Llyranor

LOTOR!!!!

LITIGATION!!!!!

My feelings in this matter are as genuine as yours

Silence! You will not question Visc's credibility! His concerns are genuine and quite justifiable. How DARE the Codex compromise his faith in humanity? Visc is right. LITIGATION!!!!!

Dragonshard actually looks pretty interesting as well. ETA is summer 2005, and a demo is *supposed* to come out later this month. I like how they're doing the resource system. No child-labor minor or tree-hugging, your gold comes directly from taxes of your villagers (and IIRC, this income would go down as you'd recruit more villagers into becoming soldiers, though I don't know if this actual feature is still present, since I read about it a long time ago). Otherwise, you'd have to gather gold and shards from the battlefield (the latter which would fall randomly at random times during the game, so that'd create new areas you would fight for against the enemy who would want the shards as well). That means no turtling at base, you have to get off your butt to look for those resources. Which is why I like Dawn of War so much. The dual-layers is pretty neat, as well. Above ground and underground, all connected, providing opportunities for ambushing your opponent. The main feature which has me very interested, however, is the building nexus system, which - if well done, could potentially be hands-down the best building/research system ever implemented in a RTS game. No more research trees, no more building crap units while you wait for those you actually want to become available. Basically, you get allotted a certain number of slots where you can make buildings. Mage towers, blacksmiths, temples, thief guilds, etc. Each building can create one type of units, akin to DnD. Fighters, wizards, rogues, etc. However, the way the buildings are placed actually makes a difference. If your temple is put next to the blacksmith, the clerics coming out of it get an AC bonus, for example. Or fighters produced next to a mage tower get a magic resistance bonus. This provides for a completely dynamic creation of units, and all based on YOUR choices and what YOU want. And as you encounter the enemy and find out his/her strengths and weaknesses, you can tear down some buildings and rebuild others, to make units adequate for countering the enemy. That sounds, frankly, kickbutt. The fact that it's DnD is only a bonus. The world of Eberron sounds kind of neat. In any case, we shall see.

I'll QA for you, Magical Volo! You're awesome!

KOTOR *is* turn-based, you noobs. Your characters take turn as they attack its enemy. If that's not the definition of turn-based, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS.

We know, Magical Volo. Your mods are the best. THE BEST! And as for the online experience, I would recommend http://www.neverwinterconnections.com Basically, you sign up for scheduled games, and most of them are single-party based DMed mods more akin to PnP. Loads of fun.

Anachronox and PST. And don't forget Jade Empire which has just gone gold.

If you have a fast internet connection, I suggest you download the demo. Playing a game of skirmish will convince you more of how fun the game is more than anything anyone of us could tell you. I'll be frank, I've never been a big fan of standard RTS games. Total Annihilation was probably the only one I've really enjoyed before, and that was because I was playing with friends. Dawn of War, though, has really *really* impressed me. People may not think the resource management system is revolutionary, but it *is* to me. It's made standard RTS games fun for me for once. It turns the whole map into a constant battlefield where you fight to gain control of strategic and critical points. If you don't push on, you *will* get overwhelmed as the enemy overpowers you in terms of resources. You never get a break. It's constant war. And war is visceral. Trailer here http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=3113&type=mov Or here http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=3113&type=wmv All in-game shots. Demo here http://www.gamershell.com/download_6943.shtml Or here http://www.3dgamers.com/dlselect/games/wh4...nstall.exe.html

Ultimately, it all amounts to the software. Jade Empire is pretty much the only console game I'd *really* want to play. There are others as well, but whether I ever play them or not doesn't make that big a difference.

I totally wasn't blatantly laughing at your name!

....... Unicorn?

Whatever you're smoking, Magical Volo wants some :ph34r:

While we're at it, what community mods have you found exceptional? I haven't been too impressed with the Hall of Fame ones. I've played a few, though I'll admit that I haven't given them too much of a chance, what with having no time and all. The most fun I've had with NWN has been online, though. DMed sessions kick Magical Volo butt.

Well, as little combat as the story DICTATES. Meaning, no pointless combat whatsoever, period. No freaking dungeons with monsters waiting for you to attack. We're not very concerned about that. We're only following DnD rules out of convenience from the NWN2 toolset. The point is how it all fits in the story and world. It all amounts to what kind of military organizations the PC is involved in, and what kind of war this is. We have a political student working *exclusively* on shaping the politics and world history, and everything leading to the war. Hmm, that's actually pretty cool. We've had ample experience with the NWN toolset, and chances are that NWN2 wouldn't be any worse. We're prioritizing and organizing other design points before going into the actual writing and scripting. As for motive and the details of the war, like I said, we've got one guy specifically working on that. It's not necessarily a conventional war. And for the characters dying, this is war - people die. The point isn't to go all Hollywood style and have the dying characters give 15 min speeches as you hold them before they draw their last breath. They die, they die. War is visceral, and you don't always have the luxury to tend to their final moments. Crafting endearing characters, however, is a top priority. Character interaction will be crucial. As for 'war is hell', that's not much more depressing than a 'the world will be destroyed.... again!' scenario.

What the freak?

All of you must have wanted to make a game at some point in time. Now, me and my buddies are in the process of making a mod for NWN2 (design docs and preplanning, for now). We're planning to make a story based on war, and the effect it bears upon those who experience it. Now, war != endless fighting, as we actually intend to tell the story first and foremost via story-driven roleplaying with as little combat as the story dictates (whether or not all of it will be avoidable is hard to tell at the moment). We intend to tell the story of you, and your war buddies, as you are sent in the frontlines. Trying to recreate a 'Band of Brothers' like feeling, if you will. You are not a freaking Chosen One who must choose, you are a nobody, a simple soldier sent to war. You will not stop the war, all you can do is assume your little role in the grand scheme of things. It's all about how *you* and your squad members deal with the war. Now, our planned intro is this: you are a soldier, having just enlisted. No background, no intro sequence, nothing. Everything before then is up to the player, nothing being forced. The only thing being 'forced' is that you enlist. We tell the player this at the very beginning, never hiding the fact. Basically, the intro starts as you begin boot camp (the academy!). Only, this isn't a tutorial, it's boot camp. You don't learn the game mechanics. It's NWN2, you should already know how to play. You learn how to become a soldier. You learn what it means to wield a sword, or a spear. You learn how to adapt martial philosophies into the battlefield, and how magic affects this. And, you get to know your comrades. These are the people you'll be fighting on the frontlines with, the people who will live and die alongside you. And you all go through boot camp together. Any opinions? It'd be nice to have feedback. Alternatively, use this thread to post your own ideal game intros. Or, I guess you could hijack it and try to marry Darque. You freaking nerds.

Features as flaunted by some German mag: "# Units in squads look varied now, have slightly different height, faces and so on # There's a new feature called 'Kill-Cam' which shows a close-up of those spectacular finishing moves # Commissar is included, and boosts the morale by executing soldiers. He'll be the secondary hero. # Sanctioned Psycher is in # Techpriest Engineer is in. He repairs vehicles, and one of the screenies shows him carrying an axe for close combat # The Sentinel is in, the IG's walker unit # The Baneblade will have awesome firepower, but a rather weak armor # The Chimera troop transporter allows units to fire from the inside # The main hero will be the Imperial Captain, which is just a bit weaker than the Force Commander. Games Workshop will bring the unit to the tabletop soon. # The 4 older races will get new units, but the article doesn't mention which # There will be a 'good' campaign which will let you play the Space Marines, Eldar and the Imperial Guard, and an 'evil' campaign which will allow you to play with the Chaos Space Marines and Orks. Each of them will consist of about half a dozen missions." Kill-cam, eh? HMMMM

Very well, you win this one. But he said he likes to watch CNN, suggesting he meant on the TV, which does not have a gaming section. You hate Christmas? What are you, the Grinch? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The only cool holiday is halloween. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Obesity and dental bills are never cool.

Pah. MCA > Visc

Hmm, I haven't been very far in the DD mods, but I've been finding them more enjoyable than any of the OCs. For now.

I was talking about Gamearts, which made both series. WD has nothing to do with Grandia.

I'll say Dawn of War as well. Strategic/critical points rock.

Stop spamming. This thread is about how you suckers fell for the hoax. :ph34r: