Various role-playing RPG game stuff not deserving its own thread

[Rand]

what the fuck is your excuse?

Unity or Unreal Engine.

Lots of games ALSO have trouble shutting down immediately.
At least Bethesda games will as well. Hit the tilde and type in qqq and instant shutdown.

ATOM team's games are all Unity.
Unity's builtin level loading is really slow tho, ATOM just uses it for loading static geometry and a custom loader for everything else.
Deadfire did the same which is why it loads so much faster than poe1.

So it's dev competency vs. lazy devs using defaults.
Gotcha.

[Rand]

At least Bethesda games will as well. Hit the tilde and type in qqq and instant shutdown.

Bethesda games have issues loading saves properly, btw. If you're loading a save you should go to the title screen, otherwise it attempts to reuse the current gameworld which can cause issues. Don't know if this was fixed in FO4/Skyrim SE, but it definitely existed for a while.

Not Morrowind, but Oblivion and Fallout 3/New Vegas for sure.
I think Skyrim could be an issue as well.
Dunno and don't care about Fallout 4 or onward.

[Roguey]

Larian's publishing director discusses the difficulty in trying to market woke games to the masses, likely has that recent skuffle regarding Avowed on his mind.

2025 (and beyond) is going to be an extremely tough time to ship a game, with division spilling into everything. I have one practical piece of advice that may to some seem controversial, but it’s crucial: anticipate, don’t ignore, or ridicule, or stoke. Figure it out. Navigate the waters even if you think they’re unfair, or that the sea shouldn’t be so rough. The reality is that it is.

do you think the culture war BS regarding games and general shit that’s spilled into social media will eventually blow over

No I think the increasing obsession individualism has created a world where everyone is defending their corner, believing they are right. It has increased the perception of “otherness” and everyone basically wants to find an eco-chamber to feel safe in, which I can understand (for both good and bad reasons, I’m not judging anyone). This is now the reality. In an industry where high risk = pleasing everyone, it is basically antithetical to success. I also believe in individualism (be whoever you want to be, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else), but division has created a world of assholes.

I want to contribute to a world of games where each player can be whoever they want to be and either publicly or privately celebrate that without judgment, across the entire human experience. I guess that’s why I love RPGs. They give agency, they don’t remove it. But I’m digressing.

Some devs are not making games for the majority of gamers. They are chasing a non-existent modern audience. The sooner they figure it out the better change they have surviving.

Creative Directors & their creative teams have a huge amount of agency, and generally what they make (to a greater or lesser degree) is what they wanted to make. They themselves aren’t in charge of finding an audience. In a sense, they work with authentic artistic optimism. Ultimately however the market itself decides if it’s what wanted, or not. These are both fine. Healthier - in fact - than a retail store deciding.

[UltraFan123]

Larian's publishing director discusses the difficulty in trying to market woke games to the masses, likely has that recent skuffle regarding Avowed on his mind.

2025 (and beyond) is going to be an extremely tough time to ship a game, with division spilling into everything. I have one practical piece of advice that may to some seem controversial, but it’s crucial: anticipate, don’t ignore, or ridicule, or stoke. Figure it out. Navigate the waters even if you think they’re unfair, or that the sea shouldn’t be so rough. The reality is that it is.

do you think the culture war BS regarding games and general shit that’s spilled into social media will eventually blow over

No I think the increasing obsession individualism has created a world where everyone is defending their corner, believing they are right. It has increased the perception of “otherness” and everyone basically wants to find an eco-chamber to feel safe in, which I can understand (for both good and bad reasons, I’m not judging anyone). This is now the reality. In an industry where high risk = pleasing everyone, it is basically antithetical to success. I also believe in individualism (be whoever you want to be, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else), but division has created a world of assholes.

I want to contribute to a world of games where each player can be whoever they want to be and either publicly or privately celebrate that without judgment, across the entire human experience. I guess that’s why I love RPGs. They give agency, they don’t remove it. But I’m digressing.

Some devs are not making games for the majority of gamers. They are chasing a non-existent modern audience. The sooner they figure it out the better change they have surviving.

Creative Directors & their creative teams have a huge amount of agency, and generally what they make (to a greater or lesser degree) is what they wanted to make. They themselves aren’t in charge of finding an audience. In a sense, they work with authentic artistic optimism. Ultimately however the market itself decides if it’s what wanted, or not. These are both fine. Healthier - in fact - than a retail store deciding.

I have one practical piece of advice that may to some seem controversial, but it’s crucial: anticipate, don’t ignore, or ridicule, or stoke.

Saying "don't insult the paying customer" as an advice is considered controversial now. lmfao

It has increased the perception of “otherness” and everyone basically wants to find an eco-chamber to feel safe in

Sweet holy mother of projection!

This is now the reality. In an industry where high risk = pleasing everyone, it is basically antithetical to success.

Trying to please everyone has ALWAYS been antithetical to success, is just the pendulum swinging back that is forcing game devs to start saying aloud something that everyone has always known.

I guess that’s why I love RPGs. They give agency, they don’t remove it.

So this guy recognizes that Veilguard isn't an RPG at all, good to know.

They themselves aren’t in charge of finding an audience. In a sense, they work with authentic artistic optimism.

The devs of AC Shadows as well as the devs of The Witcher 4 would beg to differ, considering how they have gone on record saying that they are actively looking for "more audience" which proves that none of them care about "artistic optimism" or whatchacallit.

[rusty_shackleford]

I want to contribute to a world of games where each player can be whoever they want to be and either publicly or privately celebrate that without judgment, across the entire human experience. I guess that’s why I love RPGs. They give agency, they don’t remove it. But I’m digressing.

what if I want to be someone who is disgusted by faggots and doesn't want to see them

[rusty_shackleford]

I want to contribute to a world of games where each player can be whoever they want to be and either publicly or privately celebrate that without judgment, across the entire human experience

What about pedophiles and dog fuckers, Michael?

Michael?
What about the pedophiles?

[Tangerine]

I want to contribute to a world of games where each player can be whoever they want to be and either publicly or privately celebrate that without judgment, across the entire human experience

What about pedophiles and dog fuckers, Michael?

Michael?
What about the pedophiles?

They stepped over dog fuckers and went straight to bear fucking in BG3.

[Nooneatall]

I want to contribute to a world of games where each player can be whoever they want to be and either publicly or privately celebrate that without judgment, across the entire human experience. I guess that’s why I love RPGs. They give agency, they don’t remove it. But I’m digressing.

what if I want to be someone who is disgusted by faggots and doesn't want to see them

Noooooo! Not like that!

[rusty_shackleford]

Been chewing on this bone for a bit since I've played a lot of point-buy party-based RPGs lately.

Major issue with classless point-buy('skill based') party-based RPGs is you rarely ever have a good reason to be good at combat on your character when you can just compensate using companions. This is usually compounded heavily by having certain skills only useful on the main character, whereas other skills are useful on anyone.
I suspect this could be ameliorated with typed point-buy like in age of decadence which has a split for civil & combat skills, divinity original sin did this too, probably other RPGs.

Class-based games tend to have much more well-rounded characters unless you're forcing yourself to play suboptimally in point-buy.

Daggerfall had a really good system if you exclude custom classes. Well, not necessarily exclude, but restrict. It's obvious custom classes breaks the game, a big part of classes is — depending on your point of view, being forced or getting for free things you otherwise wouldn't take to create a more grounded, well-rounded adventurer.


Games like WL3, full party creation, you're going to have a 'face' character anyways. But in games where you have a de facto main character that is your avatar, you're really pigeonholed into a handful of archetypes at best by design. I don't like this.

[logincrash]

I want to contribute to a world of games where each player can be whoever they want to be and either publicly or privately celebrate that without judgment, across the entire human experience

What about pedophiles and dog fuckers, Michael?

Michael?
What about the pedophiles?

You'd think this would be a good argument, but they're unironically pushing for pedophilia to be accepted. That's why we need to resist this gay shit at every opportunity.

[Rand]

Bethesda games have issues loading saves properly, btw. If you're loading a save you should go to the title screen, otherwise it attempts to reuse the current gameworld which can cause issues. Don't know if this was fixed in FO4/Skyrim SE, but it definitely existed for a while.

I looked into this some more.
The correct info is that the affected games shouldn't be loaded if you are in the same sell as where the save is made.
Indoors, the cell boundaries are straightforward. If you went through a loading screen (a door, usually) you're in a different cell and it's fine. (Use the PCB console command before loading to be extra sure if you like.)
In the overworld, it's not so simple. Issues can happen when you're loading in a cell that was loaded when you saved.
Since the games load cells around the player in a radius, you could be quite a ways away and still be in a cell that was loaded when you saved.

And this is still recommended by the community for all Bethesda games to date, including Starfield.

Further detail:

► Show Spoiler

Outdoor cell load detail:

S = cell saved in   L = loaded cell

LLLLL
LLLLL
LLSLL
LLLLL
LLLLL

You should never load the save made at S while still in ANY of those cells.

There is still debate if any overlap is safe. Since the game loads a couple of cells in each direction, the question looks like this.

S = cell saved in   L = loaded cell   N = new cell since load   O = overlapping loaded cell   C = current cell

LLLLL
LLLLL
LLSLONNNN
LLLLONNNN
LLLLONCNN
    NNNNN

The O cells being in both loaded zones are theorized to sometimes cause a problem.

A further theory says that using the PCB (purge cell buffers) command prior to load also resolves the issues of loaded cells just like quitting to the main menu, but this is unproven.

[Shady]

New studio composed of former CD Projekt devs (their CEO is actually the lead director of Witcher 3) and some former devs of Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 are making a new RPG. Just a teaser, reveal in 1 month.

[Jordy]

New studio composed of former CD Projekt devs (their CEO is actually the lead director of Witcher 3) and some former devs of Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 are making a new RPG. Just a teaser, reveal in 1 month.

"Meet Jeralt the Wolfer as he battles demons..."

[Roguey]

Based on their careers page, looks like some sort of open world werewolf RPG (using Unreal of course).

The tranny animator who worked on The Witcher was a co-owner of the studio but apparently she left in June of this year? How odd.

[rusty_shackleford]

Based on their careers page, looks like some sort of open world werewolf RPG (using Unreal of course).

The tranny animator who worked on The Witcher was a co-owner of the studio but apparently she left in June of this year? How odd.

Stop using tranny pronouns

[UltraFan123]

Yeah, troons are "it/that". Address them as something instead of someone, I know from personal convo experience that troons absolutely hate being called that. kek

[rusty_shackleford]

Colony Ship is awful and I'm going to assume anyone who likes it prefers RPGs that are actually just those 1980s CYOA books wearing a somewhat convincing disguise of a video game.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Nihon Falcom founder and chairman, Masayuki Kato, has passed away.

Wonder if Falcom will change its policies under Kondo, assuming he succeeds him.

[Gastrick]

Failed BG3 review bomb attempt after Swen announced the TGA GOTY, presumably because Wukong lost.

There should be an Internet Apartheid.

Where's the great firewall when we need it?

[1998]

Failed BG3 review bomb attempt after Swen announced the TGA GOTY, presumably because Wukong lost.

There should be an Internet Apartheid.

Where's the great firewall when we need it?

Steam is behind the wall, but only the community functions. That's why the Steam forums are not totally taken over by wangs.

[Roguey]

Colony Ship is awful and I'm going to assume anyone who likes it prefers RPGs that are actually just those 1980s CYOA books wearing a somewhat convincing disguise of a video game.

A friend of mine likes it because it's hardcore.

[rusty_shackleford]

Colony Ship is awful and I'm going to assume anyone who likes it prefers RPGs that are actually just those 1980s CYOA books wearing a somewhat convincing disguise of a video game.

A friend of mine likes it because it's hardcore.

It's a book, I did less reading in numanuma.

[Roguey]

It's a book, I did less reading in numanuma.

A book with hardcore combat, especially in Underdog.

[Ilovecheezecake]

Ye. Git gud Rustee

[Valter]

Any other games like Lunacid?

Love this kind of unabated real-time dungeon crawling with little to no time wasted on story.
I am aware of King's Field. Anything else?

[rusty_shackleford]

Love this kind of unabated real-time dungeon crawling with little to no time wasted on story.

Depending on how old of games you're willing to play, Dungeon Master started its own lineage of real-time dungeon crawlers that traces all the way to Legend of Grimrock & the games that also inspired.

Also, https://www.dungeoncrawlers.org/
Not all of them are real-time.

[Valter]

Love this kind of unabated real-time dungeon crawling with little to no time wasted on story.

Depending on how old of games you're willing to play, Dungeon Master started its own lineage of real-time dungeon crawlers that traces all the way to Legend of Grimrock & the games that also inspired.

Also, https://www.dungeoncrawlers.org/
Not all of them are real-time.

Legend of Grimrock... I've oft had that franchise pop up in my radar

[Tweed]

Been chewing on this bone for a bit since I've played a lot of point-buy party-based RPGs lately.

Major issue with classless point-buy('skill based') party-based RPGs is you rarely ever have a good reason to be good at combat on your character when you can just compensate using companions. This is usually compounded heavily by having certain skills only useful on the main character, whereas other skills are useful on anyone.
I suspect this could be ameliorated with typed point-buy like in age of decadence which has a split for civil & combat skills, divinity original sin did this too, probably other RPGs.

Class-based games tend to have much more well-rounded characters unless you're forcing yourself to play suboptimally in point-buy.

Daggerfall had a really good system if you exclude custom classes. Well, not necessarily exclude, but restrict. It's obvious custom classes breaks the game, a big part of classes is — depending on your point of view, being forced or getting for free things you otherwise wouldn't take to create a more grounded, well-rounded adventurer.


Games like WL3, full party creation, you're going to have a 'face' character anyways. But in games where you have a de facto main character that is your avatar, you're really pigeonholed into a handful of archetypes at best by design. I don't like this.

Daggerfall almost requires you to wear all those hats or suffer for it. How long are you willing to put up with trying to find your way out of a dungeon without being able to mark or recall?

[Rand]

Work is progressing on Underrail 2: Infusion.

Development log posts:
https://stygiansoftware.com/infusion/de ... ystem.html

[Roderick]

AFK is such a faggot.

Larian's publishing director discusses the difficulty in trying to market woke games to the masses, likely has that recent skuffle regarding Avowed on his mind.