Coelacanth

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

They are absolutely lovely, though undeniably very old school. BG1 is more action-adventurey with a bigger emphasis on exploration, BG2 is very story-heavy. They have aged remarkably well, considering they’re over 20 years old. The handpainted backgrounds still look pretty.

With potential increased interest due to BG3, I wonder if it would be an idea to create a community for the classic Baldur’s Gates 🤔

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

You’ll love the DLCs. Hearts of Stone is the best story in all of TW3, in my opinion.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

THAC0 is… yeah. I guess the systems take some getting used to. And it gets a little more complicated at higher levels with different layers of protective spells and counter-spells.

Are you planning on playing the second as well?

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Yeah, these old games were kind of a wild west when it comes to design. I also love Fallout 2 to bits for example, but god damn can it feel cheap and frustrating at times. On the other hand there are loads of ways to cheese encounters, too, if you’re interested in making things easier. Backstabs, Snares, Cloudkill (and similar effects), abusing Fog of War. Almost all of BG1 can be cheesed with Skull Trap. And almost all of BG2 can be cheesed with Set Snare.

I’ve only started playing BG3, but so far it’s been a lot easier and simpler than both the old games and Divinity, which maybe is to be expected with it being based on D&D 5E rules. Compared to D:OS 2 combat has been a lot less complex and challenging. Granted I’m playing on medium difficulty. I didn’t want to start off on Tactician after the Divinity games, but maybe I need to here.

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy BG2. It’s one of my all-time favorite games still, and I replay it every now and again. There are so many ways to set up fun parties with loads of interactions, especially if you use the Tweak that prevents companions from killing each other even if they hate each other. Some of the best interactions are from mixed-alignment parties.

narrow passageways that the AI pathfinding was not really able to adequately handle

I must confess that these days I always play with DebugMode=1 and one of the primary reasons is to be able to use Ctrl+J to teleport the whole squad when pathfinding acts up.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

I love Disco Elysium but I’d never try to sell someone on it by saying it’s a CRPG. It’s literally an interactive novel, and it’s really only rewarding if you want that and approach it as such.

It rewards you for being weird and wacky, for failing checks and for clicking every dialogue option (as opposed to thinking certain ones are “traps”).

It’s a weird product that claims to be a CRPG detective game about a murder case, when in the end it’s really neither.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

You can also go to the installation folder and find the bin folder and create a direct shortcut to bg3_dx11.exe to skip the launcher entirely.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

The final dream in Disco Elysium. After picking up clues all game about your past, your broken relationship and the reasons you are the way you are, the heart wrenching emotional impact had me reeling. Not mention it’s written and voice-acted beautifully.

Suddenly everything makes sense as Harry gets constantly dressed-down, his futile attempts to cling to the past denied and his insanity laid bare. The letter in the ledger, the little Headless FALN rider figurine, the obsession with Dolores Dei, that awful phonecall on the payphone, everything comes together in a beautiful climax of absolute sadness, ending on that devastating final line:

“This is real darkness. It’s not death, or war, or child molestation. Real darkness has love for a face. The first death is in the heart, Harry.

See you tomorrow”

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

There is a way to change this via mods, if you’re still interested in Cyberpunk. I just finished my first playthrough and one of the first things I did was figure out how to rebind Dodge to Alt.

The Silent Silencers mod and Stealthrunnner also makes stealth much more enjoyable.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Just finished my first playthrough of Cyberpunk last night after about 120 hours. I had 3 or so gigs left but wanted to make sure I got it done before Baldur’s Gate 3 (will need to free up some disk space…).

Overall I liked it a lot, despite its many flaws. It has some moments, characters and stories that are really engaging. Judy was a standout for me, and her voice actress really killed it. I regret not choosing Female V now, but of course I had no idea at the time. And I know it’s controversial but I kinda liked Keanu as Silverhand, even though his voice acting isn’t always “good”. The relationship between V and Johnny was the thing I enjoyed the most, and Johnny’s character development.

Not sure I’m super happy with the ending I got, though, and I might go back and play out some of the other alternatives.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Yeah, Judy made a big impression on me. I’ll wait a while after Phantom Liberty’s release until I’ll play again, but I’ll definitely play Fem V then so I can see the Judy romance.

I just played through another ending today, (Don’t) Fear the Reaper into the Temperance ending, and I much preferred that to the one I got at first (Rogue’s path into The Sun ending). I’m much more satisfied with the game now.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

I have heard people like that one, and I have read roughly what it’s about, but I’m saving that one for my next playthrough.

I think which one suits best depends a lot on both how you played your V and how you felt about Johnny.

For me, V and Johnny became like best friends, and so The Sun ended up feeling mostly like a letdown and a nobody wins scenario, and it felt almost out of character for V, too.

Temperance felt perfect for the story as I had experienced it, and it was also really cool to see the final dialogues inside Mikoshi from both the perspective of playing as Johnny and playing as V. Highly recommended.

SPOILERSWhen playing as Johnny (the first time), I actually thought V would interrupt a fourth time on the bridge heading towards the light and forcibly kick Johnny back into his body and make the choice for him. At least that’s where it felt like the dialogues were going. I think that would have been a cool moment, if your relationship with Johnny is high enough.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

The game will never be what people wanted (and what was - to some extent - promised). It’s too flawed and unfinished to be fixable through patches.

I still thoroughly enjoyed it (I’m just about to finish my first playthrough at 100+ hours), but the game has to be approached with the understanding that it’s fundamentally flawed. I have no problems with that, Fallout: New Vegas is one of my favourite games so I’m comfortable with the situation and I’m used to fixing problems myself through mods (yes, even on a first playthrough).

The best comparison I can think of is Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (though perhaps that game is now too old to be a relevant example). You can’t play it expecting a finished, polished product, but it’s still worthwhile and the good parts are really good.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Well, the mods do some heavy lifting for sure (I mean, the game is literally unplayable without the unofficial patch), but they can only fix so much. The game was - much like Cyberpunk - shipped in an unfinished state that is to some extent beyond the scope of repair for mods. The final third of Bloodlines is not great. You can tell they ran out of time and had to cobble together an ending somehow with what they had. It devolves into a series of combat encounters in a game that is not exactly famous for its combat gameplay. Compare the last sections of the game to Santa Monica to see what I mean; imagine if they were afforded the time to give the whole game the same amount of thought and polish as they could Santa Monica.

Still, much like Cyberpunk, when it’s operating at full capacity it really hits the spot. Driving through the rain at night in first person through Night City gives me sort of similar vibes as walking the rainy streets of Santa Monica, listening to Rik Schaffer’s phenomenal soundtrack. Both games nail the atmosphere, at least at times.

They’re actually fairly similar, carried by their characters, stories, setting and atmosphere rather than gameplay.

I also have to mention the combination of Bloodlines cartoony art direction and the facial animation rigging of Source Engine. The characters are incredibly expressive for a 2004(!) game, it really holds up well.

Did not expect to be thinking about reinstalling that today, but here we are!

In the voice of Alistair Grout: Damn it all, now I’m doing it too!

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

…it’s the first time since FNV I really felt the writing in a game was gripping and interesting to me on a serious level.

Disco Elysium remains the undisputed pinnacle of videogame writing and voice acting for me, so if you haven’t played it yet and are interested in a seriously moving and fascinating novel masquerading as a game I highly recommend it.

Cyberpunk has been seriously good as well, though. There are plenty of compelling characters and stories, and the evolution of the relationship between V and Johnny and the development of both of those characters has been enthralling.

It’s gameplay is honestly decent enough as well…

I feel like the gameplay reminded me of Witcher 3, in a sense. It has some good ideas, and many elements and mechanics that could make it interesting and engaging are there, they just don’t quite fit together properly, aren’t balanced well and in the end combat ends up a little simple, flat and too easy. I have installed countless mods that affect combat, though, and now I’m at a point where it’s seriously enjoyable.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu (edited 2 lata temu)

Both games were too ambitious, really. They really are like kindred spirits. It’s still unbelievable that Bloodlines is playable at all considering it was developed on an alpha version of the Source Engine held together with chopsticks and chewing gum and without any official devtools. It still bums me out we’ll never get the true Bloodlines 2 that could have been. Bryan Mitsoda was the soul of Bloodlines and it won’t be the same without him.

Cyberpunk was absolutely way too ambitious. But they’ve made substantial efforts to fix the stuff that was broken or bugged. It has become a very good game.

I genuinely love the game despite everything, and I think the experience is a worthwhile one, but I still think Cyberpunk has to be recommended with an asterisk and not as an unqualified very good game.

It’s true that post-patches the game isn’t the broken, buggy mess it was at launch, but I think the game has deeper running problems than that, to be honest.

The narrative CDPR wanted to tell is not suited for the open world game that their audience wanted, and the marriage between the two aspects is not natural.

The theme-park style open world is at odds with the immersion they want to sell and often undercuts your experience.

The story itself also has serious pacing issues, and some important side content is locked behind story progression in a way that makes the whole experience awkward.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

That’s fair. Cyberpunk does have some standout moments and the immersive first person definitely makes some of them hit harder. I can imagine that ending being powerful (I haven’t seen it), and if you have that personal connection then especially so.

My favourite moment of writing in Disco Elysium was probably speaking to the boat lady who spits out some very harsh truths and for sure represents best the idea of “absords all critiques into itself” idea.

Disco Elysium is chock full of great lines and “Capital has the ability to absorb all critiques into itself…” is fantastic. For me, I just keep coming back to the ending. Specifically, the final dream.

It’s the absolute pinnacle of the game, in my opinion, at least if you’ve explored all the clues about Harry’s past. I’m trying to write in a way that won’t spoil too much for people who haven’t played, but if you’ve read the letter in the ledger, made that phonecall, bought the figurine, explored the stained glass window etc it all comes together in that dream scene.

It’s such a beautifully painful moment that just keeps building as you’re exposing the inner core of Harry, and culminates to a point on the perfect final line.

“See you tomorrow, Harry”

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Oh I’m well aware. They were constantly downstream as Valve was developing the Source Engine at the same time as Troika was using it to make Bloodlines, and there was no documentation or devtools available. It’s a minor miracle the game even runs at all.

It was still a troubled production beyond that, though, and Bloodlines was ultimately rushed to the finish and shoved out the door before it was ready. Like I said elsewhere in this thread, it becomes very noticeable in the final third of the game, where the quality doesn’t really match the high bar that the Santa Monica section establishes.

I still absolutely love the game, though. The atmosphere still hits home, even to this day. And Rik Schaffer’s soundtrack is iconic.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu (edited 2 lata temu)

That fragile balance between hope and nihilism is where the game really shines for me. The communist vision quest is another instance, where a glimmer of sincerity shines through from the writers amid the bleak cynicism and satire. I always loved Steban’s soft, understated admission of why he believes in communism: “You could say we believe it because it’s impossible. It’s our way of saying we refuse to accept that the world has to remain… like this.”

Not only are there things worth finding in the world, but there are things worth fighting for, and it’s a gentle reminder that we ourselves must choose our beliefs. If we want to feel hope, we must choose to believe in it. Even when it’s impossible. We have to believe that there is a better future possible. To quote Steban again;

“In dark times, should the stars also go out?”

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

I can vouch for the payoff in Shadowbringers. I did not like all of it and I personally dislike the development of the story afterwards and into Endwalker, but Shadowbringers has some good moments.

Since you’re done with HW now I’ll also warn you, Stormblood can be slow at times and has more narrative problems than the other expansions. The post-Stormblood patch quests were excellent though, in my opinion, so try to stick with it. The far-east stuff is pretty good but the Ala Mhigo parts are probably the games absolutely low point for me.

Stormblood also has some of my favourite music in FFXIV.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

I think a lot of it is Shadowbringers overtaking Heavensward as many people’s favourite expansion during that time.

I still think the “just get through ARR” bit is true to some extent, and you can notice the increase in production value each expansion if nothing else. Stormblood is where the shackles of the PS3 were finally broken for example, so it does have that going for it.

I personally really enjoyed Heavensward, so if that doesn’t hit the spot then I don’t know. That’s not to say it didn’t have slow and/or boring parts, of course (they do tend to pad the runtime), but the overall Dragonsong War story and the Ysayle/Estinien bits were great to me.

Soon people might say the same thing about Stormblood. “Just get to Shadowbringers.”

I think people have kind of been saying that since Shadowbringers came out, honestly. Or at least “get through to the patch quests”. Stormblood was overly ambitious and tried to tell two stories at once, which resulted in too little screentime for either to really develop and hit home. Also they had to split the writers, so the Heavensward writer only worked on the far-east stuff, and Ala Mhigo ended up being pretty boring and forgettable.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

They do add a lot of tedious stuff to pad the length, and I agree about the lack of combat duties during the story. It does get a little better in Shadowbringers, if my memory serves.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

This was my first thought as well.

I’m trying to put it in a way that won’t spoil clues for those who haven’t played it yet, but I ended up with plenty of notes and even took screenshots of the ship maps to scribble notes on.

God I wish I could forget all about it and play it for the first time again.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Welonz is fantastic in general. Always thoughtful and thorough and seems to approach whatever game she’s playing with great respect. She even did a watchable LP of Return of the Obra Dinn, which is extremely rare.

I haven’t checked her channel in a few months because for a while she was doing mono-Dragon Age, but at a cursory glance it looks like she has a moved to a more varied upload schedule these days, which is good.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Ever since I was a kid I have wanted a Pokémon game with real-time action combat that approximates the fight scenes in the anime, not only incorporating movement and dodging but also counter-moves like using fire attacks to nullify Razor Leaves.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Sealed room murder mystery, with no quirky characters. And with puzzles that require you to wiki stuff.

It’s not exactly that, but have you played Return of the Obra Dinn?

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

There is an item that allows you to teleport to your party members, so you could still split up and do sidequests separately, only joining forces when combat is triggered.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Yeah, like I said it’s not an exact match, but if you hadn’t tried it I thought perhaps it would scratch that same deduction itch. Plus it has that Wiki element since a fair bit of clues are based around cultural and nautical history as well as languages and dialects.

Not so much physics and chemistry, though.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

You know, that sounds sick actually. Especially if it was more sandboxy than linear, and also had some kind of survival system (pay for food/rent) to add tension and encourage risk taking when snooping around.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

I haven’t had a chance to play it yet since I don’t own a PS5, but your comments sound a lot like what Yahtzee brought up in his review.

I too have been sceptical since I first heard about the idea of a “serious, mature mainline FF game”, since to me that sounds almost antithetical to what the series represents (it’s even got Fantasy in the name!).

I also have to say, knowing it was made by the same team as FFXIV dampened my interest in it a little. I played that game for a while (and enjoyed it quite a bit initially), but as time went on and I moved onto later expansions I started to lose interest in not only the story and the way it was told but also the direction the game was evolving in mechanically for the various classes.

I’m not saying it’s objectively bad, but it started to feel like my tastes for story and gameplay no longer align with Sony Creative Business Unit 3.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

The thing with Yoshida is interesting because I feel exactly the same way, but I also changed opinion on his works over time.

I don’t know what changed, but Heavensward era FFXIV was pretty cool in both gameplay and story, and Stormblood too has some great moments (primarily in the 4.X patch quests) while being even better, gameplay wise.

Since then the gameplay has been going in a direction I really don’t care for, and the same goes for story (though Shadowbringers had some great moments). I couldn’t make myself finish Endwalker.

I’m curious if you experienced this shift as well or you just didn’t care for FFXIV from the outset.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

They have definitely gone further down the path of homogenisation and simplification. I don’t actually mind customisation being sacrificed for better encounter balance, but many classes started to lose their identities as features and mechanics got scaled back, Dark Knight and Astrologian being two examples. And of course what they did to healers in general. Personally the removal of Hissatsu: Kaiten from Samurai was the last straw.

Killer soundtrack though, Soken does good work.

He does produce some bangers, but I’m such an unabashed Uematsu fanboy. I actually felt Soken did some of his best work remixing, building on and riffing off of Uematu’s themes and melodies, which is another reason I enjoyed the earlier expansions.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

I love Dishonored, but I agree that it’s unfortunate more fun abilities aren’t compatible with Low Chaos.

It makes the High Chaos second playthrough more satisfying though, when you can finally unleash the whole arsenal.

Coelacanth, 2 lata temu

Lots of great suggestions already but I want to throw in another recommendation for Splinter Cell. The series lost it’s identity later on, but Chaos Theory still holds up in my opinion with some great levels.