alanschu

Was hoping for more news today, but the paper was pretty blah...not that there was much to report aside from Gretzky and Bertuzzi. I wonder if this means Reasoner for Handzus is out of the question The signing of Dan Smith is a little more curious. Not that he's expensive...but he hasn't played in the NHL since 2000. He is the captain of the roadrunners though. Perhaps they keep him down there to help the younger players?

The yellow on black is a bad combination.

Nah, it's possible to only be looking forward to it with recent news.

I'm curious what your background is on AI. Particularly ones that let you state specific things such as "FPU performance in AI is a moot subject, as the bulk, and in most cases ALL of the AI is done using logic." I'm also curious....how would you define logic in AI?

You might need to pick the feat that makes one of your crossclass skills a class skill, but you will have skill points out the wazoo. That was the first build I had made, and probably my most enjoyable.

I'd attribute that more to greed/smart business. Ignoring the big market would be rather silly. Having said that, ignoring the market of fans that like western RPGs would be equally silly.

I guess the next question is why mention it if you don't think it's going to happen? When you mention the situation, it gives credence to the idea that you think it's a possibility.

I remember a sweet video that had people doing Prince of Persia type stuff with Eminems "Lose Yourself" playing as the soundtrack. It was pretty sweet, and made me think maybe Prince of Persia wasn't as unrealistice as I thought

I've beaten Hell Knights with chainsaws.

Translation: So you don't care in the foreseeable future that the only RPGs around are Final Fantasy-style RPGS. Obviously, PC RPGS with strong narrative and character interaction don't fall into that characterization. Ok, I'm not getting things here. I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. I don't feel that a PC RPG with a strong narrative and character interaction would fall into "Final Fantasy-style RPGs" just like I don't consider KOTOR to be a Final Fantasy-style RPG. Or Morrowind. Or Neverwinter Nights. Nor do I expect Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights 2, or anything else to be a part of that category. I wouldn't like that. Fortunately, I have yet to see any indication of that actually happening. PC RPGs developing party interactions does not equal an assimilation of the RPG world into Final Fantasy games. Daggerfall.. was *bad* in this regard. Was their 2nd and 3rd game just as bad? Furthermore, did their first three games have large development costs? There's sooooooooo much behind the scenes that we don't possibly know. And I don't see Bioware going out of business any time soon. Nor do I follow the plethora of smaller console RPG developers to know whether or not they are all successful or not. EDIT: Fixed my horrible UBB quoting skills.

You did say "So you don't care if in the foreseeable future the only RPGs around are linear JRPGS" when GoA mentioned he had no preference over playing PC or console. Also, why exactly did Square/Enix merge? Wouldn't that constitute a restructuring as well? As for Bethesda releasing horribly buggy games, I didn't think that Morrowind was that buggy. I've heard horror stories about Daggerfall, but it seems Bethesda got better.....Troika didn't.

I would attribute the fall of BIS to be just as much towards the hidious mismanagment by Interplay. And Troika? Well, what do you expect from a company that released three buggy titles in a row, and then blamed publishers for their woes? Arcanum wasn't too bad, but TOEE from what I hear was pretty messy and Bloodlines wasn't the most solid release I had ever seen either. And regardless, with the fall of BIS we got Obsidian, and they're making NWN2 which from what I gather is not a console RPG either. I also don't think growth of a major "PC RPG" maker should just be limited to building games for the PC. I get the impression that you don't like Bioware making console games because you see it as them being assimilated by the console environment. I see it as being a smart business decision because limiting yourself to a smaller market just makes things more difficult for you. Bioware still has Dragon Age in development, which is an immensely ambitious, PC only project. And has Bethesda made any game that didn't come out for PC? I think the only real "fall" of PC RPG companies goes to the companies that have a static version of what it takes to be a PC RPG. As a result, they didn't evolve and faded away. Even if such things as strong narratives and party interaction were inspired by JRPGS, it doesn't take away from the fact that this has made western RPGs more enjoyable, and should be fully integrated. The way you phrase it seems like the inclusion of such things is foreshadowing for a doom and gloom slippery slope of all games becoming linear JRPGs, when I see the addition of those elements as making PC RPGs stronger and more viable.

New ArchDuke to lead country into 20th Century Archduke Franz FerdinAllan has just performed the rights of passage and takes his seat at the head of the Austro-Hungarian empire. While critics of the regime point out incidents of FerdinAllan being dropped as a baby may deem him unsuitable to lead, most of the country is in a nationwide celebration to honour the ascension. Surely FerdinAllan's excellent wit, and dashing good looks will serve as a suitable icon that represents all that is great and wonderful in Austria! FerdinAllan had a speech moments after his induction: "To the people of Austria, thank you for your kind welcome. It is truly an honour to be given the responsibility of leading this great country into the 20th Century. It is a challenge that I relish, and I forsee a peaceful, and prosperous future for our fine country." The Archduke also commented that first thing on his agenda would be to establish diplomatic channels with his neighbouring countries. He hopes to seek avenues of trade in order to secure the prosperity of all nations in Europe. He has already issued statements to Kaiser Karl Von LowenWiggin III of Germany and King James III of England, "It is regrettable that both of these nations have suffered tragic events with the deaths of Kaiser Willem II and Queen Victoria. However, after speaking with Mr. LowenWiggin and Mr. James, I am happy to see fine leadership taking over." "Make no mistake about it...this move puts Austria on the map," comments an independent analysis. "There's a charm and swagger about Mr. FerdinAllan that should secure our future and accelerate the growth of Austria." Naturally, there will always be some critics to a new regime. Some wonder how well he'll be able to focus on work with the already large number of women throwing themselves at the feet of this fine bachelor. They only expect the problem to worsen as he grows in fame and power. FerdinAllan plans on meeting the leaders in person, with the upcoming months involving a trip to Moscow, down to Constantine, and all the way across the swiss Alps to France and up to England. He mentions some anticipation for the trip, as he has not had much opportunity for seeing the world.

Sadly enough, I'm not a huge Star Trek fan, but I like the movies, and I knew exactly what Meta was talking about.

Which makes me ask...what's the point of this again?

Another flaw with Doom's shadows was that they weren't cast on other creatures either. Apparently it really pissed John Carmack off. I didn't notice if FEAR was able to do it or not.

Ok.......now I'm curious what the point is? Couldn't you argue that the shift from goofy anime characters to a more lifelike style in JRPGs could be attributed to an inspiration from western RPGs? I also disagree that they existed in JRPGs almost since day 1. At least for FF. I don't remember the original FF having any sort of party interactions whatsoever (or even a very good narrative).

I'm sure your heart thanks you :D

I'd reveal my ninja secrets if I could find a way to connect to the damned site.

I still don't see western RPGs becoming fully assimilated into linear games like FF7 as Lancer seemed to think.

But it did. It was already occuring in Ultima VI and Ultima VII both parts. Then there was that lapse of time (for whatever inexplicable reason) until Torment. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes, Richard Garriot definitely would not think that having cool NPCs to join your party and to interact without the influence of JRPGs. Characters such as Iolo, Dupre, and Shamino were present in much, much earlier games. They just evolved into party members.

JRPGS are known for their emphasis on good NPC dialogue filled with the full gamut of emotions. Torment was more similar in that regard unlike say, Fallout for instance. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I would think that any good NPC dialogue would have to involve emotion though. I would liken PS:T's style to be more of a design decision rather than an inspiration from japanese RPGs. The game's focus was explicitly on a strong narrative....which I would say you'd be investing too much faith into JRPGs if you feel that it's narrative was inspired by JRPGs. Party interaction was inevitable....and saying that the emotion or whatever is because of JRPGs is silly, as you could just as easily attribute the inspiration to standard literature or movies.

FEAR Civ 4 Stalker Fahrenheit Empire at War Company of Heroes and many others I'm sure.

But by your own admission there was a stunning lack of western style RPG games. And most of them seemed to be the soloist type of game, rather than having a party (or at least they had parties created by the player, which are more limited in their interactions as well). I would think that if there was more definite influence from japanese RPGs...then it would have occurred sooner in western RPGs.

What western RPGs came out between Torment and Serpent Isle?