Couchpotato's Random RPG News

[Couchpotato]

Wow, now that's a mod trailer. I had no idea Sim Settlements even had questlines, much less anything that looks as good as that.

The original version didn't but the second version did. This expansion adds more quests and other goodies to Sim Settlements 2 base mod. Last time it ended on a cliffhanger.

I believe a third expansion is also planned.

 

[Couchpotato]

Spiders Studio - RPG Mechanics Survey

Welcome to this survey!

Following our latest games, we continue to work on exciting new projects that we look forward to sharing with you. We remain committed to RPGs, and while our latest announced game (Steelrising) offers a different experience from our previous projects in terms of gameplay, we still entertain a lot of ideas for more narrative-focused games. We want to continue to develop them further, and we are already thinking about a future project similar to GreedFall.

The purpose of this survey is to assess your expectations regarding various RPG mechanics in order to help us make this future project as good as it can be.

It should only take you a few minutes to complete it. Feel free to be as honest as possible, all opinions are important. Thank you for your help!

Mass Effect 1 Has Aged Worse Than Andromeda - Escapist Magazine

Mass Effect 1 is a foundational piece of work by BioWare. It established the future of the developer’s games, charted a way for RPGs to be something other than isometric CRPGs, and boldly explored a boatload of complex ideas for its time — “for its time” being the key factor. The industry as a whole may have plenty of hidden and famous gems that stand out to this day, but even as a huge fan of Mass Effect, I see the first game has aged, which is all the more evident after having recently revisited Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Fallout: New Vegas the Greatest Story Sandbox RPG Ever Made - Metro

First released in 2010, Fallout: New Vegas’s launch was riddled with bugs and glitches, but it has since become a cult classic. I’ve beaten the game at least twice before and decided to play through it again after finishing The Outer Worlds, Obsidian’s most recent role-playing game. While that game is polished and streamlined, it also boils down to essentially two choices of faction, one of which is clearly the evil route.

There’s none of that binarity in Fallout: New Vegas. It’s arguably the best video game story of all time. Or rather, the greatest video game story sandbox ever.

Wartales Preview - RPS

I love low fantasy. That is to say, fantasy with little or nothing in the way of magic, elves, or even prophecies. Low fantasy, to me, offers all the grim delights of medieval history, without being weighed down by any need to reflect the actual events of the past. It's a subgenre that lends itself particularly well to stories of murky people doing murky things, and people don't get much murkier than mercenaries.

Enter Wartales, then, which maddens me with the urge to append "woo-hoo" to its name every time I type it. It's a game about getting by in a medievalish world reeling from the effects of a calamitous plague -and when I say "getting by", that's exactly what I mean. "Your job is just to survive and to do the best you can," explains creative director Nicolas Cannasse, as he joins me for my third attempt to break the Wolf Barrier, "based on whatever moral stance you choose to go in with."

 

[Couchpotato]

Oblivion Remastered Ultra Modded 200+Mods & Raytracing

Freelancer: HD Edition - Moddb

After a long development cycle, we have now published our first public release of Freelancer: HD Edition! The release includes many HD textures, HD effects, fixes, gameplay improvements, and much more.

King Arthur: Knight's Tale - Official Gameplay Overview Trailer

Check out the first King Arthur: Knight's Tale developer diary released by NeocoreGames, explaining the game's attempt to uniquely blend turn-based tactics and RPG gameplay. The game is available on Steam Early Access now, and will be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S later.

Top 5 NEW RPGs of SEPTEMBER 2021

In this series, we highlight the Top 5 RPGs for the upcoming month. In this edition, we're going to take a look at each of the titles, talk a little about each, and then explain why we think they deserve to be on the list. So join me now and find a mixture of some hidden gems and old favorites given a shiny new coat of paint.

0:43 - HM: New World
1:36 - Astria Ascending
2:38 - Gamedec
3:27 - Tales of Arise
4:35 - Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous
5:51 - Diablo II Resurrected

 

[JFarrell71]

Mass Effect 1 has aged worse than a game that came out 10 years later? Shocking.

F:NV is not a sandbox, is it? Am I the only one who reads that and thinks that? It has side quests, obviously, but all kinds of games have sidequests. I remember the Deathclaw barrier and having to do this big circuit of nearly linear gameplay for like 20 hours before you have even a smidgen of freedom in F:NV. Even after that, I wouldn't call it a sandbox.

You can remaster Oblivion and load it up with however many mods you want, that game always look like ass. Morrowind's visuals improved enormously with mods. So did Skyrim's. Oblivion just looks, at best, like a shinier version of itself.

 

[JDR13]

You can remaster Oblivion and load it up with however many mods you want, that game always look like ass. Morrowind's visuals improved enormously with mods. So did Skyrim's. Oblivion just looks, at best, like a shinier version of itself.

I'm more interested in that HD version of Freelancer. I had no idea it was even in development. Had some fun with that game back in the day.

 

[Moriendor]

I'm more interested in that HD version of Freelancer. I had no idea it was even in development. Had some fun with that game back in the day.

I'm going to have to try that Freelancer mod one of these days as well (too many games, too little time).

BTW, for a quite similar experience I can wholeheartedly recommend to try out the latest Everspace 2 demo.

Everspace 2 is very different from the original Everspace. Everspace 2 is currently in Early Access and it will not be out before mid 2022.

Given the early nature of the material, I found the demo to be quite impressive. They have nailed the Freelancer-style mouse & keyboards controls so space flight and space combat is very enjoyable.

The introductory missions are simple but quite fun and the game is motivating in terms of ship upgrades. It's a bit like a looter shooter in space but not in a bad sense. There is a lot of potential here if they flesh out the gameplay systems shown off in the demo and if the story gets proper attention after the intro missions.

With Everspace 2, Freelancer might finally get the sort of spiritual successor it deserves after all these years. If anyone here is remotely interested in space sims then grab that demo while keeping in mind that the game is still about a year from full release. Rockfish Games might have a real hit in the making here...

 

[Couchpotato]

Who Are The Midnight Suns

Master a battle system that rewards clever thinking with Super Hero flair, across iconic Marvel locations in an epic tactical RPG set in the darker side of the Marvel universe. This is Marvel's Midnight Suns. And this is a deep dive into our gameplay experience.

Marvel's Midnight Suns - 'Rise Up'

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a new tactical RPG set in the darker side of the Marvel Universe, putting you face-to-face against demonic forces of the underworld as you team up with and live among the Midnight Suns, Earth's last line of defense.

 

[Couchpotato]

10 Years of THQ Nordic

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we are throwing a digital party! Join us for the first, official THQ Nordic digital showcase event on September 17th at 9 pm CEST / 12 PM PST / 8 PM BST / 10 PM MSK on YouTube, Twitch, and Steam. The showcase will be hosted by Geoff Keighley, executive producer and host of The Game Awards, and will feature six new games. Witness the return of legendary franchises and sequels to beloved games. We hope you are ready, kids! Additionally, we will also release new information and footage for our upcoming games, ELEX II and Expeditions: Rome. If you tune in early, you might also get a glimpse of what our friends at HandyGames have been up to!

Diablo II: Resurrected Sorceress Class Trailer

Command the elements. Become the Sorceress in Diablo II: Resurrected.

Wasteland 3 - Patch v1.5.0 "Going the Distance"

In the rearview mirror of the Kodiak, you see the engines of Steeltown belching out their tar-black smoke far into the air above. Tinged with fire, it blankets an already charred sky with a reminder of the valorous work you accomplished there… or the inglorious chaos you happened to set loose. Regardless of how you dealt with the town's conflict, you know that the road ahead is fraught with even greater challenges and dangers that have yet to reveal themselves. Just over the horizon looms Cheyenne Mountain, and before we set that adventure loose, your squad will need to be prepared.

 

[Couchpotato]

Fallout 4 Special Edition?

Since the announcement of Skyrim Anniversary Edition, folks have asked what is the possibility of a Fallout 4 Special Edition including all the DLC, a next gen upgrade, and bundling in the Creation Club content? Given that the CC program came to a halt for both games at the same exact time, it is reasonable to speculate this is possible. Just how possible is it? Time for an investigation!

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Review

In this video I am going to give my initial review on the new crpg pathfinder wrath of the righteous. This game is a follow up to pathfinder kingmaker and it is certainly just as ambitious. For more pathfinder content, subscribe.

Elden Ring PvP: Solo Invasions MUST Change

Recently we revealed that Invasions in Elden Ring will not be possible unless the player being invaded has at least one Cooperator in their game world. This came as a huge surprise to many, ourselves included when we first found out, but FromSoftware made it clear of course that this decision is not yet finalized. It has however sprung up a number of conversations across Reddit, Social Media, and YouTube about whether or not this should be changed. In this article I want to explore why I don't think players should be able to opt-in to Solo Invasions, and my logic behind this opinion.

 

[Couchpotato]

King's Bounty 2 Video Review

King's Bounty 2 reviewed on PC by Leana Hafer. Also available on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch.

Wasteland 3 "Down in the Valley" Unreleased Recording

Early in development of Wasteland 3 we had additional soundtrack recordings done that ultimately weren't used in the final game. Here is one such unreleased recording. This is "Down in the Valley" by Robert Francis.

 

[Couchpotato]

The Waylanders - August Update

One of the most requested features by RPG fans - and our amazing community in particular - is the ability to explore the passionate world of character romance, and we're thrilled to announce that it's here! You will be able to flirt with multiple characters throughout your adventure, the way you want to, and with no limitations in terms of race, class, or gender.

Mass Effect Trilogy Retrospective - The Guardian

Originally released between 2007 and 2012, the games were reissued this year as Mass Effect Legendary Edition, an updated complete trilogy, and there's a compelling case that they are among the best sci-fi ever made. These games tell moving stories about human grit in the face of cosmic indifference, stories that every player gets to shape differently through their choices and their relationships with the characters.

A Look at Forgotten Realms' PC History - PC Gamer

The great irony in the title of Dungeons & Dragons most popular setting is that we've never been allowed to forget it. Since the 1980s, when the genre we'd recognise as the RPG was born, any year without a release that takes us to the Sword Coast, or Icewind Dale, or the dungeons beneath Waterdeep has been an exception. If history is made up of stories that exist in the collective memory, then the city of Baldurâ's Gate is as real as Los Angeles or New York.

Xenonauts 2 - August Update

The biggest new feature in V21 is that we've implemented the final visual style for the Main Menu / Game Settings screen, and all the related sub-panels (Settings, Load Game, Save Game, etc). We've been working on this new UI style for quite some time now, and it's nice to finally be able to put it in the game - but there's also been a lot of time and effort spent on improving the usability and general polish of the screen. This includes everything from adding support for mass-deletion of save games to adding new UI sounds. Overall, it's a much more slick and stylish experience and it should make a much better first impression when you first boot up the game. We'll continue to roll this new UI style out to other parts of the game as development continues.

Corven - Path of Redemption - August 2021

Yes I have been working a lot on Corven of course, still mostly dialogue and story details. It's just so much easier for the workflow when all that is ready to go when implementing more NPCs and quests. Other than that I was scripting spells/abilities.

 

[Couchpotato]

Mass Effect 5 May Use Unreal Engine 5

Cyberpunk 2077 Nine Months Later

Being evil sucks in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - PCGamer

The main obstacle Pathfinder puts in the way of prospective monsters is one shared by too many RPGs: you are a chosen one, a hero everyone seems to have faith in, and no matter what you do you're always going to have this reputation as a saviour. It creates a dissonance straight away, letting you act like a complete arsehole with only a half-hearted acknowledgement. Just murdered a bunch of innocent people in front of your kind paladin? At best you'll get a critical comment, but then it's back to saving the world.

Now, this is a vast RPG that I've only played for 30 hours, so maybe the consequences of my actions will come back to haunt me, but that possibility isn't much of a salve. I don't want to have to wait 100 hours for the game to acknowledge the way I'm roleplaying my obviously awful necromancer.

 

[Couchpotato]

Diablo II: Resurrected Class Trailers

 

[Couchpotato]

Without Shenmue, We Wouldn't Have Yakuza

There's probably an alternate universe where Yakuza flopped and we're all busy playing Shenmue 12, but that's not the world we live in, so it's important to highlight the mammoth steps Yu Suzuki took in proving that this medium is capable of vast, lifelike worlds that can mimic reality in ways we would have never foreseen before this game's arrival. Yakuza means the world to me, and I'm so grateful for Shenmue for allowing it to happen.

The Forgotten City Interview - TheGamer

Across the board in game development, there are an innumerable amount of hurdles that are both insurmountable and necessary to conquer. That might sound paradoxical - it is - but it's why video games are, in a sincerely accurate sense of the term, one of the closest things we have to modern magic. For Nick Pearce, game director at Modern Storyteller, hurdles started to appear before he was even at the gate, let alone out of it. His original effort became the first mod to ever win a Writer's Guild award, but it was still emphatically that - a mod, developed using a toolkit provided by an intensely rich and corporatocratic publishing behemoth. The story was his, but ownership is a tricky subject in contemporary art.

Fallout Needs to Return to Its CRPG Roots - Gamerant

The Fallout series has had its ups and downs over its long lifespan. Some fans were worried when Bethesda acquired the property and began developing a first-person game in the style of Oblivion, but many were also ultimately happy with the result. New Vegas is considered a classic, but Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 left much to be desired in the eyes of RPG traditionalists.

If Bethesda is going to revive a more traditional interest in Fallout and make it more than The Elder Scrolls apocalyptic cousin, it might be worth returning to the series roots. Here's why now could finally be the right time for another isometric Fallout CRPG.

I don't want Knights of the Old Republic 3 - PCGamer

This is a pipe dream, of course. SWTOR took five years to make and ended up being one of the most expensive games ever created, and not long after that EA had to revise its business model because it just wasn't good enough to inspire the masses to pay a subscription. MMOs are a gargantuan investment and now have so much competition from other live service games, so I can't see a risk-averse publisher like EA greenlighting another one. And I can't see an embattled developer like BioWare taking the risk again either. Its last multiplayer experiment didn't do very well.

So I guess it's back to fighting through far-too-large nondescript corridors and forgoing my dreams of putting a cape on my depressed Sith Assassin. And that's fine for now, I suppose. But if BioWare's planning more expansions beyond Legacy of the Sith, it's going to have a much harder time seducing me back to the dark side.

 

[Couchpotato]

We are Legion: Rome - New Screenshots, GiFs and Creation Process Videos

Today we want to share some new screenshots, gifs and creation process videos. Currently, we are focused on creating levels for our Battle Scenarios and gradually moving various mechanics, quests and graphics from prototype state to actual game.

Beyond Mankind - News from the Team

The last few days have been absolutely crazy. After many years of work we have finally released Beyond Mankind, our first own IP, and maaaaany of you have bought it and many have given us your feedback. Be sure we read ALL your feedback. And this is why we immediately started working on fixing the main issues you have reported. We are working non-stop, and in the next few days, we will be able to give you a full list of fixes included in the first patch.

Witcher 3 First-Person Mod - NexusMods

This First Person Camera Reworked Mod attempts to resolve some of the issues that were found in First Person Improved and modFirstPerson. Do note that it's still not perfect. However, it appears that the game is now playable via a first-person perspective. Or at least it's in a better shape than before.

As the modder noted, this reworked version makes control more convenient and fixes some problems. For instance, it does not display swords or crossbows (an issue that affected the previous FPS mods).

Queen's Wish 2 - Funded & Close to First Stretch Goal

We wanted to do at least one update for our Kickstarter before it ended! We're not good at PR, to be honest, but it is important to be grateful to everyone who is being so kind to us.

Queen's Wish 2 funded in 48 hours. Thank you so much to all of you for having faith in us. We'll do our best to make a great game for you.

In the last few weeks, we've been working on the game. Writing piles of dialogue. Doing art direction. Making a new, more satisfying experience system. There are a million little jobs that need doing to make a game. We'll be sending out regular updates to let you know how things are going, better and worse.

There are ten days left in the Kickstarter now, and we have a good chance of making our first stretch goal. We'll be doing more PR in the next few days and try to get more people in the door.

We'll have one more update when we enter our final week of the Kickstarter. Thank you again for helping Spiderweb Software continue to be a thing!

 

[Couchpotato]

Matt Chat 473: Pathfinder, Wrath of the Righteous

This episode covers the first few hours of the epic CRPG Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. It's certainly a great game so far. It's all the fun you remembered from the first game without the meh stuff. And check out that bad to the bone Wendaug! If she's evil, I don't want to be good!

Gamedec Mechanics Onboarding - Character Creation

Welcome to the pre-release Gamedec Mechanics Onboarding! In this series, we will explain the basic mechanics in Gamedec, the upcoming isometric, cyberpunk RPG.

 

[Couchpotato]

Master of Magic Remake - September 2021 Developer Diary

In this month’s spotlight, we’ll talk about the brave mercenaries who may decide to join our cause, the heroes and champions of Master of Magic. So first things first, all 35 are coming back and as with everything else, we are attempting to recreate all their skills and special abilities faithfully. .

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous has sold over 250,000 copies - Gamespress

Moscow, Russia, September 10, 2021 — Owlcat Games and META Publishing announced with pride that Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous has surpassed 250,000 copies on PC alone during its first week of sales. As well as seeing more than double the number of concurrent players during the first weekend enjoying the game compared to Kingmaker launch! But it’s not just all exciting numbers, players and press alike have given overwhelmingly positive feedback.

“For a long time, we’ve been working extremely hard on making Wrath of the Righteous everything we originally conceived at the start of development and even more after the phenomenal support during the Kickstarter campaign. We wanted this to be a landmark moment for CRPG fans, pushing the genre into new spaces, with mechanics that tried to give players an experience that brings the flexibility and freedom found in Tabletop adventures,” says Creative Director Alexander Mishulin. “We’re glad that players and critics are really feeling that we’ve given them that and even more. We truly are overwhelmed with the response”.

 

[wolfgrimdark]

I agree, I think Owlcats have really done something phenomenal with this game and it shows in the game. Lots of love and detail put into its creation.

I can only hope they continue down the path of great games like this and I get a chance to play a few more of them before the end.

 

[JFarrell71]

I agree, I think Owlcats have really done something phenomenal with this game and it shows in the game. Lots of love and detail put into its creation.

I can only hope they continue down the path of great games like this and I get a chance to play a few more of them before the end.

I hope the truth is not as ominous as you made that sound! We'd miss you around here.

 

[Couchpotato]

Well I have about twenty years left since most of my family die in their 60's. Hopefully I'll live to see and play five or six more Pathfinder RPG's. So fingers crossed.

A setting in Numeria with the tech, barbarians, and crashed space ship sounds nice.