Amentep

^Actually I don't remember KotOR being claimed as being the death knell of Bioware. But I do remember BG:TOB, NWN, JE, ME, DA, ME2 and now DA2 all being claimed as such. Sure is a slow death for them...

Sucker Punch wasn't that bad, IMO. I don't think its what many people wanted it to be.

I used to complete games I didn't like. And then I realized I was wasting my time as well as having wasted my money and realized it was kind of silly. So now if I don't like a game, I get rid of it. I find my gaming experiences to be much happier ones. *goes back to playing DA2*

I liked humming the "Moon Patrol" theme while driving the MAKO.

I dunno - casual gamers in my experience are more fond of hack/slash games than I think the more die-hard gaming fans are. I think this game is something that'd appeal to my brother, for example, who has never posted on a video game forum as his interest is pretty low key about games. For me - as someone who likes a well made hack/slash game I'm interested in DSIII. So I think the potential market is there - not just from BGDA fans but there were several games of that period that followed roughly the same model that did well (and a bunch more that did poorly); I don't think all of those people who supported those games spontaneously dropped dead...

Huh, what?! I don't know where he got the "Bethesda as a publisher" but funcroc speculated that Obsidian might be doing Wasteland 2 because Brian Fargo is followin Feargus and Avellone's twitter. Kind of a flimsy connection but yeah. I doubt that Bethsoft would see much business sense in bringing two separate post-apoc RPG franchises to the marketplace. If the option is to bring out two separate post-apoc RPGs or to bring out one post apoc RPG and let another publisher put out the second post-apoc RPG that could actively compete in the market place against yours, I'd imagine Bethesda would seriously consider bringing out two. Provided the setting in the second game was allowed to be distinct enough and the game good enough, there's no reason why they couldn't be successful with it, I'd think. I mean they're publishing a fantasy game (Hunted: The Demon's Forge) for InXile despite having their own fantasy game (Elder Scrolls) so I don't see why the situation would be that different.

I'm still playing it. There's good and then there's entertaining; I tend to favor entertaining for my entertainment and for my purposed DA2 is entertaining (I'd make arguments that there's a lot good in there too).

I think the problem - to my mind - has always been that its called Dungeon Siege III and whether its fair or not many people see the III and assume that the game will be exactly like one or two, when in fact they're trying to pull a Fallout 3 to the series more than anything else. Divorcing this game from the series (which for me isn't that far as I wasn't enamored enough with DS1 to try DS2), I've liked what I've read about DSIII based on what it is trying to do, as opposed to judging it based on what its not trying to do.

Sprigg! My goodness, been so long since I played the game, I'd forgotten about her. Then again Chrono Cross had a lot of characters I rarely used...looking Sprigg up I didn't use him. Sounds like an interesting power idea.

Maybe he's thinking of Kid/Harle from Chrono Cross? Or the Mimic class from Final Fantasy? The only doppleganger I recall in Chrono Trigger was the Doppel Doll

I think that - ultimately - that's why the series went with a Circle Mage for the initial game making the player nominally in compliance with Chantry law/Templar requirements (even if you could be a blood mage there too - awkward). I think by the time Meredith sees you, you're supposed to be too big to fail...er...to be too involved in the fight/famous to stand against but that creates a problem too since it seems like most people in Kirkwall agree with the Gallows and Templar treatment of mages, its weird they'd rally around an apostate PC (seem like it'd be more likely they'd hail Meredith and bury the champion under the Gallows). I kinda think that the whole mage sequence is kind of a "what if" that doesn't work. I imagine if there ever is a canon Champion it'll be a warrior or rogue w/Bethany not a mage w/Carver.

I was joking. I agree its borked.

Ahhhh...yes! That was it. I've also been thinking about DA2...why do the Templars not monitor everyone who buys magical robes and staffs? You have to have a high magic to use them and for the most part only magic users would be able to do it. They could set up "To Catch A Mage" style stings, offering low-priced, high quality robes and staffs and then when they come in to the store they nab the apostates.

Does that happen often in games for you, tep? Nope. Although my brother - who suffers from motion sickness in real life - does have the problem with other games triggering his motion sickeness problem.

Driving in Far Cry 2 triggered motion sickness in me.

The first two points were intended to be silly and I won't argue otherwise! To tell the truth the third I think that the third was actually the intention - for example Sophitia's outfit doesn't fit the time period either (hearkening back to classical Greece) but is supposed to represent the character; in that sense I understand why Ivy's outfit is the way it is, although I also understand that sometimes its possible to undercut a character by how you design them; as Ivy's outfit has gotten skimpier, its been a bit harder to take the character as something other than fan-service. (That said her alternate costumes that look based on Victorian-era dresses wouldn't work for combat either...) I'm not really calling for Kratos to cover up, either, sorry if that seemed to be my intent but instead it was to suggest that one could argue that Kratos' design could be seen as potential fan-service for women (or gay men or both) since the design divorces itself so heavily from the period (although you could argue that since its not completely inconsistent with the period like Ivy's that its not done with a thought to sex/sex roles as well). Oddly enough my biggest problem with Katrina's design (and coincidentally Ivy's design - or at least her initial design) has nothing to do with how much skin she's showing but that' she's fighting/wandering the countryside like Kane in Kung Fu while in heels...

Distract male opponents in a fight? Allow her to spend more money on training by cutting down on fabric to make her outfits? Or alternatively you could argue that its about challenging the societal norms of the time period (late 16th century); Ivy has lost her mother and father due to his obsession in finding the cursed sword; she finds out her real father is a pirate (a bit off societal conventions there) and turns to alchemy to create a weapon to try and destroy the Soul Calibur sword (briefly putting herself under the sway of Nightmare - could he have turned her to the outfit since he originally controlled the spirit of her sword?) so she's pretty much bucking western tradition of the period - why not translate that into the costume as well? (You could, BTW, say the same thing for all of the Soul Calibur women, pretty much, in terms of dress. Its all pretty much silly.) Re: Kratos - do only 90 pound weaklings put on a shirt? Or at least a toga covering half their chest? One can argue that Kratos is exploitative in that sense - after all women's desire to see men's well built torso is the long standing rationale for why so many male western character from the late 50s and 60s ended up shirtless, tied down on burning sand (or other traps) by outlaws (see many, many episodes of The Wild Wild West, Cheyenne, The Rifleman, etc). Mind you God of War is probably worse about the female characters than most other games, so probably no point going there anyhow.

I believe they referred to Varric as being necessary for charm/persuade (which obviously he wouldn't) which they complained about being missing from the game.

I wasn't a big fan of Snowblind Studios' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance but did like it. Ditto Black Isle Studios' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 although I probably had less fun with it than the original. I had a lot of fun with Snowblind's Champions of Norrath and Champions: Return to Arms though and am looking forward to Snowblind's LoTR: War in the North. My hope is for another fun hack/slash game. It seemed for many years there was always something in this genre to play (the BG: DA games, or the Hunter: The Reckoning games from High Voltage, etc. going back to the days of the SNES/Genesis with things like Arcus Odyssey) but that there's been a real drought of good console co-op hack and slash games recently.

IIRC the letter says that time is important - maybe the Champion is just always too late regardless?

I heard you can only do that as a rogue. Dunno if it's true however. I did it as a warrior. Tale - I know every character has options to interject; I was merely addressing a complaint I'd read that it was only possible to get that specific outcome with Varric in your party as an illustration of lack of communication skills for the PC; not sure that you can replace Varric in *every* instance, or if you and Varric are in the party together if you'll get the option to do it yourself, but it was interesting to me.

I read a review (here? somewhere? my motivation to check died a few minutes ago. Poor little guy) that complained that the persuasion ability was taken out of the game and now you had to rely of Varric. Turns out if you make the humorous/diamond (what does that represent? "You're a gem?") you can actually do the persuads that Varric does without Varric around whereas my previous character couldn't do that, taking mostly kind/rarely mean dialogue choices, but avoiding the funny. Of course not taking the nice route I find I can't persuade people to being nice fluffy kittens (which sadly has meant a little death for people. Oops). I've also noticed that my funny character has actually started conversations differently (ie funny) from the other character (who usually started conversations like a kindly grandma or questing knight or something). Now I actually want to play the game using mostly the red icons - giving people the fist! - just to see how I start conversation. Love some of the funny dialogue

I saw SUCKER PUNCH and quite liked it; I think it isn't going to be a film for everyone. Its a heavy visual film; much of it metaphor since the story is a double layered fantasy about events that happen in the real world (that is barely glimpsed). Kinda wish that hadn't cut most of the musical numbers - what we see in the end credits looked grand.

Errr...not CHECK I think. Sucker Punch's plot is - AFAIK - about a girl injustly imprisoned in an insane asylum who concocts an escape plan with fellow "inmates" which is presented as a series of fantasy adventures for the girls as the line between their realities and their fantasies blur subjectively for them. So what would you call the strange WW1 stuff? Its part of the girls' fantasies. I can't call it counter-factual r/w history because it doesn't claim to be historical; ie the setting isn't an alternate universe WWI.* *as far as I know - with a title like Sucker Punch I'm expecting a swerve. Will know after I see it...

Errr...not CHECK I think. Sucker Punch's plot is - AFAIK - about a girl injustly imprisoned in an insane asylum who concocts an escape plan with fellow "inmates" which is presented as a series of fantasy adventures for the girls as the line between their realities and their fantasies blur subjectively for them.