What videogames are you playing in 2025?

[Thomas Shey]

It definitely is.

But I don't consider that entirely a positive.

Well, if you're not a big fan of the rules of a given tabletop game, a computer game being faithful to it isn't going to feel like a virtue.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Well, if you're not a big fan of the rules of a given tabletop game, a computer game being faithful to it isn't going to feel like a virtue.

I don't love everything about BG3's homebrew adjustments, but I do like how martials are generally a lot more capable than they would be in tabletop. The bonus-action jumps that can clear the screen if you have enough STR, bonus-action shoves, no attunement to worry about, all made martials just feel a lot more fun to pilot in BG3.

I appreciate Solasta well enough as a more RAW adaptation but the other edge to that is that it really exposes 5e's inherent flaws. Also any martial in Solasta that isn't Paladin or Ranger is just sadness, because it didn't (couldn't) include some of the best feats otherwise that allow Fighters and Barbarians to actually deal damage. And don't even try playing a Monk in Solasta.

 

[MarkB]

Well, if you're not a big fan of the rules of a given tabletop game, a computer game being faithful to it isn't going to feel like a virtue.

It doesn't need to have anything to do with liking the rules or not. Those rules are designed to work within a multiplayer tabletop environment under human arbitration. Not everything's going to be a perfect fit when going from that to a single-player videogame run by a computer.

 

[Gradine]

It's not even so much about not liking the rules of 5e as a tabletop RPG. But some of those rules play better in adaptation than others, particularly in the form of a CRPGs. Attunement is one of those rules that I absolutely love at the table but would feel completely dreadful in BG3.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I don't love everything about BG3's homebrew adjustments, but I do like how martials are generally a lot more capable than they would be in tabletop. The bonus-action jumps that can clear the screen if you have enough STR, bonus-action shoves, no attunement to worry about, all made martials just feel a lot more fun to pilot in BG3.

I appreciate Solasta well enough as a more RAW adaptation but the other edge to that is that it really exposes 5e's inherent flaws. Also any martial in Solasta that isn't Paladin or Ranger is just sadness, because it didn't (couldn't) include some of the best feats otherwise that allow Fighters and Barbarians to actually deal damage. And don't even try playing a Monk in Solasta.

Don't get me wrong, I love the hell out of BG3 too, but there's something fun to playing Solasta with some built-in 5e system mastery for me.

 

[Thomas Shey]

It doesn't need to have anything to do with liking the rules or not. Those rules are designed to work within a multiplayer tabletop environment under human arbitration. Not everything's going to be a perfect fit when going from that to a single-player videogame run by a computer.

Eh, the sort of things a computer game is going to actually bake into the mechanics don't seem any less applicable there than on tabletop. They may not be what you want, but only because the computer can handle some physical processes in a more sophisticated way than you typically can in person, but there's no reason they should be worse; the only difference is liable to be your tolerance for them.

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't love everything about BG3's homebrew adjustments, but I do like how martials are generally a lot more capable than they would be in tabletop. The bonus-action jumps that can clear the screen if you have enough STR, bonus-action shoves, no attunement to worry about, all made martials just feel a lot more fun to pilot in BG3.

I appreciate Solasta well enough as a more RAW adaptation but the other edge to that is that it really exposes 5e's inherent flaws. Also any martial in Solasta that isn't Paladin or Ranger is just sadness, because it didn't (couldn't) include some of the best feats otherwise that allow Fighters and Barbarians to actually deal damage. And don't even try playing a Monk in Solasta.

Guaranteed weapon drops or certain items if you have enough money.

 

[Gradine]

Eh, the sort of things a computer game is going to actually bake into the mechanics don't seem any less applicable there than on tabletop. They may not be what you want, but only because the computer can handle some physical processes in a more sophisticated way than you typically can in person, but there's no reason they should be worse; the only difference is liable to be your tolerance for them.

The bolded phrase here is doing a lot of heavy lifting. "Tolerance", such as it is, may be the "only difference", but when it comes to adapting anything from one medium to another (we see this most commonly with books to film, but we still do have many examples of adapting TTRPGs to CRPGs) tolerance is everything. Probably the easiest example to point to is narration; book readers are much more tolerant of narration than film viewers are. Generally speaking, the best adaptations aren't afraid to make changes (narrative, character, mechanics) to best suit not necessarily the audience of the original, but the expectations of the typical audience of the new format. This is exactly how we ended up with Real Time with Pause in Baldur's Gate 1 and the other Infinity Engine games.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The bolded phrase here is doing a lot of heavy lifting. "Tolerance", such as it is, may be the "only difference", but when it comes to adapting anything from one medium to another (we see this most commonly with books to film, but we still do have many examples of adapting TTRPGs to CRPGs) tolerance is everything. Probably the easiest example to point to is narration; book readers are much more tolerant of narration than film viewers are. Generally speaking, the best adaptations aren't afraid to make changes (narrative, character, mechanics) to best suit not necessarily the audience of the original, but the expectations of the typical audience of the new format. This is exactly how we ended up with Real Time with Pause in Baldur's Gate 1 and the other Infinity Engine games.

I'll accept that, but far as I can tell, often the most glaring parts of rules are not the parts liable to be visible when hidden behind the screen in a computer game.

I mean, people feel how they feel, but its hard for me to picture a mechanic being more tolerable to me in a tabletop game than a computer game. Its far more likely for it to be intrusive and glaring.

 

[GrimCo]

Mostly HoMM 3 HD edition with Horn of the Abyss. Every now and then some Banner saga or quick game or two of UT 2004. Shame to say it, but i think i only turned on my PS5 twice this year, both times to watch BR movie, not once to play something.