One of the things that hasn't been brought up by anyone (to my knowledge) which I consider to be a huge point in Owlcat's favor, including on the issue of their games starting out buggy, is the massive complexity of the Pathfinder system. Although I funded the game, I am only now playing it for the first tme (because I like to wait until a game is not being changed too much anymore by patches before I play it). And I am finding the game to be incredibly, unbelievably awesome! The sheer amount of game mechanics options available to the player boggles the mind. Some 32 classes, each with 4-5 subclasses; dozens and dozens of options for abilities, feats, spells, etc.; the range of weapons; fifteen fully fleshed-out party companions; animal companions that can be leveled!; and all of those complex gameplay rules of Pathfinder. Imagine the coding workload of creating a solid game within that environment. Compared with what Owlcat has gone through to create their game within the massive complexity of the Pathfinder system, what Larian has to do to create a good game within the D&D 5e system is practically child's play by comparison.
I agree with that. Spend a lot of time thinking what character to pick alone... I think it wasn't until a week after I had purchased the game that I settled for something. (A Tiefling Mutagen warrior specialized on the scyte (x4 crit damage). By the end of chapter 1, with buffs he already had strength of 20 (+9 bonus).
At the same time, and this is Pathfinder/D&D3e -- there's a lot of stuff that is marginal variation at best. The subclasses can be just a slightly different flavored variation on the main dish -- ditto hybrid classes. And your choices, no matter how plentiful, often boil down to nothing more dramatic than getting a 5% advantage on a hit roll. As said, that's D&D 3rd edition/Pathfinder though.
I'm a bit torn on this. The amount of options is amazing. At the same, time, I can be a "less, but more distinct" is more guy. Different type of game, but in System Shock 2 -- one of the but 3 classes you pick has a huge influence on how the game plays out if you further specialize on it (which is a must on higher difficulties).
The Marine is your typical grunt and good with weapons. Specializing means the game plays more like a typical shooter. As a Navy Soiler you're good at hacking, repairing and modyfying. You're getting best by enemies by hacking into security systems and modyfying them so that they deal with your enemies (gun turrets, cameras, etc.) And then there's the OSA Agent, specialized in Psionic Abilities (arguably the caster of System Shock 2's world). It's the most complex, as specializing means you eventually gain means to control up to 35 Psionic Disciplines (spells) in total.
There are offensive, defensive and status related disciplines. Some of them may simply buff your stats, others may charm enemies, you can even make yourself undetectable for security systems and enemies for a while. Each of those specializations results in a completely different gameplay experience (even though the story remains the same).
Still, lots of options in Wrath for sure. And that time being spend in character creation is a huge part of the fun.
Originally Posted by Sozz
The most recent AAA game I can think of that had a decent puzzle in it was Dishonored 2, and it was a shortcut. It also wasn't really incorporated into the gameplay. Maybe if I can give it some thought I'll think of another.
Well, you could argue that an entire level is, unlike the other parts of the game, a puzzle. "A crack in the slab", a piece of level design art -- even though it's not as replayable and open as the other levels as a result. Other studios would have made an entire game out of this level's idea, but that's Arkane at their best. And time traveling hadn't been as fun since Day Of The Tentacle.
