kanisatha

I didn't find P:Km's writing to be an obstacle to my enjoyment of that game. For the record, I agree with the criticisms of its writing several of you have brought up. But I was able to just slough that off and thoroughly enjoy the game for all of its other goodies. In fact, it, along with PoE1, is now my go-to game for replay. Obstacles to my enjoyment of an RPG are such things as: first-person perspective; NOT party-based (including if party-based but with too small a party, i.e. party of just four); focus on multiplayer over single-player; and, TB combat. So clearly these things are subjective. To each their own.

Stop saying "WOTC." It's WotR!! You guys are confusing the hell outta' me.

Yes indeed, and about damn time! "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli"

Hehe. The idea would be to use multiple ships. And also given the shallow depths of the shipping channels of these waterways, a ship sinking to the bottom can still be a nasty obstacle to an unwary vessel.

Hey @BruceVC, the studio is owned by Wizards Digital (the new name for Wizards of the Coast), so the studio is not just working on a Wizards game. Also, it is supposed to be a sci fi-fantasy game, so not D&D or M:TG. Some entirely new IP Wizards is creating, where the CEO of Wizards recently mentioned that given how successful the company is right now they want to create a few entirely new IPs.

That the Suez Canal could be blocked by sinking a ship in it has been widely discussed for years among international security circles, myself included. And btw, the same holds for the Straights of Hormuz, the Straights of Gibraltar, and (to a lesser extent) the Malacca Straights. Also, yes the Canal has sand banks. If you read the details of the 1973 Yom Kippur War you will see what a big deal the Canal's earthen embankments were in that war.

I completely agree with this as a critique of D&D. I myself have often ranted about my intense dislike of everything depending on a die roll in D&D. However, I stand by my critique of the "Larian" parts of BG3. Larian obviously considers those systems in BG3 that are imports from their D:OS games to be cool and awesome. I strongly disagree, and find them to be aggravating, silly, and immersion-breaking.

Thanks @Wormerine. These are pretty much all things I would have said as well. I would add: The current crop of companions is very limited in multiple ways, and to me they're universally unpleasant and aggravating characters (edgy primadonnas with attitudes) I wouldn't want in my party. Not a single likeable one in the bunch. Furthermore, I utterly dislike Larian's 'origin' system and would only play a PC I entirely made myself. But such a PC is currently relatively bland (story-wise) in comparison with an 'origin' PC (i.e. playing one of the companions as your PC). In fact, in a current party, your PC is by far the least important/relevant person in the group. Larian also currently intends to 'close off' in some manner any and all companions you don't have in your active party at the end of Act 1, essentially party-locking you. Combat is also really tedious and aggravating. Bad enough having to deal with TB combat, although I've been willing to suck that up. But the only way to get through combat encounters in a normal way is to engage heavily in Larian cheese: abusing height advantage, backstab advantage, barrel bombs galore, overpowered consumables, shoving, jumping, elemental environmental surfaces, etc. If you refuse to engage in cheese abuse, then combat becomes exceedingly difficult and frustrating, and you have to reload a lot. Game seems to be made to be fun if you like playing the evil side, and goes out of its way to screw over playing a good-aligned PC. The Larian party movement system is painful. Probably could think of a few more issues if I have the time for it.

Dark Alliance actually looks really good for what it is intended, which is a Diablo-style hack n' slash game. Sadly that is just not my thing (too much and hard combat). BG3's announcement excited me a lot, but the game itself has turned out to be a bitter disappointment because of ridiculous stuff Larian has chosen to do with it. So now my excitement is for the Hidden Path Entertainment D&D game, open world in third-person. I can't imagine Wizards' first AAA open world game won't be set in the Realms as their current flagship setting, so I am hopeful, though unfortunately it is probably going to be a solo game and not party-based. The OtherSide Entertainment D&D game OTOH is probably going to be first-person horror set in Ravenloft. And then at least three more D&D games after that through 2025.

D&D: Dark Alliance is here: https://www.polygon.com/2021/3/16/22332313/dark-alliance-hands-on-preview-xbox-one-playstation-5-pc-release-date-price https://www.ign.com/articles/dnd-dark-alliance-demo-preview-impressions-dungeons-dragons These articles have videos embedded showing 6 min of gameplay, a trailer, and a discussion of the game's development.

Yup. The multiclassing alone is a huge plus-up for me. Makes such a big difference in the game.

Haha. I'm doing the same thing, so was hoping someone else is watching it and has some observations about it.

Anyone see the new TV show (NBC) Debris? What did you think?

Here's more: https://www.pcgamer.com/theres-a-big-budget-open-world-dungeons-and-dragons-game-in-development/

HA! @Gromnir beat me to it. The Hidden Path game was one of the two mentioned in that Geekwire article I linked here earlier. Here's another story on it with a few more details: https://www.pcgamer.com/theres-a-big-budget-open-world-dungeons-and-dragons-game-in-development/ I'm really excited about this game. I desperately hope that third-person means it is NOT turn-based.

I would agree with this.

There's a lot of speculation on the Owlcat forum, based on some recent Owlcat ads for people they're looking to hire, that after WotR they are going to shift to a Starfinder game.

I am always in favor of compromises that bring at least some satisfaction to (mostly) everyone. But I fear that in this case it will lead to a game neither side cares for.

Well, looks like 5e will be getting a lot more video game attention before WotC moves on to whatever's next. WotC is now the revenue driver of Hasbro. See: https://www.geekwire.com/2021/hasbro-reorganizes-support-big-growth-dungeons-dragons-magic-gathering/ From what I can tell, The Hidden Path Entertainment game will likely be an animated game, and the OtherSide Entertainment game likely a gothic-horror game. Just as the CEO of WotC said last year, they're trying to make D&D games in a range of different genres, so the odds are, sadly, very low they will make another D&D old-school cRPG besides BG3. BG3 checks off that box, and so I don't see what different genre box a NwN3 would check off.

Happy days are here again.

Sad for the Anthem fans. Sucks for them.

Well this may be the exact dilemma with reviving that franchise. The two games were very different from one another, and for many fans they liked one or the other but not both. I for one loved 2 and hated 1. So exactly which way do you go with 3? More like 1 or more like 2?

As someone for whom BG3 is meh but who loves the Forgotten Realms and craves an FR game (which is not the same as craving a D&D game), Obsidian making NwN3 is exactly what I myself have been hoping for.

Love that Perseverance is specifically built to look for life on Mars.

So then because it happened a certain way in the past, it's okay for it to happen the other way today? If I had been alive during the McCarthyism era I would've very strongly objected to it and opposed it. So I am consistent, which ultimately is my point: people being consistent. It's certainly not an absolute situation, but the odds of you not being held accountable are way better for you (in today's America) if you are coming from the left than the right.