Monte Carlo

From the IGN article, DA looks right up my street. And I don't buy the low magic thing either (notice the reference to the magic chest straight off the bat). OTOH, those hard-core RPG campaigns where you spend three years fighting small forest animals and kobolds, only to be awarded the villager's heirloom +1 dagger ain't much fun either. I could care less about graphics, the game looks like BG3 plus what the first NWN should have been.

I couldn't agree more. For example, I like action movies. Y'know, gunfights, car chases etc. The genre is pretty formulaic, but some are still better than others. Why? I'd suggest it's mainly because the people who made it understood the conventions of the genre, how to move the boundaries, understood what the audience wanted. It's why a movie like Bullitt still rocks, it's why the Bourne Ultimatum is such good fun, it's why so many other action movies aren't. Look at Sci-fi. Why is the new Battlestar Galactica so damn good? Because the creators love and understand sci-fi so well they can do what the hell they like with it whilst still recognisably staying within almost every boundary of the genre (spaceships, robots, laser guns). Computer games, I'm going to argue, aren't wildly different. You could make a game in the most vanilla, sub-Tolkien-esque setting (er, maybe the FR) and as long as the gameplay, writing and graphics were right most people would still be happy. Conversely, you could have the most original setting but if those ingredients aren't there... So although I was hoping for a more Dark Ages feel, I'll reserve judgement on the game to writing and gameplay. Both of which, I suspect, will reflect an understanding of, and affection for, the genre. Cheers MC

The tag line is "Loot - Level - Build" which is pretty much manna from heaven as far as I'm concerned games-wise. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll almost certainly be giving it a go. Cheers MC

^ Indeed, 'realistic' character models are a bit bland nowadays. I don't mind stylized, even slightly cartoony.

To be fair, the guy on the right does look like he's got indigestion or something. Although that image isn't representative of the trailer, is it?

Having seen the trailer I think it looks pretty good to me. If there were more decent RTS / strategy games on console I might actually buy one.

Personally I thought it looked great, although the LotR orcs were a bit blatant. Maybe a bit Warhammer. I'll not get too bothered about it until I see screenies of gameplay, complete with GUI etc. One thing that does surprise me is the very high-fantasy medieval look of the armour, weapons and buildings. Maybe it's just me, but I was expecting more of a dark-ages, low-fantasy vibe. More Conan than Knights of the Round Table. I prefer the dark ages look to the gothic knight aesthetic but we'll see I suppose. Cheers MC

I'm thinking that the intern in the marketing department was left on her own for the afternoon. She was drunk and the result was the GENIUS piece of marketing. How have the masochists on the Bioware DA forum taken this massive slice of anti-climatic pie?

My two copper pieces. A long time ago, on the Bio forums, I had the occasional minor online spat with Dave Gaider over NWN. He was always polite, fought his corner and knew what he wanted to do. Furthermore, he authored some very decent BG2/ToB mod content in his own time for the fans. He loves the genre. Despite my numerous problems with Bioware (I haven't bought anything of theirs since KotOR for the XBox, and I hated that a bunch), I actually think Dragon Age is going to be worth the price of admission. Why? Well, I think Gaider is Bioware's conscience. Whilst Greg and Ray happily took the route they took (more power to their elbows, BTW, I might not enjoy the product but I admire their success), I envison Dave sat on their shoulder whispering "you are only human" and imploring them to keep the magic alive and remember what got them to where they are now. It's like going to a gig where your favourite band understand how important it is to play, masterfully, all those old tunes as well as the new ones. Perhaps it is the case that, down in the broom cupboard, Bioware let Crazy Dave tinker away at his meisterwerk, safe in the knowledge that the latest no-brainer console dreck will fund any loss. As for the DA forum, well Gaider kinda scotches every mainstream request from fans. Which is good. It sounds like it's grim, low-magic, Fafhrd and Grey Mouser style fantasy (which I like. A lot). I suspect the game might slosh over into too-much-damn-background territory and disappear up it's own arse a bit. But I have no doubt that it's all being done with love and good intentions. And it will be interesting. So good luck to Bioware and Dave. I look forward, with interest, to see what will happen. I can only wonder what engine they've got, though, and what this game will look like. It must look better than the re-mastered NWN2 with the Betrayer improvements, at least. In any case, I'll be buying it just to see what on earth almost five years of development produces! Cheers MC

I, too, love IWD (and the sequel). I'll wait for the NPC expansion to be released and do IWD/HoW & TotL as a refreshing blast from the past. My first (good-aligned) party was: Paladin (leader / charismatic spokesman) Dwarf Fighter (Tank) Elf Fighter / Thief (Archer) Half Elf Cleric Human Bard (Archer / Item identifier / Backup spellcaster... you've gotta have a bard, right?) Elf Wizard Pretty vanilla, but it was fun. My wacky, equally fun evil party was: Chaotic evil Bard Lawful Evil Fighter dual-classed to cleric at level 3 Neutral Evil Thief / Mage Chaotic Evil Human Fighter (two-handed weapons) Chaotic Evil Gnome Thief If I were going for a party with only four members I agree with whoever said four single-class characters. Ironically, yes it is easier with four characters. They level faster, you still get the same loot to spend on kit and it's easier to plan combat in those tight dungeon areas.

True Neutral Human Bard/Rogue (3rd/3rd Level) Ability Scores: Strength- 12 Dexterity- 10 Constitution- 15 Intelligence- 15 Wisdom- 15 Charisma- 14 Dunno how they got there, but, hey.

China's consumerism will continue apace, seeing even more acute price rises for staple commodities, especially foodstuffs. Western food will become increasingly modish in the next five years. The hitherto dairy-light Chinese diet will embrace cheese, yoghurt and probably even tiramisu, which is good news if you are a dairy farmer. Bad news if you like tiramisu. The EU will start to fray at the edges, like a big messy carpet you never really wanted in the first place. Turkey will join, brilliant news for Euro-sceptics as the project will finally become meaningless (er, not least because 75% of Turkey isn't in Europe). Europe will tentatively embrace small government whilst, ironically, America will tentatively dip it's toe into slightly bigger government . The politics of oil will mean that the West will finally get serious about an alternative. The Market will provide, and the resulting collapse of oil prices will destabilise the House of Saud with consequences for the region probably best explained by some policy wonk better qualified than I. Lastly, turn-based isometric computer games will become retro-cool, leading to a rash of superbly executed CRPGs. OK, the pollution-free superfuel prediction is more likely, but a man can dream.

^ I'm loving the dynamic environment - bashing down walls and stuff. I also liked the barbarian leaping into the middle of the bad guys with a grunt. Kudos to the developers - it looks like D2 only better. Sorry, but I don't see the graphics as cartoony as Warcraft. Am looking forward to hours on mindless hack'n'slash fun. Cheers MC

^ From the concept art I think one of the classes might be Assassin, as per the Expansion Pack class.

I take back everything I said - it looks terrific, the concept art is excellent and the graphics seem to capture the spirit of the original completely. I look forward to it tremendously. Cheers MC

^ I generally agree with these comments - Diablo 2 is so good at what it was designed for how do you improve it? Graphics? Hmmm. Not really, there are loads of imitations like Dungeon Siege etc. More role-playing? No, that's not what D2 was about. MMORPG seems logical, but again not what the original was about either. D2 is a great hack and slash looting game, it's still on the shelves shifting copies. It's the Bat Out of Hell of PC gaming. Remember when they remade the VW Beetle, y'know just slapped a new bodykit on a VW Golf? That's right, the convertible version was so that you could actually hear the people laughing at you. D3 could go the same way. Cheers MC

He shoots.... he scores! That's what I'm talking about. There is hope.

[Anchorman]"We bears are a proud race!"[/Anchorman] Ron Burgundy's yappy little dog was clearly at least 3rd level.

I've just started flying the training missions, the graphics are pleasant but not flashy but the amount of controls takes a bit getting used to. If I like the whole feel I'll definitely try out the 'X' games, but I'm new to the genre. As for Sacred, well I love Diablo and Sacred reminds me of that but with better graphics. It's just point and click nonsense, but it's well executed point and click nonsense. With horses. I liked Divine Divinity for much the same reason.

All the other stuff sounds so encouraging that I'm cool about the level 3 thing. But you're right, the D&D rules are the issue, nothing else. All the 3E stuff like maximum hit points at level one and relaxing weapons restrictions for spellcasters still made playing a 4hp mage armed with a crossbow lame.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was at the games store when I saw Dark Star One bundled with Sacred Gold (I liked the original Sacred a lot) and Port Royale 2 (which is a pirate game I've never heard of) all for the princely sum of UK

I think that the older guys played tabletop RPGs and enjoyed the imperfect but fun transition to the 'puter. I think that the younger guys have been brought up with the computer and especially console games - they enjoy more story driven games. They don't like rules and micro-management. Put simply, some of us want involving, squad-based tactical wargames with a fantasy theme. You say fireball, I say Flammenwerfer. This is what the original tabletop 'RPGs' were in the early 80's, not Fakespeare story-telling competitions with miniatures (I was there). Funnily enough, the PC is an excellent platform for squad-based tactical 'RPGs'. BG1 was exactly that - a squad-based tactics game with a fantasy overlay and a faithful (nay, stubborn) adherence to a ruleset not designed for the computer. The characters were pretty thin, but still interesting enough to give a veneer of involvement that didn't detract from the important business of exploring, fighting and loot. BG2 moved this on a bit, with romances and more interaction and an epic scale. The romance thing has been discussed to death, but personally I think they've diverted the game from the core mission of exploring, fighting and loot. I digress. Now, as has been superbly put, you endure point-and-click combat, deploy brain-dead power-ups and slay everything and a rewarded with a cut-scene that drives somebody else's story forwards. NWN was just like that for me, NWN2 redeems the brand slightly. Personally, choosing to wander into the Ankheg fields before the Firewine Ruins was a good enough 'plot' for me, but I'm a simple soul. I realise that I'm a grognard. I know, in gaming terms, that I'm like one of those Japanese soldiers hiding out on a Pacific island in 1980, refusing to accept that I've lost. But if a developer has the nuts to make at least one product that nods in my direction and not pander to the baser instincts of spoon-fed gaming then I'll be happy (ish). Time to boot up IWD2 and JA2 again, methinks! Cheers MC

Good point, I also suspect that the influence of Japanese RPGs might be part of this too.

On one level, this game would rock. However, the freedom of action required in a RPG versus "suspension of disbelief" (i.e. all the cool things you'd like to do versus the strictures of working in a hierarchical law enforcement agency) limit where it could go. Why is GTA so popular? Because criminals don't have rules or probable cause or are obliged to issue Miranda rights (or reasonable suspicion and PACE if you're in the UK). Ditto secret agents and other rules-free heroes of popular fiction. Where your idea definitely has legs is as a strategy game. Anybody gamer has seen and enjoyed The Wire should be able to spot the potential to make an intelligent, fun game about politiking and backstabbing your way to the top of an urban American police department. Do I put officers into drugs stops on the West Side or address the endemic burglary out East? I can't do both and I've got the COMPSTAT meeting with the boss tomorrow.... Do I fund zero tolerance or community policing. SWAT needs a new armoured car and five officers, but the schools drugs programme needs ten guys that might divert the kids from crime in the first place. And then there's the mayor, who's third party funded by a drugs cartel doing property deals. My serious crimes unit is all over that, but there's an election in five turns time.... It would make the Medicis blush. Cheers MC

I made a rare trip over to the queue at McDonalds the Bioware Forums to lurk on the forums for SoZ. Now, my take on this XP is that the developers thought: "We gave the fans a homage to Planescape with MotB. Fair enough, the engine let us do that, and the feedback was positive. Now, lets give the guys who loved BG1 and Icewind Dale a break too. Let's have a refreshingly honest, adventure packed romp. More Indiana Jones than The Matrix." And as we have seen with IWD2, the Black Isle Obsidian guys know how to twist a game engine to their own agenda, kicking and screaming if necessary (this is why I'm quietly confident that SoZ will be very good). I wear my heart on my sleeve as to which one I'd prefer, and it's good to see them showing off how diverse the game can be. I'm not very clever, and I see this. Why don't the howling fanbois demanding novella-length NPC dialogue and romances (huh?) get it? Cheers MC