Master of Magic and Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura on sale at GOG, both for about 4 bucks...

MofM and Arcanum sale on GOG



Red

I am approaching the end of PoE 2 and last night I was browsing RPGs and Arcanum was one. This is the 2001-era title? It's a good game, but not sure I can go back so far. I also looked at BG2, Planescape, the new Torment Tides of Numenera. I've been enjoying my RPG kick lately, and looking for the next one.

I might give Tyranny another chance. Folks praise it, so maybe I should revisit it to see what I'm missing. I looked for NWN 2 with Mask of the Betrayer. I thought it might be fun to play that again after so much time, as it was one of my favorites. But it's not on Steam anyway. I probably still have the disks somewhere. But that too may be too far gone.

Also considering Wasteland 2. Another game that gets high praise is the Shadowrun series. I have Shadowrun: Dragonfall, which I played for a few hours before shelving it. Maybe that's another one worth a revisit? Also Shadow Tactics : Blades of the Shogun. Highly rated, but I didn't give it enough time. I should try it again.

I also, for the first time ever really, have a backlog of games I bought on sale but haven't gotten around to.

-- Dark Souls 3. Still have never played a Dark Souls game. I bet I would love it, but I fear I would hate it, and so I've done nothing

-- Darkwood . A top-down horror game that I played for a few hours. Seemed pretty good but I didn't really know what to do.

-- This War of Mine. I bet i would like this one too, but am in no mood to invite depression upon myself.

-- Frost Punk. Gets good reviews, I'll get around to it eventually I think. Not in the mood to have crisis upon crisis heaped upon me.

-- Outlast. Not in the mood to scare the sh!t out of me.

Yes, it´s the 2001 title. At that price I just bought it, havent downloaded yet though. Want to keep my PC a bit healthy, in the sense that I don´t want to install a bunch of games that I wont be playing shortly. Last PC format I did I could barely see my desktop LOL!

But back to the topic, Arcanum is from the folks that did Fallout 1-2 which is basically Wastland. I was about to buy Wasteland 2 not to long ago on sale, but not everybody seems to be happy with it, some bugs never got fixed and I hate to be playing a game for hours just to find out Iam stuck or bugged.

Planetscape Torment is the only "Enhanced" edition that they got right, all others seem to have issues/or boken, so I would go with that one if I had to choose. I also have Shadowrun Dragonfall Directors Cut, and so far I have had to redo some missions because my tactics havent been good enough, so yeah it´s challanging or I just suck at it!

Not to much of a fan of Dark Souls 3, tried it but I just don´t like to be hammering a boss over and over again in order to get to the next screen. BUT I did love "The Surge", basically because I found the hammering more satisfying, It really gave me the sense of swing and impact on fights, liked the theme better too.

This War of Mine I started to play last week and so far I like it, can´t say I will get into a depression mode later on in the game, but for the sale price I got it, if so I´ll just dump it if it gets on me.

In a similar mood, I don´t want a game to scare that crap out of me at present, played "Observer" cuz I like the theme, but soon stopped LOL! Reason why I don´t play Alien, but someday I need to play that for sure!

Don't start with Dark Souls 3, start with the first one, and play them in order. Of the three, I've played through the second one the most, which is odd, because most consider the second as the weakest but I disagree. The first, though, is quite a bit easier than the second and third--if that's saying much, but gives you a chance to get used to the play style. They're RPGs, but they're also metroid and zelda but do metroid and zelda better than metroid and zelda do, if that makes sense--namely the first one. The second one has far less an interconnected world, though the third tries to strike a balance between the two. The third is brutal. Definitely don't play the third one first.


BTW Don't worry, they're not as hard as some may complain they are. Hard is Sekiro. No. Sekiro is pure masochism with a bed of nails strapped to your back, being squeezed into you by a vice. Even I gave up on Sekiro... at the first major boss. The Dark Souls games are quite relaxing and pleasant experiences that reward you as you go further in. Sekiro doesn't. It simply punishes you harder and harder. That and Sekiro isn't an RPG anymore.

But use a 360 controller when you do play them.



Over the weekend I started Kingdom Come: Deliverance. My computer is way too old to play, but I'm having fun. What a wonderful game so far. Reminds me of Sierra's classic "Quest for Glory" games, with the degree of worldbuilding and character development I've seen.

Thanks Red, good post. Please let me know your thoughts after more of This War of Mine.

Your thoughts on DS3 mirror mine, that's exactly what keeps me from playing it. And the fact that I think other players can show up? Or is that opt-in only? When I played the Division 2 I was taken by surprise when I saw other players in the game. I thought it was SP only, although it seems they are only encountered at the base hubs.

You mention Alien and that's been on my wishlist forever, it gets high marks from players, and there was a thread here about it and the members liked it.

I know what you are saying about Wasteland 2. Some love it, some are highly critical.

Thanks Blastman. I bought DS3 because everyone said it was the most 'accessible' DS game. I tend to like hard games, but I don't tend to like doing the same thing over and over. The Kayran in Witcher 2 is a good illustration of game design that irks me. I picture Dark Souls as entire games of Kayran battles.

KCD is one of my favorite RPGs ever. We had a long thread about it recently. Great game. Have fun.

Dark Souls 1 has only one or two "Kayran" battles, and I totally get what you're saying. The Kayran was annoying as hell. The difference with Dark Souls, though, is the game is fair--save for one very specific spot which doesn't last long. Once you understand the Dark Souls combat systems, you can fluidly tango with most any enemy and boss--some bosses I beat on the second or third try, and a couple on the first. There are a handful that are quite challenging, but Dark Souls 1 paces them far enough apart you can spend hours exploring the elaborate world without facing any. If you like exploring, Dark Souls 1 does that best.

They're all great games, though. In the second it helps tremendously if other humans are online so you can farm humanity from helping them kill bosses to get your health max restored. You don't have that issue in the first. I've spent a lot of hours in these games.

Thanks Blastman. I'll get around to trying it sooner or later. I'm certainly interested, but something else always seems to get played instead.

And about KCD.... I completely agree. I love the game world, and especially how they did the countryside, and how the towns and villages are all so faithful to city planning (or lack thereof) of the time. Few games I've enjoyed as much just traveling around.

I love the Witcher games including Assassin's of Kings.(Recently finished a third playthrough) I agree though. The Kayran fight is terrible lol. Its a great idea but it very much is a hellacious QTE level moment that's not done very well and not explained well at all to the player. There is no fight like it before or after in the game. I had to watch a youtube walk through the first time. I also play the game on a higher difficulty level but always turn the QTE option to easy.

I have This War of Mine too but I only dabbled with it. I know its popular I just don't know how much time you have to put in before things start getting interesting.

You all are mentioning Alien. What game are you talking about? Is there an Alien RPG? If you're talking about Alien Isolation I LOVE that game. That being said it took a long time for me to not be to be too scared while playing. I had a hard time at first with the game because of how creepy and intense it was. I eventually came up with a solution that helped me quell my fear level and it really helped and it consisted of two things. If anyone is interested let me know. AI is outstanding. I'm wanting to play it again soon as its been a couple of years since I first beat it. A game I enjoy but to this day still gives me trouble even more so than Alien Isolation now is SOMA. That game doesn't even have fighting like AI does and even though I'm almost done with the game, it still scares the dickens out of me. I'm actually having a hard time finishing it because the last "entity" I find difficult to avoid and the environment in the last level is close to pitch black.

Yeah Coot, talking about Isolation, which isn't a RPG, but a good game it seems. I rather took us off on a tangent there.

I've played a number of scary games over the years, but I'm not really a horror fan, never played Resident Evil, but did play one of the Silent Hill games years ago. I 'd say that Thief The Dark Project was the game that raised the most hackles for me. And also Shalebridge Cradle in Thief Dark Shadows and the little girl in F.E.A.R games too.

In PoE 2 I'm level 15 now, still a ways to go. I suspect I might hit the level cap of 20 some time before the end at the current pace, so I plan to ignore some of the remaining side content, which will also reserve some stuff should I play it a second time. And I might just do. For me it's a great RPG, I'm digging it. The main disappointment for me is the Ranger class. It's just not very interesting. Most of the special bow and ranged type abilities that many RPGs have, like ricochet, barrage, reactive shot, pin down (all D:OS stuff) and so on are absent. It's pretty meh. I didn't play a ranger because of this, and the cipher is a lot of fun and quite powerful, but I still have a ranger in the party. It's the least interesting ranger I can remember. Most of the other classes are much better, and lots of options too with mutli-classing now a thing. There's an acceleration of power in a well planned party as you level up, as the synergy of the myriad of buffs, de-buffs, gear and combat skills that you gain seem to propel you past the enemy's capabilities in the later stages of the game.

I think this is partly due to the fact that in an open world RPG like this, the devs must account for main story followers and completionists alike. How can you scale the game for each type of player? Perhaps that's why this game has configurable level scaling. I opted for no scaling, but even if I level scaled the enemy would be same-level and that's manageable at higher levels with all the capabilities you now have. I could play at the highest difficulty, but then I would hate the early game I think. No fun dying anyway, but the outcome of late-game combat is hanging less in the balance than it did early on (on Vet difficulty). Not uncommon in RPGs, or any game really. But the open world aspect makes it stand out in PoE 2.

Still playing Deadfire. Level 17 and very near the end, but I've burned out a bit on it. Been at it for nearly a month

I could embark on the final quest (or keep doing plenty of side quests) but finding motivation hard to come by. It's a great game but after so many hours I'm needing to switch it up. I do this all the time and then fail to return to actually complete the game. I do want to see how it ends though. My motivation is usually tethered to challenge level and as the levels have ticked by the challenge has waned.

So, needing something different, I re-installed several of the games I mentioned earlier. Tyranny, Shadow Tactics:Blades of the Shogun and Dragon's Dogma:Dark Arisen. I started a run in Dragon's Dogma and played for a bit. This game is starting to show it's age a little (2013), but that means it is super smooth. Player comments are rather glowing, praising combat and character building. I guess it will take some time to see for myself, but combat in the earliest stages isn't inspired, just hack and slash (or I'm doing it wrong), It's cool to battle the monsters by climbing on them and attacking vulnerable points, but so far I've seen no real tactical side to it. Maybe it's me. Games like this often take time to come together, to shine.

The consolitis is offputting, but that's subjective. For example when you start the game you have to hit 'any key'. OK. Then you have to click on a choice to go to main menu. Why am I not already on the main menu? Clicking main menu highlights main menu, and then you click on main menu again to go to the main menu. Sheesh

DBond, Plantescape Torment EE is on sale at GOG (66% off). Just in case your still interested.

Whats up with the video´s here on SimHQ? All seems to be blank on my end.

Thanks for the heads up Red, I do like sales.

I've played Planescape, many moons ago. I've been kicking around revisiting some of these 20 year old classics. And honestly, I don't hold Planescape in quite the same hallowed light as others do. It was a really good RPG, a classic. The writing was phenomenal, the story was great I thought. But character building and combat were not so great, or that's how I remember it. A RPG with little latitude for roleplaying. Maybe worth another go? I have been checking out Tides of Numenera. Have not pulled the trigger because frankly I'm not sold on it, and partly for the same reasons as the original Planescape, even if Tides is more of a 'spiritual successor' than a sequel..

For better or worse I now compare everything to the Divinity Original Sin games, as for me it's the best total package in the genre. I am not saying Planescape is a poor game, but for me not the best either. Like BG2 I've long thought it was a little overrated, but there's no accounting for taste. I didn't think it was when it was new, but over time. I didn't dislike D&D 2.5 back then, but now I don't care for that ruleset. It likely wouldn't bother me to play it now, but I'd still be aware of it's peculiarities. There's no perfect game.

I realize opinions are shaped by the paradigm of the time. Everything is sort of frozen at the moment of the experience, and often we, or just I, judge it based on the expectations of it's era. Like if I say Half Life was the best game ever, I am right. But now?

Divinity Original Sin for me moved the goalposts. No question it's my favorite turn based combat. And that combines with good quests, great graphics, interesting companions and robust character building. No game will appeal to everyone, but the D:OS games would get my vote as best isometric RPG today. Others think they suck

Divinity Original Sin. Talking about it so much I decided to consider another go at it. I finished D:OS 1 twice, once on Classic and again on Tactician after Larian graciously gave us the Enhanced Edition for free. But D:OS 2 I never actually completed. I made it to the last town, and did most of what was there before taking a break from which I never returned. So that's been nagging at me.

I reinstalled the game and wanted to see if I had had the foresight (or laziness) to keep cloud saves on, and if so I'd have the option to simply continue from the last save. And lo and behold, there they were, all my saves from two years ago. But all were marked as incompatible. Hmm. There's only one reason for this right? A new version of the game.

And sure enough, it's now the Definitive Edition. Larian's awesome. How did I not know of this? No matter, a new version sounds just perfect, so I started a new run on Tactician. Made it off the boat and did some stuff in the first town, but quickly was faced with what I didn't like from D:OS 2 -- the armor system. It can be argued eternally whether it's a better system than the first game. I'm uninterested in that, but it's clear I don't care for it.

Here's how it works.... Each enemy can have two armor types, physical and magical. Some have one or the other, some enemies have both. In combat, attacks deal one or the other type of damage, and hits will deplete the armor pool for one type or the other. Spells like CC cannot be applied until the armor is defeated. So to do something as simple as Charm, you need to remove their armor first.

This is a problem for a mixed party as far as I am concerned. In one battle, two characters attacked an enemy and removed it's magic armor, and began to reduced the target's health. Then it was the ranger's turn (my main). But his bow does physical damage. The ranger's attacks now have to start over, he has to reduce the physical armor pool to get at the health pool. I just don't like this system.

I'm not a min-maxxer. I'm a roleplayer. I don't pick the best stuff because it's the most powerful or effective, but because it fits the character or what I have in mind, and this armor system encourages me to build a single-damage party instead of the mixed party I have planned. Having a mixed physical/magic party is versatile, but with the way armor works, far less effective. It would be boring to only deal one type of damage I think.

Maybe as I play I will notice some tweaks from the new Definitive Edition, perhaps it plays better or I will grow to not be bothered by it as much. My complaints about the reworked initiative system also were evident. This is a fantastic RPG, and in virtually every other way it's amazing. It's beautiful. It's well-acted, even the descriptive stuff is voiced. You know how you'll have some dialog, and the narrative will say something like

"The shopkeeper slowly raises his head, but seems to take no notice of you.." This is all fully voiced.

The thing is, both of these things I complain about were introduced for the second game. It didn't work this way in the first. Maybe I should just play that one

But the rest of it is a masterpiece. And the music. The music is glorious.

I haven't found a comprehensive changelog for the Definitive Edition, but for those who might be wondering what changes were made check this link

https://fextralife.com/divinity-original-sin-2-definitive-edition-balancing-patch-notes/

Here is another, with more detail

https://www.neoseeker.com/divinity-original-sin-ii/guides/Definitive_Edition_Differences

DBond, since you love Divinity Original Sin, have you ever played through the original Divine Divinity?

Man, this sh!t's hard. I've played through on Tactician before, but I don't recall it being quite so difficult. I am getting my ass kicked from here to Tuesday, but it's pretty awesome. Perhaps some of the changes for the Definitive Edition made it more challenging? I need to sort of probe around looking for ways to gain XP. Fight those crocodiles? Party wipe. Reload. OK, let's see over there, some tainted turtles. Wiped again. Reload, how about this group of bandits? Got 'em and the XP. What's in this dungeon? Oh my, too early

I could play in Classic mode, which would make the fights easier. But I don't want to. You know how in most games --all games really -- higher difficulties mean more hit points, boosted weapons and other clear 'cheats' for the AI? Well, in D:OS it means the AI actually fights better. They use more skills and abilities. For example in Classic I've never seen the AI use teleport. In Tactician they do, so you could at any moment watch as one of your party members is teleported on to lava and dies instantly. The upshot is that in tactician you'll see far more varied play from the AI as well as have to deal with many more statuses -- shocked, stunned, knocked down, charmed etc -- than on lower difficulties.

This is the sort of thing I bemoan in so many games, Total War being a good example of cheating AI at higher difficulties. I say I just wish they would play better. In Original Sin that's exactly what it is, and I cannot give that up because it's hard. And as an experienced player not just of RPGs but of Original Sin, I know that I will start to catch up. As I level and gain new talents, abilities, spells and gear the gap will narrow, and if I play on lower difficulties the late game will be too easy. So better to persevere early so that the late game is still challenging.

Earlier I was talking about the armor system and kicking around ways to offset it. Pondering using a single-damage party with all characters built to deal either magical or physical damage. I've sort of done this, but not fully, as magic is still a staple. But I've set up my party to all be able to deal physical damage, and the magic is mostly for buffs, debuffs, crowd control and healing, but not damage aside from necro, which is physical. Having three swords and one damage-dealing fire wizard just doesn't work well as an example.

For anyone who likes the game and is considering giving it another go because of the new version, just do it. The game is even better than before, and there is new stuff. One thing I will mention and it's a spolier, but one you would encounter an hour in to the game, is a new squirrel character that you meet and he tags along with you. I highly recommend making Pet Pal your pick at character creation so you can talk to the animals straight away. This squirrel is hilarious.

As mentioned I think this game is the best of the bunch, and playing it again two years later, having played Deadfire, Tyranny and Kingmaker and others since then, just reinforces my view. Opinions are subjective and I don't expect everyone to like it. But if isometric RPGs are your bag, you have got to play this game. And play it on Tactician, where the combat is the best ever (in my opinion of course)

I have not, though it's in my library as it was bundled with D:OS 1. I've read good things, but Original Sin is so good that I just play that instead. What's your take on Divine Divinity Blastman?

I hate Diablo with a passion--mainly because it is Gauntlet with a mouse, and Gauntlet is meant to be played with a controller. I love, however, the Ultima series, particularly 6 and 7 which are open-world masterpieces. Few games have ever sucked me in like they have. Divine Divinity is Diablo meets Ultima, with combat like Diablo, but worldbuilding like Ultima. So I was able to overlook the combat to enjoy the actual plot, the world, and the characters put within the world to give them game personality and charm. So long as you make good decisions when you apply skills to your character, you should be able to do fine. But there are multiple outcomes and choices have real effects on the world.

I absolutely recommend, if anything to see where Larian came from. But the game is fantastic--and I hate Diablo. I'm even contemplating a second run through after losing my savegames to a hard drive bbq, and I was in the last quarter of the game.


Kingdom Come Deliverance continues to amaze me. I spend 90% exploring the world, talking to folks and solving problems, and very little if ever in combat. And I love it. I've also devised a very devious scheme...

In most every RPG I've ever played, I have been a Paladin, or at the least a lawful good, or neutral good character. Essentially my RPG avatar mirrors my real-life personality of that where I couldn't even kill a common house bug, and view life as an immeasurable gift. But I'll kill bad guys. But... what if I /were/ the bad guy, for a change, but to everyone in the world who knew no better, appeared to be the good guy?(no spoilers, please)

So, I learned how to read yesterday. This is the first step towards my plan. I'm hopeful what I have in mind works, but from what I see in Deliverance, there truly appears to be a living, breathing world, with folks going about their daily routines, and I think I can have some nefarious fun here, defying my conscience, same as I did in Elite Dangerous as a pirate. If it works, I might share the story here.

But not since Ultima 7 have I seen a world that feels as alive as what I've seen here, so far. I am glad this game is not another Elder Scrolls/Skyrim clone. Those are so dead and lifeless(except for maybe Morrowind), whereas Deliverance is delightful, so far, despite the bugs and myself using a save game mod because I hate repetition and redoing hours of work due to a cutscene not autosaving after a major game event.

High praise. Maybe I'll give it a go. Thanks for the recommendation.




By all means, share it. Love that game myself.



You gotta play Tyranny.



That's cool, although when I played through saves weren't an issue. I thought they would be, but I fell in to a cycle, sleeping each night, which saved it, and it all went fine. But whatever works, and losing progress sucks, so yeah.

Well, I did something sinister last night. On my way back to town I came across a group of bandits doing battle with a couple of soldiers. One of the soldiers panicked and dropped to his knee, begging for mercy, pleading for his life as I galloped past and came to a stop, while the other ran into the woods off the side of the road while one bandit gave pursuit. I finished off one of the accosters and saw that the soldier on the road had gone catatonic, so I ran to the woods, where the remaining solder was flailing his torch in desperation. In an effort to help, I killed the bandit and gained reputation, but...

That soldier that was catatonic?

He ran up behind me and shouted, "Halt! You're under arrest!"

For helping his cohort. Ungrateful dolt. So, what do I do?

I ran! Ran and jumped on my horse and sped off. In most games, I would restore my game. But not this time. No, I devised a plan. I couldn't have him make it back to town to report my false crime, now could I? So I came back, trotted up slow behind him upon my horse, and waited for him to notice. His buddy was gone. And he got mad when he saw me, so I dismounted, killed him when he attacked me, looted him for all his good stuff, and left his body in the grass well off the side of the road. Problem solved. No guards in town paid me any attention. It was as if nothing had ever happened because in 1400, the police don't have motorola. =)