Pidesco

Not a movie I've watched recently, but the Alien box set is available here for 13

And KOTOR was a degenerate version of BG2 in more ways than one.

Off topic: This reminded me of some work my mom did in advertising many, many years ago. She once organized a consumer test with blind testing to evaluate Portuguese beer drinkers. In Portugal there are two big beer brands, and almost everyone either drinks one or the other, which they swear by religiously. Well, as everyone can imagine, what the testing showed was that no one could identify their favorite beer by tasting only. No one. It was all exclusively about brand recognition.

I would love it if Obsidian started organizing round tables on game design, either in a podcast or in a blog. Like, one a month or something. I'd imagine it might even help Obsidian employees become better at their jobs.

I don't hate KOTOR, I just think it was ok, with some noticeable flaws. Just like Mass Effect. Regarding level design, ME is almost the same as KOTOR with levels consisting of a peaceful zone and a combat zone attached to each other. The main difference in level design is that, given the nature of the combat, the level design in ME affects the way combat develops, while in KOTOR it really just provides ground to stand on while fighting. As for art design, it's generic sci-fi stuff in ME and generic Star Wars in KOTOR so I really don't see what you're on about. I guess ME is better because it uses a snazzier engine which allows for more detailed textures and models. In KOTOR, I liked the Wookie planet with the huge tree trunks.

I think KOTOR's flaws have been pointed out to you by me, and by other posters on several occasions. Among those were the writing, the very limited scope of the planets, the stupid morality system where you are either a saint or a force bully, the combat, and the general lack of challenge. Mass Effect is KOTOR with better combat and more mindless filler.

What?

Wow, must have been some time since you bought your last PC Yeah, it was bought in 1999, the year I started uni. After that, all I ever did was upgrades, in practice. The keyboard is the only thing I still use from that PC. I lurve it. @Deraldin: And you're right about that. Driver problems for graphics cards are really a question of public perception. AMD has similar problems with their processors. Even when the Thunderbird was thumping the Pentium both in performance and cost, customers still saw AMD's processors as less reliable than Intel's.

Considering the majority of gamers use Nvidia cards that Google fight result is to be expected. I don't have a preference one way or the other but I still have never owned an ATI card, except for a Rage IIc that came bundled with the last PC I bought.

Storm of Zehir's soundtrack really is awesome.

Generally I have to agree with your assessment. It would be nice to have such customization and while I am really trying to like AP it seems its just not going to be the game for me. However, in Deus Ex, you were stuck with one character as your PC and that game turned out really well and was a great CRPG. So keep your options and mind open about AP you never know. Is that advice you're following, yourself?

Obsidian is working on Aliens and AP. Also, supposedly, there's a new fantasy game they're working on, which should come out only after Aliens. How would it be possible for Obsidian to be working on another expansion?

Morgoth is like bottled sunshine.

There's a virus on both of your links btw. What? It's Game Trailers.

I think the book would be better if it was about the Brain Reaper instead of cop Brian Reaper.

Well, yes. That's why I said minor.

The planets were optional but they were a pretty big optional. The majority of the game is the side planets. If you take away the side planets, Mass Effect is the probably shortest RPG I've ever played. Even shorter than MotB.

NOLF was an action game though and the point wasn't to be able to roleplay the character. Choosing the appearance of the PC doesn't add anything either but is generally accepted as almost mandatory in the western RPG tradition. There was some minor roleplaying in NOLF, in the Deus Ex sense, where some missions had more than one way to be completed.

How about some actual frigging purpose for the thing, instead of pure filler? If you want good level design in a similar situation, look at Taris in KOTOR or Peragus in K2. "This poop here is awful, don't you agree? It's not like this other poop, over here, which is much more awesome."

Kuantokusta.pt generally works pretty well for research. It's kind of the Portuguese Newegg.

I find it hard to even consider the general planets as levels... They seem procedurally generated(Doesnt not mean they are). The planets in ME were a height map and a random number generator.

There will always be a couple of trolls who think it easier to ridicule than to be constructive. Maybe they lack imagination themselves? Can you really start a sentence with "But..." in English? Yes. People who think differently are usually advocates of dogmatic linguistic prescription and no one ever got anywhere by listening to those people.

I'm watching The Day After Tomorrow. It's hilariously atrocious, from the plot, to the science, to the dialogs. It's a comedy.