Seems kind of extreme to suggest such a drastic scenario. The possibilities are more numerous than either he’s 100% fine or dead (which, btw, you are the one “putting that into the universe). I wouldn't guess that’s what people were thinking… rather that perhaps he was in ill health, had lost interest or had other projects that were taking priority, perhaps due to practical financial considerations. Thankfully Ernest has posted an update answering this question, and he says while he has been hindered by some health circumstances recently, things are basically on track.
Mainly I was pining for turn-based Phantasy Star. I'd accept DnD. I was out of the gaming world from 2005-2020. I could have looked harder, it's true, and that's why I'm asking questions.
Is that how those work? I've been thinking about BG3. I suppose the first RPG I ever played was a Gold Box SSI game set in the Forgotten Realms so I'd probably like it.
One of my favorite series, Phantasy Star, moved from a turn-based RPG in the 80s to an action RPG since 20 years ago (PSO, PSO2). What if I don't want to play an action game? I don't get what happened to the old style of RPG.
Yeah, it’s different because this game is apparently horrible. I’m sure not all the games he reviews are good, either… just that they’re theoretically viable and exist but hardly anybody plays them.
I was watching a YouTube series recently about situations like this… online games that were pretty decent and still had servers but only 3-4 people a week signed on. Pretty entertaining.
I played a “web3” game for a while, based on real estate. It’s still around. It has some possibilities to make real-world money but seems to function mainly on game scrip, like most microtransaction games. The idea is solid, “crypto virtual property” copy of the real world, but holy cow were the developers absolutely terrible at making it fun. The non-financial mechanics of the game are the most god-awful boring thing I have ever seen. I guess they’ve improved it recently with street racing, but I haven’t tried that.