Games

People understandably love to hate Oblivion and Fallout 3, but I feel the side quest writing had heart, like groups of devs got to go wild within their own little dungeons. Their exploitable mechanics were kinda endearing.

…And I didn’t get that from Starfield? I really tried to overlook the nostalgia factor, but all the writing felt… corporate. Gameplay, animation, Bethesda jank without any of the fun. I abandoned it early and tried to see what I was missing on YouTube, but still don't "get" what people see in that game.

If you want a big walking sandbox in that vein, I feel like No Man's Sky would scratch the itch far better, no?

Meanwhile, BG3 and KC2 completely floored me. So did Cyberpunk 2077, though I only experienced it patched up and modded. Heck, even ME Andromeda felt more compelling to me.

The article totally misses the big intervening step between Skyrim/old Bioware and the failure of Starfield/Dragon Age: CDProjectRED.

While those studios largely just made "more of the same", CDPR made Witcher 3 and then Cyberpunk 2077. Both games are way better narrative experiences and pushed RPG forward. Starfield looks very dated in comparison to both, and Dragon Age failed to capture to magic. Baldur's Gate 3 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 are successes because they also bring strong narratives and emotional connections to the stories.

Starfield would have been huge if it had been released soon after Skyrim. But now it just looks old fashioned, and I think the "wide as an ocean, as deep as a puddle" analogy is good for Starfield. Meanwhile Witcher 3 - which is 10 years old! - has quests and storylines with choices and emotional impact. BG3 and KC:D2 are heirs to Witcher 3.

I concur; we need more of this new breed of aggressively strange RPG's, like earthbound/mother, planescape:torment, and morrowind.

Less flash, more passionate people allowed to create. Shocker.

The joke of these games is that they aren't notably more weird than titles Bethesda and Bioware were famous for turning out. Hard to get more weird than Fallout's more esoteric vaults or Morrowind's bizarre cults and exotic cultures.

BG3/KC:D have been, if anything, a direct successors to the old classics. They're faithfully propagating the fundamental ideas these old titles represented in a way the new studios are unable to reproduce.

Also, honorable mention to the poor bastards who released Disco Elysium and then got their studio stripped out from underneath them by their financiers. Absolute gem of a game and you should feel free to pirate it without a twinge of guilt.

I wish there were more new sci-fi RPGs of that quality.

I do hear CP2077 is good now and I keep meaning to play it.

TBH I'll probably end up enjoying Starfield once I get around to trying it as well.

If you're even remotely interested in Warhammer 40k, the Rogue Trader CRPG is excellent

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2186680/Warhammer_40000_Rogue_Trader/