OT: Video Games/Computers/Gadgets/Gizmos

[The Wet Whistle]

Pathfinder 2 interests the hell out of me, but I've never played. I have an app to build characters though and the amount of choice and customization is mind blowing, especially in comparison to D&D5e which I have played a fair amount of. Not to say 5e is bad or anything, just that the class progression is fairly linear. Pathfinder opens up many ways to play even within the same class

Sent from my motorola edge (2021) using RealGM mobile app

[Sauce Boss]

I found a pair of Boots of Speed last night and it’s absolutely clutch on my Paladin. Bonus action to double move speed and apply disadvantage on any attacks of opportunity against you; can easily close in now to start swinging away.

I have to say, I was having a blast doing the content I remembered again, but once I started seeing new stuff (albeit stuff that was probably in early access that I never came back to see as they updated the game) like the Underdark this game went to a new level for me. It’s special, probably a generational RPG. You’ll groan to your kids that “they don’t make ‘em like Baldur’s Gate 3 anymore” in 20 years.

[ReasonablySober]

God this makes BG3 sound like a chore.

Let’s take an incredibly unimportant moment in the game to illustrate this, so as to avoid spoilers: the entrance to the goblin camp on your way to rescue the druid Halsin. When you get there, you can chat to the goblin in charge—Sentinel Olak—with a bunch of different approaches available. As a Ranger, I tried to impress him with my knowledge of worgs, asking if they were a member of the “Nordiland worgata family.” For some reason, it required a dice roll to determine if I...successfully said these words out loud? I didn’t think it would. But it was only asking for a 5, so maybe not so bad. Except, incredibly, I rolled a natural 1.

Now, as I play BG3 I’m being pretty strict with myself about allowing things to play out as the dice fall. I made a bad decision to kill an owl bear, and I’m living with it. I ended up killing a bunch of people I could have helped, and I’m sucking it up. But in moments like this, where I was just interested to see the result of a conversation, yeah, I’m save-scumming. I reloaded out of bloody-mindedness, determined to see the result of this incredibly bland conversation option, and rolled another 1. I loaded again and got a 5, which became a 4 after a -1 Intelligence was applied.

On a fourth attempt, I succeeded in saying a sentence, and it opened up an even more trivial situation: one where Olak decided he’d only let me into camp if I smeared worg **** on my face. It was a deliberate attempt to make a fool of me, and I was given the [ATHLETICS] option to “Scoop up the warm dung and fling it at Olak’s face.” That sounded fun, so I picked it, and it conjured another dice roll! This time, for the athletic feat of picking up some poo and throwing it at a person stood immediately in front of me, I was required to get a 10. I had a 50:50 chance of being able to move some ****. And I failed at it.

At this point, the whole exercise was purely academic. Both success and failure end in the same fight (agreeing to wipe poo on your face is a far more interesting route to take, it turns out, as discovered by my now endemic save-scumming), so not getting the 10 mattered not one bit. But I was determined to anyway, just to spite the stupid system.

Yes, this is a dumb example, but I picked it because giving any of the hundreds of more serious ones might spoil a key moment of the game, and it’s emblematic of the issue. BG3 dangles interesting possibilities in front of you, then tells you you’re not allowed to experience them because of an arbitrary system of deeply weirdly balanced dice rolls.

Here’s another dumb example: the time I failed to peer at a dog’s collar. I failed at looking at a thing in front of me. It asked for a 10, and I had a total of +4 to add to my result because I’m so good at...looking at dog collars. And I failed. I guess I thought about a drawing of a lemon or something.

Yikes.

[GoldenAntlers]

BG3 has been the most.intwresting conversation of the off-season.

[MikeIsGood]

I'm not trying to convince anyone to or not to like the game - the systems won't be for everyone, and that's totally fine. I think Larian did some things to help make it more accessible to non-D&D gamers, like 'lucky dice' to help prevent the bad feeling from getting unlucky rolls over and over, but ultimately it won't be for everyone. Not a problem.

I do think this characterization of 'I failed at saying a sentence' is completely disingenuous. You're failing at persuading or deceiving the person you're talking to, which the game makes abundantly clear by calling them [Persuasion] and [Deception] checks. You still say the sentence - they just don't care or don't believe you. And failing is kind of part of the point; something goes how you don't expect, and you adapt accordingly.

So again, I don't care at all if people think the system still sucks. Not for you - totally fine. But I do take issue with how it's presented, because a video game journalist definitely knows better.

[Sauce Boss]

God this makes BG3 sound like a chore.

Let’s take an incredibly unimportant moment in the game to illustrate this, so as to avoid spoilers: the entrance to the goblin camp on your way to rescue the druid Halsin. When you get there, you can chat to the goblin in charge—Sentinel Olak—with a bunch of different approaches available. As a Ranger, I tried to impress him with my knowledge of worgs, asking if they were a member of the “Nordiland worgata family.” For some reason, it required a dice roll to determine if I...successfully said these words out loud? I didn’t think it would. But it was only asking for a 5, so maybe not so bad. Except, incredibly, I rolled a natural 1.

Now, as I play BG3 I’m being pretty strict with myself about allowing things to play out as the dice fall. I made a bad decision to kill an owl bear, and I’m living with it. I ended up killing a bunch of people I could have helped, and I’m sucking it up. But in moments like this, where I was just interested to see the result of a conversation, yeah, I’m save-scumming. I reloaded out of bloody-mindedness, determined to see the result of this incredibly bland conversation option, and rolled another 1. I loaded again and got a 5, which became a 4 after a -1 Intelligence was applied.

On a fourth attempt, I succeeded in saying a sentence, and it opened up an even more trivial situation: one where Olak decided he’d only let me into camp if I smeared worg **** on my face. It was a deliberate attempt to make a fool of me, and I was given the [ATHLETICS] option to “Scoop up the warm dung and fling it at Olak’s face.” That sounded fun, so I picked it, and it conjured another dice roll! This time, for the athletic feat of picking up some poo and throwing it at a person stood immediately in front of me, I was required to get a 10. I had a 50:50 chance of being able to move some ****. And I failed at it.

At this point, the whole exercise was purely academic. Both success and failure end in the same fight (agreeing to wipe poo on your face is a far more interesting route to take, it turns out, as discovered by my now endemic save-scumming), so not getting the 10 mattered not one bit. But I was determined to anyway, just to spite the stupid system.

Yes, this is a dumb example, but I picked it because giving any of the hundreds of more serious ones might spoil a key moment of the game, and it’s emblematic of the issue. BG3 dangles interesting possibilities in front of you, then tells you you’re not allowed to experience them because of an arbitrary system of deeply weirdly balanced dice rolls.

Here’s another dumb example: the time I failed to peer at a dog’s collar. I failed at looking at a thing in front of me. It asked for a 10, and I had a total of +4 to add to my result because I’m so good at...looking at dog collars. And I failed. I guess I thought about a drawing of a lemon or something.

Yikes.

I think it’s sort of a bad faith argument because said quote starts with “I’m trying to not save scum and roll with what happens with my dice rolls” and then immediately turns around and says “but I’m interested in the result I wanted so I save scummed anyway.”

[ReasonablySober]

God this makes BG3 sound like a chore.

Let’s take an incredibly unimportant moment in the game to illustrate this, so as to avoid spoilers: the entrance to the goblin camp on your way to rescue the druid Halsin. When you get there, you can chat to the goblin in charge—Sentinel Olak—with a bunch of different approaches available. As a Ranger, I tried to impress him with my knowledge of worgs, asking if they were a member of the “Nordiland worgata family.” For some reason, it required a dice roll to determine if I...successfully said these words out loud? I didn’t think it would. But it was only asking for a 5, so maybe not so bad. Except, incredibly, I rolled a natural 1.

Now, as I play BG3 I’m being pretty strict with myself about allowing things to play out as the dice fall. I made a bad decision to kill an owl bear, and I’m living with it. I ended up killing a bunch of people I could have helped, and I’m sucking it up. But in moments like this, where I was just interested to see the result of a conversation, yeah, I’m save-scumming. I reloaded out of bloody-mindedness, determined to see the result of this incredibly bland conversation option, and rolled another 1. I loaded again and got a 5, which became a 4 after a -1 Intelligence was applied.

On a fourth attempt, I succeeded in saying a sentence, and it opened up an even more trivial situation: one where Olak decided he’d only let me into camp if I smeared worg **** on my face. It was a deliberate attempt to make a fool of me, and I was given the [ATHLETICS] option to “Scoop up the warm dung and fling it at Olak’s face.” That sounded fun, so I picked it, and it conjured another dice roll! This time, for the athletic feat of picking up some poo and throwing it at a person stood immediately in front of me, I was required to get a 10. I had a 50:50 chance of being able to move some ****. And I failed at it.

At this point, the whole exercise was purely academic. Both success and failure end in the same fight (agreeing to wipe poo on your face is a far more interesting route to take, it turns out, as discovered by my now endemic save-scumming), so not getting the 10 mattered not one bit. But I was determined to anyway, just to spite the stupid system.

Yes, this is a dumb example, but I picked it because giving any of the hundreds of more serious ones might spoil a key moment of the game, and it’s emblematic of the issue. BG3 dangles interesting possibilities in front of you, then tells you you’re not allowed to experience them because of an arbitrary system of deeply weirdly balanced dice rolls.

Here’s another dumb example: the time I failed to peer at a dog’s collar. I failed at looking at a thing in front of me. It asked for a 10, and I had a total of +4 to add to my result because I’m so good at...looking at dog collars. And I failed. I guess I thought about a drawing of a lemon or something.

Yikes.

I think it’s sort of a bad faith argument because said quote starts with “I’m trying to not save scum and roll with what happens with my dice rolls” and then immediately turns around and says “but I’m interested in the result I wanted so I save scummed anyway.”

Only speaking as someone who hasn't played the game yet (but probably will once it hits console), but I read the blog as a criticism of needless dice rolling that happens to have legit impact on the storytelling. Looking at a dog's collar. Simply saying something.

[FrieAaron]

Only speaking as someone who hasn't played the game yet (but probably will once it hits console), but I read the blog as a criticism of needless dice rolling that happens to have legit impact on the storytelling. Looking at a dog's collar. Simply saying something.

I haven't played the game either, but it does seem like at best this critic isn't understanding the mechanics of the game, at worst he's intentionally misconstruing what's happening and the game is literally telling him. Like Mike said, you're not failing to speak. You're failing to persuade or threaten. He's not failing to lift or throw poop. He's missing. He's not failing to look at a dog collar. He's failing to notice clues or put something together. Now, if the game is actually failing to convey this in some way it would be a valid criticism. I kind of doubt that, honestly, but I haven't played it.

[TroyD92]

Game critics are cringe

[Prez]

Some real good games out this year and here I am 8 years late to the party finally playing Bloodborne lol. Getting dumped on btw, thanks for asking

[Sauce Boss]

Watch on YouTube

Apparently Titan Quest II was announced over a year ago, but only heard about it with the new trailer that came out the other day. Lot of ARPG fans, so figured I'd post that for the loot lovers.

[ReasonablySober]

Started a new Elden Ring play through earlier in the week. I'm in full on killing time mode. Made it to level 109 but I was doing a lot of busywork I didn't love, so I checked my previous saves and Past RS was looking out for Future RS. I had a save I'd dumped over 100 hours into, was level 139. Somehow this save had done all the stuff I didn't want to do and none of the stuff I still want to do. Haven't killed Malenia, Mohg, or the very final boss. Haven't completed a pretty decent amount of end-game storylines. I hadn't collected the armor sets I wanted or the weapons I needed for some specific builds. But I'd gotten all the bell-bearings. A handful of the Talisman's I needed. Half the ashes of war I wanted. And the map wasn't completely clear, but it's cleared enough to let me go whereever I want.

I've probably got 20 more hours in this save before I finish everything and head to NG+.

[JJ_PR]

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

Apparently Titan Quest II was announced over a year ago, but only heard about it with the new trailer that came out the other day. Lot of ARPG fans, so figured I'd post that for the loot lovers.

That trailer is freaking sick!

[MikeIsGood]

Watch on YouTube

Apparently Titan Quest II was announced over a year ago, but only heard about it with the new trailer that came out the other day. Lot of ARPG fans, so figured I'd post that for the loot lovers.

I think it was just part of the NVIDIA leak. I don't recall it being announced. In either case, excellent trailer and looking forward to it! Iconic dual class system; my favorite way to play Titan Quest was with mods within Grim Dawn, who used the system themselves lol.

[Siefer]

I finished FF16 a couple of days back - I really enjoyed it overall. Really high-highs and a couple of frustrating lows, but the base experience was really good, and I just loved the cast, world, and bombast of it all.

A great video that covers a lot of the stuff I loved, and some of the bigger stumbles with regards to narrative, characters, and themes.

Watch on YouTube

[MikeIsGood]

I just got a BG3 achievement that kind of tells another way that I could have done something and my mind is a little bit blown by it.

Act 1 and achievement spoiler:

Spoiler:

YOU CAN USE THE FORGE HAMMER TO KILL THE GOLEM!?

[tydett]

I just got a BG3 achievement that kind of tells another way that I could have done something and my mind is a little bit blown by it.

Act 1 and achievement spoiler:

Spoiler:

YOU CAN USE THE FORGE HAMMER TO KILL THE GOLEM!?

Spoiler:

You didn't? Ahahahaha wow that would be miserable.

[MikeIsGood]

I just got a BG3 achievement that kind of tells another way that I could have done something and my mind is a little bit blown by it.

Act 1 and achievement spoiler:

Spoiler:

YOU CAN USE THE FORGE HAMMER TO KILL THE GOLEM!?

Spoiler:

You didn't? Ahahahaha wow that would be miserable.

Spoiler:

It was surprisingly not bad, at least considering I'm apparently not intended to do it that way He was vulnerable to bludgeoning damage and my monk uses a quarterstaff so I worked him down pretty quickly with that.

[The Wet Whistle]

I just got a BG3 achievement that kind of tells another way that I could have done something and my mind is a little bit blown by it.

Act 1 and achievement spoiler:

Spoiler:

YOU CAN USE THE FORGE HAMMER TO KILL THE GOLEM!?

Spoiler:

Got the same achievement. When I read it, kinda just blinked twice and said, "kill him with the what??" haha, all's well that ends well. And got an achievement out of it.

[MikeIsGood]

Apparently SA is trying to esportswash, too. I just caught up on Gamers8 SF6 tourney and the winners prize was $400k. Evo was $20k