Starwars

If people have trouble with the combat, I recommend reading this little post for some good tips: http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,2497.0.html It doesn't really feel like any other game I can think of. In comparison with Fallout, it has a *lot* more options in just how to solve things (more than any game I can think of). But the sorta of "casual" gameplay, walking around, exploring and stuff like that is very downplayed in AoD. That will turn a lot of people off from the game, especially if you're not a fan or don't get excited by the prospects of text-adventures or the turn-based combat

We can however blame people when they judge things based on... almost nothing. I'm OK with people disliking DS3 and being skeptical about South Park. But we know very little about Alien RPG and we know next to nothing about Vermont (it was Sci-Fi... and that's all?) It's not like Van Buren where you can find design docs online now that detail a lot of what would be going into the game.

That's the magic of forum-posters, we know everything. Thought ya knew foo'!

It's an extremely dumb article that makes absolutely zero sense. The notion that a publisher would pull the plug on a project, which they have invested time and money into, *simply because of the fact that the developer is excited about the prospects of kickstarter* is... beyond ludicrous. Seriously, where do people get these ideas? And do they even do research on how the game development works before posting junk like that? Jesus christ.

I'm playing ME3 but struggling a bit. Like ME2, it's a pretty polarizing game to me. When it's good, it's a lot of fun. But when it's bad, it's cringe-inducing. Everyone always says that you should switch off your brain when playing these games and just have fun but I can't do that. I can appreciate popcorn stuff at times but the stupidity of some things are of such a nature that it just jumps right at you. Like ME2, I think the game is at its best when you're doing more human stuff, interacting with people. I don't even like most of the characters particularly much (latino beefcake is horrible) but the interactions work well for the most part. I think the writers are at their best in those situations because it's easy and fun to sit through. The whole war angle doesn't work at all. The crisis of Earth feels *completely* removed from the gameplay even though they constantly try to remind you of it. While I can appreciate the idea of Shepard getting "tired of it all" after being through so much in the games, it doesn't work. Stuff like the boy child in the intro feel so incredibly forced that it's almost funny. And the next moment it's back into action-hero phase again, performing god-like miracles. What really surprised me though is that I feel the more cinematic quality actually suffers a bit. I don't know if I remember ME2 as being better than it was in this regard but there are quite a lot of moments in ME3 where it's lacking polish in cutscenes, people staring at wrong spots, faces not being animated. Joker looks horrendous, and downright frightening, in a lot of his scenes. And while I remember the ME2 environmental audio as being *really* excellent and really bringing locations to life, the world of ME3 feels empty. That said, when the game works, it is engaging and I will see it through to the end I'm pretty sure.

Full Prometheus trailer:

Sometimes developers wants to be regular people as well... Somethingawful is a big forum, I imagine it'd be nice to be able to post on forums without a giant "hi I'm a developer" tag pointing at you at times. Plus, the New Vegas thread(s) at somethingawful are still fairly active whereas the ones here are... not. The Obsidian forums are not hugely active all in all.

Sad news, best of luck to everyone involved!

I guess there's something wrong with me because I'm trying to learn certain passage on the guitar, and it's frustrating as hell at the moment. And yet I still find laying the guitar... FUN?! And even more so when I finally nail that hard section.

Sequel to Amnesia incoming: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/22/building-a-machine-for-pigs-and-expanding-the-universe-of-amnesi/

Footage from the Firaxis X-Com game: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/06/xcom-enemy-unknown-trailer/#more-97684

Some viral marketing for Prometheus it seems... https://www.weylandindustries.com/ Watch the video, looks pretty nice.

Hahaha, wha.... What the hell?!

Replaying some Bulletstorm. For all the things in its design that really hold back its excellent gameplay and true potential, it's a really fun game to go through. Excellent writing (for what it is of course) and voice acting as well.

Awesome!

I don't think I could pick one Civ as my favorite. It's been ages since I played the first game and Civ 3 is the only one I don't really like that much. Civ 2, 4 and 5 are all great games in my opinion, and they all have their flaws as well. I played 4 a *lot* and while I do miss some things from it in 5, there are certain things in 5 that they changed that makes it really hard to go back. The warfare probably being the main one. That said, the support for 5 hasn't been that impressive I think. Will take a wait and see approach on the expansion, though I have to admit that it's nice that it *is* an expansion. Hopefully it'll be good.

When I think horror RPG I don't necessarily think in terms of survival horror (as presented in gaming) or necessarily scaring the player. I think the overall atmosphere is more what I'm after. Sort of like X-Com or the cancelled Cyclopean project. Or even something like Diablo 1. Perhaps Dead State will fill that function also. Where it's taking place in a world that is obviously very oppressive to the characters involved, and indeed horrific, but that doesn't go out of its way to give the player heart attacks.

A bit too much silliness at first I think but some great questions in the middle or so, including a question about the whole Double Fine/Kickstarter thing. Chris says that if he got to make the game he wanted to make, it'd be an old-school isometric, text-heavy game ala PS:T. So there was much rejoicing I suppose. Some pretty good questions about New Vegas also.

Indeed. It's not as if the level shows up on every damn "scariest level" list ever in the history of internet forums. Yeaaaah... That said, I don't like Ocean House because it's incredibly non-interactive but to say that it fails to scare people is... not in touch with reality.

It would be neat though to maybe have some of those features that were likely in Alien in a fresh project. Horror-ish setting, focus on humans under stress, all that stuff.

Guild Wars 2 is looking pretty interesting to me:

Those one-liners by Captain Anderson during the tutorial had me lol-ing a bit.

I loved Grim Fandango all in all but I really disliked the 3d control scheme. It was just really clunky. That said, with all this news going about, perhaps it's time to start it up again... Or maybe Full Throttle.

A turnbased, top-down RPG made with Onyx. Similar design goals as with Fallout 1 (freedom of choice, big focus on different player experiences) but a new IP created by you guys. I guess there are a number of sequels one could think of but if opportunity was given, I'd love an original IP. Something set in the present day would be cool, maybe something that really explores the fragility of humanity (like Call of Cthulhu-esque). But yeah, most of all I'd just like to see an old-school type of RPG that is A) not all awesum action!1!!, but more about tactical slow-paced gameplay and B) that is not designed for everyone to be able to beat it right away. Make it real challenging with little hand-holding/pointing the player in the right direction always. And if a kickstarter thing *was* set up, making everything as "transparent" as possible would be good. What do you plan to do with the money, what exactly is one paying for, why should one do this etc etc.

Have fun over at Blizzard and thanks for the good games and fan-interaction!