The Power of Support: Larian Studios and the Rise of "Baldur's Gate 3"

In the world of gaming, it's easy to get lost in the blockbuster titles and big-budget releases from industry giants. However, there's something truly magical about supporting small indie gaming companies. They often start with humble beginnings, face challenges, and work tirelessly to bring their creative visions to life. A shining example of this journey is Larian Studios and their remarkable transformation, culminating in the creation of "Baldur's Gate 3."

The Early Days of Larian Studios: A Rocky Start

Larian Studios wasn't always a household name in the gaming world. In fact, their journey began with a series of relatively unknown and, in some cases, poorly received games. Titles like "Divine Divinity" and "Beyond Divinity" faced mixed reviews and struggled to gain widespread recognition. But what sets Larian Studios apart is their unwavering dedication to improving and learning from their experiences.

The Turning Point: "Divinity: Original Sin"

Larian Studios hit their turning point with "Divinity: Original Sin." Released in 2014, this crowdfunded CRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game) was a breath of fresh air in the gaming industry. It received critical acclaim for its deep storytelling, complex gameplay mechanics, and the freedom it offered to players. This game proved that indie studios could deliver exceptional gaming experiences.

The Crowdfunding Revolution

A significant part of Larian Studios' success came from crowdfunding and community support. They engaged with their audience and listened to player feedback, which helped them refine their games. This close relationship with their fans not only provided essential funding but also ensured that the games they created catered to the desires of their dedicated player base.

"Baldur's Gate 3": The Culmination of a Dream

Fast forward to the present day, and Larian Studios is responsible for one of the most highly anticipated games of all time, "Baldur's Gate 3." This sequel to the iconic "Baldur's Gate" series showcases the studio's evolution. The game, which is in early access at the time of writing, is a testament to what can be achieved with unwavering commitment and community support.

Why Supporting Small Indie Gaming Companies Matters

The story of Larian Studios and "Baldur's Gate 3" underscores the importance of supporting small indie gaming companies. When you back these studios, you are not only supporting their dreams but also fostering an environment where creative risks are taken, innovation thrives, and unique, unforgettable gaming experiences are born.

In the case of Larian Studios, the journey from obscurity to developing what many consider the greatest game of all time is a testament to the potential of indie gaming. So, next time you're browsing for new games to play, consider looking beyond the big titles and explore the offerings of small indie studios. You might just discover the next gaming masterpiece and become a part of an incredible journey, much like the one that led to "Baldur's Gate 3."

Supporting small indie gaming companies not only helps them bring their creative visions to life but also contributes to the diversity and innovation in the gaming industry, enriching the experiences available to players.

Larian Studios' Early Games: Larian Studios did release games like "Divine Divinity" and "Beyond Divinity," and they faced mixed reviews initially. "Divine Divinity" was released in 2002, while "Beyond Divinity" followed in 2004.

"Divinity: Original Sin": "Divinity: Original Sin" was indeed a significant turning point for Larian Studios. It was released in 2014 and received critical acclaim for its storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and the freedom it offered to players.

Crowdfunding and Community Support: Larian Studios used crowdfunding for their games, including "Divinity: Original Sin" and "Divinity: Original Sin 2." Crowdfunding allowed them to engage with their audience, gather feedback, and secure funding for development.

Destiny and the proper way to use three of coin

There has been a ton of debate about this topic and the destiny fan base has done its homework...Luke Smith has said in a tweet that destiny players have yet to figure out the most effective way to use ToC (troll) there probably isn't a "most effective" way at all besides throwing them at the screen. 

Be that as it may there has been much speculation as to the best times to use ToC. 

As far as I can tell fire teams of three have the best luck when everyone uses a coin on the third ultra kill.

Best way to do this is to use a coin and kill an ultra to get your count to zero. Then complete two strikes without a coin use and on the third strike use a ToC before the boss. 

This technique has worked well for some and terribly for others. Personally I think you should just play the game and use a Three of Coins whenever you remember. 

Be safe guardians 

Destiny and Bungie why the playstation love?

Xbox One

Bungie why have you forsaken Xbox players? We have been loyal since Halo...it feels like we had a strong relationship building and then you dump us for something slimmer and prettier. Only joking for dramatics of course but seriously bungie...how could you give playstation exclusive content?! You and I both know they don't deserve it!! I will never buy a PS4 no matter how much exclusive stuff you give them, and I know I am not alone.

TLW remember who your true love is, your first love.

And let us rein supreme over PS4 like we were always meant to.

On another note, the new DLC is looking very promising...adult things keep pulling me away from my destiny but I will make a short post about HoW sometime in the near future. 

Destiny players beware of weekly reset

A friend and I were gaming late last night waiting for the 3am reset. When the time came we jumped right into the weekly nightfall. It is that bad wizard strike, but with solar damage!! So as two warlocks we tore through the strike pretty quickly....omnigal took a lot of pain however after about 30 minutes we knocked her out. Unfortunately there were no rewards for our struggle. We did a little Internet research and turns out you really need to log out and log back in to refresh your game.

Just a quick FYI for all you guardians out there

League of Legends - Play it for free

League of Legends

Here is my review for League of Legends on the computer. All in all this is a pretty awesome game. If you have ever played a game like world of warcraft, starcraft or any other game like that you will like League of Legends.




Pick your player and dive into the game.
Every week there are free characters to play like a dozen to choose from. You earn money and experience when you play games, if you win you obviously get more points.
There are champions of all sorts. Ones with magic ranged, ones up close and personal and even some sneaky ones.

Kog Maw

I prefer to play either the rough tough melee characters or the ranged squishy characters. No matter what character you choose as long as you have good teamwork you will probably win. My current favorite is a character called "Kog Maw" he is like a prehistoric bug that has a really awesome Ultimate Ability.

League of Legends

There is a small downfall to the game.....every so often the client will lagg out and you will need to restart the game. However if you get disconnected in the middle of a game you can always "reconnect" back into the game. That idea is very cool!

Once Upon a Time I had an Idea for a Game

The Main Outline for this game can be found at the link below..

Ravage Ritual the Outline

Game Outline made by Micheal Williamson. If you've got question he can help check out  

Micheal's Blog

The world will be set up as follows: Armageddon has cast the world into peril past the point of destruction. Out of the ashes colonies have come together in order to rebuild and start anew...unfortunately order has no chance to guide the world. Beast of all sorts have gotten stronger than humans could have ever anticipated....Fractions have sprouted up to put order back in its proper place however other groups have banded together to make sure that same order will never again come to rule...

Fire Empire: This is where the Mechanical Warriors will come from. This is the militaristic empire of the world. This is also where players can access a bank to hide/transfer/spend their money. It will also be the location of the virtual office for the stock exchange. This is obviously the strongest safest place...and most coveted out of all the regions. The population of the fire empire will be maintained and citizenship will not be easy to gain...however this is the location where all the money can be kept safe....an evil necessity.

Water World: Salmon...Tuna....Sharks....Pirates mostly. This area will be a good place to farm for everything....meaning its easy to get EXP, Rare Items, Crazy Mobs, Fast Cash however....Pirate NPCs will attack you often. Illegal items/Controlled items will be found and made here.

Lawlessness will rein supreme in these areas. This area will also be the larges on the map based on the fact that its the Ocean.

Desert:  Rogue's can gain great knowledge from hanging out here.This is a harsh climate where little grows but there are still plenty of things to be found...difficult things to come by for sure and the best place to find spare parts. If you think you are going to be a builder of anything you should think about getting into the desert. The place all electronics go to die...the sand hides secrets and harsh enemies. There will be medium control here...only in areas where players can interact with other players will there be an occasional Fire World NPC to enforce. The sand does not cover much of the map however an oasis has sprung up deep in the desert.

Skies:For those of us with wings. The skies are a regions of great tectonic collision. Massive mountain chains have scarred the landscape. This region is a cold wasteland with dangerous Mobs however gaining access will allow a user to get to other regions secretly. Towns have popped up on mountain sides at important junctions. It just so happens that Fire NPC's are not really allowed here and there is little else know about the lofty hideouts. Hunters may find it necessary to search this place.

Forest: The rest of the land will be covered in areas of varying vegetation and foliage. All sorts of wonderful things grow here...this is will be the place most of the new people will hang out before they can gain entrance to any other region. Pine forest near the mountains to a jungle rain forest by the sea. A place every adventurer has quests and plenty of mobs to kill...There will be a few areas where users can team up and take down an instance together...All sorts of magic users will gain knowledge from this area. 

After you download the game and register a new character you enter the game and there is a little cut scene...(camera from above so the player watches his character fall and then a command prompts the user.
"Where will you land?" at this point you are given like 4 different responses
-Water
-Hard Earth
-Snow
-Trees/Plants
-Nothing

Depending on the response the the question the character will begin to be generated....he lands upon one of the four choices. Gets up slowly and in whatever environment he lands in he begins to wander and gets swarmed by some tiny insects/fish/bugs/blobs or whatever and he/she will get another command prompt
"What will you do?"
-Run/swim/climb
-Fight
-Give Up
-Hide

And so on for a little longer....eventually our user will get knocked out and someone will come to save him/her unfortunately the new player has passed out.
We come back in with our new character lying in bed all bandaged up...there is a mysterious NPC lurking about...There is more chatter for the player to create a name and get the most important items in the game.
Okay so here is where I start talking about the good stuff...the stuff which will separate Ravage Ritual from all other games. These next few items are a must have for this game to work as I wish it to...

Every player starts off with 1 noob bag and 1 noob book along with his soulbound item he received from answering the questions.

New Player Items:

The noob bag: This is just a small bag that can only hold a few items. Bigger and better bags can be made or bought of course. Through the in game currency trading system. Some boss mobs may drop a bag or instructions explaining how to make bags...
The noob book: The book is to record the users progress in learning new combat/magic/ranged/close quarter whatever. The noob book is very small and cannot hold much progress so our user must complete some quests to obtain a bigger book...also he/she will have to locate the trainer to learn more about skills...aka how to upgrade them or other ones available at his/her level.

The command prompt device: The best piece is what is really important. It will be the medium for the player to interact with the world he has fallen into. The soul bound item will be specific to character class and specialty. However for the first release there may be only one or two classes (warrior/ranged) with the elemental specialty you can potentially make anything from healer to assassin.
The item will actually be represented as the command window for a computer...maybe a little more user friendly with some tabs to look at inventory, maps, equipment, talent tree, but the best part will be the "learn" tab. This is where players will have to collect letters/runes/glyphs and input them in a correct sequence to gain knowledge of certain skills. Once knowledge is acquired then the player can transfer the command to his/her book and use the new command in the world.
Example:   The first quest will get the player ready for this sort of command entering system...he/she will have to kill some bugs or rodents but when you walk in the door the rats/bugs start attacking you and you've got no commands memorized your noob book is empty and you die quickly....you pop back up next the the NPC who gave you the quest....he apologizes and then the player gets a run down on how to copy the command to his/her book so it can be used in combat. First command the person learns is simply "Hit". So you go and own those rodents/bug and accumulate a few new letters and some new colored stones. These are how players will learn new things, get exp, and attribute points to be used when he/she levels up. 

A few noob quests will follow and after the user gets an idea of how things work he/she will chose a region of the world. All places will be pretty much free to join except for the Fire Nation. In order to get into the fire nation there will be a secret code only given to those deserving.
After some other regional specific quests the user will then be granted citizenship and begin to obtain resources and prosper as the region prosper.
At that point the user can either go exploring, create a base, form an alliance, or simply search for other bases and players to attack.


...there are too many legal issues to deal with

Borderlands for the Xbox 360

I forgot that I really enjoy playing video games and especially RPGs...and so with that in mind my real life friend and I took on the challenge of Borderlands for the Xbox 360...this game is legitimate for the most part.
The game is basically an FPS much like Fallout. There are 4 different classes to chose from...
Soldier - with a turret that can regenerate ammo and health (best choice)
Siren - with some silly ability to "Phasewalk" and high elemental damage
Ranged Class - good for using a sniper he has a bird that will attack a single enemy
Berserker- Melee character big meat shield.... with an action skill to beat enemies.

Soldier class FTW...the game play is mostly FPS with a little bit of RPG but not much...the "talent trees" leave something to be desired, but like the game insinuates there is literally a "gazillion guns" to chose from...gernade perks, class perks and artifacts.

Some quests are a little challenging for me...just the scavenge ones because the parts are very small and difficult to locate. Remember the programmers are only kinda hiding them from you....take a second to look around!
.
.

And the search continues...

It has been a while...time is a little short I have been gathering funds the only way I know how. I am now working two jobs while I wait to get out of this town....
Still searching for investors....every little bit counts and will be paid back in full.
The mission is still a go and we are gathering forces.
Very soon now our goals will be implemented.

For those I love I will sacrifice

The basic layout used to describe the ideas and concepts of a game

Game Type:

This game will be a RPG first and foremost with some MMO elements

Genre:

It will be mostly RPG with action and adventure aspects

Style of PVP:

Player Vs Player will only happen in regions that have little to no law. If there is an NPC that witnesses any player vs player that NPC will end the fight.

Setting:

Each player will be in a sci-fi world with a wonderful mix of technology and simplicity. Each region of the world will have a unique mix of advances in tech.

Story:

This world is a dynamic place. Divided into regions with unique aspects of power and resources. Each region will have specific imports and exports. Players will need these things to advance and gain reputation.

Races:

Here is where things get tricky. All races will be some sort of humanoid depending on where the user has obtained citizenship and also what skills and knowledge the user has experienced. That being said we have as follows:

• The Warrior - As the warrior trains and gains power he will obtain larger and stronger weapons along with the ability to make a machine equipped with these weapons. The warrior class will be most difficult to excel in because of the "iron wall" that will separate Fire Nation for the rest of the world.
• The Magic User - Depending on what type of magic that is studied the black mage or healer will have a frail appearance...I am thinking this will be the bird-like race. Possibly owls and ravens....
• The Archer - This class is for those who enjoy ranged attacks...this class may be a little "squishy" meaning they can only wear light armors and not much hit points however what they lack in stature they make up with in firepower, the ability to target more precisely, and maybe even a pet of some sort to aid them...these will be the wolf-like humanoids.
• The Rogue - this will be the up close and personal melee specalist. The rogue class will be excellent at getting close to deal devastating combos hitting critical damage very often. They will also be able to target specific areas on opponents for kill shots, however they are not very strong with the ranged. This will be a puma/jaguar cat-like humanoid.

Fractions:

High Law, Medium Law, No Law

Disciplines:

Melee - a school devoted to hitting things with things. The user may find these training facilities more often that any others....this is where users will learn how to wield new close ranged weapons.

Ranged - a school devoted to hitting things with other things at a distance. These are a little more rare and usually a little more hidden/guarded.

Magic - a school devoted to manipulating the flow of energy. There will be many different types of these schools. All different colors of magic may be learned here through proper guidance.

Assassin - a school for all things stealth.The user will learn here how to conceal his/her presence and learn to sneak into places unauthorized. The user will also learn things of a more critical nature here...training is harsh and difficult but very rewarding.

Crafting:

There will be a very unique and somewhat complicated system to make everything. There will be ways to obtain secret quests that will explain how a player can obtain the correct information in crafting. Special machinery will be necessary to craft anything. These machines will be found randomly in the world. Ex

• You are a new user and you happen to enjoy killing a certain mob that drops pieces of copper, tin and aluminum...you have no idea what to do with them until you come across a tiny cave with a door and through that door you find a furnace to smelt those pieces into ingots. There will be a NPC wandering around to help you find your way and lead you to answers. Upon completion of a few quests for the NPC the user may be allowed free use of the machine ...or maybe even paid to make items.

Drive:

There is good reason to play this game. It is not just a game to be played. Users will have to battle one another in order to game resources of every kind. Most importantly with an internal stock exchange system everything will have a real money value. The better a region is competing the better the stock. Players will fight to destroy other economies in order for theirs to prosper.

Okay that should be a good start at least.....

Found a new possible MMO

This one is pretty cool its called Wealth Wars and apparently you roam around this wasteland and set up a base...your base is where you keep all your loot. You can join alliances and attack rivals or just be by yourself.
I tried to set up two accounts now but there seems to be a small bug in their process...every time I log in as one character or another I seem to get logged in as someone else
They have forums to put up questions like that but with their move from a .com to a .net there seems to be some bugs so we will just put that on the back burner for a minute...you can earn money by referring friends so if this place works out maybe I can get a group to play with for a little while and accumulate some money. I will wait to see if the problem gets resolved before I post my personal link.

Another day another dollar...I guess it is time for me to log into the ChaCha and see what nonsense goes on today...if your interested in knowing more about being a ChaCha Guide you can email me....post a comment....follow me on twitter....you know

Keep it real interwebs