Oh absolutely! I’ve heard the term “power gamer” used to describe people who love building the perfect, 100% optimal character that is multiclassed just so with such and such items, who can do X amount of damage per round, and so on. I think some people use that as a derogatory term but I don’t see it that way. It’s just how some people like to play, just as some people like to play characters who are this race with this color hair and an elaborate backstory, stats be damned.

There are absolutely people out there like what you’re asking for. Lots of combat, exploration, puzzles, and roleplay is restricted to basic narration (“my character asks where the bad guy is” “ok, roll persuasion”). They have a presence online as well, for example r/3d6 on Reddit, but it’s a bit smaller/less vocal than the RP folks I think.

There’s a decent chance you might not be missing anything, it’s just not for you. Minecraft and Terraria are beloved titles that people put thousands of hours into, but I never got into them myself.

A turn-based CRPG is a very old-fashioned thing (the C stands for Computer), and it’s a pretty faithful adaption of a TT (tabletop, so pen-and-paper) RPG, which is even older (though the current ruleset for DnD is pretty new). I can definitely understand how Skyrim appeals to you but something like BG3 doesn’t; they’re fundamentally different games, and Skyrim is much faster-paced

I wonder why they decided to crank up fall damage compared to tabletop. A fall from that height in 5e is 3d6 bludgeoning

Yeah where are those descriptions coming from? Also mentions “the strike workers’ strike” and repeats “politics” twice

Honestly micro lithography and chip design in and of themselves have been moving towards only a few big players in the space. TSMC is more advanced than any other manufacturer, and NVIDIA’s chip designs at the top end just have no competition for raw performance and capability, even aside from their software/AI work. Don’t get me wrong, all the major chip manufacturers have their respective anticompetitive bullshit, but traditional silicon is such a hard space to even keep up in, never mind break into.

I wonder how much sense that would actually make for them. All the major console makers subsidize their products through game sales and online subscriptions. Valve already does the former, but that’s because they’re a game marketplace and it’s how they make money to begin with. I’m not sure what a steam subscription service (that’s not a game pass) would look like, since Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo offer online play and cloud saves for the cost of a subscription, whereas Valve makes those available for free.

Oh shit, when they said “around the corner” they really meant it

Actually in my current run (on Balanced) I’ve found that I can’t really do that. If I group sneak towards enemies I can attack with one of my characters, they leave hiding to make the attack, and then typically get spotted and start combat (unless it’s from far enough away that they can re-hide and attack again before the target gets within sight). Then all the involved characters roll initiative, and my character that attacked doesn’t have an action for that turn. Any other members of my party that are hidden can still attack out of combat, but the same situation occurs; they leave hiding to make the attack, get spotted, roll initiative, and then when their turn comes around they don’t have an action (haven’t had the chance to see how this works with extra attack). This could probably be cheesed with super favourable terrain and some pre-planning, but I think at that point you’ve more or less set up an ambush and it’s ok to get some extra benefit out of that.

IMO this is a pretty good way to handle it within a video game context, because it limits the cheese while not totally removing player agency by possibly undoing your attack. Like you said it’s different to how that’s handled in tabletop, but as a DM I’m able to explain how initiative is literally a skill check to see how quick on the draw you are, so my players hopefully don’t feel as cheated if they want to attack first but can’t act before the enemy. I do enjoy how the player urge to get as many free attacks in as possible at the start of combat is the same in both games hahaha.

Honestly, when it first entered early access it basically was. Surfaces were murderous until they fixed them

It sounds like one solution to this would be having the entire party enter turn-based mode, with members either being in or out of combat. It seems like that would be a very easy change to make, because turn-based mode can already trigger automatically, but the question would be how well that all blends together while you’re playing. I think that should be tied to difficulty; in Story you can cheese like you do now, while in hardcore (or whatever it’s called) you always enter turn-based.

I this is partly the consequence of adapting a tabletop system to a video game. In DND your DM obviously wouldn’t pause combat indefinitely while the rest of the party messes around, but a DM can account for out-of-combat shenanigans much better than a game that must use pre-defined systems.

My gut feeling is sometime around the original release date? If memory serves, DOS2 got it like the day after launch

It’s too bad the review copies were delayed, but I’m glad reviewers are taking their time with it. If this level of positivity continues I feel like BG3 will be a serious GOTY contender

Interestingly all Apple silicon Macs support fast-charging via USB C. The 16-inch can only do 140W fast-charging via MagSafe, but that makes sense since ports that support charging speeds >100W are fairly new

“I ask thee again: what is the value, of a single PC level?”

Ok got it. I assumed you were, but did figure there was a small chance you were referencing something else which is why I phrased my comment the way I did. Thanks for clarifying!

Are they an admin? The account seems to be registered on another instance. But in any event what they said is a super common misconception about the case. I guess you could make an argument that it’s spreading misinformation, but only if you’re being very literal and ignoring what most people think of when they hear “spreading misinformation”.

they’re classified as entertainment instead of news

If you’re referencing the Tucker Carlson defamation suit, that’s not a correct reading of the decision.

Project Wingman and Subnautica can both be played entirely in VR if you’re into dogfighting or the indescribable horrors of the deep, respectively

That’s awesome! My friend group tried out DND in a similar way, none of us had ever played before so one stepped up to DM. I’ve become a DM myself since then, almost begrudgingly at first but I’ve really come to enjoy it. But if I may ask, what got you to set up a DND community before playing yourself? Were you inspired by communities on other sites, or by following campaigns (Critical Role et. al)?