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For years now I've heard that PS:T is so incredibly fantastic. I borrowed it from a friend yesterday, and I went home and played it for a few hours. It certainly had an interesting twist, a different story than most standard FR games. Gameplay-wise it was far behind BG or IWD imho.

 

The graphics was ok, but far from BG/BG2 level, and it didn't seem like you could move the screen around with your mouse. Also, whenever you choose to send your char in a certain direction, it takes a few seconds before he reacts. I found movement to be difficult. Tried to outrun the skeletons on lvl 1 in the mortuary, and the best way was actually to run a few feet to the end of the screen, pause the game, unpause, then keep running. Awkward and difficult.

 

Also, some people probably find it amusing to have a skull flying around, flirting with tiefling harlots. It gets too weird for me though. Elves and dwarves are enough for me. Maybe I'm getting old. <_<

 

I'll play through the rest of the game, just to see what I missed.

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Well it did ship at the end of 1999, before BG2 and the later IE games so it's understandable that graphics are dated. I don't recall there being a problem with the mouse when I played it though. Combat wasn't as good as it could have been but there are some great spells and spell cut scenes (copied from Final Fantasy). I liked the meteor swarn spell (I think that was it). It's the storyline and the dynamic alignment and faction system where the game shines. I liked Morte and the other CNPCs as well.

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For years now I've heard that PS:T is so incredibly fantastic. I borrowed it from a friend yesterday, and I went home and played it for a few hours. It certainly had an interesting twist, a different story than most standard FR games. Gameplay-wise it was far behind BG or IWD imho.

 

PS:T gives actual importance and various uses to character skills. Most situations can be dealt with via dialogue instead of combat. In fact most combat is avoidable. You are given certain interactivity functions to use while engaged in dialogue (an example would be the possibility to ditract someone in dialogue and kill them silently, instead of loudly and publicly - and this is also dependant of, say, Dexterity to pull off a swift neck-snapping). There are various endings, all according to what you decide. It has the first (and last) fully randomized dungeon using the IE, also.

 

Different than BG and IWD? Definetely. PS:T far behind BG and IWD, gameplay-wise? No.

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Different than BG and IWD? Definetely. PS:T far behind BG and IWD, gameplay-wise? No.

 

hmm.. maybe I shouldn't say gameplay-wise, but rather engine-graphics wise. The dialogues were interesting, although after the fifth 'Duster-philosophy' dialogue I got a bit tired of these quasi post-death explanations. When I said gameplay I meant the way the game runs. It felt almost TB'ish. This game with a Jefferson engine, with a higher-resolution, would probably appeal to me.

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Different than BG and IWD? Definetely. PS:T far behind BG and IWD, gameplay-wise? No.

 

hmm.. maybe I shouldn't say gameplay-wise, but rather engine-graphics wise. The dialogues were interesting, although after the fifth 'Duster-philosophy' dialogue I got a bit tired of these quasi post-death explanations. When I said gameplay I meant the way the game runs. It felt almost TB'ish. This game with a Jefferson engine, with a higher-resolution, would probably appeal to me.

But what did you expect? The game shipped in 1999 and BG2 and IWD shipped in 2000. It's understandable that the game's engine would be more dated. The PST team were working off of the BG1 engine.

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But what did you expect?  The game shipped in 1999 and BG2 and IWD shipped in 2000.  It's understandable that the game's engine would be more dated.  The PST team were working off of the BG1 engine.

 

Well that's why I wonder why ppl say PS:T is the best game BiS ever made. It's obviously not the best game they made, even though the story and idea was great. It seems that some people hail it as the best, just b/c it was 'cool' or 'different'.

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As a separate issue, you know in hindsight Black Isle really didn't release that many games.  Interplay and other issues screwed them over with Torn, Stonekeep 2, Jefferson and Van Buren all being cancelled.

I'm aware of that. It's a shame. I was really looking forward to both FO3 and Jeff. Btw, I just started PS:T, and now I could suddenly move around on the map by using the mouse. Yesterday I played for 4 hours, and I couldn't do that on any map. Really weird. Anyway, it certainly speeded up gameplay.

 

Now excuse me... I'll have to return to the.. *cough*.. hive :(

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There's a button on the PST interface that locks the camera to your character btw. Methinks this may be the factor thats letting you move freely now.

yeah, you can choose if you want a locked or a free scrolling camera. the button to switch it is in the interface to the left of the oblong with the journal etc on it. (there are three arranged in a vertical line, on of them is it)

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