Aegeri

That video was awesome.

I am really looking forward to this game. I do wonder though, will there be any giant mutant Fiddler Crabs? Is it even Fiddler Crab season? One has to wonder.

It was so good in the X-Files the first time and they both have "X" in the title so it should work again!

I don't know about confirmation, but that wouldn't make any kind of sense, so I'd say no. Hell no. Don't think of it as the Hard-Boiled mode in Max Payne (or something like that). From what I understand, it'll be more of a gameplay preference than a "difficulty level". This is exactly what I'm hoping it is as well, but you can never tell these days and it would be nice just to have confirmation that "Yeah it's available from the start". I really don't want to play the game normally and then Hardcore.

Has it been confirmed anywhere that hardcore mode is available immediately, or are they going to be horrible and make you beat the game normally before you can play Hardcore mode?

Exactly. Well said sir, well said.

More like MotB and nothing at all like the incredibly banal and pathetic dungeon o slaughter'thon that is NWN2 OC (that doesn't even try to make any sense, while slaughtering warehouses full of respawning rogues or town guards, then nobody caring at all about exterminating half the city watch). Please, nothing like the original campaign and model the new expansion on MotB. Brilliantly done, excellent writing and great quest design. More please.

I know how long it's taking me to do what I want to do in NWN2 and the worst thing is talking about it before you've finished. I'm not surprised that he's just quietly working away on it in the background.

Those questlines are mutually exclusive, they cannot both be done. You cannot construct your lightsaber until after telos and on completion of Dantooine, Nar Shardah or Onderon. I don't recommend going to Korriban first because you'll only get one of the parts you need and not the other one, meaning you have to go to another planet. The best planet to do first is Dantooine because of the crystals and you can easily complete your lightsaber.

I've made a comment about how much I love this game before, but I really must say that Obsidian have absolutely hit the nail on the head. No dumb orc warehouse massacreathons and instead brilliantly weighted and thought out encounters that truly are challenging without being absurdly bull****. It's like someone at Obsidian realised that an expansion should build upon the previous game and this doesn't treat the player like a moron. It has actual consequences for your actions, you don't just get awesome new powers with l33+ lewt and not pay some sort of price for abusing it. I'm incredibly impressed at how minor things you do impact the story and how later encounters can play out. This is the best RPG in a long time.

Disappointing to hear

Really, I believe I made this point three times before you noticed it. I'll bear this in mind that frequent repetition will be required. Nope, you didn't. Simply saying that it lacks non-FPS features of a **** FPS is not saying that it retains those **** FPS features. Yes I did. That you've demonstrated you do not take the time to read your opponents arguments fully before responding, I see no point in bothering to discuss this with you any further Also, yes, Deus Ex: IW is a poor FPS. It has braindead AI, is terribly easy, weapons are unsatisfying, the unified ammunition system removes most point in using multiple weapons except for the weapon that is the path of least resistance (because it's merely going to drain your ammunition for more useful weapons by keeping around inferior ones). But whatever, go on believing that IW is a good game, you're not convincing anyone Also: This argument is fundamentally the same as this argument: You just didn't bother reading my post the first time.

This is where your argument has failed up to this point. You've only ever pointed out what Invisible War lacks that Deus Ex had. Incorrect. Read my posts much? Please feel free to read my posts in future, then respond. Evidence suggests otherwise. Please read, think and then post responses. Thank you. Edit: And just to prove the point, from the same post that, again you demonstrate you didn't even take the time to actually read properly, is this: Really, I believe I made this point three times before you noticed it. I'll bear this in mind that frequent repetition will be required.

Do you read what I write? Do you even read what YOU write? I have to wonder when you come out with nonsense like this. Rubbish again. I should rebut this, but I'm not sure where to actually begin with that. Perhaps I could point out you've made several logical fallacies in one go, like making a ridiculous strawman of my original argument (Or just not reading what I wrote). Secondly the aspects that make Deus Ex a "good/fantastic" game are not in the sequel, meaning that you're definitely left with something less than good, because what is left is not at all brilliant. I could point out, that your feeble attempts to defend the game have basically devolved to claiming other games are "fantastic" at aspects like being much better in terms of combat (IE: FEAR, which I agree with BTW, I'm playing it right now and really enjoying it), as if this somehow excuses a game for being mediocre at the same thing. Deus Ex, the original, is a terrible shooter (and so is the second). It is the other aspects of the first games design, which elevated it to an 'excellent' game. These are aspects the second game completely lacks, leaving you with a mediocre shooter and nothing that redeems it. Unless you're a homicidal maniac of course. Edit: You can't read can you? The first game devoid of the features it had like the large detailed levels with numerous secrets and areas to poke around in, the RPG like inventory management, the RPG stat system, the fact what you did in the game world had consequences (IE: it appropriately reacted to you being a murderous homicidal sociopath), weaponry with multiple kinds of ammunition and encouragement of resource management etc etc. Depth. Take the depth away as Deus Ex: IW does and you're left with a terrible shooter, with poor shooting mechanics, awful AI and not much terribly interesting about the game. Really, your whole defence "it's not crap, it's just crap compared to virtually everything else that does everything it tries to better" is laughable.

Rubbish. Firstly, it took everything that made Deus Ex great and either shat all over it or dumbed it down into oblivion. For example, the horrible unified ammunition system, the lack of any consequences for anything you did (You can massacre *every single* NPC in the game without consequence), the tiny cramped level design (Compare the multiple paths, secrets and such of Liberty Island in Deus Ex to Seattle in IW) and so much more that went wrong with that game. It was sequel in name only and an inferior game to the first in every respect. This is rabid fanboyism. It was a good game unless you insist on making comparisons to the first. Yeah, it's not like it's a sequel... OH SNAP. What was your argument again? Yes, a game that actually manages to do everything worse in areas the first game arguably pioneered and innovated in is certainly not "good". But even so, it has crappy game mechanics, terrible AI (even compared to the first game), has a world that is more dead than a headless chicken, the ridiculous unified ammunition, the actual "FPS" part of the game is terrible and on the list goes. Yeah it does. Because what it changed made the game worse. If you have a good game and you completely remove or actually make those aspects worse in the sequel, what are you left with? It's not a good game, no matter how much you protest. Although this isn't directed at me, I would point out that I thought Resident Evil 4 improved on nearly every aspect of the original games. It still maintained the same gameplay style, herbs are still there, it has a goofy B-horror storyline, boss monsters that require pattern recognition to beat, hordes of enemies on screen, a solid standard arsenal of weapons, limited inventory and on it goes. How you can compare a game that did everything right while keeping true to the predecessors, to one that basically completely butchered what made the original game great is truly beyond me. Resident Evil 4 is not just a great game by itself (whereas, Dues Ex: Invisible War is not) but it's also definitely a brilliant sequel, update and deserves to be considered a part of the Resident Evil games (whereas again, Deus Ex: Invisible War does not). If Resident Evil 4 had done away with all the guns except a pistol, removed zombies from the game entirely, dumbed the difficulty down heavily, had no boss fights, the removal of inventory completely (hence resource management aspects) and basically all the things that made Resident Evil games before it great: It would have been absolute crap. As it turned out, they gave a smoother and more updated way of controlling your character, while still retaining the exact same feeling of being alone against the hordes of freaks that the first games had. They didn't change core aspects of the gameplay. Inventory is still there. You can only carry certain weapons, meaning you have to make tough choices as to what you need to specialise in (in fact, I think RE4 even improved on this aspect by increasing the variety of weapons, while providing you the ability to upgrade older ones, meaning you can choose between keeping an older weapon and upgrading or going for the newer and fancier model). You don't need to do exactly what came before, but you shouldn't break what doesn't need to be fixed. I love all the Resident Evil games, but I'll admit any day that the controls were off-putting and often very frustrating for new players. This is why they were changed. This was a good decision. In Deus Ex: IWs case, making the levels tiny destroying any sense of exploration, dumbing down the plot to the point you can massacre everyone in the game without consequence (really, this is just verisimilitude breaking and stupid) and completely gutting the RPG system of the first game are stupid changes and make the game considerably worse. As it is, you're left without the interesting RPG/FPS hybrid of Deus Ex, you're left with a terribly half-assed FPS that actually doesn't even play very well as an FPS game to begin with. That is why it's a poor game. If I want to play a half-assed FPS, well actually, I don't want to play a half-assed FPS, which is my entire problem with the game. Please never compare a game that is genuinely great and a fantastic update to an aging franchise to a piece of crap again.

Rubbish. Firstly, it took everything that made Deus Ex great and either shat all over it or dumbed it down into oblivion. For example, the horrible unified ammunition system, the lack of any consequences for anything you did (You can massacre *every single* NPC in the game without consequence), the tiny cramped level design (Compare the multiple paths, secrets and such of Liberty Island in Deus Ex to Seattle in IW) and so much more that went wrong with that game. It was sequel in name only and an inferior game to the first in every respect.

Urrrrgghhhhhhhhhhhhh. So much for playing the character I wanted to play. Sigh. Fighter/Cleric and other derivatives it is then...again. Edit: one day I'll be able to play a character with skills like diplomacy like I actually want to play. One day. Ideally we wouldn't need to put up with that. However that doesn't stop me from playing my arcane characters. I just have evasion spells like Mirror Image, Stoneskin etc on them the whole time, including when I talk. Looks kinda weird for dialogue closeup though. Well, it just means that I can run in and start hacking the crap out of them right away. I find there is just something offensive about having my main character forced into dialogue and then to run away screaming like a little girl behind all the fighters and such. Why not just stand back to begin with? Edit: It's probably because I view it as somewhat cowardly and it doesn't make sense from the kinds of characters I like to play. Unfortunately, it's also completely needed if you're an arcane/rogue if you don't want to get turned into a sad splat. This is where feats like trip would be vastly useful.

Because I recall numerous times in Baldur's Gate 2 where your party would be approached while your character hid and any time you so much as transitioned an area you would lose hiding. Which was reasonable enough, but there are many situations in BG and BG2 (in fact, possibly even IWD) where you can stealth up to something that is scripted to talk to you, yet it won't recognise a character that is stealthed. Alternatively, my main character (a rogue) can stand at the back while stealthed and Viconia can say whatever, then I can backstab the idiot (as I should be permitted to do). This is entirely different than NWN2, which takes the most offensive and insipid solution (teleporting you and making sure everyone can see EXACTLY where you are). What you've said sounds to me like you have characters that are not hiding in shadows, that are seen and then spoken to, which is fine. You don't actually lose your stealth in this situation (though I do believe the game keeps making checks, it's been a while). Again, BG2 did it right. The game doesn't have the engine to permit you things that you should be logically permitted to do anyway like jump through a window. So it gives a fair and reasonable abstraction given its limitations. NWN2 does not. Hence the objection. hmmm. Minsc talking about being a Bhaalspawn. Vs. the potential having my mage/rogue PC teleported right up to talk face to face with the likes of Demogorgon. I'll weigh these up on the scales of "What potentially aggravates me more" and get back to you.

You and I both know that many of these situations happen in areas where you never needed to open any such kind of door or similar. Oh I walk up to some guy on the road, in the middle of the forest and he somehow sees me and strikes up a conversation with me. Even though he couldn't have possibly noticed me given that I'm wandering around in favoured terrain at night. ... No. I am well aware of what the actual rules are trying to do, they are actually an abstraction. Of course, I could point out to you that in PnP, if we're going to get truly anal, I don't have to use a door. I can teleport into the room, use a window and other kinds of magical concealment/silencing to help. None of these things NWN2 permits me to do, just so we're aware. So within what constraints it gives me, I'm willing to forgive it some things but definitely not others. Again, why can't NWN2 do right what BG2 already did correctly? ... Except these are actually extremely rare in game terms, because most of these ridiculous examples actually occur in areas I could make an argument definitely would offer a great deal of concealment. But again, your arguments foundation is built on mud from the get go because you're denied basic rules of 'real-world' logic by the game like alternative routes like windows from the begin with. And yeah, I did notice Sand beat me to the window thing :/

Why should I bother? I can just stand where I am and mince the idiot involved straight away. It also neuters my favourite class, which is the rogue. Why the hell am I going to come out of shadows and stand in front of some moron (who wants to kill me) when I'm at the advantage striking first anyway? It's just plain stupid and ridiculous. I really don't see why just doing things like BG2 did is so wrong. Edit: I have decided that if I buy the game, I will call my character Brave Sir Robin, in mockery of this.

Urrrrgghhhhhhhhhhhhh. So much for playing the character I wanted to play. Sigh. Fighter/Cleric and other derivatives it is then...again. Edit: one day I'll be able to play a character with skills like diplomacy like I actually want to play. One day.

Are you of evil alignment? Because you can't take it if you're non-evil. Other than that maybe the game is just being a jerk. Also, I find a rogue with dual blades of acid or similar sillyness (dual wielding basically) is horribly effective on anything that isn't undead. They become whirling stealthy death machines of doom after a certain point. Just need to build them the right weaponry. One thing I've thought of, does MotB still do NWN2s stupid thing where if you're anything other than a combat class, you end up face to face with your that you are talking to? For example, I do not want my mage right next to the fighter I am talking to (who is going to attack me regardless of what I do anyway). It's frustrating and stupid. If it still does this sillyness, I'll have to restrict myself to fighters/clerics and other classes that can stand toe to toe for the sake of my blood pressure.

Why would I pay money for this? Because you will be able to pretend to be a woman and have hairy geeks smother you with attention? Sounds hot. Where do I sign up?

Well, it makes things better. Like, at the very least you can have decapitations and such forth. If combat isn't going to be challenging, it might as well be amusing to watch instead and as flashy as possible (without being annoying). I don't need to be actively in a Kung Fu movie or whatever to actually enjoy it

Ok, so we go down the irrelevant path. I suggest you re-read my original argument. I don't notice poor combat animations when I'm busily trying to do things rather than watch something. If I'm sitting there watching something for long periods because the game handles itself, I have a lot more time to look at the combat animations. It's somewhat like trying to look at a license plate of a car that is trying to run you over at 5mph vs. 120mph. I am pretty sure I could spot grandmas license plate and remember a fair amount of detail about the car going at 5mph, I don't need to do a lot to avoid it in the end. Now, if I'm going to avoid something at 120mph, I doubt I'm going to remember what it looked like or even the license plate as I move my ass to get out of the way (and most likely fail).