Diogo Ribeiro

The train sequence in FFVII was tolerable in the sense that its one of those areas which is optional when it comes to exploration, as you can try to get everything from everyone or just advance with no visible penalty trough the train. The sequence in FFVIII was aggravating, though. Forcing to use your gamepad as a mini DDR pad however, is annoying and one of the things I dislike in console games.

Even moreso when one uses the Breast Increase pills, age change and has her wear the dress that makes her naked, then chooses all endings, one at a time.

Fixed

Considering it is a prequel of sorts, that's a given.

BUT What if I'm roleplaying a rogue with wierd and unexplicable random insights into the future?!

Dark Claw, actually

Laying traps is a good thing but using them with foreknowledge that you're going to fight something very powerful isn't my cup o' tea. I prefer to use them in situations like bringing down an half-orc patrol or somesuch; going invisible and lay enough traps to kill a dragon the minute he becomes hostile and before he even manages to be a threat is a no-go.

Wolverine's blue and yellow had two versions, though. The more developed one we know, and the ugly one he used in his first appearance when he battled the Hulk and Wendigo. For some reason, I liked his Amalgam suit.

I only found the suits in the movie to be lacking and 'meh' at best; I made no point about his story and personality being supposedly changed by his suit.

I don't think it was important. I loved the first Batman movie and the main character wore what was nearly an armor instead of what was originally a skin-tight suit with some kevlar and other materials reinforcing it. It didn't negatively contributed to the character's portrayal, at least not to any noticeable level. However, it seems strange that several comics characters get a somewhat faithful recreation in movies but Wolverine was skimped out on. In X-Men it wasn't so much a problem with Wolvie's suit, it was a problem with why was everyone wearing nearly the same leather outfit.

I couldn't gauge all that from Gears of War's footage, so I can't really share the optimism or discuss those elements which I usually can only get a feel of when playing a game.

One thing I like about a feature like 7 player support is the idea of creating a game where all these players have to advance trough a gameworld by helping each other out. Perhaps like Project Eden, but better. Or something along the lines of an adventure game. Possibly with a "solve the murder" theme, where six of the players are innocent but one of them is the culprit, and players can either try to solve it, lay false clues, or even join up with the murderer. Essentially, a single or multiplayer team-based effort but larger in scope than usually done that actually is designed with multiple, simultaneous players in mind, but that it would not fall into the traditional elements of firstperson shooters or massively online RPGs. One thing I dislike about a feature like 7 player support is the idea that it'll be wasted on sports games. Though I suspect it might be good for sports games enthusiasts. Other than footage and a suggestion of what the games will be like, is there anything about these games that's impressive beyond a visual level?

I agree we're not close of seeing that kind of gameworld developed, at least I'm not aware of any shifts in the industry that would allow it to become a reality in the (very) near future. The problem is, it's a relatively young medium, with an industry that's still trying to reap the benefits of the advancements which are easier to develop and captivate gamers - graphics. I believe both gamers and companies are to blame for the redundant nature of most games, which tends to sweep inovation or new forms of gameplay under the rug. Sure, there's always a level of success or failure that comes attached to every new game released, but how many times do we see game using already tried and true gameplay methods being incredibly successful? This seems to happen primarily because of advanced graphical technology, though I wouldn't discount that its also appealing because it's reaching new generations of gamers... Which in turn just seems to help stagnate things again and form a vicious cycle.

It seems photoshopped. Notice the light grain over the entire picture, while Av's face is cleaner. Or it could just be his body fuzzes out cameras.

There was the Minor Whimper.

Great work.

Occasionally his soul manages to elude the ever-reaching grasp of the dark lord of spam he triffled with, and his subtle presence is a reminder of what may happen to anyone who mocks the gods. Or not.

After a while, he starts to get attractive. Being a few miles away and having a few drinks helps to that, though...

I feel that all this talk of realism and immersiveness is sand thrown into my eyes. I look around and I feel we still have game design that barely changed since the '80s. What good have advanced physics engines brought? I can see my racing car be trashed realistically or see it give a very detailed set of flips in the air. I can see game characters be thrown into the air or fall in a vast amount of human-like poses. And I still have to go from point A to B, or play with limiting rules because the designers can't or won't envision that I would like to play a in a different way, that I'd like the game to adapt to me rather than the reverse. For a moment yesterday I was considering the idea of roleplaying applied to a firstperson perspective, and applying the concept of action-consequence into the very physics of the gameworld. Physics allowing me to break down doors, climb walls, barricade myself inside a room. Bring down walls, collapse buildings, go to the extent of what some Ultima games allowed to in terms of detail when it came to environment interaction. And not just on a constricting level-based environment but an entire gameworld just developed around the concept that you can influence and interact with nearly everything. But wait... Oh? What's that? You're developing another Final Fantasy? Gee, I guess that'll do just fine instead... Idiots.

Purdy graffix'n'speshul effeks.

No, it's actually a side effect of damning material surfacing on the net. laffo

The gameworlds of Grim Fandango, Planescape: Torment, Fallout, Arcanum and Shadowrun get my immediate vote, though Little Big Adventure, MechWarrior, Vampire the Masquerade and Star Wars are also worthy of mention.

To allow companies to get fatter and richer like nice, succulent farm piggies.

Torment did not have dumb dialogue, because all attributes - including Intelligence - never got below 7, so there wasn't much of a point in including it.

Good taste, I'd wager.