Nemo0071

Options are always good. Didn't even need to read further. I see your point.

Point. Ditto. And keep in mind that not everyone likes "online payment" scenarios for whatever reason.

One of the reasons I'm starting to like the Steam approach (even though I'm a guy with a really unstable internet connection) is I find disc checks annoying. I usually play more than one (or two, or three...) games simultaneously, and I don't like ejecting the disc, putting it back to the box, taking out the other one from the drawer... etc. just because I want to play that other game today. But of course it's only a matter of preference. I've seen a middle ground for this in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It allows you to activate online after installation and play without the disc and without internet connection (the single player campaign, obviously). It also allows you to install / play via the good old disc-check method without connection. If it was actually a single player game (definitely not worth your $$$ if you're not buying it specifically for the multiplayer), and didn't for some reason limit the online activation to a maximum of 10 times (I know it's a lot, but still), it would be an example for one of the best DRM schemes we could hope for, imo.

So all in all what everyone says is, they're spending money to lose customers, and with them, money. Ok, I'm no finance expert but it sounds just plain stupid. Is that true though? I've heard many people preach about it and there have been some articles here and there conjecturing that the DRM costs more than it saves but there are obviously enough bean counters at game companies doing cost benefit analysis that come to the opposite conclusion. So is there any good evidence that DRM loses the companies more money than it saves or is it mostly assumptions by internet folks who want it to be true? Maybe so. Maybe the benefit really outweights the cost. Or, maybe they're simply crying out "Look, we're trying to prevent piracy! We do care!" so they won't lose the casual (uninformed) gamer (buyer) to piracy. To clarify: - Casual Gamer: Give me a good reason why I should buy your product when it's available for free on the internet. - Publisher: Because piracy is illegal. - CG: Then what do you have to show for it? I mean, what separates a legitimate customer from a sucker who pays for something that is available for free? If it's illegal, what are you doing to stop it? Obviously, at the official (business) level, the suits can't simply say "Nothing. We made a good product. We trust our customers. We believe they'll do the right thing." etc. So they say: - P: We have DRM to make the bad guys go away. - CG: Cool! You do care!.. I know it's pretty blunt, but that's just how I feel about it. It's not like I have any inside knowledge on the whole DRM vs. Piracy deal.

I heard that Spore had one of the most annoying (for whatever reason) DRM schemes. It was true then (DRM for a game messing with Windows right-click? wtf?). Then again, I guess it's a possibility with all kinds of intrusive DRM out there. It simply may not "like" your rig. Heh.

Well I guess they do, just not as much as "t3h hardc0r3s" who feels the need to dl every game out there. And even these so-called hardcores wouldn't pay for all (any) of those games if they had to, like it says in the article in that other thread. Which makes the pirating done by actual pir4t3s all the more irrelavent to DRM's argument about preventing piracy. Whut? So all in all what everyone says is, they're spending money to lose customers, and with them, money. Ok, I'm no finance expert but it sounds just plain stupid.

Riiiight. I think I heard about that at some point, and yet somehow managed to forget it...

I'd disagree that it's one of the best DRM schemes although no-one can disagree that it is one of the most popular. I think the popularity mostly comes from the cost/benefit ratio Wals mentioned.

Agreed on all of them. Also I don't consider #2 to be a minor point. It's downright disrespectful to customers who are actually paying for the game. And just to give credit where it's due, I don't think Steam needs you to be connected to the internet (save for the first time; during the installation). I know I played Portal with Steam running in offline mode. Even Team Fortress 2 in the developer commentary mode. I just (obviously) didn't have access to the online content. Confirmed then.

Can't remember the scene you described, but scary nevertheless... I wonder if we'll get another Thief game. --- Currently I have Fallout 3 DLC's on indefinite hold, enjoying Bad Company 2 and Team Fortress 2 whenever I got the time. With Portal 2 and (hopefully) Half-Life 2 Episode Three closing in, The Orange Box was a GREAT buy.

Currently listening to this. Yes, it's still, by itself, able to creep me out. And yes, if I was making the new FO game, something like this would be the ambiance. Just saying...

Outdoorsman didn't even work wonders in the previous games... I mean, by the time you could have a decent percentage of that skill, you would already have a decent build and/or party that could hold their own in a fight, so why pass up on that little extra xp?.. But talking about NV, I would definitely consider the Borderlands type of approach with encounters. You wouldn't believe the genius gameplay elements in such a shallow shooter game.

This just reminds me that Mark Morgan needs to compose the score for NV. That's pretty much what I meant by "more Fallouty music for NV". And most people seems to feel the same way.

I mean in NV. Do we have outdoorsman a/o other skills in NV? Or is it yet to be announced?

Got it in one. Didn't we once suggest that survival skill should factor into hostility of baddies. So maybe the key is survival allwos you to skew what you run into. So you can set your attitude to 'spoiling for a fight' or 'just trying to get home'. Yes! That last part could just do the trick. Also, a simpler approach could be like the one in Borderlands, where enemies have two "threat levels". You get near, they see you, start taunting you like "you wanna piece of me?" or "get the f*** out of our turf!", creatures start getting agitated and hissing at you and such; and when you get closer, they attack. Very simple. Works great. BTW, survival skill? Do we have new skills other that the 13 in FO3? I really should learn to do my homework...

Aaand... got it! Thanks dude, nice find.

What I said earlier about Talon Company mercs reminded me of something: That problem in general has a lot to do with some sort of "spawn proximity limit", or lack thereof. You can always literally bump into enemies when you teleport to a place with an encounter, be it random or special. Of course by teleport I mean area transition (going back outside from an enclosed space or even fast-traveling in the world map). Much like if you fast travel to a town entrance you might bump into a caravan, or rather, they spawn right before your eyes, which is a fixed encounter. When it happens with enemies, it becomes a problem.

Nice one. I've said it before and I'll say it again, random encounters shouldn't be that random, they should mean something. When you scout the area from a hilltop (which I love doing) and see a couple of radscorpions etc. you should say "holy crap! it's a [critter name here]", and not "arghh not this s*** again..." Also what Walsingham said in the same sense; about being in a fight every minute. It's a wasteland FFS, but there was just too many creatures / encounters even for it to be a "hunting ground".

Who came up with this euphemism and why isn't he dead yet?Peter Hines, was it you?! Plant an item! Plant! Aaaargh! Would you prefer The Shady Sands Shuffle?

(Copy / Paste from the said Beth forum post) I apologize in advance for the following statement of overjoy: HELL YEAH ! ! ! I mean, seriously, I suck at math, even I love the currency thing. I just like any kind of variety I guess... And of course, I can't wait to reverse-pickpocket-C4 a raider and send him running /waltzing back to his mates...

Was there a setting for this? It has been a long time since I last played FO3, but I vaguely recall area being rather barren after I cleared them out. I guess you're thinking of special areas with no respawns. My example (the douchebags) were pretty random, usually outside metro / power stations. Out of the blue. In a second. If you meant a changeable "game option" by setting, then no, afaik. I always played on Normal difficulty, btw.

At times, the unbalanced respawn system is not only immersion breaking, but also game breaking. Like when I enter a metro station, realize I forgot something outside / get ambushed by ghouls inside etc. and quickly run outside, only to find 3 Talon Company douchebags with combat shotguns. In my face. Fun times. Actually the random junk lying around makes perfect sense, but like you mentioned, not in inhabited areas. At first, I thought they were pretty succesful in adding to the whole "post-apocalypse" feel, until I started "decorating" my own house in the game. Then the billions of empty tin cans sitting on walkways / corridors started to look ridiculous... I think it should be a rule of thumb to "decorate" living spaces (or regularly visited places) like the inhabitants would while you're designing areas. I'm a raider. I'm a dumb psychopath who kills people for fun / loot. Would I still go to the trouble of hanging their mutilated corpses on my roof above my bed? Stuff like that. Although I don't agree with the "end of civilisation" thing (people are people) I do agree that the folks in FO3 were a bit too... educated. Everyone except raiders of course, who were way too dumb if you ask me, which is just another extreme. The thing is, I'm okay with most FO people being able to read & write (there is literature out there, somewhere; there has to be) but there should also be illiterate "civilized" people. At least people with different levels of education / knowledge. Folks in FO3 felt like they all went to the same high school... It also felt like IQ was the only determining factor, which was also implemented poorly imo. edit: sorry for the wall of text. Walsingham is to blame

If it was a joke, it would be "meh". When it's serious, it's scary... Whoever came up with that gem obviously doesn't know anything about the development process of games. I would even go as far as to say "anything about games". I'm not joking. Not to mention the fact that apparently, just because a couple of features in New Vegas (just weapon modding and Hardcore mode, really) have been inspired by mods, he feels like he already owns the game, by his reasoning, since he added those features to Fallout 3 with mods. HUM. Not you, I meant the guy / people who brought that up. And yeah, I know it wasn't a joke. That's the scary part...

If it was a joke, it would be "meh". When it's serious, it's scary... Whoever came up with that gem obviously doesn't know anything about the development process of games. I would even go as far as to say "anything about games".

Eyes......hurt..... Not exactly "AutoDocs" as in previous games, but there was a Mr. Gutsy medic robot in the Citadel's infirmary, on which you could run a diagnostic to repair if you had enough science skill.