ericjones

Whilst agreeing with your description of the Gametrailers userbase, I still think that the comments and video ratings there can be interpreted as something of a "hype meter". Of course, it is of little value if one is to follow proper methodology, but it does give you a pointer as to how the general public's expectations to the game are at this moment in time. The newest video has a rating of 7.9, which is substantially lower than the videos released earlier.

Gametrailers comments are not very positive and while it's often good to ignore 'em, they are close to your average gamer. If they say game look like crap, movement is odd, animation is stiff, AI is messed up, map is claustrophopic like ME maps, combat mechanics are sub par... well, actually I have to agree with 'em. And saying that makes me want to kick myself into face. I agree completely. However, if the role playing is strong and the story interesting, it could possibly gather some pretty good reviews still. And good reviews (read metacritic rating) sell games, even if the game is lacking in the graphics department. For me, the main character animations would be the main complaint regarding the newly released video. After all, we're stuck with watching Thorton's back throughout the game, and as such his animations should definitely have been of higher quality. The other animations I don't really care that much about, and, having Fallout 3 in mind, neither do other gamers. So I really, really, really hope that Obsidian have the time to give this specific problem some much-needed attention before release.

How's the vertical sync? And how did you get through the first battle without getting knocked on your face every four seconds? I play with vsync off (the performance difference is pretty minimal, but I prefer tearing to lagging), and I experience some pretty bad tearing in some areas, whereas other areas are tearing free. Overall, however, I'm quite pleased with the graphics. The first fight was extremely difficult and frustrating, and I probably spent about an hour trying to get through the starting mission alone (a pretty stupid design desicion if you ask me). The melee combat takes time to learn, but fighting against humans or orcs feels satisfying once you get the hang of it. Fighting beasts and goblins is still extremely frustrating, and that's the main reason I decided to become a mage instead of fighter. I find it ridiculous that it's easier to fight "elite" soldiers than it is to fight bloodflies and goblins (especially since killing the two latter only yields 1/4 of the XP that you get for taking out well equipped soldiers) unless you got fireballs and a high knowledge of magic. Those problems aside, I do like the game a lot, as I find the whole world rather engaging. Being in the desert one moment, and then in the snowy landscapes of Nordmar the next is pretty cool, and the colors, landscapes and NPCs bring the world to life. I also find the setting original and interesting. If I were to give the game a grade at this point, I'd probably give it 7/10. When it comes to RPGs that I've played the later years, I think I only rate Mass Effect higher (which I'd give 8/10). Then again, there hasn't been much to choose from lately, and I still haven't tried the Witcher or NWN2. Regarding the appraisal the MoB expansion pack got from the Codex, I guess I'll have to check that one out as well. virumor: Yeah, it didn't take long for me either to notice that the game is a sausage fest

Gothic 3 with 1.7 patch, alternative AI and balancing. I found it to be very frustrating in the beginning (mostly due to beasts being ridiculously dangerous and hard to kill), but after getting fireball and the mana regeneration perk, it's quite enjoyable. The graphics are very good in general, and you truly feel like you're in a living, breathing world. However, the story line is weak and almost non-existing, and the quests are generic (usually kill and/or fetch), so I've started tiring a little after playing it for a week straight (I'm level 30, and probably about halfway into the game). I also miss better dialogue options. But then again, it's not that type of RPG, and probably best comparable to Oblivion which is, in my opinion, a far weaker title. Gothic 3 has enjoyable swordfighting, better graphics, a truly living world, and, when it comes to weak story lines, less is definitely more. I got immensely bored by Oblivion after some 15 hours and decided to play it "later". Still haven't picked it up again, and I really don't have any plans to either. Gothic 3, on the other hand, I've probably played for 20+ hours now, and even though I'm progressing more slowly, I am going to finish it. A big thanks to mkreku for recommending me Gothic 3. On another note, I just got Forza Motorsport 2 and a steering wheel for my 360 and it's just great. Can't wait for Forza 3 which is supposed to come later this year.

Indeed it would. That's why I'd rather have Vampire (it would be the third in the series after Redemption and Bloodlines) or Kotor 3 than BG3 or IWD3. I was never a huge fan of the Icewind Dale series, and hopefully Dragon Age will, optimistically speaking, fill the Baldur's Gate void. A superhero singleplayer RPG could be cool as well. The the closest I've come those are the Freedom Force games, but they're quite far from being proper RPGs (more like strategy with leveling). I'm still waiting for the announcement of the THIRD installment in the Freedom Force series, though Jokes aside, I'll hold my finger on Kotor 3. After all, the Kotor MMOG is coming, and that could open up a new market for the series. And more importantly: It's about friggin' time!

My opinion, based solely on the video: Not too impressed with the first part, even though the underwater sequence looked pretty cool. The second part looked very generic, and the animation where the gray guy dies and falls next to the fountain (at 1:31) sucked. I loved the first Bioshock, mainly due to the fresh art style, nice story and plot twists. Also, Andrew Ryan is a cool dude. Shooting mechanics - not so much, and thus, the second part of the video left me indifferent. If they want to tease me, then tease me with some cool story elements, not with stuff I've seen before.

Found this here - bottom post. 1. Create a new folder in your hard drive called something like NWN2SOZ 2. Copy and paste the entire contents of the disk to the folder you just created 3. Run setup.exe from the folder and install the game 4. Delete the folder you created to begin with from your hard drive

I believe that the textures should be sharper. In both of the pictures, it looks as if the arms dealer guy is standing in front of a furry carpet will a brick-motif. Hopefully there will be an option allowing sharper textures in the game. For me, good animations and a steady, smooth framerate are just as important, however. The animations we've been shown so far look pretty good - way, way better than the ones in Fallout 3 for example. Unfortunately, framerate issues tend to appear in many multi-platform games nowadays, but I'm hoping that Obsidian will have the time and resources to work on engine optimization. I also think it's important that the game will run well on average-spec PCs. Graphics alone don't make or break a game as long as the game has something unique going for it. Just look at Saints Row 2 - horrible graphics, but still a game with good sales and good reviews (if you don't count the horrific PC-version).

My brute cost a late night fee, Your brute got the HIV, My brute plays on the double feature screen, Your brute went straight to DVD

Aww, you're so mainstream. I mean the Hooked version, released in 1989, not the mainstream To The Extreme version, released in 1990. BACK IN THE GAME!! Niiiice, what a great relief this has to be for Ms. Newland! Can't see any reason for keeping this thread open much longer

Asol: You've been taken care of. Jaesun: Thanks for bringing me back down to earth

Actually, they continue to get away with this. It's not very uncommon in the industry to believe that this kind of aggressive 'PR' works in their favour. And seeing as how nobody really calls them up on it... I suppose it's not wrong. Not to mention the preview process of Fallout 3, where one actually had to play the game under Bethesda supervision (I believe the excuse was to "counter piracy"?). Nowadays, an unfavorable (p)review is something developers and publishers are extremely afraid of, and they therefore take their precautions. In my eyes, a preview should be an unbiased look into the feel of an unreleased game, so that I can decide whether or not this may be something for me. If the preview just states that the game omg roxxorz, it's pretty useless. The large amounts of expensive swag sent to reviewers and video game journalists may also be a cause for concern. Unless you know your way around the internets, you won't find out about these practices, and most consumers have no idea about this going on. As you say, "nobody really calls them up on it", and thus the large majority of consumers are being kept in the dark. Sorry for this off-topic rant, but I just had to get it off my chest.

Very true. I always go for what's "second best", so to say, meaning that I buy low-end newer tech or high-end older tech. Buying the very best equipment is a complete waste of money, as the difference in pricing in no way correlates with the difference in performance. Krezack: Do you have a monitor already, or do you want to pay 1000 AUD for the whole package? From what I gather, however (you're looking at the Mac mini), the 1000 AUD price is without the monitor. I would go for something like this: Vista x64 -a lot better than its reputation, and A LOT better than XP 4 GB DDR2 Ram -"Future proofing" as mentioned above Intel Core2duo E8400 3.0 ghz with a cheap fan -you can easily clock it up to at least 3.2 ghz without any worries An nVidia geforce 8800 or better (preferably the 2xx series) with 512 mb DDR3 ram -my experience is that newer games are slightly more optimized for nVidia cards than for ATI/AMD ones. Then again, my experiences may not relate to the experiences of others here. I run this setup, and I run all newer games smoothly. Nowadays, it should certainly also be in your price range. I expect it to be a bit short on performance for games that come out later this year, but not by much.

I've challenged all you guys, and I stand with 4 wins, no losses. Who dares to challenge me? http://ericjones.mybrute.com

Ignore Gorgon and get this: http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showt...d.php?p=8871228 It's 880 MB, but it's worth it. Not only will you get an insane performance increase, the badly broken combat actually works now. But be warned: if you're used to games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or equivalent, this game is not for you. There's no hand-holding, you WILL die a horrible death a hundred times and you WILL fail quests. Yes, it's actually possible to fail stuff in the Gothic games, unlike anything produced in the US for the last ten years. It's a very difficult game. But if you enjoy a living, breathing, absolutely massive world with no loading times, lots of combat, quests, treasures and three different story lines (you can only finish one per playthrough), you'll have a blast. I am currently replaying Gothic 3 with the community patch 1.7 and it's a great game now. Just make sure you turn on the Alternative balancing and the new AI and you're set to go. Thanks! Just downloaded the patch and put Gothic 3 on top of my list. Will play it as soon as I've got the time. As long as it's got a working save game system, the high difficulty shouldn't be too frustrating, and the fact that you can actually fail quests sounds like a nice touch. I'm in it for the experience, and not so much for the XP. From what I can gather from the forums, you're quite passionate about the Gothic games, and there's probably good reasons for that. Always wanted to try out a good open-world RPG (Fallout 3 was ok, but got boring and repetitive, and Oblivion was boring from the very beginning) And whether or not there are short load screens, load times, hints of loading or no loading at all doesn't make or break the game for me. As long as it doesn't happen extremely frequently, of course, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case here

Fifa 09 on Xbox live -Pro Evo 09 didn't live up to expectations, so I decided to give Fifa a go for the first time since '97. Even though the defense mechanics are a bit on the sketchy side, it's the overall best football game ever made. Football Manager 2009 on PC -Notoriously addictive, and I tend to return for the occasional match. Watch out for Southampton in the 2012 Champions League Starcraft -Works great on my EEE PC and is just as awesome as I remembered it to be. Fallout 2 with Killap's patch -Also on my EEE PC. Except for the occasional crash, it's still pretty awesome. Peggle and Peggle Nights -As addictive as FM2009, but the target consumer is pretty much everyone and anyone. Great games. Got copies of the Witcher, Gothic 3 (never played the first or second) and Stalker collecting dust here, so I'll look into those as soon as I've got the time. Don't know which one to play first though... What would you recommend, guys?

Bork, borke, bork! I've heard that the Swedish chef is going to be some kind of boss character, though, so the chance of MT also having that accent is slim to none. A British accent would be too clich

It is one of the secret gadgets of the forum, secretly disguised as the "REPLY" button Very well. I guess this concludes my CIA training.

Sure, Bioware gave KOTOR to Obsidian, so it could possibly happen to ME sometime in the future. I can't see them doing this right now, though. I'm pretty certain Bioware will make a lot of money on DLC (downloadable content/the new black) for ME2, and the shareholders should therefore be pretty chill about the release date of ME3. Of course, I could be under-thinking this a bit, as well Time will tell...

Considering that Dragon Age is supposed to be "Baldur's Gate 3", I doubt that one. The other t(h)ree, however, look more feasible, with NWN 3 possibly being the most likely. Personally, I'd love to see Kotor 3, as I don't like the thought of the series ending with the massive anticlimax that is the Kotor MMO. Syraxis: Sharp observation, but ME3 would be unrealistic, especially since only the first one has been released so far. It just being a simple drug reference seems just as likely at this time, however. "You smokin 'em trees?" "Mmmm... Me trees."

Oh, oh, oh, I completely second Rock me Amadeus for its extreme cheesyness and smooth German lyrics! I actually second it enough to finally get around to registering here Being more into the hip hop side of things, I'll throw Run DMC/Aerosmith - Walk this way into the mix as well. edit: Can't seem to get hold of the quote function here just yet...