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Yeah, I was shocked by the news of HEad's losing his head..... He was baptized on the Jordan river in Israel. here's the recent picture of him:

Hey shut it! It all depends on whose blog is it. For instance, I love the idea of Jonathan Davis (of KoRn) to have his own blog: http://www.buttsexcrips.com/. I read it very often.

So, Obsidian, is it okay that we're doing this? As long as it's not commercial, the translation-patching can't be illegal, right? Can we have your permission or something?

Thanks. I'll do that, but just right now i'm deeply depressed, so not really in artistic mood. But I'll continue drawing pretty soon, i'm sure.

Stuck Mojo - Evilution (has anyone heard of this band? It's pretty rare, i guess. Fallen apart quite a while ago)

Right now: KoЯn - Falling Away From Me

Nonsense. One just chooses what he wants: for fun, or play for profit or respect (cybersport)

STARCRAFT WARCRAFT III these are two best strategy games ever released. Of course, tastes differ (story-wise, etc), but these two games are *THE MOST* balanced and suited for sport, and that's not boasting, that's fact.

From these three, I would never pick Atris. Just... I dunno, just don't like her as a person. Plus, her looks are mediocre to my taste, even in CA. Bastila is my favorite here.

Also, S. Korea has the best cybersport infrastructure in the world.

Ya'know this whole "chin" crap is getting really dumb. Cut it out, will ya? Thou shalt not judge a man by his chin! And you can't judge him as a person, if you have never even saw him in flesh.

I'm not one of those people that need the translation, obviously. But there are people, especially here in post-soviet republics, that have the lowest possible level of English, knowing only the wide-spread F-words, and other "worldwide" english words. But hey, it's not their fault, alright? It's not because they are not educated. Damn, I know a man who have learned Chinese and Japanese, but still can't form even a simplest sentence in English. So it all depends on the country. Western Europe has always been very good at English, obviously. Sweden, in particular. But the post-soviet bloc is quite the opposite. So, the need is quite big. But again, I'm AGAINST dubbings, both in games, and especially in movies. WEll, there are good dubbings *sometimes*, but only as a very rare exceptions. For instance, I liked the Russian dubbing of Episode I. Jar-Jar Binks was even better in Russian than he was in English, I'm telling you (well, for those who know both languages, of course). Subtitles rule, hands down. The best compromise. And in games, it is even easier: just translate the text, but don't *ever* touch the voice-over, and everything will be hunky-dory. And my translation team is doing exactly that with KOTOR2 (see my topic in developer's corner).

So what? So what if it doesn't have a *prior to the game char creation*. But it *DOES* have character development. Not very complex, but still pretty logical character development system. The "trainer" system, it's employed in many games: by gaining 'nuff XP you level up and receive skill pts. THose points are allocated to your skills through talking to various trainers. Simple, but effective. So, what's the problem? Why do you think it's not CPRG then? Besides, combat system and character development/creation technology is not really essential for RPGs, you know? One can easily go without it (some text RPGs come to mind). It's the world, the atmosphere, the characters - that is what makes RPG an RPG. Gothic has its unique world and it's dynamic, live and interesting. Dialogs - well, not very rich, yes. Not very many options, yes. But still, they are quite good. Story - that's a matter of taste. Someone may like it, someone may not. It cannot be dubbed "bad" or "good". For instnace, some people may not like Planescape: Torment's story. Well, it's their view and right. But that doesn't mean that it's bad. A laughable reason, really. It's not because the game is flawed, it's because you're not very good at it. Admit it, there's nothing wrong with that. The game is not supposed to be easy and make a cake for a player to walk.

Hail, Obsidian! I have assembled a team of translators (myself being the leader and proof-reader) to create a Russian version of KOTOR 2. Already working, about 3 weeks now. I would like to point out that we are strictly enthusiastic group, with no economical pursuits whatsoever. The translation patch will be available free for all, and not to be distrubeted by pirates, only thru internet. So, I ask you this, do you approve of this? Or will Lucas Arts approve of this? Well, the point is that there is not going to be any official Russian localizations whatsoever. Actually, no Star-Wars-related game was ever localized. Probably, it's because of LucasArts' strict policiy towards CIS-countries. All about money, I guess. Russian companies just have no desire to try getting that coveted license from LucasArts now, I guess. And there are lots of Russian/post-soviet KOTOR fans, and not all of them know English well enough to fully experience this great game. There is a number of translations made by our pirates. But their "translation" is such utter crap, that it can't even be read properly (basically, they just put the whole text thru computer-translator program). Pirates are just too cheeky nowadays, don't respect players one bit. That's why many translators-enthusiasts, like me, got inflamed with an urge to create a good, clean, quality Russian version of the game. And we're doing our best to acomplish this goal. Here's the link to our forum: http://www.offtop.ru/warak/index.php (in Russian, o'course) If you (Obsidian and fans) have any comments or suggestions, please post them. [OFFTOPIC] Oh, and one more thing, a suggestion to Obsidian's programmers/writers: I recommend that you do away with that darn dialog.tlk-system (Bioware's idea). It's soooo inconvenient... I don't know about you, developers, but for translators it's very just so much pain working with it. All text, including comments, script-stuff, piled up in one file... urgh. But that's because you used the Bioware's engine. I hope you won't do the same thing in your new original project. The only text system that I REALLY loved was in Fallout series! It was just BEAUTIFUL! VERY good to work with, very organized, very convenient for both developers and translators. I wish there were more games with a system like that. [/OFFTOPIC]

yeah, i think mmorpg are that kind of thing right now. Perhaps, they will evolve into something more unmunchy, but not right now. But if we are talking about multiplayer in general, not only rpgs, then I would say that strategy-games are obsolete if not in multiplayer mode. That's just obvious. Computers are just TOO dumb. And they can't be any smarter, despite the efforts. It can only happen if someone will invent an artificial intelligence, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, i guess. 3dshooters - same thing here. Well, bots there are a little more challenging than in strategies, of course, but again only vs newbies, who can't yet shoot good enough. Bots in quake3/unreal/cs are just too dumb to have any tactics. And tactics rule, believe me. 3dshooters are not all about accuracy, it's also strategies and tactics. So, the only way for a good experince is to play online, or at a lan-party. RPG is, perhaps, one of those rare genres that are still better in single-player mode, than in multi. Along with quests and the like, but they are minority right now.

You fail to amuse anyone now, Hades.

Oh, PLEASE, spare me! Morr's world is DEAD, filled with hyper-text documented NPCs, or, rather, NLC - non-living characters. Gothic's main strength lies in its live and dynamic world. The exploration aspect is truly da best i've ever saw. Yeah, sure, Morr had much bigger world-map, but it was all the same all the way. About voice-acting: ya'know, you guys should consider trying the original German voice-over. It sure is good, although there are still not enough actors. But those that are - they really do their job well. And hey: translation voice-overs have 90% chance of being MUCH worse than the original. Just like in the movies. And yeah, I really did not like the main character's actor in English version. Note: I've played Gothic 1 in English version, and Gothic 2 in pure germa (with russian and english translation patches (one at a time)). If you have the expansion, I recommend exploring Horinis and Jarkendar thouroughly at the beginning (well, to the extent of your abilities, of course), and only then move to Minental. That way, I just came there and destroyed every single orc outside the castle, luring them in small groups. It is great fun fighting with more than 2 - very challenging and fun, esp. if they are elite. I really liked the combat, as I said before. Although, it could use a bit of improvement. I hope, Gothic 3 will buff it up. Again, in my book, Gothic's combat beats Morrowind's easily. Morr's combat was stupid. They implemented the dice rolls, which were ABSOLUTELY out of place there. So there was no fun in swordfighting - you just press the button and watch your character wank with his sword over and over. NO movement, no strafing, no tactics nothing. ON Gothic's story: it was good. I can't say it's marvellous, but it surely deserves some praise. And Gothic 1 was just GREAT. Again, I already explained in my prev. post. So, overall, the game is sure a pearl among many pebbles of her contermporaries.

My current prefernces (and some of them are my all-time faves): Metallica - everything, i'm a hardcore fan KoRn - everything, also, a hardcore fan of those guys Dark Tranquillity - started listening to them only some months ago, but love them immensely already. Fave. albums: Gallery, Projector, Damage Done, Haven. Along with those, really fond of Therion, Amon Amarth, Stuck Mojo, Nirvana, Avril Lavigne (LOL! I'm that versatile) and many others. Also, I really love PC game soundtracks, and some movie ost's. Games, which soundtracks I really love and listen to always: - Diablo II Deus Ex Icewind Dale Baldur's Gate 2 Fallout 2 StarCraft

Love lots of books, both afrementioned, and not. I would like to add John Grisham to the list. Really loved some of his works, especially Rainmaker and The Chamber. Also, loved Raimond Feist for his first book, The Magician. Unfortunately, all books after that were really dissapointing for me.... but the first one is a jewel Also, loved "To Kill a Mocking BIrd" classic. Sadly enough, forgot the author's name.... but many of you prolly read that. And, well, Russian classics. Not all of them, but Dostoevskiy and Chekhov were my favorites. Well, we had to read many of them at school, according to our program, but those two I read by my own desire. Well, can't seem to remember other books..... it's been a long time since I last held a book in my hands.

[offtopic]

Irrelevant. Almost any game can be a munchy game if the player is a munchkin. Some idiots can even munch PS:T!

Naah, if you enjoy the game process itself, and not a munchkin, you will enjoy KOTOR2, and it won't be short. Even the shortest games can be stretched far. You do things like collecting items, doing quests in strange ways, just fooling around the cities, search for some secret places and stuff like that. Then, you can just play it again after the first walkthru.

Illidan from WarCraftIII: TFT.... A screenshot from game intro. Brilliant work Probably, for me Blizzard movies are the most inspiring thing of all. They are just AWESOME!

Ditto. 3rd option is kinda like communism in its unreal form. Perhaps, with such an almighty machine that is always good-willed and unspoiled it is possible. An ideal society of sorts. Who wouldn't want that? The only problem it might pose is that the machine may reduce freedom a little... but not really much.

Baldur's Gate 2 was very inspiring to me.... I really loved the backgrounds.... soooo beautiful. Especially Druid Grove.. Oh, very many games inspired me, really..... StarCraft, WarCraft, Diablo, Fallout, and many others... Hmm,... perhaps, we should all post some of our favorite concept arts here.... I'll look for some good ones in my archives....