Sannom

No, in a perfect world Obsidian would still be working on external IPs but wouldn't have too much difficulties pitching their original IPs. I like Obsidian for the external stuff too! Opinions, I suppose. I know people who are getting rather annoyed at Blizzard's inability to evolve, both in gameplay and settings. The two projects they had who went out of their comfort zone (i.e strategy and Hack & Slash) were failures. Dunno, I'm sure that the only thing I'm confident Square demanded (i.e multi-platform game) would have been enough to create all those changes. I don't know A Game of Thrones, but was that guy the actual descendant of the reigning family?

There are reviews out in France too, the official PS3 magazine and the Consoles+ magazine. Both give it a 14/20. In both cases, it seems to be the game's classicism and 'safeness' that brings it down (the PS3 magazine is especially telling : the short review is only praise, but the mark is just average), along with some graphical shortcomings (Consoles+ really didn't like character models in conversation). They both praise story and the building of a coherent, diverse world. Both aren't really impressed at the consequences of player choice. Also, there is a guy in a cell bearing a strong resemblance to Sten who was born so deformed that people thinks that he is a Krug.

He lacks a pretty-boy quality though, even though he's baby-faced. It's not like Brayko looked like a JRPG protagonist despire being baby-faced.

The empowered abilities are powered by the orbs. You gain the ability to use the empowered abilities after using the ability again and again and filling up the bar you mentioned.

I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I was referring to how the orbs were refilled, not how the enhanced ability is 'learned' .

It's probably a reference to the enhanced version of each ability. The spheres are the violet orbs that you can see at the bottom of the UI, below the focus bar. I think they're recharged through the use of special abilities.

Italia is among the unfortunate, I heard?

Soooo.. what is it that Obsidz are working on that is highly stylized and high profile? A Commandos RPG with the beautiful graphics of Commandos 2 and hints of Alpha Protocol in the gameplay? More seriously, if it is the franchise they couldn't turn down, what franchise could it be?

(1) You mean a "lunge attack", I presume? There is one, you just have to unblock it. I think it's around the fifth or seventh rank in CQC. (2) Don't play it as a shooter, it's not intended to work that way. Pistols and Assault Rifles are meant to have their shots patiently lined up, and SMGs and shotguns are more 'in your face', so to speak. But even then, you would have to be cautious in their use and try to take profit of their Critical Hit mechanic. (3) If we have to have a named protagonist, I've discovered that I prefer for the character to be fully named. It makes for more natural conversations instead of just having everyone call me by my last name.

Comments by a SE employee, probably hints about upcoming PR pushes.

@ Eriksharp : couldn't you say that yesterday instead of today? I'm feeling bad now : the demo for PS3 and X-Box 360 is pushed back to June 22nd, while the PC version is still stated for a June 7th release. Wait, scrap that, it seems this is the schedule for Europe, the US versions should still get out at the previous dates.

It doesn't seem to be 'that' low given the other marks. Not on the score level, but I would agree on the 'what are the good and bad points' level. Ambient sounds, beginning vs. ending, there are some points where they greatly differ. Magazines from Australia and France definitely received a review version, but they didn't get a review out yet.

It's slower than simply tap a button to throw the attack, which is kind of a handicap for this game, and I didn't say 'boring', I said 'annoying', as in being forced to go the hotbar, then back to the enemy, way too often in a short period of time. Unless you meant that we could have shortkeys for those abilities too. Which I think we will have anyway.

Wouldn't that control scheme be too slow and really annoying, given the game's genre and gameplay? The player needs to activate his special powers almost immediately.

Secret project on big franchise is M&M for Ubisoft?

Nope, still four weeks to go.

Tigranes? Where? Oh s***, don't change your avatar like that man, you nearly gave me a heart-attack! And I agree with C2B, this review and a few of the preview we've seen : I think variety in environments, even if they aren't hyper-detailed, is a strength of the game.

Yeah, but they're still good enough and I wasn't really expecting 90+ scores . Thanks Bendu and C2B for the run-down! C2B, is there anyway you could tell us why the PC Games guy considers the last hours as the best in the game, without spoilers? Except for the teleporting, this seems to be some kind of design decision, I think? In the jeuxvideo.com videos I posted earlier, the skeleton mages at the beginning went back to their room instead of following the player.

Alright, another one : what is the thinking behind giving review copies of the game to the press so early, without any sort of Review Embargo? Aren't you afraid to kill the hype for the game a bit early?

Well, that is obvious... I hope . But what about the defensive stance depending on the previous stance you were on? It seems that for the stance that uses two pieces of equipment, one gives a bonus to defense, and the other had the Chaos effects.

I suppose they're specific Archon-issue armor and pants who are covered by ashes to reveal her true form, and she puts her staff into some sort of hammer space . Presumably, she still has the full defensive effect of her equipment even in her Archon form.

www.jeuxvideo.com has two 'Gaming Lives' on the game : http://www.jeuxvideo.com/gaming-live/0003/...60-00004035.htm http://www.jeuxvideo.com/gaming-live/0003/...60-00004036.htm I didn't watch them yet, I will probably comment on them later.

The 6th, and apparently the last, page of Odo's journal is up : http://www.dungeonsiege.com/odos-journal.php?i=5 So in fact the disastrous reunion of the Legion's children at the Montbarron's estate comes at the heel of another disaster for the Legion? That's one long string of bad luck! Also, that royalist general has more spies among his entourage than there are worms in a rotten apple. One from the Legion, another from Jeyne.

What is the platform of choice for that magazine? Canard PC (France) has a review version too, but it doesn't work because of 'mouse & keyboard bugs'.

A review already? One month before the game actually gets out of the door (can someone remind how soon the first DA2 review appeared?). Do you have a buddy that works at a game magazine? I thought it was pretty obvious that if DS3 sold well, we could see DLC or expansions. Didn't Feargus or someone else said that DS3's engine was specifically made so that DLC could be added rather easily?