HoonDing

The machine next to the Border House?

In the beginning I tried micromanaging every character during battles... it quickly became mind-numbing having to pause every 2 picoseconds. I then acquired the advanced tactics mod and put warriors & archer rogues on autopilot... and never looked back. Having to micromanage only Morrigan makes the combat much less a chore.

Will Kasumi's loyalty mission involve winning a beach volleyball tournament?

DA final parts = Gnoll Fortress.

How did you find the Denerim bandit encounters?

Sword & shield is very boring & pretty underwhelming, since defense totally trumps armour in the game, but two-handed & dual-wielding warriors are reasonably fun to play. Also doesn't require much micromanagement, unlike melee rogues.

It's a very fun game but I finished it in under 4 hours...

I guess Vin Diesel's looks & Mark Meer's voice kinda cancel out... sold!

Proof enough that it is the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. Benny Hill tactics were the only way I ever beat Sarevok.

I thought those were Plot Drones.

Crazy fun game.

Mages have lyrium potions, while other classes don't have any "stamina" potions. There should've been a lyrium addiction mechanic to balance it, me thinks. Similar to the Witcher's toxicity levels that came with potions.

ME1 is better because it has Wrex as party member. And Wrex is awesome. Maybe some feel ME1 is better because Shepard is supposed to be badass, and in ME1 Shepard quickly becomes the Terminator on the battlefield with the lack of global cooldown on powers + Immunity/Barrier. In ME2 Shepard dies just as fast as the random mook when standing in the open...

What does the Vanguard do against YMIR mechs or packs of Krogan?

^Despite (or perhaps becuase of) their minimal development, I actually like the Drakensang party members a lot. Especially the three main party members (Forgrimm, Rhulana & Gladys). Having people around that didn't burden the player with their tortured pasts every five minutes, was actually refreshing. Except for the battlemage, though, who I suspect was a conscious parady of Carth Onasi, both in looks & his sad story about his wife. No idea, but I wouldn't count on it to be internationally released in the coming 6 months. 'Twas the same story with Divinity 2, Venetica & the first Drakensang. That's why I always purchase the German version first anyway.

A sad combination of obsessive compulsive disorder and lack of other new games to play.

I've finished the game with a human noble, City Elf, Dalish Elf & Elf mage and since I loathe Dwarves, I'm pretty much done with the game. If a future full-blown sequel takes place in another part of Thedas, I might return again. Nothing what I've seen & heard about the expansion entices me into purchasing... although I am still tempted because of the apparent appearance of Skeletor.

I drive a Honda so you won't hear me complain.

I'm still replaying Dreamfall for the first time. I still think Zo

If you find Drakensang's plot & quests generic, I can't see how you'll be able to finish Dragon Age. The prequel will focus more on story & party interactions according to Radon Labs. For one, there's full voice-over & the demo already contains more party interactions in the limited time that it lasts, than in the entire first game combined. It's basically the opposite of Venetica, which has abysmal performance but pretty good voice-over & story. I think it's clear Radon Labs focused on creating a believable setting + a good, stable engine with their first RPG... and indeed it blows away DA at both accounts in my book. Ferdok is my favourite 3D RPG city after Vizima... it's great fun to simply run around & pickpocket everyone. Judging from DA, I really think BioWare should outsource their level/area design to other developers... so they can concentrate on what they supposedly do best -> writing story, dialogue & character interactions.

So that Reaper corpse really has been floating around that star system for 37 million years without anyone noticing? Me thinks Martin Sheen's just decided to pull it out of his sleeve.

Was it explained how that Reaper corpse suddenly appeared in the Hawking Eta star system? IIRC this star system was already visited in ME1.

Turning AI off turns the game into NWN 2 with puppet mode activated, but without the possibility to queue up commands. Mind-numbingly tedious, unless you are not against pausing the game every 2 seconds to check whether your party members are still doing something. If there were an option to auto-pause every round, it would be much better. But I'm not even sure whether there are even rounds in the game... it works best if it is played as a MMO.

... Are you feeling alright today?

Yithians are pretty much the best aliens ever. In ME all spacefaring species apparently developed themselves by discovering & using Reaper technology (mass relays), save perhaps the Krogan who got lifted up by Salarians, and this is supposed to explain that all aliens are on equal foot. It's similar to Star Wars where the hyperdrive was reverse engineered from Rakata designs. But considering Salarians & Asari were already colonizing the galaxy thousands of years before humanity made First Contact, it's almost as if technological progress stood still during this time... for instance shortly after First Contact the newbie race of humanity managed to fight off the Turians (a species that had been travelling the galaxy for thousands of years) right off the bat. That doesn't really make sense.