I don’t know if it’s exactly what you’re looking for (and it might have a little too much gameplay) but I just finished the Banner Saga (first part of the trilogy) and it at least offers what you’re looking for in terms of choices mattering and branching storylines - especially going into game 2 and three apparently.

What mods did you go for? I should make another attempt to finish RDR2 at some point and diving into some more mods might inspire me to actually do so…

Actually kind of a relief to know I’m not weird. Well, I mean I’m also weird but that this particular thing was common.

I think an exception is okay every now and then, I personally just like this community the most so I also broke the rules last year and talked about playing Blue Prince and E33 on release last year. Sometimes you can’t actually wait to play a game, you know? I felt both of those merited it, especially Blue Prince as participating in the zeitgeist of that and being part of discovering the game at a point where the community hadn’t even discovered all the secrets yet was amazing.

But yes, in general this is for the more patient kind of gaming.

Not the most patient of gaming, but I don’t blame you as it looks drop dead gorgeous! I was also enticed when I saw it release but as always with the genre I have to hesitate a bit since I both such at and don’t particularly enjoy platforming and will easily get frustrated and not enjoy it if there is too much difficult precision platforming.

Will be interested to hear your thoughts on it regardless, I did still wishlist it purely because of the art.

I finished the Banner Saga. I really wish I enjoyed the combat in it, as I’m sadly probably not going to find it in me to finish the trilogy. Which is a huge shame, because the rest of the game I really loved. Art was beautiful, music gorgeous, world building interesting and the story and characters were well written. I really do recommend the game, especially if you can grab it on sale. I love a game that doesn’t shy away from tragedy, that allows characters to die and that lets your actions actually have consequences. The tone and style felt really distinctive and just… refreshing compared to a lot of recent RPGs I’ve played. It’s slow, melancholic and somber. I really liked it for that.

Next up I’m probably tackling The Last Express, a game I picked up on sale a while ago and have been really keen to experience ever since randomly stumbling upon a video essay about it some months back and stopping the video about 15 minutes in with the realization that this is a game I need to experience.

How many MAUs does Mbin have, like 1000 combined across all the instances? One single app makes sense to me. I’m sure more will add compatibility if Mbin ever takes off, but it sounds like a lot of work at the moment for very marginal gains or demand.

Finished the Alan Wake 2 DLCs. Enjoyed them very much. The first two Night Springs episodes I thought were kind of so-so, but the third one was great and really had Remedy stretch their creative legs and both flex some mixed media usage and fully signal that Quantum Break is a part of the Remedyverse, at least in spirit. The Lake House DLC was just an excellent little horror episode, amazing atmosphere and gameplay while also being a very sharp criticism of AI art, which while perhaps not subtle I can still agree with and appreciate.

I also played through about 70% of the first Banner Saga. I have very mixed feelings about this game. The art, music, story, writing and world building are all excellent. It’s a very pretty game. I just… I don’t really vibe with the combat. The way the turn based system works and the way the damage stat and HP stat being unified plays out just makes fights end up kind of… weird. It’s very different from most games and I’m not really finding it that enjoyable. I haven’t played it in a few days now but I might just turn it down to Easy and breeze through it so I can see how the story goes.

Ah, now I remember your username from a Deadlock thread the other day. Yeah if you vehemently hate third-person perspective in a shooter then there is no saving it, I guess.

I mean, I don’t know. You have to watch it with 2013 eyes. Sure, if you only look at it like “oh, cover-based shooting” then sure. But what’s suggested by the trailer (seamless world, PvE and PvP simultaneously in the open world, proximity-based voice, some kind of mobile-app integration for drone support, faithfully rendered New York environment, extraction shooter gameplay YEARS before it was cool or even a thing…) still kind of looks like an appealing package imo and back then it truly did look mind blowing.

Of course I’m well aware of how it turned out, but I even watching it back I get why I was so hyped for it once.

I remember watching one of the early gameplay trailers for the first Division and thinking it looked like the coolest game ever. Wonder if third time is the charm for the series.

EDIT: trailer I was thinking about for those who haven’t seen it, E3 2013 trailer.. 13 years ago, fuck me.

Yes, this is it right here. The whole point of art is communication and connection with another human being.

The name is enough for me to subscribe and give it a chance.

I really hate the trope of having a mission around the 50-75% mark where you are stripped of all your gear and unlocked abilities. I know it must be popular because it keeps popping up in games but I just don’t enjoy it personally.

If you can’t find an invite there I can probably sort you out.

I thought so too at first, but I actually don’t think the movement aspect of Deadlock would feel as good in first person.

Interesting failure states has to be one of the most difficult things to implement in game design. To this day I struggle to think of many examples besides Disco Elysium that manage to discourage save scumming purely by virtue of having failed rolls often lead to equally or more beneficial and interesting results as successful rolls.

That’s part of it sure, but it just… doesn’t feel right. Someone else pointed out how it is almost an “alternate universe Max Payne 2” with how it feels narratively like a more follow-up to the first game than the second. It also just has a very different tone and style in the writing. It doesn’t have that Remedy vibe. Everything from the characters and main story to the TV bits, which feel very different compared to Lords and Ladies and Adress Unknown.

It’s by no means a bad game, and the action bits are awesome. It just doesn’t feel like a Max Payne game to me.

Me too. Don’t think there is a single relationship I’ve been able to maintain in my life.

Ah, that makes sense! Damn I wish Itagaki was still with us. That might make me actually wishlist this game, though. I played Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time recently (also by Soleil, the last game Itagaki was involved in) and was pretty positively surprised by it.