Slowtrain

I hate that phrase.

Lacking the ability to play current games off any platform seems to put a major dent in its usablity. It appears to be little more than movie player/internet browser, which is fine, but probably not worth the current price tag. If I have 500 USD to spend on a convergence device of some sort, I think there's better choices.

Witcher definitely has its share of annoyances as well as being simply lacking in some things I would like to see, such as the addition of a few basic non-combat skills and a more complex potion making system, but overall I can't say I've played a better single character rpg in quite a long time.

For 250-900 USD? Not seeing the value here.

Not really. It has an Atom processor and an Ion 2 graphics processor (think netbook/htpc specs) so it can only handle low end games. It's really nothing more than a fancy (ugly) case for a low power computer. That's what I thought. I'm not sure what it's appeal would be in a practical sense.

There's huge numbers of enemies to be sure but I never found it grindy in a mmorpg way. It's just the gameplay style. I do think it would be a difficult play for anyone who is used to DA or ME or even Oblivion. Plus there is the party combat from a first-person viewpoint which I think would be really offputting to a gamer who didn't grow up with the style when it was common.

IMO, M&M 6 is one of the best rpgs ever made, the highpoint of the franchise and the last one before the series turned into junk. There are some annoying bits to be sure, but every game has those. M&M 6 has fewer than most. However, I don't know if anyone who wasn't gaming at the time would enjoy it's mechanics if they were first coming to it now.

It says it's a fully functional pc that ships with Linux but can have windows installed. Does that mean one can play actual pc games on it?

*evil laughter* You fool. My triumph is now complete.

Like Boo, I don't really understand how anyone could be negatively affected by the Witcher's combat. WHile it was not terribly complex or deep, it was fast paced, over quickly, and reasonably interactive, much more so than say anything Bethesda has done. There was a nice mix of melee, potion use, bomb use, and signs that added a bit of complexity. While there was a lot of potential for grindy combat, most of that was optional: sure you could wander through the swamp hacking up drowned dead and bloedzuigers, but a great deal of that was completely unneccesary to follow the main quest or even most of the side quests. The Witcher was much more a dialogue-focused rpg than is common these days.

The first face for Witcher 2's Geralt was horrible. It made him look like an American square-jawed lunkhead. I'm glad they moved it back toward the more alien-looking Geralt. Even now, I still prefer how G looked in Witcher 1.

It's the best rpg of the last 10 years give or take. imo, of course.

Started a campaign of Wizardry 8. A rpg from the time when an rpg was uh an rpg.

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Yep, I'll generally buy that.

Nope. It just requirs a lot more skill in a) writing b) voice acting easier to take the jutting-browed cro-magnon route.

A lot of the quests in Oblivion had minor variations that could lead to slightly different outcomes, usually in terms of the reward. For example, the save the farm from goblins quest in chorrol. Both sons could survive, one could, or neither. When you reported back to the father, the quest would end slightly differently depending.

It's Oblivion with swords with swords? lol. The cycle continues...

If gamers choose to ignore or not pay attention, how much time should developers spend putting forth a best effort? I completely agree that a open world game should be designed to provide clues and warning about the difficulties of certain areas so that a player can make semi-informed desicions about whether to procede left at the fork to Happyvale or turn left into the Black Canyon of Bloody Death. But how far can a developer go? In Morrowind, for example, devs gave players 3 different sets of directions, multiple maps, road signs, and a silt strider direct to Balmora, and gamers still complained that they couldn't find Caius Cosades. ANd the number of complainers was large enough that, voila: Oblivion has the infamous quest compass. So if gamers refuse to stop and read or think for even a few moments, how can a developer force that upon them? One option is of course the locked off area: No go until the developer gives the OK. Another option is level scaling, so that gamer never has to get their panties in a knot over an area thay's too hard. Of course, the whole concept of level scaling is fundamentally antithetical to the core concepts of a rpg. Third option is, chunk the idiots who can't be bothered to stop and think. That's my choice. Getting chunked in a rpg is simply God's way of telling you your level isn't high enough for this area. Come back later. With a bigger gun.

SUre. Its great when developers can leave inidicators and warnings to players using the actual game world mechanics that places may be very dangerous, but in the end players are always going to try, at some point you have to try. Other than locking the area out until X level or putting in the most god-awful game mechanic possible (level scaling), you jyst got to let a player get chunked if they're too weak. As logn as there is no penalty for reloading, it's fine.

i kinda think its both lol. Probably.

Maybe when you get chunked in one hit that's enough to tell you to COME BACK LATER. Either gamers are really stupid or developers think gamers are really stupid. I haven't figure out which.

Does that happen often in games for you, tep?

I actually thought Farcry 2 was pretty decent, though like FC1, some problems that got in the way. 2 completely different games though. IIRC, the Farcry name was just tacked onto a gane that ahd all ready been in development for a while. Farcry2 had some seriously great environment work.

I think it's better than most games that cost 50 odd USD. FInally my money spent on Oblivion sort of paid off. The cool thing is they are still updating it on a fairly regular basis. I look forward to playing through it again shortly with about four new updates since the last time. Yeah, FC 1 definitely had some problems, but um worst fps ever.... no.