Dark_Raven Posted September 2, 2008 Posted September 2, 2008 Wrong. It seems to have worked out in D&D for decades with parties of 4 being the typical. Though, parties as much as 6 is fine and dandy as is a party of 2-3. Of course it is not wrong. Silly little man. Typical parties have five to six people in it. Hades was the life of the party. RIP You'll be missed.
Killian Kalthorne Posted September 2, 2008 Posted September 2, 2008 Wrong. It seems to have worked out in D&D for decades with parties of 4 being the typical. Though, parties as much as 6 is fine and dandy as is a party of 2-3. Of course it is not wrong. Silly little man. Typical parties have five to six people in it. Actually, in Dungeons and Dragons 3e/3.5e the party structure and Challenge Rating system was balanced for a 4 character party. Withthe advent of 4e the balance was shifted to a 5 character party. "Your Job is not to die for your country, but set a man on fire, and take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."
Maria Caliban Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Posted 01/03/09 00:13 (GMT) by Chris Priestly We were all given the option to take home a copy of the build over out Xmas break to try out, note bugs, play test, etc. Since I was having a quite Xmas at home with my wife and lots of time to be on the computer, I took up the offer. While I have played most of the origin stories, I always seem to end up restarting and playing from the beginning without getting too far into the game. This mostly happens as there are frequently new builds to update to (while at work) and the need to start afresh each time. This was my first chance to play through everything start to finish. Wow. I won't give away any spoilers or anything, but this is likely the best ending we have ever had in one of our games. The combats around the ending, the emotion, the incredible choices that have to be made... wow. I both immensely enjoyed my ending while at the same time regretted some of the choices I made as I played through the game that allowed me the way it ended. Other little details: No, it isn't finished yet. There is still work to be done (combat balance, treasure balance, finishing cutscenes, bugs, etc), but everything that I have seen so far shows that this will be an amazing title that fantasy and RPG fans have been craving. It took me much longer than I thought it would to get to the end. I had anticipated getting in 2 or 3 playthroughs over the break and I just finished the first. Man, is there a LOT of stuff to go back and play through in different ways. Different origins, different dialogs, different sub plots, etc. Definitely huge replayability here. I LOVE the party interactions and dialogs. We generally pride ourselves on creating excellent NPCs and DAO is definitely going to have some personal favorites for me. We've mentioned some like Alistair, Morrigan, Sten and Dog (of which I especially enjoyed Morrigan and Dog) but my favorite I can't talk about just yet. Hopefully soon in the New Year. Combat is suprsingly challenging. Admittedly, part of why is that the game is not yet balanced like it will be at the end, but there is definite thought and choice involved instead of the "run in and hit them with sword" aspect in many fantasy games. I was not a magic user (my concentration was in two-handed weapons and berzerker), but I frequently found myself "taking over" Morrigan to use her spells. Well, that is enough for now. I'm going to go and take a break. You are SOOO going to love this game. :evil: "When is this out. I can't wait to play it so I can talk at length about how bad it is." - Gorgon.
Morgoth Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Seems like Bioware initiated the Evil Chris marketing program. The game must be close to release now! Rain makes everything better.
H Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Combat is suprsingly challenging. Admittedly, part of why is that the game is not yet balanced like it will be at the end Because challenge in RPGs is a Bad Thing.
Starwars Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Which seems to be a problem especially in party based RPGs nowadays. They seem to be balanced towards playing them with the AI controlling the partymembers and as soon as you do some micromanaging, all challenge flies out the window. Same thing with NWN2 (except for certain fights). I'm very skeptical about this game based on Biowares previous games. We shall see though. Listen to my home-made recordings (some original songs, some not): http://www.youtube.c...low=grid&view=0
Meshugger Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 [quote name='H "Some men see things as they are and say why?""I dream things that never were and say why not?"- George Bernard Shaw"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."- Friedrich Nietzsche "The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it." - Some guy
Morgoth Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 I only consider games challenging when I have full control over the player (i.e. First person shooters). If it is your typical Bioware clickfest, then it's maybe tedious, slow, annoying or whatever, but not challenging. Rain makes everything better.
Maria Caliban Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Beshesda makes horrible games. Fallout 3 will be terrible! ..oops, sorry, I have this on repeat. "When is this out. I can't wait to play it so I can talk at length about how bad it is." - Gorgon.
Magnum Opus Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Game is playable from start to finish, now? Even if cheating is included? Good. Hopefully my brand-spankin' new, decidedly middle-of-the-road computer will be able to handle it, which means that, despite knowing better, DAO might just end up being a "sooner" rather than "later" purchase. I know, I know, I should wait until the expansions are in and the game has been patched into a workable state, but... *sigh* Have been so few games that I've been even remotely interested in over the last five years or so, I might just indulge. Nothin' quite like that "new game smell" that comes from a fresh release, as opposed to one that's a year or two old. New hardware demands new eye candy. Even if the eye candy doesn't quite work the way it should yet.
Morgoth Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 "workable state" Bio games usually are workable at release. We're not talking about Obsidian here, after all. Rain makes everything better.
Pidesco Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Mass Effect gave me a lot of buggy aggravation. "My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist I am Dan Quayle of the Romans. I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands. Heja Sverige!! Everyone should cuffawkle more. The wrench is your friend.
WILL THE ALMIGHTY Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Bioware is always good with game endings. "Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade - make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I'm going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"
Morgoth Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Finished Mass Effect with no hitches whatsoever and got a cool ending too. But I guess people just like to complain for the lulz. Rain makes everything better.
Pidesco Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Right now, Mass Effect still crashes a lot for me, especially on startup. "My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist I am Dan Quayle of the Romans. I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands. Heja Sverige!! Everyone should cuffawkle more. The wrench is your friend.
Tigranes Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Seems like Bioware initiated the Evil Chris Let's Play: Icewind Dale Ironman (Complete) Let's Play: Icewind Dale II Ironman (Complete) Let's Play: Divinity II (Complete) Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy Ironman - BG1 (Complete) Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy Ironman - BG2 (In Progress)
Morgoth Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 (edited) Never heard of this Dan Tudge dude anyway. He talks like he's supposed to talk - like a PR drone. What's up with the old Producer folks? Trent Oster, Derek French etc.? Edited January 3, 2009 by Morgoth Rain makes everything better.
Magnum Opus Posted January 4, 2009 Posted January 4, 2009 "workable state" Bio games usually are workable at release. We're not talking about Obsidian here, after all. "Usually" being the operative word. No denying that Bio's certainly better than most when it comes to the stability of the initial release, but like every other software development company in the known universe, they've had their share of problems. NWN1 for me was unplayable out of the box at release, and even though they flung enough patches at it to get it working wonderfully in the end, it did take a while. These days if there's a game that catches my eye, I'm going to sit on the purchase for a few months at least, just to make sure. DAO might be an exception to that rule.
Leferd Posted January 4, 2009 Posted January 4, 2009 BEHOLD. Dragon Age Origins: Bioware Edition $100 US. That game manual better be a spiral bound tome of epic(!) proportions if I'm dropping a Ben Franklin on that. "Things are funny...are comedic, because they mix the real with the absurd." - Buzz Aldrin."P-O-T-A-T-O-E" - Dan Quayle
Stephen Amber Posted January 4, 2009 Posted January 4, 2009 it's pewter figurine... the thing will be priceless one day...
Slowtrain Posted January 4, 2009 Posted January 4, 2009 Can't possibly beat the Tiber Septim coin in the Oblivion CE. I'm going to Ebay mine someday and retire young. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Morgoth Posted January 4, 2009 Posted January 4, 2009 Gonna buy the standard edition, because I don't need that fancy stuff. Rain makes everything better.
Killian Kalthorne Posted January 4, 2009 Posted January 4, 2009 I am going to wait for the XBox 360 version. "Your Job is not to die for your country, but set a man on fire, and take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."
Morgoth Posted January 4, 2009 Posted January 4, 2009 I am going to wait for the XBox 360 version. Eh...why that? Unless you like waiting longer. Or PC - > console conversions. Rain makes everything better.
Killian Kalthorne Posted January 4, 2009 Posted January 4, 2009 I am going to wait for the XBox 360 version. Eh...why that? Unless you like waiting longer. Or PC - > console conversions. My PC is a piece of crap and I am sick and tired of trying to constantly upgrade it and dealing with drivers and so forth and so on. When I want to play a game I just want to turn on the machine and go, not wrestle with it trying to get the damn thing to work without crashing. "Your Job is not to die for your country, but set a man on fire, and take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."
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