Amentep

Perhaps this will give you a clue on how much they reused maps. There is ONE cave map that basically is used for just about every cave. It's a nice long cave...but is probably re-used for EVERY cave in the game. One map. So this guy is saying they only had time for ONE map? A similar issue is with simple buildings in Kirkwall...they basically have ONE warehouse layout used for EVERY Warehouse/Building. I lost count how many times I went to that building. Literally...I have NO idea how many times I went in that one building. Oh...it's a different quest and supposedly different building...but it looks the same. I think they reused that building more than they reused the infamous two buildings that they had for generic planet quests in Mass Effect 1! (they used the cave less though then those two buildings in ME1). Overall, I can see the guy's point...but they kind of went to the extreme of reusing in DA2. REALLY to the extreme. Imagine if in BG2...every building was EXACTLY the same. When you go in the palace, or the the Dark Elf levels...they all are the same since they all use the same map. The small dwellings in BG2 were sort of like this...but nothing on the scale they did it with DA2. IMO of course. The cave map uses a door system to block off sections of the cave and paths in the caves. I thought that was a nice solution to the reuse of maps, because you couldn't ever be sure of the path in the cave despite it being the same map. There are two "warehouse" maps, each with four doors and two linked rooms that could be blocked off (although a bit more obvious). I actually had no problems with the reuse of the maps. Heck I didn't have a problem with it in ME1 either, so maybe I'm totally off the curve.

I loved the setting and the lore. The Barcelona sections were awesome. Once you left the city, the story was still interesting but it became wave-after-wave of opponents and IMO the games combat mechanics weren't well designed for mob fighting. Could be they thought people would play it more in co-op but I found it near impossible to get through the mobs outside of the city as it got near the end game. Still a really, really cool setting. I actually have an itch to go back and replay the game (at least through the Barcelona stuff anyhow).

To tell the truth, there aren't many PC games being released in the US that are PC exclusive and that I'd like to play. Given that I've been a console plebian for many years (well since the Atari 2600, the C64 and Apple IIe not withstanding) I have not problem playing games on consoles.

I kept expecting when you got to the extreme of techno or magic that you'd be attacked by supporters of that side (since they interfered with each other). I will say that while I think Arcanum was hugely flawed (and stand by my assertion about Lionheart) that it was fun to play through once.

RECORD OF LODOSS WAR tv series (with primary elves Deedlit and Pirotess) still predates FFXI by a decade...

I loved the setting for Arcanum. But to my mind its only two steps removed from Lionheart which I also liked the setting to; the big difference being that - Arcanum's inventory bug notwithstanding - it was generally playable whereas Lionheart IMO became utterly unplayable after Barcelona. Combat in Arcanum wasn't just unbalanced - it was tedious. Painfully slow in turn based, two fast to properly react to in non turn based. And it also had the same problem the Fallouts had of combat triggering because of something you couldn't see on screen and having to wait a couple of turns to see what was attacking you. As for role play - they made a quest about a gnome conspiracy to create half-ogres...which if you're playing a half-ogre your PC has no extra comments on, IIRC. There were a lot of great moments to use skills and reactions but it could have been a lot better in that department too since there are a lot of combat sections that can't be talked out of.

Unless your memory has been altered of the event, that is.

I didn't like the bug that ate my inventory (including quest important item that caused me to have to restart). I also didn't like that technology was, essentially, underpowered when compared to magic and that magic basically trumped everything else anyhow (melee combat, etc).

I liked some of the ideas behind Arcanum but felt the execution of the world left a lot to be desired. I'm also not sure even if there was someone who wanted to pony up the money for a sequel if it'd be easy to get.

I always thought the Elven-ear look was attributable to the RECORD OF LODOSS WAR tv series that came out in the 1990s and its subsequent popularity...

The original embargo for Batman not killing was made in 1940 after Batman #1 featured Batman gunning down giant men (created by Hugo Strange) from his batplane. Editor Whitney Ellsworth put a stop to Batman killing (this was a shrewd move - there was already anti-violence in comics rumblings at that time anyhow - which is why National/DC hired William Moulton Marston to write testimonials on the positive effects of comics - which would ultimately lead to Wertham and the kefauver hearings...) That said I believe Batman traditionally took the pulp way out - the villain was killed by their own mechanizations at the end.

Am currently playing Saints Row 2 and Plants vs Zombies.

Kresselack's Tomb! "Promised? Promised?! I made you no promise." Tony Jay's work was awesome...

Then what is a Black Box? A flight recorder in a plane? An event recorder in a locomotive?

Hopefully its the lumberjack beard w/swamp hat!

Bit disappointed in the delay, but if it makes the game better I'll be happy in the end.

Anything else. Disney, Warner Bros. Anime started out as: How can we do Disney but cheap? Cut out the animations and place it against a static background. Take a look at this, from 1937. Look how smoothly the characters move. Look at the most recent anime out of Japan and it looks like stop motion in comparison. Every moment a character is on screen, they are moving. It looks... life like. Even though many of the backgrounds are static, watch when Snow White runs through the forest and pushes the branches out of the way and interacts with the environment. Can't really blame "anime" on cheap animation - that was pretty much pioneered by Hanna-Barbera ("Limited Animation" they called it) to do animation on a tv budget. Thus recycled animation pieces and static, non animated scenes (or barely animated, like mouths only). Anime didn't start out as "Disney but cheap" it started out as "Lets do animated movies like Disney". I'd stack the best of Japanese animation against the best of US Animation personally - if its good, its good, if its not its not. Country of origin is pretty irrelevant IMO. ObTopic: Looking forward to Mass Effect 3 - but no interest in the animation because it won't be "my" Sheppard.

That pretty much seems to be the default state of the Internet...

Can I attach a 1541 drive to it, allowing me to use my old C64 5/14" discs? Commodore Datasette 1530 and cassette tapes? How about cartridges? My old C64 is dead.

The quintessential Zack Snyder movie: lots of gore, nudity, some emotive completely irrational excuse for a plot and everything is shot through a blue or yellow filter. Seriously though someone introduce that man to the rest of the color spectrum. No gore or nudity in Sucker Punch - maybe that's why it hasn't been a success? Er...you say his visual storytelling style sometimes works, then give examples of three of the five films he's directed as examples of this. But somehow claim he's better known for his substandard work... ...but 300 was a hit money wise (earning about 7 times what it cost to make), so are you basically saying that because Sucker Punch "didn't work" that's all he known for now? I'm confused.

I figure that anyone that went to see Suckerpunch because of the plot is an idiot and/or will be turned off. There's not a problem with the plot of Sucker Punch, IMO. I think there is a problem that the ads make it seem like a weirdo alternate reality action film but that's not what it is. But I thought the plot worked. All I know is that aside from Legends of the Guardians plot isn't Zack Snyder strong suit. Sucker Punch is the only one of his movies not based on something else. Dawn of the Dead - based on previous movie 300 - based on Frank Miller's comic Watchmen - based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' comic Legends of the Guardians - based on book He did the screenplay to 300 and Sucker Punch (from an original idea).

Awww, thanks! I tried.

I had two quests never leave the active quest list until the chapter was over I had Merrill responds to an event before it happens bug I had the successful romance of Isabel not leading to her upgrading her outfit bug I had the non-active quest bug. I had a bug about recognizing an exit after an event (it moves you to the other place before asking if you want to leave the area) I had a minor bug about the portrait during character creation not showing the updates as you make changes (it did update once the game started). None of the bugs I had in DA2 were as egregious as bugs I've had in other games - and like Vol most minor bugs (ie not game breaking) don't phase me. That said I've heard of one or two potentially bad bugs in DA2 (but didn't experience them personally).

I figure that anyone that went to see Suckerpunch because of the plot is an idiot and/or will be turned off. There's not a problem with the plot of Sucker Punch, IMO. I think there is a problem that the ads make it seem like a weirdo alternate reality action film but that's not what it is. But I thought the plot worked.

Saw Insidious over the weekend. Pretty solid, scary Haunted House film.