unskilled-

Go play DeadSpace if your looking for the second coming of System Shock (1 and 2).

Hah, last time I hit the gym was pretty painful. My face was all bruised up from hitting it pretty hard. 'suppose next time I'll use the frontdoor and actually work out As for lifting weights, you don't even need that. Situps, pushups, squats and other such fun calisthenics. But it all starts with eating healthy. Gym time won't be as good as it can be if your eating unhealthy and at messed up times. 3 meals a day of non sugary and non-fat concentrated substances is a good start (Oatmeal is KING), no need to be planning meals out and throwing in whey protean and other stuff like that unless you want to eventually look like a brickwall.

Played some Donkey Kong Country on a working SNES today! Although the game isn't my cup of tea, it was fun to finally hold an snes controller after 10 years or so! :| Now I'll just have to get my hands on the n64 and a crapload of games that include ogre battle 64 *orgasm*

Why not, they already own the "Earth". I'm just waiting for some classic google porn.

I like Steam. Its a fantastic piece of software in my lowly opinion. I've never had any complaints or serious problems with its offline mode either. If you don't like Steam I suppose you could go for Impulse Now (Stardock).

*nods* Lets not forget price either. Given that the majority of PC users are not savvy enough to build their own from scratch, or are too lazy too, they generally buy pre-fabs or slighty used ones that would go from 1000-5000 depending on what all you want with it. Console only costs 150-500 (500 being what us suckers paid for a ps3) depending on whether its a console launch or later into its lifespan.

I'll parrot what everybody else already said (or most). DX was amazing, IW was crap. AP is somewhere inbetween. You can't really compare games from 10+ years ago to today, not even 5 years ago. When technology changes, so do people's expectations of what a game can do and look like. For a treat, here's one of the best scenes in DX:

I remember playing the aeon genesis translation for Shin Megami Tensei. In one of the routes you can pick there was a very serious game-stopping bug. Needless to say I happened to stumble upon it and my 80+ hour uber-romp was destroyed! Took me a few years to work up the courage to tackle the game again :|

If your into emulators and fixing translation patches to obscure games, I highly recommend Romancing Saga 3 for the snes (translation by aeon genesis). Non-linear story, 8 main characters to pick from, plus 12+ side-characters to recruit and a plethora of mini-games as well. Or you should give Shin Megami Tensei (for the snes, aeon genesis translated) a shot. Its pokemon before pokemon, 'cept more serious and darker, harder and a helluva lot more fun (imo). Ogre Battle 64 for the n64 emulator is a true classic. Now thanks to emulation improvement, you can run it without any graphical glitches that were present in years prior. Or you could settle for Ogre Battle for the snes/ps1 or even Tactics Ogre for the ps1 as well. If you want to go old school, you could try Darklands (if you can find it that is, its pretty rare). It is the game that Mount and Blade tried to recreate, with some degree of success.

Rome Total War: Rome Total Realism mod. Grab that and see you in a few months! If not, Front Mission 3 for the ps1 is a good turn-based strategy game. Final Fantasy Tactics too if you're into that sorta thing. Mount and Blade perhaps? Go for the old x-com games then, or maybe Jagged Alliance 2 1.13 mod. The Themepark game made by Chris Taylor is pretty addicting as well. Rollercoaster Tycoon i think. For sports, Baseball Mogul is where its at for baseball, as for Soccer games I'd recommend Football Manager.

Kids these days... Veteran is absurdly difficult. For all the wrong reasons, which you described. I got through it with WAY too many reloads. Oh, and I didn't start the game until it "recommended" me Veteran in the tutorial. Even then it was brutal. Yeah, I think I reloaded a good 10-15 times per checkpoint and had to figure/luck out in the majority of situations. The times when you are able to take your time were not too bad, but when your forced to haul-ass it really became a pain in the ass. The favela in brazil kicked my ass so many times Now, if only MW2 had MW1's online system, it would be the greatest action game EVAR.

X-com Apocalypse >

So apparently AP sold over 9000 games..

There are two over-arching types of "RPGS". The ones where you roleplay a character the developers want you to as to progress the story how they want it to, characters and all (pretty much the majority of JRPGS, Final Fantasy being the patriarch of the group). The other where you pick your own character, class and other details and go off to complete the storyline (Western RPGS, such as any d20 game or the elderscrolls series). Picking skills is irrelevant because both types incorporate it in their own unique way. Depending on what battle system is used, whether its turn-based, real-time, group-based or single combat varies what they call skills and how you use them (menu selection, skill tree, hot-button, etc). Ontop of that RPG games are less reliant on reflexes, hand-eye coordination and other such things that FPS require, and focus more on strategy and thinking. They are also, on a whole, generally 2 to 3 times longer then your average FPS as well. When talking about ActionRPGs and StrategyRPGs, they essentially fall into the two over-arching categories. The majority of ARPGs and SRPGs tend to follow what the developers want you to do. What separates an ARPGS from a traditional RPG is that it emphasises more reflexes, hand-eye coordination, etc.. ontop of the usual RPG mechanics. Mass Effect and the Castlevania games (post ps1) are some good examples. SRPGs place more emphasis on strategy, tactics and the use of the game engine. Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics are the best examples. While action and strategy games are becoming more cinematic, it should be noted that while you are Role Playing a specific character to complete a storyline, its lack of traditional "RPG" mechanics, such as experience, levels (or whatever the game calls it) and/or expenditure of skill points/picking skills/talents/traits/perks/etc, means they are not a TRPG, SRPG or ARPG (horray for acronyms!)

I do this for my first play through. I'm more of a "story" guy than a "get excitement from combat" type of guy, so I'd rather see first how the story plays out than worry about being stuck at the first boss fight for three days and be unable to advance the story. I suppose I'm the kind of guy who wants my cake and being able to eat it too! But, uh.. why play any game on easy? That just takes away from the glory of beating an incredibly tough game and then basking in your accomplishment as the ending cinematics roll. The minute I finish MW2 on Veteran Difficulty.. I'll celebrate by getting smashed, or something...

Currently smashing my head against the insane difficulty that is Veteran Difficulty in Modern Warfare 2. AI teammates that don't bother providing cover, backup nor help when taking out enemies (95% of the time) and enemies that have eagle eyes from 100+ feet while your trying to hide behind cover. RAGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

*headdesk*

Man, you guys need to learn some reading comprehension. Especially you Volourn. First. I have never stated anything regarding the sales figures of ME2, or any other game for that matter. Second. My whole post was about how you feel you are right without providing facts. Third. Someone else provided the facts that you did not feel you should provide (thank you Fallen Ghost). Fourth. Whoever makes a statement regarding raw data, regardless of whatever their intention is, the burden of proof lies with them. In this case, you. Fifth. What article did you read? Where did it come from? Who wrote it? Where did they get the numbers from? Sixth. Oh, so I guess I'm a troll because I simply stated that you should provide facts to back up your statements. Alright, well.. I suppose I'll use your own logic against you. You are a bitch. This is fact. Why? Because I believe it to be true, so it must be true. Therefore, you are a bitch. Do I have to provide any evidence to back it up? Honestly, no.. using your logic I don't have to because I believe it to be true.

1.8 mil for ME2 is way too low....the actual sales of ME2 are around 6.6 million copies. And the link you're in so much denial about: "Mass Effect and, of course, its 6.6 million-selling sequel Mass Effect 2, which was released earlier this year." http://www.vg247.com/2010/04/14/muzyka-and...eynote-develop/ That's not the only one either......there were dozens of news reports from back in March or April when BioWare and EA announced they shipped 6.6 million copies of ME2.....and those are just physical manufactured copies not even counting digital downloads. If I were you I would have taken his 1.8 mil figure without a whisper and hoped nobody pulled up the real 6.6 mil figure because the 1.8 looks a lot better for your argument.....it's only 1.6 mil over .2 mil rather than 6.4 mil more. Who said I'm arguing? I only stated that if your going to make a statement without backing it up with facts, you would be talking out of your ass. Reading comprehension is a wonderful thing. In any case, thank you for providing factual evidence regarding the whole "argument".

Crysis on Delta difficulty is amazingly difficult. Super AI drones that speak korean (so you won't know if they've tossed a nade unless you understand korean!) and will actively swarm your position from multiple angles to best try and flush you out from a good hiding position. If the game didn't give you the stealth function it would be down-right impossible! And thats not even talking about the second part of the game.. aaargh.

Just finished STALKER: Call of Pripyat. Awesome game, going to enjoy the freeplay aspect and pimp out my uber collection of armor and guns.

If you don't provide any concrete evidence to backup your statements, Volourn, you are merely talking out of your ass. And yes, you would be getting something out of providing us with a link: The fact that you are right. Until then, quit talking out of your ass until you can provide something of value.

1. Open up the world. Give the player the option to slow-travel (on foot or by vehicle) or quick-travel to locations. 2. Options to customize Thorton even further (different face, etc..). Hell, even let him be female for those who want some lesbian action with SIE. 3. More weapons, armors and gadgets. 4. More intel to buy. Ontop of the intel for missions and people, you could have misc intel just to flesh out the world and its political climate. 5. More missions. 6. Different types of missions. 7. More animations for every character. Yes, even an animation for dragging a body. 8. Completely rework the boss-fights. Give the options for stealth players to silently take out the boss in a single blow, like every other enemy within the game. Taking a page from Oblivion, have the ability for technical people (trappers) to poision or "assassinate" the boss in different ways (electrocute brakyo in his pool or something). 8a. Change how you meet up against the bosses. Having the fight in a huge-ass room is cliche, make it so you can take the fight throughout the level (which would make the "respawning" enemies a bit more tolerable). 9. Rework the upgrading system for weapons. Mikey can do basic upgrades, while more technical upgrades (depending on your build) would require a qualified mechanic. 10. More greybox missions. It would make more sense for MIkey to take on 1-2 missions before the mission where he gets ****ed over. This would also give time for some characters to get fleshed out, instead of (example) Mina latching onto you for "doing the right thing" without even doing anything to even warrent such a comment. 11. Rework the levels and the AI to take advantage of more "realistic" guard movements. Ie: no spawming enemies when you get into a certain area. 11a. Eliminate checkpoints for anything other than meeting up with the boss. 12. AI teammates in your missions ontop of your handlers. You could hire ex-CIA/NSA/Spesntas/etc to provide you with backup for those tough missions that require you to storm a place or w/e. 13. Randomly Generated Missions. You're a rogue operative with no access to funds unless you take on jobs to get money. Finding 20k within certain missions is absurd, really. 14. More CQC moves. Knocking the gun out of an enemy's hand, or getting him in a choke-hold and use him as a shield. 15. Unexpected missions. Ie: your safehouse is raided due to you being careless and being seen in "x" amount of missions. 16. More security devices to over-come. Trip-wires, sound sensitive alarms, pressure plates that trigger alarms, retina scanners that need the right guard. 17. Side stories, side missions. (Ie. Mina's parents are being held hostage cause she's helping you) 18. Disguses. This would tie in with the different missions (6.) in as much as you would have to disguse yourself to gather intel in different places. ASSASSINATE AL-BARA HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU. 19. The option to join the badguys at ANY time. Ie: you could, technically, goto the greybox right after Saudi if you wanted to. 20. More skills, different skills.

While, it's wouldn't of had a RDR budget, it was in development for 4 years wasn't it? That's not cheap. I remember people speculating DA's sales weren't enough to recoup the money spent in development, which is why we getting the speed expansions/DLC. Well, ontop of an enormous budget with ludicrous expectations, as well as pushing it onto the dreamcast.. didn't bode well for the game. I suppose they were imagining it as the "flagship" title for the dreamcast, only dreamcast sales were horrendous along with the game already being a "niche" game to begin with. Huge budget, barely any consoles to play it on meant it was relegated to "cult" status amongst those who bought and loved it to death. A perfect cult-hit that keeps spawning sequels? STALKER! Shadow of Chernobyl, ClearSky (arguably the weakest of the 3) and Call of Pripyat, with plans for STALKER 2 to be (hopefully not) released on consoles.

Man, that so far past -10 HP.. imagine the description on that death.. "you've been hit so hard you did not merely roll over and die, you exploded into a million pieces and those pieces into a million.. and the pieces pieces into a million.."