Volourn

http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=5397 It seems the PC is the Chosen One in NWN2 OC. Not bad set up; but dissapointingly a Chosen One. Still, as long as the role-playing, and characters we interact with are full of quality (which I'm sure they will be), and the combat is challenging and well done, the OC should still be good fun. The rest of the 'interview' goes over stuff already know - lots of races, control the robot like npcs, and improved graphics (duh!). P.S. Nothing about length in this one.

No. I like long games. But, they have to be good throughout their 80 hours not magically become good half way through. LOLOLOLOLLIPOP

"I'm sure Volourn will argue this, but Thornton was just awesome last night" No. He wans't. He has 1 point in 3 games a swell. This is a guy who won the scoring title. He has *no* exuse to not get points. He's choking, and his team is doing well in spite of him - espicially sinc ehis linemate (you know that one who supposeldy suck without him) has 4 points in 3 games.... No exuse whatsoever.

That's because he enjoyed the beginning enough to continue to play. A good game should hook you at the start. At least the worthwhile games do.

"The thing with replay value is you really dont know if you are going to replay the game till you actually play it." Eh? You don't even know a game is good until you play it. Afterall, before I played DQ8, I thought I would like it. I was wrong. Wasted time, and money. Well.. wasted time for my brother, anyways. Well.. not really.. he actually liked it.. the fool. :D

"IWD I found more replayable since you could tailor your party from the start." You can do this for the BG series as well.

I got the FO package at EB (the store; not online) for less than $30. That was a few years back; but last I noticed, they still had them in stock... And, that is with the FO2 manual and the fancy case.

"after the X Box 360" Come on. We both know you'll buy the x-box 360 when ME come sout, and espicially will when/if JE2 comes out. R00fles! "Short games suck." Really? You enjoyed JE and FO. Oh yeah... both those games somehow managed to take 40+ hours for you to complete. D0uble R00fles!!

"I usually save at the turning point then play to the end as the good guy then reload to that point and take the bad guy path. In any case you are still doing the same bits. The difference between being a good guy and being a bad guy in JE and KotOR are minor and doesn't have far reaching changes in the game." True. For the official different endings. But, completing the quests good or evil (as well a svariations thereof) is all over both of these games so completing a quest one way is different than the other. I think not counting replays as part of the package is silly; but to each their own. After, I would think a game like BG that you've played so many times is like more memoral and 'fun' for you then what that you played once, enjoyed, and then threw away even if that one play through was actually longer than one play through of BG. Ah well.. 'Tis life.

"I can top that. They accepted me! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" Actually, I'm not surprised they accepted. I'd have been shocked if they didn't. I haven't played D&D for 20 years almost (about 15 then) for 'nothin'. Not to mention Dming with stuff like sending 'just an orc shaman' instead of an 'uber demi god firebreathing child of a ultra god that can control time with just a whim and has the entire army of Hell under their control' super uber bad guy after the PCs. I mean. Come on.

Yeah, no doubt there was potential. Afterall, that's why I did their lame 'application' deal. Which should automatically clue in people of how much ALFA is a joke. They accepted me of all people. HAHAHAHAHA!!! Lots of good dieas; but no follow throughs at the time. (it may be different now). I wa satken in by the diea that they'd recreate the Realms... but, if I thoguht their recreation would be so boring I'd have passed. That said, the first time I saw one of their giant spiders, I was R00fling! Good times!!! RUN, RUN, RUN!!!

Then don't buy it. It's THAT simple. Of course, if it's good 9as opposed to sucky) and you play it 3-4 times that 20 hours can eaisly turn into 60-80 hours. As an earlier example, there was a game that took 30 minutes to an hour to 'finish'. However, I played it a multitude of times making the playing time I got out of it almost imeasurable. Though I wa syoung, and it wa smy parents who bought it; it was eaisly worth the money. Easily. Certain more than MW and it's hundreds of supposed hours of play time. R00fles!

When I played ALFA it was friggin' boring. Large, and empty. The world was dead and nothing like the Realms that they promised. As for NWN MP = MMO, it's nothing like it unless you play it like one. Afterall, DMs tend to be rather active on the better ones. Also, since there's not a thousand people around, it's a lot more persoanl and you can (usually) voice your disagreements or agreements without being destroyed. Sure, there are PWs that are simply horrible or that allow mass murder amongst players but those are easily thrown in the trash.

On the 'broken' or 'not broken' thing, I'm with Alanshu there. It's not broken. No more broken then the fact that you cna't play either KOTOR game MP. It's not to menat to. It's a simple deisgn decision. You can disagree with it; but it's not broken. The fact that one can find a way to play it MP doesn't change this fact.

My opinion is simple. Game makers should make whatever game they want how they want for whatever reason. Through hype and what not they will tell potential cusomters about the game, and then the customer will decide if said game si worth a purchase. A game maker owes a POTENTIAL customer NOTHING. But, they do owe themselves to make the best game they feel they can that also will make the process both financially and creatively worthwhile from their perspective. Period.

Like I said, no tweaking needed. Ther's two of thoughts: a) Give all players their Reaper thingamigjig. or b) The way we did it by just having the 2nd player rejoin after the new chapter starts (for us we only needed this method for the last chapter); but others seemed to have to do it after each chapter for whatever reason.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Bloodlines. A game that could ahve been one of the best ever but slipped into averageness due to supe rbugs and horrible, horrrible, horrible combat. As for your problem, your only chocie is to continue trying and get lucky and sneaking past the CTD or stop playing. Good luck.

"Bloodlines has much more in common with KOTOR2 than it would with NWN2, since it's built upon existing technology." Um.. So is NWN2. This is an undisputable facts. While in some cases (ie. graphics) there have been (plenty) of changes); the game is being built upon existing technology. Heck, there was a thread recently going on right now at the NWN2 boards with people whining how NWN domains aren't super accurate comapred to pnp. Mr. Sawyer came in squashed all that and said as far as he's aware NO WORK HAS BEEN DONE ON CLERIC DOMAINS, and they are status quo from NWN1 because there were other things that theyd rather work on. The same is supposedly for stuff stuff like discipline and knockdown where some minority of silly gooses want eradicated and from all indications they're in NWN2 as carry overs from NWN1. With this mind, it's undisputable that NWN2 is being built upon 'existing technology' espicially since sinc eplenty of the stuff is being carried over to the sequel. Sure, more is being changed from NWN1 to NWN2 than, say, KOTOR to KOTOR2 (which basically kept the graphics intact while NWN2 did a pretty much uniform overhaul). But, NWN1 tech... ie. the Aurora... is still be used. Game over. Back to length, as long as this possible 20 hour OC is fun and satisfying; I won't cry.

"One question though, how did you work with the Relic of the Reaper and whatnot?" Starting chapter 3 was the only tricky part for us. After loading up ch3, the second player had to rejoin the game since they wouldn't come at the normal transition. Other than that, no problems.

But, they do in spite of BIO's intentions. Alanshu is right that BIO's intention was that HOTU was SP. The result, however, is that it *is* possible. Just like, again, they didn't intend NWN to support PWs yet it very much does... And, as you can see it's not just me making this claim either... We're both in these regards.

So do I; but it's got to be good. Length itself is not the reason I buy (or don't buy) games.

"Is a quality 5-6 hours game still worth 50-60$?" Is the quality of the game good enough that you polayed it multiple times putting time played much higher than one play through. Or is your required time per dollars spent count only on the first play through? I played a game when I was younger.. it was 30 minutes to an hour to complete... I played a billion times so the hours spent on it was unmeasurable.... It would surely be worthy of $50+... I've played games that supposedly give hundreds of hours of play time that i hated so much that i quit after just a couple of hours. Total waste of money despite all the hours one can supposedly play... Hmm.. P.S. I've also experience the opposite as well. Short crappy game, and long awesome game.

"When did you play the XP2? Because I tried playing it shortly after it was released." A month or so after release, and it was an imported character from HOTU for me, and a new character for my partner. btw, The issue isn't that BIO made HOTU for MP. They didn't. As your link shows, they designed it with only SP in mind much like they dodn't design NWN with PWs in mind. However, in spite of their intentions, both are very possible. As for 'testing' it with you. Nope. I played HOTU 3 times total - twice SP, 1ce MP. That's enough for me even if it's just the 'beginning'. Not worth the effort. I'm not worried if you live for the next 50 years thinking I (and others) are lying about it. For some reason, I tink I'll surive with you belieiving I'm lying scum. In fact, it'll make me proud that you think I'd lie about something like this. P.S. As above, I don't think you are lying either. Just mistaken.

Huh?All I stated that HOTU was fully playing in MP. This is a fact. All the quotes by BIO in the world doesn't change this fact. Remember, this is fact; not opinion. BIO, remember, also didn't design NWN with PWs in mind yet PWs do exist. Just as HOTU OC MP very much exists. Period.

I am will StillLife. The President was a much more effective, and worthy villain than Horrigan was. The funny thing is you see Horrigan and the aftermath throughout the game, and the President only in his room.. yet he was more memorable and fun. Horrigan was an okay thug; but mian villain or end boss? Cheesy as heck.