Gizmo

I don't think combat has improved in recent RPGs. If anything, combat has strayed further away; I actually see posts requesting Ironsights in RPGs ~and New Vegas actually included them. Ironsights are for aiming the gun, but in an RPG, it is the character holding the weapon, and the character doing their best to aim ~as per the character's developed skill with the weapon. The player should never be in direct control of the weapon in an RPG. RPGs are not costume quests, and designing them as digital larp/simulations is not improving combat or gameplay IMO. Better [RPG] gameplay should come of a better web of anticipated character actions and their resulting changes to the narative; it won't come from the ever deminishing importance of making a character ~in these modern ersatz RPGs that we see. Better combat should come of systems that give & take certain advantages based on the the strengths and weaknesses of the PC's; not from making the PCs into "gameplay garnish" tacked onto what amounts to a NOLF-style shooter with a few multiple choice questions. The player's experience should live & die by the limits of the characters they create. If their character cannot make the shot, then it shouldn't happen; if their character cannot access a certain location, then they should never see it until they play a character who can can access it; who can talk their way in or bully their way in, or just simply notice that there is a place to get into...

http://www.gog.com/game/shadow_warrior (2013 version... $4 for the next hour... that's a 90% discount.)

That was my first thought as well. ~it's a little late now, but they could have used 'normal2x' or 'advinterp2x' scalers instead. It's actually difficult to include just the right amount of detail under the limited pixel restrictions they had... and aggressive scalars can lose that original detail while inventing their own.

Currently back and forth between DA:O, WL2, Menzo, and LoG2; mostly Menzo.

Is there any practical reason to buy IWDed if you already have IWD?

I don't think it's that the 'magic' has faded... I think Black Isle made the top 5 RPGs of the last 20 years and when you cite a Black Isle RPG, you are basically comparing the old masters to modern art. Wait until after the polished version of Pillars is out and can be scrutinized; then we'll have the answer.

http://www.gog.com/news/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_free_dlc_announcement This looks neat for Witcher 3 owners [pre-order-ers].

I think that they were all funny and some even apt, but I think that his joke on pander reveals a mindset that might not understand that You really shouldn't BE pandering to more than the core audience of a niche product, or a well established one. [iE. like Fallout IMO.] Once you start trying to include other tastes into the game, you lose the option to make the best game possible ~for any one audience. It becomes a melting pot of often mutually exclusive content and mechanics... such that it becomes an art of carefully adding just enough of each group's bitter pill to sweeten the pot enough for them to eat it, without souring it all for the rest. *This is how you sell a game to the masses; but not how you make a quality product IMO. Ideally I think that games should be better tailored to a fan group if they have one already; new IP's don't have that baggage and can of course be whatever they wish. But if Id/soft released a Quake sequel that played like Halo, that's a slap to the face of the Quake fans IMO ~regardless if it was accepted so well by the mass market that it became 'game of the year'... So what? Great game, crap Quake sequel ; and certainly not a challenge or of interest to the best of the Quake players.

Great game; IWDII also ~except the AI liked to 'conga-line' its way across the map at hidden characters. I'm playing Alice, and WL2 and Dragon Age:Origins. Soon to be LoG2.

I like FPS games, and don't want them censored; I've never quite understood the notion of not realizing it's not real... but the problem is... that not everyone who plays FPS shooters is sane. They may have reality issues; and some game companies are not helping the matter when they clearly develop with the expressed idea of it being a murder simulator as a deliberate fantasy facilitator. It's freaky weird that some of them even fess up to it.

I haven't played it yet, but I will be tomorrow... I do recall that in LoG1, the pressure plates (and buttons) were optionally one-time use... So it's far more likely I think (I hope) that the plates you've seen were single use triggers that only worked once to open up a door they don't think needs closing again.

Grimlock was very fun, I loved switching him back and forth between Dino and robot mode. At the time I really contemplated making a halloween costume of him too.

Pre-Orders [a sale] just popped up on GoG. http://www.gog.com/game/legend_of_grimrock_2

I take it this is legitimate? http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/content.php?1996-Pillars-of-Eternity-Delayed&

I would always pick the physical media version over digital, if I had the choice. That said, I buy most of my games from GoG. Certain DRMs take away that choice though; and other times I might not be able to find a boxed copy. I'd have bought Disciples 2:Resurrection ~but could only find the digital version. And I won't run a machine without physical drives; including a floppy drive. My system has a Bluray drive*, DVD drive*, and external CDR drive; with internal and an external floppy drive ~and my motherboard doesn't even have a floppy drive connector. I had to modify a an internal floppy drive/media card reader with drive parts from an external USB floppy drive, and plug it directly into the board. *Each drive is of course backward compatible BR>>DVD>>CDR.

Wasteland 2; arriving [hopefully] this week. That is not the last physical game I will buy.

The recent TES games [Ovlivion/FO3/Skyrim] are more concerned with maintaining a timeless world sim, than providing a good roleplaying enviroment; that has to be accepted going into it, or the will always disappoint. The sandbox lives upto its name in that as you try to dig deeper, you see that it's a self refilling hole.

Post Apoc rogue-like in Kickstarter; looks cool! [spotted by Hexer] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skyshinegames/bedlam

Inxile's forum is down at the moment.

That's a lawsuit begging to happen. Why didn't they keep the original music? (It was far better.) *This was truly a favorite video of mine.

Fallout fans have likely all bought it; like it... And some might even ignore any shortcomings.

And a Dx12 exclusive; with integrated Skype support. Make it require kinect too, that way you get forced OS and hardware upgrade paths. And video surveillance of player reactions to the in-game advertizment events as they happen.

And a Dx12 exclusive; with integrated Skype support.

The site [update] for Grimrock 2 just went live. http://www.grimrock.net/ And the teaser: