metadigital

I just plug the console into the BCI neural interface I had installed into my cerebellum, just below the Middle Cerebellar Peduncle (13), just anterior to the Trigeminal Nerve (14), which is the organic signal transducer, and just superior to the Inferior Cerebellar Peduncle (15), which in turn connects the spinal cord and medulla to the cerebellum). All quite simple, really. And once the big spike is in, you hardly notice it. (It hurts like a B*tch if you try to walk off with it still attached, though:trap for young players!)

So once you get past the game's OC the game gets better? I heard the story got better in the expansions? My main gripe with NWN was the graphics. Every building I walked into looked practically the same. Their was a lack of creativity with the game's setting. It was a let down because the BG series in 2D looked alot better than NWN did. I enjoyed the gameplay and the story was 'ok' or at least up to the point where I stopped playing. ... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The OC isn't that bad. (Alright, the ending third of SoU is pretty meh, but the HotU third expansion is not terrible.) The main complaint is the munkinism; there are ludicrous magic items in the epic levels, like Bastard Sword of Global Thermo-Nuclear Warfare +36 to hit / +40 dmg / Critical Range 2-20 (okay, I'm exaggerating a little). The main thing to remember is that the community modules are even better than the OC. Rick Burton has already been given a job at Bioware, based on his terrific work (look for it at the Hall of Fame: there are some cracking mods here. The Community have put together a bunch of common items (like new weapons, e.g. all the Japanese martial types, extra scenery tiles, and even monsters).

Precisely. Um, Llyranor, what is that splashing over the figure on your avatar? It could be water, or sprite, or ..?

How about "A Little Bit After The Day After Tomorrow" ?

He's gotcha there, Archie. (PS A poor tradesman blames his tools. )

Something like that. I wouldn't go as far as make it a 'minigame', though. That just makes it a game. I wouldn't have all options be available to the player in every given situation, and have the player 'play the minigame' of figuring out the proper sequence in order to 'win'. Each offered solution should be something unique specifically crafted by the developer. If a choice is there, I'd want it to be there because choosing it will lead to something unique. Making a minigame out of this wouldn't work in terms of what I'm trying to convey. Not a bad idea, though. Again, just my personal design philosophy. The minigame idea sorts of reminds me of the speech 'battles' in one of the threads a while ago, that some MMORPG was implementing --> which had its merits, but again, my problem with it would be that it wouldn take away from the storytelling aspects of having real dialogue crafted specifically by the developer. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah, I didn't mean the dreaded Leisuresuit Larry "guide the sperm into the canal by button-mashing" type minigame. More the sort of word puzzle, like working out the K1 murder suspects on Dantooine. it was just a little awkward using the dialogue tree as the tool, so if there were a better way to interface with it, then that would be better for gameplay. For example, until Ren

It is a LOT cheaper to build teh shiznitz gaming pc yourself. Just buy all the components from a reputable dealer: check out the modding mags (they'll have references for good and bad dealers) and lots of tips. PC Format, while not strickly a modding mag, does have regular features on the best kit for different budgets (and these need to be redone at least twice a year). They have a list of their recommendations for each component in evey magazine. Right now there are a couple of major hardware compoents being radically changed, like motherboards (64 bit is almost prevalent enough to be the Next Big Thing standard), DDR3, multi-cores and PCI-E (16x) (these normally have 10-20 year cycles). I am aiming to wait about six-to-nine months, then I'll buy a special gaming rig, with all the fun stuff. By that time, I expect a projector and home-cinema type production for under

I'm interested, but I have to be careful with the organising of the second game: I don't want to jeopardise the game -- especially early on, when I am still new to GMing it, and there is a lot of initialisation to do.

I just hope that doesn't mean there are eight people playing France!

More like lacking, an empty feeling, incomplete. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ending = broken.

Oi! First rule of brain-storming is no qualitative criticism. The advantage to this is that it gives the writers a lot more freedom to create the characters, especially the main protagonist, and even bring some novelty to the game. It is a very simple mechanism for pensioning off Force powers that were not wanted (for being too powerful or too boring, or whatever) whilst bringing in new ones (like Battle Meditation was, although it could be the shirt pulling one, or even animating bits of set,

Well as everyone has quoted the Wiki that I posted earlier, I shall give another reference: Classification of demons

Good point you have made. I agree that the problem seems to be a very flat, one-dimensional approach: a "dice-roll-versus-defence-score" paradigm. I am not sure if adding more feats is the answer, though. Perhaps not using the existing feats in the clumsy way they are being used at the moment is a better solution? Again, this is very good. It is surprising that no-one has made these innovations, yet. Of course, it requires thinking outside the box, and it would mean changing the established multiple-choice selection mechanic for dialogue, too. It might be as simple as adding some actions and dialogue together, such as: [Have a member sneak around and try to steal the key whilst the PC talks] [Have a member sneak around and try knock the NPC out whilst the PC talks] [Have a member run up and intimidate the NPC whilst the PC talks] Then ... [Wisdom + Persuasion] If you want, I'll swim across that crocodile infested swamp and bring back your stolen lute, but I'll need a favour ... [Persuasion] Tell me what you want and I'll help you. Maybe together we can help each other? [strength + Intimidation]Give me the key, or I'll make you wish the thieves had taken your life as well as your lute. [Dexerity] Attempt to steal the key. But it's clumsy using the existing process. It would be better to have another interface; perhaps (although I am loathe to use the phrase) a "minigame" of different type of skills (puzzles and feats, with different ways to complete the game and different ramifications for each method). Can't argue with this, either. It's just plain common sense. Because combat has been trivialised, then the audience treats it trivially. This is true of stories. How many times during a thriller in the cinema have you hoped that the credits would role, because that meant that the heroes were safe, and no more ill could befall them? There should be an almost adventure-like focus on plot and character. Note that character is important though, otherwise we are stuck with the Cleesesque notion of "here is a plot point" everytime the plot is advanced (which is exactly what John Cleese successfully avoided in his Fawlty Towers). This last bit has already been done, from a Paladin perspective, in Twilight, Rick Burton's community module for NwN (first in the series; Mr Burton is now employed by Bioware).

I think K2 was horribly broken.

Yep, I like that. I think it's time to break the "train as a Jedi padawan, then decide whether to be a Sith or a Jedi" pattern. I like the idea of the Outcast start; that way, the PC learns to use Force Powers differently than other games. This opens up freedom to: learn new powers, including powers that aren't combat-centric (i.e. plot and conversation) The choice as to LS or DS can be made at the traditional midway juncture. Also, this allows for the Reformation plot I think is overdue, where K3 deals with how the Jedi order was changed either directly (by a LS protagonist) or indirectly (as a result of a DS protagonist).

ROLE-PLAY:

H

Nice homonym.

I actually think this is not such a bad idea. 1. Romantically: it helps to think the underclass were truly saved, in accordance with their legend / myth 2. Ironically: the underclass outlive the conceited topsiders: the meek inherit the dirt (biblcal reference); and poetic justice (Greek hubris) for the topsiders. 3. Conveniently: old models could be re-used (j/k) the story would help createa link back to the original game.

Check your inboxes for the beginning of the Game! Hello and welcome to the Obsidian Forum Diplomacy Game 2, (for the attention-starved, emotionally-stunted, cRPG-junkies who also happen to think they have natural Charisma of 18) Above are all the contact details for the various members of the game. For convenience, I also include them, here: "JediConsular7" [snip], "Reveilled" [snip], "Deraldin" [snip], "Naughty Nartwak" [snip], "the pixies rock" [snip], "DarkSide" [snip], "Aishur-Rim-Nisheshu" [snip] JediConsular7 = Turkey Reveilled = Austria Deraldin = Germany Naughty Nartwak = Italy thepixiesrock = France DarkSide = Russia Aishur-Rim-Nisheshu = England Please use the code: GM OBS-2 in all official correspondence to me. Also, please not that the importance of placing orders in the EXACT format laid out in the notes (and the previous thread). I am happy to give confidential advice, if necessary, so don't be scared to ask. You can submit lots of sets of orders: the last set at the deadline are the ones acted on. Don't cheat with me. (Keep all your diplomacy for the players; after all, Acts of God are not good for any country ... ) Please try to keep the forum thread In Character. The Wikip

nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementi

That was because the Austrian Schweinehunds prevented my Operation Olive Branch to help protect the Greek friends of the Ottomans. ...

Yeah, I guess my favourite was the Duke, but Quake beat Doom hands-down. Hmm, it is non-trivial to decide on the best FPS. Even though it's from 1998, I would say that Half-Life is defintitely up there in the top three. Half-Life 2 is, too, but more for the superlative engine and narrative references back to the original, and Opposing Forces was pretty cool too, until the narrative fell away into a standard level upon level "end-boss" sequence. Deus Ex would have to be up there in the top three as well, mainly because it has role-play elements on top of the FPS base, and because in no smal part to the extraordinary narrative and multiple endings (and I don't really play war games).

I just realised this is "Console Shooters". I haven't played that many, since I gave up my PS2 over five years ago ...