greylord

No, I pretty much agree with you. I replayed ME1 to death, trying the different classes, with new faces and all that. Whilst in ME2 the universal cooldown made every "non-combat" oriented class play in a similar manner. Which killed the immersion for me at least, add to that the lack of exploration. I was actually just the opposite. I've played ME2 to death, ME1 I actually stopped playing for a while and couldn't figure out where to go when I got back to it, so scratch that one, started over, lost interest, then got back to it...only finished ME1 three times which is actually not that many in relation to ME2 (believe it or not).

Thanks!

I agree with somethingg Volourn said... what has the world come through . But yes, I also don't see why the story is SO much an issue that it has to be chopped down in 4 easy-to-bite snacksize packs, and can be utterly forgotten the rest of the game. Because tell me honest, in ME2 you never get any sense of urgency for doing the Suicide Mission. Well, unless you knew the mechanics of people dying after the capture of course... Which is par for course in ME1. There never is really any urgency to rush to stop Saren either to tell the truth. And then the Enemy stays at Ostagar for HOW LONG during DA:O? Irenicus is simply standing around while you go wandering around the world in BG2. Only the dream scenarios really give any urgency to anything...and in the end they don't really matter. In KoToR I don't really feel like the Galaxy is falling even as I wander. I think the entire excuse for this urgency in ME2 is a rather poor excuse by some, as Bio hasn't really exhibited that much urgency in any of their games. Some of them even worse, and without even the slightest repercussions if you delay. At least in ME2...after your crew is captured, there CAN be consequences if you don't at least do something. Overall, I think the companion missions are somewhat related to the main quest. In ME1, you can wander the game (of course the buildings look remarkably all alike, but it is a wide open space) for a longer time doing far more missions (ME1 was more sandbox in that way I suppose, liked ME2 better) on unrelated items to the Main mission to ME2. Unless, once again you are referring to JRPGs. I HAVE had a FEW (and just a few) where there really is urgency to the game or at least they truly make you feel that if you don't hurry, everything dies or is destroyed.

Dumbed down? No. Unless you think that I somehow managed to say that I wanted the game to have a story so formulaic that I could call the entire thing all the way along the line. I want a tale that SHOULD I decide to drop it for the night, there is a natural place for me to do it. And similarly I want a story that should I (for whatever reason) put it down for a while, when I pick it back up I can easily find out where I was and what I should be doing. Exactly. While ME2 went to the extremes of this (but not quite as extreme as DA2), there are other games that have done it just as nicely without that exact method. Many games have natural stop and save points while the story continues. Theirs was fashioned more after a FPS type idea of you going on missions/quest and completing them. X-men Legends and the Marvel Ultimate alliance series had a good way of doing this, though it would have been nice to be able to save any time, they had natural breaks in the middle of levels even, with obvious indications of where you had been (that line of destruction kind of points out where you've already wandered down, you should go down one of the other hallways). Some Japanese RPG's have been accused of ONLY being an interactive story...and yet some of those are also well done in natural stopping points (granted there are some which are absolutely terrible as well). Just because something has good consistency with how it's integrated in gameplay, interface, and continuity does not mean it's story suffers.

No, because a game broken into 2 hour increments where you can find an ACTUAL AND REAL STOPPING POINT rather than stopping in the middle of the story and forgetting where you are needing to go because you have a life and need to work the next day makes a game a LOT better overall. Means you don't play for five to 30 minutes just trying to figure out what the heck you were doing before you quite last night. Just because a game has REAL stopping points at 2-3 hour increments does NOT mean that the story suffers...only that people who have actual lives can stop and start as they need. It becomes even more annoying when you only play on weekends, work all week, and then have to remember what the heck you were doing the next weekend because the game was designed so that there is no real save points in a nice regular fashion.

What is this, I don't even... *flips table over* *barges out of thread* I think he is talking about the story only, I agree that storytelling in ME2 was a big blunder. I don't know, I like ME2 having manageable chunks rather than...I've been playing for 6 hours and still haven't gotten to the end of the level...type thing. Endless combat isn't always what some think it's cracked up to be. If Arrival is any indication of the changes they are doing...color me thinking them catering to all the whiny fans who want more ME1 and dislike ME2 as tainting the creation of ME3 for the worse. ME3 can be great...I'm hoping it is...truly. I just hope the ME1 fanatics don't screw it up for the rest of us.

Contra Hardcore wasn't the hardest of those types of games. Never got to play Gunstar Heroes however, should I try to find a way to play it these days? Some other good games Phantasy Star IV Beyond Oasis (now this one I absolutely loved). Super Street Fighter II Golden Axe was pretty awesome as well. I think I liked Sonic II best of all the Sonic games.

Is that yet another expansion, or a new game? Standalone expansion. Lots of changes. What types of changes? Is it going to be d/l or both d/l and (retail) store?

Is that yet another expansion, or a new game?

Hmm, bets that it is MS hacking and laughing about it? Or could it be people that just hate Sony and are getting revenge (as the article tries to imply)... Or the Chinese? Whatever it is, bad juju for PSN. I suppose that means I better start looking to ensure I don't get any personal damage from this as a PS3 user and someone who had to register on PSN in order to get some DLC...stupid DLC. This seems to reinforce my reasons against DRM and omiting items out of a game so you have to do it DLC (DA2 Sebastian, etc.)...[sarcasm] can't imagine why [/sarcasm]

We'll agree to disagree on that one. I think I even preferred IX to VIII, and X to VIII, and XII to VIII. Didn't even try XI, and VIII was definately better than XIII. VI was better then them all however...VII included.

That sounds reasonable to tell the truth, or at least, if they are arguing for something as UK uncut, make absolutely clear to all present or listening or who would read, their relation in regards to what they are taking.

I think the reasoning is pretty solid too. The more ammo you fire down range, the more things you can kill/blow up. Kind of sucks if you are shooting down range when suddenly the weapons overheat and you have to wait a minute for it to cool down whilst your enemy is still shooting you up (ME1 style) versus simply reloading which takes 3 seconds and continuing to lay down the heat (ME2). Of course the best option would be a combination of the two, so even if you run out of clips...you still have a weapon.

Cars seem to decrease in value. Even if you have a classic, at best it retains it's value (sometimes as in equivalent value, with if it cost $5000 yesteryear, and that is equivalent to $25000 now, it will sell for $25000) unless it's one of those VERY rare classics that everyone wants. Comics used to increase in value...but I think almost everything I got in the 90s with some rare exceptions is basically worth junk now days. Except for very rare books, books seem to decrease in value. Overall, I think the rule is that thing decrease in value rather then increase.

I'm not certain I'll bite. FF7 remake makes it tempting, but what would really make me go for it is if it actually allowed me to play my DS games on the big screen, and would upscale them so they actually looked nice on the screen at the same time.

I'm sure there is a perfectly sane reason for this, I can't just think of one. When I was younger I knew of.....others....who created virus's and hacked and the Virus protection and other programs are about useless. All they do is give a false sense of security. With a good fishing program it takes all of about 30 seconds to locate an unprotected computer and hack it (it takes longer for a new, clean system to get updates)...with firewalls and protections up it takes longer and DOES dissuade a direct and personalized attack and they'll probably avoid you as there are easier targets. Of course, if you go looking around the internet on the wrong type of sites you'll constantly hit and attract attacks, both caught by the protections, and occasionally not (they can only protect you against the stuff that they already know about, those they don't mean that you'll be hit anyways, they have to detect it first). I have some kids that will browse internet on any computer they can find if it's hooked up to it. They've destroyed several computers that way in the past year (and many more prior to that), with me required to do a reinstall of a computer at least about once a month with something they've d/l'd with destroys the OS. I've gotten an earful from people saying I have no control over kids from internet boards...but I imagine most of them are the same age as my kids normally, or have no idea what they are talking about. In real life I actually get compliments on how well and nice my kids are, believe it or not. When you have kids and teenagers the computer is probably the least of my worries...ensuring that they at least stay out of trouble and do their studies are more on my list of things to try to ensure. So...to guarantee that I don 't have problems with MY rig, it's in MY room, and not connected to the internet. I know...long explanation for a short question...have pity on the old folks. On the plus side, it's great to enjoy the same games as talk about them with my kids, as well as watching and having similar interests. Kids just seem particularly hard on computers. As long as they do well in school, don't get into trouble, and are respectful in real life, help others, and are good citizens, I can live with them wrecking a few computers occasionally. It just means that the computers they use are all cheap computers.

Both were interesting articles, but this is the best dang article on PC piracy I've read in a while. I'm more of the "DRM killed PC gaming" but this article has some really valid points I think that are quite believable and plausible. Of the 5 computers in the household, only ONE is of gaming grade...the others don't cut it for the high end PC games that are released. They are mostly used for internet, work, and school for the kids. The Gaming Rig isn't even hooked up to the Internet, which makes all that authentication a pain (and any of those Ubisoft games that somehow require an always on connection in order to play...not even a reason for someone like me to buy). A majority of my gaming is now on PS3...but as someone who at least occasionally buys the high end PC games, I can see the points made by the article pretty valid even relating to me. I also admit, I've bought 3 copies of SotSE, and have them installed on the work/internet machines, so in that light I suppose that logic worked for my family.

That's one game I have always wanted to try. Only thing that is stopping me now are the really outdated graphics, I've been spoiled by FreeSpace 2's SCP mod. Playing: - World of Tanks and Minecraft, still and probably for months to come. - Ordered DA2 for 12.5

W/ someone's constant praising of JE...after finishing up another playthrough of ME1 and 2, I decided that I had to see if JE really did stand up to the current crop of Bio games or if I was right in that I enjoyed KoToR 1 & 2 along with DAO and ME1 & 2 more than JE. So, I just started it, but who knows...

Bioware is true to the PnP RPG roots. They are like DM who'll make up things as adventure progress (because DM was lazy or didn't expect the campaign last) I'm expecting heavy retcons again. Just finished Infilrator back to back ME and ME2 run and gotta love how in-game heat sink clips are considered absolutely superior to the old system. I sure "loved" new 10 / 10 sniper rifle limitation... seriously, one shot drains whole heat sink clip vs. unlimited ammo from ME. Don't know what were they thinking. For other weapons enemies drop enough ammo (could also be tied to difficulty level, I played insanity). Depends on the sniper rifle, but overall it's the same for ALL difficulty levels. I like the new clip system simply because I can reload when I want without having to pause in the middle of the action. On the otherhand in some instance infinate ammo would have been useful. I'd prefer something in between where you can shoot until the weapon overheats and then use a clip to reset it...but if you don't keep shooting till it overheats...it goes down and cools itself just like in ME1.

Source for that? Simple survey of the torrent trackers would still point to the contrary. That's an exaggeration. PS3 has been cracked only recently and is now re-secured with firmware updates. You can't buy a pirate version of Portal 2 for PS3 (at least for the time being). What makes you think that PCs are still in need of constant upgrades? As the old PC market divides into specialized devices the need for universal desktop computers grows ever smaller. In fact laptop sales have almost overtaken desktop sales recently. And there is only so much upgrading (or gaming) that can be done with laptops. My source is ME...because I've BEEN there, I don't live in a shell...I go to the stores, I go shopping, and I see what's there. The entire Piracy threat that they talk about is miniscule in the West in relation to what is elsewhere. Movies will be released on the day of or earlier for pirated DVD's...with the shopkeeper telling that you can come back and trade it in later for a better copy. And despite your delusions, you CAN buy a copy of anything just released, at least when in many Non-western nations. Video Games and Movies are pretty available over in those areas of the world, it's actually pretty hard to find someplace that actually sells legitimate copies. The pirates ALWAYS undersell them and hence no one wants to sell legit items. If the companies TRULY wanted to stop piracy, the first places they should combat would be these areas. I think Microsoft tried in China by offering a copy of Windows which you DID NOT HAVE TO AUTHENTICATE and sold for DIRT CHEAP. Piracy on the scale that it is in these other nations is literally unknown in the West. Unlike the guys on the sidelines in NYC or in a side street in London, these shops are typically some of the mainstream stores in many instances. Perhaps it's hard for you to imagine just what true electronic piracy is like, but the entire thing they are doing in the West and arguing it's for piracy is laughable when considering the scale of it in other parts of the World. Edit...PS: In case you are wondering, I don't support the piracy in these places. Most of my co-workers will buy the DVDs...sometimes the games...and they ARE dirt cheap. I typically stick to buying the items when I get back home, and abstain from the items over there. In many cases it's almost impossible to figure out which is the legit copy and which is the pirated copy. I remember buying a set in Asia of what I thought were a set of legit Star Trek season 2 DVD's...only to start really looking at them under the light 2 weeks later and realizing some of the stuff on them looked incredibly weird...and eventually realizing that they may actually have been made in original presses for the legit disks...but were actually probably pirated copies (yes, they can be that good and actually sometimes have people who make the actual DVD's for that region doing the pirated copies at the same time). I tossed them and bought a legit set later.

Hell no. FEAR of piracy is what killed the games. Dang DRM made us all console gamers...or pirates. The few left playing PC games are split between avoiding the entire Retail fiasco and d/ling it straight of steam meaning there is no retail market comparable to consoles at this point. Console's strong point is you don't have to authenticate over the internet and mess around setting simply because the makers of the game are accusing you of pirating a legit copy you bought from them. As for consoles, anyone who travels much knows that the piracy on Consoles has FAR outstripped anything anyone sees on PC for the past 10 years. I go to the market in Africa, many parts of Asia or the ME and I can buy just about any console game...and they are ALL pirated...and sold for USD $5. If piracy is connected to sales, seeing the relationship between piracy sales and consoles...one would imagine that piracy actually HELPS sales in that regard. Of course it probably doesn't...but console piracy is waaaay bigger then PC piracy in non-western nations as far as the market goes. You have a hard time finding many of the PC games..and since they have no compunction about blocking sites most of the piracy sites are blocked in many of those same locations (though many hackers there which fuel the console piracy trade probably have easy ways around the blocks for both PC and console games). On the next Gen of Consoles...I think there has been a stagnation of PC tech as well. The PC hasn't really pushed as far forward as fast as it used to previous to the last console releases. Heck, you can still buy cards that are from 5 years ago in certain stores! It used to be after two or three years that would be impossible. If anything the next gen may push the PC market forward as well. I expect it will have a giant leap as far as memory, processor speeds, and perhaps the ideas with harddrives and internet integration into gameplay. I also expect the Consoles will jump up in price again for PS and Xbox to at least the $500 range maybe the $1000 range (they seem to increase in how much they sell the new console with each new iteration. As for Sony, they are just now starting to hit their stride with the PS3...why would they replace it so soon after they FINALLY started getting popular again (remember, when they first came out everyone decried the PS3 as the biggest loser and failure of this console war...but Sony insisted that PS3 was a 10 year plan and in the long run they'd come out on top). They still may come out on top if they continue...but they haven't gotten there yet.

Why not? As one of those people who played the city sections but gave up when it turned into a grind fest I'd say playing the first half of the game is worth it even if you don't finish it. Lionheart had such a cool setting, good art and quests in the city. It is shocking how great the game starts and then how bad it gets later. The city part was absolutely awesome! It was a shame how it turned later on. I did enjoy Arcanum...but I think I enjoyed the first part of Lionheart MORE. (on the otherhand, the later portion of LH wasn't exactly stellar by any means). Another one that sort of fits in these ranks of what was a good game in many parts, but bad combat execution (at least in my opinion) would be the original Divine Divinity (but that had a sequel...and a sequel to the sequel which came out pretty recently even).

Perhaps this will give you a clue on how much they reused maps. There is ONE cave map that basically is used for just about every cave. It's a nice long cave...but is probably re-used for EVERY cave in the game. One map. So this guy is saying they only had time for ONE map? A similar issue is with simple buildings in Kirkwall...they basically have ONE warehouse layout used for EVERY Warehouse/Building. I lost count how many times I went to that building. Literally...I have NO idea how many times I went in that one building. Oh...it's a different quest and supposedly different building...but it looks the same. I think they reused that building more than they reused the infamous two buildings that they had for generic planet quests in Mass Effect 1! (they used the cave less though then those two buildings in ME1). Overall, I can see the guy's point...but they kind of went to the extreme of reusing in DA2. REALLY to the extreme. Imagine if in BG2...every building was EXACTLY the same. When you go in the palace, or the the Dark Elf levels...they all are the same since they all use the same map. The small dwellings in BG2 were sort of like this...but nothing on the scale they did it with DA2. IMO of course.