Ice9

Nostalgia. I tend to think that this is correct. BG2 was new and different and, to the best of my knowledge, really signaled the focus on NPCs and party interaction. It was new and fresh in those early days. Today, I think the main thing that has changed is my exposure to it. I've played Bioware's games, I know their tendencies, and have seen what they like to do with characters. Because I know their games so well I constantly remember back to BG2 and wonder why everything isn't as awesome. Is Wynne any better realized than Jaheira? I really don't think so.

Well, I finally got around to giving it a try. I give it a thorough: meh. It is nowhere near as good as Shadow Broker and, frankly, I think Overlord is a much more fun mission. That said, I like the Mass Effect franchise and so far the more the merrier.

Well, its the same price as Overlord. Is it as good as Overlord? I haven't had a chance to sit down at my PC and buy it yet. And while seven dollars isn't exactly a huge loss, I'd still prefer to avoid disappointment.

That proto-terminator really bugged me. In ME1 Sovereign is all "We're the pinnacle of evolution. We're beyond your comprehension." Then it turns out, "Oh about that we're a greater realm of existence stuff. Turns out it's just part of the reproductive system. Oh don't worry. I don't expect you to understand reproduction." That whole sequence was a big demystification of the Reapers and, frankly, sometimes mysteries are better than answers.

I'm still running through New Vegas. Whenever it decides to take a break from crashing and actually let me play for more than fifteen minutes it is engrossing.

Is this a prequel to Se7en? What happened to 1ne, 2wo, Thr3, and 4our? Why not just use Roman numerals? V is the number you're looking for and you already have it in the word.

I don't know. I kind of got the impression that Behlen would have been an Ivan the Terrible-like figure.

If ME3 is going to rip off Dune, can we at least rip off the good Dune books and not the super crappy Brian Herbert books?

I haven't played DA2 yet, but if it writing is on par with Vampire: Bloodlines, I'll be willing to overlook every little flaw with it.

Wasn't that the point in the first one? It takes a long time for races to rise and do their thing. So while the rest are powered down and hibernating, one reaper waits it out until they can activate the citadel bringing in the big huge fleet destroying everything?

Any idea what the new DLC is about?

Yay! Part of me dies every time that I hear a designer with talent is stuck working on iphone games. Now if we can just get Brian Reynolds to come back to the dark side I'll be a happy man.

Just because this Chris Hoban fellow works for Bioware doesn't mean he had anything to do with the game whatsoever or was operating under the company's malicious will. It is entirely possible that he simply played the game and liked it. I presume that Bioware makes games that people at Bioware like to play.

Space combat looks weird. It could work though; it's not the main game.

I've played 3 more than any other but these days if I want some HoMM I tend to play 5. It's kind of like Civ - I like 'em all and I tend to just play the most recently released one.

I did the same thing last summer. But just remember: when you're done with Deus Ex, Invisible War is every bit as bad as you remembered. I forgot that part.

There were a few things in Heavy Rain that really bugged me the least of which being the reveal of the killer. For instance, if he is so concerned about maturity why does he include an exploitive scene with Madison fending off home invaders while half naked? 1) It doesn't do much of anything for the plot and 2) it's a friggin' dream sequence. But if you give Quantic Dream a few more attempts at it maybe they'll come up with some decent gameplay to compliment decent ideas. Even if they don't, at this point in my life I'm more interested in creative failures than I am in bland successes.

But just imagine how much of hassle TSA would give you.

I'd be interested in it. I greatly appreciate what Quantic Dream is trying to do with their games. They've not always had perfect execution, but I've generally enjoyed ever game of theirs that I've played.

Assassin's Creed one is merely okay. There is a lot of repetition and it bogs down the game. Assassin's Creed 2, on the other hand, is substantially better. In my e-pinion, if you play the sequel first you'll never make it through the original down the road.

Well, at least the texture pack is free. Were there free upgrades to the Witcher Enhanced Edition?

It has been a while since I played, but the HUD has very drastic differences between hardcore and normal servers. Maybe that is why you're not seeing some things you're expecting.

Gromnir, old pal, I'm kind of surprised to see this from you. At your worst (best?) you resemble a chapter of Ulysses. For starters, I'd go with The Dark Knight. It is an incredibly well made film. Getting a bit off the subject matter here, but the scope of the intended audience has no bearing on whether something should be considered art or even good art; it is possible to appeal to the masses and still be great art. Look at religious iconography and other art in that vein. Renaissance religious art like the Sistine Chapel's ceiling has probably had just about as large as an effect on Western art as anything before it or after it. As for whether or not DA2's attempt at widening its target audience is a good thing, seeing as none of us have played it yet, is still up in the air. My early impressions, however, are less than positive.

None of this really surprises me. I'm just going to stick by my original plan: wait for it to be on sale one day and grab it for cheap.

I generally liked Rift. The level up system is really good; it provides a ton of flexibility, its easy to specialize, and you can probably find some spec to play with every class that you'll like. Quests were typical MMO kill x of y type stuff. The only instance I played was the beginner one but it was pretty good all things considered. The big draw are the rifts. They're big zone wide quests where huge mobs spawn and run wild requiring almost the entirety of the players in the zone to fight it off. When it works, its a blast. When server populations are low if people lose interest it is a major problem: you can't close it off yourself and questing is basically impossible. That is my major worry for the game: if the player base gets bored with that type of event it will quickly become impossible to play.