Community RPG Codex 2023 GOTY - POLL IS CLOSED!

[raeven]

There needs to be a list of names made public of all the people who voted in favor of BG3.

Me. I voted for BG3. I voted it higher than Jagged Alliance 3, Colony Ship, Phantom Liberty, and Sea of Stars. Which were all awesome games. But BG3 was better.

Lynch away.

 

[jaekl]

There needs to be a list of names made public of all the people who voted in favor of BG3.

Me. I voted for BG3. I voted it higher than Jagged Alliance 3, Colony Ship, Phantom Liberty, and Sea of Stars. Which were all awesome games. But BG3 was better.

Lynch away.

Stunning and brave

 

[raeven]

Why do you people even care if there's shovelware on the list. It doesn't matter at all. Who gives a shit.

It causes psychic damage to have to scroll and read through so many titles.

Especially with such an awful font.

All you posers whining about which should get 1/5: is it BG3, or Starfield? Diablo 4?

All you're telling me is you didn't play/back Arcadian Atlas. That thing is true dog shit.

The problem with BG3 and Starfield is that they aren't "just" bad, they're straight-up evil. As in, like, made with malicious intent. I feel a profound blackness dripping off of them. The debate shouldn't even be about how bad they are, rather what crimes we could potentially bring the developers to court for. Obscenity laws don't really exist anymore, so I'd go with either desecration/destruction of a work of art (either of the DND setting itself or games as an artform), or emotional damages and slander because of all the misandry and sex-pest scenes.

This debate and discussion is officially no longer allowed on the RPGCodex since Infinitron has been running things. Any thread that focuses on this topic is moved into a containment zone by the administration as a matter of policy.

Think I'm exaggerating? This thread was recently moved into 'Gaming Drama' from General RPG Discussion:

List of woke and non-woke roleplaying games

"No longer allowed", translated: "moved out of general interest forum"

The notion that you believe this will incite some kind of groundswell of righteous indignation is hilarious.

 

[MRY]

Video game story defence lawyers always put about 30x more thought into the story than the original writers did.

It's hard for me to know how long a normal player will take, since I always skip the text, barely read the buttons, and make snap decisions.

well, yes

Ha! Well, the time spent writing (and rewriting, and rewriting, and rewriting, and...) that damn text was considerable.

But yeah, I remember way back in the days of the Black Isle forums, we had a long involved discussion about who the "enemies three" were in PS:T, and then Avellone dropped in and was like "It's Ravel, Fhjull, and the Transcendent One" or some utterly bland explanation. And that's for what is very likely the best-crafted RPG narrative in terms of symbolic coherence and resonance.

 

[Tyranicon]

Video game story defence lawyers always put about 30x more thought into the story than the original writers did.

It's hard for me to know how long a normal player will take, since I always skip the text, barely read the buttons, and make snap decisions.

well, yes

Ha! Well, the time spent writing (and rewriting, and rewriting, and rewriting, and...) that damn text was considerable.

But yeah, I remember way back in the days of the Black Isle forums, we had a long involved discussion about who the "enemies three" were in PS:T, and then Avellone dropped in and was like "It's Ravel, Fhjull, and the Transcendent One" or some utterly bland explanation. And that's for what is very likely the best-crafted RPG narrative in terms of symbolic coherence and resonance.

TBF, it's fun as a writer when people have lively debates over your stuff and you pop in and say "yeah I just thought that up when I was taking a shit, don't read too much into that."

Highly recommended.

 

[raeven]

Video game story defence lawyers always put about 30x more thought into the story than the original writers did.

It's hard for me to know how long a normal player will take, since I always skip the text, barely read the buttons, and make snap decisions.

well, yes

Ha! Well, the time spent writing (and rewriting, and rewriting, and rewriting, and...) that damn text was considerable.

But yeah, I remember way back in the days of the Black Isle forums, we had a long involved discussion about who the "enemies three" were in PS:T, and then Avellone dropped in and was like "It's Ravel, Fhjull, and the Transcendent One" or some utterly bland explanation. And that's for what is very likely the best-crafted RPG narrative in terms of symbolic coherence and resonance.

This remind me of weebs trying to explain Evangelion to me and thinking the same thing....

"BUT IT'S THE TREE OF LIFE111!!!!!!"

 

[Hammer Of The Heretics]

TBF, it's fun as a writer when people have lively debates over your stuff and you pop in and say "yeah I just thought that up when I was taking a shit, don't read too much into that."

Highly recommended.

And that is why "Death of the author" is both a literary theory and a plan of action.

 

[Sunri]

I voted.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I'll leave just one fun fact for now: Codex hates Bethesda more than they hate Diablo.

Diablo killed Diablo and WoW so nothing of value lost.
Bethesda killed both Elder Scrolls and Fallout and then killed hype for sci-fi RPGs...

 

[Grauken]

I'll leave just one fun fact for now: Codex hates Bethesda more than they hate Diablo.

Poor SumDrunkGuy, he really wanted us to love it

 

[Lord of Riva]

That it's done in a ending slide is no qualitative difference it's just a different medium for the same C&C and the gameplay impact is nigh the same.

id say its quite a big difference when safe haven and vendors disappear? Or the fact that npcs no longer appear in future acts to vouch for you/offer help/whatever.

You brought arcanum, what exactly is in there?are you arguing that tarant falling to ruin many years in future is the gameplay impact?

I have not played arcanum in Full, but even at the starting areas there are multiple variables that change depending on your build, race and stats that have an impact on what quests you get and how to solve them. Again, BG 3 does nothing new, i'm really not willing to debate if for example the reactivity on low intelligence is worth more than idk, rescuing a unwilling damsel in distress that tries to ressurect his beloved with witchcraft which you stop and she becomes annoyed with you.

It might not be 'revolutionary', but the thing is, C&C hasn't been a mainstream talking point in games (or even done particularly well) since the heyday of the early 2000s. Okay, BG3 might not have more reactivity or C&C than Arcanum or Fallout 2, but it sure has shit has more than any mainstream game released since, and that's really exciting to see.

.... or did you forget the decade + of decline? I sure didn't.

No, absolutely not that is a totally fair point to make.

I'm blasting the idiots for claiming BG3 does anything special like being innovative, changing the industry, setting new standards and all that nonsense. There is no issue in valuing it for whatever it brings to the table.

I still think it's absolute cringe story-wise , the gameplay systems are rather bland (worse than DOS 2 as the rulest is kinda shit tbh) it's stylistically bad in my eyes, it vastly overstays it's welcome to boot. But it's not my Job to tell you or others if you enjoy a game.

The fact remains that I simply could not finish it, it was boring. Wrath of the righteous is a vastly better game in nearly all aspects imho and it falls into the exact same niche.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Well that wasn't worth logging on for, can't even vote.

 

[Konjad]

Well that wasn't worth logging on for, can't even vote.

Old and slow. Voting is already over.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Well that wasn't worth logging on for, can't even vote.

Old and slow. Voting is already over.

But why would someone put two factor authentication on a forum to hold back precious votes and hinder democracy?

 

[Konjad]

Well that wasn't worth logging on for, can't even vote.

Old and slow. Voting is already over.

But why would someone put two factor authentication on a forum to hold back precious votes and hinder democracy?

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...tory-you-dont-need-a-phone-number-ffs.147303/

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Well that wasn't worth logging on for, can't even vote.

Old and slow. Voting is already over.

But why would someone put two factor authentication on a forum to hold back precious votes and hinder democracy?

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...tory-you-dont-need-a-phone-number-ffs.147303/

I have lodged my complaint and copy-pasted some of the helpful lines of text added to the front page so the administration feels more comfortable and at ease.

 

[raeven]

That it's done in a ending slide is no qualitative difference it's just a different medium for the same C&C and the gameplay impact is nigh the same.

id say its quite a big difference when safe haven and vendors disappear? Or the fact that npcs no longer appear in future acts to vouch for you/offer help/whatever.

You brought arcanum, what exactly is in there?are you arguing that tarant falling to ruin many years in future is the gameplay impact?

I have not played arcanum in Full, but even at the starting areas there are multiple variables that change depending on your build, race and stats that have an impact on what quests you get and how to solve them. Again, BG 3 does nothing new, i'm really not willing to debate if for example the reactivity on low intelligence is worth more than idk, rescuing a unwilling damsel in distress that tries to ressurect his beloved with witchcraft which you stop and she becomes annoyed with you.

It might not be 'revolutionary', but the thing is, C&C hasn't been a mainstream talking point in games (or even done particularly well) since the heyday of the early 2000s. Okay, BG3 might not have more reactivity or C&C than Arcanum or Fallout 2, but it sure has shit has more than any mainstream game released since, and that's really exciting to see.

.... or did you forget the decade + of decline? I sure didn't.

No, absolutely not that is a totally fair point to make.

I'm blasting the idiots for claiming BG3 does anything special like being innovative, changing the industry, setting new standards and all that nonsense. There is no issue in valuing it for whatever it brings to the table.

I still think it's absolute cringe story-wise , the gameplay systems are rather bland (worse than DOS 2 as the rulest is kinda shit tbh) it's stylistically bad in my eyes, it vastly overstays it's welcome to boot. But it's not my Job to tell you or others if you enjoy a game.

The fact remains that I simply could not finish it, it was boring. Wrath of the righteous is a vastly better game in nearly all aspects imho and it falls into the exact same niche.

Honestly I kinda agree that the story in BG3 is a bit cringe.

Eeyyyy, look at us, agreeing and shit!

I've heard really good things about WotR. I recently tried Kingmaker out but was frustrated by it because I felt that the combat was very much geared towards RTwP, and playing it turn based was frustrating and filled with trash mobs. Would you say that WotR is similar in this respect, or is that aspect of the gameplay improved?

 

[Tyranicon]

Honestly I kinda agree that the story in BG3 is a bit cringe.

Eeyyyy, look at us, agreeing and shit!

I've heard really good things about WotR. I recently tried Kingmaker out but was frustrated by it because I felt that the combat was very much geared towards RTwP, and playing it turn based was frustrating and filled with trash mobs. Would you say that WotR is similar in this respect, or is that aspect of the gameplay improved?

If you think BG3 is cringe, WoTR is not going to be much better.

Also Owlcat combat is bad.

 

[Lord of Riva]

I've heard really good things about WotR. I recently tried Kingmaker out but was frustrated by it because I felt that the combat was very much geared towards RTwP, and playing it turn based was frustrating and filled with trash mobs. Would you say that WotR is similar in this respect, or is that aspect of the gameplay improved?

WoTR improves a lot of things from Kingmaker but I have a friend who was similarly annoyed by the combat system and did not enjoy Kingmaker either. If you hated combat in KM you will not find it much better in WoTR.

As others have said the combat design of Owlcat is really not that great, too many entities each combat, it's nearly impossible to play it fully in TB without getting insane at some point.

I do not agree that the Story is as cringe as BG3 I thougt it was pretty good and an improvement over KM, at least looking at it from my lawful evil lich playthrough.

 

[Roguey]

Would you say that WotR is similar in this respect, or is that aspect of the gameplay improved?

Oh it is absolutely worse.

 

[Shaki]

Would you say that WotR is similar in this respect, or is that aspect of the gameplay improved?

Oh it is absolutely worse.

No way it's worse, but it isn't much better. KM had very lazy encounter/monster design, WotR at least tries to throw few curveballs at the player, and overall due to higher levels and both player and enemies having more tools, it feels more engaging and less trash-moby than KM, especially at higher difficulty levels. It's still Owlcat's shit combat, and the stat bloat is even worse, but in terms of pointless easy trash mob encounters it's definitely better. Still not better enough to make turn based worth playing tho.

 

[luj1]

I'll leave just one fun fact for now: Codex hates Bethesda more than they hate Diablo.

Of course they do, you bloody faggot. Oblivion (2006) and Fallout 3 (2008) were almost single-handedly responsible for the decline of CRPGs. Nothing unusual about that. Fun fact lol. You are a fucking fake aren't you?

 

[Sweeper]

I've got my big boy pants on with my big boy RPG opinions, I know, I'll call him a faggot, that'll show him.
Edit: Man, see what you did? You made me write a post that Infinitron brofisted. I'm actually fucking mad now, fuck you luj.

 

[Roguey]

No way it's worse, but it isn't much better. KM had very lazy encounter/monster design, WotR at least tries to throw few curveballs at the player, and overall due to higher levels and both player and enemies having more tools, it feels more engaging and less trash-moby than KM, especially at higher difficulty levels. It's still Owlcat's shit combat, and the stat bloat is even worse, but in terms of pointless easy trash mob encounters it's definitely better. Still not better enough to make turn based worth playing tho.

I wrote reviews of both.

I expressed frustration with how much combat there was on the critical path in Kingmaker, noting that 10-12 encounters per map felt like twice as many as there should have been. WotR stubbornly doubles down on this by regularly featuring 20-30 encounters per map in critical path locations. This decision is baffling given that Owlcat claimed they were trying to make a reasonably-shorter game this time.

 

[Mortmal]

That it's done in a ending slide is no qualitative difference it's just a different medium for the same C&C and the gameplay impact is nigh the same.

id say its quite a big difference when safe haven and vendors disappear? Or the fact that npcs no longer appear in future acts to vouch for you/offer help/whatever.

You brought arcanum, what exactly is in there?are you arguing that tarant falling to ruin many years in future is the gameplay impact?

I have not played arcanum in Full, but even at the starting areas there are multiple variables that change depending on your build, race and stats that have an impact on what quests you get and how to solve them. Again, BG 3 does nothing new, i'm really not willing to debate if for example the reactivity on low intelligence is worth more than idk, rescuing a unwilling damsel in distress that tries to ressurect his beloved with witchcraft which you stop and she becomes annoyed with you.

It might not be 'revolutionary', but the thing is, C&C hasn't been a mainstream talking point in games (or even done particularly well) since the heyday of the early 2000s. Okay, BG3 might not have more reactivity or C&C than Arcanum or Fallout 2, but it sure has shit has more than any mainstream game released since, and that's really exciting to see.

.... or did you forget the decade + of decline? I sure didn't.

No, absolutely not that is a totally fair point to make.

I'm blasting the idiots for claiming BG3 does anything special like being innovative, changing the industry, setting new standards and all that nonsense. There is no issue in valuing it for whatever it brings to the table.

I still think it's absolute cringe story-wise , the gameplay systems are rather bland (worse than DOS 2 as the rulest is kinda shit tbh) it's stylistically bad in my eyes, it vastly overstays it's welcome to boot. But it's not my Job to tell you or others if you enjoy a game.

The fact remains that I simply could not finish it, it was boring. Wrath of the righteous is a vastly better game in nearly all aspects imho and it falls into the exact same niche.

Honestly I kinda agree that the story in BG3 is a bit cringe.

Eeyyyy, look at us, agreeing and shit!

I've heard really good things about WotR. I recently tried Kingmaker out but was frustrated by it because I felt that the combat was very much geared towards RTwP, and playing it turn based was frustrating and filled with trash mobs. Would you say that WotR is similar in this respect, or is that aspect of the gameplay improved?

Yes, it's a valid criticism. The setting may not be for everyone, and you may prefer something a bit more adult, realistic, and gritty than the Forgotten Realms, something more grimdark like the Dark Company, for example. Ah, it would be good if we had more writers like Avellone writing for CRPGs. But sadly, we will never see Avellone again; he will never write anything anywhere, despite his name being cleared and completely innocent of anything. No one will hire him for fear of controversy. Remember when he was allowed damage and interest, the press article titles were presenting it as if he was the one paying... So it's very difficult to get anything good in this fabulous industry.
If you've tried Kingmaker, there's nothing better in WotR; you already know what to expect, and it's even a bit worse. Sure, you'll hear good things here, but it's fanboyism.

Oh by the way hey ga♥ i said something wrong about wotr and owlcat! Come defend the motherland and defend your honor! You fat fuck unwashed russian lying bag of shit ! Come push your buttons.