MrBrown

Looks like they got more money behind it now. Maybe it's easier to get funding after BG3? https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/

Path of Exile 2 early access, 5 hours in. Seems ok so far. They've definitely moved a bit away from what PoE1 was, to a more souls-like approach I guess? Instead of building up 1 skill to spam all the time, you actually have to think what skills to use. And the campaign seems tougher. That can certainly make the first run through the campaign interesting, but not sure what it does for game longevity. PoE1, like most diablo-clones, mostly works on the long term because of the end-game, and you don't really want to replay the same campaign through every season. So it's either a skipping option, or rushing through it, and this doesn't look like something you can rush through. Maybe they already have a solution for this, I haven't followed any of the news about the game.

Frostpunk 2 is as well, and it came out two months ago, and is generally reviewed well. (MW5clans came out a month ago).

I didn't read it either, I just find it funny how this seems to happen with every game.

One of three As in AAA is having a twitter war about wokeness. Looking good for aWoked: https://tech4gamers.com/avowed-art-director-gamers-sickos/

I get what you mean, but I don't think it's just Diablo where this comes from.

The padding in BG3 was all those empty containers you had to shift through to find the ones with something in them. Remove those, halves the game time.

Well, if DAVe became like this because of Fallen Order's popularity, then presumably the next DA game will be modeled after BG3.

Interesting to hear they got all that from Fallen Order. I never played that, but it all falls in with the conspiracy theory...

This explained it pretty well, I think. tl;dr, because no one reviews the actually bad games, unless they're notable for some other reason.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/sony-talks-buy-media-powerhouse-behind-elden-ring-sources-say-2024-11-19/

Several DLCs, early access games, remakes... https://www.polygon.com/480312/game-awards-2024-nominees-list-game-of-the-year

The downside of making a really popular game with lots of replayability (through modding), you can't just do the same again, you have to do loads better. I remember when they talked about Avowed in one of those big shows about games where they announce new stuff or new trailers, one of the presenters said "Why not just play Skyrim again?".

Finished Rise of the Golden Idol. Was pretty good. The connections between the cases to the overall story was as not as obvious as in the previous one, took me until the final cases to realize how it all worked out. Not sure if the changes in the UI were ultimately better or worse, but it didn't matter that much. Looks like there'll be at least 4 DLCs coming in 2025. Will buy them.

Don't forget 5$ more total if you want to upgrade to the deluxe edition, instead of buying it first. EDIT: looks like they removed the upgrade option, but it was there previously. Maybe someone noticed the math doesn't match. Or that they'd run afoul of laws somewhere with that.

Avowed on battle.net. I guess MS buying acti/blizz changed something. https://eu.shop.battle.net/en-gb/product/avowed

remaster of warcraft I and II https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/13/24295730/warcraft-remastered-battle-chest-1-2-3-reforged-upgrades-windows-mac-blizzard-battle-net

https://www.inverse.com/gaming/bethesda-strike-zenimax-xbox-microsoft

Games should have a "random but reasonable" button. I remember trying random in Outer Worlds, and everything that came out looked like a person who just went to a punk concert and then got beaten up.

I got that impression from DAVe. Mainly because the big plot seemed much more interesting than all the details.

I went to check on the Bioware fan forums what everyone there was thinking, and my main takeaway is that they like to call the game "DAVe".

70 hours, finished the game. Seems like there's some differences in ending, I think I got the best one, but not sure. Overall, I liked the game. For me it was probably the worst in the DA series, but it wasn't a bad game overall. Can't really compare it to modern AAA games since I don't play that many. Worst part was the writing. The overall plot was fine, and the ending too, but the more minute details weren't that good (the baddies were uninteresting, dialogue was often bad, quests were really repetitive etc). Or as good as previous DA games, anyway. A lot of Bioware fans seems to like the games for their writing, so maybe the game won't score that big with them. No real knowledge, haven't googled to find out. Exploration was good, but they started running out of gimmicks later on, and it got a bit repetitive. Thankfully the game ended soon after that. Combat grew on me. It's very actiony and flashy, so that might be turn off for older players. Maybe modern AAA games does it better and ignorance was bliss for me. Builds and stats seemed great, there were a lot of options and I could come up with lots of different ways to build my character. Buuut, since I really only played one, I have no idea if it's really that balanced. DA:O and DA:I were quite bad at that part (DA2 much better) so can't really claim it's Bioware's forte. The game tied up most of the plotlines from previous DA games, so it felt like they intentionally made it the last one... buuut, then So it seems they're keeping their options open.

DA2 famously had one for Anders. Can't remember if it was either not labeled with the heart symbol, or was just placed where usually the friendly(-but-not-that-friendly) option was. Don't think there were any for Inquisition.

I think DA:I still lets you play without connecting to the servers. Once you manage to start it once, anyway.

About 35 hours in, felt like writing something. Not sure how long this game is, seems like there's still lots more Overall impression is "kinda ok". Probably wouldn't play this if I wasn't interested in the DA world. Story setup felt interesting, like I said before, but after that it's felt a bit meh. Some of the factions in the game world have been changed, and IMO in a boring way. Can't avoid change, I guess, but the Qunari just feel like basic baddies now and the Crows like a vigilante group. Apparently this mostly relies on stories from non-game DA products, but doesn't save them from being boring choices. Main baddies are boring, hoping they'll shape up by the end. Most of the NPCs are either immediately on your side, or your enemies, without too much in between. Dialogue is the usual Bioware fare of quipping and one-liners. The main difference is there's no massive interrogation trees with important characters anymore, most of dialogue is either in party banter or in specific quests for them. Lots of just text stuff around to flesh out things, like in most RPGs. Exploration is quite parkoury and 3D. There's always things to fiddle with, or loot to get. It's quite smooth overall, but you can spend 30mins trying to reach a chest without figuring it out. But it does feel meaningful, in that what you find ties into the rest of the game fine. Combat grew on me a bit. At the start it felt like I was just dodging 90% of the time, but it feels quite smooth now. I don't play that many games with actiony combat like this, so not sure how other games do it. I'd still prefer the more party based approach of older DA games.