SteveThaiBinh

I tend to install the unofficial patch out of habit, because I first played before there was an official patch and you needed the unofficial one just to complete the game. The latest versions of the unofficial patch do make a few changes that are about making the game logical and consistent in the patch-maker's eyes, but mostly it seems to be about fixing bugs and problems that are very rare or that you might not even notice. On balance, I would probably still download and install it, even for a first time game. I really must play again.

You can buy the pacifist upgrade from a merchant at Nar Shaddaa, possibly the female rodian. It's not available immediately, and though I can't remember what specifically triggers its appearance, it usually appears when you've completed HK and done most of the planets. It gives some funny dialogue and HK gets some attributes bonuses, I think.

I liked the Onderon cantina waitress from Kotor 2, and definitely Juhani from Kotor 1. I agree about the accent - very sexy.

Quite a few people have had trouble with the X-Box version of the game, unusually so for a console game, so people have said. I suppose having an X-Box and knowing that the problems can't be fixed is at least less stressful than waiting for a patch that might never have come (and probably wasn't worth the wait when it did). I gather the Restoration Project team haven't ruled out an X-Box version of their mod - has that changed?

Gothic 2 killed my video card. Other than that, I think I enjoyed it at the time, but I've played the Kotors, Torment and Bloodlines since then and I have higher standards now. I can't even remember what the story of Gothic 2 was, only that it was rather weak. I'll probably still give Gothic 3 a try, as we're not exactly awash with new RPGs, even at the best of times.

No, it was just a joke, and one that EA enjoyed just as much as everyone else, for it is a friendly and happy company and not a company that would, say, swallow up its competitor and force it to release an attrocious bug-ridden sequel that destroyed the whole franchise. I like humour too, but I don't know that I'd like a 'humourous RPG' that was designed and marketed as such. Some of the Quest for Glory games came close, but I think just stayed on the right ride of sanity.

I think romance is a tricky thing to get right in a game, but can be one of the most satisfying story elements when it's well done. The quantity of Kotor fanfic that developed as a response to the Revan/Bastilla and Revan/Carth relationships was impressive. Romance probably needs to be optional in any game rather than part of the main plot, if large numbers of gamers are put off by it. Sex in games can be fine, but also cringe-inducing. The most recent game I played with sex was Fahrenheit:

The Awful Waffle-Walker.

I'm sure a lot of people will agree with you about Peragus. I enjoy it (the experience more perhaps than the planet), because I enjoy playing a lower level character where the choices you make at levelup seem actually to impact on how you can play the game. I voted for Dxun: mile after mile of combat plus searching all the blasted cannoks. Malachor V is also dull, but you can switch your brain off and wake up inside the academy.

Wonder how many people will take this as confirmation that Obsidian are working on K3? None, due to the BOLD part <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You really think that will stop them? Was/Will there be a similar contest for NWN2? I think I would make a good orc.

I don't remember, but NWN2 should definitely have one, and one with extreme settings (from very easy all the way to very hard). It's important that Obsidian get this right, after getting it so wrong with Kotor 2. I mean, I liked it fine that combat was so easy, but then I'd rather have been playing an adventure game with pretty fighting movies anyway - I can see how someone who bought the game for the combat would be disappointed. I agree with Diamond, though - the occasional challenge with the bosses would be nice. And with four characters in a party in NWN2, surely they don't need to make every monster killable by every class, only by every reasonably-balanced group.

The first big laugh I ever had from an RPG was playing Ultima VII and realising that the Guardian's evil generators were a cube, a sphere and a pyramid, the same as EA's logo.

No problem. I love being everyone's favourite political correctness nut. I found the original review (a video clip) at the GLAAD website here. As I said in my earlier posts, I haven't seen the movie and so I can't judge whether 'sexual predator' is a reasonable description of the character. However, if GLAAD is overreacting, there are plenty of people overreacting to its overreaction. I don't think Shalit should be persecuted for what he said, but he has a right to comment on the movie, and GLAAD has a right to comment on his comment. And you have a right to comment on its comment. And I have a right to comment on your comment. And you have a right to comment on my comment.

I'd like to see (mostly to hear, if I'm honest) Bastilla again. It'd be nice to see Carth again, too, but it seems Revan has been set to male in the canon, so he'd be rather redundant. Can anyone explain why all the interest in Yuthura Ban? I heard she had a larger role that was cut in the finished game, but as it stands she was a very minor and rather forgettable character.

All villains are scary, yes, and it helps if they also look scary - kind of an early warning system. This guy looks like my uncle, which is ... unsettling, but will make for an interesting gaming experience.

Abuse from the board wit. How truly I have been pwned.

Soylent Green is babies. The stereotyped view that homosexuals are predatory by nature is one that, though in decline, is still held by some, and it's a view that does real harm to gay people as they live their lives. If what this critic said is perpetuating that stereotype, then this does affect GLAAD's members and that organisation has every right to answer back.

A dev posted that about three-quarters of Kotor 2 sales were for the XBox in North America, and the remaining quarter was non-NA XBox and all PC sales. The forum community probably isn't very representative, but then, why should we be?

It's all very pretty. The bald magician looks like a relative of mine, so I hope that's not the main villain because not very scary.

Shouldn't this be in the spoilers forum? No, probably not.

After two sequels and PNJ which, it has been hinted, is based on a setting that already exists, I would have thought Obsidian will be ready to try something entirely of their own making. Publishers and funds allowing, of course. I'd also love to see VtM:B2, but as sequel to the game that sank Troika, aren't developers going to think it's bad luck?

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines has great graphics and story, but the combat is very simple if you're used to action games. Planescape: Torment has a fantastic story and fair (though now a little dated) graphics, but less combat than most RPGs, especially in the opening stages, and it usually rewards you for not taking the combat route to solve problems. Fallout and Fallout 2 have dated graphics but good stories and good turn-based combat. Arcanum has a great story but dated graphics and a rather annoying combat system. Gothic 2 has a weaker story but great graphics and decent combat. Ultima VII is now very old-looking (it runs in a dos simulator), but is another good story. Combat is simple, which is good for me, but not to everyone's taste. All of the above are my opinions only, and others will no doubt disagree. I don't value combat in games, and my opinions about it are not therefore terribly reliable.

What kind of things do you like in RPGs? Combat? Story? Pretty graphics? What was it you liked about the ones you played that's got you wanting more?

Happy Birthday. Errr, do we really need to have this thread and the 'Why Fionavar Rules' thread? It's a bit scary, in an Animal Farm kind of way. Next we'll start denouncing each other (or ourselves) for failing to love Fionavar enough and be dragged off by bloodthirsty dogs.

GalCiv2 is definitely worth a look when it comes out, but the original Galactic Civilizations is still a great game and probably heavily discounted by now. The graphics are unspectacular but not off-puttingly so, and the game itself is excellent.