aries101

Why is this? I read the infro from Christ Priestly, too. It made me go from cautious to sort of being optimistic about DA: Origins. I also thought that Chris P.'s answers to the questions posted by the fans where OK and answered a lot of mine questions as well as laid other questions to rest. I'm still hooked on the origin stories, though. I still don't like the Spectr - eh- Grey Wardens fighting the 'ancient menace'.

I'm currently playing *the witcher*. I had hard a time breaking down a wall last night, untill I realized that Aard sign does this I went to bed at 4.30 AM this morning - good times (it would have been 2:30 AM if I had remembered the part about the Aard sign earlier). I'm also playing the very good adventure game 'Black Mirror'. I wish I were playing The Last Express next; playing the demo made me really want to play this game.

I'm glad you liked the game, Mass Effect for the PC. But, as others have said, go to sleep.... Then, after you have slept, you can start the game again, being a higher level and maybe on the hardcore mode...

Bioware's DA: Origins is supposed to be a dark fantasy setting, much more realistic and gritty than the lush high fantasy of D&D. Just yesterday (I think it was yesterday? or was it before Christmas?) Bioware showed some new stuff on gametrailers. They showed part of what was the Harrowing, a ritual all mages must pass, before they're allowed to join the Circle of Magii in Ferelden. And what I saw was a very enchanting lady, half-naked, caressing herself in a very erotic way. David Gaider said (when asked) that it was a desire demon. The desire demon look into your desires, avarice, lust, greed etc. and tempts you using these. I haven't seen anything like this in D&D high fantasy at all. Also, King Cailain (the king of Ferelden) is a very naive king, who thinks that war is all glory & honour as well as it being like in the legends, riding with the famed Grey Wardens. And boy, is he going to be surprised. I haven't seen such a King in D&D or high fantasy at all. Elves in D&D and High Fantasy are slim people who live in harmony and are peacful. Not so in Ferelden. There are city elves and elves that live in alienages (outside the city). Elves are second class citizens; they are treated accordingly. Dwarfs are immune to magic, eat rocks which leads to sulphuric gasses being passed. Dwarfs don't believe in the Fade which is the place from where all magic comes - in Ferelden. This is clearly not a High Fantasy thinly veiled D&D clone, I find. If if is anything, it is nearer to the way The Witcher presents Dwarfs and Elves. (Elves are seen as some king of resistance group against humans cutting down trees etc. I think? in The Witcher). My main critique of DA: Origins is that the Blight seems a lot like the Reapers; the Grey Wardens sound a lot like the Spectres - and the plot for DA: Origins is very similar to that of Mass Effect. And you're forced to become a Grey Warden. And to combat the ancient evil that threathens the land. The story is, of course, going to be top notch - since it is developed by Bioware. It also seems to have very interesting choice & consequences.... Bioware still makes very good rpgs, I find. Simply because they make the rpgs I want to play. Other games prefer the more open ended sandbox games like the ones Bethesda makes. And that's OK. I'm still waiting for Bioware to make that cinematic adventure game I know they're capable of making. I would buy it in an instant - and in a heartbeat, too.

No, not particular.... I absolutely hate hate hate (or really really don't like) re-loading just for the sake of reloading. A certain fight in BG2: TOB comes to mind... It gets very annoying. PS: Torment, I agree, basically is an adventure game with combat thrown in for good measure. When I talk about the death in PS: Torment being rewarding, counting for something as you just get re-incarnated again, I'm talking about this: Spoiler for PS: Torment ahead - read at your own risk! And as I've said in my latest post, PS: Torment sort of spins the whole D&D clichees on their heads, doing a 180 (degrees) to them, e.g. by making rats smart and intelligent. PS: Torment did not empower the gamer by handing everything omn a silver platter to the player, like so many game companies, dvs. and publishers do today. Instead PS: Torment gave the gamers/players a very good story, challenges - and caried means to the players to overcome these challenges. Lately, particularly in cases like Oblivion, Mass Effect and Bioshock, everything seems to be handed to player on a silver-platter as someone so eloquently put it. The thing is that most people like a challenge; they will do anything to overcome said challenge if the reward in the game or in real life (irl) is big enough.

Someone mentioned Wasteland as their best rpg experience; I mention PS: Torment and BG1 as the best rpgs I've ever played. Because they're challenging, the story in them are great, the plot is unravelling before my (your) very eyes. PS: Torment have one of the most fantastic plots and stories I yet to encounter - as well as taking all of the D&D fantasy clich

It seems to me that every 10 years or so, the computer rpg (and maybe adventure games, too?) have a great period. The Golden Age of RPGs was from 1996/97-2001/2002, probably most concentrated around 1999-2001 or so. During that time, many great games were released. Many poor games were released as well, Daikaitana...whose demo were so terrible, I couldn't even move... Humans seem to be forgetting the negative aspects of something and only remember the lighter, positive sides of things.... During these years, from 2007-2009 (or from 2008-2010) it seems that the golden age is coming back. Mass Effect, Drakensang, Age of Decadence, Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 3, and a lot of other rpgs are coming out - as well as lots of good shooters like Stalker, COD4, Bioshock. Now shooters seem to have a good story as well as good shooting. And the computer rpg seem to blend in with the shooter to get more action. I, for one, like this. A good game is still a good game, no matter what, and whether it is an adventure game, an rpg or shooter...

Mass Effect for PC + Spore + Dead Space is out on Steam now. Just wanted to let you know. Alas, for the moment, only availabe to those in US+ CAN

I do not like monsters respawning (why I even bothered to Finosh Diablo I + II, I don't know?) nor do like this new feature where you to have save and leave. I don't have time anymore to sit through 4-6 hours of gameplay - just so I can make progress in a game... And the handholding levels in Oblivion were not a favorite of mine, too. I didn't like the quest arrows nor the pop up boxes that told the player what to do. However, I don't like that I only can use one or two tactis to defeat the enemies (yes, sendai in BG2; I'm looking at YOU!). Very annoying, I find.

"which lead to her logging on with the 33-year-old man's username and password and deleting his character." This, too me, is the important part. This is clearly identity theft or very close to it. She did log on with the real man's username. Then she deleted his character. She is not charged with mutual murder, though.

Yes, why indeed ? I think the answer lies deep within the bowles of the Zenimax marketing department. More precisely in the accounting bowl where the number (and dream) crunchers sit. They might have looked at the numbers and said to each others 'oh, ok, fps shooter games sell really well. Let's make FO3 a game like this, at least combat wise, then we'll be sure to sell million and millions of copies (or Stock Keeping Units as they probably like to call them...) The sad thing about this is that they might be correct in their assumption for the projected sales of Fallout 3. It will probably sell well. And then, after a while, everyone will complain about how bad the game is, but it doesn't matter, since after a while, maybe 6 months or, the next 'shiny ones' toys (ehm- games) are out. And everyone, or at least the casual gamers, will be playing that game, not Fallout 3. I have also watched the new gameplay trailers and I thought I was watching Call of Duty 4 untill I saw the Fatman (the nuclear launcher) being pulled out. This game, Fallout 3, does look like a FPS and should probably be treated like one, but as a FPS game with some rpg stats etc. tacked on. Nothing's wrong with that -if it seems like a fun & challenging game with a good story, too. However, after reading around on several webpages and seeing the new official trailers for this game, Fallout 3, I have to say that Bethesda did also fail in making an enjoyable, fun and challenging FPS game with a decent main story...and the animations are still pretty weak, if not to say terrible.

The interesting thing here is that Walmart like Itunes is now moving towards an drm-free music store. It has taken the music industry ten years to come this far; how long do you think it will take the game industry to do the same? Another 10 years or so?

Rob McGinnis is simply just saying that if people don't buy enough pc games, they will cease to exist. This means that Atari won't be releasing any more games for the pc, only for the consoles. This also means no more Obsidian D&D pc games. In a market based economy this is how it works (this is comment, not an invitation to a political debate). As for Atari's having their own download service for their games, like many others I have to ask this: 'why does atari not just use steam?'

I like Magister Lajciak's solution to the problem with drm in games. I just want to add that I want the limited activations to go away after 12-18 months after the game's initial release and the activations to go away after 24-36 months after the gam's release. On the principle, though, I agree. I also agree that most games today are not worthy of replayability. And this is exactly what EA is going for, limited replayability. Most people today will probably only play through a game, any game, not just an rpg, 2-3, maybe 4 times or so. Then, they will move on the next 'shiny ones' to quote Cespenar from a Bioware game.

The first time I saw and heard the King, I thought to myself: He looks just like a parody of a hero, believing the myths and tales of great fights. It turned out to be quite correct. Isn't the King in the Ogre's hand though at the end of one the shown videos? Maybe this is the plot twist.

I wouldn't worry about getting a fourth activation either if it were done like in Bioshock's and Two World's case - swift and with expediency while the supporting staff did it with a smile. Judging from the tales of the EA support on the bioware boards EA support is pretty much clueless about what they're doing - at least in the US. If you don't get a supervisor, your chances are very slim getting more activations than three. Another thing is that further activations are given out by 'a vse by case basis'. This actually means that a support staff can deny you the right to play the game you have paid good (and much) monbey for to play. If you want to set up multiple accounts on sporepedia you can't. You have to buy a game for each of the accounts - after you have registered (or activated) the game online. I'm happy that you don't have any problems; families with children do, however.

I've watched the vidoes and what amazes truly is the art direction in this game. The surroundings, the textures, the buildings, the sky, the earth, all look so beautiful. Ostagar at night looks very beautifull, too. The game itself seems to be shapen to be good, if not great...

Allow me, if you will to broaden the discussion a bit. Ascararon made this announcement for drm in Sacred 2. [The link takes to you to post by rpghwatch] The most important difference from Mass Effect is that you get a revoke tool and that activations can be de-activated. There are some other differences which you can read by yourself. To me, this is much more lenient system than EA's - especially since it seems to look for the customer's rights, too - not just the publisher's or the developer's.

Best intro must either by the intro to Blackstone Chronicles or the intro to Daggerfall. I have watched them bouth on youtube, I think. Very very good introductions. The narrator in the first icewind dale game is kind of cool too. The best words in an intro must be these words: war war never changes

The difference is this: Securom, at least the kond of Securom EA uses now, will install itself on Ring0 in your windows system (Others will have to explain what this means more precisely, but I do know that this has something to with the windows kernel). Securom can allow you to have 2,3 pr 5 activations or as many activations as you wish. On top of that you will need to activate the game via your cdkey the first time you install the game. BUt wait, there's more. There's a certain version of Securom (version 7.xx I believe?) that installs somethinng called ncd? This is used for tracking the hardware of your computer, what websites you have been visiting, what games you have installed on your computer etc. Many gamers who played the Spore demo or the Creature Creator have mentioned that the game have uploaded their computer's name* to the internet - without their permission - when they have uploaded their Spore Creatures to the game's internet site. *You know the line which you can find in the infobox 'the name of this computer'. For me, this is the worst thing possible - I do not want a program on my computer tracking what I have been done - especially if it going to be used to send commercial adds to me based on my behaviour on the net. I know google and my isp does this as well - but at least there I have some sort of control; with the ncd program you don 't have any control at all. It just installs itself (I think?) without my (or our) consent. I don't want that. I want to decide what programs I have running on my computer. edit: This is just one thing, however. Another thing is EA Support, yet another thing is the activation servers and their possible closing in the future? What do we do then ? We buy a new game, of course. From the Bioware forums I have learned that EA support seems to be near to non-existent. (unless you get hold of a supervisor, it seems). Then, there's the whole question of what a case-by-case base really means - when someone calls or emails EA Support to get their 6th activation. To me, it should be done like Bioshock and Two Worlds do it: People just call or e-mail and then they get another activation.

Sweden, Denmark and Norway all use the PEGI rating classification - along with the rest of Europe, excluding Germany and the UK. The Big Brother (government) has nothing to do with the rating of the games in Europe. I, too, am a little surprised that Dead Space its refused classification in Germany and some Asian countries. Germany, I thought, normally just rated the game 18+ and then allowed it to be sold in retail stores.

Somewhere on the Bethesda forums a poster noticed this, too. As for the music you have to remember that Fallout 3 is based on the 1950's versions of the future. To me, it therefore makes sense that the music used is from the 1950's in the game. This means there have been no hiphop, no breakdance, no house or dance music. Only the 1950's music - like a place frozen in time.

In an rpg I look for a good story, great characters, coherent world that is somewhat meaningfull. I also look for fun combat and for graphics and visuals that enhance the gameplay. I also want an intuitive and user friendly interface. Fun combat is of course somewhat subjective, but for me it is somewhat easily accessible, but not necessarily easy combat. I like it when combat is done with a strategic thinking i.e. I have to plan out what I'm doing.

I know it can be a little frustrating to remember what David G. actually has said. The Chantry teaches that men wanted to go into Heaven and so were cast out because of their mortal sin. (hey, Milton did not live in vain, right?) It was not only men, but the mages of Ferelden that went to Heaven. That is why the mages of Ferelden are mistrusted. They started the first Blight. The mages were cast out of Heaven down into the pits of the Earth. Here the old Gods lived. And when they touched these, and then corrupted them, the Dragon raised itself as the Archdemon. And the underlings? became the darkspawn. And so the orcs we see are orcs, but they're not orcs. At least not orcs in the traditional sense of LotR, Tolkien or D&D fantasy. If people were to look at one of the videos on Bioware's forum page for DA: Origins, they get to see a fairly lenghthy video on how the combat at Ostagar plays out. Watching this in its entirety convinced me that this battle is not just a LotR Helms Deep rip-off, but something unique in itself. Of course, it might seem similar to the Helms Deep battle and LotR, but I do think it is very difficult to no compare any fantay, low or high, dark or light, to Tolkien and D&D.

I tried playing the Daikatana demo....not fun - the controls and the guns weren't working properly. Pool of Radiance 2, I also played the demo; horrible, horrible...slow combat system... Lionheart, a game that was being made by Black Isle or Interplay (or so I thought at that time). The infinity engine was going to be the game's engine, Fallout's SPECIAL system was going to be used for stats, abilities etc. All should be well. However, it wasn't. It was a (very) poor attempt (at least going by the demo I played) at making a Diablo clone paired with Baldur's Gate. Trouble was that as I, and other people, heard the word 'infinity engine' we immediately thought 'Baldur's Gate' which it sort of wasn't - and yet, still was. The game was being made by a company that mostly made arcade action games; it shows in the gameplay which you can pause, but only to drink potions. Very disappointing game...at least in meeting my expectations....