alanschu

Probably.

After looking through Volourn's continued explanation of his Orc Shaman backstory, I have come to the conclusion that he's making it all up as he types it. My 2 cents.

I'd probably rather have a game that is good and 40 hours than fantastic and 10 as well. Depends on what "good" is of course. I love Baldur's Gate, and would love to have another game that is long and keeps me captivated. I found Deus Ex to be an excellent long game as well. But with the cost of game development skyrocketing, I think the chances of a good game also being long is decreasing. Being 40 hours is no indication of quality, and I don't think that 10-20 hours is an insufficient period of time to tell a quality story either (mostly because there are many, many games that do tell excellent stories in significantly less time than 10 hours).

CBC has mentioned that the Edmonton game is the Canada-wide telecast. Calgary I believe is Southern Alberta, and maybe parts of BC. I think there's some BC.

...... I expect better from you Llyranor.

Not really that practical where $$$ are concerned. You get what you pay for, but when you pay 50-60 bucks you expect to get your money's worth. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Exactly. I don't think that length of the game is and end all be all. A crap long game is much, much worse than an excellent short game IMO. Sure, I'd love for there to be an excellent long game, but I don't think developers should go about saying "Ok, we need to get 30 hours or else."

that would be nice, but it ain't practical. crpg story is not novel writing or short story writing. got relatively fixed resources... and if it turns out that your resources not match your hopes and desires for story, which you thinks is gonna get cut or expanded? looks at nwn2 for your answer. content (possibly relevant or even integral to story,) got cut 'cause quality of game could not be maintained with september deadline looming. just write the story. bah. is not realistic... is not the way a game developer can approach. crpg story is not and cannot be organic. HA! Good Fun! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Errr, but "just writing the story," I was thinking that they should not concern themselves with meeting arbitrary lengths. Make the best available story, with the resources allotted. Don't make a story longer, nor shorter, "just because."

Then the big, dumb, violent orcs would have likely done something about it sooner. Or the big, dumb, violent orcs would likely have never let the chieftan come to power to begin with, unless the chieftan was in some way smart enough to do maintain power. At which point, he'd probably recognize that the big, dumb, violent orcs he was leading were building up their bloodlust. Leaders that lead simply because they are bigger than the other people don't maintain power that effectively. Furthermore, you've created a character that seems to value his might more than anything. Given the apparently stupidity of the chieftan, I'm surprised that he was smart enough to rationalize why they shouldn't attack the humans, yet dumb enough to think that his pacifism (which seems out of character for him) would not jeopardize the image of strength that he seems to highly value. And that the rest of the tribe seems to value. It would seem more plausible for your chieftan, given he's not very smart, to not exercise any restraint in wanting to kill humans. Especially when, psychologically, he's been reinforced that displaying his might (killing the previous chieftan) has allotted him more power. Yet an Orc Shaman, humiliated by defeat, segregated for a period of time, comes in and says that their god would want them to kill the humans....

I don't consider tangential sidequests to be a contributor to non-linearity in any way. I know it's not possible to be 100% non-linear, but many of the Ultima games I have played were quite non-linear. Which I enjoyed, because if I got stuck following up one part of the game, I could explore a bit an help myself out. In Ultima VII, I got stuck at one point and ended up doing some adventuring through the lands. I found a locked door and was able to solve the puzzle to open it, which had me talk to the person inside. I told her about the state of the world (she was an old friend from other Ultimas that was magically put asleep). She gave me other tasks to do, and in doing so I was able to piece together how I was stuck on my first task, and successfully complete it.

I use the Sprites too, but let's face it, HOI2 isn't exactly OMG W0wz0rs grafix!!

Exactly!

Since I'm an evil critic, the big guffah is the ease of which the guards seemed to have been successfully coerced.

Well, it may not be health issues, but it does sound like they think he may need some more time since coming off the IR.

I agree with this 100%

Acting is role-roleplaying.

A big knock against KOTOR is how ridiculously easy the game is.

Dude, I play Hearts of Iron!!!

I thought I read somewhere that there were concerns that there were still health concerns with Lundqvist when he came off his injury, since he gave up like 11 goals in two games.

And you complain about games being too easy... BW and you should have a discussion about allowing plot related NPCs to die.

I like interesting stories. If tweaking an NPC so that they are different helps make that the case, then I have no problems with it. I also have no problems with plot specific NPCs being invincible and whatnot. Too bad Hades disagrees.

I was under the impression that there were concerns about Lundqvist's health.

And your point being what? Listen, yeah I hate metagaming but there are worse things in gaming than metagaming and that is cheating. Nothing is worse than cheating in a role playing game, PnP or Computer/Console. As a game master, if you have to cheat to make an encounter challenging then you have no right being a game master. THe same applies to game designers. Same rules for the PCs and the NPCs, plain and simple. Sorry, what was that about you metagaming again? Too bad, your players would have likely enjoyed a more epic fight.

Tell me how item intensive the Ultima's were... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well, if you dropped the deed to your ship, you couldn't use it any more. The entire plot of Ultima 6 is about acquiring items. Many quests for the Fellowship involve deliveries in Ultima 7. The main plot eventually requires you to acquire the Tetrahedron, Cube, and Sphere pieces so you can destroy the black gate...but only if you were keen enough to pick up Rudyom's wand. Oh, and to release Penumbra from her eternal slumber, you're going to be hauling around some blackrock as well. Acquiring a fellowship medallion is essential if you want to get into the retreat, but don't let Batlin see you with it until you have become a member. I suggest you don't drop any of the "useless" stuff that the lightning storm transposes onto you in Serpent Isle. In some cases, it may make it difficult for you to acquire your original equipment. Under no circumstance should you not pick up the Daemon Sword, and under no circumstance should you release the Demon inside of it prior to his demanding of release. Otherwise you may find it difficult to escape from the prison that Filbercio tosses you into. Might be a good idea to not drop any of the serpent equipment either.

A newbie vampire that has taken out vampires and other critters far more powerful than a werewolf. I hate when a game or a game master cheats more than metagaming. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Nines had a reputation of being exceptionally powerful. The only reason why your vampire would think that Nines, who is more powerful than you (especially if you metagamed at a different point and were unable to defeat him...and the fact that he can defeat the werewolf and you can't) is bluffing when he says that you cannot defeat a werewolf, is if you're metagaming. Another excellent demonstration of your hypocrisy.

PS:T And if it didn't worked back then why re-add it now. Why not get food back too... let's make sure that while exploring Oblivion you go to a food shop 3x a day or you die of hunger! OH YEAH... the coolness... What I get from the Ultima's is that is mostly used passwords and codes instead of items though... making you need paper... loads! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hey, I'm not the one that said: I was pointing out how ludicrously incorrect your statement was. I wasn't saying we should or should not readd it. And what you get from Ultima is also quite wrong. Exceptionally wrong. Especially the later games.