Leferd

So I'm thinking that the party's healing and tech skills are determined by the individual who has the highest rank in appropriate skill? Can anyone confirm or deny?

I suppose you could call this Penny-arcade's review.

It's fun reading the bioboard eruptions over their perceptions of a slight to their honor. It's like Jade Empire all over again. Lolz.

Gamespot review is up. 8.5 Having just read it over once, it seems to be well written, organized, and thorough. Good review I think.

Ok. But would you be able to play DA on maximum settings when it comes out with the dual 8800GTs? Because from here, it seems like you're making the purchases to play Crysis on max settings. That's a mighty big gamble on just one shooter, especially when you're a big rpg nut. Consider this, what other games that you are salivating over between now and say Dragon Age are going to be available on PC that you can't play on the 360? As for Mass Effect, what makes you think that it will be ported over to pc? It's just conjecture, and if it does occur, by that time, EA will have taken control of Bioware and you yourself said that you won't buy any EA games. I don't see any EA labels on Mass Effect for the 360. Actually, that means DA will be an EA game too. So there goes another reason for "upgrading for the future". And isn't the Aliens rpg designed for next-gen consoles (360)? As is Obsidian's other secret project?

Fair enough. But is Crysis really high up there on your list of must play games that warrants spending upwards towards a thousand grand for? Personally I'd do it for say...Dragon Age, but that won't be out for a while. Save yourself hundreds of gaming dollars and get the 360. There's always Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and even Bioshock, Orange Box, etc., Plus it now comes with two great games for free: Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

A good rule of thumb is to upgrade when you need to. Prices will be lower by the time that need occurs and even then, the technology will have improved. Right now, do you have to? Also, are there really any games out right now that you want to play that you can't play with what you have right now?

Just curious...but what current PC exclusive games are worth the significant dollar investment in making those upgrades? I assume you're able to play NWN2 just fine with what you currently have. Even then, going SLI with 8800GT seems like overkill unless you're hardcore into FPS. Even then, that's still highly debatable. Whereas right now seems to be a good time to be a 360 owner. Especially when you factor in the costs.

I never finished anything of Neverwinter 1 except for Pirates of the Sword Coast and Shadowguard. The whole game left a bad taste in my mouth. NWN2 definitely raised the NWN experience for me, but the game's interface is still too NWN. I like MOTB's story, but I still haven't motivated myself into finishing the campaign. The underlying Auroraness of the Electron engine is just too much.

Atleast I hear that they have elevator music. errr....muzak.

Latest Mass Effect comic from Penny-Arcade. Nitpicking: Mass Effect, Part Two

It's been three year for me, but I enjoyed Atris's stronghold (on Telos?). I especially enjoyed the Exile's banter with her. Favorite party npcs are probably Kreia and Atton. I also like Visas Marr and the Handmaiden as well.

Kreia would most certainly disagree with your point of view.

Nah. That just means the developers did a good job in getting you immersed in the world. Stop when you get sick of the game or are satisfied with your latest playthrough.

And people on the Bio boards are whining that Dragon Age isn't getting hyped enough...getting all hysterical of it being vaporware. Please.

Yahtzee released a new game. Tempted to try it out.

lolz.

EA? Nope. Not yet anyway. Bio doesn't become EA Canada Jr. or EA Texas until a couple months from now... at the earliest.

Spotted this on penny-arcade. I got an interesting mail this morning from Daniel Erickson the principal lead writer over at Bioware Austin. He says they have an opening in their writing staff and he's having a hard time filling it. Daniel wanted to know if he could put the word out here on Penny Arcade and I'm more than happy to help. So do you want to write for the new Bioware MMO? ---------------------------- Hey Guys, So here's the situation we're in. BioWare games require a great deal of writing. Storylines, world building, characters, journals - and about a bazillion lines of dialogue. What makes my job harder is not only does all of this writing have to be high quality - something not always demanded in our industry - it can only be done by writers who understand the complexities of interactive fiction. Take the average screenwriter who doesn't play RPGs, place him in front of the writing tool from Neverwinter Nights and you'll get a linear story with a complete lack of Player agency and no interesting decisions. Just trying to explain the concept behind writing without a protagonist to someone who has never even been a dungeon master can be like showing card tricks to a dog. Which brings me to the current problem. The BioWare MMO is the largest thing we've ever done by leaps and bounds. We're talking a double digit writing staff working for years (yes we've already been working for well over a year). Now I've realized I need even more writers and I've got no reliable way of predicting where they're going to come from. In the history of the company, we've had published fantasy authors, screenwriters and editors all wash out of BioWare's training program. On the flip side, we've had fantastic kids right of college, an ex CNN producer and a former gift wrapping clerk from Singapore all succeed in the BioWare writer family. Previous job of lead writer for Baldur's Gate 2, the highest rated PC RPG in history? Travelodge manager. So yes, we're shaking the usual trees and our HR folks are turning over all the rocks they can think of but I had to go through over three hundred qualified candidates to find the team I have now so a lot of those trees have done already been shook. With that level of challenge around finding writers, I want to throw out an open invitation for anyone out there that thinks might be the strange combination of RPG fiend and talented writer to grab a copy of Neverwinter Nights and start putting together a writing sample. I don't care if you can script, just put three guys in a field and attach conversations to them. Make the plot compelling, write the NPCs as real people who could exist in a believable world even if the PC wasn't there, give me an interesting choice or two and you're done -- easily something can be done over a weekend and there's a ton of great community support online if you're really tech deficient. Anyone out there want to write for the game company with three of the top five rated RPGs of all time on their biggest project ever? Head here: BioWare Jobs Cheers, Daniel Erickson Principal Lead Writer BioWare Austin ... So apparently they are serious about trying to make their mmo less grindtastic. It's a mystery. I gather that the former hotel manager is Dave Gaider, but I didn't know he was the lead writer on BG2.

I haven't been this hyped for a game since KoTOR 2.

Howard's Conan is great. Though I will freely admit that Arnie's portrayal is badass. I'd like to see him and John Milius get back together to do King Conan.

So who's the hero?

Those dodging skills of Conan can also be attributed as a "barbarian" skill. Though yes, Conan not only a "barbarian" but is/was a thief/pirate/mercenary/captain-general of mercenaries/king. But through and through, he is a barbarian. His thieving skills consist mostly of his taking advantage of his natural agility and litheness. Not so much on his ability to pick locks or pockets. It should be noted that though Conan is massively strong, he is equally agile and quick thinking. In DnD terms, he probably should roll 20's in all attributes. As far as his armor preferences, Conan (in the Robert E. Howard stories -can't speak for the comics) likes to wear light chainmail.

Conan is a level 1 rogue at most. He wasn't really much of a thief on The Tower of the Elephant. Plus, he can always use his cross-class skill abilities as a barbarian to touch up his thieving skills.

After the Sega Genesis became obsolete, I used to be pc only. Even when I had an xbox (to play KoTOR 2 and Jade Empire) I was pretty much gung ho with the pc. Now that I have a 360, I've started to be more and more pragmatic. Sometimes it's nice to just play a game with your feet up and relaxed on your couch. I voted both.