Great news from Feargus

[Walsingham]

I just noticed the bit at the end about THQ. I thought THQ were shod-merchants? Viz: Firewarrior.

[Hell Kitty]

Is a Viper 5 really more recognizable than a sword? The average person uses neither. It seems to be just another type of fantasy weapon.

 

My google search tells me a viper 5 is a cricket bat. Huzzah for cricket bat based attacks!

 

Like many other game Stalker doesn't use the weapons real names. The viper 5, I believe, is actually the mp5.

 

I'm another who likes my game weapons, be they melee or firearms, to be realistic, rather than looking like a toy or something from a cartoon.

[Slowtrain]

Is a Viper 5 really more recognizable than a sword? The average person uses neither. It seems to be just another type of fantasy weapon.

 

My google search tells me a viper 5 is a cricket bat. Huzzah for cricket bat based attacks!

 

Like many other game Stalker doesn't use the weapons real names. The viper 5, I believe, is actually the mp5.

 

I'm another who likes my game weapons, be they melee or firearms, to be realistic, rather than looking like a toy or something from a cartoon.

 

 

 

Yes, STALKER changes weapon names slightly, but only slightly in most cases. SiG becomes SGi, Vintorez becomes Vintor. Probably saved them some money, not a b big deal. Still way better than Deus Ex for example.

[Enoch]

To me, the great thing about having magic in the gameworld has always been to capture the sense of wonder one gets in seeing one's surroundings through the eyes of the pre-scientific world. Before everything was scientifically explained, everything seemed possible and mysterious (or, as Grom put it, "a trump card for the impossible"). The game mechanic effects, to me, have always been secondary. (By the way, D&D magic systems now suck for this purpose-- where's the mystery and excitement if I can find all the powers of the Big Bad Evil Wizard on p. 63 of my game manual??)

Edited April 9, 2007 by Enoch

[Walsingham]

I have no problem with magic. But I do like to be able to upset magic users by throwing grenades at them.

[Atreides]

Magic in a setting's cool because you have the sense you never know what to expect next. I guess people are so used to D&D stuff, elves/dwarves that the sense of awe is diminished.

 

In that sense, it doesn't matter whether it's magic, sci-fi, steampunk or Aliens. If it's done right, the feeling of eagerly discovering what's around the corner is there. A setting doesn't guarantee it either way.

[Cantousent]

Where mkreku states a preferrence, I don't think his comments are out of line. Where I disagree with him, perhaps less vigorously than Gromnir, is in his scorn towards magic in games. If we just look at weaponry in stalker, then we can say it is more realistic. Of course, I can shoot someone a few times in the head with a pistol and they'll still live. There remains that progression of weapon damage geared more towards balance than real life. Yeah, a shotgun blast to the face does more damage than a pistol shot to the leg, but both do more damage than we see in this game. Hell, shots to the leg are often deadly. There's vital stuff in your legs.

 

Once we get past the weapons, however, mkreku's argument is even thinner. stalker has no end of fantastic elements. I don't want to get into an argument over what is fantasy/scifi. My point is that, while it's legitimate to want a game where you shoot at folks with a firearm, it's perfectly reasonable if you prefer a game where you hack on someone with a sword. In advancing your own desires, mkreku, you insulted mine.

 

I thought those Tom Clancy games were supposed to be realistic. No magic. No science fiction. Just soldiers shooting at one another. If that's your desire, you need only wait until for the next installment. ...But don't pretend that stalker is somehow better because it lacks the fantasy element. I've seen the landscape and the monsters in stalker.

 

Finally, I prefer games where the swords look weapons don't look cartoonish. That's one of my beefs with WoW. Talk about a fantasy game which blatantly relies on magic to fill in the gaps, where nothing you do has real impact on the story line, and there are no meaningful choices. Still, it seems a lot of folks, like me, find it entertaining.

[mkreku]

Once we get past the weapons, however, mkreku's argument is even thinner.

Except.. I never argued that STALKER was the perfect example of a realistic game. I don't think I said that STALKER lacked "magic" or supernatural elements. All I said was that I love how they solved their leveling by just introducing more powerful weapons at the right time. STALKER has pretty realistic weapons (except, perhaps, the Gauss gun). The best part of STALKERS weapons are its ballistic physics though. It just feels right. Realistic.

 

And why are you being so binary in your reasoning? Why narrow your thoughts to just black and white? When I say realistic, I am still talking about a game. I recognize that you'll have to make sacrifices (compromises?) to make a game fun to play, despite it not being perfectly realistic. No one thinks it's fun to get shot in the leg two minutes into a game and then spend two months real-time in a hospital healing from that wound. I'm not saying everything has to be perfectly realistic just because I used the term realistic once (and, in this case, only about weapons)! I just don't want more magic missiles, force powers, psionic **** and all that lame stuff that can only be explained by magic.

 

I am sure you and Gromnir can wear out a couple of keyboards between the two of you arguing how a medkit is actually magic (with its accelerated effects) but personally I'm not interested in splitting hairs.

[Cantousent]

I think the point where you diverged in your original statement was in citing magic as the panacea for lackluster writing. I recognize that your essential point is that setting with modern firearms appeal to you more than ones with swords and magic hurling mages. That's fair enough for me. ...And I've never been one for piling it on. I'm not going after you with fire and tongs, mkreku, you yutz. Wear out my keyboard. hahaha Good Lord.

[Walsingham]

Steady on, gentlemen. If I can throw in an idea maybe it's the fact that - knowing firearms as we do - a game involving firearms throws more mental bells and whistles than one with 'black box' magic. More of our brains wakes up when we see a picture of a real gun than a glowing stick, even if they do precisely the same damage in game.

[metadigital]

Medkits ARE magic. They use Koltor!

[Dark_Raven]

Koltor is sea plant life.

[Lord Niah]

anyways, from design pov, our 2 fav settings is low magic 100 years war or American fronteir (circa 1850s.) magic makes anything possible... for science to do same it has gotta be advanced 'nuff so that setting is no longer quite as familiar... and some people will still see stuff as scientific impossible. magic is a trump card for the impossible.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

100 years war could be good. I would also love to see something set in a low magic world (or real world) something like Europe of the 8th-10th centuries. Good times. You've got your Vikings. You've got your Carolingian Knights. You've got your Saracen pirates. You've got your Anglo-Saxons.

[Cantousent]

I'm boring. I'm thrilled with the 40k idea. A lot. In fact, playing some Warhammer would be just what the PC doctor ordered.

[Gorth]

I'm boring. I'm thrilled with the 40k idea. A lot. In fact, playing some Warhammer would be just what the PC doctor ordered.

 

 

...

 

 

We should start a lobbying group, to maximise our voices and the impact of our oppinions

 

I am all for Obsidian taking on some of the darker sides of the Warhammer 40K universe (as if it had anything else).

[Cantousent]

I dunno. Your group might be better off without me. :Cant's easy smile icon:

 

I suppose we should start a thread dedicated to the idea and see how many people voice support. Just keep in mind that there will be those who voice disagreement at the idea. I'm game.

[Fenghuang]

Medkits ARE magic. They use Koltor!

 

 

Koltor is sea plant life.

 

 

 

Kolto.

 

(Or Bacta in the modern SW Universe)

[Walsingham]

I do want to see Obs do 40k.

[metadigital]

Medkits ARE magic. They use Koltor!

 

 

Koltor is sea plant life.

 

 

 

Kolto.

 

(Or Bacta in the modern SW Universe)

TY.

[Cantousent]

So, how many WH40K people do we have here? Just looking for the vict-- I mean member who will start the 40k thread. :cant's sly grin icon:

[Musopticon?]

o/

 

Thousands Sons and Tallarn all the way.

[Sand]

So, how many WH40K people do we have here? Just looking for the vict-- I mean member who will start the 40k thread. :cant's sly grin icon:

 

I don't particularly like 40K. I read the rules, but the price of the minitures to play the game was prohibitive. I rather see a nice near future hardcore sci fi CRPG.

[Gorth]

So, how many WH40K people do we have here? Just looking for the vict-- I mean member who will start the 40k thread. :cant's sly grin icon:

 

I don't particularly like 40K. I read the rules, but the price of the minitures to play the game was prohibitive. I rather see a nice near future hardcore sci fi CRPG.

Thats the beauty of it, you don't need the miniatures to play a crpg. No painting, no cutting, no super-glueing your fingers together...

 

(said the guy who has a 24 squad Valhallan army :blush10: )

 

Do yourself a favour and grab some of the old source books if you can, Rogue Trader, Slaves to Darkness, The Lost and the Damned etc.