GAMES!

TBH I would pay Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky for just about anything right now. Letting them loose on a what is essentially a Fallout game when 4 and 76 have left a bad taste in so many people's mouths seems like a very sensible idea to me.

Also, I certainly don't mind it being full 3D (seemingly from the trailer). If Obsidian are going to put out more games, they've got to move away from quirky infinity engine style games at some point - or at least do them on the side of bigger projects.

 

I don't know, I've only ever played Arcanum real-time - I guess I was too used to Diablo II and enjoyed the frenetic slashing.

Personally I would say Fallout: New Vegas is the best modern RPG by a landslide. It's a seamless follow on from the isometric 2, it has great writing, and it takes the boldest choices I've ever seen in an RPG. Who else would have Caesar's Legion, a tremendously fascist and brutal faction, as a player choice and not the villainous entity? Because people know that fascist and totalitarian governments do great in times of turmoil, and it really puts the question to you would you prefer total stability and safety through fear or would you prefer a corrupt and fallible democracy?

No other RPG I've played has been clever enough to ask questions like that, nor has been respectful of the audience's intelligence enough to think gamers would appreciate questions like that being asked in the first place.

The Outer Worlds looks more comedic in tone to me, but if it even approaches New Vegas in terms of quality I will be happy. I'm hoping between the heads that put New Vegas together (with the exception of Avellone) and with that real old-school Arcanum/Fallout writing talent of Cain and Boyarsky something exceptional can happen.

My understanding of Private Division was that is was for more indie and small scale feeling projects, so my only concern is that this won't have enough scope. But I really hope it does, and if there's people who are hungry to do a re-take on the genre they more or less created Cain and Boyarsky seem primed.

 

Here's a good interview with Cain and Boyarsky about the Outer Worlds, where they touch on Arcanum several times.

I know, I know - last time I posted an interview like this is was a link to two old men bumming in a shower on loop that and installed trojan viruses on your computer. But it's a legit interview this time, honest!

 

The Resident Evil 2 Remake is good, rather than an exact remake (with the fixed camera perspective) they've remade it in the style of Resident Evil 7. Very interesting idea for a remake really, I'd certainly be keen if they remade more games to a modern standard (cough Arcanum cough).

 

A brief teaser of what could be Santa Monica Pier. And a related dating app seemingly involving a tech company run by bloodsuckers. I haven't delved into it myself but apparently this intriguing memo has been found within by inquisitive players.

Possibly a Bloodlines sequel?

 

Well your shaky rumours and barely substantiated claims better be true Ruda!

I'm thinking about re-installing the V:tM-B and installing an unofficial patch where Wesp5 hadn't modded the fuck out of the game (you know, where the Ocean House level is still scary and doesn't have new crappy sound effects triggering all the while). TBH I think Wesp5 nailed most of the big bugs and introduced an appropriate (Drog level) of cut content early, so unless people want to play a heavily modded game the early patches seem best.

 

Tender is made by Paradox Interactive who currently owns the licence. If you check the metadata (link doesn't work, click on the dating app link in my previous post, right click and select view source) on Tender, you'll find the following message:

Code:

<meta meta="description" content="Whether you’re looking for meaningful friendships, true love or simply a late night bite with a kindred spirit, Tender is here to help."/>

"Late night bite"
"Kindred"

Regarding re-installing the original, I wonder if you know how to "downgrade" the GOG version which unfortunately comes with the latest Wesp5 patch pre-installed?

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure I figured it out previously, though I would need to look again. It's a shame he's so resistant to criticism and sees putting content in the game as so black and white (for example with Ocean House, he sees putting the shitty sound effects in as a bug fix because they were originally hidden in the walls. Granted this might have been a mistake, but it could have also been a no-clip Easter egg, could have been a very quick fix because Troika were running out of time, etc. The level won awards back in the day, so to adulterate it in anyway is sacrilege to me).

/rant. But suffice to Wesp5 is no Drog.

I didn't realise the app was by Paradox, does sound a little interesting. They keep churning out the Pen and Paper Vampire: the Masquerade (IIRC there was a new anniversary edition last year) so there is still interest in IP from the RPG community, if not quite as much from gamers.

 

Sword or Shield?

 

Mega Aegislash confirmed?

 

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 has just been announced for Q1 of 2020!

 

This, or this. In a lot of ways I preferred Vampire to Arcanum, this is the most exciting gaming news for me that I've heard in years!

Also really pleased it's getting a console release, hopefully it means the game will be properly supported and the community won't need to rely on dubious mod-like patches to implement simple bug fixes.

EDIT: Reading more about it, Troika alum Brian Mitsoda is attached as the narrative lead again! This x1000000.

 

And you called it shaky rumors!
But yeah, this is pretty much beyond what I had dared hope for.


Time to get a Paradox account, for those of you who haven't already. For their other games, as you can see if you browse the forums, they usually post weekly development diaries.

 

Well they appeared shaky at the time! But yeah I I'll have to keep an eye out on there too, I'm very interested to see what they'll be doing for an RPG system as I really liked the old system however most devs these days tend to try and dumb down as far as possible.

 

And I decided, quite out of the blue actually, to cut off my own arm! My work, as you can imagine, has quite improved since!

 

Arrivederci Vigo!