Amentep

I may be lacking in taste, but I've enjoyed playing all of Obsidian's games (with the exception of MotB which has a feeding mechanic that I hate in games and SoZ which my computer died while playing). So for me their gameplay has worked. Balance? I dunno if the games are properly balanced, but then I don't tend to spend a lot of time trying to find exploits or "the best character build" and things like that. I sorta pick a few skills I want to use and roll with it. Polish? I dunno how to quantify that in any meaningful way other than saying the non-gameplay elements have never made me think "if only..."

New Game + would allow me to do the first mission with the swamp hat and lumberjack beard though... :D

You're comparing bad design to bad design. I think having to run off back to town constantly to get health is just as bad as regen health. The former is probably worse actually since it is somewhat punitive. Regardless, I wouldn't have praise for either mechanic. Not sure I see why either is bad design. The design when a player gets themselves into this situation is typically because the player was less cautious than the scenario intended. And even if they are both bad design, you have expressed a preference for health kits, based on your previous statements. Either one is forcing you to manage resources (either your health bar directly or your health kit inventory) and both encourage you to be cautious during gameplay. Both offer penalties of time and/or in-game-money for trying to bull ones way through the game.

Krull is awesome - particularly the optical effect used on The Beast that for years made pan-and-scan versions of the film nearly incomprehensible (also has an early appearance by Liam Neeson). However the 80s were king for wild low-budget fantasy films, ranging from the good (Hawk the Slayer) to the hilarious (The Barbarians) the weird (Yor Hunter from the Future) and the cheesy (Ator the Fighting Eagle)

I'd imagine with Dark Sun returning for 4E that'd be the place to take a new game (since I don't think any of the Eberron 3e games did all that well...)

Not exactly inspiring. "If we make less ambitious game, people will care less if we fail!" At some point trying to make something big and failing is better than crapping out one mediocre game after another. Because obviously Square-Enix, GPG and Obsidian are looking at this and thinking "Man, look at the crap we can put out with this!" I mean that's just a silly argument. "Hey guys, we got the Dungeon Seige job!" "Yay! Now we only have to work half as hard as usual!" Ooo, ooo Ubisoft and Obsidan team up for a Phantasie remake! Obsidian gets the rights to do Wizardry 9! Obsidian and Interplay team for Lionheart 2! Obsidian and Namco team up for Mr. Driller: RPG! Obsidian and Lucasarts team up for Grim Fandango RPG!

IWD was a party based dungeon crawl, which I remember a lot of people feeling that it was overshadowed by Diablo 2 at release.

I wasn't crazy about DAII, but I did enjoy the Champions games. My hope - should gameplay go that route - that its something bigger and better than those games. I'm not sure how we'll find someone to replace you. Your 7 posts were gold. Pure gold, I tell you. Titan Quest 2 would have been fun; its a real pity Iron Lore closed down.

While it'd be nice for it to be a hit, wherever, "fun to play" is typically my only concern with games.

we is particular opposed to the retread o' any game for which the original publisher/developer is still 'round and may have influence on the development process. 'course, as you say, we is also opposed to any non-original IP. is like developer equivalent o' fan-fic.. at best it is a bit gauche. HA! Good Fun! Ah, I guess I understand your position. I'm more than happy personally to give a look at any game that piques my interest, sequel, remake, relaunch or original IP. In fact there are a few moldy IPs I'd like to see get revamped or relaunched (although most of them are from developers that don't exist any more or were swallowed up by other publishers (like SSI and Ubisoft).

I dunno Gromnir; is restarting a franchise necessarily a bad thing? Or is it simply because they're restarting a franchise that last had a game 4 years ago, as opposed to something like Wizardry (9 years)? Or would you be against making a game with any IP that wasn't original at this point?

To be fair, it isn't called CRATE SEIGE, so I figure crate discussions will come out naturally when discussing features.

Yep! It was frequented by some devs, which was nice. It was also frequented by a lot of other people and somedays it was a pain to be an op there.

I remember having a lot of problems with the controls in DS1 initially (after I got a party and giving party commands). But I might have just been inept.

Why have a monster that looks like a crate? I say make a crate that looks like a monster. You enter a dimly lit room in the dungeon where you can make out the dim outline of a horrible Grundersnash. You pause and wait but the Grundersnash makes no move towards you. Certain it hasn't spotted you, you advance slowly. Having worked your way around the room, you approach the creature from behind, making a swift smash with your club. Ah, but it wasn't a Grundersnash at all, but an Atanip which shatters and spills its loot over the floor...

The original alien blaster was the same way with me. When I played the last time with all the add ons though I ran through Mothership Zeta first (why? Because I love me some zap guns) and had a tonne of the various alien weapons including the best alien rifle. I also had tonnes of extras for repairs. While it was fun, it did make a lot of fights trivial when I switched over to it. That said it was fun to walk over the dust remains of my enemies after a large firefight.

Yes. The plot ain't too bad either. It IS still a dungeon crawl, but they added a bunch of new RPG elements to it (both in terms of story/dialogue and combat). DS2 is the type of game you'd play once, enjoy, be happy you played, then probably never play again. The plot isn't bad, but it IS linear. That's actually kind of what I thought about DS1, ie I enjoyed it once, but have never played it again. But I did enjoy it once; DS2 seemed more of the same so I passed, but I'll be interested in seeing what this shakes out to be since it seems that it may be aiming to be a different kind of game.

Diablo 3 won't be on consoles. Diablo 3 will be on Macs and will play on any PC from the last 7 years, so the platform shouldn't really be a problem. DSIII has the console market to tap even if Diablo III dominates the PC/Mac market. The markets have quite a bit of overlap, especially in the RPG section. I guess it could be another Sacred II for console-only section. I'm sure they do. But the overlap is far in the console favor if PC sales are as weak as I've been led to believe. But what if the gourmet chef took the idea of a "hot pocket" and made something new from scratch that used the basic ideas of a hot pocket? At the end of the day, they'll still be microwaving it. If they make it from scratch, they'd have to cook it to get the bread toasted, at the very least. (Even the microwave Hot Pockets are cooked prior to being sent out).

But what if the gourmet chef took the idea of a "hot pocket" and made something new from scratch that used the basic ideas of a hot pocket?

Diablo 3 won't be on consoles. Diablo 3 will be on Macs and will play on any PC from the last 7 years, so the platform shouldn't really be a problem. DSIII has the console market to tap even if Diablo III dominates the PC/Mac market.

Seems like this is going to be a departure from DS (never played DS2). I'll be interested in seeing how it develops.

Watched it over the weekend. Its a bit difficult to categorize; its a science fiction film that's not terribly interested in the science its using, its a horror film not terribly interested in scaring us and its a drama not terribly interested in providing sympathetic characters or easily recognizable motives. The film is essentially a riff on scientists playing god in a Frankenstein way (complete with names that reference the movies; the main scientists are named Clive and Elsa, apparently after Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester from BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN). Very early on it establishes a good dramatic mood; there are a lot of really good ideas here and some really good performances (Brody, Polley and David Hewlett (Dr McKay on Stargate Atlantis), are all great; and I admire Delphine Chan

That makes sense, because that would be a pretty dumb thing to think. I've never played a game that automatically gave me free health every second whenever I needed it. Have you even played any game that has regenerating health? Because regenerating health isn't the god mode you seem to think it is. Health is never "free". While health is no longer a limited resource in games with regeneration, losing it means giving up the advantage, needing to retreat and heal, giving your enemies the upper hand. This can be true in games that use health kits/stations as well, where I need to run away from any enemy and run over a kit that automatically fills my health bar, but contrary to popular opinion* in games with regenerating health your health does not regenerate while you are being damaged. Funnily enough, this isn't true of games that use health kits. In Deus Ex I can use health kits from the quick slots or from the paused status screen and heal myself even when taking damage. *By popular opinion I mean whiny anti-regen crybabies. Sorry. I misssed this. >_ Games that give you health while you stand around doign nothing is free health. Spit hairs of the definition of the word "free" if you want, regardless, the game is rewarding you for doing nothing. WHat's next? An rpg that gives you XP for just standing around? You know, just in case the gamer is having difficulty. Wouldn't want them to get stuck or anything, after all. SO we'll just give them regenerating XP sp they can level up again and get on with the game. I mean, why not. It saves them the effort of actually having to go out in the gameworld and you know, do things. I'm sorry but your argument doesn't make any sense. How is having to retreat and stand around for your health to regenerate inferior to having to travel all the way out of a dungeon and back to town to buy health supplies? Essentially both of them are time sinks; both characters have the risk of running into enemies before they've fixed their health. Sure you could choose to go on and keep progressing in the hopes that you find a health kit, but you can also do the same with health regen and just hope that you regen more health than you lose in subsequent fights. Seems to me the only difference is whether you get to push a shiny button to heal yourself or not.

Fatman could have been fine if there were like 5 mini-nukes in the whole game and it weighed like 200 lbs/kg whatever. As it stands, it was storage locker material, never to see the light of day. So that's fine, I'll just keep ignoring it in NV. First time I tried to fire the Fatman, I aimed it poorly and managed to hit a rock outcropping instead of the group I was aiming for and nuked myself. I reloaded and shot it again and missed, probably nuking some innocent wasteland wanderer who had no idea what was going on 100 yards away.

I think I'd kill the baboon with my weight, I'd prefer a T-Rex Moon-Boy? Is that you?