Ganrich

Got through the initial character creation, and the first map opened upside down. Awesome... lol

Agreed, but it will bring melee wizards and other oddball builds into their own a bit. IMHO, that is.

Very much agreed. Haven't played yet (downloading now) because of work, but inclement weather will keep me from work tonight... sooo. Anyway, what I played of the Alpha... I agree. My only "but" is if the decisions in that sequence has more than minor ramifications down the line in the main story (other than stats, descriptor, class, etc, and of course Tides). If it does have those ramifications then I could see why InXile wouldn't have a generic character creation setup, but I still see it wearing itself thin like the Irenicus Dungeon, or any other opening dungeon in any RPG (OBLIVION being another major example). An example of larger ramifications being: that the memories you unlock based on decisions or even the outcomes of those decisions closing off or opening content later in the game.

Found these guys recently. For a first album, that seems self-produced, it is promising. Fuzzy space rock meets funk. Delicious. https://youtu.be/nKmd-9p66ZE

Yeah, he has recently made a Steam Review, and he had 1337 hours into the game. I believe his handle is Celerity (both on steam and the codex). It's a mixed bag on the Codex. Some see him as the typical "impossible to please codexian" and it seems that some share similar feelings on the issues he brings up. I haven't played the game so I don't know one way or the other. Alas, the codex is the codex.

The game has been in Early Access for quite a while now and developers were actively working on it, so it's quite possible developers introduced a feature said player strongly disliked and stopped playing the game there, thus the negative recommendation. If it is the review I am thinking of, and I believe it is, then Fenixp is correct. I occasionally read the codex at work (not a lot to read on 3rd shift as news doesn't occur much at 3AM EST), and every Darkest Dungeon thread has the reviewer expressing his disdain for the direction the developers took with the game during early access.

I don't play much from Japan these days. The older I get the less I like Japanese story telling, but that goes back to personal preference. I did love the first Castlevania Lords of Shadow, though. (I'm an old MetroidVania nerd). I would eat up a new Metroid, too. I haven't played Lords of Shadow 2, but snagged it on sale a while back. Although, since Capcom is relelasing SF5 on Linux... I may toss them money on principle. Other than DLC shenanigans... I cant see them screwing up a Street Fighter game too much. I do prefer the SNK games to Capcom, though. I will buy Tekken 7 day one, and that is even considering my main (Lei Wulong) isn't in the game, and that I've given up hope he will be. I can play as Heihachi and Paul well enough to overlook it. I try to support GOG and Paradox where I can. Mostly because they are both awesome. I actually bought Witcher 3 just to support CDPR knowing that I would likely lose interest before beating it (Which I did). They put a lot of love into their titles, and although I have issues with said titles... They deserve support. Even if I buy a steam copy of something (like PoE for quick and easy patching) I usually get a GOG version as well, but sometimes a little later. GOG Galaxy is changing that, though. It looks promising so far. I forgot 2 Activision titles I got early on. Transformers Fall of Cybertron was a day one purchase because of 5 reasons: 1) playable Jazz 2) playable Grimlock 3) playable Starscream 4) Metroplex was in the game 5) War of Cybertron was a blast for an old TF nerd like myself. I also snagged a PS4 copy of Transformers Devastation on sale during Xmas, but haven't gotten around to playing it. If it looks like or nods to Gen 1 Transformers... I will likely buy it. Obsidian, call Activision and see if they will let you make a TF RPG.

Or you could buy games from the developers, which still did not fall into mediocrity, and you could fill the gaps much better I really do not understand some of you. You people are complaining a lot about the state of AAA, and you are still buying AAA stuff, well yes there are some exceptions like Fallouts or Wolfensteins, but I am reading all the time how you ended up disapointed by their latest release, but still rushing to preorder their newest ****, despite your disapointment. *shakes head* I do not rush to buy AAA games anymore. I can't speak for anyone else, though. The last AAA game I purchased day one was Witcher 3. I haven't bought, or preordered, an EA title since Titanfall. I wasn't disappointed with it, and will say it is my favorite competitive shooter in years. Prior to that was DA2 and BF3. I hated DA2, but BF3 was good. I did get BF4 well after launch, but it was just BF3.5 in a lot of ways. Activision makes very little I care for, and that includes Blizzard. So my last preorder or early purchase was CoD 4. I don't play WoW, Starcraft 2 didn't have enough for me to justify $60, and Diablo 3 had the RMAH which I found an abhorrent idea and boycotted on general principle. Take Two... Probably Bioshock Infinite, but I wasn't really disappointed. It was about what I expected. Ubisoft... I can't think of the last title I preordered or bought close to release. They don't make much I care about these days, and what little I do buy is on a steam/gmg/whatever sale. Even then it's rare. Rockstar - I would preorder Red Dead Redemption 2, but little else. I haven't bought anything from them day one since GTA 3. WB Games - probably the one I am guilty of because I did buy Arkham Knight day one, but it ran well enough on my PC to beat it. My issues with it were mostly story related, and the Batmobile being annoying. Anyway, my point is that I don't go in blind anymore, and haven't for many years. I especially don't go in blind on Ubisoft or EA though. At this point most of my gaming is via indie devs, and I do support kickstarters. I am picky about crowd funding though. I have only backed PoE, Torment, Shadowrun games, Shenmue 3, Hard West, and Star Citizen. Between the titles I listed and Wasteland 2 and FTL... I like Kickstarter's track record (more than AAA these days, but that is personal preference.

This is awesome. I hope Disney officially makes Kotor 2 part of Canon again. It struck me as odd that after forever and a half that it started getting official patches again. Maybe that's a sign.

I don't get the Ubihate. I've enjoyed pretty much every Ubi game I've played. Then again I've never played a NEW ubisoft game. I always play them years later after they've stopped patching. Other than their launch issues... My issue lies with Uplay, mostly. I just don't like it, and their always online games that require it seem to have internet issues for far too long, but that goes back to launch. My other issue is that anything from them without a Tom Clancy tag involves running around an open world climbing towers to unlock the map. Farcry and Assassin's Creed both do it. Their gameplay design in those games tend to be pretty repetitious as well, but some people like that. I'm not a fan. The only exception in that design that I enjoyed was Farcry 3 Blood Dragon, but that was because the humor carried it. Last but not least, constant Assassin's Creed installments, Farcry is close behind, for a while so was Prince of Persia, but no Beyond Good and Evil 2 (However, they have teased it for years). Beyond Good and Evil was a great title, and was lost in the Ubisoft shuffle of other IPs. Also, they overuse the term "iconic" in every interview about every game, and it grinds my gears.

I will second that Monks are a blast. They wreck stuff really well. I kind of felt like the Hulk playing my Monk, and the creatures and people of Eora kept making him angry. They didn't like him when he was angry. Paladins are a great class to start with. I am playing one now, and he is a solid presence on the battlefield. He is never top damage, but he is a solid fulcrum for a group to be built around. He can, and does, put some hurt down when it's needed, though. They are also good at maintaining the frontline with buffs, heals, and the like. Basically a support class that can do a bit of damage. It's fun.

Bit of a learning curve to it. Especially with shooters. However, once you get use to it... It works better than analog sticks IMHO. It works great for Shadows of Mordor, and I would expect the same for similar titles. If there isn't a decent profile for the game... It takes time. Some games are even still problematic. I tried Torchlight 2, and I dunno if I can get it working well. I need to fiddle more, but the top profiles are... Yuck. However, I have little desire to play it anymore so I likely won't bother. I was really just experimenting. Games like PoE, Wasteland 2, Shadowrun, DOS, etc are all fine. Platformers work great. FTL plays well enough. I tried a little of Tex Murphy Tesla effect and it worked fine. I imagine point and click adventures will be great in general. I haven't tried any 4x, RTS, or builder type games like Cities Skylines or Sim City though. I got it mostly to play PC only mouse driven games on the TV, and built a little steam machine to go in the living room as well. works great. Honestly, the trackpads work much like a track ball in most cases. You slide your thumb quickly and the cursor goes for a bit still even after you lift your thumb. However, these things are changeable in the settings. The settings are insane, and that is a good thing. You can really get nitty gritty with it. The paddle buttons on the back of the controller are ingenious. They rock for Shift buttons in games that have a lot of commands, and in PoE my profile uses them to change the speed from slow motion to Benny hill running. If you have any specific questions shoot me a PM, though. I will answer to the best of my knowledge when I have time.

I don't quite agree with the whole technology has been stagnant line. Nintendo at least has tried changing its controllers every generation. For example, the wii controller has much more pointer fidelity than a controller. You can even use it relatively easily in a simple RTS, like Dawn of Discovery. That style still has a ton of work to do to get it to the pointer fidelity of a mouse, but it hasn't been stagnant. PS Move and Kinect come across as me toos, but at least there was some experimentation in the last generation. Although, you are correct... None of those control mechanisms have come close to replacing the old paradigm on consoles. The Wii being the odd duck because they were aiming at a different demographic. There has been zero effort to make the standard controllers better. Perhaps they use higher quality parts than they did in 1998 (or whatever year), but analog sticks are as inaccurate today as they were 20 years ago. When did analog sticks come out on PS controllers? I know it was after the initial launch. Either way, the only changes have been slapped on after thoughts. Such as motion controls and a touchpad. Now, I would say those improvements would have come if the consoles weren't so locked down, but with Sony and MS holding the reigns on what controllers are used it won't happen as anything but a "us too" move. That's why you are seeing it on the open environment of the PC with the new Valve controller. The land of 3D mice, full hotas controls, sim panels, sim steering wheels, sim pits, gameboards like the g13, standard controllers, joysticks, even motion controls, and soon to be VR headsets, etc. Honestly, if anything will change what controls are in games it is likely to be VR, but we will see. In the end, only Nintendo really tried, and it didn't dissuade gamers from the standard controller. So, why not make the controller more accurate with touch pads? Because Sony and Microsoft are risk averse by nature and didn't want to lose sales footing to the other because of a failed bet. Also, the 3rd party controller makers have to follow those standard designs. It takes a $200 device to use mouse and keyboard on some consoles, because the hardware makers don't want that variable (balance wise) on the system. Also, why would they? They don't care about the kinds of games that are mouse driven. They only want shooters, beatem ups, and other controller friendly games because those tend to sell the best. The current console paradigm inhibits innovation by its very nature. Same with a lot of closed systems in electronics. Edit: just wanted to add that Nintendo is the only one in the position to try to innovate because they have been 3rd in most console gamers hearts since MS stepped into the ring. When your company doesn't have much to lose... You try new things. If the Wii had been a failure would we count it as progress? Look at the Wii U. MS and Sony can't risk a flop in sales like the Wii U has been, and this is from someone that owns and enjoys the Wii U when a solid game comes out. Still want a Metroid game, though. Even now Nintendo is working on a new console to get back into the game. It may not replace the Wii U, but they can't afford to try and salvage the system any more.

Technology "has" gone far since Baldur's Gate, but controllers have been fairly stagnant since the PS1 introducing analog sticks. Valve's controller is the most forward looking controller in 20 years, and even still the game would have to fundamentally change to accommodate any other controller. If you change the game to accommodate the controller then the game changes, and not necessarily for the better. I much prefer PoE to its controller friendly brother Dragon Age: Origins, but that is personal preference. Ironically, the gamer community clamor for innovation, but when it comes (steam controller for example) they tend to cry about "if it isn't broke don't fix it." If console gamers want games that are mouse driven they need to ask the console makers to push controls beyond analog sticks and reach beyond their comfort zone. Edit: And yes they PS4's touch pad is in an abnoxious location, and I would personally think it would be too much so to play the game. I can get by on the steam controller, but if I can use my mouse and keyboard... PoE is better for it.

I have a steam controller, and even with the track pads it's overwhelming at times for the reasons listed above. Although, I am getting use to it. Controlling the mouse cursor without those trackpads would be a deal breaker i think.

Honestly, I saw the trailer and then I saw Ubisoft, and was like "whatver." I have climbed enough towers to unlock sections of map for a few years. Also, I hate Uplay, and Ubisoft's online games (or online requirement for games) never work at first and they keep doing it.

Fallout 1-2 also have no where near the depth of combat and character abilities of Eternity. Same can be said for Wasteland. The recently released Underrail does, though.

I don't know why, but I all of the sudden want a shirt with a picture of Snape on it that says, "Ho Ho Ho Now I have a Patronus too."

Removes the strategy element from the game. You thought min maxing was bad before now everyone just makes 6 people picks all the best skills of all the classes and has a 6 man mary sue death squad that can steam roll the game and breaks all balance. In an action oriented game you tend to only have yourself, or AI controlled companions. Balance in a strategic game is much easier to achieve if there are restrictions on who can do what. It works in Fallout, though. I think a classless system is more interesting when turn based, but I chalk this up to taster's choice. I dunno how it would feel in a RTwP game.

Well, this blows. Best Die Hard villain, only good part of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, only person on Earth that could have played Severus Snape, nailed Marvin in Hitchhiker's Guide, etc. he was always someone I loved to see in a movie, and even if the movie was subpar... He never was.

Yeah, the jovial banter is a strength of those titles. There is a good one in the 3rd game involving a water well. Don't want to spoil, but it is pretty hilarious in a corny, cute kind of way. I own a PS4 just for the Uncharted Collection, Uncharted 4(when it comes out), and Tekken 7 (when it comes out). I replay those 3 games from time to time. 2 is my favorite, but 3 is great as well. 1 was a solid game as the first in a series.

According to an AMA yesterday, Oculus is essentially trying to be the Steam of VR too. They helped fund a bunch of exclusive VR games to get people to get their games through the oculus store (games are exclusive to the store, not the Rift.) So their endgame isn't to have the most pervasive hardware, but to be the goto place for VR everything. I was sitting here thinking to myself, "You know what I want? More storefronts to make my PC experience more obnoxious. To top it off, we need a new technology that is Apple-esque and hampers adoption.". /sarcasm IMHO, this thing requires a PC to be worth it. The specification requirements will dictate it for a long time. If that's the case I don't want to be required to shop at a single store for games. Whether that is oculus' store or Steam. The games should be everywhere and the hardware should differentiate itself via hardware features and price and not a locked down store of exclusive games. This is why the Vive exists. I bet Valve caught wind of the exclusive games on oculus' store and started working on a competitive option to oculus. Funny that Valve was working with oculus for a time, and possibly built their biggest future competition. This is the $2 Billion Facebook purchase talking. I'll hedge my bets that the open option wins and this will go down like android vs Apple. While oculus will be the Apple and carve out %20 adoption and all open options will have %80 market share because of varying prices. We will see.

2 days after Blackstar released. I haven't had the chance to buy it. I'm going to try and get it in the next day or so.

I loved the premise of the game, and that was enough to get me through the gameplay. I would dearly love the story to be completed as well.

I don't know for certain if the cast consumes the corpse, but I think so. I also think that a gibbed enemy doesn't work. If there is no body... It can't explode. I am pretty sure the reason its damage is so good is because of the conditions required to cast.