Hawke64

I successfully practiced social distancing while jogging. There were less people in the park, than usual, but more, than I had expected (Sunday, 7 AM, cold). The OS upgrade went somehow successful - now the netbook uses Win10, but I forgot to keep specific drivers and now got stuck with the 800x600 display resolution. I did manage to install an antivirus, a browser (MS Edge does not count) and TeamViewer and connect to my work PC. I tried to set up the monitor I had used with my PS3 (the PSP-shaped one), but for some reason neither my main PC nor the netbook were able to detect it. The HDMI cable looks undamaged, and it had worked with Wii U (several years ago) just fine, so I am at a loss what is wrong.

Avadon: The Black Fortress. It might not be the prettiest RPG I've played, but I do like its writing. (Spoilers for the end-game). God Eater 3. The final DLC has been released. Regalia Balmung. The Crimson Ashlands. These missions seem harder with AI-partners, because they cannot adapt to the conditions and requirements (at the upper right corner - the party can cause damage only when AT is active).

Thank you for the information. I have the Obsidian Edition on GOG. I remember that the platform allows to choose between versions, though my Backer DLC is bound to Steam.

I dug up my old netbook (Asus Eee PC), which I have not used for years, and attempting to install Win10 on it. I am not fond of the idea of working from home, but it seems there's little choice. The netbook meets the minimum requirements for the OS (1GB RAM), so I am quite optimistic.

How can I roll back to v4.1.2.0047 on Steam?

Avadon: The Black Fortress. I've completed the game with the less violent main ending. I have tried to kill Redbeard after, but he was spamming the soul jars too quickly, so eventually the party ran out of consumables. Tried the same with cheats, it still took half an hour. Somehow ironically, actions that had not affected the story during the game (or I had not noticed) determined specific outcomes for the regions. Okami. I successfully reached the Sasa Sanctuary and acquired another Celestial Brush technique.

I bought it at Neketaka during my first, second (completionist) and third (critical path only) playthroughs, as well. The hull turned into 5 logs in the last, "Ultimate", update, regardless of the act. On the bright side, I purchased another copy of the game on GOG to be able to roll this ..most undesirable change back in my next playthrough, if I ever decide to replay PoEII (not impossible, but unlikely, considering the game's length - 80-100 hours).

Haven (Demo).

Haven (Demo). It seems to be a nice action-adventure (the RPG tag on the store page is incorrect), with optional co-op (unavailable in the demo). There are good graphics, soundtrack and VA, rather simple combat and crafting. Dialogues don't seem to affect anything and it was somehow odd to be able to choose (very limited) replies for both protagonists. I did not quite understand the combat, but I did beat the boss at the end of demo. After the finishing attack ("Pacify"), the boss stopped glowing red and became an (non-interactive) NPC. I suppose, this relatively non-violent outcome fits the game well. Avadon: The Black Fortress. I have not played the previous games from this developer, so I can't compare, but Avadon seems alright so far (the graphics and interactivity could be better, of course). I think I am getting close to the end-game - the party reached level 28 (the level cap is 30), all regions were visited several times, one companion quest left.

If there are several characters to control, it is easier to do so when you are able to see them all. Plus good-looking fully 3D environment requires more resources to develop. Dragon Age had two camera mods exactly for that and both (IMO) were comfortable. But it also was a triple-A game (series), while isometric party-cRPGs are usually made by independent developers.

Okami HD. The sword became an Easter Egg in Bayonetta. Unfortunately, it is unobtainable in Okami. The Spider Queen.

Avadon: The Black Fortress. I've been slowly progressing through the main story. The linearity of it became more obvious, but I still can role-play and optional content offers more choice. Okami. I've defeated the first (?) boss, the Spider Queen, and reached the Taka Pass. So far the most challenging part was the Celestial Brush sequences, I can't react fast enough and draw it precisely on the first attempt.

I ended up backing WotR. Partly, because of BG3, mostly, because PF:KM was somehow fun. Also there were kukris.

I'd call the most culturally significant Tyranny or PoE, because these IPs were developed as video games first and belong to Obsidian (PoE, at least; not sure about Tyranny). Voted for Deadfire, because it features the qualities I associate with RPGs in general and Obsidian cRPGs in particular - player's agency, interactivity, engaging story and combat. Also tool-tips.

If it was possible to skip combat animations, to have the pause/speed up function for real-time gameplay (running around the map or interacting with neutral moving NPCs)*, non-playable companions and traditional dialogues (without past tense), I may consider purchasing BG3. But all of it goes against Larian's focus on multiplayer, so it is very unlikely to happen. *Somehow Shadowrun and BattleTech had actually fun TB combat, BT even had verticality implemented well (or at least I liked it), while D:OS had it implemented poorly - I had to target specific part of an enemy for a ranged attack to hit and it was extremely annoying.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords. I finished my first playthrough. I guess, I'll replay it with the Restored Content mode, but not right now. Okami HD. It works well on PC, Celestial Brush (drawing symbols on the screen, which could be replaced with hotkeys) supports mouse. So far, so good. Avadon: The Black Fortress. A turn-based party-RPG. It works surprisingly well and combat animations are fast, which I appreciate. The writing does not provide a lot of role-play, but it is stylistically and logically consistent. And there are text descriptions for environment. I don't see those often and, considering that graphics do not always capture what the developers are trying to tell, they are most welcome. Camera movement is bound to arrows and cannot be reassigned, which is slightly inconvenient.

It is not the only one, just the closest to BG. There are also:

Both.

BG3 being D:OS2.5 is disappointing, but not surprising. I very much detest most aspects of D:OS, from obscure gameplay systems and it being essentially a turn-based Diablo (an MP-focused sandbox with color-coded randomized loot) to sluggish animations and graphic style (in general). Well, there's that new Pathfinder game, which will be released in 2-3 years. I look forward to it, though not going to back.

It looks like something for VR and/or co-op.

Okami HD.

PF:KM is quite user-friendly, thanks to the numerous tool-tips, showing what affects what. The only things I strongly disliked were rolls for non-combat skill checks, including kingdom management (unlike PnP, failures don't open new opportunities, they just mean that you have to reload), and the alignment system. --- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords. I think, I am close to the end-game. During my second visit to Dxun, where I had to split my party, Atton proved to be the most useful companion. With him I managed to run past almost all enemies and loot everything. It did not work well for the last battle of the section, though. The Sith somehow noticed Atton, thus starting combat, the rest of the party teleported to the room when I tried to escape, but the Sith knocked out Visas and Mandalore in 3-4 rounds. So I used mines and kited them around the pool (?) in the middle of the room. It was not quite what I would like, but it was much better than Nar Shaddaa. I think, the game wants me to murder my way through, as it goes along well with the plot.

I like it. Reminds of Bioshock and ME:A, but more intense.

STAR WARS Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords. I resumed my playthrough after 4.5 years. I don't remember much, but it has never stopped me before. The party successfully defeated Sith assassins at the Mandalorian camp and traveled to Iziz, Onderon, in order to .. find a Jedi Master? The city was on the verge of civil war and the palace, where the Jedi Master was supposed to be, was blocked from public access.

Tried to play Spellforce 3. For some reason it tries to overheat my GPU and Steam tries to synchronize the cloud saves, while I have disabled them globally (as "not specifically for this game"), then it hangs and crashes (once with the OS). So, now I'm looking for a way to prevent Steam from doing this, preferably, without switching it to the offline mode. These are relatively small issues, but they are rather irritating.