2023 Video Games Thread

[SirFozzie]

We should do a Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous game, just for the sheer options

[GrantDawg]

I wasn't crazy about either Pathfinder game. They were ok, and I definitely put a bunch of hours in both. I just didn't ever care enough to finish them.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Because of our discussion here, I have been playing around with it again as well. I'm really having a hard time settling in on a PC class to play. Every time I feel like I have decided on one, I change my mind.

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Same, I keep restarting, it's almost overwhelming LOL

I default to Ranger or Fighter generally, but you guys got me into a rat hole looking in r/baldursgate3 where there's alot of discussions on what to play.

[GrantDawg]

I think I'm going Paladin. I did try it when it first came out, and there was some funky mechanic that was causing it to be way too easy to break your oath. Playing around with it yesterday and they seemed to have calmed that down. It has a great balance between suitability, utility and damage.

[Edward64]

re: Elder Scrolls 6, not great but Starfield, BG3, Civ 7, and Star Citizen (!) should keep me entertained somewhat for the next 5-6 years.

IGN Error 403 - Unavailable (IFW-U02)

Xbox's Phil Spencer has confirmed The Elder Scrolls 6 is still "five plus years away". The Xbox boss is also still being careful about mentioning which platforms the Skyrim sequel is planned for, saying: "It’s difficult for us right now to nail down."

Based on Spencer's comments, fans shouldn't expect The Elder Scrolls 6 to launch until 2028 at the earliest. It's worth noting 2028 is the year Microsoft expects the next generation of consoles to launch.

[dubb93]

The wait is finally over for AEW Fight Forever. The reviews are not great, but personally I prefer the combat to that of WWE 2K, but I suspect this one won’t have the legs 2K has with my kids because there doesn’t appear to be many modes. I’m basically seeing exhibition and story and the game is also missing community creations which is a giant omission that means you can’t download anyone that isn’t already in the game.

[Racer]

Originally Posted by dubb93

The wait is finally over for AEW Fight Forever. The reviews are not great, but personally I prefer the combat to that of WWE 2K, but I suspect this one won’t have the legs 2K has with my kids because there doesn’t appear to be many modes. I’m basically seeing exhibition and story and the game is also missing community creations which is a giant omission that means you can’t download anyone that isn’t already in the game.

I really enjoyed WCW/nWo Revenge and WWF Wrestlemania 2000 as a kid so I was curious to see what the reviews would be like.

I don't watch wrestling very often anymore so I am disappointed that it lacks a community creations section and from what I hear limited create a wrestler options. I was hoping if I got it I could download wrestlers from the 1980s and 1990s.

I think I'll definitely hold off for now on getting it.

[dubb93]

It’s funny that they know they are light on features so instead of just having the Home Screen be exhibition, story, and create a wrestler they actually list the gimmick matches you can take part in as “modes.”

Kids are enjoying it so far though but they are easy to please. They play WWE 2K daily from the day it releases until the next version comes out.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Racer

I really enjoyed WCW/nWo Revenge and WWF Wrestlemania 2000 as a kid so I was curious to see….

Gameplay wise it’s almost exactly the N64 games. My kids who are unbeatable at 2K because they reverse every single move got the floor mopped by me.

[GrantDawg]

More on BG3: The EA owners are going to get a release version of act 1 72 hours before full release. The developers said that there will be enough changed from EA to release version of act 1 that it will be almost like an entirely different experience. I have been holding out finishing act 1 because I didn't want to spoil full release, and now I feel like I have to finish EA act 1 or I'm going to miss out.

[SirFozzie]

FM 24 announced to be the last with the current engine, switching to unity for FM25, but the important thing is...

The Future of Football Manager | Football Manager 2023

They're in the final stages of adding transferrable saves from version to version. FM23 dynasties will be playable in FM24

[Edward64]

I’ve just been poking around here and there. The artwork is fantastic, can’t imagine the hours to put all that in.

How long did it take you to get close to finishing Act I?

[GrantDawg]

I haven't gotten close. Maybe halfway. I read it is 25-30 hours.

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[Edward64]

Nice BG3 FAQ compilation

Min requirements, different editions, classes & races etc.

Blocked

FWIW, my GPU 680M is way below minimum. Maybe I haven't gotten to a complex scene or battle yet but it seems to be running okay so far.

[SirFozzie]

Speaking of BG3, PC release moved UP to August 3rd, PS5 release slightly delayed (to mid September)

[Edward64]

Wow, has that happened before 4 weeks early?

Good sign, shows confidence in the quality of the game.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Wow, has that happened before 4 weeks early?

Good sign, shows confidence in the quality of the game.

Also trying to get away from Starfield etcetera.

I guess the goal is "Well, the PC version is about ready, but PS5 will take longer, and since Starfield is going to be huge around our release date, tying the releases together would be bad for us"

edit: quote from article

Then we saw that it was a very busy year, with Zelda, with Diablo, and Starfield, with Cyberpunk, and then there’s Final Fantasy—so we started looking ‘okay, well, what’s the good spot when people will be able to play and they’re not going to be fighting for attention?’ We have this game essentially ready to use on PC. So August 3 looked like a good one. So that’s why we picked that one.”

If it's ready to use? GIMME.

I mean, Cyberpunk DLC, Starfield, Rogue Trader, and This? How the hell am I going to have the time/attention span (not to mention FM24 with transferrable saves, etcetera).

This definitely gets me off the Madden train however, no way I'd have time to play all this even if I still was a big fan of Madden

[GrantDawg]

Woo-hoo! Got to love getting it sooner!

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Wow, has that happened before 4 weeks early?

Good sign, shows confidence in the quality of the game.

To be fair, they have had basically a massive beta test for almost three years. I'm not super surprised that they can move release up, just more surprised they actually did. We haven't even had the last "Panel from Hell" yet.

[GrantDawg]

Yes! There will be a Vengeance Paladin subclass. along with Sword Bard, War Cleric, and all the Wizard schools. Probably going Vengance to start, and after finishing I might try a full created party with some other favorite classes.

[GrantDawg]

Holy crap.

More on those new heights: Baldur’s Gate 3 has more cinematic dialogue than three times all three Lord of the Rings novels combined. It has 174 hours of cinematics, making it more than twice the length of every season of Game of Thrones combined.

[Flasch186]

That sounds awful


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[dubb93]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Holy crap.

Is this real? If so I agree that does sound awful. The battle system is almost certainly going to be straining even halfway through that. I couldn't imagine watching/especially reading all of that.

In completely unrelated news, I'm about to spend more than I have in as long as I can remember on this Summer Sale.

For me:

Elden Ring
Hogwarts Legacy
Raft

For my kids:

Spiderman
Spiderman Miles Morales
Fire Pro Wrestling
Raft

Raft on my end is 100% because my kids are interested in it and it gives us something to play together. I'm also debating finally getting Cyberpunk but I think between Elden Ring, Hogwarts, and finishing Red Dead 2 again that those three games could very likely last me the entire year until the next sale as far as single player games go.

[GrantDawg]

There are individual cinematics for every differing race and character class. Some interactions depend on a wide variety of things. It really isn't that obtrusive as you play anywhere near more story-oriented games. But it provides almost endless replayability. In other words, a single playthrough is going to be a fraction of that.

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[dubb93]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

There are individual cinematics for every differing race and character class. Some interactions depend on a wide variety of things. It really isn't that obtrusive as you play anywhere near more story-oriented games. But it provides almost endless replayability. In other words, a single playthrough is going to be a fraction of that.

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Well that does sound alot better. I haven't really followed the game as I don't usually even consider playing a game until it's out of early access. So it's like, for instance, DA: Origins, but with the different story extending beyond just the origin story?

[GrantDawg]

Yes.

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[GrantDawg]

Just for instance, there are at least 10 companions you can have (6 of which you can play as your character if you wish) that all have stories and even romance options. You can choose not to do those interactions, and there some that gates off others.

Edit: and I think they are going to announce an 11th at the Panel from Hell next week.

[SirFozzie]

you mean the barbarian they mention in today's announcement?

[GrantDawg]

No, they suggest there will be one more annouced.

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[GrantDawg]

From the paragraph about the barbarian:

"But she won't be our final Origin - you'll have to tune in to next week’s Panel From Hell: Release Showcase for that."

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[GrantDawg]

Something else to note, if you don't have a powerful rig to handle the specs for BG3, every steam version will also allow you to use Geoforce Now. So you can stream-play the game at the highest settings.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Any thoughts on Humankind before I decide to pull the trigger on the Steam sale?

I know the gripes basically, in terms of the multi-culture evolution stuff, but at like $10 for the base (and under $30 with all the DLC to date ... except maybe one?) it kinda feels like we might get money's worth out of it even if it isn't the Civ-killer it was once touted as.

Thoughts?

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Any thoughts on Humankind before I decide to pull the trigger on the Steam sale?

I know the gripes basically, in terms of the multi-culture evolution stuff, but at like $10 for the base (and under $30 with all the DLC to date ... except maybe one?) it kinda feels like we might get money's worth out of it even if it isn't the Civ-killer it was once touted as.

Thoughts?

Not played it yet, but watched many streamer do it that likes the same kind of games I do. It came out at the same time as Old World, which I like a little better. For that price, its certainly worth a try,

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Not played it yet, but watched many streamer do it that likes the same kind of games I do. It came out at the same time as Old World, which I like a little better. For that price, its certainly worth a try,

I went ahead & pulled the trigger on the bundle. It's certainly not "bad" though definitely not anything that resembles a "Civ killer" either.

I've put 6 hours into it, played through a first start that went poorly but a lot of mistakes were made in the opening turns just from not understanding how quite a few things worked that probably doomed me.

2nd start has made it to nearly 150 turns and I've seen several new mechanics plus definitely understood much better wth I was doing on some other stuff I'd seen earlier.

fwiw, having watched quite a bit of Old World let's plays, I shied away because of some of the ... let's call it quirks of the combat there (the whole "okay, if that army existed then i should have seen it but it just magically appeared after movement that really doesn't make sense unless the AI simply doesn't have rules like the player")

[Thomkal]

Glad you are enjoying it Jon. There are definitely some quirks with the AI and such, but still looks good to play

[thealmighty]

Anyone had any experience playing Football Coach: College Dynasty? It's only $9 on summer sale.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Glad you are enjoying it Jon. There are definitely some quirks with the AI and such, but still looks good to play

Yeeeeah, the quirks do reveal themselves relatively quickly. Combat is, umm, not their strong suit especially once they have an edge. Knowing how to close seems to be a skill they haven't mastered yet.

[21C]

Originally Posted by thealmighty

Anyone had any experience playing Football Coach: College Dynasty? It's only $9 on summer sale.

Definite buy.

I bought it ages ago when it was first released but played it sporadically. I started playing again and have been giving it a good run with that "just one more season" feel to it. The developer has added a lot of quality updates recently and is always responding to feedback.

[sovereignstar v2]

College Dynasty has a lot going for it, but the user interface turns me off a bunch. It seems to have originated as a mobile game. It's pretty but there is just so much wasted space, which causes you to have to do an awful lot of scrolling and clicking. As an example, I'm able to see a maximum of 15 recruits at a time on the recruiting page. That's actually a significant increase from what it was before I changed the DPI in my display settings from 150% to 100% (I have a 4k monitor).

If it's not apparent I was a big fan of TCY's interface. Yes, it could have used some sprucing up and some logos, but it gave you a lot of information in an orderly fashion. It actually has a lot of a Bowl Bound College Football vibe. I love that you can edit the league structure to an extent and apparently you can modify bowl tie-ins and stuff. That is absolute fire, but I just can't get past how much the UI bugs me. It's absolutely worth purchasing to support the game's development, but I'll still be playing TCY over it. It's strange how much a game from 2001 still has a hold on me lol.

[JonInMiddleGA]

YT videos now being watched in the Batcave for College Dynasty. At that price, this feels worth a gamble.

Screens remind me of Madden than anything after watching somebody do 15 mins of setup & preseason stuff.

[dubb93]

This isn’t something I thought I would be posting today, but it looks like the AEW game is getting a battle royale mode called Stadium Stampede.

Hard to tell much from the first teaser but it appears to be a 30 wrestler last man standing match in an empty area. Looks like it’s possibly multiplayer only. It looks a lot like Fortnite.

They showed fighting in the concession stands, backstage, on a football firld, and in the stands. They showed a wrestler driving a car and running over other wrestlers. Hangman Page was shown riding a horse in the arena. They also showed Sting shooting a wrestler off the goal posts with some kind of weapon. Seems an interesting direction for the game to go.

Wrestling as a BR has been tried before and by no less than Fortnite developers Epic Games. It was no successful at all and shut down pretty quickly. Will be interesting to see if this has more legs than that had.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Wrestling as a BR has been tried before and by no less than Fortnite developers Epic Games. It was no successful at all and shut down pretty quickly. Will be interesting to see if this has more legs than that had.

I doubt it has as many legs as their quickly declining Saturday night TV show.

[INDalltheway]

College Dynasty is such an easy play. Very few games can grab my attention these days, but this is one of them. The best part? It keeps getting better. Look at the release logs on what this guy is adding to the game with frequent updates. I'd support that all day.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I went ahead & pulled the trigger on the bundle. It's certainly not "bad" though definitely not anything that resembles a "Civ killer" either.

I've put 6 hours into it, played through a first start that went poorly but a lot of mistakes were made in the opening turns just from not understanding how quite a few things worked that probably doomed me.

2nd start has made it to nearly 150 turns and I've seen several new mechanics plus definitely understood much better wth I was doing on some other stuff I'd seen earlier.

fwiw, having watched quite a bit of Old World let's plays, I shied away because of some of the ... let's call it quirks of the combat there (the whole "okay, if that army existed then i should have seen it but it just magically appeared after movement that really doesn't make sense unless the AI simply doesn't have rules like the player")

How's the AI? I've been a big Civ fan most of my life but the AI has gotten tiring.

I'm still playing a ton of Crusader Kings III.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

How's the AI? I've been a big Civ fan most of my life but the AI has gotten tiring.

I'm still playing a ton of Crusader Kings III.

I'm playing on like the 2nd lowest difficulty, just so I can keep it simple & try to see more things, etc buuuuut ... yeah, there's issues.

Combat AI is pretty bad, aggressive & capable until they have an advantage and then comically passive. As in my ass is kicked so badly that I lost every single military unit and they did ... nothing. I rebuilt my army to equal their's, got stack wiped AGAIN, and ... nothing. AND they wouldn't even accept my surrender. Not white peace, I mean "here, take everything you demanded AND a couple other things". I finally just abandoned that game and restarted fresh.

The aggro of the other civs feels almost identical to Civ to me so far, there's usually "that one asshole nation" that's all military, one that's a whiner, etc.

Their development skills seem okay as far as I've been able to tell, they might be a little too map gore oriented in terms of founding outposts & cities but I think that's resource driven (?) (or else they just plop down an outpost wherever a unit is when they have enough fame to do it)

It's not worse than some others but I'm not sure it's better (at least in the normal'ish settings) either.

[RainMaker]

Thanks. I'll leave it in my queue for now. The bad AI in these games really irks me. Feels like something they overlook.

[MJ4H]

Does anyone on FOFC do any streaming? I haven't been around in awhile, so I did a search for twitch and stream in thread titles to see if it's been a thing. Would it be worth starting a thread for when people go live or similar?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Does anyone on FOFC do any streaming? I haven't been around in awhile, so I did a search for twitch and stream in thread titles to see if it's been a thing. Would it be worth starting a thread for when people go live or similar?

I try not to go live IRL, much less online.

[SirFozzie]

Pumpy does.. I stream very irregularly (same nick), no webcam, just gameplay.

[GrantDawg]

I'm watching the "Panel from Hell" for Bg3. I got in late, so I'm just checking out the game play. The Dragonborn looks really cool. He entered one area in Act 2 that he said will look totally different depending on the choices you made in Act 1.