Cantousent

I always thought Morrowind's graphics were breathtaking. The color choice was bland, but the graphics were great. Much better than NWN. NWN, as much as I've complained about it, had story and allowed a sense of accomplishment completely absent in Morrowind. I thought it was the engine until I played KotOR and discovered that the same essential engine could provide a lot of fun. In the same way that I've discovered that the Morrowind design principles can provide great gaming when applied as they are in Oblivion. Really, I see that particular time of NWN, MW, and IWD2 as actually a bad time for gaming, but I've been pleased by the games since then. KotOR/KotOR2, DS2, Oblivion, Jade Empire... all these games are quality titles that encourage me. The fact that NWN2 is shaping up so well is quite hopeful for me. I'm even thinking about looking at some of the persistent worlds and bringing some of my real life friends into the experience. I agree with LoneWolf, the graphics really are stunning. Let's hope the screenshots represent what we can expect on a normal rig.

If you guys are going to play online together, I suggest getting rid of the typing and go for team communication of some sort or another. I'm leery of NWN2 multiplayer, personally. What I saw of the persistent worlds did not encourage me. Now, a good balance between role-playing and being goofy and generally having fun is my approach for Pencil and Paper DnD.

I dunno, I'm hopeful for the graphics. I just didn't like the sort of blue hazy look to NWN1's graphics.

Good Lord, Anti-Matter is Missy? There goes the neighborhood.

Waxman comes out with an attack on Halliburton and you're jumping all over the report? What a surprise. Let's boil this down to the essentials. This is politically motivated. The article cited the Pentagon once in the article: "[t]he documents showed that [the] Pentagon's Project and Contracting Office (PCO) found that Halliburton repeatedly overcharged the government, Waxman said." So, there were no direct quotes from the Pentagon in the first place and no real context given from the alleged reports. For my part, I don't doubt that there were some abuses. In a company the size of Halliburton, there will undoubtedly be abuses, and those abuses should be investigated, proven, and punished. However, Halliburton still went through the bidding process. Let's call this what it is, a politically motivated attack on the Vice President by a strictly partisan representative from a state in which Democrats outnumber Republicans by a healthy margin. Waxman isn't interested in serving justice, only his politcal aspirations. Come on, Commissar, you're fair minded. What can you say about a "news article" that begins with: "[o]il services company Halliburton Co. repeatedly overcharged taxpayers and provided substandard cost reports under a $1.2 billion contract to restore Iraq's southern oil fields, according to a new report by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record)." Isn't it interesting that the article doesn't even name the source of this charge, a Democrat congressman, until the very end. It begins with a very specific charge and doesn't even provide the context until the last clause? Sure, you won't find any lacking of folks to jump up and agree with this article sight unseen. However, I think we should have specific charges from identified individuals working with due appropriate oversight. Even then, so what? You want to hate the Vice Presdent? Go ahead. If Halliburton broke the Law, they should pay. However, blindly following any politician with so much at stake in the issue doesn't make much sense either. Frankly, this article disgusts me. Hey, don't let me stop you from throwing red meat to the crazies. That's all well and good. Nevertheless, this is a clear example of gotcha politics and nothing more. This sure as hell isn't an example of trying to improve the system or find the truth. The best hope we have is that the result of this political axe grinding will result in a better system. I hope so.

Which heal spell are you using ? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I use Heal Minor and Heal Major Wounds. Range rules in this game. You can frequently get the bad guys stuck in terrain features or run around in circles to kill them. On the other hand, that's what I meant when I said that this game favored FPSers. Twitch helps. On the review front, I don't like number scores anyhow. If I reviewed the game, I'd be forced to cite all sorts of things I find jarring. I would do my best to give my impressions as accurately as possible. At the end, I would be inclined to mention the fact that I'm enjoying the game so much. I wouldn't give a quantitative score because there is no way to give a quantitative attribute to gaming experience.

My heal is the bomb. The idea that heal spells don't do any good is just silly. The simple fact is, magic replenishes quickly, healing while running backwards gives you breathing room, and running out of magic doesn't result in death. Running out of health does.

I completely wasted a slot in my skills by choosing Speechcraft. I see absolutely no purpose as I can achieve the same goals in other ways. The Dialogue is almost always disjointed in some way or another. Still, 30+ hours into the game and I'm still enjoying myself. What can I say? I do quests but I'm not stuck on roaming aimlessly. If Morrowind were the same, I'd have scored it much higher than I did. ...But that doesn't mean Oblivion didn't earn the grade. It's an imperfect game, but it's a good game. In fact, it's a great game for me. I did fail a quest, however:

Okay, aside from the fact that my friend, Hassat, doesn't understand the term "Fed-ex," I have a few observations after quite a few hours of play. First of all, I find it disconcerting that an NPC will see me, make a loud comment about my status as savior of "x," then feed me the rumor that "x" was destroyed. I find it irritating when I finish a quest and the person from whom I received the quest seems to forgot salient facts about it. I'm dismayed when I see legionaires try to take down a bandit, one legionaire accidently hit his comrade, and then the two legionaires suddenly fight each other while the bandit runs around shooting at random. Of course, I took care of the bandit, but I couldn't make heads or tails out of the legionaires, so I left them to fight. How about this: an empire forester was chasing some deer through the forest and shrubs. He yells out at the top of his lungs, "WHY. WON'T. YOU. DIE!!!" Yes, I was getting ready for a fight when I saw him. I actually followed for some distance trying to find out if there were some ugly beast hiding in their midst. This is another head scratcher: I'm following one of my fellow Blades when a fight ensues. After the battle, the blade is walking around with a arrow sprinding through his abdomen. Getting hit with an arrow is tough, but walking around and fighting several battles with it sticking out of yourself must be excruciating. Anyhow, I kept trying to take it. Those arrows have an excellent weight to coin ratio. After all that, what do I think? I Love this game. It's what Morrowind wanted to be. This is the potential to which Bethesda aspired. This is one of the best games of recent years. You should but it, enjoy it, and thank me later for my excellent advice.

You owe me a roast, Moth. Also, I love your sig, Nartwak. Also, I love you, Pixies. Stop being angry with me.

Yes, well this game causes all sorts of mayhem on my system when I start it. However, it hasn't been all that bad so far. Nothing I can't fix just by openning the cd tray at startup. So far so good. Just a quick note: Save the vampire ashes.

I'm rolling through folks like a lawn mower. I'm currently hunting a Vampire. I haven't fought the baddie yet, but his minions are falling like timber. Anyhow, can anyone tell me whether or not I have to be evil to be a vampire. If so, they're nothing but targets to me.

Ah, I like Gabs. She's a she devil from time to time, but I like her anyhow.

I don't spend enough time talking to pixies anymore. I need to arrange a lunch. Sheesh. Anyhow, nobody treats Cant like that. Nobody!

The only other bugs I've found so far all hit when I exit the game. I frequently get a bunch of errors that XP wants to send to Microsoft. Nothing big. There are some areas where I walk a bit through the walls, but nothing game stopping. As far as mini-games go, I don't have a problem with them. Currently, I'm level 6. I've enjoyed the game so far. I like the fact that I can apparently finish the game without getting to the uber-levels. it's not that I don't like a high level game, it's just that the first ten levels in most games almost seem like throw-away levels meant to get the player to the good stuff. Oblivion has given me some of the good stuff in the early levels also.

When people say, "I'll have your head on a pike," I always imagine something different.

The only point was to make it to the front gate whereupon it's locked and I'm told that we must find a different way. If I can't see the beast and the captain can't see the beast, then he should get to getting to the mission objective. This isn't a matter of failing a mission because one got away. I don't think Bethesda would be best served by using that argument. It's clearly a glitch where the captain goes and runs back and forth in front of the gate even though there are no monsters except in the battlements. When I went in the next time, we killed everything and then he immediately told me that I'd have to do something different. So, the failed quest idea just doesn't work.

Baley's house of fun. If there is an alternate reality, let's hope this isn't it. :Eldar's TOMBS grin icon:

It was a scamp. The creature is insignificant. It's the fact that it got away. Instead, if one makes it out of the area, the mission requirements should set that particular mission as accomplished.

I think you should, baley. Really. I might add something with Cant later, but you're on a roll. Unless you'd like to pass the buck to some other unfortunate... heh heh heh You're quite good at this style of report, though.

No. My point is that for it to transition out of the area and successfully run away, thus making the quest dead-end, is a bad thing. I'd say, if the beastie runs away, then that would satisfy the requirements to continue the mission. It's not a big issue now, however, as I restored from the autosave on entering the area and we smote the little fellers.

baley, you're a scary fellow, you know. :Eldar's icon. It might be a grin or a feral grimace of rage:

What a yutz! :D

Well, there goes the thread.

I'm having a great time. Whatever else, Bethesda learned from their mistakes and took fan criticism to heart. Unlike Morrowind, however, I'm not concentrating on leveling and item acquisition, so maybe it's my perspective that's changed. I don't think so. It really is a different game. It's what Morrowind should have been.