Llyranor

Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday is now available, both at retail and through digital distribution via http://www.paradoxplaza.com

Who the freaking crap collects strategy guides?

Theres a big differance between addons and content that should have been in the game when it was released but is taken out and then sold separately to the customer as a "special bonus thingie" of some sort. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well, lots of features from various xpacs were supposed to be in the vanilla in the first place. This is nothing new. "That's a cool feature/idea, but let's leave it for a xpac/sequel." As you say, though, this has the potential of setting a bad precedent, but armored horsies aren't what's going do it. Multiplayer, toolsets, there are already games out there that only offer those functional features only in xpacs. That's already a worse precedent.

You jerk, you just ruined Total War for me.

Yeah! And all those Digital Distribution modules from Bioware are scams, too. And those freaking expansion packs, man, why should I pay more money for additional content IF I ALREADY BOUGHT THE GAME????? WHY DO THOSE COMPANIES FORCE ME TO SHELL OUT MORE MONEY???????? WHAT KIND OF INDUSTRY ARE WE IN THAT I CAN'T EVEN HAVE A SENSE OF FREE WILL??????????????? And then I ate her.

Mount & Blade shareware. The game is pretty fun, but I'll fully explore it (at least, as full an exploration as lvl 6 will go) before I decide whether there's enough content to justify a purchase. Also, Gothic II demo, which convinced to be on the lookout for Gothic1/2.

Oh, I love the combat. Been messing around in the arena in the last while. What I'm intrigued about is the rest of the game - the 'sandbox' part. I'm wondering whether it's compelling enough in the gameplay sense, or if it might just end up portraying a sense of pointlessness.

Is the sandbox part actually compelling, though?

I remember playing this a while ago (the shareware, anyway), and combat was loads of fun. Mounted combat done right In any case, I've heard you can raise armies and have castle sieges. That certainly sounds cool. Combat aside, how's the rest of the game? In terms of exploration, questing and so on. I haven't heard anything about story/writing, so I'll assume that's not the draw of the game. I'm trying to figure whether the rest of the game is enough to shell out some money for it.

What the crap are you babbling about? That's disgusting.

Looks like you need a hug. :hugglecuddle:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Also, to add on that, what I'm primarily interested in is what would make Gothic exploration, for example, more interesting than TES exploration. Reviews and such haven't been so helpful, since TES gets as good if not better reviews, anyway. I'm just wondering how much my initial impression of the G1 demo are actually applicable to the games as a whole. And I'm downloading the G2 demo right now. It better be good, or the cat gets it.

It's funny because you're dead.

Grrrr...

Hmm, how would you guys compare the Gothic series to this? I've just realized I haven't actually played through that series (aside from the G1 demo a few years back, which left me very impressed - yet I never got around to play it or its sequel). From what I recall, there was significant emphasis on exploration and on fleshing out the world. And, no offense to Bethesda or the radiant AI, I remember being much more impressed with how Piranha Bytes managed to breathe life into the world than I've been with Oblivion in that same respect - from the demo, anyway. The Old Camp felt pretty lively, not... robotic? What little of the story/NPCs/quests I was exposed to also showed more personality. It made sense within the context of the world, and there seemed to be more choices within the storyline (such as the eventual opportunity to join different factions, which would actually be a significant decision). Mind you, I wasn't repelled by the interface or combat back then, so those wouldn't be an issue. What about exploration/story/NPCs/quests/world?

It was a typo. He meant edible.

That's all irrelevant if Ep3 isn't coming out before that date :ph34r:

Given Valve's record, that'd be 2010.

That's what I intended to do as well, but it made no narrative sense. The point of going to Kvatch was to fetch said person to safey, and going dungeon crawling to open the gates of the castle while he's in the church (or in toll) just felt wrong, especially since none of the guards there even acknowledged his presence. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that you're supposed to not talk to him until you're done with the castle quest. But damn, you'd think that after hyping up the narrative around the guy they'd expect you to search for him first as opposed to trying to retake the city, especially since he was standing right there in the chapel. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The linear nature of the main plot really hurt the game in that sequence. Arriving at Kvatch, there's a big freaking gate, some survivors have gathered at the church, one of whom might be the one you seek. Bam, instant opportunity to make significant decisions. Do I risk the portal, helping out the city in the long run, but potentially delaying the retrieval of my primary target? Do I drop everything else and just focus on ensuring my target's safety? Oh. The gate blocks the only way into the city! I have to turn it off before I can do anything else! Joy. Rollercoaster ride

Also, Judge Hades, I suppose you are new to CRPGs. One CRPG I recommend you play is named Fallout. I warn that it was released in 1997, so you might not enjoy the graphics, but I assure you that you will like it if you give it a proper chance. This game features a context-sensitive vertical drop-down menu. It's very functional and convenient. Try it, you'll have lots of fun!

Are you even being quoted? 10k fists, meet reading comprehension. Reading comprehension, meet 10k fists.

Good points, and good idea!

That was great! Please share more of your ideas with us!

Exactly, which is why I didn't bring up Lionheart.

I think you are forgetting that Pool of Radiance II is part of the last decade. <_<