ShadowPaladin V1.0

An 18 rating

How so ? Unless your refering to availability anyone who wants the game that much will still go to the store and get it. Your still directly competing with whatever ever else is being released at the same time too.

Interesting stuff for the most part. But turning a "book" into a game isnt really ever going to work. In order to accomplish this feat the protagonist must follow a certain path or the story will fall appart. Indeed if you examine a work such as Elric then it's pretty obvious that you NEED Elric as the protagonist or your story again falls flat. Hence the more booklike you want your game to be the less freedom you can grant the player. I mean JRPGs have been doing it for years couldnt say for sure which was the first , but the idea of an interactive narrative with strong stories which work because they play out without much player input are numerous. The best example perhaps is between FFX and FFX-2 since you have a game in the same setting (with carry over characters) but with a radically different structure and gameplay. In FFX you are Tidus (you can name him but lets stick to the default). It's the story of Tidus, being pulled from his home, coming to terms with the loss of his father , and ultimately ... Well lets not spoil it. Alongside you have Yuna who is also coming to terms with the loss of her father but in a very different way. Since her father is a revered hero who's footsteps she is following in. Along the way everything she believes is challenged and she emerges all the stronger for it and not only saves the world in the way her father did, but goes beyond that. Equally you have the supporting cast each of which is dealing with their own issues as part of the main story. The gameplay is the usual for an FF game. Linear to begin with then partially non linear, finally totally open once you get the airship. However by this point the story is reach the conclusion. It's simply upto you to determine when you "read" the final chapter. Prior to this the story is paced out (at least until you reach the calm lands at which point you can do a limited ammount of wandering). In most cases you are kept on track because of the insanely powerful creatures that have been sent after you. Cut to FFX-2. Events of FFX have left Yuna with a new outlook on life and a broken heart. She joins up with her cousin Rikku (who has sphere ,or video which contains what they think is the image of Tidus). This time you start with an airship and the whole of Spira (thats the world name) is open to you. You can go anywhere, do as little or as much as you like and therein lies the problem with regards to story. The first time I played it , I did the "hotspots" which are those areas required to drive the story onto the next chapter. I should probably explain that the game is divided into five chapter. During each chapter you can revisit every location and things will have changed to reflect the events of the game upto that point. In addition Yuna can make choices which will influence just what you do and dont see. Or as I like to say the game gives you total freedom to completely ****up. As an example in order to see the good ending (the happy ever after) you need to get a very high completed score as well as have a bloody good memory and have played FFX. While you cant miss the story exactly because you must visit these hotspots. This will just leave many holes and unanswered questions. Ironically the best way to approach the game is in a completely methodical manner doing each chapter in turn. Although leave the last area of chapter IV till last and you wont get a very funny scene (as well as a dress sphere). So like I said plenty of freedom to ****up. In fact there are so many threads linking all the subplots together that it takes a couple of games just to get them. Took me three before I got the Mascot for example. In addition to all that you have a place where the story splits in two very different directions and this will change how the game plays out. In a nutshell you have to choose between supporting the remnents of the Church of Yevon (not likely if you played FFX) or the rebelious Youth League who are kind of like a mob of football hooligans.. What you do at that pivitol point will change the game completely. So best story.. FFX no doubt about it. Everything about the game is there to enhance the story and drive it forward. Not that the FFX-2 story is bad. Its just variable depending on just what sort of effort you put in. In some cases it can be like reading half a book simply because you can intentionally or unintentionally miss so much of it.

Having a bunch of yes men as fans dosnt help.

Most are protected buildings. You are very limited to just what you can do, especially with regards to the exterior.

It still looks like the only way to cater to most peoples whims is to copy Suikoden III's model. In essence the game is split into three sub stories with each having it's own protagonist. As the game progresses the level of the protagonist raises. Protagonist one will start off at level 1 , two will start off at level 20 etc. All will end up more or less the same level at the point you have to make a choice of which to use to the end. The others will then take on other roles determined by the story. The problem is if you only have a 40 hour game thats a lot of leveling in a short period of time to get the characters upto the same sort of levels. It should go without saying that the story should be concluded here period. Any further games need a clean slate so this sort of effort isnt required again.

Short terms sales are important more so today when the prices of non sellers get dropped within days sometimes. Theres much more stuff out there these days than there was at the time of PSTs original release.

Koudelka is very good. I was suprised that it has speech. It has a very survival horror sort of feel to it. I think its the darkness and the lack of save points. I broke my axe which upset me greatly since it was doing 350 on average.. Am I right in thinking the weapon levels go up the more you use a weapon and every time you reach a new level you get an additional attack ? Because Edwards started to fire two pistol shots rather than one although it's really eating up the ammo. Koudelka's flare is also at level two and seems to hit more targets, so I guess spells work the same way? And what sort of piety levels are we talking about before everyone starts resisting their own healing spells ?

True even if Malak wasnt smart he was cunning.

Bloody hell that was like a cat pouncing. Thanks

I'm just about to fire up Koudelka takes me days if not weeks to settle in again after coming home. Oh it dosnt have any instructions (only paid

I read two novels in the time it took between the turns (over the whole course of the game of course ) I never could figure out why people went on about how difficult it was either. Gothics not particularly intuative but I bet you didnt have to translate the controls from german

You think ? I'd have said he was completely thick from EP II and III or perhaps high int but reallly low wisdom.

What would we like to live in one ? No , although I wouldnt mind large grounds with a stables like my folks had. As long as It wasnt me doing the cleaning up. I'm too lazy for a house that big I'd have to have a golf cart or something to drive to the kitchen.

IWD was the first game I can recall needing a patch... Game would always crash in the Ice Giant cave. Guy at IP tech support was great though. They even sent me some free stuff and a copy of the AI writing instructions. Dont recall any problems with Diablo at all although I never actually patched it frequently.

Castles are horribly drafty. I used to want to live in a castle, but I changed my mind after spending the week up in Scotland.

Probably, but it's still funny when you read it one after the other like that.

clipping issues hard pressed to think of any 3d game that didnt have some. never happened to me on the PSP although since I live in the UK maybe they fixed it. Lower than bloodlines ? Then again if those are the only "bugs" out of a generation of gamesI'd be pretty happy.

I laughed a bit when they said they would still vote for the same government that sent troops to Iraq. Dosnt look like we have that many crackpots. But it only takes one to set off a bomb.

Your houses are pretty good value for the size.

Bet you they fix things too. Care to name some ? I own a lot of PS2 games and I've never come across a buggy one unless you count The Getaway which crashed in the same spot all the time(which was a bad disk so i'm not sure it counts anyway). I can name a few Xbox games, but then thats why I dont have a particular liking for the Xbox.

Well as long as people continue to patch you will continue to need patches. The first was different the second really just more of the same. Yeah you had space missions but when was the last time you saw a lone trooper take over a capital ship? Worth a rental , but not worth buying. Guess thats one of the reasons I like RPGS even if the gameplay is the same the story is different.

Played Battlefront2 months ago If you mean the SW version. Too similiar to the first for my tastes and I dont much care about the EPI-III stuff so the campaign was kind of dull for the most part. The big question though did you have to patch them

Oh theres certainly a lot of crap out there regarldless of platform. Of course it's important to make a distinction between stuff you dont like and hence call crap. Or stuff that is actually crap because it's flawed, buggy or what have you. Since I'm not in the habbit of buying games I dont like anyway the former dosnt matter. Since I've never had to patch any of the console games I've played where as PC games have frequently required patching I think I'm safe in saying the PC has way more of the latter.

If the cant even realise that it uses blu ray it kind of makes them unrealiable as a source dosnt it. Look at it this way they will have to have a retail price before it's released and until that time it dosnt matter anyway.