Fionavar

February's Community Blog is submitted and being formatted for publishing on the 7th. In the meantime, if you have an inkling for the March edition, please reach out. Until the 7th, please checkout the various voices who have already committed to the Blog! https://forums.obsidian.net/blogs/category/2-community-blog/

We just watched Nightbitch ... as a family with a lot of pack members, rather enjoyed it!

Thanks, LadyCrimson ... I will also pass on your sleuthing

Heya BruceVC - I appreciate the nuance that cRPG are not intrinsically narrative driven. That has been my experience and I have found, though I love a good RPG, if it is not essentially story-driven I quickly loose interest. I think that is why SIMs interest me but tend not to hold my attention for very long!

Thanks, Hawke64. Yes the ability to branch with choices that feel real and have consequences has always been a strength. I think it is interesting the evolution since the original FO (1 & 2) and how ambiguity continues to be a strong component of the realism: if that makes sense?

The latest blog is now live. Hope it connects with some of your experiences, friends. As well, please do reach out if you have an idea/blog for March!

One of the primary reasons I continue to be drawn to Obsidian Entertainment, reaching back to the days of Black Isle, has been its commitment to great storytelling. This has been a quality that I believe has and continues to set it apart in the creative venture to tells stories through the gaming medium. I would like to delve into their artistic storytelling by highlighting just three examples that display their unique approach to narrative design. For me, I was hooked by their stories back in 1990s. When I discovered the stylised ‘isometric’ game of Fallout. It illustrated to me the importance to establish a foundation for narrative depth and complexity. In these early days, I believe Fallout telegraphed this hallmark of Obsidian's later works. The game's post-apocalyptic setting, moral dilemmas, and branching storylines captured my attention to the extent that much sleep was lost and it set my expectation quite high for storytelling in video games. And it all began with a water chip … Though the post-apocalyptic genre has always captured my geeky imagination, it has always been the fantasy medium to which I have been drawn. Some of the first books I dove into, as I discovered the power of the written words, were Tolkien’s and the vastness of Middle Earth. As I shared this passion with so many, Obsidian’s first foray into the genre, particularly through Gary Gygax’ D&D worlds, from Icewind Dale to Neverwinter nights, was amazing, but Obsidian’s ability to create its own IP was when they went to the next level. For me, the evolution of Obsidian has been their ability to create immersive worlds that come alive in dynamic ways. At the launch of the first Kickstarter for Pillars of Eternity, I knew that something amazing was happening in the maturation of the company’s ability to weave tales. The dedication to illustrating rich and detailed environments had me lost for hours. The world of Eora, which I believe will be further expanded in Avowed, exposed me to a living, breathing world with its own history, cultures, and conflicts. The depth of the lore and the complexity of the characters means my choices unfolded in meaningful and engaging ways. Beyond just the first title in the franchise, with Deadfire it was clear to me that my choices had consequences. This is a recurring theme in Obsidian's games, where my agency as a player is paramount. The storylines are often not linear path, but they present multiple divergent paths that lead to different outcomes. This approach not only offers opportunity to replay (if one had the time!) but it allowed me to feel like I was the agent helping the story unfold. Deadfire’s narrative, as an example of Obsidian’s narrative commitments, was further enriched by its well-written dialogue and memorable characters. The last example that I will touch on in this blog is the storytelling that shines in The Outer Worlds. If Fallout was post-apocalyptic, this recent addition to their creative library involves a journey through a dystopic future where the rich and autocratic corporations’ rule and individual freedom is intentionally oppressed. The story unfolds with satire on capitalistic greed. The satire presents a story that unfolds with a nimble wit and dark humour, which I believe is an essential component of Obsidian’s taletelling. As with their other stories, I felt I could become the Stranger. The character offered me a blank slate that allowed me to become the Stranger as I realised my choices would affect the fate of entire colonies, need alone my companions in dramatic ways. The writing is clever and thought-provoking, with plenty of twists and turns that kept me up much too late far too often! Let me conclude this musing, by focusing on Parvati’s Companion Quest. This component of Obsidian’s storytelling is what hooks me every time. Their ability to weave storytelling to liberate the player to see more widely through an artistic medium allows me to commit to the outcome of the story. Parvati’s relationship with Junlei is rich, human, and inspires me to see outside of the box. It allowed me to feel like I was hanging out with Kaylee from Firefly, recognising that in this dystopic future, love endures. The human connexion and emotion this questline evokes are profound, standing as a powerful challenge to the very real-life struggles we face outside the immersion of great gameplay. If a creative story can stir our hearts and show us options that translate into how we might aspire to be better human beings to one another, then those are the games I will passionately continue to play. And that is the true power of storytelling that I continue to experience from Obsidian after over twenty-years of my relationship with them.

Hi everyone - there was a hiccup for December's blog: sorry. I am happy to share that January and February's are ready! So, January's edition is coming! In the meantime, please do reach out if you have a musing you would like to discuss/contribute for the March edition!

Thanks, LadyCrimson. I will pass this feedback along.

Heya denizens and trolls, I am formatting and prepping the December 7th The Community Blog. As well, I continue to take submission for new entries. Please DM if you have an idea for new additions in 2025!

*peaks in looking around*

Writing some poetry in the midst of the internets being the internets ...

Thanks, @SChin!

Hello everyone - can you comment, as time permits, please, are you still experiencing slowdowns as you access the community?

We're in the final hours of the 10th Anniversary! Thanks so much to everyone who have helped us not only be the most successful Extra Life stream, but we exceeded our goal of $30k! Please do join us for the last few sessions before things wrap up at 1800 PST! http://twitch.tv/obsidian Donate today: https://obsidian.net/donate

We're in the final hours of the 10th Anniversary! Thanks so much to everyone who have helped us not only be the most successful Extra Life stream, but we exceeded our goal of $30k! Please do join us for the last few sessions before things wrap up at 1800 PST! http://twitch.tv/obsidian Donate today: https://obsidian.net/donate

Here's the Sunday Schedule ... http://twitch.tv/obsidian Donate today: https://obsidian.net/donate

Here's the Saturday Schedule ... http://twitch.tv/obsidian Donate today: https://obsidian.net/donate

Here's the Friday Schedule ... http://twitch.tv/obsidian Donate today: https://obsidian.net/donate

Please join us for a little, some, or a lot of the Extra Life Anniversary event this coming weekend, November 15-17. More info is below but know how important the Forum Community has been in supporting Obsidian. Please consider this an invitation to help us now help the chids!

The latest Community blog by @melkathi has been published: Ghosts & Goblins & Chocolate! While you check it out, please consider what musing might be percolating for you! Looking for new submissions for December 7th and into 2025. Please DM if you would like to explore this further

This is a story about sacrifice. It is also a story about nostalgia, but more than anything, it is a story about the sacrifices gamers make. We travel back to a time of low pixel count and greenish screens – specifically the summer of 1992. The radio that summer would blast SNAP! Rythm Is a Dancer and my cousin and I, shortly before our 13th birthdays, were in summer camp on the German island of Norderney. In the evening, after lights out, with eight kids per tent, obviously nobody slept. In our tent we did two things. Firstly, one of the boys had brought terrible horror novellas, and we read those. Over thirty years later I still have nightmares. Mostly because the story did not make sense – you can’t hide a whole labyrinth inside the walls of a bell tower! The second thing was eating chocolate and other sweets. And this is where this becomes a story of sacrifice. You see, the eating was predominantly done by the other six. The two of us would initiate it, but then we’d spend the night selling our stash to the others in the tent. In retrospect, we should have found a way to expand business to the other tents, but we were not even thirteen. There was a reason to this, which had little to do with entrepreneurial spirit. The camp organizers had permitted each kid a 50DM allowance per week for the two weeks of camp. Incidentally, as my cousin pointed out, 50DM was roughly the price of a new Game Boy game. Not eating chocolate but watching others enjoy my stash was not a choice. It was a sacrifice that only gamers will understand: others would eat so I could game. Everything went well. Until the very last day. It was hot. We were on our last excursion in town, killing time until we had to get the ferry. In the (heat of the) moment we decided to grab an ice cream. The worst 3,50 I ever spent. Also, one of the worst ice creams I ever had and most likely the reason why I still do not eat lemon ice cream. It almost put me off lemonade as well. An hour before we left, I dropped to 46,50. One, horrible tasting lemon ice cream was the reason I couldn’t pay for Gargoyle’s Quest solely through the chocolate black market. Mind, the entire process did turn Gargoyle’s Quest into one of my favourite games, even though it wasn’t really my thing – too dark in tone, too much jumping around spikes. In the end, the cool green daemon on the box cover turned out to be red! That was an unexpected plot twist. It highlighted something though about descriptions and plot relevance: how often do authors abuse the fact that in written format you do not have information until they give it to you? In comics, movies, and games, you see things from the start. Unless it is a greenish Game Boy screen and after hours and hours some NPC tells you: your skin is red. Two things I remember about Gargoyle’s Quest: how I made the money to buy it and how surprised I was finding out the protagonist was red. Also, the many spikes. Three things I remember about Gargoyle’s Quest: how I made the money to buy it, how surprised I was finding out the protagonist was red, the many spikes, and the gnarly trees, the inextinguishable flames, the different breath weapons… Among the many things I remember about Gargoyle’s Quest is that it is a game literally worth it’s weight in chocolate.

The November 7th is formatted and ready to be published! Until them, please (re)explore the submissions already available in The Community Blog. As well, I continue to take submission for new entries. Please DM if you have an idea for December 7th or into 2025! https://forums.obsidian.net/blogs/category/2-community-blog/

Thanks for sharing this amazing affirmation! I have let @The Guildmaster, @SChin, and Admin know ...

I remember my first MS-DOS 'real' 386 computer ... the incandescent glow I am sure was designed by Stephen King and was never conducive to sleeping well after gaming on it! Thanks for the sharing of you, Pidesco, always a gift to learn of another's journey!