u/bIeese_anoni

To summarize the blog: It's a strongly held philosophical belief I have that asserts objective truth is irrelevant, and rather the only way we can interact with truth is through relative and collective truths based on reference frames (and collections of reference frames). The blog gives reasoning for this, defines the model and gives reasoning as to why the model is important. It also covers common criticisms I have had through the model.

Thanks for reading and I would be very interested to hear what other people think about this!

So I've just started wotr, and I've been reading reviews on when to start dlcs and the like but I'm a bit confused. To me it seems like some dlcs are standalone campaigns that integrate, somehow, with the main campaign (you can import saves) and some are integrated into the main campaign.

So my questions are:

1. Which paid dlcs are integrated into the main campaign, and which requires you to exit and start a new game with that dlc.

2. How do you import dlc saves into the main campaign? (For example, through the ashes I believe is a standalone dlc that you play after the prologue but before end of act 1, so apparently you can import the save somehow before that end of act 1 but after the prologue).

So I've only gotten into CRPG's recently (about 2 years ago), but since I've started I've been absolutely hooked. Today marks the completion of my 10th CRPG (Pathfinder: Kingmaker, challenging mode!) and I figured, why not rank the 10 CRPG's that I've played from worst to best.

A few notes: This list is EXPLICITLY biased, I am not trying to be objective in this ranking. For context I'm a fan of stories that explore ideologies, philosophy and political science, and I'm more interested in sci-fi than fantasy. As well, I enjoyed EVERY CRPG I played, so just because a CRPG is at #10 doesn't mean I didn't like, I just liked the ones above it even more! I'm also only counting CRPG's I've completed all the way through. With that out of the way, let's get started.

#10 Dragon Age: Origins: So I actually tried Dragon Age Origins ages ago, but was totally turned off by a very generic sounding story (Wardens protect the world from evil darkspawn), so I didn't get very far. I decided to give it another crack and I'm glad I did! The story surprised me (especially because I played city elf), it was much more complex than I imagined initially, each of the different tribes and political situations were well thought out and the companions were truly unique. Still though, compared to the other stories on this list, it was relatively simple, and I couldn't find myself being really engaged in the world. I also wasn't a huge fan of the combat, a lot of the time I had to cheese fights (I was playing on a harder difficulty though). Altogether it was a solid game, but it hasn't left much of an impact on me.

#9 Baldur's Gate 3: I know, I know, how can I put Baldur's Gate 3 so LOW on this list! This game definitely has the highest production values of all the CRPGs and it has the most freeform choice in the setting. I really liked how every companion felt like their own main character and the final battle was truly epic, (Act 2 though, was my favourite act). My problem with BG3 is the fact that it is kinda... too open. People might disagree but I felt the game was really finnicky, it was really easy to make mistakes and get overwhelmed with all the actions you could do, most of which weren't really needed in that situation. There was a lot of encounters that felt really cheap, the Isabella encounter in particular (the enemies focus her and if she dies you lose a tonne of side content within the game). And there were just a bunch of frustrations (no shared inventory, no good inventory management, some dungeons required specific spells to complete such as Wyll's side quest dungeon, some quests were super unclear). All of these little annoyances just added up to weaken my overall experience of the game. It still gets higher than Dragon Age because it was much more memorable to me.

#8 Knights of the Old Republic 2: So I'm a huge fan of Chris Avellone (I know he's not the most popular at the moment here) and I heard this game was really well written. Not only that but I'm a huge fan of Star Wars so this game seemed like the perfect game for me. Indeed, what I got was what I expected, an expertly written game that was fun and explored really interesting moral philosophy, my favourite section being Nar Shaddaa and my favourite character was, ofc, Kreia. The only thing that brought this game down was it was kinda confusing. Like I didn't really know what I was doing or what was actually motivating my character throughout the whole game. Like, I'm looking for four jedi, why? What's in it for me? What is Kreia's plan? Why would I want to kill them? I generally follow the philosophy that a story should be easy to understand at first glance and the complexity and nuance exist within the details. Like in fallout new vegas, you have these epic nuances but your motivation is "kill the guy who shot me in the head", easy to get and understand. I ask you to define your characters motivations in KOTOR 2 in such a short sentence. In retrospect of course the story makes sense (kinda, there's still some things in the final section of the game I don't understand) but while you're playing it for the first time it can be quite confusing.

#7 Knights of the Old Republic: So I only played this game to play KOTOR 2, I had not read anything about it, I did know about the twist in the game already (because I know my star wars lore!) so I kinda figured this game would be kinda meh. To my surprise I ended up enjoying it MORE than even KOTOR 2! I was amazed in how much the game made small low-poly corridors feel like real and lived in places, I don't know how they did it but I was absolutely immersed in the world of this game that came out over 20 years ago. The characters in the game were much more interesting than I expected (I heard they were generic), Bastilla being a standout for me. And the game was just a lot more detailed and nuanced than I was expecting, consider for instance Jolee's companion mission, a complex legal proceeding where you KNOW that the person is guilty and yet still have reason to get them off free. There was so many different things to consider in just that one side quest and it was just great. While the writing may not be as philosophical as KOTOR 2, it gets above KOTOR 2 for both being more understandable and for surprising me, it left more of an impact.

#6 Pathfinder: Kingmaker: Well the latest game I finished, Pathfinder Kingmaker was a truly solid experience. It's BLOODY LONG, I played 169 hours on this game and when you spend so much time in a game, it's going to leave an impact. I really liked the story of this game, it's complex, it's political, I like how the story is basically "you're running a kingdom and things just happen", and then the things all connect together (you might see this kinda story appear again on the list ;D). I particularly LOVED the kingdom management, I liked making decisions and watching my stats go up, to the point where I got slightly upset that I had to go questing because it meant I could no longer manage my kingdom haha. My favourite section of the game would have to be Act 3 or the "Season of Bloom" quest, that was really interesting. My main complaints of the game shouldn't be that surprising, everything being timed really makes you stress a lot more, and you end up missing out on stuff (I missed out on an ENTIRE COMPANION because of this). I found the combat really fun once I understood it though.

#5 Wasteland 3: I feel like this list is gonna confuse a lot of people, considering that wasteland 2 is on this list and is HIGHER than wasteland 3. I really liked wasteland 3, I liked the story of the different raider groups coming together and not knowing whether the Patriarch was actually a good or bad guy or not. I really liked the combat. I liked the production values, I liked the setting. My favourite part was with Nixon and the robot commune I thought that was really awesome. There wasn't really anything I disliked about this game, which is why it's so high on this list. But I compare it to wasteland 2, and I felt it was a little bit more streamlined and railroaded compared to that game. It also felt more forgiving which while normally I like, for a post-apocalypse game I kinda like feeling brutalized in this hostile environment. The other thing was I made a headcanon with my four companions in wasteland 2, and I felt that I couldn't quite capture the same vibe here. I don't know, this game had no major faults, but also no major wins, so I think it fits right in the middle of this list.

#4 Pillars of Eternity 2: So when I started playing Pillars 2 for the first time, I actually kinda didn't like it, it has a much lighter tone than the first Pillars which kinda surprised me. But as I continued the new tone and setting actually started to grow on me. In particularly, the archipelago was such a unique setting I hadn't seen before in a game. The game tackles really interesting plot points like colonialism, science and the like and it tackled it in ways that I didn't expect. I particularly liked how your companions really felt like they were not necessarily "good" people but morally complex individuals, particularly Maia. The combat was really good, I preferred it over the first game and I'm not usually a fan of RTwP gameplay, but this game did it pretty well. Altogether all the factions were really interesting, the choices that you made felt very free and open, and I really enjoyed the ship combat as well. Not much to say, this game holds a nice warm spot in my heart, it wasn't earth shattering, but I still think of it fondly.

#3 Pillars of Eternity: This game however was earth shattering. I was expecting a dark fantasy, but what I got was a deeply philosophical exploration of science, religion, reincarnation and the nature of the soul. I adored this game. I particularly loved Durance, I know a lot of people hate him but he is probably the most memorable companion I've ever experienced in any video game (even more than Kreia for me, just because of how unusual he was, but hilarious and philosophical!). All the companions were fantastic to be honest, offering different flavours of tone and experience. I loved Ciphers, I loved Madam Webb and Grieving Mother, how they manipulated peoples minds and changed them (and as a Cipher I got to roleplay doing that). I loved the 15 floor dungeon below your castle and how each part of the dungeon offered different experiences. I loved the DLCs and the different godlikes you meet. And I loved, loved, LOVED the twist. This game was nothing short of fantastic.

#2 Wasteland 2: Ok, so this is where my bias really comes in, because Wasteland 2 was actually the very first CRPG I properly played. I went in thinking it would be ok, turned the difficulty pretty high, not knowing any of the rules or standards for CRPGs and went off. What I got was an absolutely brutal pounding as I got a rude wake up call about how much CRPGs respect your intelligence and strategy. I suffered through this game initially, but I didn't give up, I didn't turn the difficulty down, and I didn't look up strategy guides, I learned (and savescummed). And by the end of the game I felt like I was a CRPG veteran after going through a trial of fire, and guess what, that's exactly what the story felt like it was trying to say. I felt like I survived the apocalypse. The four custom characters I made I wrote whole stories about them, had whole experiences with them, went through trials and tribulations. My leader, the character I thought would be the best, ended up being the worst and turned into comic relief. I felt so attached to these characters, more so than any of the actual named characters in the game. The story and tribes were also really interesting, I particularly liked the LA section of the game, because the characters there felt so extreme. This game left an impact on me, and when the credits rolled and I got a pretty decent ending, I knew I would be in love with CRPGs forever. Also just a note I really like how this game separated medic and surgeon, it's a little thing but I haven't seen any other game do that and I think it should be in more games.

#1 Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader: Rogue Trader was the 9th CRPG I ever played, and I wasn't expecting that much. Don't get me wrong, I love 40k, so I was expecting kinda a unique perspective on the 40k universe. What I got though was a true ever encompassing power fantasy and epic that spanned planets and stuck with me more than any other game. I said I liked stories that were just you managing a realm, and that's exactly what Rogue Trader is, you're managing a whole section of the Galaxy and all these things keep happening that all end up being connected. The game makes you FEEL like that you are a ruler, you TRULY feel like an important king more so than in any game I've ever played and that was epic. All the companions, bar none, are incredibly interesting and have incredibly good stories and interactions. The gameplay is super fun, with lots and lots of variety on display, with unique encounters and enemies. I went to EVERY single location possible in this game, because all the locations offered interesting locals and stories. I played the game with Void Shadows and Lex Imperialis and honestly it was hard to tell when I was in the DLC or not because they were so well integrated into the main game. And finally, although the game only has "three" kinda variations you can play with, those three different variations are SO different that the game begs to be replayed, and with the third DLC out I might just do that. I was so into the roleplay of this that I actually killed off THREE COMPANIONS (I was playing Dogmatic) and I didn't even feel bad about it, like I didn't feel like I was missing out, I just felt so engrossed into the game that roleplaying this way just felt absolutely natural. Also the >!twist in Act 3 with Argenta!< absolutely made my jaw drop. This game was just amazing to me, it had everything I wanted, it engrossed me more so than any other game I played and I am super excited to jump back into it which, if I'm honest, it's the only game on this list that I'm super wanting to actually replay. So because of all that, it's my number one.

And that's the ranking of all the CRPGs that I've played. The next CRPGs I'm playing is of course, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, then either Colony Ship or Tyranny. I might try to get back into Shadowrun or give Underrail another chance. Thanks for reading, let me know if you agree!

Has anyone experienced this bug? I've revealed Armag's tomb on the map, and I've dealt with the sister by convincing the barbarians to rebel. Once the sister is dead, I try to enter the tomb via the door and the screen goes black, then the game just crashes. I've tried reloading save, exiting the location, resting, none of that is helping.

Anyone else experience this bug? It's obviously game breaking and I can't progress into the story until I've found a work around

EDIT: I'm not using any mods or cheats

I've never been insulted more on how I play the game then on crpg subreddits, specifically Pathfinder and baldurs gate 3.

So some examples are:

1. In baldurs gate 3 I missed out on asterions romance because I missed talking to a specific drow and i lamented about this fact on the BG3 subreddit, not even criticizing the game, and the first thing people said was "so you just don't do any exploring at all then?", I did a lot of exploring mind you, solved a bunch of the side quests, but just missed this one part.

2. In Pathfinder: kingmaker I missed the hunting lodge quest because I didn't realize it was timed, mind you the journal doesn't say it is timed, and says other quests (mainly the ancient curse) is timed. The response is "so you just don't read your journal ever then?" even though as I said the journal doesn't mention it is timed. Turns out all non errand quests are timed but the game doesn't tell you this nor does it tell you when it times out.

3. On Pathfinder kingmaker again I missed an entire companion because I didn't explore the "ruined watchtower" map icon during the "trolls troubles" quest and instead explored it after that quest. The comment there was "so you just don't explore at all?" No, the map is full of icons that are important later on and not now, there was no quest leading there or anything. I did actually say I felt this was poor design and the comment was "so you want crpgs to just be entirely linear experiences?" which is not what I'm saying at all, just send an optional quest there or something.

I dunno, I find these crpgs in particular to be quite finicky, I didn't have this issue in pillars or rogue trader, but the community trying to make me feel bad for missing stuff when I already feel bad for missing stuff makes me want to play these games less. I guess this is just a vent, I have a feeling this will get down voted but honestly I'm a little upset by these comments.

So I have a cat named Fox, and my mum has adopted a stray cat named Mouse. For context we have a big house and so Mouse has been separated to upstairs and Fox has been separated to downstairs, Fox is the original sole cat in the house. An added wrinkle is that Fox is an indoor only cat and the one time he managed to get out we think he got into a fight with another cat and got a gnarly injury on his tail. So his interactions with other cats has been only negative. However, we briefly fostered a dog and he seemed ok with the dog, he was happy to walk around the dog and just hissed if the dog got too close, so altogether he's not a super anxious cat.

We have kept them separate for the first week, the cats can hear each other but can't see each other. What I've been doing is getting sock or piece of clothes and rubbing it all over mouse, then bringing that down for Fox to smell. He's been very hostile to the smell (hissing), but everytime I gave him the sock I also gave him ham, which is a treat he almost never gets, and by the end of the week he no longer reacted significantly to the smell. So I thought it was a good time to do space swapping, the next step. (Just to let you know, Mouse has been completely fine with Fox's smell).

So my partner and I swapped the cats, Fox went upstairs and Mouse went downstairs (there was an intermittent place so they never saw each other). Mouse was totally fine in the new place, was just curious and exploring, Fox on the other hand had what I can only describe as a panic attack. Hissing, growling, fierce desire to get out of the space. I was giving him lots of pets, gave him some catnip (which usually calms him down), gave him some ham, but none of it helped. I thought maybe if I left him there to explore for a little while he'd calm down, but 10 minutes later and his anxiety just got worse so I decided to end it. As soon as he was out of the space he was fine and ate his ham and treats just like normal.

So my question is what is the next step, I've ordered some Feliway diffusers because the Vet said they might help, but is there an intermittent step I can do? Maybe space swap but only for shorter periods of time? What do you think the next steps are?