astr0creep

Still on God of War - Challenge of Atlas, stupid Gorgons! System Shock 2 - On Deck 5, Recreation - Stupid big robot thingies when no AP ammo left! Dragon Quest 8 - Enflammed Abbey - Stupid lack of free time! Civ 4 - On and off - Stupid need for sleeping, eating, living!

Yes that is absolutely valid to me. Fighting games and racing games are usually very short but you can play for hours and days with them and have a ton of fun. I played Metal Gear Solid(1) for dozens of hours, even though it can be completed in 5 hours(or less). Multiplayer plays a great deal in replayability as well and it almost always justifies a high price tag because even though the single player can be short(Return to Castle Wolfenstein) the multiplayer extends the game's lifespan considerably. Of course I will not buy a game for the length of the single player experience alone but I, like Dark Raven, like to immerse myself in a game and that usually takes more than 6 hours(King Kong?). And I will not buy any game that I can finish in one rental... I suppose however that a 50-60$ pricetag is always justified in the eyes of a publisher since everyone plays and enjoys different things in their games?

I know and I agree with you. I was just asking if you thought quality justifies a 6 hour game at 50-60$. Because I value your opinion. :D

Is a quality 5-6 hours game still worth 50-60$?

I didn't read all the thread so forgive me if this is a repeat. Here's my narrow view: I expect 1 hour for every dollar I paid for the game. 60$ = 60+ hours. Of course what I mean by that is that the player can play for that amount of time, not necessarily the time it has to take to go through the story. For example: Minigames and/or sidequests and/or exploration and/or other. That goes for all games, not just RPGs but it is especially expected by me for RPGs.

I suppose it all depends on how one feels when reading it. I found the article interesting, moreso if the information is actually true, and humorous. Insulting extroverts was a mistake and makes him appear elitist but I believe it was on purpose.

Oh come on! It's a fun read at the very least.

Coolest thing I've read all month.

I'm particularly proud of my 10 hours for Hordes of the Underdark.

You can still get a "cheap", decent home or appartment if you get out of the big cities. Living in Montreal, I pay 650$CAN/Month for a crappy(infested with ants, falling apart, nothing includied) 4 1/2. For the same monthly payment I could have a nice house 15 minutes north of the city, all taxes included with a 10-15 years mortgage. 5 1/2 with basement and parking space(I have glorious street parking now...)

I beat the Tortured Soul in the Ruined Abbey last night. I was stuck on it before but after gaining 2-3 levels in random encounters I was able to beat him. DQVIII is a lot of fun. Random encounters are usually not my thing (i.e. I despise them) but somehow this game makes it fun. And the exploration is great. Beautiful environments, hidden chests and creatures. Great game. I'm also playing God of War. Stuck in The Challenge of Atlas with those gosh darnit gorgons... Grr. And on PC it's still System Shock 2(had to replay a big chunk due to the fact that the quicksave feature does not work properly...) and some Civ4. I also reinstalled Spellforce yesterday.

I use a dummy email that I check once or twice a month. Yesterday I had 841 emails. All spam. (w00t)

The Cave. Although there was potential in this one, it ended up a complete ewww.

I know next to nothing about money handling. Hence, I am poor. Is it possible for "normal" people, like me, to invest in credit card companies like Visa, Master Card, AmEx? It seems to me all the money in the world belongs to them and surely we can have a piece of that pie?

Yes, I mentioned Bill Paxton.

There's an added scene where the Terminator goes underwater and he finds an alien civilization living in a sunken cruise ship. At first the creatures seem friendly enough, until their true form is revealed. Turns out these water beings use the fluids to insert eggs in the bodies which act as hosts and eventually, when the eggs hatch, little old ladies pop out of the victim's chest and start painting pictures of their naked body and then Michael Bien and Bill Paxton reveal, in a flashback, how they were able to get rid of them using the seductive power of a manly-looking woman and piranhas when their spaceship was taken over by the creatures. The Terminator just goes back to the surface after he "learns" the catchy phrase:"How do I get out of this chickensh** outfit?" The whole scene seems very tacked on.

...which would be lost to inflation every year? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Sometimes there's inflation, sometimes there's depression. Although your point is a good one nowadays. But I wouldn't stop working because for one thing, one million is not a lot anymore and also, I would go nuts.

:D It's like a cross between the first Alone in the Dark and Undying. So far I've only experienced adventure elements, like find the item, use it on this and that and using keys obtained in different ways, mostly conversations. No weapons. I did a puzzle in which the combination of a safe must be found by deducing what the numbers are from what is written in a diary. Kinda cool. Now I'm about 2 hours in, so far it's more creepy than actually scary and I must run away through hotel corridors from a bunch of psychos who want to hack me into little pieces for being an "outsider". They got to me because I got lost in the hotel. I'll try again tomorrow night... :"> The story is very good so far, makes me want to pick up the books. It starts with a flashback of you investigating a cult barricaded in a house. After entering the house and snooping around, you find an ancient machine that, through your actions, opens a portal from which huge creatures start pouring out. End flashback. That was six years ago. You are now 5 months out of a mental hospital and out of a case of amnesia during which you were apparently victim to severe schizophrenia. But you have no memory of it. The game is violent and gory and great. So far.

Consoles look more and more like portable PCs. In 10 years, the PS5 will ship with a screen, mouse and keyboard, upgradable memory and components, overclocking, etc. And they say the PC market is dead. Pfff.

It's also on PC. *fixed by AKJ

I found it last night. Installed but no time to play. Will try to post first impressions here tonight or tomorrow. Just for you Darque.

I have an old, quite powerful microwave that I use almost exclusively to make popcorn and heat up cold pizza.

It's probably not that simple but: If I would win or be given or work enough to have 1 000 000$CAN I would put everything in a savings account and live off the interest, which would be around 5% so 50 000$CAN a year, which is quite reasonable to live on. And I would find a relax part time job like in a Blockbuster Video or something. However, from what I've noticed about the Rich is that the more money you have, the more you think you need. It probably has something to do with the lifestyles of the Rich. For example, not many millionnaires will keep driving a Ford Festiva while still living in a 3 1/2 apartment downtown, even if it is very well furnished and the car is in perfect condition...

I would say QA and localization.

It's not about being cheap, it's about being poor and setting your prioroties straight. If you have a choice between cable and World of Warcraft... I'm pretty sure most people would choose cable. When you are on a tight budget, some things have to go and MMO accounts are, well, not a priority <{POST_SNAPBACK}> for some people <{POST_SNAPBACK}> For most people who work for a living. <_<