What are you playing now?

[JasefWisener]

Played through Oblivion Remastered after launch and loved it, so I’m now about 70 hours into Skyrim now for the first time (playing on Steam Deck). I just finished up the main story, so I’m working on knocking out DLC quests before Elden Ring: Nightreign releases next week!

[Tawmis]

Played through Oblivion Remastered after launch and loved it, so I’m now about 70 hours into Skyrim now for the first time (playing on Steam Deck). I just finished up the main story, so I’m working on knocking out DLC quests before Elden Ring: Nightreign releases next week!

"JasefWisener ... that's a name I've not heard in a long time." - Obi Tawm Kenobi.

I never finished the original Morrowind... I remember playing Arena (never finished)... Daggerfall (I got that when it came out and it had more bugs than an ant house) - so I am pretty sure I never finished that either... and I never purchased / played Skyrim. One of these days, I might go back around to these games... one day.

My boss played Oblivion Remastered and said he was hitting bugs left and right.

Glad ye were able to beat it!

A bunch the folks I DM for that live over in Kansas City (I think it is?) are fans of Elden Ring (another I've never tried).

[BBP]

I was still having a blast of a time when suddenly the Demoncrawl server stopped working, severely limiting its playability.

So I bought Blue Prince.

[Tawmis]

So I bought Blue Prince.

Looked it up on Steam -

How is it?

[BBP]

It's interesting, it's comining an adventure (in 3d) where you need to solve puzzles in a mansion. End goal is to find the 46th room.

Only the first room is always there. If you open a door, you get to choose between three random rooms to put in that place. You have a 9x5 map that you need to try and fill while solving puzzles. You have a limited amount of moves between rooms, if you run out (or if you want to start again) you can "call it a day" - the next day the mansion and your inventory will be reset.

[JasefWisener]

Leanna played dozens of hours of it and loved it. It’s on my backlog.

[BBP]

I'm loving it! 3D is a bit of nausea fuel with me but I just opened my first safe, I'm psyched!

[BBP]

I've finished Blue Prince in the sense I found room 46, but there's still lots more to discover.

Good because DemonCrawl was still broken last time I played.

[Semi-Happy Partygoer]

For the past few months, I've been making my way through "Saints Row the Third" remastered. Wow, what a trippy ride that is! Like GTA on steroids.

I've had so much fun just mowing down pedestrians and outrunning the cops that I've taken my time getting to many of the actual missions.

[Rath Darkblade]

I recently finished playing (and beating) Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon. I enjoyed the 1st, 2nd and 5th Broken Sword games (available on both GOG and Steam), but the 3rd and 4th ones had uneven reviews, so I waited for a sale.

Alas, it seems the reviews were not exaggerated. As an adventure game, Broken Sword 3 is a mixed bag; there are plenty of puzzles and such, but there are also action sequences (which involve running away while being shot at), and "puzzles" where you have to push blocks (or crates, or whatever) into a certain position so you can climb them to reach the next screen. I'm guessing the people who made this game were fans of Sokoban. *shrug*

Anyway, I put quote-marks around the word "puzzles" because these things were not fun or even puzzles (in the sense of an adventure game puzzle). You just need to push or pull a block, or a crate, or whatever, over and over and over again. Ugh.

I also didn't like how this game made George Stobbart (the MC, or Main Character) look like he was a Big Damn Action Hero, because he's not. In the first and second games, it's made clear that he's just a regular guy who gets caught up in outrageous situations, and has to use his wits to save the day. In the ending of this game, he (spoiler) gets a Big Damn Magic Sword and fights a dragon. Meh!

Anyway, that's what I thought. This game is fun, but if you're new to the Broken Sword series, I'd recommend the 1st or 2nd games instead of this one.

[BBP]

Broken Sword 3 was my first BS, it felt really like a watered-down Gabriel Knight to me then. Having played the first two Broken Swords since I do believe it's the worst of the first three, but Eamonn is still one of my favourite characters .

What you may not have easily noticed about BS3 is that it has great cinematics, they have consulted people from the film industry. For instance, when Nico or George leave a scene, the camera stops panning and you see them walking to the horizon, giving you a visual cue that the character is leaving the scene.

As a game I didn't like sneaking my way in around the Prague castle -but the cinematics in that scene are great!

The block puzzles could be a bit of an asset - if there was anything to puzzle about them. Maybe the very last one required some thinking but it was more loborious than difficult. Level 1 of SokoBan is harder than any of the BS3 block puzzles.

[goatmeal]

I recently finished playing (and beating) Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon.

...

In the ending of this game, he (spoiler) gets a Big Damn Magic Sword and fights a dragon.

Let me guess: the Big Damn Magic Sword he gets was BROKEN, and the dragon he fights was SLEEPING ?

[Rath Darkblade]

Broken Sword 3 was my first BS, it felt really like a watered-down Gabriel Knight to me then. Having played the first two Broken Swords since I do believe it's the worst of the first three, but Eamonn is still one of my favourite characters .

I had to look him up again. Ah, Eamon O'Mara. POETRY IS A SERIOUS THING! Agreed, I love his laidback attitude to everything ... except poetry. And beer. *G*

What you may not have easily noticed about BS3 is that it has great cinematics, they have consulted people from the film industry. For instance, when Nico or George leave a scene, the camera stops panning and you see them walking to the horizon, giving you a visual cue that the character is leaving the scene.

Agreed about the cinematics. For instance, I loved the escape from the theatre and the sequences in the armillary (Egyptian pyramid), even if Anubis was not quite what I expected.

(Nerd alert: Anubis has a double-bladed axe, which was never used as in battle by any civilization. Ever. No, not even the Vikings. But it was certainly used on ceremonial occasions in places like ancient Crete, and also more practically by lumberjacks in North America. But as a weapon, it's unbalanced, awkward, and less effective than a single-bladed axe. *shrug* Sorry, Gimli fans).

As a game I didn't like sneaking my way in around the Prague castle - but the cinematics in that scene are great!

Again, agreed. I got killed in the Prague Castle way too often, sometimes because I made a dumb mistake, but often because someone's dog started barking.

It's strange that you say it reminded you of a watered-down Gabriel Knight. Me? The Prague Castle reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. (Yes, I'm old).

But speaking of the Prague Castle, I'm wondering how the guards seemed so alert when you were sneaking in the courtyard, but never saw George sneaking on the roof.

The block puzzles could be a bit of an asset - if there was anything to puzzle about them. Maybe the very last one required some thinking but it was more laborious than difficult. Level 1 of SokoBan is harder than any of the BS3 block puzzles.

Some of the block puzzles were genuinely difficult. For instance, the one that happens after the Grand Master of the Templars spots George and Nico, and brings down the final room of the Armillary with explosives. Why does it always have to be a bomb? And how come it doesn't shatter the whole place into tiny pieces?

I recently finished playing (and beating) Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon.

...

In the ending of this game, he (spoiler) gets a Big Damn Magic Sword and fights a dragon.

Let me guess: the Big Damn Magic Sword he gets was BROKEN, and the dragon he fights was SLEEPING ?

Only half-right: The Big Damn Magic Sword is not broken.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure why the game series is called Broken Sword. Does anyone know? I always assumed this was because of the connection to the Templar Order, which (spoiler alert) George and Nico investigate in the first game.

[BBP]

The broken sword wiki links it to the sword of Baphomet:
https://brokensword.fandom.com/wiki/Sword_of_Baphomet

Yeah I recall the puzzle in the Armlilary room, it is harder than the others but more because the room is round and the blocks and the controls will only move perpendicular.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm - I did some digging into the "Sword of Baphomet" because it triggered something in my memory. Imagine my delight to find that "Baphomet" exists in real-life history, and was also connected with the real Templars - at least, it featured heavily in the mock-trial that the King of France held when he persecuted them.

The "Sword of Baphomet" itself is harder to discover any real-life evidence for, though. That was probably made up for the game.

By the way, there was a short, fan-made game called Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of the Templars, to explain what happened between the ending of Broken Sword 2 and Broken Sword 3. Now I know what to play next!

Another by the way: I intended to play Broken Sword 4 next. Is it better than Broken Sword 3?

One last question: why are the bad guys in these games (almost) always Templars (or as the game calls them, Neo-Templars)? Now I'm curious. Is there any reason for this, or at least some kind of hypothesis why?