Llyranor

Ewwwwwwww, really? The video is slugish, so I can't really see for myself, but are we sure it wasn't just for demo purposes? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> "The persuasion minigame is very different from what was shown at E3. It plays much more like a game now. Similar to the one we showed, the game still uses a circular interface divided into four quadrants for the different persuasion types. The art is completely different and fully animated now. Each of the four quadrants will fill with wedges of different sizes. The size of the wedge reflects the scale of the potential effect of your choosing an action. Choosing a large wedge has a great effect; choosing a small wedge has a small effect. As you highlight in turn the Admire, Boast, Joke, and Coerce quadrants, the person 's face shows his reaction to each of the actions. For each of the four actions, he will Love one, Like one, Dislike one, and Hate one. Don't take too long, because the person 's disposition is steadily falling. The person 's disposition goes up when you select a Loved or Liked action and goes down when you select a Disliked or Hated action. The potential gain or loss for each action is based on your Speechcraft and how full the wedge is. Try to select fuller wedges when they are aligned with actions the person likes. Try to select less full wedges when they are aligned with actions he doesn't like."

There's a reason why Bethesda doesn't hype its story/dialogue, aside from Patrick Steward. Look at the clip from my sig. The top5 reasons aren't made up. More details here: http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?sh...07&&do=findComment&comment=525407 That says it all. "But wait, it's E3! I know it was an important event and that the devs wouldn't just throw around complete drivel there to show us that that they're not complete hacks, but it's E3 is so far away, I'm sure they've improved it, right? RIGHT?" Okay, let's see what they've improved since. "The persuasion minigame is very different from what was shown at E3. It plays much more like a game now. Similar to the one we showed, the game still uses a circular interface divided into four quadrants for the different persuasion types. The art is completely different and fully animated now. Each of the four quadrants will fill with wedges of different sizes. The size of the wedge reflects the scale of the potential effect of your choosing an action. Choosing a large wedge has a great effect; choosing a small wedge has a small effect. As you highlight in turn the Admire, Boast, Joke, and Coerce quadrants, the person 's face shows his reaction to each of the actions. For each of the four actions, he will Love one, Like one, Dislike one, and Hate one. Don't take too long, because the person 's disposition is steadily falling. The person 's disposition goes up when you select a Loved or Liked action and goes down when you select a Disliked or Hated action. The potential gain or loss for each action is based on your Speechcraft and how full the wedge is. Try to select fuller wedges when they are aligned with actions the person likes. Try to select less full wedges when they are aligned with actions he doesn't like." So, a diplomatic skill that allows you to make the NPC like you more. That's good, right? You can HIGHLIGHT THE DIFFERENT CHOICES AND YOU GET THE NPC'S REACTION EVEN BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY SELECT IT. This is a revolutionary feature. Who would have taught of adding a cool minigame to dialogue? Well, Bethesda did. Okay, let's look at recent footage, from 2006 - teh infamous German video!!! http://youtube.com/w/Oblivion?v=7srHUGNma5c&search=oblivion "But she's always got a smile on her face!" "No one works harder than Mary!" "Oh hello!" "Rysan is a talented smith! One of the best around!" "Over here! Yes, you! We need to talk! Yes! We can't talk here! Too public! Meet me behind the great chapel at midnight! Don't let anyone follow you! I'll make it worth your while" *wink wink*" "You! You are the one from my dream! Then the stars were right, this is the day. Gods give me strength!" This is made worse by the casual convos btw NPCs being ONLY voice-acted, with no text. This creates immersion where there was none before, and it lets you appreciates the excellent voice-acting talent behind Oblivion. Words alone can't do them justice, you have to hear it yourself, so watch the clips! But wait, some people praise this awesome feature! http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox-360/the-elder...n/679364p1.html "Oblivion features only spoken dialogue, so you won't have to waste your time with any of that messy "reading" that plagues other RPGs." I'm glad they're catering Oblivion to me! I really am! All signs point to yes indeed.

And you're relevant!!!

Oooh, looking nice. Didn't they have to rename it, though, since it apparently sounded too 'official'? Or something?

If someone drops, they get replaced, by either AI or another player, instead of causing the weekly session to be cancelled.

HL1: Source is just a direct port to the Source engine. There hasn't been any real upgrades done to it. Basically, ragdolls and prettier water. Otherwise, textures and all that is unchanged. And yeah, Sin episodes are coming up on Steam as well.

Aww, Magical Volo isn't that bad.

HL2: Aftermath, recently renamed to Episode 1, has been priced at 19.99$ US, available on Steam in April of this year. http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=63038 It will come with Halflife2: Deathmatch and HL1: Source included, and will NOT require HL2 itself to play. Estimated 4-6 hrs of gameplay, and more condensed content than was in HL2. It'd be interesting to see what kind of additions they make to HL2DM. Episode 2 is already in the works.

Fanout

I'm actually playing through Pirates of the Sword Coast, the newest NWN Digital Distribution mod. Pretty cool production values so (I'm pretty early in). YAAAAAARRRRRRR. Piratey goodness = win.

Meh. I'd rather people put all that effort into making new projects instead.

CoD2 info: "On the Xbox 360 side, we're also happy to tell you that we're very close to releasing our second Title Update, improving the Xbox Live multiplayer functionality. Here's what's coming in that update: 1. Player Lag has been addressed 2. Private Game Lobbies / Reserved Slots 3. Enable Live Host to set custom game options 4. Map Preferences setting 5. Post Game Lobbies (players at end of match will return to lobby) 6. Enemy Player Name Notification 7. Kick Player (host ability) 8. Lobby Game Type, Map and Host Notification" lol patch Player lag isn't a bug or anything that needs to be fixed, it's a feature.

There's very little indication that FO3 WON'T be financially successful. Bethesda has enough money that the game will probably have high production values, and enough clout that people will flock to it.

And why they're still being made

Well, not pertaining to Civ4, really, but just in general when it comes to other games.

Okay, I'm scheduling my games on Tactical Gamer, a community that favors tactical teamplay. Instead of making it so that every player has to show up every week or the whole session is ruined, it'll have more leeway in terms of players opting in and out, depending on the week. Players getting replaced by AI or other players, etc. http://www.tacticalgamer.com/civilization-...html#post439189

lol let's list console games that could have benefitted from patches lol pointlessness LAUGHING OUT LOUD

I posted this in New Jersey forum, but I guess it applies to more than just that. http://media.pc.ign.com/articles/691/691086/vids_1.html Two next-gen console games in development ^_^

Heh. As next-gen games become more technically complex, bugs will be more common - patch or no patch.

It has nothing to do with the gametype. Writing quality transcends genres.

lol bitterness I'd rather it be good too. I wouldn't play it just like I don't play sports games, but hoping for a a game to flop is a pretty healthy attitude for the industry as a whole.

Yeah, good thing KOTOR1/2 for Xbox didn't need a patch for game-breaking bugs

lol dungeon romp

Yes. After winning the 'Make Something Unreal' contest, the modteam formed up a company (Tripwire) to make a standalone title, after getting rights to the Unreal (2.5 and 3) license.

Civ4 ^_^ That, and waiting for Red Orchestra. March can't come soon enough. Stupid March.