Morgoth

KOTOR2's ending was more satisfying to me, there was at least some attachment to the end boss, not like KOTOR1, where you just kill Malak, then a silly speech in the end and out. At least KOTOR2's ending let me felt a bit sad.

I quoted in my last post there that there will be a demo out tonight.... *Uses mind trick* And you shall all buy the full version! Edit: Why the heck do colors and fonts not working properly?

But I was faster.

Two previews are up, one at Gamespy and one at IGN. Oh, and be happy about this line: "But enough talk. You can try out all this stuff yourself when the demo is released tomorrow. Be sure to check back here on Friday night to grab the demo" *Uses mind trick* "You'll all download the demo and then buy the full version, you'll all download...."

I hardly believe that the lack of QA was the demise of Troika. No they won't. Only a respectable developer (like Bio) can accomplish a publish agreement where both sides are the winners. That means no rushing and no crappy quality, but still making profit in the end. Troika wasn't in that fortune, because they never could or tried to improve their circumstance (especially management wise) to save some money and fund their own project, at least to a certain point, instead they gave the fate of their existence into publishers fundings completely. In the end, it's logical. The software business is a binary matter, either you're a 1, or a 0. That said, the Troika (Jason, Tim & Leon) are better off to work in a company as a lead and let the business stuff handle more experienced people, like the doctors, or Darh Feargie!

The Troika CEO's probably never put too much effort into developing the finer points that makes a good and honest relationship with a publisher, at least that is what it always seemed to me... otherwise Activision would never have pulled the fundings so easily. Well anyway, they're better off in creating games than leading a company, that's the job where The Doctors or Darth Feargie are better at.

I guess since both Obsidian and the Troika are in Irvine, that would be a more logical place to start looking around for work than thinking about the country where you freeze your balls in no time!

Let's hope Darth Feargie has some use for the Troika now, it would be a shame to let such experienced people being absorbed by some non-worthy company....

Ohh yes, Undying... I bought it at once when it came out anno 2001 and was absolutely thrilled by it's creepy atmosphere and outstanding content. Too bad the game never got any prestige that it actually deserved, and too bad the game didn't sell very well either. The funny thing is that this masterpiece is from the same developers as from the horrible Trespasser!

Neat, there's an official trailer for FFvsTTR now that you can download here!

In FFvsTTR, you'll start in the Silver Age (60s) and then time travel back into the Golden Age (40-50s) to kick some Nazis into their butts. There'll be also some new joinable superheroes both from silver and golden age (can't wait to see Tombstone and Skyking in action). I guess that's completely ok, since I enjoyed Irrational's own superheroes/villains more than some famous movie superheroes/villains (well, Joker and Pinguin are actually fine, because they're so evil and dirty). About the graphics: One thing very noticeable is the usage of cell shading, especially for the buildings. But better graphics or not, I'm sure FFvsTTR will be hilarious enough to let me feel like a little kid again (and not the big kid I'm now). :"> Besides, FF is from the company that did System Shock 2 and is gonna make Bioshock, so it's a must-buy for me anyway.

When you always tried to glue old snot on your palms to climb like Spiderman or jumping out of the balcony with just a swollen raincoat and two attached umbrellas to feel like Superman, then you're either completely nuts, or just a super hero fan! For the latter case, you might be interested in Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich, the sequel to the story-driven super hero squad-based strategy game with RPG elements Freedom Force, where you even can throw cars at your opponents, or just toss some badasses athwart the entire map! (w00t) Anyway, here's a new interview with Ken Levine talking about the Adventures in Self-Publishing FFvsTTR, and here's also an article about the story-based multiplayer. Watch out for FFvsTTR being released on March 8th!

Looks like Troika gets replaced by Obsidian for making teh bugtastic games!

Great, another example why they should have already switched to DVD a long time ago. But no, we better use 4 Cds and no, we don't take a 5th, we better compress the music like hell, no matter how ****ty it sounds. Great Lucas Arts! Thanks!

Very good interview. In fact, one of the best anyway. Seems like BGTBH could have turned out as a juwel of the CRPGs genre... I particularly liked this line: ...and wish for world peace

Wasn't Uwe Boll the guy supposed to be the director of a Dungeon Siege movie? I heard last year some rumours about that, and how much his work sucks.

If you people want to play a real squad based FPS, then check out SWAT4. Even me as a non-hardcore-FPS player and non-MP player got addicted with the Open Beta. As for the topic: I think RC has some good and some bad points. "

Why should Bethesda pay Obsidian for those old textures? To use them in F3? HA! Bethesda will make their own art of course... Though, why Feargus bought them back in June 2004 is a riddle to me...

The problem with most software companies out there is that they don't take their time to plan enough their game code (making an analysis, writing down the specifications, planning all features that get into the game (not adding some in the end as Volo said), and then implement the code and test it). If programmers are frowsily during the planning stage, there's a much higher possibility the game code will become buggy and it is more difficult to maintenance it later, which is probably caused due to 1) laziness/lack of knowledge or b) time restrictions or c) both. So just only relying on QA doesn't really mean the game will become less buggy. If you give your programmers 2 more months time FROM THE BEGINNING to plan out their features (not immediately implementing them) I'm betting the game code is far less buggy than giving those 2 months for QA afterwards.

I didn't say combat is avoidable in such cases, but in Bloodlines, it was definitively unbalanced. Just sending my nicely Toreador down into a pit that gets too repetitive over and over again, plus running out of ammo in the middle isn't exactly my idea of good game design. Even in Kotor, which was basically a hackfest, combat wasn't that repetitive... well maybe in the end, but not so frustrating nonetheless. Bloodlines did pretty well for the most parts, but the final ones really pissed me off.

Other than the Leopolds Society crash (which is now fixed with the patch), there were no game stoppers. In fact, I never really noticed any annoying bugs. Here and there some choppy framerates, and here and there some "unbalanced" combat (WAHHHH! Or: Read above), but other than that I thought Bloodlines was a Goody Goody. As for Kotor2, let's wait and see... and drink some tea!

Exactly that, it was too combat orientated in the end, and the Sabbat's lair...oh boy, I thought when I'm out of that hole it only can get better... But that wasn't the case. Instead I had to to fight through hordes of silly Kuei-Jin just to furthermore fight a gigantic snail and so forth... In the end, I became pretty "demotivated"... The point is that I had to put all my XP into combat, so that my charming Toreador mutated into a war machine instead of giving me the choice (as every good CRPG should do) to solve quests in a non-Terminator like manner. But other than that, Bloodlines was great. No. Heck, how do you know? :ph34r:

Unfortunately the design arrow isn't appropriate either... The game was generally nicely done, but the later parts (china town, and that stupid sabbat's lair especially) prevented it from being an absolute hit. One word: Unbalanced. Oh, btw... Willkommen im Board! As for the subject: Well, I like bugs for breakfast, best when they're baked! Does that count as opinion too?

Both are on my shopping list.

Not bad... Hmm, I'm just wondering about the layout (i.e. there's that building, here's that way through etc.), is that a process you artists decide alone and the designers just try to fit all necessary "design stuff" (placing monsters, scripts, dialogs) or are the designers completely involved in the concept process of a level as well?