nightcleaver

They're working on ways to improve the melee/ranged weapon balance. The demo's you saw were just that, demo's; they aren't anything close to the finished product, in fact being a few months behind the current build. As to whether the balance they provide is good enough... we'll see. Someone complained about the rocket launcher in the demo they played at E3 being too weak; a dev consequently came in and said essentially everything I've said in this post. To further back this up: all the previews and most of the screenshots thus far were based on such a demo-build from E3. The rest are just for looks, to show off the engine and the content and character's as best they can.

Edited: In this thread, if you read back, a dev says that won't happen.

I'm sure it's possible LA wouldn't approve it, but I doubt it. The main issue is the stuff Obsidian doesn't have control over.

Akari said this in another thread (very recently): Something like, "just so this discussion/rumor doesn't get out of hand, the deadline for our (the developer's) side will remain the same regardless of what the release date is. The VO, music, and press coverage is still up to them, leading up to the release of the finished product." Note, that's a very loose representation of what he said, but the basic meaning is the same. LA isn't pushing the Dev's at all, so we don't have to worry about that (if anyone was). Also, that sort of heavily implies the dev's deadline is sometime before December, the rumoured release. What does VO take? A couple months, at least? This could be a good sign; but as I said in that other thread, it could be a very bad sign. Regardless, the release date on the official site now says winter instead of February. That sort of implies they're at least aiming for a larger window, and thus considering a holiday release, eh? Doesn't say december, though, so whatever their current intention, they may change the release date however they see fit as time goes on. If you start saying december without really intending it, even if that's what you end up doing, it's a bad PR choice. Thus, people at Bioware and LA and such don't want to get too specific with the public, because it will be taken for gospel; absolutely NO remorse would be given to them for saying something they didn't know for certain, implying anything they say is more absolute than anything a normal human says. But whatever, /ramble off.

Umm. Oops.

Blah. Perhaps you should work on your body language and tone with the keyboard

He might be arrogant, but it doesn't help to bash 'em. But yeah: that proves nothing. If you had some special basis for your guess, I'd say otherwise; but honestly, not even LA probably knows where this is headed right now. And if they start working on a new engine, well... Bioware is tied up, confirmed, and so is Obsidian - they have their own IP's they want to sell after this. Now, if you had predicted that Obsidian (before anyone heard about them) was going to develop, or even former BIS people were going to instead of Bioware, I'd really have faith. Maybe. The fact is, you can only remember, you can't predict. I could say the armageddon would hit in five years, and who would be there to deny it? Then if it DID come, does that make me right? Does that mean people should've trusted me? Hell no. So just get over it when people don't necessarily think that's what'll happen, just as you predict. EDIT: P.S. Love the sig, shady.

Ahh, but here's something I've noticed(I hate making new topics): look closely at picture 7 of 28 on the LucasArts site: http://www.lucasarts.com/games/swkotor_sithlords/ if anyone needs a reminder. The Sith armored person (I've seen a sith armored person before in several screenshots and videos, apparently as a member of your party) has boobs. This can only mean one thing: It's a female Sith trooper. Or it's a man with implants. Or, err... dammit... it's your PC in Sith armor. Doh. Anyway, I'll be looking into it. I honestly never suspected it before.

I don't suspect they'd do something THAT subtle for a buff. Besides, the tip RIGHT as it moves out of the mist is normal sized. Another possibility is that the base is moving around a little bit - the motion blur effect.

Actually, the "fat" lightsaber phenomenon - I noticed this often in KotOR I. when a lightsaber light is added to a light behind it, the two lights sort of blend. I'm guessing if we saw that in real time, the waterfall would be something of a light source because of how white it is. Just a guess, but it sounds realistic. I'm glad you weren't right, Ivan That says to me, though, that they're closer to release than I originally thought... which could be bad or good, no way to know. I guess at this point it doesn't mean much of anything, and I'm sure the dev's are sweating their asses off right now To respond to craftsman's comments: With the low resolution and the small screeny size, it doesn't say much about how the game will turn out. Besides, wouldn't it make more sense to add the finishing touches later, after the game is pretty much established with what they want in? I can imagine that would put off a lot of bugginess. The res doesn't look any worse than the KotOR I X-box shots, though. Just less fuzzy and more pixellated. To me.

Blah; it's for some people, just not me. It's not a flaw unless you don't like the idea, so for me it's a flaw For you, it might be a pro. But I'm not any sort of data-entry type person, as I'd put it. I hate tedium; I didn't really like, as a plot, the whole starmap thing as an idea, but it was well enough done. Everything you did to get the starmaps was different enough in each case, and each planet had a story; if they did it like that, with good character's, it would be fine. Frankly, it's just how the idea sounds on paper; I don't know how it would turn out in implementation, and I doubt anyone here would be able to show that positive implementation In other words, when people criticize you, don't assume they're right just to appease them or figure out how you're stupid. Try to find out where they're coming from, sure (though many don't do that), but if you don't see where they're coming from don't bother, but don't inflame the situation. Blah. I'm sure people will roll their eyes when they see this bit of wisdom, especially coming from me but it doesn't really matter in the end.

To me, it looks like there's only one guy fighting with his fists - Atton Rand. The costume and everything looks like THAT guy in every pic (from what I notice) there. I doubt stances are in, but we'll have to see. ADD: Sneak attack looks cool. (or whatever attack the character is using when the character he's fighting is paralyzed) Also, the dual-wield deflect animation looks totally awesome and realistic. EDIT: anyone notice how the stupid numbers weren't flying around in combat? Here's hoping that's not just for a spiffy press vid. I still think the kicks are sort of lame - seeing as how one paralyzed a person, I suspect we'll still have the "99 damage kick" phenomena, that zaps you like a lightsaber.

Well, they said they weren't going to do VO for the main character (the PC) at all anyway. I'm sure being attached wouldn't matter TOO much, as we don't actually see him - unless he's bad at changing his own vocal qualities.

Not to flame your theory, but ermm... I'd really hate that story, unless they added some REALLY awesome meat to that bone structure. I'd prefer they did something extending Malak/Revan stuff, as rodian semi-suggested, but mostly being a fresh story like the first one was. I've given up on trying to make the star wars world make sense in an intriguing way, and I'm quite frankly more interested in a personal-level story than I am a raw historical background story. Going through tolkien's "EU" stuff was interesting for a while, but I would die of boredom if the same thing were done for star wars. Names, places, actions - they don't make a difference by themselves, for me. Interesting, sure - but with no explanation, no attitude or spirit to it, it's just horrible.

And Malak knew it was no good to fight it. Revan was the leader, even if a fair number thought Malak was. It seemed like Revan knew a considerable bit more about the Sith and such before Malak, so he could teach Malak. Well, if the above theory is true, who was Revan's master?

They have bots for practicing Jedi. Err... at least they had one in Jedi Academy. *shudder* I couldn't play that game for more than a day. Combat was fun for a while, but... the story was unbearable, and the game had no character. They might have just made it up to make the game that much more lame.

Thats what T3 is for! I mean that guy is comedy central! I am so glad he is coming back in KOTOR 2. <_< :angry: Cheers! :/ I was kind of hoping they'd improve that guy somehow. Hey, I know what they should do! We need a gay robot romance interest! Woo-hoo! beep-doo-boop, baby! Blatant, tactless, ego-filled come-on's as well. I know I'm not the first one to suggest it. Seriously, dev's, answer our prayer's! (Now that I mentioned "gay", let the flame wars begin. Sigh.)

Well, there was a lot of problem with the engine and the full VO limitations. They completely started over at one point, you realize. I don't think it'll be nearly as serious with KotOR II. However, pushed release dates are pretty much a given, especially for well-anticipated titles. serverxserver: errr... maybe. Let's say they got the game finished and bug tested by december, instead of finished and bug tested by february. What's the difference? None. Just as bug-free, just as few bugs, just as much time spent killing bugs. The only difference is, more time to add stuff. Get my logic?

Cool. That's what I like to hear. Hey, what else did I expect from this team? Adria: I agree, except I found it tedious and lacking in character (the way they implemented such prompts, instead of initiations). It's a minor complaint on my part, but it really felt like, "this game mechanic is talking to you" instead of, "this character is initiating something." It really could've been done better, and I'm not sure why it wasn't. Honestly, if they're going to force game mechanics on you, why not force game mechanics on the game? ala, do the absolute command that cuts off all dialogue. I think NPC dialogue should also be skippable, though a prompt would be nice - I don't want to hit a key accidentally and miss something I wanted to hear. The option would be nice to have, and less of a hassle for everyone who wanted the NPC stuff by being a simple, direct way to allow powergamer's (or jaded people who hate stories of the video game variety) the option, instead of forcing some wierd, out of place game mechanic on them. Again, some people don't mind as much, but they wouldn't mind this improvement, would they? Although, I DO like it happening every now and then. The first time it was neat, the second time it was, too. Admittedly, it was only a mild annoyance to the, "let's talk about this frilly, emotional matter right before a blood bath" type thing. Hmm... I suppose I didn't edit out that last part in my first post, which was only applicable in the other thread. Will do.

Maybe things are looking better than they originally expected -meeting deadlines ahead of time. I'd like that. But why not find more improvements? Add sidequests and stuff? I'd prefer they keep to the february release, if a little later.

Ummm... I hope you aren't saying, by this poll, where 57 people voted. Total. The more obvious problems with the first KotOR are as follows: Force power combat was very shallow, unstrategic, even at the highest of difficulty settings. Dialogue was a bit sparse, and the graphics had a few problems. Animations got terribly tedious throughout the game, though computer games tend to have that problem. Despite this not being the most important thing to people, it's important to everyone. You'd notice it, even if you didn't think you did. They're probably trying to get to a wider audience here, so improving combat (cite examples above) is probably a good thing. I haven't played KotOR nearly as much as I have BG II, but KotOR was a better story for me. Bg II, however, had far better combat. Many BG II fans feel the same way, and probably would've bought it except for this. Did the fan base like KotOR anyway? Would most of them probably still buy the new game even if they didn't have all these things, but it still got reviews similarly good to KotOR I? Yes. They would. A few wouldn't. Add to the amount of people who didn't buy the first game, and would more likely buy the second, you gain a broader fan base and more money. also, a lot of the people on these boards aren't like the Biowarian's - their BIS type people, fans of fallout and PS: T, not BG I and II and NWN. (Bioware developed the BG series) Now, keep in mind all these things at the bottom of the votes WERE, after all, "already in the works" by common knowledge. People aren't going to ask for things they know are getting done for them. Add this to the... oh.... 57 people who voted, and you have a very slim chance that this poll is unbiased or accurate in any way. I'd love to hear a mathematician give the actual error range, approximately. Suffice to say, saying that this PROVES that people don't care about these things is crap. You have no evidence, it's just a hunch. A perfectly reasonable hunch, I'm sure, and you're welcome to feel that way. My point is: face it. This can't be proven, and your hunch isn't based on "proof" in the sense you tried to prove just now; it's based on what it's based on.

With FU and MCA, I assume that storyline is a given. oh...you've forgotten that it's a starwars game...so its mcas and fus (and the rest of oe) ability of creating a story vs. starwars... Wow. This is what I call excessive use of abbreviations. FU? MCA? OE? Can you say, W-H-A-T?? Sorry, maybe I'm just too sleepy.

I posted this already, I know, but I wanted to make sure it was heard (if the dev's are still listening and can implement this at all) So, without further adieu, here it is: I'd like player initiated dialogue AND NPC initiated dialogue. In KotOR they half did this; after a while, it would prod you to talk to someone, but that's not them initiating anything. I'm sure the blow it off or push it til later buttons would be there. That reminds me - in the first game, you can blow someone off but you never get to even suggest they say it again. I don't like this; it's bad gameplay and it's unrealistic. When you say, "not right now," it shouldn't mean, "never speak to me again, A-hole. Screw off." Even better, I'd like down time - designated areas where characters talk down-time things, and more active areas where they say active things - stop searching through my pockets (ToB reference), you always do this wrong in combat, etc. "action" dialogue would be a good point to have rivalry, as well - kill counts, point scoring for different hits, etc. NPC banter should be completely skippable.

Kudos to the rivalry idea. I like it. I'd like player initiated dialogue AND NPC initiated dialogue. In KotOR they half did this; after a while, it would prod you to talk to someone, but that's not them initiating anything. I'm sure the blow it off or push it til later buttons would be there. That reminds me - in the first game, you can blow someone off but you never get to even suggest they say it again. I don't like this; it's bad gameplay and it's unrealistic. When you say, "not right now," it shouldn't mean, "never speak to me again, A-hole. Screw off." Even better, I'd like down time - designated areas where characters talk down-time things, and more active areas where they say active things - stop searching through my pockets (ToB reference), you always do this wrong in combat, etc. "action" dialogue would be a good point to have rivalry, as well - kill counts, point scoring for different hits, etc. That would be a great way to add meaning to the action, and meaning to the, "You always cover my back" statements from every side that are inevitable. It would also be comic relief, though I'm sure some players would just be annoyed by it. The option would still be there to cancel dialogue, though. NPC banter should be completely skippable. That's all.

I think EU has an answer to that one. I'm fairly certain he learned all he did about the force from Holocron's.