xyzzy

You should not buy this on Switch. I owned Civ 6 on Switch, and once the game reached a certain state of play near the end, the game just gradually became slower and slower until it would hang completely, every time, in the same place. This happened to me in two different campaigns before I gave up.

I reached out to their customer support and included tons of context, but they basically just stopped responding because there was nothing they could do; the game is just too hungry to run properly on Switch except for small, quick games, and those game styles just don't feel like Civ to me.

I bought all the DLC before this happened. Lesson learned.

They're for sale on eBay from Japan. There's three varieties (Genesis 1 CD and 32X, Genesis 2 CD, and Base Converter).

There is a threatening little dwarf in the room with you

I really can't stand it when people feel the need to denigrate other people's hobbies.

The engine is definitely dated graphically, but they are still a blast. I played the Enhanced Editions on Xbox. I had never played any of them before, although I do like RPGs and enjoy older games.

So coming in cold and playing them quite thoroughly without any outside knowledge (I never follow guides), I would rate them as follows (out of 10):

• Baldur's Gate: 8.5
• Siege of Dragonspear: 6.5
• Shadows of Amn: 9
• Throne of Bhaal: 8

And just to make people upset (and show that I'm not an easy grader):

• Planescape: Torment: 7

I haven't yet finished the Icewind Dale games.

I did also play the first Dark Alliance game and would give that a 7.5.

I have receipts for all of these scores, lol.

I buy a lot of Criterion discs and I have absolutely zero interest in this set for all the reasons outlined in the article.

I wish they would've put out multiple director sets that have never been released before instead as a celebration of 40 years. I can give them a list if they'd like.

Everyone: God is a wise old man looking down on us from Heaven

God:

I'm guessing the discussion was, "Let's make a Sega Cinematic Universe to compete with Nintendo's."

I'm also going to give 1:1 odds that there are plans for an Altered Beast movie.

You should also look up Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, an official "interquel" set between BG 1 and 2 and bridging those games. It was built on the same Infinity Engine as the originals. There were some nit-picky reviews at the time of its release given the buildup and fond memories of the originals, but it really is a solid (albeit linear) game with some excellent companions unique to that game. I enjoyed it.

A few years ago in preparation for BG3, I played 1, Dragonspear, and 2, along with all the expansions, in one continuous play-through with a single main character. It was incredibly satisfying.

I backed this pretty much the instant it was announced. The first thing to know is that it's much larger in scope than the original games, while keeping the NES-style visuals and interface. There are also callbacks to Deja Vu, Uninvited, and other titles. It really does seem to be shaping up to feel like a true sequel, with the writing front and center.

It also seems to be a do-over of the TurboGrafx CD game of the same name: some similar story elements, but not the same plot.

That game was decently well-reviewed but never felt like a true sequel, since it was an example of first-sequel experimentation: it swapped the first-person dungeon crawler perspective and writing for a point-and-click adventure perspective with very little writing. More like Zelda 2 in variation from the original than Mario 2 (USA).

Baldur's Gate 3. I've played every Baldur's Gate and Divinity: Original Sin entry, so it was nice to finally have the time to play this one. I'm about 70 hours in. I'm a Paladin/Sorcerer do-gooder who smites the enemies of peace what for.

Price Charting and a text file for game items that PC doesn't track. I don't really like any of the available options, though, so I'm very slowly building my own system from scratch to track all my stuff properly. (Baldur's Gate 3 is currently interrupting my progress on that.)