ShadowPaladin V1.0

...different and "a whole lot easier" are two different things, lad...like I said; PS:T may have only had one or two differences here and there on replays, but the "differences" 'tween class/race/gender fer BG/SoA were laughable...a few words here and there; that's it...repetition is what it is, with a word or two changed here and there...yer not foolin' anyone who played BG or SoA inta believin' there was "huge" differences, or e'en moderate ones fer that matter, that relied upon which race/class/gender ya was...ye was a cookie-cutter...a cookie-cutter in interchangeable Barbie outfits, but a cookie-cutter nonetheless... ...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You qualify those as reviews.... You try writing a story without knowing in advance who your lead actor is going to be. When you let people create their own characters they fill in the blanks. On the other hand give them a pre gen and it relies very much on whether or not they identify with it.

Well you can show me the 100's of PST reviews since you brought it up. Unless your all mouth of course. Most people have enough sense to realise that writing NPCs is different when you need to write them for variable characters. Just as most people realise writing a book is a lot more predictable than writing a multi path adventure.

BG is all encompasing usually refers to the series or BG though. I pointed them out long before you arrived. Which is why I said I wouldnt compare NPCs from JRPGs to anything because they too have pre gen protagonists. Anyone with common sense should realise that writing an NPC to interact with a specific protagonist is a whole lot easier than writing one to interact with a series of variables dont ya think ? :D I doubt there are even 100's of reviews in the first place.

PST is a game with a pregenerated character so I'm right. Your just trying to get involved in an arguement that has nothing to do with that. Can you name a better game than BG when it comes to NPCs ? With the condition that it isnt based around a known protagonist , because I cant.

Only paid

And today the role of drama queen will be played by Sargy. I think you nailed the award with that post...

Thats not race spefic dialogue. Race spefic dialogue is dialogue that changes based on the race of the character you are playing. Does that dialogue ever change ? Nope, because TNO is always human. PST has a pre generated character so it's disqualified simple as that . Otherwise there are many games I would be using NPCs from

Yes but only specific to a known race Or perhaps because I am discounting any NPCs from games with pre generated characters. Would have thought that was pretty obvious though considering what I said above.

...ye still gives no real reasons why the NPCs in PS:T dunna count, as ye puts it...like I said, Jahiera an' Khalid knows the protagonist in the BG Series before he knows who he is, jus' like Iggy, Morte, an' Dak'kon in PS:T...Yoshimo was told 'bout the protagonist in SoA 'afore he e'er meets yer character, jus' like Anna in PS:T...does that mean Jahiera, Khalid, an' Yoshi dunna count either???...no, of course not, cuz it's the BG Series an' theys perfect (add whatever sarcastic comment ya wants 'ere)...so TNO's sex isna a topic fer discussion...his race, howe'er, IS (Grace an' TNO 'ave a nice long chat 'bout it)...his latest persona, fer those who know 'im, is also...an' his class is, e'en if theys limited...an' his history wit' those who does know 'im makes the NPCs that much more in depth...an' there's lots o' unknowns, e'en wit' the ones who know him; who he is now, why he is who he is/was, what path will he choose this time, will it finally end, etc...an' still no sight o' anythin' that shows SoA NPCs should count an' PS:T ones should not...but keep wit' the excuses; reminds me o' the ol' days an' it be the most time I's spent on 'ere in a month... ...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> they only have to react to a specific character. Rather than an unknown in advance variable. Really cant make it any more clear than that. Try to imagine the PST NPC's then add in gender/race and class spefic dialogues.. Considering that PST will fall appart even by something as simple as changing the protagonists sex.

It's exactly what I said only said in a different way. The NPCs know in advance who the character will be because there will only be one character. When the designer writes a romance, well no need to allow for different genders because you only have one gender. Different races , no need for those either just human. Classes, only three of those... See the difference ? I said PST didnt count I didnt say that the NPCs were better or worse. Much of the depth of PSTs NPCs come from two things. There are less of them, they only have to react to a specific character. Rather than an unknown in advance variable.

In PST you can only be one possible character, that makes things easy for the NPCs. Clear enough for you ? Plus it has less than half of the NPCs that BG has which means you can spend more time on each one at the expence of having less choice.

PST dosnt count the NPCs rely on the fact that they know who the protagonist is from the outset. Otherwise I would have used a JRPG as an example but the same applies there. Plus in PST you dont get much choice when it comes to NPCs. BG has more to choose from.

Probably BG because it was the first. Though the bleakness of IWD came across incredibly well so it's very close between those two. NWN ,well ick. Get deja vu all the time playing that game. Hey look the temple of Lathander is the Halls of Justice. Wow so is that temple in HotU... Not to mention every crypt looking like the creator ruins. More to do with tiles than 3d it has to be said.

Get both. The back catalogue of really cheap games makes it more than worthwhile. As for the next gens, well unless you have to have one, or something comes out that you just cant pass up. It's usually best to wait for at least a year before buying a new console.

Not if it required doing unreastic things to improve.

Boo isnt a hamster, he's an animated hair piece.

Funny I seems to recall you whining about things falling from ceilings

I think I'll rent it. It was on my must buy list but now it's not. If you do buy it and you live in the UK I suggest somewhere like GAME which will take the game back and give you a refund if you dont like it.

Oh yeah I remember that one. I played with a party of 5 drow and a Deep Gnome so you can just imagine my levels. I think concentrated Xbow fire and the deepgnomes mirror image and innate AC was what carried me through. IWD II had some really great AI and combined monster tactics.

Invisible thief to scout the traps. Couple of explosive arrows to clear out his friends. He didnt last long even in the first game. I really wanted to go one on one with him, but he was too tough for that. But he was fodder for a party. The kobold commando's with fire arrows gave me more trouble than the end encounter IWD II's was kind of tough depending on what you did prior to it. But it also had a very noticable pattern. If you stopped the casters early before they could fill the area with summons (once that happened you were on the defensive) and contain the bosses till their enchantments wore off it was actually very easy. Bit like playing Zelda, figuring out the pattern is most of the battle. KOTORs end battle was actually quite hard. I didnt have any way to crack the tubes so I had to fight him 6 or 7 times. healing the same time as he ran off to heal. Very cheesey and not the satisfying clash I was imagining it to turn out.

It's all about experience. If KOTOR was your first game then you may well think it was hard. KOTOR II uses the same model as KOTOR so you dont have a learning phase. I used to think BG was hard, till I played it the second time None of the following IE games had the "hardness" of BG simply because I was used to how they worked by then.

I never liked it. It leads to having to do artificial things like casting spells over and over when you really dont need to, or having to trigger extra encounters just for weapon training. By the time I got to the end only a fraction of my spells were higher than level 1. Oddly enough I was going to ask if Sqaure invented learn by doing because I noticed the date on Dawn of Souls. Anyone know any learn by doing games that pre date it ?

Definately a bad idea for posters in general. But for people who work for other companies they usually have something insightfiul to say. Being able to pick them out would be handy.

See? That's what happens when you let 'em apply your almighty 'Rule 0' way too much. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It suited the games cinematic approach.