kanisatha

Just watched the Direct for TOW2. It seems to be a much deeper and richer RPG experience than Avowed. Having not yet played Avowed, though, am I right about this? And if I'm right, why? Was Xbox Games more willing to give TOW2 the budget it needed than Avowed?

Oh, so this answers my question from a couple of days ago. The third unannounced game Obsidian had under development is Grounded 2. Very dissapointed. 😞

All current games are 5e (or maybe more accurately 5.2e).

Here's the latest D&D-based new game to be announced. The article also lists all the others that have thus far been announced: https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/new-dnd-video-game-giant-skull/

^This. And also, I can't imagine any studio--and especially a studio that is not a huge AAA studio--wanting to deal with the pressure of living up to BG3 budget and sales expectations.

So ... unrealistic to hope that it could be PoE3? There have also been stories out there that Wizards of the Coast has been shopping around for devs to take on new D&D games in the aftermath of BG3's financial success, including a BG4. Now I'm quite sure Obsidian will pass on a BG4. But what about a NwN3, especially given the current timing of an "enhanced" edition of NwN2? Also, Tyranny2?

So, last year, after the reveals of both Avowed and TOW2, there were online stories confirming that Obsidian had a third unannounced game in development. I'm dying to know what it may be. Anyone care to engage in speculation about what it could be? If you happen to have actual info, that would be even better! 🙂

Just like what Putin is doing, so too the Ukrainian side needs to start out with maximalist positions on their demands. That's how you end up with things you can "give up" as trade-off concessions. It's a typical negotiating strategy.

Yup. This is my main criticism of the Pathfinder games as well. It's why I have to play them on the Easy setting so I can just breeze through the tedious filler fights.

I would play with an 8-person party. And I always have at least two animal companions. 😀 I've never cared about "balance." Party interactions, and having as many of my companions along for the ride have always been among the most important characteristics of the games I love to play. It's why I find it really difficult to truly enjoy solo-play games like Witcher or Elder Scrolls.

Well, you're never "cheating," because it's a single-player game. It's your game. You can play it however *you* want.

You are right. But if you look carefully, you will see this is the same with China too. And I have previously addressed why. It is because the current US administration views the world through a lens where the most powerful states have a privileged place in the world compared with all the other states. And for Trump, there are only three states in the world today that qualify for this privileged status: US, China, Russia. So Trump's actions toward Russia are not "pro Russia." They are deference towards a fellow great power state.

This was never in play. I think the problem with many observers, and especially foreign observers, is their ideological orientations+emotions rather than reality motivating their interpretations of what Trump is all about and what he wants. Neither Trump nor Vance are truly "pro-Russia," and they never were. But their critics desperately want to believe that. So they will. <shrug>

Following giving up on DA:I, I decided I needed to return to a good, old, classic cRPG. So I've started a replay of Pillars of Eternity 1. After playing PoE2, I thought I wouldn't ever want to go back to PoE1. But after one day, things are looking great. Playing a talky wood elf paladin.

No mods. And I did complete the game back in 2016. But now, replaying it, it's just too damn tedious. Maybe I just don't have as much patience anymore.

After giving it almost two months, I've decided to quit my replay of DA:I. As much of a slog as the game has been, surprisingly it was dealing with the main quest in the Winter Palace that finally did me in. Trying to get the final quest outcome I wanted was just too painful a chore because the game requires you to have everything work out perfectly a certain way through a very long quest. One little misstep or oversight and you're locked out of the preferred outcome. That's just way too much pressure and stress I don't need in my life right now. So, DA:I is done, very likely never to be revisted again. 😞

I thought Owlcat had said they were *not* working on another WH40K game (as in, it's neither Pathfinder nor WH). So they were faking us? Regardless, it seems they're now very much a WH40K developer and are done with Pathfinder, which means I'm done with them. 😞

I wonder what this means for the future of Avowed? No DLCs? They just now announced a road map for continued development of the game, so I am left somewhat confused.

Yes, some significant improvements over P:Km. And it's a very long game. So take your time and enjoy the ride. Relatedly but separately, have any of you done Owlcat's community survey? I think it is a very useful exercise: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P9XHP2L

Recently got my CD with this song on it, a song I loved hearing on the radio back in the '70s and early '80s. You folks from the UK and Australia may remember it 🙂

Same here. And in my case I have completely stopped watching those movies and TV shows now because the moment they say time-travel/alternate blah blah, it is immediately a hard 'NO' from me. I even refuse to play video games that do that.

Yes, China can do it too. And Trump is signaling he is okay with Russia taking Ukraine and China taking Taiwan if that also means he can take Greenland and/or the Panama Canal. Trump is essentially creating a 21st C. version of the 19th C. Concert, with the US, Russia, and China as its only members, and where those three states can do whatever they want in the world so long as they consult with each other and don't cross each others' red lines. And all other states are irrelevant. It is classic hardcore realism. As Thucydides once put it, "The strong do what they will; the weak suffer what they must." Btw, on Taiwan, although China could invade, and still may, I strongly believe they won't -- for this simple reason: China has spent the past few years ramping up its infiltration efforts inside Taiwan. It's strategy is to push in pro-China Taiwanese into positions of power within the Taiwanese government, military, intelligence services, law enforcement, industry, and civil society. This effort is pretty significant, even though no one, including the Taiwanese government, is talking about it publicly. And when the time is right, these infiltrators will launch a coup and overthrow the elected government and set up a Chinese puppet government that will then "invite" China to come in and "save" the Taiwanese people from US/Japan-controlled "splittists." This will all happen lightning fast, and will be all over before whatever governments exist at that time in Washington and other allied capitals can get their heads out of their asses. Classic Sun Tzu: victory without war. Mark my words.

Of all these old RPGs, the only two I really want remasters of are Neverwinter Nights 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. The first I am hopeful that recent find in SteamDB proves true and we will have it. The second I highly doubt will ever happen, which is a shame.

But still nothing on whether a third-person option will be available. :(

Well, apparently between 2016 when I first played DA:I and now, something's happened to my memory, which is rather disconcerting ... and scary.