mkreku

This time IGN doesn't only come with new screenshots, but also a brand, new preview of Dungeon Lords. And I am still saying the same thing: The more I hear about this game, the better it sounds in my ears (eyes). Strange thing is.. At first I was comparing Dungeon Lords to old Wizardry games, but now I'm leaning towards that old FPS/RPG-hybrid Cybermage (if anyone remembers it).

Where can I read more about Rifts? I never did play P&P games and I've never even heard of this setting..

Read about a new RPG under development today: Vision by Octagon Entertainment and ALTAR interactive Features: * Unrivaled visuals featuring real-time inverse kinematics through animation blending along with lifelike 3D models, textures and lighting * Dynamic and thrilling combat with diverse weapons, spells and combat styles; advanced AI fully utilizing the 3D environment in combat * Highly artistic, coherent level design inviting creative strategies * Fresh take on fantasy setting with believable behavior of both your party and the enemies; malleable characters give your party a unique dynamic * "Inner sight" mode that reveals hidden magic, cryptic meanings and subtle connections in a visually amazing way * Tight story with twists and surprises communicated through the in-game cinematics and branching dialogue system * Extensive system of magic items and skills; enemies ranging from lithe pixies to thundering ogres Unfortunately I was unable to find any sort of homepage for the game..

I feel a disturbance in the force.. It must be Darth Gothic coming!

Let me guess.. I am the only one here who haven't actually seen any of the new Star Wars movies?

Maybe if they made it possible for the player to choose which kind of combat they wanted? Turn based for people who think role playing games are defined by not having to do a single thing in combat bseides watch, and action combat (like Jedi Academy) for people who like to partake in their gaming experience? I wonder if it would be too difficult to code two combat systems into one game? They've both been done already, so it feels like it shouldn't be too hard, but since I'm no game designer what do I know?

Well, the game itself also has a Dungeon Lords Official Homepage

I played Enclave a few months back and that third person hack'n'slash game was actually quite enjoyable, mostly because of the superb graphics and setting. If Heuristic Park manages to make the combat useful/interesting/fun and the story and character development as complex and interesting as in D.W. Bradley's previous Wizardry games, then this game could be great. And since I am also a huge fan of the Gothic-series, I am too hoping it will be a free form world to explore. I still think it shows promise.

Gamer's Hell has posted a few, new screenshots from the upcoming RPG Dungeon Lords. (Which, by the way, has just been picked up by Dreamcatcher Games.. Dreamcatcher are quickly moving into the position of becoming my favourite publisher!) The main force behind this RPG is the somewhat famous D.W. Bradley, the guy behind classics like Wizardy 5, 6 and 7, so it's bound to be an interesting game. It's supposedly also a fighting game (?) which makes one wonder.. Anyhow, I think it looks quite interesting. What do you guys think? Dungeon Lords Official Homepage

Kind of, yeah. But I'd like to see it in modern times or in a Wasteland setting. A huge sprawling city with skyscrapers, street gangs, 7-11's, banks, bars, malls, and so on. I'd love it if it looked somewhat similar to Blade Runner.

Uhm.. I wanted to be a bounty hunter, like Boba Fett. Unfortunately I never got to make that choice. Instead I ended up being this noble-ass jedi which I despised and would have killed if it hadn't ended the game (besides, it was near impossible to kill him since the fights were so easy). And I'm sure lots of people wanted to be a Hutt I don't even like lightsabers!

Guess you'd hate Gothic then.. Not only were you forced into a role, it was the role of a petty criminal (you never find out what he had done to get thrown in jail). I mean, as long as you start as a soldier it's ok, isn't it?

I loved the nr. 8 opening of Gothic. You're a common criminal and you're tossed into a magic prison without a clue as to what is going on. I loved being able to find out everything on my own and the fact that an entire world was contained within that magic bowl. So 8 is my favourite intro.

I'm glad Obsidian doesn't give a crap if you think they're doing "hand-me-downs" or not. Their reputation will be based on how good a game they can make, no matter what the title of the game will be. Ok, I didn't want a KotOR2 personally, but it will not hurt their reputation in any way. It will probably only boost their popularity and fame.

You're such an asset for this board, Volourn.

I'm beginning to ponder this myself. So far it's just been bickering ground for old BIS board members, it seems. Obsidian, you could really help here, by just posting SOMETHING for your fans. I was under the impression that boards like these existed so the developers could have close contact with their fanbase. Guess I was wrong.

My short venture into QA: Me: "Uhm, this corpse-eating Staff Of Corpse Devouring can not only absorb dead bodies, but living bodies too.." Programmer: "Stupid idiot, could you be any less specific?" Me: "Well, you need to check the living flag, before running the absorb_Corpse routine or else the Staff Of Corpse Devouring will absorb anything you point it at. I'm supposing it was only meant to absorb already dead bodies, right?" Programmer: "Are you f***ing trying to tell me how to do my job?! ARE YOU?! You're a f***ing NOBODY!! Don't you think I know what f***ing flags to check?! Are you totally blah blah blah" and so on. If you can find a team that doesn't take your attempts at constructive critiscism personally, I'd say go for it. But it can be a very unpleasant and unrewarding task.

Gothic/Gothic 2 also does this. Whenever you've taken a huge step forward in the main story, the games switch chapter. Switching chapter means, in reality, en evolvement of the entire world of Gothic. New monsters pop up where there were none before, new quests arise from old NPC's, new areas open up, NPC's get new dialogue trees that recognize what you've done and so on. I think it's a great way of making the game world feel more alive and in an ever changing state. I just wish the Gothic-games made the switch between chapters bit more.. subtle. As it is now you get this huge loading screen which actually says "Chapter X". It would be more immersive if it kind of just happened. There's really no need to tell the player he has entered a new chapter, since most often most people don't see their daily lives being divided into chapters..

Yeah, that was the nicest part of Morrowind. Unfortunately the worst part of Morrowind is closely connected to the best part, namely that EVERY dungeon/cave/whatever in the wilderness had a door (how stupid is that?!) that all looked exactly the same and the inside of everyone of those hundreds of tiny little caves/dungeons/tombs looks almost exactly the same as the next one. And to top it all off, most of them were completely empty, except for some generic monsters. Now, THAT's an effective way of killing any kind of fun you might get out of exploring a world.. By the way.. I waited several years for Morrowind (since I loved Daggerfall), pre-ordered it from North America (very expensive) and got it way ahead of most of Europe. Then the stupid game dies on me after only 5 hours of playing. Therefore I think I am entitled to despise this game. At least a little.

I kind of see KotOR as the Call Of Duty of the RPG genre. Call Of Duty is like Quake.. But dumber! The reason it became a success was because the developers made it extremely cinematic and scripted. Apparently, if a game is cinematic enough it sells bundles and gets rave reviews all over the world. But if you look closely at Call Of Duty, it's just a simple rail shooter. Always only one way to walk (a corridor), everything always happens exactly as it did the last time you played (scripted). KotOR is kind of the same way. The maps are all so small you can never get lost and there's never any doubt over where you should go next. It also looks extremely good and has a lot of scripted events and cutscenes. Unfortunately (at least for us who enjoy "deeper" RPG's) it is also very shallow and simplified. But I guess I shouldn't bash the game too hard. For some reason I had a lot of fun with it, despite of all its shortcomings.

SSI actually did make a few RPG's based on the Buck Rogers universe: Buck Rogers - Countdown to Doomsday and Buck Rogers - Matrix Cubed. They use the same engine as the Gold Box games (Pool of Radiance, Champions of Krynn etc.) but instead of fantasy you get sci-fi! I could personally never get myself to play through these games, since I was young and had just finished the Pool of Radiance-saga, but if I'm not entirely mistaken I kind of remember these games getting very decent reviews. Ps. The links are from Home Of the Underdogs, a really good page dedicated to old games.

I get all kinds of mails from various game mailing lists (one drawback of being a reviewer) and they're mostly kind of useless. They never reveal any news to me that I haven't been able to find somewhere else before and they're usually just ads for respective company's upcoming titles.

I think I would bust a gut laughing if Obsidian announced during E3 that they're working on a FPS. Imagine how surprised we all would be! Actually, we might not be so surprised, now that i think about it, after all the horrid business decisions that game developers seem to have taken lately...

Ok, I definitely need to get a job like yours! I'd probably get shot if I even as much as looked at the computers at work during working hours..