Evening Reading

Off to record this week's episode of Weekend Confirmed, where I'll be discussing the games from QuakeCon 2010 as well as some Monday Night Combat. If they let me, I might sneak in a bit of StarCraft II as well.

Gaming News o'the Day

Links from Morning Discussion

From The Chatty
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    August 19, 2010 5:03 PM

    Lets discuss free form RPG's.

    Gothic 2
    Risen
    Gothic 3
    Two Worlds

    What is best in life conan? I like two worlds so far, but the other 3 also seem to be interesting. I heard Gothic 2 is the bomb, but it's old. RIsen?

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      August 19, 2010 5:03 PM

      [deleted]

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      August 19, 2010 5:04 PM

      Two Worlds is more sandboxy than Risen, but I think Risen looks better. Gothic 3 I have not played, and Gothic 2 was what I'd call "wonky", but it was fun once you got into it.

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        August 19, 2010 5:05 PM

        gothic 1 and 2 are awesome, but gothic 3 isn't as good.

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      August 19, 2010 5:05 PM

      [deleted]

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        August 19, 2010 5:07 PM

        Yeah Oblivion/Fallout still the best. Those listed all feel clunky and buggy

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          August 19, 2010 5:09 PM

          If by best you mean most vanilla and sterile feeling yes those are the "best". Bethesda makes much better platforms for mods than they make actual games.

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            August 19, 2010 5:23 PM

            [deleted]

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              August 19, 2010 5:27 PM

              Care to name any of these plusses? Cause Morrowind was a lot better than Oblivion in almost every way except graphics.

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                August 19, 2010 5:28 PM

                I found Oblivion far more fun to play in every way. The map waypoints, the overall aesthetics, the quest system was much cleaner, and generally speaking it was just more fun. Morrowind always felt too dry and empty for the most part to me.

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                  August 19, 2010 5:31 PM

                  I'd have to disagree with every one of your points. Morrowind had character and life to it, Oblivion feels like you are in a forest the entire time. There were actual zones in Morrowind. Npcs you would only find in that area of that level. Oblivion was a hodgepodge of enemies that all scaled to your level so you never truly felt unsafe or out of your element.

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                    August 19, 2010 5:35 PM

                    I don't really play RPGs for that feeling.

                    I think Bethesda has gotten better and better over time, with Morrowind being better than Daggerfall, Oblivion eclipsing Morrowind, and Fallout 3 improving on Oblivion.

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                      August 19, 2010 5:37 PM

                      I feel the exact opposite, I'd order them best to worse Daggerfall > Morrowind > Fallout 3 > Oblivion.

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                    August 19, 2010 5:41 PM

                    Zones with enemies that are way beyond your level is awesome if you want to see the same old formulaic bullshit rehashed. Not that it's necessarily bad that way, but it's nice to have an experience that is not the same as damn near every other RPG ever.

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                      August 19, 2010 5:44 PM

                      To me, going into an area you are obviously not supposed to be there yet and sneaking around exploring is awesome and a sense of accomplishment.

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                      August 19, 2010 5:45 PM

                      I hated the "same level as me" thing in Oblivion. With a passion.

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                        August 19, 2010 6:36 PM

                        [deleted]

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                        August 19, 2010 6:40 PM

                        Same, I never understood why it remained in Fallout 3 (even though it wasn't as blatantly obvious as Oblivion). I have no problem with a game beating me down for going somewhere that I shouldn't have been going to. It gives me something to work for and a sense of accomplishment when I succeed.

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                          August 19, 2010 6:42 PM

                          Fallout 3 locked their level, which is a massive mercy. Plus Fo3 had a proper character building system and therefore was just way better than Oblivion right out the gate. The only thing that annoyed me was very late in the game encountering some new enemies who would shoot at me with a precision that I knew I would never be able to attain. That was a bit annoying.

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                            August 19, 2010 6:48 PM

                            Ahhh, so that was the change. I definitely enjoyed the fact that no bandits were chasing me with glass swords! The character system definitely worked better in FO3 but I always feel like I will never get punished severely in a Bethesda RPG by any choices I make with my character. Perhaps it was the way I played the game or maybe I just prefer more "hard-core" RPGs. :D

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                              August 19, 2010 6:55 PM

                              On second thought, that's not strictly true, I enjoyed the class system of Mass Effect 2 where I couldn't ever screw up my character. I think what I was trying to say is that I didn't feel like skills had a large part to play in Fallout 3 apart from scripted events like speech checks and lockpicking/hacking.

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                            August 19, 2010 6:49 PM

                            [deleted]

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                          August 19, 2010 6:44 PM

                          I just realised that I should have said that I thought the "same level as me" thing in Mass Effect 1 and 2 was actually quite good. I think it worked better due to the larger focus on the story compared to the open-world style of Oblivion/Fallout3.

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                      August 19, 2010 5:46 PM

                      Mate an RPG that wipes your progress out by balancing the world against you is just a broken RPG not a fresh cool new experience.

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                      August 19, 2010 5:51 PM

                      I just actually read your username, and at the risk of a temp ban.
                      Post + Username.

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                        August 19, 2010 6:32 PM

                        Yeah, except the name is false advertisement. Let's see who has a bigger penis next (me). Seriously though, it's annoying that the mechanism for telling me not to be somewhere is to place some uber high-level bullshit nearby that one-shots me while exploring. If I'm not supposed to be somewhere give me a reason. Make it part of the story. And by the same token, it's tedious to explore an area that you are way overpowered for. I tend to do a bunch of side quests before getting on with the main storyline so in a lot of games that means I end up cruising through and wishing it was more difficult. Granted I am not saying Oblivion is perfect, but when are we going to get past killing rats and gradually moving up the chain? Rats are not at all an interesting enemy.

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                          August 19, 2010 6:35 PM

                          Part of the story? You are seriously going to bring up story in Bethesda rpg games? I'm just going to walk away from this thread because it's obvious you have gone full retard sir.

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                          August 19, 2010 6:40 PM

                          Isn't the reason you're not supposed to be there self evident?

                          I mean, you did die after all. That is a pretty compelling reason in an RPG.

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                            August 19, 2010 6:42 PM

                            I really liked Oblivion but I spent more time gaming the level up system than I did playing the game. I did this so I could feel powerful like in a normal RPG. It sorta screwed up the experience for me once I figured out how to get around their wonky rethinking of leveling.

                            Notice they removed that in Fallout 3, which was nice and I had way more fun with that game, long term.

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                              August 19, 2010 6:53 PM

                              I think Oblivion is the only game I've ever cheated in to reduce my level/skills after I realised how broken the level up system was with the character I selected. :-( It definitely made the game much more fun to stay at a lower level!

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                August 19, 2010 6:35 PM

                [deleted]

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              August 19, 2010 5:30 PM

              I think pretty much all the other Bethesda games come at least close to replicating the Oblivion sandbox experience, don't you think terath? Bit hyperbolic there buddy.

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            August 19, 2010 5:36 PM

            Well best as in being a playable game. The writing/story isnt that amazing (except Dark Brotherhood questline). The mods out there really show how much more it could be though.

            But those other games even if they are "non vanilla" theyre frustrating to play

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          August 19, 2010 5:15 PM

          Oblivion is not the best at anything but being a big baby faggot. An RPG which balances out its own character building and leveling is like a self hating Jew or something, an anti-RPG. FO3 it good tho.

          The Gothic games have an active community that patches them up real good, just like Vampire.

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        August 19, 2010 5:08 PM

        Yes, but I just threw in the towel on it from the..8th time. The tools and world are nice looking, the combat and story are total shit and nothing can fix that for me. I'm looking at alternatives to it.

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      August 19, 2010 5:05 PM

      Fallout 3!!!!!! Forever and a day!

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      August 19, 2010 5:08 PM

      Fallout 3

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      August 19, 2010 5:09 PM

      does mount and blade count? i like mount and blade but i wish i could find a good campaign mod of some sort to make it have a "goal"

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      August 19, 2010 5:13 PM

      Gothic 2 (with addon) is really good. It's old but the graphics don't look _that_ bad. The world, especially when played with addon, is pretty big and there are lots and lots of things to discover and do. It is old school and you have to find your way around, not much hand holding going on.
      This is a game you have to spend lots of time on but it pays it back.

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      August 19, 2010 5:16 PM

      Risen was actually pretty decent right out the box, I thought that with a few extra things here and there it really would have been an excellent game. Looking forward to seeing how Risen 2 pans out.

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      August 19, 2010 5:19 PM

      I'd like to have something like Mount & Blade combat, in a more detailed world.

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        August 19, 2010 5:20 PM

        I'd also like to see multiplayer on the map part of M&B, not just the combat parts.

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          August 19, 2010 5:26 PM

          I was hoping Warband would have Co-op, but it's just DM. Having multiplayer on the map would be interesting, battling it out for areas/castles on the map.

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      August 19, 2010 5:32 PM

      Gothic 1 and 2 are so awesome once you get over the massive learning curve from the non-standard controls. At first I thought it was bullshit that they intentionally fuck you as hard as they do, but the more I played, the more I appreciated the hard lessons it taught me.

      Also, the game world is just fucking awesome. You really feel like you're taking part in this world...like your actions have meaning and that you can direct the flow of the story. Sofa king awesome.

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        August 19, 2010 5:34 PM

        So gothic 2 is worth $9 on gog right now?

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          August 19, 2010 5:38 PM

          Oh god yes. If you've played Gothic 1 then there's an option to switch the controls to be closer to that style rather than the new Gothic 2 style, too. Straight keyboard is totally the way to go!

          I paid full price for it on GOG (oh god, full price on GOG!) and don't regret it. Hell, I bought Gothic 2 Gold a while back and never got around to installing it because I found out after I bought it that it had Starforce or some such. :(

          WARNING WARNING DANGER WILL ROBINSON: Somewhat sharp learning curve and a decently challenging level of difficulty. You will make the wrong decision multiple times and you will not be able to see everything on your first playthrough. Don't sweat it! Have fun! It's awesome!
          I still need to finish it :(

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      August 19, 2010 5:36 PM

      One more person here who wants to bring up Fallout 3. That's the epitome of free form RPGs.

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      August 19, 2010 5:44 PM

      Risen appears to have a mod community, interesting.

      http://forum.deepsilver.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=6506bd3b53b372842b1ee6ed4287b9ff&f=315

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        August 19, 2010 6:02 PM

        [deleted]

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          August 19, 2010 10:30 PM

          I'm playing it now, it's interesting. The controls for combat seem simple but then you realize that mobs like wolves will literally dance around you trying to get in a bite while you block and then lunge when the chance presents itself. So far, is a tad on rails, but I'm in the early part.

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      August 19, 2010 6:43 PM

      I freeking love Two Worlds 1 its epic I am a lvl 30 Fire Mage completely maxed out working on Necromancer now (found the highest Necromancer staff, I need two more lvls to use it)

      Gothic 3 with community patch 1.7 is Epic as well different than two worlds has its on style and should not be missed.

      Risen is very good as well, I highly recommend that one as well.

      Basically all three of these should not be missed.

      Gothic 4 and Two Worlds 2 are in first week of Oct that is crazy!

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      August 19, 2010 6:49 PM

      After reading all the comments about Two Worlds, I feel like I should dust off my 360 version of the game and give it a try again. I did enjoy the game somewhat although the voice acting was hilariously bad. Is the PC version upgraded from the 360 version?

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