#me and my party will be entering baldurs gate with style

[yuelaos-codex]

Finally in Act 3. The number one priority is to make everyone look good. I'm banning ugly armor in camp

[frantic-fiction]

Happy Birthday

(Gif: Alistairs)

Prompt: The gang throwing Spawn Astarion and Redeemed Durge a joint birthday party 😭

Credit to @bauldersgrave69 for letting me use their idea. Hopefully, you like it.

Astarion x F!Reader (Mostly Gender neutral but reader does wear a dress)

Warning: None. No spoilers just durge's memory lost and violent tendencies. This is pretty much pure fluff.

Word Count: 3.1k

It's been almost a year since you found yourself aboard a mindflayer ship, forcibly shoved into an adventure - one with life-changing choices. Choices that left you with a family not bonded through blood and torture, but one of trust, acceptance, and a chance to change something in yourself that you didn't fully comprehend when you woke up in that pod.

And the most important piece of the puzzle is currently walking next to you. As close as appropriate in public, moving away from the waterfront, Astarion would occasionally drop kisses on any exposed skin he could reach. But for the most part, he was content to hold your hand in his, just happy to be with the love of his life.

It was your date night. After the chaos had died down, you and Astarion had established this weekly tradition. Neither of your previous lives before the tadpoles allowed for much personal exploration or relaxation. The dates aimed to help take back both the agencies that had been torn away violently by cruel masters.

It was Astarion's week to choose the activity. He decided to push his boundaries just a bit and go dancing - not the stifling ballroom dances Cazador demanded be performed during various public events. No, Astarion wanted liveliness, drinks, and a wonderful band.

So, he bought a lovely pale yellow sundress from a stall by your apartment and added his personal style, ending with a beautiful garment - swirls and intricate patterns embroidered as accents. Donning himself in a dashing doublet, dark greys, and black accented with a similar shade of yellow.

The blushing mermaid was brilliant, the band jovial with pounding drums, and excellent lute and violin playing. Drinks were shared until heads were fuzzy. It took a bit for Astarion to work up the courage to dance, but he quickly offered his hand. The moment it was offered, your drink was down, and with a flushed face and a smile, you took his hand and pulled him to the dance floor.

The rest of the night was spent spinning and dipping until you were dizzy. You had never really danced, and if you had, that memory was lost and not worth finding. At times, you would stumble into a spin or out of a dip, but Astarion was always there to make sure you stayed on your toes with a firm hold.

When the energy of the night waned down and the band began to play a slower tempo, Astarion didn't hesitate to pull you flush against his body. His coolness was a pleasant contrast to the stuffiness of the mostly crowded tavern.

Astarion bent down to kiss you below your ear, whispering, "I don't think I will ever run out of thank yous."

"For dancing with a handsome man, I can say it was tiring but I'm having fun." The word is still a foreign concept, but one you and Astarion have become incredibly good at together.

"Yes, this night has been the best dancing I've done in years." You card your hand through his curls; his hand trails the curve of your spine. "But my thanks go beyond tonight, with you, my love. I have felt - you see I..."

Words seem not to be able to grasp what Astarion wants to say. So, he simply smiles and captures your lips in a kiss. Not everything needs words to express.

****

"My sweet, I believe we forgot dear Evelyn's oranges."

You had just entered the neighborhood where your house resided. It wasn't anything big; neither you nor Astarion liked the idea of a big space with rooms that would stay empty and cold.  

Thankfully, you came across Miss Evelyn, a sweet elderly gnome who owned a multifamily home. Her son had sadly died when the Absolute took Baldur's Gate. His wife and child went back to her parents, leaving Evelyn with a lot more space than she needed.

Astarion and you rented the upper portion of the home. The rent was cheap and you wish to pay more, and when you tried to explain just how much wealth you could spare, Evelyn shut it down immediately. She said that her price was fair and all she needed to make it for herself.

There was no room to argue after that, so you and Astarion took it upon yourselves to help her in any way she would allow - like getting oranges.

"I'll run out early before she wakes. Eve won't even notice."

"If you try to throw me on the chopping block again, I will not be making any cookies for a month."

"You would never!" You gasped, clutching your chest in dramatics.

"Don't tempt me, darling; I can be very stubborn." He said this, holding the gate to the property for you.

"Star, you know how her disappointed look makes me feel," the gravel crunched under your feet, the porch light to the house breaking through the dark.

"Yes, well, you'll just have to hope she made her bedtime." He kissed your cheek smugly and walked ahead, taking the stairs two at a time.

His shoes hit the wood boards of the porch when you heard, "Oh good evening Evelyn dear, I do have to apologize; my love completely forgot to get you oranges. By the time I realized their mistake, the vendor was already gone for the evening."

Handsome fucking asshole. Hands bunched up the skirt as you followed up the steps. He is going to have quite the time having any post-date fun with the way he's playing.

Making it to his side, Evelyn's in her chair, a basket of walnuts beside her. She didn't say anything for a moment, leaving only the crickets. Grabbing a walnut, she placed it on the table and slammed a hammer you did not see, cracking the shell before popping the flesh into her mouth.

"I figured, you two never get the things I want when it's your date night. Whatever, just get them tomorrow; your visitors gave me these walnuts so I'm not too bothered." The words were jumbled between almost toothless gums and walnut bits. A few pieces flew outwards with trails of spittle.

"Visitors?"

"Yeah, that little ragtag group you got. The bald one gave them to me. Told me something about 'Boo' thinking it would be polite since I let them break in and all."

Astarion and you met eyes, confusion reflecting each other's. Why was Minsc here?

"Did you plan something?" You asked.

"No," Astarion quickly turned to Evelyn, " I hope our little friends haven't been too much of a bother. Have a wonderful evening, my dear. Your oranges will be in your fruit bowl come morning."

He grabbed your hand and made for the stairs to your floor. Evelyn simply grumbled "They better be, pointy," before slamming the hammer down again.

You started to pull Astarion faster up the remaining stairs. But as soon as you reached for the door, Astarion halted you with an arm snaking around your middle. His mouth captured yours in a kiss, fast and heavy before you could even speak.

You melted. It's automatic, instinctual. You sigh carding you finger in his hair tugging on the roots. The orange incident quickly forgotten and the heavy annoyances with it. Not even the question of why your friends have broken into your home during date night mattered. His lips were gone too soon.

"I don't know about you, my sweet, but I believe our little weirdos have been very rude to us." He breathed into your ear before giving it a nibble. You nodded slightly, pulling his face to your neck. The he scrapes his fangs against you throat and you gasped

"I think they should have learned by now that I like to keep you to myself at night. And on our lovely date night, where you have been teasing me all night with this garment."

He pressed your back roughly against the door. The hinges whined against the force. You kiss him again, feeling his leg press between your legs. "And how am I to know that I shouldn't be ravishing you right here against this door."

"OKAY, OKAY. WE GET IT, ARESHOLE. DON'T INTERRUPT DATE NIGHT," Gale yelled.

"Maybe the next time we think about doing something nice for you two shits, I'll remember to bring earplugs," Wyll followed.

Astarion stepped you both back fully on your feet. "Maybe this time they will finally learn." Placing one last soft kiss on you cheek, he fully pulled away and moved to open the door.

You couldn't say what you had expected to see walking into your home. But this was not it.

Bright colors of balloons cluttering the floors, strings of paper tossed haphazardly around your living room. Your dining table is scatered with wrapped gifts and a frosted cake.

Each of your companions stood, all staring at Astarion and you, a mixture of disgust, excitement, and boredom (though that was mainly Lae'zel, who stood brooding in the farthest corner with a purple cone on her head). Oddly, they all had pointy hats tied to their heads. Even little Boo.

Scratch, who with all the excitement of seeing all of his friends back at his home, had begun to use his as a chew toy. Minsc pleaded with him to stop and seemed to be having a three-way conversation between the dog, Boo, and himself.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Karlach screamed as if the words had been burning in her mouth for hours. This had each and every one of your companions repeating the same phrase.

The shocked and confused looks Astarion and you shared must be very evident because Wyll was quick to jump in. “You both shared with us not knowing when your birthday was, so we’ve all decided what better time to celebrate than the start of our journey.”

This had Astarion's hand tightening in yours, his posture stiffening. Your heart hammered against your ribs, tears brimming over, trickling down flushed cheeks.

You don’t deserve this. The little voice echoes, the same voice that chokes you at night when you lay crying in Astarion's arms as he helps you calm from a panic attack. These people. This beautiful, caring family you stumbled upon was too good for such a broken, tainted person like you. To even think about this, planning a party with cake and presents simply to celebrate you and Astarion just living another year.

Him you understand; you had already been silently planning something similar for him for months. But it’s Astarion. The man who saved you, the one who reminds you each day that you are loved and safe and no longer the puppet of a cruel god. Yes, Astarion deserves to be celebrated and showered with gifts and affection. But you? The same person whose hands are stained so red with blood you still can’t comprehend the full extent of your depravity. No, you don’t think so.

"Well," Astarion’s voice cracks, and he takes a shaky breath, clearing his voice. "I guess being the center of attention for the night should make up for postponing my plan to bend my beloved over the cou-"

This snaps you out of your self-deprecation. You clamp your hand over his mouth loudly saying, "Thank you guys; this is… well, this is just perfect."

You rip your hand away when you feel the wet glide of Astarion's tongue and the scratch of a fang. "Seriously," you groan, wiping your hand off on his chest before stepping away and walking up to give out your first of many hugs.

****

"You cheated, you fucking bastard!" Astarion points accusingly over the coffee table, glaring at Gale. "I can sense a spell; you're not as clever as you think, wizard!"

You rub his arms, silently telling him to chill but shooting a glare of your own at the man. "Not to mention Karlach is not a very good actor," you say bluntly, causing the tiefling to scoff in offense. "You know I love you, Kar, but you have never been a good liar. Gale, if you won't play by the rules, I won't be responsible if Star gets violent."

Getting up from the couch, you peck Astarion's cheek and collect the pile of dessert plates. Astarion stands to start his turn of charades, beginning to mime out his word as Gale, Wyll, Karlach, and even Lae'zel tries to guess. Though Lae'zel only seemed to guess various ways to harm an enemy.

Minsc has himself in a deep talk with Boo. The two sat close to the bay window where Halsin and Jaheria had found themselves in a game of chess. By the looks of it, Halsin was winning, and Jahiera was none too happy.

Placing the dishes in the sink, you quickly wash the cake crumbs and frosting off. You carelessly toss each on the drying rack, Astarion always hated when you did dishes always complaining of the many chips you keep putting in the ceramics. 

Once done, you walked up to Shadowheart where she was dividing the small pile of presents into two.

"Thank you," you said softly, catching the half-elf's attention. It had come to light that Shadowheart had been the one to bring the idea up. "This has been more than I ever expected."

"We're family," was all she said. And you guessed it was all that needed to be. Just a simple act of love for two people in a large, slightly dysfunctional family. You move automatically, practically tackling Shadowheart into a hug.

"This means more to Astarion and me than we'll ever be able to express." The two of you don't mention the hoarseness in your voice. And if Shadowheart felt a few tears drop on her collar, she doesn't say.

She simply hugs you back just as tight. Once you break away, Shadowheart calls for everyone to gather for presents.

It's a novel concept to open gifts while everyone stares on, waiting for expressions of happiness and thanks. It's awkward, and both Astarion and yourself share the feeling of being out in the deep end. But it's kind of fun.

You open boxes to find books and painting supplies (a hobby you picked up after you saved that rather stuck-up painter from the Zhentarim last year.) But the best is a medium-sized portrait of the party together, something you've been begging everyone for months to do. It's beautiful, and you are already thinking of the perfect location to hang it up.

Astarion receives new embroidery supplies, a shiny new dagger, and a small box. It's black velvet, and when he opens the hinged lid, a plain-looking copper band sits in the middle of a makeshift pillow.

Never one to hold his tongue, Astarion cheekily says, "Oh how quaint, look at this darling; doesn't it look just like the magic ring the tiefling boy tricked you with."

You shoulder him, and he laughs. "Actually, it's a bit more magical than that little trinket; we went to a lot of trouble for that thing, so hush," Jahiera scolds.

"Oh then please regale us with the story of this mysterious gift," Astarion smirks.

"They call it the Sunwalker's gift. It's a rare magical artifact that protects a person from light sensitivity," Shadowheart says.

It doesn't process for Astarion right away, but your breath instantly catches. You freeze in shock; how in the hells did they find this? You thought it was just a legend.

"Gale got a lead, and long story short, it's real, it's here. Fangs, you can walk in the sun mate." Karlach smiles bouncing on her feet, her flames flickering a bit brighter in her excitement.

"However, it's not perfect. You can still succumb to some effects of your hypersensitivity. But the ring should allow at least a solid 8 hours of sun exposure." Halsin quickly adds.

Astarion doesn't take his eyes off the ring. His pointer finger smooths over the tarnished band. He swallows dryly, blinking back tears as quick as they come. "This… this" he's lost for words, and no one rushes him. They all know. "Thank you, will you excuse me?"

He's gone before anyone can react. There is no judgment; everyone knows strong emotions are not something Astarion can process anywhere but alone or with just you.

"This is amazing. I'm pissed you didn't let me in on this surprise, but from both Astarion and I, thank you all." You motion for a hug and they all pile in. 

Astarion doesn't return, but no one expects him to. The party wraps up quickly after that; everyone says their goodnight and departs into the night. You lock up the house and retreat to the bedroom. He sits by the window, staring out into the silent city. He's shirtless, his pale skin ethereal in the moonlight. The ring dances across his knuckles absentmindedly, his chin in his other hand.

You make your footsteps purposefully loud as you approach the vampire. Your hands snake themselves around him, caressing his smooth skin of the chest. He catches the ring and turns his face to meet your eyes. You push some hair out of his eye. He's been crying.

"Hey handsome," you smiled, kissing his lips. He turns towards you. Pulling you on to his lap and cups you face. There's no rush to the dance of your lips. Just soft brushes and tongue caress. You pull away panting. 

"Gods, I'll never get tired of this."

"Good cause I'm quite smitten with you." You grab his hands, taking the ring from his palm. You slide it onto his left ring finger, the magic tightening the metal to fit perfectly. You press a soft kiss to it sliding off. "Now come; I want to cuddle."

He helps rid you of your dress, slipping on one of his shi in replacement. You both slide under the sheet, Astarion pulls you onto his chest, strong arms enclosing you. Your head is tucked under his chin. He presses a kiss to your hairline whispering I love you.

You play with his hand, taking it off and putting it on each finger, watching it shift to fit each one. It was quiet for a while. Both of you are just soaking in each other. 

"Our family," Astarion says quietly, his chest rumbling under your ear. You drop his hand and look up. He has a look of pure love. "The term has been one that has only caused me pain for 200 years. To think I would find a new one that could contest 200 years of shit is…pleasant. Something I didn't expect to have again"

You smile brightly, grabbing his face and pressing your lips back onto his. "We really lucked out, didn't we. Now how about we get some sleep, and in the morning, we go get Evelyn's oranges together."

He doesn't say anything for a moment, just running his hand down your spine, stopping at the swell of your bum and back up again. He kisses you again. "There is nothing I'd like more."

Feedback is welcome and always makes me smile, hate does not! Have a nice day, cheers!

[rolanastarionmycat]

The Fire In Their Eyes Part 1

Dammon x Tav | Rolan x Tav | Dammon x Tav x Rolan

Word Counts: 2,835

Warnings: 18+ NSFW

The thoughts of the grueling missions and tasks to do were pushed from Tav's mind as Dammon pulled her to him by her hand and then his free hand to caress her chin.

"Let us have a night in lavish things that have not been afforded till just this moment?"

The weight of his stare was not unnerving to her unlike some of her party members complained. In truth, it was none of them his eyes found whenever they entered the room. It was Tav that his gaze gravitated to. She knew it was not a good time or place to strike the conversation his eyes invited. They were on a mission and such distractions were meant for the dead of night while at camp. Yet still, Tav knew that was the time right, perhaps.....

When her party made it to Baldur's Gate she felt his gaze again as they roamed the streets of the outer city. It was not too long before her party came across a friend they made along the way. Dammon was hammering away on some weapons he was remodeling. Sweat beaded his skin but his demeanor was at ease and a light smile etched on his sweet face. As they approached Dammon looked up immediately finding her eyes and there was instant recognition that lit his face to full joy. The discount from their trade was more than should have been allowed but the wink he sent to Tav after all her other party members turned away had Tav stifle a giggle as she licked her lips as she turned away. Before she made two steps she felt him pull gently on her arms, handing her a small folded parchment, stealing a kiss on her cheek before returning to his station and resuming his work with a now wider smile and firmer hits to the metal he was molding.

That night when all of her party lay to rest she left their suit to meet Dammon at a more private establishment. The tiefling man looked quite different not in his work attire. Instead, Dammon wore a peach-colored nightshirt that looked freshly bought along with breezy pants and shoes she had noticed were the trending style in all the clothing stores they came across since they arrived. His smile was bright and in his eyes Tav detected relief,

"I was not sure you would show. I gathered from what you all bought from my inventory that you still have battles to fight. It was presumptuous of me to be sure, but I saw the chance and I took it."

Tav took his hand and allowed him to lead her into the room he acquired.

"The road was difficult after we last met, but I am glad I have been able to find most of you here. Relatively safe."

The thoughts of the grueling missions and tasks to do were pushed from Tav's mind as Dammon pulled her to him by her hand and then his free hand to caress her chin.

"Let us have a night in lavish things that have not been afforded till just this moment?"

Tav nodded and Dammon took her invitation to let their lips meet. To Dammon, Tav tasted sweet like honey and cinnamon. Tried as he had, Dammon knew the smell of burning embers stuck with him always but Tav found comfort in his scent. To Tav, Dammon tasted like the spice of wood used to smoke flavor into her favorite maple flavors. As they parted, ease settled and Tav let Dammon guide her to the small but delicate platter of treats he'd acquired. Grapes, berries, honeycombs, and wines. They sat and talked of their younger years whilst feeding each other the sweets before them. The honeycomb was messy but an excellent excuse for their tongues to explore each other's skin. When there was no honey left still Dammon's tongue lingered suggestively before giving a gentle kiss that Tav leaned into each time.

As the honeycomb was nearly gone Tav had grown to provoking Dammon to remove his nightshirt. Honey found itself on his chest down to his navel and Tav took her time licking the sweet substance off his fairly warm skin. The closer she moved her tongue toward his navel she felt his heart beat loudly. When she finished, Tav gave Dammon a hungry kiss, climbing onto his lap. His arms came around her instantly as he pulled her to his as he fell onto the pillows behind him. As they parted Tav lay her full body against his, feeling every inch of his frontal. She sat up straddling Dammon with a smile before sitting fully on his pelvis, his pants and hers were hardly a barrier to hide how hard he was beneath her. Dammon's eyes shined in reflecting the firelit lamps around them. He let out the slightest gasp and moan at feeling her over him. Tav felt him straining against his pants and playfully teased by grinding her hips, pressing herself to feel the detail of his hardness even through the layers of clothing between them. With reluctance, she lifted her hips from his lap and shifted herself to sit over his knees. Dammon unlanced his pants and raised his hips the remove his remaining clothing. Tav waited patiently till he laid back once more before she took his hard reddened head into her lips. Dammon groaned deeply. Tav kissed his tip, gently suckling on the tip as she kissed it over and over before she started using her tongue to lick the back of his head with each kiss. Dammon moaned incessantly as she continued without fail until she finally took more than his head into her delicious mouth.

"More," Dammon was already breathless. Tav pulled herself from him and asked,

"How long have you been waiting for this?"

Tav's hand stroked his head whilst she now simply licked his tip. Dammon's heart hammered harder than he hammered metal,

"Since I first saw you at the Inn."

Dammon trembled under her, her eyes invited him to continue and he did,

"I could have kissed you after that attack at the inn. Taken you on that path behind that sorry forge. Ah, fuck!"

Tav stopped all her movements and motions on his head as his hardness twitched in front of her face. She longed to be taken by him, half expecting him to pull her to him and take her in fervent lust. Tav moved herself to his lap now,

"You have been so good to me every time we met thus far. Let me treat you first, Dammon."

There was a fire in his eyes as his hands rested on her hips, his nails slightly digging into her skin as his arms were locked in place seemingly to stop himself from forcing her onto him. Leaning forward she kissed Dammon as she angled herself just right before moving from his kiss so that his head met her other lips. Further, she moved from his face, taking more of him into her, his hardness pulsed along with the moan he let out. Pulling herself up to kiss him he was nearly out of her warmth before she ended the kiss to sink lower onto him. His grip on her hips tightened and the fire in his eyes showed a near-feral need. Again, Tav repeated to kiss Dammon before sitting onto him. She kept going until she had him fully within her. Dammon was throbbing nearly constantly and his hand moved his hips in begging for her to ride him. His throbs were matched by his groans of pleasure and Tav relented. She sat fully on his pelvis before she began to grind herself against him. Her heart pounded as the contact sent shivers of pleasure into her core. Dammon used his hands to make her move even faster. Their moans were loud and unsimultaneous as Tav grew louder and louder. Her peak reached its climax and she pulled Dammon to her as she held onto him unable to move with how tight she came around him. Dammon's breathing labored along with hers as he felt himself about to erupt. Still with her aftershocks of orgasm, Tav pulled herself from his lap just as he came. His hot cum came in long spurts for some time, landing all over her pelvis and thighs. His hardness twitched with each shot Tav watched with great satisfaction before sitting on him again. Dammon wrapped his arm around her waist and a hand to her thigh tightly as he rapidly thrust his hips to hers, emptying the rest of his hot cum into her with abandoned thoughts of logic. Tav trembled around him as she found another climactic peak with his thrusts. They both lay there on the soft pillows instinctively letting their hips move to meet even as their orgasms subsided. They held each other and kissed in the glow of their near-rabid fucking until their hips began to slow. Then their kiss returned to the sweet taste of each other.

When morning came Tav still lay in his arms. She needed to return to her suite where her party would still be asleep to prepare for the day. Dammon lay still asleep. Tav caressed his cheek in her hand before giving a light kiss to his lips for she removed herself from him. He was still semi-hard and it felt regrettable to no longer have him within her but Tav had her mission and tasks to do. Once she was dressed she took a moment to leave a note of her gratitude and small gift appreciation for Dammon to awaken to. When she returned to her suite none were awake. Tav took a quick wash before slipping into her bed to rest for a little while longer.

The days after, Tav and her party explored the city and traded with Dammon each day. They had a significant discount that left Tav with no choice but to have a private word with the blacksmith. Tav agreed to pay him two hundred gold pieces to make up for the lost profit. Dammon hadn't wanted to accept but she was insistent on not getting him in trouble with his employer. Twice more he had invited her to a night alone and twice more she met with him. For all her teasing with her tongue, Dammon repaid in full and more. The most recent night they spent still left feelings of pleasure still even a day after. Today however in the note he slipped her he wrote out of concern. Tav felt slight guilt having forgotten to search for Rolan. Dammon's worry for Rolan was in fact warranted. Rolan was a hero to the people he journeyed with after the events in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. Seeing him bruised and skittish as he was....hurt. After the battle and end of Lorroakan Tav had given Rolan time to heal. When she revisited with her party sometime later, already the store beneath the tower had greatly improved. While her party shopped, she visited Rolan to check on him. Rolan still looked a touch unkempt but healthier than he had been. Tav had never seen Rolan with his hair untied before, nor had she seen him in simpler clothes. In his quarters she saw his small winces of pain and she came to his side.

"Let me aide you, Rolan."

He relented and she casts some stronger spells she had recently learned in her journey. Better as he felt, Tav saw he would not relax and made him a bath. Tav massaged his shoulders as he sat in the bath. Her bare body was flush against his back, and his head rested against her shoulder as he began to relax. Her hands moved down his shoulders to his arms before moving down his back. His sighs gave way to his ease. The water in the tub was enchanted to remain nearly hot, even after an hour of massaging Rolan the water still offered comfort. Rolan turned himself to face her suddenly, planting a kiss to her lips. While surprised, Tav did not move away. This was their second kiss. The first was at Last Light Inn the night she brought Cal and Lia back to Rolan. The kiss was passionate and engulfing and yet when they parted Rolan made an excuse that he was caught in the moment when he saw her alone. She wondered what excuse he would have now, she did not wish for another excuse only for him to be honest with her as he expected her to be. His hands found the back of her knees, pulling her to him, immediately she felt him and he removed his lips from hers. In his eyes was hunger and longing,

"I've wanted you since the night I kissed you."

There were many words and sentences floating around her mind as she felt the tip of his hardness already aligned and ready to enter her,

"I had no objections that night to your attention. I have none now. I only requested that you only take me if you truly want to."

Rolan nodded,

"The apologies I owe you for my behavior are more than one, but I will make my amends. Let me begin now."

And then he pressed himself to her, nudging his head between her lips before slowly moving his hips towards hers. Tav gasped at the sensation. Still sensitive from her night with Dammon, her body reacted in immediate reciprocity. Her hips moved to him. The water in the tub allowed for easier movement. Rolan kissed her with fervor as he pushed his full length into her. The feeling and sensation made her moan before she felt his fingers begin to move in circular motions on her clit. Her whole body shook as he unrelentingly began to thrust into her whilst making good use of his fingertips. The water began to splash against the edges of the tub, some splashes so big they went over the tub walls onto the floor. Despite this Rolan increased his thrusting even as Tav began to reach her climax around him. His vigor was unrelenting as Tav essentially could only moan to show her pleasure as she roughly moved to try and match his pace. Her walls squeezed him in a near iron grip but he did not relent. His moans rivaled hers as he erupted into her without a change in pace. The only sounds audible to their ears were their moans and the splashing of the water around them. His cum was hot, hotter than Dammon's. Tav felt it all within her even as it was pushed out into the water around them as Rolan continued to fuck her. He was still hard and much to her surprise, Rolan moved Tav to have her back against the warm metal of the tub as he pressed himself to her body, his legs wrapped around his waist before he unleashed the most vigorous thrusting she ever had. Her moans were more like screams as orgasm after orgasm ripped through her core. It was nearly too much to bear but she loved it.

Rolan fucked her like she was the last person he would ever get to fuck in his life. His lips found hers as he began to erupt again without relenting. Their kisses were sloppy and continued with their moaning. Still, Rolan continued fucking Tav into the tub wall. She could not believe he was still hard but she suspected that he was quite pent up from the long journey and troubles on the road to Baldur's Gate. Another orgasm overtook her before Rolan slowed his pace. He kissed Tav again but with the passion of a lover who loved to please. His kiss was inviting and begging all at once. Still he thrust into her with his cum. Her hips shook slightly with what felt like semi-permanent aftershocks of orgasms. His thrusting became sloppy as he moaned louder than he had before. The cum that she felt him spewing into her was the hottest yet, it made her eyes roll into her head at the heat that still brought a strong aftershock orgasm. Soon Rolan slowed his pace significantly. Kissing her again,

"My apologies, it seems I might have lost a bit of control—"

Tav silenced him by covering his mouth with her hand.

"It was perfect, this was perfect."

They kissed once more, now an easy kiss where the passion did not overcome them. Rolan pulled himself from her slowly, his eyes watching his cum spill out into the water as he removed himself. Tav noticed that he, like Dammon, still remained half-hard. Her brow furrowed and Rolan caressed her cheek,

"I am spent, my dear. Have no worry, you took all that I could give at this time."

With a final kiss, they left the bath and redressed. In the days that followed, some nights she spent with Dammon, other nights she spent with Rolan. It was nearly exhausting to be pleased nearly every night but that all changed when Tav came to the room Dammon would invite her to. She entered to find both Dammon and Rolan awaiting her. Mischief and fire in their eyes.

[hydropyro]

A Dinner Owed Excerpt

I've fallen away from working on the Choose Your Own Adventure style of 'A Dinner Owed' -- a Fic based on a post-game dinner as promised by Raphael.

Unedited/off the top of my head

Prologue - Invitation - HoH - Offer - Save Hope

"I cannot express how grateful I am for your work. Of course, our deal is concluded -- I gave you the Hammer, which you used brilliantly -- and you dutifully delivered to me the Crown." Raphael was relaxed in his chair, holding a crystal glass of red wine delicately in the hand he always used to gesture with. He tilted the glass, as if to toast Tav. "All fulfilled contracts are satisfying--" he said, "but I find myself feeling indebted."

Tav raised an eyebrow. They had followed suit in toasting their glass, but then they felt suspicious. it was not like devils, and least of all this one, to feel 'indebted'. They turned his words over in their mind, looking for anything that could hold a hidden or double meaning.

He smirked at them as if he could read their mind. And maybe, in his House, he could. "Zariel's army has retreated to her stronghold and is anticipated to fall before the sun rises again over Toril. Either she will surrender, or she will fight -- either way, she will be destroyed.

"And yet I am not feeling the satisfaction of having fully exerted myself. Like my efforts have not earned my success -- absurd, obviously.

"But I'd like to see what I can do. So, with no strings or bargains, no deals or fine print, I offer you something I have never offered anyone in all my many years. I will do you a single favor of your choosing." His smile widened, and even his soft brown eyes seemed to burn. "Test me, hero. If I can fulfill it, I will."

Tav was still silent, turning these words, then, over in their head. Surely he did not mean that there would be no lack of strings or fine print -- that was his modus operandi. Could the theatrical devil function without such?

"Anything?"

"As long as it is not too -- unsavory -- if it is within my power, it will be yours."

Tav thought back to the apparition they had seen upon entering the place. The first time that Raphael had brought them and their party to the House of Hope they had not seen anyone, but today during the tour they had passed several material debtors and apparitions of debtors. Hope, though, had seemed unique.

When asked about her he had blown off the question, simply stating that she was Korilla's sister and part of his indebted. The way he spoke and the way his spine straightened when talking about her made it seem like he was as displeased by her as she was by being there.

"Would you release Hope?"

He froze, the ambition that had burned in his eyes twisting into something crueler, and the curve of his lip in a smirk rolled to that of disgust for a moment. "The Hero of Baldur's Gate -- and of all Faerun and Toril, there's little doubt.

"Vanquisher of Shadows -- Freer of Slaves -- Raiser of the Undertrod. Lifebringer -- Death Dealer -- Defier of Gods. You have accomplished feats failed at by legions."

"I wasn't alone," Tav argued.

Raphael laughed, the otherwise pleasant sound flavored with a hint of judgement and malice. "Of course. We know of your companions -- all their issues -- all their trials and tribulations. What of the main actor in this most spectacular of plays? What of their story? The lead, reduced to a shepherd for the twisted and broken--

"Yes, brilliant as they each may be in their niche, none would have survived this without you. None are like you.

"None of the others were willing to wage their soul for the freedom of a race unknown to them -- a race who would see them as a conquest and a slave should they have ever met in other circumstances--

"Had you died in the Final Act against the Nether brain you would still be here -- with me -- in a very different fashion." He disappeared, only to reappear in the seat beside them, still holding his glass of wine.

"But of course you were successful. You are success. From your humble little hovel in the Gate, befitting of not even a beggar, after tendays of breaking your back even more to rebuild that which you saved, you are brought to sit before a god who gives you a most benevolent offer--

"And you think naught of yourself -- still." A warm, gentle hand rested on their shoulder and the devil's eyes only showed pity now. "Nations and the generations that will be borne of them owe you a great debt. You deserve riches beyond measure and praises beyond words. Things I could have given you with little effort--"

"You asked to be tested," Tav said.

Raphael laughed, removing his hand as he nodded. "I did. What you ask -- I cannot give. Hope binds Korilla and I.

"Make another request."

Tav felt they were walking a thin line, but asked anyway, "Release them both."

He laughed again, resting his glass on the table between them as not to spill. "I am perplexed by, and yet in awe of, your determination, little mouse.

"No, I cannot do that, either. Would you pluck a cat, plump and sated, from the lap of its Master and throw it out into the cold for the sake of 'freedom'?

"Hope is not a payment to me -- rather my payment to Korilla. Neither should be unhappy with the arrangement -- and Korilla decidedly is not." He must have seen the confusion on Tav's face because he patted their hand where it rested on the table in a friendly fashion. "Should you wish to expend your favor -- offered by a budding god whose power will soon rival Ao himself -- on a story -- I am not opposed. I do so enjoy stories.

"If we have finished our meal, should we take this somewhere more comfortable? The Archive, perhaps?" He held out a hand, which Tav took. Again, they felt the pull in their stomach, which indicated they were displacing. Once the world was still again, they found themselves seated on a comfortable sofa beside the handsome devil, looking out across the floor of the Archive where their contract remained.

Tav looked out around the Archive. The Hero was alone with the devil now, though they didn't know where the Archivist had gone. The corners of the Archive were dim, and the stacks of scrolls there, likely other contracts, were difficult to see in the shadow. Their eyes fell on the twisting mural in the tile at the center of the Archive floor, intrigued but unsure of what it depicted.

"I keep Korilla's contract elsewhere if that's what you're interested in. Yours is here in a place of great reverence -- but Korilla's dedication to me over the past decades is unparalleled. Despite the focus of our pact's malcontent, our bond is mutually satisfactory."

He sighed and leaned back into the seat, crossing one leg over the other. "This is your last chance to change your mind -- ask for something more befitting a hero like yourself and a being as powerful as me."

Tav shook their head. "I'm happy with a story." They weren't, not really. It had seemed that Hope was suffering greatly, though it was unclear how. They would have been more pleased if she had been released.

"Korilla and Hope were orphaned when they were quite young, and given to a patron near Reithwyn. A vile and cruel man, who took great amusements in mistreating and abusing the girls. Korilla, the eldest of the two, took much of this upon her self to protect her younger sister. In time, it was too much.

"I was in the area -- for other matters -- and we crossed paths. I could feel her agony, her need, her desire. I approached her, but she laid out the pact." He smiled at the memory, looking across the Archive but his eyes were unfocused. "I don't know how long she had been considering making a deal with a devil -- all I can say is she's quite lucky it was me that she found.

"She would act as my warlock -- my envoy -- my assistant. In return, I would give her sister a comfortable life free of wants.

"I brought them both here. Offered them each all the comforts they could ever want. Korilla leapt at them -- and Hope denied." The disgusted quirk in his lip had returned. "I offered more comforts. Riches that would make a king green with envy. Again, she denied me. I offered her a place at my side. Power almost equal with mine. A title unmatched -- as my consort. She shunned me.

"Ungrateful for her sister's efforts and my gifts -- she remains in my House as my pact with Korilla ordains. And my offers will always stand, should she choose to accept them."

Tav frowned. "Why doesn't she?"

Raphael laughed. "She says that she would never give herself to someone so 'evil'." He scoffed. "Evil."

"Aren't you?"

The devil looked offended at the question, turning his body to angle more toward the hero seated beside him. "What is evil, little mouse?"

"Well -- torture -- for example. Don't you torture the debtors?"

"I have most of them torture themselves."

"And you enjoy it," Tav said.

The devil smiled at them. "I do. Very much. But is that evil? Did you not enjoy the roast you had for supper?"

The mortal frowned and considered his question. During the meal they had remarked on the quality of the meat, saying that it was the best food they'd ever eaten. "I did, but that's not the same."

"Is it not? A cow died for that meal that you savored."

"I didn't torture the cow."

He shook his head. "No. Still, your need to eat brought harm to it. Even if it had been put down in the gentlest way possible -- the needs of your stomach necessitated its death.

"The torment of souls is the same for me. I must eat, too, mustn't I?"

Before Tav could respond, he continued, "Now, I could be accused of greed, undoubtedly. I have amassed a nice little collection on which I feed. But is the cat evil for feasting on the mice?" He shook his head. "To the mouse, yes. But would not the cat think the mouse evil if they were starved? I know something of torment -- starvation is among the worst. Would starving a creature be an act of evil? Denying them the basic needs for their survival?"

"I hadn't considered it that way," Tav said.

"Naturally. The prey does not often consider the needs of the predator. That does not change that the need exists -- the dynamic is natural. What is evil about existing as I am?" He gestured around them. "This is a small collection of my contracts, most are still active. The ones that have been fulfilled are stored elsewhere.

"Not all devils worry as much about honesty and fairness as I do. They have their 'Blood War' to man and arm -- a never ending and expensive endeavor--" he made a face. He had never sounded pleased with the idea of the Blood War any time they had heard him talk about it. "But we are a law-abiding folk.

"I have never done anything evil -- just to the letter. My contracts are carried out as they're written, as agreed by both parties -- neither under duress nor beyond their own control. Many contracts conclude amicably, as ours has. My success -- my survival does not necessitate the failure of others. Those contracts which do not follow the terms -- not on my end, mind you -- still conclude as written.

"Those souls become indebted to me and feed me in body, or feed my way of life in currency, such as is the way of the Hells.

"Hope could have anything -- everything -- she could ever want. All I ask is her fealty. Her life is contractually my responsibility, I don't think it an unfair ask on my part -- far from an evil one.

"I uphold my end of the bargain in offering unparalleled happiness to Hope, and Korilla mutually benefits in upholding her service to me -- enthusiastically and gratefully, might I add."

Tav considered the explanation for a long while. It seemed logical and sound, yet it still set their teeth on edge for a reason they would struggle to articulate.

"Still unsatisfied?" Raphael asked, his gaze quite predatory when they met his eyes. "You, little mouse, may never agree with how a cat lives -- it would be unnatural to expect you to -- but surely you agree that 'evil' is a subjective and abstract label.

"If I were to consider an instance of evil, I may call attention to the man charged with Korilla and Hope's upbringing.

"I torture to feed. I must. And yes, I enjoy it as much as you enjoy a well-prepared meal. I am a connoisseur -- little doubt. But that man tortured the girls because it amused him. A mouse preying on a mouse for little more than amusement. That's evil." His smile then was one of satisfaction. "I am glad I was in the right place at the right time to save them from his grasp."

"Hope is still being tortured, though," Tav said.

"It is not the responsibility of the cat if the mouse chooses the trap in lieu of comfort in the cat's House."

He stood and held out a hand to Tav. "The hour grows late, and I imagine the Hero of the Gate has much to do come morning. Let me take you home." They displaced when their hands met, and came to stand together in front of Tav's shack of a house. Tav was grateful that he had not brought them inside, as their house was not in a state to welcome company.

"Thank you," they said, unsure of what sort of goodbye would be appropriate.

"No, thank you," the devil said, bending at the waist to kiss the back of Tav's hand that he still grasped in his. "Your company is always appreciated and welcome. We are both quite busy, but I look forward to visiting you again."

"As a cat, or a savior?" Tav asked, smiling at him.

"Both -- always both."

[shinyglaceonice]

So. I beat Baldurs Gate 3. Safe to say it's the best thing I've played in years.

Spoilers under cut.

Companions were 10/10 across the board. Shadowheart and Astarion were my besties that never left my party, and I really appreciated the shot when we first entered the city and it was the three of them looking at the horizon. Wish I could have screenshot that.

Karlach is my wife, and the new ending is the best thing we have for her at the moment. I like to imagine my Paladin has the time of her life smiting demons and Devils in Avernus, ala Doom Slayer style whilst trying to find a way to help her. Also Wyll is there.

Speaking of Wyll, he served as my moral compass. I like him a lot, and it would have been a nice turn if my Paladin could convince him to become a Paladin himself. Let him smite, as a little treat.

Gale... grew on me. I was ready to throw him in a nearby lake but he charmed me. Managed to talk him down from power.

Also I would like to apologise. I know Laezel is a great character... but she died at the entrance to the mountain pass from that Githyanki squad. Did not have a means to revive. I'm so sorry.

Halsin is great, would have liked to see more of him. He kinda fell quiet in Act 3.

I went with the emperor ending. Honestly, I like the guy. He's very morally grey and is fascinating to me. Do I trust him? No, not at all. But I will tag along to see where following him leads too.

All in all, I'm going to miss Paladin Nah. My chaotic, vengeful Paladin who somehow managed to keep her Oath despite making some very questionable choices in Act Three, such as releasing 7000 spawn into the Underdark, teaming up with terrorist gnomes, teaming up with a mind flayer, slaughtering the entire House Of Grief, breaking into the House Of Hope, and so on. Also ends the game with a pet Intellect Devourer because Us is the best and I will die on this hill.

[daleisgreat]

20 Years of PS2: Flashback Special

October 26th this year marked the 20th anniversary of the North American launch of the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and I am ready to commemorate it with another flashback special recounting my highlighted highs and lows with the system since its launch. Like with my previous console retrospectives I have un-vaulted a few of my older podcast episodes focused on the PS2 and uploaded them to YouTube that you can check out embedded at the bottom of this piece for your listening pleasure. One of those episodes was recorded around the then-10th anniversary of the PS2 in 2010 where we brought on two hosts from the PSnation podcast and we waxed nostalgic for three hours about our favorite PS2 games and memories. The episode proved to be our most downloaded ever to the point we had to purchase more web server space to handle the downloads. Now I think the best way to start off this special on the PS2 would be to remember that leading up to its October 26th, 2000 launch, that it was impossible to ignore….. ….The Hype The PS2 was the first Sony console I purchased. I never owned a PSone because our family opted with the N64 (of which I have no regrets and many great memories of), and by the time I got my first job a decent way into 1999 where I could afford a system with my own income, it was either heavily speculated at that point or confirmed the PS2 would be backwards compatible with PSone games. This was a big deal learning of this in 1999. Up until that point in America, backwards compatibility only hit consoles (excluding handhelds) in small waves with the limited Master System library working on the Genesis with an adaptor, and the under-performing Atari 7800 having back-compat built inside the hardware so it could play 2600 games. So for having the mega-successful PSone library being guaranteed to work on the PS2 on launch day sold me on saving my money on a PSone system and waiting for the PS2.

The other big selling point for the PS2 was that it would be the first game console in America to support DVD movies. DVD players first started hitting in America in 1997, but it was a very slow growth process for them because they remained at a high price point their first few years on the market, and VHS tapes were exponentially cheaper. For you younger kids growing up with streaming tech, I feel obligated to say how big a deal was that PS2 was able to play DVDs. When I first saw what DVDs could do in 1999 at a friend’s place I was blown away with no longer having to rewind tapes, being able to pick certain scenes to jump to, interactive menus, extra bonus features and the big jump in picture quality. This is also why Dominic Toretto and his motley crew were hijacking semis in the first Fast & Furious film in 2001 for their precious DVD player cargo. With the PS2 being able to play PSone games, having guaranteed third party support from most of the PSone game publishers, being able to play audio CDs (which were still a major seller in 2000) and DVDs all for the launch price of $299 made the system garner mammoth hype leading up to the October 26, 2000 launch. The Launch After instantly getting sold on DVDs at my friend’s place in 1999, I started to collect some of my favorite movies on DVD leading up to the PS2’s launch and by launch day I believe I had roughly a dozen movies already with some of my then-recent favorite films at the time like Fight Club, Go and Detroit Rock City being early DVD favorites. The console was the first game product I remember our local Software Etc. offering to pre-order, and I was able to pre-order early enough to confirm a system for me at launch, which was a relief after hearing how Sony announced shortly before the launch they would be reducing the amount of systems available at launch by half from one million to 500,000. I pestered a co-worker at the time, Troy, a couple months before launch if he would be able give me a ride to the store that day to pick it up since the store was opening early before school started and he gave me his word. I thought it was not going to happen when he quit where I worked a few weeks before the launch, but somehow I was able to figure out where his next job was at and called him up at his other job a couple days before the PS2 launch to see if he would still honor his word and he assured me so. I showed Troy many thanks by covering breakfast for him that morning!

22 games launched with the PS2, and despite the variety, there was never a ‘killer app’ on the PS2’s launch. Despite Sony being a powerhouse of a first party publisher on the PSone, they only had one game available for the PS2 at launch with the puzzle game, Fantavision. I have always felt the PS2 launch got an unfair look over the years, as indicated in this AV Club piece. While there was never one end-all-be-all game, there were still plenty of solid ‘fans of the genre’ titles in my opinion. Racing game fans were covered with Ridge Racer V, the original Midnight Club and MotoGP. Over the years I became a fan of the three launch PS2 tag-focused fighting games Street Fighter EX3, Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore and especially putting a ton of time into the first Tekken Tag Tournament. FPS fans had a solid port of Unreal Tournament, and the heavily anticipated TimeSplitters with the gaming press at the time hyping it up to be the GoldenEye-killer since a fair amount of the development team worked on that hit FPS title. EA Sports had their latest NHL and Madden entries at launch, and the first game under their “EA Sports BIG” label with the original SSX. I think it is forgotten at that time the gaming mags and early online gaming press outlets heralding SSX as the surprise best original game out of the PS2 launch. For myself all I wanted was TimeSplitters and Madden NFL 2001. I knew my friend and former podcast co-host, Chris would be picking up TimeSplitters, so I stuck with Madden and a memory card for my pre-orders. Troy and I got there an hour before the store opened, and only one other person was ahead of us in line, so we were in and out of there in a breeze….only after the store manager jipped me out of a memory card I pre-ordered because there was a shortage on those too, but apparently the manager got first priority on the several she pre-ordered and offered to sell me one outside the store. I asked if it would be for MSRP, and she just gave me a knowing grin, and I was not having any of that and said no thanks and was fine waiting for their call when their next shipment of memory cards arrived (which was only about a week later, and for Madden it was not that much to get worked up over).

Those first few months of the PS2 launch from late 2000 into early 2001 were a memorable time during my senior year of high school. I played a plethora of Madden NFL 2001 against my neighbor friend Rich, and my brother-in-law, Shawn. I watched the hell out of those first dozen DVDs and threw in a few random PSone games I picked up too. Chris picked up several PS2 games at launch and for about two weekends a month I met up with him and the two primary games we played were TimeSplitters and Tekken Tag. The original TimeSplitters blew us away with its customization options for FPS multiplayer with being able to play against a huge variety of bots and in-depth level creation editors. We would create a map where we started in a room with all the ammo and weapon pickups, and a sea of mindless bots would march down a lengthy hallway to enter a room where we would be anticipating their entrance so they could rush into a hasty demise. I totally devoured Tekken Tag with Chris and got into its roster of characters and tag-style fighting, and especially its five star bowling mini-game, Tekken Bowl. Chris’s family had access to purchase bulk boxes of those rectangular bricks of school cafeteria pizza, and I have nostalgic memories putting away that delicious pizza while consuming the PS2 launch window games. Early-through-Summer 2001: My First Apartment Three Blocks Away From a Blockbuster Video As the months wore on after the launch window, the only early 2001 game I really enjoyed was the PS2 port of Quake III, even with its ridiculous loading times! For not having a powerhouse PC at that time, it was a fun alternative to experience the deathmatch chaos that was dominating the PC scene at the time. In the spring I got Onimusha: Warlords, and while I was digging the samurai/zombie action, the Capcom tank controls eventually got the best of me and I had to step away from it after a few hours. It was not until well into the summer of 2001 that I started experimenting more with the PS2 library when I got my first apartment with my friend Matt. We lived a few blocks away from a Blockbuster Video and so we made frequent trips there on weekends chancing random games that popped out to us. We did not have a computer at our place, and the high-speed Internet era was about another year or two from catching on, so that was one of the last years you could really just chance a game by going by the box and from whatever was available in print at the time.

Capcom debuted two classic single player franchises in the first year of the PS2 in the forms of Devil May Cry (left) and Onimusha: Warlords (right) We rented plenty of stuff throughout the remainder of 2001. Some titles like the quirky action/adventure game, Okage, was decent, but nothing remarkable. Others we ate up like Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, where it perfectly encapsulated the addicting hack ‘n slash, action-RPG loot-fest gameplay of the acclaimed PC Diablo series on console. We took turns passing the controller progressing away at the stylistic action title Devil May Cry, which blew us away back then. Speaking of stylistic Capcom titles, we re-busted out Onimusha and I witnessed Matt get past my hang-ups and go on to blitz through it. It recently got remastered on PS4/Xbox One and worth checking out if you have yet not. Summoner was a so-so fantasy themed action game, but we were looking at the options screen for that game and for whatever reason we decided to check out the credits from the options. After a minute of that we realized this was a waste of time and pressed the X button to proceed on out of there, and instead were bamboozled at the following bonus cinematic it unlocked. We must have watched it at least four or five times throughout the day, because we got more out of that sketch than Summoner itself. It was a radio skit that was CG animated for this game and kind of went on to have some notoriety in gaming circles, but if you are unaware than I will encourage you to click or press here to experience it for yourself. Holiday 2001: A Flurry of All-Time Classics Arrive

The fall of 2001 was a big quarter for PS2. Several classic exclusives hit that holiday season for it. Metal Gear Solid 2 was the first entry in the series I played. Matt and I rented it, but its stealth-focused gameplay was too much for us at the time and both us kept messing up sneaking through the speech scene near the end of the opening boat mission. It would be over a decade before I revisited it and finally played through it in its entirety off the PS3 HD collection of the PS2 and PSP games. I loved both Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater, but I would have to give the nudge in favor to Snake Eater with its superb origin story, nonstop 007-homages, an extraordinary ladder climb like no other, one of the best theme songs in videogame history and one of the best final boss battles in videogame history too. The first of many yearly WWF/WWE games hit in fall of 2001 with WWF Smackdown: Just Bring It. We had the multi-tap, and for that game it greatly benefitted because it became a hit with our neighbor friends where we would play a seemingly infinite amount of Royal Rumbles and Survival elimination matches. I threw it in again a few days ago to prep up for this and to relive the dozen zany created wrestlers that still lived on in my save file. The graphics have come a long way I can say for sure! Twisted Metal: Black was a big deal for Matt and I at the time. The gritty, M-rated cutscenes for each character’s opening, middle and ending cinemas that were unlocked from their story mode completions inspired Matt and I to play through the story mode in co-op with every single character. Thankfully the game saved the cinemas unlocked, because Matt and I were so impressed by how they stood out at the time that we forced them upon several friends that stopped by over the coming weeks. Gameplay-wise, it was a well-refined, straightforward Twisted Metal car combat game, but its M-rated makeover from the T-rated PSone entries struck a chord with us.

Speaking of M-rated games that were huge for us that year, that was when Grand Theft Auto III released and changed the gaming landscape as we know it. I was vaguely familiar with the first two games, but with the third one having 3D gameplay and a more expansive open world, it seemed like it would be a surefire hit, and boy was it ever. I loved SimCopter on PC (an early 3D open world game), and the gaming mag previews gave me the impression that it would be SimCopter, but with guns and violence, and it delivered on that front in spades. I dug its primary narrative for it too, but I think it is safe to say that I was like nearly everyone else and eventually wound up having more fun getting lost and immersed in Liberty City’s world and eventually causing so much mayhem just to see how long I could hold up against a five star wanted rating. 2002: Highs and Lows The early months of 2002 I recall was when I kept going back to those same fall 2001 games I just broke down, but later came around on going all in on those aforementioned PS2 fighting games. I picked up a copy of Tekken Tag for myself around this time and invested a lot of time into it. I took a chance on Street Fighter EX3 and after getting over the initial awkwardness of a 3D-based Street Fighter game I got crazy into EX3 with its devastating meteor attacks, optional tag team fighting and its colorful cast of characters such as the affable Skull-o-Mania! This was right when Guilty Gear X released too and I absolutely ate up that title with it upping the WTF quotient like no other fighter before it. Its unique roster performed all kinds of bizarre attacks, and learning its intricate control systems with complex mechanics like instant kill maneuvers and ‘roman cancels’ had me studying its manual for days!

In late spring of 2002 I moved out of my first apartment so my renting marathons with Matt were over, but shortly-thereafter I landed my first sort-of major gaming press gig. I was independently submitting reviews to GameFAQs for a few years at this point, and the management at the website Game 2 Extreme (G2X) contacted me to coming on board and said while they would not pay me, they would offer me free review copies of games. As a freshly turned 19 year-old, I looked at this as an opportunity to bigger and better things and jumped on it. I will never forget the very first review copy I received for the so-so monster truck driving game, Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction. I spent the rest of the decade jumping to different websites to write for every couple years and lost track of all the titles I got to review. I can attest for the PS2 there was a wide range in quality of titles I received to review. For some of the higher performing games like SOCOM III, Hitman 2 and Star Wars: Battlefront I was able to review, there were bottom of the barrel licensed titles like Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly and Hard Rock Casino to balance things out. Also around this time of mid-2002 my PS2 became my first console to brick on me. Worst of all, it was a gradual, painful death. First, it stopped reading blue-disc games on CD-ROMs, and then it started getting sketchy performance out of certain silver-disc games on DVD-ROMs. My brother at this time had his own PS2 that he won in a local grocery store contest a few months earlier. The PS2 network adaptor coincidentally came out in mid-2002 as well and he was freaking addicted to playing the original SOCOM online all the time. I did not want to shell out $300 for another system so I believe after testing that SOCOM still worked fine on my degrading PS2 I offered to trade my breaking-down PS2, for his newer model for $100 and the condition that if my system I was trading to him would stop playing SOCOM that I would go back on the trade. Thank goodness that never came to be, and as an impressionable 19-year-old at the time I became kind of bitter to the PS2 for a few years with it being the first system I purchased to break down on me. A few years later though after having a couple 360s and my PS3 also all brick on me, I later came to accept that sometimes these systems go bad, especially when getting the first wave of systems rushed through manufacturing in time for launch. For the last two game console generations I have since waited a couple years after each system launch to purchase it in hopes of the console’s manufacturing process being less prone to producing faulty hardware. Sports-ball Love There was a ton of sports games on PS2 and I was lucky to review a lot of them. The football titles in particular I had to plead with editors not to trim down on 3000+ word counts because I exclaimed how the readers wanted to know each and every little detail of what was improved and added in the latest game. I had fun reviewing some of Midway’s arcade sports offerings that generation with NFL Blitz 20-02 and MLB Slugfest: Loaded. Another quirky arcade baseball game was 2K endorsing Konami to release MLB Power Pros in North America. It was a cartoony, cel-shaded baseball game that saw adorable pint-sized versions of MLB players duking it out, but fleshed out with in-depth single player modes. On the PSone I was happy to see Arena Football finally receive its own videogame, and on the PS2, EA acquired the license and released two AFL games that were faithful renditions of the sport, especially the second game that added both AFL divisions. They were sadly the last games released to get the AFL branding as the long running indoor football league finally folded operations last year after a 30-year run.

Two under-the-radar sports series I recommend tracking down on the PS2 are the Power Pros and Arena Football games. I played almost all of the 2K games on Xbox, but as I mentioned above I played a lot of Madden and NCAA Football on PS2 because the PS2 versions had exclusive online support for a couple years, and additionally because of my rivalry with my brother-in-law, Shawn. This generation saw both of EA’s football games explode in popularity and it was no longer apparent the NCAA game was the NFL title slapped with college teams and rules over it. Shawn and I played a lot of Madden at first, but eventually shifted over to the NCAA games more, with the 2003 and 2004 editions we especially played to death. I liked the variety of teams and unique playbooks, and found myself picking Navy a lot because of their unorthodox playbook that focused on fullback running plays. Shawn only played the football games to the point where I could hardly compete with him. One priceless memory of mine was having an awful game full of turnovers and pick-6s, and I swear to god I am not embellishing this: we were playing five minute quarters and it got to the point I wanted a moral victory to avoid a shutout and make one score, and somehow luck struck on one play where I connected on a deep throw in the final minutes of the game and proceeded infuriate my brother-in-law as I celebrated as if I won the game. I understood his frustrations because I will forever remember the final score of that game: 100-6. A Terrific Twilight The PS2 sold so well into the 360/PS3/Wii generation that its cross-gen viability lead to a regular slate of games releasing through 2009-ish, and a handful of sports titles sneaking out after that with the final PS2 game, Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, being released in North America in 2012. If you were keeping up with release schedules, you will notice that two types of games dominated the PS2 in its cross-gen years. One were ports of PSP games from Sony, with titles like Motorstorm: Arctic Edge and the pair of Syphon Filter games getting ported up to the PS2. The Wii was technologically not that far advanced from the PS2, so a lot of cash-cow licensed games on Wii also got ported to PS2 with titles like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ghostbusters being completely different playing games by other developers when compared to the bigger budget versions on the 360 and PS3. Some PS2 exclusives also snuck out in this timeframe like the first two Katamari titles and the first two Guitar Hero games. I was a big fan of both games and invested serious time into both series. There are many fond holiday 2005 moments of passing the guitar around to family members trying to best each other’s high scores.

I recall being stoked that the PS2 became the first home console in North America to get an official FirePro Wrestling game with 2007’s FirePro Wrestling Returns. I remember speaking to some of the people working for its publisher, Agetec, at E3 and how excited they were that they finally got Sony to loosen up on its restrictions of releasing 2D games on the system now that the PS2 was in its waning years. Another hit stealth PS2 release from this time was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories that hit America in early 2010. I had a friend visiting from out of town that was huge into the series, but was unaware of this PS2 entry and so we stayed up all night deep diving into that unique take on the series. The first two Yakuza games hit late in the PS2’s lifecycle and I was especially eager to play them because they were being hyped as spiritual successor’s to the Shenmue games that I ranked so high. I played a good ways into the first Yakuza, but recall getting stuck at a funeral escape stage in that game, and unfortunately never got back to it. Yakuza 3 on PS3 is the only title in the series I finished, and now with the Kiwami remakes of the first two games I need to one day just dedicate a year to only playing the many Yakuza games that have since released. MISC Memories -I never got too invested into the online PS2 scene. Usually that was because my brother was always using the PS2 to play SOCOM online a lot. I would use it from time to time to test out online play for games I was reviewing, with Star Wars: Battlefront and SOCOM 3’s online play standing out the most of what I reviewed. I do recall taking up Sony on its mail-in offer for a free copy of Twisted Metal: Black – Online with purchase of the PS2 network adaptor and having fun online in that for a couple weeks. My brother got the PS2 version of Final Fantasy XI, and I briefly dabbled in that for a couple hours, and it was interesting at that time playing an MMO on a console with a controller. The original Xbox had a significantly better online interface with Xbox Live, so that became my preferred console online play option. Only exception to this was for the 2003/2004 installments of Madden and NCAA Football because EA Sports held off on implementing online play for their Xbox games for a couple years, and that was key for me opting in on their PS2 versions when both of those football titles were surging in popularity and lead to the most consistent online play I did with PS2.

-There were so many PS2 games being released in its heyday from 2001-2006 that I would take random payday visits to Best Buy when they had gargantuan videogame aisles in hopes of discovering games I never heard of from smaller label publishers. This worked out both ways in learning of little known ‘hidden gems’ of that era, and eventually finding utter trash. -One odd peripheral I received for review was the PS2 ‘Clash Pads.’ It was a pair of controllers that were connected together with a little accessory box that had switches to give your gaming partner/opponent advantages and disadvantages for gameplay. The controller was a mess to operate, and the added perks and penalties it implemented were mind-boggling. I will instead recommend Namco’s light gun for the Time Crisis games….but only if you still have a standard-def TV. -Popular in the retro gaming scene lately is HDMI cables for retro game consoles to up-convert a system’s signal to HD and provide a much improved looking display than the muddy, watered down graphics that would result when plugging in composite cables into an HDTV. I picked up the HDMI PS2 cables from Pound last year, and they worked nicely on my slim PS2. I understand there are more expensive alternatives out there that yield noticeably better results, but for $30, the Pound cables provided enough of a bump up in quality for me.

-I busted out several games over the past week to prep up for this flashback special. I was finally able to play my copy of the BMX title, Downhill Domination and regretted not trying it out sooner. I had a blast revisiting a couple old favorites in Rumble Racing and Motorstrom: Arctic Edge. Wish I could have tried out more games, but the PS2 was giving me ‘read disc errors’ with half of my attempts and I could not determine if it was the HD cables causing this or if it was the PS2 itself simply aging out. -I touched on a couple wrestling games on the PS2 already, but as a whole I would give the slate of wrestling games for the PS2 in America a hearty thumbs up. I believe I played the entirety and unlocked everything from all the first-run SmackDown games on PS2. When firing up Just Bring It again, I cracked a smile because I completely forgot Fred Durst was a playable character, complete with “Rollin’” for his entrance theme. FirePro Wrestling Returns was a long anticipated console debut for the franchise in America. Multi-platform games I played on other systems like the car-combat spinoff, WWE Crush Hour and the pair of Backyard Wrestling games were fun alternative wrestling games to take a break from the annual core WWE game. Yes, there was a car combat WWE game, and it is surprisingly halfway-decent. I picked up the PS2 version of TNA Impact, but it was a victim of the ��disc read error’ from the past week. Ditto with the Ultimate MUSCLE-licensed Galactic Wrestling. I picked that one up long ago, but never played it all these years and was stoked to sit down with it on a couple occasions this past week to play it, but alas it was not meant to be.

-A game that was able to load on the PS2 this past week was Namco Bandai’s The Fast and the Furious. It turned out to be an ok-open world street racing game, much like Need for Speed: Underground on the PS2, but with more of a focus on drag races. Odd memory of the day I picked up this game I will never forget: I was out of town for a hockey game killing time at a pawn shop a couple hours beforehand with a buddy where I randomly bought this with a handful of other games. In a gut-punch of irony, it was later after the game while re-fueling on gas, I was catching up on my timelines when I found out earlier that day was when Paul Walker perished. -Another game I was hoping to throw in this past week was 24: The Game. I am a huge fan of the show, and I remember playing a demo of it at E3 2005 and thinking it was surprisingly alright for a licensed-based game. Sadly, that disc was also a victim of the ‘disc read error’ message, so instead I will point everyone to this highly entertaining spoof video review you can see by click or pressing here from then-GameSpot staff member, Alex Navarro.

-Speaking of PS2 games based off licensed TV properties, I want to shout out The Shield: The Game. It was a very by-the-numbers third person action game, and featured unremarkable gameplay, but having the show’s cast well represented visually and aurally in the form of voiceovers was enough to quench my fandom for that show. Despite the five out of ten I gave it in my review at the time, if you were a ardent fan of The Shield, then it was just something you had to play. -I am a big fan of the PS2 slim, but it is worth mentioning a major caveat of the slim: it does not support the PS2 multi-tap for reasons perplexing me to this very day!

-It is almost a prerequisite that I purchase faithful videogame conversions of my favorite board games and TV game shows every console generation and the PS2 was no exception. It had an adequate version of Risk with multi-tap support which was a semi-worthy substitute when we were not up for setting up the board game. Its versions of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune had a bountiful amount of hosting video clips from Trebek and Vanna, respectively, to perfectly capture the look and feel of the show. The PS2’s version of Family Feud however is easily the worst version I have ever played. Insanely short entry response times, unresponsive button inputs and overall clunky design forever marred the Family Feud brand! Looking back at my review I am guffawed that I scored this a six out of ten. -The last fighting game I was really into on PS2 than the others previously mentioned was Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. I first played it at Chris’s place like how he introduced me to most other fighting games, and Chris would school me at it nonstop. A short while later, I was staying over at my sister and brother-in-law’s place where they also had that game. I stayed up late after they went to bed and spent hours mastering Wolf since he was the sole pro-wrestler of the roster. Next time I met up with Chris I finally won ONE match against him, but after that he refused to play me again!

-Now while I gushed earlier of my adoration for TimeSplitters during the launch window of PS2, I would be remiss if I did not give some well-earned props to the third game in the series, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. In the past several years, that game has remained in the rotation of go-to couch multiplayer game with my friends Derek, Brooke and Ryan. It retains the same style of FPS gameplay and creation options as the first game, but now with a ton of extra characters, weapons and levels available. My preferred playlist would be rocking the disco level with its appropriate theme music, and playing as a big bear (complete with bear claw strike!) and whamming everyone with gigantic bananas on the dance floor. Classic times! One of the Best Systems Ever? That is what hardware sales and overall critical reception trend to be when looking back at the PS2. While I now look back fondly at the PS2 as a whole, especially my first two years owning the system, I cannot deny for a few years in the system’s heyday I was not too keen on the system due to it bricking on me and preferred playing games on Xbox and GameCube instead. Like I stated above, I came around on this a few years later and had a blast with the PS2 in its cross-gen sunset years, and revisited its vast library numerous times over the years. While I cannot say it is my personal, all-time favorite console, I can safely rank it among my top tier of favorite systems.

If you want even more PS2 nostalgia coverage from me, then check out the three PS2-centric episodes of my podcast I have un-vaulted from my personal archives and embedded below. Right now I have my general all-encompassing PS2 retrospective I recorded on its 10th anniversary and the PS2/Xbox/Wii installment of the history of comic book videogames episode uploaded. Finishing it off is the PS2 installment in our history of RPG videogames series.

This episode has special guest hosts from the PSnation podcast where we deep dive for three hours of nostalgic memories of the PS2.

Matt and I spare no expense at elucidating on every major and minor comic book game on the PS2.

Just over three hours we spend breaking down nearly every RPG to hit the PS2! My Other Gaming Flashbacks Dreamcast 20th Anniversary GameBoy 30th Anniversary Genesis 30th Anniversary NES 35th Anniversary PSone 25th Anniversary PSP 15th Anniversary and Neo-Geo 30th Anniversary Saturn and Virtual Boy 25th Anniversaries TurboGrafX-16 30th Anniversary and 32-X 25th Anniversary

You’re Still Here!?

Somehow you still made it to the end of another tome of a flashback special from me, so that means I must reward you with an oddball PS2 anecdote of my past! I referenced in past specials how I attended several retro videogame conventions that took place every year in Milwaukee - The Midwest Gaming Classic. At the time the podcast known as Team Fremont Live would always host Jeopardy-style game show each year. My brother and I were picked to be contestants that year! To spice things up for the crowd and get them involved, after every few questions of trivia there would be a quick videogame challenge for extra points and prizes for the crowd and/or contestant. I got picked to play a single stage of the space shooter/shmup, Castle Shikigami 2. Two incredibly loud kids got picked from the crowd got selected to only verbally trash talk and distract me, and if I lost one life then the kids would get a game, but if I somehow overcame the odds and finished a level on a single life then I would win. Now I enjoy playing an occasional shmup, especially in March (it is intergalactic Shmuppreaction month, ya’know!), but I nowhere consider myself legitimately good at the genre and usually lose at least a couple lives a level for almost any shooter I play. Somehow the shmup gods were on my side that day, because even with one of those kids unleashing maximum effort with trash talk directly against my ear, I somehow zoned them out and unbelievably managed to finish the stage and beat the boss with one life. I was at zenith-level of goosebumps during that boss battle and had a cool-down moment of emotions as soon as let go of the arcade stick. My prize? Metal Gear Solid 2, which I would eventually give a serious effort to and finish several years later! That moment, along with the 100-6 loss in NCAA Football 2004, are my two most cherished PS2 moments I will forever remember….and now you can too, because the MGC staff record my attempt and posted it on YouTube. I have embedded it below, or you can click or press here to see it yourself.

[entergamingxp]

Baldur’s Gate 3 – 5 Takeaways from the Gameplay Panel

March 4, 2020 8:00 AM EST

From flaming arrows to boots of godly might, here are 5 of Scott’s takeaways from the PAX East gameplay reveal for Baldur’s Gate 3.

Larian Studios has finally peeled back the curtain on the gameplay of their upcoming opus, Baldur’s Gate 3. Hosting a panel at PAX East, fans slowly shuffled into the large room, anxiously waiting to sink their teeth into the newest entry of this fabled franchise. Over an hour later, I left that panel, and damn it, I need this game now. Now that I’ve had a little time to sit and think about what I saw, here are five of my main takeaways.

1) The interest in Baldur’s Gate 3 spans generations of players

I had a couple of hours to kill waiting in line to enter the panel. Looking around, I was surprised to see just how wide of range the attendee’s ages were! Baldur’s Gate first released back in 1998; it is Bioware’s first game using the Infinity Engine, a platform that would become synonymous with isometric D&D-inspired games for years to come.

As such, the people that were waiting in line ranged from young to older middle-aged players. It was great to see these two groups talking and sharing stories of their own unique adventures. Folks, Dungeons & Dragons is one of the few things Gen X, Y, Z, and Millenial players can all talk about and relate to.

2) The game is very much in a pre-alpha state

As much as I want this game to be out tomorrow, where the state the game was during in the demo, that release day is still a long way out. The vertical slice of gameplay saw was taken from a very early part of the game. Early on, we were informed that even the save system wasn’t functional yet. If he died, the demo would have to start over; a scenario we got to witness first hand after, well, he died.

The reveal actually ended with the game glitching out. I couldn’t quite tell if it was an infinite loop of the characters taking turns back and forth, or entering and exiting combat. Either way, it made for a lovely booming sound on the speakers.

All this being said, I’m perfectly 100% fine with it. This game never promised to be out soon. The crowd was still jovial and ate up all the silly occurrences we were witnessing. Reveals like this are great peeks behind the curtain of game development that we don’t get to see all that often. Larian knows how to make quality games; I believe in them and you should too. We just need to have patience and we will be rewarded handsomely!

3) The lighting and visuals are beautiful

Hooooo-boy does this game look pretty. As I sat in my chair, I couldn’t help but be blown away with the visuals. The lighting of a particular note was impressive. Most of the demo took place around a landscape dotted with trees and mountains ruins. Sunbeams shine through the trees and shadows were cast all over. The shadows cast around the environment aren’t just for looks either, as they play into how successful your sneaking can be.

Cool as that is, a very mundane moment left an especially strong imprint on me. While exploring some ruins, the main character came across a tome. Upon opening it, a trap sprung, spewing slippery oil all over the area and activating flaming arrow turrets hidden in the walls. As each of the six or so arrows shot from within their secret enclosures, they cast light as they went from one side of the room to the other. Each arrow’s flame was reflecting on the greasy floor, along the stone pillars near you, and the objects that are strewn around the room.

While the fire arrows on their own are impressive looking, it makes me more excited to see how well reflections are used. In a game that will no doubt be full of impressive large-scale magic spells, I can only imagine bolts of crackling lighting illuminating dark caves as they strike their targets. That thought makes me giddy with excitement.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was clearly going to look better than the previous title. I just wasn’t expecting it would look as good as it does. Also, as mentioned in the previous point, it could look even better since we are still a long way out from the games actual release.

4) Baldur’s Gate 3 a melding of Divinity and Dungeon and Dragons mechanics

To be completely open with you fine readers, I have not yet played either of the Divinity: Original Sin titles yet. I own them, I just haven’t had time to play them. However, I do play in a bi-weekly D&D campaign.

Watching gameplay, there was a lot that pulled directly from the tabletop. Skills, spells, stats, races, and classes are straight out of the books. The flow of combat turns, and bonus actions during gameplay are much more Larian-style. It seems to work well, and nothing about what I saw gave me pause or worried me that it was diverging too far from the Baldur’s Gate style fans love. I believe introducing longtime Baldur’s Gate players with Larian’s style and quality of games will only grow both communities.

5) Boots are OP

One of the fun features they flaunted was the fact that you are able to the hurl most items from your inventory. You can hurl them straight at an enemy’s face, killing them.

During an especially harrowing encounter, our hero’s bow continued to miss. Shot after shot, each one, which supposedly had a 90% chance to hit, missed. What didn’t miss, however, was trusty Boots. Yes, a mythic pair of generic brown boots flew through the air. Carried on the wings of an angel, straight and true, directly hit the head of the menacing bug in the distance crushing its skull, and sending it to the afterlife.

It was unfortunate that there were more bugs and our hero was fresh out of boots. The bugs proceeded to kill the party, which caused the demo to restart. The crowd got a kick out of it though, and that’s what matters.  I can’t wait to see “Boots Only” speedruns of this game when it comes out.

Most likely, we are still far off from even finding out when we will get the final release of Baldur’s Gate 3. We do know that players will be able to try out an early-access build later this summer. But if Fortnite has taught us anything, early access can last a long time.

Personally, I almost wish Larian would forgo the early access release altogether. I would rather play it when it’s all done, polished, and right where they want it. Larian has proven that they are damn good makers of RPGs. We don’t need an early access build. I say this knowing full well I will get it and play the crap out of it because DAMN I want this game bad.

Regardless, seeing the gameplay reveal with a room packed with fans was a treat. I went in excited for Baldur’s Gate 3 and left with a rabid hunger for it. I’m anxious to see what new reveals we get next, but I sure hope it involves skills devoted to boot-throwing.

March 4, 2020 8:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/baldurs-gate-3-5-takeaways-from-the-gameplay-panel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=baldurs-gate-3-5-takeaways-from-the-gameplay-panel

[minhthangcoi9993-blog]

Review Game Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

By spreading its sails and taking the journey to a creative and interesting setting, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire finds fertile ground for interesting and nuanced roleplaying stories. The main storyline is its biggest weakness, but Deadfire comes into its own by drawing you into the surrounding saga of its embattled islands and the distinct peoples fighting over them. This island chain offers no shortage of fantastic tactical battles, fascinating allies, and exotic places to explore.

2015’s Pillars of Eternity is a love letter to the Baldur’s Gate school of classic isometric RPG, presented in the classic sword-and-sorcery style: a dark and thought-provoking adventure with elves, dwarves, plate mail, and fireballs. Deadfire, on the other hand, strikes a bold contrast and ditches most of these tropes for a less common style. By minimizing castles and forests in favor of a beautiful ocean and boats, and the sword-and-shield aesthetic for sabers and blunderbusses, Deadfire’s 40-hour campaign almost feels like it takes place in a completely different world from the original despite the fact that it stars the same Watcher of Caed Nua character we originally played as.

You can even import your old save file or simulate one with a text-based Mass Effect-style quiz that gives you the character history you want (not necessarily the one you deserve). The consequences of certain major decisions in the original are very acutely felt in Deadfire, starting with the very first conversation as the gods themselves offer an accounting of your character’s past actions.

Gone is the static, painted overworld of the first Pillars, replaced instead by an atmospheric open ocean map upon which you sail your customizable ship freely from island to island and quest to quest. This interactive overworld is littered with scripted events and treasures to find, springs crew interactions on you at random. You can also be attacked by pirates, or privateers from rival factions, though the turn-based naval battles are so basic as to feel shoehorned in and not much fun. Those lengthy interruptions made sailing times stretch on longer than I’d like, and the expensive upgrades, like new sails for my ship, barely made a perceptible difference when it came to outrunning threats.

The main story of the voyage you embark upon in Deadfire is similarly prone to moments of feeling rudderless. You’re on a quest to chase down the newly revived god of light and retrieve your soul, something you’re given little incentive to do beyond simply being told it is necessary. The plot waits far too long to add enough context to your chase to give substantial motivation for partaking in it, considering you seem to be getting by just fine without. Fast progress, and the answer to the all-important question of “why is this important,” are gated behind enemies and areas so challenging that they demand you and your party be of a certain level that is usually far beyond where you currently are when you first encounter them.

However, that need to get stronger drove me to pursue the sidequests and tertiary plots, and this is where the writing of Deadfire truly began to shine. The main plot is surrounded by the intriguing and thoughtful open-world flavor of a region entering the crucible of historical change. At first, it was the tempting XP rewards that compelled me to seek out and explore the different islands, but after spending time among their people, appreciating the distinctive architecture of each village, learning about their different cultures, and hearing about their visions for the future of the diverse island chain, I found myself drawn into and invested in these small local problems much more than I was with the big one looming over my head.

Play more Skater Rush

123 Games

The tale of the Deadfire is the story of everyone in it, and you can encounter an ocean of stories across an expanse in a state of upheaval, with several complex and ambitious factions seeking to steer it a particular way. It isn't long before their leaders pitch you on their endgame and seek your allegiance, and the quests that arise from these calls for aid are the best in Deadfire. The Huana, the natives of the Deadfire Archipelago, seek to preserve their independence and their way of life against what amounts to the colonial intrusion of the other powers, but some caste-based aspects of the culture they seek to preserve are deeply flawed. The Valians seek to greedily exploit the potent natural resources of the islands, but if allowed to do so might bring about revolutionary progress. The Rauatai seek to unify the Deadfire islands with their nation to create a greater Aumaua empire, even if they have to do it by the sword and the cannon. If you prefer more mischief and less politics, you can always back the pirates, but even they have their own internal power struggle brewing as the older and more conservative pirate captains face off against younger reformers.

Obsidian’s writers seem to have gone out of their way to deny us moral certainty and create meaningful decisions, because matter who you side with some people will benefit and some will get hurt. This hits even harder when you’re exposed to the consequences of your choices first-hand. The existence of the Huana cast system isn’t an simply an entry in the codex; it’s a reality for many poor and destitute Aumaua who turn to you for help. The ethically dubious land acquisition of the Vailians isn’t just something heard about in a conversational aside, it’s a problem its victims seek your aid in resolving. Deadfire’s writing of these situations is a sterling example of the “show, don’t tell” maxim. Because I was given the pros and cons of my allegiance with faces, names, and stories, the impact of my decisions was never far from my mind.

Faction quests aren’t the only place to find compelling and complicated situations in the Deadfire Archipelago. While plenty of NPCs are simply background decoration, many residents of this dangerous land are fully voiced and fleshed-out people with pressing tasks and problems stemming from the major events happening around them. Whether it’s reuniting a lost family member with his loved ones or trying to save (or condemn) a poor refugee family seeking a better life, the stories are varied and carry real emotional heft. This is aided in no small part by the tremendous feat of roleplaying immersion Deadfire pulls off; this world, and its people, have long memories, and they interact with you through the lens of a past your character may have had a substantial role in. People I helped early on either showed up later to vouch for me or sang my praises to other characters I hadn’t yet encountered. Something as simple as helping a stranded missionary fix his broken wagon early on had effects that echoed throughout my entire playthrough. A seemingly innocuous conversation about the gods that I had with another individual turned out to be a defining moment for an entire group’s worldview.

Similarly, in typical Obsidian RPG fashion, dialogue choices are heavily influenced by character stats, making which ones you choose to invest in feel like an important choice no matter how you play. My skills list and my character's reputation came up in nearly every interaction, with unique dialogue options available if I was good enough at an activity like diplomacy or sleight of hand, or had a good enough reputation with a certain group or just as an individual, or was from a particular place or race. So deep and varied are these opportunities for diverse roleplaying that they offer tremendous replayability just to see how these experiences might diverge if a totally different Watcher stars in them. At one point, I got out of a situation that seemed destined for conflict because my Watcher possessed a silver tongue and a gift for reading other people. Would a happy ending have instead turned to bloodshed if I played a crueler, more coarse character? My Watcher became adept at socializing and skullduggery, but his lack of survival skills made him a fish out of water in the uncharted terrain of Deadfire's islands. Party members can lend an assist with skills of their own, but this is usually only enough to get over a hump; it doesn’t fully compensate for a complete lack of competence in any one area. This opened new encounters and outcomes to me and closed others entirely. An encounter with a reclusive tribe of xaurips can either end in a fight, or an amicable parting with some loot. A Watcher who is unable to intimidate a group of thugs into backing down might make a stubborn enemy. Sometimes, it stuck in my craw to see a situation spin out of my control, or end in a way I was desperate to avoid simply because I’d invested in the wrong skills, but this was more than balanced out by the feeling of satisfaction I received from solving an intimidating problem with my core competencies. This is an RPG that’s unafraid to take the character you’ve chosen to build and make you stand by them.

Obsidian’s writers’ talent for writing characters is on full display once again as Deadfire debuts a handful of new party members and carries over a few from the original (assuming they’re still around in your story), all of whom are all extremely well written and developed with complex and often conflicting motivations for tagging along. Returning companion Eder is as charming and sympathetic as ever, resuming his role as the group’s moral compass, and the furry blue brigand Serafen is positively oozing with personality, always ready with one-liner or savage insult. They aren’t going to agree with every decision you make, or with each other. If tensions between party members rise high enough, fights can break out between companions, full-on arguments with “them or me” undertones. I never found myself unable to juggle the personality clashes that arose between my companions, but these conflicts were handled in such a way that I truly felt pressured to closely manage my parties’ relationships with each other, not just with me. I actually felt like the leader of this motley bunch, not because the story simply dictated it, but because I had to participate in the work of keeping a group together.

It was rewarding to see my influence bleed over into my relationships with my companions and then see the changes I had wrought in their worldviews and personalities play out with each other. When one character who possessed a tremendous faith in the gods had a heated religious argument with another companion I’d steered away from their faith in the first Pillars, it struck me that the dialogue choices I clicked had real consequences. It was this exchange that gave me the sense Obsidian’s writers are on the verge of something truly special with writing these characters and fitting them into its stories.

They fall just short in Deadfire, though, with the lack of control afforded to you over the timing of these revelatory moments of character development. Too often, important conversations would begin immediately following another conversation in a way that felt awkward and unrealistic — or, in the worst cases, right after a major fight when the entire party was severely injured and/or in the midst of a dangerous eldritch dungeon, making a confession of growing affection or a heated debate about metaphysical ethics come off as entirely inappropriate, even humorous. I was left painfully aware that, no matter how artfully it was done, the companion relationship system was still reducing my relationships with my party members to a number that existed outside the context of anything that might be going on.

Those dungeons, islands, and luminous other machines sure look pretty, though. Deadfire is a very, very good looking isometric RPG, presenting a gorgeous fusion of 3D and 2D elements to create memorable scenes of a quality you don't often find in games that use this perspective. The monster design is fantastic, from smooth and oily-looking krakens to the gorgeous and varied elemental dragons. The water textures and lighting are some of the best I've seen in isometric RPGs, and the jungles and deserts are so well done that when my companion character complains about sand getting into unmentionable places, I believe them. I was never jarred out of my enjoyment on entering a new area by low texture quality or a graphical hiccup, which is often an issue in similar engines.

Deadfire's pausable real-time combat is its most fun, challenging, and energetic element. Enemy parties and the opponents themselves present almost a puzzle of sorts — a maze of resistances, proficiencies, and damage types that you and your party must navigate in order to effectively counter them. A key tool in doing so is the single best quality-of-life fix that Deadfire introduces to the established Pillars formula: the extensive AI scripting allowed for each character. Reminiscent of the system from Dragon Age: Origins, you can set up a complex list of AI priorities that ensures that your companions and even your own character respond the way you want them to when a given situation arises in a fight. Though combat can always be paused in order to click from character to character and give orders, battles feel much smoother, and are much more fun, when you can count on your priest to deliver timely healing or your wizard to unleash his most devastating spells you’ve been saving for a tight spot, instead of forgetting to perform said actions and watching a winnable battle end in defeat.

Though the scripting does have some notable limitations — I couldn’t figure out a way to script a Cipher to build up enough focus for some of their best optional subclass abilities, which seems like a significant oversight — it adds a new layer of depth to an already smoother, better balanced, and better animated combat system, making each encounter a treat to take on. In many cases, I didn’t mind losing a particularly tough battle because it gave me the chance to make any number of tweaks to strategy, scripting, and loadout in an effort to alter the outcome. Replaying a tough boss battle became less a chore and more of a charm.

The Verdict Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire improves upon the Pillars of Eternity formula in nearly every way, creating an RPG loaded with both strong combat and important, character-defining choices that frequently have an impact on your numerous and deep side-story adventures. A refreshingly different island setting makes it feel dramatically distinct, though travel can be laborious because of unavoidable and repetitive nautical encounters. From a long list of quality-of-life upgrades to a new and impressive attention on companions and their relationships and an astonishing commitment to immersive storytelling and roleplaying, this sequel takes a strong step forward past its predecessor and presents exciting possibilities for the genre going forward.

[entergamingxp]

Deadfire Ultimate Edition Review — Rough Seas in a Tropical Paradise

January 28, 2020 12:00 PM EST

The console port of Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire has the same great story, characters, and gameplay of the PC version but is marred by technical problems and load times.

Obsidian is finally making its isometric return to consoles with Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Ultimate Edition.

Deadfire, originally released on PC in May of 2018, sees you back in the role of the Watcher, your character from the first game. A few years have passed and you rejoin your character in the aftermath of the destruction of their home with their life hanging on by a thread. Eothas, the God of Rebirth, has inhabited a giant stone statue that was below the Watcher’s castle of Caed Nua. His awakening lays waste to all around him, and in the process steals souls from anyone near, including half of your own. So great a threat Eothas poses that the god Berath, the Pallid Knight of the pantheon of gods, has returned the remaining part of your soul to your body in exchange for doing her a little favor. A simple task really: you just have to stop the giant god rampaging the world.

“Customizing your ship’s appearance, upgrading its equipment, and leveling up the crew became a favorite past time of mine in the Deadfire Archipelago.”

You will be taking to the high seas on board your very own ship, chasing Eothas around the Deadfire Archipelago. Along the way you’ll parlay with various factions, negotiate with traders, do battle with pirates, and recruit adventurers as you go. This new ship-based exploration is one of the defining features that set Pillars of Eternity 2 apart from its predecessor.

The Defiant, and subsequent ships you can purchase, add a new perspective and sense of scale to the world. You have direct control of your vessel as it sails through the waves. When you encounter other ships, you have a number of options open to you. You can board them and assault them with your crew, or you can keep the battle at a distance firing your cannons back-and-forth while keeping yourself in a tactically superior position. These additions make you have to think about how you are going to spend your gold on upgrading your party or your boat. Customizing your ship’s appearance, upgrading its equipment, and leveling up the crew became a favorite past time of mine in the Deadfire Archipelago. By the end of your adventure, your ship will be just as much a part of your team as any of the warm bodies you take ashore.

Deadfire Ultimate brings to consoles all the previously released DLC, including new story content and new modes. This includes the three story expansions, the super bosses, and much more. You also have access to the added combat mode which changes combat into a more tactical, turn-based affair. When all is tallied, you have yourself a pretty full package here.

My time sailing around the Deadfire Archipelago as Captain Jack VanderSmack was filled with adventure, friends, and fraught with danger and load screens. Prior to this review, I hadn’t yet played this tale in Eora. I’ve played and thoroughly enjoyed the first title. It was the first game in a long time that had scratched that same Dungeons & Dragons itch that other legendary titles had. I was excited to jump back in and see where this new story would take me. This time around, however, turned out to be much more of a mixed bag.

The ability to bring over your character from the first Pillars is missing from this console release, unfortunately. In its place, when you create your character you will be given the opportunity to select the results of important plot points from the first game. It’s not ideal, but it still worked well enough for me to create my own character.

From a narrative and gameplay level, the console port of Deadfire held me firmly in its grasp. The mysteries and lore kept me constantly excited to play more. I also chose the turn-based style of combat for my main game. This setting makes encounters much more tactical, giving you time to think and set up attacks and strategies.  Fans of the original style, the option to have everyone act concurrently but allowing you to pause time to issue direct commands, is still available. You have to decide which option you want from the start, as you aren’t able to swap back and forth in Deadfire. I started a second character just to test out the original mode, and it was just as I remember it from the previous game. Battles play out much faster, but in larger encounters, it can be difficult to keep track of everyone. In this mode, most players will have to rely on the competency of your team’s AI settings. Luckily though, the AI for all of your characters can be customized and tweaked, similar to Final Fantasy XII’s Gambit System.

“Unfortunately, with Deadfire, changing zones will lead to a static loading screen that will halt your questing for anywhere between 30 seconds to nearly a minute.”

The islands of the Deadfire Archipelago are tropical, littered with sand-buried ruins, caves with hidden areas accessible via underwater tunnels, and grand sun-bleached cities for you to explore. It’s a stark departure from the Dyrwood of the first game. You will be exploring all of this with either the unique characters you come across during the story or hiring pre-made or custom made characters in the various towns. I’ve always loved being able to make my friends in RPGs. The fact that I can now make them and pilot a pirate ship around Eora is even better. When one of my friends does something stupid in our weekly D&D campaign, I can simply assign him to an annoying task on the Defiant as punishment.

On the technical side, Deadfire fares far worse with the loading times being of particular note. The areas you explore in the Pillars titles are composed of various zones that are linked together. This approach isn’t uncommon for games of a similar ilk (Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights), nor is it bad. Unfortunately, with Deadfire, changing zones will lead to a static loading screen that will halt your questing for anywhere between 30 seconds to nearly a minute.

If you are hoping that returning to the location you had just been in would result in shorter load times, I have some bad news for you, friend. These long load times can result in you spending more time on the loading screen then it takes to explore smaller areas. Considering the large cities are composed of numerous shops, taverns, inns, and areas of interest that are only accessible via these transitions, it’s hard to get excited exploring when you know what you can look forward to.

I was also on the receiving end of some other, more game-halting, glitches during my playthrough. Numerous times I encountered a glitch where my radial menu simply wouldn’t respond, making accessing any of the game’s menus impossible. Once, while attempting to level up my characters, the cursor simply stopped responding, preventing me from selecting a skill to learn, locking me out actually leveling up. The only thing that would fix this issue was closing the game entirely and restarting it, which then let me enjoy a 2-minute long static loading screen before getting to play again. And on a few occasions, Pillars of Eternity 2 would simply crash. This happened most often after entering combat shortly after resuming gameplay after taking my PS4 out of sleep mode.

  “For as much I may enjoy the gameplay and story, I can’t deny that all the issues I encountered really marred my experience with Deadfire.“

For as much I may enjoy the gameplay and story, I can’t deny that all the issues I encountered really marred my experience with Deadfire. I also saw some other minor graphical glitches earlier on, but luckily, a pre-release patch released that addressed most of these issues. I’m hoping that Obsidian will continue to patch this game, focusing on reducing the loading times, ideally.

Sailing around and discovering new islands to claim as my own never got old. Whenever I came across unsuspecting pirates or merchants on the open seas, it was a thrill. It made for perfect chances for Captain Jack and crew to relieve some individuals of their wares…and lives. I constantly wanted to keep crafting new potions and poisons while scavenging for resources to enchant and enhance my equipment. My own Jack VanderSmack deserves nothing but the finest, after all.

There is a lot to love here in Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. This release on home consoles may be stumbling out of the gate, but I remain optimistic that the issues mentioned will be fixed in upcoming patches. I’m still definitely looking forward to future playthroughs of my own in Eora.

January 28, 2020 12:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/01/deadfire-ultimate-edition-review-rough-seas-in-a-tropical-paradise/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=deadfire-ultimate-edition-review-rough-seas-in-a-tropical-paradise