RealGM

It's killing me that I won't be able to put any time into BG until late tonight at the earliest, work is nuts right now.

A third round of pre-orders for XBOX and PS5 are rumored to be hitting BestBuy, Target, Walmart & Gamestop Thursday or Friday.

Especially now as I'm playing BOTW again in earnest this time - temporary break for BG3, but I think I'm already farther than I got the first time around - this actually is looking pretty cool. I've never really gotten into a DW game, and didn't play the FE or previous Zelda iterations. But this just looks, like...so much fun

Things got much more interesting at level 3 (character-wise). I didn't know what to expect, but the sub-class options are really interesting, and some of the options are essentially what I have been playing with in BG2 via mods for years (e.g. Eldritch Knight). I rolled my Rogue into an Arcane Trickster, which I was not expecting to do at all, but like the idea of after being a little underwhelmed with the general 'thief' options thus far. I always gravitate toward Elven mages, but in BG2 it's so integral to have a thief as your lead character - constantly checking for traps and unlocking chests - that I fell into and loved that play style. When my PC isn't a thief, I feel under utilized. So I guess this is a bit of an improvement that, at least thus far, I don't feel as tied to that playstyle.

Anywho, tldr: the sub classes are interesting.

MikeIsGood wrote:Things got much more interesting at level 3 (character-wise). I didn't know what to expect, but the sub-class options are really interesting, and some of the options are essentially what I have been playing with in BG2 via mods for years (e.g. Eldritch Knight). I rolled my Rogue into an Arcane Trickster, which I was not expecting to do at all, but like the idea of after being a little underwhelmed with the general 'thief' options thus far. I always gravitate toward Elven mages, but in BG2 it's so integral to have a thief as your lead character - constantly checking for traps and unlocking chests - that I fell into and loved that play style. When my PC isn't a thief, I feel under utilized. So I guess this is a bit of an improvement that, at least thus far, I don't feel as tied to that playstyle.

Anywho, tldr: the sub classes are interesting.

Arcane Tricksters are very cool, but make sure you have some points in intelligence otherwise spells that have attack rolls or saving throws will be underwhelming.

My early impression is that Warlock is the best class at present. Much like 5E, they’re versatile and they can do solid damage, but translated to a video game I think their skills shine more brightly, especially with some rule changes. Namely, Charisma is their key stat, so you get to be good at social encounters and deal lots of damage. Eldritch Blast shines as a d10 cantrip and eldritch invocations have more uses since there’s content to support them (Beast Speech to talk to animals, Repelling Blast seems more useful with how pushing enemies works, etc...). Feels great for a player character.

Just beat Hades for the first time on my 26th run. The shield ended up being the way to go. I upgraded it to spin and follow me around while lightning blasted everyone. It was awesome.

HELL. YES.

The cursed slash in Hades is way too OP.

ReasonablySober wrote:

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HELL. YES.

I absolutely loved my Dreamcast, but I'm skeptical on how great a mini would be in 2020. So many of the great games on the DC have since been ported elsewhere as a result of Sega going under. I'll be interested to see what shows up, nonetheless. If it has Chu Chu Rocket, Skies of Arcadia, Virtua Tennis...I would seriously consider it, which would be my first mini console.

Installed and started Doom Eternal on Gamepass tonight. It feels next-gen.

ETA: It's also confusing and very hard.

ReasonablySober wrote:Installed and started Doom Eternal on Gamepass tonight. It feels next-gen.

ETA: It's also confusing and very hard.

That game I like less the more distance I have from it. They kind of went with a “we made ridiculous amounts of lore and presented it super serious to the point where it’s funny” approach that I don’t think worked as well compared to the tongue in cheek DOOM 2016. Mix that with some frustrating moments that run counter to the core gameplay loop and a campaign that lingered maybe 4-6 hours longer than was welcome and I think I end up preferring the 2016 game.

MikeIsGood wrote:

ReasonablySober wrote:

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HELL. YES.

I absolutely loved my Dreamcast, but I'm skeptical on how great a mini would be in 2020. So many of the great games on the DC have since been ported elsewhere as a result of Sega going under. I'll be interested to see what shows up, nonetheless. If it has Chu Chu Rocket, Skies of Arcadia, Virtua Tennis...I would seriously consider it, which would be my first mini console.

"Come back and play Sonic Adventure and NiGHTS into Dreams as they were intended: terrible and not able to hold up to the passage of time in any way possible!"

I don't know how far into my playthrough I am, because the Switch is dumb and doesn't record your time in that manner, but I'm certainly the farthest I've ever been in BOTW - I just took out my first guardian, which I've never done.

And I have to say, while I certainly never argued against it, I also didn't embrace it as 'zomg best game ever made' like so much of the hype was. And while I still wouldn't call it the best game ever from my viewpoint...I do feel like I have a better understanding of it now.

My biggest gripe continues to be that the world feels pretty empty to me. It's brilliant how many shrines and nuts are hidden all over the places you can climb and glide to, but this is a world that doesn't feel very lived in outside of the couple downs. And I suppose that's part of the setting and story, but it makes exploration feel a little dull at times.

But the guardian dungeon was excellent, the mechanics were great, I loved the backstory, and I feel invested now. It's been good times. Making me look forward more to the Hyrule Warriors game next month.

Think I'm switching back to BG3 for rest of day now probably and to watch some football in the background. Might re-roll. Even feeling good about the arcane trickster, the role of a rogue just feels so lessened in 5E/BG3 (not sure which). Feel like I could be a better archer as a ranger maybe. And might do warlock because eldritch blast is so crazy OP in these early levels.

MikeIsGood wrote:I don't know how far into my playthrough I am, because the Switch is dumb and doesn't record your time in that manner, but I'm certainly the farthest I've ever been in BOTW - I just took out my first guardian, which I've never done.

And I have to say, while I certainly never argued against it, I also didn't embrace it as 'zomg best game ever made' like so much of the hype was. And while I still wouldn't call it the best game ever from my viewpoint...I do feel like I have a better understanding of it now.

My biggest gripe continues to be that the world feels pretty empty to me. It's brilliant how many shrines and nuts are hidden all over the places you can climb and glide to, but this is a world that doesn't feel very lived in outside of the couple downs. And I suppose that's part of the setting and story, but it makes exploration feel a little dull at times.

But the guardian dungeon was excellent, the mechanics were great, I loved the backstory, and I feel invested now. It's been good times. Making me look forward more to the Hyrule Warriors game next month.

Think I'm switching back to BG3 for rest of day now probably and to watch some football in the background. Might re-roll. Even feeling good about the arcane trickster, the role of a rogue just feels so lessened in 5E/BG3 (not sure which). Feel like I could be a better archer as a ranger maybe. And might do warlock because eldritch blast is so crazy OP in these early levels.

You might like a dexterity Fighter that uses ranged weapons. You can use most of the Battle Master’s maneuvers at range - a lot of them add a superiority die to damage (d8 at early levels that at high levels improve to d10s and cap at d12s).

ReasonablySober wrote:

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HELL. YES.

Dreamcast was the best.

They are going to have to release it on 2/2/22

A bunch of previews went live for Valhalla this morning. Looks very, very good. One or both of Valhalla and Demon's Souls are gonna be the two games I start off with.

ReasonablySober wrote:A bunch of previews went live for Valhalla this morning. Looks very, very good. One or both of Valhalla and Demon's Souls are gonna be the two games I start off with.

Is Valhalla a $70 PS5 game? Because Demon’s Souls was definitely confirmed as $70.

Sauce Boss wrote:

ReasonablySober wrote:A bunch of previews went live for Valhalla this morning. Looks very, very good. One or both of Valhalla and Demon's Souls are gonna be the two games I start off with.

Is Valhalla a $70 PS5 game? Because Demon’s Souls was definitely confirmed as $70.

I knew prices would go up eventually, but was hoping we'd make it another generation. Something about $70 feels so much worse than $60.

Demon Souls, AssCreed, and Cyberpunk...oh boy. Too much and too little time.

Sauce Boss wrote:

ReasonablySober wrote:A bunch of previews went live for Valhalla this morning. Looks very, very good. One or both of Valhalla and Demon's Souls are gonna be the two games I start off with.

Is Valhalla a $70 PS5 game? Because Demon’s Souls was definitely confirmed as $70.

I got Valhalla included with my new gaming PC. After re-watch binging The Last Kingdom and Vikings, I'm ready to **** up some Saxons.

MikeIsGood wrote:

Sauce Boss wrote:

ReasonablySober wrote:A bunch of previews went live for Valhalla this morning. Looks very, very good. One or both of Valhalla and Demon's Souls are gonna be the two games I start off with.

Is Valhalla a $70 PS5 game? Because Demon’s Souls was definitely confirmed as $70.

I knew prices would go up eventually, but was hoping we'd make it another generation. Something about $70 feels so much worse than $60.

Yeah, it's a weird feeling. I know game prices need to go up so that developers can reasonably continue to make bigger and better games. At some point the cost to return on $60 isn't sufficient enough to keep studios afloat if they don't deliver an absolute blockbuster. And yet, as a consumer, I think some part of my lizard brain looks at $70 and rounds up to $100. And $100 for a game feels like too much --- I'd become quite a bit more selective at that price tag. It's something I'll have to reconcile with at some point, but is slightly uncomfortable at the moment.