Starwars

I played the game during that time, it was pretty crazy. I have no idea whether that particular boss was bugged or not, or whether there was a real way to beat it, but those people are just stupid for doing something like that. If the boss was bugged then the company should be blamed for that, but the stupidity of the player staying up that long (I remember it as being longer than 8 hours as they took "shifts", but not sure) is just mind-boggling. I really enjoyed my time with FFXI, especially when the game was still fresh and people were making their way not really having figured out the best strategies and all that. It was immensely fun to just adventure and explore. Once everyone figured out the strategies, started setting up schedules for events, basically "optimizing" everything, the game totally lost its charm for me. I was initially interested in FFXIV but after reading player impressions I don't think I'll get it. Besides, the idea of paying monthly fees to play is becoming more and more distant in my mind.

I gotta say though... Even though I kinda ragged on the game's acting in the above post, it probably has the best digital drunk acting (character animations and so forth) that I've seen. Really got the mannerisms and the kinda glassy, slightly off-center stare right. That's gotta be worth something!

Cooking in the Dragon Age universe is serious business.

I got the game yesterday while idly browsing the local game-store. Couldn't stop myself. I'm only a few chapters in but I'm a bit torn. The city and the visuals are marvellous. When you first get dropped into the city to walk home I thought it was a real "wow" moment. Stuff like cars still feel great, with real weight behind them. On the other hand, when Mafia came out... Its story and the way it was told felt quite fresh at the time, a more realistic approach to counterbalance other more over-the-top games. But it doesn't feel like that this time around. I'm having trouble connecting with the characters. Also, for a game that tries so hard to aspire to being a "Godfather of the video-games", I think the writing constantly falls flat on its face. The voiceacting is very over-the-top in many situations which completely undermines the seriousness of the game (and it is a game that takes itself seriously). Not that the original Mafia was amazing in any of these regards either but I think the fact that it was A) fairly fresh and B) it didn't feel like it was overshooting its marks made it a bit more fun to play. Plus, I think the main character in Mafia 1 feels waaay more sympathetic than Vito in Mafia 2. Still, I'm eager to play more so the game is doing something right. But it really hasn't impressed me so far in terms of its story and writing (which is crucial for such a story-driven game). I don't personally have a problem with the lack of sandboxy-ness, and I didn't mind it in the Mafia 1 story either (never used the Freeride mode). Though I hear a lot of neat things have been cut apparently which is a shame.

The first few chapters of Risen where the focus is very much on the exploration and open quests is simply put some of the best RPG stuff I have ever played. The world is nice to explore, the combat can be really unforgiving to the player and the quests and choices are very well-done. It's an absolute joy. Sadly the game becomes more of a dungeon crawl later on but I still had immense fun with it. I think Act 1 is easily the shortest one with Act 2 being the longest one, at least if you take your time to explore all the areas.

I would be quite careful with "info" from previews, it can be really hard at times to tell what stuff is A) actually true B) assumptions made by the previewer and C) just crappy writing by the previewer. I didn't really have a problem with weapons breaking down quickly though (well ok, some weapons seemed to degrade way faster than others to an annoying rate). What I didn't like was that you had to have spare weapons to repair with (I dunno how New Vegas is changing this, but the repair kits seems to indicate that something is indeed changed). I also felt the degradation wasn't particularly noticeable on the weapon performance. And yes entrerix, there will be a GECK (with upgrades done by OEI for New Vegas) released afaik.

I work in a psychiatry ward at the local hospital and I was pretty exhausted when I got home from work today. There was a patient who is psychotic, and during her bad spells she is convinced that she is actually an orange and that certain people are trying to peel her skin off. I'd actually heard about similar cases (people believing they are fruit and are afraid of being peeled) but I'd never seen it. It sounds comical at first but, in spending a lot of time talking with her, it's pretty damn terrifying and saddening to see her explain how she on one hand can sorta logically see that it's not real but on the other hand really *feel* like it's happening. Working in a psychiatry ward can sorta de-sensitize you, you can see and hear a lot of strange things but for some reason this really got to me today. Got kinda emotional, talked with a workmate who had had similar experiences (she's been working much longer than I) which helped, and after taking a small break I was fine again. I really enjoy the work though, it's very humbling and I can really feel myself growing as a person.

If it's the zombie game I'm thinking of it has some great ideas but the execution was terrible. Now, I'm normally a very tolerant guy against games with bugs and lack of polish if they feature interesting design, but Fort Zombie was too much even for me. It's downright painful to play.

I am sooo keen on playing that game.

I see it more as the gameplay of their titles being a bit stuck between what the mainstream wants and what the more hardcore roleplayers want. While I think AP could've done with more polish and above all, additional balancing, who knows how people will react to New Vegas? I know that *I* really like the sounds of it but I wonder if ye "casual" gamer will like the increased importance of stats, STR requirements (though they don't stop you from using a weapon), slowed perk-gain rates, less "jack-of-all-trades" syndrome and the possibility of not punching through an enemy's armor due to DT. I love the changes personally, but I hardly think they'll be considered good universally speaking. Especially not among the people who may have been introduced to the series with F3. Similarily, I personally fear that DS3 will go the other way, displeasing the old RPG people who like the numbers and clicking on things. But obviously that's way too early to tell.

I kinda liked the very crude map in F3, I thought it fit well with the Pipboy design. Navigating with it indoors was hell-ish though but overall I kinda liked it.

Finished up The Maimed God's Saga. All in all one of the most enjoyable mods I've played. Definitely one I'll replay at some point, extremely fun. Now I'm playing a bunch of old SNES games. Rock'n'Roll Racing at the moment which is the best game ever.

If only there were more people like you on the Internet Volly. It might actually be a decent place.

Good preview. I wonder what made them remove DR from the equation entirely? The bit Ausir mentions about parts of the setting being to over-the-top might be my main worry. I obviously like the retro 50s schtick, and the whole irony of the setting in general a lot but I think it can be taken too far to the point where it's hard to take some things seriously. I think it occasionally feels like it's poking fun at itself almost, whereas Fallout 1 felt like it took itself fairly seriously. Some people don't care for that but I felt that the setting there was way more believable. Sorta like the 50s vibe was just a fairly small part of the setting (mostly in some of the visuals) that added a unique touch, whereas it sorta took over the series later on. Perhaps Fallout 1 would've been different if it had been in first-person 3d as well if it had been made today though, who knows. But I never felt the 50s thing really jumped out at you constantly in that. I'm also not thrilled to hear that he heard repeating voice actors in the demo. I really hope they do a better job of changing up their acting when doing several characters, and that there still is more voiceactors overall for the smaller roles. I think the stuff I look forward to the most in terms of the setting is how the various factions interact with each other. Like the preview says, some of that stuff in Fallout 2 is really great and it's still ahead of its time there I feel.

The article is meh because it ignores all the flaws of F3 as well, silently resigning to just calling it a modern classic. I don't have a problem with people liking Fallout 3 at all, but there is a lot to criticize in that game, even buggyness (which was worse than Alpha Protocol in my personal experience). And it's basically ignoring everything good that OEI has shown off, things that are without a question *improvements*. So in what ways do New Vegas look worse F3, this "modern classic"? The entire point of the article seems to be that the engine is getting a bit old and that Obsidian has released buggy games in the past (which Bethesda certainly has as well). It doesn't analyze anything past that.

Really too bad that Ziets was not included here but thanks a lot all the same!

More from Josh on SA: Sounds good.

I would also prefer every 3 levels, but a perk every 2 levels instead of every level is gonna be a pretty big change when keeping in mind it's over 30 levels. I'm looking forward to the updated stuff in the GECK btw. I hope there's some good stuff in there... doing dialogues in the F3 GECK is maddening.

For my personal tastes, that would be how the skills should look at about the last level in the game. I would've been happy if there had been a level 20 cap in the game. Still, I hope it will be better than F3 at least. Specialized characters for the win. And I hope the fact that we only get perks at every second level now will also help the feeling that we're not some Wasteland god even at later levels.

Ladies and gentlemen, gaming journalism.

I think the answer will lie somewhere in between. Or rather, a very heavy focus on hack'n'slash (similar to the old DS games as far as I can understand it) just with a heavier story draped over it. But I do think the game will be the most story-light Obsidian game thus far, excluding Storm of Zehir. Might be wrong though.

... Amazing.

Good game. One of my absolute favorite movie-gone-gaming games. Remember how amazed I was when I first bought it. A few more hours into The Maimed God's Saga, it's really good. Not much to complain about here I think. It has a fairly big romance (though you don't have to go through with it I think) which I don't really care for but it doesn't bother me that much. The gameplay is excellent, the story is actually pretty interesting and it's for free. Will likely end up alongside Trinity as my favorite NWN2 mod, though this also seems to be quite a lot longer.

I'm not really well versed in that stuff but I'm pretty sure it doesn't take place after the Spellplague. The plot seems to involve some conflict between Tyr and the Chaos Hound called Kezef. So far I'm very pleased with the atmosphere as well as the numerous skill checks (currently doing an investigation quest and it's really nicely done). It also takes a "realistic" or low-magic approach to things, so you need to pray at an altar to regain spells apparently (though I have to restore the altar in question first). And it encourages you at the beginning to take spells that may not be normally very useful in NWN2 as there are places in dialogues where you can cast spells. Gold is not plentiful and not a single magic weapon in sight so far. This is kinda why I like mods, they can go explore rather different designs. A lot of times it fails miserably but occasionally you'll get something quite interesting.

Yes. You play as a Cleric of Tyr. No clue if the main story will revolve around Tyr as well (too early to tell).