kanisatha

I agree with @Boeroer, and so does the head of MS's games division who has said in interviews he needs a range of games for GamePass, not just a range in type of games but also in small versus big games because GamePass needs a constant supply of new games to keep subscribers happy.

Subconsciously? Otherwise they're fast asleep.

Rewriting should be possible even after release, imo.

Hey I completely agree with you. Even your first post I agreed with, but also thought it was funny. Yeah I backed BT4 only as a way of supporting inXile given it was at a time when we were not getting any old-school cRPGs, and the few remaining studios making such games were looking like they may go under. I had never even heard of the original BT games. Backing BT4 meant I got the BT1-3 remasters for free. I have them loaded on my machine, but don't know if I will ever get around to playing them. But I will definitely play BT4 at some point. I currently have a good-sized backlog of games to play in the face of not much time outside of my RL to play games. And yes, I have not yet given up on Bioware. I tend to be that way generally; unwilling to give up on something I once loved. I never gave up on Black Isle until the bitter end.

I wholeheartedly agree. And to note, the parts in those stories about Arcanum were explicitly stated as being speculation/wishful thinking. And if I were to bet, I would put my money on an original IP. With respect to future inXile games, though, I personally hope they will consider going back to the Numenera setting and IP and create a new game there that is properly funded and supported.

I've read multiple stories that say inXile's AAA project is a steampunk game, with some people wondering (hoping?) if MS has managed to get its hands on the Arcanum IP.

Not me!! I freely lower the difficulty level, sometimes for the whole game, and have no ego invested in trying to deny it or hide it. My RL is complicated, challenging, and often not fun at all. My video games are my escape and liberation from my RL. As such, I don't need frustration or aggravation in my games, and challenge only to the extent it is fun for me.

Yeah I enjoyed DA:I despite what critics had to say about it. I especially liked the story and the companions, and I love the Thedas setting and lore. For some reason I can't seem to get into contemporary city builders. I seem to prefer either medieval or space. So I'm currently playing a lot of Surviving Mars and Dawn of Man. Looking forward to Kingdoms Reborn and Medieval Dynasty exiting EA as I don't care to play games that are in EA.

Just hang in there. I'm in this same boat myself. But there are some indie games along the lines you are speaking of coming along, and hopefully at least some of them will be good: Wrath of the Righteous; Black Geyser; Alaloth; Dark Envoy. Further along, in addition to Avowed, there are Starfield and DA4. Oh, and just FYI, some well-reputed modders are creating an EE for IwD2 that looks quite good. For myself, the dearth of good cRPGs is why I've recently branched off into city/base-builder games.

I have the game in my library but have not yet got around to playing it. Apparently it also has decent character development and even some additional RPG elements like crafting. The studio that made is now making a second game called Dark Envoy. Not a sequel; a completely separate game.

I never even hesitate for a second to change my difficulty settings in a game if I'm feeling exasperated or aggravated with something in the game. In the IE games I always activate and use the cheats console. By definition there is no such thing as "cheating" in a single-player game. It's my game and my time and my enjoyment. I'll play it as I want.

The reason I've been hesitant to play it is precisely the TB combat, which I generally dislike. But sometimes a game can surprise me, where I end up enjoying it despite not liking its combat system (ex. T:ToN, which I also backed).

Good to hear, you guys. I backed BT4 and so have a copy but have yet to launch it. Your comments are encouraging.

Heh. I do exactly this myself.

Thanks! A low-medium mix of settings would be okay with me. The video you posted looks good enough. I do have a large 4K display, but don't mind if I have to go down on my graphics settings. I mainly would want the game to run without any stuttering or freezing because that is the only thing about graphics that aggravates me. And load times I don't care. I'm normally not a patient person, but weirdly I am okay waiting for my games to (re)load.

Several of you seem to be quite knowledgeable about system specs and what may be the true minimum needed to run this game in a tolerable way. So ..., my desktop PC has the i7-5930K CPU (3.50 GHz), the GTX-980 with 4 GB, and 16 GB RAM. Is this enough to handle this game halfway decently?

This was exactly my reaction to DA2 as well. All in all I thought it was worth the time I spent playing it. The repeat use of cookie-cutter levels was annoying to be sure, but I thought the overall story and characters were reasonably interesting and fun.

All of the various fallouts from Covid seem to have altered many people's thinking on how they want their life to be, sometimes quite dramatically. I myself expected I would work until age 70 or death, whichever came first. But now, at age 53, I am already planning for early retirement as soon as that is financially viable for me.

If what they both are saying can be taken at face value, they are retiring and are not resigning or being fired. Anyone have any thoughts? I would be interested to know, because I am very much looking forward to DA4 but can't decide if this is a good or bad thing for that game.

Thanks to all of you commenting on ST:Discovery. I'm currently watching the first season, as it is airing on the regular CBS channel, and indeed can already see what you all are talking about. Makes me wonder if it is worth my valuable time to invest it in this show if nothing improves in later episodes.

The ship battles part is why keeping everyone well equipped is a good idea. But in my personal case I always fully equip with the best available items all my companions, regardless of whether they are in my active party, in all party-based games. Optimizing equipment distribution across my companions, and also actually using equipment I find instead of just selling everything, is a huge part of my fun and enjoyment playing cRPGs.

I was quite active on the BIS/Interplay forum because the IE games are what got me into playing video games. But BIS closing down so very suddenly and the cancellation of the original BG3 (and almost-cancellation of IwD2) all left me feeling rather angry and bitter and I walked away from playing RPGs for several years. That time-period coincided with my finishing up grad school and beginning my professional career, so that worked out pretty well as my job kept me extremely busy. The PoE KS campaign is what re-ignited my interest in RPGs, and also brought me to this forum as the successor forum to the old BIS forum.

Once you get past the first little part of the game, yes you can just explore and kill stuff and do side quests while ignoring the main questline. It is exactly how I tend to replay the game. You can also opt to do certain bits of the main questline without completing the whole questline. The game is very flexible in this regard and allows you to do whatever you want. Eventually you'll run out of things to kill and places to explore, with only the main questline still available to you. For me, that's my cue to go find another game to play.

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/1326718682412720129 An interesting bit of discussion on die rolls, BG3, and PoE. I am 100% in agreement with Sawyer. His point is exactly why I have, in recent years, soured on D&D mechanics and don't care for D&D that much anymore. I am so glad he opted against using the D&D SRD for PoE, especially because the resulting original PoE mechanics are far superior to D&D mechanics imo.

Dark Matter was my all-time favorite show on Syfy. When they walked away from that show, I walked away from them.