RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS THREAD!

[Nonek]

Don't know if I was spoiled a little bit by having played the Black Gate beforehand, but I was not particularly impressed by Baldurs Gate and its engine upon debut.Though i'll admit it was very slick, graphically stunning and easy to use, there seemed to be too many missing features in comparison to the Ultima games engines that were made almost a decade before. In point of fact it seems almost every iteration of story driven rpgs has been removing features ever since, usually with the disclaimer that they're improving their core features and trimming the fat. Becoming a little tasteless, they need a little of that attention to detail and distraction back, in my own humble opinion of course.

 

Saying that the real time with pause combat was infinitely superior to Ultimas automated combat.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Nonek

[Zoraptor]

Well, pft to you too, sir. If a small team built, sure-fire thing like this fails commercially, you can bet nobody else is going to try doing one.

I think it'll probably do OK commercially because of the iOS/ tablet ports, and my cynicism is largely confined just to the PC side of things with its limited improvements and hefty price tag. The tablet type versions are a rather different kettle of fish, but also irrelevant to me, as I have no interest in them.

 

I cannot see any reason to buy on PC though, and strongly dislike the idea that you should buy anything just because you may get something more attractive later; that's a mug's game. I put money down on WL2, but I didn't do it primarily to show that there is a market for those types of games (else I would have put more money down), I did it because it looks like a potentially good game that is worth the price tag. I wouldn't pay a cent for a Wasteland 2 that I didn't have any confidence in just on the off chance that I might end up with a better WL3 further down the line, or to show some sort of RPG solidarity.

[Tigranes]

Glad to see "I wonder why they don't make RTWP RPGs any more... and I sure as **** am not buying the only tentative attempt at making one!" crowd here in full strength.

 

This is no attempt at making one, this is an incompetent effort at reselling an old experience, packaged into an inferior form than what any mod user can enjoy. They're doing pretty much everything wrong, except beg that they can't make BG3 if we don't buy this useless crap. They're sure as hell doing their best to convince me that their version of BG3 wouldn't be missed if it never happened.

 

If you want it on your iPad or whatever, go ahead, but I think I'll stick with the superior experience offered by modded BG on the computer.

 

Meanwhile, if I want to monetarily support people trying to make good RPGs, there are plenty of ways I can pay $ to people that actually are making such RPGs, and people who have proven they are talented at doing so, neither of which is the case for Beamdog. I paid full price for Risen 2, Divinity 2, Obsidian RPGs, I funded Wasteland 2 and Dead State...

[greylord]

I'm going to jump ship as soon as Linux becomes an actual alternative rather than a mostly theoretical one.

 

If Windows becomes a closed system and steam goes fully linux along with other PC distributors...I'll jump ship completely to Linux also...

 

aka...

 

basically almost just like what you said....

 

but in my feelings on the issue.

[Nepenthe]

Well, pft to you too, sir. If a small team built, sure-fire thing like this fails commercially, you can bet nobody else is going to try doing one.

 

Let me put my pft in this conversation. Nobody else is gonna try? WHATEVER. Kickstarter.

I knew I should have pre-empted that. Let's see what happens with kickstarter after a few of the current projects either fail spectacularly in execution (this is looking promising for Leisure Suit Larry) or turn out to be outright fraudulent (I think most of you know what I'm thinking here).

 

OTOH, I guess that having a working version of BG1 in general for the mac is colouring my perception of the attractiveness of this project (the mac version barely worked in the first place, and hasn't done so in ~10 years). I also believe that whenever somebody writes "oh, I'll just use mods" somebody decides to add a heavily encrypted data format.

[HoonDing]

Can you have a 'romance' with a brutish half-orc anti-paladin?

HA! Good Fun!

[Blarghagh]

Is Il-Khan a title amongst orcs or half orcs, or is this guy related to old Gromnir?

[Delfosse]

Let's see what happens with kickstarter after a few of the current projects either fail spectacularly

 

Um, lets..? And what are you expecting to happen exactly? That when a big kickstarter project fails, companies will stop targeting kids and will start making smart rpgs for adults? Are you sober?

[Tigranes]

No, he's expecting that kickstarter will lose its luster & pulling power and cease to be a beacon of hope for all fans of good old RPGs. Obviously.

[Nepenthe]

No, he's expecting that kickstarter will lose its luster & pulling power and cease to be a beacon of hope for all fans of good old RPGs. Obviously.

I'd say "afraid" more than "expecting", but, yes. I also like to hedge my bets, so I can happily invest in both old school game kickstarters AND BGEE. Guess I just see it differently from most of you guys.

 

In fact, I suspect a lot of the guys who say they won't be buying it now for 18 $, would've been all over a BGEE kickstarter, paying 3-4 times the current asking price. I think there's no way the kickstarter honeymoon is going to continue when the actual games start dropping.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Nepenthe

[Delfosse]

a lot of the guys who say they won't be buying it now for 18 $, would've been all over a BGEE kickstarter

 

Kickstarter for a mod? Those are for free on gibberlings3.net

Edited July 29, 2012 by Delfosse

[Nepenthe]

Badum-****.

 

Also, best censor ever. Whoever designed the word filter for this forum had a considerably filthier mind than I do.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Nepenthe

[Undecaf]

Ubisoft causes some DRM mischief.... again.

 

Intimidating headline at RPS says: Warning: Big security risk in some Ubisoft PC games

Edited July 30, 2012 by Undecaf

[HoonDing]

Is Il-Khan a title amongst orcs or half orcs, or is this guy related to old Gromnir?

As far as I know, Gromnir Il-Khan was named after forum Gromnir, rather than vice versa.

[Blarghagh]

Huh, I was not aware of that. Awesome.

[Pidesco]

That is, indeed, true. Gromnir used to be a denizen of Bioware's forums.

[Nightshape]

Is Il-Khan a title amongst orcs or half orcs, or is this guy related to old Gromnir?

As far as I know, Gromnir Il-Khan was named after forum Gromnir, rather than vice versa.

 

Fact!

[Blarghagh]

Now I feel bad for killing him so many times.

[Nepenthe]

Now I feel bad for killing him so many times.

Don't.

 

Of course, the interesting part here is that they plan for the NPCs to carry over into BG2EE, so the "family connection" might not be accidental.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Now I feel bad for killing him so many times.

Don't.

 

Of course, the interesting part here is that they plan for the NPCs to carry over into BG2EE, so the "family connection" might not be accidental.

 

They're contractually limited as far as the old dialogue goes.. at least for BG1 they couldn't record new lines for the old characters. I don't know if that was only limited to the party NPCs or the original game, and if, in case it wasn't, they could make exceptions, though.

[Nepenthe]

Strange, I've not read that anywhere, and I've been following them pretty religiously. They've repeatedly referred to getting old voice actors back for new content if at all applicable (in the context of irenicus and minsc). Guess there's new content and "new content".

[Tale]

They can build new content as "expansions", but they cannot add to the core content in the main title. This limitation is due to the contracts for the original source content and limit the devs from adding new conversation for existing characters to the main game. Hence, adding banters, inerjections and romances to the original cast of characters is unfortunately not feasible. They will interact with new NPCs and react to new situations and areas, but that's about it.

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/1588/bgee-please-read-list-of-things-that-cant-be-done

 

What this sounds like is that we can get new dialogue, but it has to be tied to one of the DLC packs.

[Nepenthe]

An up-to-date (for the moment) feature list for BGEE: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/2041/bgee-please-read-list-of-things-that-have-been-announced

 

A thread that gives you some ideas on what they're trying to do to improve the game at the engine level and still maintain compatibility with regular BG: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/245/flipbook-animation-transparency

 

Again, you may consider me a fool for wanting to support a project like this, but I personally consider these people a sound investment, certainly at the $ 40 level that also gets me two new versions of a game I really dig.

[greylord]

Ubisoft causes some DRM mischief.... again.

 

Intimidating headline at RPS says: Warning: Big security risk in some Ubisoft PC games

 

And one more reason why DRM by Ubi is not in the users/buyers best interest. I'm betting their console versions don't have this problem.

[Tigranes]

Not a bad thing, as I wouldn't trust them to write any new dialogue for existing characters. Having new NPCs is better. Even better would be real enhancements like new encounters and quests, encounter tuning, expanding original quests' options, etc., but instead we have romances and an arena.

 

I understand about contractual and logistical difficulties behind, say, new sprites, but at the end of the day none of those are my problem. It's not my job to say to Beamdog "hey I understand why you can't do this bro". All I care about is what this product offers in comparison to modded BG, and at the moment, unless I really want to play on a tablet or Mac which I don't, it offers crap for $.

 

Finally, if anything in BGEE persuaded me that these guys have the talent and the right design philosophy to make a BG3 I'd like, I'd support them by buying BGEE even though it is an inferior product; but so far, I've seen nothing that says they can design good RPGs.