Maria Caliban

It's a good platformer, has decent combat, and is excellent on a visual and thematic level, even though its symbolism becomes disturbing at the end. It's problems are voice acting (can be flat), a camera that gets wonky a few times, a flat narrative, and a main character that's not as interesting as the other characters. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's more than 'crap.'

Alice: The Madness Returns is not a crappy game.

The huntress uses guns? Kills people? That doesn't sound like the Huntress. I've seen lots of moments when she almost killed someone but another hero always intervenes. Is this something from the later BoP series?

X3 is already 50% off.

I don't recall FO:NV as being more complex or harder to control than FO:3. Even if it got a boost, it's still a crowd pleaser. It's user metacritic is just as high as FO: 3.

I feel bad for you when I read that you read these boards and feel bad.

So do I, man. But this is a company we're talking about. They have to make money so they can make games at all. That means making crowd pleasers, not just art for us eggheads. I'm not sure if you're being ironic or not. Fallout: New Vegas was a crowd pleaser. It made over $300 million in a month.

I'd be shocked if Diablo III wasn't better than DS III in terms of gameplay.

I would've preferred Huntress over Catwoman, but it'll have to do. Why? Edit: Wait... Why does Batman sound like Commander Shepard?

It was. I always found it odd how many people considered it a Diablo clone. The gameplay is a hack-and-slash and it has the fixed iso cam, but there's an open gameworld, sidequests, the skill trees aren't limited by class... Beyond Divinity was decent but I've never finished the game. It felt far more linear and have to do battlegrounds to keep powerful annoyed me. Divinity II was pure fun.

I have also felt bad for you when I read their boards. Though that sparkling pink princess av is quite dashing.

Having my mages collapse because they've cast too many spells wasn't that exciting. Also, the dog ended up being the most useful companion because of those creatures that took little to no damage from firearms but quickly destroyed any melee weapon you used. The dog's teeth are apparently stronger than magical metal. Oh, and at the highest Charisma, you were supposed to be able to pick up any companion regardless of alignment, but that didn't work. At the same time, it let you kill everyone in the world, which is sort of neat.

DS III is probably the most finished and bug free Obsidian game.

Last two games were Alice: The Madness Returns and Dungeon Siege III. Alice has a level where you symbolically rape your dead sister. Then there's a level where you're inside the mind of a child molester. It's not Silent Hill 2 level creepy but it's still pretty creepy when you think about it.

How do they know you? My posts on the BioWare/BSN forums.

I've never posted on the RPGCodex forums, but according to them I'm: 1) David Gaider's alt. Or his wife/ho. 2) A biodrone 3) A **** 4) Some dude from Krakow with the handle Caliban. They've also posted my e-mail address on their forum and signed me up for various spam.

this along with the fact, that his buddies will never miss him and become alerted because one of them is missing, is probably my biggest problem with stealth games. I just can't enjoy them, because it's too easy to just figure out the "right" order to get rid of all the enemies How did you feel about the stealth gameplay in Batman: AA? Splinter Cell: Conviction had an interesting mechanic where when an enemy spotted you, a yellow circle appeared that began pointing at you, and would turn red when they recognized you as an intruder as opposed to just a shadow or flicker in their eye. If you were fast enough, you could slip back into the shadows, duck behind cover, etc, before they registered what they were seeing. Then they might stand there and stare a bit or get closer to check out the area, but if you remained hidden, they'd go back to what they were doing. I also recall another game (not sure which one) that turned the player invisible and played a distinctive sound when the PC was spotted. Again, if you reacted fast enough, you could hide again and the enemy AI would be startled but unsure if they'd really seen something. An obvious but brief state between 'unaware' and 'aware' is a nice addition to stealth gameplay.

Fallout: New Vegas came out in 2010 and it had a wide open map. And what about Far Cry 2 or the Stalker games? I admit that I'm not as familiar with FPS as other genres, but I recall that linear design has always been around. Is there really more of it now?

BioWare has finished the first real patch and sent it to EA, Microsoft, and Sony for certification. It has over 100 quest and gameplay fixes including the auto-attack for consoles. Currently unknown as to when it will be available.

No. There are two bars: Energy and health. You don't ever have to go to the bathroom, bathe, or clean save for some quests where you need to look presentable. Only sleeping and eating is necessary. Taking a bath gives you a small buff though so I tend to do it. You do have to work. At 9 am each day, your hero gets two duties related to their role. So a Spy might have to pick pockets and rough up someone for information. A Monarch might have to vote in a law and listen to petitions. A Blacksmith might have to mine ore, make a sword, and deliver it to the guards. A Merchant might have to find out what the deals are for the day and convince people to by his stuff. All Hero homes come equipped with the necessities for living and their profession. For example, a Knight starts with: bed, clothing chest, book case, chairs, table, cooking fire, training dummies, and tactical map. A Physician starts with: bed, cooking pot, table and chairs, operating table, craft table, research table, waiting room with book case and benches, and a garden with six random ingredient bushes. Most people who want it to be just like the Sims only medieval! are going to be very disappointed. I'd say what I consider usual Sim stuff is about 10% of the game. I've looked at the tons of stuff you can buy for your Heroes but it's mostly superfluous. For all my heroes, I've bought a nicer bed, a bath, and a larder to store food. Most of the time, you're doing your duties or questing. If you want, I can detail one of the longer, more complex quests. The Monarch has a bathroom but that's it. You can buy a pot for your Hero to piss into and stick it into your bedchamber.

Anyone else pick up this game? It's like someone sawed the arms and legs of the Sims and stapled on RPG elements. I like it far more than the regular Sims games as there's a sense of progression for both your Hero Sims and the Kingdom. I'm not sure when you win. After about twenty hours, there are still a ton of elements I don't understand. How does my Merchant set sail for another kingdom and buy wood? I get that I need to stick items in the cargo hold and how to set sail, but not how to make him bring back wood. How does my Knight give that mysterious metal and the Curse Doomsword book to my Blacksmith? How come my Physician can cure a Sim of disease with leeches sometimes while others it tells me I've only partially cured them? Bleeding them more just kills them.

I believe the rivalry/friendship points you get for Merrill and Sebastian just as you enter the Fade are due to your responses to Merithari's suggestion you make the boy Tranquil. Everyone but Justice can turn on you in the Fade.

I thought it was odd that she's the only Welsh sounding Dalish. I assume it's because she was born in a different clan and was ~12 when she was given to Merithari.