re: Kingdoms Come Deliverance II

Expedition 33 is a groundbreaking experience and will usher in a new genre. I love KCD2 too

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It wipes the floor with Expedition 33 and it's not even close.

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Expedition 33 is a groundbreaking experience and will usher in a new genre. I love KCD2 too

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There's nothing groundbreaking about it. It's a Dark Souls take on Super Mario RPG

Over time though, I think you will have plenty of copycats.

Hopefully this doesn't ruin turnbased JRPGs the way soulslikes have ruined linear third person action games.

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way soulslikes have ruined linear third person action games.

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Sorry you’re not skilled enough to beat them

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Sorry you’re not skilled enough to beat them

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It isn't necessarily a matter of skill. I derive virtually zero sense of accomplishment from beating a video game, and to be perfectly honest, you shouldn't either.

I value a good plot, a sense of immersion in exploring a 3D world, and the way the game feels with the feedback between pressing buttons on the controller versus what happens on screen.

Video games were "difficult" in the 80s because they were either arcade games designed to get you spend quarter or because they were literally 30 minutes long (sometimes both) and constantly failing and retrying made you feel like you got your money's worth.

A souls game is 40 hours long. Beating my head against a wall fighting boss for hours/days/weeks is not, by any stretch, my definition of "fun." At some point, I recognize that I have better things to do. Then there are mechanics that seem to serve no real purpose such corpse runs or the inability to even pause the damn game.

I thought Demon Souls was a nice breathe of fresh air when it came out in 2009, but every subsequent iteration brings next to nothing new to the table. Many games are outright clones of Demon Souls or they take very specific elements from soulslikes in place them into games that are otherwise not really soulslike in nature.

I would like to see data on percentage of players who actually complete these games, but one cannot argue with how well they sell. I'm sure this, above all else, has to do with why soulslike mechanics have seeped into so many games like a malignant tumor. It's things like this compared with the gaming community's acceptance of DLC and battle passes, and general focus/preference on live service that has me thinking that I am probably just aging out of gaming as it exists today.

I'm under the impression that Expedition 33 has an excellent story. I do wonder if people would have the same love for the game if the story was stripped out and replaced with some more generic AAA-esque slop and the gameplay mechanics were left to stand for themselves.

Turn-based combat is all about strategy and choosing the correct commands in turn 1 to counter what the enemy will do in turn 2. If you think you have to reply on pixel perfect dodging/blocking to avoid damage or playing QTEs to do damage, you probably should have just made an action game to begin with.

The one problem I do have with KCD II is that the game is much better with a Quicksave mod. I understand what the developers are going for with limiting your ability to save scum; however, the gameplay mechanics aren't tight enough in all instances to justify locking you down a specific story progression should you lose a fight, get spotted in a stealth section, or fail to pick a lock. Sometimes the game's jank just fricks with you, and you should be able to reload a quicksave "if" you want to. Limiting quicksave is just an example of game devs sniffing their own farts.

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It's a Dark Souls take on Super Mario RPG

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WTF?

That isn't anywhere close to being accurate.

The only thing REMOTELY souls-like is how awesome and creative the monsters look

I am very vocal about the fact that I hate Soulslike games. It is a label you can put on a game to guarantee I will not play it

I beat 33 twice

Loved it.