AlphaMonkey

It's like a reunion tour on this thread. What is happening?

Oh, and S: check your AO3. You locked down commenting on Raven's Tale. I've been flinging posts at it for days.

The game's actually in Early Access right now. Not all the classes are implemented yet. Ditto with the races, and the story only goes as far as Act 1, but you can buy it and play it.

So, do you remember when someone commented on your AO3, saying that this place was back up?

I forgot I use a different user-name there.

It was me.

 

Hey, Alpha!  How have you been doin'?

 

Hah. That's a long, boring story which no one is interested in hearing.

But it's good to see you. I really should check in more often here. Keep forgetting to, what with all the craziness in my casino penthouse suite, people impinging on my gunrunning business, and just the general hard work that comes with being the CEO of a multinational conglomerate.

... oh, wait, we're not talking about life in GTA Online? My mistake.

I helped out on the Kickstarter for the first Pillars game, but I was kind of disappointed. I think it was a little too gloom & doom for my tastes. Not to mention I got my ass kicked by the difficulty curve. I never ended up finishing it, but I've since reinstalled it after I walked away from it a few years ago, and if I find the time, I might give it another try. I'm of the opinion that the mechanics are a little clunky, though. I mean, Obsidian went and made their own ruleset so they wouldn't have to license one from someone, and in some ways that's good, but in other ways... well... it feels like a homebrew set, all right. It doesn't feel quite properly balanced.

Anyway, seeing as how I was kind of lukewarm on the first Pillars game, I never got around to picking up Deadfire, but I decided to during the most recent Steam sale. So, again, time permitting, I'll see how that goes. Maybe I'll like it after all.

Wastelands was another thing that was on my radar, but I kinda heard some mixed reviews on that one, so I never jumped at it.

But yes, I tore my way through all of Harebrained's Shadowrun games and loved 'em. Again, though, I think it's a case of "good writing/story but not so great on the actual game mechanics." Even Battletech isn't quite as smooth from a gameplay perspective as it could be. I have little experience with the tabletop game, so I can't say for sure, but I've heard that their interpretation of the tabletop rules is kind of hit or miss sometimes and as a result, the actual game feels kind of too slow-paced and a little clunky, even if a lot of the rest of it (like the story and the characters) is fun. That being said, that's part of why I'd be a little leery of Harebrained doing a BG3. They'd probably do ok with the story, but the actual "game" would probably be a little iffy in spots.

I don't know. I'm probably talking out my rear at this point.