metadigital

Free the software, enslaved by hardware for all time!

I don't think that lasts. By 20 the game difficulty was a joke. It's a game about items, not characters. Even my worst moment in the game Kvatch wasnt as hairpulling as say Star Ocean on 4d. It was just a shock to the system because rather than gradually build upto it, it was just there. Kinda like meeting the first boss in Ninja Gaiden. The problem now is because of the scaling there are no great challenges in the game world either. No Dark Valefor or Omega Weapon. Or more MMPORGy no planes to aspire to , or "gods" to slay. So while scaling certainly kept the game more challenging that Morrowind. I don't think it could ever be the only solution. It's just too predictable in the long term. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As has been noted several times, by several of us, the system ain't perfect (by a long chalk). Still, I applaud Bethesda for re-engineering their solution to the "RPG problem". After all, they could quite easily have rested on their not-insignificant laurels and just pumped out another Morrowind.

I think the inclusion of trap physics in Oblivion is unbelievably underappreciated in this topic. Which I am rectifying right now, with this observation.

... And casts a bajillion heal spells.

Great, then let the player deal with the consequences of attempting to conquer an area that is obviously full of great challenges before the character is of an ideal level to do so. I've read Bethsoft designers defend the easily-abused learn-by-doing system by saying that it's not their responsibility to prevent the player from doing stuff like jumping around the world non-stop to build their Acrobatics skill. I don't get why that philosophy doesn't extend to things like auto-balancing. In games like Ultima V, the Phantasie games, Fallout, even Pool of Radiance, the player had many exploration options at any given time. After leaving Tilverton in Curse of the Azure Bonds, you could head straight to the Mulmaster Beholder Corps if you wanted to. Your characters were all in the 5th-7th level range, but hey -- knock yourself out. Auto-balancing effectively removes serious consequence from player choice. As unintuitive as this may seem, choice without serious consequence often makes the player feel pretty impotent. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> All very valid points: the downside is certainly that I have no real incentive to level up my character. Counter-intuitively, levelling up makes the game harder, as it must keep the balance for the PC, so the game has to LEVEL UP with the player! But for all the criticism, I can't help but think there are some good points to the system. After all, ther is no way a player can wander through the game, letting the game play itself, for example. In every encounter, the PC stands a good chance of dying (simply because the monsters are at the same level and the PC is outnumbered): throughout the entire length of the game and at every stage of player development (novice, journeyman, expert, etc). That's no mean feat. Also, I haven't found the levelling up / scaling issue to be as much a bugbear as people in this thread, though. Perhaps my OCD-need to have a perfect(-ly rounded) PC sits this system better than others who would prefer to specialize in just sneak and blade, say, or heavy armour and a two-handed sword? (My Paladin has spent nearly all the game sneaking around, for example, with acrobatic jumps in between, whenever fatigue permits.) I do find myself thinking it is better to go and do the main quest now, rather than wait, so that it is more moderate in difficulty. That's a new experience for me. I think there is less room for error with higher PC levels, because the AI is smart enough to know its strengths and weaknesses

Your graticule is right in his mouth in that third shot ... just fire, NOW! No! Don't press the [PrtSc] button instead!

But can you bear to sell it? "

Whatever (questionable) use this topic had to begin with, it is certain that it does not retain any of it now.

While there are enough people out there with AGP motherboards, the companies will make video cards for them. What's next is dual video cards (and dual video chips on one card, in pairs to make quad). That requires PCI-E, but even so PCI-E 8x bus is amply sufficient: the PCI-E 16x channel isn't even being utilized enough to warant it (at the moment): it is just future tech, so far. Dual/quad video card power is ONLY an advantage on larger resolutions. There is NO benefit for 800x600, say, the card(s) would just idle (and be throttled by the CPU). The monitor needs to be displaying something like the new widescreen WSXGA (1680x1024, or 1024 progressive) and WUXGA (1920 x 1200, or 1200 progressive).

No.

Children? Parents of children? Game-players?

38 days 01 hours 02 minutes 30 seconds until E3 2006 (w00t)

no, he goes grey and the temples and his face looks slightly older. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Must be less of a brawler, now, then. No more reversing the revolution of the Earth to reverse time. "

Do you mean Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for MSX or Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for PS2 and PC? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes. It was a bundle for

I might pick this game up, now: what's the patched game like? Any bugs, still?

Scamps are surprisingly tough little bastards ...

@Topic: I just wish I was the age when summer holidays went on for years ... man, that was the life. Everytime I turn around now it's Christmas ...

I am not going to argue that with you, because I don't think your central premise is wrong (that the enemies "level better" than the PC, on average, and the only way to balace this is with magical items). The level system seems to me to be a hang-over, or some sort of "RPG attribute": a players' expectation. That said, I didn't start playing and think "Right, the level system is broken, how can I fix it?"; I just played it, recognised the way it worked and thought about how to maximise my PC attributes (as I do with all games). In point of fact this is not a particularly new mechanism: I've encountered it several times before (wasn't Wizardry like this?).

Irony! I like it too, but you do realise that you are condemning Bill Murray's weatherman to a prolonged stay in limbo, by watching his performance over and over again!

Everyone is missing the real moral of this story: don't buy fries from McD after 9pm!

But ... Superman goes bald?

plant fibre + [recycled plastic] = Hemp Plastic Hmmm. Sounds like a finite resource to me. Still, any recycling is better than none. Hemp is a try wonder product, too. Most of British navy was made of hemp (sails, ropes, etc: that and the oak beams). Also, there are several hundred varieties of cannabis sativa, most of which have zero cannabinoids (read: psychoactive components) and all the industrial benefits, such as:

Other. I use Firefox for browsing, IE for web mail, Opera for cache-keeping (static stuff that I like to refer back to).

(Did the note still say ?)

I thought you hated consoles like myself? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why do you think Kaftan hates you? "