What videogames are you playing in 2025?

[Zardnaar]

I've always been massively entertained by folks getting knocked off buildings and cliffs in video games, especially when it's just a byproduct of a regular attack or you have to put some work into positioning to set it up. Skyrim was a good game for that - sometimes those guys would land like half a mile away if you shouted them off a mountaintop, lol.
In Star Wars the Old Republic this season, they've got a "dynamic encounter" that shows up sometimes on one of the planets where the entire goal is to grab a special "experimental" concussive weapon and use it to blow bad guys off of a walkway. Watching big ol' clunky lifter droids flying arse over teakettle over a railing is hysterical.

Assassins Creed Odyssey had the Spartan Kick.

Its fun climbing up a fortress tower and kicking someone off the tower and down the mountain.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

1) Unlike tabletop RPGs, in BG3, the answer usually IS on your character sheet, or more specifically, in your bags. Virtually any terrible situation can be resolved with the judicious use of spells, magic items and consumables - potions, bombs, spell scrolls, etc.

I’m sure that this has been litigated to death already, but I think consumables are, if anything, too easy to use in BG3. Bonus-action potions, no worries, but the ability of every class to use scrolls, and Larian’s bizarre obsession with barrels, reduces every class to a scroll and bomb-carrying device. On the other hand, in games like Pillars of Eternity, where you have a very limited amount of item quick slots, I find myself using the same few consumables over and over again (i.e. healing potions and a couple others). Surely there’s a happy medium somewhere!

 

[Zardnaar]

I’m sure that this has been litigated to death already, but I think consumables are, if anything, too easy to use in BG3. Bonus-action potions, no worries, but the ability of every class to use scrolls, and Larian’s bizarre obsession with barrels, reduces every class to a scroll and bomb-carrying device. On the other hand, in games like Pillars of Eternity, where you have a very limited amount of item quick slots, I find myself using the same few consumables over and over again (i.e. healing potions and a couple others). Surely there’s a happy medium somewhere!

Carrying barrels is mostly waste of time. Games easy as is.

Barrelmancy is more for the giggles imho.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

Barrelmancy is more for the giggles imho.

Fun?! In my video games???

 

[Mad_Jack]

Barrelmancy is more for the giggles imho.

Speaking of barrelmancy, that reminds me of Two Worlds II, where you could construct a spell that explosively summoned a pile of barrels and crates doing damage as an area effect - and then the stuff remained permanently as regular junk.
Combining it with a vortex effect to create a swirling cloud of debris that repeatedly pummeled opponents with the barrels and even picked up the opponents themselves to bounce them off of walls was one of the nastiest spells in the game.

 

[Zardnaar]

Speaking of barrelmancy, that reminds me of Two Worlds II, where you could construct a spell that explosively summoned a pile of barrels and crates doing damage as an area effect - and then the stuff remained permanently as regular junk.
Combining it with a vortex effect to create a swirling cloud of debris that repeatedly pummeled opponents with the barrels and even picked up the opponents themselves to bounce them off of walls was one of the nastiest spells in the game.

Heh there's not really enough barrels in the game to use it that much.

Even on honor mode games just not that tough.

Its funny in silly parties eg all wizards vs say Grymm. Raphael is also funny as you can nuke hit soul pillars or even him if you use enough or combine with grenades.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Even on honor mode games just not that tough.

I agree, but I think we need to be real here, because there are two massive factors here:

1) We know what we're doing, in extreme detail, compared to "normies" with 5E D&D (and this isn't that different, and generally easier). A fight that's trivial with good builds and good knowledge of how stuff interacts can be challenging or even fatal without. Also we know insane numbers of people don't even respec the NPCs much, despite many of them have pretty sub-par setups (Karlach doesn't have Athletics for god's sake, what is even going on with Shadowheart's stat spread? Etc.).

2) Preparation can make an insane difference. If you have the right spells, gear, character mix in the party and so on, a specific encounter may go from again, pretty hard to fairly easy (or in some cases even be trivialized). Also have some idea what's coming and studying the "Examine" on enemies can make a big difference.

That's without even getting into barrelmancy, consumables, etc.

The game needs to be playable on normal without any particularly "together" build, and without preparing for fights. I mean you should probably lose a bit and have to reload sometimes, but not like depressingly much.

And HM is like, insanely cranked compared to even Tactician, let alone Normal. It's just that there's no way you're doing HM in your first run (so you know what's coming, probably actually use the Examine option, don't walk into trap situations, etc.), and you're almost certainly using pretty tuned-up builds.

Like, personally, I have intentionally limited myself on HM by not using any builds that rely on what seem to me to be "dumb" or "annoying" - i.e. like where you dumpstat STR on a STR-based character and just use daily Elixirs of Giant Strength or similar. All characters will have a legit high primary stat! This means I have a LOT less HP from CON than I would if I didn't do that and often lower DEX as well. Anything that involves antithetical or overly elaborate multiclassing is also out, and indeed, I'm trying to do single-class builds where possible (and just shrugging when I miss out on "big" items from events/decisions/kicking people into the abyss). It's still pretty easy to have very strong characters.

Heh there's not really enough barrels in the game to use it that much.

This is very true!

There are kind of slightly disappointingly few, certainly without going around looking for them actively! Like, I'm planning to take out the main level of Moonrise Towers "Guy Fawkes Style", but it's not because that's necessary or w/e, it's because I think it's going to be extremely, extremely funny. However I'm not sure I have enough smokepowder, firewine and oil barrels in camp to really make it sing, so we shall have to see!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I’m sure that this has been litigated to death already, but I think consumables are, if anything, too easy to use in BG3. Bonus-action potions, no worries, but the ability of every class to use scrolls, and Larian’s bizarre obsession with barrels, reduces every class to a scroll and bomb-carrying device. On the other hand, in games like Pillars of Eternity, where you have a very limited amount of item quick slots, I find myself using the same few consumables over and over again (i.e. healing potions and a couple others). Surely there’s a happy medium somewhere!

There has to be, but sure as hell Pillars didn't find it. Two games of largely disappointing consumables. I'm sure they were "balanced" but sheesh. I think BG's problems are really:

A) The game isn't very well-coded, to this day - for example, if you throw a bomb on to an already-flaming surface, it detonates at least twice. Some stuff can cause it detonate way more times than that. In patch 8, in 2025, even on HM.

B) They initially wanted to design a game much closer to DOS2. Very early BG3, the spells and stuff caused way more environmental effects, especially much larger surfaces, and the surfaces did a lot more damage and/or had strong effects. And there even more barrels. People pushed back and they reduced this a lot, to levels where it was cool but not game-dominating, but apparently couldn't bear to be rid of the barrels (which particularly creep back in on Tactician/HM where NPCs have lots to try and mess with the player and make more dangerous situations, but rarely works out that way - I mean not never, an intentionally set-up by the designers detonation in the Zhentarim hideout recently did take out two of my party and nearly got the other two and that could have been a game over!).

Also it's way too easy to get lots and lots of giant strength elixirs!

 

[Zardnaar]

I agree, but I think we need to be real here, because there are two massive factors here:

1) We know what we're doing, in extreme detail, compared to "normies" with 5E D&D (and this isn't that different, and generally easier). A fight that's trivial with good builds and good knowledge of how stuff interacts can be challenging or even fatal without. Also we know insane numbers of people don't even respec the NPCs much, despite many of them have pretty sub-par setups (Karlach doesn't have Athletics for god's sake, what is even going on with Shadowheart's stat spread? Etc.).

2) Preparation can make an insane difference. If you have the right spells, gear, character mix in the party and so on, a specific encounter may go from again, pretty hard to fairly easy (or in some cases even be trivialized). Also have some idea what's coming and studying the "Examine" on enemies can make a big difference.

That's without even getting into barrelmancy, consumables, etc.

The game needs to be playable on normal without any particularly "together" build, and without preparing for fights. I mean you should probably lose a bit and have to reload sometimes, but not like depressingly much.

And HM is like, insanely cranked compared to even Tactician, let alone Normal. It's just that there's no way you're doing HM in your first run (so you know what's coming, probably actually use the Examine option, don't walk into trap situations, etc.), and you're almost certainly using pretty tuned-up builds.

Like, personally, I have intentionally limited myself on HM by not using any builds that rely on what seem to me to be "dumb" or "annoying" - i.e. like where you dumpstat STR on a STR-based character and just use daily Elixirs of Giant Strength or similar. All characters will have a legit high primary stat! This means I have a LOT less HP from CON than I would if I didn't do that and often lower DEX as well. Anything that involves antithetical or overly elaborate multiclassing is also out, and indeed, I'm trying to do single-class builds where possible (and just shrugging when I miss out on "big" items from events/decisions/kicking people into the abyss). It's still pretty easy to have very strong characters.


This is very true!

There are kind of slightly disappointingly few, certainly without going around looking for them actively! Like, I'm planning to take out the main level of Moonrise Towers "Guy Fawkes Style", but it's not because that's necessary or w/e, it's because I think it's going to be extremely, extremely funny. However I'm not sure I have enough smokepowder, firewine and oil barrels in camp to really make it sing, so we shall have to see!

Should be enough but only the the once. You can add the grenades though sold at last light and moonrise.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They finally added bears to Valheim, so I'm.playing that.