Morgoth

Well since mkreku is already in Chapter 9, there's no denial he enjoys the game.

I'm playing as an assassin who is armed with two simple daggers, and simple tactics (I guess you mean the frontal attack) just doesn't seem to work for me. This is not KOTOR where there's just no point caring about all the options you got. In DM you have choices you have to make, not your stats sheet.

Wrong. But we all know your attitude towards gaming, Hades.

Well, it's certainly not for the story to me why I enjoy this game so much. If you like story, go play NWN2 or Torment or whatever. The Gothic series had sucky stories too, but were still enjoyable for another reason.

Now I'm in Chapter 4, entering the ship. Stabbing enemies into the throat makes tons of fun, and I like the different solutions the levels offer. The level design is not too linear, god thanks. So far, it seems the game just gets better and better! I loved the one guard when he told to another: "Yeah, and my fortune teller told me I'm gonna die today! HAHAHA....". I just love these little allusions. This game is full of little surprises! So far the best thing I've experienced since Thief3.

Agreed. While DM isn't necessarily absolutely groundbreaking, it's still the first game this year for me that doesn't have this "Play and forget" feeling. Somehow it reminds me a bit of Thief3, which is always a good thing. There's just this joy to feel "What's next around the corner? How do I take that guy out?", more kinda like a game that let me do some experimental stuff. Some trivia: The sound designer who works at Arkane was formely an Looking Glass employee who did lot's of sound FX for Thief: The Dark Project too. As for the reviewers: That's a common problem in this industry: There's no such a thing as professional journalism, only some coddled nerds who don't appreciate hard work.

Does anybody around here who owns the game can give some infos about system reqs? Is it a hog even on High-End systems (a'la Gothic 3), or very scalable? And how good are the voice actors and music?

Forget that. Only trust uncle Morgoth! This game is awesome!

I bought the game today and played till Chapter 2. So far it's really very exciting! And I love the morbid atmosphere... And as opposed to the whiney reviewers, I didn't have any trouble with the game yet. No sound stutters or extraordinary long loading times (mine between 10-15 secs. Make sure to defrag your HD after the installation). Playing with 1024, Textures on medium, HDR off, AA off, everything else on HIGH with an ancient GF6600GT, 1Gbyte RAM, 3Ghz. Runs super smooth. Thumbs up for Dark Messiah!

Cthulhu monster attacking pretty woman? Brian just hit exactly my taste! *roahhhhhhr*

Oh Dark Project, an old dinosaur game. I bought it when it came out and played it on my P200Mhz and Voodoo2 computer. Totally awesome! Oh and AvP2 is something I consider a classic. It's now 5 years old, but still playable. Go do it! And Condemned...hmmm. FEAR is a very kinetic experience, with fights, horror vision, fights mixes etc....that can get a bit tedious at times. Condemned though is much slower in pace and offers way more eerie levels and enemies. I remember when I followed a psycho-cripple who crawled like a worm-man on the floor in some very tight cellar, so I was the hunter so to speak, still on the edges though. Especially when the lights have gone out, and that sucker startet to crawl from the ceiling towards you, and you have to get your silly flashlight working back again. And then BAM! in that short moment when your flashlight works again he stretches his claws at my face and I thought THAT'S THE END MUMMY, but then the full lights go on again and he just vanished into a hole. DAMN. Anyway, I thought Condemned was so far the scariest experience for a very long time I had with a video game.

Yeah, Undying was awesome. Too bad it bombed. Other games that freaked me out are System Shock 2, Thief Cradle level and Condemned. Everything else is baby breakfast!

I always thought FF kinda sucked. But then again, I've only played 7 and 8 a little bit.

No, but I *always* confuse you with kirottu accidentally! Blame that silly kitty avatar! :D

Possibly, but he also might be right, Herr Pidesco san!

As I said, it always depends where the focus lies. Of course in games like Mass Effect, you need everything to be good: Fluid, functional level design (as opposed to that Kotor crap level design), and good writing/dialog system. I've no clue what Bethesda is going to do, but Emil is obviously an experiened Level Designer, not writer, and Bethesda historically not very good at creating engaging characters and story. So it's not too hard to guess F3 won't be story/writing focused.

What's about game length and replayability?

Can't remember it anymore exactly, but I think the bank level was from Randy. Emil, wasn't it that abandoned church with the Eye?

With Emil as Lead Designer (he designed some great Thief levels!), I don't have a doubt that F3 might have some interesting design ideas (as opposed to the "Morrowind with Guns" nonsense you people spread so much around), I'm actually more worried about the writing, if that is even of importance. They just might make it more action-oriented a'la Deus Ex, which if executed well, might rock. If story/dialog focused, I rather prefer a Kotor-styel game. Maybe they come up with something completely new? An exploration mode a'la Oblivion or Kotor where you can talk to people face to face, and a combat mode that switches into iso view like the old Fallout games.

Does anyone who owns the game care to write down a short review here? Excluding all the technical issues and trash the "professional" sites already mentioned. Oh and no major spoilers please. Does it really get repetitive? I don't mind linear FPS if the pace and suprises keeps the experience throughout the whole game fresh. If it is that sort of FPS that just becomes boring after a while, I can understand the low rates from Gamespot etc., but it seems to me the combat was quite well done in the demo, and who knows maybe it rocks even more in the full version? Is the level design really that sloppy as mentioned in the reviews? Is it completely linear, or do you still get some joy of wandering around, just looking at the awesome environments, listening at the undead screaming and discover here and there some nice things? You know, that immersion kind of thing. There's also nothing better than observing the enemies first, make some plan and then WHAM! them with my nasty tricks. At least I found the demo gave me some joy in messing arround with the orcs without killing them immediately. I'm really thinking about getting that game, it's just that the demo was too short, the reviews a little too pessimistic and the Ubisoft forums too useless to get some decent impressions. Tell me what you think! Don't hide it from uncle Morgoth!!!!

Yes it's totally worth it! You download 1.5Gbyte and then play a whooping 10min!

No, Broken Sword is old skool with Point&Click interface and (sometimes) very annoying puzzles. There's currently nothing comparable with Fahrenheit available. Fahrenheit isn't really an adventure per se either, more like an interactive drama I'd say.

We need more drama like this - now it would just be like the old days if the devs would participate in these dramas more often!

Not bad, not bad.... The NWN1 toolset bored the hell out of me, but this one seems to be interesting. The more customization, the better. I hope I also have a lot of control for my own art assets (Maya support would be sweet). In that case I could "just" export my cool futuristic airport I've designed within Maya and then fill it with trees and dwarfs! Trees and dwarfs in teh airport! I know this module would be an instant classic!

No NWN2 forums here? No surprise. The Devs don't love us anymore!!! I say. It's all Hades' fault!