Tigranes

In that case, would you know if that Protection vs. Chaos tattoo you get in the Trash Warrens does anything significant? On the Mebbeth thing, I've always felt that Ravel was someone you were meant to feel sorry for, but I felt equal empathy for the Transcendent One... if you are from the moment of your 'creation' destined to be part of a cycle of deaths that will only end with your demise, (or that of TNO)..

So did you get to the part where we find out about Dak'kon's past and who gave him the Circle in the first place? That was one of the things that made me shiver - rather like finding out Ravel's various 'incarnations'. How much INT is needed for that? I don't think I ever managed to crack it. Yup, thought it was a bit funny how you start talking like a crackpot afterwards, th ough. Thing is, though, it's stupid *not* to play with high int/wis in PS:T, everything else is inferior, not different.

Well, tap water can occasionally become more contaminated / less hygienic than it usually is, especially in case of floods or torrid weather. Anyway, toilet water is just as clean as tap water, probably, but the catch is that you're scooping it out of a toilet BOWL. Which may not be quite as pristine clean as you'd expect, especially since it's only been flushed once since last use.

I'll pay attention to USA when they beat a big team.

Vraiment?

Well, facts: 1/ You can still run back as fast as enemies move towards you, so the combat strikes me as "static" as Morrowind's - it's not really designed for moving around, but standing toe to toe with an enemy and slicing. Or using the hit-jump back exploit. 2/ My point previously is made here - quests and dialogue are still mediocre, if slightly better, and the focus is still on exploration / sandbox. I think the only places where you could find something that treads 'new' ground (for TES, that is) is the Stealth system and Radiant AI. And that's two things you really have to *play* to see. Not much help, is it?

I liked the review, and I'm anticipating the game, but the little story-snippets about quests are rather deceptive. The first one is lauded as some masterpiece in deception, but such "twists" (gasp! he's NOT actually the bad guy) are present, and should be present, in every RPG worth its nuts. And a couple of others simply boiled down to kill kill kill too. The Steal The Muffin segment is something that I've done in many other games, including BG. It seems that the point for excitement is the possibilities for the player to interact with the game system using its many possibilities (walk on water), not rely on mediocre dialogue and writing - it's not bad, but it should be recognised for what it is.

Yes. Oopsie.

It has Dyson Spheres!

I must have this game.

Think of the potential for implementing it to RPG combat. Throw in some very basic physics, too... instead of mo-capping random obscure martial arts masters for supraerobic feats.

Also. Anybody know if every single being within your current species must look the same, or there can be different 'sub-races/breeds' within that species? E.g. Female have a stinging tail, type A has a larger beak, whatever. I just thought that it looked a little monotonous and contrived when you have 60-70 of those things running around looking exactly the same.

You can build flying vehicles, at least. Not sure about flying creatures. I see. Good then.

Bethesda only has one team?

He cannot be defeated with the weapons in your arsenal. Give up now.

Yeah, the thing that defines Spore's greatness will really be the detail, I think. For example, the video showed a creature with two heads - does that mean TWO brains, or just one brain? Are these two heads used by the creature like humans use two arms, or do they act independently? What is the mechanism that controls what they can and cannot eat (since we edit their physical attributes, not, say, how their organs are designed)? Are we able to dispense with skeletons altogether and create creatures that have their bones on outer shells (like ants), or even gooey globs without bones (snails' insides)? Can we have nine-tailed creatures, and can we attach spikes anywhere on a limb, or just preset parts? These are all things that can't be answered by a presentation that just shows what COULD be done, not EVERYTHING that can be done. And it would be unreasonable to expect it to. Still, lots to drool about. The only disappointment was the Terraform (GECK!) feature.. I had rather hoped that each planet's distinctive features helped shape what kind of life survives/thrives there: for example, you need only create some kind of atmosphere (not necessarily oxygen-rich) on that rock in the presentation, then create creatures that are built to survive in such a cold place. Or planets that have much higher / lower gravity, etc.... instead of every planet being like Earth after Terraform, and no life available before Terraform. Perhaps I missed something, though.

On shadows, there are talks that it is rather simplified - mainly, that enemies either see you, or... don't. Although that might simply mean that unlike thief you don't have critters stopping to look around, and yell out random statements that specify their current level of suspicion a la Thief. That would probably have been too much to expect anyway, the only thing that really matters is if the range of vision / shadows / aural hints depending on armour/surface/etc are done properly. And since I march into this game expectant of style-retardant dialogue, I might come out happy.

Haha, DN is trying logic on a logic-immune critter.

Empire vs Rebels. Also, it's not really RTW in Star Wars at all... the tactical area is more like Empire Earth / Age of Empires, and the 'campaign' part is a lot more simplified. Not necessarily bad, of course.

Fair enough, Alanschu. I was merely exploring the possibility of gamers that are the most casual of gamers - those that find a few games they latch onto for their addictive qualities, but don't really expand onto other games or indeed other 'nodes' of the cultural network. But if the stat-out-of-magic-bag holds up, it is less significant than I had perhaps perceived. On Geneforge: I've seen it before, but how in-depth / interesting are the combat/dialogue systems? And how much of them are there?

I fully agree! The entire game should be patched not to fill missing content or fix outstanding bugs, but cater to the whim of a particular player that cannot control himself from picking up the loot - not that this actually hinders him in any way, of course. Yoinks. Yeah. Um.. why bother?

But despite it all, at the final battle, I had the strong impression that Kreia did not intend or want to kill / defeat the exile at all... she had merely brought the exile there so that he/she may make the decisions he/she must. Atris, of course, contends that Kreia wishes to destroy the exile to create a larger 'wound' in the force, more physically grounded (hey, sounds like Sephiroth.), so that she may use it to destroy the force.... and she does warble on about that int he final conversation, but she also accepts defeat and death with calmness and - I see - relief? Or rather, serene acceptance? Of course, she's still a manipulative old witch, but I always found her lessons about strength and trials very difficult to resist. Hell, on my single LS playthrough I gave up Light Mastery for a while just to agree with that.

Generally agreeing with Alanschu, except: Perhaps true for a physical store, but if we're talking general availability (including order-from-company-site, etc)... then the answer becomes less obvious, doesnt it? For example, does the success of Warcraft III push out some of the other RTSs that might well have captured those people - often casual ones that have no time for more than one - 's attention? That may not be saturation in the strict sense, but perhaps that the loss of sales for many FPS/RTS's aren't entirely due to the fact that people don't want to play them.

The Paperless Office forbids such activities. Just buy another monitor. I tried it a while ago, but gave up because it was actually damn hard. Although, I seemed to have had marched straight into some desert or radiative place that kept killing off everyone.

You can change city names after they are built. Just go to the Examine City screen then click on the City Name at the top. I would play, but I've just closed Civ4 and it takes about 10 minutes to start the damn thing. (Though it runs fine after that. ) So.. yah. Maybe later.