Rhomal

And its their right to do so quite frankly. This sense of entitlement FO fans seem to have is borderline arrogance at best. The same case been be said with the bioware vs obsidian fans from nwn1 to nwn2. There were some (but not nearly as much as the FO topic) cries of 'killing' the spirit of nwn with the changes obsid made with nwn2. Personally I think those that said so were a bunch of fruitnuts as obsid did what it needed to do. Also the same can be said over the evolution of the mechwarrior series and the changes the various dev houses made from mw1 to mw4. But thats not here nor there at this point, just bringing it up for the fact evolution happens to a wide range of titles/series. Yet the FO fans seem oblivious to this. That the title the hardcore FO fans want simply wouldn't sell to be worthwhile in todays market. As I said above its the developers right to evolve the title so it SELLS. Their job is to find a balance between upholding the title legacy AND sell units. When one comes into conflict with the other the smart dev choice is the sell units aspect. When someone does push the legacy aspect over selling point it usually ends badly for someone in todays dev environment. (ie Ferret). With all that said don't take me wrong, I certainly would enjoy the feel and gameplay of yesterdays fallout. Yet I am also a realist. This is a different era, different technology and different studio/team. NOTHING but a act of the gods is going to make a FO that follows in the -exact- footsteps of the first 2. Thats not pessimism, thats simple fact. Like all things it evolves or dies over time, and PC gaming is no different.

Nothing is going to satisfy the NMA type of obsessive FO fans. NOTHING. *shrugs* Until a tile based, 2D, mid 90s era engine is used with the re-assemabled BI designers the FO3 team are never going to 'win'. My suggestion to them, is ignore the hard core FO people and do their own thing. Do their best to keep the overall FO feel but do not attempt to cater to such people. It will only make matters worse and in the end they will STILL be pissy and unhappy with the product. Rather be greateful then someone is picking up our loved gamed and trying to work WITH them to better the product all the hardcore FO fans can do is snipe and condem the game. As it does not fit into their small, limited view of what FO 'is'.

A few suggestions... 4 words; "prefabs are your friend", using prefabs all places like nwvault will be VERY helpful to you and save a incredible amount of time. Even if you had to tweak/modify some of them it still a huge time saver. the BG ship has sailed, let it go. Rather then rehash a story and NPCs that will NEVER attain the heights that will be expected by the players (no offense to your writing skill, bit its a fact). you are, in effect doomed to fail in the eyes of those BG fans (your core audience) My suggestion would be create a fresh story and fresh NPCs with MAYBE a cameo or two if not forced and can logically work into the overall plot. M2C

when I posted a article about this issue on nwn2news several moons ago many people scoffed at it. Saying reviewers are not swayed/pressured to give good reviews of hyped titles and the fact the average scores for all the major sites over a 4 months average I did that were all near or over the 80% range was just a fluke. Well this comes today from blues news: GameSpot Editor Fired Over Review? Primotech reports the firing of Jeff Gerstmann, long-time GameSpot editor, saying sources close to the situation indicate this due to his tepid review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men for Xbox 360, pointing out Eidos had invested in a prominent advertising campaign on the site. The article points out this Penny Arcade comic offering a typically searing take on the situation, along with another indication this unconfirmed story is making the rounds. A later update on DESTRUCTOID reports the departure of GameSpot editor Tim Tracy though it's not clear if or how this may relate to the situation described above. *cough*

pretty much, yes. If one can't afford a $60. PC game then that person has bigger life issues then the cost of a PC game. They obviously need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and get their financial life in order would be my suggestion before worrying about a hobby.

Because the dollar is almost worthless right now? Hence almost any other currency is worth more. You don't like that, then blame those that re-elected pres. shrub who thinks devaluing the dollar is a good thing with his C grade collage average in business. Bottom line, the price difference is more a reflection of current geo-political/economic factors then 'greedy' game companies. And props to V for having the courage to say what needed to be said! If you can't afford this hobby of 'PC gaming' then find a hobby you can fit into your budget.

My issue why I didn't buy it is simply for the fact a few design choices turned me off. a. universal ammo b. smaller areas due to keeping it console friendly. c. stripping of the PC stats/skills

you love anything with Bioware stamped on it! For the record can I call it or can I call it... IGN's UT3 review: 9.0 Presentation Weak single player story. Outstanding feature set for match setup online or offline, though some may take issue with the menu system's appearance. 9.5 Graphics Absolutely beautiful. Top-notch texture work, stunning animations and effects, and some really impressive maps. 9.0 Sound Weapon effects make the sci-fi guns sound real. Ambient tracks fit the mood. And of course, "Rampage!" 9.0 Gameplay Deathmatch feels really familiar at this point, but the added depth of warfare will keep you hooked. Still some of the best shooter controls out there. 9.0 Lasting Appeal Lots of maps split across its six modes will keep you busy for some time, though your deathmatch experience may wear thin rather quickly. 9.0 Outstanding OVERALL

Depends on how you do it. If you build it as a campaign, you can do it very easily. If you build multiple modules, I think you'll have to include something that records those actions or choices. You can put tokens into the PC's inventory that keep track of this (the original NWN OC did this for the henchmen quests), you may even be able attach values to tokens that carry over (I don't remember for certain), and there's also the option of using history feats (which may require some extra workarounds because I don't know if you yet if you can create custom ones, you may just have to hijack existing ones). I should hope Obsidian has included a way to create custom history feats. They appear too often in the OC and Expansion to not be able to make specific ones for player made modules. In my case it would be a storyline broken up via several modules thus why I am asking how to handle such.

'cripple' their PC? How so? *confused*

Sounds VERY interesting! On a side note, is it possible to have the actions/dialog choices of a PC be recorded and carry over from one module to another in nwn2?

I have played dozens of games. Not in one have I been left alone on average or better AI setting to built up until I could run amuck. If you fall too far behind in fleet strength or tech the opposite aligned civs will certainly attack you. Even if you don't those generally stronger then you will attack at some point same alignment or not. There is some setting you must be doing to dumb the AI or perhaps finding a loophole in the AI. Do you have max habitable planets and stars? That can incline the AI to be very much less aggressive until later in the game as there are plenty of resources for it to deal with and no need to start a war until late into the game.

what galaxy settings do you have? how many major and minor races?

I was off on the hellgate one, mixed reviews, but still I think my point is well made none the less. However getting back on topic what does ME do to set it apart from the many of other FPS with RPG elements that I mentioned above that have gotten 'best eva!!!11' reviews? I see with just the handful of people posting here mixed opinions about the story, gameplay and FX engine. If such a small sampling cant even come to terms with it what does that say? I am sure it has its pros and cons like most of other games of the type but it is a 80%+ or ground breaking game/must buy the hype machine is trying to make it sound like? Seems thats easily debatable.

> You don't make sense. The reviews are mainly praising the game yet you say it's not living to the hype. I was implying but I'll come right out and say it, many 'reviewers' are not critical and buy into the hype and PR like some teen aged fanboi consumer. Just the way the business is now a days. When was the last time a major site gave a big studio game title a below average score or/and scathing review? ALL the latest shooters past 4 months have been given very high marks. HL2 orange box, CoD4, that underwater FPS, crysis, hellgate, etc... and I'll save you the suspense for the upcoming UT3 review 'best game evaaa!!!!!1111' just like all the previous titles I mentioned.... *smirk* Over the yrs I recall reading several articles being critical of sites like gamespy and there, on average, very high scores across the board to big name/publishers. Sadly its the nature of the beast.

Saying deus ex or bloodlines is a 'action rpg' is a insult to both titles. I consider them CRPGs. If you define a 'CRPG' as turned based only or/and little to no combat (as you seem to be defining 'action') then ALL 'CRPGs' are really 'action rpgs' under your view. 'action RPG' is one that has some RPG elements but primarily not a CRPG but a shooter or combat focused game that a players actions have little effect as its a near total linear game. Such as dungeon siege or diablo like games. I am perplex by how 'action rpg' is being defined here.

> It's not a shooter. In fact, most complaints about the combat is that it's too slow, and too much pausing, and too heavy on stats/skills influencing the combat. So it does not have a FPS like interface? My bad if I misunderstood the screens I saw. > There are also other choices that some of the rveiews have mentioned including one that gave the game a reasonable 80%. The game does have 4 endings, IIRC. I don't do console games, there limited and all about trigger finger skills for the most part. I am just commenting on the recent spat of (over) hype for average games I have seen past few years. > The story, itself, doesn't seem all that original though. Then again, most stories aren't. It's all a matter of how they're told. True, however, again what does ME bring thats fresh, new, better or original to the FPS (or whatever you want to call it)? For all the hype I'd expect something then a rehash of things that have already been done many times over. > Just a sad is the opposite of the fanboy doing their thing. You know the type. they have a theory of x game being horrible, and only pay attention to stuff that 'proves' them right yet ignoring anything that contradicts that theory. Then again, you are a known BIO hater. You can't even get ME's genre right. It's a Action RPG; not a shooter. 'Action RPG' is a near oxymoron IMO. its a poor attempt on the publishers part to put a RPG cover over a shooter to try to coax CRPG fans into buying it. If you wish to fall into that PR/sales pitch trap by all means, I wont nor do I subscribe to it. And how many times must I correct you? hate implies many things I do not feel or have to them. Because there last few offerings we not my cup of tea and considered them average to sub-par automatically equated to hating them? Please. Are there a few arse clowns at bioware I don't like such as georg? yes. But I have ALWAYS given them credit for a great job on the BG series and the MP aspect of classic nwn. So please stop this attempting to label me a total bioware hater. Its old and inaccurate... really. > On the contrary, as big a fan of BIO that I am, I can actually read the reviews (not just scores), and have second thoughts on certain aspects of a game. ME's inventory seems quite poor in it's KOTOR way (possibly even worse), and the non main story worlds seem to be superficially shallow at worst, or time wasters for exploring and xp gainage at best. On the flip side lesbian sex!!!!!11 heh Not really my concern unless it comes to the PC anyways. I just wanted to point out the buzz/spin on it seems > then the actual product from what (little) I read. Could be wrong but theres nothing 'wrong' with that. thats the publishers job to make their game seem like the best thing since sliced bread. I was merely pointing that out.

Does this bring ANYTHING new to the FPS genere? What about any genere it is trying to squeeze into? After reading a bit I don't see the big deal... another shooter that may (or may not depending on the review) have some decent voice over/story work. But that aside I don't see a big deal, dime a dozen average shooter from what I am reading. Just as usual (sadly) people buying into the publishers hype machine. In Jan. I'd like to know who (if anyone) is still playing this game. Thats the true test IMO.

thanks for the link! Odd usually stardock is better then that to release such a obvious bug into a 'patch' Hopefully a new patch to... ermm... patch the patch is released soon. I also seems this new patch makes the AI dumber on normal intelligence for the NPCs. As the game I started the other day I gave a few ships to a minor race and they never did anything with them, they just sat there near their homeworld. 6 or 7 turns later were invaded without resistance or use of these ships. :)/

Cool beans! Someone else to talk too! Have you installed the latest non-beta patch? WTH did they do? I used to be able to click on a ship/fleet then tell it to go anywhere on the map (within range) and every turn it would travel until it got to its destination. Now with this newest patch its like most of my ships wont do that anymore. I need to go much smaller 'hops' in long distances. Did I miss something?

Was wondering if anyone else here plays Gal Civ2?

Wow... all these endings are making my head spin! OEI out did themselves I must admit! Anyone else get a Fallout-esque feel to the multiple endings?

huh, interesting. Thanks for the info. Getting back on topic, What happens if you devour cyrics essence? I assume this leads to the 'evil' path?

On a side note and for my own curiosity, how did Kelemvour overthrow his predecessor cyric? Where did he come from? Shows how far removed I am from FR lore, I didn't realize cyric is no more.

I had 2 maybe 3 mask fragments. How many was I missing?