reasonable from the start that in order to acquire the best hull you purchase it, instead of hunting down the logs. The final area in PoEII was just long enough with very optional combat, as most of the players (I, at least) would replay it several times in order to see the outcomes of some specific decisions or DLCs. Can't quite remember the Sun in Shadows. I think it was of average combat density? But it was great that I did not have to listen to the last corpse-to-become, not just skipping the dialogue, but actively starting killing him. Laying a couple of traps at his spawning point and opening the combat with a fireball, like in BG, would be nice as well, but I don't think it was possible. I don't quite remember if it was possible to prevent bosses from monologuing in BG1/2, but I used to place traps where they would be. Overall, PoEII was very comfortable to play - you started the combat with a set amount of abilities and full health, no pre-buffing, no post-battle healing, no inventory management. Also, all skill checks in dialogues were static - you can pass them (maybe with buffs and a few items) or you don't, no rerolling until 20. The areas were unique and memorable, with the sizes just enough to explore and not get bored (speeding up the animations was great as well).

It's the opening cinematic, I assume. Not in-engine, but in-game. The style makes it look much better than (almost) any 3D would. Thank you for sharing and happy Dragon Age Day.

Got all achievements in Ender Lilies. The game is mercifully grind-free - the only achievement that required it is leveling to 100, while the game can be finished around lvl 85-90. Fortunately, in NG+ it took about 30 minutes. Though, there are 2 items left to collect, which I am unsure how to reach exactly - there are jumping puzzles. As far as I can see, the rewards are upgrade materials for the spirits. Speaking of NG+, on one hand, all spirits and relics were carried over, on the other everything was almost one-shooting (technically, 3-shooting) me and it's with the damage-reduction relic equipped. So, it still was reasonably challenging. Edit. Collected the upgrade materials. The extra jump/dash spirits and the jump boost relic were required.

The Callisto Protocol has been released. Apparently, it is nigh unplayable on PC. I am trying to understand the developers' logic in releasing it in this state. They did not want to miss the holiday season and impulse purchases? The publisher held a gun to their heads? There are also Day One Edition, Season Pass, and Denuvo (which is likely to be removed by the time the game is playable; if it gets patched at all, that is). The combination points clearly to exploiting the FOMO, which is rather distasteful. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-callisto-protocol-review

Icewind Dale is the closest thing to a dungeon crawler I've played from start to finish/the middle of the second expansion. I can see the difference in combat (TB and RtwP) and camera perspective (FP and isometric), but not the underlying systems, progression, and story. I thank everyone for the input. Wishlisted both at the moment. Completed Ender Lilies. The game is amazing - from the combat to the graphics to the story. I've defeated the final boss #1, collected the McGuffins required to face the final boss #2, and on the second attempt was able to hold it stunned almost the whole last phase. For some reason, reaching the last ending unlocked the difficulty options and I was able to turn off the collision damage, which had annoyed me quite a lot. Though, the only things left to do are collecting lore items, some upgrades, and leveling the character to the max. Granted, the first two things require quite high platforming skills and good reaction time, which I don't think I possess, so might return to it later.

Are Legend of Grimrock 1/2 good in terms of story when compared to Icewind Dale (a reasonably good and slightly interactive story) or Baldur's Gate (even more interactive story)? Same question about Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader and Lords of Xulima.

Ender Lilies. Defeated Hoenir, the Keeper of the Abyss, and Miriel, the Beloved. Not particularly fond of bosses with a lot of adds, especially when both cause collision damage and move swiftly/teleport. The MC now has even more tentacles and thick red veins on the legs, up to the knees. Which probably means that the ending is close. Also, the bosses gave the two traversal abilities I was missing, so going to backtrack and loot everything. Story-wise, it is coming together - which character did what and why, though there are still some missing pieces.

That quest, A Refuge from the Present, is a backer reward and involves an unavoidable turn-based battle with infinitely* respawning demons. Also it is a Fallout reference. Nothing is lost from skipping it. *requires to interact with 3 statues, while the interaction icons are not visible clearly.

It's been a few years since I played it, but The Outer Worlds was as good as any first-person RPG with action elements can be - definitely beats TES IV - V by being more concise and having meaningful skill checks (as opposed to the mini-game in TESIV). Not sure about the difficulty - can't quite remember. But exploring in-doors areas was great and there was no railroading. Pentiment. Played for an hour. The controls are uncomfortable - the MC does not seem to run by default, there are too many invisible walls, the mouse becomes inactive after using the keyboard. In terms of GUI, there are too many pointless animations, tooltips for NPCs are useless (they show the portrait; not the description of who the NPC is and how they are related to the MC or where they can be found), the map is 2D while the locations are mostly 1D. The pacing has been slow - some dialogues being unavoidable is the fault of the genre chosen - much harder to stealth through a cut-scene trigger in an adventure game than in an immersive sim or RPG. On the bright side, the MC's backgrounds have been referenced and they provide new dialogue options. I guess, I've chosen a wrong time to play it - Pentiment needs longer sessions to appreciate it. I am also unfamiliar with the setting, which does not help.

There was dedicated stealth gameplay - you could skip quite a lot of the critical path by stealing an item, not to mention stealth kills.

I liked Dead Space and its combat system - can't remember dismemberment implemented effectively anywhere else (in The Surge, maybe?). Though, would prefer the MC to remain silent, because it is more immersive and less irritating. I think, there were MTX in the last game (and the DLC's ending was disappointing)?

Pentiment. Just started the game, after hearing a lot of its flaws. So far I can tell that looks beautiful, the writing is adequate, the journal, unskippable animations (on text appearing, journal/menus opening, location transitions, etc.), and 1 save slot per playthrough are indeed undesirable.

The Rogue Trader gameplay trailer somehow lacked the actual gameplay (combat system with UI, inventory and party management, conversations, etc.), but the animations look nice. I hope that optimisation will be better than in WotR and it will be a complete game in 1-2 months after the initial release (WotR is still in active development, judging by the bug fixes and paid content updates; at least, GOG protects from the forced updates). I probably expect too much from Owlcat, though.

Will unlimited manual saving, adequate tooltips for NPC (who are they, where they can be found, and how they are related to the MC), and fast travel be added at a later date? At the moment, the only way to have several save points is to copy the files via Windows Explorer, the NPC tooltips are not helpful, and uneventful travelling through several screens seems pointless. Having the option to remain silent in many dialogues would be nice as well, but harder to implement. Edit. Also the ability to skip all animations (switching between journal tabs, travelling between locations, etc.) and show text instantly would be most welcome as well. Edit (2). Tyranny had an amazing feature of showing the reputation changes alongside dialogue replies. The same option could be used in Pentiment.

In DS2-3 it was relatively easy to follow side quests, due to their more linear structure, than DS1 or, I assume, Elden Ring (have not played yet). Their narrative was coherent and fit the mood of the games. In general, I value interactive, player-driven stories in RPGs (e.g. Obsidian games, DS), thus I am glad to see Elden Ring there.

Ender Lilies. It feels heavier on backtracking than I am used to, but the area transitions and whether a location is fully looted are shown on the map. I think, I am missing at least 3-4 moves. Defeated Ulv, the Mad Knight and acquired the wall-climbing ability. Also defeated/purified several mini-bosses. One of them was a dog who could damage the MC only by touch. On that note, touch damage in general should either not exist or be applied by the MC as well as the opponents.

Nothing can stand against barrelmancy/lava. There are a lot of ways to cheese your way through, but it makes the battles more gimmicky, than tactical. Expeditions: Viking. Cleared the prologue. The time limit strongly reminds of Pathfinder: Kingmaker, as does the settlement/clan management screen, but, fortunately, no advisors or random events yet.

Agreed, both are more enjoyable with friends. The combat system in D:OS2 was a hit-or-miss - a lot of opportunities for cheese/synergy, but one might dislike the reliance on crowd-control/armour. The story seemed to use the Chosen One trope, but still had some interesting moments. Expeditions: Viking. Started the game. Realised that the primary stats cannot be changed after character creation and there are chance-based checks. On a positive note, it is possible to use non-lethal weapons in combat and the game acknowledges surviving opponents.

Ender Lilies. I've defeated Guardian Silva and the MC has sprouted tentacles. Alas, they did not seem to do anything. Also a ghost that appeared after the battle told that we were the chosen ones. Trying to find the right (possible to progress) path is becoming increasingly difficult, partially because I can't remember which uncompleted location requires what power, partially because I occasionally cannot tell if I am doing something wrong or I miss the ability that is required to proceed. The opponents have become quite deadly, though packs of rats proved to be the most dangerous due to the MC taking damage upon stepping onto an enemy. @KeyrockThanks for the review.

ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights. It is a metroidvania game. It looks and sounds beautiful, runs well, supports 5+ button mice. Despite the Souls-like store tag, I could not see any Souls-specific influence - the protagonist loses nothing upon death, awakening at the last not-bonfire rested at; attacks don't cost stamina (there is no stamina in general) though non-main attacks have limited uses between rests; character progression is linear - higher level equals higher stats and there are collectibles giving insignificant improvements (e.g. +5 HP). The story follows an amnesiac priestess called Lily and her retinue of purified spirits on a journey to regain her memory and save the kingdom from the Blight. Each spirit gives an ability or attack type, which can be upgraded. I have found 2 more main (infinite uses) attack types, but no upgrades for the original sword/knight yet. The bosses are diverse and challenging and the battles become harder as they progress. I have noticed 2-3 stages for the main story boss battles. The protagonist's appearance has changed slightly during the game - story-wise, purification corrupts the person conducting the ritual.

Writing my second MSc coursework. Questioning how can I say "2+2=4" in 4 times as many words and in a unique fashion. "For generations, it has been known that two, which is one added to one, when the addition of another two is performed, results in four". I suppose, it does test my creativity and patience, but none of the actual practical skills I aim to learn.

Infinitely respawning drowners (the water zombies?), hard to navigate, and it looked unappealing. I suppose, it's good that the swamp was not poisonous (I think it wasn't?) and that the enemy placement was changing at night.

I suppose, I could try Bayonetta 3 with an emulator at some point. Not going to purchase a console for 1 game (again, did it for Bayonetta 2). --- Completed Sable to a satisfactory point - found out why there are crates manufactured in London. Also it nicely explains why everyone wears masks.

"Completed" Sable. With the quotations marks, because the ending can be triggered after 2-3 masks have been collected. I had expected something slightly more epic than "go on your coming-of-age journey and come back" - there has been no grander purpose. On the other hand, there is one lore-related mystery I am going to explore more, which also has some light puzzle-platforming elements to it.