ShadowPaladin V1.0

Not a difficult task when you have such an empty world as the elder scrolls games. Try that with a story based RPG and it's a whole different story. Morrowind is the perfect example of empty space as a time waster just to pad out the playtime figures. Morrowind also dosnt have next gen quality graphics and effects but that should be a no brainer.

When it comes to RPGs you need them , while they can add to other games. As I recall WIII had some fantastic FMV which really made world come alive far more than the game could have managed using the engine alone. In an RPG something must drive the story forward, or your left with freeform which is a bit hit and miss. Something along the lines of Morrowind where you are away from the story for long periods of time (sometimes days). Where games have one up on movies is this. They can do what a movie can , and then some. In a game you can alter the outcome of the movie, where as in a movie you never have that option. RPGs are so closely tied to some sort of story (outside of MMPORGs) that you need the best storytelling device possible. While you can use the engine for such things its not merely a case of quality but also of skill. Take an in engine cutscene from say KOTOR II , and it would give Keanu a challenge in wooden acting. Compare that with the vitality and sheer energy of something like the FMV from Dynasty Warriors V and FMV still has a huge edge when it comes to storytelling which dosnt diminish even with a better graphics engine. Oblivion and games like it are good as a sandbox to play in , but as a story or for emotional involvement they are lacking.

Your probably supposed to go buy another one rather than fix it.

If people buy your half arsed efforts then you have no incentive to improve on them. Until there is some decent competition on the RPG front I dont think anything will change. Bioware is a big fish in a little pond but the Koi eat them for breakfast when it comes to numbers.

Wouldnt that come under cruel and unusual punishment. :D

Dosnt seem to be although that could be what was causing the delay, my info is a couple of months old. Even if that were the case you would still have everyone who bought launch 360's with DVD's and develpers dealing with a split customer base of people who have 360's with DVD and those who have 360's with HD DVD. Even if you assume that the two will be compatible, you still wont ever fit a HD DVD game onto a standard DVD. Last I heard they were welding the 360 shut so you couldnt fool around with it. Makes it unlikely that you could update the DVD to HD DVD if it's internal.

FMV draws you into the game. There was an excellent piece about how Squenix games were such emotional rollercoasters and thats mostly down to how the FMV links the games sequences together. Of course games that are nothing more than FMV are better off being movies, but in RPGs especially good FMV should not be underated. For me , the intro movie is hugely important. It determines whether or not the game is likely to draw me in enough to spend 60 ish hours playing it. A good story can even compell me to finish something even if the gameplay isnt really to my tastes.

More to do with DVD's being at the end of their useful life hence the move to blu ray and HD DVD (which Toshiba couldnt get ready in time for the 360 launch). My suspicion is that MS was so desperate to steal the jump on Sony that they stuck DVD's in when it became apparent that Toshiba wasnt going to be ready in time. The very fact that this would even come up before a console was released is telling in itself. Look at it this way what takes up a significant ammount of space on a DVD takes up next to nothing on a Blu ray and the 360 should in theory have another 5 or 6 years to go. Replacing the DVD isnt an option either as the format isnt compatible.

Not so much in game terms. One of the movies for DOA 4 took up about 1/5 of the total space on the DVD. Higher res graphics and more graphical effects pretty much double the space used this time around. The guys working on the 360 JRPG (the thing that was supposed to sell the 360 to Japan) ran out of room and the mags over their had a field day with that one. PC games are starting to ship in DVD's and they still need to be decompressed at the end of it. Not an option when you dont have a HD as a standard piece of kit. At least with blu ray you actually have somewhere to go in terms of design without constantly having to watch the space issues. I'm irked that MS went with obsolete tech just to get a jump on Sony if it turns out that will bite them in the butt, well so much the better. Since the next gen games are retailing at

So true its what keeps the machines from gathering dust for the first 6-12 months of launch. Even if I did buy a 360 at launch there is maybe 1 or 2 titles I'm mildly interested in (DOA IV wont be ready outside of Japan). That means depending on the titles I'm done within a week (maybe two). The PS3 wont be any different with regards to launch titles I'm interested in most likely. But I have a huge library of PS2 games to see me through the lean times :cool: I'm also really dubious about the multiple configurations on the 360 and the tiny ammount of disk space a regular DVD offers. I've already seen first hand what that means for some games.

Maybe it will do something for their length

Could be , althouh most of the people I know play it at home rather than out and about where its less of an issue. Gamewise it's pretty bland right now. Mostly been watching anime and Japanese movies on the thing. The fact that the DS has the whole GBA library to draw on definately gives it the edge in the games department.

The most innovative thing Nintendo ever did was the flipover cover SP. The flip over cover was something that everyone should have taken note of. Saitek released a PSP keyboard which does the same thing which has helped a lot but the unit still feels fragile compared to the DS or SP.

I tend to play a lot of different stuff although I do have some developer loyalties as well. I've been mostly playing handhelds , managed to break my third PSP (way too delicate for a handheld). I think i've seen more innovation in handhelds , probably because of lower costs. The Revolution controller is a fun little toy though with a lot of possibilities.

One of the real downers about the 360 is that it isnt going to end up as much more than a PC upgrade in what sort of games will appear. Oblivion looks nice but looks havnt been something that the elder scrolls games have failed on. Rather the failures lie elsewhere. Nothing much seems to address those. Sad thing is those whacky people at nintendo probably wont get the rewards they deserve for thinking outside the box because most people will just be happy with pretty eye candy.

Congrats to Ender if he's lurking about. Ashley made an appearence about 6 weeks early and its all been a bit of a nightmare but it worked out in the end.

Cheers, Much been going on in the last couple of months? It's pretty telling how times have changed that I dont feel one iota of exitement for a bioware game anymore

Wonder if they will run out of disk space like the Japanese guys did ? Still if your in the market for 20 hour mini games not such a huge deal I guess

Handheld games are simpler to make. Because you dont have to worry about making everything realistic, you can focus on the gameplay without anyone getting worked up over it. No one at the moment expects realistic looking handheld games. It's also the market with the most rapid growth where as the other markets are stagnating or just not selling (PC market for example).

I'm not so much of a beatumup player. But my wife and her sister are, and they are pretty dismissive about DoA. The 360 one looks unplayable due to it's distraction value :D

It's not exactly uncommon to start with a stock character and then customise it as you play the game (by whatever means). Have to be a really good game to make me want to play it again and go over the same tutorial over and over, especially one that lasted hours rather than minites.

Getting everything already in place gives you a huge head start. Even if you dont start production having your preproduction plans done is a big help. Who else has made a comparable RPG in a year? Good game really dosnt cut it it has to be something with simliar production values because those are big time sinks too.

Thats how long they were thinking of it and how long they had to come up with some sort of story concept. I pulled it off the Bioware website (w00t) The stuff that did actually sound interesting like managing a villiage, sending your followers to do sub missions etc. All got pulled. Obsidian had a little over 12 months to come up with a story, intergrate it into the previous one and make the game and you dont think thats impressive ? It's you who should not bother.

For a year KOTOR II is impressive. Jade Empire was in development for like 10 and ended being half the size of a one year KOTOR II and doing nothing particularly exiting. Thats before you even get into those "debatable" things like the awful combat , one dimensional and non customisable characters etc. Care to name some ? Because I cant think of any RPGs offhand that came out in a year.

When you look at things in perspective of the time they got to do them it's very impressive. NwNII is going to be the longest cycle they have had to date.