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My guess is it was another great LA work. After all it's up to them to approve the RC or send it back for polishing. I think no matter how buggy or unfinished the product was, they would have approved the RC. Finding themselves with 3 SW releases in a very short time period would undoubtedly hurt their sales, and no one wants that, right?

It seems to me that they are not placing enough emphasis in the QA portion of development. With ever increasingly complex codes used in games, it's only logical that QA would also be a more complex and time-consuming task. However QA is only a minor part of the development process. I understand that it's difficult to code a piece of software that works perfectly on any hardware configuration, so, to a degree, hardware-related bugs are acceptable, but there is no explanation for bugs on console games, whose specs they have access to. Design flaws, which are also more common with each new game are not tolerable either. Compare it to buying a car which just dies each 20 miles or is lacking doors. Sure, it can carry you to places and stuff, but it's not a finished product.

Heh. Since poor poor Xboxers have been left with no update options, I guess that means we PC'ers won't be getting any new content at all, be it new items, or 'uncut' quests. I will be more than satisfied if they fix all the bugs, even more so considering that, as Ghosty said, most of the staff has been reassigned to NWN2. I don't know for sure, but I don't think Bio had their hands full with another project just after releasing K1, as Obsidian does right now. It seems these days no game comes out without enough bugs to seem like a rush.

Not worried at all. If they fail to fix the bugs and port it adequately to the PC, I will just not buy it. Rental is the key.

Some people are going to like it, and some are not. If I were to write a review about HL2 it would probably go against what most reviews out there say. Does that mean my review is wrong? Nope, it's just it's reviewed under my criteria. It was only a matter of time before somebody wrote a negative review, if only to 'be different'.

That's only true for the prequels. In the NJO era, everything sucks. :ph34r: There is still the most important issue of any Jedi action game: lightsaber combat. I'd rather not have another game with such a craptacular fighting system as that of JK2 and JA. I mean, it was fun and stuff, but it was nothing alike the movies. Jumping and running around in circles all the time is not what good ol' Obi-Wan does. We'll see how they do it for the EP3 game, but I'm not holding my hopes too high.

Maybe that's one of the reasons I didn't like NWN. However, you can summon stuff and let them do the hand to hand while you cast spells when needed. I don't need frantic action in a RPG. I by no means want a magic system which is just a buffed up bow and arrows. That's what bow and arrows are for, after all.

That's most peoples exposure to a mana based system. At least on here. However the only real difference is that instead of having spell slots you will be able to cast whatever you want whenever you want , mana permitting. So no more casting one fireball, resting to get it back, onto the next fight resting and so on. It's a lot like KOTOR Jedi dont have to choose whether to memorise force push, OR force pull you can "cast" whichever you need as the situation dictates as long as you have force points to do it. Mana systems are simply more versatile , the rest is in the implementation. Um, yeah. That's the idea behind the sorcerer magic system in D&D, but with that system, spamming is prevented. My grudge with mana is that you can usually do stuff to replenish the mana pool in combat, thus allowing the spamming of spells. Spells are supposed to be elements of strategy and balance-tippers in a fight, not just 'the mage's sword'.

I wouldn't recommend telling people what's good for them and what's not. That kind of attitude is bound to draw flak, even more considering you have a Halo sig. As for NWN2 vs DA, I will probably rent both of them first, then see if they are different enough from each other and previous CRPGs to buy any of them. I'm not too impressed with NWN2 since I found the original rather boring, but maybe DA will actually have something new to add to the genre. And yes, I agree with Volourn. Mana-based magic system sucks. It reminds me of Diablo. *cringe*

That was one of the positives, as far as I was concerned. I don't like playing an existing character (Revan was an exception because, technically, he wasn't "existing" before KOTOR was made). Uh, did Kyle Katarn exist before Dark Forces?

And why are you assuming there is going to be a third? Last time I checked, the K3 design staff had been fired.

You sure know how to make a dev happy. ^_^

It's called overhype.

Nope. Sucks, don't it? "

I don't know about that. Who is responsible for the QA? In small companies I believe it's up to the publisher. Who is responsible for giving the final thumbsup for the product? LA is. Beta testing is not the same as QA. Surely you meant 'ruining'? ^_^

The devs have stated that K2 couldn't run on the PS2, due to savegame issues, mainly IIRC. Don't know about the GC.

IMO that's wasting the game, but each to their own.

Good luck with that. I haven't seen a single LA staff member respond to anything on those forums. My guess is they just put them up for the kiddies to play. I don't think there is money worth reading all the tons of crap posted there on a daily basis, let alone take any of it seriously enough to reply. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that what you're proposing is unheard of, except in extreme cases, which from what I hear, this is not. All this business just proves what a crappy company LA has become. It was up to them to reject the RC if it was too buggy, but they needed it released in early December, badly. The C.R.E.A.M. Factor strikes again.

Right. However at the beginning of BG II, the old crew were all around level 6 or 7, which was consistent with BG I. Character background doesn't hold the same weight as character development during the story IMO. If you see some characters you personally took all the way up to the 20, shrinked town to level 3, it doesn't feel right.

It depends. If the Source engine is the cause for Bloodlines' issues, then definitely no. But if that's just Troika's fault, then maybe. Although to be honest, I didn't find that the animations added that much to the gaming experience compared to KOTOR (if at all). I assure you, HL2 implements a much more complex use of the Source engine, and it runs smoothly and without crashing even in rather crowded areas. My system is far from state-of-the-art and I was able to beat HL2 in the medium-high graphic settings. VtmB's issues are just due to a lousy QA job on Activision's part, and poor design on Troika's. I agree that the physics of the engine aren't needed in a RPG, but that can probably be suppressed. Surely you are not suggesting that it would take more time and effort to modify an existing engine than build a new one from scratch. Lately, when companies develop their own uber engines for new games, they tend to place less emphasis in other aspects of the game, namely the fun aspect. I'd rather that didn't happen to KotOR.

No, he said "sig." If he means "avatar" he should say "avatar." I meant both. The avatar is HUGE in file size (700 kb), and the sig was huge in pixel size (about 500 px). The sig has been removed though. Now only the avatar remains. I'm fine, thank you very much. You know, it's funny to read you complain about this 'whinefest' and all, when the easier thing to do would be to just let it be. Yes, it might be a whinefest alright, but if everyone used 500 px sigs and 700 kb avatars, not even that uber broadband connection you're so proud of would be enough to read the boards. That's why the forum rules are the way they are. I didn't think it would be so hard to understand FFS.

LOL. Same goes for you, dumb*ass. It's a 25k sig. Get. F*cking. Over. It. Or take Master's advice: ROFL. When you quote that idiot you know you have reached a new level in stupidity. Congrats, your grandchildren will be proud. Again, if you don't like my sig or are concerned about its size, you can report it to the mods, which will most likely tell you to suck it down and STFU. However, I am going to report that guy, and, most likely, his profile will be modified. In this particular case, I win, you lose (well, not you, but that guy). )

Cool. Volourn joins in. There goes the neighborhood. Ya, I could care less about people breaking the rules by posting whatever crap they come up with, I just don't read it, and that's about it. But when it comes to 500 px sigs and 700 kb avatars, and then I am told about how my gifs increase loading times, my flame sense kicks in. You understand.

His sig is 25k. Your gifs are still more annoying to load. It's forum etiquette. Are you just slow or is it something more serious? Have you seen his avatar? And I don't give a flying f*ck about forum etiquette, I just stick to forum rules, which he doesn't. Again, next time RTFM before attempting to play smartass.

Combined my two gifs don't reach 50kb. Besides, they are not in violation of the forum rules. Those huge ass signatures, however, are. Next time RTFM. Not to mention that that dumbass' avatar weighs 700kb. Still want to tell ME how my crap is slowing the load times down? Get a clue.