Epaminondas

Edit: As the devil on my shoulder always says, "why bother?"

I normally don't like rum, but I decided to try a bit last night.

What we call it is probably less important than what it is. At least as long as we have words to describe what it is. What I'd like is that it allow for plenty of exploration. The original fallout had overland movement and loads into locations, and that was good. I never played Mass Effect, but I did play KotOR. If they're billing it as a sort of spirit of Fallout, that means some element of exploration. How they achieve that and what we call it doesn't matter to me. However, if we can get away from the long load screens of Pathfinder, I would be happy. Dungeon Siege (and especially Dungeon Siege 2) didn't have load screens but were very linear. Great games.

First things first, the writing is uneven, but they did a great job with the NPC end dialogue. In fact, I enjoyed Tristan's quest so much that I redid the end to explore dialogue choices. The first time, I chose my own (Neutral Good) option since there wasn't one for Lawful Good. It was well done. Then I decided I didn't need a swing to Good, so I chose (Neutral) and had Tristan convince the dude himself. It was beautifully done. It honest to goodness sounded sincere, as real as begging someone to come back from the brink of self-destruction. Linzi's statement to Eobald about humans being animals that enjoyed stories reminded me of something I often say to my wife: "In your world, the animals talk to you. In mine, the people bite you." I think the game shines best with the NPCs. Even Amiri was well done. She sounds like an idiot when she talks, but her hangdog dejection when she begs for your help is absolutely in character and actually shows some development. Great job. Now, for something funny. Playing on normal is great for running roughshod over everything in sight. I found this Lair of the Ilthuliak or some such. I saw it and buffed the hell out of my party and we got it first try. I was surprised by the little bastards coming out the woodwork to hinder my party and they actually packed a punch. Before the battle, I was considering whom I would protect from arrows because I only had one at the ready. I decided on Octavia. lol I debated putting it on Tristan, but Octavia usually draws more heat. Well, due to laziness, I don't micromanage fights like I used to do. So a couple of my guys got knocked out of the fight (and worse, both ended up at death's door). Still, not that bad of a fight all things considered and a lot of cool swag. EDIT: How sad is this? I caught the goblin who stole my throne. I succeeded in my persuasion check which made him raise his price from 100g to 200g. I then succeeded in my intimidate check. Then I felt guilty, reloaded, succeeded in my persuasion check, and paid the little runt 200g because I felt bad for him. He was so happy to get some cash for the first time, I just shrugged and wrote it off as charity. I don't begrudge the coin, but I was a bit wistful for the experience. I'm an XP whore. Still, it was worth it.

Love is a battlefield. There is no quarter! There are never any survivors!

That's a great song. Used in the Lost Boys soundtrack, which was better than the movie. Let's hope the best thing about Outer Worlds isn't the soundtrack.

Not a 'worry' per se. Now that we're speaking generally about worries, would say rather than worry about the story, I hope it doesn't boil down to hackneyed "evilcorps capitalists are bad!" I'm with Blodhemn entirely on that. To be clear, I don't mind it if a corporation is bad in a game, although it's been kind of overdone, but I would rather that it be a bit more nuanced with intelligent arguments made on all sides. On the other hand, I'm not looking for the chef d'oeuvre of a generation. If there's murder, mayhem, and maybe a decision tree, it's all good. I'd like another New Vegas, built without Bethesda's cursed blessing, but I'll take what I can get.

heh. My mage won the brawling tournament in Pitax. I buffed the hell out of everyone when I went in and before each phase. So my mage had blur, displace, mirror image, greater heroism, haste, and some other spell. Anyhow, I ran away and let folks attack each other and then took on the last guy and won. lol The overall tournament was actually pretty fun. EDIT: I'm finally done with the tournament in Pitax and now I have no idea how to end Linzi's dialogue with Eobald.

Yeah, but I like some of them classics from the 80s. I liked the 80s. I wish I'd taken advantage of them better than I did. ;wistful smile:

Aw, Manveru, don't you know the argument? "The devil says you can't save them all so don't save any?" :polishing halo with a smirk: To be serious, though, the alignment system is stupid in conception, but it's so central to any DnDesque game there's no dumping it. ...And it can be fun, even if it's irritating. I used to loathe it. I mean, seriously, I used to write pages of screeds against the alignment system, but I just don't have the stamina to care about it much these days. In my alignment system, I'd call the decision to use public funds to support the widow of a man who died trying to circumvent the law misguided malfeasance. I can see personally trying to help her, but that would probably be to get her in touch with charities that help people in dire straights. The first one that comes to mind is Joseph's Storehouse just down the road, but there are others. Anyhow, I finally got into Pitax and I'll just say that there are some *sweet* magic items for sale there. I hope I don't lose access to the goodies because I have a very strong suspicion my relationship with Irovetti will not age like fine wine.

I don't want to trivialize the original post, but the angst because of one writer on the project just seems... unwarranted. I'm sure there will be deficiencies in the writing at times, like there are in just about every game I've ever played. I'll probably find little grammatical errors I either find irritating or humorous. If it's like the games I've played from the designers in this little niche market, I'll probably find some real gems in there also. I didn't play much of Tyranny myself. I had virtually no time to spend on it when it hit the shelves, so I don't know about this Shadow guy or the amazon bondage chick or whoever else Stark writes. I have a skill that has been absolutely vital over the years. I won't be too terribly worked up even if there are some characters, quests, or descriptions I don't like. If the gameplay is good and there are some stories that I enjoy, I won't mind the uneven moments when I'm rolling my eyes or furrowing my brow or both at the same time. I just keep in mind that I'm nothing more than a talentless hack and these guys make a living out of their writing. I'm pretty hyped about this game. Not gonzo chomping at the bit excited. Just run of the mill looking forward to what I expect to be a fun game. If I had some grounds for thinking I wouldn't like it, I wouldn't be worried. I might argue about with people online. More likely, I'd just ignore it. ...But my days of being worried about a game pretty much ended a long time ago. I lurked in a forum following this game called the Black Hound and it got canceled. Ever since, I try to take it all in stride.

Yep, I'm the eternal sucker. I'll be pre-ordering the game. However, with a few exceptions, I've enjoyed my pre-ordered games a lot, so I guess I don't feel too bad about doing it.

Can someone tell me why I can't rank up my minister? I can rank up all 9 other advisors, but I can't improve my minister past 2. Everyone else is 3 or higher at this point, with a few being 5. Stupid kingdom building mechanics. It's all clear as mud. EDIT: So I did this quest for Irlene and I found this halfling villager's dead husband. Following the Lawful Good option, I promised to support her and her kids now that the husband's gone. 1 BP a turn?! lol How much can the little runt and her brood eat?! Sometimes it hurts being the good guy. So I guess that's another kingdom expense. A BP, though? Good Lord, you could probably feed and house the entire village for one BP a week. Maybe not build it. That would take probably 20 BPs startup, more or less. To keep it functioning? 1 to 3 BPs for the lot of 'em!

American McGee's Alice is a masterpiece. I dust it off every now and then and play it again. As far as I'm concerned, it's aged wonderfully. Certainly better than I have. I enjoyed the F.E.A.R. games immensely. I didn't feel like it was much of survival horror. Same for Alice. Great stories with a lot of shooting, but survival horror should mean that you do more running than fighting as I see it. Speaking of shooters, Dead Space appealed to a lot of folks. Not my cuppa, but you might enjoy it and I think it takes a while longer. The wife and I enjoyed Layers of Fear. Short, but you can get different endings if that appeals to you. As a bit of a survival horror twist, you could try Don't Starve. Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice is... weird but I kind of liked it. On the last level, I got burned out, but I'll finish it eventually. The Long Dark is survival without the horror as such. On hard levels, it's ****ing brutal. The old Penumbra games are Cthuluesque and there's some fighting and running in them. I think the first Portal has aspects of horror and it's definitely all about surviving. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter wasn't so much terrifying as depressing. The wife and I played this game called Dark Fall. It's more of a graphics adventure. We liked both I and II, but the first is definitely better. Alan Wake is definitely horror. I should look to see if they created a sequel. There's some fighting, but you mostly try to avoid imminent death.

Great pun, though. :broad grin: Anyhow, I don't know if the game's super stable, but I haven't seen a lot of glaring errors lately. Some of the writing makes me scratch my head, but overall they convey the ideas very well. Trying to decipher why they did this or that or why any particular statement or action is good or evil requires a good background in obscure divination. Anyhow, I have a warning to any poor bastard who's going to pick up the game to go online and read guides about kingdom building. Some things are irritating, such as having my treasury raided in very close proximity. Having a negative balance in your treasury really tanks your stability. Once your stability gets into the riot zone, you're probably in a downward spiral and best pray you have cash and people to do things like hold feasts and plead with mobs of angry peasants. It's ****ing like a birthday with my extended family when I was a kid. Someone's going to get hurt.

Just make it a kickstarter milestone and then make a pledge tier for 10 determined donors to write a romance each NPC.

What's wrong with the interview? The interview isn't done isometric? <.<

That sounds more like something a designer would say to me. The final answer to me seems to be that a game is what you make of it. Unless you're bound and determined only to like games you can qualify as an RPG, it doesn't matter. Either you like the game or you don't. If it has those elements that you like and you consider it an RPG, then, by God, you're the consumer and that's what it is. Even better, you can come online and argue with some other yutz about why you're wrong about it being an RPG. I kind of thought of games like Sundog (from waaaaay back in the day), Temple of Apshai, or even Zork (You do get more 'hit points' of sorts), as RPGs back in the day. Misguided to be sure, but I enjoyed them RPGs or not.

I don't understand why this would make you worry. Do you not like Megan Stark? I hadn't heard of her until I saw this thread.

duh! lol Sorry, I've been gaming stunted for a while now.

What game is that, Lex?

I remember exiting the vault in Fallout for the first time. I liked they way they did it in Fallout 3, but it had much more impact for me in Fallout 1. Also, Hello Sailor. Good God, finally saying "Hello Sailor" and having it actually do something was just... tremendous. The death of the robot friend in Planetfall. There are so many great moments in games. I think my favorite moments in the aggregate are when I can act noble and good in a way that my meager real life mental and moral powers don't allow.

I tried to be the good guy and solve things peacefully, whereupon one side attacked me for being weak. After we'd finished, the other bastard didn't want to come peacefully to prison where he belonged, and so I had to kill him. The quest was Deal with the Devil... and I dealt with both of them. Yeah... I know... I shouldn't have Val and Tristan is weaksauce and Jeathal is... whatever. On normal, you could take my wife's kindergarten class and mow down the bad guys.

Yeah, we need a great romance in the game. Is it going to be: or

Thanks for the heads up, brother! I was thinking of buying it but I'm going to wait until I finish my first run. I reckon it can't be too much longer. EDIT: Okay, some of these quests are simply not understandable. So, I finished the deal with the devil quest and following the good path (and scrupulously following it) meant slaughtering everyone in sight in the end. On the other hand, they were all evil rat bastards. As Tristan might say, may God have mercy on their souls for I shall not! Weird assed quest, though.