Maria Caliban

Eh, you could have told me. BioShock Genre: FPS/RPG Platform: X-360, PC Rating: Mature Why is this worth looking forward to?: Rich people create huge underwater city, and become hideous mutants. What's not to love? The 'ecological AI' with its 'emergent gameplay' looks like the real deal, and I love the idea of a claustrophobic, underwater environment..

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl Genre: FPS[ Platform: PC Rating: M Why is this worth looking forward to?: Strong mood, original concept, and realistic combat. I'm not usually a FPS fan, but I'm enjoying this game. The setting feels very bleakly Russian, enhancing the otherworldness of the supernatural elements. The main character is not a super soldier, and the unfolding story is strong enough to maintain my interest. These are the people who should have done Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth. If you don't like FPS, this won't convert you. It's a difficult game, especially at first. However, if you're interested in something different in that genre, I have no trouble recommending it.

In the Mass Effect thread, Pop asked, "Hell, what else am I going to look forward to this year?" Sadly, I can't think of many games for 2007, so I thought I'd start a thread about 2007 released you're enjoying, and looking forward to enjoying. Tell us a bit about the game as well.

Pop: "Hell, what else am I going to look forward to this year?" BioShock?

I don't even like it as a high level gift. I also don't like the Red Talon (?) gift that lets you regenerate in full when you take enough damage to kill you. Oddly enough, both of these gifts have lead to the death of my demon character. Of course, it was a temporary death, but I still dislike them. Wraith was the worst. Either - 1) No one can see you. Or, 2) They can see you and have the power to make you do their bidding. I'd say Hunter is a bad game to take cross-setting as well. Did you ever play Orpheus in a cross-setting? I remember sitting in on a friend's game, but it was just that system.

I notice how old this thread is. Did I post in it already?

Calax: " Catwoman for example was a prostitute in year one. She'd never stoop that low on the ladder to survive. You don't know Catwoman. She wasn't stooping low on the ladder. She was born in the gutter and had to crawl her way out. Why wouldn't she be a prostitute? Shame? Shame means caring about what society thinks of you. Why would the opinion of a society that has given her nothing matter to a hungry sixteen-year-old Selina Kyle? Gorgon: " Frank Miller didn't direct the movie, so who cares." Like Sin City, the movie it pure Frank Miller. The director followed the comic as closely as possible. deganawida: " DK:SA was crap, I'll agree with that." It was offal. I assumed it was his way of giving the finger to all the fans who've been harassing him for over a decade for a continuation of TDKR. Meshugger: " One of historys most militaristic and totalitarian states is fighting for freedom? hehe." We're talking about the 300 movie here. Please stop bringing up current events. Anyways, the 300 did help hold the Persians from reaching Athens sooner, which lead to their eventual naval victory. Whatever the irony, that battle was an important one for democracy.

He's Commander Shepherd, he doesn't *need* to know the orders. (Just so everyone is clear, that screen shot is a fake)

How's *this* for great conversation choices:

Silver makes a huge difference, though I recall a power which negated the silver vulnerability. It was stupid. Ha! I should have remembered the effect of humanity, I was in a cross-setting game when a vampire's humanity slipped from 7 to 6. It wasn't pretty. I'd never play a vampire again in a cross-setting game, having to be asleep all day can mean you miss out on a great deal of action.

Volourn: "Oh SNAP! Sucks to be you. " So true. " I do have some worries about the game, however....' Abstracted dialogue choices will take getting used to, but I ended up enjoying them in the Bard's Tale. Save for that one 'snarky' response that cause me to *murder* someone! I said snarky, not psychotic! Pidesco: " I don't know. It sounds a lot like KOTOR with a different combat system. And the combat system reminds me of a lite version of Jagged Alliance. But, as I will never own an Xbox 360, it doesn't really matter to me. " Other than the tropes common to most science fiction (aliens, space ships, blaster guns), I don't see it as being much like KotOR at all. For one thing, there are no light/dark side points, so I expect few dialog options like this: 1) Sure, I'll save your puppy, for free! 2) Sure, I'll save your puppy, but it will cost you. 3) *rips head off of puppy* *drinks puppy blood* I wish they'd show the female avatar, however. Seeing the same bald guy in all the previews is annoying.

Asking for realism in a modern game is trouble. Wouldn't it also make more sense for someone who wants to kill your character to hire a sniper? Wouldn't it make sense for that shot to be unable to dodge against and kill you in one hit? I can't speak for other GMs, but the more realistic the damage system, the stupider I have to make the antagonists.

IMRavnos: " As to the fact that it was hard to run crossover chronicles with Vampire, Mage, Changelling and Werewolf, yeah it was hard, but not impossible." I never found it that difficult, but then again, my group only played potpourri. " For instance Mages are often seen as way overpowered. However everyone seems to forget that if a mage is seen doing magic, he could literally BLOW UP." Unless he's standing in the middle of Time's Square lobbing fireballs, a Mage should never blow up. Even then, I'd say that an underground gas main right under him blows up, as paradox ought to enforce mundane reality, not violate it even more. On the other hand, a good Mage player can be overpowering without ever gaining a point of paradox. " Werewolves are so powerful right? Well yeah, but compaired to a Vampire who Can soak aggravated damage ( Fortitude ) and who can boost his or her physical traits to extreme levels in order to rip the head off of a Garou, there is a slight balance." I disagree. Fortitude? Werewolves soak aggravated damage naturally and regenerate one level of health per turn. Pump blood points into stats? In Crinos, a werewolf is going to get +4 to strength and +3 to stamina without having to spend anything. Even if the vampire has seven blood points to spend, how long will they have that boost? A werewolf can run around in that form all day long if they feel like it. When it comes to close combat, there's no advantage a vampire can have that a werewolf can get a better, cheaper version of. The werewolf designers set out to make psychotic blenders on two (or four) feet. The vampire designers set out to make elegant urban predators. If a vampire wants to kill a garou, it needs to use its head, not its powers. " What our group did was we would discuss hundreds of aspects and then when we agreed on things we made sure to follow things by the book very strictly to ensure that there were not any min maxers who were making cheesy death machine characters." Garou slaughter things en mass for Gaia. They don't need to min/max to be death machines. Moreover, their background forces them to kill nasty things like vampires. If you actually have werewolves working with or befriending kindred, then the garou ought to be gaining wyrm taint. " In otherowrds your supposed to deal with survival in a world full of monsters more powerful then you who exist solely for the purpose of aquiring power in order to control and manipulate those weaker then themselves." I think you're confusing all the world of darkness lines with vampire. That description doesn't apply to Mage, Changeling, Werewolf, or Demon, nor are any of those gothic horror.

I agree that ME will be better than KotOR, except in one important aspect. I could actually play KotOR, but I don't have an X-Box 360.

I like the fact that every book explicitly states, "No, you can not have Mage/Vampire, Vampre/Werewolf, Werewolf/Mage, or any other odd combination."

I've never had any game run flawlessly. I see you've bought into the trees' propaganda against the anomalies.

I have been killed twice by a tree. There is no justice in the world.

I just got sucked into a tree. And the tree killed me. Thank you.

You have a truly amazing amount of stamina.

Pop: "When you're given the quest, there's a set amount of bandits that you have to kill. Kill them, you complete the quest." I completed the quest over a day ago. As I said, I'm talking out a design decision I don't support. mkreku: " How can you call STALKER a grindfest when there's no xp or levels to be gained?" I'm talking about one aspect of the game, not the entire game. Pidesco: " I finally managed to take out the bandits by taking the shotgun off the friendly guy's corpse, and shotgunning almost everyone at point-blank range. " There's a certain visceral pleasure in blasting your enemies away at point blank range. As for the pseudodog, I've killed a number of all the different dog types I've found and not gotten one tail. It would be nice if I could tell which one was the psuedodog. Withteeth: " Would you people say that STALKER is a must have game for fans of the genre?" What genre are you referring to?

CrashGirl: "Fair enough. But that is the nature of the gameworld. Your goal is to survive as you work to uncover the mysteries of your amnesia and the zone itself. SOmetimes you fight, sometimes you run, always looking for anything that will give you an edge. You will never win. The zone is bigger than you. You survive by slipping through the cracks. Its an approach to game design that is somewhat unusual. I find it fascinating. Very little is "set in stone"." You make monotonous grindfests sound so poetic.

Infinitely respawning bandits is not a design decision I support.

Ah so, Spider. I'd still suggest the new line over the old ones, but that's just me. Also, I just found out the complete title is "Changling: The Lost." Musoptican, No worries.

Factory? What factory? I'm at the car port. It's the very first mission. So you're telling me that no matter how many bandits I kill, the car port will never be free of bandits? It's one thing to have no clear cut solution, it's another to be given a goal that's inherently unreachable.

I'm playing on novice difficulty. There were originally eight bandits in the car park, armed with pistols and shotguns. I've now killed about 20, most armed with assult rifles. All the 'rookies' that took over the car park when I first killed the bandits are now dead.