kanisatha

Why not just not read those walls of text? I have found, in both that game specifically as well as other similar games, that not reading all the text doesn't cost you anything in-game. In fact, for me, there was a lot of text in BG3 that I found boring/unecessary, and I just stopped reading. And nothing bad happened.

Yes, that's why I said Larian went much further than Bioware ever did. They both took the 'big on presentation and production value' route, but Larian went much further than that.

Yeah, I agree with you on this. And for me, this is exactly what Larian did with BG3, but going even further, much much further, than Bioware ever did with its post-BG2 games. And of course, For Larian, this approach worked with BG3 in a way it never did for Bioware. But I attribute that entirely to the current generation of young people being much more into whiz-bang cinematics and prettiness of things as well as to the huge popularity D&D enjoys at present.

I was one of those that really liked this game (despite the TB combat). I backed its KS, and was very disappointed they didn't do a DLC or a sequel. I hope they go back to that IP in the future because I think it has a lot of potential.

@BruceVC, Solasta I is on sale in Steam. Base game 75% off. Bundle with all DLCs 53% off.

You're right. And that's why my Steam library only has 49 games in it, compared with most of you all who probably have games in the hundreds. I've become much more flexible about playing both action combat and TB combat games nowadays. The secret for me, I've found, is to play on Easy difficulty, thereby being able to get through tedious (TB) and/or aggravating (action) combat easily and quickly. Furthermore, RTwP combat doesn't automatically make it fun combat either, as the Tower of Time and Dark Envoy games demonstrated to me.

Humans have always been about scapegoating and very aggressively not taking responsibility for their own (in)actions, and AI/data centers, etc., make for excellent scapegoating targets.

But those studios you mention are exactly what don't give me much hope. Larian has returned to its Divinity IP, which I can't stand, and especially if their next game is a horror RPG, a genre I won't touch. Owlcat is now entirely about the WH40K IP, which again I won't touch. And CDPR's games, which I will at last try, are also not quite my thing because they're very much action RPGs. Fantasy genre non-action RPGs are now very few and far between, and being made almost entirely only by extremely small indie developers with just pennies for a budget.

And this is exactly what I fear about Obsidian (under Xbox's yoke).

Just started playing Zoria: Age of Shattering. It's a game whose crowdfunding I supported years ago, but am getting around to playing it only now. For a game made by just three people, it is pretty impressive so far. There are no bells and whistles. The aesthetics are very minimal, including character creation. But I am completely okay with all that. Still have to find out about the mechanics of the game, though. The one thing I've already learned about the game: there is a TON of loot to be picked up. And there is a lot of crafting and enchanting you can do right from the beginning of the game. If any of you has played the game, please share any beginner tips you may have.

A very sad day for me too. As I've said before, BG1 was my very first non-wargame video game. It introduced me to not only video games more broadly but specifically RPGs.

Finished Dark Envoy. As I said before, it's more of a dungeon crawler but with some limited RPG elements. Because I played on the 'Easy' setting, I could put my party on auto AI control for the combat encounters. That worked pretty well to get through the many, many combat encounters. The main story was somewhat thin, but good enough to hold my attention. Not too many side quests, but those that were there were pretty interesting. There is an extensive crafting and enchanting system, and it was easy to use, but I never really found a compelling need to use it because the loot drops had plenty of good-enough items. The best part of the game were the party companions. They were not very deeply presented/written, and yet I found all of them very likeable and had empathy for them. This in contrast with the BG3 companions, who were very deeply and extensively written and yet I found them (mostly) unlikeable and annoying. Goes to show that at least for me, how deeply/well written are companion characters is very much secondary to whether I will like the characters and enjoy having them in my party. Those two things seem to be quite separate from each other. Taking into account the game's price, and how much time I had to sink into it to complete it (not much), I'd give the game a 70/100. It was worth my money and time.

Yeah, tough call. I only buy on Steam so for me this is never an issue. And on Steam, I've seen the game on sale quite regularly. I'm sure it will have at least the same last sale price when the winter sale comes on in December. So, up to you whether you want to wait a couple of months or not.

I know!! A lot of cool monsters!!

I'll alert you if I see it on sale. Since I have Solasta II in my wishlist, and am subscribed to the developer newsletter for both games, I should get the alerts when they are released.

Dun dun daaa! It's happening!! <cue Alien theme>

Sorry! But you should've posted earlier. I regularly check this forum but only once a day. Yeah, there'll surely be a sale on it again very soon. Can't believe I missed listing Palace of Ice. Duh. Yeah, you definitely want that one too. All the content DLCs.

You definitely want to get the three content DLCs: Primal Calling, Lost Valley, Inner Strength. The supporter pack is entirely cosmetic, and the soundtrack one ... well. Those kinds of DLCs I never ever get ... unless they come free to me in some way. So, I do have all the DLCs, but that's because when I crowd-funded the game I took the "All Future DLCs" addon, which I always do. Whether the bundle is cheaper or going the individual DLC route, you'll have to figure out that math. Enjoy Solasta! It's a really good game, especially your first time playing it. Don't allow yourself to get hung up on the lousy visuals. And check out the mods for it. I strongly recommend the one that adds in multiclassing.

This too. The game does give the player a lot of freedom to do things their way, but there is very little reactivity or meaningful consequences to your choices and actions. For me, this was playing my own created character (which is the only way I will ever play). Perhaps this is a little better if you play one of their characters or the DU, but IMO the game should not have been made that way.

I've bought games with the "mixed" aggregate review status and have very much enjoyed those games. "Negative" I also will pass on, but "mixed" does not constitute "don't buy this game" for me.

Yes! I completely agree. And it was especially aggravating for me because those two are my most beloved companions from the first two games. So I was even more angry at what they'd done to those characters. One of the most important aspects of playing an RPG for me is playing with a party, and having those companions there with me as I go on my adventures. But with the exception of Karlach, and surprisingly Minthara, I just couldn't stand any of the others. And that contributed hugely to suppressing my enjoyment playing the game, especially because I was mandatorily using the party size increase mod, and I always ended up with at least half my 6-person party being companions who utterly irritated me.

I managed to complete it my first time only because of my completionist/'must-finish-what-I-started' nature. And I feel the same way as you: it's a game that in theory I should passionately love, and yet it is meh at best. Worse, because of how huge it is, that makes it even more likely I will not play it again because I can't bring myself to commit hundreds more hours to a game I don't care for that much. If it had been a smaller game, I could justify trying playing it a second or third time.

It's why Steam (and others) should do away with player reviews, because those reviews are worse than useless. They're often heavily manipulated.

Oh, I'm sure that a Fallout game made by Obsidian will be very good. But it won't be a good game for me. I react to all post-apocalyptic settings and games the same way I react to the Warhammer setting and games. They're way too bleak and depressing for me to be able to enjoy them. And that's not even factoring in the whole FPS aspect of the game, which is also a hard pass for me. Here's a thought, though. If games being made by Bethesda is what it takes for games to sell big, then perhaps even as Obsidian uses Bethesda's Fallout IP to make a Fallout game, Bethesda can use Obsidian's Avowed IP to make a "Bethesda" Avowed 2? [Sorry, grasping at straws is all I have left.]

I think this is the most likely scenario, and not just the worst case. And that is exactly the problem for me, because there are no Bethesda IPs that have any interest for me even though they may be popular with the masses. Between Bethesda and Obsidian, the PoE/Avowed IP is the best IP by a very wide margin, IMO. But we are never going to see another game in that IP, which is why I'm so sad to receive this news.