#crpgs

[prokopetz]

Today's aesthetic: when a computer RPG gives you exactly enough recruitable female characters to run an all-girl party, but the all-girl party's comp is terrible.

[mendelpalace]

Reddit RPG Games and RPG Game Remakes

Criticism of Reddit RPG Games and Remakes.

Someone on Blue Sky posted about how they went down a rabbit hole and discovered that the most thorough guides for Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 were written by a woman who has been thoroughly blogging all her video game opinions since the 1980s.

She's aggressively old school, hates most modern RPGs (she scathingly refers to Baldur's Gate 3 as a "reddit RPG" and gave it a 2.1/10), and basically thinks everything should be isometric, turn-based CRPGs from the 80s and 90s. That's not an exaggeration.

There's something so pure and hyper-specific about her mindset. I respect it even if I don't agree with it.

[arconinternet]

Exile III: Ruined World (Windows 3.1, Spiderweb Software, 1996)

You can play it in your browser here, or download official registered versions of the whole trilogy plus Blades of Exile for Windows free under Older Role-Playing Games from the official site here (you'll need to drag things onto the otvdm program to run them; you can run .hlp film by dragging them onto this in-browser tool.

The Exile series was remade and extended as the Avernum series, currently available partly on Steam and wholly on GOG. It is currently being re-remade (currently up to Avernum 4, whose original version the developer considers one of his greatest failures) and can be bought, alongside other games by the developer, on Steam and GOG.

[lumi-klovstad-games]

I. have done nothing. but make NUMBERS GO UP. for the PAST HOUR. in Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader.

Have I advanced the story? NO. NUMBERS GO UP.

Have I done any epic fights? NO. NUMBERS GO UP.

Have I done any great dialog sequences? NO. NUMBERS GO UP.

This is the part of RPGs that pisses me off the most, and also part of why I get so offended when people talk about "can equip stuff to make numbers go up" with the conceptual name "RPG elements".

Somewhere along the line, the industry decided that "Role-Playing" didn't mean "inhabiting a character and making choices," but rather "numbers make go up bigger."

True RPG-ing is Convincing a planetary governor to surrender through sheer charisma and political maneuvering, and then figuring out just how to literally charm those leather pants off that lithe and acrobatic bondagy knife play Death Cultist goth gf who literally calls you her Domme.

"RPG Elements" just means equipping a pair of pants that makes you 2% better at convincing that governor. Somehow. Maybe he just likes the pants.

It’s a cheap development shorthand. Developers add a leveling system because it’s an easy way to pad out the runtime and trigger a dopamine hit in the gamer's little lizard brain, even if the "progression" is just keeping pace with enemies that are scaling at the exact same rate.

BUT IF I DON'T MAKE NUMBERS GO UP, I WILL GET SLAUGHTERED IN FIGHTS.

Some dipshits in rags with flamethrowers last night were a bigger threat than a literal WORD BEARER CHAOS MARINE the night before.

NEED. BIGGER. NUMBERS.

[mactiir]

Me, teaching my mom how to play bg3: yeah so you can hold down left alt to highlight interactables...

Her: the chick in the pod is super pretty

Me, not looking up: yeah, shadowheart is my wife

Mom: 👀😏

Me: i just mean i really struggle not to romance her but like all the romance plots are totally optional

Mom: you really like dark haired women huh?

Me:

90% of romance options I've ever picked:

My real life actual girlfriend: 🧑🏻

Me: yeah I mean well shadowheart isn't... I mean she's... and anyway sometimes i romance Karlach...

Karlach's hair:

Me: ANYWAY. HERE’S HOW YOU CAST SPELLS.

[jathun]

I'm... so obsessed with Pathfinder: Kingmaker rn its genuinely funny. Like...objectively its not the best game out there. Objectively. And it's not even Owlcats best game. Even the writing is...janky at times.

But it's sooooooo good. It really hits the spot for me of just the right amount of (tt)rpg elements, folklore-ish storyline, and politics (the kingdom management is fun and I will die on that hill).

And it gets even better with mods which add more classes from the tabletop and background traits and so much more.

I just...genuinely love it.

[monsterblogging]

I love how RPGs have expanded the definition of "dungeon" to basically mean "any enclosed place you can explore and have adventures in." An airport terminal can be a dungeon. I love that for it.

[thecrushheb]

Been playing Dragon Age Origins, feel like im about to emter the final third of the game and just wow. absolutely incredible game. I genuinely couldn't ask for more from a game made then its just wonderful, I've had so much fun with it and I'm going to be really sad to see it end.

I've heard the rest are less CRPGs than this one and have fetch quests and stuff that just aren't fulfilling like Origins. I kind of would hate to put the franchise down on the one hand, its so compelling, but seeing gameplay from the latest couple it really doesn't look up my alley.

for reference, my favorite game of all time is Neverwinter Nights 2, other favorites in that realm are the owlcat pathfinder games, divinity original sin 2, BG3, Citizen Sleeper, Felvedik, Hylics 2, Knights of the old Republic 1&2... more action oriented titles aren't for me, low story titles aren't for me.

should i try any of the sequels?

i still need to get to Disco Elysium, Citizen Sleeper 2, BG2 (1 was... okay) so its not the end of the world if thats it for Dragon Age for me, but it would be kind of sad if the fall off is that steep