Monte Carlo

The ludicrous dress-up dolly aspect of FO:NV is completely awesome, I'm spending most of the game looking like an extra from a 1980's German heavy metal video.

Morrigan. Why, Bio, WHY?

LotF does it for free!

Well I've been playing around with character generation and the opening part of the game. Bravo Obz, and well done Sawyer you've made this callsign happy. First I laughed like a drain at all the names for hairstyles and beards. It really is the small things that make me happy sometimes. I also liked the hat-tip to the JA2 character generation questionnaire, I spotted it and it also made me laugh, especially the Rorsach blots. It also references The Dirty Dozen. Thanks for all the tips. Deano, my Ratpack-themed greaser / gambler / killer is roaming the wastelands in a shabby business suit looking for cash, murder and lurrrve.

I'm about to play. What character builds are working for you guys? I want to make a post-apoc, high LUCK, Mississippi-Riverboat-Gambling, Mercenary Assassin, Love-Deity sort of character. what perks and powaz do you recommend?

Who thinks that if Wikileaks had been about in 1944, they'd publish the date and location of D-Day?

I suppose I'll never go to New Zealand, mainly because I can never imagine myself spending that much time on an aircraft. But the tourism ads for the place there show here always strike me that they're a bit bloody pleased with themselves. The Hobbit is actually a British book. It's quite nice that NZ have taken Tolkein to their hearts but, when all's said and done, The Hobbit and LotR has nothing whatsoever to do with the place.

No, this is a person involved in a bizarre bot LARPing thing. I claim my ten dollars.

I am making an Iberian-themed slow-cooked beef stew with chorizo, carrots, cumin, garlic and tomatoes. I'll be eating it in about ten hours with buttery mashed potatoes, green beans and (bizarrely) nachos and guacamole. Am contemplating what to drink with it, probably a dark but cold beer, maybe a Dos Equis Gran Reserva.

Like the man says, that's not a bug, it's a feature!

Hi, good to see you back. Your post has got me pretty excited, as I'm installing it now. The irony isn't lost on me that I've gone from being pretty indifferent about Fallout to being a bit of a fan (I liked FO3 a lot) mainly due to the changes the old-skool fans hated. I'm looking forward to many hours of exploring, it seems from what you are all saying is that Obz have nailed down the sandbox aspect and blended it pretty skilfully into a bigger story. This is what I love about RPGs. I'll let you know what I think.

My bad, i meant Dragon Age, obviously.

Look, to me it's pretty clear - writing for videogames must be very challenging. It's like the three bears' porridge, it needs to be in the middle - interesting enough to retain your interest in the core gameplay but not so dense that it clouds it out, or makes you feel like you are simply a tamagotchi in the writer's personal narrative. And, for me, this is where Bioware is failing because of it's overly narrative style. I know I'm going to get flamed but the gameplay should drive the story, not vice versa. Dave Gaider is writing novels with games bolted on, I want the opposite. I liked DA2 despite the soppy, self-obsessed, overly-detailed NPCs that were forced on you. I also accept that this makes me a minority compared to Bio's fanbase who love all that. This is why I'm not buying anymore of their games, which is cool but I hope one day they'll make a game that's about gameplay, not a narrative screensaver with console-lite combat betwixt chapters.

Wow, I never guessed that growing up in South London in the 70's would give me such an eye for architecture.

I like Kirkwall, it looks like a 1970's housing estate but in a twisted fantasy way. The rest of it is meh, I think I'm going to get into FPS games this winter.

Thinking "lefty" is a meaningful political description is even more hilarious. It is. You are just being a churl.

Orwell was left-wing but not of it. And he came to despise Iron Curtain era totalitarianism. FWIW lots of Englishmen fought in the Spanish Civil War for a variety of reasons, some of them even fought for Franco. I doubt I would have agreed with Orwell on too much politically, but he's one of the most important writers and thinkers of his generation. I would reiterate that he would find LotF's views repugnant, but then again lefties attacking other lefties is part of what makes them so much fun (q.v. The Spanish Civil War).

You could start by joining the Schengen and sacking all the border guards. No.

Medieval Total WAR 2 using the latest shiniest iteration of DavE Scarface's GP mod. CoHO, I am now a level 33 Blitzkrieg badass. BG2, on my laptop. I have FO:NV waiting for a quiet moment.

Hey, this is the new s**t!

Am I the only person who finds Star Wars completely meh?

Godo news, it's No.1 in the big stores in the UK on PC (dunno about console ::sinffs:: ). Like a fine wine, I refuse to install it and play until I have a good 24 hours to myself.

Coolio, but FFS sort out the tiny inventory that plagued TQ.

I am definitely worried about the oncoming invasion of the United States by Iraq. :roll: "The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. "- Eric Blair (AKA George Orwell) There's an Orwell quote for every occasion! Suffice it to say he would have been steadfastly against the type of politics you espouse.

::Cough:: Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld ::Cough::