Monte Carlo

I'm playing CoH single-player and it's awesome, how does it pan out in multiplayer?

^ Am quite happy to be cited as the voice of the wargaming end of the spectrum in this conversation. I respect Maria's POV, she's obviously put a great deal of effort into gathering info for us all. It's also natural that she tends to concentrate on areas of CRPGs that interest her. FWIW I appreciate the effort she's put in and have read lots of it and learnt more. You have to remember that D&D started as a wargame, and love it or hate it D&D is the fulcrum for games like Dragon Age. Obviously the genre has moved on and the RPG world ended up consisting of lots of micro-groups who enjoyed various aspects of what gaming had to offer. OK, I ended up camping out in the backwoods of tactical wargaming for thirty years, this plus decent beer gives me a certain perspective that has little interest in the preoccupations of the Bio Forum regulars. The main reason I got back into gaming was the advent of CRPGs where the stylised isometric view reminded me of the classic days of yore, basically an abstract zoomed out view of miniatures on a battle board. It was extremely cool - exactly the sort of gaming I wanted to see on the computer. Things have moved on, and now I have to scroll through soppy cutscenes to get to the next half-decent battle. I also love - character development (skill trees and classes, BTW, not new ways of telling my party I wub them), inventory management, new kit and AI. This is the sort of nuts and bolts that interests me. Don't get me wrong, I like well-developed NPCs, as long as they don't get in the way. I like my NPCs in the same way that some games let me custom paint armoured vehicles. No more, not much less. If DA manages to, in any meaningful way, balance these two ends of the spectrum then I'll be happy. Bioware can do it, they did it with BG1 & BG2. Cheers MC

^ I don't, never really had the chance. Plus, I'm not exaclty an FPS fan and have the hand-eye coordination of a housebrick.

^ All swearing is 'cultural' isn't it? I could point you to Chaucer (The Miller's Tale, to be precise) for the Middle English version of The Worst Swear Word Ever.

I am currently playing Company of Heroes (which, FWIW, is excellent and I recommend it to others here who'd enjoy a very war-movie like WW2 action RTS). Amidst the noise of battle I suddenly heard my American paras swearing. Proper, salty, abusive 'F' word swearing like, er, WW2 paratroopers under fire (other favourite line when flanked "We're Airborne - we're meant to be surrounded!"). It was also a pleasure to play the British campaign and here lots of swearing in Scots accents by scary infantry NCOs, as well as the liberal use of the word W**K*R (mods, this swear word is only really known in Britain and Australia, and in Oz it's akin to the word 'Jerk' and not remotely in the upper echelons of sweariness). It made me smile, I like a good swear word now and then. Which is my point - this is the first time I've ever heard swearing in a computer game that actually felt right. In Grant Theft Auto, for example, it felt a bit like "Look at me! I'm swearing! In a computer game!" So what does the forum think about swearing - not worth the rating issues? Useful to add atmosphere? Offensive? Cool if you have a fantasy game where you make up loads of entirely new cusses and swear words? Over to you, but please, no swearing Cheers MC

A low-fantasy version of Jagged Alliance 2 using a custom-built ruleset.

Smoke a cigarette? Ye Gods, man, do you really want to cast an extended "Summon Politically Correct Kommissar V" spell?

30-40m is rather generous for a standard 9mm SLP I'd say, but that's a geeky argument for another thread Maybe a Gucci .45 or 10mm handgun with a Picatinny rail loaded with peripherals would do that, but by that stage you might well be using an M4 system or similar anyway. I used to be a reasonable pistol shot and I was good to go with a Browning 9mm at 25 meters. Anything beyond that was luck, and modern ballistic armour would afford considerable protection against that. JA2: One of the most awesome, perfectly formed and efficacious computer games ever made, I'm jealous that you've just discovered it. Enjoy. Cheers MC

^ The villain actually does a proper Mwuahahahhahaaa!!! pantomime villain laugh. Obviously, I want to be scathing about this but I'm a sucker for a proper, old-fashioned Mwuahahhahaahaaa!!! laugh. Next line should be: "BEHIND YOU!" Cheers MC

Nothing else can explain the Farmboy character origin.

Er, OK, let's examine the thought process. Developer 1: We've got this origins thing going on - let's write a human one, OK? Developer 2: Sure, after all this is a dark, heroic fantasy. Totally mould-breaking and the spiritual heir to Baldur's Gate! Developer 1: Dude! Let's pop open another diet soda to celebrate! :: Pops open soda and eats Krispy Kreme :: Developer 2: Let's get something completely straight - this has to be a dark, heroic character origin, no cliche or dreary seen-it-all-before drudgery. Developer 1: It's, like, you're reading my mind. :: Devs start tapping away on laptops, ride unicycles, brain-storm on large pieces of paper and play occasionally with large pile of action figures in the Generation Z style :: TWO DAYS LATER Developer 1: Dude, I'm like totally wired about this character origin. Developer 2: I know, I'm going to have to take a two week break to Mexico just to let my brain cool down. Developer 1: I know I shouldn't say it, but we are genius's. Developer 2: Is that the plural of 'Genius?' Developer 1: Geniuii? Developer 2: Whatever, look, here's the script... "You are a young rural farmboy who rises to greatness..." Developer 1: :: SWOONS :: Does anybody else see the deliberate mistake? Cheers MC

When the entire premise of Dragon Age appears to be to join a paramilitary organisation, then persuade other factions to provide you with military support, in order for you to have an epic battle with a slavering horde of evil... then I'd expect combat to be a significant part of the enterprise. I'm sure there a some of you here who'd think it would be cutting edge to beat the Darkspawn via a series of diplomacy checks, or impress them with your crafting skills, or awe them with your romantic exploits (etc). But I'm old fashioned and want to beat the snot out of the enemy, very tactically, with a variety of melee weapons As for that clip posted with more Braveheart cheesiness, yes, every time you get mildly enthusiastic you see the cliche-machine in operation and start planning your hot-key combos to skip cutscenes. As for the 'English' accents of the nobles, trust me they don't even sound very posh. They sound like slightly affluent East Midlands suburban car dealers, not aristocratic rakes. Cheers MC

NWN2 - Mysteries of Westgate NWN2 - SoZ Company of Heroes Anthology (sucker for WW2 RTS and love the music / high production values) --- I'm thinking of picking up Titan Quest and the XP for peanuts, apparently a perfectly decent Diablo-esque H&S with nice visuals. Anybody here played it? Cheers MC

^ I had a mouse for my PS1 many years ago, used to play C&C Red Alert and X-Com using it. I was strange at first, I ended up with a hardback book on my lap as an ersatz mouse-mat, but it wasn't too bad. Playing those games with a PS controller was lame. Cheers MC

^ It's a bit like your dad dancing at a wedding.

I played Quantum of Solace on the Wii and it was a turgid camel puke of a game. And that was with the Wii 9mm attachment. Wii is for drunken Wii fit antics and karaoke games. Cheers MC

It would be very easy for you to take this the wrong way, so please don't... but I'm not inclined to take anyone connected to Bio's word on this. Not after NWN1. You are in an impossible position, I wouldn't expect you to be critical of the product but for that reason alone I prefer to hear from independent third parties like the guy who wrote the Game Banshee review. Like I say, it's nothing personal. Cheers MC

The developers started talking about the gambit-like system about two year ago. I mean, it has come up several times on the BioWare forums and a few articles I've read, but... Combat is boring. Mechanics are boring. I try to provide you guys with interesting stuff. I never imagined someone would want to hear about combat slots and AI scripts. I feel a bit guilty now. It was a very good article though. I knew a bunch of it in general, but the little details were nice. I know, it's a bummer when the customers want burgers after you went to all that trouble to make Caesar Salad with the wholemeal croutons You know that there's a fair chunk of us here who come from the wargaming end of the spectrum, not the story-and-romance end, and the gambit system (as you call it) is easily one of the most interesting and impressive features I've learnt about. I make no apologies for not closely following the Bio forums (North Korea meets High School Musical), I can't stand yet another romance thread and the Stepford Fans. This type of feature should be up on the official website (where I get my info, quel horreur!) in forty point font. Now I know about it I am duly impressed and interested. Cheers MC

I actually wonder if you're onto something there, I like it...

^ And on that website DA gets a UK '18' rating, the same as the GTA games.

You're right, the pound is toast.

Hmmm, at Game the Dragon Age CE is UK

^ C'mon, no friendly fire? Or friendly fire at 50%? Bah

Sorry, forgot to add...