Hawke64

I had double quotation marks, but cannot reproduce it. "test"

Death's Door. Completed the game. It was a very nice action game with metroidvania elements. The boss battles consisted of several stages, each was challenging and unique. The locations were reasonably complex yet with enough landmarks to have a general idea of where to go. Except the starting area, the Lost Cemetery, which was a labyrinth with all shortcuts unlocked. The upgrades, bonuses, and collectibles were mostly possible to find without a guide* and they provided a decent advantage. Dying was quite forgivable - the experience, loot, and the shortcuts unlocked were saved, the MC was revived at the nearest Door, though, the hostiles were revived as well, but it was possible to run past. The arena battles -kill all to proceed- were reasonably challenging. The attention to details and the post-game content* were quite impressive. The controls were comfortable and rebindable, the mouse was supported well. In general, Death's Door was doing almost everything right. *Not sure if I would be able to gather the post-game McGuffins without the guide, despite there being several indicators whether an area had been cleared. The lack of map at that point also was unpleasant.

I keep getting "The request is blocked" when I try to post on the "Computer and Console" forums. Not sure what causes the issue. Using Firefox 108.0.1 (64-bit), haven't tried other browsers or clearing the cookies.

Death's Door. Defeated the Urn Witch. The game is very lovely in all aspects (visuals, controls, combat), though I would prefer a better GUI - exploration (backtracking, in particular) becomes frustrating without a map, and it is hard to tell how successfully boss battles go without their HP bars shown. The stages are noticeable and there are visual indicators on all enemies (magenta cracks start appearing as they take damage), but they are not precise. Larian's D&D game. Played with the character creator. It was decent, but worse than Wasteland 3 or (if I remember correctly) Solasta - some of the options required to click through to get something specific (heads, hair styles, etc.), while others had all available options shown (mostly, the colour palettes). Most heads (non-customisable) and hair styles (same) were unpleasant to look at and there were no options for body types beyond masculine/feminine, while both of them were built like wizards (no muscles; fighters and barbarians looked ridiculous). No option for the PC to be unvoiced either. On a positive note, the gender identity and VA were not bound to the body type, there were several backgrounds to choose from, the preferable class attributes were highlighted (not sure how correct the default recommendation was, though - created a dex-based drow fighter called Bob).

Momodora. Learned that when you defeat a boss without taking damage, you receive better loot, so I have been trying to do so and quite successfully - 4 bosses (the witch, the bug, the Pardoner Fennel, and the Heretical Arsonist) have been defeated and the loot (indeed, quite powerful) has been obtained. The areas became more diverse, though the number of insta-killing obstacles and the saving system are somehow discouraging. Or Ender Lilies just was too easy - I could loot an area and die, then just ran past everything. Unfortunately, it does not work in Momodora. On another note, the MC's bow has the fire rate of an SMG. Also, the winter sale has begun on EGS and there are free games daily. Today it is Sable, which I had purchased and played on Steam a month or so ago. Mixed feelings on the matter. Edit. To continue with Momodora. It is counter-intuitive that playing well makes the game easier. It would be interesting if defeating a boss without taking damage gave a new skin/accessory, but not a power-up.

Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight. I've just defeated the first boss and the game seems to be an action/metroidvania, though it has been rather minimalistic - few enemy types, easy platforming, no puzzles, checkpoint-based saving system. Also the contact damage. On the other hand, the pixel art and animations look good, there is no VA (except for the MC's death screen/m), the controls are rebindable, equipment provides some bonuses. The story follows a priestess who uses a (magical?) leaf for combat and is looking for the queen, judging by the intro dialogue, so it should be straightforward enough.

Completed Pentiment. I suppose, the setting is atmospheric and alien enough, the writing is readable and consistent, the controls are rebindable, the visuals are stylish, and the game is fortunately VA-free. On the other hand, the game lacks many simple quality-of-life features, the pacing is odd, the "puzzles" and mini-games are insultingly dumb. In terms of story, during the second act the main character apparently was supposed to be depressed. Considering that the thing was more roleplayable and controllable in the first act, it was quite frustrating. Despite the game not being advertised as an RPG, the choice of the background and skills had led me to believe that there would be more RP. The last act was linear and I had to endure the main villain's monologue for 5 minutes, instead of breaking his skull with a rock (the MC was physically capable of doing so) at the moment the attack on a key NPC was admitted. While I liked the general theme, the setting and the sheer number of samey NPC made it harder to be invested. Also, PoE1 did it better and allowed just to kill Thaos without talking to the corpse-to-become. Finally, the player (not me, though, due to the lack of knowledge of the setting) could deduce who the murderer was in the middle of the first act, but was unable to pursue the lead. So, if one likes the setting and can tolerate the shortcomings, Pentiment might be enjoyable.

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.