~Di

Too onerous for me. My wifi is usually pretty stable, but that's simply not the point. There is no way I'm going to buy a single-player game that requires me to be online the entire time I play it, and will crash my game if it goes down. I've been pretty pragmatic about the need for DRM's, but this one is well over the line even for me.

No apology needed for me (although I realize others are reading this thread). Any time I read threads on games I haven't yet played I expect that I will get a "feel" for the game... and sometimes more. Your post really didn't enlighten me much on the potential endings. Besides... 'Tis my own fault!

Bingo. Seriously, it's what Bioware always has done. The fans just couldn't handle a depressing and devastating end. I know I couldn't. I don't play games to fail and die at the end. I'll leave that to real life. I play games to "do" things that matter in my little game universe, things that make me feel exhilarated, needed, valiant... and heroic. I don't want a game to mirror life; I want a game to give me an adventure I could never otherwise have, and I want the satisfaction of accomplishment when it's over. I'm glad BioWare doesn't do "emo" games. I'm well past the age where I want to wear black lipstick and get a skeleton tatooed on my ass. bio makes heroic stories for their games, and they is unapologetic 'bout it. they is also believing that the vast majority o' their customers want happily ever after. fine. even so, we thinks that bio missed a great opportunity with game 2. not only does we have less heroic sacrifice than in game 1, but there is no genuine cliff-hanger to build up anticipation for game 3. shepard always wins. virtual every hero story worth mentioning has the hero lose at some point, but not shepard... or any other crpg protagonist. is a flaw. end o' game 2 woulda' been the ideal spot to inject a little heroic failure into the mass effect epic, but bio predictably passed on such an option. *shrug* not need emo, but heroic ain't particular heroic if there ain't without obstacles and sacrifice. if the hero always wins the obstacles will seems small... and without sacrifice a hero is a bit cartoony, no? getting spaced and dying at the start o' the me2 story is a nice enough way to start, but the player ain't genuine part o' that, is he/she... is all happening remote and the emotional impact is relative small. have an empire strikes back ending for me2? why the heck not? the fans who not like such an ending would hardly boycott me3, and am betting you would get overwhelming positive critical feedback for breaking the typical crpg mold. in any event, is terrible that we see less sacrifice in me2 than we saw in me1... bio backsliding when they had an ideal opportunity to go to next step and possibly incorporate personal sacrifice. oh well. not need emo to be heroic... but heroic without loss and sacrifice? lame. HA! Good Fun! ps when we says "personal sacrifice" we ain't asking for player death. death is actual kinda easy. a minor but genuine personal disability v. permanent loss o' crew member? am betting that such a choice would makes more than a few folks stare blank at screen for a minute or two as they ponder the ramifications. I don't disagree with anything you've said. Most Bio games have called for some sacrifice... sometimes mandatory (Kaidan/Ashley), sometimes optional (DA:O). I simply wouldn't be happy with a game that had a "devastating and depressing" ending no matter how the player played the game. As for ME2, I have purchased the game but haven't played it yet, so please don't take my remarks in the context of ME2 at all. Until I've actually played it, I obviously don't have a basis for opinion or comparison. When I have done so, I may indeed agree with your specific thoughts about that specific game. As it is, I was just being general in my preferences.

Bingo. Seriously, it's what Bioware always has done. The fans just couldn't handle a depressing and devastating end. I know I couldn't. I don't play games to fail and die at the end. I'll leave that to real life. I play games to "do" things that matter in my little game universe, things that make me feel exhilarated, needed, valiant... and heroic. I don't want a game to mirror life; I want a game to give me an adventure I could never otherwise have, and I want the satisfaction of accomplishment when it's over. I'm glad BioWare doesn't do "emo" games. I'm well past the age where I want to wear black lipstick and get a skeleton tatooed on my ass. I understand that point of view-- the heroic power fantasy is a rather core element of the appeal of a lot of escapist media (in games and elsewhere), and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that aspect of the experience on some level. But I think that developers can get away with more in what is clearly a middle chapter. We all know that the heroic ending is coming in ME3, so it's easier for fans to enjoy a setback or sacrifice of some sort at the close of ME2. You can make an ending a little bittersweet and still make the player feel as if he/she has accomplished something non-trivial. Absolutely. Planescape: Torment comes to mind. And no real choice of any other ending. However, it certainly fit the game, the character, the setting. It wasn't depressing or devastating... it was necessary for the cycle to continue. Fallout 3 was just stupid, a deliberate attempt to shock and dismay the gamer. I was very disappointed by it. Depressing and devasting for the sake or the shock of it... uh-uh, not if they want my gaming dollars.

I can't either. And I don't want one. Some here seem to be craving this kind of epic tragedy! Okay, okay, I was laid out on a slab like the carcass of a slaughtered goat. Coffin sounded better.

Sure. Most Bio games have more than one possible ending, and not all are happy-happy joy-joy. Seeing myself in my coffin wasn't an upper, but it was a choice my character made. Thing is, the choice wasn't made for me by the developer. A guaranteed everyone dies, no way around it, the world has ended, you lose bunky ending would displease me immensely.

Bingo. Seriously, it's what Bioware always has done. The fans just couldn't handle a depressing and devastating end. I know I couldn't. I don't play games to fail and die at the end. I'll leave that to real life. I play games to "do" things that matter in my little game universe, things that make me feel exhilarated, needed, valiant... and heroic. I don't want a game to mirror life; I want a game to give me an adventure I could never otherwise have, and I want the satisfaction of accomplishment when it's over. I'm glad BioWare doesn't do "emo" games. I'm well past the age where I want to wear black lipstick and get a skeleton tatooed on my ass.

I actually agree with everything you've said here. And since we so rarely agree, I leap at this chance! I absolutely adored PS:T, but I too referred to it as an "interactive novel" at the time... much to the consternation of many of its hard-core fans. I can't count the number of times I've been struck by the odd nostalgia and simply had to reinstall to play it just... one... more... time! It takes me to a world I had never seen before, and shall never see again. Truly a great achievement.

Aha! So we just hook them all on crack, then dangle the packet in front of their face when they get the shakes. Cool!

You can say that after the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest? Your choice there affects your party big time. How about your choices in/after Landsmeet? Life or death, quite literally, for several of the NPC's. Your choices affect the ending in ways you cannot even imagine at the time you are making them. The Dalish quest had three potential outcomes, and the results of each could not have been more different nor affect the game more. I'm really confused that you would say this about this particular game, since it is the first game I've played where choices have such far-reaching, potentially catastrophic and unpredictable results.

I've noticed that as well. I think it's because turning up one's nose at a game and harping upon its flaws and mediocrity make one seem much smarter and knowledgeable about the business than the developers, who obviously have no clue as to how a "good" game is constructed. In some gaming circles, liking a game makes one appear to the hard-core cynics as puppy-like, fanboy, or sheeple behavior. Only those who can articulate how poor a game really is are, like, the "real" gamers. I've been playing DA non-stop for 3 months now. I still enjoy it even though I am acutely aware of every "flaw" and poor "design decision" that I would have done differently.

Yep. You touched on the two biggest WTF moments that really, really rankled me. I still loved the game, but damn. Those were two really crappy "design decisions". I not only hated them, I actually resented them. When I finished my latest game, I sacrificed myself because that cad Alistair dumped me when he became king. Grrrr. Elitist cur. So I died just to be contrary... and because I wanted all my companions to file past my good-looking corpse to say nice things about me. But... but... Alistair just gave this windy speech... calling me his "friend" which made me want to leap out of my coffin and scratch his eyes out... and nobody else said a damned thing! They were all at 100% with me... and they couldn't find a couple of nice parting words?? From now on, Alistair dies. Oh, yes. He will always die. Bwahahaha! I reacted somewhat similar. Honestly first time I got to the Landsmeet and found out Alistair dumped my city elf if I made him king and seemed to resent me when I supported the Queen I dropped the game for about a week and when I returned I started over from scratch. I was so mad at him after that that on my dwarf I ended up with -100 influence with him and then at the Landsmeet I spared Loghain, supported the queen and told her to go ahead and execute him after as revenge. Since then I given him a second chance on my human noble once since they can have a happy ending of a sort but honestly I'm still mad at that character for how he treated my elf. For all his talk about honor and the like Alistair is quite a jerk and being able to get him killed is the only reason I find sparing Loghain a more appealing path in the end. Yeah, I was mad as hell. Racist jerk. From now on, I'm going to get Alistair to adore me, then dump his royal ass and go for Zevran. At least he's honest about himself. I'm going to take a save right at Landsmeet, and replay it a dozen times to find all the ways Alistair can be destroyed. Indeed, a city elf able to destroy an entire castle of nobles for her friend's honor is not the best choice to exploit and dump, I reckon. Oh, and when he asks Wynne to darn his clothes, I'm going to have her sew his fly shut. I gave that guy the best 80 hours of my life. He's gonna pay. Oh, yes. He's gonna pay big.

Yep. You touched on the two biggest WTF moments that really, really rankled me. I still loved the game, but damn. Those were two really crappy "design decisions". I not only hated them, I actually resented them. When I finished my latest game, I sacrificed myself because that cad Alistair dumped me when he became king. Grrrr. Elitist cur. So I died just to be contrary... and because I wanted all my companions to file past my good-looking corpse to say nice things about me. But... but... Alistair just gave this windy speech... calling me his "friend" which made me want to leap out of my coffin and scratch his eyes out... and nobody else said a damned thing! They were all at 100% with me... and they couldn't find a couple of nice parting words?? From now on, Alistair dies. Oh, yes. He will always die. Bwahahaha!

I really enjoyed Jade Empire. I loved the locale, the cool music, an interesting and somewhat different story, the colorful palette. Loved the combat! Fast and furious hand-to-hand, leaping, rolling, back-flips! Great fun! Companions were fun, too. Not the deepest companion back stories, but adequate for a relatively short, fast-paced action RPG. A fun little romp. I play it every so often, and still enjoy it!

Should have listened to me! Hillary would have been awesome... also, qualified for the office. Although I preferred Obama over McClain, I rather feared that although he could talk the talk, his non-existent record of any accomplishment beyond getting elected to one office then immediately running for a higher one implied that he wouldn't be able to walk the walk. So far, he's not really followed up on any of his campaign promises. I realize he's only been in office for a year, but that's still 25% of his term and zero accomplishment so far... except of course handing over billions to corporations bankrupted by corrupt officials. I'm hoping he ups his game... soon. But frankly, I just don't think he has the experience or know-how to do it.

You can choose not to wear a helmet but you lose one armor bonus if you do. It's no big deal though. Most of the stuff the helmets gives are things like 5% health or the like. Most of the time I personally never even show myself once the shield fails since health can go down very quickly and it's annoying to reload. Actually ~Di's right to fear. You can only customize normal armours. For the DLC armours (Collector Armour, Inferno Armour, Blood Dragon Armour, Terminus Armour), you're pretty much stuck with as is...helmet and all. On the bright side, LEDs on your helmet light up every time you speak Transformers style, and you also sound like you're speaking through a synthesizer. Oh, noes! *facepalm*

Backing up a bit... is it true that there isn't a "no helmet" option??? Argghhhhhh....

At least pick a species that didn't evolve from a damned bug! The only thing worse would be a romance with Wrex! And yeah, the dialogue sucked big time.

Right... OMG! That's just so damned... wrong. Where the hell is Kaidan??

Indeed. It is now legal for corporations to purchase their politicians openly, without all those pesky disclosure laws and financial limitations. Wannabe politicians can openly solicit from corporations in return for favors, and unlike those who have done the same in the past and our serving time in Club Bed, they simply choose a sponsor to purchase their congressional seats in return for favors. All legal.

I must ask... do you believe that the massacre of Srebrenica never happened, that 8,000 men and boys were not slaughtered in front of a Dutch Peacekeeping force? Do you dispute that dozens upon dozens of mass graves containing Kosovar civilians were uncovered after the shooting stopped? That the burned-out church with more than fifty charred civilian corpses was fabricated as a photo op? I realize that you live in the area and I do not, but to blindly dismiss the evidence that has been put before the International courts as non-existant, and to insist that the USA has the power to force the International court to take action it did not feel appropriate to take strikes me as a rather strident state of denial on your part. Is this really your position, or have I misunderstood you?

Templars? Bah. I always take my Dalish archers. Yeah, you fly out of melee range and see what it gets you, archie!

I agree that the most satisfying in-game romance relationships are those that are engaging. Two or three correct dialogue choices then flash forward to the steamy bits leaves me feeling cheated. If romances are going to be written into games... and I personally like them a lot... then care must be taken to develop legitimate, realistic emotional responses between the characters, and by rote the player himself/herself. The Shepard/Kaidan romance was a shortcut, great potential that just didn't make the grade. The PC/Alistair romance was much more emotionally engaging... to the point that I was actually upset when he dumped me! As for the sex scenes, I'd prefer to see longer scenes, more adult content, a bit more graphic but without too much gratuitous "tit"-illation. The fade-to-black stuff doesn't quite cut it with me, not when I've spent a couple dozen hours developing a full-bloom, deeply-in-love romance. The game is mature. The sex should be mature. That said, BioWare still handles in-game romance development and sex scenes better than any other developer I know. They're getting better at it with every game, so I have high hopes for their future offerings.

I agree. I also agree with Grommy's assessment. I really, really enjoyed most of DA... but the "WTF???" moments were jarring and annoying for me. After Landsmeet the game really started to get on my nerves. Companions and NPC's were doing things in complete opposition to the characters that had been so carefully built throughout the game. One plot twist in particular did more than annoy me. It made me downright angry and I resented the hell out of it. But overall, it's one of the most replayable and enjoyable games I've ever played. The high points are enough for me to forgive most of the flaws. (A couple of major plot flaws, however, I do not forgive!) Some of the main quests... Broken Circle and Dwarven Tunnels... I really loved. The Redcliffe quest had plot twists and startling endings, depending on how far you'd gotten in the game, that I thought it brilliantly done. I didn't even hate the Dalish quest, although it was the most boring IMHO. I must say that I spent hours upon hours at "banter" points marching various companion combinations around to hear all the party chatter. Some of it was absolutely hilarious. I've completed two runthroughs, and I still am hearing new stuff! Overall, a brilliant game. I'd give it a solid 90 out of 100.

Not to put to fine a point on it, but... gives me a more acceptable motive for what happed at Ostagar than the one I'm left with now... which frankly was never really clear.