Cl_Flushentityhero

I could probably make one up . . .

That was kind of appalling. Also, I'm going to feel seriously shorted when they devote all that time to showing off army-size battles and then we discover you don't actually get to be in them.

I always sold my canteens and figured dehydration damage was a failure of the survival skill

I, for one, am all about the other things.

I, for one, am hoping that the tutorial is fun *and* informative.

I passed on the first two, but I'm thinking Broken Steel looks at least worth checking out.

Meh. I think it would've been pretty disappointing anyway.

The last epic manual I remember was for The Witcher.

Yeah, for the record, I'm sure us forum regulars would happily beta-test for you guys . . .

I think your post is probably too long-winded to incite true flames, only increasingly long-winded replies. In my defense, I wasn't really into trolling forums back in the Fallout 1 days, otherwise I probably would've criticized that too. Now it just seems like it's too late, kind of like criticizing pong for lack of character development. Being compared is kind of the fate of sequels, particularly those by a third party. I would be pretty comfortable accepting the assertion that Fallout 3 more resembles an Elder Scrolls title than the first two Fallout games. In that sense, it isn't a "true" fallout game. That said, it's the direction the franchise has taken. Perhaps Obsidian will take it in yet another direction, but this won't be a return to the days of old; it will be Obsidian's take on the franchise within the context of every game that has come before (including FO3). People may *claim* it is a "return to the roots" when they discover it's quite good, but it's actually a process of moving the franchise forward rather than backwards.

I've launched into it and my initial impressions are as follow: Playing on hardcore and not using all of the NPCs I can, the combat is a bit difficult (read, not a solo or even duo-friendly module). I'm guessing it's balanced for a full party on normal difficulty. The NPCs so far are very cliche, but interesting enough. You have the spunky streewise female rogue, the tortured fallen paladin, the cleric fed up with the church . . . need I go on? The city has a good look and feel to it, though as with most modules the reality is somewhat less remarkable than the first impression. It would be a really awesome free module, but so far I don't feel cheated out of my $10.

Oh yeah, does anybody know when broken steel *really* releases on PC?

Uh, I'd argue that if they're commercially successful, they're obviously not oblivious to what sells.

As much as I would like to attempt a sarcastic reply, I consider that a legitimate question. That said, I doubt it, as AP seems to be a very goal-driven game.

Well, choice is as fun as it is deep. That applies both to game mechanics and story. If you have 10 dialogue options that are purely flavor with no effect on the immediate conversation or the world, then perhaps the time would be better spent on other things. Likewise, if you have a whole bunch of perks that simply increase skill points, it doesn't contribute much to the game beyond what the skill point system already had to offer.

Well, the guns were pretty borked in Arcanum, to the point where somebody went to great lengths to make a mod specifically rebalancing them.

I found Arcanum both fascinating and frustrating. While I miss Troika, I do admit they were a little hit and miss. I think the main problem in Fallout 3 is that, while the writing and quest design is amazing by Bethesda standards, it's weak by Black Isle and Obsidian (and maybe even *gag* Bioware) standards. Obviously they realized that on some level, which is why they're moving on to other stuff.

IGN gave God Hand a 3. I think that pretty well establishes that they can be a bit unnecessarily harsh.

I should qualify my earlier statement by saying that I actually think BS will be fun, it just won't be remarkable.

Not to nitpick, but I thought Bethesda's perk design was pretty lame in the first place, so the Broken Steel ones don't come as much of a surprise.

That sounds over the top to me, especially since it is probably repeated ad nauseum throughout the game. Actually, what I've seen in trailers looked like pretty typical Fairbairn, Applegate, & Sykes stuff. As that's the sort of thing that was actually taught to commandos during WW2, I don't see how trying to be historically accurate is "over the top."

Well, I won't go out of my way to rag on somebody doing a free game. That said, I seldom expect much either.

I'm waiting for the dramatic finale when he unveils that he's actually Matthew Rorie attempting to get people to post on the AP forums again.

Hey! We don't have to take that from a Japanese cowboy.