Hawke64

I second Dragon Age and would recommend Dungeon Siege III, Shadowrun: Hong Kong and Dragonfall (cyberpunk setting with turn-based combat). Also there are Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, GreedFall and Pyre, though they are third-person (not isometric) action-RPG.

God Eater 3. The story picked up the pace and is moving in the direction I like. It took just 19 hours. My party successfully defeated Anubis, the large aragami from the opening movie, and reached the 6th rank/story arc.

Two more games from 2019 I'd like to mention. Double Cross. It is a really good platformer. There is nothing exceptional, but it was engaging and enjoyable (and one bug I encountered was fixed a week ago). The Outer Worlds. While I do not like first-person view, open-world maps and combat-wise bland companions, TOW is a very good RPG - there are an interesting branching story with different choices, skill checks for non-combat actions, good writing and memorable characters (mostly, Martin the Moon Man Mascot). I have not encountered any bugs and was able to bind actions to the 4th and 5th mouse buttons.

God Eater 3. I reached Rank 4 and unlocked Assault Missions. In the offline mode I got 7 AI companions. They seemed randomized, but fairly capable. We could not defeat the Glacial Ra within 5 minutes, but there were some rewards, the most notable were new Engage (team-action-thing) abilities. The story became even more ridiculous, but I can't start the next mission before talking to key NPCs, who are not shown on the map and can be anywhere at the hub. On the other hand, I finally got reasonably good builds for my companions and bosses became challenging.

Code Vein (Demo)

Completed the demo of Code Vein. It is a decent Souls-like, gameplay-wise, and the controls are excellent (there's even 5-button mouse support). But the combat was disabled when I got to the hub, like in some linear JRPG. The story is very anime-like. Character customization does not include beards for some reason. I died twice during the demo, once to gravity, once to a zombie with a glaive. So now I'm considering purchasing The Surge 2 and waiting for 75%+ discount on Code Vein.

The Outer Worlds. Tried another option for a late-game main quest. It turned out clearly superior to the one I chose first. So, the ending was as good as it could. God Eater 3. After resolving the issue with crashing, the game is quite stable. In general, it is more engaging than Monster Hunter: World, mostly because there are NPC companions that are not cats. The plot is generic (dystopian post-apocalypse with world-saving teenagers), but it is better than nothing, I suppose.

You can riposte-to-death pretty much everything (played on KB&M), and, as parry interrupts any action, the PC is almost invincible (does not work AoE attacks and magic missiles). Also firearms are OP, if you don't mind skipping combat (I tested heavy weapons vs one-handed blades vs firearms, the latter shorten combat encounters to seconds). Companions' AI leaves a lot to be desired, but they survive longer, if well-equipped.

The games I've completed and liked in 2019. GreedFall. It was a quite good action-RPG. The story, combat, controls and the absence of DLC made it one of the best games of this year for me. Omensight. An action-adventure, where you repeat one day and save/kill/use four characters in order to discover the truth and prevent the apocalypse. Lucah: Born of a Dream. A Souls-like hack&slash. I did not quite get the plot, but the combat was engaging and the controls comfortable. BattleTech. A turn-based tactics with RPG elements. The Surge. A Souls-like. Death's Gambit. A Metroidvania with RPG elements. Yuppie Psycho. A horror-adventure. The Talos Principle. A puzzle game. Dark Souls: Remastered. It improved the controls, thus it is ultimately better, than PtD. Devil May Cry V. It was exactly the sequel I wanted. Now with better mouse support.

The guide books are currently available on HumbleBundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/pathfinder-lost-omens-paizo-books The second tier includes the Guide to the River Kingdoms, where the game takes place.

I mostly agree with the table or have no strong opinion about or can't articulate it clearly, except: 4. I like when there is not just one guy you need to murder to get your happily-ever-after in an RPG. Though, I appreciate that I did not have to listen to Thanos and was able to get the password from his soul. It was very refreshing. 5. SSS. It was quite pleasant to laugh at Galawain, though the DLC lacked the Watcher-first angle - there were not enough options to indicate disinterest in the contest and it being only the means to resolve the issue with the spirits at the arena. I can't say anything about it being better or worse than The White March; 8. I liked how PoEII was structured - large map with reasonably-sized locations and the ability to complete the critical path fast (until the last patch broke it). It was possible to explore completely (all/most of the locations were possible to visit from the start), there was an indicator of how much territory left to cover (clouds on the world map) and I did not have to look for a quest-starting NPC in order to acquire the quest item. 11. I prefer the Defiant. It's a ship and fulfills its main function without any optional RNG'ed fluff. 12. There were the Old City Ruins in/under Neketaka. It was just as large and difficult as I like - 3 large locations and a boss that requires some preparation. 14. Full VA was unnecessary, partial VA worked well enough and required less resources. And I mostly detest when the avatar is voiced, unless it is to indicate that it (not he, she or they) completed its action (movement, critical hit, casting, etc.) or is low on health. 18. I agree, dragons and the possibility to resolve the encounters diplomatically are awesome.

There are consumables and some of them have tags. One of the tags is "Meat", which increases base HP. It would offer more role-playing options, if there was a "Vegan" perk, reversing this bonus (like, -50% base HP, if it is meat, +10%, if it is not). And it would be nice, if there was the option to play as a left-handed person. Considering that it would affect only animations and the animations are independent from each other (as far as I know), it would require just mirroring the existing ones for the PC.

The Outer Worlds. Completed the game. In general, the ending was reasonably satisfying, except that awkward moment when Now I going to try one option, which I was unsure of and which is likely to take about 3 hours. Less, if I just run and ignore terminals. Somehow the open-world (or just very large locations with very imprecise maps) structure, a lot of small interactive mostly-useless objects and the first-person view (with my preference for melee combat) do not inspire me for another full completionist run.

The Outer Worlds. Finished Monarch.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/950670/Gothic_Playable_Teaser/ Gothic. I am unsure, if it is possible to recreate the original game and make it accessible for wider audience, but it does look interesting.

I remember uninstalling most of the pre-installed apps via CMD and disabling telemetry when I upgraded to Win10, but I can't remember how nor find the commands I used. Soon I will have to upgrade my PC (it is old) and reinstall the OS, so any advice is welcome.

God of Collecting Unique Equipment and Potions. At least, that's what I was doing in BG. I would add "Adventuring", but it is in Tymora's portfolio.

Do quest items and enemies appear only after I've taken the related quest or they are presented on the map from the start and I can grab the item/kill the boss first and receive the quest reward later?

As any companion can wear any piece of gear, is there a reason not to give them the heaviest armor and the biggest guns, regardless of their "class" or personality? I did not see weapon-specific skills on the character page, thus I assume that the default value is used to calculate damage.

A city is a hub with merchants, taverns, quest lines, a something to return to, that changes and grows (and, occasionally, burns). Kirkwall was unique as it changed over time, more than any other city (excluding Baldur's Gate and its DLC) could due to the structure of the game. I appreciated that. Also there was the capital in Fable III, but I don't remember much about it. A town is a something to get a few unimportant quests to turn in, loot everything lootable, kill everything killable, then move on and forget that it ever existed. Though, I did like Majula from Dark Souls II, but it was a hub with merchants and all NPCs ended up there, so it fits the definition of "a city in an RPG" above.

The Outer Worlds. I came to the conclusion that it is a horror game. I almost cried when I talked to the Moonman mascot, Martin Callahan. On the bright side, now I am becoming more sympathetic to the publishers who use DRM, while appreciating that Obsidian does not do so. Does anyone know, do quest items and enemies spawn only after I've taken the quest? Because I had cleared an outpost on Terra 2 before accepting the related quest, "A Fistful of Digits", and when I returned, the camp was populated again with my target (who had not been there before) sitting on the top of a container. Edit. Companions seem rather bland in terms of gameplay (as they have 1 unique skill and can use any piece of equipment regardless of their background, class or personality), and considering that we fight alongside more often than we talk, it is quite disheartening.

Looks promising. Though I do hope that there will be no rolls for out-of-combat skill checks. Timers are fine. I am very skeptical about it, but purchasing games at launch is a bad idea in general, unless you want to support the developers.

I agree with the OP. From in-universe perspective, employees are assets, assets' gender is irrelevant as long as they perform their function. Thus NBs should be able to change their legal and social gender, because it would be just one record in a database, nothing more. Though, it would not work with trans*people, because if "medical treatment is a privilege, not a right" and HRT and surgeries are not cheap (just like IRL), it would mean that low-level employees are unable to afford them (and can eventually succumb to depression), high-level employees can get through transition fast and issue-free enough to not consider "trans" as an identity. From out-of-universe perspective (technical), as gender identity =/= gender expression, just adding the pronoun "they" would be sufficient. There are not many instances, where the avatar's gender is mentioned. For NPCs it's pretty much the same. There was one NB character in an Obsidian game (DLC) and the player could not misgender them anyhow (could murder, but for unrelated reasons), so it is definitely possible to implement. And the protagonist of the Saints Row series could count as a good example, though "good" as "fun to play as", not "close to actual experience of the social group".

I use only KB&M with PC (and would use them with PS3, if I knew how). For DS too. The Outer Worlds. I successfully reached Edgewater. The town was terrifying. I can't quite explain why. The graphics are amazing, in terms of technology and style both. Somehow the open-world maps discourage me from exploring them (too large, too hard to determine quickly if something is relevant or just part of the scenery) and I just try to beeline to the next objective.

I've read about the presentation of information in Pathologic 2 and I think it could be applied to cRPGs (at least, the "Put info on the map" part). https://gameworldobserver.com/2019/08/12/pathologic-2-narrative-design/