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I love HOI4. I ended up getting to 500 hours though and just kinda stopping. Funny you mention CK3, I've been playing a lot this month and might do a video on that soon. I really like it. It's not the best Paradox game, but for me it's just so a nice ui that I end up just playing for hours. I really like EU4 too, but have never played hoi3, eu3, vic2 etc that era of Paradox. I wish I could time travel to a few years from now where ck3 is fully fleshed out and eu5 has come out, but for the time being CK3 is still great fun

it's a fantastic game with lots of baldurs gate 3 style freedom, but I don't think about it too often in retrospect

I plan to review the second game one day. I remember when I was a kid and it came out seemed like the most high tech graphics ever

@@stonedskeletongaming It looked good but pretty much everything else was a backstep IMO. All guns share a common ammo so if you run out of ammo for your favorite gun you can't fall back on a weapon using a different ammo type. The skill point system is removed so your only ability upgrades come from Augmentations. And while I don't remember all the endings clearly the ones I do recall all suck, and basically make it impossible to continue the story which is probably part of why the third and fourth games are both prequels set before the original game.

yeah when it came out I was too young to have a pc to play it, I think my stepdad had it though. I think I was 7 when the first game came out so it too went over my head. I've heard that 2 isn't absolutely horrible and it's still a fun world to exist in, but yeah many steps back to accomdate being on consoles

I’m at work atm so just wanted to say I appreciate the response! I’m still waiting for rogue trader to be fixed. I got to act 3 when it released and just want to give it a year. I’d still say give bg3 a try, but if the artificer is a deal breaker I’m sure it’ll go on sale soon

@@stonedskeletongaming If Baldur's Gate 3 had come out in 21 or early 22 buying it full price despite the lack of an Artificer might not have been as big a deal for me. But due to RL my fun budget is much smaller then it was back then so I have to be much pickier about which games I pay full price for because i will probably be a while before I can buy another full price game. And that means any significant disappointing feature like lack of a class I was hoping to be able to play as sends a game straight to the get on a good discount list.

@@roguerifter9724 that's fair. Tbh I imagine Rogue Trader is in a very playable place now, but I plan to save my review for after the new DLC comes out. I imagine it's gonna break more than it fixes, but seems owlcat games are always going to be some level of broken so I'll need to accept that to enjoy the game. The first 3 acts were so fucking cool though.

@@stonedskeletongaming Yeah I didn't start my Rogue Trader run until early February so I imagine many of the initial bugs were gone before I started. The early part of Chapter 3 wasn't fun because my Rogue Trader was an Officer so the lack of party members early in the chapter was annoying. At least I had the right weapon proficiency to let me use the weapons I took off the early fallen enemies letting me equip a one hand Pistol and one hand Melee weapon combo that was close to one of my two typical weapon sets (The other being a two hand Shotgun) It was also kind of annoying that my Rogue Trader's love interest Cassia was the last of their party members the chapter let them get back on the team. I used some of my recent birthday money from family members to get the season pass. One of the reasons I won't be starting Baldur's Gate 3 right away even if I get it during the upcoming Summer sales is that I don't want to be mid run of it when the Voidship focused Rogue Trader DLC comes out. I just hope my save I have for running the DLCs isn't too late in the game to start the DLC or something. (Its shortly before the point of no return for the last chapter.)

I wish I was playing RT right now haha, but I'll probably want to beat it twice before I review it so maybe for it's 1 year I'll do a video on it. If I started a run now I'll end up jumping ship for elden ring dlc and then not remembering how to play RT when I get back to it

I'll def replay this game one day and most likely have a better time all around because of it. Older games tend not to be fun until you engage with them properly and that was probably the case here, I just didn't have it in me to do an immediate replay for review. Haven't tried the remake of 1 yet but it looks good and looking forward to the enhanced SS2

it's a lot of fun and so is mike it'll be a yearly replay game for me just to see all the content

You should read Jim Stephanie Sterlings review on I think destructoid? So much hyperbole in one article 😂 from a deadly premonition lover too no less

I like to review a mix of old games and new. Old games to broaden my gamer knowledge and new games as treats 😂 Most of the time the older games end up being a treat too though. This one especially

@@stonedskeletongaming In that case I would suggest Suikoden III for you or Xenosaga. Both now have mods that have remastered "most" of the graphics. Lost Kingdoms is an old overlooked one that I really liked. Xenosaga is likely the most well known followed by the Suikoden "series" I'd say few people know of Lost Kingdoms. Also a rare gem, if you like Monopoly, A strange game called Culdcept Saga. It's a game my sister and I dug into for many many hours, and she's was not much interested in video games.

Haha I just looked up Culdcept Saga and apparently it was never released in AUS. While not a board game, Junes review is most likely gonna be monster train so similar style. Who knows how long I’m gonna be in an Elden ring hole after the dlc releases 😂

My second playthrough I only knocked out guards but I executed anyone I could in cutscenes. I think this will be a yearly replay comfort game from now on for me.

Mike is just such a fun character too. After beating it the second time I had to go back and recapture some footage from the beginning and I had finished Saudi Arabia before I realized I had the footage I needed an hour ago. Just a really fun game all around

I’ve been at a dnd table maybe 3 times in my life but I would say I have very casual knowledge of the setting. Dnd is so influential that if you’ve played games long enough a lot of it will seem familiar even if you know nothing of dnd. This game in particular has a weird wacky setting which explains itself pretty well. If you’ve played Disco Elysium than this will feel pretty similar; it’s a story of a man and a city

I think for anyone that digs gnarly puzzles, this game is a must play

They've gotta fight so the rest may live!

my top 5 right now is rimworld, hoi4, elden ring, tekken 8 and bloodborne, in no particular order

I tried to make the review I would want to show my friends if I had to sell this game :) cheers mate!

my current playthrough is the closest ive ever been to finishing the game on strive to survive randy, but I think he's fallen asleep and I'm getting bored so I might awaken the monolith

900 hours i haven't won a single game

@@stormy1055 lol you're a beacon of light to the hopeless like myself. tbh I am ok with it since I use few mods. (most mods seem to make the game easier rather than harder)

@stonedskeletongaming Most of the time, I do a run with randy random losing is a fun 500% threat, increased hostile factions using the vanilla expanded mod, and 4k pawn mod plus I try to find the perfect pawns normally takes me 4 hours pressing random to find the perfect group if it's a bad map eith the wrong stone type I reset so yeah I'm a perfectionist and I suffer because of it. Basically, shooting myself in the foot

@@stormy1055 haha that's how the best stories are told

It’s the best

Haha that’s the goal! Thanks so much mate I appreciate it!

This kind of comment is what I get out of bed for haha

I haven’t beat ToB either! I’m gonna continue this series one day, I just need to spend some time workshopping how to make it without burning myself out. I was probably too indepth with note taking and could have left stuff out while still being thorough. I love BG2 but I’m bad at playing more than 2 or three games at once so I haven’t played it since this video

I tend to struggle when talking about presentation cause I’m a mechanically minded kinda guy but it’s impossible not to talk about NV’s sound design. So good

I’m Australian born to a mostly American family so you’re spot on. I have US citizenship from my mother… so while I don’t consider myself an American, I technically am one 😂

for sure, sleep was the least pressing of the hardcore mode additions. I cannot tell you how much footage I got of me drinking from clean toilets to get my hydration up... thanks for pointing that out!

very well put

@@stonedskeletongaming you should do a full review on hardcore mode, base game is good but dlc food stuffs make it way easier down the line, with a minimum survival level of 40 you can make gecko kebabs which give both food and water, just eat one of those and knock back a atomic cocktail and your good for about three in game days, than bring 12 doctors bags and as many stims as you need, also you kind of have to build yourself right, I usually go for max strength intelligence and luck so I hit everything I shoot at have the most base max weight and be somewhat good with meds, btw I cant play new vegas on normal mode, after my second playthrough I was hooked

What do you mean "4 no VATS only"?

​@@bricaaron3978 Fallout 4. Play like a shooter. By the way the trait Fast Shot will disable aimed shots (VATS) in the original Fallout.

@@bravalloy I don't know what you mean, though. There is no V.A.T.S. in Fallout, and there is no aiming either --- everything is turn-based.

many nights falling asleep to that song being stuck in my head...

For sure, though the way the game gives the illusion of a larger map is impressive

I would have liked a large area extended from the bottom of a decimated city area to contrast the world coming back as I liked the nuked out asthetic of fallout 3s map and how it juxtaposed the humor of the writing with such a grim setting.

3 was my first too and I have fond memories, but I'm almost scared to replay it in case it's worse than I remember, if that makes sense. One day

​@@stonedskeletongaming I played 3 recently. All DLC and went to every location and did almost every quest. It was more fun than NV by design, just not as replayable

@@stonedskeletongaming When did you first play Fallout 3, and how long has it been since you played Fallout 3?

@@bricaaron3978 I first played Fallout 3 the day after it came out and the last time.... ohhhh like 2010 xD I might be due for a replay

@@stonedskeletongaming Yeah, lol, perhaps... At least it's worth another try after all of this time.

I could only imagine what that'd be like. The tone and setting of this game is fucking outstanding

both obsidian and bethesda are now owned by microsoft......so in a way, you'ld get exactly what you ask for

@@adamyounce8487 true you are right

@@adamyounce8487 it's amazing how a company could acquire so many game studios , yet do absolutely nothing productive with them lol good job MS

WHAT LOTTERY?

@@stonedskeletongaming THE ONLY ONE THAT MATTERS!!!

Powder Gang is small-time, man! I'm a winner! I won the motherfucking lottery!

The DLC was for sure a more thought out, love letter to the series and it's themes as a whole that's really essential to the experience. Feels weird that I played all 4 and only dedicated a paragraph to them but yeah... like a whole game of their own

Give Obsidian 18 months and you get a masterpiece. Give Bethesda 10 years and you get a buggy mess.

@@Falloutboy76.4 that still, somehow, works. God Starfield's a buggy mess

Haha I liked Starfield but in a “beat it once and wait for dlc” kinda way. Unlike this which I beat twice immediately 😂

@@stonedskeletongaming May I ask when you first played a video game, and when you first became a PC gamer?

I really appreciate it. I really wanted to do this game it’s due diligence!

I’ve played 3 and 4 pretty extensively… yet to dive deep on the original 2 though

@@stonedskeletongaming Theyre good games, I really like Fallout 2. Fallout 1 has a lot of quirks that make it hard to play but the overall experience is worth it.

Yeah I loaded up 1 a few months back and was just like.... I dunno, underwhelmed. It didn't feel like how I wanted to spend my time, at the time. I know part of this youtube gig is playing games that don't make great first impressions, but games are tougher than others to push through and find the fun. Not saying I don't think there is fun in Fallout 1... more just at the time my mind wasn't in the mood for THAT kind of first impression. Fallout 2 as I understand is everything Fallout 1 was but better, which is similar to Baldur's Gate 1 to BG2, but BG1 hooked me straight from the get go. One day I'm gonna take the time to "find the fun" of Fallout 1.

@@stonedskeletongaming Finding Fallout 1’s fun is honestly gonna depend on how much you like dialogue in games. Fallout 1 has some masterclass dialogue, but also some really BAD dialogue 😂 The Master has some of the best dialogue in the whole series, but you have to get to the end to even experience it, and if you have low speech you just can’t experience it at all 🤣

@@stonedskeletongaming F2 is bigger but I like F1's story telling more. But I also got to experience it when it was new. What's a Vault, or a mutant or a Deathclaw? And I grew up in the western US talking about if they were going to nuke us. :) F1 has a nice tight story that can be finished long before the level cap. F2 is certainly bigger but the developers had different teams creating each area and I think it shows. But if you go down this rabbit hole be sure and check out the hotkeys for using skills on objects. Just press F1 to see them. Oh and tag small guns. And for gods sake don't give auto weapons to a companion.

Glad you liked it however you got here!

I finished the script and voice recording last week but did the editing yesterday. When I had to recapture some footage I was like hmmm… I could just keep playing more of this 😂

better late than never ;)

Will do! I actually beat a few months ago with the intent to review it, but got side tracked with the idea of doing an edited lets play, but I haven't had the time to flesh it out yet I haven't even finished throne of bhaal yet haha. I think a BG2 replay and proper review will be on the cards one day. I don't like having a review for 1 and 3. Feels like I'm missing an episode

Absolutely. That was lazy writing on my part and I'm grateful to you for being understanding there because that was what I meant. I think I was so in love with The Happy Song, Herald of Darkness and the song from the farm concert in AW1, that when I tried listening to their actual music I was super disappointed... reminded me of 2000s Metallica or something. They are super proficient too. The way that the guitarist has to noodle in We Sing to fill out the combat sections are really well thought out. It's tough to noodle for 8 minutes and not feel self concious you're repeating yourself hard. I think what I really meant was that despite me thinking they're "bad", Remedy still delivered it to me in a way that I found highly enjoyable, even if the music on it's own doesn't rock me

rock on brother

You are subjectively correct!

I dig what you're saying. I guess when this came out I was still finding my footing and figuring out what kind reviews I was making. With this game in particular though I think the joy is in the minute to minute dialogue, not the overarching story. I try to only explain premise in my more recent reviews as you're right, even if the game is old there are new people to the hobby every day who want to explore older games

That sucks Dan

Indubitably

I figure out stuff by ear mostly but check out the channel @doesitdoom czcams.com/channels/cnbt-HT9GbsN2jNw9iEJGw.html He does great tabs

@@stonedskeletongaming thanks man, awesome stuff btw

haha I still put a few hours in each week to my tactician playthrough and after that will put a few hours each week into a honor mode playthrough. Currently sitting at 250ish hours