Our Baldurs Gate2 review, some of our top tens, but most specially the only two videos we've made on RPGs here on the channel (Grim Dawn and Shadows Awakening), have unintentionally served as epistemic battlegrounds for discussions pertaining the sub-genres within the RPG realms. We love games like Baldur's Gate II, m and Diablo II in this channel... and we had our of entertainment with games like Dark Souls and Sekiro, we are not sure it's useful to throw them into a sack on account of having been labelled "RPG" by the developer. Baldur’s Gate II and Diablo II are genre defining games. One only needs to take a look at the slew of games that have tried to imitate them over the course of the years. You have the Pillars of Eternities, the Pathfinders, the Tyrannys and Zorias one hand. Games that don’t exactly try to hide their source of inspiration and the Titan Quests, the hellgate londons the Grim dawns, Torchlights, fates and adventures of van helsing on the other. And to say that these games “follow the tradition of Diablo II” would be hell of a euphemism. I think that taxonomies have to be first and foremost useful. And when it comes to games and especially RPGS, they have to help you decide if a certain game is for you or not. Because RPGS are not like one-on-one fighting games… As different as they are they ALL more or less appeal to the same crowd. I think that, as different as it is from Diablo II, Shadows Awakening could appeal to my friend Eat a lot. But I really don’t think that Dark Souls or Bloodborne would. On the other hand, Sekiro was never labelled an RPG although it has many RPG mechanics like choosing which skills and disciplines to train and which prosthetics to enhance and how. And I think Sekiro is a game that would appeal to 95% of those who liked the soulsborne games. So, while equating ARPGs to isometric Diabloesque games may be reductive, I think it is a lot more useful than using the term to throw in every game and its mother that fits the operative definition. So much so in fact, that nowadays the souls-like tag has become hugely popular. Ant that’s because Dark Souls, whether you like or not… was a genre defining game and there’s a huge crowd out there that are always hunting for games that deliver a similar experience. And just like Titan Quest’s reason to exist seems to be to sate the thirst for more Diablo-II like ARPGS, there’s games like Mortal Shell that seek to do the same with Dark Souls. Now Elden Ring is out and it is an open world RPG that distills everything that was good about Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro (well almost everything) and throws in a few new things of its own. And I’m actually curious about what people are going to call its genre in the future. Go figure ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0BqbZsyoPk

0:00 Intro 2:17 Character Creation and Character Progression 19:53 Gameplay 29:42 Story and Lore 36:52 Companions Lorewise 40:55 Companions Gameplaywise 43:06 Secondary Mechanics and User Experience 46:05 Sound Effects and Mix 47:24 Music 51:07 Voice Acting 53:46 Graphics 55:15 Performance & Stability 55:44 Other Considerations & Final Thoughts Tyranny is a CRPG developed by Obsidian and published by Paradox Interactive that came out not long after Pillars of Eternity. Tyranny takes place in a medieval fantasy setting that is nothing quite like we've seen before. Unlike most other video games in the isometric crpg ballpark, this one is not derivative of The Lord of the Rings, D&D or Arthurian dark fantasy. Tyranny goes its own way to deliver a game in which the you are an agent of a totalitarian regime who seeks to crush the remaining bastion of resistance. The premise of the story is not the only unique thing this game has going for it. It has a map of branching player-decision plot lines that makes games like Arcanum and Baldur's Gate 2 seem linear. It rivals Fallout New Vegas itself in terms of how much the player can influence how the story unfolds and the very outcome of the game. It has a unique spell crafting system that allows the player to fine tune his arsenal of offensive moves to a degree that has also never been seen before in game. But how does this all come together? Is all this agency actually fun to play? You'll have to watch the video for that. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw-5mzKai8Y

Planescape Torment juggles with some of humanities biggest questions, especially those that revolve around transcendence and spiritual rebirth. As a story telling piece it is a masterpiece. But is it the greatest video game of all time? Even the best RPG of all time? How does it compare to some other D&D titles like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale? I might have not been crazy about planescape torment ost, but I'll leave a link here for you to check it out. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8804009A91F98915 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqmfSFLw_HI

Since Obsidian published Pillars of Eternity in the year 2015, it has always been on and off the lists of "spiritual successors" to Bioware's Baldur's Gate 2, along with names like Pathfinder Kingmaker, Divinity Original Sin II and, to a lesser extent, Black Geyser and Solasta Crown of the Magister. This time we are taking on its not-so-successful sequel: Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. How does it compare to its predecessor? and to timeless classics like Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale? Let's find out!Keep in mind that I do not claim to be an expert in Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, nor any other rule set. This video only seeks to present my experience with the game and my personal takeaways. 0:00 Introduction 2:27 Character Creation and Character Progression 13:36 Gameplay 30:03 Story & Lore 41:00 Companions Lorewise 46:29 Companions Gameplay 48:08 Secondary Mechanics & User Experience 54:46 Sound Effects & Mix 56:01 Music 59:38 Voice Acting 1:03:12 Graphics 1:04:21 Performance & Stability 1:04:49 Other Considerations and Final Thoughts ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIlPkFPCT4M