Thorton_AP

Since when are good graphics and good gameplay mutually exclusive? Newsflash: they're not. Flawed argument. They aren't mutually exclusive, and I never said they are. But it gets expensive. Once things get expensive then quantity of sales becomes more important. Point missed. Way to miss the point. I chose chess because, yes, it is a pretty simple game, yet it would be possible to "streamline" it. Get it? This is what streamlining means! You take something that wasn't overly complicated from the beginning and enjoyed by many, then streamline it further to catch those people who think Fable's one button combat is the height of accessibility. In the process you ruin the experience for the people who now think chess has become Halo. It is not elitist to think the original chess was better than the console generation chess now, is it? Wait what.... I just want to make sure I'm clear here: you think that in order for a game to be "streamlined" it must have been a game system that was already not overly complicated?

ANybody who didn't understand the gameplay mechanics of Deus Ex or found them overwhelming is an idiot. It wasn't rocket science. Anybody that spouts off stupid stuff like this is an idiot too, because I have no problems stating that your statement is fallacious and stupid. It's too bad you're butthurt because the game doesn't appeal to you. Grow up and move on. Or find a hobby that actually appeals to you then. Sour grapes are sour. You're pissed off because you'd like the game to be something different, and you're projecting your anger on the target audience because you're acting like a juvenile. As virumor said: Gaming has nothing to do with whether or not someone is smart. You even agree to this, but still feel compelled to insult the intelligence of gamers that didn't enjoy Deus Ex's gameplay by implying they are imbeciles that drool on themselves when they talk. Either you genuinely believe this (which is stupid and you've already stated you don't), or you've decided to act several IQ points below what you could be behaving like because you're bitter.

Well, it's going to depend on your build/stats/skills as well as your strategy - eg how much combat you purposely avoid, either by sneaking or dialogue options etc. Since you can easily reach Freeside/NV with only having to fight the occasional bandit but still having plenty of caps to get into Vegas if you want, it's not hard at all. Actually, you can even get to Vegas via the deathclaw direction. But because Novac is my first fave area I do it first (I usually skip Primm/ignore Powder Ganges entirely....). The ability to get places isn't an indicator of difficulty IMO. Try beating the game without going off the crit path at all/very much is more along the lines of what I was asking. I'm going to give this a try too. I'm surprised you're getting much money at all to be honest. To be honest it sounds like you're probably better at the game than you give yourself credit for. There's no way I could have done Come Fly With Me at level 3 unless I was exceptionally/ridiculously patient. The Nightkin smash me in the face too much. I needed a party member in order to do it without burning through all my stimpacks/food/doctors bags. Though I am playing with small frame so I'll be inclined to break limbs. But I am not self gimping my character. I didn't full on specialize in guns, but I do have decent guns (and energy weapons skill), with a luck of 8 (9 by the time I went back to Repconn factory). EDIT: I'm also playing on Hardcore mode so I cannot use stimpacks to restore limbs, and I also didn't tweak the inventory system to allow me to carry more items. With ammo taking up weight in hardcore, I may have less options that you have for slaughtering stuff.

Boone is pretty much an I win button at the early stages. Especially since his guns skill is bugged out at low levels. He's also not crit path though.

So DA2 looks like The Witcher? Or Final Fantasy? How can a game possibly look like every other RPG, unless you're indicating that the art style for a game like The Witcher is identical to all other RPGs (and hence, games like DAO and DA2). Is there any way you can quantify this more? I wouldn't say that DA2 looks much like DAO at all, and that's just from the little glimpses that we've seen of DA2.

Nothing particularly gamey or artificial. If you just went and followed the main quest along the way without traveling off the beaten path, I'm curious how difficult the game is. I found the Nightkin under REPCONN to be very difficult personally, until I picked up Veronica (and I'd argue picking up veronica is non-crit path but alas).

120 hours for FF8? Did you fall asleep or something!?

How much Canon is there really for a game that was never released?

So because not all games were more complex before, that means no games were more complex before, is that what you're saying? There's still a lot of games that are very complex. They're just not the glitzy AAA titles because of the increased cost of game development. The problem that I see is the same people that bitch about things being dumbed down are the same people that still demand the latest in cutting edge graphics, marketing, and content. Because high budget games need a high volume of sales, their accessibility is very important. They want their super complex game to still have the same complex art, cinematics, and graphics of the other games. In other words, they want their cake and want to eat it too. I'm not any different. If a game came out with Fallout 1/2 style graphics today, there's a very good chance that I'd take a flyer on it and be hesitant, even though Fallout 1/2 was a no brainer purchase for me back in the day. You'll notice that there's no AAA chess games that get released on multimillion dollar budgets. The elitism comes from people sitting pompously asserting that the people that don't have the same interests in games as he does must be drooling morons. On a final note, I learned chess as a 4 year old (played with my Dad and brother all the time, and I loved me some Sargon and Battle Chess on the Apple II). Once you get the hang of those strange moving knights, learning how pieces move isn't really that difficult. Chess is a game that's easy to learn, hard to master. So your point is actually rather invalid since chess is not an overly complex game. The only one that will blow people's minds is en passant. Maybe castling (though I loved to do it as a 4 year old simply because it looked cool. Especially the Queen-Rook castle. You're right, your arguments are ridiculous. A game with simple gameplay mechanics as chess is just boggling. Sure: "Your making games that are less complex than they once were simply so they can be understood by people who drool on themslves when they talk" Guy's casually dismissing these people as being stupid and drooling morons because they don't like the games that he does. Might as well be sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, wearing a monocle, while drinking some Cognac as he makes this statement. If anyone wishes to assert his intellectual superiority based upon what types of games he prefers to play, then he's being elitist as far as I'm concerned. Sounds mostly like sour grapes to me.

Unless I missed a whole load of dialogue options, I can only recall being able to use it two or three times. I should clarify: I'm disappointed with the LACK of many. They didn't exist as frequently as I would have liked. Also, for those commenting on difficulty: How challenging is the game if you just do the crit path?

Overall I am disappointed with many of the Lady Killer-like options too. Though they do seem to be pretty powerful when you use them, which is probably why they are less common.

The problem Boo, is that I believe the art style could have been anything, and you'd still call it generic (an overused word today IMO). They said one of their goals was a more unique art style. What other games out there share the same art style? Quantify your answers preferably.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/nov/04/r...on.world?ref=nf Are these people really so daft to not realize that this paints them and their religion in such a negative light!? Ugh.... EDIT: I saw this linked on Facebook and didn't realize how freaking old it was. My bad

You realize that that New England Journal of Medicine is referring to the 1991 Gulf War right?

Hey it's not too shabby for the economy right?

No. Just discussing games that would contribute to Black Isle's rep. We love their games, but we're a niche audience. We always have been.

Ah I love the rampant elitism of some gamers. Because games like Megaman and Mario Brothers were far and away infinitely more complex than the drivel we play now.

It was a game published by Black Isle though. Note that I included the BioWare games as well.

The serious rep they have from Interplay/Black Isle is from fans of their games. The only Black Isle games that were particularly good sellers were the ones made by BioWare. I don't recall either of the Fallouts, Icewind Dales, PST, or Lionheart being games that flew off the shelves. The rep they had is scored with us. Not with people that want to make money.

I find laser still do fine if you get your energy weapons skill up fast enough. I am playing with a guy that bounces between Cowboy Repeater for high DT targets, and energy weapons for all else. The plasma rifle is decent, and I want to try out the laser rifle with some mods on it too.

Convinced of what, that the combat is easy? I'm afraid h/c mode will become more of a nuisance further down the road, so I'm gonna make the game hardcore on my own. combat is going to be easy no matter what I do sadly, I can't figure out how the GECK works and I don't want to use mods made by others. I decided not to use companions, not to explore too much until I get to Mr.House and Caesar. set END to 3, forget about weapon skills and spend skillpoints on medicine and explosives instead. never use VATS of course. Play the game ironman style, never reloading your game ever.

Where did I or anyone else argue in favor of giant stacks of doom? Really makes me wonder if some folks here actually read what they reply to or just make up something up in their head and reply to that. I'm arguing in favor of OUPT. I like the system a whole heck of a lot more in spite of it not being "realistic." I never said you were arguing in favor of giant stacks of doom. Not sure why you are getting all defensive about a comment that isn't even directed to you. I do not see it as going "from one extreme to another" but rather an improvement on the old stack of doom mechanic. Hence my comment. If it was going from one extreme to the other, then I'd perceive it as a lateral move. All I know is that OUPT is a significant improvement over the stacks of doom. Could it be improved upon? Sure. Never said otherwise. That doesn't discount that it was a huge improvement to the combat system of the game (unfortunately the AI sucks, but the combat system makes for some fantastic MP games IMO). It will help get a user more familiar with how production, city growth, working tiles, and so forth. A friend of mine was overwhelmed by Civ4, but he enjoyed playing Civ5. Now he's keen on trying out some Civ4 which is good news for me too

I have never really understood when people have serious nitpicks regarding realism since the franchise has always had liberties with realism. OUPT may not be realistic, but the system is 100x better than stacking up 100 units on top of one another.

Isn't the DA2 very similar to DAO just faster paced without an autoattack?

This. Boo has actually come out and stated so explicitly. He holds BioWare to a higher standard than other game companies because of their history with the Baldur's Gate games.