BoM/TWS Message Forum

Considering BG3's mechanics are based off from what's easily considered the easiest ruleset for D&D, I find it odd that you find it obtuse. Baldur's Gate I and II are far more complicated.

I've only been an occasional reader of manga, but I'm starting to feel like isekai has overwhelmed the market in a bad way. (And that's coming from someone who's reading AND writing for an interactive story!) Mostly, I feel that the trend is overstaying its welcome - sure, something like Overlord is creative because it allowed the reader to glimpse what would be if someone was spirited away to a fantastic world where they can make a difference, but there's so many variations of it that you can do before it starts to feel the same. Recently, I noticed there's going to be a translation of a manga called "The Villainess Stans the Heroes", which mixes isekai with light novels, where the protagonist gets spirited away to her favorite game and has to play the part of a villain, but she secretly wants to help the heroes. Though it praised the fact that all characters get a chance at the spotlight, and the theme seems to twist the idea of Overlord (a guy gets spirited away to his favorite game before it gets shelved, and chooses to rule over it because he's OP), I read the review and felt like, "when is this trend going to stop?"

And I don't have anything against isekai. I've been wanting to read Rising of the Shield Hero, if only because, despite following the trend of "guy from another world somehow knows how to be great at something in the new world", it also shows the opposite - the other two heroes, which are better seen by the new world and are actually supposed to be far more powerful, pale in comparison to the protagonist, who refuses to be a villain despite the world seeing him as such. It's probably the proposal with the most nuances woven in. There's also this webcomic that I read a long time ago called Guilded Age which is basically isekai but with a western MMO based off World of Warcraft, except you also see what's happening in the real world. You also notice a couple things, such as that there are characters in the real world that eventually join the game and have as many victories and character development as the protagonists, and even NPC villains happen to become heroes in their own right. (Plus, there's some political intrigue added in.) It was made before isekai exploded in Japan, though it takes from the ur-examples of isekai (mostly .hack and to an extent Sword Art Online).

What's your opinion on mobile games? (Not games repurposed to be playable in smartphones, but native to them.) I'll admit that I'm not much of a fan, but there's one game that I really like that acts as the exception to the rule - Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe. I guess it's because I like the series as a whole and it scratches my itch, but it's probably one of the mobile gacha games I've played that I've actually enjoyed a lot. Sure, I won't deny that it's starting to get in my nerves a bit (some of the harder fights are sometimes downright unfair), but the way the game's developed, there's always some way to overcome those challenges without feeling like they're impossible.