Category: Turn-Based

Who likes real time anyway?

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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Xenonauts 2 [Early Access] – Round Three

We are back at it boys! It’s time for round three of the Xenonauts 2 Early Access Beta. The game is now feature complete according to the developers. We have also entered milestone 2, which has extended Xenonauts 2 in several ways. I’m a bit unsure about the 180-day limit since I haven’t reached that far yet in my current playthrough. Hopefully, that block is now also gone.

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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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Solasta: Crown of the Magister [User Campaign] The Forsaken Isle – Wrath of the Gorillas

The Forsaken Isle is a 1-12 level user campaign that you can download from Steam Workshop for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. It’s made by Artyoan and is the first campaign in a series of three, of which two are available. The third one is still being made, as I understand it. This campaign requires that you own the DLC Inner Strength for it to be playable. My overall opinion is that it’s a pretty good campaign, both in the sense of gameplay and story, but its combat is hard as nails. I will go into more detail after we have talked about the story a bit.

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