EnderAndrew

I think rooting for the New York Yankees is evil. Evil is subjective from person to person. Chaos and Order however, is more of a scale that people can agree on. The evil/good axis is one to debate for the ages. When I run White Wolf, people often argue when I call for morality/humanity checks. I have a gal playing an Assamite with True Faith, and we debate here and there what is the "right" thing to do in a given situation. What she may believe to be righteous, I may see as wicked. It's a difficult scale, and one I don't care for. I really prefer White Wolf's nature and demeanor over an alignment system.

I have taken on some new gamers into my group as most others have moved out of state. I'm running them through a White Wolf Gehenna game that is very personal, oppresive, and story-centric. They tell me in their other game they just created level 40 characters, and play against CR 50 enemies in an epic campaign. Having 24 attacks is so cool! And all our characters are dragons polymorphed into humans! It's so cool! I want to cry right then and there. They're entitled to having fun, but why is an ever increasing scale in dice cool? Your enemies also have more dice? Is there more strategy really? Or is a means of dragging combat out even longer, and creating more rules debates? Who really enjoys playing uber-characters? I'd rather play Prometheus than Zeus.

The Ultima series restarted you at level 1. No one really complained too much. Ultima IV-VI then let you bring your character from Ultima IV into V, and then VI. But you still had a cap, and you didn't continue to level. Revan and the Exile should start at level 10. It's enough to give them a few Force powers, and then slowly allow players to progress to say level 30. You also split time between two parties in different areas of the galaxy, like Square used to do with titles like FF3/6. People loved it. They also loved replaying the game, and sending different party members to different places to see what would happen. It slows down level progression as you spend time leveling one group of players, and then jump to your other party members in a different area, and level them.

I also am curious about the constant rumors of $500 PS3's. There has never, ever been a console that launched successfully at over $300. They can't and won't sell. There is some inflation. I recall when NES games were $30-$35 new, and the 360 launch titles are all listed at $60. Allard said the 360 will launch close to the original XBox launch price of $300. How close is close? And does anyone really think Sony will launch later than M$, when Halo 3 is coming out, and then try to charge $200 more for their console? Sony may push $350, and MAYBE $400 at launch. But I think it would be suicide to launch above $350, let alone $400.

I've been replaying the original Ninja Gaiden trilogy right now, and I'm in the middle of 2. Those games are damned hard.

Those quote tags are getting hard to read. I love how everyone is convinced they know how the next generation will go, based on the current generation. And people are also convinced that Nintendo is assured of success. Some things to note from previous generations. Atari was the console industry. They went completely out of business and sold their name. Sega was one of the two giants, and now they don't even make a console anymore. Anyone remember when the N64 launched, and it's biggest competitors were supposed to be the Saturn and 3D0? Sony came out of nowhere and became a giant overnight? Each generation has to stand on it's own, and previous generations don't matter. Right now, the Revolution hasn't shown me anything to warrant buying it. I honesty regret buying the Gamecube. After E3, alot of people seemed to have the impression that you can download and play all of the previous Nintendo games for free on the Revolution. The service you connect to will be free. Select titles (old NES games that you can emulate anyways) will be free. Anything they are currently selling (SNES remakes on the gameboy, N64 remakes on the DS, Gamecube games) you will have to pay to download and play.

Those names are...familiar.

I really liked V. VI had a good story, but I didn't care for the new interface. They wanted me to play an RPG with a mouse? People forget how innovative he was. His games all pushed the boundaries of what computers could do at the time, and Ultima VII required it's own special memory manager. V took the ideals of IV, and added more depth. Virtues are good, but what happens where they are twisted and applied by zealots and fanatics? IV lacked much of a plot. It also lacked a villian. IV was a good game in its concept. It was a game of philosophy along with dungeon crawling. V really built upon the strengths of IV and delivered rather well.

This thread is messy.

I'd be happy if we bounced between the two, or had a new character. I think it would be a sin to include either Revan or the Exile and ignore the other. The story wouldn't be complete. I really can't understand how someone wants Revan back, but wants the Exile dropped. It would destroy the story.

Garriot was a hack? Are you 15? Do you remember Origin Studios? Ultima I-VIII were all brilliant titles. Many of his titles changed the entire industry, and stand as iconic landmarks in the gaming industry. EA bought out Origin as UO was launching and making more money than anyone expected. UO was horribly understaffed, and EA drove UO into the ground. Garriot had a policy of spending far more money and time on projects than anyone else in the industry wanted to, but titles like Ultima VII still shine today because of it. Garriot didn't run away from UO. EA fired the man considered by some to be the premiere designed in the industry, so they could ship titles sooner and save a few bucks. Garriot also didn't really design much of UO. During production of UO, he was working on Ultima IX, which EA ended up scrapping. They threw the entire project out the window, after pulling all the staff off to help on UO. Then ordered Garriot to start anew on Ultima IX with a new 3D engine, and a focus on graphics over story. Still, he had no staff and had to start from scratch. Then EA started on UO:2, and pulled staff away from Ultima IX again. Then Ultima IX was shelved for a while, and eventually rushed towards a ship date 5 years later. Garriot never really worked on UO, and should never really be judged on anything after Ultima VIII, because after EA took over, he had no control or influence. You apparently played one title, put out by EA and decided to judge Garriot's entire career on it, despite the fact that he didn't really work on it. And none of this changes the fact that Star Wars is a cinematic, fast-moving, epic game of major characters. MMOs are weak in all those regards.

Sony never lied about their technical details. Show me where they claimed they had a certain processor, or processing power that they didn't. All they talked about at e3 was pure technical specs. They never said the PS3 was built, and that the demos were running on functional PS3's. Nor did M$ claim the demos were running on functional 360's. However, the alpha kit for the 360 is roughly 30% of the processing power, if not a mere 25% of the processing power of the final 360's specs. So, what we saw running in playable demos was playing on a fraction of the power we are going to get in the generation. Despite this realization, the trendy cynics refuse to believe any of this will actually come to fruition. This isn't merely Sony trying to claim the next generation will look this pretty. Developers are all clammering over the techinical marvels of the upcomming generation. I won't get into petty debates of the PS2 "suxxing" or the XBox "suxxing", because it's juvenile, and as CAD likes to point out, God hats console fanboys. Some people preferred the XBox game library, and some preferred the PS2 library. As per usual, I bought all the consoles. Honestly, for the first couple years I really preferred the PS2's exclusive titles, over the XBox's small lineup of exclusive titles. I usually played multiplaform titles on the superior XBox's hardware. With titles like Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, etc. etc, each console had a title they could argue was a superior exclusive title.

I think Influence was a great system. I had one complaint about influence. How was I supposed to know which PC should be in my party at any given moment? You didn't need a whole lot of influence with Atton to train him in the Jedi/Sith arts, but I missed every single opportunity for influence with Atton despite having him in the party quite a bit. Games like Jade Empire seem a bit odd in that I can talk to each follower about events they weren't present for because I left them behind, but I think I prefer that over missing valuable interactions with party members because I had the wrong ones in my party when I hit a trigger.

Let me get this right. People want a sweeping epic story set in Star Wars, where the main character doesn't come across as a chosen-one? No one called you the chosen-one, a child or prophecy, or a creation of fate in KOTOR:2, yet people made the chosen-one complaints none the less. What exactly is the complain, really? The Exile is merely a product of his/her decisions, and those decisions alone. I thought the Exile was a perfect example of a character that can enact sweeping change on a large scale without playing the chosen-one card. Everyone loved Revan and few love the Exile. Can someone please explain this to me? Revan isn't nearly as concrete as a character. I don't think we should bring back Revan and ignore the Exile. I think we need a new character whose background up to the point we play them is vague enough that we have total control over the character. In effect, it would be like playing Revan in that we would have total control. Add a plot that makes the character bad-ass like Revan, and there you go.

Ultima 7, Ultima 7 Part II, Ultima 8, and Ultima 9. Watch the credits all the way through, and then you get an option for quotes. They really are great.

Kirottu, Is that supposed to be a Shinji chibi?

Well Sony didn't lie about the pure technical performance of the PS1 or PS2. Why suggest that the specs of the PS3 are fabricated? The same can be said of M$. The XBox was exactly what they said it would be. The systems will be tested, and torn apart eventually. If they lie about their hardware, they will be discovered. In pure processing power, the PS3 is twice as powerful as the XBox 360. The XBox 360 is capable of putting out a 720p image on one TV. The PS3 can put out two 1080p images on two TVs. Why split screen on one TV? Add to that a Blu-Ray player, and from a pure hardware standpoint the PS3 is clearly superior.

I agree that it's a pain having the right party member present at the right moment, but overall I think the influence system was a neat idea none the less.

Coincidentally I think it's Beelbroxian for "So Long and Thanks for All the Fsh"

This is the wrong forum, and hopefully a mod will move the thread. However, I thik it's a question worth discussing. I want bonds to be addressed, and the Exile's status to be addressed in K3. I want the Force Wound, and the story of Malachor V to be addressed. Do I want the PC to be subject to another bond from the start they had no control over? Probably not, unless that bond is to both Revan and the Exile. Honestly, I think the new PC should be a former Sith who fought against Revan and the Exile. The Sith have largely been wiped out in KOTOR:1 and KOTOR:2. This Sith hears rumors that he was manipulated and deceived all along, and that he was a pawn in some plot not to rule the galaxy, but to cripple and destroy it. The True Sith are in Unknown Space, and Revan and the Exile are the key to discovering them.

If she did leak the information, it's not a conversation option I saw. She may have been ignorant enough to think she could defeat them, but why lure the Sith out if she wasn't going to Katarr to confront them herself?

Actually I can make a strong arguement that not a single companion developed in KOTOR. Atton has one of the better character development scenes in the series as his background comes out. You don't know his past when you start off with him, but he definately has more charm and charisma than Carth ever did. As the game progresses, you can influence him to let go of his hatred/fear of Jedi, or you can feed his anger and turn him into a killing machine. Handmaiden goes from a lapdog of Atris to a curious student that you mentor. She doesn't change greatly, but she changes. I haven't played DS, or seen how she shifts, though I did see my wife shift Atton to the DS and it was pretty neat. Again, Handmaiden is a character you can shift however. Visas was a mindless slave of Nihilus that comes to respect you, and would do anything for you out of love if you foster it, or you can keep her repressed as a slave of your own. T3 has more personality in K2. HK was funny in the first game, but has some new material. For one, he's not happy he's being copied. You can also force a pacafist behavior core into him. Bao-Dur seeems pretty quiet, but he carries with him emotional baggage that perhaps only a veteran might appreciate. Again, his development depends on your alignment.

I had the XBox version because I had to get the game right away. I loved it initially despite my frustrations at the constant crashes and slow downs. I put the game on my DVD rack, and didn't touch it for months. However, I have a modded XBox. I decided to copy the game to my HDD, and now it runs beautifully. You need to complete Peragus off the disc, because of a major bug that will occur if you run it off your HDD. Beyond that, the game runs great off the HDD. Then again, a friend of mine ran the game fine off his disc and never had any problems. I believe many people just got bad discs.

True. Shadow of the Giant is ripe with Mormon belief that your life doesn't hold much meaning unless you are married with child. Still he tells a story well.

I try to avoid hyperbole, but this may be my favorite TV show I've ever seen right now. I hope it continues at a high level. Alias had two great seasons, and two subpar ones so far.