Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What games are you playing while waiting for BG3?/No Politics version.

Yeah, the Diablo action RPG style isn’t my bag either, though I possibly should, like you, at least give the latest a shot to reconfirm that. The last time I actually played as opposed to just read a review was the first Diablo back in the 90s, so it feels like it might be time to try again .

Yeah, Diablo at the end of the day is really only about one thing: perfecting a build, and that is rarely enough for me anymore. Dragon’s Dogma is sort of similar, but because it is fully 3d, I also get a sense of exploration and spectacle that Diablo can’t provide from a locked isometric view.

Other than that, in my RPGs I want either a lot of freedom to role play, which Baldur’s Gate 3, Divinity OS, and Bethesda games provide, OR I want an exquisitely crafted story to lose myself in. (Both would be great, but so far only Planescape Torment has managed that for me)

I just finished FFX and FF9 back to back, and holy crap, those games hold up. In part it is because they are so thematically strong; they are about real things. It’s not just slay the dragon, kill the demon, save or doom the land, look how cool it is; which is fine. I don’t mind that. Baldur’s Gate is very much that and always has been that and there are no qualms from me.

But FF9 is a remarkable exploration of how we confront the truth of our own mortality. FFX is all about living despite the sorrow of living. There aren’t a lot of games that even attempt this kind of story telling, let alone do it so well with such high quality production values and gameplay. I’m not even into JRPGs, but golden era FF games are some of my favorite of all time for this reason.

That’s why I’m practically giddy for FF16. If Square finally has its mojo back then I know it will be something special.

In flight with EET, NWN2, Wartales, and Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous and about to get into D4.

Last Diablo i did was D1, looking forward to play D4 with friends.

Diablo 4?
Starfield?
Hogwarts Legacy?
Marvel's Spider-Man 2?
Assassin's Creed Mirage?
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor?

I would say there is plenty to look forward to ... or back.

It depends on one's perspective. For me, those small indie games are games I'm looking forward to, whereas BG3 is 'meh'. Plus there is also Starfield, which is the big game I'm looking forward to this year.

Or rather what you define as "big year in gaming". As much as am interested in new game from Mimimi and couple others I don't expect them to be big in the way Elden Ring was.


Starfield is the big unknown, so I don't count it yet as we have seen nothing of it. It might be great it might be not. Bethesda hasn't had a great record recently - let's just hope that Starfield won't follow the trend.

All I know is that:

A) it was delayed
B) MS is reportedly pushing Bethesda to release it as soon as they can rather than when it’s ready

I hope it’s good. I had a lot of fun with Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim, but Fallout 4 was so disappointing and I’m afraid Bethesda might be going through a prolonged rough patch.

When I say it’s a big year, I’m not only saying it’s a big year for me personally, but it’s objectively a big year for the industry. Lots of games I’m not interested in (Street Fighter 6, Diablo 4, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Hogwart’s Legacy, Assassin’s Creed Mirage and others) have or will release this year. 2023 is abnormally stacked with big name titles.

Fair enough. All games you mentioned are mostly outside my radar. I might be underestimating how much of a big deal some of those might be.

Anything in particular on PC (Aside from BG3) that came out/is to come out that you are personally excited about?

Hogwarts sold over 15 million copies so far and Zelda over 10 million. It wouldn’t surprise me if both Diablo 4 and Starfield sell over 10 million. I hope BG3 will sell over 10 million as well!🤞

BG3 is of course the game I am most excited about coming out this year!!!

I am also looking forward to
Final Fantasy 16
Banishers
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Alan Wake 2

As well as a few smaller games I will try out! So it is a great gaming year for me!😊

It's almost surreal that something called Final Fantasy VII Rebirth exists. Between BG3 FFVII Star Wars Jedi and Star Field, It's almost like I'm being personally attacked, my wallet and free time that is.

I’m becoming less and less interested in PC gaming the older I get. The idea of sitting at a desk in front of a keyboard for leisure seems so foreign and bizarre now. I get enough of that a work. Buuut, I’ll play Starfield on PC. There is also a new Total War coming out, but I need to see more of that, first. Total War is my most played series for the last ten years, and I’m feeling pretty burnt out in the formula.

At this point, I’m really hoping no new games are announced. They all need to just stop. 😂

I've been playing the Total War games since the first Shogun, and it's really sad to me seeing them phoning it in for the past few years. I think pharaonic Egypt is a pretty interesting time period, I'll be really disappointed if it turns into just more of the same.

That's a solid line up. I suppose it is just not my year, now when Silksong was delayed to 2024. That's fine. Unless Lamplighter's League turns out really freaking good.


I dunno, I really liked Rome and Medieval, and I have a very soft spot for Empire (I know!!) but after that the games never clicked with me. I can't tell if they got worse, or if I got deep enough into strategies to crave something more substantial.

I love all those games too, but I think Napoleon was the last time they seriously changed the game's mechanics...without counting magic that is.
It's a funny thing, I like the city and empire management in Total War better than in the EU games despite it being a 'map painter' and most people play EU an empire management game like it was a map painter. I'd like to play tall in a Total War game for once I think.

Modern warfare 2 DMZ

AND
Baldur's gate 3

I played Rome to death back in the 2000s and loved it, including the city and empire management, but never got round to the others. In fact, I bought Rome II pre-release but didn’t play immediately due to reading about how buggy it was, then somehow never came back to it. Perhaps it’s worth trying again with that and the other entries …

Initial early impressions of the new Solasta campaign:

- The campaign doesn't really waste any time with throwing major story beats at you, along with big setpiece fights. I've only done the first three scripted combat encounters, and the latter two felt like proper boss battles even though there weren't any named enemies. It also seems like guest party members that you have to protect that will result in a game over if they die may be a constant thing in this campaign. As far as their usefulness in combat goes between a scale of 'guests during the early base campaign/guests at the start of Lost Valley' and 'elf wizard halfway through the base campaign blasting everything to pieces after she got her plot upgrade', they are way into the latter category.

- As expected, it seems there's more ranged/spellcaster type enemies, compared to the base campaign mostly consisting of melee with very few threatening spellcasters. The third fight in particular I had to redo twice, as the spellcaster in that fight had some very brutal spells to deal with, along with innate flight making them difficult to reach in melee and truesight meaning you can't get advantage via invisibility. (Hint for anyone else having trouble against that type of mage: They have advantage VS wisdom saving throws along with a high wisdom modifier, so targeting them with such effects is pointless - but I found that they are very weak VS strength saving throws. A Greenmage Wizard in particular landing an Entangling Shot will drastically shift the odds in your favor, enabling all further ranged attacks to roll with advantage for the entire next turn.)

- The devs are obviously fully aware of the less than attractive character models. Some story dialogue won't involve a cinematic of your characters lining up to talk to NPCs, you remain in isometric view with everyone talking without going into cutscene mode. I wouldn't attribute this to a budget issue, it honestly feels better this way.

There's actually a game I'm really looking forward to that's coming out next week, Mask of the Rose. It's official release date it the 8th, but since I backed the kickstarter I get to play it on the 5th, and I am so super excited for it. It's a romantic visual novel, but just based on the demo that got released a year or two ago, the capacity for roleplay and shaping out character will be some of the best I've ever seen in a game. I'm honestly more excited for it than I am BG3.

I'm not sure if anyone has yet mentioned Stray Gods, which is out 3 August and is billed as a "roleplaying musical". As someone who is not a fan of musical theatre I have my doubts, but am fascinated by the ambition of a game that not only has branching dialogue but branching songs, am always up for a story of ancient (Greek in this case) gods operating in the modern world, and I kind of like the comic book animation style. Plus it's by David Gaider of BG and DA fame, with a lead performance by Laura Bailey of Critical Role and a bunch of other talented voice actors. I'm keeping my eye on it.