Greedfall

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
1492: Conquest of Paradise (100 years too early, but about Columbus going to the "New World")
The Mission (1986, set in South America and about Jesuit trying to convert locals)
Pocahontas (it has multiple adaptations as she is a real person, but people mostly remember Disney's animated version)
The Witch (set in New England during the 17e century, but it's an horror movie)

Unfortunately, films based on the era much prefer focusing on European court happening than the colonies.

I'm really interested in this game. The only thing that stops me from pre-ordering is that I'm waiting to get a new job first.

Thing is from me, I've been unemployed for the past month( I've quit after near 2 years in that place) and I've yet to find a new job that isn't physically hard. There will be mass hirings soon, but not yet. Also, haven't been approved for unemployment benefits yet either, so gotta be careful with my savings.

Sensible priorities. Getting consumed by games while unemployed or vacationing has never led to anything but undignified disaster for me. Much better to wait until you have something constructive to do with your day, and a proper income, so you can enjoy the games in moderation while still knowing you have other options for entertainment and self-indulgence when you feel for them. Or your better half does.

Good luck. Hope that approval comes through soon, and you can get a foot in when they start hiring.

Then you're better at voluntarily structuring your day than I am.   I haven't been able to live like that for more than a day or two since I was a teenager. And it wasn't pretty even then. Even just weekends tend to drive me a bit crazy. And I come out of vacations like a stumbling bear after hibernation, completely messed-up and disoriented.

Aside from that though, I find that it's hard to keep enjoying a game if I play more than a few hours a day unless it's really engaging. It feels like my head just moves into the gameworld and I start playing on autopilot, without noticing if I'm actually having fun or getting anything from the ride.

That's no way to appreciate the hard work of dozens of excellent artists and writers and programmers collaborating to provide me with a memorable experience.

When Greedfall comes out, assuming it isn't a dud, I'll be working and doing chores all day thinking about what I wanna do in it. And then those sweet hours of relaxation, collecting treasure, absorbing the story and dueling strange creatures will be like a short journey to wonderland every day.


Conquest of Paradise looks promising, and the Witch might be fitting too since there seems to be a church vs pagan sorcery angle in the game as well. The trailers don't dwell on it too much, but various movies about Salem and the witch-hunts might be in-theme. Good thought.

I enjoy European courtly intrigue as much as anyone. Let it never be said that our Renaissance nobility lacked character or strange ideas. Or gorgeous costumes. But yeah, explorers of the New World actually exploring the New World is an ironically underexplored topic these days.

Probably partly because there's so much conflicting propaganda about what was actually done and how one should think about it that it's hard to form a narrative without it falling either into straight adventure trying to steer around the controversial bits or Pocahontas/Last of the Mohicans/Dances With Wolves-like romantic morality plays.

Which doesn't really mesh with how I intend my first playthrough to go, unless that native witch companion lady is a lot more intriguing than she seems from the trailers. A beautiful and exotic foreign woman trying to get under your skin is nothing to sneeze at, but neither is the world's most powerful and enlightened nations at your back determined to expand beyond the known world.

Never could stand "Princess Mononoke" for some reason. Anime type drama is definitely not my thing. I can see the influences though.

I loooooove "Brotherhood of the Wolf"   It's a visual fest. And I am a big fan of Mark Dacascos. This guy (well, his movie "Only the strong") introduced me to Capoeira and eventually me and several friends started the first Capoeira group in my country.

Honestly my most hyped game this year.

Felt no regrets about pre-ordering.

Well, my last Spiders game was Bound By Flame, which had awful combat and mediocre writing, and you could clearly tell they had run out of budget by the beginning of chapter 3. The pre-release buzz was very much the same - "it has companions and romances, just like a BioWare game!".

I'll wait and see. It's not like they're going to run out of digital copies, and I can still buy on release day or shortly afterwards if it turns out to be really good. I do feel quite some sympathy for a small team shooting for the stars and then maybe falling a little short - as opposed to big teams faffing about and then delivering a sub par result.

I've heard "Spiders" as company the odd time or two, but the names of the games they published dont ring any bells.

Not surprising really. Their games before "The Technomancer" (and even including it to a degree) are a "reaaaaaaly poor man's Bioware option". The main weakness usually being the combat - too hard or not fun. Spiders does story, companions, romances, skill trees, dialogue choices and multiple endings (I swear the female companion outfit in "Bound by flame" was a clone of Dawn Star's from "Jade Empire"). But with so many Biowarish stuff to add and only a small fraction of a Bioware budget/time/manpower, you can probably guess the end results were not much above mediocre. "Greedfall" seems like an attempt for a big break with all they learned from previous experience.

Yeah. Fact is that there really isn't a lot going on for RPG-and-narrative-lovers this fall. Bloodlines 2, Last of Us 2 and Cyberpunk are all set for spring. That boring-looking Star Wars game isn't much in the way of competition, and the pre-order price tag for Greedfall is way below the going rate for high-profile new games these days. Unless you're completely strapped for cash, there isn't a lot of reason not to take the plunge.

And again. All the hats. 


Sold! I haven't seen Brotherhood of the Wolf in a good ten years, but I remember adoring it, especially the costumes. And Princess Mononoke is obviously a masterpiece that can and should be seen as often as possible.

I've never been half as interested in ecology as I am in what purity of spirit means for people's ability to be moral and healthy, and cultivate moral and healthy communities. Mononoke makes its way around that subject very eloquently in my opinion, and it's definitely a fitting theme for a story set in the age of colonial expansion as well.

Quite obvious sales pitches indeed.