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

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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

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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.

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

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

Woo-hoo! Got to love getting it sooner!

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.

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.

Holy crap.

That sounds awful


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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.

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?

Yes.

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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.

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

No, they suggest there will be one more annouced.

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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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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.

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,

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")

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

And as a warning, they also seem to have shown how you can sex up a druid in bear form.

One of the new choices at character creation is to play "Dark Urge", which basically translate as full murder hobo.

Sweet. I've done some streaming in the past, but it's been awhile. I have over 3000 hours in Rocket League, so that's pretty much what I do. I was thinking about doing it again, and it crossed my mind that there might be some here to do it from time to time. I may start a thread when I go live and make it so others can post there when they go live to kind of encourage it. Seems like it could be fun.

Someone tell me they've played this because I'm about to drop a twenty or so on it just based on the trailer and the double "overwhelmingly positives."

Save 10% on DAVE THE DIVER on Steam

“It’s easily one of the best games I’ve played this year so far.”
9/10 – IGN

“Dave The Diver will end up being one of those fundamental titles that people talk about”
9/10 – CGMagazine

“Dave the Diver truly is a wonderful game and has solidly established itself as one of my top 10 — maybe even top 5 — favorites released this year”
9/10 – Hey Poor Player

I bought it a couple weeks ago...but haven't played it yet.

Fantastic game. Starts off feeling kind of relaxing and simple but expands the systems every time you think it might be starting to get old.

A lot of content and a lot of gameplay. It's really hard to knock the game honestly.

hey sloppy and acotep, we miss you in the steam key giveawaythread. Go take something cool to impress all the ladies

grantdawg too!

I don't stream, but I do have a (mostly inactive for the past year) YouTube channel after being quite consistent for a few years prior to that. Might be starting a new series soon, we'll see. Strategic Sage if anyone cares.

I'll echo this. The game is like a good song with verses and a chorus. You get the catchy melody and it gets in your head. Then, there's a subtle change or addition just when you think you've already heard the same notes. The changes add to your enjoyment of the song. I've been surprised multiple times in thinking I was going to hear the same chorus playing this game only to get a new riff or a new harmony that adds to the experience. I'm 15 hours in and still getting those pieces of newness that keep things fresh. Definitely worth the $18 to me.

For you Mass Effect fans (and fans of Gilbert and Sullivan). The full version of "I am the very model of a scientist salarian" (with an orchestra/chorus)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxVekZRIWyg

re: Dave the Diver --

I haven't watched but in case this is of use to someone curious, one of my go-to LP YouTubers (vormithrax) has a couple hours of intro videos up
Dave the Diver - First Look - YouTube

The judge in the Microsoft/Activision case denied the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to stop the transaction. That typically means that the FTC will abandon its administrative hearing and the Microsoft/Activision deal will go through with promised commitments.

That leaves the UK as the last holdout on the antitrust front, since the EU cleared it a month or so ago.

There has been speculation prior that Activision could just abandon the UK as a way around the block. I imagine that doesn’t happen, but it’s a potential way forward for Microsoft. UK is only 3% of the worldwide gaming revenue.

Either that, or spin off a UK Company to handle those games.

The idea that giving Microsoft ownership of Call of Duty would automatically create a monopoly in the, basically nonexistent, videogame streaming market as a way to block the deal is a pretty dumb reason for it to be blocked in the UK anyway. You can really tell the people making that ruling don't play videogames at all.

It's right up there with US regulators saying the deal could hurt the market leader in terms of silly arguments.

Played a couple hours of Dave the Diver.

The reviews said it was relaxing. I found the fake voice grating. And spearing fish (and missing) is decidedly not relaxing!

Other than those 2 issues, fun game so far.

Definitely some work to be done with the UI, as well as fleshing out some of the features.

That said, in roughly a week since buying it I've got 58 hours into it and I'm in my fifth season with a modded file start (134 teams I think, as properly conferenced as the games limitations allow).

There's definitely something here, hopefully it'll continue to evolve and improve.

I used to stream Rocket League, but I'm standing on the cliff of getting addicted to Trackmania right now, so I might actually stream myself trying to get through the summer campaign of Trackmania later today. Would anyone watch if they are around?

Anyone else even play Trackmania?

not even microsoft has a monopoly on shitty shooters

The rumor is there's an Oblivion remake releasing next year. I'm guessing it's to give the ES fans something since ES5 is so far away.

If it gets improved combat, new animations, and better/more voice actors it very likely becomes a better game than Skyrim.

Battle Brothers dev announced their 2nd game. It's a sci -fi game called Menace. It looks like they are trying to keep the formula intact as mercenaries will become squads and towns will become planets in the new game, but otherwise they are aiming to basically take Battle Bros into space.

I've played through Battle Brothers atleast 3 different times and always found it a good play even if I didn't purchase any DLC. They have consistently added free upgrades for years now. It's also the ONLY game I've ever played where I technically won even though some other band killed the big evil in the world(the last boss of that playthrough.) Basically, my game just ended with a message on top of the screen letting me know that the boss was defeated by some random NPC's group.

Figured this might be the best thread to ask:

Just got a PS5 and I've noticed that whenever it's on, it absolutely murders my home Internet. My family tells me they can't even get to websites when I have it on. It may just be downloading updates since i don't play online, but I'm not sure.

I have an eero 5 mesh system and it's hardwired into one of the nodes. Originally I just had it on WiFi but changed it thinking it might help, it didn't. The eeros are not on Ethernet backhaul but they are tri-band.

I'm guessing the PS5 is using every resource to download things, but is there any way to change that? The QOS setting on the eero seem limited to a single option to "optimize conference and gaming" that I turned on but didn't change anything. Would port forwarding help at all?

I Googled "why ps5 killing home internet" and got no shortage of threads discussing the same situation & possible solutions. Like a half dozen or more solutions in one thread, where different thing(s) worked for different people.

My own thought here though is one I didn't see mentioned: maybe just turn off "auto update games"? Surely that's an option, right?

What are your internet speeds like?

My first thought is you exceeded the download limit and they dropped your speed.

Also, I do remember when kids were living at home and everyone had a laptap, smartphone, and 1 or 2 TVs on, we would have drop connectivity randomly. I never tracked it down but I ended up thinking it was # concurrent connections.

Averages about 400/50. I tested by downloading from epic/steam on my PC and the internet survives, so I'm guessing the PS5 doesn't play nice with some routers and their QOS settings, based on some reddit threads I've seen. I'll probably just tell it to run when I got to bed... it will help keep the kid off the Internet when she should be sleeping.

Some jackass just rushed the stage at Gamescom's opening.

While I'm not normally a fan of extra judicial violence, but I sometimes think they should do to stage rushers what they used to do to fans who hopped the fence in territory wrestling.. take them backstage, and administer an unholy beatdown.

I'm just finding out Starfield is Xbox exclusive. That's a bummer.

and PC, and if you have PC version of XBox Game Pass, it'll be on there day 1.

If it sounds good, I'll get it on PC. I just like playing on the couch too much.

How close is the PC and couch? You could run a really long HDMI cable temporarily or even just move the PC back and forth for as long as it takes you to beat the game. Not the most practical options but your computer should easily hook up to your TV.

If anyone tries it, appreciate letting us know your thoughts. It does look pretty.

'Squadron 42 is now feature-complete and has entered its polish phase', says Chris Roberts | PC Gamer

What's the under/over on polishing? 3 years? maybe 4?

My guess another $200M.

:D

Ultimate General: American Revolution is rumored to be about to hit Early Access. The Ultimate General series have been excellent battle simulators, and this game is going to add even more a 4X type game-play. It looks to be huge, with the combination of land and sea battles.

I know there has been some talk on the forums about the game Wartales.

hxxps://store.steampowered.com/app/1527950/Wartales/

Just a heads up that it was put on Gamepass today.

Outstanding game. Like a 9/10 if anything like it is up your alley.

I enjoyed Wartales but got to the point where it was too redundant and not enough "new" stuff or "variability".

Definitely got my money's worth but not like X-Com 2 in replayability.

I'd read somewhere (Steam reviews maybe?) that one of the problems was the static map design, quests, important places, etc always the same & that limited the replaybility? Fair?

It's a fair assessment. There are several maps and each map has enough content to give plenty to do. I have actually still had fun going back through because it's difficult to do everything on a map on one play through.

I've been debating getting a Steam Deck for like the last 6 months and docking it for some games. Have heard it doesn't run too well but there is some optimization on the way. I'm not a graphics snob or anything. Whatever looks decent on console is fine with me.

Finally got around to giving Cyberpunk a fair shot. They've made some incredible updates over the years and it's now a pretty fun game. It didn't live up to the hype and the city can feel empty at times, but I'm digging it.

I put a lot of time into Wartales. It’s definitely got very limited replay value - the character classes and skills are somewhat limited and the map/quests are fixed as noted, but it does get combat right in a way that very few if any games of its genre does. It’s almost like each combat is a mini game of chess - putting a particular character in a different starting position or using a certain skill in a different order can win you a fight against far stronger opponents. I’d highly recommend it unless turn based just isn’t your thing.

Funnily enough I never finished it because I was just too underpowered to do one of the final arena fights needed for a quest and didn’t feel like grinding my party up a few more levels, but still a very good game that filled a lot of time for me.

Developer posted today the game is ready for immediate EA release, but now they have run into issues with their distribution software platform so they are trying to correct it and will release as soon as the issue fixed.

One of my most anticipated games.....really hope it releases this week and not a long delay.

Pretty much it.

When you're a YouTube game reviewer (basically) but your departure is newsworthy enough for the BBC to cover it, yeah, you've transcended some levels.

Yahtzee, along with the editor whose firing prompted the mass resignations have already announced and launched their new home "Second Wind"

Zero Punctuation star Yahtzee Croshaw quits after 16 years
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-67348861

Gotta think The Escapist is dead now, since more than a dozen resigned in solidarity with the editor-in-chief who was fired for "not meeting metrics that were never clearly spelled out"

Feel I have to link Yahtzee's greatest ever video game review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dlEm_2ke8k

I still think this was the greatest review ever.

"FUCK YOU YOU BLEW UP MY MONITOR"

Freedom: First Resistance Review