Jumjalum

Well Gamespot hated SH2, they awarded a hefty 5.9 saying the AI, graphics, sound, gameplay and robustness were all severely lacking. Personally I haven't made up my mind, I'm only someway into the peace campaign so I havent reached the real meat of the game. Keeping tabs on all the different buildings is quite a headfull though, mostly in a good way. never have I seen a game with so many buildings!

Has anyone played Stronghold 2 yet? For those who have never heard of it its a castle building strategy game which allows you to build whatever kind of castle you like with all kinds of little buildings which have their own peasant type to work in it. Its the kind of game that appeals to the side of me that likes building stuff and watching little people making their way around the game world (although theres a lot more to the game than that, fighting armies being one of the biggest other features). At least, the first one was and early word on Stronghold 2 is pretty good but not fantastic, I should have it tomorrow so I'll try and write a mini-review then.

The third episode is pretty good as well, it's just a pity Eccleston isn't going to do the second series.

I voted for BG2, it was just more fun, although less impressive, than Planescape: Torment.

Uhh I'm afraid your poll is a bit messed up, there were two Ultima VIIs and only one Ultima VIII. There were also two Ultima Underworlds and the two 'Worlds of Ultima' games 'The Savage Empire' and 'Martian Dreams' but they aren't really part of the series. Edit - Roshan you can get Ultima IV VGA and the two 'Worlds of Ultima' games at Home of the Underdogs. The others shouldn't be very hard to find. http://www.the-underdogs.org/search.php?search_game=ultima

What time are you planning on playing? And why dont you have the expansion?

My favourites RPG - The Baldur's Gate series, Ultima 7 - Serpent Isle, Fallout Adventure - Gabriel Knight - Sins of the Fathers, Monkey Island series, Indiana Jones series (hell, all the Lucasarts classics) FPS - Doom, Half-Life, Dark Forces - Jedi Knight Space games - Elite 2 - Frontier, Wing Commander series Strategy - X-Com(!), Dune 2, Command & Conquer (the slickest game of its time) The first Gabriel Knight game is easily my favourite, the story was a lot more involving and interesting for me than its sequels, which kinda resembled a Geography field trip in places. I could appreciate the story in both, especially 'Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned' which was very ambitious and even moving in the end but some of the run-up was just too damned boring and obscure for my tastes. Give me some hot voodoo action and New Orleans anyday over European villages and historical mysteries. Plus Gk1 had the better VO and music. GK1>GK2>GK3 for me.

I might have had a shot of Eye of the Beholder and Zelda: Link to the Past before but Serpent Isle was my first proper play of an RPG. It took me about 6 years and a walkthrough to finish it. I remember fondly the old days, wandering around Serpent Isle without a clue of what to do, endlessly trying to get through that swamp without falling asleep and going into the strange wibbly land of dreams. In retrospect I have to say I really dont enjoy games as much as I used to. I could blame it on falling standards but the truth is I've just played too many games now and my brain won't let me enjoy them as much anymore.

Argh I shouldn't have read this spoiler-filled thread! My eyes!

It's no big deal imo, they're releasing LOTR in 3D as well if early rumours are to be believed. As long as Lucas doesn't change anymore story elements it'll probably be pretty cool to see it in 3D.

Hehe, he said sextet.

NMA have posted a very funny new interview with Chris A where he talks a lot about his life, his work and his love of roasting fallout fans. http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=12668

Christopher Eccleston's a good actor, I just hope this new series isn't too crappy. The advert isn't very reassuring but Eccleston has said the writer of the show is one of the best in the business so I'll reserve judgement till I see it. Btw you guys know Douglas Adams wrote the screenplay for the Hitchhikers film before he died?

I thought the writing in HL2 was mostly excellent, there just wasn't much of it.

I think Bush said it best "Fool me once, shame on....shame on you. Fool me....you can't get fooled again."

I seem to remember someone from Black Isle commenting that the greater percentage of players dont make it past the middle of the game so thats where most of the attention goes. I guess developers tend to put most of their tricks where the majority of people will see them, thus the endings are the weakest part of a game, generally.

This game sounds like TEH WINNA! Where can I find it? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You can download both of the Phobos games at Home of the Underdogs.

Maybe someone will release Interplay's back catalogue on budget sometime, I doubt games like BG2 will stay out of circulation for long. Whether or not PST gets another release I don't know, the fact that it comes on 4 CDs makes it unlikely since it was never hugely profitable in the first place. I seem to remember there being a version that was squeezed onto 2 disks though which is no great shakes for a budget game. Personally, I managed to find a shrink-wrapped copy of the original PST on eBay a couple of years ago which only cost a few pounds.

Sorry for bumping this old thread, but I'm wondering if I should start using this instead of the Ad-Aware/Spybot combo I've got at the moment. Whats the word on MS Antispyware now its been out for a few months?

HotU did not have the same party system as BG or PST. In the BG games you told each party member exactly what to do at each moment, in the NWN expansions the henchmen followed you around and cast what the AI deemed the appropriate spells. BG = party based since you have exactly the same level of control over the party members as you have over the main PC. NWN does not = party based since you dont directly control the party members other than some very basic commands and the ability to tell the AI what way you want it to fight.

If you've never heard of NS, its a mod for Half-Life that's kind of an RTS where each player controls one of the units. The setting is a war between marines and aliens on board abandoned space stations and planets. If you play as the marines one person is the commander with a typical RTS top-down view of the map who tells all the marines where to go and what to build. The aliens are different in that they have no commander and can morph into different kinds of creatures, one of which can build structures. It's great fun although the HL engine is getting a little old these days, there's still some cool effects, the graphics and sound are very polished and the maps are mostly good to great. There are a few pieces of music that Jeremy Soule made for the mod that set the scene nicely. If you've never played NS before I recommend you start with the marines as they are easier to get to grips with although the aliens are considered more fun by those who are good at using them. http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/ for the 140 MB download

That exact thought popped into my head at the exact moment I read your post. :D Seriously I'm struggling to think of one disruptive poster I've seen here, other than the scouser guy who gave us all a slagging in that thread the other day.

Natural Selection for Half-Life is a great mod if you fancy playing an RTS from the point of view of one of the minions, or you can be the commander with the top down view if you're feeling brave. It's a quality mod all the way, with music from Jeremy Soule. http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/

It's from a well known british comedy show (Harry Enfield and Chums) from the early nineties which had a sketch called "The Scousers" where 3 scouse brothers would always end up fighting with one of them saying to the others "All right, all right, calm down, calm down!"