Frankly emulating on other systems is simply better by all the improvements you can do over the base experience. Especially when it comes to 3D games. Not to mention the libraries are much more expansive. I think the only advantage of NSO is the integrated online multiplayer being more seamless and easier to find other players in.
If you’re looking for similar games to move onto, Baldur’s Gate 3 is in its own tier, right at the top of the genre. Not only that but it’s a step forward mechanically and presentation wise for the whole genre as well. In this game I once threw an angry hyena at an enemy. Later just threw enemies at their friends.
Pathfinder Kingmaker and Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous are both excellent as well. Especially Wrath, though still with the aged style graphically speaking. You can cast touch spells through weapons! In the second one I became a lich queen with an army of undead, it might be my favourite CRPG ever because of that. It’s awesome.
Divinity Original Sin and its sequel are also brilliant, made by bg3 Devs Larian on their own ruleset. I’m currently replaying the second one with my sister (yep, it’s co-op), we are both playing undead. We are healed by poison and damaged by healing. Very cool.
When it comes to combat and character creation, I’d argue the Pathfinder games surpasses BG3. BG3 obviously looks better and has a more interactive world, but the combat is lacking compared to the builds you can do in Pathfinder. More races, way more classes, more intricate builds, higher level cap, etc…
For people that are more into combat and kiting out your characters, I think they’ll enjoy those games more. Not too say BG3 is bad or anything.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is incredibly detailed in combat though, so much so that it takes sometime to wrap your head around it. I’m addition to pushing and jumping, which both sound so simple but have a huge effect on gameplay, there’s also environmental things that you just don’t think of because in other games in the genre it isn’t an option. As an example, there’s a giant spider that wanders around on webs and summons smaller spiders from eggs, you can sneak around to destroy the eggs before combat to stop summoning and destroy the webs whilst the spider is on them to cause it to drop and take extreme damage.
So you’re right that character building may be better in Pathfinder - I really do love casting touch spells through weapons, it’s great - the combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 is far more interactive and dynamic. It’s also way more accessible.
Either is a good choice, but I give the edge to Baldur’s Gate 3 because, well, every single line is voice acted and motion captured, and the freedom you get in the story is astounding. It’s such a profound improvement, a night and day difference from the basically everything else in the genre.
the combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 is far more interactive and dynamic. It’s also way more accessible.
I agree, they also solved the “everything is on fire” problem that Divinity had with its element interactions. And it is what I hope the most Owlcat takes inspiration from.
It still feels like the game is lacking in the combat diversity department compared to Pathfinder. From the way you buff characters before a dungeon/combat to how you can specialise your characters. Some of it may just be product of how Pathfinder and D&D 5ed are, and some of it may be a product of trying to make it more accessible as you put it, at the cost of choice and complexity.
As an example, there’s a giant spider that wanders around on webs and summons smaller spiders from eggs, you can sneak around to destroy the eggs before combat to stop summoning and destroy the webs whilst the spider is on them to cause it to drop and take extreme damage.
Yeah, never got to fight that boss. Started (and ended) the combat by eldritch blasting the poor baby over the edge into the abyss when I first saw it.
No doubt BG3 is a better game for the general gaming crowd, but if combat and complex character building is your jam, I’d say Pathfinder might be a more enjoyable game.
I think it’s simpler character creation-wise because DND has gotten simpler in the same area, definitely seems much less complex than before.
Wrath is going to be my favourite for a very long time I suspect because of the Lich thing. I’ve always wanted that since playing DND games as a kid and it’s the only game that allowed it. Then it went above and beyond, I could reanimate almost anything, it was great.
Oh yeah, you’ve got to go full chaotic evil for the lich. I revived Staunton Vane (it’s been a while now, that’s the dwarf with the tragic backstory who works for evil woman whose name I’ve forgotten I believe) as an undead, I had a few lich only companions who were undead (they don’t talk much though, most of them whine about being controlled if I remember right), my city was dark and almost desolate, filled almost entirely with undead subjects. My councillors, the ones still alive, were a bit terrified and hopeless. By the end my Lich was so good at supporting the undead characters that I started to just go with a full undead party. Poor enemies must’ve been terrified.
It was incredibly macabre and grim, of course, but it was so damn cool.
Ever since Super Mario Bros. 3 it’s confirmed that it’s all a stage play and repeated over and over again, so it’s not been a one-off. They play the same or similar roles in otherwise disconnected plays / movies.
Doesn't that only confirm that it's a play in the games where the visuals explicitly show that it's a play? Beyond that Mario games don't seem to clearly be in any sort of fictional medium context at all, just because SMB3 was a play doesn't automatically mean Super Mario Sunshine is also a play or a movie, at that point that's just the characters' lives.
I actually find it funny trying to make any sense of Mario mythos at all. The characters are endearing placeholders for protagonists and enemies and create an easy design language to use for a game, but there's not really a consistent lore, the closest we've come to this whole sort of idea being legitimatized is how Nintendo has handled Zelda.
They could eventually try to create a Mario canon, but I think it's a bit too silly of a franchise to try to seriously do that with, the characters and world just bend to fit whatever works best on a per-game basis, for tone and mechanical reasons more than anything else, whether that's a play or ostensibly real characters in their regular lives.
Well the best overall for me has to be Disco Elysium. Game is just astounding. Tears at my heart. Pentiment is a close second. But my god was that one a bit more miserable. Recommend for anyone that enjoys a good story.
From purely a fun standpoint, Rollerdrome and Hi-Fi Rush were absolutely killer. Incredibly tight gameplay. Super satisfying to “get good” at. Rollerdrome was the first game I was motivated enough to 100%, it was that fun.
It’s kind of crazy looking back at how many games I got through in a year. Could’ve sworn I had played these years ago. What is time, even? 🫠
My dude! Thanks for sharing all of these. I don’t have a particular need and am able to buy myself games so I will leave for others who may not be as lucky as I am. But thanks for doing this!
I wouldn’t have much reason not to buy from Epic, but I also wouldn’t have any reason to buy from it either. Other than free games I don’t see why pick Epic over any other place. Steam has more features and GOG is DRM-free, even ItchIO has the benefit of being more supportive of smaller and upcoming game devs. Epic doesn’t do anything but the basic.
Occasionally Epic had better deals on, and if I was a big developer I might be tempted by their lower fees. That would certainly be offset by lower sales though.
The Epic store will probably stop being attractive to anyone as soon as “the kids” swap Fortnite for something else. They’ve basically got $6 billion in spunk money every year to try and make it a good alternative to Steam. When that money dries up, the Epic store isn’t going to make enough money to be worth keeping going. I doubt they’ll go bust, but they won’t be able to just hurl money at it to keep people interested.
I've definitely been eyeing Solasta since BG3. Is it combat heavy enough that it could be a podcast game? It's unclear how story focused the base game is, and I get the sense that player made content is the draw.
There’s plenty of combat. If you’ve played BG3 I imagine you’ll enjoy it.
The caveat is that it’s made by an indie studio, so the cutscenes aren’t AAA, but I think the game is amazing regardless, and that includes the expansion packs.
Dungeons of the endless is beutiful. A unique roguelike thats more strategic than action based, but gives your choices real weight. You will have to lose people and you will make mistakes to complete the missions, but every one of them leaves you with a sense of impact.
I get the same vibes from it as FTL, the sense of weighty choices. A great buy at $2.50
There is a new “action focused” sequel to dungeon of the endless whose name i forget because its an entirely forgetable game. It fully eliminates meaningful gameplay in trade for mediocre combat. It can be skipped entirely.
+1 for Solasta. I was playing it on Xbox with friends and loved it. There’s also the option for user made adventures I believe, which opens up so many possibilities.
I’ve been eyeing Solasta for a while, but I’m curious, does the base game have enough meat to it, or is this a case where the base game is a bit lacking and really starts to shine in the dlc? I’ve read some reviews to this effect and would like to hear another opinion before I purchase it.
I loved all of it, personally. Is there anything in particular you’re looking for that I can comment on, in terms of RPG’s?
My only two complaints with Solasta was that I felt the random encounters with traveling got annoyingly frequent and the cutscenes are definitely indie, but I enjoyed the game as a whole so much I stopped caring about either.
But I can confirm that the DLC’s have a ton of meat too.
Pokemon? Despite many of its flaws, it encourages honest trading amongst friends, it is a classic JRPG, and has no microtransaction. You can play it on emulator if you don’t have a switch
Please don’t make people play fall guys anymore. Epic has run that thing into the ground by laying off most of their creative team and basically deleting levels and over-monetizing cosmetics
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