Slowtrain

To me Bioshock is one of the best examples of how game developers are using reduction to make games that will sell more copies. It's perfect as an example because Levine basically copied his previous game, System Shock 2, and changed only the things he felt that would make the game too complicated for mass sales appeal. And al those changes seem to be mostly around reducing complexity or the need to make game-affecting decsions. For me, personally, complexity is an important part of a gaming experience: the more disparate pieces I have to struggle to put together to achieve "success" within a gameworld, the longer the game will interest me. In SS2 there are so many pieces to put together that not only did the game interest me enough to get me all the way through, it interested me enough to get me through about 50 replays. The experience of SS2 was like that of reading a novel where each reading uncovers more and more aspects and possibilities. With Bioshock however, due to its simplistic game design, I very quickly reached the point where I felt I had mastered (or near enough) all the pieces of the gameworld, exhausted all possibilities for a new experience within the game, and once that happened my interest dropped dramatically. Level 4 and Level 5 were basically just played in "grit your teeth and push through to see the end mode", sadly that failed to motivate me for very long and I went back to more compelling activities such as picking lint out of my naval. Bioshock is depressing to me because it shows that even game developers who have developed complex and notable games in the past, games that have become "classics" in their own right, are also taking thepath of least resistant and creatign simplified games that are much less tahn they ddi years before. I expect simplisitric games from Todd Howard, who appears to believe that gamers are troglydytes, I don't expect them from Ken Levine. Or at least, I didn't. Once. Biggest disspointment in a very long time == BIoshock.

The Vita chambers make everything pretty easy when it comes to combat. Since there is no penalty for death, really the only reason to avoid dying is to simply avoid the inconvenience of having to retrace your steps from a vitachamber back to whre you died. System shock 2 used the same gameplay idea but in that game being revived cost nanites, and since nanites were fairly rare and required for everything, it forced a much more conservative approach to allowing yourself to be killed and revived. Anyway, experiment a bit and you'll find that the big daddys are easily killed in a variety of ways.

Hmmm. I think Van Helsing had more problems than that.

For me it started off quite solid, but it got ultra repetitve and seemingly pointless real fast. It was pretty bug free though, which is rare. And it felt solidly professional. It just didn't hold my interest really past the second level (Neptune's Bounty).

Ron Moore has always said, as far back as day 1 IIRC, that he wanted Battlestar Galactica to be a drama first and foremost and a science fiction show a distant second (or third). I think the show has been very consistent with that vision.

13 points is crazy. New England's defense is way too suspect for that large a spread at the moment.

I thought I read somewhere recently that no rushing leader has ever won a SB either. edit: I can't find where I might have read that. Maybe I imagined it.

Anything is possible, of course. That's why they play the games. But while I think the Jags can score AGAINST New England, I don't think they can score WITH New England if the Pats are firing on all cylinders. Last night the Jags looked less than overwhelming, both offensively and defensively. If either Manning or Brady is playing qb instead of Big Ben, the Steelers probably win that game by 10 points. And New England beat a pretty healthy Steelers team pretty soundly in week 13 or thereabouts, which was after the Pats had come off their super dominant run and were playing at a more normal level again. The only team that I would be willing to put money on beating the Pats is the Colts. Indy played great football down the stretch during the regular season, better than the Pats imo, and based on that I consider them the best team currently in the NFL.

Wow. A good game. Pittsburgh played hard like we knew they would and they had their chances. Big Ben had a good year and he played well at times tonight, but he hurt his team badly several times with his decsions and his penchant for holding the ball way too long. Assuming San Diego wins tomorrow, which is probable, the Jags go to New England next week. If the weather is bad in New England, the Jags might have a chance. But if the weather is decent, I can't see them beating the Pats.

Good grief. 3 ints in one half? How did they replace Big Ban with Little Manning without anybody noticing? I wish I could say the Jags looked good, but they really haven't had to do anything yet. 96 yard kickoff return, int return for a TD and a short field TD drive off a second int. It's like they are playing with 2 quarterbacks. Hardly fair. Still the second half to go though.

Is it possible for a team to look completely unimpressive while scoring thirty-five points? Why, yes it is! If the Seahawks don't bring some actual game to Lambeau Field, the Packers are going to bury them in it.

I think its pretty cool how when Gerault gets close enough to a win, the game kicks into a cinemtaic beatdown sequence. That is neat. I also LOVE Geralt's animations after winning the fight. I don't know exactly what he is supposed to be doing, waving to the crowd or something, but it just cracks me up every time. I like a lot of the animations in the game. That one the npcs use a lot when they are talking where they sort of extend out their arm in a palm first gesture, I totally love that. I always laugh. I read some review that didn't like the animations, but I think they are fab.

hmmm. The seattle offense looks totally inept. Brady or Manning would have put up forty points in the first half if they had been playing behind that defense.

Yeah, I've run across that as well. The fistfight "engine" doesn't appear as polished as it might be. There's a real lack of feedback to it, and so far I haven't really been able to understand extactly how the mechanics work. There are a couple bronze talent skills that open up additional fistfighting options which I haven't tried. Those might make a difference.

2 things: 1) The WItcher is based on an extremely popular series of novels and short stories by the Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. None of them are available in the States as of yet although Orbit is suppsed to release a short story collection somwetimes in 2008. From what I understand, Geralt died at some point during the stories and this game is supposed to pick up where he comes back from death and part of the appeal to the books fans are to find out what happened to him. SO there is a big tie in between the book Geralt and the game Geralt, so I imagine that a lot of the backstory and in-game references would be known to people who have read the stories. 2) From what I undersatnd some of the dialouge and story scenes were cut for the US release of the game. Generally when this happens, games get a little less clear for players who have to suffer through the edited game.

I think it compares pretty well with Bloodlines: a lot of quality gameplay that is a little rough around the edges. Like Bloodlines, the combat is functional but that's about it. I would prefer the Witcher combat to be much more twitch-based, but right now I think it is squarely in an unhappy middle beteen stat and twitch combat. Making it more stat based would have been preferable to where it is now. I play it in the OTS camera and at least it helps the combat feel a tad more immediate. The lack of any skills except combat ones makes the game a little flat as far as crpgs go. No sneak, lockpicking, dialouge, barter, repair, etc. Not being able to climb, crouch, jump, swim, or god forbid climb, or even vary your movement makes the game feel somewhat primitive. Like STALKER, the gameworld has a good feel to it, much better than the somewhat antiseptic gameworlds of other crpgs I've played recently such as Bioshock and Oblivion. Its still the best crpg I've played for a long while, probably since Wizardry 8, though not really in the same league with that excellent game

My newly restyled and updated picks: 1/5 4:30 ET At Seattle -3 Washington Seattle. Seahawks are a better team, playing at home. I don't think it will even be close. The NFC east has been a tougher division for the skins, true, but even still. 1/5 8:00 ET Jacksonville -2.5 At Pittsburgh Steelers. Steelers are battered, Jags are playing well, but Big Ben is fab and the Steelers are a Super Bowl experienced team and have a lot of pride. A close game right to the end, neither team is going to run away with it. 1/6 1:00 ET At Tampa Bay -3 NY Giants Tampa Bay. If the Giants win they will win big, if they lose they will lose big. It all depends on Manning and his ints vs TDs. Given his 4 tds against the Pats he is now set to throw 4 ints against the Bucs with 2 returned for TDs. Tampa is quite good defensively against the pass. Garcia may not be a great quaterback but he has shown he doesn't cough up a lung in the playoffs. 1/6 4:30 ET At San Diego -10 Tennessee Tennessee. The 10 points is too much. Titans are strong defensively especially on the ground. Even if Rivers plays well, Titans are still good against the pass. Question is can Tennessee score enough to keep it close regardless. I think they can

You want to go by points? I'll play. Here is the spread and I will stick by my original picks. 1/5 4:30 ET At Seattle -3 Washington 1/5 8:00 ET Jacksonville -2.5 At Pittsburgh 1/6 1:00 ET At Tampa Bay -3 NY Giants 1/6 4:30 ET At San Diego -10 Tennessee OK. Let me think about those for a bit. The only one that looks like it might change would be the San Diego/Tennessee game. 10 points is a lot in the playoffs. The Chargers can score, but Rivers isn't playing quite as well as last year, which leaves a lot of their offense on the ground with LT. Tennessee isn't a real scoring threat, but they have a good defense. Plus there is some bad blood between these two which means everybody will be hitting extra hard, which would lead one to expect a lower scoring game regardless.

Oh, poo. Delusions are what make life fun.

WHat, no points? heh, I'll play though. The playoffs is where the NFL starts to get a lot more interesting. AFC WILD CARD WEEKEND: (5) Jacksonville over (4) Pittsburgh I will take the Jags also. I like Big Ben and he had a good year, but the Steelers are really bunged up and the jags are playing very well. I wouldn't put any money on this one though, I could easily see the Steelers coming out and pummeling the Jags into dust. (3) San Diego over (6) Tennessee San Diego as well. Bad start, strong finish. Great running back, mediocre qb but good enough. Marty is gone. This is not the same team that the Pats crushed in week 2 or whatever. NFC WILD CARD WEEKEND: (6) Washington over (3) Seattle I'll take Seattle. I'll give the Redskins a lot of credit for dealing with a really awful sitution and making it into the playoffs, but Seatlle is a better team. Inspiration can only take one so far. (5) New York Giants over (4) Tampa Bay I'll take Tampa. Yes, the Giants looked good against New England, but a lot of bad teams have looked good against New England this year. Playing the Pats seems to get everyone wound up and playing above their heads in the second half of the season. Manning will throw four interceptions in the first half and that will be that.

No. Each character class had three weapons. The first was was a base weapon that you started the game with: for the warrior it was fists, the cleric it was a mace, for the wizard a damage spell called Bone Shards. Each class would find a second weapon/spell over the course of the game the warrior got a hammer, the cleric a staff and the wizard a lightning spell. The third weapon was a multipart weapon that had to have each part found then assembled. The wiard and cleric both got staffs, which is probably what you are thinking of. The clerics staff would loose undead spirits though not lightning and the spirits woudl fly around and rip up your enemies. It was totally sweet. Theh mages satff did shoot some kind of energy blast Additionally all the weapons coudl be powered up by different types of mana found in the game forming additional attack methods. Really if anything the fantasy verison of doom was far superior to the sf version of doom, if that is the point you want to make. I remember it was a running joke back in those days that id would make the engine and leave it to Raven to make the game for the engine. edit: I shoudl point out that all those details may niot be quite correct. So don't tale them to the bank. ah, good times, good times..

Actually Hexen was an awesome game. It used the Doom engine, but was made by Raven software. It was far superior single player gameplay wise to Doom and Doom2. Far superior. Like out of the world next galaxy thrice removed superior; it was also great in multiplayer coop since there were three characters to choose from: Warrior, wizard, cleric all of which had different weapons and attacks. The level design was fabulous. Raven Software also made Heretic which was another good game based off of id's engine. Hexen 2 and Heretic 2 came later and wern't nearly so great, though they were real 3d games using the quake or quake 2 engine. But Hexen, jeez that was an awesome game.

Each book has a semi-closure at the end. So you could read the first one and still have a sense of "ending", but the character's development arcs do continue through all three books before they reach an ending. As far as heroic goes: Vryce is not heroic in the sense of say an Aragorn, but he definitely is "good" (ie not a Snake Plissken anti-hero type) and is constantly trying to do the right thing, he is just deeply conflicted over what the right thing is.

I just read through that Wikipedia entry. The description of Vryce is a little misleading. It makes him sound like a sword-swinging ass-kicker/sorceror zealot who learns tolerance of things as the story goes along. He is actually a pretty useless fighter and a crappy sorceror and right from the start of the story shows a enormous level of tolerance and compassion for things that his church won't tolerate. The conflict for him is more around trying to come to terms with his own internal conflicts between his Church, which he believes is in error about many things, and the oaths he took to serve that church. One of the reasons I disliked the story when I was younger is that in some ways Vryce is not a very heroic or powerful figure in a traditonal fantasy sense that one expects from protagonists.

Have you read The Coldfire Trilogy by CS Friedman? Its fantasy but more interesting than usual. I first read it many years ago, but at the time I didn't really like it because it was so different from the Terry Brooks/Ray Feist etc tripe I was used to. I went back and read it again some years later and appeciated the story a lot more.