Keyrock

Well, I already spent some time in Hong Kong this summer, so I've got a good idea what to compare it to But I also have a backlog of games, untouched or in progress that I don't really want to commit to another time sink before I've worked off a bit of the queue. Finishing my first game of FO:NV, DA2, a game in progress of IWD2. Then there is Skyrim, The Book of Unwritten Tales, XCOM, Crusader Kings II, the GTA games and Dishonored which I've barely touched (installed and tested that they work). Oh, and a number of DLC's that require a new playthrough of ME2 & 3 (and DA:O). You get the idea That's not including a number of Good old Games purchases and some lesser known games bought from Gamersgate. Just don't expect it to be realistic in the "not comparing it to Deus Ex" way. Ah yes, Deus Ex is also one of those Steam purchases waiting for me to give it a go some day I would really recommend holding off on Sleeping Dogs, it's not a terrible game but it sort of feels like a poor's man GTA. The environment gets points both for novelty and execution (it is just beautiful at times) but the game does a poor job of showcasing it. The story was consistent until it hits its mid point and then it spirals into an incoherent mess that you're glad to see over. They present a bunch of characters that really have purpose, they don't advance the main story even though they are part of it. Sometimes I think that this game suffers heavily from the "DLC effect" where developers leave some character as a an anchor for future updates. So a large part of the game diverges into storylines that have no conclusion.(Specially the forced romances) The combat system is fun at first but you can only kick so many guys asses before you get bored of seeing the same animation. The upgrades do little to change this, they actually do next to nothing. TL;DR: Is a game with a good concept that they just piled a bunch of ideas on top of until it drowned any originality or fun factor it may have had. I personally am enjoying it more than any GTA game simply on the basis that the combat isn't flat out terrible. GTA games have a lot going for them including fantastic writing with awesome colorful characters, but the combat in them is so unbelievably poorly implemented and flat out frustrating that it often ruins what is otherwise a brilliant game. This seems to have gotten worse in each successive GTA game due to the fact that each game has placed more and more emphasis on on-foot combat. There are other things about GTA games that drive me insane, like the games' insistence that certain sequences play out exactly as they planned them to the point that the game will alter the laws of physics to make it happen. For example I did a mission in GTA 4 recently where I had to blow up a bunch of vans. Arriving at the location I correctly had the thought that some of the vans may try to take off so I swiped a garbage truck and used it to block the only entrance to the compound. Sure enough one of the vans made a run for it and plowed right through the garbage truck, flinging it right out of the way like it was made out of styrofoam, a garbage truck that likely weighed 6 to 7 times as much as that van. In other missions characters are invincible until a certain point. I've pumped literally whole clips from assault rifles into unarmored characters and did no damage because the game insisted that I see a certain cutscene or have to chase them in a car. It's too bad because in most other aspects GTA games are a blast to play, but some of these frustrations make me want to put my fist through the computer monitor, then drive down to Rockstar studios and burn it to the ground. I've yet to encounter anything in Sleeping Dogs that made me want to put my fist through the monitor. So far I've had a big goofy smile on my face the entire time playing. I'm not finished with the game by any stretch of the imagination yet, though, so who knows.

Sierra was my favorite company during my childhood and I was a fan of all their games, Quest for Glory included. I will almost certainly be pledging and I hope they succeed. The goal is attainable but it looks really iffy right now.

I really have no preference, I'm a fan of both styles of play. Luckily we're getting both in the somewhat near future in Wasteland 2 and Project Eternity.

That said I think it should be a simple, they are not in your party so they.... aren't in the party scenario. In other words not only do they get nothing based on what you do, but if you try to hire them back later they may not even be willing to go with you. The cliche "I will just hang out at the stronghold and put my entire life on hold" bit is very old hat and it would be nice to avoid it. I'm Keyrock and I approve of this message.

I'm theoretically splitting time between several games, but Sleeping Dogs has taken over all my gaming time at the moment. Good gravy that game is fun. It's kind of nice to get away from RPGs for a bit since that's 90% what I've been playing for the last several months, though Sleeping Dogs does have some RPG-lite elements. So far my favorite parts of the game are chases on foot (the parkour elements are simple but fun) and fist fights. It's a breath of fresh air to play a sandbox game where the combat doesn't suck.

That's my opinion too. Other than the fact that my character witnessed some extraordinary event I'd rather have the rest left up to me. Give me a blank box and let me write my own bio/backstory would be my first choice.

My favorite quest was "Hung Over" in The Witcher 2. It begins as you (Geralt) wake up naked by the harbor curled up in the fetal position with a tattoo on your neck. From that point on you try to recover your gear and find out just what the heck happened the night before. It's jolly good fun and somewhat different than standard RPG quests, which is what I liked about it.

Wow, part 6! It's the Occupy Wall Street Obsidian Forums movement!

It's clear that Obsidian has the chops to pull off weird and wacky companions and make them interesting. I mean, they don't get much weirder and wackier than Lily Bowen, and they certainly managed to make her an interesting and fun to have around companion. Isn't that right, Jimmy?

While I, like most, prefer both a good story and good gameplay, given the choice of only one or the other, story is king. This is likely because I'm as much an (point & click) adventure gamer as an RPG gamer.

Absolutely yes, as long as they're interesting and not just weird for the sake of weird.

Agreed, having the campaign overlap the Project Eternity campaign by so much was definitely detrimental, but more than anything the way they pitched the game and how vague it was is what really was the death blow.

Sleeping Dogs went on sale on Steam so I snatched it right up. I played a bit on a friend's 360 and loved the bejesus out of every second I had a chance to play. Now I get to play it whenever I want (spoiler: as soon as Steam finishes downloading it). I'm super excited.

Strip away the bells and whistles of full high quality voice acting, physics effects, and numerous high quality cutscenes, and the budget of a game shrinks drastically. If you're looking for a game with gorgeous cinematics and top-tier voice acting, like Mass Effect or The Witcher 2, this ain't it and 4 million would not be nearly enough. This game is going to be somewhat stripped down in terms of bling, but deep in terms of gameplay, tactics, and story. For that, and in the hands of a group of veteran, seasoned developers, 4 million should be plenty.

If it creates a branching storyline path then I'm all for it. It would be interesting to see what negative or unexpected results failing to save someone or convince someone of something can have. Slightly different but somewhat similar, I'm glad they'll be including perma-death for characters in Expert Mode. I enjoy the challenge of having to deal with loss. For example when playing a game like a Fire Emblem game, if one of my party members dies in a battle I usually keep going rather than reload and do the encounter again so everyone survives. Dealing with attrition adds another challenge.

That was mostly underwhelming since I don't own a Mac. I do however like the look of the REDKit toolkit and I am excited to hear that Cyberpunk 2077 (I guess we'll need to change the name of this thread ) will be sandbox.

As Ieo wrote, highly unlikely. Unless it's a special case that has a story to it, like getting Khelgar to change to a monk in NWN2. Even if such a case existed in Project Eternity, it would be extremely unlikely that you would get to choose the new class.

Yeah, if the companions are deep and fleshed out enough, and have a variety of reactions given how you choose to approach situations, then it's entirely conceivable that you could have a relatively different experience replaying the game even if you choose the exact same companions to travel with the second time around.

8 is pretty much the perfect amount in my opinion. It's just enough to cover all your bases well (not enough for every class, but enough to cover every conceivable basic function within a group). Any more than that and you run the risk of not having enough time/resources to properly devote to each companion and you wind up with shallow companions. I'd rather have a smaller number of well fleshed out, interesting, colorful companions, than a whole bunch of cardboard cutouts.

That stream of Chris Avellone playing Arcanum sure would make for a nice X-Mas present to us.

If we get even so much as a screenshot today I may need to change my tidy whities. I'm so totally bursting with excitement that I'm most probably setting myself up for disappointment.

I imagine that we will however have the short dialogue bits that characters make in combat, when hurt, when selected, etc. (e.g. follow me everyone, I'm really hurt here, taste my steel!)

And I would take that to mean: a BG or NWN level of voice-over. They'll probably voice opening lines and character-defining lines, but most lines will not be voiced. Pretty much. Probably only major characters and main quest type stuff, and, like you wrote, a few opening lines or a paragraph or two at most. Definitely not anything past where out character(s) get to make a choice of replies since the devs have actively said how much easier it is to do branching dialogue when it's just text.

Uh-oh. XD Actually, they were equally rude to Veeno. (I did not totally just sound like a 5-year old tattling to the teacher... right? Good... /cough ) Don't let them get to you. For every troll, there is at least a hundred of us who welcome folks with open arms and treat them with respect.

... I didn't know that. D: I completely misunderstood it, I thought as long as the amount above your tier is 8$ or greater, you can join the Order. If I'd known that I have to add 8$ on top of my +20$ for the expansion, I would have! Well, my name is already on the list of to-be-added-to-the-Order so I will immediately go and donate another 8$ via PayPal. I hope that counts. edit: Great, and my title was actually changed. Now I feel like crap. I'll donate 10$ via PayPal to make up for this. Your heart was in the right place and you made right with PayPal. Nothing to be sorry about at all.