Pidesco

How are you playing it? Through dosbox, or are you just using the command line?

So you would also want a film noir style 1930s detective story? The graphics could be Sin City style and you could be a detective solving mysteries and having gunfights with thugs. But not like Mafia, it was good, but this would need to be more detectiv-y. I think it should be more adventure-like with less shootouts and more holding people at gunpoint. If guns are to be used, it should be in short "one hit kills" style. And one melee hit to the back of the head would knock out everyone. Also, it should be real time. Like one night where everything goes south for our detective.

MotB's ending wasn't disappointing. Its ending was exactly what the game told you it was going to be.

Every RPG that Obsidian does, from now on, should have its own rules system, specifically designed for it.

Aram wins the thread.

I'm guessing it's the whole thread.

Add shurikens and he will be a Ninja Pirate, thus turning into a Halo beater. which reminds me, what kind of throwable weapons will there be in AP?

Was Gears of War 2 any better than the first one?

Isn't Alan Wake the new Duke Nukem Forever?

No, not particularly, but Torment was essentially an adventure game where whatever challenge it might have didn't stem from the combat.

The last proper Rainbow Six game is available for less than 4

I think the problem with game challenge these days is the notion of empowerment that has been developing in the industry. Apparently, for many game developers "empowering the player" means giving the player everything on a silver platter instead of giving the player a challenge and varied tools to overcome said challenge. It's the old "giving a fish/giving a fishing rod" dilemma, I guess. Specifically regarding RPGs, good endings should be considerably harder to get than bad endings.

Chocolates and a game board.

Devil May Cry 4 was an absolutely awesome PC game. World of Goo was also brilliant, and Audiosurf provided a lot of fun while also being the greatest timesink of the year.

Well, on the same detail level, hopefully it will. But I'm guessing(praying?), Aliens will look considerably snazzier maxed out on a PC than on a 360. I have a 8800GT myself, but my screen is a 17" CRT so let's see if I can max it out completely.

THe Witcher came out last year.

I'm guessing the 8800GT will struggle with Aliens on a 24" screen.

I actually feel the genre really hasn't been going forward all that much in the past 8 or 9 years. MotB and The Witcher had great things, but other than that I feel that RPGs really haven't been evolving all that much. Bioware and Bethesda in particular(although I haven't played Fallout 3) seem to be the main "stagnators " of the genre. Bioware has been releasing the same game over and over again with slight changes to the combat systems. As far as narrative, quest structure and dialogue are concerned, Bioware still has done thing to improve over BG2, which was in no way perfect to begin with. And, seeing as their games always get hailed as a new paradigm on release, I don't see this changing any time soon. Bethesda, on the other hand, are much worse in this regard. Morrowind was Daggerfall with new clothes, with no improvement apart from interface and graphics. Daggerfall's great character creation system was toned down into oblivion, and the quests and dungeons, despite being hand crafted this time around were still as empty and lifeless as in Daggerfall. Oblivion had, at times, some improvement in writing, and the combat is marginally better than in Morrowind, but the world was still as dead as in Morrowind. Really for a game developer that touts itself as the creator of worlds to explore they've really been failing every step of the way. Maybe Fallout 3 changes this, but I have yet to find out. Again, like with Bioware, Bethesda's games always get hailed as masterpieces on release so I don't see Bethesda putting any effort into creating a living world filled with options and richness. Finally, I find it grimly humorous that Morrowind was hailed as brilliant by everyone, when it sported the exact same flaws that got Daggerfall lambasted at the time of release, but that's marketing hype for you.

How are lethal melee takedowns against unaware opponents? Will they be one button press, one kill, or will they be activated by combos?

Foucault's Pendulum has the best analysis on conspiracies and how they work.

Well, ME has better combat, and KOTOR has less atrocious filler posing as game content.

You weren't a baby eater in KOTOR, you were just a bully. Just like in Mass Effect, only Mass Effect made it explicit.

Well, both Mass Effect and KOTOR have a few character building options, both games have the same style of writing, the same amount of dialogue options, and usually two ways to do quests. Also, both games have fairly challengeless combat, and their structure is very similar. Finally, the "planets" in both games are these really small, closed areas. In other news, I'm replaying Psychonauts.

Yeah, it would be like replaying a KOTOR.