Llyranor

Spirit Shaman seems pretty nice. I too prefer the druid spells over the cleric's. Nice set of skills, too. I'll be going for a bard/red dragon disciple, for a good skillset (opting for diplomatic endeavors), decent combat capabilities, and backup spellcasting, all while buffing the party.

Your face is a greatest hits collection.

Good thing you'll be picking up the superior version of what was only a mediocre game when it used to be console-exclusive!

Help me, Obs, I need help deciding which game is right for me. As you may or may not know, I thoroughly dislike the Elder Scrolls games. I've only played Morrowind and Oblivion, though, so it's a fairly narrow view on the franchise. Even though I've consistently bashed the games on numerous occasions, I feel as though perhaps there is some redeeming value to me. Millions of people can't be wrong, after all! For this reason, I've decided to keep an open mind and broaden my horizons! I've decided to go out and purchase and try out one of the many expansion packs for these games, to see if I can try to get back into them. I've created a poll so as to decide which one will be best for me? I want to know which one has the best value for me! I hope I change my mind on the ES series I may end up disliking these new games and posting on numerous (unrelated) threads about them, but I'll never know without at least giving them a chance, right? Thanks, guys!

The spirit meter sounds like it'll be pretty fun to manage resources, especially with a spellcaster-heavy party. NWN2 was too easy for the most part, or too cheap (LET'S MAKE A WAREHOUSE FULL OF BACKSTABBING ROGUES ROFLTUNASANDWICH). I've pondered what character to play for a bit. In the end, I think I'll go for a bard/red dragon disciple. The RDD will help out for tanking/meleeing, while still being a backup spellcaster and providing persistent buffing for the party (which might be pretty important for limited resting). More importantly, I'll have a pretty good skillset for a diplomatic 'jack of all trades' character. Might not be a very efficient powergaming character, but I'll take a challenge instead. I thought about the warlock as well, but the skillset simply sucks. I pondering a few other PrCs as well (eg. arcane trickster, sacred fist), but the bard/RDD seems to encompass better what I'm looking for. In any case, nice to see that people are agreeing on the quality of the story/writing/characters. Almost makes me proud to be the CEO of you losers.

Okay, 4 players driving around on mongooses with rocket-wielding marines in the back = best vehicular gameplay sequence ever. And that's even before the boss shows up. We were playing with no respawns (one player death = reload checkpoint), and that section took us forever, but every moment of it was pure bliss. Bungie was very cruel to put those ramps there - they knew we wouldn't be able to resist them, even though it'd often end up with us crashing into giant rocks or directly into enemy fire. Having cliffs on the side was doubly cruel. I lost track of the number of times I tackled Nick into oblivion. Surprisingly, I've been playing around with the PvP - something I had absolutely no interest in when obtaining the game. I decided to just try it out a bit with a few buddies, and it turned out to be pretty fun. Now, admittedly, its standard format is pretty much that of any online FPS, but things seem to be fairly well-polished. The maps are nice, the core gameplay seems to be conducive to fun competitive gameplay, and the wide variety of gamemodes is pretty neat. I particularly like the latter. Playing zombies, VIP, planting bombs, CTF, King of the Hill, territories, oddball, specific weapons only, etc - it's probably all been done before, but the broad options is certainly pleasing. The good thing is how easy it is to set up sessions with friends. The ability to form up a party before joining a server is really appreciated. Luckily enough, I haven't really been exposed to prepubescent trashtalk much (save for one match), and most matches have been strictly about actually playing (and us being destroyed :/ ). It's easy enough to mute specific players, though, so it shouldn't be so much of an issue. I could get used to this game.

The Chopper is great. It's too bad it won't allow 2 people on it. I'm enjoying the game quite a lot. 4p online co-op on Legendary with no respawns provides some awesome gameplay situations - though it can lead to a lot of reloading when some of us have some rambo tendencies. Though, I can't attest to how enjoyable the game would be on singleplayer. The story (after 3 levels) is nothing even remotely worthy of note (and Cortana's seizure-inducing appearances on screen are hilariously horrible, minus the hilarious part - good thing they last seconds at most). As mentioned, playing the first level with respawning was fairly ho-hum too. Honestly, I can't say the game is that different from H1/2, so how much you enjoy it probably depends on what you thought of those games or how much of an elitist dorkface you are. 4p online co-op is the main selling feature for me here, and it sells it masterfully.

Alright, I've got the game today. We played some 4p online co-op on Legendary. The first mission was ok, but I found much too easy compared to the previous games on the same diff. It didn't help that respawning made it so easy to rambo around. After a break, I then replayed the level with my brother (who hadn't been in the previous session), and it was much more enjoyable this time around, namely because the game was much more challenging for 2p and we weren't abusing the respawning. We found the Iron Skull, which allows you to disable respawning optionally. We then had another 4p session, with my brother guesting in. With no respawns. The challenge is when any player dies, the game reloads to the latest checkpoint, especially with 4 players. The second level took us about 2 hrs to finish, and I can't even count the number of times we've had to reload, many of those due to TKing. The game provides a good balance in terms of allowing you to play tactically (on a difficult setting, anyway), yet still relying quite a bit on reflexes. Great stuff, everything I expected and more. I can't wait to find more skulls to activate - some of them seem to be pretty cool in terms of enhancing the difficulty.

Which Morgoth may or may not have. Don't judge.

While it didn't sound from the review that they'd award it a 10/10, I like how only the first 2/3rd of the game being "among the most perfectly designed, streamlined and considered first person shooter levels you will ever play" = "poor ass level design". Yeah, so the last 3rd isn't as good as "the most perfectly designed, streamlined and considered first person shooter levels you will ever play", and the reviewer clearly points out that it's still better than in Halo1/2 (which doesn't say much - or anything, really), it just sounds like someone is trying to pull a Magical Volo. On the other hand, one does think that said frustrating level design should have at least been noted in the score somehow. But scores are for Hades anyway. Glancing through most of those reviews, it sounds like pretty much what I've expected. Won't blow anyone away, but is more polished than the previous games, including in said level design. Graphics aren't a massive jump, but I'm glad they've opted for framerate, gateway to fun etc etc. Better audio is always a good thing. Gameplay being for the most part similar to the previous games sounds about right. This is pretty much for fans of the first 2 games. I didn't really notice the story so far, so seeing its conclusion here doesn't really do much for me. As for supposedly 'best?' console FPS PvP, not really caring either. 4p online co-op is all I could have asked for and more. It's a shame upon reading that Legendary diff won't be as hard with that many players, but the skulls seem like a nice addition, including the one that will remove respawns (thus mimicking Halo2's system rather than 1's); choice is good.

(psst, you're missing out on the co-op)

I tend to agree. Puzzle Quest in portable format is pretty awesome. The advantage of the eventual PC version (and the XBLA version, which is supposedly coming out soon) will be online multiplayer. I'm not too keen on PvP, but it could be worth looking into.

Heh, good old Codex. http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=20469

I'm halfway through Halo 2 on co-op Legendary (the lack of respawning is killing us, but it actually makes it more awesome). I wonder whether that remains for 3. 4p co-op with no respawn will be insane ("did you just fall down that cliff AGAIN?" "oops").

Don't you have to murderize Bowser at every castle? Indirectly or not, I'd say removing the bridge underneath someone only to have them plummet into a pool of hot steamy sweaty lava constitutes some sort of murder.

Heh, they really upped the intensity in combat since the last trailer. Ace Combat 6 is going to be all kinds of awesome. http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/14846 I'm getting this day 1 with the flightstick.

Actually, yes. Yes, I do.

Nice to see they're catering to the Gabs demographic.

Well, I have a 360, but I'm not picking this up until it's in the bargain bin.

Haha. <3 PW. Trials can't come soon enough. (psst, you're talking about Hades)

roshan is a poopyhead, but his point isn't completely off. The lip-synching does seem a tad awkward at times. Maybe it's the uncanny valley, but I've played games where I hadn't noticed that. Either way, lipsynching doesn't make a game. Meh.

Shut up, FO3 is going to be awesome!!!1!1 But yeah, that hype is complete crap. Story, ROFLASFKJHSAKJFSHA. All that matters is 4p online co-op, and that matters plenty. Even Halo1's horrid repetitive level design couldn't save it from the awesomeness that was 2p co-op on Legendary difficulty. Halo3 *can't* not be awesome. Strength in numbers! And yeah, I haven't picked up Bioshock yet. Bargain bin it is ^_^

Ikaruga with 2p online coop on XBLA for 800 pts will be awesome. The black/white dichotomy seems like a pretty compelling gameplay element.

http://www.bigbottom.waits.for.tf2.com/

The pre-TGS demonstration is available on Live Marketplace. Except if you're from Greece. New videos --> Bringing It Home It's awesome, though that's kind of obvious. So much gratuitous blood and limbs flying everywhere at 60FPS. Combat, of course, looks as good as always. If you've played NG1, you don't really need anything more said about it.