marelooke

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?)

Aye, the D:OS alpha is very alpha for how close to their release they already were. But with Larian feature creep is a given so yeah, no surprise here either. As for the Styx game, will it have similar draconian DRM (limited activations) to "Of Orcs and Men" (reason I didn't touch that game on release, since removed though from what I heard) or am I allowed to get excited?

Except that, to a degree, in an MMO you have to afford the ability to solo because there will not always be somebody to play with you at all times. Multiplayer content can be the focus of your game, but you have to design a majority of your content (mostly of the leveling persuasion) around only one player being around at any time. This is why most MMO's are endgame focused... because endgame is the only time you can guarantee there will be a large segment of your population twittling their thumbs. Although City of Heroes added layer after layer of things to the midgame and was built around alts. Out of all the MMO's I've played EverQuest 2 (EQ2) kept me interested the longest (aside from WoW, which was my first and as such has a bit of a special case). The reason I quit playing that game had less to do with the game content than with the utter lack of attention the developer (SOE) had for the game and the constant taking away of features to make the game more easily accessible to new players (read it became more and more of a WoW-clone) I really liked EQ2's ability to "downscale" high level characters (forgot the actual name for it), it worked reasonably well too (except for the fact that it didn't account for out-of-date content, iow high level gear had certain stats that simply didn't exist in the early areas), the real great thing about it was that it actually benefits both the low and the high level characters so it happened very often that when a "lowbie" couldn't find a group there would almost always be a bunch of high level characters ready to jump in to help. The fact that there was just a huge world to explore also helped, it wasn't until the last few expansions that there were multiple areas to go quest in, there were even just "adventure packs", which contained more same-level content with only cosmetic rewards but that had fun storylines. It is entirely feasible (and likely) to hit max level in EQ2 and not have seen more than half of the "world map" and up until the end I kept discovering new quests, dungeons etc, some of which even "ancients" (just made this up, but I mean players that had been playing since the beginning) had forgotten about. You could, and I often did, alone or in group, just go out to an area and see the sights. Sure raiding with people is fun, PvP (world or otherwise) can be great fun if you're into it. But there needs to be more to the world than being guided from area to area doing the same old quests following a singular storyline ending with getting a group to fight some bosses, same as everyone else. There needs to be stuff to discover and the discovery ought to be a reward in itself, not the subject of random achievements ("find all the hidden stone tablets with bull**** written on them"). I remember grinding reputation with factions just to acquire some cool looking (in *my* mind anyway) garb for my character and most of those factions weren't exactly the "endgame" factions. I recall trudging all over entire continents just to acquire a certain title, not because that title signified some awesome boss kill or some exclusive "achievement", but because that title was awesome in itself and *fit my character*. Or even to get some furniture for my house. This generally sounds silly to the "modern" MMO-crowd, I mean, why put effort into stuff that doesn't give you XP or 1337 gear. Right? Yeah, I didn't think so either. I guess the TL;DR, MMORPGs need to become RPGs once more. Maybe then I'll find one I can care about once more.

Restarted in X-COM after reading a bit about managing panic levels and doing much better now on the $$$ front. Quite enjoying the game though the incredible randomness of combat can be rather annoying. Then again, haven't really encountered any "hard" enemies yet afaik (the Hulk guys are the biggest baddies I've seen so far) Probably going to dabble in Divinity: Original Sin's alpha some more later as well (already made it past character creation (such as there currently is), which is further than a bunch of guys got. Also: "It's gonna be awesome!"

I laughed way more at this than I should have. Mainly because it's not that far from the reality of a lot of the dialogue. Now combine this with a voiced protagonist for Fallout Effect 4. I'm sure someone can work a dialog wheel into that! ;-)

If they'd announced they were going turn-based on the KS page they wouldn't have received anywhere near the amount of $$$ they did. While what they did was "valid" in respect to what they said (or didn't say) they would do I consider it rather "tasteless". Combat is only mentioned twice on the KS page and there certainly is no mention of either TB or RTwP or any other system. Based on the textual information on the KS page it was perfectly reasonable to expect Numenera to have a similar combat system as PS:T, but with the kinks worked out. Instead it gets a radically different one. Whether it will be an improvement will remain to be seen but I'm very sure they lost quite a lot of fans/future backers with this farce.

Personally I prefer the dwarf from Dragon Age 2 for that role.

The only mod I used was the one that placed a missing part of the Elven Chain-mail where it should be able to be found, though I don't remember which part it was but afaik it was never fixed by BioWare, so without the mod that set is impossible to complete.