Hi guys!
Finally decided to register here, after years of reading news here and lurking on the forum. I suppose I won't post too much; these days I much prefer playing games to writing about them.
My love affair with RPGs began in 1989. when I got Atari ST and played Dungeon Master and Ultima V. Since then, I played (almost) all good RPGs released over the years. I played and loved all Infinity engine games, but my favorites are still Gothic and Gothic II: NotR. It's really a shame that Piranha Bytes lost their touch after that. Gothic 3 had great potential but sadly wasn't finished, Risen was still quite good (except the ending), Risen 2 was passable I guess, and finally Risen 3 was such a disappointment.
Damn "consolization" ruined their games, and not just theirs. As soon as some studio decides to develop simultaneously for PC and consoles, their games are doomed to be worse than they could have been as PC only. Especially the user interface, which is of great importance to RPGs. Just compare UIs of original Dragon Age and Witcher with their respective later episodes. Or Drakensang UI with Skyrim UI.
Thankfully, there are still games made exclusively for PCs, satisfyingly complex and with great mouse+keyboard UI, like Age of Wonders III and Path of Exile. Neither is a classic RPG, but both games are really, really great. AoW3 not surprisingly so, since I played AoW1/2 a lot, but PoE was an eye-opener for me. I read about it when it was originally released (2012. I think) but I completely forgot about it until the last summer. Since then I'm playing it almost exclusively and I still want more.
Started late in Prophecy league, and played full Essence and Breach, and now Legacy league. The game is constantly getting better and better, and the next expansion (3.0) is just around the corner. It's kinda strange that I love it so much, since ARPGs are not exactly my favorite genre. Sure, I played Diablo 1/2, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn… but I always prefered classic RPGs and turn-based strategies, usually being much more complex. But PoE is so delightfully complex and so intelligently designed that "action" part really doesn't matter. Even old guys like me with bad reflexes can play it successfully, if you take your time to learn it. A lot of time.
Ok, I think that was quite enough for my second post here. Back to my LL poison BV Assassin that I made when I chanced Skyforth a few days ago.