I’m gonna be honest, from what I’ve played, it honestly seems like the people complaining about the party members hitting on them too much have just been clicking options without fully reading them. It kinda sounds like the writer here inadvertently started romances with every single party member.

Yes, if you get their opinion of you up high enough, they will open up the possibility of romance- but you can tell them that you’re not interested in them in that way, and the topic will never be brought up again. And yeah, the game is considerably more sexual than a lot of other RPGs. I don’t think there’s any denying that. But the author does make a good point in that it disrupts the usual structure of sex in video games. To me at least, in a way, sex in BG3 feels like it’s part of the world; rather than something that just exists for some late-game cutscenes.

Stellaris and Fallout 4.

Stellaris was the game that got me into gaming. I remember talking to one of my friends back in high school, and he recommended it to me. I picked it up on sale, and I’ve played it regularly ever since. Not only is a good sci-fi grand strategy game, but the sheer amount of mods available means you can make it into whatever you want. Want to play in the Star Wars galaxy? There’s mods for that. Star Trek? Same deal. Want to add weaponized moons, death-rays that monopolize the power of a star, and a bunch of robot cats that are hellbent on consuming all matter in the galaxy? There’s a mod for that as well.

Fallout 4 was the first game I brought after I got my own dedicated gaming setup. I decided that since I had a proper setup now, I might as well buy something that’d take advantage of the new resources I had. Fallout 4 had been a game that had caught my eye since the first ads way back in 2015, so I figured I’d pick it up on sale. And what really made me fall in love with it was the settlement system. A bit strange, I know, but I just really love building things in games. Most of my mods for the game are related to the settlement system in some way or another, and I’ll often find myself booting up the game and building a new shack in Sanctuary or expanding Vault 88 a bit more.

Rockstar’s brought them just to shut them down, I’m calling it now. Probably cheaper and more reliable than pursuing legal action for the same result.

Same here. I’m gonna be more than a bit annoyed if it turns out to be a total mess after two delays and with a $70 price tag. But I’m hoping it comes out good.

I’m cautiously excited. Because if they do pull it off, it’s gonna be great. But just keep in mind that Cyberpunk 2077 looked like “the Cyberpunk 2077 CDPR pitched from the start” in the trailers. Until reviewers get their hands on copies, take everything with a pinch of salt.

It’s been delayed twice at this point, so hopefully it’s gonna come out better than other Bethesda titles have in the past. It’s still a Bethesda title at the end of the day, so don’t expect miracles. But hopefully the launch will be acceptable. Or at the very least, not completely awful.

My advice is work out where you draw the line, and don’t cross it.

I’m gonna be honest- if you’re buying games through Steam, you’re already giving money to a deeply unethical firm: Valve. Valve takes a 30% cut of all transactions on Steam. Valve is also the studio that introduced lootboxes and similarly predatory microtransactions to the western market, and continues to profit from them to this day.

Where I draw the line is when a studio drops below the already low bar set by the industry. When a studio sexually harasses an employee to the point of suicide. When most of the game’s development cycle is pure crunch. When a studio puts predatory microtransactions into a singleplayer game.

I also draw the line when a game (or any other work of media, for that matter) is directly giving money to bigoted scumbags. If a studio employs bigoted scumbags, that person is getting paid whether or not I buy the game. But if a studio is making a game based on the IP of a bigoted scumbag, they’re getting a cut of each sale. When a copy of that game is brought, they’re getting a bit of money they wouldn’t have got if the game wasn’t brought.

And I bet most of it has gone towards getting Chris Roberts a comfy nest egg for when he eventually decides he’s got enough cash, cans the game, and runs away to some country without an extradition treaty to the US.

Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon. I think there’s an anime adaptation.

Stellaris. It’s been “that game” for me practically as long as I’ve been into gaming. I’ve got nearly 1000 hours on Steam alone.

Not gonna lie, if they make good on their promises (I’m still rather suspicious of CDPR after the absolute mess that was 2077’s launch), it might just tempt me to pick up 2077 and Phantom Liberty next time there’s a big Steam sale.