Child of Flame

You forgot the most important element. Uwe Boll for director!

But you just persecuted Visc and Calax for saying they hated your religion (Christianity). " Zing!

I am loser. I do not know how that 'n' got there. Also, though I didn't say it before, XIII was probably best shooter of the year, year it came out. The throwing knives in that game were the bestest ever, and all the environmental weapons, especially the broken glass shurikens, were extremely fun to use. It saddens me that it stands less of a chance of getting it's intended sequel than Beyond Good & Evil considering it doesn't have anyone like Michel Ancel backing it.

I only did that because it was rebellious. I mean seriously, what kind of red-blooded American does things for charity without any sort of tax cut? Quiet you!

Honestly if you only played the demo in a Kiosk, you didn't even give it a fair shake. The Demo version IIRC, was just a tiny part of the first dungeon, you don't have any of the really fun gear, and there's no characters to get attached to, hell, it's even the most boring part of the entire world. A far better thing for them to have put in the demos would have been the co-op dungeon with Medli, now that was a fun dungeon. I already knew your opinion though Ender, I suggest you pick up Beyond Good & Evil, as it's an even better example of what I'm talking about. Beautiful, stylized game that was.

Cows, an' water, and lots an' lots o' trees.

Wot's wrong wit a good ol' assass'nation ev'ry now an' 'gain?

It worked over here. I've got a screenshot if you don't believe it. Only one I recognize on the first page is Runescape though.

It is poor business. Period. If the maufacturer (Bioware), provides a dual analog controller (following the XBOX format, not PS2), they are incurring an additonal cost - a cost which could otherwise be avoided; a cost that reduces their profit margin no matter what. Futhermore, forcing/recommending the buyer to PURCHASE additional periferal devices PUTS IT OUT OF THE MARKET. It is flawed to compare XBOX JE to a suppositous PC JE, because they're simply not in the same market base. PC JE doesn't have to compete with XBOX JE - it has to compete with other PC titles. Other titles which don't require you to buy extra input devices just to play the game properly, or other titles where the manufacturer doesn't have to incur further expenditure in including a controller. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I disagree. Pretty much every platformer on the PC does this, because Keyboard and Mouse are not quite as suitable for some applications. It would not require you to buy another input device to play the game properly, it would require you to buy another input device to make the game more enjoyable. Especially if the story is as good as all of you with Xboxes are saying, the Combat isn't the main focus anyway.

Based on the level of immersiveness I can get while playing games with different kinds of graphics, and more, or less fleshed out worlds and characters, I'm coming to the conclusion that this generation of games has reached a sort of Uncanny Valley. While playing games like Beyond Good & Evil, Wind Waker, or even Torment to an extent (though not so much for the same reasons, Torment is more like interacting with a good book than a game), I keep finding myself much more immersed than games with the latest and greatest graphics like Half Life 2 or Doom III. While Half Life 2, and Doom III both have very realistic looking graphics, the things that tend to break immersiveness in those games are the animations. Being conditioned from infancy to spot and recognise other humans, if any part of a human or humanoid's body isn't animated right in these games, it breaks immersiveness. Stutters do the same thing. Games like Wind Waker and Beyond Good & Evil are quite heavy on story, and the developers while choosing a stylized more cartoony look, have fleshed out the world so well that it tends to seem like a living breathing world. Because these games don't try and look real, if the animations are slightly off, then they don't break immersiveness nearly as badly as they do in a game that does try to look real. Sure on the next generation systems we're likely to be able to see fully video-realistic games, but are the development costs, and the investments (that tend to stifle innovation) worth it, when immersiveness can be achieved cheaper, making a failed title not quite as devastating, by using a stylistic art design? I hope this post hasn't rambled too much, and that my point is gotten across well enough. Basically just discuss your opinion on which type of design is better.

Are you saying that your copy is stolened?!! Shame on you sir, a copy of Fallout 1&2 only sets you back about $10 off of Amazon.

Valiant attempt Eru my friend - but that would be rather terrible: A WASD system would be diminish the movement JE's combat entails. The left analog stick allows for a gradation of varying diagonal angles, at which the rate of turning determines the speed. The scroll wheel would be a shocking replacement of the D-Pad. The D-Pad allows to SPECIFICALLY select which form you're using of the fly. With the scroll wheel it would be impossible given the latency of cycling through forms, rather than selecting them outright. Also, you would require two "heals", with the ability to use both at the same time if need by - one of chi, and one for heal. Futher, there isn't just one simple attack - there's also block, power attack and focus. And that doesn't even touch the combination aspect - such as attack + power attack having to be used at the SAME time for area attack etc. And flipping isn't just a matter of one key, as it needs to be specified. Example - block AND the direction AND the target select button (shoulder), will determine the flip/roll. And most importanly, ALL of the above mentioned maneuvers are a thumb's reach away and can be executed on the fly within a fraction of a second. -- Of course an XBOX clone controller can be used - but that's defeats the purpose of porting as Bioware isn't going to supply you with a controller; nor should you be expected to PURCHASE an addiitional periferal device over an above the odd $50 you just shelled out, just to be able to use the damn software. That's poor business. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Not poor business. A twenty to thirty dollar Logitech Dual Analog joypad is still cheaper than an Xbox for those that have a PC, but can't justify buying an Xbox at the price it's at (there's maybe three games I want on it that I can't get on my Cube or my PC). They put a standard control scheme similar to what I proposed in the game, make it cumbersome but workable, and then in the System Requirements tab on the bottom of the box, along with the crap config under 'Minimum' they have 'Three Button Mouse and Keyboard', and in the 'Recommended' panel, with the components and peripherals required to make the game run well they put 'Dual-Analog Joypad'. This is more than most devs do, and is entirely responsible, given some of the lackluster components you could barely get a game to run on I've seen in the Required tab before. Everyone wins this way, anyone who doesn't use the Recommended Requirements as their basic 'Can I play this game' without researching on the internets should be doing all their gaming on consoles anyway.

Those are turned based games. JE is real-time combat. You simply can't jump, roll, move, heal, change style/transform & camera angle all at the same time using a Mouse & Keyboard. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Jump = Space Roll = RMB Move = W-A-S-D Heal = Shift Change Style/Transform = Scroll Wheel Camera Angle = X/Y Axis on the Mouse What's so hard about that? I've messed around with harder control schemes. You can easily have a finger on all those buttons at the same time. Failing that, include an option for a joypad. Assuming there is an attack button, map that to the LMB, and if there's different types of attacks triggered by that attack button, have the attack be modified by the movement keys.

I thought it was Baley.

Heh. Anyway, welcome to hurricanes. This is what they do, especially to towns built below sea-level where it's impossible for water to drain. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> On the bright side, I hear the literacy population in the US has skyrocketed in the past couple days. Also, on CNN, they said Gas Prices are going to rise again, because of the loss of oil rigs along the Gulf Coast. Poop.

Oh geez. I'm watching CNN and there's a fire in one of the buildings in the Historic French Quarter. They've got two fire engines and lots of firemen that, but the hilarious thing (in a morbid sort of way) is that even though there's water all around them, the hydrants aren't working, so they can't fill up the engines. If they don't put out the fire, the buildings there are placed so closely together that it will take out the entire block if it spreads beyond the building it's in right now.

Not really, see, in the case of a quarantine one would have to assume that something is contagious, that means that if anyone leaves the quarantine, they'd be endangering someone other than their idiotic selves. That's when you start bringing out the firearms. NO! This was a sign from GOD! Like Sodom and Gomorrah, the Mardi Gras parties were too out of hand! Okay, maybe not.

There's no excuse for laziness Calax...

Pretty much. The worst bit was they cancelled it on the day of a two hour episode of American Idol so I thought it'd be on the next week. When it wasn't I was all OMGWTFBBQ?!! Then I asked the internets why it was not on and all I could find was outraged fans. :ph34r:

The real question is does jizz make the jizzy for rizzy?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Fix'd.

Don't worry, just like most good things on Fox, it'll be cancelled before the first season's up. Poor, poor Johnny Zero.

KING JAMES 'REPLIES'! After the French President sent his message to King James the other day, the King proceeded to curse under his breath, buy a French flag, relieve himself on it, and then burn it and mix the ashes with his morning tea and bourbon, then in a rare moment of clarity, he made this statement: "To the French President, The assumption that you could ever conquer the great country of Britainnia is laughable given France's military record. The only reason you beat us in the Revolutionary war was because you were fighting alongside those American buggers, right tough lads they are, chip off the old block. Though we may have had our past differences, and though I may have professed to be an ally when I was in fact working with Germany, perhaps we should put out past differences behind them and take care of the looming Russian menace, only to take up our differences after that's set aside. As it is now, Russia is poised to conquer all of Europe, and if we continue to bicker amongst ourselves, fun though bickering may be, we shall all be destroyed when the Reds come sweeping through our countries. They are quickly amassing their military might, and soon will be unstoppable if the nations of Europe don't band together for at least a short time and put the evil Tzar and his minions out of comission. After that we can, you know, start with the infighting again. Awaiting yours, and all of the Nations of Europe's responses, James."

I am pwned. And still in the game to boot.

(w00t) (w00t) (w00t)