Spider

Patch files: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2O...etail&id=19 Offline patch tool: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2T...etail&id=12

You can replace the standard skins with anything you like, even for armors. Just replace the skins with what you'd prefer (although the process is a bit more complicated than that, it involves locating and unpacking and such). Detailed instructions: http://hellwolve.kikaimegami.com/bloodline...ic_tutorial.htm (note that this is a tutorial to do your own skins, but reading it will help with just replacing skins as well)

If you know what you're doing, the luck bonus is easy enough to get before level 9 iirc. As in there are no extremely tough enemies you have to fight or anything. Or it's just to hold of selecting the level 9 perk until the bonus is gained. I just typically feel that there aren't enough points at character creation to justify putting more in Luck than I have to. But I guess that's because I've played more with Slayer than Sniper (iirc, Slayer doesn't require a luck roll, no matter what the manual says).

Fair enough. But Better Criticals is also very good for any combat oriented character to have, so a Luck of 6 is still a good thing (which ironically enough means that a power gamer would have a Luck of 4 at the start of the game).

Isn't Luck 6 required for Slayer? Playing an unarmed character without access to Slayer just seems wrong to me. (Fortunately, Luck can be increased in the game, so all is not lost. And I don't mean the perk)

Yeah, it certainly did (just read the anandtech one). Although there are two explanations for this. 1: In the Anandtech article they mention that the 8600 cards performed better on newer games where shaders mattered more. And since the other article mostly used that type of games, that would explain the discrepancy. 2: The H Enthusiast article used factory overclocked versions where I'm guessing Anandtech didn't. So that'd probably also have an impact. However, when looking at those cards the jump in price to the cheaper 8800 cards is fairly negligible (roughly a 10% increase in price), so at the moment they're not really a good buy. When they drop in price, however, it's another story.

According to the article Bok linked to, the 8600 cards they tested beat the X1950 with a fair margin.

Well, you don't have to show them all the time. I just meant that you could have them available in the game for reference. Basically like Civilopedia in the Civ games, or how ToEE did it (buggy mess as it may have been, the documentation available inside the game was fantastic). Just saying that when I'm leveling up a character (or at character creation) I really hate having to find the manual to see requirements for feats currently not available to me. Or how adding points to this or that ability will affect my characters long term progress. That if anything destroys the illusion for me.

Or you can just show them in the game.

It is possible, just hard. A high stealth is definitely a bonus, but not mandatory. If you get as far as the coffin, you should be able to make it, the key is to go around the coffin and approach it from behind. You only have to get close enough, and on that side there are no guards. I have done it with a low stealth character, but it took patience and a few reloads.

Ah, my bad.

This actually sounds like a fantastic game, provided the game captures the atmosphere of Stalker rather than Oblivion.

I like that manuals comes in electronic formats these days. And I like even more that I typically don't have to read them. Games should be good enough at explaining things in-game that I never have to look at the manual. For instance, the only thing I used the NWN2 manual for was to look at feat requirements since feats I couldn't take didn't show up in the list (and thus not telling me why I couldn't take them). Oh, and PrC requirements, until the ones unavailable to me started to appear on level ups (they didn't for my first character, I think it was fixed in the first patch or it was just a weird bug with that character). I do think that more games should incorporate in-game manuals though, like the Civ games or ToEE (one of the most redeeming aspects of that game).

Wait, you're saying Ministry panders to the Emo-crowd, but NIN doesn't? Man, one of us has our definition of emo way off base. I mean, much as I love NIN (and I do), the band is definitely more emo to me than Ministry. Not that either of them is particularly emo anyway.

Say what? 12th level? I certainly recall getting higher than that when playing Fallout. Certainly in the range of 15-20 anyway. It's been ages though, but I'm pretty sure I didn't cap at 12. I'd also estimate gameplay hours in the vicinity of 20, at least when playing it for the first time. Possibly more. I'd agree that Fallout is the better game. FO2 has the better engine, but the design itself suffers a bit. FO is tighter and more focused. FO2 went a little overboard with the easter eggs and injokes. I guess it all comes down to the word athmosphere. FO just has more of it than FO2. Both are still excellent games though.

I thought Act 1 was the best and Act 3 was the worst. Most of Act 3 was on par with Act 2, but I hated the end sequence (ie everything that comes after defending the keep)and felt it was the weakest part of the game. My preference for Act 1 has to do with the sense of discovery it had. The other acts pushed the story elements at you, in Act 1 you got to try and find things out for yourself. The trial, however, was excellent and definitely the best part of Act 2 (and maybe even the game).

It's because Sniper requires a luck roll on each hit to determine if it's a critical or not. Actual critical chance isn't a factor. And I'm guessing that with burst weapons, a luck roll is made for every bullet that hits (iirc, at least you roll to hit for each bullet fired). So then at least one should get the crit.

It's also possible that the publisher has been working on the translation for a while. They hardly need access to the gold copy for that. It's also possible that Michal has hired someone who speaks english better than himself to do the translation. But even if the english sucks, that is part of the charm when it comes to these games. It was pretty bad in games like Silent Storm and UFO: After* as well. Didn't really make a difference in those games.

Yeah, because the franchise was in such good hands over at interplay. FO:BOS made all the fans proud. This release actually changes nothing, except that Bethesda threw some mercy cash at Interplay. They already had the rights to the next three FO sequels and Interplay still keeps the rights to FOOL. If anything, it's a symbol of (some) hope. If they're willing to spend that much to own the franchise, odds are they're not going to drive it through the ground. By the way, is $5,750,000 really that much for a fairly well known franchise? I think Interplay got paid more for the Hunter franchise when they sold that, and it's not like that franchise was (or is) going anywhere. I think this is a fairly low price, which is probably why Bethesda took the opportunity. A last ditched effort from Herve to stay afloat for another couple of months.

Improved Power Fist + Power Armor + Quicker HTH + Slayer = lots of dead enemies. It holds it's own against any other weapons. (iirc, Slayer is stronger than Sniper, Slayer being automatic with Sniper being dependent on a luck roll or something like that)

I've dabbled a little with the Barbarians scenario. It's a lot of fun, but really difficult. I'm playing it at the normal difficulty (which is 65 turns) and so far I haven't beaten that scenario once. At most I've destroyed two Civs. And I've developed a severe hatred for Elephants (they just pummel me). I am looking forward to the expansion though. Anything that adds new elements (and wonders) to the main campaign will be awesome. The new scenarios I can do without, but having them is a nice bonus.

There are still Humans on Earth. The marsians are only a splinter group of humanity (although the fate of the ones left on earth is largely unknown). Also, in the chronology of the UFO: After* series, humanity did fight back. And lost. That's when Aftermath starts I think (I've only played Aftershock and Afterlight). Afterlight is an ok game. Better than Aftershock, but suffers from the same flaw. Gameplay gets extremely repetetive after a while (you go through sooooo many missions). I haven't finished it, but haven't touched it for a month or so either. I'm waiting to go back to it until it's not so fresh in my memory.

FEAR is about equal to Stalker when it comes to athmosphere, it is far more linear (as in completely), has a better story, AI on a similar level and good combat. But I may not be the best person to ask, since I absolutely adore FEAR. It's pretty much my favorite shooter ever, along with the original Unreal. Stalker is a different beast altogether, but is also a really good game (although I personally like FEAR better, but I still think Stalker is awesome).

I've heard differently. I've heard a lot of content was cut for NWN2 around the time when Ferret left the project. About half is what I've heard, although that could be a tad hyperbolic. And Obsidian devs have repeatedly told us about stuff that did get cut, so there were definitely some scissors involved (like basically all of Casavirs stuff). Not always. Stalker certainly was allowed to take it's time. As for NWN2, Atari was (is?) in dire financial straits. If they would have allowed Obsidian another 6 months to complete the game, we may not have had a game to begin with.

Regardless of how this system turns out (and I' wary, so very wary), I think Bioware should get some applaud for at least trying to innovate the way dialogue is handled. I'm just not sure I am going to like this particular direction very much. But until I get to play it, there is just no way of telling, and given that I don't own an X-box that may never happen.