Pidesco

By your count AP should be brilliantly awesome. Frankly, regarding Bioware, I really don't see much improvement in characters or roleplaying. What I see is them selling the same game over and over again to wide acclaim.

MotB's NPCs were much, much better than any NPC Bioware has ever written. ME's combat was indeed a big improvement over previous games, but almost anything is an improvement over KOTOR and JE combat. And while NWN2's combat was never any good, it was still better than the horrible mess that passed for combat in NWN. I don't see how KOTOR2's combat was worse than in the first KOTOR. It's exactly the same.

The whole performance? Bioware has yet to make a game with actual good combat, their plots are generally drivel, and the roleplaying is limited to Mother Theresa vs bully manchild. Also, I don't see why I should lower my standards regarding game writing, just because most developers are even more atrocious than Bioware in that department.

The writing and roleplaying is generally pretty bad in Bioware's games. What's better about the NPC interaction in BG2 is that they actually interacted with you, as opposed to functioning as magical monologue dispensing machines that only work at certain designated plot points, or at level up. "oh, look you saved some planet I never visited! Now I can reveal my innermost thoughts and feelings to you, even though you've kept me shut in the cargo bay for the entire game. Let's bump uglies!"

I'm betting that this will be KOTOR with a larger party. I know they are supposed to be going for a BG2 experience with Dragon Age, but seeing as this going to be on consoles, they are going to have to heavily change the combat to accommodate gamepad control. Regarding the NPC interaction, it will probably be more or less the same as every Bioware game after BG2. Then again, it has breast fondling so: SOLD!

That's macula, not makula.

But that's the point - campiness doesn't really allow to develop a character outside of being campy. What?

I think you should elaborate Morgoth, as there is no rule stating that NOLF style campiness doesn't make a good RPG.

Which ones of those did you play on the PC?

Nonsense. Fat = unsexy = no Sex. You are forgetting the boob factor, which a lot of men fall for. also, I distinctly remember the fat girls in school being the "easy" ones. The thin girls always got to pick and choose, the fat ones not so much. I guess they ended up using sex as a bargaining chimp.

World of Goo, Devil May Cry 4, Trials 2, Audiosurf, Hinterland.

Only the fourth? What are the second and third exports? In Portugal there's a recently made official language which isn't spoken more than 500 people as a first language, and which no one is being taught as a first language. It would be like Latin being an official language of Italy, only 500 times worse.

When I was talking about the self inflicted silliness I wasn't referring to the comic relief bits, but rather to the oh-so-serious plot and writing which seemed really kind of awful.

You played "parts" of a MGS game? Blasphemy! MGS games aren't known for their PC ports, and I've been an almost exclusive PC gamer for many, many years.

I only played parts of the first one and the plot and characters did not impress me. The gameplay was good fun, though.

MGS is serious of the type which is full of itself and not aware of the self inflicted silly.

That keyboard looks like it's 20 years old.

Right now, Mass Effect still crashes a lot for me, especially on startup.

Mass Effect gave me a lot of buggy aggravation.

The sale is over, so the topic is over as well.

The best character on TV is a tractor unit with a manly voice? Even bloody KITT was better than that.

Coming from the team that made the shallow Dead Space, I'm not expecting something worthwhile. I dunno, if they went for as dumb as possible, yet very self-aware, it could work.

I wonder how Dante's Inferno is going to turn out.

Then I think I will pass. If they are going for a Jason Bourne-lite approach, play style, setting then I can play many other watered down games like that. I was hoping they were going to take the setting, atmosphere and subject seriously. Scratch one more game off my list. I'm trying to figure out how you jumped from "more lighthearted than Deus Ex", to "Jason Bourne-lite approach, play style, setting." Just because a game is more lighthearted in tone, it doesn't necessarily mean it's dumbed down. It could be a satire of the spy genre, for example.

I'm back from the party and 17 hours into the new year. Happy New Year.