Niten_Ryu

HoMM5 might be good. Nival is cool developer. Of course Silent Storm and Blitzkrieg are not for everyone, but I like 'em.

Hahahah... April fools day rules. Too bad that this news was too hard to belive

Oh yeah ! Unreal engine 3 and Obsidian. I like. Hmmm... Senior or Intermediate Character Modeler / Texture Artist position sounds good. Except these issues. Must be responsive to schedules, work well under pressure and willingness to work overtime if necessary. Heh... I always lag behind schedules and I don't work overtime unless I choose to do so. Lately I've done more CAD/solidworks grind work than in artistic 3d modeling, so I guess that's another negative. But enough of that, Obsidian deseves talented (and fast) artist for the extremely challenging UE3 project. Workload will be huuugeeee...

Leia Organa - golden bikini I like classics.

I think it was Ultima III, circa 1983-1984. I remember that I played Akalabeth (originally released 1980) only after Ultima III and IV... That would be around 1985. I didn't really get into cRPGs untill Pools of Radiance (1989).

Yea, we also had the same rule at our school. Along with we were also not allowed to fire the Ballista that was mounted on the roof of the school either. It sucked! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Oh yeah, in US you use slingshot. Damn torch vs. flashlight, lift vs. elevator ect ect...

Hmmm... 80's highschool RPG ? Ah, updated version of Skool Daze (classic c64 game from 1985). Ok, it wasn't RPG but anyway... Good interview by the way !

I really liked Prince Uther in Disciples 2. That brat was complite bastard. Lance Vance from GTA: Vice City. Just like in the 80's.

Well, at that point I did have 2 str + 2 melee = 4 unarmed and 3 per + 3 guns = 6 ranged. Anyway, I sneaked and snapped necks most of the time so while there were nothing but opponents for the last three parts of the game (Society of Leopold, Sabbat hotel, Chinatown temple), it wasn't that boring. Or I used my trustworthy magnum 44. I have strong FPS background (although I've played cRPGs much longer, since FPS are only ~15 years old) and that means the weaker my character, the more fun I have. But you are right, last few hours were pure FPS (including sneaking) action and I can imagine how much pure RPG gamers hate that. I absolutely hated Ravanger and Malachor V in KotOR 2... It was pure combat, but I didn't have as much control of my character as I did in Bloodlines.

I bought Bloodlines from bargain bin earlier this week (I've never seen so new game before in bargain bin, I guess sales were horrible in here). My mini review... Issues - how I generally rank issues - Impression (positive + or negative - towards final score) Story - indifferent + I generally don't care about story when I buy new game. I like to make my own story and game just gives me rought guidelines. Vampire political power struggle was an interesting story. I chose to play Male Toleador corporate asskisser (record industry PR manager in previous life) and game allowed me to do that quite well. I stayed loyal to Prince till the exploding end. Writing - very important + My own lines were horrible at the times but at least NPC had often something interesting or funny to say. Because of adult themes, even basic fedex quest were much more fun than usually. I've only started to play Malkavian female, but it seem that NPCs generally speak same lines to me as to same people. Anyway, few extra lines and better roleplay possibilities are definite plus. World - vital + I didn't expect much and since I really dislike goth scene, I was sure that I wouldn't like the setting. I was wrong. Setting works like charm and game actually makes fun of goths from time to time. It was refreshing to see mature themes in game. Adult books stores, strip joints, underground porn, hookers, nightclubs, drugs, swearing like drunken sailor... World felt alive and many ways it reminded me of DeusEx's world (actually whole game is many ways similar to DeusEx). Rule system - important + I've never played any Whitewolf PnP RPGs, so I have no idea if the rules in game are similar or not. Best part was expo system. I was so happy to see that you gained expo from doing quests rather than mindlessly killing everyone. I liked simple 5 stage skill system although some skills (ie. combat skills) should have cost more than other. I had over 40 expo points to spend in the end. I didn't use diciplines other than level 2 celerity so I don't know yet how well they work in game. Also I didn't get more than one masqurade violation and my humanity was 10 almost all the time so those systems are unknown to me. They way you created character was fun (jagged alliance style). I love question type of character creation. Combat system - important + I love hybrid RPG/FPS combat systems. It's like FPS but more difficult that I like that. 3rd person close combat worked fine too. Best feature was instant kill from behind witn bare hands or melee weapons (lol, that baseball bat hit). Only thing that was missing was the critical hits. Even head shot didn't hurt more than normal hit (except Zombies). Decent critical hit system and other combat stuff more close to Splinter Cell (sneaking, hiding bodies, hanging from various places ect ect.) Weapons were generally good. Pistols were my absolute fav, but all weapons had their uses. SMG recoil was wonderful (but still deadly if used correctly). Graphics - mildly important + It's valves engine so everything is near state of the art. Art direction wasn't as strong as it was in Half-Life 2, but still very good. Screenshots were much worse looking than moving images. Sometimes certain textures were among the best I've seen in any game. Neon lights, decayed urban environment gave nice excuse to go wild. It's not all good, since some textures were really blurry (vehicles). DX9 features were subtle and that's always positive. There were too few character models and they didn't use anykind of face generator. Dark environments are always easier to do but at least this time setting allowed that to max. Engine features - very important + Basically everything is there. Z-axis, DX9 features, ect ect. Half-Life 2 team used engine much better than Troika. Since they developed games at the same time, that was expected. Only thing that bothers me that maps are still very small. Engine allows much larger maps so I have no idea why Troika made so small maps. Also they didn't use physics as much as Valve. Maps were ok, nothing too great (expect haunted mansion). Generally too many empty rooms. PoV - indifferent First person or following camera third person. I don't care, it's all good. Development house - mildly important + Troika... Timmy, Leo... too bad that you didn't make in the rough game biz. You shouldn't design games for my taste. Hardcore gamers are almost nonexistent when you compare how many copies you need to sell just to brake even. Publisher - important Activision ? Why the hell you did chose to fund hardcore RPG/FPS hybrid about vampires... are you insane ? I'm hardcore and I still bought this game from bargain bin. Single/multi/MMOG - vital + Yay ! It's singleplayer Bug free - mildly important Hey, it's Troika game. It's by default not bug free. I played version 1.2 and I only crashed two times. Gameplay was smooth and there were suprisingly low amont of bugs (few script, some graphical, possible minor memory leak). Difficulty setting - very important Generally too easy, but there were some hard spots at least for non-combat orianted character. Zombies at the Hollywood graveyard gave me blast from the past. Damn it was difficult... it required near perfect headshots and timing between two gates. I hate respawning enemies, but this time it was positive experience. Yes, I know there's easier solution too but who can resist such challenge. Game type - important + Hybrid RPG/FPS. I like. Too bad that you couldn't steal as many items as you could in Morrowind or even in Thief series. Or hide bodies... Summary Very positive experience. It's rare that game gets zero negatives. I didn't buy this game right away because I was sure that I'd hate the setting, rules and possible huge amounts of bugs. Would I buy sequel... right away, at full price. Will there be sequel... uh huh... It was freaking amazing that they even made this game. No way there's ever going to be sequel untill games cost under million to develop (and that may be never again and there's no Troika anyway). ****

Three characters levels 25-29. I think system brakes down way before level 20, I'd say around level 10-12.

I try to win every battle and take no or very little damage. I just can't think of any way how AI could do this, unless you enjoy computer game movies. Most of time fights are very much against human player but still very easy. Now let the AI fight enemy AI and you lose more than you win. Most of time I take AI party members because of roleplay purpose but I really hate how they behave in combat situations. All are idiots or suffer various mental diseases that I can't cure in-game (post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia ect ect). Good thing that they usually die rather fast and I can solo rest of game (of course if game is good otherwise, I have to keep party members alive during my 2nd or 3rd run just see if they bring anything to storyline, writing or game mechanics other than AI).

I'm fan of both. Star Wars - I really like Star Wars universe, even more than the movies. Star Wars is really nice mix between traditional scifi and fantasy. World is full of interesting events and filled with rich history. KotOR - I dislike or sometimes even hate d20 system but because of interesting world and timeline, I tolerate it. Also dull and small maps annoy me. When I read reviews or message boards about some game, I look for following issues (and how I generally rank issues). Story - indifferent Writing - very important World - vital Rule system - important Combat system - important Graphics - mildly important Engine features - very important PoV - indifferent Development house - mildly important Publisher - important Single/multi/MMOG - vital Bug free - mildly important Difficulty setting - very important Game type - important KotOR won me over because world (Star Wars), singleplayer game (I like 'em), development house (Bioware/Obsidian), game type (cRPG), writing (only in KotOR II). Against were rule system, combat system, graphics, engine features, bug free, difficulty setting. It was a close call and I almost didn't buy KotOR II because of very easy difficulty setting but CA's good writing won me over. So, I probably wouldn't buy KotOR type of game if it's set in another world that I find uninteresting. Then again, there are many interesting worlds...

Lineage II (MMOG) uses Unreal Engine. It might be that NCsoft just upgrades Lineage II or releases whole new MMOG based on Unreal Engine tech. Seamless worlds are even more important in MMOG environment than in single player games. Bioware and Midway also have Unreal Engine 3 licences but I really hope that they wouldn't do multiplayer online game or MMOG. What I'd really love to see is Unreal Engine based KotOR III... no more ultra small maps and real z-axis (and of course SSS, parallex maps, HDRL ect ect junk)

I don't think we'll see Revan again in possible KotOR III. There might be hints about Revan and/or Exile but that's about it.

Agree with it all the time. It is fanatical Republican, so anything positive about serving the republic, no matter the cost (good or evil) is sure way to gain influence. I think I maxed influence during one loooong chat session. I like G0-T0, best villain in the game.

I don't care about viewpoints. I can play game no matter what viewpoint it uses. Right now best viewpoint seems to be 3rd person free rotating camera centered to character. It's very popular in MMOGs and it's also used in KotOR series. Realtime (virtual turns/ticks/whatever) hybrid with pause merged with combat AI (Jade Empire) and player controlled party AI (Rainbow Six, Freedom Fighters) might be next big thing. Graphic engines allow any type of viewpoint. If developers want to spend time, they can make any viewpoint work (ie. fix z-axis movement/environment problems in bird eye or 3/4 view).

I'd like to see post-RotJ cRPG, but not epic like KotOR. Maybe something like stormtrooper trying to change his life after empires fall or some Hutt creating his crime empire. Well, I guess new academy Jedi would also work, but then you'd have to follow Kyle Katarn type of storyline (as seen in Dark Forces series - Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy). Nothing too epic, but plain old good adventure.

Console generation change is always difficult. You might want to develop game for the old consoles, because already millions of gamers already have those consoles. If game is good enough, it'll sell ok. On the other hand, if you develop game for the next generation consoles, you better make really good game because only few buy new console right away. Even if large % of 'em buy your new game, you might still lose money (next generation games cost more money to develop). The jackpot is that you make game so great (relatively of course, if you hate console games in general), that people actually buy new consoles because of that game (Halo series did that to Xbox). If Obsidian makes KotOR III, they should make 2 complitely different versions (graphically, not storywise). One for Xbox and one for PC/XboxNext/Xbox360/whatever.

Freedon Nadd's pistol A vile weapon that once belonged to Freedon Nadd. This blaster has killed more jedi than any lightsaber. 3-12 + 2-20 dark side damage Scope upgrade Restricted to Sith professions Critical range sucks, 20-20 Attack mod +2 Balanced You get this weapon too late in the game. It would have been fun to use blaster thru whole game. Hmm... I failed my last gimped character and game was way too easy. I'll do DS blasters only run next time (after patch).

Uh oh... Live actors, the bane of early CD-ROM games. Live actors are even worse than cheesy CGI cutscenes. I'm damn happy that most cutscenes are made with same game engine as the rest of the game, although best thing is not to use cutscenes at all like in Half-Life 2. I bet we'll see some Episode III games at E3, but not KotOR 3.

G0-T0 Single minded evil republican droid :">

Yeah, I felt the same way. And to make things worse for me, Kreia was my least fav character (too much like BG2:ToB Melissan). G0-T0 was my absolute fav, from the concept point of view, since it wasn't that useful in the game. G0-T0 was much like Vhailor (my fav character) from PS:T, both have very rigid world view. G0-T0 was epitome to evil republican... cold and calculating. It even had to choose between saving republic or serving republic laws. Beautiful stuff. Too bad that I only used G0-T0 during one mission :'(

KotOR 3 better not be NextBox/Xbox360/Xbow2/whatever launch title, no matter who the developer is. New console should be out before end of the year and while many large development houses already have Xbox360 dev kits, 12 months is way too short time to make new cRPG for new console. Higher quality models, textures (and shadow/parallex/light/normal maps) take lot of time. It would be best to make KotOR 3 for Xbox, Xbox360 and PC. When ? Who knows, 3rd quarter of 2006 might be good.

Yes, Malachor V was very important from storyline point of view. Ok, after jedi council, you just travel to Malachor V, skip the boring canyons and rooms filled with cannon fodder and meet Kreia there. Usually I have very high tolerance against badly designed maps. I always manage to find something positive. This time mood changed so much after jedi council, that I really can't remember similar case... oh yeah, Secret of Silver Blades had similar feeling. Malachor V could have been great with better design and it's shame that Obsidian didn't design it during early stages of development.