RPGmasterBoo

I think it was a good game for a W40K fan, I just like real RTS's more. I played it for a few hours in single player and have no intention of returning to it. They could have spammed a DoW remake (which in retrospect would probably have been better), but at least they tried to do something new. Homeworld 3 will be the real deal. All this is just pissing about.

I'd add Relic, most of the time.

I went straight to the circle hoping to get some gear for my mage there. The game does spam a lot of loot, but its all crap for some reason.

I think the part about making decent games is what's really important. Most people don't have a problem paying for something that they feel is worth their money.

I'm doing the circle of the magi part of the game (the fade) and its incredibly tedious. Whoever thought this up wasn't in their right mind.

He's hating on them because they keep on making near identical games.

The dialogue wheel is an innovative and important addition to the RPG genre. @Gromnir: don't bother. Its not worth it.

And at that point of the post I started laughing and moved on. Jeez, it was a joke

What the hell does that mean?

Mining planets makes no sense whatsoever. Its just a poor way to lengthen the game. Trying to put it in any sort of context within the game world itself is a waste of time.

You really don't need two fighters. Or a rogue (at least not for the fighting, and the rest you can take care of once you've cleared a location, with a few exceptions). And while I wouldn't, I'm pretty sure there are people who've gone through without a mage as well. I went with a rogue, a tank (more specifically a Shale) and two mages my first time around and that was very nice for most encounters. I've heard the most powerful party is a tank and three mages. So there is some variety to how you set up your party. And the game can, and does, throw some seriously hard fights your way, especially if you play on nightmare. True, most encounters aren't that bad. but there a re a few that are really hard (and fun, except those damn wolves. They're never fun). I was saying, 6 characters = more tactical options than 4 and more space for devs to include harder encounters. And more nice combat micro.

You don't bother keeping the haters at bay

Having played about 2 hours of Stalker CoP I can say I'm impressed with how atmospheric the game is. And much more polished than the original.

How much time did it take you to finish? I have to hand in my review of it by friday...

You might find money lacking for the last two or three upgrades, like sniper +50% damage etc. But you should have everything else covered.

Oh gawd brace yourself! Indeed. ... Well I've come to the point the map opens up (got Morrigan). Fist impression is positive as I expected (it tends to be with BIO games). I'm playing as a human, male, mage. Not going to go into storyline and characters just yet, because I haven't seen enough. As for the technical stuff, here goes. The graphics: by comparison with other titles that have come out recently, the gfx of Dragon Age are practically obsolete. Textures are low res, and objects are kept as simple as possible. It resembles an updated and better optimized NWN2. Obviously with all the talking you have to go through the characters are rendered much better than everything else. That said, given DA's scope and the way games are made today it would be unfair to expect DA to push any graphical boundaries. So I don't. Clever use of lighting makes the graphics seem less dated. The graphical design is functional but have to see more before I make up my mind. I liked Ostragar a lot, it was obviously built to impress - even though its essentially very small. The rest was generic fantasy fare but done pretty well. The animation is fluid enough to work. The sound: the music is a hit and miss affair. Some of the stuff that plays in combat is pretty good, while the rest is unremarkable. The choir that plays in the menu screen is pleasant. I'm impressed by the sound effects. Ambient noises, spells etc. are all done very well and help with immersion. The voice overs are passably though everyone has a strange english accent and sounds as if they're talking through their nose. Its a bit irritating, but I can live with it. The gameplay. Obviously this is supposed to be done in the spirit of Baldur's Gate. As the resident BG guru I can say its for the most part done well. Unlike Mass Effect and other such... games... where you're essentially playing two separate games stitched together with 3 minigames and at the end of the day have little to no feel for the world as a whole, DA is fluid. You talk, fight and otherwise interact in one world and the immersion is much quicker. That said, it seems to me that DA uses the NWN scheme of things where there is no central hub, but rather a multitude of small or medium locations. I think this is inferior to having one enormous city and several medium areas, because it turns each one of them into an emptyish location with a few quests and that you have no reason to return to when you're done. Combat. Combat is the best part of the game so far, and its essentially Baldurs Gate with updated graphics. It has some advantages over BG in terms of how fighters operate - more skills for them and abilities to use = more tactics. Mages on the other hand are inferior. The flavor that BG's spells had is replaced by a WoW sort of mana fuelled magic. First of all this eliminates the strategical options when preparing spells. Everything is available at all times, and that part of strategy is lost. At least, the tactical options are available and available immediately. You don't have to wait for your wimp of a mage to grow in power - he's an asset from the get go. In fact they may be a bit overpowered, with my magic I'm already doing more damage than everyone else put together. Only 4 characters is somewhat restrictive however, and since you more or less have to dedicate a mage, two fighters and a rogue it limits your options somewhat, and needlessly erases enjoyable micro managment in combat. Plus, the game can't really throw insanely difficult enemies at you if you're limited to so few characters. Other things of note: -Difficulty. Very nice on normal, a refreshing change from dumb alley that we had from KOTOR onwards. -Inventory. I'm starting to hate list based inventories with a passion. I've a 22" screen and I want a frakking grid. On the other hand, its a collective inventory which removes some of the hassle. -NWN item spam. An irritating habit, the game gives too many items too easily and magical items abound - they shouldnt. -Lack of alignment. I like it, removes worry over alignment shifts and such. -The codex. First time I find myself remotely interested in a Bioware IP. What I've seen so far is generic fantasy stuff, but it is quite cohesive. Overall: the "technical" pieces for a 90%+ game are there, but the main quest, side quests and characters are always more important. So I've yet to make my mind up over it.

Yeah, HOTU. I meant HOTU but wrote SOU. Funny because I never even played SOU. I just remember a big red demon in an ice level, that my Monk slaughtered on the first try. That's about it

What's the deal with Mephistopheles, I barely remember him. Some sort of generic archdemon at the end of SoU or something. Why is he so special

Playing it now. First impressions to come...

Afraid it does deserve it's status, far more then say BG. If you have a case, make it. I can give ten reasons of the top of my head why BG deserves its status and ME doesn't, and not one of them has anything to do with which of the two games I prefer. But since you don't have a case and just want to provoke a response, you might want to go to Volo and get your troll membership card first.

They just don't make them like they used to... Hahahahahaha. +1

Do it. Even though you might risk losing your job, girlfriend and social skills. Not to mention your mental stability. I still have nightmares of never ending mobs every 10 steps. Don't let the good beginning fool you, the longer you play, the clearer you will see. I can always ruin it in a review later.

Do it. Even though you might risk losing your job, girlfriend and social skills. I'm a student, my gf is tolerance incarnate and my social skills were never great to begin with, so I'm safe. My preciousssss

There seems to be some conspiracy centered at getting me to play Dragon Age. A few minutes ago my neighbour borrowed me his copy. Actually he practically shoved it in my hands so I'm now staring at it and trying to resist the temptation of party based combat and gay elves

Clever + nice music.