Llyranor

Which is why the scene could have been much more effectively told simply by bringing the player with some illusion of action. Imoen would still have attacked the darkness, but in that instance the player wouldn't have been just a passive spectator, despite the outcome being the same. It has to do with structured storytelling within an interactive format without take away *completely* said interactivity. Ultimately, it's a small short scene in a large game, but it sets a bad precedent.

I think it has more to do with the PC being a gibbering primate while it happens. The same could be said about the PC being a complete moron when Bastila "heroically" saves you from Big M. I'd suspect that both scenes could have been improved in terms of creating an issue of the PC almost being able to change the outcome, but anyway. Inaction is action. Apathy is death.

Wrong. Already pointed out. Wrong. This is your own bloody fault for playing generic FPS #1214254. But the same would apply if you were playing your average (WW2) RPG too, so meh. I don't see how the setting even has any remote relevance to this. Blame the mainstream game industry. Wrong. None of the games I'm playing even make any pretense at narration. They just attempt to portray historical accuracy as best suits the gameplay. All you're given is the information a CO would have received at the time. Reliving history doesn't have to involve playing Hollywood. Wrong. You've been playing Call of Duty. Your FACE is always yelling, "EN MAHDDAH BOODIN!" Wrong. Some of the wargames I'm playing have arguably some of the best game AI commercially available. Stop playing Call of Duty or Company of Heroes. Wrong. Seems like you've been playing the same game, or just one of its clones. WW2 isn't a genre. FPS is a genre. That's your problem for playing another Hollywood WW2 game. It already is, Mr. Narrow. How many games have you played about Novorossisk, Gazala, or Saipan? What about the attempted Allied invasion of Italy? What about the Axis invasion of Greece and Crete? What about going through the war as Argentina or Brazil? Operating logistics issues throughout the whole Pacific Front? How about planning out the night operations of the Luftwaffe against the RAF rather than playing an action sim of a single aircraft? YOUR problem is that you've been playing games where the WW2 has been superficially implanted into core gameplay that could have accommodated ANY other setting, and then sprinkled with a Hollywood script. People buy this, we know. YOU buying this and complaining about it is your own fault when there are tons of WW2-focused game that don't cater to this audience. The hardcore WW2 game is very niche. Call of Duty isn't. Take your pick. For the record, I quite enjoyed Call of Duty. But singling it out as the epitome of WW2 gaming and then claiming the apocalypse is a tad bit pushing it. Just a tad. Did I mention that WW2 isn't a freaking genre?

Guitar coop, man, guitar coop! Anyway, I preordered. It's pretty expensive ;_;

Heh? JE probably values gameplay design more than the average CRPG designer.

Mainstream isn't the only pathway to profitability. This is what a game released in 2006 looks like. Extremely niche games get made.

You're right, design concepts that are 10 yrs old can't be reproduced anymore, what with the apocalypse and fall of civilization and all. Stupid technology.

Incidentally, some of my favorite moments in gaming storytelling have been on the grand scheme of things fairly linear, yet they provided the player with just another input that it wasn't just another cutscene. Eg. PST spoilers They may have had slightly diverging pathways, but I always went through mostly the same path every time, because it was MY path. Those really showcase the power of interactive storyteling within a structured format for me. KOTOR2 spoilers I can't for the life of me think of any memorable example from any Troika or Bioware game, or Fallout. Though, I guess killing Drizzt was pretty, er, memorable.

Actually, I think he gives that to framerate.

I also don't really care too much for freeroaming freedom per say, but that doesn't that I don't want meaningful consequences within the aspects of the world/story in which I *am* involved.

I'm surprisingly looking forward to Guitar Hero II. Guitar coop, hehehehehe.

No, that's precisely what JE has been advocating for. He criticizes Oblivion for not having meaningful consequences. I don't need every designer to be a MCA clone, and JE has his priorities right.

RP and I had this discussion almost two years ago, and some themes and gripes are recurring. Heh. http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?sh...mp;#entry401563 In summary, gameplay-storytelling segmentation bad. Player as active participant (roleplaying *within* storytelling context) good. PnP may be the ultimate player-driven medium, but CRPGs have the advantage of being to provide a structured approach to its interactive storytelling, effectively 'merging' multiple types of medium into one, all while retaining its own unique advantages. In that sense, contrary to what part of RP's article says, I *want* narrative in my CRPGs, but that doesn't mean any less that I want to be an active participant in said narrative. What I don't want, though, is a second-rate PnP emulator. I wouldn't have enjoyed PST and KOTOR2 as much if they didn't have their own storytelling to share, all while giving the player the (limited) (illusion) opportunity to make meaningful decisions, even if it didn't always lead to largely different consequences. Fallout also isn't by any stretch of the imagination my ultimate vision of what a CRPG should be. If anything, the two previous examples were heading in the right direction. NWN2 was somewhat of a disappointment for being a step-back-ish. Maybe MCA not being Lead had something to do with it. Props to JE for trying to keep things running smoothly near the end, but I'm looking forward to see what he can pull off as Lead (though I'd imagine quite different priorities, which aren't necessarily a bad thing from what I've seen).

Who the bloody heck cares about 120 gigs HD. It's a console.

Hmm, this isn't exactly promising.

When i first saw the screenshots! I was amazed! And i thought? Why there is a giant mushroom or whatsoever standing from the ground? It really shine when you move into the realm! but how do you get there? when you install the X-pansion pack, a rumor spreads out in the original realm (Cyrodiil) About a portal - follow the rumor and you ll finish of in the realm OF MADDNESS!! What i liked about this X is that it has it's own storyline, and it has new items, new stuff like spells and wierd new characters! The terrain and nature are nice, but dangerous to walk around, cause of the new creatures! Yeah and the Prince Of Madness (or whatever his name was) gives you stupid missions (that i leave mostly) but i play most of the side quests! OBLIVION ROCKS!!! Let Me Play Somemore to add somestuff or hints

http://ds.ign.com/articles/777/777221p1.html

DoD Hearts of Iron 2 Exceptions, not the rule. I have 7 wargames installed right now, and they - surprise surprise - all let me play the Axis if I want. I could easily list you dozens more from recent years.

Ending != good ending.

Haven't received my copy of NGB yet. Jerks. In any case, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword has been announced for the DS. 3d top-down action-adventure with stylus control. While it would have been awesome to have a 2d game with traditional controls similar to the old NES NG's, I have to say I'm more intrigued about for a fast-paced action game. It can definitely work (of this Trauma Center's frantic stylus gameplay convinced me of), but the devs need to know what they're doing. Hold DS sideways like a book (as in Brain Training, Hotel Dusk). Click to move, double-tap to jump. I'd imagine different strokes will result in different attacks. The stylus can be very fast and accurate (to a certain extent). We'll see.

I enjoyed Vegas 360 quite a lot. Possibly my favorite game on the system next to Gears. I didn't play it singleplayer, though. Did you play it coop at all, JE? I would have liked a better mapping system (for mp, at least). And I do miss the map planning phase of the original.

Portrait of Ruin had nice potential. The best thing about it that Iga has at least toyed around with a very limited coop scheme. That and a dual-character system, and maybe we'll even see a fully-fledged coop Castlevania somewhere down the line. Puzzle Quest is awesome. There's a PC demo lying around, even though there's no official PC version announced yet.

I'm playing Puzzle Quest for the DS. Puzzle game with RPG elements makes for surprisingly fresh gameplay.

That's because you're playing Hollywood games. Be a real dude and tackle the wargame genre. It's your own bloody fault for encouraging devs to rehash the same games.

I think I may just have to pick up Dead Rising.