Tigranes

'Core RPG elements' mean a huge number of different things for people, i.e. I wouldn't count respawn/random as necessary at all. Question is what are you looking for? Alpha Protocol is extremely nonlinear, in the sense that you can play it 6, 7 times and still not see everything. From your posts it sounds like you want a game which lets you roam in an open/sandbox world, fight a large number of possibly random/respawning enemies, continue the game as long as possible and build up a character, etc. To be honest you're really looking at MMOs for that, but you can also go for Bethesda games (Oblivion / Fallout 3).

I don't think so, I mean, it was a dark stormy night (and I thought the rain/thunder stuff was brilliant, even though it will immediately make 90% of the World's PCs explode). Hard to say what battlefield sizes will be, but as TW series has gone on I find it doesn't really matter that much in the end, because the AI won't really use the space anyway. It's better than MTW2 where you ahd to chase freaking horse archers for 70 hours.

I don't see the big deal. From the talk here I thought we'd have some terrible slow-mo, as it is, it's just people walking around that's been slowed down 20% or so. Needless and not a good decision, but surely it's a testament to how (over?) sensitive we all are about frame rates these days. Anyway, the game still looks the same to me as it has always done - a slick, stylish, pretty game in the Diablo genre, but one that seems to do some interesting things in the genre regarding gameplay and story (much like D3 itself is doing). Sounds good to me, especially since the original DS series had nothing realy worth keeping, anyway. It won't be the beginning of a beautiful franchise but it seems a solid super fun game if done right.

It's been a while so I can't remember perfectly, but: -> Offline activation is a bit confusing. You need to use the activator program (in the AP install files, I believe, and its presented as a series of web pages) and select Disconnected/Offline Activation, which then creates a file for you. You then go to http://www.alphaprotocol.com/activation and use that file to activate. You might also want to check with SEGA Support to see if your key is invalid / incorrect for some reason...

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/09/03...t-looks-pretty/ Shogun Total War 2 Gameplay footage with AI commentary, to show how AI's improved and what it's doing. Or so it thinks. The game is bloody pretty, looks really awesome and presented well. As usual. The AI looks stone cold retarded, as usual. The AI army is larger than the player's, but it sits absolutely still and does nothing while the player advances. This is not a bad decision in this context, as the player only uses a part of his army and he was (probably) the aggressor on the campaign map, but it's not a good example of smart AI, either. It doesn't tell us whether a huge problem in RTW, MTW2 and Empire was solved - that of braindead AI that sits there and never moves. The player sends forth his army in small waves. Yet many TW players generally like to use their entire army to attack or at least to maneuvre, instead of sending them out piecemeal, and the AI doesn't deal with that. The AI sucks at adjusting formation or responding to a moving line. So again, no negative or positive evidence of improved AI. Archers in forest ambushes, good to see. Now player's army is significantly smaller, the AI does charge. Very good. But what's this? If you look at the bit where the narrator says "human brain and outwit the machine", you can see that the AI has actually broken its line. A regiment on the far right is actually rushing in front of the rest of the line to cross diagonally to te other side for no discernible reason, and then, hell, everyone stops for a few seconds. So the AI charges, then suddenly stops, then decides to stick one regiment in no-man's land for no reason. This happened in the majority of vanilla versions for RTW, MTW2 and ETW. So the AI video demonstrates that, at least for now, the AI still can't even pull off a frontal attack properly after 10 years of 'development'. Player rounds then ambushes AI from behind, fair enough. Soon the entire AI army is routed. Again no negative or positive evidence - we dont' know if the AI is smart enough to pull out if the day is gone or stay until everyone's routed/dead. So we have a very pretty and slick video but nothing really to show us that they've stopped screwing over their fanbase as they have done for the last ~10 years, and have actually fixed the idiotic AI. Exciting.

Monty is on the most dangerous one, near all the trolls, in the hopes that he will survive to get it down. They're onto him... ...but of course, we presciently saved that one potion of invisibility, and Feargus lives to see another day. Meanwhile, Grommy had done his drum in quick, and had joined the rest of the party to form a front at the bridge. This is working reasonably well, but of course now Monty needs to cross it from the other side with worgs behind him. We need to open up a second front, but we're running out of spells. This is bad. Those half-goblins really are overpowered - a crit for 24 and Monty dies again. I think he's overtaken mkreku now. With Grommy low on HP too that means we can't really keep up a melee front anymore. With our last entangle we get some breathing space, and shift everyone onto ranged spells. In depseration we even lob our only flaming bottle thing (the big fireball ones, not the tiny 1D4 damage ones). And finally, only the trolls remain - who are immune to arrows and such. We end up luring them back to Ennelia, while downing something like 8 potions between us, and do indeed make it. That was very very close. Rested up & revived we return... and find orcs who were too dumb to leave their posts the previous battle. I suppose that's why we're still alive. They pose little threat on their own. Hell, look who it is! Trugnuk, the leader! Where were you, buddy? We missed your XP. And there we are for this update. Next it's the Goblin Warrens, which are all about (a) trying not to wake an impossibly large force of goblins and orcs, (b) dealing with the worst lag we'll get all game.

She has fireball as well? This is bad, with a mirror image up we're unlikely to be able to disrupt casting... Run, Forest, Run! Grommy gets caught but survives at 1hp. You'd think Monks would have good reflex saves. Good part is that it immolates one of the ogres as well. ...aaaand the bridge is saved. The fireball was last of the big spells and the mage goes down quickly, too. We nip back with the good news. Ulbrec should have a floating exclamation mark over his head, bloody archaic games. We almost didn't realise we were meant to talk to him. Party invests most of the budget on giving Monty a big sword. Hey, it worked for their predecessors. On to our next mission. Mkreku enjoys riling up nearly dead allies recently estranged from their lovers, but stops before it gets too hot. XP is more important than our momentary satisfaction. This is quite possibly one of the most evil parts of IWD2, in my opinion. The map is filled with shamans, half-goblins that pack a lot of damage, and fast, strong worg riders - and then there are three war drums that can summon reinforcements. That means party wipe. The great thing is that, with our crazy multi-classing scheme, Monty, Grommy and Feargus can all Hide in Shadows pretty well. Luckily they all make it to the three drum spots shown here without being detected. ...aaand it begins. Each of them open up with a lamp oil then pound the crap out of the drum.

Yeah, it sucks - I'm pretty sure it's the software rendering that's causing the lag, too. Anyway... We progress towards Shaengarne bridge. I never understood the 'sealing off the path' bit here, since all it makes you do is take a slightly longer path, and still fight all the same enemies. As in IWD, web is our early-level friend... though 3rd edition (or just IWD2?) nerfed it, too, because web is now the same as entangle - caught opponents can still do stuff, just can't move. It's not easy, and we are beset on two fronts here, but thankfully nobody dies. Next area has more fighting, this time against Malarites. Disrupting their castings of Beast Claw and other spells is key - unfortuntely our ranged attacks aren't very reliable to hit yet, and even worse, Monty's still mostly rogue and can't tank as well. Here we catch most of the Malarites with the web but a snow leopard gets through and mauls him. We prevail, but it's a sobering lesson - I'm pretty rubbish at IWD2. I never understood what this is supposed to do. I'd have expected this to flood the river or something, but... does something happen if you don't do it? Here we are at the big showdown. Ironically, the river below looks pretty crossable even without the bridge. We start off with sleep & web. We want to conserve our best spells for later, but we want to be pretty quick - I'm not sure, but doesn't saving the bridge mean extra XP? Say what you like about IWD2, I always felt it provided the best tactical combat situations out of all IE games. We resist the mage's tricks and push forth. Unfortunately, our own web/entangle hinders as as we try to get to the ogres bashing the bridge down. In our haste we ignore the mage, but she(he?) seems to pack some third level spells. A lightning spell fries her own teammate the orc archer... ...and Monty couldn't get out of the way. Bloody hell, I didn't think it would kill him. Wuss.

I'm really out of date on tech specs now (for, what, the last 8 years?), so it's hard for me to tell if I can even handle it. I think I can, actually. Kind of sad my laptop's already at the point of barely making it past the requirements, though. It is a laptop but it's only, what, 2 years old...

I don't like multiplayer RPGs much, so I stick to IE games, but it's good to see modding communities for old games still going strong.

I wanted to watch, but they instead show me this terrible VISA ad with terrible music, and I keep being tempted to read the *shudder* reader comments while I wait. It'd be nice if people didn't keep proving Adorno right

Why do they insist on showing an unflattering area at an unflattering time of the day as 90% of their screenshots, though? And going further, even if it's 'realistic', is it good design to make an area that looks like a lump of goo? I mean, couldn't they add something in the lore to justify some sort of art perk-up? No problem with 'emptiness' but...

Great stuff. I've never fought the lich, by the way, we'll see if he screws us up with any Horrid Wiltings or whatnot.

I'm not sure if Japan has 'proved' it yet. The panic of the early 2000's about the ridiculously fast transformation in age demographics seems to have subsided, but I'm not sure if we're able to say so quickly and glibly that it's been dealt with. Japan is still on the brink of a massive social change... and the aging population problem will hit Korea, France, etc. too.

In fact, neither did Torak: A carefully placed web spell then a backup sleep disabled most orcs, and Torak could not keep up with all of us sticking it to him. So far Mkreku's one paladin level also makes him quite a good contributor to damage. And then its the caves behind the camp. Slimes suck. No piercing damage, no blunt damage (i think), and we basically rely on Monty and Mkreku (with his +1 scimitar). We pull off our world famous triplestab on a carrion crawler. It strikes me that Vrek is probably the most intelligent villain in the game so far. He identifies threats, pursues strategies to nullify those threats, then works on a long-term, sustainable production chain of goods designed to maximise profit. Feargus can't help but feel a small pang of sadness as we disrupt his operation. Web & Sleep, as usual, but vrek packs a punch and Monty's forced to gulp some potions. And then it's our last remaining lamp oil to finish him off, and bring us to level 4. Right, that's that, we'll continue on tomorrow or so. Shaengarne bridge is a lot farther off than I remember.

You can see him right there, making an acrobatic dive for safety. One frame later he's as dead as a dodo, and against all odds, beats Mkreku junior to being the first death in the party. This stirs the competitive spirit in our Central Icewind Daler, who follows suit within 5 turns. The kegs only got 1 orc and we're being pressed from all sides. Eventually we made it out, but damn, they don't screw around with resurrection costs. We try the keg trick one last time. This time the more hardy Monty (at the moment 2 Rogue / 1 Fighter) is sent off to backstab the shaman.. And what do you know, it worked. With everyone levelled up to 3 we buy Web and Aganazzar's Scorcher for Chris Avellone. We move on to the next area where Torak sends us more critters. After a web spell they're pretty harmless, however. We are given a mission to sneak and rescue the villagers, and of course conveniently find a potion of invisibility in the ruins. We'll save it and try our luck, however. Feargus sneaks. And this time does better, opening the door then quickly Hiding in Shadows again. Orcs present little challenge on their own, and we rescue the villagers.

Here we go again. Before going off to the bridge we nip back and return the dead cat to the nice old lady. Feargus handles this, having the most experience in the group with dealing with cranky old bastards. At least his son is more grateful. Monty understands the value of being properly rewarded for our services. We also get to keep the cat, which will come in useful later on. And now, finally, some real opponents in Torak's orcs. Nothing unusual here - Sleep + Entangle and then all ranged on Shaman. Monty Junior appears a bit more susceptible to taking damage than his predecessor, which is a pity because now we actually have to use healing pots. Feargus tries a Fergstab but discovers it's not as easy as it looks. You and me both, buddy. Thankfully, that means the Orc Runner places the Keg of Blasting in the middle of their own group, and Feargus gets away just in time to watch them immolate each other. We get to use the same trick here, there's 2 orcs and a shaman beneath that ball of fire. We rescue the girl. And now it's time for the big one. If we lure it right we can set off the chain reaction to kill pretty much all the orcs waiting to ambush us in the area. Unfortunately, Feargus fails his Move Silently check as soon as he steps out, and the orcs are quick to respond..

That's reasonable for an SOA thief, but did you give him Use Any Item? If not, give it to him next level up, then at least get him Bracers of Weapon Expertise... and replace the necklace of blasting (fireball at THIS level?) with something that gives MR or Saves.

This thread is a good databank for possible solutions, the fix in the OP does help even if it doesn't get rid of everything, and turning off software rendering optiosn like translucent shadows helps. It's pretty good at the moment, only a few random times, such as when there's a big block of floating text (i imagine the transparent backdrop to floating texts taxes the renderer or something). I did get the stuffed cat but I forgot to take it back to the cat lady, I'll do that before going onto the Shaengarne.

I wouldn't mind PB sticking with the Risen franchise and fleshing that out, actually.

I take solace in the fact that despite being a level 1 wizard, I lasted until the end. Good stuff Nightshape, TOEE actually looks pretty good past the ghastly starting fight, which is where I gave up. (though I think I skipped the tutorial, so it was outside the catehdral I think.)

As it is, a first level entangle is enough to dispose of them. This is the most difficult group of goblins, right by the main gate. We decide to use Monty, Grommy and Feargus, who can all sneak, and then pounce on the mage. Unfortunately, I press a button wrong and they screw it up. Chris Avellone casts sleep, which gets most of the other goblins, but then the mage puts up Protection against Normal Missiles. Here you see Feargus eating up the ground due to a.. colour spray. Caballus lasts a bit longer, but soon the goblin threat is eradicated. A little too easy, actually - maybe I should have gone with Undead Targos. After getting a lot of XP our entire party is safely in level 2. So we proceed with our crazy multiclassing. Monty is Rogue 2, but after one more will go full fighter. Mkreku now goes 1 Pal / 1 Sor and will go full time on the latter. Wals is now 1 Druid 1 Barb, and to continue in Druid; Feargus is 1 Ranger 1 Rogue, and will continue as Rogue. We should get these guys properly set up by level 5 or so, so hopefully they will be fully effective by Sherincal, if not Shaengarne Bridge. Anyway, we cclean up a couple of loose ends: we try to win the drinking game for the barb's wolf charm, but he won't do it with Monty because he's a dwarf, and Feargus can't take his drink. Ah well. And we also go on a little detour to expose the doppleganger and speak to a visionary. Monty only sat there mocking the poor guy, so Chris Avellone had to step in. With his brilliant intelligence he works out that the man's crazed ravings just might be related to divination. And finally, we are ready. Just a pinch of XP off level 3, with several lamp oils / flaming oils, and some tolerable regular equipment, we are off to Shaengarne bridge. Beautiful.

Because this is a tutorial level, Ulbrec is not going to stoop to giving us level 1 adventurers quests. Instead, he outsources the task to Shawford Crale. Targos really, really sucks. I decided to enable the console just to Ctrl+J teleport around it, because you need to go back and forth about 70 times. The highlight is when we have the privilege of providing some jerk with his arrows. Monty demonstrates that a well-rounded education is the key to a long and fulfilling life. Varok urk gruk grah. We also negotiate to get a ghost to shut the hell up and go away. I really don't get these symbolic people - I mean if you feel the need to wail from the afterlife to get your husband's killer brought to justice or something, sure. But a piece of his ship? She was probably pretty anally retentive in life. Finally, tasked with bringing some mercenaries back, we turn to Mkreku, who has the highest charisma. His honeyed words soothe the hardened hearts oft he mercenaries, and they sigh with contentment as they shuffle off to their deaths. And so begins the goblin invasion of Targos. There is a very real possibility of death... We begin by fighting Phaen (who I forgot to kill before), and his burning hands nearly fries Chris Avellone in one go. In fact, it would have killed Llyranor, but MCA is badass and has five hit points, and thus survives. A blur spell of some sort makes Phaen difficult to hit and he gets off a few first level spells, but our party is surprisingly effective in melee combat. We quickly move and help chunk a Vghotan. It's good to be as fast as you can so that the other defenders are alive for you to help (i.e. use as meat shield), and also to steal their kills and get XP. This is incredible, because he wastes a fireball here to break down the walls, then teleports the goblins in anyway. I mean, wouldn't you want to use that third level spell on us? No? Okay then.

Remember, mkreku will only take a level of Pally, maybe two, for the bonuses - then go full sorc. I still have doubts about how viable he will be in melee, though. Obsidianites II disembark their junk and enter the quaint little old town of Targos. Immediately, we are asked for assistance. You'd think we were all wearing neon jackets and holding up a big sign with a giant i. Walsingham's dress doesn't help, actually. Naturally, when you hear a town is in danger, that means all of its valuables are up for grabs. Naturally, our only rogue, Feargie, hasn't actually taken a rogue level yet, so I end up getting Monty to bash everything. Works well. (Only now do I realise... well, Monty has a rogue level!) We meet the infamous Cat Woman. Monty may be the face of the party, but he sure ain't gonna put up with BS like his father did. He says like he sees it, brother. We then come across a goblin-infested warehouse. We're not going to let some other chumps beat us to that place, it must be choked full of gold. Brogan doesn't recognise the progeny of the famous tunnel fighter, but we'll let him get away with it, for now. Next person to do so gets an axe to the face. Monty's instincts are not wrong and there are indeed tunnels to be had below the warehouse. You know, this is suspiciously easy... it's just small numbers of low hit die goblins everywhere. IWD2, of course, coming a year or two after IWD1, boasts many of the groundbreaking improvements in modern gaming. I believe this is called a 'tutorial level', where everything is so easy as to make you both confident and bored, so that the illusion can be suddenly and cruelly shattered as you go out into the real gameworld. I suppose it's a statement about the designers' real lives. That's what Chris Avellone said, anyway. The goblins are easily dispatched. Healing potions are very rare, but we decide to give one to this guy for the XP. After all, mkreku is a paladin now, we need to be Good and RIghteous. We can't ever let him talk though, or he'll refuse all rewards. IWD2 is very fast with these things. We meet Ulbrec, a professional questgiver. He will take care of us and give us all our quests from now until the end of time. And of course there is the return of Oswald Fiddlebender. I think IWD could have benefited from some more crazy potions, actually, the range is smaller than BG. We do make use of all our spare cash to get a couple of lamp oils, though. Emergency backup for the invasion.

Following on from our surprisingly successful Icewind Dale Ironman, the Obsidianites return for another round at the brutal IWD2. After defeating the demon Belhifet, the party soon tore itself apart from the inside. Jealous of Monty's inhuman kill-count and the fame he accrued as the face of the Obsidianites, Purkake attempted to assassinate him and run off with the loot. Unfortunately, he failed to consider that if he couldn't damage any of our enemies, he definitely couldn't hit a heavily armed fighter with -9 AC, and was chunkified in 3 turns. Meanwhile, Volourn gave up the life of adventure to become a fisherman, and Numbers returned to Lonelywood to chase up that tavern wench. In the blink of an eye our intrepid heroes were reduced to half in number. Nevertheless, that half went on to many exciting filler adventures and lived a long and happy life. Now, decades later, Icewind Dale is again in danger, and we see the sons of that half return on an adventure of the ages - please join Monte Carlo junior, Mkreku junior, Walsingham junior and their new friends for Icewind dale II! First up is the Dwarven progeny of the great tunnel fighter, Monte Carlo. He has begun his career as a rogue, but will soon come home to the ways of tunnel fighterdom - just after he gets his sneak attack upgrades. Will he beat his dad's record of some six hundred kills? Only time will tell. Second up is a new member of the party, none other than the irascible Gromnir. Seventy years ago he applied for the party but was told half-orcs could not be admitted to a band of heroes: the laws of adventuring have since become more racially tolerant. His love of half-naked, muscular men have led him to a career as a Monk. It's only a happy coincidence that he will allow us to get a free ticket past a very hairy encounter later on in the game. I might give him a level of Barbarian, not sure if it's redundant or not. Third is Mkreku II, Paladin of Mystra. Actually, he's just gearing up to be a sorcerer, but this gives him some nice buffs. He is hoping that by trading in his Central Icewind Dale heritage and peddling in dastardy paladindom, he will increase his chances of survival and avoid the many gruesome fates of his ancestor. In fact, he has gone so far as to make a deal with the powers that be and revoke his half-elven ancestry, in return for an extra level 1 feat. Walsingham junior is much like Walsingham in every way, except he has really been swindled by the pro-environment propaganda in his youth. He now pursues a career as a professional tree-hugger, moonlighting as a barbarian (will take 1 level) as part of his anger management program. Reprising Purkake's role in the party is Feargus, a loveable yet dangerous halfling rogue. He's begun as a ranger to take Ambidexterity and 2Wpn Fighting feats, and will soon show the world the power of dual-wielding short sword backstabs. He's out to prove that rogues can make a difference in a world filled with big angry men wielding big phallic symbols. Our final recruit is slightly megalomaniac, because he insists on being referred to by his full name, Chris Avellone. He has a badass leather jacket and he will steal your women with his sly sideways grin. He will serve as full time wizard, dedicating himself to the art of blowing things up. Right, so there we have the Munchkinised Obsidianites - if they make it past Targos they might go a good way. I'm now working on the technical side - I have got widescreen mod working but the game is slow and stuttery, a common issue in IWD2 in newer comps/GPUs. I forgot how I fixed it last time but I'm going to look at what I can do.