Slowtrain

Doomsday by Neil Marshall of Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Usually I like films like this, but eh not so great. I know he meant it as an homage, but it felt pretty flat for most of the film. Also I love it when the last remaining denizens of a destroyed world still have perfect white teeth despite 30 odd years of neither toothbrushes or dentists. Dog Soldiers and The Descent were both good though.

The second time through I really enjoyed the complexity involved in unwinding the narrative threads in Chapter 1 and 2, (which seemed the most complex, narratively, of the chapters), but the first time through it was a bit much in places. AT times things felt a bit bogged down. I'd love to see the devs clean up the narrative a bit (no quest markers though, plz). So if that's what they mean by a shorter game (less confused wandering), than that's probably a good thing. However, if I am still going to have to wander around a lot trying to figure out what to do next and the game is still shorter despite the wander around time (ie they make the game shorter by cutting content not by making things clearer), then that won't be so great. Definitely. Although overall, I though Vizima was one of the best crpg cities I've experienced.

I dunno. To me it felt long the first time I played it because I had a difficlt time figuring out what to do next and who to talk to, especially in chapter 2, so there was a kit if wandering oaround Vizima. But when I replayed it, the whole game zipped right by. The first time I played it, I really enjoyed it. The second time, I absolutely loved it.

A lot of it looks good. On paper anyway, as Starwars says. Don't like the fact its going to be shorter though. The Witcher wasn't a terribly long game to begin with, and a good rpg needs to time and space to play and explore. But at least there is no freaking level-scaling. More than other developers these guys seem to understand what makes a crpg a crpg and not a shooter or adventure game.

That's a bit harsh, I think. The truth is harsh. People who honestly believe that god created the world and all the animals exactly how they are and nothing in the natural world changes by means of evolution have no right to be on a board of education. Ever. In order to have that belief, you have to actively disregard a *very* large chunk of well-established scientific knowledge. Faith is always going to be a part of human existance. To try to stamp it out is silly and a waste of time. Especially in cases where "truth" is unknowable, faith is pretty much as good as science when it comes to offering up explanations and possiblities.

I can't argue that. Personally, I'd take the boobie cards as well. AT least they don't have bad dialogue. I don't know. True enough for the cards themselves, but the dialogue you had to suffer through to get them was at times quite horrendous. argh. This is becoming too complicated. true enough the sex dialogues in the Witcher were usually inane, but at least they were mostly short and, ahem, to the point, no? With the exception of the Triss/Shani choice, there wasn't much to endure.

That's a bit harsh, I think.

I agree. The whole movement system in Witcher 1 felt quite primitive. That's one thing I would definitely appreciate seeing changed.

I can't argue that. Personally, I'd take the boobie cards as well. AT least they don't have bad dialogue.

The Boobie cards were incredibly juvenile and pandering, and the worst thing was the game didn't need them. It was a good crpg all on its own. No need for that craass ****. However, the cards were pretty ignorable amd only a tiny part of the game so who cares.

Opera is obviously worse than tea.

We don't support that sort of thing here.

The previews looks interesting. I think The Witcher 2 just joined my list (increasing it by 100%) I bought both the regular and enhanced versions of the Witcher, so I think it's safe to say I liked the game. I'm a little leery of streamlining though with the sequel. The trailer didn't show enough to reassure me. I did think the change to Geralt's appearance was disappointing. He went from being a somewhat exotic, almost feral or demonic-looking dude (which I think suits him) to a more standardized square-jawed western action-hero type. Much more generic-looking. My concern is that the entire game may be more generic as well, if that is their overall design philosphy towards W2.

I think it was more that they were reviving what was generally considered a dead genre. Ahh. Gotcha.

Agreed. For me, it is always the choices about what you can or cannot do that make a game interesting. If, as a player, I can do everything, have everything, be everything, then a game becomes much less interesting. I guess that is somewhat a minority view these days since most games seem to like just the opposite. So, anyway, I'm highly supportive of AP's direction in this area. I'm just really hoping the game sells well, so we can see more games like it.

Wait, what was the message? Get naked through magic?

That was a really nothing trailer. Basically just a pimp piece aimed at people who've never heard of the game before.

Or one could consider it as taking advantage of all the lonely people in world by a bunch of money-ravenous suits who don't give a **** about anything except how much cash they can wring out of someone. Which pretty much appears to be the evolving state of gaming, looking at all the drms and forced registrations and bit and pieces DLC and charge-for demos and whatever other money-grubbing nonesense is going on. Just because there's really nothing we can do about it, doesn't mean it should all pass unremarked upon.

Considering their DLC was pretty much epic crap that's not much of a testimony.

I'll just point out that in this day and age of inflated review scores, getting a 6-7 out of ten is pretty much epic fail.

The entire gaming scene appears to be turning into one giant corporate money suck. It's really pretty gross.

It's.. it's.. it's like EA and Activision are in a battle for who takes the stupidest decision. Really. I'd like a demo of the demo.

Great graphics have never made a bad game good. They can make an already good game more pleasant to play, but they don't work as an end in themselves. I think the graphics in AP are great personally, but I'm not particularly demanding in that area.