It starts with a couple training levels, so I imagine it should be a pretty good starting point for anyone new to the franchise.

If anyone wants some Final Fantasy XIV stuff let me know. Apparently I got a promotion on Amazon where I got free FFXIV gear. First person to quote me can have me PM them the code for it.

Details here. So whoever wants this stuff let me know!

https://www.ffxivredeem.com/

PM'ed you.

Road Rash 64. This game cracks me up everytime I play it. It's so funny when you wreck

Umm... does anyone know what the deal is with the Enhanced Edition version of Baldur's Gate II? It looks like there are a bunch of negative reviews from the last few weeks having to do with a recent update. I want to grab the game while it's on sale, but not if it's a bad version or something. However, the reviews aren't entirely clear what the problem is, and half of them seem to be in broken English.

They're probably just incensed "anti-SJW" babies who were offended non-straight characters were added in the recent expansion pack by the same team (Beamdog), Siege of Dragonspear. I've played the Enhanced Edition of both BG 1 and 2, and they're great and full of welcome improvements, and even a bit of a graphical upgrade. There are a couple of new characters and quests, but they fit in very well with the original and they only stand out if you've memorized the game.

Though regarding Siege of Dragonspear (which I haven't yet played myself), even I have to admit this is some pretty terrible writing.


I would be interested to hear what longtime BG players like MacMoney think of Beamdog's recent additions...

Hmm... yeah that's what I was suspecting. I was just apprehensive because there was an update in the end of May/beginning of June, and most of these negative reviews seem to have been written after that date.

Looks like typical CRPG NPC dialogue writing to me, tbh

Doom 2016 is good. The campaign seems solid, and the multiplayer is thoroughly enjoyable.

Been playing Dynasty Warriors 8 like crazy lately. This the best since 4, and that is saying a whole lot. I'm loving everything about this game so far, I am super glad that I finally picked it up.

Doom 2016 is, indeed, fucking metal. I just wish the soundtrack was less djenty, though it still works as gonna-kick-some-demonic-ass background noise. This would've been ideal, though:

Yeah and to be honest, BG 1 & 2 never had great writing anyway, and lots of characters sounded like they were written by first year Shakespeare majors, so it fit in well enough.

But it's maybe a bit weird for the PC to ask about a name, to which the character responds "I'm transsexual!" It's not really tokenism (as the angry self-described "anti-feminazi" dickbags will tell everyone till their ears drop off), but it does seem a bit... premature. Plus, the idea that Mizhena came up with her name by fashioning a bunch of syllables from other languages that were "special" to her almost seems like more of a parody of a twentysomething modern liberal to me.

But I've not played the game myself so I wouldn't really know.


Yeah, Hulshult is amazing. Be sure to check out his remake of the Rise of the Triad soundtrack sometime. It's fantastic.

Man that soundtrack is so fucking bad. There was an opportunity there for real occult/space death metal sounding insanity, but noooo they had to go with shitty djent.

It's so fucking good and I love it! Have played it more times than I can count! And there is barely any "djent" in there tbh, most of the guitar parts aren't really played in that style, just a few bits here and there. The synth sound design on that soundtrack is phenomenal and I think Mick Gordon is an amazing composer and producer.

I just think that it sounds very mushed and indistinct. As I said, it works as background noise, but it's not at all something that I would play on its own, unlike that remake of At Doom's Gate, because riffs, madafakaaaaa. I prefer to mute it and put some late day Symphony X instead. MY DOMINATIOOOOOOOOON!

I finished my third playthrough on the third highest difficulty (Nightmare) earlier today and I have finally burned out on Doom. I still need to go back to a few previous levels and get Mastery upgrades for a couple of weapon mods and get one secret I missed in the last level.

http://www.pcgamer.com/a-system-shock-r ... next-week/

System Shock Remastered demo releasing the 28th!

That looks fucking stunning.

I love Saints Row The Third.It is pretty awesome,also it fits with EM:TMA.Why you asking? Well,THIS is in the OST.Really,trust me.

Finished Undertale last weekend and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, whenever I finish a game I really like I go online and read a bunch of stuff about it, and through that I realized that Undertale has the absolute worst fanbase full of insufferable dolts I've seen in eons. Like, there are fans, and then there are fandoms. You know the people who never shut up about Doctor Who and Supernatural? Yeah, Undertale is exactly like that.

Brilliant game though, I'd absolutely recommend it.

I've been playing The Crew a lot. It's nothing overwhelmingly good, but it's a nice "turn your brain off and drive" racing RPG (you level up, upgrade your car, etc etc etc). Plus it was free, so hell yeah.

Still better than the current Witcher fanbase, jesus fucking christ. The Witcher Reddit may as well be called, "The CD-Projekt RED 24/7 Bukkake." I know you think that may describe most of Reddit, but Witcher fans bring it to an entirely new level.

Not even close. I never see Witcher fans, let alone fanatics, when I'm out and about, but Undertale fanatics are everywhere.

The exact opposite in my experience.

I think that most of those people would have ignored even that if Beamdog didn't do the UNFORGIVABLE and have Minsc make a Gamergate joke, which caught the attention of people who would otherwise have no interest in BG.

Noooo!

Fantasy games really shouldn't be concerning itself with pop culture references.

There are already plenty of pop culture references in the games though, and I can't think of many RPGs that don't have them. It was something like "It's all about ethics in heroic adventuring", which while sounding pretty forced, is not really any more out of place than the other references.

So I was just playing Ultima IV and decided to read up a bit on the guy who created the series, Richard Garriott. The dude sounds insanely cool. He's been out in space, and he apparently owns some lunar rovers that are still on the moon, one of which had the record for the longest distance traveled on another planet for a long time. Also, he turned his home into this huge, interactive haunted house named after a place from the Ultima games, which was the most elaborate haunted house in the nation at the time.

Haha, especially old-school JRPGs localized by Working Designs. Now THOSE were the epitome of "trying too hard", good gods.

Fair enough. To be honest, I was probably too young to catch them when I played the Baldur's Gate games when they came out originally, and too uncultured to catch them as an adult. . I do realize that a lot of time fantasy and sci-fi are used in ways to comment on society, but I never really made the connection with BG, maybe because I was so young when it came out.

edit: just to be clear I'm not an anti-sjw type. The new expansion can be all trans for all I care. The shoehorning of those types of contemporary themes into an older game can seem a little weird, though.

It's not even shoehorning at all though; D&D and the Forgotten Realms have had magic spells to change gender since forever.
The creator of the Forgotten Realms setting himself commented on this:
http://www.craveonline.com/entertainmen ... ontroversy

Yeah, some of the pop culture references in Ultima IV, another old RPG, are jarringly corny. I was just talking to a character named "Short Round" who talks about going on an archaeological expedition with a man named Jones.

Also, about the trans thing, not just D&D, but fantasy and mythology in general have had the idea of changing genders for comedic effect since forever, like that famous story about a Greek prophet who changed genders to see which gender was more fun or something.

Yoooooo, to all the Metroidvania fans out there, there's Bloodstained gameplay out, and it looks fantastic.

Looks a little stiff, but I'm sure that'll be hammered out with more playtesting. Otherwise, yeah, looks cool.

As someone who actually played that demo, it's not stiff at all, and it's actually fantastic.

That's true! As long as the writing and gameplay are good, it's all fair game I say.

IGN gave The Technomancer a 4.9...

So I'm glad to hear it's good!

Been playing the hell out of Overwatch recently. Really enjoyable, though the upcoming patch is badly needed.

Been playing Life Is Strange. I know a lot would hate that kind of stuff, but I enjoy it

It's on my Steam wishlist, marked way down right now due to the Summer Sale. Been thinking of picking it up, actually.