Coelacanth

Great list. I think I will replay about half your list at some point over the coming years. And might first time play Love For Sail as well.

There are a lot of great mods for BG2 as well to keep the game feeling fresh. Even moreso if you don’t mind adding some fanfiction material, though I typically don’t.

I was not aware of aggregatet.org, that’s a cool instance. An instance run by a democratic organisation is interesting. Left leaning too. Might have to make an account there actually.

I have replayed Baldur’s Gate 2 more than any other narrative game, and will probably do another playthrough in the coming years. So it’s most likely that. Oh, and Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven multiplayer on the PS2 whenever I am over at one specific friend’s place. That was our go-to couch game growing up and it’s still nostalgic.

As do I, as do I. And still I purchased more only just now.

Enjoy the FNV DLCs! Make sure to play Lonesome Road last, as that is the culmination of the DLC storyline. I recommend starting with Honest Hearts, and then Dead Money and OWB can he played in any order in the middle. I probably prefer OWB first.

Anything of note? I am considering A Plague Tale Collection at 65% off. Dishonored: Complete Collection is also 80% off. I’m considering buying it to replay on PC, I only have it on PS4 and the performance wasn’t great.

I had a similar thought while playing through Skald: Against the Black Priory earlier this year. There is something of a best-of-both-worlds about retro feeling and looking games, but without all the retro clunk.

Two of my favourite games being mentioned? I have been summoned.

Disco Elysium is an absolutely amazing visual novel+. Treat it like a novel whose pages you can read in any order. It doesn’t really behave like a classic RPG, the dialogue options are very un-punishing. Feel free to explore them, feel free to be weird, feel free to commit to wacky ideas. The game rewards that. Lastly: the murder case exists as scaffolding, not purpose. Don’t tunnel vision on it, enjoy exploring the world building, the characters and the protagonist.

If you’re only playing one of those two Fallout games then New Vegas should be a no-brainer, especially if you haven’t played its DLCs. Those are, in my opinion, the very best content New Vegas has to offer and should definitely not be missed. Each DLC is extremely different, and they’re all so good that I can never decide which is my favourite.

I’ve just seen both reactions a lot, and it mirrors my own experience. I played DS1 as my first soulslike and it was completely mind blowing. I’ve seen other streamers have similar experiences. Then I’ve seen lots of people who got introduced to FromSoft through Elden Ring try DS1 and react with “…that’s it?” to all the bosses. It’s an unfortunate reality due to the boss design evolving over time.

It’s not really that you won’t have the patience later. It’s more like this: Dark Souls 1 is extremely basic in its boss design. If that’s your first soulslike, it doesn’t matter because you have no frame of reference and you’ll have a great time. Come back to it later and you’ll react with “…that’s it?” to a lot of bosses, which is a shame. This is something I’ve seen a lot from people whose first soulslike was Elden Ring.

The world and level design in Dark Souls 1 is still on an absolute top tier level so skipping it altogether would be sad. Many consider the first half of DS1 to be the best level designs FromSoft has ever done.

It is dated, and the last third of it does suck. In truth it would probably be a good candidate for a remake.

Even then, it is a wonderful game that you can only really enjoy fully if you haven’t played any later soulslike first. To me, that first time experience is worth trying to push for.

It’s a tale as old as time.

I like to try to recommend people who are interested in Souls games to start with Dark Souls 1. If that’s your first soulslike the bosses will still feel epic and it will be a magical experience. If you start with Elden Ring or DS3 and go back to Dark Souls you will get completely underwhelmed.

Between Pyromancy, Zweihander and Poise DS1 is also by far the easiest of the games, even for newcomers.

Don’t expect RDR2-but-cyberpunk (in terms of the open world) and don’t expect a blank slate character RPG: you have some choices for characterization but V will always be V.

If you can get on board with that it’s a great, immersive action game with a good story and some well written characters.

Ah thanks. That’s what I thought.

Outer Wilds at 40% off again. Does it ever get lower? I know I should pay full price because it’s supposed to be a masterpiece but I’m afraid I’ll bounce off it. Also a bit hesitant to play it because I’m afraid it will just give me more existential dread and anxiety and I have too much of that already.

Not surprised. Haven’t we read about Roblox being a predator-filled hellhole for years now?

I have definitely come across what your first paragraph describes. Both sealioning and concern trolling definitely happens, on this site and on others.

I will be hesitant until the modding gurus go over the exact implementation. I’ve been burned before about “A-life” in STALKER 2.

Modding support is huge though, as is mutant parts. This is the state it should have shipped in, but my guess from the start was that they really couldn’t afford another delay.

Would be a great service for the community to have it up and running again.