Ice9

Well, they've launched the first open world event. It kind of reminds me of the zombie thing from WoW, but I suppose that is to be expected with Rakghouls essentially being the zombies i this universe.

C&C doesn't really exist outside of flashpoints, and even within them it is rather limited. Most of the time it is "Okay, i did this thing so I get to skip these enemies and have this different boss fight instead." Otherwise, it is simply go all dark or all light so you can use the higher level items that require a certain dark or light score.

I'm with Nep on the subject of the Mako. Just driving around on a planet's surface looking for your mission access point and whatever pieces of old technology lying around to salvage by playing Frogger was pretty monotonous. I didn't mind the segments like the one on Virmire, for instance. It wasn't as polished as the rest of the game but it was a nice change of pace. Sometimes you just need a few minutes of something different to get back into the grind.

I'm with you Hurl. I've still got some time left too, but I'm reaching saturation with the end game stuff. I'm leveling a republic alt just to see the other side, but my progress is really slowing down.

You're right, Khem Val's issue is resolved through quests that are tied to raising his affection. So do that and stuff will happen. And I though the final quest with Thanaton was really unsatisfying:

Well, I hit 50 on my inquisitor and started some of the end game stuff. Did that last patch nerf all the Heroics? It seemed like The False Emperor just became so much easier. Unfortunately I'm having the worst luck with bugs. The last boss on Eternity Vault bugged out on my raid group every time we tried last week.

As you level skills you get fewer and eventually no points for doing low level things. Orange = Hard (most XP) Yellow = Average, Green = Easy (least XP), Grey = SOL. Your crafting skill will work the same way.

I've pulled myself out long enough and I guess I missed the memo. I'm off on Vulkar Highway. I've hit level 28 so far as an inquisitor. I feel compelled to mention that Synthweaving seems like a complete waste of time. At this point I can make a bunch of decent gear but I've gotten so many orange pieces of armor that are moddable, it seems like it would have been so much more practical to go with Cybertech and just focus on making new upgrades.

Well, I was able to putz around in the stress test this weekend. I had a good time; the Inquisitor storyline had me intrigued and I enjoy the caster mechanics, so I found my main at launch pretty easily. As somebody else mentioned a few pages earlier, I hit quicksave once or twice myself. I do admit that I'm partial to using the escape button to replaying dialog trees. I found myself being confused at dialog responses to the three word select a choice model that everything seems to be moving towards these days; I'm glad that there is an option to redo it.

Lego Star Wars.

I have no idea David Eddings is. I was hoping that you were talking about Dave Eggers, but no such luck. But that comment was about D&D universe which is biased by the three years or I so I was playing in a Planescape campaign. I never got the impression that belief in a set of deities was mutually exclusive. In fact, I kind of assumed ignorance on the part of most creatures. I figured with an infinite number of Prime worlds you're bound to have tons of Gods from worlds, that had never met each other, in conflict in the Outer Planes. Sometimes, I'd wager, these Gods even have overlapping spheres of influence. Though it could be that my perspective is far too zoomed out to get a sense of of the situation on the ground.

This is the correct answer to the original question. If you're going to add the necessary complexity of real life to your fictional universe you're going to get bogged down in the details. Creating something with half as much authenticity as history is a monumental task; it will be a complete waste of time if it isn't going to be absolutely central to your game. Not true. Spain and Portugal during that time are absolutely fascinating. The Reconquista is just an amazing period in history spanning some 800 years of conflict. But the history is very messy. Unless you want that to be the absolute central theme of your game (which could be really awesome in the right hands) you're essentially wasting time if you plan on focusing about internal struggles, or a rival king trying to take over the empire, or whatever else. Probably. A polytheistic religion (or even a monotheistic religion in a polytheistic world) doesn't necessarily preclude the existence of other gods. I can believe that my gods created me, my land my people, and my nation while believing that you have your own set of creators who did the same for you. This is probably similar to what most people believed in the Near East in ancient times.

There are three upcoming MMOs I'm interested in, and as this one comes out first, I'm slowly succumbing to the hype train. I tried not to, but I broke down and preordered it the other day.

Hey! LARPing is fun, unlike Dragon Age 2.

Meh. At this point I'm indifferent to multiplayer.

That is getting into evolving standards of the medium. A modern gamer would likely find either as "better" than something like Pong or Space Invaders but neither of the latter games are more important to the history of the medium than the former examples. I see similar parallels in TV and movies. I like many of the old programs, but, simply put, the majority of them are technically inferior to things produced today. They can still entertain, provoke, or do whatever it is that they were trying to do. But apart from a few exceptions, even the old stuff's highlights are diminished weakness everywhere else. It's not their fault. Film making has progressed so that things like expository dialogue is a cheap shortcut, not a necessity to telling a story. Editing is much cleaner now and pacing is generally superior - audiences are much more familiar with the medium allowing the creators to create without needing to hold the audience by the hand and explain every little detail. Okay, so I forgot where I was going with this post. I guess I'll end by saying that most of us around here can, from time to time, sound like our grandparents talking about how nobody has made a good movie since An American in Paris (or pick your own dated movie that doesn't hold up nearly as well today when removed from its historical context - Citizen Kane is another fine example: study film making and you realize how revolutionary it was. Watch it randomly and you'll probably be bored).

Well, tie-in stuff can only be so prominent when the sequel is distancing itself from the original. You might see a few common themes, but Dragon Age has different stories. Mass Effect is one big one. Arrival appears to work as a bridge because the crossing the gap between the franchises is like trying to cross a river. Trying to connect Dragon Age to Dragon Age 2 is more along the lines of building a bridge between Boston and London.

That is one of my go to examples for a great set piece in gaming.

I finished Metro 2033, now I'm off to Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines with the Clan Quest Mod installed. I've never really explored much of the mod scene there. Though I have to admit that I feel a little skeezy since it uses the Wesp patch.

You say that, but I fall into the camp of gamers who, when using sliders to create a face, are thrilled when their creation comes out looking mostly human.

They're all terrible. I'm having the "Thats now what the character from the book looks like now that I'm watching the movie," syndrome going on right now.

There are about 100 million Valve servers. You should ignore those. They have no admin support and are full of the worst players.

I finally got my fill of Football Manger 2011 and am now debating between replaying Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines or giving Metro 2033 a go. Well, that and crushing the free to play players in TF2 when the mood strikes me.

I'm currently playing Football Manager 2011. It is quickly bordering on Civ-like levels of obsession.

Meh, I like shooters.