kanisatha

Thanks for this review. If you have the time and are so inclined, I'd love even more detailed thoughts you have on the game. It is one of the games in my Steam wishlist but I am very skeptical about it. Seems to me like it would a game I would play just once and then never touch it again. So I want to know if I would at least get my money's worth for playing it once.

Yup, this I know. Just only running system processes and security/protection processes, I'm at about 4% of my CPU and about 27% of my RAM usage.

Thanks!! Very useful. Even though I personally am not very computer-savvy, as an academic I know how to research something and I did my research on this very issue and found pretty much what you say here. That's exactly why, even though I bought my current machine in 2015, I'm waiting on the next one because I want next-gen everything.

No, my gaming machine is a desktop, one of Dell's Alienware series with a 24" 4K display. By 'miscalculate' I meant I'm wondering if I should've gone ahead and increased my RAM even though I anticipate buying a new machine in a couple of years. I also have a laptop provided to me by my employer, but that is not at all suited for gaming. And my employer being the state, they actually spy on us through the computer!!

Well, my machine has an i7-5930, 16 GB RAM, and the GTX980 card. The videocard is clearly below their min specs. But I also worry about the RAM because I'm not sure I could free up 75% of my RAM for a game. Last year I thought about expanding the RAM, which seems to be the only component I can upgrade. But then I thought the machine is about 7 years old now, and prolly should be replaced in another year or two, so why bother upping the RAM. Did I miscalculate?

Go into gameplay settings and turn off somatic components for spells. Yeah that is a huge pain, especially if your cleric is a shieldbearer.

I just saw the minimum system requirements for Elden Ring. I have a pretty decent gaming desktop and yet I don't meet even those minimums. Might be the case with other AAA games coming up as well.

Late 70s and 80s was my pre-teen and teen years too! And Led Zeppelin is my #1 all-time favorite rock band. I have a large Stairway to Heaven poster hanging on my office wall, and it's funny that my students will often comment on it.

I agree, and I personally would be okay with some of those changes to the old, classic formula if they would bring in more people, even if I personally don't need or care for those changes. My fundamental philosophy as a person is in support of things that make the widest range of people happy (but without sacrificing core principles). For example, I actually prefer third-person perspective over the isometric perspective. I view high-end graphics as a luxary, but one I would be happy to have. Full voice acting; some form of multiplayer; release of a toolset so people can create mods; all things I can live with even though I don't want any of them myself. And having both RTwP and TB combat is especially fine, so long as they don't cave to pressure to make it only TB.

P:WotR season pass Patron DLC

The sales numbers for Grounded have had me doing some thinking. It is my understanding that TOW also has done extremely well in sales. So it would appear the sales numbers for PoE2 are a unique outlier for recent Obsidian games. As such perhaps all the theories across multiple threads in this forum alone trying to explain those numbers are all irrelevant. Maybe it was just a case of some idiosyncratic factors (including clearly also a bad marketing strategy) all coming together coincidentally in a 'perfect storm' for PoE2, where there really were no meaningful factors about the game itself driving those lackluster sales figures. Personally, I feel (very strongly) that Obsidian and Sawyer are having exactly the wrong reaction to those PoE2 sales numbers. If it were me, my reaction would be to be even more passionately motivated to do a third game, if for no other reason than to demonstrate/prove that the low sales of PoE2 were a meaningless aberration, a fluke. If Obsidian and Sawyer do come to their senses and stop wallowing in PoE2 self-pity, I would have one piece of advise for them. DO NOT try to yet again recreate the rules and mechanics of the game as was done going from PoE1 to PoE2. Just leave those things along. Okay, I suppose it would be fine to tinker with a few things where there is a broad consensus including with the fanbase that some improvements are warranted. But generally, let the rules and mechanics be. Focus all of the game development time and resources and talent on the story, the characters, and the world. Do this, and I am convinced they can have yet another hit in their hands.

A side-point and a caveat: Side-point: I never cared for the first NwN game because I love my D&D games to be party-based and that game, even with the minions you control, just doesn't sway me much. I did/do love NwN2. But, I always loved the 'regular release of modules' game concept of NwN, something akin to the old Gold Box games model. Caveat: I am only at level 3 in Solasta right now. The enemy combat strategies are quite sophisticated. Pretty good so far, I'd say.

Way to go, Obsidian!! Not my game, but extremely happy for them.

I'm now far enough into playing Solasta that I can provide a first report. Personally, I'm loving playing this game. It's finally a game that sincerely scratches my D&D itch. I've also come to appreciate 5e a whole lot more because of this game. I think I will always like 3.5e the most, just because that was my personal prime D&D-playing years edition. But 5e is definitely second-best. The game is extremely faithful to 5e rules, and even such things as held actions and reactions are done beautifully. For a TB game, combat goes by pretty quickly. You have a good amount of options available to you in each turn of combat. The tutorial explains everything very well. The game includes character backgrounds that actually matter, and passive skills and spellcasting outside of combat are used extensively. Verticality and movement in 3D is awesome, including flying, spider climbing, etc. And yes, TA did this first. Larian copied TA for BG3. All in all, a truely delightful gem of a game. For negatives, a very superficial one would of course be that the graphics and character models are not very fancy and sometimes look a bit odd. For some people this may be a big issue. For me, I couldn't care less. It is good enough. The voice acting is fine, though both written and spoken lines could use some more polish in places. The main criticisms I'd offer are party size of only four, no multi-classing, level cap not all the way up to 20, and the game needing more content to explore. For the first issue, this may be the one game where this is okay, because they often attach critical NPCs to the party for certain quests. Early in the game we even get two such NPCs attached, effectively forming a party of six. As for the other three issues, I feel they all will become moot after we get the next DLC or two. TA's approach for this game appears to be to provide the core game plus a complete campaign first, and then release new DLCs every so often with a completely new, standalone, full-sized campaign. The DLC they're working on for a March release is exactly such a DLC. So TA seems to be doing what NwN was originally supposed to be, with TA's terminology being "campaign" in place of "module." You also have available to play user-created campaigns made with the "Dungeon Maker" toolset they have created and included with the core game. These are available in Steam Workshop and can be very easily added to your game. More to come.

Yeah I barely made it through watching the entire first season, and have zero interest in going back for anymore of it.

For me, this is as it should be. Your class choices should be irreversible. Respecing should only be for changing your choices of abilities, skills, spells and the like, if that. Whatever happened to the concept of living with the choices you make? Isn't that at the heart of roleplaying?

The truth is out there!!!

You're welcome. I love playing TOAW4. I do get tired of it after a while, so I play a couple of scenraios, take a break from it, then go back to it again later. Kinda' like how I play Civilization. And if you are into old-school hex-based WW II naval/carrier battles, Carrier Battles 4: Guadalcanal (also on Steam).

Matrix Games' The Operational Art of War IV (available on Steam) has the most up-to-date gaming system of all those old operational-level wargames, and it comes with some nice WW II scenarios to play. Some nice WW I and pre-WW I scenarios as well.

I'm starting Solasta today. Have to admit to being a little bit excited about diving into 5e D&D. I've been playing in 5e games through Roll20 with a group of friends, but playing just my own limited PC hasn't given me a true exposure to all of 5e.

Awesome! Fast jets never get old with me. Not sure if modern jets can dump and burn. I get to see MANG (Massachusetts Air National Guard) F-15Cs low over my house quite often. No use of burners though.

I also finished the game on Friday. And I agree with you very closely. I think I successfully did almost all of the small side things while solving the case and finishing with no loose-ends left. My ending was quite perfect and very satisfactory, having refused to get on the airship, averted the bloodbath, and a perfect outcome to the shootout with the mercs (though without the spirit bomb). Finding that giant bug was a sweet bonus. My Harry was 4, 4, 2, 2. What was yours?

Prolly an early NGAD demonstrator. Looks very cool.

I watched La Brea. I was initially skeptical, and the some of the early episodes pushed me towards dropping the show (all the infidelity and who's sleeping with whom crap). But the last few episodes salvaged it, and now I am looking forward to its return for season 2.

Haha, as soon as I read KP's post I was going to post exactly this! You beat me to it.