Llyranor

In Bethesda's defense, there's nothing wrong with murdering puppies.

Dude, stay away from Halo3 unless you have any interest in co-op or PvP.

What crime did you commit?

Oh, come on, Hades isn't fat or in prison!

Okay, end-game was good stuff. This is kind of ending KOTOR2 should have had. Satisfying, yet providing good content for the sequels. Music near the end was pretty good, too (aside from the actual credits song - urg). I'll look forward to ME2 now, though whether or not I'll jump in at full price is something I haven't decided yet. Despite its many flaws in many aspects, this might just be Bioware's strongest game overall (though other games surpass it in various aspects).

Hmm, was good. Re: choices and consequences, Bioware did a job here, in terms of The game's getting better.

Shut up, guys, FO3 is going to be an RPG through and through. Bethesda said they were big fans of the series, so they'll do it justice. Trust in Bethesda!

How's the DLC? Worth 5 bucks? (360 lol) How's the story/length/gameplay/design/structure? Short review, please, thanks.

Mid-game spoiler-tagged. Okay, so I've done . So far, the game hasn't been bad. I've done a few sidequests. They're not *bad* per say - just completely unmemorable except for the occasional few ( . I'm not sure they were worth the time spent just to do them, and I certainly wouldn't touch them if I ever decide to play it again, aside from maybe the party members quests. Not much story exposition and so on. The main story has been pretty standard for the most part so far. The first mission worked well to introduce the game and combat mechanics. The was a decent hub for quests; nothing special compared to anything else Bioware has done. The main story quest here wasn't bad, and did a decent job introducing the new characters. As for the other planets, the one where you recruit the last party member was completely pointless aside from the actual recruiting of said character. It was pretty forgettable. was fairly good in the portrayal of colonists vs invasion, and the story aspect of it was nice enough. The sidequests that you gained during the exploration of this planet to send you to other planets ( ) were nice in concept, but trivial in execution. was pretty nice. The atmosphere was well-done (non-regulated colony), and the story part was also pretty good. This might have been my favorite planet so far. Bioware did a valiant effort here in terms of 'non-linear' gameplay, whether or not the execution worked. As opposed to the 4 star maps or the 4 Jedi (or the 3 planets) where there's little reason to choose one or the other (aside from preferring Tattooine to Dantooine or whatever instead of an actual story reason), the game (briefly) pitted me in a contest of prioritization. There was a certain (if small) sense of urgency as I was going through the but the suspension of disbelief was held there. Doesn't happen often. is easily my favorite part of the game so far. The lore of the ME universe is actually pretty good. The codex for the most part is a good read, especially aspects which have nothing to do with the game itself (spacecraft/weapon technology, various aspects of the species, etc). Being 'immersed' in the lore made the . The party members are nothing special. The 3 romance options are easily the worst. Most bland, more forgettable. The 3 other aliens aren't bad, though they're lacking a bit in depth. They do a decent job, though, and there's a certain element of camaraderie. Lack of intra-party interaction is pathetic (aside from the obvious two romance options nagging - urg). Overall, the writing is still pretty much what's expected of Bioware. I'm not a huge fan of Bioware's writing overall, but it's still top-tier in the industry, and the mainstream appeal here is done well, I would say. The main cutscenes are for the most part good, while some are just awkward. The dialogue system itself is basically just the old Bioware approach of clumping different dialogue options to get the same response - at least, that was the impression more often than not. The dialogue wheel works well as an interface design decision for the gamepad, though. The combat is hilariously pathetic. While some of the biotics/techs are fun (mostly the physics-related ones), the actual shooter mechanics are mediocre at the very best. I would have been a lot - a LOT - more tolerant of the sidequests if the shooting involved in them (barring actual better quest design or story implementation within) was enjoyable. Heck, people complain shooters are repetitive. But hey, if the shooting's fun... Not so here. Challenging shooter games can be loads of fun, but they live or die by their shooting mechanics, which ME utterly fails. The game itself also lacks the tactical depth that would have compensated for this, so it just falls flat from a shooter perspective and as a RPG combat perspective. As someone who enjoys shooters and tactical games, I was disappointed on both fronts. The interface isn't anywhere near good, and sometimes requires a good amount of patience, but ultimately, it's serviceable. Music is too ambient or inexistent more often than not, but it does have some good parts. The game also looks nice. The art direction sometimes is pretty awesome, while at other times it may just be bland or sterile. Mixed feelings. The loading/texture pop-ups haven't bothered me. Whiners. The framerate is fine. Overall, *so far*, it seems a solid effort by Bioware, on par with their better previous titles. We'll see how that changes as I finish the game. ME2 has lots of potential, and it could a whole lot better than ME1 if they just improve some things.

Everyone playing Halo?

Oh, man! I just RRoD'ed AGAIN.

I just RRoD'ed too! That's 4 times now

YOU get with the times, Bioware apologist.

What the crap, man? Where the freak is Pluto, Bioware? I'm going to bloody slit your collective throat.

Is George Ziets even working on this game, or some other Bethesda project?

My main gripe with PSX RPGs is how utterly pathetic their localizations were in the early PSX days. Lunar 1/2 were fun enough, but the gameplay itself was pretty bad. Grandia has one of my favorite JRPG combat systems as a series. Tales of Destiny/Eternia also had pretty fun combat (real-time). Looking forward to Vesperia. Valkyrie Profile has great gameplay. Pretty innovative stuff. Threads of Fate has Mint - great character. World Domination stuff, pumpkins, and so on. I found Suikoden pretty standard/mediocre, so I didn't really bother with the sequel.

There's a demo for Vesperia anyway.

Lost Odyssey is great fun if you like turn-based JRPGs. If you don't, it probably won't make you love them. The 'Dreams of a Thousand Years' are the real highlight of the game (short sidestories fleshing out the main character - who's a 1000-yr old guy who can't die). Nick will say it's the best JRPG he's played, and I'm not going out of my way to argue with him, if only for the Dreams. Here's one example (the first one in the game, which you get very early on), if you want to see how the audiovisual presentation of one is like (of course, spoilers, in case you want to see it in-game first): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPhG8XQKP9w Vesperia should be great for any fan of Tales of Symphonia/Abyss.

Nick has some interest, but he's a cheap idiot.

Irrelevant. They'd never be 6 of us on at the same time. Interesting tidbit re: L4D http://www.e3coverage.com/E32008/e32008_left4dead.html At 3:10, he mentions the 360 co-op (of which we already know has splitscreen included). "You and a buddy can play with two bots, or you can go online and play with other people". That sounds like guesting, but I'll try to look for a definitive confirmation.

I'd want to be either defense or one of the wings.

GeoWars2 is beyond awesome. The different modes are loads of fun. The achievements are also pretty entertaining. <3 <3 co-op. Soul Calibur 4 is better than I though as well. Maybe it was just the nature of playing SC2 with Zeli that lent it its spammy impression, but after a few bouts with Jigs, practicing and learning the movesets, dodging/parrying/repelling attacks, guard impacts, it's deeper and more fun than I expected. I could get used to this.

Looks like NHL 09 will allow 6v6. You can create your own teams, and each player can customize his/her character and assume one position, gain xp, etc. http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37454.html?type= http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/nhl...amp;mode=recent TEAM TEAM TEAM

You guys should probably stay away from Wipwned for your own sakes.

I'm guessing there's more to TH's 4p removal than just 'pacing'. That would be a pathetic excuse, but it probably has to do with performance/coding/etc. Much like their 'people playing co-op don't want to see any cutscenes, that's why we're removing them completely from multiplayer rather than making them optional'. The devs' PR isn't particularly inspiring. I'm fine with 2p in Gears. The 5p horde mode should be awesome. You guys better get this game.