They're overhauling the base game when they release the expansion. Might be a good idea to wait for the best experience.
I don't typically play multiple story based games at the same time, but I'm splitting my time between Tears of the Kingdom and Jedi Survivor now. Survivor is considerably more demanding than Fallen Order was. It basically takes the hardest parts of its predecessor and builds from there. To the point that fights as a jedi vs common level enemies are unrealistically difficult.
I have played 19.8 hours of Baulder's Gate 3 this weekend. I do not remember the last time I played so much video game in 3 days. I love it. F-5 is my friend.
What does F5 do? I was interested in the game until I learned that there isn't a physical copy being released for the PS5. I'm going to hold off and see if they make one in a few years.
Ahh ok. As a console gamer, I'm often clueless to what those functions do on the PC for games. I'm also saddened and frustrated by home many games are now brutal, especially at early levels. I've barely finished anything on normal/default difficulty in the last five years. However, I'm now almost 200 hours into Tears of the Kingdom and am making it through. Persistence and patience for the win, as is my style.
The original Baulder's Gate was way more brutal. It is the system that the game is based on. The first few levels are hard because the characters are weak. I am sure there will be a quick autosave button for the PS5. It isn't like Demon's Soul type brutal. It is just you can't go into every area and expect to win the first time, especially when your party isn't full of 4 people and you are 1st level. However, speak with animals is a ritual spell, meaning you can cast it out of combat without using a spell slot. Which has lead to a lot of fun interactions. You are a fan of Dragon Age, I think you would like this game. Just autosave a lot. And if you get frustrated with an encounter, leave and do others to level up. Even when they say, "We don't have time!" or "We have to do this quickly." You don't.
As long as you can hang around areas and over level, and aren't forced to be bold and move forward fast, I think that's ok. Just hang out in the forest killing boars as long as you need.
Not at all. Multiple times I got my *** handed to me. Gave up and went to another location, and then came back when I leveled up and got new gear. Then I was able to handle it. However, like Bauler's Gates of old, there aren't any respawning enemies. So you can't just go around killing boars. However, you do get experience by doing anything, so talking to the right boar and giving him an apple, might get your party 25xp.
It definately sounds like it lives up to its reputation as a very Computer RPG, which I know is the core market for it. Not sure that its my thing. I'll keep an eye on it over the months and learn more. For now, I'm going to just cross my fingers that the gameplay of Dragon Age Dreadwolf isn't too much different from Inquisition. That's much more my speed. The RPG elements add welcome flavor and spice to the games, but honestly the role playing isn't what I'm here for. Its the RPG mechanics that I love more than anything - grinding to level the party up and gain money, skill trees, crafting and buying equipment, unlocking areas of the map, etc. But I've come to accept that I'm a dinosaur, and there just don't seem to be many aging console RPG fans like myself left around.
I guess. It is a computer RPG because it is an RPG on a computer, but it is a very mechanics-based system as it is a modified version of D&D 5e. I am a huge fan of Dragon Age, but all those games are really simplified versions of D&D with weaker mechanics than any Baulder's Gate game. Especially Dragon Age II. It is not that you are a dinosaur. You are a relic of a very specific past because Baulder's Gate came out in 1998. I remember playing the first Dragon Age and was slightly disappointed with the simpler mechanics, plus with the less open world of the Baulder's Gate games, I loved in the past. Though, I did grow to love them. Well two of them. Dragon Age II really made me mad. If anything, to me, you are a young pup.
My personal long history is that I unintentionally switched from JRPGs to Western RPGs with Origins. I didn't ever intend to quit the Japanese games after Final Fantasy 12, which I loved and still love, but the genre had a real crash and then went into directions that I just wasn't interested in any more. So I checked out Dragon Age, and while I thought Origins was a good idea, the gameplay was just absolutely brutal. I've come to understand that it was because it was a mouse and keyboard game badly ported to the console. I actually really enjoyed DA2, even with its reused areas and other limitations. And that I've long been effusive in my praise of Inquisition, which in my view is the most recent great party based RPG. But so many things that I love about the game I continue to see people bash online. I've never at any point fit in with the Bioware community. I used to fit in with the FF one, but that's very much changed now too, mostly due to how different the games have been the last 15 years from the ones I loved.
Final Fantasy 12 was the first non-mmo American release Final Fantasy I did not beat. I lost interest in that game half way through. Didn't like the fighting style. Too MMO for my liking and I really did not like the leveling system. Of course, Final Fantasy 9 is my favorite Final Fantasy game. I thought Dragon Age: Origin was very easy to control on the console. Then again I did QA work on Mass Effect, so I was very used to that style of control. Also, Origin is the same way as I was discussing with Baulder's Gate 3. It is a game where, "everything is dire and you have to go as fast as you can to save the world," but in reality, you don't. You get stuck, you can just move to another area, do those side quests, level up, get better equipment, and then go back and save the lady who had a night at her throat for at least 5 long rests. I love Inquisition. One of my favorite games.
I came here to talk about Baldurs Gate 3, and how I am enjoying it because the story, camping, companion and party system, text options and different story arcs, voice acting, cut scenes, etc., all remind of of why I enjoyed DA:O (and Inquisition I guess) as one of my favorite games. When playing combat in DA:O I'd always issue commands, play them out, pause, issue commands, etc. That is how I enjoyed it as one of my favorite games ever, and treated it almost like a turn based game in combat anyway. BG3 is a masterpiece. Refreshing to see another complete and microtransaction/season/battle pass-free game like Harry Potter, Sekeiro, Elden Ring, and other souls-like games kicking the butt of live service dumpster fire games like Warzone and D4 again. I have also read all but the most recent Drizzt books in the past, so the DnD realm and seeing the Sword Coast in the game and being able to have all the cannon races, gods, locations, and enemies from those books is amazing. F5 baby. Very important lol. I had to leave and return to certain fights later as well. Still have a few I have to get back to in Act 1.
I negotiated with a squirrel so they own the trees and I own the land. I saved a gnome on a windmill from some goblins, only to accidentally kill the gnome causing him to fly off into the distance. 10/10. Agreed with everything you said.
There is basically nothing available to see from PS5 gameplay at this point. I certainly want to see actual video footage probably read some reviews first. A lot of people have suggested that they have concerns about how the UI will be adjusted for the controller.
Thank you for that. Its highly useful and informative. It answered my question about perspective as well. I'd really like to be able to mount the camera behind the main character in a traditional, 3rd person action POV if possible. Is that the only style option for combat? It reminds me of Pillars of Eternity, which I tried and ended up giving up on because it was just so foreign and difficult for me. I read that there is supposed to be a turn based option, which I was hoping might be more like a JRPG.
Pillars of Eternity is based on the original Baulder's Gate. You could turn on the turn-based mode on Pillars of Eternity. Baulder's Gate 3 is turned-based. When the battle starts you can see the order of people on the top of the screen.
But does all of the action always take place in that far off, isometric viewpoint? It reminds me more of a strategy game like Civ than what I'm used to with a RPG.
I haven't played with the cameras enough to see if they zoomed in. I am old school, so isometric view = RPG. The game is fully rendered in 3-D so I think it should be capable of doing the action in a more over-the-shoulder viewpoint. Probably would just have to zoom in, though I think that would give you a disadvantage.
You can explore with traditional over the shoulder 3rd person view, but combat is too involved to use it. There is an emphasis on verticality and an interactable environment, and beyond that, sometimes there are just too many enemies to keep track of. Combat definitely requires a top down view that you rotate, pan, and zoom accordingly. Also, the camera centers and follows enemies as they take their individual turns. Never tried Pillars of Eternity.
I'm anxious to play BG3 but for me, personally, it's down my playlist. I'm about to finish FF16, which I thought was good but not great, then I have TotK languishing and Armored Core 6 coming out in like 2 weeks. It would probably be BG3 time after that. I know Sony was teasing a floatable/portable console that you could take your PS5 on the go and that'd be the perfect game for that. I'd only ever take mine around the apartment.
I'm getting closer to the end of ToTK. Its a very good game, and I've put well over 200 hours into it. Once I do finish it, I'm going to get into Octopath Traveler 2, which my wife bought me for fathers' day but I haven't even opened yet. I need to refresh myself on what happened in the first game too. I also might buy Madden, depending on what the user response is once its out there. There are supposed to be some aspects of GM mode in franchise that have come back for the first time since the PS2 days, and that's huge on my list of reasons why I play.
Just finished Final Fantasy 16. Accessible action, big spectacle, but missing some of that FF charm. Also item and equipment system were garbo. 7.5/10, 8/10 if I'm feeling gracious.
Isn't Madden notorious for teasing sim features only for those features not to make it to the yearly entry?
Yes, which is why I never buy anything day 1. I'll read what the community at Operation Sports has to say and go from there. I haven't bought Madden near release in years, haven't paid more than $30 in years, and have generally not bought it two years in a row in quite some time. But, between wanting to roll with the Fins and being very eager to see the new GM features, I might do it. But not Friday.
I have a PC, and the last Madden game I own on PC is Madden 08, arguably still the best that still has an active community with updated rosters, etc. I've been waiting for a good Madden game on PC since. Hopefully this year is the one. It'll all depend on OL/DL interaction, forced animation tendencies, mechanics, etc. I am looking for good gameplay first, and features second. I so want to play a new Madden but will wait for some of the independent reviews. I heard cross play is coming for next gen and PC in Madden 24 as well, which is nice but pretty much status quo these days.
My favorite ever is Madden 06 on the PS2, for both on and off field. They haven't gotten back there since, due to the total focus on online play and microtransactions.
I have played 10 more hours. My game of the year. One of the best games I have played in a long time. I have a few more quests left in the first act. I have a pet owlbear and a pet dog.
Madden 24 is going to be my first day one purchase in a long time. Wife got me a PS5 to replace the broken Xbox this summer, so no older versions. High hopes! Only really like the Franchise/player career modes.
Just about to head into Act 2 myself. You just reminded me to go talk to that owlbear in the goblin camp that I decimated, now that I have speak to animals spell. Poor little fella.
I'm exclusively single player offline franchise too. At least half of the reason I play is as a GM sim.
I have so much fun talking to animals. One of the fun things about being a bard. That reminds me. I have speak to the dead. I am not using that enough.
I finished Tears of the Kingdom, and has a thought that struck me really hard. When I finished BotW a few years ago, I agreed that it was an extremely challenging game and one of the more difficult that I'd completed in some time. And while TotK is equally challenging, its probably the least difficult RPG I've played since its predecessor. And that just illustrates how much developers have ramped up the overall difficulty that games possess lately. Something that I'm not a fan of, and I hope that can be backed up.
you can use all the abilities of the members of your party. I just like giving all the abilities to my main. In fact, who you choose to start your conversation with is who has the conversation.
Ah, so you can have a conversation between any two members of the party then. Can it be more than that?
Both. You can find spell scrolls and potions that are single use by anyone, regardless of class, but several classes have the ability to cast both spells.