Slowtrain

It was a pretty powerful trait if you had no plans for engaging in combat (or at least not early game), mostly becasue speech was the most powerful skill and getting a bonus to it right at the start was great. The other bonuses weren't so useful.

IIRC. it was called "good-natured" Bonuses to speech, doctor, first aid, barter; penalties to combat skills.

I criticize them because they make an otherwise very goof rpg seem tawdry and adolescent. That being said they are a very very small part of the game and easily ignored, so its not worth having a twit over.

It really wasn't a bad game. The problem was that it took so long to complete and ROmero was making such high promises about it that it became kind of a running joke, similar to DNF. When it was finally released, or as some might say, when Romero finally gave up on it, and it wasnt the greatest game ever after all, everyone piled on Romero. The idea for the time was actually pretty complex and it was one of the first shooters to have AI companions. SO it did have it plus points. If it had taken 2 years to develop instead of 5 (or whatever) it probably would have been considered in a much more positive light.

A crying shame! John Romero deserved better. No he didn't, you make a crappy dated game, you suffer the consequences. Well, to be fair, the only reason the game was dated was because it took him about 10 years to complete it. That's what happens when you're a perfectionist making a sophisticated shooter around a time-traveling sword.

Your totally fab, Hurlie, but someday I'm going to fall out of my chair when I see a negative "this game looks like ****" post from you. Don't keep me waiting!

A crying shame! John Romero deserved better. The technical term is tweaking: making something old seem fresh by making few minor changes to the presentation.

I can't believe there's a third Bioshock game. It's like making a second Dai-Katana. Hell, if it had been made these days, Daikatana would probably get 5 sequels and 3 spinoffs. Oh right, btw, did you see in the video, there was a sniper rifle and head shots as the dominant gameplay feature. Never seen that before. That'll make me rush right out and buy the game for sure.

Nothing wrong with wanting to make money at whatever you do, especially if you work really hard at it. But that's different from doing something just to make money. Right now, much of game development is under the control of people who view games no differently from ball bearings: income generating product, no more, no less. While it works fine for ball bearings, it's not so great for games.

I'll agree that the FO3 inventory is pretty clunky: too many tabs and too much scrolling plus not enough hot keys, but I can't see having to hit inventory for food and water periodically to be even remotely a big deal. edit: And I'll just add, before mkreku calls me out, that however bad the FO3 inventory, FO1 and 2's inventory systems were far worse.

Totally agree. It's unfortunate that such is the current paradigm.

Companies like Bioware and Blizzard have a lot more resources and clout to push gaming forward in new directions. Obs is a second tier studio at best and has to do what it needs to do to survive.

Mass Effect 3. Because, like, making new games is just so mid 1990s. WHy do something different when you can keep doing the same thing over and over and still make money hand over fist? It's the Blizzard model. And well proven at this point.

You haven't quite delved deeply into Tamriel/ES lore, have you? It's the only fantasy setting (aside from certain outlandish jRPG ones) that doesn't copy Tolkien or real-world mythology tropes. Each Tamriel race has its own version of the ES monomyth, which itself is completely alien to any other fantasy setting out there. And of course, I completely ignore Oblivion when writing this, considering how much it butchered established lore. I've been playing TES since Daggerfall. (I have Arena but still haven't played it). I get where you're coming from in regards to Daggerfall and Morrowind as far as some of the background lore, but the gameplay is still the generic magic swords, lost kings, giant rats and so forth. I'm not knocking generic, especially in video games. Generic has nothing to do with fun; Daggerfall remains my 2nd fave crpg of all time.

Yep, the frame rate takes a hit in places, especially where there's lots of NPCs. I think the English translation is subtitles only. That's what I have anyway.

The fact that it has nothing whatsoever to do with the ES stuff is a giant plus. As far as generic goes, contemporary high fantasy is generic across the board, especially in video games. Tamriel/ES is about as generic as it gets.

It's little slow to start with: the opening dungeon goes on for a while and it takes a little while to get out into the open world. But once you arrive at the Abbey, it's pretty much what ever rpg fan who wants to play around in an open world is looking for. I had a hard time adjusting to the emphasis on using the environment and scripted events to sold quests, but I'm getting into the swing of it now. Your diary is very important since it contains hints on what to do to solve the various situations that confront you.

Because it's exactly that; more of the same. I'm afraid the changes most of us here value so highly are too subtle to be noticed by the general public and they'll be disappointed. I see your point, and I agree that gamers who are either A) sick of Fallout 3 or B) Never liked it to begin with probably aren't going to find anything in NV to change their minds. That being said, the game (FO3) sold very well, as you pointed out, and there's no reason to think most of those fans aren't going to come back for more of the same. And while some of the changes (such as improved writing and MC mode) may not be noticed by most fans, things like lots more guns and weapon modifications, certainly will. Those things are gold in any game. Only ninjas and lesbians rank higher on the sell-o-meter.

I've been playing it for a bit now, and I have to say I am impressed. It's always quite something to see what changes dedicated fans can make to a game. Many of the problems that Oblivion had have been at least somewhat fixed. There's an emphasis on solving quests through the use of interaction with the gameworld vs just killing anything that moves. Theres a much more involved crafting system. It still feels like Oblivion, which is pretty bizarre, as the gameplay is much improved. Probably what Oblivion should have been.

Why are you thinking that NV will do less sales-wise than FO3? It's basically the same game with more weapons and a few new gameplay tweaks like weapon mods. ANybody who enjoyed FO3 should enjoy NV. The only widespread complaints I've heard usually relate to the graphics and animations. WHich is pretty much not something Obs can do anything about in this instance.

Chained to giant blocks of concrete would probably be more accurate.

I blame Sam Peckinpah.

faux edgy?

Nope. Just that this sort of pr hype isn't even worth my comenting on. It's just spam that has no relevance to how good (or bad) the game will end up being.

The big problem with Bethesda as an rpg designer is that they can't do combat and they can't do writing. Which doesn't leave much left to hang your rpg hat on.