Maria Caliban

Crit: +200% dmg to Ego. I might pick up the new World of Warcraft expansion and start playing on the Knight's Legion server again. Then again, last time I checked, there were only two people on the server and it still crashed every hour.

You need to practice more often or get a better team. It was a single player game. I don't think I'm quite ready for MP.

Played Left4Dead on Normal. Got my ass kicked.

There's a difference between how easy a game is and how much player 'combat skill' is involved. IWD has almost no combat skill involved; it uses tactical skills. Which uses more player skill, shooting a geth with a gun in ME or hitting a mob with an arrow in Diablo? Don't lie. You spent all day looking at Ed Benes' Red Sonja images.

Lara has always been attractive to girl gamers. If you're talking about the 'realistic proportions' some people claim Lara now has... Well, I assume those people are all male.

That Mass Effect is an Action RPG doesn

So combat in Baldur's Gate is just like in Mass Effect. Interesting. I was under the impression combat in Mass Effect was like a shooter, in that you had to actively aim your weapon at every target in the battle and fire your weapon manually at each and every one of them. You know, like the definition of a shooter. So is Doom also just like Baldur's Gate? Mass Effect is a shooter. Your stats effect the accuracy and strength of your shots. However, you can aim while paused so you need little to no 'shooter skill' to play it. This is, again, my issue with BioWare taking a step away from the usual, but not far enough. They'd have been better to do what Fallout 3 did in terms of weapon fire.

That's impressive; if I ever have a kid, I'll have to make it with Gamebyro.

Gamebyro. Also used in Morrowind. Seriously? The same engine that did Civ IV? Edit: I miss Mr. Manhattan.

Nixon has the answer! I honestly think BioWare has nothing to worry about. I wouldn't be surprised if an economic resession *helped* MMO sales.

Yes, it's called Mirror's Edge.

No way to know without looking at the contracts. I wonder if EA has the rights to their IPs?

I'd rather not see it either.

BioWare might fold. It's not their decision to make. However, I think the Doctors could start up a new company and many of the current BioDevs would migrate over. Given that there are 500 people working for BioWare now, we might see a number of different start-ups if EA shut them down. It could *help* cRPGs, artistically speaking. Right now, BioWare is working on Mass Effect II, KotOR MMO, Dragon Age, as well as an unannounced title. I think the biggie is the KotOR MMO. If that succeeds then BioWare is good. If not, they

Mass Effect is a single-player RPG. Left4Dead is a multiplayer shooter. They're very different. Now, Left4Dead is a better shooter than Mass Effect is an RPG, but I enjoyed ME more. Hershey's makes average chocolates, and when I was driving home from college, I had to pay $500 to stay at the cheapest hotel I could find because it was near Hershey, PA.

Warrior = b--ch class. There are always tons of warriors, so they get treated as disposable. Play a priest and watch as everyone wants to be your best buddy. I remember the one time I made a female priest -- holy crap.

I thought threads were locked at page 31? Anyways, my biggest hope for ME II is that it shows us the consequences of our actions in the first game. One of the things I found frustrating in the first game was the null choice. There are two planets where you're given an interesting situation, but only one course of action. The two big 'decisions' in the first game don't show any consequences, though there are a number of hints you've done something big/important. I'd like the sequal to deliver.

I think we can all agree that DA looks better than NWN. Quit spreading lies. Even Arcanum floors NWN in graphics. I prefer 2D graphics, the only good 3D graphics comes from Source, whatever engine Oblivion uses and from the screenshots DA. DA uses the Eclipse engine, which was developed by BioWare. I believe the Oblivion/Fallout 3 engine is called 'the Oblivion engine'.

I posted the link on the previous page, but I don't think anyone saw it. I don't think the tone of the book is indicative of Dragon Age: Origins at all. I wouldn't call it up to 'standard fantasy fare,' but it's the same quality as, say, the Icewind Dale trilogy. I just caught that. Can I ask what you characterize as 'dark fantasy?' As far as I know, the Witcher is as dark as fantasy gets in video game land. You could move more into horror like Silent Hill or Dead Space.

I'm not a violent woman, but there are few things more satisfying than running up to a krogan battle master, bashing his head in, and then pouring assult rifle fire into him as lies helpless at your feet.

I apparently suck at being a space ranger as I

When your boss tells you that you talk too much, you talk less. When you're a soldier and your superior tells you that you talk too much, you shut the **** up. Moreover, we're talking about a character who expects that any complaint about her conduct will be held against her for a long time. It makes sense to me. I think you're holding him up to a model of behavior that many of us willfully and frequently fail to meet. Including yourself.

Sandstorms were great. That NPCs would raise their arm up to shield their face was also neat. I remember the first time it rained and I could see individual drops plunking down on puddles of water.

Sorry to interupt the conversation about Neverwinter Nights, but the first chaper of Dragon Age: Stolen Thrones is available as a pdf here.