Nonek

I'm afraid that I have to disagree here Keyrock, the Ultima games dealt with complex themes and had narratives that were reinforced by the mechanics, and stood quite well on their own, Betrayal at Krondor was fantastically written by Mr Neal Halford and there are many others. I'm also not so sure that gaming has evolved that much, in fact in places it has positively devolved, after all what do you expect when a new game comes out? Features that were present in games decades ago are impossible to implement now, gameplay other than combat and conversation has disappeared, environmental interactivity is non existent, worlds and characters are painted backgrounds that have no life or agency, organic map design and exploration has been replaced by handholding and quest markers, fantastic sound design such as we heard in Thief has been replaced by some manner of idiot vision, magic is simply another weapon to use rather than an art of wonder and utility, loading screens are incessant and yet in games like Ultima and Dungeon Siege there were massive worlds that required none. Of course there are exceptions and in even the most dull and safe AAA+ games there are innovative elements, but I think it has become far too popular to ridicule the games of yesteryear, and dismiss them as regressive when in fact they were introducing many innovative elements that have not been bettered yet, or even emulated, and certainly not built upon. When I look back on what I played many years ago, and see how stale and unambitious the genre has become in comparison, well I am saddened at how little was learned from or built upon the RPGs of the past. Edit: To be fair Dungeon Siege which I mentioned also introduced a positively degenerative design where the game would literally play itself. As we have seen this has become a desired feature now for some players (who unfortunately designers are catering to) who do not wish to play and learn the mechanics of a game, but instead simply wish to be told a story and fed a power fantasy. Accessibility and streamlining run riot rather than used to distil a game into what it needs to be, such as the first Fallout does so well, each feature and mechanic reinforcing the themes of the game.

Darkest Dungeon, enjoying this immensely and wishing that the dungeons in RPGs were half as atmospheric, stressful, dangerous and feature packed. For some reason it reminds me of the first Diablo, despite having very few similarities and the art style (which is I think the same gentleman who did the flasbacks in the Witcher 2) certainly helps with the aesthetics.

I have to say one thing on Babylon Five, how refreshing to see starships that are not designed to be aerodynamic, a small niggle i've had with most sci fi for the longest time.

It's shaping up to be a good game I think but it hasn't got the edge or atmosphere that Torment nailed down, and unfortunately there is too much handholding, signposting and a far too friendly and helpful populace in Sagus Cliffs, who have no reason to be helpful and who treat the protagonist far too much like a special Bioware main character for no reason whatsoever. The setting thus has far less mystery and tension, and there is less of the questioning and trying to figure out ones situation as you are led from point to point by interest and intrigue, this is by far its most egregious issue and i'd say this needs some real work on it. The protagonist is also probably stylistically the most boring part of the game, and the companions so far are equally drear and dull, which stands out in marked contrast to Torments menagerie of likeable rogues, however this seems to be a concious decision though for the life of me I can't figure out the reasoning for it. Obviously beta is beta at the moment and there are a host of problems, and missing fuctionality, so i'll not mention any of these. All told i'm not looking at this as a spiritual successor to Torment as that seems to have somewhat eluded the design team so far, but as a stand alone game i'm quite confident it will be fair to good. It needs a lot of work and retuning, which i'm quite surprised by considering how much time has passed since the Kickstarter, but Mr Fargo has wisely not specified a date in 2016 when it will be out so has almost a full year to tweak and tinker. Based on the beta i'd say wait and see. Edit: Oh also worth mentioning that the beta areas has hit it for six when it comes to choice, consequence and reactivity, obviously I don't know whether this persists but it gives a very good first impression.

So instead of looking for his friend or running further he spends ten minutes mouthing exposition, which is my point really. Edit: Appreciate the Nano tip however, have to roll one up when the beta's a little more stable.

Thank you Raithe, much obliged, also may I just say Talia Winters...ding dong.

Oh what did the town greeter/infodumper for Sagus Cliffs want? As I said I really don't mind if people have motivations but the standard form of interaction should be exactly what one has in Torment, which is usually excuse me i'm busy or a variance of that, rather than an infodump. Or stop looking at the rat i'm eating, are you a waiter at the Gathering Dust etc. The whole place seems far too friendly. Edit: Keyboards and big hands and fingers do not mesh.

After finishing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine I was on the lookout for something similar and Mrs Nonek found a series called Babylon Five, so far i'm quite impressed, it takes itself a little too seriously but the situation and setting is I hesitate to say a little more interesting than the DS9 one. Whether that pays off or not is another thing of course. The special effects are either terrible or fantastic, of very mixed quality.

Now personally I didn't se this really reinforced in the beta due to all of the handholding, signposting and the fact that almost everyone treated you as special and opened up automatically, without wanting something in return or having a motivation. Now compare this to Torment where everyone was either treating you differently because of personal reasons or because it was in tehir interest to do so, and if not just ignoring or asking you to go away. This helped reinforce that though Nameless is only special because this is a personal story, and because of all the weirdness of the planes, not many are interested or impressed by this. In fact they are usually just wary, sensing doom and larger forces at play like Annah. A good example would be the opening area, this sets the tone and theme for the game that the world doesn't really care about you as an individual: Most of the Dustmen see you as simply an abberation to be burnt to ashes, according to their beliefs, the two who do not have very good reasons: Soego is preoccupied by personal matters and performing his functions as the chief meeter and greeter of the faction stronghold, he is there to be somewhat welcoming and informative, as much as any Dustman can be, and yet still can turn on you quickly if you act out of line as well as provide information on an enemy who he despises for two conflcting reasons. Dhall believes in personal liberty, and thus is a reluctant ally of Nameless, but then again he cannot do otherwise as he is a Githzerai to whom chains are anathema, and the extent of his help is basic information that will not harm the Dustmen and urges you to stop, shed your passions, lie down and die the true death. Neither are helping you for anything but personal reasons, or investing themselves in your cause. Of the other NPCs in the Mortuary even Morte, who seems helpful enough, is not really. He has no choice, the guilt and Torment he endures drives him to aid you, as you discover later. The Anarchist who you probably will not find if doing a lawful runthrough, until later when you have Speak with Bones or Xachariah's information, does not help you without threats, tricks or favours, he is entirely self interested as he should be. Deionarra, now one could say she helps you selflessly but is she really helping you, or the Practical incarnation and her obsessive love for him which she still longs to continue, even after death and doom has trapped her? I think that she is self interested here, she has not learned the lesson of Dead Money, that letting go though the hardest thing is sometimes what one needs to do. This is how you design to reinforce to reinforce an atmosphere and a theme of the setting being an uncaring place in my opinion, Nameless may be special to himself but so is everybody else, and though unusual he is not that unusual in a place where anything is possible. If I were the Numenera chaps i'd redesign their starting areas to shed the handholding, sugnposting and make the NPCs far more self interested, close mouthed and thematically relevant. After all thematic reinforcement is the stand out strength of Torment, the game really stood out for this reason, though it perhaps went a little too far in terms of foreshadowing, but then again that is not uncommon in tragedies, from Romeo and Juliet to the Ancient Greek classics.

Openend up an old e-mail account to do some business and found i'd backed Darkest Dungeon when it was on Kickstarter, well that saves me a purchase though one worries about ones own profligate nature in forgetting quite a large expenditure, usually I make Scrooge look like a spendthrift.

I hadn't read any of Gromnir's posts (the pretend accent just takes far too long to translate i'm afraid) since, well a few weeks ago or so, I was entirely unaware that the gentleman was addressing me. One of those @ notifications might help, such as are used on other forums. However looking back over the last few posts it is quite amusing isn't it, the chap must have thought I was purposefully ignoring him. Edit: Oh a nice little feature in the beta, you seem to recieve a diferent Mere if you specialise in a different attribute, a battlefield for strength rather than the whale etc.

Oh I liked all of them, even Vhailor: Da'akon was an interesting puzzle to unlock, and a nice gateway to the Gith situation, though as with many parts of Torment those twin cultures sparked so many more questions, but as i've said before I think that's the hallmark of a good game. Morte's raucous humour was so refreshing in a genre beset by squeeing cutesy stuff, that is tooth rottingly sweet and tries far too hard to be liked. Annah was the quintessential Scot, Ms Easton really knocked it out of the park there, and reinforced the hostile nature of the Hive and gameworld when you first stumbled upon her. Grace so cool and calculated it seemed, a beautiful swan, but her conflicted nature frantically paddling underneath the surface. Nordom, clueless and cute done correctly, somewhat reminded me of Mr Sellers in Being There, an unwitting savant. And the two weapons that the Nameless kept to hand in case he felt the need to use them, Ignus and Vhailor, they were so extreme and actually felt dangerous even though my melee build could end them in a heartbeat. I still wonder at Ignus' origins, one of those great and intriguing unanswered questions. A fantastic cast.

If the investors are happy with the product, how does that harm crowdfunding? You are also making a judgement about being shortchanged. That is your opinion, one that does not seem to be shared by those willing to invest in Sarkeesian. You can make that same argument for Obsidian. Would it not bother you if a bunch of people complained about PoE being too old school and story based? You are clearly not her audience, so why should your opinion matter when it comes to crowdfunding. I am not her audience either, I wouldnt waste my time or money on such stuff, but as a business strategy I see nothing wrong with her approach, and actually admire her success. People make money off stupid stuff all the time. There is no fraud here. I'm glad that the investors are happy with being suckered and agree that such people are not going to learn or try to get what they paid for, the gullible will remain as such, however their opinion doesn't really matter in the argument i'm making: That crowdfundings image and potential to grow and be regarded as a legitimate funding method is harmed by Ms Saarkesian's laziness in not making a few more poorly researched videos, when massively overfunded and overdue, and this will deter possible future investors who are highly sceptical because of all this undelivered content on Kickstarter. Her and others taking advantage of the gullible and their money is tarnishing Kickstarters image to the outsider, and with good reason, who willingly throws away money on a scheme that is rife with massive amounts of peopel like the Schafers and Saarkesians taking advantage of the gullible? Of course there is no fraud and I have never suggested such, the gullible have simply been taken as they will be all their lives, that is the way of things. However as I say its not about them but the image of Kickstarter, which is not growing brighter if what I have seen and heard is ought to judge by, and will not while scalpers take suckers for a ride. Personally I think a little oversight and a consumer friendly framework needs implementing, to bring crowdfunding up to the standard of various other purchases one makes.

I've decided to put the beta aside until an update comes along or the main release occurs, whichever's first, as the lack of merchant and cipher functionality along with the usual beta teething troubles really isn't flattering for the game at the moment, and is not allowing me to develop a fair analysis. However i'd say that it was a good game on the whole, the blatant handholding and signposting needs to be scaled down to Torment levels, the boring protagonist needs some work, the citizens of Sagus Cliffs need to be far more interested and absorbed in their own lives and the "weirdness" of the setting needs to be demonstrated a bit more subtly. Apart from those complaints i'm satisfied with the game, it just doesn't hold up to Planescape however, at least not so far especially not companion wise, after all who could fail to love Ignus, Annah, Da'akon and Morte from the very beginning?

I've never understood why people who clearly disagree with Sarkeesian, probably don't watch her videos, and definitely did not pledge her kickstarter always try and make this argument. Judging by her kickstarter page, there are 12 videos up with 3 hours and 40 minutes of content. She has produced plenty of content. She made a pretty penny doing so. There is nothing wrong with that, it is capitalism at work. Looking at the comments from backers, it looks like quite a few of them are happy. The idea that her initial outline doesn't match up with what you feel was delivered is inconsequential, because that is generally accepted as the risk you run in any crowdfunding project. Well I can't speak for other people but as a proponent of Kickstarter and this new form of funding I have argued with detractors of the method, and they have commonly brought up the examples of all the Kickstarters that have not delivered, and the Kickstarters that have delivered far less content than they promised, as examples of why they do not use or agree with the practise. In other words this form of funding is being brought into disrepute by the bad apples, according to the outside opinion. Obviously I try to tell them that one should only back projects which are of assured quality and produced by reputable companies: Obsidian for instance has a history of delivering on draconian timescales, stability of the product notwithstanding and are known for this, thus why I felt assured giving them money. I also make the argument that risk is inherent, though can be mitigated, that Saarkesian is of course the sock puppet of a fraud who is obviously using fashionable outrage and demonisation through cherry picking content to make disproved conspiracy theories, while Tim Schafer is a spendthrift who cannot be trusted financially, and neither of these should be trusted. They of course reply that Mr Schafer was massively overfunded and yet produced a game that would hardly pass as a demo a quarter of a century ago, while Ms Saarkesian is hardly faced with a momentous task making bog standard Youtube (no offense to Youtubers who make far more, better researched content without any crowdfunding at all) content, with other peoples art, an unresearched cherry picked speech rife with fallacies and no strenuous editing tricks used. I cannot argue with this, they are right, there is no excuse for such poor showings on Kickstarter when Obsidian, Larian and even more so Logic Artists are producing such fine content in comparison. The investors who got taken may be happy with being shortchanged, that is their right and the exploitable will remain a constant among consumers, but from what i've seen this does harm to crowdfunding as an alternative means to the publishing method.

A nice victory for free speech and common sense, however I also don't see much connection to Gamergate, which is simply about asking for journalism that is fit for purpose for a multi billion dollar industry, rather than the proven corrupt and unethical practise that passes for journalism now and is defended by those who are pro corruption and unethical behaviour, and seek to excuse the demonisation and belittlements of innocent millions of consumers through crafting their elaborate conspiracy theories. Then again treating others as untermensch only worthy of being looked down upon, and supporting the corrupt establishment is I suppose very fashionable now, and one can see why those who are drawn to this feel they are righteous when crafting their baseless conspracies. However the bomb threats, terrorism, the abuse of women and immoral if not illegal actions of the said supposedly righteous goes a step too far, and that I cannot empathise with nor understand, it is sheer hypocrisy.

The annoying handholding and clumsy signposting is beginning to subside as I get further into the game, however characters still seem to have no life other than being stood around waiting to talk to my character at great length, be far too helpful and exposition heavy, and there is very little of the living world that the Nameless One was dropped into and had to acclimatise to. I remember my surprise at the few friendly characters in Torment, such as the Rat Seller, the Dead Nations (who admittedly were made by mr Avellone to reverse the usual trope and be the nicest chaps in the game instead of the typical dread enemy,) Iron Nalls (whose even more friendly when Annah is around) and the fact that they weren't trying to use, insult or make money off of me, and even these could easily be provoked into combat. The common man was far more interested in himself and his own problems, so that even the frightened Hive dwellers would ask for a few coins after you've questioned him, Sagus Cliffs has very little of this, though it is a striking setting. I've found Matkina, the cold, calculating Jack who was so heavily featured in the initial reveals of the game, and she seems to have a lot of detail and interaction to give. I'm still not sold on Aligern and Calistege being introduced so early in the game, I far preferred Mortes company than the companionship of these two, and I am uncomfortable with being in this small company so quickly. Perhaps its just because they're not as interesting a character as any in Torment, or they just weren't introduced strongly enough? I'm really seeing a vast difference from Torment here, this might be a spiritual successor but it is extremely different, from the boring, generic protagonist of this game to the aesthetic of Sagus Cliffs, they are a large step away from the inspiration. It may be a good game in its own right, but in comparison to Torment i'm finding a host of faults. I believe i've come to a point where I can't proceed further however, as i've not the necessary funds, which makes a nice change in any game. Edit: I'd recommend this more to those who have not played Torment, and the more modern crowd who are used to the handholding and signposting, I think having played the inspiration may be a drawback for me at least.

Too much handholding, far too much. The game seems far too centred and focused on the protagonist, to the extent that he is being treated like a typical Bioware main character, there is none of the uncaring, harsh and exploitative elements of Sigil on display. I talk with a character and he opens up and gives me his life story and all the information I could want, to do this in Torment I would have to threaten or bribe the individual, if it didn't just devolve into fisticuffs. I am given tasks that only I can apparently do, and yet they are mundane and low skilled. The game is telling me a lot of things, but showing me very little whereas in Torment I experienced the opposite and was intrigued and curious about the little hints that were given away. The Numenera is weird theme seems to be slapped on a little heavily as well. Overall so far i'm really not impressed, and at the same time feel like booting up Torment again to see this done far better, so there's an upside I suppose.

Exactly, I agree about the "you are what you do" skill and attribute process, that is very good it is just a shame that the avatar is so utterly generic.

I'm playing the beta now and I have to say that the lack of character creation options is hampering my enjoyment, if the pre-defined character were as interesting and unusual as the Nameless One then this would not really be a problem, but the protagonist is so dull and uninteresting in design that I really can't distinguish him from the background. He is a real weak link in connecting to the Ninth world unfortunately, and somewhat alienating me from the game, because I expected a character who was a force of nature such as the Nameless One. I wonder why this was not flagged earlier, anyone can see that the main character in Numenera suffers in comparison to Torments? Edit: I'm really not sure whether I could endure a full playthrough with this non entity, hopefully some personality surfaces as we see the Nameless One exhibits rather organically in Torment.

The Evil Dead would be a far shorter film if Ash had judged the Necronomicon Ex Mortis by its cover, and far less entertaining.

Well it was a Steam review, but I can imagine the chaps at the Codex having a good old laugh at the gentleman in question, and the situation in general. Edit: Chaps name is Celerity and he has spent 1337 hours on the game, which is a meme I believe.

I was reading a rather negative review of Darkest Dungeon and growing somewhat discouraged, I then noticed the reviewer had over a thousand hours of gametime in the Early Access version of the game, this left me thoroughly confused: If a game has provided over a thousand hours of gameplay then surely one must have enjoyed or found some value in that, why else continue playing unless one is a masochist? I'm left rather befuddled, think i'll wait for a trusted review.

Good Lord, Wonder Woman looks remarkably frail compared to my mental image of a Lucy Lawless / Sandahl Bergman hybrid. I wonder if they ever thought of offering the role to a stuntwoman or similarly physically capable individual, Ronda Roussey for instance, or whether they wanted acting chops first and foremost?

I have to admit that i'm holding out a little hope for this title, despite experience saying this is the first step on the road to disappointment. The recent "Transmission" trailer has left me intrigued and far more enthused, especially because (with what we know of the original game) the antagonist is basically in the right, and the protagonists will doom Kharak through their actions and ignorance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbXYmmsARe8