alanschu

How does the cheating affect the replay value of a game?????

I think the reason the lightsabers don't appear to be weightless is because it would be impossible to truly understand what it would be like to use a weightless blade, mostly because they cannot exist. Also, the lightsaber should be used as <whatever> also overlooks that a Jedi's command of the lightsaber is heavily influenced by his ability to manipulate the force. Things that apply to our combat does not apply to lightsaber combat. Also, any reason for you to not think it's weightless, rather than just "thinking" it.

I played through KOTOR four times, and enjoyed every playthrough. While I would consider Fallout 2 to be a more open ended game than KOTOR.....thinking about it got me thinking.....how so? To be honest.....I'm actually having a hard time coming up with how Fallout 2's story has so much more choice than KOTORs. The only thing I could think of was that a lot of the quests were sidequests, so you had the choice of whether to do them or not.

I really think Obsidian should try a setting that either hasn't been done before (which would be cool....but I'm too uncreative to even begin to think of one ), or one that has been seldom used. As much as I like Fallout and all that, it does seem like the settings in RPGs are becoming static.

As much as I may hate to say it, I think the SecureROM stuff actually does stop casual piracy pretty effectively. Most of my friends know how to burn from one CD to another, but few know how to find the appropriate files on the internet, then burn it to CD, then find the crack and any appropriate CD Key. Of course I have never had a problem with my CDs failing their CD check....so I have never suffered, which certainly helps me hold to my conviction.

Still preferred my flurry Did you get 4 critical strike hits if you used dual wield with master speed? The way the game made it sound, for both power attack and critical strike, you would lose your additional attacks per round if you attempted any of these attacks....was that the case?

Ooooo....I forgot: The Wrath of Sion!

Shadows of Tatooine The Search for phat l3wt Heart of Sith Of Spaceships & Force Obscura The Fall of Darth Revan Throne of Sion Sith Lord Tomorrow (I'm running out of ideas....looking around room) Tales of the Sith Coast Hell on Coruscant (ok...I'm done)

I'd have to go with Flurry. Combined with Master Speed, I would usually do around 40-50 damage per attack x 5 attacks = 200-250 damage per round....very nice.

Yeah....I understand that there is cost requirements. Just something I'd like to see I suppose I could just take better care of my manuals....but sometimes I'll find a really old game and want to play it, but the manual is who knows where. If it's under consideration then that's all I can ask for. I have no access to the financial books, so I cannot tell

One thing I like about Bioware's website is that I can register my CD-Keys online. This would have been useful since I could not find my NWN manual...but I forgot to allow myself access to it on that page In any case, I would appreciate it if Obsidian did something like this for their games, because sometimes the manual goes missing and it sucks to be unable to play a game because of that.

Ah...never did get the ring. I should replay the game, since I have nothing better to do at the moment

Was it actually possible to redeem Aribeth in the OC? I always had to fight her.

The only way a boycott would work is if an overwhelming majority of the people boycotted the game, and I do not see that happening. Furthermore, I am concerned as to what a boycott would do to Obsidian financially. This is of course we're as significant as we like to think we are.

I'll just comment about the boycotting/pirating of the PC version of the game. Doing so will just encourage developers to no longer make PC games.

Dakoth, I just read the thread and am wondering where you are going with the "direct control argument?" It seems to have swayed from the original discussion, and as a result doesn't seem as relevant as the other posts.

I would think it would be an oversight to assume that KOTOR was only successful because of graphics, music and being a Star Wars RPG. If the story was utterly ridiculous, people wouldn't buy it, and it wouldn't get all the rave reviews. As for Halaster, I will concede that I probably define linearity completely differently than most people. And you present a different perspective on how to look at the plot of Morrowind. However, my comments about Morrowind were not in defense of KOTOR's storyline. I will agree that it is quite a linear game. But I will comment that I don't think a lot of choices would realisticly change a whole lot to begin with. I do not think a confrontation with Malak could be avoided within the scope of the game, so I am perfectly okay with Malak still being the endboss despite which path the PC chose.

"Bugs?" I bug is something that happens that is not intended. In terms of the storyline, the Leviathan-Bastila-Dark Side thing made sense. You certainly could not make something like that random....consider itw as there that the Revan revalation (patent pending) occurred. It was integral to the plot. And the game had already set the stance for Bastila's turn. She was brash, conceited, and impulsive. I knew she would be interested in the Dark Side. Yes....it WOULD have been nice if you could have prevented it, but KOTOR 2 will allow us to dynamically affect the alignment of NPCs, so we'll get our cake and eat it too this time.

Is choice most important? It would probably depend on how you define RPG (which means something different to every person). Morrowind gave plenty of choice and freedom, but I know a lot of people (myself included) that prefer tighter stories. Baldur's Gate is often considered one of the best CRPGs, but it's a game that has even less choice than KOTOR (from a story perspective...sure you can play a variety of classes that all play through the main plot the exact same way). "Love" is a term that has many meanings. I don't think that you "loved" her character in the sense that you wanted to have sex with her or something like that. But I saw numerous times when you commented that you were a Bastila fanboy, and made comments such as "things getting back to normal" in the Atris vs Bastila debate when Bastila retook the lead. But don't limit your interpretations of love. I loved the character of Dak'kon (and pretty much every other character...but him the most) in Planescape: Torment. He was very well done IMO, and was a unique type of character IMO. Question is though....why would the story change after that revelation? By that point of the game, so much has been done in terms of finding the Star Forge, that I think it would be a huge mistake to let Revan suddenly NOT go to the Star Forge. And Malak would never be an ally to Revan, since he betrayed him for the command of the Sith and would not relinquish it (if he did...I would consider that too convenient). There is no reason, at that point of the story, that the choice you make on the unnamed world would have any substantial change on the plot. It did however change the way NPCs reacted to you. There is no reason why Malak would have different "tricks" or anything simply because you chose one way or the other. And this is without even considering the technical considerations of it all. For NWN2, I am VERY much hoping that there will be branching paths (albeit not huge ones, with the main plot being the same, but your progress and resolution of the plot being different) based on your alignment. However, I understand that adding these choices creates extra content for the game, without actually adding to the game (in particular length). As I mentioned earlier, even Warren Spector (the guru of freedom IMO, that would LOVE to have games be significantly different based on your choices) understands that signficantly different paths in the game essentially boil down to you making two games in one (at its most extreme). To summarize, to ask for much more than different character responses to your choices is probably unreasonable, since it would add significantly to development time. Allowing the players to do more (such as killing the masters of the Jedi Order) when playing evil compared to playing good would also result in a backlash of people that would feel ripped off by playing a good character. Why should evil get the extra bit of gaming goodness at the end? I also find it odd that you consider Morrowind, which is an extremely linear main plot, with oodles of sidequests. I think that this is a very poor way of branching gameplay. I'd much rather have a main plot that went in a variety of different ways. As an aside, would you people prefer that I respond to several posts in one message like this? I am scared that it may make the message appear so big that many will skip it, but at the same time some complained (while ignoring my points) that several posts by me in a row were a distraction, and implied that I was only concerned with my post count. Some feedback please And I would conisder Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8 (haven't played any since) RPGs......just different RPGs than Baldur's Gate and whatnot.

I don't think it's about underestimating non-force users I think it's about the creators of the d20 Star Wars system that, in the interest of balance, made non-force users stronger/force users weaker (or a combination). Nothing from Star Wars canon (movies) really indicates that a non-force user would have much of a chance against a Jedi if the Jedi wanted to best him at something. I wouldn't have a problem with a Star Wars CRPG that used all the rules. The problems that come into play are that people that buy the game DO have a real love for the Jedi, so that's all their gonna play anyways. However, since you must make a game that utilizes other classes just as effective, it would probably take away from some of the Jedi experience, and that's not gonna make them happy (for better or worse). Although I do not feel that it would have been possible to accurately roleplay a non-force using character through the KOTOR world, especially considering the design of the game was specifically catered to the person being a Jedi.

I think they show a poor understanding of what it takes to create a videogame. How would Bastila's turn to the darkside become optional. The more options you add into the game (particularly when concerning events of the main storyline), the more work you must put into the storyline, and it is an exponential increase. Even the guru of choice, Warren Spector, realizes this. For just evil/good to be different, you would still have to make two games in one. Bioware wanted to tell a specific story. If you could defeat Malak on the Leviathan, then what? The entire game after that point would be quite different. Furthermore, the fact that they "forced" you to lose to Malak didn't take anything away from the game. They had to make it so that Malak wasn't too tough otherwise this middle part of the game would be a gamebreaker. If you had Malak with his strength at the end of the game, then it would be silly because he'd just kill you, and that would be the end of it. All "defeating" Malak did at this point was progress the story. Stuff like this has happened many times in many games. In Final Fantasy 3/6, you fight Kefka numerous times, and every time you fight him except for the last is rather easy. How on Earth could you stop Bastila from falling? You are no where near her when it happens. Her own impulsiveness and vanity are her undoing. You couldn't change that about her, just like I cannot change the fact that you love Bastila. She was doomed the second she got captured, and I knew there was nothing I could do about it. There is so much that is completely out of our control, and to imply that there is something we can do about it is silly. Making the leviathan capture accidental would also bugger things up a bit, although it would probably have been the easiest thing to work around....it still would have required changing everything that happens in the game at that point, even in small ways. This work takes time, and eventually Bioware would like to release their game.

Hehe....I did like that one

You make it sound as if adding a few new planets and options would only take a few extra months. If you want it to come out in March 2005, then they'd probably spend the extra couple of months making sure that the game is actually in good shape. If they were to add a few planets at this stage of the game, it would not come out by March 2005.

If Lucas added it merely for the PG rating, then I'm sure that's the only reason why the blood was included. It could also very well be an oversight since it was the first movie being made.....because no other lightsaber blow had any blood in it. No....Hades is upset because he has to play a Jedi in KOTOR......not because he cannot roleplay one. He simply does not WANT to roleplay one.

Except that no other class than a Jedi class would work in the scope of the KOTOR storyline......sorry Hades.