Baldur’s Gate 3
A lot of folks are listing their favorite games but this is the one that truly fits.
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Unusually long development time by a studio known for DnD-simmiliar RPG games getting the next installation for the series that defined the genre.
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Cast voice actors for several years, ones that are still playing their characters on a variety of platforms.
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Just chock filled references to DnD lore, cute in-jokes, and faithful updates on old characters.
Everyone involved clearly loved it!
Also, as a literal interpretation, it occurs over 3 arcs.
It got people not previously interested in DND to actually enjoy DND.
The real question is what is Larian’s equivalent to Peter Jackson’s “Meet the Feebles”?
Divinity: Dragon Commander, duh.
Unusually long development time
No joke, I installed the open-beta/pre-release years ago, played for a bit, and uninstalled it. When the actual release dropped, I had the most intense déjà vu about it all because I forgot that had even happened. I had to go back to my Steam library to puzzle it all back together.
Part of the reason development took so long was due to them using early release for the right reasons. They listened to the player base and changed the game based on feedback from the fans
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As far as labors of love go, Stardew Valley is probably the most current example. People paid for this thing years ago, but Concerned Ape keeps adding new features anyway. The retro graphics give this thing a timeless quality out of the box, so it already looks “dated” - this hasn’t stopped the robust player community around it. We’ll probably see this game stay relevant for a long time.
And that’s before you start talking about modding the game.
The amount of mods for this game is insane. From simple QoL stuff through to full expansions.
No replay of the game ever has to be the same.
Do people ever do total conversion modifications anymore? Are there any Stardew Valley mods that turn it into something totally different?
I have no idea. Only recently tried an expansion mod for the first time. I never even considered conversion mods might be a thing for this game.
I was just reminiscing on how people used to do stuff like that for the early FPSes. And honestly, since I never really got into Stardew, I thought it might be cool to see a totally different world.
Hope you’re enjoying the expansion!
Yeah it’s been great. Stardew Valley Expanded adds areas and characters and stuff to the game that feels like they belong in the original world. The creator did an amazing job.
Mass Effect. I know some will disagree, the third game has a lot of glaring issues, and EA really fucked up the ending, but as far as a fully fleshed out story and universe with a multitude of unique and independently structured species, characters, and cultures I think it’s one of the best. The writing and possible story outcomes and decisions that vastly and permanently affect the story from the first to the third game are insane.
We don’t talk about Andromeda anymore… (And such a fucking lost chance at continuing the franchise) I agree. At the time of release, it sucked all your choices where concentrated to three at most. Actually it still sucks. Buy the whole experience from 1 to 3… It takes space in my mind you know. Its the peak of escapism for me. 3 should have been a lesson to learn from going forward with the franchise… But EA mauled all of it… The worst part is, with such strong connection to the world, lore and characters you can’t just make a “spiritual successor”. The same formula wouldn’t work without preexisting lore.
I agree, it’s all or nothing with Mass Effect, you have to play all three games, especially with the third one because that game is trash if you haven’t imported a save from the previous games, it simply does not stand on it’s own like 2 does. Andromeda had a lot of amazing gameplay mechanics that I felt were a big upgrade from the Shepard saga, but every other aspect of that game was just so awful that I can’t even think of it as canon to the original series. They could have done some cool shit with it, but instead we just got a castrated rip off version of the original trilogy story, but with less species and absolutely no consequences for your decisions, and crew interactions were utter bullshit, everything lead to the exact same thing. Fuck EA. The online co-op stuff was pretty dope, though.
The best PC game OAT: Disco Elysium
Which you should totally pirate, according to the devs themselves.
I’m not sure but I think I heardthat they reconciled somehow?
As far as I’m aware, no. The studio was closed down by the guy that stole it from the creative minds.
It’s currently 90% off on steam btw
as others said: pirate it or buy like the cheapest key off of https://gg.deals/
The studio had an internal hostile takeover, kicked out most of the people who actually made the game and basically all of the lead ones and just kept the IP
So the money goes to them
The Persona series comes to mind. But probably more than anything Witcher 3, Skyrim, Disco Elysium, Stardew Valley, No Man’s Sky, Nier Replicant/Automata, Metal Gear Solid 3, there’s actually quite a few imo.
Edit: oh and dwarf fortress!
Add Hades in this list, too. Incredible game with so much love poured into it.
No Man’s Sky
Isn’t this the one that crashed and burned on launch, but the devs owned their mistakes and put a ton of work into patching and upgrading? What a fuckin redemption arc for it to end up on this list unironically.
Yeah absolutely, I don’t have it but apparently its a great game nowadays
It’s a fantastic game and it keeps getting better. They don’t even put it behind a DLC paywall. Buy the game and that’s it. It’s refreshing to see a developer stick to their principles.
Do you need to be involved much in multiplayer to enjoy the game or is it possible to just mind your own business without much interaction
It’s almost better alone in my opinion. Or with a friend. Playing with random people online is almost unheard of. The Galaxy is big, and you are very small. You could go your whole playthrough barely interacting with anyone if you avoid using the hub. The world still feels a little empty but considering the scope of what they’ve accomplished it’s still impressive.
Every single thing, even the few missions that recommend playing in multiplayer, can be done solo.
It’s pretty good! They have fishing now
I have about 500 hours and can confirm that it’s excellent. One of my top five games I’ve played of all time.
That’s NMS, Superhot, Baldur’s Gate III, Horizon Chase Turbo, and Plants vs Zombies, fwiw, in no particular order.
Yes! The devs are still putting out updates that are entirely free! Like recently they’ve added new types of buildings and NPC ran stuff for your settlements, overhauled the planet Gen, added new planet types, overhauled the rendering engine, completely redid the ocean biomes so now there’s animals and plants and biomes all under water.
Hello Games may have launched a really bad game, but they have cemented themselves as my favorite game company because they just straight up admitted they messed up, and then have been grinding away at making the game better and better and better for the last 9 years (which side note, holy crap it’s been 9 years. Ugh I’m feeling old now)
They are coming out with a new game that I am very very excited for too.
Skyrim is pretty bad compared to LotR, but pretty good compared to video games.
Witcher 3 may be the better pick from what I’ve heard, but I’ve barely played it.
The obvious choice, after reading other comments, is Baldur’s Gate 3.
Gosh you’re totally right about BG3… how did I blank on that!
I’m still gonna argue Skyrim being so good because it was obvious to me how much passion went into from those that worked on it. I’ll readily admit my bias though, given I came from hundreds of hours of morrowind and oblivion before it.
When the Bond-esque theme music kicked in on MGS3, after gameplay that amounted to like an hour-long cold open…wow. I’ve only played the game once all the way through, and that has stuck with me all this time.
The stanley parable
Dark souls 1
Books are where it’s at! Lord of the Rings all the way!
Battletoads
Ah damn I don’t have it. Is there some place where I could buy it? I’ve heard some pawn shops in Las Vegas might have it. I can call if necessary
Bloodborne
Chrono trigger
The announcer at gay bingo knows someone that named their kid Chrono. :(
I need to know what gay bingo is.
Imagine straight bingo turned gay
It’s the same as regular bingo except the announcers are drag queens and they dance between rounds. It’s awesooommeee
That’s sad. The characters name is Crono.
I played on the SNES, his name was “BUTT”
Nonono, his name was “FART”
This is actually blowing my mind, I never realized this.
Undertale
Doki Doki Literature Club
Terraria
Future Cop: LAPD for the ps1!
This game has so much nostalgia for me. It was the go to game because it had split screen.
Oh that was fun! I got the demo with a graphics card back in the day. Would never have heard of it otherwise.
My sister and I used to play this when we were kids in co-op and competitive mode and it was a blast! Probably one of our first videogames and it was kind of “Our game.” I just recently found out it was made by the same guys that made jungle strike and desert strike back in the nineties and I’ve been itching to play it again.
Morrowind
Ocarina of Time
