marelooke

You can completely ignore the microtransaction aspect. It's a good game, overall. But how's the atmosphere? I thought DS2 was a nice shooter with horror elements, but it didn't scare me anywhere near the amount the first game did (except that bit where ). I think the more streamlined combat contributed to that (in DS you sort of had this feeling you were in a heavy suit, so getting jumped from behind was baaaaaaad as you couldn't just spin around UT-style), but maybe knowing (roughly) what was going on also sort of dampened the scare factor.

Honestly, I think most people's views are a bit more nuanced than "Obsidian rockorz!" and "BioWare sucksorz!" IMHO: The difference between Obsidian and BioWare games is that the latter lack the soul of the former (while they also lack the huge amount of bugs Obsidian generally manages to generate) There's reasons why NWN2 > NWN1 and KotOR2 > KotOR1 and I'm pretty sure it's not just because it's big bad evil BioWare vs goody-two-shoes Obsidian. Of course both NWN2 and KotOR2 were buggy as hell on release (both also had rushed endings), par for the course for Obsidian (though I do hope they won't have this problem s much with PoE now that they get to set their own deadline), but even with all their defects I consider them superior to the BioWare predecessors (and I picked these two games because they provide a ground for direct comparison between the two companies) Now the "problems" with BioWare's later games are generally attributed to EA because "stuff" started happening after the acquisition. ME2's success formula got copied over DA:O's formula resulting in Dragon Effect. Simply because Mass Effect sold a lot better than Dragon Age (iow seems like a valid move from a financial perspective, if you forget that the target audiences for both games were rather different which was BioWare's stated reasoning for having the two franchises, if you recall). Then some of the bad stuff from DA2 got copied back over to ME3 (eg. the combat in ME3 is worse than 1 and 2 and more akin to DA2's, including parachuting in reinforcements, though it is less obvious in most of ME3 than it is in DA2) So yeah, with EA at the wheel BioWare has obviously moved to conquering a more mainstream market by streamlining their content and making everything more console friendly (imho the second reason why DA2 is Dragon Effect, is the mechanics from DA:O translated rather badly to consoles). I think it's understandable that there is some bitterness about BioWare becoming yet another EA "same-game-new-year factory" chasing whatever is suspected to sell best compared to following some clear artistic vision or experimenting with new ideas. I've long since given up on "old BioWare" (pardon the nostalgia) and I'm taking the games as they come and judging them for what they are, but I'm not expecting BioWare to do anything to "revolutionize" the genre as taking risks is not something that is, or ever has been, on EA's agenda (just look at TOR, it's basically World of Warcraft with BioWare storytelling). The one thing that does bother me with "modern" BioWare is their PR, they like to spin things to their advantage the same way you'd expect from any generic soulless company (iow, sometimes it's borderline lying). For that, I resent them (as I got caught by it with DA2). Now I just ignore all their PR and get my information from secondary sources (iow, I now treat them the same as any generic game developer), so it's at least already gone through a bull**** filter (thanks for that btw guys and gals) EDIT: typos

Yeah, I measure all the games I play to the same standard, instead of applying a different set based on what studio a game was made by. In fact, that probably IS a result of me being a lawyer. I hold sequels to the standards set by their predecessor(s), and DA2 doesn't hold up. It's a reasonably pretty hack & slasher with boring combat and a shoddy story and even though I wanted to see the other one of the two endings I abandoned my second playthrough very early on. If I had to score it I'd probably give it 65/100(*), if I had to score it compared to DA:O I might give it 20/100 and I sort of wish reviewers would also make that distinction as being a sequel there's certain expectations that are set. Big departures from core mechanics are usually a bad idea and just ripping out tactical combat when that was one of the main features of the predecessor is not going to go over well (among other things). The way BioWare handled the entire thing made my respect for them plummet into negatives, but that's not relevant to my opinion on the game (although it is very relevant to the likelihood I will pre-order any of their games again). Another recent example would be Tomb Raider (the new one), it's a good game and I enjoyed it, but if I had to score it as a Tomb Raider game it'd fail miserably, unfortunately the reviews only take the former into account which imho gives a very skewed view on the game. * the scores I've used here aren't really well thought out, it's very possible that if I'd bother to write an actual review and work out a proper scoring system they'd be rather different. On topic: I had some good fun being a dictator in Tropico 3. Though I never managed to get a decent education system going. Oh well, at least my coffers were full and the uneducated were easy to push around

The MMO I enjoyed best was EverQuest 2, which I stopped playing because they kept streamlining it (read: WoW-ifying) (well I also had a lot of fun in World of Warcraft during The Burning Crusade, but after that expansion things kinda went downhill faster and faster) EverQuest 2 had a nice skill system that left room for "fun skills" on top of all the must haves for an "optimal build" (and unlike in most MMOs what was "optimal" was often debatable), it had a huge world to explore with lots of old, dusty and forgotten corners you could re-discover and some dungeons that actually required puzzling to get through (loved the haunted mansion). They also had a nice system that allowed high level players to help out newer players while still getting experience out of it but without leaving them with all their high-level power, it even worked reasonably well. Being able to use whatever gear you wanted as "appearance gear" was pretty darn cool as well and often a reason to go on some epic quest to obtain a certain good looking item. Of course, having your own house that you could decorate and stuff with trophies of victories past was also a very nice touch. And you can play as a Fae (or an Evil Fae, can't remember their name though). C'mon! The negatives for me were a very crappy game engine and total disinterest from SOE to actually maintain the game (read: buggy resource hog, compared to say, WoW) and the inability of paying subscribers to play in the F2P servers with access to everything the sub entitled us to (that killed it for me, since my friend didn't want to sub and I didn't want to ditch my guildies. The GMs being rude and unhelpful about it didn't help any either). The raids also sort of sucked since it was pretty much impossible to get the timing right on a lot of bosses without third party (paid) tools or lots of trial and error. That said, as a mmoRPG it's still the best I've played and I've actually considered resubscribing now that it's supposedly out of the hands of SOE. I fear it will get killed by whatever new EQ game they're working on though, which will most likely be just another generic WoW clone with a few "oh wow" features they'll use as an excuse to claim "it's different" (Rift and TOR say "hi!") I'm also a sort of EVE player, as in, I still have a sub running and occasionally do stuff but to actually really enjoy EVE takes quite a lot of time imho, time I currently do not have. But flying around and enjoying the sights doesn't get old.

This. The BG2 romances worked because they didn't end once you did the deed, they continued and had a lasting effect on your relationship with that person. Sex shouldn't be the goal of the relationship, it should just be a side effect. They also at least felt as if they occurred over a much longer period of time your party spent together, which imho felt a lot more natural and I wouldn't even be surprised that if you went through the game really fast it was possible to outpace the romance code since iirc romance events were at least partly on a timer so they didn't just occur at fixed points in the narrative. With AAA games seemingly becoming shorter and shorter (I wrote down how long I took to finish each Mass Effect game the first time through, iirc it was something like 60,40,30 hours for 1, 2 and 3 respectively, and I'm a completionist.) relationships feel more and more unnaturally rushed, especially since they don't occur on a timer but at fixed points in the narrative, so if you somehow have a few "major stops" in a row you get a lot of character exposition in a short period, if you then go a-side-questing nearly nothing companion-character-development related happens anymore. Anyway, let me return to the campfire/ship and hear what my compatriots have to say, because they're damn mutes when we're at the pub. (which is another problem imho, interaction in the BG games was random, so while the dialogues were mostly the same between playthroughs, if, when and where they would occur could vary greatly, sometimes leading to really weird and hilarious scenes* or conversations happening at rather odd moments, like right before you get ambushed or some romance dialogue triggering on a graveyard) But maybe I'm just looking through the rose-coloured goggles of memories of fun times past. * (minor) BG2 spoilers:

Only if you bought them through GFWL, if you got them on disc you didn't need GFWL for anything.

Interesting (imho) interview with Swen Vincke (also linked from the latest KS update, so you might have seen it already) about the role of user feedback in Divinity: Original Sin's development, some history about Larian (which most here probably already know) and a little bit about their (possible) plans for the future (apparently he's not exactly opposed to making a non-fantasy RPG, huzzah!): http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/03/05/larian-on-near-closure-divinitys-future-gender-parity/

The level I'm talking about is the Kshatriya level from the Factions DLC, it's the only DLC level I'd really recommend (the rest is imho rather average) Also, looks like Survarium is a MMO, bummer. Still keeping an eye on it since, well, seems to be the closest to Stalker 2 we'll ever get

Both, I guess. I haven't spent nearly the same amount of time with ME3 as with the other two. I thought the way the entire Quarian-Geth situation was dealt with was pretty weak (in fact, I thought the way they dealt with most situations in ME3 was rather weak, except for Tuchanka I guess which I thought was pretty great) Though I should probably play through the game again to see what they changed after I played it (and to refresh my memory).

Are you aware of Survarium? After GSC folded, some of the devs went on to found Vostok Games... and that's what they are working on. Thanks for the link, I'll need to do some serious reading up on (and keeping track of) this game! I was aware GSC folded in rather odd circumstances, wasn't aware the devs went on to create a sequel though (also: istr GSC were talking about taking Stalker 2 to consoles before they folded, which seriously worried me). No, the main game plays very similarly to 2033. Some mechanics have been more streamlined (like stealth), but if you disliked 2033 you'll more than likely dislike LL. But one of the DLC has you actually go out from a fixed spot and collect artifacts. You have limited filters (for your gas mask)/ammo and you can't just stock up indefinitely because price goes up with every filter you already have on you (which is a bit dodgy from a purely logical point of view but it balances things nicely) and you get sent out to find entrances to the Great Library and collect artifacts on the way to be able to buy more filters/better gear (carry capacity is limited to 5 artifacts). You can also only save in the "base", so returning is both a necessary as well as a tactical consideration. There really isn't much loot to be found (outside of the artifacts), so new gear an weapons need to be bought (except for two exceptions that make sense from the story). Mutants do tend to drop ammo (which is a bit annoying), but is explained by them eating their victims whole (while they don't really drop a lot of ammo I didn't really have shortages either on normal difficulty, but it didn't take long for me to have enough cash that just buying the ammo wouldn't have been a real issue either). I thought they did a rather good job on making you actually feel like a vulnerable human in a pretty messed up environment (that said, aside from a few run-ins with Librarians I never died). I don't remember how long the DLC took me to finish (an hour or two I think), but a full game based on these mechanics would be pretty damn awesome in my book.

I really liked Tali in ME1/2.

Oh yes, I finished all of Metro: Last Light's DLC missions (after finishing the base game earlier). I must say the one where you go artifact hunting out from a set location and gradually go farther and farther out was awesome fun and I'd love it if they'd make a game out of it. Which just reminds me that I'd really really like another S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game... *sigh* The rest of the DLC missions was pretty, well, meh. Not bad, not great either (and the one where you play as a Nazi Heavy felt seriously RNG).

That happened in Two Worlds if you didn't train up some skill that allowed you to swim with (heavy) armor iirc.

I don't know is the honest answer. I'll see if there's a demo. If it veers back to DA:O territory enough then perhaps. Manage thy expectations! That's how I enjoyed DA2 for multiple playthroughs--I knew it was never going to be an old-school RPG and thus it was quite fun. Demand that things be that which they are not, and you'll always be disappointed. DA2s combat was terribly consolized and I endured it more than I enjoyed it. It seems DA:I is going in the same direction so I'll probably pass this game up at release unless it gets rave reviews from sources that matter (iow, not your average gaming journalist) and get the "Ultimate Edition" in some Steam sale well after launch (assuming my plate isn't filled by lots of awesome crowdfunded games of course). Mages were broken when DA:O was released, once certain powers were brought back in line it was possible to play through the game without them (I think I went dual wield swordsman + Alistair to tank + Shale to offtank + some rogue). I considered the dialogue wheel and it's limitations adequate for the Mass Effect series, which I've mostly considered an interactive movie. I think it's rather sad that the voiced protagonist and dialogue wheel have infested so many other games that would likely be better off without it. It worked for ME and it works in select other games with "fixed" protagonists (eg. Batman games...) but usually when playing an CRPG *I* want to define the main character and his/her voice is the voice *I* make up in my head. Voiced protagonists and the limited options expressiveness wise (there often are multiple options that lead to exactly the same result in RPG dialogues, but the *way* it is formulated each time matters to me as player) that a dialogue wheel bring force me to play someone else's character.

KotOR2 is the biggest disappointment I've had in my gaming career, due to being totally awesome but only half finished (I'm aware of the restoration project and I'm not taking it into account as it's a community effort). Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines was the biggest positive surprise I've had in my gaming career so far. That game has such a great atmosphere. RTwP is the best balance between the button mashing that tends to be RT combat and the slow tactical bore that tends to be TB combat. The worst thing about PS:T is not the combat, but the UI and most of the problems people have with the combat can be traced back to the atrocious UI. Bad UI (or more generally UX) design kills more games than mediocre cliché ridden stories ever will be able to. I can play through a clichéd story with clunky mechanics (as long as it's well told), but if I have to constantly fight the game and UI it's game over (The Witcher 2 says "hi"). The importance of the story to make a good cRPG game is wildly overrated compared to the presentation of said story to the player. Nobody has managed to make wizards actually work well in a RT combat system. Hmm, I think I might have to change my name now.

It's mostly Russians in Warframe. Usually when you find a host that's unplayably laggy its a Russian (at least if you play in EU TZ, US TZ seems to generally fare better) that is assuming you play on PC (but who in their right mind plays shooters on consoles *trololol*). Fwiw, Warframe is a pretty fun grindfest. I made it to Mastery Rank 10 (ready for 11 but my laptop is too slow to do the test, or play Warframe in any "real" fashion, so it'll have to wait until I have access to my desktop). I'm still bummed they removed the Infested from planets as they made for pretty fun long solo survival/defense matches. And the Soma has pretty much lost its king of the hill status, while it's definitely an "easy" (aka good allrounder) weapon there's many many more viable options since Damage 2.0 and I've stopped grabbing the cliché Rhino (or Trinity) + Soma combo for "hard" stuff (if I'm feeling lazy I often grab the Ignis nowadays...)

Well, NDA is still up, so can't really say much. But gotta agree with the RPS article. Maybe it picks up after, at least Bester seems to like it. If I get another invite I might force myself past the early bit and maybe my opinion will change.

I thought the opposite - overall - in regards to Metro: Last Light. Much preferred 2033. The stealth was even poorer in Last Light than in 2033, the plot was completely pants-on-head retarded, (particularly anything involving Anna, who you make love to after having maybe five minutes total of actual face time with her - I quit and then uninstalled maybe fifteen minutes after that), uh...I felt like the gunplay was about the same, except more hampered by the even more ridiculously easy stealth, so I never used a real gun against anything mutants at any time, anyways...Khan went from a wise old man to some crack-smoking hippie "duuuude"...Miller and the other Rangers basically became your archetypal American meathead soldiers...I was very unimpressed, overall. The final nail in the coffin, though, was that (quite frankly) idiotic love-making scene with Anna. Maybe it was just me, but I would've shot her before doing what Artyom did with her. If you're going to make a tsundere-like character, please spend more than literally no time at all to transition between "you are a worthless sack of crap, I laugh at you with my thick Russian accent, ha ha ha" and "oooohh, artyom-san, I missed you soooooo much, I've been so worried about you and oh how I missed you! now come make love to me in this disease-ridden hell-hole...". When that...Communist, was it?...held her hostage as leverage against you, I immediately shot at him. The completely psychotic things you can do when you're being forced into impossibly railroaded situations not of your liking! Just finished Metro: Last Light as well. And yups, a lot of things make zero sense if you think about them even the slightest bit. And yeah spending (much) more time around Anna would've made that entire "relationship" thing make much more sense. Also wasn't too fond about the weapon modification thing, given how rarely you encountered places where you could modify your weapons I just ended up using pretty much the same weapons throughout the entire game (even more so than in the previous game), as I didn't want to sacrifice my familiar setup for something that might not work too great past the next point of no return. Some weapons are only encountered much too late in as well (and I'm not about to drop loads of dough on a gun of which I have no idea how it will perform). But maybe that is just me... As for the stealth, I preferred it over the Metro 2033 system where you often had no idea how visible you were and often were 100% visible to enemies even in very dark corners leading to some pretty frustrating levels. That said, I feel they might have gone overboard in the other direction with the watch. Still, I rather they retain the new system than go back to the 2033 system (or lack thereof) Overall I enjoyed the game, still have to play through the DLC levels and considering the stealth wasn't quite as frustrating as in 2033 I might actually replay this at some point to get a totally "no-kills" playthrough (think I killed one guy I shouldn't have, /sigh, got the same in Deus Ex: HR at the helicopter defense and a few dudes eaten by rats, at least that's my assumption, in Dishonored)

What? They never had the rights in the first place. It was a fan-made sequel until they decided to become legit developers and had to drop the franchise. It has nothing to do with Dungeon Keeper Mobile - this development happened before Dungeon Keeper Mobile was even announced. Anyway, as an early access backer I'm still on the fence on War for the Overworld. All it's done successfully so far is make me want to play the older Dungeon Keeper games instead. It looks the part, but it so far doesn't have any of the charm - they are playing it far too straight. Hmm, I must've been misinformed then, I read they were fine using the name until that Mobile thing came around. My apologies. That said I'm curious how it will turn out, can hardly be worse than that F2P thing. I probably still know all Dungeon Keeper levels by heart, so even if the urge to play is there it'd probably be a short stint. Maybe I should get my hands on the Deeper Dungeons, though I remember mostly frustration with that. KotOR2 is certainly better in pretty much every way (which doesn't mean that KotOR isn't a good game, of course). The main problem with KotOR2 is that it was released unfinished and stayed that way until fans fixed it. Something I'm still bitter about (sue me). Which reminds me that I should really give the restored version another try (I couldn't get it to run last time I tried, which admittedly was a while ago)

Phew, I thought you were talking about the *real* new Dungeon Keeper game for a while, not that pathetic offshoot. Glad I'm wrong and the review is about the pathetic offshoot. (yeah yeah, technically it's probably the other way around, gameplay wise that's how it is though) I am, of course, referring to War of the Overworld which aims to replicate the Dungeon Keeper (mostly 1, with the non-sucky bits of 2 added) gameplay. They lost the rights to the Dungeon Keeper franchise due to that pathetic excuse of a game above or this would have been Dungeon Keeper 3. Oh yes, website's here. Game is in Early Access on Steam currently and it's starting to shape up. Still seriously alpha though but it's stable and it actually feels like Dungeon Keeper (though the voice acting is sort of "meh" imho, hopefully that's just temporary) Wasn't able to participate in the previous one I was invited to, seems like they don't do second chances Keep use posted, I'm curious how this one will turn out (though, since it's a MMO, my expectations are rather low ) If you already gotten invites, aren't they still valid. Only people who didn't get invited previously got new ones this time around I think. The mail I got says my account and characters are still there. Not that I'll be able to participate this time due to being out of town, but still. Just got an e-mail, seems the previous invite is indeed still valid. Nice! Bethesda is imho good at making worlds that are fun to explore, if they at least carried that bit over to TESO it might be worth picking up. Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to take a peek.

Wasn't able to participate in the previous one I was invited to, seems like they don't do second chances Keep use posted, I'm curious how this one will turn out (though, since it's a MMO, my expectations are rather low )

Wasn't this how it worked in the first Witcher? While not as epicly slow as mkreku's description of Gothic it was still something that left you vulnerable for the time it took Geralt to drink the potion. As for shattering the vials, I always considered them to be some sort of metal/steel containers rather than plain glass, otherwise the way he wears them on him would probably result in no potions after a battle, whether he used them or not... ;-)

True that. They generally provide plenty of hours for their price, especially compared to the stuff many of their competitors dare charge you for. Otoh one could hold them responsible for introducing that idea as well *cough* horse armor *cough* I've picked up Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning during the sale this weekend. I remembered not being particularly impressed by the demo. I also remembered people saying the demo was kinda bad compared to the full game. I'm level 11 or so now (arrived in Didenhill), game's not too bad, though so far I'd only give it like a 6/10 or so. Pretty average on all counts. It often feels just like an offline MMO, in the way the quests are delivered and how they play out, how combat works and how the world "feels".

Most Skyrim quests are pretty bland. The one you talk about here (part of the last DLC iirc) is easily one of the best, if not the best, quest in the game. It's also the only quest I remember where I actually gave a damn about any of the NPCs (RIP Katria). Now don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoyed Skyrim and put many many hours into the game and while I'll disagree that the writing was bad per se I wouldn't call most of the writing "engaging", at least not in a way that "sticks" (if that makes any sense) Though the fact that their character writing (Serana was pretty good for a Bethesda character as well) was becoming better near the end does give me hope for the next Elder Scrolls game.

Haven't been following this one closely (I consider TW2 a pretty big letdown still, mechanics wise) but so far I haven't seen anything about movement and/or combat, has that been talked about in any detail at all yet? (if so, any pointers?)