kanisatha

The one I would consider the closest comparable great power to the US is Pax Romana. Pax Britannia also comes close. And yeah, I totally agree that (a) a new great power war is coming soon, bringing an end to the Long Peace, and (b) it will make WW2 look like a picnic by comparison. Not just robotics technology but also nanotech, biotech and genetics weapons, space warfare, cyber warfare, HE lasers and other directed-energy weapons, etc.

It's inevitable to sit on your ass, pat yourself on the back, and take things for granted when you are at the top. It's nature's way of making sure there are no permanent winners or losers. It's this way with individuals, families, groups, corporations, universities, and yes countries/empires.

Don't you dare give up on the flying car dream!!!

As opposed to Russian and Soviet imperialism, I imagine.

At one time one of these individuals long associated with the The Witcher series (may be one of those who's now left) posted on social media asking fans what they thought of the game being about Ciri's post-TW3 life. And yes, it could also be about some other witcher. But I believe CDP has stated that when it comes to the game's title, they see "THE Witcher" as Geralt, whose story is done.

To be fair, CDP has very clearly and explicitly said they are NOT doing Witcher 4 and that Geralt's story is over and done. What they are doing is a fourth game using the Witcher franchise (and presumably the Witcher setting). We (and others) are simply calling it Witcher 4 as a kind of shorthand. But it's not really Witcher 4, and (again going by CDP's public statements) won't even be titled "Witcher" anything.

I agree. Note that I was talking about refreshing the creative side of the game, i.e., things like story and characters, and maybe a little bit on the gameplay side. But the overall type of game that we know and love should not change.

I don't find that director's departure particular;y troubling for the next Witcher game. If anything I think it is a good thing. The same people working on a franchise game after game is what turns a franchise into something stale and boring. For creativity to flourish, there needs to be some refreshing and turnover of the creative talent from time to time. And in the case of Witcher, that game 4 will not have anything to do with Geralt's story is the perfect point at which to have some creative refreshing.

Fans of TB combat are always trying to claim that is what drove D:OS2 sales, but I have never bought that argument. ^This here is, in my view, the true reason for D:OS2's sales success: co-op play. And this reason, then, also says the quality of the game, in those ways we've thought of quality in cRPGs in the past such as story, writing, characters, branching dialogue, etc., don't matter that much because they don't matter that much when playing co-op. What matter in co-op games is fun action-y things you can do within the game such as push walls down, set the ground on fire, tag-team up on your enemies, etc., which are exactly the kinds of things the D:OS games give to players.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grapeocean/black-geyser-couriers-of-darkness/posts/3181089

Excellent review article on P:WotR including Q&A: https://www.rpgwatch.com/articles/pathfinder--wrath-of-the-righteous-presentation-and-qa-510.html

Hehe. It's exactly why I did not buy D:OS2 at all, and won't even at a bargain price, because then I contribute to it being lauded based on its sales numbers. But BG3 has me very torn. On the one hand I think the game sucks and I don't want to contribute to its success even in a tiny way. On the other hand it is a BG game, and I love that franchise. It's a good thing the game is spending so much time in EA, because as a principle I won't buy an EA game and by the time it gets fully released I may be over my feelings of it being a BG game.

Yeah I use story mode a lot for my repeat playthroughs, and a big part of why I love the PoE games and P:Km is that I can switch to story mode whenever and wherever and don't get locked into my difficulty level at the beginning of the game. Even the IE games I now tend to use story mode if I replay them.

In PoE2 I did not do any of the megabosses even in my first time playing with that DLC. The very idea of a boss fight, let alone a "mega" boss fight, without the story element was completely uninteresting to me. As I've said before, combat in RPGs is something I tolerate for the sake of enjoying everything else that I love in the game. I for one am perfectly happy with easy fights.

I have tremendous nostalgia for BG1, but have never ever written anywhere a wall-of-text post on any subject (and my posts counts are pretty low in all forums too). And, at 53, I am definitely on the older side (though still gen X and not a boomer). So a lot of assumptions here don't quite add up, at least with me. Edit: Oh, and forgot to add, I love both PoE games and have played them multiple times.

A great question indeed. And I've found everyone's range of views and approaches a very interesting read. I too am very story-focused, and as such do find it very difficult to fully enjoy a cRPG after I've played it once. However, I am able to appreciate repeat-plays of these games up to a point. Typically it is for any content I may have missed or not been able to access in my previous plays because of choices I made. I also like the idea of playing with different party compositions than what I previously used, as well as different class builds for my PC. But at the same time, I avoid any and all parts of the game that are a slog, and especially those really brutal and aggravating boss-fights, so I hardly ever finish the game after that first time.

Yeah me too. The new plan for the Corps actually makes sense. And the tankers are going to move to the Army, which is looking to expand its heavy armor forces anyway, so it should work out nicely. Still don't get why the Corps wants to hold on to four squadrons of F-35Cs. They should give up that mission entirely to the Navy and go totally F-35Bs.

It's been a while and I can't recall exact comments. But they were generally along the lines of she's lame, she's boring, she's useless, etc.

Very interesting. I've always loved Sagani too and always have her in my parties (just as with Eder). But many other posters tend to put her character down, so it's nice to find another Sagani fan.

Well, their devs themselves have been commenting a lot recently (including in an online Q&A session recently) that the engine they're currently using has significant limitations (esp. for level-building) that they don't like. So I expect they will want to move on from it. My personal expectation is that after WotR they will take a break from fantasy and do a Starfinder game instead (based on their recent ads for new hires). Then, after that and whenever they return to Pathfinder, they will transition to 2e.

On the Owlcat forum people were asking if it can be made a shield. Owlcat has said 'no' to that. The other question still to be answered is whether deciding on what weapon it should be is a one-time thing or whether we can shapeshift it at will. I personally highly doubt such an option, but that would be especially awesome.

Yeah that's what your army is for. Well, not your army but the queen's army. Plus, I believe there are some low level demon types ... and lots of undead too.

I myself don't know because I'm not playing the beta, but several posters on the Owlcat forum have commented that the tone of the writing in WotR is more somber and serious and darker than Km as a result of the nature of the story of the WotR module - demon hordes laying waste to everything.

Agreed. I wish someone would create a mod to port over those Deadfire QoL elements into PoE1. I would especially love multiclassing, but that may be a bridge too far.