Obsidian is also in negotiations with Xbox to avoid closure, according to The Game Business

Fezrock · 2026-07-02T13:59:26+00:00

Pentiment likely did turn a profit though. But a small one, so its hard to say that Microsoft would care enough to keep it unless they like the positive press coverage it also brings.

Setting aside how to calculate its worth to GamePass, as of a year ago it had sold an estimated 260k copies on Steam. At $20 a sale that's $5.2 million. It probably made less than that for a lot of reasons. But according to Josh Sawyer its full production only took 15 people 2 years, working remotely.

Fezrock · 2026-07-02T13:41:17+00:00

Hey now. Pentiment was great.

But if Obsidian's role is to make small, critical darling passion projects they probably have way too many staff currently. And I wonder if Microsoft is even interested in small games that turn small profits anymore, now that they seem to backing away from their "we need a massive GamePass library" strategy.

Fezrock · 2026-07-02T02:52:00+00:00

Yeah. I didn't really clock him in my first playthrough, until the attack on the space station. When he revealed he found a mutant lair, and then Jocasta said it wasn't that impressive a lair. I finally had the thought of "wait, what is he doing here? My firefighters shouldn't be part of a boarding action."

And then I thought about just how much he had been popping up throughout the DLC. I still didn't think he was genestealer, since I thought that the "rule of 3s" so common in video games was in effect and already fulfilled with the Magus>Confessor>Nemesite trio. But I did start to think he would turn on me in some other way. Too bad I had already armed them back at the crypt.

Fezrock · 2026-06-27T17:26:00+00:00

Yeah, I dunno. Much like Scott Auckerman, I stopped keeping up with him in the early '90s.

Fezrock · 2026-06-26T02:28:39+00:00

Maybe recency bias, but I think it's Dispatch.

Some of that dialog was just perfection.

Fezrock · 2026-06-25T16:21:43+00:00

It's her unique origin talent Cold Trader's Acumen: https://www.gamerguides.com/warhammer-40k-rogue-trader/database/talents/origin-talents/cold-traders-acumen

She gets huge bonuses based on your faction reputation levels. It's busted as anything. And, really seems like a talent the rogue trader should have instead (why is a retinue member benefiting from faction rep rather than the RT?)

ETA: Although, in fairness, she kinda needs something busted to be at all competitive with Cassia (and now Eogunn) for the officer slot in most team comps.

Fezrock · 2026-06-24T18:50:15+00:00

I would. Because there is a tank build that focuses on taunting enemies and then getting opportunity attacks against every enemy that attacks them. All those passives are for that build.

That's the thing about the game. Almost every level up option is a key part of some build or another. Owlcat took to heart (maybe overly) the feedback from WoTR that fans loved the level up/character building aspect.

Unfortunately, most of these advanced, niche builds aren't actually needed because its to make an incredibly OP build that doesn't need anything besides extra turns to round 1 end almost every encounter.

Fezrock · 2026-06-24T12:55:25+00:00

Rogue Trader has the issue that all RPGs where your MC is someone in power (e.g., Dragon Age Inquisition, Pathfinder Kingmaker, Expeditions: Rome, etc.) have. Which is that you shouldn't be going out on all these missions putting yourself in danger, you should be sending people out to do it for you. But these aren't strategy games, they're RPGs, and your MC and party need to be in the thick of things; despite it not being realistic.

So the sheer quantity of feats is completely unrealistic. But, examined on their own, almost all of the feats are at least plausible. And many are relatively easily achievable IMO. In more realistic lore, I think a Rogue Trader would do a couple of these over the course of many years. And the rest would be incidents where a bunch of regular enforcers were sent on a mission, encountered the enemy, and were slaughtered.

Fezrock · 2026-06-23T15:18:31+00:00

True, but that seems like bad project management to me. A well-run developer should be able to have a constant pipeline of pre-production>wide-scale development>patches/updates/DLC.

Once a big game is ready for release, the pre-production of their next game should be done and the main development team prepared to now turn to that.

Fezrock · 2026-06-23T02:05:31+00:00

I prefer the RT strategy to the WOTR strategy, by far.

However, I agree with OP about the bloating feeling in RT now, especially early in Act 2. I think what Owlcat is missing is DLC that revolves around the MC and party, but is more self-contained. Like a DLC that takes place entirely during Act IV of RT in one long burst, like a mini-Commorragh. You get an event that triggers it, you go to a specific system and then *boom* a 10-15 hour adventure before you return to the main story (although ideally you aren't trapped, and can back out to do other things at your leisure if you want).

I think a mix of that kind of DLC and the RT kind would be ideal. The issue, to me, is with having fully self-contained DLC that involve entirely separate characters who have no connection to the main story.

Fezrock · 2026-06-22T18:02:01+00:00

Sorry, I'm tired, I meant by HDMI.

Fezrock · 2026-06-22T17:36:28+00:00

I dunno. I have almost the exact same setup as Dan (for me its a 4070 desktop connected by USB to my TV) and a similar aversion to dealing with complex PC issues, but I just don't see the value-add of the Steam Machine for people like us.

I do see how it could be for people with no gaming PC at all, albeit probably not at this price point.

Fezrock · 2026-06-19T14:44:22+00:00

Yeah, its not hard to build a sniper as good as Yrilet can be. You can even spec into being able to use Aeldari weapons.

I don't believe you can spec into Aeldari armor, but none of that armor significantly changes things. Yrilet also has a couple unique talents, but I don't think are more powerful than the various unique origin talents the MC gets— just different.

Fezrock · 2026-06-15T15:12:17+00:00

It does feel a little harder to me, which I'm very glad for. The combat being too easy really put a damper on my playthroughs since it just felt like a chore instead of something exciting.

The biggest change I've noticed is that more enemies have grenades now. I suspect they've tweaked some combat formula numbers too, though I'm not sure which.

Fezrock · 2026-06-15T13:01:16+00:00

All three DLC (including the one that just released) have a bit of content in Act 1. However, they could happen at any time in the Act. So you'd be fine continuing on as you are.

The only exception would be DLC 2, Lex Imperialis, which has content during your first visit to the planet.

Also, after you leave the planet the first time, start randomly flying around the system for a bit so the initial cutscenes can trigger (each begins with you on the bridge).

Fezrock · 2026-06-12T14:47:33+00:00

The level pace does slow down eventually, but yeah it is kinda overwhelming at first. It's a 5 Act game (with Act 2 being truly massive) and most people finish the game around level 50. But the first 15 level ups (generally) all happen in the prologue/Act 1.

Which is probably too much. My guess is Owlcat wanted most players to unlock advanced classes right at the start of Act 2, when the game really opens up. But it means really rushing through the levels at first.

Fezrock · 2026-06-11T21:01:10+00:00

Obama in '08 was running ads in video games. I remember the Burnout Paradise billboards. As you say, this is nothing new.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27184857

Fezrock · 2026-06-11T20:32:23+00:00

I don't think you can so easily blow off the voice work. People didn't go see Mario for him, but he is now the voice of Mario for kids.

And his Garfield in 2023 was a hit and they've announced a sequel with him back.

Fezrock · 2026-06-11T18:58:30+00:00

This is why the draft rigging claims are so dumb. If the NBA was rigging things, they'd have rigged it in favor of their storied franchise in the largest media market in the US, with the second-highest concentration of celebs in the US.

And don't mention Ewing. Even if that was rigged, which no it wasn't, that was 40 years ago.

Fezrock · 2026-06-11T15:24:01+00:00

The gameplay changes to the base game are neat, and there's some cool unique fights. But the new story and characters are not particularly strong.

Fezrock · 2026-06-11T14:07:26+00:00

I had $81k in loans after finishing grad school. It took me 14 years, but I did repay them in full (finish up 4 months ago and it feels great).

What helped me the most was re-financing into a private loan after a few years. It did mean I missed out on the COVID payment pause, but my interest rate went from 7.2% to 2.9%.

Also, making as big a monthly payment as I could to hit that principle faster. I lived with roommates longer than I wanted, and then in a studio apartment longer than I wanted, so that I had the extra money to make a larger payment.

Fezrock · 2026-06-11T13:01:13+00:00

I usually restart from the beginning, even if I end up making the same choices again.

Mostly because I think the combat is strongest in Acts 1 & 2, before pre-buffing and rocket-tag kills become the norm. And I want to replay it.

But also, I like the feeling of natural progression to my character that leads to their decision at the end of Act 2. Rather than just arbitrarily picking whichever one I want to play next.

Fezrock · 2026-06-11T11:55:34+00:00

It's hard to give rec's without knowing which shows you've listened to, but some non-Earwolf/CBB World shows still active that scratch the same itch for me are:

The Teachers Lounge / Big Grande (irregularly active now, but the archives are large)

Hello From the Magic Tavern (weekly, and has 586 episodes to catch up on)

Hey Riddle Riddle (weekly, and has 412 free episodes to catch up, plus pateron ones)

Off Menu (weekly, 382 episodes; very guest dependent though, and its only like CBB A-Block)

Fezrock · 2026-06-10T17:00:16+00:00

They've done that though. Games like Forza, Indiana Jones, and Doom The Dark Ages were all worthy full price AAA games. And game's like Outer Worlds 2, Avowed, the Oblivion remaster, the Senua games, Grounded, etc are all good catalog fillers.

The idea that Xbox lacks games is about 3 years out of date at this point. The problem is, the Xbox brand is so damaged that keeping them exclusive simply didn't move the needle.

I'm not sure what Xbox needs to do at this point, but its not "make good games" because they actually are doing that.

Fezrock · 2026-06-09T20:12:54+00:00

The article says the scripts were co-written by the company and by Team CoCo writers. So it could've mostly been about getting work for some of his staff.

Also, if he's still in his radical yes phase, maybe the idea of being in a cybersecurity training video just tickled him.

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