Black Skylands. A friend gifted me a copy on steam after he had a transaction error and got two copies. Thought it might be fun for a few hours but I’ve been obsessed.
It’s an open world exploring game where you’ve got an airship and go from island to island, and it’s a top down twin stick shooter. The mobility is really enjoyable with the grappling hook, the combat is fun with interesting weapons, tech and upgrades and you have an airship!
After finishing up BG3 I decided to replay kotor 2 with the restored content mod. I originally played it as a kid on Xbox, it’s been a trip down memory lane.
I started a second run of Baldur’s Gate 3 this week. I don’t know the last time I’ve ever finished a game like this just to go right back into it. It’s certainly been 20+ years since I’ve done it with an RPG. Part of why I wanted to do it might have been how much more polish there is in the first act, so it’s a cozier experience. I also skipped a full zone and a half on the first play, so that’s all going to be new, and I want to see the other side of a big decision point in Act 2. Probably going to end this run around that point and maybe actually play a different game for once.
I’m realizing now that this game fixes all of my problems with Divinity: Original Sin 2, and that was an excellent game. There are very few steps back here, mostly just the lack of polish.
BG3 is still a triumph despite the (many) rough edges. I’m sure I’m going to go back to it yet again down the road after a few patches and some of the cut/unfinished content is in the game, especially around the ending.
I don’t know the last time I’ve ever finished a game like this just to go right back into it.
Elden Ring is this game for a lot of people, myself included. I'm early in BG3, but just like with Elden Ring, I'm already thinking about other things I'd like to try on subsequent playthroughs.
I just came back to Baldur’s Gate 3 after doing all the new stuff in Genshin. The break was good, because now that giant patch for BG3 is out, and it apparently fixes problems running Act 3, which I got to last night.
I managed to get turned into a cheese wheel by an angry djinn, so everything’s going great in Act 3 so far!
I finished Baldur's Gate 2 and moved on to Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 2 still has, or possibly invented, a lot of common RPG trappings that carry through to this day, but it's still very dated in some key ways that sucked the air out of the room, which was a shame, because the bones are solid. Sometimes there are just obscure knowledge checks against the rules of D&D or the monsters therein that make the game unsolvable unless you know the specific answer. Sometimes it's a monster that can only be defeated by +3 weapons or better; sometimes it's magic that can only be countered by specific counter spells. At the start of combat, enemy spells seemingly cast nearly instantly, but the defense spells to beat them take several combat rounds to cast, can be interrupted, or otherwise are ineffective unless you've already cast them before combat started, which means you're save scumming a lot as a necessity. Not only that, but the game throws so much combat at you. I ran out of patience for its combat, after playing through BG1 the month prior, sometime around chapter 4 or 5 out of 7 and just threw it on "Story" mode, which is basically god mode. I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the decision making. I just wish the designers had more restraint when it came to combat encounters and that they properly signaled these countermeasures, but perhaps they were trying to sell strategy guides.
Baldur's Gate 3 is difficult to put down compared to its predecessors; not just because 5e is easier to understand; not just because the game goes to great lengths to explain its entire rule set; not just because I can avoid repetitive strain on my wrist by using a controller. Though separated by 20 years of game design paradigms, they're remarkably similar games, as they should be, but this one just excels in every area it should. The presentation is phenomenal, all the way through the narrator that infuses some Planescape: Torment DNA into the game that wasn't so much of a thing in the past two BG games. The combat encounters have more restraint; I took on a goblin camp from the inside out and basically faced wave after wave of goblin patrols, and still it felt less taxing than the typical BG2 dungeon, with more systemic ways to interact with the environment and just find clever solutions to things. I just feel like a damn genius and a sense of exhilaration when I get through a combat encounter, as opposed to having a sigh of relief that it's over like I did in the last two games.
I’ve never played any baldur’s gate game and only played the first half of the beginner campaign of 5e. I have seen some dimension 20 shows though.
With that background, can you recommend jumping directly into bg3?I don’t really want to play bg2 but bg3 is being hailed as one of the best games in a decade. So I wanted to see how it holds up.
As someone who has barely put any amount of time into BG1 and only played Larian’s previous title, Divinity Original Sin 2, if you are okay playing turn based RPG, it’s absolutely worth the money IMO. The interactions and way you can traverse through the world is pretty amazing. Almost every encounter or area has a large amount of opportunities on how you can approach or avoid
Yes. I just have a compulsion that most people don't where I feel like I need to see the earlier games in a series in order to get the proper perspective on the later ones. For instance, with returning characters, winks and nods, etc. It's orders of magnitude more approachable than BG1 and 2, which were harder to get into than Planescape: Torment, IMO. And at least right out of the gate, they don't expect you to have any foreknowledge of what came earlier. I'll bet they'll drop that lore as I get closer to the in-game location, Baldur's Gate, because you do not start there, and I understand that, like the first game, you don't see that city until toward the end.
Wife absolutely loves BG3 to the point she ordered some 5e books to better understand the systems. She went in knowing nothing about the lore, the systems, or anything and it quickly became her favorite game of all time.
I have yet to jump in though. Played about an hour, but I feel like I need a good block of time I can dedicate to getting acquainted with the game before I can really start to enjoy it.
BG2 is one of those games I wish the gameplay would let me recommend. The story is brilliant and Jon Irenicus is an amazing villain, capped by David Warner’s performance, still to this day one of my favorite voice acting performances in a game.
I think the initial premise might have been flawed from the start on the gameplay front anyway. Vincke’s already talked about how difficult it would be to tack on a sequel expansion/DLC to BG3 because of how crazy D&D gets at high levels, and Bioware was still pioneering the artificial DM concept back in 2000 to begin with.
Every time Irenicus spoke, I just wanted him to keep talking.
I have no idea what level >12 magic looks like in 5e and why it gets so challenging, other than what little I know of Wish, which is in BG2, but magic was a menace in the under level 12 area of BG1 and 2 also. Just frequent spells that would AoE stun your entire party for the next 10 rounds, which may as well have been an instant kill.
I've been playing kenshi again. I start a new game every so often when i get the need.
However, I also installed baldurs gate 3 and i have only looked at the beginning. I am a fool though and I also pre ordered starfield. My next few weeks are going to be busy.
I played inside. The story was interesting but the gameplay was so tedious compared to limbo that I almost quit. I did quit years ago. I had 45 minutes on the game when I started and restarted. It honestly was a bit of a grind. The ending gameplay felt liberating though.
Also I been playing uncharted 4: the lost legacy which has been kind of interesting. I feel like it’s an attempt on the tomb raider puzzles which ends up being far better than trying raider itself. I also really love the grounded story that’s teaching history and culture.
I also have downloaded ctrl alt ego and gloomwood.
Still playing Dysmantle, which I originally started intending it to be my background game that I’d turn on when I had only a short window to play or got bored or frustrated with my “main” game.
~40 hours later I think I’m nearing the end and dreading it because I don’t want to not have Dysmantle in my life. Ever since a played Subnautica a few years back, I’ve been looking for another game that scratches the same survival/crafting itch but with the critical components of an overall objective and calculated progression. Dysmantle is different in almost every way but it does hit those check boxes perfectly.
The gameplay loop is repetitive, but amusing enough on its own to be fun until your next upgrade, which are granted to you at just the right pace and open up new abilities to better dismantle your surroundings.
I think it’s flaws will probably hit harder for some people, but for me it strikes exactly the right chord. Luckily I still have the DLCs, and they have a spiritual sequel coming out next year that looks even more promising.
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