Tale

I can't say it was any smaller than The Strip of New Vegas as a city. It did, however, lack interesting locales within that city.

3 was the second one I beat. Namely because of the better controls. A quick 180 turn makes running away soooooo easy.

That knife is the main reason Code Veronica was the first Resident Evil I ever beat without cheating.

Only problem with Code Veronica is that the knife is overpowered. It seems to do damage for every frame of the strike, instead of just the contact point. Or something. So you slash a zombie and get like 4 hits on him. It's a bleeding machete of zombie murder.

Bioware writing sci-fi... By that logic they should be harvesting dogs or growing bacteria and harvesting them. Ehh, it's not unique to Bioware. Humans are special is borderline omnipresent in fantasy and space opera with multiple intelligent races. The reasoning is never anything other than mind bogglingly stupid.

Also, I'm playing Progress Quest at work. You're all jealous.

Suddenly? You led him on and you know it.

Interesting. What if Anna was unkillable at that point in the game, much like Gunther is when he captures JC at the BAttery Park subway station. You were given the choice to kill Lebedev or not kill him. Either way he dies, either by JC or Anna. How would you respond to that as a choice? Success is not a choice. Success is an outcome. A choice is the ability to try. Anna can be as unkillable as she wants to be. I still need to be allowed to make the attempt. Gunther at Battery Park is similar. You are given the choice to resist.

Pretty much just because they consider Shepard awesome. He's been a bit of a silly ego-stroke protagonist from the get go. It doesn't matter that he wasn't working alone, it was all him. I hope Mass Effect 3 will let me finally start gunning down Cerberus Operatives while yelling "FOR KOHAKU!"

Did you get it off the recent Steam sale? All the Gothic games for $19ish. I bit because some of our forumites like it. So far, I'm still trying to get used to the controls in Gothic 1. It's a little wonky. Not sure why they just didn't have a separate attack button. Is there a mod out there that converts stuff to mouse and keyboard controls? Playing in the highest resolution so the game looks decent. I like the music so far and the voice acting is a lot better than what I was expecting. I got it off a sale back around Christmas, as I recall. The graphics are fine and don't bother me. The barely implemented mouse controls do. The keyboard controls are too sensitive as well. Maybe I'll give it another try another day, but not any time soon. And for some reason, looking around outside causes my framerate to plummet. I have no explanation for that.

Here's my perspective. When I play an RPG, or even an open world game, I do not suffer murderers. I will not play a character that turns a blind eye to Anna attempting to kill the man in the airplane. Anna must die. I frankly don't care if he dies anyway. Or if he doesn't show up later. In Red Dead Redemption, I do not suffer the bandits who execute people on the side of the road. Or the corrupt Mexican soldiers who do the same. I don't care if my net reward is 2 pieces of ammo. Call it a false choice if you want, but being forced to render implicit permission against my character's ethics is obnoxious in the worst way. The fact that the game doesn't change in any appreciable way is secondary to whether or not the game allows me to have basic control over my own character's outrage. Vulpes Inculta barely gets away from the first encounter without a bullet in his head simply on the basis that his victims were no better than him. And I do mean barely. I let it rest on assuring myself I'll do it later. Dragon Age 2 did this, forcing me to let a warmonger and murderer waltz right by while I flipped off my computer monitor. It will be a negative element that stays with me long after all my good memories of it have faded.

I tried to play Gothic 2. The control scheme was simply intolerable. Did Germany not have mice in 2002? I also tried out Mount & Blade: Warband. Actually was enjoying that. Only criticisms so far is that my guys keep getting in my way and I can't do mounted melee combat to save my life. Debating between M&B or Neverwinter Nights 2. Kalach-cha!

It's really really not. A large part of choices is to express your character. Not simply to get his ends. The means and the ends can be different. Hmmm. If expressing your character results in no significant changes from the gameworld does that expression have value? I'm not saying that they have to be good changes; they could be negative or punitive. The downside being that having to spend dev time implementing false choice is dev time that could be spent elsewhere. False choice doesn't take as much time and effort as real choice, but it c oulc be argued that false choice has significantly less value. Yes, that expression has value. Because arbitrarily denying it simply makes the player feel impotent. It is a point of frustration and aggravation for your players. And you will lose them. Sometimes it can even feel as if the game is actively mocking you by denying obvious choices. Players won't stand for it.

Act 3 in a nutshell.

It's really really not. A large part of choices is to express your character. Not simply to get his ends. The means and the ends can be different.

I didn't even realize you could save Paul the first time. Then I play Invisible War and "what the heck is Paul doing here?!"

I don't ask for meaning. I just ask to be given the choice to try. That often feels like asking a lot. Meaningful reactivity to my attempts is a very nice thing. But I ask for that second.

I just really would have liked to kill Petrice. And when Act 2 comes along, if Sister "I'm totally a different character see I have black hair" Betrice shows up, I'd be more accepting. The art of DMing is, at its core, all about filing the serial numbers off and hoping nobody looks too closely.

I did say "fine." It's acceptable enough to not hinder my enjoyment in itself. My comment on DMing is my new reaction to Dragon Age 2. It displays a readiness to completely ignore player choice in order to promote the author's intended plot as is. Leliana's back, regardless of whether or not she died. Sister Petrice calls out that you won't get to kill her , when the only reason we can't is we have no ability to attack in the middle of a cutscene as people walk right by you. It's all the frustrations of dealing with a DM's favorite NPC with none of the relief of sneaking out of his apartment with extra bottles of beer. It's not all bad, I'm cherrypicking negativity here. Isabela and Fenris are characters you never even have to meet, for example. However, Act 3 plays But Thou Must as if it's a running gag. You're forced to destroy the only reasonable people in the entire game because the plot won't progress until you do.

I actually find their writing to be fine. It's their DM'ing that's atrocious. They could use a more interesting antagonist, but that's not the bulk of what I consider good or bad writing.

Introduce a challenge. Present that challenge again later with an additional element or elements. Repeat. It seems so simple.

You can find out about his love affair with a lower caste by reading a letter in his room (it's the Dwarf Commoner origin's sister, in fact). You find out he's a murderer by playing the Dwarf Noble origin, since you're his brother and he frames you for the death of the other brother. After first convincing you that the other brother is going to murder you. Basically, the eldest was next in line for the throne. But he was a complete ****, and the nobility actually likes the Dwarf Noble Origin PC better (middle brother). Behlen is the youngest with no real prospect. Bhelen tells the PC that the older brother is plotting to kill him so that he can't threaten his succession. He tries to convince the PC to kill the eldest first. Whether you do agree or not, you end up finding his corpse in the Deep Roads and a couple of lower caste soldiers (obviously working for Bhelen) claim they saw you do it, forcing you into exile.

Actually, something does trigger. But not enough triggers. The bandit leader doesn't even show up until after you go into an area, then turn around. Which is kind of funny. He'll just pop up out of nowhere and stand there.

No, the Shaperate literally says the documents you are showing him are not the actual documents. Bhelen's man gave you fakes. And when you go back to him, he says he doesn't care. It's a test of loyalty.

That's bio-bashing? Most companies could only hope to be able to do that kind of thing. You call it fan-service. I call it experimental.