EnderAndrew

While playing KOTOR, I would queue up three feats (Master Flurry for instance) or force powers. But, if the target died, my queue would be replaced with standard attacks as the computer then auto-targetted the next monster. That bugged me. I supposed I should have made a stink about it while KOTOR:2 was still in development. I wonder if this changed.

Fable promised a million features, and delivered 50. I'll probably pick it up and give it a twirl, but I'm not expecting the greatest game in the world.

Let me tangent for a second in regards to Final Fantasy and JRPGs. They have storyline, and they qualify as real RPGs. The difference is that you're playing a specific character, whose attitude and background are already written. To an American audience, that doesn't qualify as a real RPG half the time because it's not YOUR character. Yet, games like Baldur's Gate are called hardcore RPGs. I know Baldur's Gate is a Holy Grail to a lot of people, but I don't think the story is gripping, deep or impressive. I'll take the storyline of any Final Fantasy from IV on over Baldur's Gate. Yet, games like Baldur's Gate have a lot more freedom. A JRPG doesn't give you the same level of freedom. Some people say that doesn't qualify as an RPG, yet Planescape Torment handed you a premade character whose background was already written by a developer. And that certainly qualifies as a real RPG.

I've seen some Halo fanboys on all the XBox technical forums saying that Halo has one of the best plots of any game in years. That's why it spawns novels.

FPS shooters are generally far better on the PC. And there are many great PC titles that are never released on console. I'm not dogging PC's. I just don't understand how people continue to believe that consoles exist solely as idiot entertainment for children. That really isn't the case.

The rumors are that the XBox 2 will launch for next Christmas. Likely that means the XBox 2 will be out before KOTOR:3 launches. You couldn't market the current KOTOR engine as an XBox 2 release.

KOTOR should be cinematic and fast-paced like the Star Wars movies. Morrowind is a very different beast.

I just played the beta-build of KOTOR:3. It's not too shabby.

Kudos to the Obsidian team. Feargie has earned himself a 15 minute break. After that, it's back to coffee-fetching.

That engine looks incredible. But I'm not sure it's in a state to release to another company. Then again, said engine also includes the new construction set, which means we'd get mod tools for KOTOR:3.

Clock speed isn't the end all of a processor. It's true that Intel has a higher clock speed. They usually do. When AMD calls a processor a 3400+, that means in benchmarks it should perform around, or slightly better than Intel's equivalent 3.4 Right now the Athlon 64 is getting better benchmarks in games, and has a higher FSB, considerably. The Athlon 64 has a higher upside for when the full Windows 64 is released. You can download a free beta of Windows 64, I believe. But I'm not running an Athlon 64 yet, so I haven't tried it.

KOTOR:3 may be in preproduction now, but LucasArts may not be doing preproduction internally now. LucasArts may not develop a game internally again for some time after those layoffs. My question is how will develop KOTOR:3?

If you play a PC game non-stop for 8 hours, you can expect a lock-up or a crash. If you run an XBox (which has some cooling issues) non-stop around a hot entertainment center (I've seen XBox's fry because people put them on top of TV's) for 8 hours, a lock-up or crash is not out of line either. Don't stack the XBox on any electronics that get warm. Save frequently. That's my advice.

For the past year I've heard people screaming they couldn't wait, and wanted the game out. They pleaded for an early release. Then they bitch that the game is under-developed. Imagine that. Maybe it's supposed to have a cliff-hanger. Did ESB really resolve much? No. And in the grand scheme of the trilogy, it's the best story. I haven't played KOTOR:2, but I imagine it might stand out much the same way. Patch some bugs in the PC release, and move onto KOTOR:3.

It wouldn't shock me. But before any author touches the characters introduced in the video games, KOTOR:3 needs to come out and finish a few storylines.

Source can run a RPG. The arguement that a first-person engine can't run a RPG is silly. I'm sure Source can shift to a third-person view, and coding in leveling/character progression is possible in any engine. As it has been pointed out, the KOTOR engine is old, but Obsidian seems content to take the NWN engine and release it in 2006. Either they're REALLY confident they can upgrade it quite a bit, or they're taking a big gamble. Even games like Everquest 2 make NWN look like absolute crap. Lord knows what other RPGs will be released by 2006. Waiting 2-3 years for a new engine doesn't seem to be the best solution. Whether or not they select Source, I think they should license an existing engine to upgrade the physics, look, and flexibility of the existing engine. Can we agree upon that much?

If you want so see the Knights of the Old Republic in cartoon form, go read the wonderful existing Knights of the Old Republic comic books that inspired these two games. There you go.

I liked KOTOR, and RPGs are my favorite games. But GTA:SA will see months, and months of playtime on my TV. And I enjoy the GTA series perhaps more than most any series I've ever played. GTA:SA is the most impressive console title I've played in a long time. Fable winning RPG of the year is a sad, sad statement in any boat.

With ToEE, the story I heard was that Troika went over budget and schedule. So the bug-testing portion of the budget finished the game, and then Atari refused to fork over any new money to fix bugs. So both parties are to blame a bit. My only point is that Tim Cain doesn't blame ToEE completely on Atari. He takes some blame for the real problems with the game, that it's not fun. It's poorly designed. Atari isn't responsible for that. For what it's worth, the bugs have been patched, so that's not a huge issue. I also heard that one of the ToEE developers spent some of his time working on patches for free.

I can still hope and dream of Redneck Rampage 2: A Hunka-Hunka Burning Fun!

What's this saying that Half Life 2's graphics aren't great? If your buddy has various graphics options turned off, that's one thing. There is a reason many people call Half Life 2 the greatest looking game to date. Bloodlines got a copy of the Source Engine like two years before Half Life 2 was released. I think they had an early version, and after ToEE I'm beginning to think that Troika does not have the world's best programmers. Half Life 2 is not a buggy game, and thus the engine is not necessarily buggy. The upsides: Great graphics The engine supports a full SDK/modkit. Will sell like mad Incredible physics. Imagine the Force in the Source. Vehicle support. Facial gestures. The downsides: We'd wait a bit longer than a sequel in the KOTOR engine. You know all those features people requested for KOTOR:2 that couldn't be done because of the engine? Well, it would be a whole new ballgame. As far as comments that Source can't power an RPG, they don't know Source. Source was designed to be modded, provide full flexibility, and was used for a RPG. The gritty feel of Half Life is due to the textures they used in Half Life. You can replace those textures with whatever you need for KOTOR.

What about Sigil?

I'm a Pack fan, but the Packers aren't looking that impressive right now. The only upside to the Pack is you have to believe their O-line will start playing better in December and January. Ahman Green has the talent to play like Marshall Faulk in his prime, but hasn't really been healthy all year long. Seattle is confused. I think Carolina is the upcomming team. Their game with Atlanta should answer a lot of questions. In the AFL, you've got: San Diego - the team you really don't want to play. Denver statistically has one of the best offenses and defenses in the league. Denver is a complete team on paper (despite Plummer playing like crap lately). San Diego beat Denver down. In the playoffs, they may be more dangerous than the Colts. Peyton chokes against good defenses, where as San Diego has been consistent and overlooked. NY Jets 9-3 - Injuries and the lack of depth are the main reason the Jets haven't made a serious dent in the playoffs in quite some time. Playing the Patriots won't help them grab a wild card spot. Baltimore - Their offense isn't a joke anymore. Their defense isn't as great as it once was either. But with some duct tape, they could hold this team together and grab a wildcard spot. Buffalo - None of those four wins impress me. Miami is horrid. St. Louis has a mediocre QB, and a horrid coach. They love to gamble and throw games away. Seattle has been lost in the sauce all season despite talent on both sides of the ball. Cleveland is just a middle of the road team in turns of talent, despire and coaching. Jacksonville - Jacksonville may have the most underrated starting QB in the league (where as Jon Kitna is probably the MOST underrated QB in the league. He only put up MVP numbers on a ****ty team last year and got benched because of it). They play close, smart football, and don't lay down. You need to jump on this team and beat them quick. Against high-flying offenses the Jags will fail, but in close games, watch-out. Cincinnati - Despite a great coach, and a very underrated receiving corps, these guys are still the Bengals with a rookie quarterback who is supposed to perform miracles. I'm just not buying it, and they'd have to win out to even have a shot. Houston - I like the Texans. They put extra effort into big games because they know they don't have the talent to dominate the entire season. Carr, Davis and Johnson make some exciting skill players for the future. But the future is not now.

Or a post-apocalyptic earth.

Hey, I was quoting Eddie Izzard.