Zagor

It's very unlike warcraft 3 , because of the turnbased gameplay. If you follow the demolink you can check out some of the screenshots.

Here comes another review from Zagor , the legendary reviewer. Disciples 2 , a turnbased strategy game from Strategy first. Another of my favourite games, one of the few non-rpgs that makes it into my top-ten of all time list. First of all, this game is very similar to the heroes series. So similar in fact, that you could call it a better, darker, and more atmospheric version of those (at least in my opinion). There are four (five with the expansion rise of the elves) factions in the game. the empire (humans), the mountin clans (giants and dvarves), the undead, and the legion of the damned (demons). the gameplay is rather simple really, but it's very addictive. Each scenario consists of an overhead map to explore like in heroes, with resources and treasure spread over the landscape. And of course a variety of monsters as well. You can take over a mine or resoure by putting a magical rod near it. Both you and your opponents starts with a capital, and over the course of the scenario, you can

That's not what shadowpaladin meant, and you know it Vol.

Well, Volourn.... As many people has said allready, the world isn't black and white. You yell for proof, but can you prove the opposite? I think not, because this is a matter that you can't prove in an easy way. Of course very few people go out and kill someone exactly in the same way as in a game, using such examples is just a way to ridicule those who disagree with you. Much more common, is that exposure to violence, in movies , games , tv, can have a longterm (this is hard for me to explain in english, hope you understand)increase of the tolerance to violence. You may not even know how affected you are before you are in a situation where you could (or should, as in selfdefence) use violence. Maybe you use violence, even if it could be avoided. Or maybe you use more violence than you needed to, if you for example continue to hit someone that attacked you, even after he has given up, lies unconsious or whatever. Many people really don't know how they will react, before they are in that kind of situation, even though they think they know. And no one becomes a rapist ONLY because of a game, but no one here has said so. But it can be one of many factors. There are no easy answers here.

Yes if it's handled in a mature way, and I don't think it is, if the game lets you rape a woman you find in a prisoncell for example. But it would be ok if the woman was raped before by someone else, and you get to know about it. I think letting you commit a rape yourself would be an immature way of dealing with the issue. I'm not against serious themes in games, if handled correctly and in a mature way.

Maybe it's not really a world, but I like wierd stuff, so planescape gets my vote.

You must have been a very nice kid , when I was young, I played the most gory games available. And all my friends too. But back then the technology was so primitive, the goriest you could get was barbarian and commando libya, for the c64. In barbarian you could chop off heads with a sword, and in c. libya you could execute warprisoners standing against a wall with a machinegun. I like to add, my parents are very good, they just didn't know. And I think everyone is affected by what we see and experience, myself included, but kids are naturally more affected than adults.

Some examples I don't want to see in games: phedophilia (not very likely to happen fortunately) racism rape wifebeating negative view upon homosexuals childkilling Some of these could be ok if handled correctly, for example, you could meet a woman in a game who's been raped by someone. That wouldn't be a problem, she could tell you about it, and be very upset. What would have been wrong was if you (the pc) was the rapist yourself. Some things that's ok (in my opinion) violence between adults blood sex and nudity (again, depends on how you do it) All manner of evil acts, murder , theft, betrayal and so on the devil, hell , and demons (I know some religious people have a problem with this) So, as I said before, I think it's all a matter of where you think you should draw the line. And I still think that most developers know where to draw it. One example is the upcoming battlefield 2 game. the developers digital illusions have stated, that in order to prevent any anti-islam-racism undertones, they where careful not to portray the arabs as more evil than the other factions.

In an rpg it's very difficult to pull this off, I agree to that. Because you have choices in an rpg. May be easier in a linear actiongame, where the game already has made up the choices in advance. Now it's time for some sleep, goodnight to you

Yes, showing that a bad action can have bad consequences is a very good way to show responsibility from a game developer. I's all about how you do it. If you beat up your wife, you shouldn't get cheers from the other males in the game for example. (but wife beating shouldn't be allowed anyway in a game, so thats a bad example) And you shouldn't get more points for killing a black man than a white, like I've heard you could in some game. That's an example of developers not taking their responsibility.

Of course kids in general don't jump off a cliff, that's not a very good example. But I think all of us, even adults, are more affected by what we see than most believe. For example, the wifebeating in fable, I honestly think that it can give kids a strange way of looking at females. Not only because of the game , but the game can have some, although small effect on some of them. And this is not some crazy thing like going out with a flamethrower on a killing spree, wifebeating is very common. And it doesn't make the game better, so they could have skipped it completely.

It would be better if they just made the kids unkillable or something, not cut them out completely.

I think even younger kids do it, when my brother (12 years younger then me) was about 10, both he and all the kids in his class played the most violent games available. And we have very good parents. They just gathered at home of someone who had parents who didn't care. Just to clearify something, I'm not against violent games in general, I love the fallouts, just not the childkilling part . I'm just against the most extreme and unnessesary cases of violence in games.

Does anyone agree with me when I say that parents clearly has the biggest responsibility, but others (like game developers) should take their responsibility as well (and most of them do)?

I agree that the parents has the biggest responsibility, but I also think developers should take their part of it too. And if you have any kids of your own, you would know that if they want to play a specific game, you'll have a hard time stopping them. What if they play it at a friends house for example, without you knowing about it. You can't be everywhere, even if you'r a good parent. I think everyone has a responsibility, there's where we disagree. Otherwise we could show porn in the middle of the day on tv, and then blame the parents if the kids see it.

I just think the developers should use their common sense, to include the option to beat up your wife seems very unnecessary to me. It doesn't make the game any better. Especially when a lot of kids have bad parents (that they didn't choose) who lets them play it. This is probably a sensitive subject for me, as I have RL friends who's been abused by their boyfriends. (and raped) And I just can't understand why you should encourage that kind of behaviour in a game. I don't think we should censor games, I just think developers should use their common sence (like most of them do)

Yes , I agree that it must depend on what audience it's aimed at. But at the same time, we all know that the kids will play it even with an 18+ rating.

the question is: should you be permitted to do whatever you want in a crpg? Like killing children (fallout) , abuse your wife physically (fable), or other very sick stuff. Or should we draw the line somewhere? And in that case, where? I don't think anyone would like a game were you could commit rape for example. Or a game where you could join a nazi-faction, and then killing black people I think myself, that you should be able to be really evil, kill and betray all you want. But killing children is one step to far for me. Even if you don't have to do it in fallout, you could easily to it by mistake anyway (which I did)

I've always played both game on hard, and some force powers makes them to easy. Especially heal, which makes you practically invincible. And don't tell me to stop using it, because I can't resist :D

I agree it wasn't a bad game (FOT). I finished it, and had a good time doing so. I would give it perhaps 70% in a review... Perhaps I was expecting something more similar to the other fallouts...

Both were too easy, in fact the entire games were. And poorly balanced, it got easier the further in the game you got, instead of the opposite.

I think both Fallout 1 and 2 are games for you meta, as you have previously stated you prefer athmosphere over fancy graphics. Not to say the Fo graphics are bad. It's well done and fits the setting perfectly. What I mean is, I think the visuals are artistically well done, but not so technically advanced. the only thing I don't like about the game, is at the same time one of its strenghts. You can perform the most cruesome acts of barbarism, and even get away with it. I like this for the most part, you should be able to roleplay your pc, but sometimes it goes to far in my opinion. I can't see the fun in blowing the arms and head of a child with a minigun. But apart from this, it's a very good rpg. Very much recommended

That's an offer you can't refuse. FO 1 and 2 are classics. But tactics was kind of dissapointing. I actually own that package myself.

Read about the SS2 problems here

It's not compatible with windows xp... I can't play it any more. But I've heard some people who can, even with xp. So I wonder if it has anything to do with my videocard (radeon x800pro) There are some fanmade patches to make it run under xp, but I still can't play it, even with those patches. I'm kind of confused about this...