majestic

Let's be fair, they're not tricking themselves that much. The game looks like The Banner Saga, sounds like The Banner Saga and it certainly plays like The Banner Saga. The combat is more fun and gaining experience isn't as annoying. Of course it tells a different story in a different way and branches about much more than TBS. That seperates it obviously, but you still could move any assets between the two games without anyone batting an eyelash. edit: I enjoyed Ash from Gods, don't misunderstand me, but they're like non-identical twins. Seperate yet very similar.

I'm just so puzzled by this sentence. I mean, it comes across as forced, rather than a game recommendation. Anyways, added to my wishlist, so thanks for the heads up. When the game first came up (it also had a Kickstarter) there was this minor internet drama about how Ash of Gods looks just like The Banner Saga. Understandably so, considering the artstyle and the setup of the turn based combat looks like taken directly from a Stoic side project. People even believed they might be backing a Banner Saga addon. The rest is #justsonicthings, really.

“Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast, And each will wrestle for the mastery there.” -- Faust On the one hand I love this - it's a great trailer and given Lucas' inspirations for Star Wars it's a perfect fit. As a Star Wars fan I'm loving it. On the other hand the character's artstyle rubs me the wrong way. It's just off. The contrast is made worse by everything else being spot on - animation, scenes, cinematography, editing. So this is both totally awesome and weird to a point where it confuses me. Strange feeling.

Wasn't that the originator of the Crazy/Hot scale in pop culture? Maybe, I really don't know. It looks like typical sitcom material so it makes sense to come from or being popularized by one, but I don't know that many sitcoms.

That kinda reminds me of an HIMYM episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HO717nZD-4

No, that's not a meme, it's an RPG launcher. Specifically an RPG-7 by the looks of it.

Literally!

I have no idea how saving was before so I can't really answer that. There are one-off save game stones in between, but they only let you save once before going inactive - or use them up to get experience. It could be that they added these in later and that the only reusable stones were actually in Skara Brae Below before the complaints. So just like the old games where saving was only possible in the guild. Meh.

Were you talking about the original Bard's Tale? Because that game has no skill points at all, you just get random stat increases as level up - par for the course for RPGs of the time.

In the first Bard's Tale an arch mage is a caster who mastered all four spellcasting classes. When you go to the review board your casters can change classes. You should do that whenever you hit character level 13 with your current spellcasting class and learned level 7 (the highest level) spells because there is no going back. Then you go the review board, learn everything and go to change class and have your magician and your conjurer turn into a sorceror. You'll be reset to level 1 but keep your current spell and hitpoints as well as all the spells you've learned up until then. Also please note that changing classes resets your experience to zero so if you're close to getting level 14 you might want to get that level up before switching classes. That also means you shouldn't worry about spell points too much. Your casters are going to level up much more than everyone else. By the time you're done with the next dungeon they'll be fielding 200+ points each.

Man, Season 2 of the ReBoot reboot is coming out next week. I can't wait to see the, uhm... what's her face and what's his face and the other two and V'ger again. And the mom character. And the evil Sourceror who totally isn't jock-nerd's supposedly dead father who was in no way betrayed by whatever character Nicholas Lea played (because he's the kind of guy you cast for trustworthy characters, right Krycek?). Wait was it the jock-nerd's father who died or the nerdy nerd's father? Damn. I'm hoping this will be as bad as the first season. Becaue if it isn't then there's no reason to watch at all.

Oh, yeah. Backing the game was worth it for the remastered trilogy alone, so it's not all bad.

Now might be a good time to train a monk or a hunter instead of one of the warriors.

My biggest gripe since it is the one thing they can probably not patch is the saving system. While out questing you're essentially running across one time saving pillars in the world you can either rub for saving the game once or getting experience. It adds a certain element of dread to the game of course, but the systme is ridiculous considering one can't skip cutscenes and might lose an hour worth of progress to a technical issue.

Seems like it'll be two weeks or maybe three, here's inXile's current Bard's Tale IV patching roadmap:

You're not really supposed to recover from the covenant but it is possible under the right conditions. It's fun to see but it can end with an instant game over after the time runs out. As far as the computers go, yeah, they're supposed to define the ship's role. It works better with some than others. Now I don't really know what sort of fleet compositions the current patch favors but in the past the game essentially came down to spamming evasion capped torpedo corvettes at your enemies. If that's still the case then you can only pick from one type of computer anyway.

The actual game isn't bad. It's just that the program actively conspires against you playing it. The loading times that make Pillars pale in comparison, framerate drops, invisible icons in the inventory, skill points that appear placed but aren't, quest and item text that's barely readable due to terrible UI scaling, graphics and resolution settings that simply don't work, oh and the language setting that automatically resets every time you turn the game on. Yep. Those are bad. REALLY bad.

I think I'll be putting playing Bard's Tale 4 off until Friday when inXile's first promised patch with much needed improvements hits.

Played BT4 for a bit. It's a very inXile launch. Best bring some patience, this is going to be the usual patching rodeo.

That very much depends on the member state. Gambling laws are notoriously complex and each member state has their own. If lootboxes were to be classified as gambling (or a game of chance*) they would fall under each member state's regulation - in some states publishers might be able to get a gambling license and continue to sell lootboxes, to mature audience only though, in others not so much. *Outcome determined by luck, not skill. The distinction is also done on a member state level and adds another layer of complexity with very fluid lines. Black Jack is usually a game of chance, but Texas Hold 'Em often isn't (even tough there's arguably a layer of strategy for Black Jack).

Got a mail that my Nintendo reward points will go belly up soon in an attempt to sucker me into buying something shiny for my Switch. It worked, I grabbed Ghost 1.0 from the shop, which is something I wanted to play when it came out but then didn't get around to and forgot. Pretty awesome so far.

These are the things that keep me up at night. But... but... Invisigoth looks like this:

The game resets to morning when you visit the Adventurer's Guild (the building you started at). That's how you survive the early nights - by not bothering with them.

Don't bother save scumming for scrutinize, it has a reasonable success chance anyway and you can easily afford to restore your reputation at the tavern. Sure money looks tight at the beginning but it really isn't. Especially once Tressa learns her divine skill (minor spoiler: It gives you the damage it causes in cash).

While there are eight characters and eight path actions they come in similar but not equal pairs. Cyrus and Alfyn both use their path actions to acquire information - Alfyn's never fails but is level gated while Cyrus' can fail but can be used at any time. Tressa buys items from NPCs, Therion steals them. Primrose and Ophilia will get NPCs to follow (for quests or to be summoned in battle) and finally H'aanit and Olberic can fight NPCs. Essentially you've discovered the full extent of the NPC busy work already. Guide and allure are only used to bring NPCs to their destinations. There's actually very little grinding along the character stories and eventually your main party can pull lower level characters through their respective chapters. Out of the path action busy work you can generally skip barter/steal and challenge/provoke unless necessitated by quests up until you hit chapters 3 and 4, but you can find enough gear on your own through quests and shops that it doesn't really matter. Side stories also never give experience, only money and a couple of items. Inquire is essentially the only one that really has benefits good enough to warrant extensive use. Many side quests just require knowledge gathered from some other place and knowledge can improve your path skills and unlock new items at shops, give discounts, etc.