kanisatha

Thanks! This is why I previously said I want to see what people in this forum eventually provide as feedback on the game, because unlike the Larian forum this forum has many people who I respect as intelligent and thoughtful people who can be counted on to provide honest and objective feedback.

I'd also point out that when I said things I don't like/I'm not interested in engaging with, I included systems and not just content. For me, all of the following in BG3 are either awful or a waste of resources that could've been spent on things I consider to be central to a good cRPG: all of the cinematics; full voice acting; the origin PC system; the Dark Urge PC system; all of the romances; the entire combat system; the entire tadpole system (not an exhaustive list; I may have missed a few more things). All of that taken together surely makes up a HUGE part of the game.

And I would agree with all this ... except in that BG3 does none of this. Yes, only having all the "correct" choices available to you is poor game design. But in BG3 you only have all the "incorrect" choices available and (for me) no correct choices. So it is exactly the issue you identify, just flipped. Several posters on the Larian forum have said that playing the super-good heroic character who wants only to do good and heroic things, *and* where the game recognizes and acknowledges and rewards the player for taking this path, is at best extremely difficult and convoluted to pull off (and perhaps not possible at all). I have looked at youtube videos showing all the major game endings, and not one of them is one I would consider to be a truly "good" ending. For example, whereas there are huge rewards for using the tadpoles, there are no rewards whatsoever for not using them. Even worse, in several dialogue instances, the game doesn't even recognize that you have chosen to not use the tadpoles and simply assumes that you have. This also happens for many other choices one makes on the "good" side, where the game does not acknowledge them in subsequent dialogues or choices or outcomes. Again, I'm basing all of this on feedback in the Larian forum from people playing the game (and who are huge fans of the game). So railroading looks to be a huge part of how BG3 is set up, just railroading us always toward the bad/evil side.

Not at all, because in WotR all of this is offset by a huge amount of content on the other side, more than enough to keep someone like me happy.

No, that's not the system involved at all.

Whereas these are the kinds of things one can do in the game that makes the game attractive to many, for me as someone who would never under any circumstances do any of this stuff I cannot justify paying for such a huge amount of content and systems in the game that I will simply never engage with.

No thanks. I don't want anything resembling BG3, and nothing to do with WotC. Obsidian's model for making good games is just fine, except for the recent 'first-person-only' thing they're doing.

Thanks. And to note, I am quite sure BG3 will do very well in sales for the type of game that it is, if for no other reason than that it is a DnD game and can therefore draw on the support of the millions of DnD fans. I expect it will sell on the order of 10+ million eventually. But it surely isn't in the same sales league as games like Elden Ring, Zelda, and CP2077, despite being in the same league as those games with respect to the resources devoted to making the game. I also believe that as more and more people finish playing the game they will end up finding many elements of the game, especially those elements central to a game being a good cRPG, very lacking.

Russia won't exist in 2254.

I'm not going to say anymore (about the deal with the tadpoles, and also about game endings), even with spoiler tags, because I'm truly curious and interested to hear what you and others here have to say once you've completed the game. But yeah, sadly, there's a lot of loud discuussion about all this stuff on the Larian and Steam forums, and also some "reviews in progress" from gaming journos (though they seem to think all of this is quite fine).

I know, right?! I loved that they had ending slides for so many NPCs, even a couple of ones I'd forgotten about like the guy from Pulura's temple, and in my game too I got really nice endings for everyone.

The hype isn't doing anything for me. I'm resisting it just fine. Besides, a lot of what I feared about this game appear to be coming true, for example my concerns about the main story not being compelling, the quality of the writing, the uninteresting and aggravating cast of companions, and that

Yeah I forgot to mention the ending slides in the summary of my game. I loved the ending slides I got. Only Camellia and Wenduag didn't end up in particularly good places, as was to be expected, but everyone and everything else worked out really well.

I do like the visuals from your screenshot. It looks nothing like D:OS, and that is a HUGE change from early EA visuals and a VERY good thing.

I don't see any reason to interpret things this way at all. The game sold a bit over 2 million during EA. And it sat in EA for three years. It should come as no surprise at all to anyone that when the game is finally released, those 2 million people who bought and played it during EA would want to immediately play the full game. Hence the huge surge in people playing it concurrently at release. There is no reason to interpret it as a huge number of NEW players wanting to play the game. I'm sure the game has had decent additional sales in the weeks leading up to and since release, but I don't see any "shocking" numbers.

I saw them in Nashville in 1991. Exact same experience. The cannons were awesome!! And for the opener, which I believe was Thunderstruck, we could hear the music but not see the band on stage. Then we all turn around and there's Angus jamming away and coming down from the rafters on a little platform in the back of the hall. He then runs through the crowd to get to the stage. Hehe. Just perfect.

An SSD is needed because the game is effectively a movie. For me the only significant way this game is an "improvement" over other cRPGs is that is entirely "cinematic," which I don't consider to be a plus point.

Good song. Fantastic in concert.

Hehe, yeah all true. I'm actually rather impressed that I was not spoiled about her, and for her revelations coming as a complete surprise to me within the game. 😀

Finally completed my first (Angel) run through Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous yesterday. Successfully completed the full secret ending. All in all a fun, great experience with the game. I more than got my money's worth, including money spent on the two DLC season passes. Looking forward to Azata, Aeon, and Legend runs in the future. Trying to decide what I should play next. Maybe go back to Solasta to the play the last DLC. I'm surely going to be buying Starfield, but I won't be able to actually play the game anytime soon. Like @BruceVC, I also have the rule of not playing a new game, especially a big new game, for several months until major patching is done (and possibly even the release of some DLCs). But in Starfield's case there's also the issue of needing to buy a new gaming computer because my current machine is 8 years old and won't handle it. I want to be able to spend a good amount of money on a really good new machine maxed out on processor, memory, graphics, and SSD. So I want to take my time and shop for a good deal/sale prices.

Finally completed my first (Angel) run through the game yesterday. Successfully completed the full secret ending. I liked the story very much. Sure, their writing could use some work, perhaps even a lot of work, but the story itself I found to be both interesting and compelling. It was a good story. I also liked most of our companions and generated the best endings for all of them except of course Camellia and Wenduag. And even those two ended up only with incomplete endings and not "bad" endings. And even the NPCs with ending slides all came out really well. I found the crusade management side of the game to be quite fine when using the lowest difficulty setting. It was even fun to build up my armies and then go around smashing demon armies. And with respect to spellcasting and buffing, those late-game feats that extend the duration of spells to 24 hours are *perfect*. I made sure all my casters got those feats, and once they were in place buffing became a breeze. Just one round of buffing casting was sufficient all the way to the next resting. All in all a fun, great experience with the game. I more than got my money's worth, including money spent on the two DLC season passes. Looking forward to Azata, Aeon, and Legend runs in the future.

Well, I happen to like reading/learning about things in the world around me. So I would advocate for some form of happy medium, and would point out that for those who don't want to read/learn about stuff, they have the freedom in the game to simply avoid it all. So what the game should do is be very clear in separating things that are necessary (for quests, story, etc.) from things that are there for flavor.

Thanks for sharing. The hype is strong in me. 🙃

Hey @BruceVC, have you ever been to Mossel Bay? Shark Week, going on right now, is my absolute favorite time of the year for TV-watching, and I especially love the leaping great whites of Mossel Bay, the thing I'd love to travel to SA for some day. Seeing Colossus come 15 feet out of the water with a squirming seal in its jaws is f---ing awesome! That's 18 feet and 4,000 lbs of fantastic seal-ripping fury!! 😀