I oscillate between: “it’s done for the lolz”and “only somebody like this would actually dedicate themselves to cracking denuvo for (almost) free”.

I totally agree that it makes the world more interesting. It’s like if Tom Bombadil had a pegging fetish. The unexplained is needed to add some magic to the world, and if it were to be understood the allure would be lost.

I thinks that’s a really good point. Coming up with a couple at most points of deviation that allow for new technologies.

The premise of the expanse, for example, hyper efficient ship propulsion. It’s not explained how, but this single change allowed for the solar system to be treated as a navigable setting. At least until the alien stuff.

Blindsight was amazing, I really loved that one. It’s not exactly the most sci-fi aspect of it, but I really enjoyed the horror of a human variant that was predatory towards other human variants as an explanation for the vampire myth. Like, imagine being in a cave tending the fire knowing a predator just as human as you could be out there. Shiver inducing.

I’ll check out “revaluation space”, being mentioned alongside “blindsight” is a strong recommendation.

I don’t know where it’s from, sounds almost like something Pratchett would write. I’m fairly certain the Hitchhiker FTL was based off probability.

The bits about the cultural revolution were interesting because I’ve never really seen it depicted by a Chinese person

Agreed, that was interesting. I had to switch to an epub because the audiobook version was a bit too sad though.

the whole premise of the story relies on “technology” too absurd to even dignify with the word magic

Yeah, i was a bit dissatisfied with that. My lack of hard science knowledge probably makes it a lot easier to enjoy these sorts of books tbh. Even then, fucking around with protons was far fetched.

I totally agree, I was just referencing the book.

I did not know about the game theory thing, going to keep that in my pocket.

Dark forest hours, who up?

I hope you’re right, I’m honestly scared of what a near infinite frontier would mean for a hypothetical capitalist society capable of making it to type 1 let alone type 2.

Yeah it’s a renaissance but …

I see what you mean. perhaps I’m reaching a bit on this, but I’ve never considered RTwP to be a fundamentally necessary aspect of the genre (more a set of conventions that existed during a golden age that are treated as genre). Like, Larian and Owlcat give me huge amounts of hope for rpg games made for ttrpg enjoyers which is kind of how I’ve viewed the spirit of “crpg” as a genre.

pillars

Loved those games

The combat has such beautiful math

This goes above my head, buts sounds like it’s super interesting.

Yeah I’m pretty unsure about those leaks because how do you make mages and warriors and rogues all fun while moving towards action?

That’s partly why I find it exciting. I love it when a studio charges head on against a design challenge. Even if it fails, it’s interesting to examine the why and how afterwards. If it works, they’ve progressed the medium.

saved it to the character file instead of the save file

Diabolical

companions that only follow you on certain playthroughs would be just as cool

Agreed. In BG3 it’s highly likely there is going to be a companion lock of some sort after act 1. We only have ancient dev diaries and some vague hints towards from data mining, but that might actually happen based off what we know so far.

A spinoff game about apostates that deals more directly with blood magic as a central theme would be cool.

I don’t think there’s been an attempt aside from Tyranny to tell a serious story about having a villain protagonist.

This could be an awesome to tell a story of a tragic villain. Like, the character starts as a hunted newly awakened mage who just wanted to be free or something. Have the wise old person character be a blood mage who saves them from the templars and go from there.

Thanks for the info, I didn’t know about the devs saying that. It makes a lot of sense though.

Dread wolf sounds like it’s going to be lit, I’ve always felt like rebellions against magic users are under explored in fantasy. Like, if some people can harness the power of creation it would make sense for class divisions t o split along those lines.

thanks for the tips, human noble revenge saga was pretty goated in origins, but so was city elf.

What’s your opinion on blood mage in inquisition? In origins it really fit those “apostate anti-cleric” vibes

That’s a lot of info, thanks!

The mod list is highly useful, the war table made me feel like I was playing an mmo last time lol.

That’s good advice on the don’t 100% hinterlands, I was a hardcore completionist last time I gave it a shot.

Is artificer like a rogue? Crit stacking is always cool.

You’re right on about mellowing out with “everything needs to be like the worst parts of antiquity in order to be realistic” vibe.

My origins character almost undoubtedly left ferelden a worse place, but can you really blame an elf for burning it down? I still wish we got a direct sequel tbh, but you’ve definitely pointed out the things to look for and appreciate. I look forwards to seeing why so many people are obsessed with Solas as a companion on the sub.

That’s a ringing endorsement and honestly convinced me to give it another go.

I know it’s at least partially the age I was at the time, but origins really was perfect to me. Well, that and Inon Zur’s amazing work.

What mindset would you recommend approaching inquisition from in order to appreciate it?

Fr, origins actually had good world-building and character writing.