Starwars

Brian Mitsoda confirmed on twitter that the protagonist is not voiced. Good news.

I'm replaying the Witcher 3 at the moment. It's a seriously impressive game but it does suffer a lot in certain areas I think. The whole Bloody Baron questline is a fantastic example. Here you have interesting characters, *great* atmosphere with the Crones in the swamp and all that. But the gameplay is so boring. There's just too much of "follow trail/follow NPC through the next set of drowners/wolves/whatever before you reach your goal". And stuff like the loot system, and "points of interest" system kinda sucks a lot of fun out of what is an really beautiful and wellcrafted world. I mean, it's kind of a shame... it's very easy to just lose yourself in the beautiful open worldness of the game but a lot of the gameplay is just really uninteresting.

I think Bloodlines has not only grown into a cult classic, but it also kinda "crosses over" a bit. 1. Hardcore RPG fans will like it because Troika and that design mentality. 2. Vampire fans (both Masquerade fans as well as "general" vampire fans) will like it. And even among games with vampires, it still feels pretty unique with its heavy emphasis on modern urban living. It's also very "adult" which will make people interested. 3. While the FPS mechanics aren't exactly great, the first person perspective and action-y gameplay bring in some people that don't necessarily like isometric or third person type of RPGs. 4. It's been kept alive through modding as well as the fact that it keeps being brought up by people as well as gaming sites. And it's readily available now through Gog and STEAM. But yeah, it is pretty crazy to think about still...

I'm having some Motörhead rum. The bottle is gorgeous and the rum is actually quite good. I normally like my rum a bit more sweeter and "deeper" in its taste, this is more on the kinda fruity or citrusy side of things, a bit more bright, but it's pretty nice.

Been having that game on my radar for a while, always glad to see something that is a bit different.

Just saw confirmation on the codex (via twitter) that Rik Schaffer is composing for the game, now that is quite awesome.

And the first Bloodlines also had a third person mode.

I haven't used them yet because I had Win7. And I still won't use them because ... I don't want to give them any more support than I already do via their O/S. It's not rational perhaps but yeah. I can sort of understand a perspective that extreme measures might be needed in order to get consumers to move away from what are current clients. People are often resistant to change of course. But I'd prefer/like if they could offer something more concrete to the consumer - like, different services/abilities Steam does not, or something along those lines - then "buying" exclusivity. Even something like a longer refund policy, like extending it to 3 or 4 hours played instead of just 2. Or how about being able to play Offline mode without having to login to Online to tell it to go Offline, first. Or a "revert to last version" patch ability in case the most recent patch makes you unable to play for some reason. Stuff like that. If you buy a game from the EGS you own it, the same as buying from GoG. The game can not be taken away from you if you get banned from your account, or removed from your Library by either GoG or EGS. Unlike with Steam where none of that is true. That right there is an improvement. I started using Steam under protest when it seemed that all of the series I liked at the time required Steam. I bought a physical copy of Empire Total War and Shogun 2 and was immediately forced to use Steam. The only thing the disc was good for was for running the Steam installer! Does it work like gog? Like you download an exe installer or?

I'm a bit out of the loop but what's the reason for people being so upset about the actual epic store? Is it really bad to use?

She is definitely the best romantic interest in the game. Though I think they kinda screwed up in that she can get captured by Brayko... should've been the other way around!

I finished up my replay of Alpha Protocol. What a glorious mess of a game it is. When it's good, it's really good. I particularly like the characters. Even though they are a very uneven bunch in terms of tone, they are all interesting and well realized. Leland is a glorious bastard, SIE is fantastically crazy and someone like Mina is just likeable. The cast is really great. But the tone really is all over the place. Sometimes it feels like they wanted to pull a real serious thriller, sometimes we go into something approaching anime territory and other times it just seems to be "hell yeah, explosions!!". The latter in particular is pretty annoying, both because the game doesn't do it well at all as well as it's just annoying to play stealthily and smart and then have Thorton do something completely stupid in a cutscene. The endgame section is just a mess. It feels like it's sewn together with bits from a million different iterations or how things play out, and then ruthlessly cut down into something that just barely works. But yeah, it's still a mostly entertaining game. The core gameplay isn't what I'd call good but I don't think it's all that offensive, except when they tried to do something more special with it. Stuff like the Brayko boss fight and fighting the helicopter near the end just don't feel very good (though Brayko's fight is such a cool setpiece audiovisually speaking). It's a shame that it's such an up and down game, but it's still definitely worth playing.

I've grown to kinda love Witcher 1. It's very uneven and some parts are just downright bad. But, it's one of those games that just feels so ambitious and "hungry". With interesting mechanics in the alchemy system and the boons you get from reading books. And the atmosphere is just outstanding. I think they really nailed the folk lore feel in it. Also, Vizima is probably my favorite RPG city in a 3D game. The Witcher 3 is easily the most polished. But in smoothing the edges out I find it also removed a lot of interesting things about the series. The Witcher 2 is just... weird.

Did you play the first game? Even though I really enjoyed the story in Witcher 2 (best in the series) it's one of those games I just have a hard time with. Just desn't hit the spot for me at all when it comes to the gameplay. I really, really loathe the bit in the middle where you relive the battlefield.

I started up Trails in the Sky, which had been sitting around in my STEAM library forever. Been a really long time since I played a JRPG and heard good things about this one. Buuuuut, yeah... I don't know, just a short while in and the character archetypes just kinda jumped out at me. Was really not in the mood for that it turned out, maybe another time. Seemed a pleasant game but yeah... wasn't working for me at the moment, hehe. Fired up Alpha Protocol on a whim instead, been a while since I played it. I mean, it's a pretty cool game. Playing it now really makes me wish that things had worked out better. An Alpha Protocol with maybe a slightly bigger scope when it comes to levels and with tighter gameplay and just less "messiness" would've been truly awesome. Still, it's a nice enough game. I like the variety of locales with Saudi Arabia, Rome, Moscow and Taipei and the character interactions are a lot of fun. Diamond in the rough to be sure.

I find it hard to pick between them. Personally I find that where Deadfire improved in some areas, it also did things worse in other areas. PoE1 had a greater impact on me but a lot of that can also be attributed to the hype level and the fact that we were finally getting a game like that again. But anyways... -I like PoE's bigger focus on per-rest mechanics a lot more, and I also enjoyed the health/endurance system more than what we got in Deadfire. Of course, that being said, Deadfire also managed to tune up the feel of the combat. Everything is clearer and easier to discern. Controlling it all feels smoother. I also find that the rate of encounters is *much* better in Deadfire overall. -I flove Deadfire's open world.. It's a lot of fun to explore. The system used in PoE never bothered me at all but Deadfire is really fun to explore with the world map. -I prefer the writing in Pillars by quite a lot. I never found it to oppressively bleak as some did and I never minded the fact that it tended to be a bit textheavy at times. I enjoy that even though the quality did vary. I don't mind the change in tone in Deadfire at all (I do think it was a good move just to set them apart) but I think I just enjoyed Pillars' style more. I like the companions more as well. -I definitely prefer Deadfire's approach to the structure of the game. That being the focus on the factions and who you ally with, exploring their motivations. That freedom of choice is one of my absolute favorite things with Deadfire. -With the DLC/expansions, I greatly prefer the White March. While I kind of enjoyed the DLC in Deadfire I must admit that my view on them has kinda soured a bit over time, they were really not at all what I wanted even though there are some nice points to them. I had a hard time with some of the writing in them and the gameplay is imo mostly tedious. -Neketaka has a big enough presence in Deadfire that I feel it's a thing that has to mentioned. I loved exploring it and I really feel like it pushed the game to new heights. PoE doesn't have anything that makes it feel as "dense" as that. -Deadfire has multiclassing, and that is just pure fun. Meanwhile, I do think the smaller party in a small bummer because I find that final party slot to be fun to sorta experiment with a bit. So yeah, there are parts to both that I both prefer and dislike. Again, PoE probably had a bigger impact on me but they are both great games to be sure.

It will get released on STEAM and GOG, but a year after being exclusive on the Epic store. Pretty crappy of them, no doubt. Don't think I'll bother with the refund though. I backed it but haven't followed it at all so I guess it's no problem for me to wait if the Epic launcher is totally horrible (never used it myself).

I've been playing a bit of Diablo since it came out on GOG. Haven't played it in a *very* long time, so it's kinda funny that I actually recall some of the NPC speeches when I hear them. I don't mean just the "stay a while and listen", I mean the whole speeches like when you choose "Gossip" or when you get a quest, haha. I really played it a lot when it came out... It's still pretty fun. I never got into Diablo II as I was one of the people who kinda fell in love with the atmosphere in the first one. It's not as effective now as it was then but it's still pretty cool. The simplicity of the game and how it works is actually kinda nice and makes it pretty easy to hop into for a quick playing session. It's a nice game, fun to replay it after all this time.

I think he just picks them up by their feet and use them as weapons if the need arises.

Civ VI with the Gathering Storm expansion. Not doing the AI any favors by adding more mechanics, especially to the late game. But it *is* a lot of fun to play regardless, really enjoying it.

Looking forward to the Civ VI expansion this week. But atm I'm playing Civ IV. What can be said about this game? It's just amazing, though I'm not supercrazy about some of the additions in Beyond the Sword. Even so, easily my fav game in the series. Never fails to completely suck me in and lose track of the time. Also playing a bit of Banished. Really love this game as well, been a while since I played it the last time. Another one where it's really easy to lose track of time.

Currently replaying Bulletstorm. One of those games where it's like... I'm having so much fun with the game, and at the same time it's like the biggest disappointment ever. With the weapons in this and the skillshot system, I would've loved a more open FPS experience. But, they opted for a very linear experience. It's such a shame... At the same time, the campaign is absolutely silly great fun. And ironically, it's very well written in that it understands perfectly what it wants to do and accomplish, and it does just that. What other game has the hero scream "here comes Butterdick Jones and his heavenly **** machine!" (will maybe be censored) and have it make perfect sense? Superfun but yeah, still a bit of a disappointment.

I gotta say that was very entertaing.

I wanted to like Sunless Sea so bad. Loved the idea, the vibe, the atmosphere of it. But I just couldn't stand A) the gameplay and B) yes, the writing.

Replaying Shadowrun Hong Kong after finishing up Dragonfall. As I remember it. Find it excellent overall, but more ambitious and at the same time more uneven than Dragonfall. Still loads of fun. Gaichu, and especially Racter, are just fantastic characters. Kind of a shame that the other three don't really reach those heights.

It's an awesome game.