Maluvin

I don't know if I regret any of them necessarily. Most of what I've backed have been western style RPGs that have shipped (Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Shadowrun, Wasteland 2) and that I evaluated carefully before laying down any cash. I think all of those have more or less turned out as I expected given the experienced teams behind them.

I also backed Darkest Dungeon and that's actually been my favorite game out of early access/kickstarter things I've backed. That one was more of risk because I'm pretty sure that team was relatively green but they were really upfront and thoughtful about their design plans from the start and their technology base seemed sound verses what they were attempting. Looking forward to future projects from that team.

The one other thing I've funded that I have mixed feeling about is Camelot Unchained. Now the huge caveat is that I backed that project with a huge amount of skepticism because I know it's a really niche interest with a developer who has stumbled more than once. If I hadn't had some of the most memorable experiences in my life playing RvR in Dark Age of Camelot then I'd have passed on this one without blinking an eye. I backed it with the knowledge that chances are this project has a high likelihood of failing but it's one of the few chances I'll ever see an RvR focused MMO again.

I had it for quite a bit and it's awesome especially if you want to catch up on a bunch of series especially those ones where you were kind of interested in but could never quite talk yourself into buying a full run.

You know I look at this image and all I think is "Man, I really hope they include some sort of huckleberry scratch and sniff sticker" because without the ever present scent of huckleberries I'm just not sure I can take this story seriously. But then I start thinking about the fact that we increasingly live in a digital delivery age and a shudder to think that the vast majority of gamers will miss out on an essential element of the Montana experience.

I played a nightblade on my first playthrough and definitely stealthed and bowed my way through quite a bit. Totally viable.

Completely agree with most of the comments on Morrowind. It's still the most memorable setting I've explored in that setting but there is a lot to its design that can make it a tall hurdle to clear.

People have already mentioned the melee combat behind the scenes dice rolling. The magic system has similar issues although it's somewhat offset by all of the magic and enchantment customization you can do eventually. Eventually it all works out but you're going to have some training casting to do.

Then there's the conversation system: on the on hand there's a lot of good stuff to read but there's also an incredible amount of filler given you can talk to just about everyone and the way you select terms out of menu for conversations means you have to "collect words" to advance conversation options. That feels like a dated design at this point.

Inventory is a mixed bag depending on how you feel about micromanagement. On the one hand you can really mix and match your armor pieces (and, again, huge enchantment flexibility) and I really enjoyed that but that's not for everyone and I know some people just want to put on a complete suit.

Unmodded the character models are definitely dated. Even with mods you're going to see the stiffness of the underlying animation.

Very specific and limited fast travel options. I actually consider this to be a good thing because it forces a different sort of travel and exploration that I find immersive but lots of people like instant fast travel and that's a convenience that's hard to go without for a lot of people.

If you can get past these types of things you're in for an amazing adventure.

If you start it up on PC I think you're going to have a lonely time. Not sure what the Xbone situation is right now but I've had no problem finding populated games on PS4.

Major bummer for me personally but really excited for Drew. A mind needs new challenges and experiences to continue to grow so I can appreciate how moving on can be a positive. Thanks for years of comments and sly jokes. I feel the need to give @drewbert special thanks for two pieces of content in particular.

The Metal Gear Scanlon series is really special for me because it was something I shared with both of my teenage kids. It was cool getting to share a game series that I really enjoyed with both of them. Both of them were hounding me everyday to see if a new episode was out. We shared a lot of laughs and I got to share a lot of the Cold War and military history I acquired over the years with them because of this series. My kids never wanted to watch TV but watching Metal Gear Scanlon was something we never missed. It's become a reference point in their lives of a very particular time and place that I'm fairly sure they'll share with each other at some point down the line even long after I'm gone. That's pretty special in my book.

The other piece of video that really stands out is the DCS A10 Warthog video. I'd listened to a couple episodes of the Bombcast prior to watching that video but that was the piece of content that really solidified my interest in the site and eventually led to me becoming a subscriber. It was the first piece of Giant Bomb content I shared with my son. We watched it in the car on his iPad and I'll never forget my wife coming back to the car wondering why we were laughing so much at a video of some guys talking over video of a cockpit.

o7

I beat it a week ago. Personally I thought it was pretty great with some notable exceptions. It suffers a bit from Dragon Age: Inquisition's problem of having a ton of optional side content which isn't obvious about the fact that it's completely optional. The story has a momentum that really suffers if you focus too much on the side quest stuff IMO. With that said I'm down for a second playthrough eventually where I goof around with more of the side content now (strangely addicted to fishing).

As for the story itself I think overall the plot and themes of friendship are good but it sucks they carved some bits out and saved them for outside content like Kingsglaive. If I hadn't seen Kingsglaive I don't think I would have enjoyed the game quite as much.

Also I believe it's chapter 13 that has a reputation as being really bad. I hate to say it but it's true. There's an interesting change in mechanics idea that kicks in at that chapter and it's REALLY poorly done IMO. I think there are some changes they could make to that chapter that could fix it but right now it's rough.

I like the combat in that game a lot and it's a beautiful world. The main characters resonated with me and the dynamics of their friendship reminded me of my time back at the tail end of high school and college and experiences I had with my friends.

If it's not resonating with you now that's cool. Come back to it later.

Don't take death threats lightly. I'd report it. Chances are it's nothing and nothing will be done but it does create a record of the incident and if the name or ID pops up enough in the system it can trigger an investigation.

Check your privacy settings on personal info just in case.

Incredible read with a lot of interesting history. Thanks for the share.