Awkward Mixture's RPGs of 2018: A Chart Comparison

Comparison Charts:

A 4X-RTS Comparison: Sins of A Solar Empire, Star Ruler 2, and Stellaris

Awkward Mixture's RPGs of 2018: A Chart Comparison

Awkward Mixture's First Person, Sci-Fi Shooters of 2020: A Chart Comparison

At the beginning of this year, Awkward Mixture compared three 4X-RTS space saga games.  After the individual articles, I made a spread sheet with some truthful, and some humorous comparisons.  I considered comparing Divinity: Original and Pillars of Eternity in a written article, because those two games are much more similar than The Banner Saga and Dark Souls.  But there really wasn't the time, and this still (I hope) conveys the point, with a bit more fun.

	The Banner Saga 2	Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition	Pillars of Eternity	Dark Souls 3
Date Released	2016	2015	2015	2016
Developer	Stoic	Larian Studios	Obsidian Entertainment	From Software
Publisher	Versus Evil	Larian Studios	Paradox Interactive	Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
General	Tactical, Fantasy RPG	Open World, Fantasy RPG	Open World, Fantasy RPG	Action, Fantasy RPG
Character Classes	Yes, but not chosen by the player	No	Yes, eleven, protagonist's chosen by player	Yes, but they only matter in the beginning
Learn Abilities	Upon level up	From books	Upon level up	From books
Races	Three playable	Only human playable	Six with sub-races	Only human playable
Monsters	Dredge, different ones have different powers	Fantasy, look at the level above their heads!	Fantasy, never level up, A troll is always a troll	Dark Fantasy, different ones have different powers
RPG System	Basic	Moderate	Complex	Complex
Lose all endurance for one member in Battle?	What is endurance?	What is endurance?	Maimed, an Attribute penalty until they rest	Stop attacking so it comes back
Lose all health for one member in a battle?	Less health in next battle until they rest	Need to be resurrected with a Resurrection spell or scroll	Dead, dead, dead. Reload if you want the character alive	Respawn at last bonfire, but lose souls
Is there Multiplayer?	No	Yes, only allies	No	Yes, allies and enemies
How many Party Members?	Six in a battle	Two protagonists and two companions	One protagonist and five companions	Solo, but can summon Phantoms
Spells are	Called abilities, need action points	Unlimited per battle, but cost action points	Limited in number, restored by Resting	Miracles, Pyromancies, Sorceries. Cost Focus Points, which are restored at Bonfires
Battle is	Turn based on a grid map	Turn based on an open map	Real time on an open map	Real time, all the time
Death	Common for companions, but in dialogue screens, not in battle	All the time on medium difficulty	Rare	You Died!
Equipment	Very Rare. Very Unique. Not needed. Powerful.	Lots of items, all very unique, and math is required to determine which is superior	Lots of items, but most are the same. Easy to tell which is best	A fair amount. Very detailed. Can be difficult to determine which to use
Plot	Mysterious and Clear simultaneously	Obvious and Cliched	Unique and Gripping	Mysterious and Elusive
The Map is divided into:	A map exists, but the player has little control where they go	Three large sections	Twenty plus locations	No loading screens except after death
Aesthetic	Desperate	Shallow and Colorful	Deep and Gritty	Deep and Dark
Party travels	Separately	Separately	Together	Party?
Journal tracks Quests	No journal	A huge mess of interlocking goals, missions, and requirements	Distinctly and clearly	No journal
Puzzles	No	Look for the rare book or tiny switch to press	Only one or two in the entire game	If killing the thing doesn't work, look for the secret area
Dialogue	Serious, choices	Goofy, choices	Serious, choices	Epic, rare, very few choices
Reputation	Based on what the protagonist did, Effects how people react	Based on what the protagonist's feel about what they did, effects self with buffs	Based on what the protagonist did, effects how people react	None
Backstory	Banner Saga 1, semi detailed history	Previous Divinity games, vague sparse events	Incredibly detailed history	Dark Souls 1 and 2, mysterious history
Most Like	Banner Saga 1 or Fire Emblem	Other Divinity games or Shadowrun	Neverwinter Nights	Dark Souls 1 or Hollow Knight
Essentially	Travel, Solve Problem, Fight desperate battle, repeat	Look at the level above a monster's head. If equal to or less than your own, fight, otherwise leave	Talk to people, Travel, sometimes kill things in the way	Fight monsters, hollows, dragons, invaders, Gods, everything
Time Played	13 Hours	70 Hours	49 Hours	101 Hours
Most Interesting Mechanic	Renown is used to purchase food, items, and level up heroes	Bloodstones need to be activated, but the game doesn't mention that	Endurance is a subset of total health	6 person multiplayer battles
Recommendation	Depending on how good the third one is, review to come in 2019	Not	Strongly	Strongly

Ok, that's it.  Look for two final articles in 2018, Friday and Monday.

Recent:
Reflection 2018 

Relevant:

A 4X-RTS Comparison: Sins of A Solar Empire, Star Ruler 2, and Stellaris

Pillars of Eternity: Characters, Companions, and Combat

Divinity Original Sin: Combat Like A Hellscape