Community MetaSteam | December 2021 - All I want for Christmas is a SteamDeck.

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mastemas

truman doctrine (actual norwegian guy)
Apr 15, 2021
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Cacher

From what I understand of Pathfinder: Kingmaker is it helps to understand the core rules of Pathfinder. I believe they made a fairly faithful adaptation of the ruleset.

It was a bit like how it helped to understand things like THAC0 rules in Baldurs Gate. It made life a lot easier.

actual_norwegian_guy

Sounds an awful lot like the lease/hire deals you get with cars. I know a few people who would do this and change their cars every 3 years and never actually own it.

Something else you will need to look into is the return conditions. At least with the cars you couldn't damage them and had to return them "As Is".

In the case of say, a laptop, you would maybe have to return it with the base RAM so if you where to swap it out, you would need to return it with the RAM it came with.
oh i'm not planning to change it, i'm planning to keep it and ignore the whole change part, but here's the thing
if i choose to keep it, i'd have to pay 120% more than the price i'm buying it for in total, but since it's on sale right now, those "120%" would actually be more or less like the price before it was on sale at all
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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oh i'm not planning to change it, i'm planning to keep it and ignore the whole change part, but here's the thing
if i choose to keep it, i'd have to pay 120% more than the price i'm buying it for in total, but since it's on sale right now, those "120%" would actually be more or less like the price before it was on sale at all
Is that the only finance deal you can get? No 0% for x months credit cards you might be able to consider?

It does not look like a particularly good deal, in all honesty.
 
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mastemas

truman doctrine (actual norwegian guy)
Apr 15, 2021
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Is that the only finance deal you can get? No 0% for x months credit cards you might be able to consider?

It does not look like a particularly good deal, in all honesty.
yeah that's what i'm hearing from a tons of people
also i'm 19, i'm not nearing any credit cards yet until i'm 52 and want to flex on women in a bar with my wargo fells card

the only "good" part with the deal is that the 120% i'd pay for it are actually more or less the actual price of the laptop (as the percentages are based on the sale price, so the 120% of the sale price = the actual price)
 

Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
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PoE is a pretty tough pill as a first foray into CRPGs. It seems like a game that's made for people who already really like CRPGs rather than an entry point. Despite putting in around 40 hours, I never managed to quite settle into it.

I started with a bunch of others in the genre, but Planescape: Torment was the first one I managed to finish, in large part due to its combat being dead easy and it holding up as an interactive novel alone.

Shadorun: Dragonfall is a good shout. Fun combat (!), great setting, solid writing, doesn't overstay its welcome. Disco Elysium was also comparatively easy to wrap my head around. I think I played that not too long after PS:T.
Planescape: Torment is the best game of all time, but I still think some of the old-school AD&D-isms might make it much harder to grok than e.g. Shadowrun: Dragonfall for a newcomer.
Disco Elysium is also a great game, but (without wanting to get into a whole debate) I personally wouldn't suggest it as an entry point into CRPGs since I'd consider it to be on the far edges of the genre, gameplay-wise.
 

Cacher

MetaMember
Jun 3, 2020
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Le Pertti kio Durante thekeats1999
Thank you very much for the comments. Really appreciate them.

I originally plan to start Pillars of Eternity first, because of my love towards Fallout New Vegas (fricking masterpiece!), But being a turn-based RPG lover, I watched a few videos on PoE and the real-time combat is definitely something that needs time to adapt to.

Regarding Shadowrun, somehow I totally forgot that I have finished Returns years ago. It was extremely short and easy to play. RPG element is pretty minimal and the combat is basically XCOM so my brain didn't register it being a complex CRPG like Pathfinder or PoE lol. I have all three games in the library, but have not played Dragonfall and Hong Kong yet. Dragonfall looks like my next game, then.

For relatively traditional experience, it seems that Eschalon is a good place to start before going towards something older or more complex. And being free is surely a great and convincing advantage. :LOL:
 

Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
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Regarding Shadowrun, somehow I totally forgot that I have finished Returns years ago. It was extremely short and easy to play. RPG element is pretty minimal and the combat is basically XCOM so my brain didn't register it being a complex CRPG like Pathfinder or PoE lol. I have all three games in the library, but have not played Dragonfall and Hong Kong yet. Dragonfall looks like my next game, then.
Yeah, Returns is very simplistic (though not bad). Dragonfall is a massive improvement on every front -- and a bit more complex.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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I don’t know, as much as I don’t particularly love it, if we are talking discovering CRPGs, at least isometric ones, why not Baldur’s Gate ?
Sure it’s RTWP, it’s THAC0, Vancian magic, may be hard, you probably need a guide if you want to see everything, etc., but hey, you want to discover CRPG, here is the one that was iterated upon for years. In that sense it’s THE CRPG. Even if the sequel destroys it, and even if, Durante is right, Planescape Torment is the best game ever.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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While I would like nothing more than to see more talk about CRPG right now, I would be remiss to not say that I have been playing a JRPG for a couple of days and I need to gush about it.
Xanadu Next. Fantastic. Exactly what the doctor ordered, hack, slash, loot, explore. Incredible.
It’s Falcom. It’s Falcom at the top of their game.
Cons ? Well, while it’s nowhere near the amount of modern Falcom, characters can be a little yap yap yap, and there not one, but two fucking type of ancient relics to translate.
 

QFNS

Plays too many card games
Nov 18, 2018
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People love new year resolution so I want to share my 2022 goal in gaming: take a crack at the isometric CRPG genre. I have been a JRPG person in my entire life but have never properly played a CRPG before.

These games are inside the library. Not sure which one to start first. Any suggestions?
  • The Age of Decadence
  • Pathfinder: Kingmaker
  • King's Bounty: The Legend
  • Pillars of Eternity
Divinity Original Sin 2 should be your entry point. I know it isn't on your list, bit it's definitely better than Kingmaker and PoE1. Pillars of Eternity 2 is also good but again I wouldn't start there. See if you can get DOS2 on sale and go for it. The story is fully self contained so no need to learn or read anything about DOS1, either.

Failing that (I can understand not wanting to add a new game), your best bet of these is maybe Pillars? I haven't played Kings Bounty or Decadence. Kingmaker is way too systems heavy for a first game IMO. Especially with how brutal it can be with character builds. Pillars has less going on and that's a good thing in this case.

Hope you enjoy whatever you pick. CRPGs are amazing and there are so many good ones. Seriously try Divinity Original Sin 2 if you can! It's amazing
 

mastemas

truman doctrine (actual norwegian guy)
Apr 15, 2021
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after thinking about it, sitrep on my PC situation

  • buying a gaming laptop seems pointless if i can move my pc back here for free, considering i'd probably spend more time at home than at the campus city with our lessons going fully digital for the start of the semester; there's a chance i'd have to travel to the city every wednesday though, but that'd be business as usual, HOWEVER unlike previous semester, this semester the obligatory class ends at 12:00 midday, which means i could jump onto a train and get home sooner
  • however, if i were to move my pc, i'd be stuck with 20 000 NOK, so i considered possibly upgrading my PC, but the problem there is that my cpu is so old that there's no new CPUs with that socket being sold in our stores, so if i were to upgrade, i'd have to get a new motherboard, cpu and gpu, which would cost more than a new gaming laptop entirely

so the wisest choice would be to move my pc back to my home, in which i'd have 20 000 NOK to use for something, but i have no idea what on
 

DrShrapnel

Shuwatch!
Oct 14, 2021
183
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This is the first big Steam sale where I’m sitting here not knowing what to get. The kids got me Deathloop, and a Steam card to pick up Outriders…but now I’m playing that on Game Pass.

Teardown looks pretty interesting.
 

Alextended

Segata's Disciple
Jan 28, 2019
5,697
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People love new year resolution so I want to share my 2022 goal in gaming: take a crack at the isometric CRPG genre. I have been a JRPG person in my entire life but have never properly played a CRPG before.

These games are inside the library. Not sure which one to start first. Any suggestions?
  • The Age of Decadence
  • Pathfinder: Kingmaker
  • King's Bounty: The Legend
  • Pillars of Eternity
King's Bounty is the simplest to get into and plays with just the mouse, it's also a great, long, varied and addictive adventure with enjoyable visuals and humour.

I was really hyped for it ever since the first trailers in this style showing all the different areas, scenarios, combat units and whatever else and it really did deliver. Personally I liked that unlike Heroes of Might and Magic it was just about exploring and completing quests outside the turn based battles, there was no strategic aspect in the overworld dictating the best moves against an adversary that is also exploring and expanding their resources. It's almost like a JRPG, but not really.

I rated it 4.5/5 for GameCyte in 2008 and it's the only game I've reviewed, I mostly wrote news and stuff like that, I just had to after playing it non stop to the end. Iirc, Rock Paper Shotgun, which was still a good PC gaming site back then, had it as a best of the year or similar and often spoke highly of it at the time too. It's not that it's a perfect game, there will be plenty of annoyances to talk about, all while pining for one more battle, one more quest, one more area to do.
 
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Alexandros

MetaMember
Nov 4, 2018
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King's Bounty is the simplest to get into and plays with just the mouse, it's also a great, long, varied and addictive adventure with enjoyable visuals and humour.

I was really hyped for it ever since the first trailers in this style showing all the different areas, scenarios, combat units and whatever else and it really did deliver. Personally I liked that unlike Heroes of Might and Magic it was just about exploring and completing quests outside the turn based battles, there was no strategic aspect in the overworld dictating the best moves against an adversary that is also exploring and expanding their resources. It's almost like a JRPG, but not really.

I rated it 4.5/5 for GameCyte in 2008 and it's the only game I've reviewed, I mostly wrote news and stuff like that, I just had to after playing it non stop to the end. Iirc, Rock Paper Shotgun, which was still a good PC gaming site back then, had it as a best of the year or similar and often spoke highly of it at the time too. It's not that it's a perfect game, there will be plenty of annoyances to talk about, all while pining for one more battle, one more quest, one more area to do.
King's Bounty is an excellent series indeed. Fairly challenging though.
 
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LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
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Just finished Unpacking.

Chill game about - you guessed it! - unpacking. Basically you start out in 1997 in your kids room, then move into a dorm, a shared flat, and so on, until the present day. It tells a story of a life, with very little text, just the rooms and items are enough. Some items come with you throughout, some visibly aging. Some are familiar – some I wasnt sure about, since the pixel graphics are cool, but not always very clear.
I started it earlier this evening and finished it in one go, within 3 hours (and I wasnt rushing). I'll go back to get some achievements I missed, but otherwise its a neat one-and-done-game.

Can recommend.

 

toxicitizen

MetaMember
Oct 24, 2018
1,632
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I know Ghost of Tsushima is 100% coming to Steam but don't take that IG listing as proof, they tend to put up pages for a lot of games that end up either not coming out (or not coming out on Steam) or completely miss the release date, they go by estimates.
Yeah, it's definitely coming but if it was coming less than a month after God of War then we'd already know about it. As far as I'm aware, Uncharted doesn't even have a date yet and I'd be very surprised if there was something else releasing between them.

I did too...
Same. Fantastic game!
 
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kafiend

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
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Finally. There is now a total of 5 Councillors who have played Xanadu Next. :flare_lmao:
I also played.
Didn't give it a fair chance for some reason looking at my playtime. I remember really wanting it but nothing after actually buying it, I'm pretty bad tempered, so I dismiss things sometimes in a fit of poor temper. Probably that.
 
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Aaron D.

MetaMember
Jul 10, 2019
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Picked up Panzer Corps 2 for a cool -54% over at Fanatical. Part of the deal is you get a free game if you spend over $10.

So after checkout I got a link to 6 or 7 titles to pick from. They all seemed pretty decent for a freebie. I went with Turmoil, a Wishlisted title from way back in the day. Almost feels like I “rediscovered” it or something, lol.

Thought PC2 was a terrific deal. Made out even better with the rando surprise freebie.
 

hersheyfan

South Sea Islander
Jul 17, 2021
419
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Manila, Philippines
steamcommunity.com
Finally. There is now a total of 5 Councillors who have played Xanadu Next. :flare_lmao:
I should try again!

I remember excitedly launching Xanadu Next years ago after copping it on sale! Then it just... refused to start at all. Just a black screen of death.... couldn't get it to work after trying several times, so I gave up and deleted it. I have extremely low tolerance for that kind of BS.

Since then, basically all the components of my PC have been replaced, so maybe the game won't recognize me, its ancient enemy, and will let me play. Fingers crossed! :face-with-open-mouth-and-cold-sweat::face-with-open-mouth-and-cold-sweat:
 
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Arulan

Lizardman
Dec 7, 2018
563
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People love new year resolution so I want to share my 2022 goal in gaming: take a crack at the isometric CRPG genre. I have been a JRPG person in my entire life but have never properly played a CRPG before.

These games are inside the library. Not sure which one to start first. Any suggestions?
  • The Age of Decadence
  • Pathfinder: Kingmaker
  • King's Bounty: The Legend
  • Pillars of Eternity
I'm not very familiar with King's Bounty, but the rest are great CRPGs. Underrail is incredible too, but you may want to play Fallout first. Disco Elysium of course. There are so many fantastic CRPGs, both new and old to recommend, but I don't want to overwhelm.

I honestly think none of these are the best entry point into the genre.

Age of Decadence is just extremely unforgiving.
I haven't played Pathfinder: Kingmaker yet, but as far as I know it is very complex, and a bit generic story-wise?
King's Bounty isn't really a CRPG.
Pillars of Eternity is one of my favourite games of the past decade, and I don't think it's that difficult systems-wise, but lots of people inexplicably (to me) have issues playing RtwP games, so that might make it harder to get into?

So personally I'd go with Pillars out of those choices, but for getting into CRPGs in general I'd suggest e.g. Shadowrun: Dragonfall. It's a fantastic game, not too complex, easy to control, and it's cheap AF right now. The only thing that would go against it is if you don't like the Shadowrun setting, but then what's wrong with you? ;)
I agree with Durante though. Shadowrun: Dragonfall is excellent and a good first step into the genre.

That's great to hear. Just finished downloading it. Starting it tomorrow. :blobcheer:
Feel free to share you thoughts here or in the RPG thread!
 

Arulan

Lizardman
Dec 7, 2018
563
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This is the first time that I've heard that Obsidian is making a similar game to Disco Elysium.
Josh Sawyer has been wanting to make a historical RPG for years now. And he's talked at length about wanting to experiment with RPG mechanics outside of genre expectations (that he faced with Pillars of Eternity and Fallout: New Vegas). I'm excited to see what he'll come up with. I'm envisioning something like Disco Elysium X The Name of the Rose.
 

Digoman

Lurking in the Shadows
Dec 21, 2018
854
2,390
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Ohhhh f*ck....

It's been one of those days....

First one HDD start to fail (and then you remember how slow those things are to transfer from one to another).. and now I see I forgot to pause my Humble Choice.

Well... created a giveaway for Greak if someone wants it :)
 

Cacher

MetaMember
Jun 3, 2020
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Yeah, great to hear that Atlus listens to fans /s
Naoto Hiraoka

—Status Report

“As for future Atlus titles, we receive all sorts of requests from everyone, which we’re always using as a reference. I hope you can look forward to what’s to come.”
Remake of past Kadokawa's games... Lolipop Chainsaw?
Kadokawa Games

Yoshimi Yasuda


—Ambitions for 2022

“The GODWARS TEAM is ready to establish itself as a development studio, so I’d like to take on the challenge of remaking previously released games with modern computer graphics technology.”
Some new things for SaGa fans.
Akitoki Kawazu

—Ambitions for 2022

“We’re planning various things that SaGa fans will enjoy next year as well. Please look forward to them.”
Yasumi Matsuno is working on something?
Mistwalker

Hironobu Sakaguchi


—What person caught your eye in 2021?

“Yasumi Matsuno. He seems to be writing a scenario, and I’m looking forward to what type of work it’ll be.”
 
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