Seems I’m way too picky for that. I fell down an MMORPG rabbit hole for several years a while back and have spent the last several years catching up. Already starting to feel like I’ve played most everything from older gens I’m going to really like.

One thing I’ve noticed is I’m wishlisting way more upcoming games than before. There’s the occasional exception, but if I keep a rolling release schedule, I’ll generally still be playing new stuff well after release.

Only ones of those I tried were Pillars and Divinity (and its sequel). I found Pillars rather obtuse early on so I didn’t stick with it very long. I liked how fresh Divinity felt, having its own ruleset that was still simple to understand. Didn’t like how super strict the level differential was and the quantity of traps in the game was beyond sadistic. In hindsight, I don’t think that one was very good overall.

On the other hand, I thought D:OS 2 was incredible. It was still way more strict on XP than I’d like, but that’s the only thing I would have changed about the game. Looks like it came out just before Kingmaker did, so I’m not surprised it got buried. Larian’s just on another level, and Baldur’s Gate 3 ended up fixing that one issue I had (while elevating almost everything else at the same time).

I still am enjoying Kingmaker so much, though. Probably would have blown my mind if I’d played it before BG3, heh. Hoping for a little bit more character writing, but in any case, I’m really enjoying the battles.

Firewatch is such a great, bite-sized experience. Still think about it from time to time.

Started Pathfinder: Kingmaker and I got sucked into it big time. Just finished the prologue last night. Reviews for this were not great, so I don’t know if the game improved dramatically after release or if there are rough spots in the campaign coming up.

I guess it’s also possible its old-school feel contributed to some of that. I really do feel like I’m playing a fresher version of Baldur’s Gate 2, complete with unfortunate quirks.

Yeah, my gaming experience lately has been a bit of tension between sticking it out and learning when to drop stuff.

I didn’t like the Trails series at first but the fourth and fifth games ended up being all-time favorites. This one’s not going to get to that point, but it’s also part of a larger series that could have a lot of fun gameplay to mess around with.

Just started Disgaea 1. For whatever reason I’ve bounced off this game half a dozen times since first trying it all the way back at release, but I’ve more or less settled into a groove with it now.

Having a good time with it, though I’m wondering if I should pick up a manual or something somewhere. Kind of obtuse systems and details I’d normally be able to get out of the UI, but not here.

Following up on this conversation since I just saw this PC Gamer article:

I played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favorites

How is Stormgate innovating? Genuine question–I’ve been avoiding it largely because it looks so much like StarCraft (and Pottinger even calls it out specifically in the article as something not innovative).

I’d add They are Billions as another evolutionary branch that’s doing something different. Starting to see some clones of this formula.

That said, I don’t think Against the Storm or Manor Lords are the kind of games Pottinger is talking about. Against the Storm doesn’t even have combat. Those are more in the city builder realm.

I think there are too many JRPGs that still use their battle system in support of their narrative for it to be considered anything other than a core system in those games. That’s especially the case in lower budget games in the genre.

Larger budget projects are branching more and more into side content/worldbuilding, but I’d argue it’s still highly underdeveloped in the genre when compared with western RPGs, in quality if not also in quantity. Persona and Yakuza are exceptions, rather than the rule. Persona is doing something entirely different (and well enough that it’s being emulated now) while Yakuza, as you say, carry a lot of that over from prior development into its RPGs from the series’ action games.

This is what I was wondering. Was the genre that quiet this year? Manor Lords isn’t just early access, it’s early early access. So many outright unfinished systems.

Unfortunately, Cyberpunk is exactly the kind of product that is going to keep driving the realistic approach. It’s four years later now and the game’s visuals are still state-of-the-art in many areas. Even after earning as much backlash on release as any game in recent memory, it was a massively profitable project in the end.

This is why Sony, Microsoft, and the big third parties like Ubisoft keep taking shots in this realm.

They showed up

After the credit roll I took it as a sign I wasn’t getting much more lore or more Aunt Lori. I’d buy a DLC just for more Aunt Lori.

Looks like it was October, so I’m guessing after? The production controls did help once I figured them out but I realized once I was digging through the UI every time I was making a building or cornerstone decision I wasn’t getting into the flow state I wanted.

I want a sequel to this so bad. Loved almost everything about it.

I had an intense love affair with this one earlier in the year that fizzled out quickly once the credits rolled. Solid game, but the only thing that keeps it from being in my collection of 1000-hour games is that it’s a little too dense for my taste. Keeping track of what builds what (and which build I had currently unlocked) was taking up a smidge more brain power than I’d like once the difficulty started demanding it. By the end I’d started layering in how to evaluate cornerstones, the best way to do trade, map modifiers, and it became too much. Ironically, I’d probably get to a level of comfort just by putting more time into the game but it’ll just feel like work.

One of those “almost there” games for me.

Gave myself 48 hours off from caregiving, and am now sitting quietly alone with Chinese food and a great book. It’s easy to forget how important this is.

Some heavy hitters in the genre here!

Don’t know how the narrative took hold in some spaces that it’s skippable, but I’m glad you didn’t skip Sky the 3rd. Hopefully you did most of the doors, especially Star Doors 8, 14, and 15. You’ll likely appreciate the game more as the series goes on, and after Zero, you probably are starting to see why.

I’m excited-by-proxy for your journey through Azure. Enjoy.

72% positive on Steam. I think it’s going to end up one of those silent majority games like Inquisition did (though it doesn’t look like it’s going to sell as well as DA:I).

Just picked up Radiant Historia the other day and it’s been a surprise. The soundtrack especially has been 10/10 so far, no notes. I really should play more games Shimomura’s scored.