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DiscussionAny diarists in the house?
I love journaling and making decorative spreads. I’m also inspired by many female diarists. Anne Lister was a notable diarist!
I’ve been writing like 10 pages a day lately with everything going on. Lots to process and figure out. Anyone else?
If you like Dragon Age Origins, I'd recommend Divinity 2: Original Sin.
OH! And try Starbound. I bet you'd love it.
Do you use Discord? I can friend on Discord. What's your time zone?
Ooh I was looking at that one. I think I'll grab it next time it goes on sale. And I think I actually own Starbound, lol...guess I should actually play it!
I do have a Discord, but I'm so out of touch I barely ever use it lol. Want to DM me with your info and I'll see if I can figure it out?
Hey! For those games that your pc can't run, there's NVIDIA GeForce Now, it's a paid cloud-based streaming service. If you wanna check it out here's the link
Have you played any of the other Dragon Age games? To me DA Origins is the best one, but I think DA 2 is pretty neat too.
Lately I've been playing Baldur's Gate III, but I can only play at my girlfriend's house because my pc also doesn't handle it. I play a lot of League of Legends too, I guess I like to suffer lmao.
Oh interesting, I'd never heard of that! Thanks so much for the link, I appreciate it. Definitely going to check it out.
I haven't, so far I'm only about 15 hours into DA:O and I feel like I've done hardly anything. I'm loving it, though, so I'm glad to hear the second one is good too!
How is League of Legends? I've always been too scared to play online games tbh, lol
Ooh, I see. Which part are you on DA:O? Do you have a favorite character already? I took a while to finish too, but part of it was because I thought I changed the difficulty level to normal, but it was on the nightmare mode lmao. I played circle mage elf origin the first time, now I'm looking forward to playing again with the city elf origin.
About League, well... You're right to be afraid. It's been famous for having a very toxic fanbase, I've been playing for 10 years and can confirm. The gameplay is super fun, I love the characters and lore and it's highly addictive to play, but there are so many assholes. I stopped playing from time to time but I always end up coming back to it, so the thing I did this year to maintain my peace of mind is playing with the chat permanently disabled. Sometimes people will use the in game pings to flame you but you can mute those too. So I haven't got any problems with this stuff anymore, what sucks that you won't be able to avoid from time to time are the trolls. The game is always better with a least one friend too, none of my friends play anymore so I always play alone and you can only play with people on the same region you're connected to.
omg! I'm struggling on normal, I can't imagine nightmare lol. I just finished the Ostagar side quest, I think I'm meant to be meeting with the different factions to recruit them but I've just been getting sidetracked lol. I think my favorite character is Morrigan, although I didn't realize that romance was genderlocked in this game so I've settled for Alistair.
What kind of lore does League have? I'm a sucker for good worldbuilding. Might be worth it if I can turn chat off, although I always just feel guilty for being so bad at the game lol.
I play a lot of League too, haha. It's difficult to get started. There's a steep learning curve, but it's addicting once you get into the game. I've been playing on and off since 2014. If you wanted to learn, I'd be down to give a crash course :)
I should really get into games, I've not played anything in months, I play switch and a laptop, I don't really keep up with things and I hardly finish anything, I tend to play long games like Subnautica until I just get bored and stop, I'll collect everything and max everything out and then just not bother finishing it.
I don't play online tho I stopped paying for the nintendo online when it rocketed in price.
I'm kinda the same, tbh. I so rarely finish games lol. I absolutely love Subnautica! If you haven't finished that one, I really recommend pushing through, the ending is just perfect.
I'm like this too...I have to really stop myself from compulsively trying to 100% things because it sometimes means I just never finish it... especially if it starts to feel like a chore.
honestly in some cases like BOTW I don't think its getting bored its more I don't want to finish it, I bought that one twice, got it 100% and bought all the DLC on Wiiu, didn't kill gannon walked around and past him a few times doing other stuff but I never set foot in the room, then I got the game again on switch and proceeded to do the same thing, I still have korok seeds to collect in the switch one other then that I'm done, again.
How's My Time at Sandrock ? I loved its prequel, My Time at Portia, but was kind of disappointed because of how many bugs there were that never really got sorted out for the Switch.
I love My Time at Sandrock! I might wait a little while if you're playing on Switch for them to iron out potential bugs, but the gameplay is much better than Portia, in my opinion. Inventory management and dialogue are like 100x better in particular.
I've dabbled in SWTOR but the only game I play regularly is LOTRO (Gladden server) which I've been playing for about 2 years now. Love galloping around Middle Earth.
I haven't ever heard of LOTRO, but I've played the Shadow of Mordor (not the sequel yet) which was fun. In LOTRO, can you explore the entire Middle Earth??
Edit: spelling
That's a tall order. lol
Most of the landscape traversed in the books is portrayed in the game, but the scale is adjusted so you don't spend all your time riding from place to place. The wiki can give you an idea of how many regions there are. https://lotro-wiki.com/wiki/Region They are not all the same size. Some are quite large. As you level a toon, you'll be able to enter higher level zones where the enemies would one-hit you if you tried to go there to early. The Shire is a starter zone for hobbits & Bree is around level 15, but level cap is now 150. The wiki can explain what level you need for each zone and the range you level thru if you check a quest chain in a zone.
Okay I'll have to check it out! Are the cities fleshed out at all, or fun to walk around? I'd go to Riverdale and just chill lol
Bree is a fairly active center everyone out of the starter zones can get to easily. Everyone can also get to the Midsummer version of Minas Tirith from the south Bree stablemaster, but its pretty quiet outside the Midsummer Festival. The new endgame city is big enough to get lost in. There are quest hubs of various sizes all over the place. There is a way to get to Rivendell without reaching the level you need to survive the trip there, but your first view of Rivendell should be riding in thru the Gates of Imladris. It's one of the magical moments in the game.
Awesome, I'll have to watch some trailers and see if I want to invest time in it, cause obviously it sounds like you need to level up a bunch to really explore
Hey, I love LOTRO, and I'm also in Gladden! I don't do any of the endgame content, but I love to go adventuring. It's such a good time.
My main is at level cap, but I'm not into end-game stuff either. I love galloping around middle earth. I bought the Umbar expansion and the landscape there is gorgeous, especially the Shield Isles. My main is a completionist so I'm deeding and collecting pets and mounts from rep factions.
Aww LOTRO <3. I don't play it much anymore, but I do log in from time to time to visit my hobbit's house (Landroval here). :) :)
I have to admit, MMORPGs always intimidate me. Partly because I know I suck at them, lol. Those both look fun though! What's the gameplay like?
SWTOR is like a movie there are so many voice-acted cut-scenes. There were over 200,000 lines voiced by actors. There are 8 class stories that each have a unique arc and every time you complete one all your toons on that server get an extra combat skill, which comes in handy. I'm working on the last of the 8 now.
LOTRO is more text-based but they did a really good job of sticking to the lore from the books, within reason, so Tom Bombadil is there and some of the stories are really excellent. The map is huge and varied and gorgeous.There are so many ways to play there really is something for everyone. You can level a toon up to the original endgame level 50 just by crafting alone. You can become a musician (using plugins makes this easy) and busk at the Boar Fountain in the middle of Bree. You can do some quests at a farm in the Shire and get turned into a level one chicken that other players can see running around doing chicken quests which are not combat (just run away). You can join a kin to get help starting out. You can buy and decorate houses. You can collect pets and mounts. World chat is less toxic than most other MMOs. Gladden is pretty friendly and helpful. Very few trolls. Yule Festival starts next Wednesday.
Whoa, those sound amazing. I think I might enjoy playing as a chicken most lol! I'll look into it, thanks! What's the Yule Festival?
Festivals are great ways to get cosmetic outfits, pets, mounts and decor items. Also the quests are fun and a nice change if you're burned out from slaying mobs.
I see you've got plenty of comments already, but if you're still looking for someone to play or talk about games with then I'd also like that! I've probably put over a 1000 hours on stardew on switch and pc combined, and lately I've been playing octopath traveler. I used to play my time at portia as well and have thought about getting sandrock too. Oh, and about hogwarts legacy and baldurs gate, I was literally just thinking about how I want to play those exact games as well but my laptop can't run them either, lol.
Definitely! I don't play Stardew as much anymore as I used to, but it's still one of my favorites for sure. If you liked Portia, I highly recommend Sandrock - it's an improvement in every single way IMO. How's Octopath Traveler? I think I played the demo for that on Switch a while ago.
cheers to our sad laptops lol!
Oh I've taken a long break from stardew as well, though I'll probably start yet another save whenever the new update comes out! Octopath traveler's been quite good, I actually bought it a few years ago and didn't really get into it back then but now that I started a new save I've actually been really enjoying it.
I liked My Time in Portia, though I never beat it. Is the Sandrock one the same basically just in a new location?
I'm looking forward to BG3 but I'm on Xbox unfortunately. Otherwise I'd love to connect!
Can always just chat about games! What are some of your favorites?
Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, I quite liked the Origins Assassin's Creed trilogy (I find it a bit irksome not being able to customise my own character though).
I also played Mass Effect and KOTOR series back in the day.
Currently playing Starfield and enjoying it but not adoring it.
On Mac I love Spiderweb Software RPGs.
I've only played Dragon Age Inquisition, and I liked it (didn't finish though, I was too indecisive and didn't want to make bad decisions lol).
I loved the Egyptian Assassin Creed, nothing as satisfying as giving guard the berserk poison, or sicking a crocodile on em 👌
I'm really loving Dragon Age so far! Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect look amazing too, but I've never played them.
Why aren't you adoring Starfield so far?
I'm really enjoying it, but it hasn't transported me in the way that Morrowind, and to a lesser extent Oblivion and Skyrim did. It is - and I think this is the nature of space/space stations/endless planets - a bit "sterile". After all a space station or city built on a planet kind of has to be. It's mostly bolted together steel panels and so on. Akila is a bit more characterful.
Similarly the various Fallout games I played were enjoyable RPGs, but the gameworld was so bleak and hideous that it reduced my delight. And I didn't find it realistic that it would be that bleak and barren so many years after (I mean look at Chernobyl) nor that people wouldn't bother to decorate their houses nicely, grow gardens, etc. It felt like deliberate ugliness and that becomes soul destroying to immerse yourself in for hours on end.
Then the other issue with Starfield is the lack of engagement with NPCs. There aren't (so far) even things like bards singing in inns like you get with Skyrim. And the romance options are limited and awful.
But it's still a great game in many ways and I don't regret buying it. I love exploring planets.
Yeah, that makes sense. I love the way fantasy games make the world feel so alive, so I'd probably feel the same. I feel the same about Fallout, they look awesome gameplay-wise but I'm not sure I could handle the bleakness of it lol.
Do you have a Discord you could DM me? Or another place to connect? :)
My current favourite is Going Medieval. It is still in early access, but it's a great sandbox building game. You can turn off raiding parties if you just want to build.
For FPS games, I'm very much a Halo fan. Just got my son Halo Infinite for his birthday and can't wait to play it with him!
That one looks fun! And that's so sweet. My brother played so much Halo growing up that the music makes me nostalgic, but I've never actually played it.
I'd love to chat about games! I love a mix of adventure games mostly: open-world style or linear. I also play a few games simultaneously because I occasionally get bored after awhile if it's a long game so I need to break it up. Right now I'm playing Far Cry 6, Genshin (yeah yeah I know--but it's a free online game I can play with some friends and the world is very pretty), and the Hogwarts game.
I never got to the end of Skyrim because it was so overwhelmingly huge and I've got serious issues trying to 100% things.
What games are you all looking forward to?
What's your favorite of those three you're playing? I feel you on Skyrim, I just started and I feel like I'm already overwhelmed lol
It's hard to choose a favorite because I play them for different reasons...but I'll explain the stand-out reasons for each!
Far Cry 6: (not as good as FC4---I loved the maniacal main villain, story, music, and setting more). I like these games cause I can literally just go crazy in them and let off steam lol. My favorite thing to do is to release animals onto the enemies and watch the chaos...I also do this in the Assassin Creed games (I also like stealth gameplay in those ones).
Genshin: socialize with my friends while exploring a pretty world, and there's a lot of just playing open world puzzles and finding treasures, which I like. I think the main story is actually interesting and I do like some of the characters and their stories as well. Do I wish some of them were designed differently, yes. But that's not going to stop me from playing a fun free game with friends.
Hogwarts: fun gameplay, puzzles, environment really feels cozy. It really does feel like the books come alive a bit even though the plot isn't following the books (it takes place in the past).
Have you played Horizon Zero Dawn (I enjoyed the first one a lot more than the second)? Or Ghost of Tsushima? Those two are my favorite open-world games and neither are as long and endless as Skyrim
Ooh you make Far Cry sound very fun lol! I really need to get a better computer so I can play Hogwarts. I haven't played Horizon Zero Dawn, but I feel like I've heard a lot of good things about it. Why do you like the first one better? And Ghost of Tsushima looks absolutely amazing too!
I play most of my games on PS4... personal preference but I feel like I don't have to worry as much about "can my computer run this game with my hardware?" Bc the PS4 is built exactly for the games put out. I'm waiting to switch to PS5 when they hopefully come out with the pro version or detachable CD drive version.
If you try Far Cry, my suggestion would be to try FC4 first (I didn't play the earlier ones), it's just my personal favorite for what I said above, and the graphics are still good. FC Primal was also fun because you get to ride giant beasts that you tame...but the map is geographically the same but skinned differently to FC4. I honestly don't get why people like the American one FC5, it has a bad design where regardless where and what you are doing, if you hit a certain exploration level you get captured and have to play this stupid...mini game...it happened several times and it actually made it a lot less fun. FC6 is fine so far and have animal companions to help you fight if you want. In Assassin's Creed origins, the Egyptian one and I think the Greek one both have the skill to tame animals! AC games are fun to stealth around in. I also like AC3, AC4. In every game where it is possible I like to snipe first, then most in for the close combat and those games allow that method.
As for HZD I liked the mystery of the first one, it made the story a lot better. Aloy's character journey is a lot more emotional and complex because of the unraveling of that mystery that shapes the whole world. I also liked the main city a lot, that area is just beautiful. (Both games have photo mode which I took tons of advantage of). And I liked the fighting/weapons mechanic a lot better in the first one. They added some things to the weapons/fighting mechanics in the second one that I really didn't like...to the point where I decided to actually nope out of it, and halfway through turned my game into adventure mode just to finish the story and not deal with the extra BS I didn't like---and that never happens.
Ghost is beautiful, the fighting mechanics are interesting, and I love the 4-5 different mini games/collections you can do--and they actually help you to do them but feel more like a treasure hunt and less like a chore (in my opinion). I also love samurai movies, especially movies from Akira Kurosawa who is known for his cinematography--and I heard the game was influenced a wee bit from that esthetic. You can also chance it to back and white for that feel if wanted. Also, you get to change to different clothing sets and armor which I kind of love
That's smart for sure. I actually do have a couple consoles, but for some reason I'm just not good at playing with a controller lol.
I actually had FC5 on my Steam wishlist, so thank you for the recommendation! I'll put FC4 on instead. And Ghost sounds so cool, might even be worth digging out my PS4. How'd you get into samurai movies? That sounds so cool.
Do you have a Discord/Steam account, or another place you like to chat?
I'm the exact opposite, I usually plug my controller in when on PC games (I haven't done one in a long time though).
You'll definitely get FC4 cheaper anyway, which will be good in case it's not your jam.
I'm not really sure how I got into samurai films.... probably a mix of influences, but I find elements of it fascinating. Sword-fighting in general is neat (in theory, not so much reality, I'm not into real life violence even if I like my video games and horror movies lol).
I do have a steam and discord but since I'm not on PC alot, I don't frequent them. Also, for the sake of privacy concerns which is better? Discord? Feel free to DM me!
I discovered Stardew Valley during the lockdown and it kept me sane when Animal Crossing went too snobby. Maybe you would enjoy Factorio and Terraria.
If you are looking for oldies for your computer, try Zoo Tycoon 1&2. Their oficial expansions are fun! Marine life, every continent animals, dinosaurs, there is even fanmade expansions to get mythical beings or breed horses
I loved Undertale because you don't need to kill anyone. If you feel like doing a traditional dungeon crawl with a twist, Resettear is perfect and almost mandatory for doing multiple runs. And Don'tStarve have plenty of frustrating hunt-craft-farm-craft sequences that end being very satisfying.
Ooh I love Zoo Tycoon! I had no idea about the fanmade expansions, I'll look that up. Thank you for the other recommendations, they all sound great!
I want to get into gaming. I have a Nintendo switch but I want to play PC games too. I would like to get Hogwarts Legacy, it seems fun.
What Switch games do you like?
I like Pokémon, but I’d like to branch out more.
You may be looking for jrpgs like Octopath Traveler, Bravely Default and Triangle Strategy. They apply team dynamics and type compatibilities in a totally different approach than pokemon, with the same adventure flavor.
Which Pokemon games do you like? I never got into them as a kid so they kind of intimidate me, but they look fun.
I'm terrible at giving suggestions, but I can give it a try if you want! There are tons of open-world RPGs out there if that appeals.
I have played many of the Pokémon games over the years. I do have Violet and Sword on switch, despite the reviews those games got I had a lot of fun with them. And open world RPGs sound cool!
There are soo many RPGs to choose from. I'm absolutely loving Dragon Age: Origins right now, but it is pretty old. I've also heard great things about Baldur's Gate III and Cyberpunk 2077, but I can't speak to them personally.
If you prefer a more casual style, I'm a long-time fan of those RPGMaker-type games, which have turn-based combat, but they tend to be much more linear. My favorite of those is Divided Reigns.
Anyway, I'd love to hear more about Pokemon! Which one is your favorite?
I don't know if you're still looking for opinions about Hogwarts Legacy and BG3, but I'm happy to wax lyrical about them! I played HL a ton earlier this year, then cheerfully switched to BG3 and that's basically my life now.
HL is a lot of fun. The world is full of little nods to the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts storylines, the writing is quite good, the combat is terrific, and the open world is vast and great to explore (especially once on broomstick). Hogwarts is beautifully realised. It's brilliant just wandering or flying around, eavesdropping on conversations, or following a teacher around the castle. I can and do nitpick though - endless fetch quests and collect [x] number of items quests. The open world isn't as interactive and responsive to the player as, say, Skyrim. Things are often designed to do or respond to specific actions, and shrug off any other moves. The player character can cast offensive spells all they like at things and even people in Hogwarts or the wider world, and they just don't do anything or matter outside of combat. The loot gets repetitive REAL quick. The capacity for roleplaying is very limited - there are only two, maybe three choices that actually matter from a gameplaying perspective, and their impact isn't very dramatic. There are a few puzzles, but they also are repeated across the world, with the exception of certain ones hidden in Hogwarts. I genuinely loved playing it, and still dip in, but there's a limit to replay value. I think I saw one review that described it as "open world for beginners", which feels appropriate.
BG3 - my good giddy aunt, I adore this game. I really do. There's so much to talk about - my first playthrough, I missed entire areas and quests and now-iconic lines of dialogue and cutscenes, and I STILL had so much fun. First character was a drow druid, now I'm playing a human bard and the crazy dialogue options for bards are a total delight to discover. This game has been incredibly well-designed and written. The team knew exactly what they were doing :D there are multiple ways to approach situations in the game, choices have real consequences (sometimes short-term, often long-term), there are strange things that happen just because (spider-licking, anyone? Playing fetch with a skull?), and the game has anticipated a ton of moves by the player. For example, if you accidentally (or deliberately in some cases) kill a companion at certain times or in certain ways, they have special dialogue when brought back. If you cast a spell, it doesn't just affect the target character, it might also make the ground under them wet, or set it on fire, or explode something near them. There was an embarrassing number of times I cast Darkness on an enemy, then couldn't target them with ranged weapons because my character couldn't see through or over the patch of darkness. I hate that spell lol.
If there's anything you want to know in particular about either game, let me know, I'm more than happy to talk at obnoxiously great length about them! And about Skyrim, I've played a ton of that too. Love that game.
Always happy to hear about those games!
I really dislike those "collect x number of items" quests so I'm kind of disappointed to hear that about HL, but the game sounds amazing! I'm glad the combat is good, that seems like it would be one of the highlights for me lol. And honestly, just being able to walk around Hogwarts would make it worth it to me I think. Where can you go besides Hogwarts? Hogsmeade, I assume?
You're making me even more jealous about BG3! I need to upgrade my laptop asap. What kinds of dialogue options do bards have? I have to admit I didn't even know you could play as a bard lol. I'm not sure I should ask about spider-licking but I am curious. The amount of options sounds really incredible, I'm amazed just hearing you list all this stuff!
Can't wait until I can play both those games but until then, I'd love to hear you talk about them at obnoxiously great length :)
HL: the game is honestly great. You can definitely walk around Hogwarts, and fly around the outside of it. You can attend certain classes (Flying, Potions, Herbology, Charms, etc - but only once for each class), you can duel against other students, and there's plenty of exploration to be done. The game did spread the puzzles out well - some of them can't be accessed until you progress through the storyline and learn certain spells. In terms of other exploration: yes! You can walk from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, you can explore the Forbidden Forest, and a massive area around both, the Highlands. The Highlands has lots of villages (hamlets) and different areas where story points and side quests happen. You can go into nearly every house and room. You can choose your house (or have it be chosen for you) and there's a specific quest that differs depending on what house you're in. Each of the common rooms are different, and each are beautiful. You can also capture beasts, to "save" them (I have many opinions about this particular point), and place them in a dedicated area. There's something really delightful about having your own herd of mooncalves running around lol.
BG3: OKAY. SO. It's Dungeons and Dragons rules, 5th edition, so yeah, you can choose races and classes. You can play as an elf, half-orc, dragonborn (lizard person!), drow elf, human, gnome, halfling, etc etc. Your class is the type of combat/skills you want, so wizard, thief, fighter, barbarian, cleric, paladin, ranger, monk etc. There's a TON of character customisation - not just in terms of race, class and skills, but also physical appearance: sex, hair, eyes, skin, face shape, body type (petite vs large for both sexes), make up, tattoos, even genitalia. The customisation carries through all the cutscenes really well in my experience, lots of consistency. You can also "identify" as female, male, or non-binary, and while that irritates me, it's easy enough to avoid. The player gets an insane amount of choice.
Each class gets specific dialogue options. Bard, being very charismatic, gets some unusual lines - flirting, witty insults, advising someone their voice is terrible, persuading other characters or enemies of some outlandish suggestion. So far, I've talked our party out of three hard fights XD you can talk certain enemies into, ah, taking themselves out pf the equation, so to speak. Druids get some specific naturey, spiritual lines. Drow women get some good specific lines too - they can throw some attitude and dominance around. I've watched a few of the voice actors play the game, and their classes also get specific lines and narrative choices, e.g. paladins can break their oaths, then play to redeem themselves to their deity.
Spider-licking: there's an area that contains a dead spider corpse. One of the options for interacting with it is to lick it. Let's just say it prompts some hilarious reactions from your companions. I totally missed this in my first playthrough and I'm going to nail it in the next. And yes, you get kind of high/poisoned from licking it, but what's life without living?
The maps are great, richly detailed and beautifully-rendered. Each is unique and memorable. There's one that's inspired by recent horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil (and even Elden Ring IMO). NOT horror, to be clear, but the design and atmosphere is clearly dark and strange and weird. The final area, the city of Baldur's Gate, is insane in terms of content.
My laptop is from 2019, graphics card is NVIDIA GTX (rather than RTX), specific numbers I'd have to look up. I upgraded my RAM to the max allowed. My settings for both games are low quality, and in high-density areas in BG3 especially, there's a lag to the area loading. Both games have been playable though, even if certain details like ray-tracing or light effects are missing. My sibling is playing BG3 with a generic NVIDIA card, and there's a noticeable lag in cutscenes and general moves and effects, but it's still playable. I find the final map, Baldur's Gate, to load in slowly and that's frustrating. For the best experience, I think upgrading is a good idea. If you can wait until you need to replace your current system AND get the game on sale, it's not a bad strategy at all :D
Have you played Baldur's Gate 1 or 2? Or Divinity? Pathfinder? Or Pillars of Eternity? BG3 is very much in the same tradition.
Ooh, that all sounds great! I love that you can go in the Forbidden Forest. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on "saving" the animals?
Can't lie, I feel like I would get intimidated by BG3 before I even started playing lol. Being a bard sure sounds fun though! Do you still get xp when you talk your way out of fights? And it's crazy that they put in so many different lines and choices for all the races/classes.
Can't wait to lick the spider corpse xD the map inspired by Silent Hill/Resident Evil sounds awesome!
I'm definitely gonna have to upgrade my RAM, I've only got 8gb on my current laptop. And I need a bit more storage space, but hopefully once I fix those things my laptop will be able to run it on low settings. Crossing my fingers lol.
I've played a tiny bit of BG1, but hardly any because it's kind of hard and I've been obsessed with Dragon Age. Haven't played any of the others, but I'm hoping to get to them eventually! By the way - do you have any interest in chatting more on Discord/Steam/PMs?
HL: you can capture animals by magicking them into a special bag, then releasing them into special rooms set up by the Room of Requirement. The plot reason for this is that poachers are prowling the Highlands, capturing these animals for nefarious reasons left mostly unstated, but it's implied they're using them for their fur and feathers, or selling them onto less-than-savoury people (or outright killing them). I roll my eyes at this, because supposedly your player is capturing them to keep them safe, but when you keep them, you farm fur and feathers off them to enchant your gear. If you don't want to keep the animals, you can sell them to a shop in Hogsmeade. What's the real difference here between your player and the poachers?!?! Obviously your character is the good guy and the poachers aren't, but it's a little, uh, contrived. So while it's fun collecting and breeding all the different beasts, and some of them are very cute, I do side-eye that plot point. It's ill-conceived. I reckon they shoe-horned that particular mechanic in to interest the Fantastic Beasts and Pokemon lovers. It's worth saying that when you collect them, you can feed and brush them, and you can give them toys to play with. It's really cute haha.
BG3: in all honesty, I was overwhelmed during my first playthrough. There's a LOT of content, and I can get quite fixated on playing games the "right" way, so I pressured myself to get what I think are the best options first time around. This isn't the ideal way to play, not when the game has so much variety. Just unnecessary stress. Way better to just play and make decisions, and not google whether your preferred companion will give you approval or not before every major dialogue option! The mechanics are a step above BG1, you get a whole set of extra things you can do (like jumping to higher ground and throwing things) and it took me at least half the first playthrough to get to grips with it all. Still learning things. I flag that for your info, you know yourself and your playstyle best! BG3 does have difficulty settings, so you can set the battles and enemies at an easy level if you want.
Yes, when you talk your way out of encounters, you still get XP. Honestly, there are so many areas and side quests, XP really won't be an issue.
Upgrades: crossing my fingers for you! I hope it works out. I had to upgrade from 8GB too - HL ran okayish on 8GB, but the upgrade helped with performance across the board. 8GB is fine for older games though. Damn these modern games needing all this memory!
I've heard good things about Dragon Age but never played any of the games. I also have a number of unplayed and half finished games I keep telling myself to return to XD some day! And heck yeah! I'm currently visiting relatives for the holidays and don't currently have access to Steam or Discord, but I have both, let's DM info :)
Haha, I can see why you wouldn't like that. They probably could have come up with a better reason for you to keep the animals! That's funny.
I definitely sometimes feel that pressure to get everything "right" on the first playthrough, especially when a game is as huge as BG3, so I'll keep that in mind.
Thank you for the crossed fingers! Modern games really are crazy. I highly recommend Dragon Age - Origins is pretty old, but it's so fun. And I'm the same way about leaving games unfinished so I understand lol.
DM'd you :)