RPGmasterBoo

Yet the rocks are still extremely crude and simple shapes. Basically they bumped up textures, effects and character models while keeping the environment assets. That leaves the animations, which we all know were horrid in Oblivion. Of course it all pales in comparison to the imbecilic story, dialog and to a lesser extent quests. Perhaps they learned something after Fallout 3 although the trailer about the return of the dragons (yawn) doesn't suggest much.

Its just a notch above Oblivion. Not the usual graphical leap one expects from Bethesda, the consoles are really slowing us all down.

In theory you could make money, if you could get over the compatibility issues, dated code, the (likely) dispersion of the team who originally made the game, getting the game known to the target audience without spending more on advertising than on the actual game and picking a game that still generates interest years after its release (very few of those around) and of course - funding.

Then what the hell are they going to use for the fried chicken? Ray Muzyka? He look like he's holding plenty already.

I've no idea how its going to play, but there's no denying that Witcher 2 is visually awesome. DA2 looks pathetic by comparison. They really need to cut down on the cocaine buckets at Bio and siphon some of the budget into the actual game.

If Bio is indeed making an Obs forum RPG, I nominate Volo to be one of the romance-able NPC's - cos he swings both ways and all. It'll be like Anomen all over again, only improved.

A new Bioware game?

I love this place!

Does that invalidate my claim to Volo being an ass? If not, all is good.

Yeah, do all you can to make the new member feel welcome.

I tried playing Orks and IG at the same time but ditched the orks half way through and finished with IG only. The campaign is slightly disappointing, but then so is the entire DoW2 line. I applaud the effort to make something new though. But I wouldn't object if DoW3 turns out to be like the first one, only refined.

There's no point to playing the campaign a second time, all of the maps and missions are the same.

Relic should have done it themselves instead of giving it to Iron Lore. I played it patched up, and even so I wouldn't buy it if it didn't come in a box set. On the other hand Dark Crusade was one of the best expansions any RTS ever got, so some disappointment was inevitable.

What do you think of it ? The SoB army was a novelty, the flying units were...less than impressive to me. Generally I agree with Cyrus' dig at it I loved DoW and WA and DC. Soulstorm was kinda disappointing for several reasons, none of which are solely its fault: the campaign was bland (because it was exactly the same as DC), the pathing wasn't fixed, the AI wasn't improved, the game is still completely unbalanced etc. I think Dark Eldar are butt ugly, but that goes for the tabletop as well. I liked the SoB, I even considered collecting them until it turned out that they're all metal models and cost a small fortune. I play SS only because its the last "most updated" version of the game. I run it with the improved skirmish AI mod which I play against on insane (and its tough!). The flying units are badly implemented, and unnecessary. I'm not really a strategy game player so for an RTS to grab me on and off for years is quite an achievement - in fact the DoW 1 series is the only one to do so, ever, since I usually stop playing RTS's when the single player campaign finishes. Its probably the most enjoyable strategy game ever, even with its flaws. I burned through the entire DoW2 line in one sitting and I never looked back. I don't like it.

Soulstorm - for quite a while now. Nothing else.

So are you going to tell us just how much DA2 sucks? I'd pay good money to hear that

Flop = rapidly lose a lot of subscribers, in this case just like Warhammer Online That good is it?

That's why I said its going to flop. It's obviously difficult to predict the staying power of an MMO, but if they have a smart business plan, Volourn is right in saying it will only affect the MMO studio. I also fail to see how a game in a completely different genre can really ruin Bioware's reputation. I guess if it was a complete disaster, sure, but it looks like a pretty solid game. My only concern is that it will not be fully ready and will be pushed out early , a la Warhammer Online. Not their reputation with the public in this case, but with the higher ups. Its a huge project and if it flops there's a lot of blame to go around. Besides, remember what EA Louse said. It might not be reliable information but its also not easy to disregard.

That's why I said its going to flop.

I never said it was anything more than my gut feeling. Don't get your panties in a twist over it.

For me the quality of Bio games has always bounced up and down. While that is my personal opinion, this might be the first time so many customers have been so dissatisfied about a Bio game, so perhaps this might be a big negative turning point. I don't think this will be that moment though. If Mass Effect 3 is as rushed as DA 2, that might be the straw that breaks the camels back. Maybe this was the beginning of th end... I hope not though. They do make great games from time to time. Yes. This is the first "glitch".I predict that ME3 will be successful, but that TOR will fail. I also predict that they'll be in trouble after that because the core BGII gameplay that drives their games has been cut down to the bone - the "Mass Effect" type gameplay is a dead end. It doesn't have the lasting appeal of Blizzard like gameplay, and has nowhere to evolve because of its essential simplicity. Its really nothing new, Bioware has turned RPGs into action adventures with RPG elements, and the only way to go from there is to full action adventure, or back to RPG. Even that Bio developer said it (when trying to pass DA2 of as something "evolved"), the genre is stagnating, riding the console wave. On the PC they've no idea where to take it further, if at all.

Didn't it? First week is expectedly good for a game with a successful predecessor. Second week, sharp drop. Sure, it was cheaper to make, so the overall financial situation is a success, but there's the other part of it and that's the fact that the games sales dropped sharply as a clear indicator of lesser appeal/quality. With such a semi negative reception DA3 will have an uphill battle for sales, and all Bioware products will be affected. Why? Because its a matter of trust. One disappointing product, and the number of "sure buy" customers drops.

Its funny how they talk of evolving the genre when they apparently made Jade Empire again. There are two things I should praise however (the attempt, not the outcome), because I remember bitching for them: 1. large city setting 2. personal non-epic story Oh and they should stop doing God of War type action because they suck at it. Even if they did not suck in the action gameplay department, at best the combat is going to be ridiculed by their console audience who's used to extremely polished and fluid action games with which an RPG can never compete. OR, at very least ditch the extremely choreographed, ballet like combat in favor of a clever (and exciting) reaction driven system like Rune had.

At some point, the pupil must surpass the master.

I learned much from you mastah.