Colony Ship – Something Quick

After seven hard years of waiting, Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game is finally out. I have only given the game a test run for twenty minutes, so this won’t be a first impression or anything like that. It’s just a quick notice of things that are apparently missing. The things that are missing are a bit baffling to me, as this stuff seems very standard, and in general increase the “immershun” factor by ten if included. Now, I can’t say for certain that these things are missing for sure, but I can’t find a key or option for it. Here is the missing stuff:

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Baldur’s Gate 3 – Third-Person Goodness [mod collection]

One of the biggest problems I have with Baldur’s Gate 3 is how Larian Studios treats immersion when they have the tools and the visual fidelity to truly make this aspect of the game shine. I’m talking about third-person controls and an overflow of distracting UI elements that can’t be turned off by normal means. For example, the white outline when hovering the mouse over objects like benches, boxes, and so on. Third-person controls can be achieved somewhat by plugging in a controller on the PC, but it’s a horrendous experience since you are stuck with the slow and ugly controller interface. However, with time comes mods, and finally you can play Baldur’s Gate 3 in glorious third-person with keyboard and mouse controls, and it works splendidly. It’s just a shame Larian is too stubborn to do it themself and add it as an option, but as luck will have it, it isn’t too much work to get the good stuff going.

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Solasta: Crown of the Magister [User Campaign] Morrows Deep – Lizard Revenge

Welcome to another review of Artyoan’s three-part campaign series for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. This time we talk about Morrows Deep, and much like its predecessor it’s a campaign with a heavy focus on combat. However, the writing is much better than in Forsaken Isle, and overall, the story has an improved flow comparably. Locations also make much more of a logical sense in the world – like enemy placements and the environments in general.

Morrows Deep is a 1-15 level campaign, and while the four-man version is the standard way of playing the campaign, I went for the six-man version this time around. In Forsaken Isle, I felt a lack of companions and interesting combat combinations that come with that. So, I thought why not give the six-man version a go? I can’t say I regret my decision. The added party members change the dynamic of the group and make for a much more enjoyable experience. It also allows for experimentation with different classes since you can afford to go outside your personal preference, something the four-man version lacks. You don’t have to worry about balance issues, as Artyoan has designed this version specifically for an increased party. Essentially, engagements have a ton more enemy units trying to claw your eyes out (and probably eat them).

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Baldur’s Gate 3 – The Path of Evil

I have been taking the evil path with my drow in Baldur’s Gate 3, and it has made me realize how undercooked the general choice and consequences are in this game – especially for everything that can be considered “evil”. I have already talked about this in my countless Baldur’s Gate 3 articles, but I felt I just had to point out the faults once again with some added notes.

The game lets you play evil, and that is good and all. However, at the same time, it punishes you for doing so. There is nothing to be gained here – you don’t get more power, you get less loot, you get no followers (usually the path of evil consists of you taking power for yourself). It’s lackluster, and it makes more of a path of retarded. You are actively gimping yourself, which means you will have less of a gaming experience. You will also lose companions, while you only get one that is semi-broken, as she loses all kinds of interaction after a while.

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Starfield – “Early Access” Pre-order

Starfield early access pre-order shenanigans must be one of the more disgusting anti-consumer things that spawned from the depraved minds of the games industry of late. In my case, if you pay 99,99€ for the premium edition of the game on Steam, you get a five-day “early access” to it, compared to the peasant who can only shell out a measly 69,99€. Have we reached a new low perhaps? Pre-order bonuses were already pretty bad, but this is just a new level altogether. I hope to God this doesn’t become a new thing. Also, I think Bethesda might have shot themself in the foot with this one since you can already pirate the game. I imagine the ones waiting for a legit 70 euro release now must feel like a true sucker.

However, I can’t blame Bethesda single-handedly for this since it works. I read something that about 200-300k already play it on Steam, which indicates that there are a lot of people out there willing to pay big bucks for an earlier taste, even if it’s only five days.

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