New update to BG3 adds a playable prologue at the end of the game, as well as a new difficulty mode that prevents save scumming. Beating the game in the new mode gets you the golden dice. I was already honoring any unfavorable outcomes, as long I didn't die, but the mode is based on Tactician difficulty, which I don't care for. It's already hard enough for me. lol

You can also fiddle with the settings to make the game feel more authentic to DnD by hiding enemy health, the ACs you have to beat, ect.

2023 video game awards  And the winner is...drumroll please...Balder's Gate 3.

I tend to not watch awards shows, but apparently over 100 million people streamed it.  Well, glad to see people having a good time.

QuoteEach acceptance speech was rushed, with many prominent people like Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma and Alan Wake director Sam Lake being shooed off the stage. Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke was interrupted in his game of the year speech, the evening's final award, just as he was memorializing team members who died before they could celebrate their victory.

...well, sort of a good time.  Yikes.

I tend to not like awards shows because there's a bit of a disconnect between stuff I enjoy and stuff other people enjoy and stuff awards shows enjoy.

MatPat had a pretty interesting video about it:


These award shows LOVE third-person action-adventure RPGs with gritty, adult themes to the point where almost nothing else stands a real chance.  Oh, and it has to have a beefy 20-40 hours to complete and it helps to release the game in spring so it has plenty of time to make an impression before the end-of-year awards shows.

Don't get me wrong, I like the occasional action-adventure RPG - I've been known to play Skyrim occasionally (*coughs* 400+ hours) but my main squeeze is strategy games which don't exactly get the best representation

For comparison, 2022's winner was a Mario title I've literally never heard before today which somehow beat Dune Spice Wars, 2021 was Age of Empires 4, 2020 was Microsoft Flight Simulator (Sim and strategy are mashed together for some strange reason and well, it is a sim game...), 2019 was Fire Emblem Three Houses.  Granted, the strategy genre is past its heyday and no longer makes up a huge market share nor a ton of titles and often don't even have a pretty face to identify with.  But if Homeworld 3 lives up to the hype and doesn't win an award...

"Uuuugh! Come on! Hurry it up! We've given you a whole thirty seconds! We have to get to the next ad already!"

Quote from: Hydra009 on December 09, 2023, 03:10:03 PM2023 video game awards  And the winner is...drumroll please...Balder's Gate 3.

I tend to not watch awards shows, but apparently over 100 million people streamed it.  Well, glad to see people having a good time.
...well, sort of a good time.  Yikes.

I tend to not like awards shows because there's a bit of a disconnect between stuff I enjoy and stuff other people enjoy and stuff awards shows enjoy.

MatPat had a pretty interesting video about it:

These award shows LOVE third-person action-adventure RPGs with gritty, adult themes to the point where almost nothing else stands a real chance.  Oh, and it has to have a beefy 20-40 hours to complete and it helps to release the game in spring so it has plenty of time to make an impression before the end-of-year awards shows.

Don't get me wrong, I like the occasional action-adventure RPG - I've been known to play Skyrim occasionally (*coughs* 400+ hours) but my main squeeze is strategy games which don't exactly get the best representation

For comparison, 2022's winner was a Mario title I've literally never heard before today which somehow beat Dune Spice Wars, 2021 was Age of Empires 4, 2020 was Microsoft Flight Simulator (Sim and strategy are mashed together for some strange reason and well, it is a sim game...), 2019 was Fire Emblem Three Houses.  Granted, the strategy genre is past its heyday and no longer makes up a huge market share nor a ton of titles and often don't even have a pretty face to identify with.  But if Homeworld 3 lives up to the hype and doesn't win an award...

Skyrim only 400 hrs?  I'm a grinder--I have over 5,000 hours in Skyrim and FO 4 and 4,000 hours in Grim Dawn.  Give me a game I like and I will like it a lot!!

Quote from: Mike Cl on December 09, 2023, 10:45:06 PMSkyrim only 400 hrs?  I'm a grinder--I have over 5,000 hours in Skyrim and FO 4 and 4,000 hours in Grim Dawn.  Give me a game I like and I will like it a lot!!

I couldn't even tell you how many hours I have in Skyrim. I started on XBOX and spent a lot of time playing it, then eventually I moved on to PC. And now there are two versions there: The original 32 bit version and the newer, more stable 64 bit. Both heavily modded, of course.

Jesus h christ, i have over 180 hours in elden ring and i find that a lot.

I just discovered my favorite move in a video game:



I'm essentially playing a hyper-aggressive beserker warrior with some utility magic.

So naturally, I climb the tallest mountain I possibly can - we're talking Throat of the World stuff - launch myself off it with reckless abandon, cast Slowfall on myself so I don't splat on the ground and to enjoy the view longer (a moment of zen before combat), hopefully get in range of an enemy, then somehow push off thin air to charge the enemy (because physics is optional), to land with my fist in their throat.  It's a bloodbath after that.

Can you imagine what that looks like from the ground level?  Or with David Attenborough narrating it?  Because I can.

Ubisoft says gamers should be comfortable with not owning their games

Basically, Ubisoft is going with a subscription model, so payment just gives you access, not ownership.  They have a catalogue of new releases for $18/month and old games for $8/month.

I couldn't say if what they're saying has any sort of validity to it because it's such an alien way of thinking - gamers have long enjoyed either digital ownership or free-to-play models (what MMOs transitioned to after subscription-only models failed, with a couple very rare exceptions)

Imho, it reads like this idea was pitched at a board meeting and they crunched the numbers with rosy assumptions - that gamers will be okay with whatever or somehow talked into it - and figured it would be great for shareholders and didn't think too hard about what the experience would be like from a gamer pov or if that's something they'd want.  Or even from a developer pov, as Larian Studios correctly points out.

Like most, they just want more money. This streaming thing worked for Netflix, so why not other forms of media? Nevermind that shows/movies constantly disappear off of Netflix. Will that happen on subscription models for games? Will games just suddenly disappear from your library because they didn't renew the license to host it? What does that mean for game preservation? Also, remember that whole thing when animated shows, often fully or mostly completed ones, just suddenly got canceled because Hollywood still has this archaic idea that animation is a lesser form of entertainment to live action? What if that sort of thing happens in--.

Shhhhhhh... Don't care. Numbers go up?

Quote from: Blackleaf on January 20, 2024, 08:55:36 AMThis streaming thing worked for Netflix, so why not other forms of media?

Has it worked for Netflix?  While they are making a profit, they have experienced a lot of negative news - very popular series keep getting pulled, they frequently cancel their own programming, and they've been "forced" to raise prices - all seemingly just to keep afloat (what they tell the shareholders may be different)  The long-term survivability of this model is still very much in doubt.

I'm just saying, if you hold one company up on a pedestal and want to emulate them and their story has a lot of negative aspects - if the rosiest possible trajectory for your company has a lot of very serious negatives - maybe you should rethink your strategy.

I played the demo for FFVII: Rebirth. The demo (the first one) covers the flashback, where Cloud is explaining his history with Sephiroth. Finishing it allows you the option to skip it in the final game. Since it's stuff that already happened, I don't think you get XP or keep any items you found (other than Tifa's sheet music). It's basically a tutorial with narrative significance.

Based on what I experienced in the demo, it's pretty good. They expanded on the combat by adding my new options. My only major complaint is it's kind of overwhelming the number of things you can do. For example, characters now have synergy attacks, which are performed by holding the block button (R2) and a face button. Your synergy options depend on what character you're actively controlling and who else is in your party. It's just a lot to take in.

It's very surprising to me that Sephiroth is playable for the flashback. He has unique moves, and even synergy attacks. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to if he's really limited to just the flashback.

The piano playing mini game is also a lot harder than I expected. Like, goddamn. But it's also a lot more indepth than I was expecting.

Is anyone else excited for this game? Given how part one (Remake) set things up with its meta narrative, I'm curious to see where the plot deviates from the original. It's the game I'm most looking forward to.

So I have big news about something that's previously been hush-hush.  My City of Heroes private server - which previously existed under the shadow of a potential cease-and-desist is now officially licensed!  No more legal limbo!  And I can now talk about everything without worry.


Heh, I was one of those torchbearers.  :)

The game itself has some great qualities:

* silver-age comic book setting with some surprisingly interesting characters
* runs even on an older computer
* 100% free
* huge amounts of character customization - both their powers and appearance
* fair and automatic loot distribution - no ninja looters or loot squabbling, ever.
* simple but fun gameplay - in the first hour, you'll run around a city, beat up thugs, and almost certainly do your first dungeon with a group of other heroes.  Then at max level, you'll be doing all sorts of crazy stuff involving time travel and alternate dimensions and going on raids - both instanced and outdoor.  There's plenty of stuff to do even without even mentioning making a second hero or changing your character from a hero to a villain.
* you will never find a more friendly and helpful group of people in any game.  For real, almost everyone is super nice and will go out of their way to help or just answer questions.

The only bad things are that some of the systems are a bit dated or buggy (it's an mmo from 2004), so huge raids are probably going to cut your framerate in half, navigating the crafting menu isn't always easy, groups fill up fast so you better respond fast to LFM messages and know where to go (travel is easier now than in the past but you gotta haul your butt pronto).  But thankfully, most raids use fairly simple mechanics - go here and hit this target stuff 90% of the time.

Anyway, it's good fun that mixes things up enough that it rarely feels grindy or samey.  I invite you guys to hop in and check it out.

I played the re3 remake.
I enjoyed it. But i should immeadiately add that i never played the original. Survival horror with tank controls never was my jam, back in the day.
So, i liked this.
Re2 remake is vastly superior though.
And having heard a complete section of the original was completely cut, i do have to ask: why?
The game feels too short. Even by my standard.
Re2 remake is not 'that' much longer. But the two seperate characters to go through the entire story, rather than swapping, give two different experiences and does wonders for replayability.

I never platted an re game. Never will. But never have i ever been this least tempted, since the original games.

Playing horizon forbidden west, now. On ps4

Loving it already.
You get more 'thrown into the story'than the first installment. But it is already beautiful and fun to play.

It has a really interesting world and a great protagonist. First installment is in my top 10 games, for sure.
Feels good to be back.


Got me thinking though. Making a top 10 videogame list is difficult.
If you stop to think about it.

Could you make one you are happy with? ,ithou feeling you leave some important ones out?