HoonDing

Heh, I might still get this game, no matter the review. I was looking forward to it as I'm a huge WWII history buff. Heck, I played Frank Herbert's Dune which got horribly reviews everywhere, but I still managed to finish it (even moderately enjoy it) despite the game's problems simply because I'm a huge Dune fan.

The game (imo) succeeds both in recreating Sapkowski's gritty medieval world and does well in introducing the main themes from the books - mainly mistrust between humans & non-humans - The game takes place a few years after the end of the books, and basically deals with the 'aftermath' of certain big events in the books. I just have problems with the beginning of the game which doesn't make sense at all (and is never resolved or explained either), but the story as a whole is very agreeable with what Sapkowski wrote. In fact, I remember reading an interview with Sapkowski where he said he liked the story, but can't find it right now. One of the best parts in the game (for me) is how the game alludes to events in the books, and how certain book events have ramifications on the game's story. Seeing book characters appear in game is nice too. EDIT: Link

As an Elder Scrolls 'veteran', I was pleasantly surprised, even relieved, that FINALLY Bethesda threw away the old "random unknown (usually a prisoner) gets send into the unknown" shtick. At least FO3 managed to give some background to the PC.

I liked the combat, it really gives the player the feel of keeping up the momentum in the witcher sword styles. The magic is quite overpowered, though. You can easily max out Aard, Yrden & Igni signs and finish the game without any melee combat. The story is good, but for somebody who read the books the beginning doesn't make any sense at all... but hopefully the Witcher 2 (if/when if comes out) will shed some more light on this.

Literally starting out of the womb and seeing your daddy's face should be the standard in every RPG from now on.

*achievement sound* Followed by *level up!* and *Enclave radio signal found*? Hehe. Unfortunately for me, the epic gaming moment of leaving Vault 101 was spoiled as it was plain night time when I got out.

I have Vista too, and uninstalling "Microsoft eHome infrared devices" solved the issue for me. But it automatically reinstalls every bootup...

Since you use the Ring of console in Oblivion, I guess that you are using Windows Vista? Anyway, depending what you want to do in the console, there are savegame editors available that allow you to add things.

Classic Leisure Suit Larry.

In no current order: Fallout 1 Morrowind Storm of Zehir

What I'd really like to see once in my lifetime, is a RPG set in the Dune universe. Up to now, there have only been a few adventure games and strategy games, but never ever a RPG... frankly I've never understood why not. With the massive amount of detail and all its political intrigue as described by F. Herbert it could constitue an excellent story.

Having not played the original Fallouts and hence not knowing who Harold was, the entire 'Oasis' quest in FO3 reminded me a lot of the chapter in Lord of the Rings where you meet that strange fellow Tom Bombadil - something that almost brusquely breaks the pace in the adventure and is kind of out of place. But even then, Tom Bombadil did offer some insights about the big picture, this Harold didn't really do anything... seems to me it was just a quirky easter egg that Oblivion puts in all their games (for instance, the corpse of Indiana Jones in Morrowind, Luke Skywalker in Bloodmoon, etc).

God, radscorpions are the cliffracers of FO3 for sure! At low levels they're a minor annoyance, but at higher levels they suddenly become 'giant' and are simply everywhere, popping up in pairs at the least opportune times just like the cliffracers in Morrowind. I'm now playing FO1 and I hate the scorpions even more than in FO3. One of the first quests I did was the radscorpion cave and it was not pretty for my character. Every RPG seems to have this type of incredibly annoying enemies that just keep coming to get the blood from under your nails. In the Witcher there's the drowner, for instance. As for assault rifles being terribly ineffective in real-time combat, I think Bethesda did that to 'force' the player into VATS. In VATS you can easily blow off a raider's head from a fair distance even with low skill (I actually think VATS boosts your accuracy).

which sucks and is extremely strange to me. it sucks because i'm a good enough guy in real life...y'know? holding doors for lil' ol' ladies an' stuff. but what i'm probably never going to be is a goddamn soulless bounty hunter for Jabba the Hutt. i mean, c'mon. just let me be rewarded and punished for being that guy the same as any other alignment. why do video-games have to instill their own set of morals? that's pretty limiting and insulting to the imaginations of role-players everywhere. and it's extremely strange because...well, let's admit it: how many rpg-nerds think characters like Boba Fett are the bees knees, amirite? i mean...damn. i hereby petition for Lawful Evil to be a viable method of role-playing in FO:NV, dammitall. Does 'lawful evil' mean instead of taking candy of a baby yourself, manipulating the nanny to take it?

The cruelest thing to me in KOTOR was definitely taking that animal skull (forgot the name of the animal) from the hunter's wife on Dantooine. I really had trouble making my character do this the first time I played the game.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. But it seems this lie seemed a bit too big.

Ahh Oni... how I long for a sequel for this masterpiece..

The Witcher was weird to me since at the end of the books, Geralt died with his sorceress love who was trying to heal him. The game doesn't really do anything to explain Geralt's return either, beyond throwing around the word 'destiny' on various occasions. KOTOR 2 makes sense mainly because you start as a Jedi who soon re-establishes his/her connexion to the Force and gradually becomes more powerful as the game progresses. Morrowind makes sense, too, since the first Quest PC basically tells you to buzz off and join a Guild, or free-roam, basically do anything to become stronger and be able to tackle the slings & arrows that lie ahead. Compared to this, Oblivion didn't make any sense whatsoever gameplay & storywise, what with the auto-levelling removing any incentive to become stronger, and giving one the impression one is some kind of 'superhero' that just happened to be previously imprisoned. Roaming around exploring dungeons feels very peculiar when the hordes of Oblivion are apparently invading Tamriel - yet the game never gives you a feel of urgency unlike Morrowind, where NPCs all over Vvardenfell will comment about 'soul sickness' and other strange behaviour if you talk to them. All in all, FO3 was a huge step-up compared to Oblivion and much closer to Morrowind.

Strange, I'm Belgian yet I've never heard from this game series before, nor its developer. I should be ashamed.

Did CD-Projekt confirm this? Great news..

First time I played the game, I accidentally bugged the ending by something like this. I entered the Jefferson Rotunda *without* the Brotherhood girl who was unconscious. But once inside, the doors get locked and you're completely stuck.

What do you mean with 'bug abused'? It's been a while since I played Fallout 3, but I simply ran past everything the first time I played it. I'm new here, BTW, so hello.