The GWJ CRPG Club - Part 1 - Old Thread

quasiChaos wrote:

(Tune in next week for more "Fun with Spreadsheets!")

Very nice.

And I’ll have to find something else I can blame for these outcomes instead. Maybe the fact that we can vote digitally and doesn’t have to show up at a voting booth.

I might actually have an unused key for Wasteland 2 somewhere. Will try to remember checking when I get home.

Got two Wasteland 2 keys from other inXile kickstarters, I know one has been redeemed before, but not sure which one. Nor do I know if the keys can expire.
But if anyone are interested in giving the keys a try, say so here

(edit: key is gone, actually it was apparently gone 4 years ago, sorry)

I’d be interested!

Shadout wrote:

Got two Wasteland 2 keys from other inXile kickstarters, I know one has been redeemed before, but not sure which one. Nor do I know if the keys can expire.
But if anyone are interested in giving the keys a try, say so here :)

That's very kind of you, Shadout!

(I'm set with mine and don't need one, just wanted to say thanks though.)

PM'ed you the keys LastSurprise

Thank you very much!

LastSurprise wrote:

Thank you very much!

So, do you still need a key, LastSurprise? I just checked and apparently I have an unclaimed copy. PM me if you do.

Yeah, Shadout’s keys were in use already, so I’d still take one if you’ve got one.

LastSurprise wrote:

...I’d still take one if you’ve got one.

PM'd

Just as a heads up, Epic are giving away all 3 Shadowrun games for free as one of their giveaways right now until 3rd Sept.

^Thanks! I added them to my ever-growing library of free Epic stuff. I hope to get to 100 games by the end of the year.

All these recent RPGs I’ve played have made me appreciate Dragonfall and Hong Kong a bit more.

I also find myself thinking back appreciably towards Shadowrun: Dragonfall. It's possibly my favourite Club game, sans Baldur's Gate, which I adore, but I had prior experience with. I've yet to play Shadowrun: Hong Kong. That'll be the game to get me back on PC, I bet.

I was gifted the first Banner Saga game over the steam summer sale and indulged in it while not being too sure what else to play (I'm trying to ween myself off the idea that I have to wait for the club to vote for it!)

It is one of the most beautiful games - ascetically, and in terms of it's story and structure and combat system I think I've ever played. I cannot recommend it enough, I think it's been my favourite game of this year, and it's been a strong year.

Cool. I know what I'm nominating (again).

Are we not due the next vote soon? Not that I'm waiting or anything!

Of course, my ability to play it might well dependent to my resistance to signing on to the Baldurs Gate 3 Early Access. Or just folding and picking up Wasteland 3

I'm wondering, how are we doing with this? I feel like we've ... lost momentum?

I'm happy to keep things going, it's fun to set up the elections and whatnot, so no worries there.

Having said that, I am finding that my work, family, and gaming interests have shifted a bit, and I seem to be less likely to complete some of the longer RPGs that we've selected. I get a sense that more active participation by the person running the voting is a key to keeping up participation, and I've failed in that regard over the last few games.

So as much as I'm happy to keep things going this way, I'd also be open to alternative leadership arrangements, either shared or otherwise.

At a minimum, however, we should start the next vote, unless there is no interest, and then go from there. I'd like to think for a day or so as well, as to alternative leadership arrangements. I might be able to refocus this fall.

i've been so tied up with tabletop RPG stuff i've just not had the time to jump into any CRPG backlog right now (plus, nothing that's been voted for has really caught my interest for too long tbh). If the right game comes along that fits my mood then i'm still all in though, so vote away, i say

*(I say all that but BG3 is high on my agenda when that releases properly and not in early access)

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I'm wondering, how are we doing with this? I feel like we've ... lost momentum?

I'm happy to keep things going, it's fun to set up the elections and whatnot, so no worries there.

Having said that, I am finding that my work, family, and gaming interests have shifted a bit, and I seem to be less likely to complete some of the longer RPGs that we've selected. I get a sense that more active participation by the person running the voting is a key to keeping up participation, and I've failed in that regard over the last few games.

So as much as I'm happy to keep things going this way, I'd also be open to alternative leadership arrangements, either shared or otherwise.

At a minimum, however, we should start the next vote, unless there is no interest, and then go from there. I'd like to think for a day or so as well, as to alternative leadership arrangements. I might be able to refocus this fall.

All the games we’ve chosen for the last year or so have been massive games that represent a large time investment, and a large mental investment as well - Learning new and sometimes complex systems, that you can’t just step away from and return to without losing track of where you were or what you were doing, let alone how it all works. Burnout / loss of momentum is to be expected I think, it represents a lot of gaming.

Right now we’re picking the same games each time too. That’s absolutely to be expected but each election I’m seeing games I know I won’t play if they win. That’s fine, but I still think we should have one election for games nobody has previously voted for, so we all get a new experience. Again, I know how hard that would be to administer so it is just a suggestion, but I’d be happy to go back and make the list all of all the games we’ve had a final vote on and see if that’s an idea?

I don’t feel (purely from a club perspective) that the person running the vote needs to play if they don’t feel the urge either, I think you’re setting yourself up for unnecessary hardship there.

There’s a lot out there we haven’t really looked at previously that I wonder we should, or something we know is less involved and give ourselves a chance to catch a breath as it were.

I also totally understand that a lot of people would probably completely disagree with me too, and that’s absolutely fine as well!

Sorbicol wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I'm wondering, how are we doing with this? I feel like we've ... lost momentum?

I'm happy to keep things going, it's fun to set up the elections and whatnot, so no worries there.

Having said that, I am finding that my work, family, and gaming interests have shifted a bit, and I seem to be less likely to complete some of the longer RPGs that we've selected. I get a sense that more active participation by the person running the voting is a key to keeping up participation, and I've failed in that regard over the last few games.

So as much as I'm happy to keep things going this way, I'd also be open to alternative leadership arrangements, either shared or otherwise.

At a minimum, however, we should start the next vote, unless there is no interest, and then go from there. I'd like to think for a day or so as well, as to alternative leadership arrangements. I might be able to refocus this fall.

All the games we’ve chosen for the last year or so have been massive games that represent a large time investment, and a large mental investment as well - Learning new and sometimes complex systems, that you can’t just step away from and return to without losing track of where you were or what you were doing, let alone how it all works. Burnout / loss of momentum is to be expected I think, it represents a lot of gaming.

I've noticed this sort of thing in the JRPG Club as well. We have these games that we've heard a lot about, and would really like to play, and but some are just ... so ... long. I think sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, metaphorically speaking, for the sort of game experience we want to have. I know that can be true for me, and that also, by the time I hit 30-40 hours in any game, I'm ready to move on and try something new. I'll bet that is a factor here.

Also, GB, if your interests have shifted a bit, that's totally okay! The coronavirus pandemic has affected us all in a variety of ways, and maybe that's also contributing to a feeling of lost momentum?

Just need to stay away from the very long form isometric party-based RPG's for a bit IMO.

To track these ideas a bit...

Ideas Mentioned
... keep going
... vote on a shorter game. (This would be easy, we could just limit How Long To Beat Main & Extras of 30 hours or something)
... vote on something that hasn't been in the (final rounds of) voting yet. This would be pretty easy to set up as well.
... a combination of something short and something that hasn't been voted on yet

Interesting thoughts, everyone. We have a few days before we can start the vote, so let's see where this goes for a bit.

I've noticed the same thing that Last Surprise noticed about our eyes being larger than our mouths, for sure.

I should also add that Witcher 3 had a very large completion rate for a longer game, so a good number of us thrived on that. We've tailed off as of late, however, with the last two selections. Wasteland 2 struggled more than other games.

I kind of like the "shorter game" idea, for something simple to try. Although, to be honest I feel like I can predict the winner right now if we were to limit to say, under 35-40 hours.

We just need to finally vote for Torchlight, problem solved.

After 120 hours of Divinity: OS2 I am suddenly really liking short games. At this point in time I’m ok with wrapping this thing up and declaring me the winner

Or ... pick from some shorter games, make a rule that disqualifies games from being nominated three times in a row - something to mix it up a little bit.

I think a timeout for games nominated a bunch of times in a row would be a good idea, yes. Shake the field up a little.

I joined the GWJ CRPG club just in time for the last round with the best intentions.

With a change of circumstances i thought I'd have the time and patience for a longer, story rich game. I started Wasteland 2 a few times and faltered. I ended up playing a lot of digital board games with friends online and other turn based strategy games that I could dip in and out of.

I'll try again for the next round but as mentioned by others perhaps I'd do better with a shorter game. I've been holding back on The Banner Saga in case that one got the vote

I'll throw my support behind these two ideas:

  • Having a round (maybe even every-other round going forward?) dedicated to a "short" game, whatever that limit might be.
  • Temporarily banning games from future nomination that have been repeatedly nominated (or nominated and seconded? or made it to Pick 6?) but have never "won."

And would add these ideas:

  • Change the language around the "Pick 6" stage to be much more explicitly along the lines of "Pick 6 You, Personally, Would Actually Commit To Playing." People should feel some sense of expectation to give good-faith efforts at completing a game they "Picked."
  • Ban not only "new" games from nomination, but also game which have sequels coming out in the near future. Looking at Bloodlines and Wasteland 2, did we really see more legit activity, or just a lot of hopeful rhetoric about "playing the first game." Yes, I am saying we should not do BG2.

I'm interested and looks like I'm not too far behind to start Wasteland 2 - Fond memories of the original on C64

Math wrote:

I'll throw my support behind these two ideas:

  • Having a round (maybe even every-other round going forward?) dedicated to a "short" game, whatever that limit might be.
  • Temporarily banning games from future nomination that have been repeatedly nominated (or nominated and seconded? or made it to Pick 6?) but have never "won."

And would add these ideas:

  • Change the language around the "Pick 6" stage to be much more explicitly along the lines of "Pick 6 You, Personally, Would Actually Commit To Playing." People should feel some sense of expectation to give good-faith efforts at completing a game they "Picked."
  • Ban not only "new" games from nomination, but also game which have sequels coming out in the near future. Looking at Bloodlines and Wasteland 2, did we really see more legit activity, or just a lot of hopeful rhetoric about "playing the first game." Yes, I am saying we should not do BG2.

I don't think we need to over complicate this too much though - I appreciate that Godzilla (who has tried to play every game we've voted for?) is understandably getting a little discouraged in completing all the games now! However we also don't want to discourage people from voting and upcoming games are a big draw as to why people might want to play a lengthy RPG - or any other kind of RPG.

As a total aside, both Expeditions: Vikings and Pathfinder: Kingmaker are on discount on Steam over the weekend

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is like 187 hours for a completionist playthrough too, so it’s sure to be our next game!