Coelacanth

The SoD expansion was made by Beamdog some 15 years after BG1 was released. It’s admirable that they tried getting the original voice actors back, but otherwise the team behind BG 1&2 (and ToB) had nothing to do with it. I couldn’t get through it, and I have a hard time supporting the Enhanced Editions as is due to Beamdog inserting their fanfiction into them as well - though I recognise they’ve been instrumental in revamping the engine and bringing the games to a new generation of people.

Dividing my time between playing STALKER 2 and modding it. There is a really great game underneath the surface - at least the potential of one - but it’s a shame it released in the state it did. The A-life offline simulation being turned off smells of console constraints and/or a forced release after they ran out of possibilities to delay further. I really hope they’ll be able to keep working on the game through patches because it has the potential to be truly fantastic.

Also still playing Deadlock, a game or two a day or so. It’s an often frustrating experience - as MOBAs tend to be - where matchmaking still has a huge impact on your fun, but the core gameplay is just so damn good. I just wish I was in a skill bracket where people are actually using mics and coordinating and communicating. Partly an EU problem though I’m sure.

A heathen I might be, but I still prefer BG2 over BG3. And Jon Irenicus might just be one of the best video game villains of all time.

You know what, I agree. And I would love to see the look on Todd Howard’s face if Fallout: London wins GotY. It should be eligible for that reason alone.

There is also Red Info which is Robert Kurvitz, Alex Rostov, Helen Hindpere and Martin Luiga. They are apparently working on something and will probably make an announcement next year (according to Martin Luiga on his recent Human Can Opener podcast appearance).

The only real qualm I have is the lack of Ukrainian and Russian accents on the English dub. I don’t really understand the thought process as I felt like it added a lot of character and immersion to both the originals and to the Metro games.

Otherwise I’m optimistic, I think the game looks good and they’ve been saying all the right things. Game journalists who have played it also report things that make me feel very hopeful, both in terms of micro gameplay (atmosphere, tension and isolation without reliance on jump scares) and macro gameplay (decisions mattering, branching stories and factions).

I pre-ordered the ultimate edition regardless to support the studio after the horrors they’ve survived over the war, including losing colleagues to the frontline.

I’m in a bit of a down period as STALKER 2 is coming out soon so I don’t want to pick up a new story campaign from my backlog in the meantime (Metro: Exodus, Bioshock Infinite and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided are on the docket) in case I’m not finished in time for release day.

Still playing lots of Deadlock, but for a single player story game I’ve gone back to some bits of RDR 2 when I’m not in the competitive mood. I started it earlier this year but abandoned it as I burnt out on it a bit. Coming back to it has been a very mixed experience, there is still so much about it I love - but also some very deep frustrations. And absence hasn’t really made the heart grow fonder in that regard. I don’t really like the mission structure. I know it’s been brought up by others, but I too seem to be among those who are bothered by it. I also find the sheer body count forced on you through main story missions to be so ludicrous as to regularly ruin my immersion. I’m not even that far in and I’ve already basically committed genocide levels of murder! And then the mission is over and nobody is talking about the massacre of hundreds of lawmen?

Sync. But it’s working now, confusingly.

Your link isn’t working for me but I see now that you already linked this community. Totally my bad, I apologise!

It’s a super useful place for finding new communities to subscribe to! I also heartily recommend !communities@ponder.cat

Yeah but it’s not really the same thing years later when most people are long finished with the game. Was the same with playing BG3 around release last year, participating in conversations with friends and strangers alike about discoveries in the game as it’s happening and everyone is talking about it and playing it at the same time. I’m sure similar things happened this year with Black Myth Wukong and Silent Hill 2 Remake to some extent, though I didn’t play those.

It’s not about spoilers so much as participating in the buzz and culture and community that only really occurs around release.

Still feels a bit pricey but I’m happy to hear about another season. Some day I might get one just to play the Lucas Pope game.

They threw out the original writer and composer, and seem to have changed most characters and the whole script. It also apparently plays more like Dishonored now.

While I admire the ideas behind patient gamers and think it probably works out really well for some people, I personally also enjoy participating in the zeitgeist from time to time. Playing Elden Ring on launch was fantastic - you really felt like you were exploring the world alongside everyone else as you’re finding Ashes and weapons that don’t even have wiki entries yet.

I’m sure they are and I’m sure they’re doing their best, but such a huge part of why the original has become a cult classic was Brian Mitsoda’s script. They had him on board and threw him out. I really wish I knew what was going on behind the scenes. Did he piss someone off? Was the functional parts of the game not… functioning? Or was the script really that bad? They seem to be keeping basically none of it, but the characters in the Chinese Room trailers have none of the charm of Hardsuit Labs trailers…

I think we’ll get a mediocre Dishonored-like with a Vampire theme that is Bloodlines only in name, and fans will forever wonder about and mythologize that Hardsuit Labs version with Mitsoda and Rik Schaffer (which may well have sucked in reality).

I have literally zero hopes. But then again all the things I wanted from the sequel are the things Paradox threw out when they handed the game over to The Chinese Room. And looking at the character changes in this trailer compared to the Hardsuit Labs trailers I can’t say I’m hopeful things have changed for the better.

Finished Metro: Last Light last week. Have to say I didn’t really like it. Spoiler warnings below. The good bits were good, to be sure: the populated stations of Bolshoi and Venice were phenomenal and there were parts that harked back to the highlights of the first game - the early parts with Pavel for instance and some nice levels in the tunnels. Playing on Survival Hardcore there were passages that were phenomenally immersive and enjoyable, and I do love the world building around the communities in the metro.

The story just didn’t land with me. The political war left me completely uninterested and the love story with Anna was so half-baked I almost wanted to stop playing right there when the sex scene happened. I also didn’t really like the overly supernatural stuff like the River of Fate. It was also kind of hard for me to follow the logic of the narrative at times as it felt like Artyom was just kind of drifting around and happened to end up where he needed to be regardless. He also should have died like a dozen times, but I guess he’s a superhero.

The moral system left me frustrated more than anything now that I knew about its existence (I played 2033 completely blind). Finally, the boss fights felt terrible and really out of place in a game that should be about tension, loneliness and stealth. Artyom was too much of an action hero here for my taste. There wasn’t really anything like the great Library level in 2033. When he picked up a gatling gun at the end like a russian Rambo and fought off a horde of enemies I was rolling my eyes.

Still, I’m glad to have gotten through it finally - this was my second attempt - and I am interested to see what they did in Exodus as I’ve heard nothing but good things.

For now I’m taking a breather and tackling Bioshock 2, another backlog game to get through before being able to play Infinite, which is the game I’m really looking forward too.

Yes, this is exactly why it’s so important to not leave things unchallenged! Human brains are so susceptible to absorbing ideas through osmosis by just reading statements while scrolling.

Yeah it’s funny now that you mention it but I don’t really remember the battle music if XV all that well. But I have stuff like Valse di Fantastica/Sunset Walz/Dewdrops at Dawn and Ardyn’s themes seared into my brain.

What I love about the series is that there are so many varied entries that everyone can find their own favourite, consensus be dammed.

I’ll always consider VI the absolute peak Final Fantasy - beautiful pixel art, Active Time Battles, SNES Mode 7, brilliant score, a fantastic story with a memorable villain and a large and varied ensemble cast of great characters… It has it all for me.

I also have to somewhat ashamedly admit that for whatever reason I actually have some fondness for XV. I’ve posted about it before but I have such a hard time succinctly putting my feelings about it into words, because it is by no means a good game. It’s probably the biggest discrepancy I’ve experienced between the objective quality of a game and how much I enjoyed playing it. Whether it’s the stellar fishing mini game or the random wholesome interactions between the gang and the overall bro trip vibe I don’t know but there is something there. And the score is no Uematsu perhaps but I really enjoyed it and thought they did some wonderful leitmotif work.