Aristes

Oh, I don't mind more Star Wars games. I mean, they've plumbed the depths of the license, but that doesn't mean the games can't be good. I'm like Crashgirl in that I won't buy the game specifically for the license, but a good game is a good game.

Dude! I was hoping for the pics. Rat bastard.

The Witcher wasn't entirely stable on my system, but I had very few crashed and those that I did have tended to come when I was alt-tabbed out of the game and came back into it. Loading times were frustrating, but loading times for every game frustrate me, including WoW and most other games where I even see a loading screen. And my computer is fast. I imagine I'd be gibbering with rage if I had a slower system.

Yeah, but I'll believe that when I see it. Still, good news on the game. I've been reading most of the these preview threads carefully and the previews not at all. I'm buying the game. I already know that, so I'm tempering my curiosity with a desire not to spoil the story. It's hard not to take a peek at the reviews, though. I'm starting to get excited about the release date.

Respawns can work. It's just that most developers go overboard with them. Plus, I personally like the idea of clearing out an area. I like the sense that I've done something. On the other hand, I can see respawns as a way to show a living world that progresses outside of PC action. On yet a third hand, having the exact same outpost spring back up with folks who act the exact same way as the same unlucky blokes who came before them is not what I'd call a clever way to show a living world.

That sounds fine by me. I mean, I'm a goofy RPGamer. I think a little over the top humor is fine. That's probably why I enjoyed Fallout 2 so much. I like silly schticks and slapstick from time to time. I never had a problem with the brothel, only with folks thinking it equates to mature content. Hell, we don't want too much mature content. Otherwise the game would be about some poor bastard who loses his farm and ends up being a street thug in some city, shaking down egg merchants for enough scratch to buy some mouldy bread and a small slice of ham or something.

Wow, seems like an excessive response to me, aries. I didn't get the impression that Purkake was complaining, simply edifying. I don't hate the idea of the brothel out of hand, but don't assume that a brothel in a game makes it more mature. Gratuitous sex is not mature. In fact, fixating on sexual encounters is less mature. Yes, I enjoyed the Witcher, but the sexual situations were out and out puerile. It's not a big issue for me one way or the other. I'll prefer juvenile approaches to sex and violence to whatever 'romance' they include in the game, so I don't really care. Just don't cite the brothel as adult content. Adult maybe, but not adult.

It's sad, because it's a good game except for the horrible respawning. I was going to buy this title until I heard about the respawns. If there is a great game somewhere with one fatal flaw, there's a good chance the design team decided to go gonzo with the respawns. I hate it, and it's one of the things that will prevent me from purchasing a title. Respawns do not equal more difficult or challenging. They simply mean slogging through areas I've already killed. It's one of the things that I hated about Wizardry 8, which would have been a great title otherwise. I'd like to rant more, but I'm tired. Maybe if I nap, I can come back and rant more about designers' love of respawns.

I love England. I have relatives there and my family visits quite a bit. Hell, my brother goes there on business or pleasure at least six times a year. However, I can say from my only personal visit that I was chilled by the number of closed circuit cameras deployed, most specifically in London. I've heard said, and I believe it, that London employes the highest density of CCTV cameras of any city on earth. Yeah, it helps enforce traffic laws. It helps prevent theft. It helps do a lot of things, but western democracies the world over should out and out fear that this measure will hold. If the United Kingdom does not do away with this odious measure, then there it will similar movements in other countries will gain legitimacy. All it takes is one country, and a country has a long history of embracing personal freedom, to adopt this measure and it suddenly becomes far more palatable by others. "They introduced a similar program in the United Kingdom."

The point is that the Civil War didn't settle anything in regards to state rights permanently. I think it was a definitive blow to states rights that kept the idea down for several decades and still dogs it today, but nothing is permanent in history. By the way, I had several of my liberal friends telling me that there would be a rebellion because Bush made it into office and then, because it simply could not have happened, they were sure that there was a conspiracy and voter tampering that allowed Bush to win his second term. Frankly, I think the Democrats have it better in the fraudulent vote department, but both sides try their best to get votes and some of the methods on both sides are unsavory or even fraudulent. The point is, it's not just the conservatives who talk about secession, although conservatives are more likely to rattle that saber and more likely to be serious when they do. How serious is the question. Serious as New England's Hartford Convention during Madison's administration? I don't know. Talk of secession has been around for a long time, but it's such a dreadful step, it's only been tried once and that was an ill-advised decision. For myself, I am not an Obama fan. I don't think he's Satan or evil or a communist like I've heard from several friends. Mostly, at this point, I just think he's inept. Still, it's in no state's interest to break off from the union. The only reason to break the common trust is if the federal government literally usurped the constitution, which was most flagrantly previously done during the Civil War, but that was because of the Civil War. In fact, the Civil War gave excuses to President Lincoln to overstep federal authority that he would otherwise never have had. The Civil War itself isn't a state rights problem, regardless of arguments to the contrary. It was simply a slavery question and even if the south had succeeded, it would have suffered at any rate. The southern dream of forging commercial ties with Britain and Europe would be, in my opinion, doomed to failure. The south today is not the south of the Civil War. Northerners and Westerners are fooling themselves if they think of the south as nothing more than a collection of hicks. Sure, someone can post glib IQ charts and other nonsense, but the south has been growing commercially, economically, and in population for a long time. It supplies a lot of the armed forces and the fact that many southerners (wisely) don't take secession seriously is balanced by the fact that many more of the northerners and westerners are less willing to fight them to keep them in the union. This secession nonsense sucks, but the fact that so many people are unconcerned about states rights sucks just as much.

hahaha That made me laugh out loud. I think the Star Wars franchise is overrated, really from the very beginning, but it's the game that matters to me, not the setting. Come to think of it, I guess I just want a KotOR 3 from Obsidz to finish off the series.

Actually, I'm always for new IPs, although I haven't played most of the Star Wars games out there, so I'm not jonsin' nearly as bad as I am for original fantasy IPs that don't rely on the same old cliches... or tropes... or whatever term the intilekshual gaming and literary giants use these days.

I think that the second coming will take care of these pesky notions and we'll all end up living in the Garden of Eden. ...And God doesn't need any silly Garden of Eden Creation Kits. He's the original G.E.C.K.! Plus, I don't see how having a greater awareness of our unviverse would help us vis a vis the biological shell thing. After all, you can be aware of the rain, but you still need an umbrella or you're going to get wet.

I'm around the midgame in Fallout. I've fixed the water problem and now I'm gearing up to kick some mutant backside. Specifically, right now, I'm hauling gear back and forth to sell. My pitiful strength means I can't use anything heavier than the 10mm handgun without penalty. That includes the smg. haha I've got a lot of NPCs right now, though. Dogmeat, Tycho, and Ian. I gave Tycho a sniper rifle and Ian the .233 pistol. Dogmeat I gave a snack and he bites the hell out of everyone. Mean ol' junkyard dog. I should really get moving again on the mainquest line, but I think I'll try to break into that one area in the Old Town of the Hub. I think there's a quest-line there, and the fact that something exploded when I walked down the hallway affirms that suspicion. I just couldn't pick the lock on the door, but those raiders I went back to see were kind enough to leave me a set of lockpicks in their will.

I'd like to see that, although I'd hope they managed to do better with the end game, both in terms of gameplay content and storywise.

Who cares where you meet the woman of your dreams, you big doofus? Woot! Krezack's got a girl friend, Krezack's got a girl friend . Of course, be careful that she doesn't end up being the woman of your nightmares.

That bull**** again? Don't they know that the Civil War effectively ended the main backing of the "States' Rights" movement? Actually, resolutions such as these have been part of our history since well before the Civil War. I believe states introduced the first of such similar resolutions during Adams second administration, but I could be wrong. The tension between state and federal power was certainly an issue of contention before we adopted the constitution and that very document shows how thoroughly the states adhered to the principle of their own sovereignty. If you think the Civil War resolved that issue entirely, you're simply wrong. In fact, there has been discussion of secession popping up for years. The gravest misfortune is that the Civil War, which was ostensibly fought over the state's right to secede what inextricably tangled with the individual's right to possess slaves. I don't think secession is a wise move for any state, but I agree with Guard Dog in that a lot of Obama's moves to consolidate even more power to the federal government are unwise, Civil War or not.

I really enjoyed Bloodlines. I thought that it was the best title Troika developed. I enjoyed Arcanum, but I thought there was more there that failed than worked. I played it once and maybe twice, although I seem to recall that I didn't finish the second run, which puts it pretty low on my list. Bloodlines is a modern vampire game, which is a turn off for me also. However, I thought they actually did a good job of fashioning the story and making the characters interesting. Some of the voice acting was really well done also. The combat is not all that great, but some of the combat situations are still interesting. Overall, I would suggest it. I think if Bloodlines had been their first title and they'd moved up from there, Troika would still be developing games.

Well, then, recycle it you yutz!

Aw, you're saying we're nothing good? That just hurts, bro! Anyhow, one simple question, why are some folks referring to Lord of Flies as LOD? Is that like Lord of Destruction from Diablo?

Yeah, truth to tell, I was thinking of doing that. Anyhow, Hurlie, let us know how you enjoy tactics. I've never played, but it's suddenly a 'real' Fallout Game now that FO:BoS and Fallout 3 (with DLC) are on the shelves. Hell, I remember somebody said that they could understand why folks liked Fallout 2 because they hadn't played the original Fallout. haha And I owned my own buggie first edition Fallout at or damn near release day. Still enjoying my run of Fallout. I've got the

Yeah, but now he has the cds, so it's all good. I am enjoying my GoG account, though.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Sorry, guys, I could have warned you. You folks wanted to come here for a lot of news and whatnot, but it's just not going to be all that forthcoming. Look at the traffic on this board. Even Alpha Protocol, a game that will probably sell well and is nearing completion, has less traffic when compared to a lot of other titles. For the most part, folks come here to talk to each other because Obisidian doesn't really support its forum that much. I know I know The fans will pop out of the woodwork to show me where I'm wrong and cite examples and put my feet to the fire. Fair enough, but the only folks who seem to consistently post in the parts of this forum that I frequent are Sawyer and Matthew. Sawyer is basically a forum monkey like the rest of the regulars. Hell, he is one of the regulars. Rorie has something to do with PR or some such. It's basically a duty to keep track of some of this stuff, and that's especially true for the AP forum which is where the bulk of his posts are. I swear to goodness, unless they change something, you're probably going to get your news faster from the Bethsoft pages than from these parts. From what I've seen in lurking here for a while, FU doesn't give a damn about the boards and would be just as happy if they didn't exist and something tells me that the mass of devs at Obsidz view the forum and the forum members with a range between sublime indifference and out and out disgust. I was having fun talking hypotheticals, but folks want real news and I could have told you not to get your hopes up. :haksthumbsup: BTW: This post isn't a diatribe against Obsidz. I like their games. I'm a fan. I enjoy these boards immensely. As for the folks at Obsidz, I view them with the same amount of indifference with which they view me. All's good!

That's one of the aspects of Blood Money I enjoyed quite a bit. It's not that I expect or even want Alpha Protocol to go entirely in that direction, but some subterfuge along those lines sounds like a lot of fun.