Starwars

Agree that the story structure sounds interesting, really didn't expect that. I also like that taking cover is not an "auto-stick" thing.

At this point, I'm not sure if I personally would want any more spoilers since the game is close to release anyways. But I agree though. The PR has not done a good job of painting a picture of the overall game and how it will play, at all. I think that Moscow mission video has been the closest the showing off how the gameplay will play out, but most everything else has been disjointed clips of gameplay. For showing the game off, I think it'd be good to show a mission from start (when you get the mission in safehouse or whatever), go through the mission (maybe cut out some parts if it's too long) and then show off some different choices or maybe how a different character build would go about it. Have a competent dev or someone talk over it and explain a bit where it's needed. Again, at this point, I'm not too bothered since I personally like that we don't know too much about the story and all that. But for PR purposes, I think creating such a video would be pretty good for the general public.

Thanks for that. Looking at those, I really hope OEI can at least add smaller fonts for the PC version this time around. Of course it will be modded otherwise but it'd be nice to have that from the beginning.

Not been playing a whole lot lately. Just started a new game of Vampire: Bloodlines though. Went Malkavian the last time... I find it a bit hard to switch back to the "normal" clans after playing a Malk. But, playing as a Toreador female this time around. This game really oozes atmosphere.

If you're like me, you'll have forgotten a lot of the stuff that was shown in the earlier diaries, before the game was delayed. So, I'll post the links to all of them here. They give a pretty good sense of the game when viewed together. 1: 2: 3: 4: 5:

Cool beans. Digging into the equipment and weapon mods will be fun it seems.

Definitely excited. Don't think it will be a game entirely to my tastes but there is just too much fun and interesting stuff in there to not want the game. Really looking forward to trying it.

For a teaser trailer, that was goddamn amazing. Really makes me want to play some Civilization.

I think it's a bit unfair to a lot of RPGs to seperate the story from the gameplay though. I'd say that MotBs combat is pretty subpar (though I like the variety in encounters throughout the game) but I'd still hold it as a damn good example of RPG gameplay overall. Why? Because you, the player, is really important in how the shape of the story turns out. It's one of the best examples in my mind on how to do a story-heavy RPG. The narrative is undoubtedly quite "heavy" but you're almost always given a choice on how you wish to handle things, and many times there are consequences to your actions. I won't dismiss the combat's importance, the game is D&D and combat-heavy. But I think we should get away from the viewpoint that gameplay in RPGs are about beating things up. It's a lot more than that. It's the same with Planescape: Torment. People always complain about the gameplay, and say how the combat sucks. But the story is interactive in many ways. You, the player, has the power to uncover the clues. The way you build your character will affect how well you can do this. You have an option on how to resolve many of these things. That's gameplay as well.

Chris Avellone is watching the thread, and he is ready to kill you kirottu. What didn't you like about it though? I thought it was great personally. I can see how maybe the "mainstream" would think it's too talky, not enough action. But for me, it really made me want to see where the story and characters go, and just play a spy.

Origins would've obviously been cool. But I really wish they had used the background feats together with the race choices to differentiate playthroughs a bit more. There is some small stuff regarding the backgrounds in the tutorial/very beginning of act 1, but I really wish they had expanded upon that.

Irish traditional stuff - Ship are Sailing Listening to this guys rendition of it on an Irish tin whistle. It's sooo beautiful:

Excellent trailer. I tend to prefer the "gameplay" type of trailers (even though this is in-game stuff, still set up to be cinematic) but this was very well done. Voiceacting is excellent. Really makes me want to play the game. Glad to see the release date has been announced, finally. Great news all in all, thank you Matt!

Great to see someone excited about it. And in the meanwhile, here we are still waiting for... something of substance coming our way.

A fine sentiment, but I'm not sure I'd put Mask of the Betrayer as an example of Chris' style. People like George Ziets (who developed the story) and Kevin Saunders were the lead guys on it, not Chris Avellone. He did write Gann and Kaelyn but I believe his involvement in the game otherwise wasn't too heavy. Tim Cain has definitely had a vision of player choice throughout his games. Bloodlines was probably the game that strayed the most from this concept, but even so it does have a fair amount of replayability.

Replaying Dragon Age again to my own surprise. I think the hype got the better of me after my first playthrough back when it was released, I liked the game but I was rather fed up with all the talk about it. Now though, I completed a playthrough last week and have started new one this week. Playing a dwarven noble this time around. My favourite origin so far, really enjoyed how that came together. Was thinking about getting AvP since I liked the previous games, but the more I hear about it the more it seems kinda... bleh. Seems like it could be fun for a minute but no staying power at all (sorta like FEAR 2). Guess I should try the demo out.

Well, I do doubt that we'll see OEI handling a FF title, hehe. But at any rate, if something *is* going on with SquareEnix and OEI, maybe a new IP or something? That'd be interesting. It does seem like there would be more stuff in the pipeline at any rate. AP seems to be finished. Wheel of Time is going on, but New Vegas will only be in development until autumn and then that team will need something else to do.

http://www.civilization5.com/ Coming this autumn!

It doesn't phase me personally, but I must say I'm very surprised they decided on no romances in Awakening. It seems to be such a big thing for many Bioware fans. On another note, I started up a new character (not sure if I'll follow it to the end, but...). Made a female dwarf noble. Was very impressed with this Origin, my favorite so far. Having played through the game before, you can of course kinda see what the "twist" is so to speak, but it's still done in a really excellent way. I also think this is the Origin that managed to weave the whole "Joining the Grey Wardens" plot in a satisfactory way. Very good stuff and provides excellent backstory to Orzammar. Still haven't tried the Dalish Elf and Dwarven Commoner Origins.

If OEI were doing a FF game, nothing will be able to prepare us for the FF fanbase reaction. It'd be epic.

Btw, I'm sure this was posted before but this review at the Codex paints a pretty good picture of the game I think. Some things I would've liked to see mentioned more in-depth (like the origins) but overall it's a good read with a good look into one of the bigger quests: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=195 Don't read if you don't want spoilers though.

While I think Zur returning is bad news, I hope to god that Bethesda doesn't force them to use the same voiceacting company as in Oblivion and Fallout 3. Please, please, please allow them to get the ones that handled Bloodlines, MotB, KOTOR2 (and Alpha Protocol I believe). If I ever hear that Argonian/Ghoul guy again...

If you just look at it superficially, then sure it's go to get the 4 things. But a big difference in DA is that you can actually affect those 4 things, unlike KOTOR for example. They are also integrated in how things will turn out in the ending. Not saying I wouldn't want a change for upcoming games to something that feels a bit more... "natural" so to speak. But gathering alliances in DA felt far more integrated into the story and gameplay than just gathering the Star map things in KOTOR.

Not much news in the podcast, but: - Zur is returning to compose - Level cap seems to be level 30 - Pete thinks the game feels very different in a visual sense

I share that belief, but again, comparing BG2 favourably to DA in regards to modding is kinda hilarious. *hammers the point home while kicking the dead horse*