Hurlshort

Just one AC game sells 8 million copies, to say nothing of the entire franchise. There's no RPG that sells anything like that, so basically they can't afford it. Plus the RPG developers (and there're only a few) just happen to be not that good with graphics and stuff. We'll see about DS3. I'm not sure I buy that fully. The Hitman game had huge crowd tech. and I don't think those sell way more than a Bioware game. Plus they had no way of knowing AC would be a huge hit, it was a gamble and a new IP. Maybe an RPG could sell numbers like that if they made their games look like AC. I buy the limited resources argument a bit more. I get that an RPG needs to focus on different things than an action game, but since DA2 has clearly been 'action-ized' to appeal to a wider audience, it would be nice if we got some of the best parts of being an action game as well.

The problem with Kirkwall is you have games like Assassin's Creed with actual bustling cities, and for some reason every RPG still has the bad economic downturn look. I like Kirkwall myself. I thought the art for the city was very solid, and it seems like a decent sized city. I haven't played enough to be certain, but it is already better than the DA human and dwarf cities.

I'm supposed to take a bunch of 8th graders to Yosemite next week, but the storms have been pretty rough up there and it might get cancelled. There was another school there this week that was evacuated and apparently it took them 10 hours to get home, it is normally about a 4 hour drive. The power is out in Yosemite Valley and the roads are closed, but today is supposed to be the last bad storm day, so hopefully it will lear enough for us to go.

I'm almost level 24 in Rift, and it is still a blast to play. There is a great variety of stuff to do, questing, pvp, closing rifts, crafting, artifact collecting... they really did a good job on all of them.

Carver is your brother, so if he tried to hit on you in his short time, that would be breaking new ground, at least.

I'm just bummed. I'm a rather big fan of the DA universe. I read both books and though the first one was great and the second was decent. I thought DA1 was a solid game, although I wasn't a fan of the wardens. I had a bit of trouble with the expansion, but I got through it and thought it wrapped up the second book well. But I was really looking forward to DA2 as a move away from all the Warden depressing stuff, and so far it hasn't captured my attention at all.

So I've just barely started Dragon Age 2, but one of the first parts of the game bothered me. First off, this isn't a spoiler because it is literally the second thing that happens in the game. I'm trying to get into Kirkwall. There is a guard telling me about why the town is closed, and he says a ship will be arranged to get us back to Ferelden eventually. There is a group of deserters nearby who are also pretty upset about this. We make a bit of a stink about us having family in Kirkwall and the guard says they might be able to get a hold of our family and find a way for us to get in. This is where the game goes crazy... The deserters go nuts because we might get in, and attack the city guards. There are so many things wrong with this whole scenario. 1. These guys escaped Fereldan by deserting against the darkspawn invasion, are they really going to take on a fortress of enemies? 2. There wasn't any real sign that they were being mistreated, they weren't supposedly starving or anything like that. They were even promised passage on a boat, granted it was back to Fereldan. But is the city of Kirkwall the only place in the entire world? 3. I had to kill these guys, and it was literally treated like I just cleaned out rats from a cellar. We couldn't get them to surrender or something? It just sets an odd tone, like it's no big deal to go around killing folks. I guess I'm spoiled by games that make this stuff somewhat meaningful. 3.

Would you rather get less money? He's probably rather not get audited, more like.

Karate Kid - The new one that is actually Kung Fu kid. Ok, I was a big fan of the original, I grew up with it really, but this new version was awesome. The setting was phenomenal, Jackie Chan was on par with Mr. Miyagi, and Will Smith's kid has some great acting chops.

Up to level 22 in Rift and I just finished my first dungeon. The dungeon was pretty standard, I'd say it's the first thing in Rift that hasn't impressed me. Everything else in the game has been similar to other MMO's but pulled off just a bit cooler or smoother. Ah well, there was nothing wrong with it, I was just hoping for something neater. It didn't help that it was in a dingy tomb. I also finally installed Dragon Age 2. I was happy to see that I could import my save game, I didn't think it would matter with this being a separate storyline, but now I look forward to seeing the impact of my previous decisions. Maybe I'll get some e-mails from people in Fereldan.

I just get along really well with quite a few posters here. It isn't that we all share similar opinions or lifestyles, but something just makes it easy to converse with the folks here. I don't have many really close friends that I talk about everything with, other than my wife, but I find myself being able to do that here. It's great.

To be fair to Volourn, Alpha Protocol did destroy his childhood.

That's the thing, there is very little chance a Fallout based game would compare well to any of the good movies out there. In fact it would probably be super cheesy.

In AP -

I don't really think there is a shortage of good post-apoc. movies, so I have no desire to see a Fallout one. Especially in the last few years, we've received a ton of high quality post-apoc. movies.

Any reason why you left out poor George Clooney? Keaton is the better Batman, Bale was in the better movie.

Why would a game even bother with a bunch of failure options? Most non-sadists like to feel a sense of accomplishment when they complete something. If you really want a failure option, just let yourself get killed and then exit the game. Good job.

Surprisingly, I agree with all of Volo's 'greater than' statements. I actually preferred HotU to MoTB, but by MoTB I was pretty burnt on D&D. What I was saying earlier is comparing an expansion to a base game is problematic. An expansion by nature is going to a be a tighter, more refined game than any OC. That doesn't mean it can't go terribly wrong. ME2 over AP was a tough one for me, but I can give ME2 a slight nod I suppose.

I've always stayed away from raids in other MMO's because they seem like work and I don't really want somebody yelling at me about how to kill a dragon, but when it is as simple as running up to a big rift in an area and hitting the join public group button, it makes it pretty accessible. You also are rewarded based on your contribution, so that works out good. Admittedly, raiding in WoW takes a bit more organization as you need certain classes in the party but the "raiding" is the same, going to kill some big baddie. How does it work in Rift? Say only dps and tanks happen to be in the raid, is it just a wipefest because no healers happened to wander by when a rift opened? Most rifts can be closed pretty easily with a decent group, healers or no. There are also a lot of hybrid healer classes, so having no healing is fairly unlikely. Now there is the occasional big guy stomping around, and he would be a pain to kill with no dedicated healers, but you can always choose to run away from him.

Give credit where credit it's due. Storywise: Kotor2>Kotor NWN MoB>>>>NWN That's a pretty unfair comparison. If you want to compare NWN to NWN 2, or the NWN expansions to one another, that's another thing. But comparing a base game to an expansion is a bit of a reach.

GFY. Good For you? Great Friends Yippee?

I've always stayed away from raids in other MMO's because they seem like work and I don't really want somebody yelling at me about how to kill a dragon, but when it is as simple as running up to a big rift in an area and hitting the join public group button, it makes it pretty accessible. You also are rewarded based on your contribution, so that works out good.

I reached level 20 in Rift. I'm starting to feel pretty studly, wandering the lands shutting down Rifts. I helped kill some giant yesterday as well, it was pretty intense, I think we had about 20 people attacking the guy. I was also swimming out in the middle of nowhere and came across a chest with decent armor and some water breathing potions. There is a ton of cool stuff in this game.

Humming along at level 18 in Rift. My character is really starting to get interesting, I've put most of my points in Paladin but I've also spent a few in Warlord, and now I've got a nice mix of buffs and shield based attacks. I really like my chances against spellcasters, I can disrupt them on a regular basis. Last night I went through a place called the Iron Fortress. I think my server population is a bit low because there was literally no one around, and so I had to be very careful as I made my way through a place packed with bad guys. I managed to solo a few major plot baddies thanks to judicious use of scrolls and special items, and I really enjoyed the challenge. Now I'm on to the second zone, so we will see how that goes.

I'm not sure on the pace combat in TOR. It looks cool enough, but it is definitely more of a minigame implementation. I wish they had a system where you actually fly around a la Freespace and do quests, but I guess that is too much to ask.