Llyranor

(warning: lots of screenshots) (optional: put up some in-game music to set the mood ) Welcome to Scourge of War - Gettysburg. American Civil War wargame featuring huge maps with up to tens of thousands of men clashing against each other on the battlefield. Gameplay is designed to be fairly realistic in terms of implementation of 19th century warfare/tactics/doctrine. The ebb and flow of combat is particularly awesome. This plays very similarly to Take Command 2nd Manassas for those of you familiar with that game. Demo is available here: http://scourgeofwar.com/Downloads/ScourgeOfWarGettysburg.exe Demo file is also the full game. You purchase an activation code to fully unlock it. DRM is that you can have the game activated on one computer at a time. You can deactivate it on one PC to reactivate elsewhere. In the event that your PC/HD dies before you can deactivate, you can contact the devs who should accommodate you. This isn't a DRM discussion thread, however. Here's a short AAR of 2p co-op with a buddy who we will call Nick for all intents and purposes. It's division vs division, whereas the game also supports corps vs corps and army vs army, so there are much much much bigger scenarios. Red is me (Confederate, brigade commander Avery), yellow is Nick (Confederate, brigade commander Hays), blue is the Union AI. Confederate AI also has a few extra brigades it controls. This is what we know about the enemy position. My plan is to move into that forest and extend to the right flank if possible. Meanwhile, Nick is sending me an order by courier. Thanks Nick! Fastforward, and I'm in the forest. My main regiment is engaged at the center, while my left regiment is assisting (flanking) the AI fighting on the left side. My rightmost regiment will attempt to flank the right. The left Union regiment breaks. Meanwhile, they're also mobilizing more units to secure the right. Nick, however, is bringing his regiments to secure my right flank. As we are engaging on the right, one Union regiment flanks my center regiment, but I outflank it with my spare left regiment. We charge at each other with bayonets, but with my superior numbers they break it off and retreat. Meanwhile, slowpoke Nick is still setting up on my right. Finally set up, the right flank becomes an extended front. This is the AI situation on the left flank. Now, with the enemy artillery right in the open, the temptation is too great (also, close range artillery is deadly). I bring my left regiment up and gamble a charge. Nick is also mustering a spare regiment to support that attack.

AI War (3p co-op) Here's the current sitrep. Here is Murdoch, a frontier planet where we've established a firm defensive base able to repel substantial enemy raids. A few hundred fighters/bombers/frigates, some starship support, 6 force fields, 2 fortresses, and a Maginot line of fixed turret defenses (the main pride of the base being its large number of lightning turrets - which do area damage - which has likely saved its bacon in a previous siege by thousands of enemy attackers). It's a pretty sturdy base and has served us well so far (even though we've had it destroyed once and had to repel the large swarm of enemy raiders that cut through to our much less-defended rear planets. Since then, however, the front has been well-stabilized. What's the worst that could happen? Now, over time, the enemy has been accumulating a large fleet on the neighboring planet, numbering about 4000. Should be okay, since we've been able to beat back similar numbers before. Perhaps the addition of an impending cross-planetary invasion was a bad sign. Here you can see the main enemy fleet assembling right near the warp to Murdoch at the bottom there, with an endless stream of reinforcements from other warps. It's a bit cliched to say, but in this case it's actually over 9000 in the literal sense. Here's a closer look at the eye of the storm (and it's now over 10,000 -____-) This is where our session ended. To be continued!

Got to chapter 10 in FFXIII, finally unlocked the full party and being able to switch characters around. I can see why some people would be disappointed with the linearity and lack of exploration and typical FF storyline, but it has one of my favorite RPG combat systems in recent years. Really fast-paced, while remaining very tactical - paradigm shifts are a real treat. Good stuff.

Closest two are DS JRPGs coming out this month. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - Dungeon crawler with demon-fusion. Never played a mainline SMT, so not sure how it works exactly, but it sounds like you can perpetually upgrade your party members throughout the entire game, by fusing your old demons with new ones you recruit to create demons having skills of both - more or less. Sounds like some pretty cool party customization, especially since it sounds like it should provide for a constantly changing experience throughout the game. Infinite Space - space opera JRPG where you can build up a fleet and recruit crew members; your ships are more akin to 'party members', and the crew to 'weapons', or something.

I'm pretty sure Sonic Chronicles 2 is one of their unannounced projects.

The combat system in FFXIII provides some pretty fast-paced tactical fun. Takes a while to pick up (hours), unfortunately, but when it finally does, it's pretty enjoyable. Paradigm shifts are great stuff.

What, he glitters in sunlight?

Also, please confirm that the presentation was edited for GDC. Because knocking the lieutenant off the bridge onto incoming traffic as the only outcome of his defeat is extremely lame, and goes against the philosophy of being able to get through the game without killing anyone (and if stealth is the only way to do that, doubly lame).

Yeah, I'd highly recommend the game to anyone, hockey fan or not. They've made some awesome adjustments to the game (starting back in 07) and it's only gotten better. Do they even have online co-op seasons yet? Not getting a new one until they do.

That's the point. All they've done is talk about it. All talk. Talk isn't going to sell games beyond the core fanbase. All you need for each consequence is to show 5-15 sec of footage, but actually SHOWING it. Yes, a lot of the information re: these missions are out there, between various different previews/interviews/blogs/diaries, but only the most devout of fans will go through all of those to get that and piece it together. What they haven't done is show one extensive comprehensive example of why 'your weapon is choice' is actually the game's motto.

Stop showing us gunplay and combat animations - it's not the game's strength. Keep this at a minimum. Stop just telling us about choice & consequence, show us. I don't just mean Obs fans who know what to expect, I mean the potential audience out there who'd otherwise just write this off as a second-rate shooter or Mass Effect wannabe. You've already spoiled us the two scenarios re: the armsdealer and Grigori. Go all the way. Make a dev diary where you show us the different various paths you can can take, fast-forward to the consequence, then rewind and go through other others. Don't just show the immediate effect; show off subtle longterm effects. Don't just give a few examples, go all the way with those specific scenarios (which you've already spoiled anyway). Skip to every single consequence interacting with Grigori could lead to (eg. your target being warned if you make him angry, etc). It doesn't have to be a very long video; you can just make quick shots in passing of expected consequences. What it needs to be, though, is comprehensive. It will show naysayers how in-depth even ONE scenario can be, with the promise that they can expect many others in the game. If you just show limited simple consequences (smashing Grigori's face, as fun as that is, is very limited and is only one option), they can just shrug it off as something that's already been done (why should I care when ME already does that AND has better presentation/animations? lol). Show potential buyers why 'your weapon is choice' is so important in AP. Right now, you're all talk. Prove it. I don't personally need it. I have some mild idea of what to expect. A lot of people out there probably don't, because you're simply not showing it. If they're not interested to begin with, they're not going to read your wordy blogs to get the info they should have.

Regardless of what pretentious medium it's trying to fit itself into or create, the game or whatever artsy term you want to use can be judged on an universal level when it comes to writing/story/characters and can be compared to any other game/book/film/purkake that features writing/story/characters. The interactivity (and its execution of) can also be compared and contrasted with other whatevers that have used interactivity to portray their experience. If the former is bad, I can't see myself caring enough to bother with the latter. I'm just basing it on the demo and past David Cage warcrimes rather than judging the game on its own merits, so nyah nyah nyah don't understand art waah waaah promoting the stagnancy of the medium blah blah go back to Halobox etc etc.

In which case its merits as a film (interactive or whatever) would then come into question. Please dad, can I have one? I would really love to have one. Please dad, come on.

The concept of Heavy Rain as a game is fine - it's one game, not an industry revolution; and the medium certainly could use more experimentation when it comes to interactive storytelling. The issue with this game specifically is that it somehow thinks QTE's are a good way of conveying interactivity, and David freaking 'I made a game worse than Too Human' Cage had a hand in it. This cutscene was when I decided to not support David Cage as a game 'director' anymore http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrnV6kN-bxI

The demo was great. I really enjoyed holding down 3 buttons to make the fat detective squeeze through that tight space. I also really liked the slow walking pace because of how fat he was - imagine how immersion-breaking it'd be if he could outrun a snail! The part where the fat detective was having an asthma attack was pretty exciting, too. Was he going to make it? Would the fat detective get his pump out in time? Why yes, he did! All thanks to my contribution as a player in making him take it out of his pocket just in the nick of time by pushing on the analog stick. The fight was the greatest part, however. I was on the edge of my seat pressing timed buttons to execute on-screen actions. X --> punch! Triangle --> evade swing! Ohhhh maaaan. What an adrenaline ride. The demo was probably my GOTY so far. I don't know what other developers are smoking, but David Cage is at least 10 yrs ahead of all of them combined when it comes to interactive storytelling.

Fun = replayability. If the game just has a lot of content unaccessible the first time around, the lack of fun just means that it won't actually get replayed regardless. You can have both, of course. Some games actually get more fun as you replay them, once you get to terms with learning/mastering the gameplay mechanics.

TURN-BASED MAKE IT TURN-BASED TURN-BASED DARN IT

That's a point. Please add an Ironman mode.

I think you guys are misinterpreting it. It'll most likely have some MMO elements where all the NPC's in the world are actually being controlled by other players online, thus lending a more dynamic aspect to the story. Which I think is the real reason Bethesda tried to sue Interplay re: their MMO.

Guns strapped to your feet? You mean rocket launchers, right?

Okay, didn't realize this was the Jade Empire fan club forum. Carry on.

Alright, I took the plunge and bought this crap a few days back. Very good fun. Tried out Ironman mode, but after getting wiped out a few times within the first few battles, decided maybe I wasn't ready yet. I'm now a few hours in, after a few dungeons, and it's been pretty much a blast. The tactical turn-based combat is very well-done and accessible (I can pretty much get info on any specific rule via hyperlinking very quickly). Pacing is pretty good; combat goes by very fast/smoothly. Still a good challenge, but I'd say things are a little easier once I gained access to some mid-level area effect spells, though. I'd say the combat's been more enjoyable and involving than most of the shovelware CRPG crap that's been available lately. Pretty glad I bought this. If you miss the good old days of turn-based tactical battles, try the demo.

Not as much as my punch in your face will.

Just played the demo, hadn't really heard of the game before. Pretty fun. Seems to be a pretty awesome implemention of turn-based party-based combat. Reminded me a lot of DnD, but I guess that's because it uses the Open Gaming License 3.5. Full game worth it? Buy? Yes/no.