GhostofAnakin

Nice. I actually wondered about them and thought it would be cool if we saw them again. I guess we're going to.

Dear BastilaShan, She's not coming back unless you change the pic in your signature. Sincerely, GoA

Uh? Because I liked KOTOR1?

Yes, blame the board because you don't know how to use something this simple.

I've been one of the unfortunate souls that has suffered through the incredibly frustratingly tear-out-my-hair slowdowns in crowded areas thing. I just finished my play through siding with the anarchs, after numerous crashes to desktop and painful battles in which the messed up combat system became a source of anger rather than intrigue. Having said that, the game is interesting. It does have an interesting interaction with NPCs that other games don't, but I believe they (Troika) could have made the NPCs MUCH deeper if they had just done more work on them. As it is, the NPCs seemed more like a sign post that you click on when you need your next quest. The skills were very useful, but at the same time most of the skills were useless since the majority of the game focussed on either melee, stealth (the sneak skill), hacking, or lockpick. Many of the other skills weren't even worth it. Also, if you wanted to complete the game at the end, with all the endless battles, it was near impossible using those skills other than melee or ranged attack. Overall, I wouldn't really call it innovative. Atleast not more than what the features Obsidian has promised us for K2, since it appears that, just like you mentioned about Vampire, we'll be able to have a HUGE influence over NPCs.

Can't speak for The Fall, since I haven't played it, but Vampire being more innovative than KOTOR2? Hardly, unless you call a messed up mixture of FPS/RPG hybrid innovative. Considering K2 is going to be introducing some features that, correct me if I'm mistaken, haven't been in games before (a huge effect on the NPCs that follow you), I'd say that's more than VtMB introduced.

That makes no sense in so many ways.

Where did you get this from?

It's never made me buy one. I generally don't buy in to the media hype. I tend to check out forums and reviews by "joe gamer" rather than rely on a game's hype in the press.

I'd hate to think what would happen if you got in a room full of Obsidian/Ex-BIS devs. It would take days to get all the blood stains out <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I could just see Feargie and the boys hanging Hades from the ceiling and taking swings at him with a wooden stick.

Maybe he spent a good 40 hours at a paazak table? That's the only thing I could see that would expand on the game length.

Nominated? Probably (unless there's some "rule" that disqualifies it from the 2004 awards because the PC version isn't out yet). Win? Probably not. Too many hyped games out this year.

That's an understatement. Atleast in terms of Vampire (I haven't played any of their others).

That would skew the estimated game length horribly though. I'll take my two most recent games I've played on my comp, NWN and Vampire. NWN's load times were quick for me. Probably no more than 10 seconds and I was off. Vampire, on the other hand, were so slow for each area that I literally had time to go downstairs, pour myself a glass of water, bring the water upstairs, go to the washroom for a pee, then come back in time to see the thing finish loading. In other words, it added probably an additional 1 minute (at its fastest) to 4 minutes (at its painfully slowest) to game time every single time I entered a new area.

A semi off topic question: When considering game estimated game length, does that take into consideration load times and cutscenes as well? Or is the estimated game length just the time it takes during actual control over your character?

I don't think they meant you're being timed. It's like Ivan said, you're constantly being chased so it's not like you can sit around playing pazzaak all day.

I really hope not. As has been mentioned, the 5 year time frame is not enough for any reasonable reason for Bastila to go from a late teens/early twenties attractive female, to an old hag. The DS does have an affect on appearance, but that's when it's used a lot and over long periods of time. Heck, Kreia looks like the Emperor and he had been using the DS extensively for years.

I wonder if that's a hint that Obsidian has the inside track on KOTOR 3 (or KOTNR or any other variation on this series).

Haven't all the devs contended though that it'll be approximately the same length as KOTOR I? Even if it's a few more hours longer, that still puts it in the 35-45 hour range, well off a 100+ hour game.

Exactly. They're less concerned about whether the game is actually good, and more concerned with the graphical "kewl" factor.

I'll be leaving the KOTOR:TSL section, but I'll still be posting in the NWN2 and general rpg forums. Hopefully those two won't have any spoilers about TSL.

Another interesting tidbit. This game's really shaping up.

That's a lot of ish to go around.

Not sure I'd go that far, but I do agree that the game would seem rather....unsatisfying without a good ending. It's like sex without....err nevermind.

I'm talking about the cumulation over the entire NJO, but especially TUF.