I'm concerned for these upcoming RPGs... are you?

[@WolfheartFPS]

Head to geolog.ie/WOLFHEART70 or scan QR Code on the screen and use code WOLFHEART70 to get an exclusive 70% off of Geologie’s award-winning skincare trial set. What do you all think about all this? Hoping for a good future from all of these games / companies but it's hard to tell these days.

[@MunuM77]

I'm looking for that hot vampire look. Would this work?

[@ErasMcras]

“You can explore 1000 mountains each with nothing on them, it just works.”

[@thomasrosendahl2783]

Zaric Zhakaron loves exploring the vast empty landscapes of Daggerfall lol

[@randomthings1293]

I'm SURE it will be something like, "with our new technology, this new region will be exactly the size of Texas. It just works." And then when you go to explore it, there are like 4 different city models that copy themselves over, and over, and over again all across "the new region the size of texas"

[@Ellthom]

I am so very worried about Dragon age 4. I love the franchise, but none of their games have held a candle to Origins. And now all the original creators of the franchise are no longer with Bioware. And that is kind of sad :(

[@Tyanus2]

Yeah I played orgins 4y ago and bounced off of 2 and 3, I was just confused why they made 3 different games rather than refining already existing systems. 2nd had weird combat mechanics, 3rd had a more high fantasy atmosphere rather than grim fantasy that orgins had, with also simplified systems.

[@andrewcarter9649]

@@Tyanus2 The 2nd game is what happens when you get forced to rush out a new game with an engine you have no experience with (Frostbite) in only 18 months.

[@OneWingedRose]

@@Tyanus2 DA:O - EA bought Bioware when Dragon Age Origins was still in development, the story goes that they had no faith in the game so they cancelled any further development and forced it to an early release. They were then surprised by how well it did. DA:2 - Believing it a fluke rather than a good game people liked, EA then rushed out a sequel in under 18 months and made it focus on ACTION COMBAT because that's what they thought sold. DA:I - Then had a very troubled development, where Bioware were saddled with the Frostbite engine, something that was alien to them and new, and received little to no support for using it (as all the support went to Battlefield devs and games EA had more faith in, because despite 2 well selling games they evidently still didn't care). There've been reports of people from Bioware saying how hellish the development was for DA:I and how amazed they were that the game actually ended up being as well received as it was given the state it was in for most of its development. DA:4 - I have no idea, haven't paid much attention to it yet myself but oof things don't sound great. Long story short, EA stop meddling in your dev studios' games! Just fund them and rake in the profits like you're meant to do!

[@CrazyxEnigma]

@@Tyanus22 only had an 18 month development and it was an experiment on Bioware's part. Most of its flaws imo can be blamed on the short development like the 💩 encounter design, and reused environments. It blatantly copying ME2 so much is all Bioware though. DAI is more Bioware just not doing a good job they learned the wrong lessons from open world games and too much MMOification. Though being forced by EA to use Frostbite didn't help matters.

[@twohorsesinamancostume7606]

How are people expecting Bioware to produce anything but hot garbage at this point. Bioware is dead. It's been dead since EA bought them, EA has been trotting out the corpse ever since.

[@jeanbiroute]

You're right about the names of studios being only names when people who created those legendary games are not there anymore

[@unodos149]

Once the founders are gone, end the band ffs lol

[@ravenshrike]

The problem is that VTMB2 as completely re-written by The Chinese Room isn't a Bloodlines game. It's a Vampire the Masquerade game, but not a Bloodlines game.

[@occupationalhazard]

I completely agree with you. We could be proven wrong, but nothing they have shown displays it has anything to do with the first game at all. They really should have titled it something else.

[@xBINARYGODx]

not sure its really a Vamp the Masq game either. But I mean, Cyberpunk is not really a Cyberpunk game - it just wears the skin of one. So, nothing new here.

[@camrongremmels249]

That was my conclusion. The fact that it's effectively a different game, but they didn't bother to rename it, makes me not want to buy it. You can't consider a game with a predefined character to be the same as one where you make your own for example.

[@YungFozz]

@@xBINARYGODxcbp2077 is still a cyberpunk game wtf are u talking about.

[@RansomMemoryAccess]

@ravenshrike So many critics said this about BG3 too. It wasn't a real BG-game, it wasn't even a 5e-game, just a Divinity: Original Sin reskin. What is even a Bloodlines- as opposed to VtM-game after 20 years?

[@clippedwings0]

This is the kind of commentary we need: informed, honest, and skeptical, but also fair and *not* filled with exaggerated negativity or outrage. Keep up the great work!

[@xJarlaxle]

Save us Larian, you are our only hope

[@joshuanowlin443]

Nah, larian makes fun games, but they are not good story tellers. They would not be able to make a game with the same impact as old school bioware.

[@yojimbo26]

BG1 and BG2 are superior to any Larian game (given the propper prospect of the time they were made) but Bio at this point is dead dev walking. EA has a history of puttin' old Yeller behind the woodshed and it's damn close of happin' to old Bio. Where Larian will thrive because well who's left? Obsidian is not far from the EA/Microsoft treatment.

[@templarcrow6577]

Larian needs to make a star wars game. dark side light side, choises wars.....orgasms from my eyes

[@lucasaustin9872]

@@joshuanowlin443 "Telling stories" should be one of the most straight forward and easily fixable areas of game development.. There are literally hundreds of thousands of talented authors out there.. They just need to get one of them to write them a more compelling narrative for future games. DOS2 wasn't a bad story, and BG3 was a huge improvement. though in general I think it could have had more emotional ooomph... but again that's a pretty minor complaint, they still do a good job of showing the story.. the story itself just isn't always that compelling.. But then I'm not even sure Bioware itself is going to be able to recreate something like ME-2..

[@hughswanson2354]

To be honest, BG1 storyline has flaws to it, to a point where BG3 is better. BG2 I can agree with the narrative being better, I think if you take off the nostalgic goggles, BG1 was just a pretty good game for BG2 to be a great game.

[@filidhdeklend893]

I was concerned 2 years ago. After everything that's gone on the past 2 years though, that concern was killed because it's a surety they're going to be very bad.

[@gangr3l]

The fact that BioWare were so stupid as to let Drew Karpyshyn go is mind boggling. Probably one of the best game writers the last decade really.

[@joshmartling]

BioWare and Obsidian used to be the RPG GOATs. How times have changed...

[@soulblade3291]

Pretty much all the game dev studios from the late 90s to early 2000s were goated. Today, its just corporate.

[@theobell2002]

The Outer Worlds is great especially with the expansions. Everyone always tries to compare it New Vegas when it's really more reminiscent of KOTOR.

[@kunklekore5921]

Dragon age is crazy to me, in a 6 year span they released origins, 2, inquisition, trespasser, and more dlc. It will probably be almost a decade since trespasser released when 4 comes out.

[@pinnacleevolution1634]

Yeah EA cracking the whip and making Bioware churn out games in less than 2 year dev spans, a lot of people got burn out and left after that who would've thought. Dragon age 2 was made in less time than BG3 was in early access...

[@justinp_]

The long time between games is not exactly uncommon or limited to Dragon Age. If anything It's become the norm for these big IPs. Look at Elder Scrolls, Witcher, Fallout, GTA. All will be over a decade between games.

[@panwu6602]

2 was the last playable DA. Inquisition was a joke.

[@theobell2002]

@@panwu6602 Inquisition is far better than 2. Cope.

[@panwu6602]

@@theobell2002 Ah, silly zoomer 😆 I'm not coping, I deleted that "game" after 10 minutes and never looked back. You're coping and seething tho because I've attacked your favorite turd xd

[@xanthosamoni2072]

I'm so glad you made this video. No one's really talking about these of course due to the lack of information but they shouldn't be forgotten until near release. A good chunk of people get hoodwinked when they don't know enough about a product.

[@Kamehaiku]

For thousands of years, people have been captivated by a good story. We are those people.

[@droe2570]

I'm not concerned at all. I am almost 100% certain they will all be terrible.

[@mnemonix1315]

Josh Sawyer, makes great games even though they're super short ;/

[@FearValorant]

You weren’t convinced by the “real woman” from fable?

[@vincer7824]

Exactly.

[@aintnomeaning]

What terrible games has Obsidian made in the last 15-20 years?

[@FearValorant]

@@aintnomeaning Outer Worlds was garbage

[@lagbait3076]

I would offer this advice on any game period, don't pre-purchase. Take your time and wait a bit until you can make an educated decision based on reviews and gameplay.

[@drunemeton]

I’d counter that urging cautious optimism! There’s a very real chance that BG3 wouldn’t have happened if not for the E.A. crowd that kept them going during COVID. This channel got me interested by showing Larian Studios as a heartfelt team doing their best, listening to the testers, and keeping us updated. So I jumped in with some E.A. support. But this video doesn’t really have but one, maybe, game covered that would inspire me to jump in on E.A. support if the devs put one out. And that’s why I love @wolfheartfps as a guy who’s going to speak his truth about gaming and arm me with the info. I need to make informed decisions!

[@MavenMani]

I don’t think the direction change with Avowed is going to work well FOR it.

[@twohorsesinamancostume7606]

I know I'm not going to bother. I wanted a quality open world game, not fantasy Outer Worlds.

[@MavenMani]

@@twohorsesinamancostume7606 agreed, sadly!

[@eternaldarkness3139]

Obsidian: We're gonna do to Skyrim what we did to FO3 !! Todd: Corporate Daddy, make them Stop!! Microsoft: We have a few ideas for Avowed moving forward Fans: Ah sh!t, here we go again...

[@thisiskitta]

@@eternaldarkness3139 I HIGHLY doubt that Bethesda nor Microsoft is to blame for this. I think they fumbled, they didn't have the budget, time and talent to pull off their initial plan in a matter that's realistic so they had to redirect so their time and efforts weren't wasted. They swapped game director and reorganized it to be something they do know how to do which is Outerworlds. I think gone are the days of old fallout Obsidian and they're just not that good anymore and people are not disillusioned enough yet. Outerworlds was very meh even in terms of narrative and dialogue which is part of what they're supposed to excel at :/ Avowed looks very rough in all aspects currently. I wish them the best but it's absolutely not a game I want anymore so it is what it is.

[@mnemonix1315]

@@eternaldarkness3139 Todd and Sawyer will never be fren's and the fans are the ones that get punished... Plus Todd has plans to make a Skyrim Super Ultra Mega Centenniel EDT.

[@KrimsonKracker]

7:58- "...create a combat system that appeals to as wide of an audience as possible at the cost of depth of course" I agree with your worries! Though, you literally just described Mass Effect 2 in a nutshell, lol.

[@CarlosGutierrez-mm5vz]

I'm excited for Kingdom Come 2 from Warhorse this year

[@jameswayton2340]

And i know its maybe not a RPG or not in the traditional sense, but who else is hyper for KENSHI 2 ? If you have played Kenshi 1 you know Kenshi 2 has the potential to be something VERY special.

[@rb98769]

Absolutely!

[@Trace153]

The bigger the game “company” at this point, the less I expect from them while the more I expect it to co$t me to be let down.

[@High_Rate136]

Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader is getting DLC this soon.

[@isidornimages]

Where game development and the entertainment industry in general are at, there are reasons to be worried for every upcoming product.

[@Akeyins]

The thing about Elder Scrolls is that Bethesda seemed happy about how Starfield turned out, which I think shows that they won't have learned anything. At this point I'm more optimistic about DA Dreadwolf because Bioware at least realized how much of a failure Anthem was, which means they might have learned from it

[@slashrocks19801]

Bethesda keeps streamlining and going further from their roots plus they lost all their good writers and programmers a while back. The only thing I'm hyped for is the wayward realms a spiritual successor of Daggerfall it will be Elder Scrolls on steroids.

[@Akeyins]

@@slashrocks19801 I actually hadn't heard about the wayward realms before, but it looks awesome! Definitely gonna keep my eye out for it now

[@yojimbo26]

Pretty sure ES:VI will sell because of the fanbase being starved. That's the difference between Beth and Bio, someone else did BG3 which a lot of people liked, and Bio screwed the pooch with Mass Effect. So that leaves Dragon Age with DA:I being reasonably liked though divisive, DA2 controversial and DA:O being old man territory in game standards.

[@slashrocks19801]

​@@AkeyinsIt's in Kickstarter now and I think Early Access might be in a year. A lot of the writers and programmers from both Daggerfall Morrowind and Oblivion are a part of that Dev team.

[@VonCurry8]

It's funny because the games people keep buying DA or Bethesda games when they need to let these companies take an L. While lots of smaller higher quality companies are not getting the money they deserve for their efforts and in turn they try to copy the shitty AAA devs to make money.

[@chrisinglis7762]

Concerning the Elder Scrolls, at least we will have Skyblivion next year which looks like it will be amazing for sure!

[@WolfheartFPS]

let's hope it comes out! It does look amazing

[@eternaldarkness3139]

Maybe Bethesda's Oblivion Remake will come out the same day! let's ask the FO London guys their opinion

[@christopherr.561]

Was excited for Avowed before the change in direction, I am no longer optimistic about it. Won’t be buying it right off, will be waiting for lots of feedback. Obsidian doesn’t seem to thirst for greatness nor have the stomach for risk now. They just seem to try to play it safe. Hopefully it’s good.

[@thisiskitta]

Well said! I think people are still holding Obsidian with too much nostalgia goggles. They're not the same studio that made those iconic RPGs. What they showed in modern time is just not the same and I was hoping Avowed would be the hit-out-of-the-park RPG with a darker fantasy, grander vibe to it than reskinned Outer Worlds... Clearly they bit more than they can chew and I'm surprised at how no one addresses this. To me it appears an obvious case of the scale of their ideas do not match their budget and possibly talent (I do not like Outer Worlds at all)

[@koshetz]

@@thisiskitta I think Obsidian is not bad company but the problem is their own banger CRPGs (except first PoE game) were commercial failure despite being good (i'm re-playing Tyranny rn and this game is not perfect but it's so cool and roleplay aspect is ahead of it's time like i LOVE it) so now they have no choice but to play safe. And sadly Outer Worlds being more popular than POE2 and Tyranny is the clear indicator why things gone this way.

[@rb98769]

Yeah, I love the Pillars setting, but seeing how many constraints they've decided to put in the game makes me kind of skeptical.

[@rb98769]

@@koshetz Tyranny is awesome, but it had zero advertising at the time, it pretty much came out of nowhere. And there is some drama about the game having been sabotaged by Obsidian's poor relationship with Paradox, but I'm not sure how much of it is true. I enjoyed Deadfire, but the new characters just didn't click with me as much as in the first game.

[@occupationalhazard]

I really would have liked to play HSL's version of Bloodlines. It looked better than TCR's version IMO.

[@michellecorbett3323]

I share your concerns for DA:D when Mary Kirby was 'released' I lost all hope on the lore being in tact. She wrote Varric the story teller of the saga. I love Dragon Age but not What EA has done to Bioware, I've been a long time Bioware supporter and this just hurts.

[@SirUlrichVL]

I think my current thoughts on Dreadwolf can be simply summed up by Cassandra Pentaghast.... "Ugh!" with all the writers that have left, there is no real heart left in that shell of a company that was Bioware.

[@mufasafalldown8401]

I know there's not much info on it but I'm most hyped for Light no Fire. I used to love rpg's but I like to spend my limited gaming time playing multiplayer stuff with friends. Light no Fire is being designed with that in mind and sounds pretty awesome. Just hope Hello Games can pull through.

[@WolfheartFPS]

The trailer was pretty hype!

[@eternaldarkness3139]

HG deserves a lot of respect for all they've done to improve NMS, all at no extra charge. Unless Light No Fire is a complete... Dumpster Fire. I'll buy it just to support them. I am a bit concerned there won't really be much to do though. We'll see how innovative they are.

[@thomasrasmussen6372]

@@WolfheartFPS will there be a stream today?

[@WolfheartFPS]

@@thomasrasmussen6372 getting it ready now

[@thomasrasmussen6372]

@@WolfheartFPS thanks

[@imanujakku]

All these games now have the BG3 problem..:that is they will be torn to shreds unless they are close to the new standard larian set. I imagine studio heads seeing BG3, it’s reception and acclaim and asking their dev team “how close are we to that?” If the answer isn’t equal or better do you really want to keep working with millions already spent and millions more in dev time ahead?

[@rb98769]

I think that problem weighs on Dreadwolf a lot more because I know a lot of Inquisition fans moved on to BG3. Avowed seems to be aiming low and kind of trying to do its own thing, and Bethesda is Bethesda.

[@soulblade3291]

@@rb98769 Yep, plus with it being a decade since the last DA, expectations are quite high for it to perform well and wipe off the stain that Anthem and ME:Andromeda had on Bioware.

[@Maitredebo2]

Dragon age Dreadwolf is the last chance for Bioware to do a good game. If it's a fail, Mass Effect 4 will be sh*t.

[@SinSorrowEU]

Why I hope Dreadwolf is great.. as we need a new great mass effect! =)

[@CrazyxEnigma]

I wouldn't be surprised if Bioware is shut down should Dreadwolf be the flop we're expecting it to be.

[@Katastr0phic_Katicorn]

​@@CrazyxEnigmalowkey, I hope it is (not that DWolf flops, but that Bethesda + Biowear get shut down). Too many people are in love with the nostalgia of the company name and keep wasting their money on bad products. Myself included. We deserve better quality for our money, especially since games keep getting more expensive and yet also shittier.

[@SinSorrowEU]

@@CrazyxEnigma unfortunally, neither I would be supriced.

[@royalfilho1871]

If it fails, Bioware is no more brother

[@kalenics123]

Ah Bioware, with their Awesome Button and Crunch Magic. Never forget.

[@gabszonha]

One of the bad things about working on the game development field is that now I know some stuff from Bioware that makes me sad. Don't meet (or hear about) your heroes or something. Love the video, Wolf. Always really well researched and well said. Not a fan on the full action instead of tactics for DA4 too...

[@WolfheartFPS]

Thanks gabs

[@Bodharas]

Tactical is better, but unfortunately they have to appease the lowest denominator. We'll see though.

[@pennyumbra8818]

Was that Richard Ayoade in the Fable footage?

[@Nattfare]

Yes

[@Sam-ux7cn]

I'm concerned when the biggest announcement for a rpg is that "you can use two kinds of weapon"

[@VladTheBreaker]

BioWare ain’t BioWare anymore

[@curlzncrush]

Who's here after the Dragon Age trailer?

[@sesimie]

Wolf great video showing the reality of some of our former beloved devs. I'm watching you play games first before i even make a purchase. Too many red flags over the years made me fully armored up on these companies. Time will tell.

[@WolfheartFPS]

Thanks Ses. I shall go through the flames with my head held high :-D

[@musguera]

The first Bloodlines is one of the best CRPGs of all time, I'm so disappointed with what they showed. From Bioware I expect nothing, so they might surprise me.

[@n8doggy733]

Outward 2 gonna be amazing ❤

[@WolfheartFPS]

yes yes yes I have just about zero concerns for that one

[@angie73568]

@@WolfheartFPS 100% this will be a great game

[@fleedance]

Good thing kingdom come deliverance 2 will be released this year. Atleast some hope

[@WolfheartFPS]

Hell yeah!

[@burritogod59]

Drew Karpyshyn is responsible for some of the best video game narratives of all time. I saw the canary in the coal mine when he wrote the Revan novels though. They honestly made no sense based on what was previously established and although I don't know this for sure, I feel like he was given plot points and forced to write around them for the Revan books rather than creating his own story. It's honestly sad.

[@kineticstar]

Yeah... I'm not getting the warm and fuzzies with the lack of info coming from Dragon Age. It's supposed to come out at the end of the year, and they have shared anything.

[@Potatoespotate]

It has been known since DA day 2023 that they are doing a full reveal summer 2024, presumably summer games fest. They will be doing a short marketing cycle

[@rb98769]

Well, June is just around the corner and while there is no longer an E3 that's still when we usually get tons of info on upcoming games. So we'll see.

[@nickrubin7312]

There is kind of schism in Dragon Age community, I think, or even "feel" like it is. Because community as a whole can't figure out "what is" a Dragon Age game gameplay wise. I know it is more of a banal point by now, but with genre-specific games you know what it would be like, even more so, you expect certain systems to be there in the game in the specific genre. Going even further, with early access games like Hades or Larian games (DOS and BG3), you can try a good chunck of the game and how it plays, for a price, yes, but still, you can try, while also knowing that it is a game in a specific genre (roguelike and cRPG, respectfully). All I know about DA is that Solas will be there, that people on social thirsting about Solas and Lavellan as a specific protagonist (no one mentions qunari, humand or god forbid neglected dwarf Inquisition) and posting same 4-6 pics from previews (some of which are years ago). Ok, it releases, what the gameplay would be, not just combat, I mean dialogue system (wheel/or fixed lines), exploration, itemization, progression system? It is much more important, in my opinion, than hyping Solas romance into oblivion. And btw, as a fan of Dragon age lore and world they've built, I am extremely interested in Dreadwolf (and as a fan of Origins as a game, which was innovative for its time).

[@joshuahall5]

saying elder scrolls is upcoming is optimistic

[@ChoseeComprende]

It is ... eventually. Question is if that is matter of us, or our grandchildern tho.

[@smachdos1593]

Up2cOm77ing

[@Odisseia-hh2td]

10:23 what are you doing man? You should drop whatever you are doing right now and go play it. It is one of the goat! :)

[@xJarlaxle]

I am so extremely scared for Elder Scrolls 6

[@eternaldarkness3139]

Nothing to worry about. It'll be as Politically Correct as possible, you can never fail at anything, and the NPC's eyes will haunt your every dream. Nothing to be scared of. Except those eyes...

[@GlassBeserker]

Why. Is just a game. why then attached to a product? Just let go and you are free.

[@CJ_1995_]

I honestly don't know what the hell Bethesda are doing at this point. They have all the money they need to make a great game, but their still stuck in the past. I couldn't believe it when Fallout 4 came out. It had slightly better gunplay than Fallout new vegas, yet had worse story and every so slightly better graphics. Fast forward to 2024 and its the same shit again. Where the hell is the budget going, in these new titles? Cause I can't see it. Story ass, combat Mediocre, graphics are a joke, I wouldn't critique them so hard if it was still 2011. However, it's 2024 and they have a triple A budget, with the mindset of a Indie company, make it make sense.

[@NorseGraphic]

@@CJ_1995_Well. Once upon a time there was a bunch of skilled developers. They cobbled together great stories told through quests and the environment. Fast forward to Anita Sarkesiaan and “everything is racist, everything is sexist”. And now every developer seemingly hang onto every word by people from Sweet Baby Inc. and similar ‘consultants’. In short, everything has become trash, don’t expect quality, and watch what happens when mediocre incompetent losers set the pace…

[@iiamGhxsty]

I was looking forward to it since i played skyrim for the first time in middle school, but recently hearing about it being exclusive to xbox had me devastated fr

[@shaydoor4597]

I think the industry got absolutely rocked by the rise of consumer pushback that started in the late 2010s-early 2020. Battlefield 1, Mass Effect Andromeda, Last of Us Pt. 2, Starfield, Fallout 76, Cyberpunk. And I think big publishers took the wrong lessons from those games and found fault in dev teams specifically when the issue was largely with overhead push towards maximizing profits. The industry has felt totally off since about 2016 in terms of large, prominent studios creating GOOD games FOR THE FANS. However I do think the structure of how video games get made doesn’t work anymore. People can’t afford to live and they especially can’t afford to live working crunch

[@rorygrimshaw2348]

Damn hearing the scale of departures from BioWare I am even more worried about Dragon Age. I knew it was bad but this seems catastrophic. Great Video as always wolf.

[@FalchionHawk]

Avowed is by far my most anticipated game of 2024 and maybe 2025 (if it gets delayed). I really love pillars of eternity 1 and 2 and have been wanting more games set in Eora for a long time!

[@SPSteve]

I've just started a new Dragon Age Inquisition play-through. I was surprised to see I have 480 hours in the game. I'm looking forward to DAD's unveiling coming up, I'm hoping it doesn't suck.

[@theelderscrolls6vi]

The RPGs we grew up playing will never be back. There are anomalies like BG3. But we'll have games with RPG Elements rather than RPGs themselves

[@hkusak]

The problem after an acquisition is that the parent company will be mostly focused on return on investments. That may be why good studios goes downhill after they got acquired.

[@thomasrosendahl2783]

The Wayward Realms is going to have a Daggerfall sized map, currently it is the only grand scale rpg predicted to rival or succeed Baldurs Gate 3.

[@jedinorseman]

What was the let down from Starfield, I loved that game. I had a blast playing it well over 100hrs, exploring, outpost crafting, ship modifications and fighting Spacers and pirates. It was awesome.

[@WolfheartFPS]

Starfield overall received pretty mediocre reviews and barely anyone is playing it anymore if you look at the charts. That's a let down for a Bethesda game when you compare it to some of their previous games. Glad you enjoyed it though. I was thinking of jumping back in soon.

[@jedinorseman]

@@WolfheartFPS I know the Steam daily player #'s are down but it was the biggest launch in Bethesda history with over 6 million people playing by day 2. I think it got a bad rap, people wanted to hate because of the 30 fps lock. If you're reading this and didn't play try it. It's awesome.

[@Vaytra]

I share these concerns. It’s hard to get hyped about games when there’s so much doubt… though I am excited for KCD 2… so there’s that. Basically I get one game a year to get genuinely excited for! 😂

[@Bond_alexander]

The whole reason I was excited when Bloodlines 2 was announced was the involvement of some of the original Bloodlines creators and writers. When they were fired, I completely lost interest.

[@grimmjow0106]

Great video wolf. Honestly, I’m worried not just for RPG’s but this entertainment industry in general. Games, movies, shows, all of it. And the worry is based off of a consistent pattern that is problematic. The worry I have stems from the complacency and normalization that we as consumers have fostered for the past decade or so. We have allowed companies in this industry to focus on non-entertainment priorities. That’s the source of the problem and it’s easy to see how that kind of prioritization could cause horrible issues for a so-called entertainment industry. Entertainment at its core is quite literally escapism. It’s why it’s so universally loved because it offers us a break from our 24 seven daily lives and routines. It gives us a momentary breath of fresh air to speak. You have your entertainment, industry, full of companies that are shifting focused towards non-entertainment priorities… Then entertainment stops doing the very thing you originally go to it in the first place, which is escape! These companies now, prioritize, heavily profit, exploitation, and cultural relevancy I.e. using the product as an extension of their social media page. There is no entertainment value with those priorities, but because of consumers complacency and normalization to social media relevancy in our daily lives to a saturated affect… We give it a pass more often than we give it rejection. And this only incentivizes more of this wrong priority focus that only ever results in astronomical amounts of wasted potential. Here you have multi billion dollar companies with limitless resources and finances and it’s all wasted. Typically, either investment in the product is not there to any real effort and that laziness shows or those finances and resources are put towards non-entertainment priorities and the product still suffers. I think the start contrast is more evident because of recent results coming from Larian in my opinion. Larians an approach and priorities are not the vast majority of this entertainment industry. Larians priorities were unapologetic authentic escapism. And honestly, that was so refreshing of experience that was so authentically entertainment. That is the kind of priorities we should be incentivizing in our entertainment industry, but as I’ve said… We’ve allowed our boredom or instant gratification, addictions to run rampant which caused our complacency and normalization of non-entertainment priorities to take in this industry. I can only imagine what so many projects in so many mediums in this industry would have turned out like if these resources and finances were put behind Larian priorities A.k.a. entertainment priorities. But even I have found myself saying it is what it is and gave access to my eyeballs and wallet when I should not have. The wrong priorities were presented and I instead rewarded those wrong priorities. The only thing the wrong priority decision makers care about….. my eyeballs and wallet. If we’re being honest with ourselves, I think we make excuses when none should be made. We encourage the wrong thing instead of promoting the right things. It requires us as consumers to have a higher standard. Higher not because it actually is… But because our complacency has removed our standards completely. We have no standards now and the only one that benefits from this are the multi billion dollar companies running this industry at the expense of both the consumer and more importantly the product itself. If we want to get back to originality, to authentic escapism/entertainment… We have to stop making excuses. We have to stop being complacent and telling ourselves It is what it is. We have to stop giving our boredom or instant gratification addiction. We have to stop settling and demand that these multi billion dollar companies invest in the right priorities for their entertainment products. doesn’t mean these top dogs will ever care… But they will hire and develop whatever is required to access our eyeballs and wallets . So consumers… let’s start rewarding the right priorities instead of the wrong ones. Let’s get back to entertainment, back to escape.👊

[@rb98769]

People have actually just spent an entire decade consuming the same recycled content endlessly. It's actually baffling. A bunch of old dudes in suits who have never properly engaged with said content decide that some trends are financially rewarding and should be imposed on the product down to the tiniest detail, and everyone eats it up. Again and again. It took long enough for there to be SOME backlash to this, I'd be more concerned about the mental health state of the population if they were still asking for more.

[@raphaelperry8159]

My main problem with Avowed is that every time I see it I remember The Wayward Realms and think "they went in a drastically different direction with this game. When did things change?" Then I realise I'm thinking of two different games and spend a long time remembering the title of the Wayward Realms.

[@raphaelperry8159]

My main problem with The Elder Scrolls 6: Microtransaction is that I'm expecting it to be jammed full of microtransactions and multiplayer features to sign in to to play a single player game.

[@xBINARYGODx]

@@raphaelperry8159 why? there is no MTX in any of the Bethesda's SP rpg's - so where would you get the idea? if you mean like the mod stuff - who cares, dont buy it. Its just trash you can get for free, or acaully, just ignore because something better for free is over on the nexus. MTX means something - and smaller mods are not it.

[@YungFozz]

@@raphaelperry8159you weird af. Stop getting your opinion from youtube and play the games. Bethesda has never had microtransactions on their singleplayer IPs

[@tjhicks3600]

Fallout 4, 76 and Skyrim all have MTX​@xBINARYGODx

[@Direwolf9818]

⁠@@tjhicks3600not to the standard you are claiming though. Maybe fallout 76 but that’s a multiple player game BGS only multiplayer game, there already a multiplayer elder scrolls game that’s doing well, so why would the make another one? Fuck out of here.

[@cpisces609]

I would say your concerns are fair and likely mimic all of the consumer base, but that's why channels like yours are so popular, we need people who can properly report on these games and let us know if they are any good.

[@EntrepreneurialBoost]

I'm super excited for Avowed. Coz it's not a big empty open world game like many others, rather it's being divided in some large open zones. The graphics and art style of this game looks fantastic and artistic like very unique and handcrafted unlike other so called photorealist game. The thing Obsidian need to do is take time and polish the game and also improve the impact of combat. It's a elder scrolls like single player action adventure fantasy game finally we're getting after Skyrim and we better be excited and positive about it.

[@ageup7493]

I agree with all of these, im worried they certainly look like “wait for deep sale” games.

[@zamarickz]

Honestly, I've written off Dragon Age and Elder Scrolls 6 already. BioWare is not Bioware anymore, and Todd Howard has definitely lost his way. But where there is decay there is also new growth. Larian is rising, and I'm hoping some other studios can surprise us.

[@zentek777]

Eventually a masterpiece will come out again, plenty of great studios out there to bring something good on the table. We will just have to endure the shitshow first, which I don't mind. A good RPG is something you can play for years to ease the pain while waiting, Owlcat and Larian Studios have made sure of that. I am not worried at all about the genre to be fair.

[@princeniccolo8299]

After Outer Worlds I’m a bit disillusioned with Obsidian. It left such a bad taste in my mouth, everything I’ve seen from Avowed has done nothing to persuade me otherwise. And of this list… Avowed is the one I’m the most hopeful for, everything else I’m convinced will be a failure.

[@jfitz1982]

Not concerned with Avowed, Obsidian always delivers.

[@kalenics123]

Skald against the black priory may 31.

[@WolfheartFPS]

An absolute gem

[@AleksiJoensuu]

I was slightly concerned about Avowed. Then I played The Outer Worlds and now I'm really concerned. I genuinely hope they take some different approaches than in TOW and really pay attention to the feedback TOW got. There are some excellent long form retrospective reviews on YT that go deep into what worked and most prominently didn't work in TOW.

[@spellskreenful]

I think that Microsoft has nothing to do with Avowed’s problems, most likely Obsidian simply did not have time to rebuild correctly, the studio has grown a lot, they are making and servicing many games at the same time, but the management most likely remained like that of an indie studio

[@stefeeNRG]

This may seem extremely bitter, but I personally lost all the excitement and hope for all upcoming releases, especially AAA ones. I am afraid, for TES VI as well...

[@atheos5748]

The left, the woke and DEI has ruined all entertainment on a global level.

[@stefeeNRG]

@atheos5748 unfortunately so, but I do believe that good will win over that evil, it's only a matter of time after all

[@misanthropicattackhelicopt4148]

DA4 is going to be hardcore for the modern audieance.

[@Saje3D]

Dragon Age is literally the only video game franchise my wife plays. Literally. No matter what, it will make her happy and I’ll be letting her use my PS5 while I twiddle my thumbs. Worth it.

[@byghostlight1]

My problem with Dragon Age is how terrible their UI was for DAI. If you compare it to how Origins looked, it seemed like a placeholder. The makers of great stories couldn’t have possibly thought the best way to present lore was with blocks of bold white text, in a black box. Meaning the in game lore was uncomfortable and had no character.

[@Jake-ky4yj]

The main issue with gaming these days is publishers forcing profitability into the games. They don't care about a studio making the best game they can. They just force the studio to put in all sorts of ridiculous micro transactions and season passes.

[@kellieriley1302]

Hi Wolf, great video as always, but I have to say, hands down, you are literally the best content creator I follow that actually makes the sponsored ads watchable!!

[@fewfwefwfwff]

well to be fair. if its sand box instead of just open world it means the maps will have no loading screens and be much more complicated and dynamic. so it is a good news i thring

[@Mrcanal29]

Bioware is Ship of Theseus, really are what they were in the past? No.

[@FlamespeedyAMV]

I'm not concerned because I am completely checked out of the AAA industry

[@295Phoenix]

I'll give Avowed a run if they just show Improvement in narrative and storytelling since Outer Worlds, that's what I look for in Obsidian games. I'm really afraid it'll suck though. 😢

[@Wavinglighter]

Trying to teach something that you take away after viewing it is literally what art is all about.

[@rhodan74]

My biggest fear is for Avowed. Depending on the internal predictions and expectations of MS it could hurt Obsidian. Pentiment was amazing. Poe1+2 are some of the best RPGs imo. Even if Avowed is "just" a streamlined spin-off and does well, will MS ever have it in them to make a POE3 with Baldurs Gate resources ? The world and lore of Pillars can absolutely rival DnD and the Elder scrolls.

[@rb98769]

I think for Microsoft that would feel like a risky financial move because Pillars just doesn't have a big history of financial success, and Avowed just doesn't seem like it's set out to be super revolutionary or anything. Plus they're already working on the Outer Worlds 2. I don't think Obsidian is ever going back to the sorts of games they used to make.

[@iiell1337]

I've said for years that good creative writing is undervalued in video games, and it always shows in the final product. Creative writing is becoming a lost art.

[@georgebatshon4417]

Dragon age trespasser was great I think I’m one of the very few people who’s optimistic about Dreadwolf.

[@Hanzo615]

Avowed looks NOTHING like Disney/Pixar. So many people keep saying how the original trailer is DARK and GRITTY but no one was using those words before the gameplay showed how the game actually looks like. The original trailer felt EPIC, with the whole Balrog -coming- out- of- the -cave thing and the actual game lacks that. Instead, it looks just like fantasy Outer Worlds, which is fine, but so many people want something more than that from Obsidian, especially with Xbox's backing ( though recently we just found out how fragile that backing really is).

[@Papa-Murphy]

Of course Microsoft crippled the scale of Avowed. Why would they want a Skyrim competitor when they also bought Skyrim?

[@Direwolf9818]

I have hope for games that are a bit further out since BG3 will have a bigger impact on what devs do now. BG3 is the new consumer standard. Only company not named Larian that will be able to achieve that standard right now is Fromsoft.

[@reedk2402]

I’m not worried about obsidian. Unlike Arkane they had a success with Grounded and unlike Tango they didn’t have a bunch of vets leave making a brain drain. Their biggest issue is that trailer. They changed their mind and we assumed it was going to be like Skyrim. I never say them say Skyrim like with dark and gritty story but I did see a lot of ppl see the trailer and go “its gonna be Skyrim like”

[@atlantic_love]

4:53 what kind of crap is THAT?!?

[@Falcons8455]

Gaming in general has began to appeal more towards women. Even in games that are easily majority men. There is a clear pattern when watching dev interviews about the politics they are pushing on their games and the industry. "If you have this belief, then you are a bigot." Even in BG3 it was there occasionally. Like if you were against illegal immigration then you were evil lol. But, when I played the game I disagreed with the tieflings being able to stay in the grove and instead I was searching for another way to help. And same thing with letting them in baldur's gate. Putting myself in that situation IRL, no I would not want the city wide open with anyone able to enter with what is going on.

[@enigmatic6872]

I'm on my knees praying Bloodlines 2 is good...

[@aimeerobidoux7635]

Bethesda can no longer be called a "leader in the industry" when all they've done in the last decade is chase trends and disappoint a big chunk of their fanbase with the multiple controversies surrounding the Fallout 76 release, re-releasing Skyrim yet again (this time charging new players $50 to buy a 13-year-old game, just with some additional paid mod bling), Starfield being a disappointing and mediocre new IP, and now adding a "next-gen" update to Fallout 4 that breaks a ton of quality-of-life mods on PC and adds nothing of value in return.

[@axeldrane]

If Fable 3 doesn't have a character editor and I'm stuck with that chick from the trailer - the helmet stays ON. All the time.

[@3renegade3]

Agreed, surprised you didn't include KOTOR remake here though.

[@PiiskaJesusFreak]

2:10 I'm onboard for streamlining in 1st person game, but if you don't have depp rpg mechanics, you should instead have very good feel with the combat. Not sure if Obsidian can deliver that. Well, at least the story and the world will be good.

[@BA3YDADDY]

I hope you will be playing Greedfall 2 early access and help spiders make the perfect game. I’m really excited for that game because they are going old school BioWare combat “dragon age origins” old school 🥳

[@rb98769]

I'm actually excited for that as well.

[@Salidin111]

Starfield has proven Bethesda is stuck in their ways. Biggest sign prior to Starfield though was the fact Skyrim has been released more times than there are main Final Fantasy games. Until Bethesda gets away from Gamebyro or "Creation Engine" I do not expect them innovate in any meaningful way. Also if Microsoft locks down modding for TES6 even the most die hard BGS fans who defend Starfield will start to veer away.

[@CarnageO31]

I've not enjoyed a bioware game since me3. And I only liked the first dragon age. Played the hell out of it. I'm probably going to skip this one.

[@t.t6294]

I'm not concerned for Dragon age. I absolutely have zero hopes for it

[@epifaerae5100]

I worry too T_T I want them all to succeed, but for the right reasons and passion behind them. Not… money.

[@ekurisona663]

i need a true open world, atrue sandbox - with full reactivity and organic, reactive questing, storylines, and dialogue...everything else immediately ruins immersion : (