i was worried that this would be divinity: original sin 3 more than it would be a true successor to baldur's gate II (not that more div:os2 would be a bad thing at all, really) but it does a suitably good job of living up to the originals' legacy while incorporating the polish and production value of some of the genre's more recent successful entries. 5e is a mixed bag, but the game pushes past (most) of the system's frustrating qualities. it's great. (i've also seen porn that is less horny than this game. some of the shit larian pulls in this is absolutely wild and I'm surprised they were able to get away without an AO rating. i deep throated a tentacle????)

anyway the camp f* slur vampire is funnier than every single bioware npc combined

Originally, I wasn't a big fan of the first installment, with its
cloying setting and uneven storytelling. I wasn't expecting
this game to be as good as it is, but I'm happy to eat crow.
on the one hand, the writing is exceptionally good, with a
particularly darker bent than the first game's feel-good tone.
and on the other, the combat is exponentially cleaner and
tighter than any of its modern jrpg contemporaries.
hot take: Temenos and Crick are boyfriends, right?

I am trapped between two worlds

World 1) my partner walked in on me playing this. "it's a puzzle game," I said, remembering how much he enjoyed playing through return of the obra dinn with me. "you like puzzle games. do you want to try this together?" anyway, he sat behind me for a total of five minutes before throwing up his hands in despair and walking out. "I'm not gonna fucking sit here and watch you play snake for hours," he said.

World 2) My friend, who recommended I play this, is very excited to watch my progress as I make the way through; this has been a harrowing experience where he makes soft noises of disapproval as I attempt to lizard brain my way through the puzzles. it is destroying my self esteem and it's not like that was in a good place to begin with

so like, i'm not at a point where i can review this but: please send help

Much has been said about the quality and customizability of the combat (it's fantastic), but one of my favorite things about the Tactics Ogre is how even though the end results of your decisions might be virtually identical, the writing is elegant enough to obfuscate that into really feeling like player choice is important. Make a decision early on, and character X will leave you, disgusted by your actions; choose the opposite choice, and that same character leaves you - this time, revealing that no matter what choice you made, they'd disagree with it, because they hate your fucking guts. It may feel kind of dishonest, but frankly? That's consistent writing, and I respect it.

Anyway Canopus could split me open like a ripe, juicy coconut 🥥🥥