Yes, she always goes through the portal. It’s what happens after that varies. She either becomes a Witcher (looks like that will be the canon ending considering Witcher 4), becomes an empress or she doesn’t come back. In the latter ending it’s implied (but left up for debate) that she dies. It’s also very heavily implied that Geralt dies in that one.
The most busted late game strat I found on Lune was using Braselim to farm a level 3 Gradient attack every turn (Storm Caller is key for this).
Elemental Genesis actually fell out of favour for me once I discovered Hell does better AoE damage and Lightning Dance does better single target.
Typhoon is also great if you’re playing full strength teams and not low HP/Inverted. You can load it up with both Energising Heal and all the buffs, as well as Energising Rush/Shell/Powerful as needed and it will have your team triple buffed and at max AP every turn.
Oooooh I like that question. I feel like it would have to be some kind of Call of Duty, right? Some absolutely mediocre slop that still has enough mechanical satisfaction and mind-numbing explosion-and-cliché-filled story to keep you somewhat entertained, yet still remaining completely forgettable.
The final version of the script was in french. I can try to find the interview if you want. Basically, the lead writer of the narrative has English as her first language, but the co-writer of the script is french (as is the studio at large). The script went back and forth between English and French multiple times during development, but the final script ended up being in French.
Performance capture was done by the french actors, but speaking English (for motion/facial capture), so technically both languages are dubs, and neither has perfect lip synch.
Both casts are absolutely great. I prefer some voices in English and some in French. However, there are absolutely some parts of the script where it’s obvious it was written in French, with wordplay or double meanings that don’t translate to English.
Disco Elysium is definitely closer to the visual novel spectrum of video games than it is to something like Tetris. But make no mistakes, its narrative and impact would be much lessened were it delivered in any other medium. It is absolutely a perfect example of how you use video games to make art.
I love STALKER with all my heart, and if we’re talking atmosphere and vibes and even world building it is up there. But it does not really belong in the objective masterpiece category. Flawed masterpiece, maybe.
Also I think Call of Pripyat is the better STALKER game, but it might be controversial.
Good list. I desperately wanted to put Dark Souls on my list, as the first blind playthrough of it was a magical experience. But I don’t think it’s correct, no matter how much I love it. Flawed masterpiece is about right.
BG3 has some very fun gameplay at times, such as the much-lauded variety with which you can deal with the Goblin Camp in Act 1. That’s where it shines.
The writing is not really comparable. BG3 is in the “fine for a video game” territory. Disco Elysium’s writing is art, both the narratives, the characters, the themes and even the prose itself.
We’ll see how much is recency bias and how well it will stand the test of time, but I really think Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be on this list going forward. It’s definitely one of the best games I’ve ever played, and I’ve played a lot of games. It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough in all the parts that actually matter.