Tigranes

Bloody hell koei. Make a new romance of the three kingdoms, not this crap.

You can't really play diplomacy single-player, it would be like Risk single-player. The game mechanics are simple and the number of sensible moves you can make at any given time is rather limited. 80% of the game is making deals with fellow players and backstabbing them. Anyway, we can do this if we have 7 or more interested.

We can set 24 hour or 48 hour turns (the latter can be a bit of a drag though), check in once or twice per turn, spend 5-10 minutes looking at your options and sending PMs to people to scheme, would be the basic threshold.

Let's play diplomacy with fellow forumers, making us even more chummier than chummy can be! http://webdiplomacy.net/ There's a 7-player map and a 10-player map. Sign up, register, enter moves, talk to each other, scheme, backstab, and all that jazz. Our theme: The Pan-European War of Putinian Aggression. Interest?

Of course quality of life indices show Westernised nations at the top, because the index is developed by Westernised minds who define good quality of life according to a particular Western tradition. Hey, I'm one of them, I like Western urbanised environments and (probably) capitalism and (as far as I can 'know', which I can't) Western medicine and (I suppose, though I've never experienced otherwise) liberal democracies. But nobody has any business being so arrogant as to think the West has found The Answer and there is no getting better than that, or even that the current system is better than anything we've known or imagined in the past. Especially without lengthy and deep involvement with non-Western systems, ideologies, literature and ways of life.

Burning Determination is an all-purpose buff in this game. Level 3 is harder than level 4, and you may not be able to clear level 4, but it's worth checking it out while you're there for some cool stuff.

I'd rather a not-well-done world where higher level monsters are too tough and I have to look for challenges I can overcome, rather than a world where I can go anywhere because I know I'm fighting the exact same thing. At least there's a meaning to exploration when there are things I have to look out for and avoid, as opposed to basically holding down forward and left click in Oblivion. Ranged level scaling can be an adequate compromise, but the best solution is good level design completed with no or little leveling.

You mean, the best way to making something open world is to make everything in it the same so it doesnt matter where i go?

Waiting for more detailed reviews, this looks really good, but while I liked AOW:SM it wasn't exactly something I played to death.

Video game mods arent generally a key source of viruses. It can happen, and i dont know what makes you certain that one you had was from a skyrim mod, but it probably wont solve all your problems. More important is a proper antivirus - ignore norton etc - and some best practices as mentioned above.

They're borking functional systems because they're incompetent and trying to change things just so they can show they've made a difference. THen they sell it for twice the price.

What? Sweet pea is incredibly offensive!

Let's move on. Start a WOT thread if you really want to.

In addition:

The problem is, Obsidian was meant to use its founders' connections to get sequels (K2 / NWN2) not only to get the studio up and running, but get it on the way to achieving a brand - that is, where people know what an 'Obsidian RPG' entails, and Obsidian has a steady stream of 'Obsidian RPGs' coming out. That had to experience a critical delay during the Aliens / Alpha Protocol phase for a number of reasons, with FNV / DS3 basically becoming 'recovery' projects - projects which have no hope of launching Obsidian franchises but, keep staff, and produce high returns compared to investment. Well, both games succeeded in those respects, but it seems Obsidian was once again screwed with the next-gen project cancellation. What it needs is the time / money / good luck to produce at least one AAA RPG which is their own IP or at least their own series within an existing IP, which sells and is received well enough to immediately warrant a sequel. (Ideally, it would have been AP.) The only problem is that if Obsidian are prepared to devote so much of their manpower to Skyforge and the tank thing, it signals that Feargus feels he is not anywhere near landing such a contract yet.

That's what they all say. Probably, but definitely not bothering to watch them for the rest of the season You'll be back to see us give away the FA Cup to Hull when we score and the referee thinks it's the wrong goal and gives them a point!

Very difficult to feel anything but disappointment. I can only imagine they didnt want to fire anybody so soon. Or perhaps they are hoping these kinds of projects can give obsidian direct revenue allowing them to pursue RPG projevts more independently..

Looks like a pretty standard distribution only deal. Paradox does not fund it, so they do not have any say in the development; they will simply handle distribution and possibly marketing, which tend to be expensive things which developers like Obsidian do not have any expertise, personnel or procedures to handle. Other KS projects have done the same. Sounds fine to me. It will help them reduce the kinks when launch day comes.

IE combat isn't perfect, of course, and if you don't like it then ultimately that's your opinion. That said, it's possible to play just about every RPG out there in a boring and grindy manner. I could play through all of Skyrim by standing on a rock and arrowing everyone in the face, but I don't, and I assume you don't, either. If you're going to put time into playing a game, stands to reason that you'd want to play it in a way that is enjoyable. E.g. spamming AOE spells at offscreen enemies is (1) easier with higher resolutions today, and (2) in any case, actively cheesy. You don't have to do it, it's not like the enemies do it on you and it would be extremely frustrating without doing it. Similarly, you can't really spam wands unless you sell and repurchase wands at max charges; you can do this 'legitimately' given the amount of money you have later on, but again, you don't have to do it. Not because it's 'cheap', but because you know that makes the game far too easy. One argument is that a game with really good combat should get rid of such 'exploits'. Sure, I'd agree. But if your purpose is to try and enjoy the games as they stand, then once you've discovered that you can AOE spam offscreen, why keep doing it until the end of the game? Again, you could start Morrowind, steal high level soul gems from merchants, enchant a weapon with life drain, and then kill everything, all without 'cheating', but why do it? Indeed, Fallout 3's VATS menu was basically a one-click cheat button; Shadowrun Returns was even simpler than any IE game, because with the low, low difficulty all you have to do is shoot people in the face and occasionally heal. But if you decide to play through F3, surely the more fun way is, for example, not to use the Fat Man, not to abuse VATS even though you know you can, etc. I've had some really tense and tactically complex - or at least, varied - battles in IE games, and those are some of my most memorable gaming moments. It doesn't compare to any combat situation that, for example, games like Shadowrun, Skyrim, Fallout 3 / New Vegas, KOTOR, etc. are mechanically capable of providing, because their systems simply aren't robust enough. Especially on higher difficulties with mods like SCS, it can be delightful. Start with a rogue backstabbing the enemy mage who fires up contingency protections, then as the rest converge on him quaff an invisibility potion and drop a fireball on the crowd, the rogue getting away with a potion of fire resistance previously ingested; use greater malison + confusion combo to try and target their lower will save mooks to run amok; but frantically move everyone out of the way as the enemy archer has fireball arrows; the enemy mage charms your cleric, making space management difficult, and you frantically see if anyone else has dispel magic, and you can manage to time it so you don't dispel anybody else; given the limited number of breaches you've memorised, which enemies should you try and debuff; if the yuan-ti mage fires a lightning bolt, try and avoid its angles or even, have the enemy fighter chasing after your mage get caught in their own bolt; try and interrupt their mage casting maze before it happens, but since they've got protection from missiles up, your only hope is the mage's magic missile; decide who will go toe to toe with the vampire with level draining melee attack, perhaps the high AC ranger, or perhaps the barbarian who won't lose any spells anyway; what to do when your mage is caught by an insect swarm which is quickly eating at his HP; so on. Anyway, if your objective is to enjoy IE combat, go try BG2 with SCS II mod (or some of it, anyway). Not only a spike in difficulty, but much more intelligent enemies, plus modding out a few cheesy tactics, might set up an experience where you're encouraged to fully explore the tactical system it has. If your objective is to wonder whether Eternity, especially at standard difficulty, will give you enjoyable combat - maybe not.

Maybe not Eternity, but what you will see is: User Actions Following Chris Avellone‏@ChrisAvellone @dphanto Yes, Obsidian is revealing its secret project at GDC. Reply Retweet Favorite More

I suppose there's no way to mod difficulty or anything? At least in Alpha Protocol you could easily modify global damage, noise, etc. variables.

What new Thief? There is no new Thief. I do hear there's some terribly mediocre Dishonoured clone out there that's selling pretty well.

I've read Kant, Spinoza, Deleuze, Nietzsche, what have you, and Torment is still a superb experience. It's certainly better than most ham-fisted philosophising in popular culture (e.g. Ghost in the Shell).

No game is a must play to become a developer, but Neverwinter Nights is a must play to become a Volourn.

There appear to be at least 4 DLC planned, though nothing officially confirmed.