Slowtrain

I really have nothing critical to say about the FO:NV at this point. I can't remember the last time that happened to a game in development. Still have concerns about some of the content, but without context of playing the game I really can't criticize. Hope it's a big winner for Beth,. Obs, and gaming in general. And for me.

That's very sad. Visc always seemed like a good guy and he was a fun poster. It will be strange imagining the internet without him. My condolences too all who knew him well.

Dude, we're talking about DS1. It's like saying we need to simplify 1 + 1. At some point, there's nowhere left to go. I never played DS2, but I'm not surprised it was more complicated. It would be hard not to be. And now backwards? It's a PERFECT example of the current trend to produce games that are apparently designed to be playable by one-celled organisms. Hopefully Obs will find some way to add interest to the game instead. @spider. No, I never did. And I'm not sad about it either!

I have no clue how things could be simpified from DS1. Seriously. That game was so banal, it was all ready ludicrous. the way developers and publishers are approaching video games now, it's as if they've decided gamers are pretty much less competent than an amoeba. No, no don't make us do or think ANYTHING. It would be way too frightening.

edit-dp

It's gotten to the point where publishers and deveopers seem to think that just more footage of running around shooting things and blowing stuff up is enough to sell a game. Anf given the mentality of a lot of gamers, maybe it is. For me though, and I am sure for many others, it's been done SO many times now that it is much less compelling than simply showing a car rusting in a parking lot somewhere for 3 minutes. Killing...check. Shooting...check Explosions....check You got anything that is, I don't know, even somewhat not done completely to death?

It looks like we to to blow up another settlement or something. Repercussions, this time? Also, it sounds like the gunshot sound effects are on steroids now. Every gun sounds like some kind of giant cannon.

That's exactly the kind of info I DON'T want to know before playing the game. But not everyone minds spoilers as much as I do, I guess... I hear what you're saying, but I think it should be possible to include some bits in a trailer that show non-combat stuff and yet still manage to avoid being spoilery. Still, I have to wonder, are gamers different from non-gamers in the way they seem so attracted to violence? Or is that just SOP for being human?

Yeah, but um guns. Lots. Also, explosions.

It did look good. Although it did appear to be a combo of CG work and in-game shots. Still, it was a well-done trailer. Best part was that it had a sense of style, something specific to FO3:NV, very similar to the Borderlands trailers. Compare it to the utterly craptastic and generic XCOm trailer. I do wish trailers would show more than just killing and things blowing up though, but I guess that's still what appeals to most people.

Why? Are you a masochist or what? Honestly? The Gametrailers comments? Why do you do this to yourself Slowtrain? Why? I don't know. It was like watching something horrible happen, yet I couldn't look away.

I read the comments.

Holy crap, that trailer was bad. Who cares about the title, it was just baaad. It amazes me that anyone would contend that games are better now than they were ten years ago. Amazes me to no end.

Reloading times + recoil aren't though. I'm not that bothered with them not reintegrating skills though, since it seems that most of what skill did will be contained into augments, that will play a much more integral part in the game. This was extactly the promise made in IW and it failed (We're going to replace skills with a more complex aug system and you'll never miss them!). Yeah, right. In order for the aug system to replace skills it needs to be pretty complex. Rehashing the biomod system from IW ain't going to cut it.

I read that as the preorder just starts you out with four repair kits vs starting with zero repair kits. I cant imagine that would be the only four reapir kits in the entire game. sweet. Thanks, G1. Adding repair kits is just about the best thing they could do.

If there are repair kits in the game, which that box would appear to indicate, that is just groovy and all I can say is, BEST GAME EVAR. If you have to buy that edition to get the repair kits, then I will indeed do so. Josh, are there repair kits in the game? Or just that edition? seconded. Although I didn't even bother mucking aroudn with facegen in FO3. I just took default faces and changed the skin and hair color a bit. I didn't have the patience for facegen like I did when I played Oblivion.

The news is good.

Sure. Devs are only human and so forth. I'm just pointing out that game balance is a big part of their job and when something unbalanced, either on the weak side or strong side, ends up in a game, it's prefectly valid to point it out as a developer failure. That failure obviously being of greater or lesser import depending upon the significance of the imbalance. The complexity of possibilites in game mechanics is one of the reasons I am a big believer in less is more in games: less skills, less weapons; less classes etc. Just make sure that each one that is included is significant, unique, and functional.

I think I said that all ready: It's motivation through reward; as a concept it's extremely simple, and is not specific to video games in any way.

I'd argue that neither you nor I nor any gamer SHOULD have to think like that. It's the job of the devs and QA people to think like that and make sure that useless or overpowered elements are kept out of the game.

It's not really being a naysayer though. It's just pointing out the obvious. And personally recalling the praise that Invisible War's non in-game trailer received and seeing how that turned out. Sure, it's a slick-looking advert to get the name out and raise awareness. And that's great. Seriously. But that's all it is and all it can be taken for.

I haven't been a big fan of tunnel combat since Half Life's rather tedious handcar ride. I suppose a short tunnel would be all right. Perhaps a culvert of some sort.

My preferred method of health "management" is to allow the player to carry a quanity of health with them, which can be used as neccessary until depleted and refilled at various points along the way. But again that's just talking in a vacuum. One part of game a game's mechanics works with other parts so different solutions may fit better depending. Also, I'll just reiterate that regenerating health is not enough to make me not buy a game. It's merely a negative mark on the ledger, such as level scaling. All games are a balance between the good and the bad; as long as the good outweighs the bad, then it's all right. Personally, I've never played a game that wa 100% good nor 100% bad, not even Oblivion.

You're comparing bad design to bad design. I think having to run off back to town constantly to get health is just as bad as regen health. The former is probably worse actually since it is somewhat punitive. Regardless, I wouldn't have praise for either mechanic. And how does slowtrain suggest the world deals with health? *shrug* There's many variations depending on the game design. Ultimately you reward the player for doing things/movng forward, and you put the rewards in front of them, not behind them. Pretty straightforward really. Regenerating health is a very passive; it offers little in the way of encouragement to do anything except stand there. Breaking off from what you are doing and running off for health refills on a regular basis is just busy work. Those are general statements, fo course, good game design can make any mechanic work if it integrates it properly into the gameworld.

You're comparing bad design to bad design. I think having to run off back to town constantly to get health is just as bad as regen health. The former is probably worse actually since it is somewhat punitive. Regardless, I wouldn't have praise for either mechanic.