mkreku

Maybe I should chime in to my own thread.. I'm pretty stoked about both (naturally), but I've been getting these Deus Ex flashbacks the last couple of days just thinking about Alpha Protocol and what it could become, so much so that it's sailed right up to the top part of my list of games I'm looking forward to. I'm probably going to be hugely disappointed, but that's life.

It's going to be open-ended with a seamless world to explore..? It's starting to sound like a RPG or something.

Maybe "Hacking" is a skill? That way you could tap phones and hack into computers and stuff? "Lockpicking" ought to be a skill, but probably isn't. It might be baked into some other more general skill though. "Persuasion" is a pretty good skill for a spy to have. Might also be called "Diplomacy". And I don't think they've made one especially for each weapon in the game. More likely "Handguns (revolvers, pistols, etc.)" and "Rifles (including shotguns, assault rifles and sniper rifles)".

But I like Weird Al

So.. time for the most burning questions of the CENTURY! Which of Obsidian Entertainment's current projects seems the most interesting to you? Which one gets your juices flowing the most? If you had to choose just one game to play from these two potential masterpieces, which would it be? If you were to be stranded alone on a distant island (with a powerful computer, food and electricity to last you a game's lifetime.. and no access to pr0n), which of these two titles would you bring? If you were abducted by aliens.. nevermind. Just choose.

We all know you just happened to misspell Thornton in the press release (probably Alvin's fault). Just admit it and get it over with. Or.. provide us with an optional unlikely story for the name!

Playing Drakan - Order of the Flame. Very cool game, despite it being old. I love when I accidentally chop off someone's arm and they run in circles with blood squirting everywhere until they die :D

Absolutely, if that loading screen entailed more NPCs, better AI and actual events. But it doesn't. All it entails is more dead time waiting for the player. Loading times is not exactly a seal of quality.

Please make a big, beautiful and varied land to stand on. Thank you. (Oh, and feel free to play any of the Gothic games for inspiration on how to really use a 3D space in world design..)

I don't understand why you guys are having such a difficult time to separate open world design with content. If a world feels "empty and lifeless", don't you think that's because the developers failed in providing you with the content you wanted? Why do you think it has anything to do with the world not having loading times or being big? Do you think Oblivion would have felt "full and living" if you'd been interrupted by loading screen every five minutes? Or if they had put their walking-dictionary-npc's all in one tiny room? I don't. But I consider myself capable of looking past the flaws of Oblivion and seeing what actually worked well in that game, and the world and the immediate access you had to it were some of them.

As I was saying..

In the context of game worlds (do you know which thread you're replying to?), why wouldn't developers want to pull off an Oblivion? What was so fatally wrong with Oblivion's open world design that mimicking it "boggles" you?

Usually it's always the people who absolutely SUCK at FPS's that calls Deus Ex anything but a RPG. It's perfectly possible to disregard the shooting bits in Deus Ex (for the majority of the game) and concentrate on the story and character development. It is not possible to play the game as a pure shooter and disregard everything else. Make up your own mind.

The Witcher was a little better (except for those ridiculous invisible walls that kept you from going anywhere) but Bloodlines was horrible in that regard. I always felt like whenever I went, I was in a room. Even if I was standing on a street in the game, the area surrounding it was so cramped that I never felt anything but boxed in. I really hope they're not taking that route. And the quality of an area has nothing to do with its size. It's perfectly possible to do both large and lovingly hand-crafted game areas. It's the same flawed argument used in the eternal game length debate, "I'd rather have a good 8 hour game than a bad 40 hour game".. Sigh. No ****.. Last: Oblivion isn't Obsidian's style? How do you know? How does one define the style of a company that hasn't developed their own game engine yet? Kotor2: pre-made engine from Bioware. NWN2: pre-made engine from Bioware. If they had (for some reason) been subjected to other types of engines, I'm sure they'd be able to pull off an Oblivion too.

I liked NOLF2 for what it was: a homage to cult spy TV series from the sixties. But a modern CIA game would probably be better the less cheesy it is. No insane gadgets, no over-the-top bad guys, no radio controlled sharks, underwater cars, men with steel teeth. Just a somewhat believable story, the magic we all have around us right now (technology!) and a good story. I'm hoping it's nothing like NOLF2.

But you will keep an eye on him the next time you have the ball near his position. You don't want to turn your back against him. It does limit you. No matter how small, it does disrupt your game. Some players are more susceptible to this, others less, but it does have a psychological effect.

Argh, I meant Antropov, not Poni. ANTROPOV is also out. Damn disappearing edit button.. *grumblegrumble*

You don't really have to actually hit with the sliding tackle for it to be effective. If you do a sliding tackle on someone and miss, that guy is subconsciously going to know you're a danger to him the next time he has the ball. It's the same in every sports. A player with a doubt in his mind is going to be less effective than a player full of confidence.

I think they've said it's taken its inspiration from games like Fallout. But I am too lazy to find a source.. Might just be my imagination.

Is $1100 much for an apartment in the US? It doesn't sound like much to me.. I live in a crappy student apartment, in a student's area of Uppsala (small Uni town). The house was built in the sixties and has very low standards for being in Sweden. My apartment has three rooms and I pay appr. $740 a month for it. I have NOTHING in the complex, not even my own washing machine! No fire place either.. I'd have to pay extra if I wanted a parking space..

He got off easy. And the Leafs can forget the playoffs (not that they had much of a hope to begin with). Sundin out. Poni out. Our team's two top scorers are both out. And we lost again. Ho hum.

My favourite game series of all time (Gothic..) had a pre-determined character. In all three games. Colour me couldn't-care-less. A good game doesn't depend on which character you get/have to play, as long as you're given the tools and abilities to shape this character after your own will during the game.

Hahaha, those pictures are great!

Deus Ex did it right. You didn't get any "You found a secret area!" type of message, but you knew immediately when you found something hidden because you were exploring thoroughly: it was always a weird weapon (usually a great one) or a bunch of ammo or some other stuff you sorely needed. I absolutely loved it! It might not make much sense in a game of this type though. I mean, in Deus Ex you were basically going from warzone to warzone so there it would make sense to find weapons caches and hidden stuff. I'm assuming this game take a lot more realistic view on the game world though. It would probably be a little weird if you were crawling around on the outside of a skyscraper and suddenly found a sniper rifle lying on a niche.. Unless they had really weird window washers in that place Might work if you got to explore urban areas, to find a hidden revolver in some cupboard or other.. Hmm.