Elerond

It's funny how most of media outlets report that Algerian fans rioted across France after the win, but French themselves use headlines like this Fans celebrate across France as Algeria make World Cup history, and from article itself you can find mention that there was some of the fans and police.

Thanks for repeating the best criticism of DAO! (The voice actress doing Leliana is a native French speaker!) So it's official: true French accent is even more jarring than the fake! Or a true French overacting a French accent for a game. I'm pretty sure she has a decent accent when speaking normally. Here's a French woman (former French first lady Carla Bruni) speaking English (skip to the 4 minute mark) without trying to "sound French": *snip* Well, it doesn't sound nearly half as bad as my thick eastern-european accent, so I guess I've got no right to complain about the French *shrug* Oh, I have a pretty bad Flemish accent in English (too bad I'm not a girl, my sister has repeatedly been told by Americans that it's "cute" ), it's better in French although I likely butcher the grammar like there's no tomorrow Anyway I'm quite willing to accept it might just be personal preference in play here. Iow that I'm assuming she's acting it while she maybe actually does sound like that (in which case I think she has a horrible accent, but hey, de gustibus et coloribus ...). I don't recall being annoyed by the voice acting the The Saboteur so it must be something she does that ticks me off in which case I hope they get a better male voice actor for Zorro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwT5mOQBOIQ She seems to use same accent in her other voice overs too, so it's her "trademark" or her natural accent, although even if that is the it is of course possible that originally her accent didn't sound that but change over time because of need to overly emphasis it to get work as voice actor. But one thing that I have been grateful for long time is that I haven't encountered any video games that use Finnish English accent as I personally find it sounding quite horrific (and I know that many other Finns also have similar dislike towards it, which is why that many of those who speak English regularly learn to fake London or general american accents).

Rather than making certain classes less interactive, I'd prefer that the companion AI is decent enough to be competent without a lot of 'interference'. They won't operate at peak efficiency, but they should be good enough to play through on the easier settings. That way someone with a more laid back playstyle can be happy, yet players like me who actually enjoy RTwP party based tactical combat can have fun with all of the members of our party, instead of just half of them. If you have to rely on companion A.I. in a game where you are supposed to be in charge of a whole party, there something wrong in its systems. PoE is not an MMO nor a single character RPG. The whole point of a party based game is the squad management. It doesn't matter how "fun" is to play a specific class (leaving alone the fact that a low-maintenance class could be as fun as any other class). What's matter is how "fun" is to control the entire squad, which is what you do all the time as a player - and relying on A.I. is the antithesis of fun, even if the A.I. in question is really good. It's not by accident that in the old I.E. games the only classes that required real management were casters. Melee fighters didn't required management at all. PoE already enhanced the original formula. You have a very narrow definition of party management. Perhaps someone finds a great deal of satisfaction in picking talents, equipment, and tactics that allow the non-PC party members to succeed without immediate microcontrol. The effort and the planning that went into such an approach is not a less valid way to the game. Also, while you may consider such an approach "the anthesis of fun" you are just stating your own preference. Someone else's definition of fun might be vastly different than yours. The day that someone provides me with a single-valid explanation on how something that doesn't imply a player interaction is fun in a videogame, I will broaden my "narrow definition of fun". Until that day, I will linger with my actual conviction :D. PS: don't get me wrong. I have nothing against a robust preparation phase in RPGs. But when preparation is the only fun part of the game, something is definitely wrong... For some there is fun to have in management, because it creates excitement to see if you did right choices beforehand. This is why such games as fantasy football and football manager games exist. Although I don't personally find them that exciting but I know lot of people that find them exciting. I think it similar to excitement that one feels when they play slot machines, where only interactions with game are putting money in and pressing start and hoping that you get money out.

Pros: Isometric party based gameplay that mimics tabletop rpgs. Setting that with current information seems to broke free from many fantasy clichés, but still offering familiarity and seems to be build in way I prefer fantasy world to be build Scripted event screens High variety in classes Objective based experience Cons: I would like to see bit more simulation in mechanics than what they seems to have Two year wait build lots of expectations No romances Waiting don't stop in release of PoE as there is also expansion coming after it I may lose my reason to come here constantly, when game is released

I would agree with your argument if every skill has and impact in combat. If that is the case, then synergies with attributes could have real impact in all situations. If skills are mostly non-combat related (as they seem to be), why would you want your low dex, high int rogue to take a point in lore at a given level over one in stealth (which will help make up a potential deficiency in combat). Remember, fewer skills likely means fewer skill points. We don't know how many skill points we get per level, but I remember someone saying we would likely only be able to max one skill by the end of the game. I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate with this, and once we have more information, it might be fine, but I'm not really seeing any advantage in terms of class viability if most skills are non-combat related. Certainly, its less work for Obsidian. Which is reasonable, but leads to most skills being passive attributes in scripted sequences (like pick-pocketing and tracking) and gives us less authorship in the game world. It has stated that all skills will give some short general benefits inside and/or outside combat that they are useful for every party member outside of scripted events and conversations. And in scripted events and maybe also in conversations skill test is for general level in party instead of highest one. So you should get value on your skill points regardless on what skill you put them and regardless on which classes your characters are. This is of course bases on information that we have given and how I remember it (meaning that it could contain errors).

No... in a couple of months we may have a beta. Did you miss the late December release date announcement? 2-3 month before release can not be called beta anymore. It is like what EA does with stuff like Battlefield. It is a public Demo nothing else. Define "beta" for us, Darji. Beta is something they work constantly on. They polish things change things in terms of interface, dialogues and so on. Beta is something you should constantly feedback about balance and through their changes. That will normally take many month if they do it for real. Wasteland 2 for example had a Beta, Divinity had a Alpha and Beta and there was a constantly change in these ones. If you give people the beta 2-3 month before release that means 1-2 month before everything should be finished than you will not get the needed feedback. As they said before. They are already in a Beta status in their studios. And this is the moment Beta testers or backers in this case should be involved. A EA beta or Demo is something you only do balancing stuff through data they collect from players. Beta is state where software is before it is after alpha state and before release candidate state. But there is no definite definitions for those states, but they are defined by developers themselves so that they themselves know that how ready software is and what kind work it still needs. Software is usually considered to be in beta state when it has all features and content that release version needs are done at least such level that testing and polishing of whole product can start, but this isn't always the case, as such definition don't always work with development process that developing team uses. So beta is meaningless term if you don't know definition for it that developers of software in question use for it. And from previous update you can see that Obsidian uses alpha and beta states to determine how ready each of their teams are addition to overall state of game. And they use beta to define state where all content and features are done, but not necessary on such level that game is actually playable from start to finish, let alone that it is enjoyable to play or that it ready enough to give for beta testers to play in their opinion. Softwares especially games can be months in beta state without actually being in state where they are actually usable on level that even resembles final product, which is state that most non-developer beta access backers probably excepts to get their hands on.

It is difficult and time consuming to make RPG that don't abstractions that aren't in odds with real world examples. PoE has only five skills for two main reasons, first it focus isn't in simulation, but in exploration, tactical party based combat and story telling, and secondly they wanted all skills to be useful for every character, which becomes that much harder to do more skills you add. I'm not concerned with simulationist aspects of gameplay; I'm concerned about options in exploring character builds, transparency of rules, and symmetry of design. Specifically, I expect Obsidian to keep its promise of allowing us to pursue unconventional builds. The whole aspect of 'party roles' already rubs me the wrong way. Coupled now with this streamlined skill system, and begin to wonder how far we are going to be allowed to stray off the path. Maybe it will be fine, I'm not making any accusations, but I am concerned. Heavily abstracted (or streamlined as you said) skill system is much better basis for RPG system where you can build unconventional builds, as such skill system has much lesser change make some builds virtually useless. This is because of that in heavily abstracted skill systems there is lesser change for useless skills that make game become harder if you invest in them, as you don't have some other skill that you actually need in the game. Class based system usually causes it that some classes are better in some party roles than others. Josh has said that you have ability to build all classes towards roles which they aren't necessary best choice in game and if you choose to do so it should not make your character nearly useless, which is the case usually the case in class based crpgs, but instead be valid way to build your character(s). I don't say that you could not or should not be concerned, but to me PoE seem to be going towards such system that will give you all those things that you listed.

It is difficult and time consuming to make RPG that don't abstractions that aren't in odds with real world examples. PoE has only five skills for two main reasons, first it focus isn't in simulation, but in exploration, tactical party based combat and story telling, and secondly they wanted all skills to be useful for every character, which becomes that much harder to do more skills you add. Survival is skill that determines how long effects from consumables (foods, drinks, potions, drugs) last and in scripted sequences it is used in options that involve wilderness, hunting, etc. things that one usually associate with surviving in nature. For tracking they probably use in scripted events survival skill, perception or intellect depending on which works better in that scenario from narrative perspective, like for example in scenario where you try find where person or monster went in wilderness they could give you option use your survival skill to follow their tracks, and in scenario where you try find some one in crowd in city they could give you option to spot that person using your perception, and in scenario where you try to determine where person that you followed disappeared in dark street they could give you option to use your intellect to determine if your character can figure that out. I don't think that they will use talents (general or class specific) in many or even any scripted events, as that would make in most cases mean talents that are meant for scripted events only which would make it quite complex to make them such that player should choose them more than one character in party and if they use talents that also give combat bonuses in scripted events, it would make hard for player determine without meta knowledge which talents are best for their character, which are both something that Obsidian has tried to avoid in PoE's design.

When I heard that I thought that they were blowing it out of proportion. I'm pretty sure they can get investors on board, and they will get more support if they change their subscription plan. But if Nintendo has managed to make terrible decisions and stay afloat so can Crytek too; although that's mostly due to competition being dead. While Nintendo has certainly made some bad decisions, they've also hit some massive home runs. Past runaway successes, like the DS, have given Nintendo quite a healthy cash reserve to fall back upon during hard times. I don't know if Crytek has ever had that type of crazy money making success, or if they'd been smart enough to sock some money away for a rainy day. Aye, Nintendo currently has cash reserve so big that they can run a $257 million deficit for 38 years before they run out of money. So Nintendo can make several bad decision in row without risking bankruptcy. Information about Nintendo's cash reserve is from here. http://wiiudaily.com/2014/03/nintendo-not-doomed/

Crytek May Soon Go Bankrupt Due to Poor CryEngine Adoption, Ryse Flop – Report

What you think will we see gentlemanly 0-0 in USA-GER match?

It includes. You can already go Torment's backer portal to get your code.

Which is at the end of august, if I got that right from the linked KS announcement... so 2 months early, huh? I didn't expect them to be delivered until PoE was released, so thats even earlier for me By the way, I have been stalking Wasteland 1 on GoG for some time now but I am always put off by the graphics (that game is even older than me...) is it recommended to play it beforehand for the setting or can I skip it? I really can't bring myself to play this. You can skip it, although there is some inside jokes and references in Wasteland 2 that one probably will miss if you haven't played original Wasteland, but there is nothing in story wise that you would miss if you haven't played it.

Getting enough visibility that your game gets funded isn't always that easy, which I could see why indie studio would be interested of such partnership, and it don't actually cost them anything, but they need to rise 5% more money than what they would need without such partnership. But it seems that this partnership didn't help this game to get enough interest to get funded. So it seems that this partnership program isn't instant success. But I would bet that this project wouldn't had any more success without this program.

It seems that it is not their games, but indie games from indie studios. Square Enix's business idea in this seems to be offering support, visibility and possible distribution deals for those studios and get 5% of crowd sourced sum and 10% of revenue (if they distribute the game) as compensation. To me it seems to be cheap and easy way for SE to search talents that they can use to develop their bigger tittles in future, given that it will get some wind under it wings.

Germany - Australia (4-0), Argentina - South Korea (4-1), Germany - Argentina (4-0)

They didn't all agree One who said that he covered KS games gave small protest towards that weird statement. Format what they used in their wrap up shows was such that it would encourage or even allow debates between journalist. I don't championing anything, I have only stated that those journalist weren't wrong in their statement that covering KS games is in most cases more difficult than covering AAA games. I don't and those journalist don't say that such coverage is too hard, but that is more difficult and it's different than covering AAA games.

I've already covered this Elerond. Magazines and web sites have more than one page. Why wouldn't you cover multiple things at the same time? Why limit yourself to just one part of the gaming industry and not do an article on an indy or Kickstarter game? The site might be surprised at the amount of hits if it becomes, and it may just become a popular indy/Kickstarter title through reporting of it. http://www.gamespot.com/e3/live/ There is GameSpots live stream schedule from this years E3 so that you can see how much free time they had to give additional coverage, as we are speaking about some of journalist whose job was produce that. And even with web pages you don't get free coverage about games, but publication needs to pay for someone to write that coverage, which is why that coverage needs at least pay itself back and rather of course produce profit. And publications have access to only limited number of journalist, especially in events like E3, which mean that they need to prioritize their time towards those games that they think will produce most profitable coverage. P.S. I would remind that we speak about those four journalist in that video and statement where one of them said that covering KS games is harder than covering AAA games, not about magazines or other publications, but one journalist perspective. P.P.S. And they covered KS games as they stated in video, so it wasn't even them one or other scenario.

If you're job is reporting on games and they find it all to hard to do their job with a certain type of game (eg. Kickstarter games), when it's actually easier to report on Kickstarter games with a wealth of knowledge at your disposal including new stuff that the dev's tell them in interviews such as E3. Then yes, they're incompetent. But keep taking my quotes out of context Elerond. Difficulty of task depend always on what one wants to achieve, so if you want to make coverage that will get specific number of hits, your task is most likely be easier if you cover something that is popular than something that only few people have ever heard before.

Those sentences make them sound more competent and less out of touch? Here you whole post: "What that shows me is how incompetent and out of touch the gaming press is today. Don't know how to write up a story about a Kickstarter game? Kickstarter games are difficult? They need to get with the times." I don't see how they do anything else than specify why they are incompetent and out of touch in your opinion, which don't in my opinion add anything such that it would matter when we consider my paraphrasing "they were absolute wrong with their opinions and are embarrassment to all gaming journalist that there are", which is reason why left them out, although I added link to your whole message so that people can check it out to see if I miss quote you.

Addition to already mentioned games these also have 90% or better score in metacritic. 1999 Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (Metacritic 92%) 1999 FreeSpace 2 (Metacritic 91%) 1999 Medal of Honor (Metacritic 92%) 1999 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (Metacritic 92%) 1999 Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Metacritic 91%) 1999 Ape Escape (Metacritic 90%) 1999 Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Metacritic 93%) 1999 Syphon Filter (Metacritic 90%) 1999 Donkey Kong 64 (Metacritic 90%) 1999 Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Metacritic 90%) 1999 Beetle Adventure Racing (Metacritic 90%) 1999 Mario Golf (Metacritic 91%) 1999 SoulCalibur (Metacritic 98%) 1999 Gran Turismo 2 (Metacritic 93%) 1999 Final Fantasy VIII (Metacritic 90%)

Yep you didn't use embarrassment, but "What that shows me is how incompetent and out of touch the gaming press is today." , which I paraphrased.

You're also excluding some choice commentary and body language from them as well. The girl even nodded in agreement with what they were saying. So even though she didn't say anything, she agreed with them just the same. But we'll just discount those facts. Especially those great comments they made. Here's a question. Would they have had the same problem writing articles about these games if they didn't know they were Kickstarter games? Ah, the bias of reporters and media. But lets forget that it doesn't stop the general gaming media writing articles about these games. In fact, it's been pointed out that some journalists are eager to write about these games. Yeah, must be really 'hard' writing about Kickstarter games when some journalists can't wait for the embargo to be lifted and are itching to tell everyone about their reviews. Which is a point you continue to ignore. I think that you project your believes on her, that journalist may or may not agree with others, but I don't know as she didn't actually said anything about subject and because I would not care even if she agree with those that spoke as they didn't actually said anything that is wrong. Same problems would be there even if journalist didn't know that game is KS, but they just could not adjust their coverage to respond on those problems. I would point out that PoE isn't just any KS game as it is third most successful KS, it has well know studio behind it, it has publisher behind it, it has PR people in their booth addition to developers, it has hype created behind it that goes beyond its backers, and its E3 coverage wasn't released to public beforehand. So covering it is different task than covering some smaller KS game. And even with all that behind it you will not find PoE even from most of list that say that they have all games from E3 2014. And in that video that journalist that said he has covered KS games, but said that it is more difficult than covering AAA games, also said that KS games do new things that one can't see in AAA games, which is why they are interesting to cover even if it isn't as easy as it would to cover AAA game. But it seems that we are in impasse, as in my opinion those journalist didn't say anything insulting, controversial or stupid about crow sourced games and were justified with their opinion, where you seem to think that they were absolute wrong with their opinions and are embarrassment to all gaming journalist that there are.

I don't see it as a binary, an either / or decision when you can do both. We're talking about a website or magazine that has multiple pages. Why can't you do an interview in the morning for the AAA dev and an afternoon interview with the small indy dev? Or schedule different appointments on different days? Again, you can do both. And we've seen gaming media sites report on Kickstarter games. So it's no problem for the gaming media industry to do so. That's the point you seem to want to ignore. We were talking about those journalist in that video, which one said he don't cover KS games and don't want cover them, and another said that he has covered at least three and will probably cover more and also said that covering KS games is more difficult than covering AAA games. Third, one who brought subject of KS games up, said that there were several small tittles on show floor that he has never heard of, many of them being games that have kickstarted. Fourth panelist didn't express her opinion about subject but seem to be amused about what others said about subject. So GameSpot as publication did cover at least some of KS games that were in E3. My point has been it is more difficult task to write worthwhile article about KS games, but not impossible or even so difficult that nobody does it, meaning that those journalist in that video in my opinion had justification to say that it is more difficult to cover KS games and covering them is different than covering AAA games.

You missed my point. I didn't argue that journalist can't cover KS games for audience that have never heard of them, but it is more difficult cover KS games so that it's worthwhile to do compared to covering some AAA tittle. Because number of people that are interested to read/listen/watch coverage about most of KS games is so much smaller, especially if you cover them so that your coverage don't interest backers/fans of said game as they in high likelihood constitute major part of the people that are interested coverages of said game, than number of people that are interested about AAA tittles. So difficulty of covering KS don't come from writing some kind coverage about game, but writing such coverage that it will get enough readers to cover the time they spent to writing said article and not spending it to cover some other game that beforehand has more interest towards it. Like for example do you interview author of new best seller, published by some big publisher or author of crowd funded and self published book that has sold couple thousand copies. Act of interviewing said authors so that you can tell about them and their book for someone that haven't heard them is same regardless of which author we speak, but writing such article about author of self published book that it will have more readers than article about author of bestselling book is much harder task or even writing such article about author of self published book that it will cost of time that you spent writing it is more difficult task than what it would be if you write article about best selling author.