Gromnir

why nebulous? why should it be a mystery figuring out how much impact cunning has on rogue efficacy in combat? why is a mystery figuring out the relative impact of levels and ability scores on damage potential? Gromnir does X damage with his mighty axe o' hewing. ok, but why? this kinda thing were particular annoying for our rogue and mage builds. spellpower or magic or whatever were important to figuring out efficacy o' spells, but were there an in-game device or explanation that told us the degree magic altered the efficacy o' spells. am still not certain how cunning impacted various combat actions. why the mystery? "put points into cunning because it will make you a better rogue combatant." how? why? what were the mystery? ... the fact that a developer not even seem to know the mechanics is maybe more disconcerting. is there a rationale for the lack o' transparency? we spend points at each level, but we don't honest know the relative value o' those points. does that seem likes good game design? perhaps we is missing something, some Truth o' gameplay design that makes obfuscation desirable, but we don't get it... so please explain. HA! Good Fun! ps am not only referencing combat. is our understanding that a high enough cunning could effective replace levels of trap disarming... but am not knowing how or why or to what degree.

tactics as a skill were additional annoying for Gromnir BECAUSE we didn't use more than a couple o' the the tactic slots. meet a joinable npc character and half o' their total skill points is invested in combat tactics skill? #@$%. as for the gameplay hours thing... we has typical been getting more hours o' gameplay outta bio games than the announced guestimates. am wondering if any mechanic has been added to replace fatigue... is simply a cooldown period for powers? am not a fan o' additional dumbing down o' already simple rules. ... oh, and bio should make the mechanics more transparent. when Gromnir chooses to learn a fireball spell/ability in most games, we knows the damage the fireball will cause and the range the spell will have as well as the area of the effect. no mystery. choosing powers and abilities shouldn't be a mystery... shouldn't needs to trial and error every power and ability. trying to figure out the math behind the da rules were inexplicably difficult. no doubt somebody figured out the formula for rogue backstabbery, but that shouldn't have been something people had to dig 'round in the bowels o' the engine to learn. HA! Good Fun!

btw, shep is necessarily gonna suck compared to virtual all other characters in the game. shep has to be written so that he can be good, bad, aggressive, passive, friendly, and abrasive all at the same time. not only does shep have to be vague and general enough so as to work equal well as good and bad, but the good and bad gotta be broad enough to work for the variation 'tween Gromnir's and wrath's and tales individual notions o' good and bad. mordin is bioware's character... can be distinct and defined. shep is Your character, and You is the multitude o' game purchasers. is a dead-end approach 'cause it can never be truly fulfilling. complain 'bout shep is valid, but people seems to ignore the fact that shep cannot actually be much better than he is. the approach to development o' shep is so necessarily broad as to make it impossible to makes anything beyond a mediocre character outta him/her. HA! Good Fun!

the kotor version o' hk-47 were a one-trick pony with very little actual character development. the kotor2 version considerably more development and were better written. however, as games such as motb reveal, chrisA and obsidian can becomes far too concerned with the character concept 'stead o' developing that actual character, so am not certain how much o' a pass we is gonna give 'em in this instance. regardless, wrath is wrong, at least in part. no doubt we can all name movie and comic characters that has been vastly improved by a new writer taking over the authorship duties... doesn't happen so much with novels, but is common in other media. HA! Good Fun!

The tactics thing was a wonderful inclusion. In fact, assuming the tactics actually work, then the game devs DID handle it. Unless you're implying that the characters should always behave in some other predefined way with no influence over how it works is somehow a positive :S I'm just saying the basic AI was awful, unlike say, ME2 where Squad Power Usage was actually okay. I liked that tactics too, but creating your own AI shouldn't be necessary while playing on difficulties other than the hardest one (difficulty was another problem DA1 had, it was far from constant). that reminds us. does anybody know if combat tactics is still a freaking skill? of all the dumb things from da:o, making customizable party member ai linked to a purchased skill were the single most moronic bit o' game design we can recall from ANY game we has played in a decade. HA! Good Fun!

Kreia, HK-47. TBH, I can't find an example of bad writing. bad writing is not so hard to find in kotor2, but is a different flavor o' bad than were kotor incarnations. visas mar? *shudder* young writers frequent indulge in philosophical exposition and self-indulgent introspection, but chrisA ain't that young no more. such shortcomings is less/non apparent in a game likes ps:t 'cause the setting actually benefited from the philosophy-for-dummies approach. overall, kotor2 writing were very good, but there were some exceptionally bad stuff as well. ... side note: making darth nihilus sounds like an adult from a charlie brown cartoon were an incredibly stoopid idea. not bad writing, but am just saying... HA! Good Fun!

So it's better than Planescape: Torment (93), but worse than Oblivion (95) and NWN (95). am gonna assume that different journalists were assigned the task o' reviewing each respective game. is best not to get too focused on raw number scores as they do not mean much w/o proper context. HA! Good Fun! ps we still got a wait-and-see approach regarding da2... but the demo will makes a big difference. rather than listen to mr. boner and other reviewers, we will try our self and then makes a decision on whether to wait until this becomes a bargain bin offering.

So? ME is an infinitely inferior attempt to copy KOTOR in a lot of ways, that doesn't speak well for ME. I'm not talking about flaura and fauna, I'm talking about the society of each planet and their distinguishing characteristics, that was the interesting part. As far as star forge being stupid, that's a matter of opinion, I was quite interested in finding out what that thing was. It was certainly a lot less stupid than a giant evil space toaster. again, you fail to distinguish. the society o' each planet? HA! again, we get at least as much from me as from kotor. am not certain what you has imagined into kotor. is the reapers the "giant evil space toaster," 'cause that could be used to describe the star forge better than the reapers... honest. heck, the star forge even got that shiny chrome art deco thing, and it could actually spit out toast product on demand. reapers, on the other hand, looked like enormous cuttlefish as 'posed to tasters. kotor were clich

okie dokie... but am recalling that you liked kotor, no? a hero and his companions must band together and overcome obstacles small and large as they fights to save the village/nation/world/galaxy/universe from the predations o' an Evil force. gots different window dressing, but basic scenario o' me and kotor is very similar. in fact, the greatest strength o' the kotor story is that it is unapologetic 'bout the manner in which it parallels the major plot points o' the original star wars trilogy... another save-the-galaxy-from-evil story. Just because two plots can be reduced to the same summary, doesn't mean they're equivalent. The KOTOR plot was serviceable, you had an immensly powerful evil dictator modeled on real-life evil dictators who our plucky crew of heroic misfits had to take down. The real genius of KOTOR was what they did with that plot premise and with Star Wars universe. They created a mysterious goal to work towards (the Star Forge) and with that as motivation sent you to various planets to solve the problems there. The difference from ME is that each planet was unique, had its own character, and had a problem directly related to its character and theme. Which answers your other question of how to explore lore through gameplay without resorting to heavy exposition. They were a bunch of bumbling fools to start with, Simon bar Sinister could come up with a better plot to take over the galaxy than them. anybody else notice that wrath's attempt at distinguishing made kotor and me seems More similar rather than more distinct? am also noting that you didn't help clarify the exposition question either. me used each planet to delve into local flora and fauna at least as much as did kotor... and me didn't have no stoopid star forge nonsense neither. HA! Good Fun!

My biggest concern it's that for such a well crafted universe with an immense amount of information in the codex, barely none of it is integrated or it's shown in the main story. There is a wide gap between the Mass Effect universe and the Mass Effect games. *scratches noggin* so, how do you propose the developers go about integrating? surely not through tedious exposition, right? so, give examples o' stuff you wanna see in game, and then tell us how you integrate so that it all fits. HA! Good Fun! How about the same way it's integrated in the real world: with a direct link to the physiology of the species. . huh? explain. is you asking for a much more detailed codex, or what? if you want it integrated in the story, then is you actually asking for the notoriously tedious exposition we already referenced? take star wars as a reference. how much o' the details o' alien physiology and politics were explained in the core story? heck, we never even really got no explanation o' the jedi order during the entirety o' the first three movies. there is a reason why such tedium is avoided, and why explanations o' midichlorians (sp?) is seeming horribly out-of-place when they pops up in the midst o' story telling. sure, you can utilize the drell to explain drell and hanhar (sp?) culture, but is awkward even when done to the limited degree we saw in me2. imagine if more such details were crammed into game... and you think such is a good thing? HA! Good Fun!

My biggest concern it's that for such a well crafted universe with an immense amount of information in the codex, barely none of it is integrated or it's shown in the main story. There is a wide gap between the Mass Effect universe and the Mass Effect games. *scratches noggin* so, how do you propose the developers go about integrating? surely not through tedious exposition, right? so, give examples o' stuff you wanna see in game, and then tell us how you integrate so that it all fits. HA! Good Fun!

we lived in chicago during our high school years... 60609. HA! Good Fun!

okie dokie... but am recalling that you liked kotor, no? a hero and his companions must band together and overcome obstacles small and large as they fights to save the village/nation/world/galaxy/universe from the predations o' an Evil force. gots different window dressing, but basic scenario o' me and kotor is very similar. in fact, the greatest strength o' the kotor story is that it is unapologetic 'bout the manner in which it parallels the major plot points o' the original star wars trilogy... another save-the-galaxy-from-evil story. *shrug* is almost never the plot issues that is insurmountable, irredeemable or unsalvageable... 'less we is talking 'bout some o' the nutty anime stuff. HA! Good Fun!

had to google. we work 95814 and live 95683... just in case a change o' residence is necessitated. HA! Good Fun!

am recalling music from a single game that genuine impressed us enough that we consciously recognize that the game were made better by the inclusion o' the music: iwd. as for the plot, people place far too much emphasis 'pon plot... particularly when speaking o' the fantasy and sci-fi lite genres. is our opinion that no fantasy plot has ever survived close inspection without considerable warts becoming apparent. that being said, there were some questionable choices made by the writers o' me2, but nothing we see as irrevocably damning. heck, as far as the aforementioned plot is concerned, almost nothing noteworthy happened in me2 following the prologue. shep dies and is resurrected after two years... and then a bunch o' unnecessary stuff happens on a ship populated by people with f'ed up families. at the conclusion o' me1 the reapers were coming to wipe out galactic civilization. at the conclusion o' me2 the reapers were coming to wipe out galactic civilization. am guessing that the human-reaper hybrid evolution is gonna be a Big Deal in me3, but it won't genuine change nothing. shep (or whomever is the me3 protagonist) is still gonna needs save the galaxy from the reaper threat... no matter how wacky they makes the threat. again, the me plot is not unsalvageable 'cause o' me2, 'cause nothing genuine important happened in me2. HA! Good Fun!

we actually does different. alt codes is great, but we use so infrequent that we only know a couple. we copy from word using ctrl + ' + vowel. example: ctrl + ' + a =

if you say so.... though am not sure that "trite" and pass

... am having no idea what you is talking 'bout. irenicus is an excellent villain that got wasted 'cause o' some bad execution. you gots the whole macbeth angle that is foreshadowed multiple times and multiple ways throughout the course o' a long game. (is too bad that the bard quest were optional, but that is another issue.) 'course most folks miss such 'cause presentation were poor. 'stead o' irenicus/macbeth dying, he gets a second chance from a well-intentioned queen, but the second chance is a lie 'cause irenicus/macbeth is not only having his elven heritage stripped, but the emotional capacity to need or want redemption. is actually a very clever concept and character, but the way irenicus gets developed in the game makes him seem like little more than the traditional over-the-top, mad-with-power Evil Wizard that appears in a large % o' fantasy lit and games. irenicus Should be tragic and evoking sympathy, but the writers failed to achieve necessary pathos. *shrug* is too bad, 'cause the potential is there to be something special. wasted. HA! Good Fun!

That's not really difficult to achieve. BG2 bad guys were always beaten in the same pattern. that is kinda what tactics is in a crpg... is figuring out the pattern. the difference between bg2 and many other games is that different types o' bad guys required different tactics. fighting illithids were not the same challenge as were fighting dragons or vampires or mages or... whatever. sadly, midway through da:o, Gromnir had a single "tactic" that we utilized in virtual every battle. keep in mind that bg, the first bg, were not so much different than da:o as far as tactics were concerned. in spite of bg size, there were not much variation in combat challenges. the question is whether or not da2 improves as much over da:o as bg2 improved o'er bg1. even though da2 has the advantages that SHOULD accompany a 3d engine, we suspect that without the massive preexisting d&d ruleset, it will be difficult for the da2 developers to replicate a similar improvement 'tween releases. of course, we now fully expect vol and two-to-three other posters to claim that they used one single approach to overcome every bg2 battle. our response: good for you, but that weren't the experience o' Gromnir and most other players. HA! Good Fun!

does anybody take pre-release puffery serious? the current game being released by any developer is always including their bestest writing and gameplay to date. we would feel bad if the developers didn't actually believe that their current release were their bestest. regarding da2, Gromnir is not bothered in the least by such claims as there will be a playable demo for this game. am seeing how the foolish or naive might be willing to swallow developer promises o' a product sight unseen... but da2 has a playable demo. many o' the biowarian claims regarding gameplay and writing will be tested by legions o' fans (and haters) following the release o' the demo. lofty claims regarding da2 not bother Gromnir at all 'cause there will be a method to challenge those claims previous to purchase. honestly, which is gonna influence you more: 1) hands-on-gameplay o' the da2 prologue. 2) dozens of developer interviews published in print and on-line media *shrug* wait 'til demo. HA! Good Fun!

The problem is BIO puts a lot of emphasis on romance in their games. It's very hard to avoid. they ain't that hard to avoid. however, am gonna concede that the temptation to try bio romances can be strong. how much of the game content is tied up with the romances? given that we has enjoyed game X so far, can one simply throw away +10% of the game content? will this game finally get it right? etc. many such questions arise. nevertheless, for the past few games Gromnir has managed to ignore the romances, 'cause we hasn't seen any marked improvement. bio keeps trying to refine their current romance scheme, and so we do not see any chance o' meaningful improvement. the great irony is that the thing that keeps bio romances from being anything more than crude and rushed side-quests also makes 'em avoidable. the romances is optional and tangential. this is their unavoidable flaw. this is their one saving grace. btw, while we thinks that this move by bioware is a bit o' unexpected lasciviousness that we feel demeans all parties involved, we cannot help but feel that the debate surrounding this latest biowarian innovation (HA!) will create a great deal o' unnecessary noise. a few moments o' poorly animated oral sex? *groan* is a carnival sideshow kinda curiosity at best, and ultimately it will fail to achieve... anything. crpgs is indeed a kinda actualized wish fulfillment, but is idealized wish fulfillment. coarse and vulgar is our firstest impression, and am not seeing how bio could implement so as to achieve the kinda idealized wish fulfillment their fans is looking to achieve. HA! Good Fun!

am thinking that were the point o' the last few posters. you appeared to take personal offense o' a guy who reviews games. weird. HA! Good Fun!

desslock reviews is worth reading... usually. he has been reviewing games, with a particular focus on crpgs, for a long time; he gots perspective that some others lack. is frequent that we read inexplicable reviews and wonder if the author is motivated by fear rather than genuine concerns regarding games. we got no such fears regarding desslock. is not that we agree with desslock 100% (or even +80%,) but he is clearly honest in his opinions and criticisms. also, compared to the vast glut o' self-appointed experts who reviews games, desslock is articulate and intelligent. sadly, desslock does has some quirks that make his reviews somewhat suspect. am thinking he identifies too strong with some kinda archaic notion o' old skool, although we doubt he would admit it. am recalling his review o' iwd, and his complaints that black isle had the temerity to add new material (monsters, spells, and magic items) to the d&d rules included in interplay's dungeon crawl. adding custom stuff conflicted with desslock's notions o' proper d&d crpg development. ignore for a moment that virtual every Print d&d module released since the 1970's also added new monsters, spells, and magic items, the belief in a Proper method o' developing a d&d crpg so conflicts with Gromnir beliefs that we has difficulty placing much stock in desslock's reviews o' d&d crpgs... and any game for that matter. am a firm subscriber o' the belief that there is no Proper. the dogma o' Proper chills the potential for innovation. (aside: perhaps that is one reason that Gromnir and the codexians rare see eye-to-eye.) is any event, although desslock embraces a philosophy that is antithetical to Gromnir notions regarding game development, to call desslock a moron would be inaccurate and unfair. his reviews does contain insights and perspectives that is relative unique 'mongst the multitude o' hacks who call themselves game reviewers, and as he IS an old skool proponent, we suspect that his review would align nicely with the majority o' obsidian posters... an additional benefit, no? furthermore, while desslock is frequently wrong, he seems to be one o' the few reviewers who is willing to admit that he has been wrong. HA! Good Fun!

as we noted from the beginning o' this debate, if you is simply fighting the dominant paradigm regardless o' how invasive this drm scheme is, then we got no complaint... as long as you is honest 'bout it. but really, trying to convince us that the da2 scheme is particularly odious, or even an advancement o' the current trend o' industry drm, then we will continue to cry foul. as an example, hurl, who complained o' his undependable internet connection, averages 1.92 posts per day on this board alone. anybody wanna check the post rates for some o' the other folks who does the chicken little routine? gotta be logged in to use this board, no? is a pretty tough sell that da2 drm is crippling with numbers that show such regular traffic by the most vocal opponents. *shrug* is ALL drm bad? perhaps. regardless o' the inherent evil o' drm, convincing us that da2 drm is particularly demanding will prove difficult. one log-in every week? get real. HA! Good Fun! ps and am not seeing this drm as driving some multitude o' genuine purchasers away... is not a genuine concern. yeah, some folks will complain, but still purchase... and others will genuine not buy, but am doubting a noteworthy number o' serious potential purchaser will be discouraged by da2 drm. in fact, if Gromnir were an ea exec and we found out that some overzealous vp had commissioned a study on the number o' potential purchasers o' da2 who owned computers capable of running da2, but did not have an internet connection that they could access at least once every week-or-so, we would fire the clown. waste o' resources. might as well try and discover how many such potential purchasers is without indoor plumbing. not have to do study to know that numbers will be ridiculous small. the number o' folks who b!@%$ & moan is not gonna be anywhere equal to numbers o' actual lost customers.

ok, so tig is going with the slippery slope argument to fight this drm-- is not that this drm is bad, but if you give ground here, then what drm scheme will be next, right? is terrible logic, but it is a reasonable argument. sometimes logic is not helpful, and if you honest believe that this move is an incremental,but purposeful, step towards hell, then we encourage you to fight. ... but be honest... how many o' those frequent internet outages in new zealand last more than a week. the only way this affects you at all is if those outages are prolonged. so, if you is enduring such regular outages in an industrialized nation, we suggest that you is a subscriber o' fly-by-night internet service. you is willing to endure such incompetence in your provider while at the same time complaining 'bout the inconvenience being caused by ea? ok, but we must suggest that you is a bit wacky and selective 'bout your consumer rage. HA! Good Fun!