Slammy1

You know, technically post count should be more like golf (the lowest count wins). And the Bioware compliment, with a few exceptions, was very decent and helpful with my many tech issues with KotOR 1, so I think they'll be a decent addition. I know this is not a serious thread, but I just wanted to add my $0.02 just in case by some miracle someone cares.

This may not be on-topic, but I thought they should have sensitivities like they do in the books. For example, Han's and Leia's kids all had specific talents. Annakin could fix anything, his sister Jenna was an exceptional pilot, and Jason was more of a force-sensitive type. You also have natural healers. I suppose this could be mimicked using stats, but it was more like natural talents.

Hooray! I suggested a Sith storyline, now where's my royalties? Oh well, it was probably obvious and posted many times before and after me. I'm just happy a certain company that created a certain buggy product will not produce the sequel, and that Obsidian is being given a chance to make a name for themselves in the CRPG industry. However, if conscience should fail you and you decide to award me royalties, I shall not refuse. I have a question/concern about the storyline. Is it really going to be some memory wipe thing again? Surely there are better lead-ins like... A promising Sith Jedi with a conscience, facing expulsion from the academy (you usually only leave feet first) flees in hopes of evading that fate. On fleeing, while in the space lanes he's assisted by another promising jedi who left the regular academy for similar yet mirrored reasons. Together, they find a common goal (staying alive, say, or a simple power grab) while fighting both LS and DS jedi who seek to thwart their advancement (one tries to bring them back, the other tries to kill them). Rogue Jedi, there's a better storyline IMHO. Can we also have Darth Sidius tatoos? Pretty please.

You know, Sarge. I had concerns about Kroney

A T3 droid would be good if you have a ship and need a droid for repairs and such (as per the movie version R2 unit). If a CRPG it'd still be a limited choice, but I really don't have any use for a T4 aside from opening the doors that only it can open. A C3PO type unit would be much more usefult to a CRPG than an assassin droid. You need some searchable, interactive d-base for cultural info, schematics, etc. I wasn't at all invested in the original companions (though I couldn't bring myself to kill them off for a DS solution). If you're going to put Revan in the sequel, he'd have to be DS (either slipped back or continued on as the new Lord of the Sith). Though it might be interesting to make the goal of KoTOR 2 to either kill or bring him/her back to LS, it'd limit possibilities for a sequel in that you'd be stuck with similar cultures and peoples. I still say either set it well before or well after KoTOR 1 for both consistency (no assuimptions how the original was completed) and originality. How about this as a plot... As a young child with force potential on a Sith plaet (the real Sith, not the fake sort) you're placed in an academy (or temple) to learn the force. As the game starts, you are given te option to continue your training as a Sith jedi (specializing in class at that point)) or to escape and pursue another career. It'd provide a greater flexibility but would be difficult to script.

Well, I was surprised to see what appeared to be a troll effort from you Eldar. If you try to read the first part as being overly serious, you would be confused. EDIT: And I suppose I do owe Volourn an apology. It's easy to slip back into character from the time when it was me against the entire BIS board.

Yes Volourn. Coming from you I feel mortally wounded. I was there when you were banned from BIS. I found your clumsy explanations when these boards first opened amd you were campaigning for modship rather humerous. With you, respect never enters the equation.

I once had respect for you Eldar, but that was a pretty dumb thing to post. I've been forced to reevaluate my opinion.

Well, I must say as far as "I Hate Interplay" sentiment, this is a big yawner. That's probably a good thing. I think my feelings are ambivalent, but not for the reasons that others might feel that way. It's a tough economy all around. Even those of us that arrange shrubbery are feeling the pinch. In the scope of current world events, even the framework of this apparant global recession, to suggest it would be a minor footnote in the history texts is to inflate the expected impact of the event itself. Well, enough teasing. I only visited the boards to ask people to not attack the company occasionally. I didn't want so ignoble an ending as what lead to the axing of the community boards in the first place. They haven't exactly been producing games I want to buy either. I still have that voice in my head that says "Gee, that's too bad" but it has been a long drawn out death, not surprising except to the easily surprised sort. I just hope this isn't an indication of a recession of the spirit of PC games. It's been so long since I've come across a title that so enthralled met hat it even kept me up late let alone provoked the old feelings that I used to get when I'd stay up all night playing, go to work the next day, then stay up late playing some more. The only thrill I've received from recent titles is going on the message boards and talking about how bad they sucked. I hope that trend does not continue, or I might actually be annoyed.

I don't think anyone's even threatened to ignore me even under my more infamous accounts. Perhaps I need to rethink the whole arch-villain role and go for straight annoyance posting.

KOTOR suffered in trying to make the game look great. The time it takes to program a scene limited player choices to make it more a story being told rather than a story we were playing a part in. I'm not entirely sure this is the wrong approach given the game's success, but personally I'd have liked to have a less stringent storyline to allow more chances for the character to influence events. I'd have given up a lot of the graphical elements of the first KOTOR for more freedom and some improved mechanics. The problem with allowing too many options in character creation is that you still need to allow for the casual gamer who cannot manipulate (or at least does not want to devote themselves to understanding the mechanics)the various bonuses to make a character that works as good as he/she could) the mechanics. The game needs to encompass both casual and involved play, and unfortunately that typically means to more power oriented player will find the game unchallenging. At the end, Malek didn't have a chance against me even with the limited manipulations in character development allowed. Rather than a scale to increase the creature's HPs, how about making it more puzzle and less combat oriented? You can still allow combat as a potential solution, but give options (as mentioned) for non-combative solutions. This allows people to invest themselves in the game in different ways. Some more involvement in combat mechanics beyond point select click would be good , but perhaps a bit much to learn and may imply a more action vs RP/strategy motif which should be the primary aspect of game design. Strategy beyond "everyone attacks this guy"like... cover for instance. That would add some more strategic elements to combat which would add to my game enjoyment a lot and would not entail people learning how to jump right, force jump forward, etc. It would also add some realism to combat without making the mechanics too complex. Things like scopes for rifles can easily be added to a combat system without having the character manipulate the weapon, say in improving to hit at a distance. Clear kill shots can enter into how situations are handled by stealth or possibly assassination (both would add a strategic level) For example, let's say we have a smuggler (or space pirate). What might trigger some necessary game advances could be money, acquisition, or reputation. It'd be nice to be able to manipulate the mechanical elements of gameplay by, for exaple, building your ship more towards a goal (eg combat for piracy or pure speed for smuggling). Allow the exploration of the universe some, with direction being given in the form of assignments, news, and/or rumors. Not every world needs to be drawn out in excruciating detail, some standard can be established to minimize the data set (a space station is a space station with a few differences). Similarly, it'd be hard to identify individuals of the same species and they would have similar regulations and culture giving similar responses. It may detract some from the glitz, but there's a familiarity your character would have with the organization of the culture the user would lack so familiar elements actually can improve the simulation. It's how I got around having to design a whole bunch of cities in D&D land campaigns while still allowing some adventure detail. Having different companions for different parts of the campaign would overall improve gameplay. You may not be able to develop the characters as well, but you could still have 1 or 2 core companions with several others that come and go their own direction depending on outcome. I really didn't find having to be tortured with the ramplings of the old man or the self pity of catwoman too important to the game, more something I did to advance the quests. In a sense it's much easier to not have to explain why they react or do things in peripheral characters, it's also more true to life. If I want scripted dialogue, I'll read a novel. If I want to script dialogue, I'll write. Somewhere in between is what I hope for from a game.

Think of me as Nurse Ratched (sp?) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

How about a Space Opera type game basd on a campy sci-fi series. Something like "Lost in Space" or "Flash Gordon"/Buck Rogers". Even Doctor Who could be interesting, but I'd tend towards something where the tech is more obvious. I think you'd have a lot of room for roleplay with campy bad guys. Or maybe a space pirate theme. You have ship-to-ship, boarding parties, and you can get parts to upgrade your ship. It might end up being more of a strategy than RP perhaps, but once you build up ships, assign captains from more experienced crews, etc. you still have lots of room for role-play. If all else fails, Massters of Magic 2 is a title I'll buy as soon as it hits the shelves.

Biggest problem was poor QA in converting from console to PC. Numerous graphics problems. Very annoying to forget to save for a while of to go through a big combat and have the game crash. There

It's not that Alienware is a bad company, just that they're overpriced. And there are a lot of threads complaining about them on the tech boards, though I did a search on Anandtech and it has been a bit since someone wrote a negative thread about them (1 month). I think there was a phase ca 3 months ago when they were getting slammed on A-Tech, but mostly it went back to pricing from what I remember and some CS concerns. The concensus was Falcon NW (or Blue Tooth, as mentioned) were better sources for pre-builts. The EE is a bragging rights CPU. Intel didn't seem to want to really mass market the CPU, but wanted a response to the A64 which beats the other Intel processors in gaming benchmarks. The Prescotts are power hogs, and really run hot. My 3.0C runs 43C under stress, but I've been reading the Prescotts are running much hotter (ca 60-70C). For a top gaming machine, right now the A64 seems the clear choice, but for multi-media Intel still is the winner.